BibleStudyTools.com

1 If my head were water, my eyes a fountain of tears, I would weep day and night over the slain of my dear people.

2 If only I had a traveler's lodging place in the wilderness, I would abandon my people and depart from them, for they are all adulterers, a solemn assembly of treacherous people.

3 They bent their tongues [like] their bows; lies and not faithfulness prevail in the land, for they proceed from one evil to another, and they do not take Me into account. [This is] the Lord's declaration.

4 Everyone has to be on guard against his friend. Don't trust any brother, for every brother will certainly deceive, and every friend spread slander.

5 Each one betrays his friend; no one tells the truth. They have taught their tongues to speak lies; they wear themselves out doing wrong.

6 You live in [a world] of deception. In [their] deception they refuse to know Me. [This is] the Lord's declaration.

7 Therefore, this is what the Lord of Hosts says: I am about to refine them and test them, for what else can I do because of My dear people?

8 Their tongues are deadly arrows- they speak deception. With his mouth a man speaks peaceably with his friend, but inwardly he sets up an ambush.

9 Should I not punish them for these things? [This is]*The bracketed text has been added for clarity. the Lord's declaration. Should I not take My revenge against a nation such as this?

10 I will raise weeping and a lament over the mountains, a dirge over the wilderness grazing land, for they have been so scorched that no one passes through. The sound of cattle is no longer heard. From the birds of the sky to the animals, [everything] has fled-they have gone away.

11 I will make Jerusalem a heap of rubble, a jackals' den. I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, an uninhabited place.

12 Who is the man wise enough to understand this? Who has the Lord spoken to, that he may explain it? Why is the land destroyed and scorched like a wilderness, so no one can pass through?

13 The Lord said, "It is because they abandoned My law I set in front of them and did not obey My voice or walk according to it.

14 Instead, they followed the stubbornness of their hearts and the Baals, as their fathers taught them."

15 Therefore, this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: "I am about to feed this people wormwood and give them poisonous waters to drink.

16 I will scatter them among nations that they and their fathers have not known. I will send a sword after them until I have finished them off."

17 This is what the Lord of Hosts says: Consider, and summon the women who mourn; send for the skillful women.

18 Let them come quickly to raise a lament over us so that our eyes may overflow with tears, our eyelids soaked with weeping.

19 For a sound of lamentation is heard from Zion: How devastated we are. We are greatly ashamed, for we have abandoned the land; our dwellings have been torn down.

20 Now hear the word of the Lord, you women. Pay attention to the word of His mouth. Teach your daughters a lament and one another a dirge,

21 for Death has climbed through our windows; it has entered our fortresses, cutting off children from the streets, young men from the squares.

22 Speak as follows: This is what the Lord says: Human corpses will fall like manure on the surface of the field, like newly cut grain after the reaper with no one to gather [it].

23 This is what the Lord says: The wise must not boast in his wisdom; the mighty must not boast in his might; the rich must not boast in his riches.

24 But the one who boasts should boast in this, that he understands and knows Me- that I am the Lord, showing faithful love, justice, and righteousness on the earth, for I delight in these things. [This is] the Lord's declaration.

25 "The days are coming"-the Lord's declaration-"when I will punish all the circumcised yet uncircumcised:

26 Egypt, Judah, Edom, the Ammonites, Moab, all those who clip the hair on their temples and reside in the wilderness. All these nations are uncircumcised, and the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart."

1 Hear the word that the Lord has spoken to you, house of Israel.

2 This is what the Lord says: Do not learn the way of the nations or be terrified by signs in the heavens, although the nations are terrified by them,

3 for the customs of the peoples are worthless. Someone cuts down a tree from the forest; [it is] worked by the hands of a craftsman with a chisel.

4 He decorates it with silver and gold. It is fastened with hammer and nails, so it won't totter.

5 Like scarecrows in a cucumber patch, their idols cannot speak. They must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them for they can do no harm- and they cannot do any good.

6 Lord, there is no one like You. You are great; Your name is great in power.

7 Who should not fear You, King of the nations? It is what You deserve. For among all the wise people of the nations and among all their kingdoms, there is no one like You.

8 They are both senseless and foolish, instructed by worthless idols [made of] wood!

9 Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz from the hands of a goldsmith, the work of a craftsman. Their clothing is blue and purple, all the work of skilled artisans.

10 But the Lord is the true God; He is the living God and eternal King. The earth quakes at His wrath, and the nations cannot endure His rage.

11 You are to say this to them: The gods that did not make the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from under these heavens.

12 He made the earth by His power, established the world by His wisdom, and spread out the heavens by His understanding.

13 When He thunders, the waters in the heavens are in turmoil, and He causes the clouds to rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain and brings the wind from His storehouses.

14 Everyone is stupid and ignorant. Every goldsmith is put to shame by [his] carved image, for his cast images are a lie; there is no breath in them.

15 They are worthless, a work to be mocked. At the time of their punishment they will be destroyed.

16 Jacob's Portion is not like these because He is the One who formed all things. Israel is the tribe of His inheritance; the Lord of Hosts is His name.

17 Gather up your belongings from the ground, you who live under siege.

18 For this is what the Lord says: Look, I am slinging out the land's residents at this time and bringing them such distress that they will feel it.

19 Woe to me because of my brokenness- I am severely wounded! I exclaimed, "This is my intense suffering, but I must bear it."

20 My tent is destroyed; all my tent cords are snapped. My sons have departed from me and are no more. [I have] no one to pitch my tent again or to hang up my curtains.

21 For the shepherds are stupid: they don't seek the Lord. Therefore they have not prospered, and their whole flock is scattered.

22 Listen! A noise-it is coming- a great commotion from the land to the north. The cities of Judah will be made desolate, a jackals' den.

23 I know, Lord, that a man's way of life is not his own; no one who walks determines his own steps.

24 Discipline me, Lord, but with justice- not in Your anger, or You will reduce me to nothing.

25 Pour out Your wrath on the nations that don't recognize You and on the families that don't call on Your name, for they have consumed Jacob; they have consumed him and finished him off and made his homeland desolate.

1 [This is] the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord:

2 "Listen to the words of this covenant, and tell them to the men of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem.

3 You must tell them: This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Let a curse be on the man who does not obey the words of this covenant,

4 which I commanded your ancestors when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the iron furnace. I declared: 'Obey Me, and do everything that I command you, and you will be My people, and I will be your God,'

5 in order to establish the oath I swore to your ancestors, to give [them] a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is today." I answered, "Amen, Lord."

6 The Lord said to me, "Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: Obey the words of this covenant and carry them out.

7 For I strongly warned your ancestors when I brought them out of the land of Egypt until today, warning them time and time again: Obey My voice.

8 Yet they would not obey or pay attention; each one followed the stubbornness of his evil heart. So I brought on them all the curses of this covenant, because they had not done what I commanded [them] to do."

9 The Lord said to me, "A conspiracy has been discovered among the men of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem.

10 They have returned to the sins of their ancestors who refused to obey My words and have followed other gods to worship them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah broke My covenant I made with their ancestors.

11 "Therefore, this is what the Lord says: I am about to bring on them disaster that they cannot escape. They will cry out to Me, but I will not hear them.

12 Then the cities of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods they have been burning incense to, but they certainly will not save them in their time of disaster.

13 Your gods are indeed as numerous as your cities, Judah, and the altars you have set up to Shame-altars to burn incense to Baal-as numerous as the streets of Jerusalem.

14 "As for you, do not pray for these people. Do not raise up a cry or a prayer on their behalf, for I will not be listening when they call out to Me at the time of their disaster.

15 What [right] does My beloved have to be in My house, having carried out so many evil schemes? Can holy meatprevent your disaster so you can rejoice?

16 The Lord named you a flourishing olive tree, beautiful with well-formed fruit. He has set fire to it, and its branches are consumed with a great roaring sound.

17 "The Lord of Hosts who planted you has decreed disaster against you, because of the harm the house of Israel and the house of Judah brought on themselves, provoking Me to anger by burning incense to Baal."

18 The Lord informed me, so I knew. Then You helped me to see their deeds,

19 for I was like a docile lamb led to slaughter. I didn't know that they had devised plots against me: "Let's destroy the tree with its fruit; let's cut him off from the land of the living so that his name will no longer be remembered."

20 But, Lord of Hosts, who judges righteously, who tests heart and mind, let me see Your vengeance on them, for I have presented my case to You.

21 Therefore, here is what the Lord says concerning the people of Anathoth who want to take your life. They warn, "You must not prophesy in the name of the Lord, or you will certainly die at our hand."

22 Therefore, this is what the Lord of Hosts says: "I am about to punish them. The young men will die by the sword; their sons and daughters will die by famine.

23 They will have no remnant, for I will bring disaster on the people of Anathoth [in] the year of their punishment."

1 You will be righteous, Lord, even if I bring a case against You. Yet, I wish to contend with You: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? [Why] do the treacherous live at ease?

2 You planted them, and they have taken root. They have grown and produced fruit. You are ever on their lips, but far from their conscience.

3 As for You, You know me, Lord; You see me. You test whether my heart is with You. Drag the wicked away like sheep to slaughter, and set them apart for the day of killing.

4 How long will the land mourn and the grass of every field wither? Because of the evil of its residents, animals and birds have been swept away, for [the people] have said, "He cannot see what our end will be."

5 If you have raced with runners and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in a peaceful land, what will you do in the thickets of the Jordan?

6 Even your brothers-your own father's household- even they were treacherous to you; even they have cried out loudly after you. Do not have confidence in them, though they speak well of you.

7 I have abandoned My house; I have deserted My inheritance. I have given the love of My life into the hand of her enemies.

8 My inheritance has acted toward Me like a lion in the forest. She has roared against Me. Therefore, I hate her.

9 Is My inheritance like a hyena to Me? Are birds of prey circling her? Go, gather all the wild animals; bring them to devour [her].

10 Many shepherds have destroyed My vineyard; they have trampled My plot of land. They have turned My desirable plot into a desolate wasteland.

11 They have made it a desolation. It mourns, desolate, before Me. All the land is desolate, but no one takes it to heart.

12 Over all the barren heights in the wilderness the destroyers have come, for the Lord has a sword that devours from one end of the earth to the other. No one has peace.

13 They have sown wheat but harvested thorns. They have exhausted themselves but have no profit. Be put to shame by your harvests because of the Lord's burning anger.

14 This is what the Lord says: "Concerning all My evil neighbors who attack the inheritance that I bequeathed to My people, Israel, I am about to uproot them from their land, and I will uproot the house of Judah from among them.

15 After I have uprooted them, I will once again have compassion on them and return each one to his inheritance and to his land.

16 If they will diligently learn the ways of My people-to swear by My name, 'As the Lord lives,' just as they taught My people to swear by Baal-they will be built up among My people.

17 However, if they will not obey, then I will uproot and destroy that nation." [This is]*The bracketed text has been added for clarity. the Lord's declaration.

1 This is what the Lord said to me: "Go and buy yourself linen underwear and put it on, but don't get it wet."

2 So I bought underwear as the Lord instructed me and put it on.

3 Then the word of the Lord came to me a second time:

4 "Take the underwear that you bought and are wearing, and go at once to the Euphrates River and hide it in a rocky crevice."

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

6 A long time later the Lord said to me, "Go at once to the Euphrates and get the underwear that I commanded you to hide there."

7 So I went to the Euphrates and dug up the underwear and got it from the place where I had hidden it, but it was ruined-of no use whatsoever.

8 Then the word of the Lord came to me:

9 "This is what the Lord says: Just like this I will ruin the great pride of both Judah and Jerusalem.

10 These evil people, who refuse to listen to Me, who walk in the stubbornness of their own hearts, and who have followed other gods to serve and worship-they will be like this underwear, of no use whatsoever.

11 Just as underwear clings to one's waist, so I fastened the whole house of Israel and of Judah to Me"-[this is the Lord's declaration]-"so that they might be My people for My fame, praise, and glory, but they would not obey.

12 "Say this to them: This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Every jar should be filled with wine. Then they will respond to you: Don't we know that every jar should be filled with wine?

13 And you will say to them, This is what the Lord says: I am about to fill all who live in this land-the kings who reign for David on his throne, the priests, the prophets and all the residents of Jerusalem-with drunkenness.

14 I will smash them against each other, fathers and sons alike"-the Lord's declaration. "I will allow no mercy, pity, or compassion [to keep Me] from destroying them."

15 Listen and pay attention. Do not be proud, for the Lord has spoken.

16 Give glory to the Lord your God before He brings darkness, before your feet stumble on the mountains at dusk. You wait for light, but He brings darkest gloom and makes thick darkness.

17 But if you will not listen, my innermost being will weep in secret because of your pride. My eyes will overflow with tears, for the Lord's flock has been taken captive.

18 Say to the king and the queen mother: Take a humble seat, for your glorious crowns have fallen from your heads.

19 The cities of the Negev are under siege; no one can help [them]. All of Judah has been taken into exile, taken completely into exile.

20 Look up and see those coming from the north. Where is the flock entrusted to you, the sheep [that were] your pride?

21 What will you say when He appoints close friends as leaders over you, ones you yourself trained? Won't labor pains seize you, as [they do] a woman in labor?

22 And when you ask yourself: Why have these things happened to me?- it is because of your great guilt that your skirts have been stripped off, your body ravished.

23 Can the Cushite change his skin, or a leopard his spots? If so, you might be able to do what is good, you who are instructed in evil.

24 I will scatter you like drifting chaff before the desert wind.

25 This is your lot, what I have decreed for you- [this is]*The bracketed text has been added for clarity. the Lord's declaration- because you have forgotten Me and trusted in Falsehood.

26 I will pull your skirts up over your face so that your shame might be seen.

27 Your adulteries and your [lustful] neighings, your heinous prostitution on the hills, in the fields- I have seen your detestable acts. Woe to you, Jerusalem! You are unclean- for how long yet?

1 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought:

2 Judah mourns; her gates languish. [Her people] are on the ground in mourning; Jerusalem's cry rises up.

3 Their nobles send their servants for water. They go to the cisterns; they find no water; their containers return empty. They are ashamed and humiliated; they cover their heads.

4 The ground is cracked since no rain [has fallen] on the land. The farmers are ashamed; they cover their heads.

5 Even the doe in the field gives birth and abandons [her fawn] since there is no grass.

6 Wild donkeys stand on the barren heights panting for air like jackals. Their eyes fail because there are no green plants.

7 Though our guilt testifies against us, Lord, act for Your name's sake. Indeed, our rebellions are many; we have sinned against You.

8 Hope of Israel, its Savior in time of distress, why are You like an alien in the land, like a traveler stopping only for the night?

9 Why are You like a helpless man, like a warrior unable to save? Yet You are among us, Lord, and we are called by Your name. Don't leave us!

10 This is what the Lord says concerning these people: Truly they love to wander; they never rest their feet. So the Lord does not accept them. Now He will remember their guilt and punish their sins.

11 Then the Lord said to me, "Do not pray for the well-being of these people.

12 If they fast, I will not hear their cry of despair. If they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I will not accept them. Rather, I will finish them off by sword, famine, and plague."

13 And I replied, "Oh no, Lord God ! The prophets are telling them, 'You won't see sword or suffer famine. I will certainly give you true peace in this place.' "

14 But the Lord said to me, "These prophets are prophesying a lie in My name. I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a false vision, worthless divination, the deceit of their own minds.

15 "Therefore, this is what the Lord says concerning the prophets who prophesy in My name, though I did not send them, and who say: There will never be sword or famine in this land: By sword and famine these prophets will meet their end.

16 The people they are prophesying to will be thrown into the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword. There will be no one to bury them-they, their wives, their sons, and their daughters. I will pour out their own evil on them."

17 You are to speak this word to them: Let my eyes overflow with tears; day and night may [they] not stop, for the virgin daughter of my people has been destroyed by a great disaster, an extremely severe wound.

18 If I go out to the field, look-those slain by the sword! If I enter the city, look-those ill from famine! For both prophet and priest travel to a land they do not know.

19 Have You completely rejected Judah? Do You detest Zion? Why do You strike us with no hope of healing for us? We hoped for peace, but there was nothing good; for a time of healing, but there was only terror.

20 We acknowledge our wickedness, Lord, the guilt of our fathers; indeed, we have sinned against You.

21 Because of Your name, don't despise [us]. Don't disdain Your glorious throne. Remember Your covenant with us; do not break it.

22 Can any of the worthless idols of the nations bring rain? Or can the skies alone give showers? Are You not the Lord our God? We therefore put our hope in You, for You have done all these things.

1 Then the Lord said to me: "Even if Moses and Samuel should stand before Me, My compassions would not [reach out] to these people. Send them from My presence, and let them go.

2 If they ask you: Where will we go? you must tell them: This is what the Lord says: Those [destined] for death, to death; those [destined] for the sword, to the sword. Those [destined] for famine, to famine; those [destined] for captivity, to captivity.

3 "I will ordain four kinds [of judgment] for them"-[this is] the Lord's declaration-"the sword to kill, the dogs to drag away, and the birds of the sky and the wild animals of the land to devour and destroy.

4 I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth because of Manasseh son of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem.

5 Who will have pity on you, Jerusalem? Who will show sympathy toward you? Who will turn aside to ask about your welfare?

6 You have left Me. [This is]*The bracketed text has been added for clarity. the Lord's declaration. You have turned your back, so I have stretched out My hand against you and destroyed you. I am tired of showing compassion.

7 I scattered them with a winnowing fork at the gates of the land. I made [them] childless; I destroyed My people. They would not turn from their ways.

8 I made their widows more numerous than the sand of the seas. I brought against the mother of young men a destroyer at noon. I suddenly released on her agitation and terrors.

9 The mother of seven grew faint; she breathed her [last] breath. Her sun set while it was still day; she was ashamed and humiliated. The rest of them I will give over to the sword in the presence of their enemies." [This is] the Lord's declaration.

10 Woe is me, my mother, that you gave birth to me, a man who incites dispute and conflict in all the land. I did not lend or borrow, yet everyone curses me.

11 The Lord said: Assuredly, I will set you free and care for you. Assuredly, I will intercede for you in a time of trouble, in your time of distress, with the enemy.

12 Can anyone smash iron, iron from the north, or bronze?

13 Your wealth and your treasures I will give as plunder, without cost, for all your sins, and within all your borders.

14 Then I will make you serve your enemies in a land you do not know, for My anger will kindle a fire that will burn against you.

15 You know, Lord; remember me and take note of me. Avenge me against my persecutors. In Your patience, don't take me away. Know that I suffer disgrace for Your honor.

16 Your words were found, and I ate them. Your words became a delight to me and the joy of my heart, for I am called by Your name, Lord God of Hosts.

17 I never sat with the band of revelers, and I did not celebrate [with them]. Because Your hand was [on me], I sat alone, for You filled me with indignation.

18 Why has my pain become unending, my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? You truly have become like a mirage to me- water that is not reliable.

19 Therefore, this is what the Lord says: If you return, I will restore you; you will stand in My presence. And if you speak noble [words], rather than worthless ones, you will be My spokesman. It is they who must return to you; you must not return to them.

20 Then I will make you a fortified wall of bronze to this people. They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you to save you and deliver you. [This is]*The bracketed text has been added for clarity. the Lord's declaration.

21 I will deliver you from the power of evil people and redeem you from the control of the ruthless.

1 The word of the Lord came to me:

2 "You must not marry or have sons or daughters in this place.

3 For this is what the Lord says concerning sons and daughters born in this place as well as concerning the mothers who bear them and the fathers who father them in this land:

4 They will die from deadly diseases. They will not be mourned or buried but will be like manure on the face of the earth. They will be finished off by sword and famine. Their corpses will become food for the birds of the sky and for the wild animals of the land.

5 "For this is what the Lord says: Don't enter a house where a mourning feast is taking place. Don't go to lament or sympathize with them, for I have removed My peace from these people"-[this is] the Lord's declaration-"[as well as My] faithful love and compassion.

6 Both great and small will die in this land without burial. No lament will be made for them, nor will anyone cut himself or shave his head for them.

7 Food won't be provided for the mourner to comfort him because of the dead. A cup of consolation won't be given him because of [the loss of] his father or mother.

8 You must not enter the house where feasting is taking place to sit with them to eat and drink.

9 For this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: I am about to eliminate from this place, before your very eyes and in your time, the sound of joy and gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the bride.

10 "When you tell these people all these things, they will say to you: Why has the Lord declared all this great disaster against us? What is our guilt? What is our sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?

11 Then you will answer them: Because your fathers abandoned Me"-the Lord's declaration-"and followed other gods, served them, and worshiped them. Indeed, they abandoned Me and did not keep My law.

12 You did more evil than your fathers. Look, each one of you was following the stubbornness of his evil heart, not obeying Me.

13 So I will hurl you from this land into a land that you and your fathers are not familiar with. There you will worship other gods both day and night, for I will not grant you grace.

14 "However, take note! The days are coming"-the Lord's declaration-"when it will no longer be said: As the Lord lives who brought the Israelites from the land of Egypt,

15 but rather: As the Lord lives who brought the Israelites from the land of the north and from all the other lands where He had banished them. For I will return them to their land that I gave to their ancestors.

16 "I am about to send for many fishermen"-the Lord's declaration-"and they will fish for them. Then I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill and out of the clefts of the rocks,

17 for My gaze takes in all their ways. They are not concealed from Me, and their guilt is not hidden from My sight.

18 I will first repay them double for their guilt and sin because they have polluted My land. They have filled My inheritance with the lifelessness of their detestable and abhorrent idols."

19 Lord, my strength and my stronghold, my refuge in a time of distress, the nations will come to You from the ends of the earth, and they will say, "Our fathers inherited only lies, worthless idols of no benefit at all."

20 Can one make gods for himself? But they are not gods.

21 "Therefore, I am about to inform them, and this time I will make them know My power and My might; then they will know that My name is Yahweh."

1 The sin of Judah is written with an iron stylus. With a diamond point it is engraved on the tablet of their hearts and on the horns of their altars,

2 while their children remember their altars and their Asherah poles, by the green trees on the high hills-

3 My mountains in the countryside. Your wealth and all your treasures I will give up as plunder because of the sin of your high places within all your borders.

4 You will, of yourself, relinquish your inheritance that I gave you. I will make you serve your enemies in a land you do not know, for you have set My anger on fire; it will burn forever.

5 This is what the Lord says: Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind, who makes [human] flesh his strength and turns his heart from the Lord.

6 He will be like a juniper in the Arabah; he cannot see when good comes but dwells in the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land where no one lives.

7 Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence indeed is the Lord.

8 He will be like a tree planted by water: it sends its roots out toward a stream, it doesn't fear when heat comes, and its foliage remains green. It will not worry in a year of drought or cease producing fruit.

9 The heart is more deceitful than anything else and desperately sick-who can understand it?

10 I, the Lord, examine the mind, I test the heart to give to each according to his way, according to what his actions deserve.

11 He who makes a fortune unjustly is [like] a partridge that hatches eggs it didn't lay. In the middle of his days [his riches] will abandon him, so in the end he will be a fool.

12 A throne of glory on high from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary,

13 Lord, the hope of Israel, all who abandon You will be put to shame. All who turn away from Me will be written in the dirt, for they have abandoned the fountain of living water, the Lord.

14 Heal me, Lord, and I will be healed; save me, and I will be saved, for You are my praise.

15 Hear how they keep challenging me, "Where is the word of the Lord? Let it come!"

16 But I have not run away from being Your shepherd, and I have not longed for the fatal day. You know my words were spoken in Your presence.

17 Don't become a terror to me. You are my refuge in the day of disaster.

18 Let my persecutors be put to shame, but don't let me be put to shame. Let them be terrified, but don't let me be terrified. Bring on them the day of disaster; shatter them with total destruction.

19 This is what the Lord said to me, "Go and stand in the People's Gate, through which the kings of Judah enter and leave, and in all the gates of Jerusalem.

20 Announce to them: Hear the word of the Lord, kings of Judah, all Judah, and all the residents of Jerusalem who enter through these gates.

21 This is what the Lord says: Watch yourselves; do not pick up a load and bring it in through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day.

22 You must not carry a load out of your houses on the Sabbath day or do any work, but you must consecrate the Sabbath day, just as I commanded your ancestors.

23 They wouldn't listen or pay attention but became obstinate, not listening or accepting discipline.

24 "However, if you listen to Me, says the Lord, and do not bring loads through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day and consecrate the Sabbath day and do no work on it,

25 kings and princes will enter through the gates of this city. They will sit on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses with their officials, the men of Judah, and the residents of Jerusalem. This city will be inhabited forever.

26 Then [people] will come from the cities of Judah and from the area around Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin and from the Judean foothills, from the hill country and from the Negev bringing burnt offerings and sacrifice, grain offerings and frankincense, and thank offerings to the house of the Lord.

27 If you do not listen to Me to consecrate the Sabbath day by not carrying a load while entering the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, I will set fire to its gates, and it will consume the citadels of Jerusalem and not be extinguished."

1 [This is] the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord:

2 "Go down at once to the potter's house; there I will reveal My words to you."

3 So I went down to the potter's house, and there he was, working away at the wheel.

4 But the jar that he was making from the clay became flawed in the potter's hand, so he made it into another jar, as it seemed right for him to do.

5 The word of the Lord came to me:

6 "House of Israel, can I not treat you as this potter [treats his clay]?"-[this is] the Lord's declaration. "Just like clay in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, house of Israel.

7 At one moment I might announce concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will uproot, tear down, and destroy [it].

8 However, if that nation I have made an announcement about, turns from its evil, I will not bring the disaster on it I had planned.

9 At [another] time I announce that I will build and plant a nation or a kingdom.

10 However, if it does what is evil in My sight by not listening to My voice, I will not bring the good I had said I would do to it.

11 So now, say to the men of Judah and to the residents of Jerusalem: This is what the Lord says: I am about to bring harm to you and make plans against you. Turn now, each from your evil way, and correct your ways and your deeds.

12 But they will say: It's hopeless. We will continue to follow our plans, and each of us will continue to act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart."

13 Therefore, this is what the Lord says: Ask among the nations, Who has heard [things] like these? Virgin Israel has done a most terrible thing.

14 Does the snow of Lebanon ever leave the highland crags? Or does cold water flowing from a distance ever fail?

15 Yet My people have forgotten Me. They burn incense to false [idols] that make them stumble in their ways- in the ancient roads- to walk on [new] paths, not the highway.

16 They have made their land a horror, a perpetual object of scorn; everyone who passes by it will be horrified and shake his head.

17 I will scatter them before the enemy like the east wind. I will show them [My] back and not [My] face on the day of their calamity.

18 Then certain ones said, "Come, let's make plans against Jeremiah, for the law will never be lost from the priest, or counsel from the wise, or an oracle from the prophet. Come, let's denounce him and pay no attention to all his words."

19 Pay attention to me, Lord. Hear what my opponents are saying!

20 Should good be repaid with evil? Yet they have dug a pit for me. Remember how I stood before You to speak good on their behalf, to turn Your anger from them.

21 Therefore, hand their children over to famine, and pour the sword's power on them. Let their wives become childless and widowed, their husbands slain by deadly disease, their young men struck down by the sword in battle.

22 Let a cry be heard from their houses when You suddenly bring raiders against them, for they have dug a pit to capture me and have hidden snares for my feet.

23 But You, Lord, know all their deadly plots against me. Do not wipe out their guilt; do not blot out their sin before You. Let them be forced to stumble before You; deal with them in the time of Your anger.

1 This is what the Lord says: "Go, buy a potter's clay jug. Take some of the elders of the people and some of the elders of the priests

2 and go out to the Valley of Hinnom near the entrance of the Potsherd Gate. Proclaim there the words I speak to you.

3 Say: Hear the word of the Lord, kings of Judah and residents of Jerusalem. This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: I am going to bring such disaster on this place that everyone who hears about it will shudder

4 because they have abandoned Me and made this a foreign place. They have burned incense in it to other gods that they, their fathers, and the kings of Judah have never known. They have filled this place with the blood of the innocent.

5 They have built high places to Baal on which to burn their children in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, something I have never commanded or mentioned; I never entertained the thought.

6 "Therefore, take note! The days are coming"-[this is] the Lord's declaration-"when this place will no longer be called Topheth and the Valley of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.

7 I will spoil the plans of Judah and Jerusalem in this place. I will make them fall by the sword before their enemies, by the hand of those who want to take their life. I will provide their corpses as food for the birds of the sky and for the wild animals of the land.

8 I will make this city desolate, an object of scorn. Everyone who passes by it will be horrified and scoff because of all its wounds.

9 I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and their daughters, and they will eat each other's flesh in the siege and distress that their enemies, those who want to take their life, inflict on them.

10 "Then you are to shatter the jug in the presence of the people traveling with you,

11 and you are to proclaim to them: This is what the Lord of Hosts says: I will shatter these people and this city, like one shatters a potter's jar that can never again be mended. They will bury in Topheth until there is no place left to bury.

12 I will do so to this place"-[this is] the declaration of the Lord-"and to its residents, making this city like Topheth.

13 The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will become impure like that place Topheth-all the houses on whose rooftops they have burned incense to the whole heavenly host and poured out drink offerings to other gods."

14 Jeremiah came back from Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy, stood in the courtyard of the Lord's temple, and proclaimed to all the people,

15 "This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: 'I am about to bring on this city-and on all its [dependent] villages-all the disaster that I spoke against it, for they have become obstinate, not obeying My words.' "

1 Pashhur the priest, the son of Immer and chief officer in the house of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things.

2 So Pashhur had Jeremiah the prophet beaten and put him in the stocks at the Upper Benjamin Gate in the Lord's temple.

3 The next day, when Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, "The Lord does not call you Pashhur, but Magor-missabib,

4 for this is what the Lord says, 'I am about to make you a terror to both yourself and those you love. They will fall by the sword of their enemies before your very eyes. I will hand Judah over to the king of Babylon, and he will deport them to Babylon and put them to the sword.

5 I will give away all the wealth of this city, all its products and valuables. Indeed, I will hand all the treasures of the kings of Judah over to their enemies. They will plunder them, seize them, and carry them off to Babylon.

6 As for you, Pashhur, and all who live in your house, you will go into captivity. You will go to Babylon. There you will die, and there you will be buried, you and all your friends that you prophesied falsely to.' "

7 You deceived me, Lord, and I was deceived. You seized me and prevailed. I am a laughingstock all the time; everyone ridicules me.

8 For whenever I speak, I cry out- I proclaim: Violence and destruction! because the word of the Lord has become for me constant disgrace and derision.

9 If I say: I won't mention Him or speak any longer in His name, His message becomes a fire burning in my heart, shut up in my bones. I become tired of holding it in, and I cannot prevail.

10 For I have heard the gossip of the multitudes, "Terror is on every side! Report [him]; let's report him!" Everyone I trusted watches for my fall. "Perhaps he will be deceived so that we might prevail against him and take our vengeance on him."

11 But the Lord is with me like a violent warrior. Therefore, my persecutors will stumble and not prevail. Since they have not succeeded, they will be utterly shamed, an everlasting humiliation that will never be forgotten.

12 Lord of Hosts, testing the righteous and seeing the heart and mind, let me see Your vengeance on them, for I have presented my case to You.

13 Sing to the Lord! Praise the Lord, for He rescues the life of the needy from the hand of evil people.

14 Cursed be the day on which I was born. The day my mother bore me- let it never be blessed.

15 Cursed be the man who brought the news to my father, saying, "A male child is born to you," bringing him great joy.

16 Let that man be like the cities the Lord overthrew without compassion. Let him hear an outcry in the morning and a war cry at noontime

17 because he didn't kill me in the womb so that my mother might have been my grave, her womb eternally pregnant.

18 Why did I come out of the womb to see [only] struggle and sorrow, to end my life in shame?

1 [This is] the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord when King Zedekiah sent Pashhur son of Malchijah and the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah to Jeremiah, asking,

2 "Ask the Lord on our behalf, since Nebuchadnezzarking of Babylon is making war against us. Perhaps the Lord will perform for us something like all His [past] wonderful works so that [Nebuchadnezzar] will withdraw from us."

3 But Jeremiah answered, "This is what you are to say to Zedekiah:

4 'This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I will repel the weapons of war in your hands, those you are using to fight the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans who are besieging you outside the wall, and I will bring them into the center of this city.

5 I will fight against you with an outstretched hand and a mighty arm, with anger, rage, and great wrath.

6 I will strike the residents of this city, both man and beast. They will die in a great plague.

7 Afterwards'"-[this is] the Lord's declaration-"'King Zedekiah of Judah, his officers, and the people-those in this city who survive the plague, the sword, and the famine-I will hand over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, to their enemies, yes, to those who want to take their lives. He will put them to the sword; he won't spare them or show pity or compassion.'

8 "But you must say to this people, 'This is what the Lord says: Look, I am presenting to you the way of life and the way of death.

9 Whoever stays in this city will die by the sword, famine, and plague, but whoever goes out and surrenders to the Chaldeans who are besieging you will live and will retain his life like the spoils [of war].

10 For I have turned against this city to [bring] disaster and not good""-[this is] the Lord's declaration. "'It will be handed over to the king of Babylon, who will burn it down.'

11 "And to the house of the king of Judah [say this]: 'Hear the word of the Lord!

12 House of David, this is what the Lord says: Administer justice every morning, and rescue the victim of robbery from the hand of his oppressor, or My anger will flare up like fire and burn unquenchably because of their evil deeds.

13 Beware! I am against you, you who sit above the valley, [you atop] the rocky plateau- [this is]*The bracketed text has been added for clarity. the Lord's declaration- you who say: Who can come down against us? Who can enter our hiding places?

14 I will punish you according to what you have done- [this is]*The bracketed text has been added for clarity. the Lord's declaration. I will kindle a fire in its forest that will consume everything around it.' "

1 This is what the Lord says: "Go down to the palace of the king of Judah and announce this word there.

2 You are to say: Hear the word of the Lord, king of Judah, you who sit on the throne of David-you, your officers, and your people who enter these gates.

3 This is what the Lord says: Administer justice and righteousness. Rescue the victim of robbery from the hand of his oppressor. Don't exploit or brutalize the alien, the fatherless, or the widow. Don't shed innocent blood in this place.

4 For if you conscientiously carry out this word, then kings sitting on David's throne will enter through the gates of this palace riding on chariots and horses-they, their officers, and their people.

5 But if you do not obey these words, then I swear by Myself"-[this is] the Lord's declaration-"that this house will become a ruin."

6 For this is what the Lord says concerning the house of the king of Judah: You are like Gilead to Me, [or] the summit of Lebanon, but I will certainly turn you into a wilderness, uninhabited cities.

7 I will appoint destroyers against you, each with his weapons. They will cut down the choicest of your cedars and throw them into the fire.

8 "Many nations will pass by this city and ask one another: Why did the Lord do such a thing to this great city?

9 They will answer: Because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord their God and worshiped and served other gods."

10 Do not weep for the dead; do not mourn for him. Weep bitterly for the one who has gone away, for he will never return again and see his native land.

11 For this is what the Lord says concerning Shallum son of Josiah, king of Judah, who succeeded Josiah his father as king: "He has left this place-he will never return here again,

12 but he will die in the place where they deported him, never seeing this land again."

13 Woe for the one who builds his palace through unrighteousness, his upper rooms through injustice, who makes his fellow man serve without pay and will not give him his wages,

14 who says: I will build myself a massive palace, with spacious upper rooms. He will cut windows in it, and it will be paneled with cedar and painted with vermilion.

15 Are you a king because you excel in cedar? Your own father, did he not eat and drink? He administered justice and righteousness, then it went well with him.

16 He took up the case of the poor and needy, then it went well. Is this not what it means to know Me? [This is]*The bracketed text has been added for clarity. the Lord's declaration.

17 But you have eyes and heart for nothing except your own unjust gain, shedding innocent blood and committing extortion and oppression.

18 Therefore, this is what the Lord says concerning Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah: They will not mourn for him, [saying,] Woe, my brother! or Woe, [my] sister! They will not mourn for him, saying, Woe, lord! Woe, his majesty!

19 He will be buried [like] a donkey, dragged off and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem.

20 Go up to Lebanon and cry out; raise your voice in Bashan; cry out from Abarim, for all your lovers have been crushed.

21 I spoke to you when you were secure. You said: I will not listen. This has been your way since youth; indeed, you have never listened to Me.

22 The wind will take charge of all your shepherds, and your lovers will go into captivity. Then you will be ashamed and humiliated because of all your evil.

23 You residents of Lebanon, nestled among the cedars, how you will groan when labor pains come on you, agony like a woman in labor.

24 "As I live," says the Lord, "though you, Coniah son of Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, were a signet ring on My right hand, I would tear you from it.

25 In fact, I will hand you over to those you dread, who want to take your life, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and the Chaldeans.

26 I will hurl you and the mother who gave birth to you into another land, where neither of you were born, and there you will both die.

27 They will never return to the land they long to return to."

28 Is this man Coniah a despised, shattered pot, a jar no one wants? Why are he and his descendants hurled out and cast into a land they have not known?

29 Earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord!

30 This is what the Lord says: Record this man as childless, a man who will not be successful in his lifetime. None of his descendants will succeed in sitting on the throne of David or ruling again in Judah.

1 "Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!" [This is] the Lord's declaration.

2 "Therefore, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says about the shepherds who shepherd My people: You have scattered My flock, banished them, and have not attended to them. I will attend to you because of your evil acts"-the Lord's declaration.

3 "I will gather the remnant of My flock from all the lands where I have banished them, and I will return them to their grazing land. They will become fruitful and numerous.

4 I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them. They will no longer be afraid or dismayed, nor will any be missing." [This is] the Lord's declaration.

5 "The days are coming"-[this is] the Lord's declaration-"when I will raise up a righteous Branch of David. He will reign wisely as king and administer justice and righteousness in the land.

6 In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. This is what He will be named: The Lord Is Our Righteousness.

7 The days are coming"-the Lord's declaration-"when it will no longer be said: As the Lord lives who brought the Israelites from the land of Egypt,

8 but: As the Lord lives, who brought and led the descendants of the house of Israel from the land of the north and from all the other countries where I had banished them. They will dwell once more in their own land."

9 Concerning the prophets: My heart is broken within me, and all my bones tremble. I have become like a drunkard, like a man overcome by wine, because of the Lord, because of His holy words.

10 For the land is full of adulterers; the land mourns because of the curse, and the grazing lands in the wilderness have dried up. Their way of life has become evil, and their power is not rightly used

11 because both prophet and priest are ungodly, even in My house I have found their evil. [This is]*The bracketed text has been added for clarity. the Lord's declaration.

12 Therefore, their way will be to them like slippery paths in the gloom. They will be driven away and fall down there, for I will bring disaster on them, the year of their punishment. [This is] the Lord's declaration.

13 Among the prophets of Samaria I saw something disgusting: They prophesied by Baal and led My people Israel astray.

14 Among the prophets of Jerusalem also I saw a horrible thing: They commit adultery and walk in lies. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, and none turns his back on evil. They are all like Sodom to Me; Jerusalem's residents are like Gomorrah.

15 Therefore, this is what the Lord of Hosts says concerning the prophets: I am about to feed them wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink, for from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has spread throughout the land.

16 This is what the Lord of Hosts says: "Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They are making you worthless. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the Lord's mouth.

17 They keep on saying to those who despise Me: The Lord has said: You will have peace. To everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his heart they have said, No harm will come to you."

18 For who has stood in the council of the Lord to see and hear His word? Who has paid attention to His word and obeyed?

19 Look, a storm from the Lord! Wrath has gone forth, a whirling storm. It will whirl about the head of the wicked.

20 The Lord's anger will not turn back until He has completely fulfilled the purposes of His heart. In time to come you will understand it clearly.

21 I did not send these prophets, yet they ran [with a message]. I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied.

22 If they had really stood in My council, they would have enabled My people to hear My words and would have turned them back from their evil ways and their evil deeds.

23 "Am I a God who is only near"-[this is] the Lord's declaration-"and not a God who is far away?

24 Can a man hide himself in secret places where I cannot see him?"-the Lord's declaration. "Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?"-the Lord's declaration.

25 "I have heard what the prophets who prophesy a lie in My name have said: I had a dream! I had a dream!

26 How long will this continue in the minds of the prophets prophesying lies, prophets of the deceit of their own minds?

27 Through their dreams that they tell one another, they make plans to cause My people to forget My name as their fathers forgot My name through Baal worship.

28 The prophet who has [only] a dream should recount the dream, but the one who has My word should speak My word truthfully, for what is straw [compared] to grain?"-the Lord's declaration.

29 "Is not My word like fire"-the Lord's declaration-"and like a sledgehammer that pulverizes rock?

30 Therefore, take note! I am against the prophets"-the Lord's declaration-"who steal My words from each other.

31 I am against the prophets"-the Lord's declaration-"who use their own tongues to deliver an oracle.

32 I am against those who prophesy false dreams"-the Lord's declaration-"telling them and leading My people astray with their falsehoods and their boasting. It was not I who sent or commanded them, and they are of no benefit at all to these people"-[this is] the Lord's declaration.

33 "Now when these people or a prophet or a priest asks you: What is the burden of the Lord? you will respond to them: What is the burden? I will throw you away"-[this is] the Lord's declaration.

34 "As for the prophet, priest, or people who say: The burden of the Lord, I will punish that man and his household.

35 This is what each man is to say to his friend and to his brother: What has the Lord answered? or What has the Lord spoken?

36 But no longer refer to the burden of the Lord, for each man's word becomes his burden and you pervert the words of the living God, the Lord of Hosts, our God

37 You must say to the prophet: What has the Lord answered you? and What has the Lord spoken?

38 But if you say: The burden of the Lord, then this is what the Lord says: Because you have said, The burden of the Lord, and I specifically told you not to say, The burden of the Lord

39 I will surely forget you and throw away from My presence both you and the city that I gave you and your fathers.

40 I will bring on you everlasting shame and humiliation that will never be forgotten."

1 After Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had deported Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, the officials of Judah, and the craftsmen and metalsmiths from Jerusalem and had brought them to Babylon, the Lord showed me two baskets of figs placed before the temple of the Lord.

2 One basket [contained] very good figs, like early figs, but the other basket contained very bad figs, so bad they were inedible.

3 The Lord said to me, "What do you see, Jeremiah?" I said, "Figs! The good figs are very good, but the bad figs are extremely bad, so bad they are inedible."

4 The word of the Lord came to me:

5 "This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Like these good figs, so I regard as good the exiles from Judah I sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans.

6 I will keep My eyes on them for their good and will return them to this land. I will build them up and not demolish them; I will plant them and not uproot them.

7 I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the Lord. They will be My people, and I will be their God because they will return to Me with all their heart.

8 "But as for the bad figs, so bad they are inedible, this is what the Lord says: in this way I will deal with Zedekiah king of Judah, his officials, and the remnant of Jerusalem-those remaining in this land and those living in the land of Egypt.

9 I will make them an object of horror and disaster to all the kingdoms of the earth, a disgrace, an object of scorn, ridicule, and cursing, wherever I have banished them.

10 I will send the sword, famine, and plague against them until they have perished from the land I gave to them and their ancestors."

1 [This is] the word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah (which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon).

2 The prophet Jeremiah spoke concerning all the people of Judah and all the residents of Jerusalem as follows:

3 "From the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah, until this very day-23 years-the word of the Lord has come to me, and I have spoken to you time and time again, but you have not obeyed.

4 The Lord sent all His servants the prophets to you time and time again, but you have not obeyed or even paid attention.

5 He announced, 'Turn, each of you, from your evil way of life and from your evil deeds. Live in the land the Lord gave to you and your ancestors forever and ever.

6 Do not follow other gods to serve them and to worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger by the work of your hands. Then I will do you no harm.

7 " 'But you would not obey Me'-[this is] the Lord's declaration-'in order that you might provoke Me to anger by the work of your hands and bring disaster on yourselves.'

8 "Therefore, this is what the Lord of Hosts says: 'Because you have not obeyed My words,

9 I am going to send for all the families of the north'-[this is] the Lord's declaration-'and [send for] My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and I will bring them against this land, against its residents, and against all these surrounding nations, and I will completely destroy them and make them a desolation, a derision, and ruins forever.

10 I will eliminate the sound of joy and gladness from them-the voice of the bridegroom and the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp.

11 This whole land will become a desolate ruin, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon for 70 years.

12 When the 70 years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation'-[this is] the Lord's declaration-'the land of the Chaldeans, for their guilt, and I will make it a ruin forever.

13 I will bring on that land all My words I have spoken against it, all that is written in this book that Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations.

14 For many nations and great kings will enslave them, and I will repay them according to their deeds and the work of their hands.' "

15 This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, said to me: "Take this cup of the wine of wrath from My hand and make all the nations I am sending you to drink from it.

16 They will drink, stagger, and go out of their minds because of the sword I am sending among them."

17 So I took the cup from the Lord's hand and made all the nations drink [from it], everyone the Lord sent me to.

18 [These included:] Jerusalem and the [other] cities of Judah, its kings and its officials, to make them a desolate ruin, an object of scorn and cursing-as it is today;

19 Pharaoh king of Egypt, his officers, his leaders, all his people,

20 and all the mixed peoples; all the kings of the land of Uz; all the kings of the land of the Philistines-Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod;

21 Edom, Moab, and the Ammonites;

22 all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the coastlands across the sea;

23 Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all those who shave their temples;

24 all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mixed peoples who have settled in the desert;

25 all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of Media;

26 all the kings of the north, both near and far from one another; that is, all the kingdoms of the world which are on the face of the earth. Finally, the king of Sheshach will drink after them.

27 "Then you are to say to them: This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Drink, get drunk, and vomit. Fall down and never get up again, as a result of the sword I am sending among you.

28 If they refuse to take the cup from you and drink, you are to say to them: This is what the Lord of Hosts says: You must drink!

29 For I am already bringing disaster on the city that bears My name, so how could you possibly go unpunished? You will not go unpunished, for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth"-[this is] the declaration of the Lord of Hosts.

30 "As for you, you are to prophesy all these things to them, and say to them: The Lord roars from on high; He raises His voice from His holy dwelling. He roars loudly over His grazing land; He calls out with a shout, like those who tread [grapes], against all the inhabitants of the earth.

31 The tumult reaches to the ends of the earth because the Lord brings a case against the nations. He enters into judgment with all flesh. As for the wicked, He hands them over to the sword- [This is] the Lord's declaration.

32 "This is what the Lord of Hosts says: Pay attention! Disaster goes forth from nation to nation. A great storm is stirred up from the ends of the earth."

33 Those slain by the Lord on that day will be [spread] from one end of the earth to the other. They will not be mourned, gathered, or buried. They will be like manure on the surface of the ground.

34 Wail, you shepherds, and cry out. Roll [in the dust],you leaders of the flock. Because the days of your slaughter have come, you will fall and become shattered like a precious vase.

35 Flight will be impossible for the shepherds, and escape, for the leaders of the flock.

36 [Hear] the sound of the shepherds' cry, the wail of the leaders of the flock, for the Lord is destroying their pasture.

37 Peaceful grazing land will become lifeless because of the Lord's burning anger.

38 He has left His den like a lion, for their land has become a desolation because of the sword of the oppressor, because of His burning anger.

1 At the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came from the Lord:

2 "This is what the Lord says: Stand in the courtyard of the Lord's temple and speak all the words I have commanded you to speak to all Judah's cities that are coming to worship there. Do not hold back a word.

3 Perhaps they will listen and return-each from his evil way of life-so that I might relent concerning the disaster that I plan to do to them because of the evil of their deeds.

4 You are to say to them: This is what the Lord says: If you do not listen to Me by living according to My law that I set before you

5 and by listening to the words of My servants the prophets I have been sending you time and time again, though you did not listen,

6 I will make this temple like Shiloh. I will make this city an object of cursing for all the nations of the earth."

7 The priests, the prophets, and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the temple of the Lord.

8 He finished the address the Lord had commanded him to deliver to all the people. Then the priests, the prophets, and all the people took hold of him, yelling, "You must surely die!

9 How dare you prophesy in the name of the Lord, 'This temple will become like Shiloh and this city will become an uninhabited ruin'!" Then all the people assembled against Jeremiah at the Lord's temple.

10 When the officials of Judah heard these things, they went up from the king's palace to the Lord's temple and sat at the entrance of the New Gate.

11 Then the priests and prophets said to the officials and all the people, "This man deserves the death sentence because he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your own ears."

12 Then Jeremiah said to all the officials and the people, "The Lord sent me to prophesy all the words that you have heard against this temple and city.

13 So now, correct your ways and deeds and obey the voice of the Lord your God so that He might relent concerning the disaster that He warned about.

14 As for me, here I am in your hands; do to me what you think is good and right.

15 But know for certain that if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood on yourselves, on this city, and on its residents, for it is certain the Lord has sent me to speak all these things directly to you."

16 Then the officials and all the people told the priests and prophets, "This man doesn't deserve the death sentence, for he has spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God!"

17 Some of the elders of the land stood up and said to all the assembled people,

18 "Micah the Moreshite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah and said to all the people of Judah, 'This is what the Lord of Hosts says: Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become ruins, and the temple mount a forested hill.'

19 Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all [the people of] Judah put him to death? Did he not fear the Lord and plead for the Lord's favor, and did not the Lord relent concerning the disaster He had pronounced against them? We are about to bring great harm on ourselves!"

20 Another man was also prophesying in the name of the Lord-Uriah son of Shemaiah from Kiriath-jearim. He prophesied against this city and against this land in words like all those of Jeremiah.

21 King Jehoiakim, all his warriors, and all the officials heard his words, and the king tried to put him to death. When Uriah heard, he fled in fear and went to Egypt.

22 But King Jehoiakim sent men to Egypt: Elnathan son of Achbor and [certain other] men with him [went] to Egypt.

23 They brought Uriah out of Egypt and took him to King Jehoiakim, who executed him with the sword and threw his corpse into the burial place of the common people.

24 But Ahikam son of Shaphan supported Jeremiah, so he was not handed over to the people to be put to death.

1 At the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord:

2 "This is what the Lord said to me: Make fetters and yoke bars for yourself and put them on your neck.

3 Send [word] to the king of Edom, the king of Moab, the king of the Ammonites, the king of Tyre, and the king of Sidon through messengers who are coming to Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem.

4 Command them [to go] to their masters, saying: This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: This is what you must say to your masters:

5 By My great strength and outstretched arm, I made the earth, and the people, and animals on the face of the earth. I give it to anyone I please.

6 So now I have placed all these lands under the authority of My servant Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. I have even given him the wild animals to serve him.

7 All nations will serve him, his son, and his grandson until the time for his own land comes, and then many nations and great kings will enslave him.

8 "As for the nation or kingdom that does not serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and does not place its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation I will punish by sword, famine, and plague"-[this is] the Lord's declaration-"until through him I have destroyed it.

9 But as for you, do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your fortune-tellers, or your sorcerers who say to you: Don't serve the king of Babylon!

10 for they prophesy a lie to you so that you will be removed from your land. I will banish you, and you will perish.

11 But as for the nation that will put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will leave it in its own land, and that nation will till it and reside in it." [This is] the Lord's declaration.

12 I spoke to Zedekiah king of Judah in the same way: "Put your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, serve him and his people, and live!

13 Why should you and your people die by the sword, famine, or plague as the Lord has threatened against any nation that does not serve the king of Babylon?

14 Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are telling you, 'You must not serve the king of Babylon,' for they are prophesying a lie to you.

15 'I have not sent them'-[this is] the Lord's declaration-'and they are prophesying falsely in My name; therefore, I will banish you, and you will perish-you and the prophets who are prophesying to you.' "

16 Then I spoke to the priests and all these people, saying, "This is what the Lord says, 'Do not listen to the words of your prophets. They are prophesying to you, claiming: Look, very soon now the articles of the Lord's temple will be brought back from Babylon. They are prophesying a lie to you.

17 Do not listen to them. Serve the king of Babylon and live! Why should this city become a ruin?

18 If they are indeed prophets and if the word of the Lord is with them, let them intercede with the Lord of Hosts not to let the articles that remain in the Lord's temple, in the palace of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem go to Babylon.'

19 For this is what the Lord of Hosts says about the pillars, the sea, the water carts, and the rest of the articles that still remain in this city,

20 those Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take when he deported Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon along with all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem.

21 Yes, this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says about the articles that remain in the temple of the Lord, in the palace of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem:

22 'They will be brought to Babylon and will remain there until I attend to them again.' [This is] the Lord's declaration. 'Then I will bring them up and restore them to this place.' "

1 In that same year, at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fifth month of the fourth year, the prophet Hananiah son of Azzur from Gibeon said to me in the temple of the Lord in the presence of the priests and all the people,

2 "This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: 'I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.

3 Within two years I will restore to this place all the articles of the Lord's temple that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took from here and transported to Babylon.

4 And I will restore to this place Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the exiles from Judah who went to Babylon'-[this is] the Lord's declaration-'for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.' "

5 The prophet Jeremiah replied to the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests and all the people who were standing in the temple of the Lord.

6 The prophet Jeremiah said, "Amen! May the Lord do so. May the Lord make the words you have prophesied come true and may He restore the articles of the Lord's temple and all the exiles from Babylon to this place!

7 Only listen to this message I am speaking in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people.

8 The prophets who preceded you and me from ancient times prophesied war, disaster, and plague against many lands and great kingdoms.

9 As for the prophet who prophesies peace-only when the word of the prophet comes true will the prophet be recognized as one whom the Lord has truly sent."

10 The prophet Hananiah then took the yoke bar from the neck of Jeremiah the prophet and broke it.

11 In the presence of all the people Hananiah proclaimed, "This is what the Lord says: 'In this way, within two years I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, from the neck of all the nations.' " Jeremiah the prophet then went on his way.

12 The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah after Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke bar from the neck of Jeremiah the prophet:

13 "Go say to Hananiah: This is what the Lord says: You broke a wooden yoke bar, but in its place you will make an iron yoke bar.

14 For this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: I have put an iron yoke on the neck of all these nations that they might serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and they will serve him. I have also put the wild animals under him."

15 The prophet Jeremiah said to the prophet Hananiah, "Listen, Hananiah! The Lord did not send you, but you have led these people to trust in a lie.

16 Therefore, this is what the Lord says: 'I am about to send you off the face of the earth. You will die this year because you have spoken rebellion against the Lord.' "

17 And the prophet Hananiah died that year in the seventh month.

1 This is the text of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the rest of the elders of the exiles, the priests, the prophets, and all the people Nebuchadnezzar had deported from Jerusalem to Babylon.

2 [This was] after King Jeconiah,the queen mother, the court officials, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metalsmiths had left Jerusalem.

3 [The letter was sent] by Elasah son of Shaphan and Gemariah son of Hilkiah whom Zedekiah king of Judah had sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. [The letter] stated:

4 This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says to all the exiles I deported from Jerusalem to Babylon:

5 "Build houses and live [in them]. Plant gardens and eat their produce.

6 Take wives and have sons and daughters. Take wives for your sons and give your daughters to men [in marriage] so that they may bear sons and daughters. Multiply there; do not decrease.

7 Seek the welfare of the city I have deported you to. Pray to the Lord on its behalf, for when it has prosperity, you will prosper."

8 For this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: "Don't let your prophets who are among you and your diviners deceive you, and don't listen to the dreams you elicit from them,

9 for they are prophesying falsely to you in My name. I have not sent them." [This is] the Lord's declaration.

10 For this is what the Lord says: "When 70 years for Babylon are complete, I will attend to you and will confirm My promise concerning you to restore you to this place.

11 For I know the plans I have for you"-[this is] the Lord's declaration-"plans for [your] welfare, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

12 You will call to Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.

13 You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.

14 I will be found by you"-the Lord's declaration-"and I will restore your fortunesand gather you from all the nations and places where I banished you"-the Lord's declaration. "I will restore you to the place I deported you from."

15 You have said, "The Lord has raised up prophets for us in Babylon!"

16 But this is what the Lord says concerning the king sitting on David's throne and concerning all the people living in this city-that is, concerning your brothers who did not go with you into exile.

17 This is what the Lord of Hosts says: "I am about to send against them sword, famine, and plague and will make them like rotten figs that are inedible because they are so bad.

18 I will pursue them with sword, famine, and plague. I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth-a curse and a desolation, an object of scorn and a disgrace among all the nations where I will have banished them.

19 [I will do this] because they have not listened to My words"-[this is] the Lord's declaration-"that I sent to them with My servants the prophets time and time again.And you too have not listened." [This is] the Lord's declaration.

20 Hear the word of the Lord, all you exiles I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon.

21 This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says to Ahab son of Kolaiah and to Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, the ones prophesying a lie to you in My name: "I am about to hand them over to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will kill them before your very eyes.

22 Based on [what happens to] them, all the exiles of Judah who are in Babylon will create a curse that says: May the Lord make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire!

23 because they have committed an outrage in Israel by committing adultery with their neighbors' wives and have spoken a lie in My name, which I did not command them. I am He who knows, and I am a witness." [This is] the Lord's declaration.

24 To Shemaiah the Nehelamite you are to say,

25 "This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: You in your own name have sent out letters to all the people of Jerusalem, to the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah, and to all the priests, saying:

26 The Lord has appointed you priest in place of Jehoiada the priest to be the chief officer in the temple of the Lord, responsible for every madman who acts like a prophet. You must confine him in stocks and an iron collar.

27 So now, why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth who has been acting like a prophet among you?

28 For he has sent [word] to us in Babylon, claiming: The exile will be long. Build houses and settle down. Plant gardens and eat their produce."

29 Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the hearing of Jeremiah the prophet.

30 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah:

31 "Send [a message] to all the exiles, saying: This is what the Lord says concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite. Because Shemaiah prophesied to you, though I did not send him, and made you trust a lie,

32 this is what the Lord says: I am about to punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his descendants. There will not be even one of his [descendants] living among these people, nor will any ever see the good that I will bring to My people"-[this is] the Lord's declaration-"for he has preached rebellion against the Lord."

1 [This is] the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord.

2 This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: "Write down on a scroll all the words that I have spoken to you,

3 for the days are certainly coming"-[this is] the Lord's declaration-"when I will restore the fortunes of My people Israel and Judah"-the Lord's declaration. "I will restore them to the land I gave to their ancestors and they will possess it."

4 These are the words the Lord spoke to Israel and Judah.

5 Yes, this is what the Lord says: We have heard a cry of terror, of dread-there is no peace.

6 Ask and see whether a male can give birth. Why then do I see every man with his hands on his stomach like a woman in labor and every face turned pale?

7 How awful that day will be! There will be none like it! It will be a time of trouble for Jacob, but he will be delivered out of it.

8 "On that day"-[this is] the declaration of the Lord of Hosts-"I will break his yoke from your neck and snap your fetters so strangers will never again enslave him.

9 They will serve the Lord their God and I will raise up David their king for them."

10 As for you, My servant Jacob, do not be afraid- [this is]*The bracketed text has been added for clarity. the Lord's declaration- and do not be dismayed, Israel, for I will without fail save you from far away, your descendants, from the land of their captivity! Jacob will return and have calm and quiet with no one to frighten him.

11 For I will be with you- [this is]*The bracketed text has been added for clarity. the Lord's declaration- to save you! I will bring destruction on all the nations where I have scattered you; however, I will not bring destruction on you. I will discipline you justly, but I will by no means leave you unpunished.

12 For this is what the Lord says: Your injury is incurable; your wound most severe.

13 No one takes up the case for your sores. You have nothing that can heal you.

14 All your lovers have forgotten you; they no longer look for you, for I have struck you like an enemy would, with the discipline of someone cruel, because of your enormous guilt and your innumerable sins.

15 Why do you cry out about your injury? Your pain has no cure! I have done these things to you because of your enormous guilt and your innumerable sins.

16 Nevertheless, all who devoured you will be devoured, and all your adversaries-all of them- will go off into exile. Your despoilers will become spoil, and all who plunder you will be plundered.

17 But I will bring you health and will heal you of your wounds- [this is]*The bracketed text has been added for clarity. the Lord's declaration- for they call you The Outcast, that Zion no one cares about.

18 This is what the Lord says: I will certainly restore the fortunes of Jacob's tents and show compassion on his dwellings. Every city will be rebuilt on its mound; every citadel will stand on its proper site.

19 Thanksgiving will come out of them, a sound of celebration. I will multiply them, and they will not decrease; I will honor them, and they will not be insignificant.

20 His children will be as in past days; his congregation will be established in My presence. I will punish all his oppressors.

21 Jacob's leader will be one of them; his ruler will issue from him. I will invite him to Me, and he will approach Me, for who would otherwise risk his life to approach Me? [This is]*The bracketed text has been added for clarity. the Lord's declaration.

22 You will be My people, and I will be your God.

23 Look, a storm from the Lord! Wrath has gone forth. A churning storm, it will whirl about the head of the wicked.

24 The Lord's burning anger will not turn back until He has completely fulfilled the purposes of His heart. In time to come you will understand it.

Jeremiah 9; Jeremiah 10; Jeremiah 11; Jeremiah 12; Jeremiah 13; Jeremiah 14; Jeremiah 15; Jeremiah 16; Jeremiah 17; Jeremiah 18; Jeremiah 19; Jeremiah 20; Jeremiah 21; Jeremiah 22; Jeremiah 23; Jeremiah 24; Jeremiah 25; Jeremiah 26; Jeremiah 27; Jeremiah 28; Jeremiah 29; Jeremiah 30

Viewing Multiple Passages

Jeremiah 9

Jeremiah 10

Jeremiah 11

Jeremiah 12

Jeremiah 13

Jeremiah 14

Jeremiah 15

Jeremiah 16

Jeremiah 17

Jeremiah 18

Jeremiah 19

Jeremiah 20

Jeremiah 21

Jeremiah 22

Jeremiah 23

Jeremiah 24

Jeremiah 25

Jeremiah 26

Jeremiah 27

Jeremiah 28

Jeremiah 29

Jeremiah 30