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

Jeremiah 9

1 I wish my head were a well of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears, so that I could cry day and night for my people who have been killed.

2 I wish I had a place to stay in the desert where I could get away from my people. They are all unfaithful, a mob of traitors.

3 They are always ready to tell lies; dishonesty instead of truth rules the land. The Lord says, "My people do one evil thing after another and do not acknowledge me as their God."

4 Everyone must be on guard against their friends, and no one can trust their relatives; for all relatives are as deceitful as Jacob, and everyone slanders their friends.

5 They all mislead their friends, and no one tells the truth; they have taught their tongues to lie and will not give up their sinning. They do one violent thing after another, and one deceitful act follows another. The Lord says that his people reject him.

7 Because of this the Lord Almighty says, "I will refine my people like metal and put them to the test. My people have done evil - what else can I do with them?

8 Their tongues are like deadly arrows; they always tell lies. Everyone speaks friendly words to their neighbors, but they are really setting a trap for them.

9 Will I not punish them for these things? Will I not take revenge on a nation like this? I, the Lord, have spoken."

10 I said, "I will mourn for the mountains and weep for the pastures, because they have dried up, and no one travels through them. The sound of livestock is no longer heard; birds and wild animals have fled and gone."

11 The Lord says, "I will make Jerusalem a pile of ruins, a place where jackals live; the cities of Judah will become a desert, a place where no one lives."

12 I asked, "Lord, why is the land devastated and dry as a desert, so that no one travels through it? Who is wise enough to understand this? To whom have you explained it so that they can tell others?"

13 The Lord answered, "This has happened because my people have abandoned the teaching that I gave them. They have not obeyed me or done what I told them.

14 Instead, they have been stubborn and have worshiped the idols of Baal as their ancestors taught them to do.

15 So then, listen to what I, the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, will do: I will give my people bitter plants to eat and poison to drink.

16 I will scatter them among nations that neither they nor their ancestors have heard about, and I will send armies against them until I have completely destroyed them."

17 The Lord Almighty said, "Think about what is happening! Call for the mourners to come, for the women who sing funeral songs."

18 The people said, "Tell them to hurry and sing a funeral song for us, until our eyes fill with tears, and our eyelids are wet from crying."

19 Listen to the sound of crying in Zion: "We are ruined! We are completely disgraced! We must leave our land; our homes have been torn down."

20 I said, "Listen to the Lord, you women, and pay attention to his words. Teach your daughters how to mourn, and your friends how to sing a funeral song.

21 Death has come in through our windows and entered our palaces; it has cut down the children in the streets and the young men in the marketplaces.

22 Dead bodies are scattered everywhere, like piles of manure on the fields, like grain cut and left behind by the reapers, grain that no one gathers. This is what the Lord has told me to say."

23 The Lord says, "The wise should not boast of their wisdom, nor the strong of their strength, nor the rich of their wealth.

24 If any want to boast, they should boast that they know and understand me, because my love is constant, and I do what is just and right. These are the things that please me. I, the Lord, have spoken."

25 The Lord says, "The time is coming when I will punish the people of Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab, and the desert people, who have their hair cut short. All these people are circumcised, but have not kept the covenant it symbolizes. None of these people and none of the people of Israel have kept my covenant."

Jeremiah 10

1 People of Israel, listen to the message that the Lord has for you.

2 He says, "Do not follow the ways of other nations; do not be disturbed by unusual sights in the sky, even though other nations are terrified.

3 The religion of these people is worthless. A tree is cut down in the forest; it is carved by the tools of the woodworker

4 and decorated with silver and gold. It is fastened down with nails to keep it from falling over.

5 Such idols are like scarecrows in a field of melons; they cannot speak; they have to be carried because they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them: they can cause you no harm, and they can do you no good."

6 Lord, there is no one like you; you are mighty, and your name is great and powerful.

7 Who would not honor you, the king of all nations? You deserve to be honored. There is no one like you among all the wise men of the nations or among any of their kings.

8 All of them are stupid and foolish. What can they learn from wooden idols?

9 Their idols are covered with silver from Spain and with gold from Uphaz, all the work of artists; they are dressed in violet and purple cloth woven by skilled weavers.

10 But you, Lord, are the true God, you are the living God and the eternal king. When you are angry, the world trembles; the nations cannot endure your anger.

11 (You people must tell them that the gods who did not make the earth and the sky will be destroyed. They will no longer exist anywhere on earth.)

12 The Lord made the earth by his power; by his wisdom he created the world and stretched out the heavens.

13 At his command the waters above the sky roar; he brings clouds from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning flash in the rain and sends the wind from his storeroom.

14 At the sight of this, people feel stupid and senseless; those who make idols are disillusioned, because the gods they make are false and lifeless.

15 They are worthless and should be despised; they will be destroyed when the Lord comes to deal with them.

16 The God of Jacob is not like them; he is the one who made everything, and he has chosen Israel to be his very own people. The Lord Almighty is his name.

17 People of Jerusalem, you are under siege! Gather up your belongings.

18 The Lord is going to throw you out of this land; he is going to crush you until not one of you is left. The Lord has spoken.

19 The people of Jerusalem cried out, "How badly we are hurt! Our wounds will not heal. And we thought this was something we could endure!

20 Our tents are ruined; the ropes that held them have broken. Our children have all gone away; there is no one left to put up our tents again; there is no one to hang their curtains."

21 I answered, "Our leaders are stupid; they do not ask the Lord for guidance. This is why they have failed, and our people have been scattered.

22 Listen! News has come! There is a great commotion in a nation to the north; its army will turn the cities of Judah into a desert, a place where jackals live."

23 Lord, I know that none of us are in charge of our own destiny; none of us have control over our own life.

24 Correct your people, Lord, but do not be too hard on us or punish us when you are angry; that would be the end of us.

25 Turn your anger on the nations that do not worship you and on the people who reject you. They have killed your people; they have destroyed us completely and left our country in ruins.

Jeremiah 11

1 The Lord said to me,

2 "Listen to the terms of the covenant. Tell the people of Judah and of Jerusalem

3 that I, the Lord God of Israel, have placed a curse on everyone who does not obey the terms of this covenant.

4 It is the covenant I made with their ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt, the land that was like a blazing furnace to them. I told them to obey me and to do everything that I had commanded. I told them that if they obeyed, they would be my people and I would be their God.

5 Then I would keep the promise I made to their ancestors that I would give them the rich and fertile land which they now have." I said, "Yes, Lord."

6 Then the Lord said to me, "Go to the cities of Judah and to the streets of Jerusalem. Proclaim my message there and tell the people to listen to the terms of the covenant and to obey them.

7 When I brought their ancestors out of Egypt, I solemnly warned them to obey me, and I have kept on warning the people until this day.

8 But they did not listen or obey. Instead, everyone continued to be as stubborn and evil as ever. I had commanded them to keep the covenant, but they refused. So I brought on them all the punishments described in it."

9 Then the Lord said to me, "The people of Judah and of Jerusalem are plotting against me.

10 They have gone back to the sins of their ancestors, who refused to do what I said; they have worshiped other gods. Both Israel and Judah have broken the covenant that I made with their ancestors.

11 So now I, the Lord, warn them that I am going to bring destruction on them, and they will not escape. And when they cry out to me for help, I will not listen to them.

12 Then the people of Judah and of Jerusalem will go to the gods to whom they offer sacrifices and will cry out to them for help. But those gods will not be able to save them when this destruction comes.

13 The people of Judah have as many gods as they have cities, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem have set up as many altars for sacrifices to that disgusting god Baal as there are streets in the city.

14 Jeremiah, don't pray to me or plead with me on behalf of these people. When they are in trouble and call to me for help, I will not listen to them."

15 The Lord says, "The people I love are doing evil things. What right do they have to be in my Temple? Do they think they can prevent disaster by making promises and by offering animal sacrifices? Will they then rejoice?

16 I once called them a leafy olive tree, full of beautiful fruit; but now, with a roar like thunder I will set its leaves on fire and break its branches.

17 "I, the Lord Almighty, planted Israel and Judah; but now I threaten them with disaster. They have brought this on themselves because they have done wrong; they have made me angry by offering sacrifices to Baal."

18 The Lord informed me of the plots that my enemies were making against me.

19 I was like a trusting lamb taken out to be killed, and I did not know that it was against me that they were planning evil things. They were saying, "Let's chop down the tree while it is still healthy; let's kill him so that no one will remember him any more."

20 Then I prayed, "Almighty Lord, you are a just judge; you test people's thoughts and feelings. I have placed my cause in your hands; so let me watch you take revenge on these people."

21 The people of Anathoth wanted me killed, and they told me that they would kill me if I kept on proclaiming the Lord's message.

22 So the Lord Almighty said, "I will punish them! Their young men will be killed in war; their children will die of starvation.

23 I have set a time for bringing disaster on the people of Anathoth, and when that time comes, none of them will survive."

Jeremiah 12

1 "Lord, if I argued my case with you, you would prove to be right. Yet I must question you about matters of justice. Why are the wicked so prosperous? Why do dishonest people succeed?

2 You plant them, and they take root; they grow and bear fruit. They always speak well of you, yet they do not really care about you.

3 But, Lord, you know me; you see what I do and how I love you. Drag these evil people away like sheep to be butchered; guard them until it is time for them to be slaughtered.

4 How long will our land be dry, and the grass in every field be withered? Animals and birds are dying because of the wickedness of our people, people who say, "God doesn't see what we are doing.' "

5 The Lord said, "Jeremiah, if you get tired racing against people, how can you race against horses? If you can't even stand up in open country, how will you manage in the jungle by the Jordan?

6 Even your relatives, members of your own family, have betrayed you; they join in the attacks against you. Do not trust them, even though they speak friendly words."

7 The Lord says, "I have abandoned Israel; I have rejected my chosen nation. I have given the people I love into the power of their enemies.

8 My chosen people have turned against me; like a lion in the forest they have roared at me, and so I hate them.

9 My chosen people are like a bird attacked from all sides by hawks. Call the wild animals to come and join in the feast!

10 Many foreign rulers have destroyed my vineyard; they have trampled down my fields; they have turned my lovely land into a desert.

11 They have made it a wasteland; it lies desolate before me. The whole land has become a desert, and no one cares.

12 Across all the desert highlands people have come to plunder. I have sent war to destroy the entire land; no one can live in peace.

13 My people planted wheat, but gathered weeds; they have worked hard, but got nothing for it. Because of my fierce anger their crops have failed."

14 The Lord says, "I have something to say about Israel's neighbors who have ruined the land I gave to my people Israel. I will take those wicked people away from their countries like an uprooted plant, and I will rescue Judah from them.

15 But after I have taken them away, I will have mercy on them; I will bring each nation back to its own land and to its own country.

16 If with all their hearts they will accept the religion of my people and will swear, "As the Lord lives' - as they once taught my people to swear by Baal - then they will also be a part of my people and will prosper.

17 But if any nation will not obey, then I will completely uproot it and destroy it. I, the Lord, have spoken."

Jeremiah 13

1 The Lord told me to go and buy myself some linen shorts and to put them on; but he told me not to put them in water.

2 So I bought them and put them on.

3 Then the Lord spoke to me again and said,

4 "Go to the Euphrates River and hide the shorts in a hole in the rocks."

5 So I went and hid them near the Euphrates.

6 Some time later the Lord told me to go back to the Euphrates and get the shorts.

7 So I went back, and when I found the place where I had hidden them, I saw that they were ruined and were no longer any good.

8 Then the Lord spoke to me again. He said,

9 "This is how I will destroy the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem.

10 These evil people have refused to obey me. They have been as stubborn and wicked as ever, and have worshiped and served other gods. So then, they will become like these shorts that are no longer any good.

11 Just as shorts fit tightly around the waist, so I intended all the people of Israel and Judah to hold tightly to me. I did this so that they would be my people and would bring praise and honor to my name; but they would not obey me."

12 The Lord God said to me, "Jeremiah, tell the people of Israel that every wine jar should be filled with wine. They will answer that they know every wine jar should be filled with wine.

13 Then tell them that I, the Lord, am going to fill the people in this land with wine until they are drunk: the kings, who are David's descendants, the priests, the prophets, and all the people of Jerusalem.

14 Then I will smash them like jars against one another, old and young alike. No pity, compassion, or mercy will stop me from killing them."

15 People of Israel, the Lord has spoken! Be humble and listen to him.

16 Honor the Lord, your God, before he brings darkness, and you stumble on the mountains; before he turns into deep darkness the light you hoped for.

17 If you will not listen, I will cry in secret because of your pride; I will cry bitterly, and my tears will flow because the Lord's people have been taken away as captives.

18 The Lord said to me, "Tell the king and his mother to come down from their thrones, because their beautiful crowns have fallen from their heads.

19 The towns of southern Judah are under siege; no one can get through to them. All the people of Judah have been taken away into exile."

20 Jerusalem, look! Your enemies are coming down from the north! Where are the people entrusted to your care, your people you were so proud of?

21 What will you say when people you thought were your friends conquer you and rule over you? You will be in pain like a woman giving birth.

22 If you ask why all this has happened to you - why your clothes have been torn off and you have been raped - it is because your sin is so terrible.

23 Can people change the color of their skin, or a leopard remove its spots? If they could, then you that do nothing but evil could learn to do what is right.

24 The Lord will scatter you like straw that is blown away by the desert wind.

25 He has said that this will be your fate. This is what he has decided to do with you, because you have forgotten him and have trusted in false gods.

26 The Lord himself will strip off your clothes and expose you to shame.

27 He has seen you do the things he hates. He has seen you go after pagan gods on the hills and in the fields, like a man lusting after his neighbor's wife or like a stallion after a mare. People of Jerusalem, you are doomed! When will you ever be pure?

Jeremiah 14

1 The Lord said to me concerning the drought,

2 "Judah is in mourning; its cities are dying, its people lie on the ground in sorrow, and Jerusalem cries out for help.

3 The rich people send their servants for water; they go to the cisterns, but find no water; they come back with their jars empty. Discouraged and confused, they hide their faces.

4 Because there is no rain and the ground is dried up, the farmers are sick at heart; they hide their faces.

5 In the field the mother deer abandons her newborn fawn because there is no grass.

6 The wild donkeys stand on the hilltops and pant for breath like jackals; their eyesight fails them because they have no food.

7 My people cry out to me, "Even though our sins accuse us, help us, Lord, as you have promised. We have turned away from you many times; we have sinned against you.

8 You are Israel's only hope; you are the one who saves us from disaster. Why are you like a stranger in our land, like a traveler who stays for only one night?

9 Why are you like someone taken by surprise, like a soldier powerless to help? Surely, Lord, you are with us! We are your people; do not abandon us.' "

10 The Lord says about these people, "They love to run away from me, and they will not control themselves. So I am not pleased with them. I will remember the wrongs they have done and punish them because of their sins."

11 The Lord said to me, "Do not ask me to help these people.

12 Even if they fast, I will not listen to their cry for help; and even if they offer me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not be pleased with them. Instead, I will kill them in war and by starvation and disease."

13 Then I said, "Sovereign Lord, you know that the prophets are telling the people that there will be no war or starvation, because you have promised, they say, that there will be only peace in our land."

14 But the Lord replied, "The prophets are telling lies in my name; I did not send them, nor did I give them any orders or speak one word to them. The visions they talk about have not come from me; their predictions are worthless things that they have imagined.

15 I, the Lord, tell you what I am going to do to those prophets whom I did not send but who speak in my name and say war and starvation will not strike this land - I will kill them in war and by starvation.

16 The people to whom they have said these things will be killed in the same way. Their bodies will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem, and there will be no one to bury them. This will happen to all of them - including their wives, their sons, and their daughters. I will make them pay for their wickedness."

17 The Lord commanded me to tell the people about my sorrow and to say: "May my eyes flow with tears day and night, may I never stop weeping, for my people are deeply wounded and are badly hurt.

18 When I go out in the fields, I see the bodies of men killed in war; when I go into the towns, I see people starving to death. Prophets and priests carry on their work, but they don't know what they are doing."

19 Lord, have you completely rejected Judah? Do you hate the people of Zion? Why have you hurt us so badly that we cannot be healed? We looked for peace, but nothing good happened; we hoped for healing, but terror came instead.

20 We have sinned against you, Lord; we confess our own sins and the sins of our ancestors.

21 Remember your promises and do not despise us; do not bring disgrace on Jerusalem, the place of your glorious throne. Do not break the covenant you made with us.

22 None of the idols of the nations can send rain; the sky by itself cannot make showers fall. We have put our hope in you, O Lord our God, because you are the one who does these things.

Jeremiah 15

1 Then the Lord said to me, "Even if Moses and Samuel were standing here pleading with me, I would not show these people any mercy. Make them go away; make them get out of my sight.

2 When they ask you where they should go, tell them that I have said: Some are doomed to die by disease - that's where they will go! Others are doomed to die in war - that's where they will go! Some are doomed to die of starvation - that's where they will go! Others are doomed to be taken away as prisoners - that's where they will go!

3 I, the Lord, have decided that four terrible things will happen to them: they will be killed in war; their bodies will be dragged off by dogs; birds will eat them, and wild animals will devour what is left over.

4 I will make all the people of the world horrified at them because of what Hezekiah's son Manasseh did in Jerusalem when he was king of Judah."

5 The Lord says, "Who will pity you, people of Jerusalem, and who will grieve over you? Who will stop long enough to ask how you are?

6 You people have rejected me; you have turned your backs on me. So I reached out and crushed you because I was tired of controlling my anger.

7 In every town in the land I threw you to the wind like straw. I destroyed you, my people, I killed your children because you did not stop your evil ways.

8 There are more widows in your land than grains of sand by the sea. I killed your young men in their prime and made their mothers suffer. I suddenly struck them with anguish and terror.

9 The mother who lost her seven children has fainted, gasping for breath. Her daylight has turned to darkness; she is disgraced and sick at heart. I will let your enemies kill those of you who are still alive. I, the Lord, have spoken."

10 What an unhappy man I am! Why did my mother bring me into the world? I have to quarrel and argue with everyone in the land. I have not lent any money or borrowed any; yet everyone curses me.

11 Lord, may all their curses come true if I have not served you well, if I have not pleaded with you on behalf of my enemies when they were in trouble and distress

12 (No one can break iron, especially the iron from the north that is mixed with bronze.)

13 The Lord said to me, "I will send enemies to carry away the wealth and treasures of my people, in order to punish them for the sins they have committed throughout the land.

14 I will make them serve their enemies in a land they know nothing about, because my anger is like fire, and it will burn forever."

15 Then I said, "Lord, you understand. Remember me and help me. Let me have revenge on those who persecute me. Do not be so patient with them that they succeed in killing me. Remember that it is for your sake that I am insulted.

16 You spoke to me, and I listened to every word. I belong to you, Lord God Almighty, and so your words filled my heart with joy and happiness.

17 I did not spend my time with other people, laughing and having a good time. In obedience to your orders I stayed by myself and was filled with anger.

18 Why do I keep on suffering? Why are my wounds incurable? Why won't they heal? Do you intend to disappoint me like a stream that goes dry in the summer?"

19 To this the Lord replied, "If you return, I will take you back, and you will be my servant again. If instead of talking nonsense you proclaim a worthwhile message, you will be my prophet again. The people will come back to you, and you will not need to go to them.

20 I will make you like a solid bronze wall as far as they are concerned. They will fight against you, but they will not defeat you. I will be with you to protect you and keep you safe.

21 I will rescue you from the power of wicked and violent people. I, the Lord, have spoken."

Jeremiah 16

1 Again the Lord spoke to me and said,

2 "Do not marry or have children in a place like this.

3 I will tell you what is going to happen to the children who are born here and to their parents.

4 They will die of terrible diseases, and no one will mourn for them or bury them. Their bodies will lie like piles of manure on the ground. They will be killed in war or die of starvation, and their bodies will be food for the birds and the wild animals.

5 "You must not enter a house where there is mourning. Do not grieve for anyone. I will no longer bless my people with peace or show them love and mercy.

6 The rich and the poor will die in this land, but no one will bury them or mourn for them. Not one of you will gash yourself or shave your head to show your grief.

7 No one will eat or drink with anyone to offer comfort when a loved one dies. No one will show sympathy, not even for someone who has lost a father or mother.

8 "Do not enter a house where people are feasting. Do not sit down with them to eat and drink.

9 Listen to what I, the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, have to say. I will silence the sounds of joy and gladness and the happy sounds of wedding feasts. The people here will live to see this happen.

10 "When you tell them all this, they will ask you why I have decided to punish them so harshly. They will ask what crime they are guilty of and what sin they have committed against the Lord their God.

11 Then tell them that the Lord has said, "Your ancestors turned away from me and worshiped and served other gods. They abandoned me and did not obey my teachings.

12 But you have done even worse than your ancestors. All of you are stubborn and evil, and you do not obey me.

13 So then, I will throw you out of this land into a land that neither you nor your ancestors have ever known. And there you will serve other gods day and night, and I will show you no mercy.' "

14 The Lord says, "The time is coming when people will no longer swear by me as the living God who brought the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt.

15 Instead, they will swear by me as the living God who brought the people of Israel out of a northern land and out of all the other countries where I had scattered them. I will bring them back to their own country, to the land that I gave their ancestors. I, the Lord, have spoken."

16 The Lord says, "I am sending for many fishermen to come and catch these people. Then I will send for many hunters to hunt them down on every mountain and hill and in the caves among the rocks.

17 I see everything they do. Nothing is hidden from me; their sins do not escape my sight.

18 I will make them pay double for their sin and wickedness, because they have defiled my land with idols that are as lifeless as corpses, and have filled it with their false gods."

19 Lord, you are the one who protects me and gives me strength; you help me in times of trouble. Nations will come to you from the ends of the earth and say, "Our ancestors had nothing but false gods, nothing but useless idols.

20 Can people make their own gods? No, if they did, those would not really be gods."

21 "So then," says the Lord, "once and for all I will make the nations know my power and my might; they will know that I am the Lord."

Jeremiah 17

1 The Lord says, "People of Judah, your sin is written with an iron pen; it is engraved on your hearts with a diamond point and carved on the corners of your altars.

2 Your people worship at the altars and the symbols that have been set up for the goddess Asherah by every green tree and on the hilltops

3 and on the mountains in the open country. I will have your enemies take away your wealth and your treasures because of all the sins you have committed throughout your land.

4 You will have to give up the land I gave you, and I will make you serve your enemies in a land you know nothing about, because my anger is like a fire, and it will burn forever."

5 The Lord says, "I will condemn those who turn away from me and put their trust in human beings, in the strength of mortals.

6 He is like a bush in the desert, which grows in the dry wasteland, on salty ground where nothing else grows. Nothing good ever happens to him.

7 "But I will bless the person who puts his trust in me.

8 He is like a tree growing near a stream and sending out roots to the water. It is not afraid when hot weather comes, because its leaves stay green; it has no worries when there is no rain; it keeps on bearing fruit.

9 "Who can understand the human heart? There is nothing else so deceitful; it is too sick to be healed.

10 I, the Lord, search the minds and test the hearts of people. I treat each of them according to the way they live, according to what they do."

11 The person who gets money dishonestly is like a bird that hatches eggs it didn't lay. In the prime of life he will lose his riches, and in the end he is nothing but a fool.

12 Our Temple is like a glorious throne, standing on a high mountain from the beginning.

13 Lord, you are Israel's hope; all who abandon you will be put to shame. They will disappear like names written in the dust, because they have abandoned you, the Lord, the spring of fresh water.

14 Lord, heal me and I will be completely well; rescue me and I will be perfectly safe. You are the one I praise!

15 The people say to me, "Where are those threats the Lord made against us? Let him carry them out now!"

16 But, Lord, I never urged you to bring disaster on them; I did not wish a time of trouble for them. Lord, you know this; you know what I have said.

17 Do not be a terror to me; you are my place of safety when trouble comes.

18 Bring disgrace on those who persecute me, but spare me, Lord. Fill them with terror, but do not terrify me. Bring disaster on them and break them to pieces.

19 The Lord said to me, "Jeremiah, go and announce my message at the People's Gate, through which the kings of Judah enter and leave the city; then go to all the other gates of Jerusalem.

20 Tell the kings and all the people of Judah and everyone who lives in Jerusalem and enters these gates, to listen to what I say.

21 Tell them that if they love their lives, they must not carry any load on the Sabbath; they must not carry anything in through the gates of Jerusalem

22 or carry anything out of their houses on the Sabbath. They must not work on the Sabbath; they must observe it as a sacred day, as I commanded their ancestors.

23 Their ancestors did not listen to me or pay any attention. Instead, they became stubborn; they would not obey me or learn from me.

24 "Tell these people that they must obey all my commands. They must not carry any load in through the gates of this city on the Sabbath. They must observe the Sabbath as a sacred day and must not do any work at all.

25 Then their kings and princes will enter the gates of Jerusalem and have the same royal power that David had. Together with the people of Judah and of Jerusalem, they will ride in chariots and on horses, and the city of Jerusalem will always be filled with people.

26 People will come from the towns of Judah and from the villages around Jerusalem; they will come from the territory of Benjamin, from the foothills, from the mountains, and from southern Judah. They will bring to my Temple burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings and incense, as well as thank offerings.

27 But they must obey me and observe the Sabbath as a sacred day. They must not carry any load through the gates of Jerusalem on that day, for if they do, I will set the gates of Jerusalem on fire. Fire will burn down the palaces of Jerusalem, and no one will be able to put it out."

Jeremiah 18

1 The Lord said to me,

2 "Go down to the potter's house, where I will give you my message."

3 So I went there and saw the potter working at his wheel.

4 Whenever a piece of pottery turned out imperfect, he would take the clay and make it into something else.

5 Then the Lord said to me,

6 "Don't I have the right to do with you people of Israel what the potter did with the clay? You are in my hands just like clay in the potter's hands.

7 If at any time I say that I am going to uproot, break down, or destroy any nation or kingdom,

8 but then that nation turns from its evil, I will not do what I said I would.

9 On the other hand, if I say that I am going to plant or build up any nation or kingdom,

10 but then that nation disobeys me and does evil, I will not do what I said I would.

11 Now then, tell the people of Judah and of Jerusalem that I am making plans against them and getting ready to punish them. Tell them to stop living sinful lives - to change their ways and the things they are doing.

12 They will answer, "No, why should we? We will all be just as stubborn and evil as we want to be.' "

13 The Lord says, "Ask every nation if such a thing has ever happened before. The people of Israel have done a terrible thing!

14 Are Lebanon's rocky heights ever without snow? Do its cool mountain streams ever run dry?

15 Yet my people have forgotten me; they burn incense to idols. They have stumbled in the way they should go; they no longer follow the old ways; they walk on unmarked paths.

16 They have made this land a thing of horror, to be despised forever. All who pass by will be shocked at what they see; they will shake their heads in amazement.

17 I will scatter my people before their enemies, like dust blown by the east wind. I will turn my back on them; I will not help them when the disaster comes."

18 Then the people said, "Let's do something about Jeremiah! There will always be priests to instruct us, the wise to give us counsel, and prophets to proclaim God's message. Let's bring charges against him and stop listening to what he says."

19 So I prayed, "Lord, hear what I am saying and listen to what my enemies are saying about me.

20 Is evil the payment for good? Yet they have dug a pit for me to fall in. Remember how I came to you and spoke on their behalf, so that you would not deal with them in anger.

21 But now, Lord, let their children starve to death; let them be killed in war. Let the women lose their husbands and children; let the men die of disease and the young men be killed in battle.

22 Send a mob to plunder their homes without warning; make them cry out in terror. They have dug a pit for me to fall in and have set traps to catch me.

23 But, Lord, you know all their plots to kill me. Do not forgive their evil or pardon their sin. Throw them down in defeat and deal with them while you are angry."

Jeremiah 19

1 The Lord told me to go and buy a clay jar. He also told me to take some of the elders of the people and some of the older priests,

2 and to go through Potsherd Gate out to Hinnom Valley. There I was to proclaim the message that he would give me.

3 The Lord told me to say, "Kings of Judah and people of Jerusalem, listen to what I, the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, have to say. I am going to bring such a disaster on this place that everyone who hears about it will be stunned.

4 I am going to do this because the people have abandoned me and defiled this place by offering sacrifices here to other gods - gods that neither they nor their ancestors nor the kings of Judah have known anything about. They have filled this place with the blood of innocent people,

5 and they have built altars for Baal in order to burn their children in the fire as sacrifices. I never commanded them to do this; it never even entered my mind.

6 So then, the time will come when this place will no longer be called Topheth or Hinnom Valley. Instead, it will be known as Slaughter Valley.

7 In this place I will frustrate all the plans of the people of Judah and Jerusalem. I will let their enemies triumph over them and kill them in battle. I will give their corpses to the birds and the wild animals as food.

8 I will bring such terrible destruction on this city that everyone who passes by will be shocked and amazed.

9 The enemy will surround the city and try to kill its people. The siege will be so terrible that the people inside the city will eat one another and even their own children."

10 Then the Lord told me to break the jar in front of those who had gone with me

11 and to tell them that the Lord Almighty had said, "I will break this people and this city, and it will be like this broken clay jar that cannot be put together again. People will bury their dead even in Topheth because there will be nowhere else to bury them.

12 I promise that I will make this city and its inhabitants like Topheth.

13 The houses of Jerusalem, the houses of the kings of Judah, and indeed all the houses on whose roofs incense has been burned to the stars and where wine has been poured out as an offering to other gods - they will all be as unclean as Topheth."

14 Then I left Topheth, where the Lord had sent me to proclaim his message. I went and stood in the court of the Temple and told all the people

15 that the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, had said, "I am going to bring on this city and on every nearby town all the punishment that I said I would, because you are stubborn and will not listen to what I say."

Jeremiah 20

1 When the priest Pashhur son of Immer, who was the chief officer of the Temple, heard me proclaim these things,

2 he had me beaten and placed in chains near the upper Benjamin Gate in the Temple.

3 The next morning, after Pashhur had released me from the chains, I said to him, "The Lord did not name you Pashhur. The name he has given you is "Terror Everywhere.'

4 The Lord himself has said, "I am going to make you a terror to yourself and to your friends, and you will see them all killed by the swords of their enemies. I am going to put all the people of Judah under the power of the king of Babylonia; he will take some away as prisoners to his country and put others to death.

5 I will also let their enemies plunder all the wealth of this city and seize all its possessions and property, even the treasures of the kings of Judah, and carry everything off to Babylonia.

6 As for you, Pashhur, you and all your family will also be captured and taken off to Babylonia. There you will die and be buried, along with all your friends to whom you have told so many lies.' "

7 Lord, you have deceived me, and I was deceived. You are stronger than I am, and you have overpowered me. Everyone makes fun of me; they laugh at me all day long.

8 Whenever I speak, I have to cry out and shout, "Violence! Destruction!" Lord, I am ridiculed and scorned all the time because I proclaim your message.

9 But when I say, "I will forget the Lord and no longer speak in his name," then your message is like a fire burning deep within me. I try my best to hold it in, but can no longer keep it back.

10 I hear everybody whispering, "Terror is everywhere! So let's report him to the authorities!" Even my close friends wait for my downfall. "Perhaps he can be tricked," they say; "then we can catch him and get revenge."

11 But you, Lord, are on my side, strong and mighty, and those who persecute me will fail. They will be disgraced forever, because they cannot succeed. Their disgrace will never be forgotten.

12 But, Almighty Lord, you test people justly; you know what is in their hearts and minds. So let me see you take revenge on my enemies, for I have placed my cause in your hands.

13 Sing to the Lord! Praise the Lord! He rescues the oppressed from the power of evil people.

14 Curse the day I was born! Forget the day my mother gave me birth!

15 Curse the one who made my father glad by bringing him the news, "It's a boy! You have a son!"

16 May he be like those cities that the Lord destroyed without mercy. May he hear cries of pain in the morning and the battle alarm at noon,

17 for not killing me before I was born. Then my mother's womb would have been my grave.

18 Why was I born? Was it only to have trouble and sorrow, to end my life in disgrace?

Jeremiah 21

1 King Zedekiah of Judah sent to me Pashhur son of Malchiah and the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah with this request:

2 "Please speak to the Lord for us, because King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia and his army are besieging the city. Maybe the Lord will perform one of his miracles for us and force Nebuchadnezzar to retreat."

3 Then the Lord spoke to me, and I told those who had been sent to me

4 to tell Zedekiah that the Lord, the God of Israel, had said, "Zedekiah, I am going to defeat your army that is fighting against the king of Babylonia and his army. I will pile up your soldiers' weapons in the center of the city.

5 I will fight against you with all my might, my anger, my wrath, and my fury.

6 I will kill everyone living in this city; people and animals alike will die of a terrible disease.

7 But as for you, your officials, and the people who survive the war, the famine, and the disease - I will let all of you be captured by King Nebuchadnezzar and by your enemies, who want to kill you. Nebuchadnezzar will put you to death. He will not spare any of you or show mercy or pity to any of you. I, the Lord, have spoken."

8 Then the Lord told me to say to the people, "Listen! I, the Lord, am giving you a choice between the way that leads to life and the way that leads to death.

9 Anyone who stays in the city will be killed in war or by starvation or disease. But those who go out and surrender to the Babylonians, who are now attacking the city, will not be killed; they will at least escape with their life.

10 I have made up my mind not to spare this city, but to destroy it. It will be given over to the king of Babylonia, and he will burn it to the ground. I, the Lord, have spoken."

11 The Lord told me to give this message to the royal house of Judah, the descendants of David: "Listen to what I, the Lord, am saying. See that justice is done every day. Protect the person who is being cheated from the one who is cheating him. If you don't, the evil you are doing will make my anger burn like a fire that cannot be put out.

13 You, Jerusalem, are sitting high above the valleys, like a rock rising above the plain. But I will fight against you. You say that no one can attack you or break through your defenses.

14 But I will punish you for what you have done. I will set your palace on fire, and the fire will burn down everything around it. I, the Lord, have spoken."

Jeremiah 22

1 The Lord told me to go to the palace of the king of Judah, the descendant of David, and there tell the king, his officials, and the people of Jerusalem to listen to what the Lord had said:

3 "I, the Lord, command you to do what is just and right. Protect the person who is being cheated from the one who is cheating him. Do not mistreat or oppress aliens, orphans, or widows; and do not kill innocent people in this holy place.

4 If you really do as I have commanded, then David's descendants will continue to be kings. And they, together with their officials and their people, will continue to pass through the gates of this palace in chariots and on horses.

5 But if you do not obey my commands, then I swear to you that this palace will fall into ruins. I, the Lord, have spoken.

6 "To me, Judah's royal palace is as beautiful as the land of Gilead and as the Lebanon Mountains; but I will make it a desolate place where no one lives.

7 I am sending men to destroy it. They will all bring their axes, cut down its beautiful cedar pillars, and throw them into the fire.

8 "Afterward many foreigners will pass by and ask one another why I, the Lord, have done such a thing to this great city.

9 Then they will answer that it is because you have abandoned your covenant with me, your God, and have worshiped and served other gods."

10 People of Judah, do not weep for King Josiah; do not mourn his death. But weep bitterly for Joahaz, his son; they are taking him away, never to return, never again to see the land where he was born.

11 The Lord says concerning Josiah's son Joahaz, who succeeded his father as king of Judah, "He has gone away from here, never to return.

12 He will die in the country where they have taken him, and he will never again see this land."

13 Doomed is the one who builds his house by injustice and enlarges it by dishonesty; who makes his people work for nothing and does not pay their wages.

14 Doomed is the one who says, "I will build myself a mansion with spacious rooms upstairs." So he puts windows in his house, panels it with cedar, and paints it red.

15 Does it make you a better king if you build houses of cedar, finer than those of others? Your father enjoyed a full life. He was always just and fair, and he prospered in everything he did.

16 He gave the poor a fair trial, and all went well with him. That is what it means to know the Lord.

17 But you can only see your selfish interests; you kill the innocent and violently oppress your people. The Lord has spoken.

18 So then, the Lord says about Josiah's son Jehoiakim, king of Judah, "No one will mourn his death or say, "How terrible, my friend, how terrible!' No one will weep for him or cry, "My lord! My king!'

19 With the funeral honors of a donkey, he will be dragged away and thrown outside Jerusalem's gates."

20 People of Jerusalem, go to Lebanon and shout, go to the land of Bashan and cry; call out from the mountains of Moab, because all your allies have been defeated.

21 The Lord spoke to you when you were prosperous, but you refused to listen. That is what you've done all your life; you never would obey the Lord.

22 Your leaders will be blown away by the wind, your allies taken as prisoners of war, your city disgraced and put to shame because of all the evil you have done.

23 You rest secure among the cedars brought from Lebanon; but how pitiful you'll be when pains strike you, pains like those of a woman in labor.

24 The Lord said to King Jehoiachin, son of King Jehoiakim of Judah, "As surely as I am the living God, even if you were the signet ring on my right hand, I would pull you off

25 and give you to people you are afraid of, people who want to kill you. I will give you to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia and his soldiers.

26 I am going to force you and your mother into exile. You will go to a country where neither of you was born, and both of you will die there.

27 You will long to see this country again, but you will never return."

28 I said, "Has King Jehoiachin become like a broken jar that is thrown away and that no one wants? Is that why he and his children have been taken into exile to a land they know nothing about?"

29 O land, land, land! Listen to what the Lord has said:

30 "This man is condemned to lose his children, to be a man who will never succeed. He will have no descendants who will rule in Judah as David's successors. I, the Lord, have spoken."

Jeremiah 23

1 How terrible will be the Lord's judgment on those rulers who destroy and scatter his people!

2 This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says about the rulers who were supposed to take care of his people: "You have not taken care of my people; you have scattered them and driven them away. Now I am going to punish you for the evil you have done.

3 I will gather the rest of my people from the countries where I have scattered them, and I will bring them back to their homeland. They will have many children and increase in number.

4 I will appoint rulers to take care of them. My people will no longer be afraid or terrified, and I will not punish them again. I, the Lord, have spoken.

5 The Lord says, "The time is coming when I will choose as king a righteous descendant of David. That king will rule wisely and do what is right and just throughout the land.

6 When he is king, the people of Judah will be safe, and the people of Israel will live in peace. He will be called "The Lord Our Salvation.'

7 "The time is coming," says the Lord, "when people will no longer swear by me as the living God who brought the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt.

8 Instead, they will swear by me as the living God who brought the people of Israel out of a northern land and out of all the other countries where I had scattered them. Then they will live in their own land."

9 My heart is crushed, and I am trembling. Because of the Lord, because of his holy words, I am like a man who is drunk, someone who has had too much wine.

10 The land is full of people unfaithful to the Lord; they live wicked lives and misuse their power. Because of the Lord's curse the land mourns and the pastures are dry.

11 The Lord says, "The prophets and the priests are godless; I have caught them doing evil in the Temple itself.

12 The paths they follow will be slippery and dark; I will make them stumble and fall. I am going to bring disaster on them; the time of their punishment is coming. I, the Lord, have spoken.

13 I have seen the sin of Samaria's prophets: they have spoken in the name of Baal and have led my people astray.

14 But I have seen the prophets in Jerusalem do even worse: they commit adultery and tell lies; they help people to do wrong, so that no one stops doing what is evil. To me they are all as bad as the people of Sodom and Gomorrah

15 "So then, this is what I, the Lord Almighty, say about the prophets of Jerusalem: I will give them bitter plants to eat and poison to drink, because they have spread ungodliness throughout the land."

16 The Lord Almighty said to the people of Jerusalem, "Do not listen to what the prophets say; they are filling you with false hopes. They tell you what they have imagined and not what I have said.

17 To the people who refuse to listen to what I have said, they keep saying that all will go well with them. And they tell everyone who is stubborn that disaster will never touch them."

18 I said, "None of these prophets has ever known the Lord's secret thoughts. None of them has ever heard or understood his message, or ever listened or paid attention to what he said.

19 His anger is a storm, a furious wind that will rage over the heads of the wicked

20 and it will not end until he has done everything he intends to do. In days to come his people will understand this clearly."

21 The Lord said, "I did not send these prophets, but even so they went. I did not give them any message, but still they spoke in my name

22 If they had known my secret thoughts, then they could have proclaimed my message to my people and could have made them give up the evil lives they live and the wicked things they do.

23 "I am a God who is everywhere and not in one place only.

24 No one can hide where I cannot see them. Do you not know that I am everywhere in heaven and on earth?

25 I know what those prophets have said who speak lies in my name and claim that I have given them my messages in their dreams.

26 How much longer will those prophets mislead my people with the lies they have invented?

27 They think that the dreams they tell will make my people forget me, just as their ancestors forgot me and turned to Baal.

28 The prophet who has had a dream should say it is only a dream, but the prophet who has heard my message should proclaim that message faithfully. What good is straw compared with wheat?

29 My message is like a fire and like a hammer that breaks rocks in pieces.

30 I am against those prophets who take each other's words and proclaim them as my message.

31 I am also against those prophets who speak their own words and claim they came from me.

32 Listen to what I, the Lord, say! I am against the prophets who tell their dreams that are full of lies. They tell these dreams and lead my people astray with their lies and their boasting. I did not send them or order them to go, and they are of no help at all to the people. I, the Lord, have spoken."

33 The Lord said to me, "Jeremiah, when one of my people or a prophet or a priest asks you, "What is the Lord's message?' you are to say, "You are a burden to the Lord, and he is going to get rid of you.'

34 If any of my people or a prophet or a priest even uses the words "the Lord's burden,' I will punish them and their families.

35 Instead, each one of them should ask their friends and their relatives, "What answer has the Lord given? What has the Lord said?'

36 So they must no longer use the words "the Lord's burden,' because if any of them do, I will make my message a real burden to them. The people have perverted the words of their God, the living God, the Lord Almighty

37 Jeremiah, ask the prophets, "What answer did the Lord give you? What did the Lord say?'

38 And if they disobey my command and use the words "the Lord's burden,' then tell them tha

39 I will certainly pick them up and throw them far away from me, both them and the city that I gave to them and their ancestors.

40 I will bring on them everlasting shame and disgrace that will never be forgotten."

Jeremiah 24

1 The Lord showed me two baskets of figs placed in front of the Temple. (This was after King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia had taken away Jehoiakim's son, King Jehoiachin of Judah, as a prisoner from Jerusalem to Babylonia, together with the leaders of Judah, the craftworkers, and the skilled workers.)

2 The first basket contained good figs, those that ripen early; the other one contained bad figs, too bad to eat.

3 Then the Lord said to me, "Jeremiah, what do you see?" I answered, "Figs. The good ones are very good, and the bad ones are very bad, too bad to eat."

4 So the Lord said to me,

5 "I, the Lord, the God of Israel, consider that the people who were taken away to Babylonia are like these good figs, and I will treat them with kindness.

6 I will watch over them and bring them back to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not pull them up.

7 I will give them the desire to know that I am the Lord. Then they will be my people, and I will be their God, because they will return to me with all their heart.

8 "As for King Zedekiah of Judah, the politicians around him, and the rest of the people of Jerusalem who have stayed in this land or moved to Egypt - I, the Lord, will treat them all like these figs that are too bad to be eaten.

9 I will bring such a disaster on them that all the nations of the world will be terrified. People will make fun of them, make jokes about them, ridicule them, and use their name as a curse everywhere I scatter them.

10 I will bring war, starvation, and disease on them until there is not one of them left in the land that I gave to them and their ancestors."

Jeremiah 25

1 In the fourth year that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was king of Judah, I received a message from the Lord concerning all the people of Judah. (This was the first year that Nebuchadnezzar was king of Babylonia.)

2 I said to all the people of Judah and of Jerusalem,

3 "For twenty-three years, from the thirteenth year that Josiah son of Amon was king of Judah until this very day, the Lord has spoken to me, and I have never failed to tell you what he said. But you have paid no attention.

4 You would not listen or pay attention, even though the Lord has continued to send you his servants the prophets.

5 They told you to turn from your wicked way of life and from the evil things you are doing, so that you could go on living in the land that the Lord gave you and your ancestors as a permanent possession.

6 They told you not to worship and serve other gods and not to make the Lord angry by worshiping the idols you had made. If you had obeyed the Lord, then he would not have punished you.

7 But the Lord himself says that you refused to listen to him. Instead, you made him angry with your idols and have brought his punishment on yourselves.

8 "So then, because you would not listen to him, the Lord Almighty says,

9 "I am going to send for all the peoples from the north and for my servant, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia. I am going to bring them to fight against Judah and its inhabitants and against all the neighboring nations. I am going to destroy this nation and its neighbors and leave them in ruins forever, a terrible and shocking sight. I, the Lord, have spoken.

10 I will silence their shouts of joy and gladness and the happy sounds of wedding feasts. They will have no oil for their lamps, and there will be no more grain.

11 This whole land will be left in ruins and will be a shocking sight, and the neighboring nations will serve the king of Babylonia for seventy years.

12 After that I will punish Babylonia and its king for their sin. I will destroy that country and leave it in ruins forever.

13 I will punish Babylonia with all the disasters that I threatened to bring on the nations when I spoke through Jeremiah - all the disasters recorded in this book.

14 I will pay the Babylonians back for what they have done, and many nations and great kings will make slaves of them.' "

15 The Lord, the God of Israel, said to me, "Here is a wine cup filled with my anger. Take it to all the nations to whom I send you, and make them drink from it.

16 When they drink from it, they will stagger and go out of their minds because of the war I am sending against them."

17 So I took the cup from the Lord's hand, gave it to all the nations to whom the Lord had sent me, and made them drink from it.

18 Jerusalem and all the towns of Judah, together with its kings and leaders, were made to drink from it, so that they would become a desert, a terrible and shocking sight, and so that people would use their name as a curse - as they still do.

19 Here is the list of all the others who had to drink from the cup: the king of Egypt, his officials and leaders; all the Egyptians and all the foreigners in Egypt; all the kings of the land of Uz; all the kings of the Philistine cities of Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and what remains of Ashdod; all the people of Edom, Moab, and Ammon; all the kings of Tyre and Sidon; all the kings of the Mediterranean lands; the cities of Dedan, Tema, and Buz; all the people who cut their hair short; all the kings of Arabia; all the kings of the desert tribes; all the kings of Zimri, Elam, and Media; all the kings of the north, far and near, one after another. Every nation on the face of the earth had to drink from it. Last of all, the king of Babylonia will drink from it.

27 Then the Lord said to me, "Tell the people that I, the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, am commanding them to drink until they are drunk and vomit, until they fall down and cannot get up, because of the war that I am sending against them.

28 And if they refuse to take the cup from your hand and drink from it, then tell them that the Lord Almighty has said that they will still have to drink from it.

29 I will begin my work of destruction in my own city. Do they think they will go unpunished? No, they will be punished, for I am going to send war on all the people on earth. I, the Lord Almighty, have spoken.

30 "You, Jeremiah, must proclaim everything I have said. You must tell these people, "The Lord will roar from heaven and thunder from the heights of heaven. He will roar against his people; he will shout like a man treading grapes. Everyone on earth will hear him,

31 and the sound will echo to the ends of the earth. The Lord has a case against the nations. He will bring all people to trial and put the wicked to death. The Lord has spoken.' "

32 The Lord Almighty says that disaster is coming on one nation after another, and a great storm is gathering at the far ends of the earth.

33 On that day the bodies of those whom the Lord has killed will lie scattered from one end of the earth to the other. No one will mourn for them, and they will not be taken away and buried. They will lie on the ground like piles of manure.

34 Cry, you leaders, you shepherds of my people, cry out loud! Mourn and roll in the dust. The time has come for you to be slaughtered, and you will be butchered like rams.

35 There will be no way for you to escape.

36 You moan and cry out in distress because the Lord in his anger has destroyed your nation and left your peaceful country in ruins.

38 The Lord has abandoned his people like a lion that leaves its cave. The horrors of war and the Lord's fierce anger have turned the country into a desert.

Jeremiah 26

1 Soon after Jehoiakim son of Josiah became king of Judah,

2 the Lord said to me, "Stand in the court of the Temple and proclaim all I have commanded you to say to the people who come from the towns of Judah to worship there. Do not leave out anything.

3 Perhaps the people will listen and give up their evil ways. If they do, then I will change my mind about the destruction I plan to bring on them for all their wicked deeds."

4 The Lord told me to say to the people, "I, the Lord, have said that you must obey me by following the teaching that I gave you,

5 and by paying attention to the words of my servants, the prophets, whom I have kept on sending to you. You have never obeyed what they said.

6 If you continue to disobey, then I will do to this Temple what I did to Shiloh, and all the nations of the world will use the name of this city as a curse."

7 The priests, the prophets, and all the people heard me saying these things in the Temple,

8 and as soon as I had finished all that the Lord had commanded me to speak, they grabbed me and shouted, "You ought to be killed for this!

9 Why have you said in the Lord's name that this Temple will become like Shiloh and that this city will be destroyed and no one will live in it?" Then the people crowded around me.

10 When the leaders of Judah heard what had happened, they hurried from the royal palace to the Temple and took their places at the New Gate.

11 Then the priests and the prophets said to the leaders and to the people, "This man deserves to be sentenced to death because he has spoken against our city. You heard him with your own ears."

12 Then I said, "The Lord sent me to proclaim everything that you heard me say against this Temple and against this city.

13 You must change the way you are living and the things you are doing, and must obey the Lord your God. If you do, he will change his mind about the destruction that he said he would bring on you.

14 As for me, I am in your power! Do with me whatever you think is fair and right.

15 But be sure of this: if you kill me, you and the people of this city will be guilty of killing an innocent man, because it is the Lord who sent me to give you this warning."

16 Then the leaders and the people said to the priests and the prophets, "This man spoke to us in the name of the Lord our God; he should not be put to death."

17 After that, some of the elders stood up and said to the people who had gathered,

18 "When Hezekiah was king of Judah, the prophet Micah of Moresheth told all the people that the Lord Almighty had said, "Zion will be plowed like a field; Jerusalem will become a pile of ruins, and the Temple hill will become a forest.'

19 King Hezekiah and the people of Judah did not put Micah to death. Instead, Hezekiah honored the Lord and tried to win his favor. And the Lord changed his mind about the disaster that he said he would bring on them. Now we are about to bring a terrible disaster on ourselves."

20 (There was another man, Uriah son of Shemaiah from Kiriath Jearim, who spoke in the name of the Lord against this city and nation just as Jeremiah did.

21 When King Jehoiakim and his soldiers and officials heard what Uriah had said, the king tried to have him killed. But Uriah heard about it; so he fled in terror and escaped to Egypt.

22 King Jehoiakim, however, sent Elnathan son of Achbor and some other men to Egypt to get Uriah.

23 They brought him back to King Jehoiakim, who had him killed and his body thrown into the public burial ground.)

24 But because I had the support of Ahikam son of Shaphan, I was not handed over to the people and killed.

Jeremiah 27

1 Soon after Josiah's son Zedekiah became king of Judah, the Lord told me

2 to make myself a yoke out of leather straps and wooden crossbars and to put it on my neck.

3 Then the Lord told me to send a message to the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon through their ambassadors who had come to Jerusalem to see King Zedekiah.

4 The Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, told me to command them to tell their kings that the Lord had said:

5 "By my great power and strength I created the world, human beings, and all the animals that live on the earth; and I give it to anyone I choose.

6 I am the one who has placed all these nations under the power of my servant, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia, and I have made even the wild animals serve him.

7 All nations will serve him, and they will serve his son and his grandson until the time comes for his own nation to fall. Then his nation will serve powerful nations and great kings.

8 "But if any nation or kingdom will not submit to his rule, then I will punish that nation by war, starvation, and disease until I have let Nebuchadnezzar destroy it completely.

9 Do not listen to your prophets or to those who claim they can predict the future, either by dreams or by calling up the spirits of the dead or by magic. They all tell you not to submit to the king of Babylonia.

10 They are deceiving you and will cause you to be taken far away from your country. I will drive you out, and you will be destroyed.

11 But if any nation submits to the king of Babylonia and serves him, then I will let it stay on in its own land, to farm it and live there. I, the Lord, have spoken."

12 I said the same thing to King Zedekiah of Judah, "Submit to the king of Babylonia. Serve him and his people, and you will live.

13 Why should you and your people die in war or of starvation or disease? That is what the Lord has said will happen to any nation that does not submit to the king of Babylonia.

14 Do not listen to the prophets who tell you not to surrender to him. They are deceiving you.

15 The Lord himself has said that he did not send them and that they are lying to you in his name. And so he will drive you out, and you will be killed, you and the prophets who are telling you these lies."

16 Then I told the priests and the people that the Lord had said: "Do not listen to the prophets who say that the Temple treasures will soon be brought back from Babylonia. They are lying to you.

17 Don't listen to them! Submit to the king of Babylonia and you will live! Why should this city become a pile of ruins?

18 If they are really prophets and if they have my message, let them ask me, the Lord Almighty, not to allow the treasures that remain in the Temple and in the royal palace to be taken to Babylonia."

19 (When King Nebuchadnezzar took away to Babylonia the king of Judah, Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim, and the leading men of Judah and Jerusalem, he left the columns, the bronze tank, the carts, and some of the other Temple treasures.)

21 "Listen to what I, the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, say about the treasures that are left in the Temple and in the royal palace in Jerusalem:

22 They will be taken to Babylonia and will remain there until I turn my attention to them. Then I will bring them back and restore them to this place. I, the Lord, have spoken."

Jeremiah 28

1 That same year, in the fifth month of the fourth year that Zedekiah was king, Hananiah son of Azzur, a prophet from the town of Gibeon, spoke to me in the Temple. In the presence of the priests and of the people he told me

2 that the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, had said: "I have broken the power of the king of Babylonia.

3 Within two years I will bring back to this place all the Temple treasures that King Nebuchadnezzar took to Babylonia.

4 I will also bring back the king of Judah, Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim, along with all of the people of Judah who went into exile in Babylonia. Yes, I will break the power of the king of Babylonia. I, the Lord, have spoken."

5 Then in the presence of the priests and of all the people who were standing in the Temple, I said to Hananiah,

6 "Wonderful! I hope the Lord will do this! I certainly hope he will make your prophecy come true and will bring back from Babylonia all the Temple treasures and all the people who were taken away as prisoners.

7 But listen to what I say to you and to the people.

8 The prophets who spoke long ago, before my time and yours, predicted that war, starvation, and disease would come to many nations and powerful kingdoms.

9 But a prophet who predicts peace can only be recognized as a prophet whom the Lord has truly sent when that prophet's predictions come true."

10 Then Hananiah took the yoke off my neck, broke it in pieces,

11 and said in the presence of all the people, "The Lord has said that this is how he will break the yoke that King Nebuchadnezzar has put on the neck of all the nations; and he will do this within two years." Then I left.

12 Some time after this the Lord told me

13 to go and tell Hananiah: "The Lord has said that you may be able to break a wooden yoke, but he will replace it with an iron yoke.

14 The Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, has said that he will put an iron yoke on all these nations and that they will serve King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia. The Lord has said that he will make even the wild animals serve Nebuchadnezzar."

15 Then I told Hananiah this, and added, "Listen, Hananiah! The Lord did not send you, and you are making these people believe a lie.

16 And so the Lord himself says that he is going to get rid of you. Before this year is over you will die because you have told the people to rebel against the Lord."

17 And Hananiah died in the seventh month of that same year.

Jeremiah 29

1 I wrote a letter to the priests, the prophets, the leaders of the people, and to all the others whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken away as prisoners from Jerusalem to Babylonia.

2 I wrote it after King Jehoiachin, his mother, the palace officials, the leaders of Judah and of Jerusalem, the engravers, and the skilled workers had been taken into exile.

3 I gave the letter to Elasah son of Shaphan and to Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom King Zedekiah of Judah was sending to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia. It said:

4 "The Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those people whom he allowed Nebuchadnezzar to take away as prisoners from Jerusalem to Babylonia:

5 "Build houses and settle down. Plant gardens and eat what you grow in them.

6 Marry and have children. Then let your children get married, so that they also may have children. You must increase in numbers and not decrease.

7 Work for the good of the cities where I have made you go as prisoners. Pray to me on their behalf, because if they are prosperous, you will be prosperous too.

8 I, the Lord, the God of Israel, warn you not to let yourselves be deceived by the prophets who live among you or by any others who claim they can predict the future. Do not pay any attention to their dreams.

9 They are telling you lies in my name. I did not send them. I, the Lord Almighty, have spoken.'

10 "The Lord says, "When Babylonia's seventy years are over, I will show my concern for you and keep my promise to bring you back home.

11 I alone know the plans I have for you, plans to bring you prosperity and not disaster, plans to bring about the future you hope for.

12 Then you will call to me. You will come and pray to me, and I will answer you.

13 You will seek me, and you will find me because you will seek me with all your heart.

14 Yes, I say, you will find me, and I will restore you to your land. I will gather you from every country and from every place to which I have scattered you, and I will bring you back to the land from which I had sent you away into exile. I, the Lord, have spoken.'

15 "You say that the Lord has given you prophets in Babylonia.

16 Listen to what the Lord says about the king who rules the kingdom that David ruled and about the people of this city, that is, your relatives who were not taken away as prisoners with you.

17 The Lord Almighty says, "I am bringing war, starvation, and disease on them, and I will make them like figs that are too rotten to be eaten.

18 I will pursue them with war, starvation, and disease, and all the nations of the world will be horrified at what they see. Everywhere I scatter them, people will be shocked and terrified at what has happened to them. People will make fun of them and use their name as a curse.

19 This will happen to them because they did not obey the message that I kept on sending to them through my servants the prophets. They refused to listen.

20 All of you whom I sent into exile in Babylonia, listen to what I, the Lord, say.'

21 "The Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, has spoken about Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, who are telling you lies in his name. He has said that he will hand them over to the power of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia, who will put them to death before your eyes.

22 When the people who were taken away as prisoners from Jerusalem to Babylonia want to bring a curse on someone, they will say, "May the Lord treat you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylonia roasted alive!'

23 This will be their fate because they are guilty of terrible sins - they have committed adultery and have told lies in the Lord's name. This was against the Lord's will; he knows what they have done, and he is a witness against them. The Lord has spoken."

24 The Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, gave me a message for Shemaiah of Nehelam, who had sent a letter in his own name to all the people of Jerusalem and to the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah and to all the other priests. In this letter Shemaiah wrote to Zephaniah:

26 "The Lord made you a priest in place of Jehoiada, and you are now the chief officer in the Temple. It is your duty to see that every crazy person who pretends to be a prophet is placed in chains with an iron collar around the neck.

27 Why haven't you done this to Jeremiah of Anathoth, who has been speaking as a prophet to the people?

28 He must be stopped because he told the people in Babylonia that they would be prisoners there a long time and should build houses, settle down, plant gardens, and eat what they grow."

29 Zephaniah read the letter to me,

30 and then the Lord told me

31 to send to all the prisoners in Babylon this message about Shemaiah: "I, the Lord, will punish Shemaiah and all of his descendants. I did not send him, but he spoke to you as if he were a prophet, and he made you believe lies. He will have no descendants among you. He will not live to see the good things that I am going to do for my people, because he told them to rebel against me. I, the Lord, have spoken."

Jeremiah 30

1 The Lord, the God of Israel,

2 said to me, "Write down in a book everything that I have told you,

3 because the time is coming when I will restore my people, Israel and Judah. I will bring them back to the land that I gave their ancestors, and they will take possession of it again. I, the Lord, have spoken."

4 The Lord says to the people of Israel and Judah,

5 "I heard a cry of terror, a cry of fear and not of peace.

6 Now stop and think! Can a man give birth to a child? Why then do I see every man with his hands on his stomach like a woman in labor? Why is everyone so pale?

7 A terrible day is coming; no other day can compare with it - a time of distress for my people, but they will survive."

8 The Lord Almighty says, "When that day comes, I will break the yoke that is around their neck and remove their chains, and they will no longer be the slaves of foreigners.

9 Instead, they will serve me, the Lord their God, and a descendant of David, whom I will enthrone as king.

10 "My people, do not be afraid; people of Israel, do not be terrified. I will rescue you from that faraway land, from the land where you are prisoners. You will come back home and live in peace; you will be secure, and no one will make you afraid.

11 I will come to you and save you. I will destroy all the nations where I have scattered you, but I will not destroy you. I will not let you go unpunished; but when I punish you, I will be fair. I, the Lord, have spoken."

12 The Lord says to his people, "Your wounds are incurable, your injuries cannot be healed.

13 There is no one to take care of you, no remedy for your sores, no hope of healing for you.

14 All your lovers have forgotten you; they no longer care about you. I have attacked you like an enemy; your punishment has been harsh because your sins are many and your wickedness is great.

15 Complain no more about your injuries; there is no cure for you. I punished you like this because your sins are many and your wickedness is great.

16 But now, all who devour you will be devoured, and all your enemies will be taken away as prisoners. All who oppress you will be oppressed, and all who plunder you will be plundered.

17 I will make you well again; I will heal your wounds, though your enemies say, "Zion is an outcast; no one cares about her.' I, the Lord, have spoken."

18 The Lord says, "I will restore my people to their land and have mercy on every family; Jerusalem will be rebuilt, and its palace restored.

19 The people who live there will sing praise; they will shout for joy. By my blessing they will increase in numbers; my blessing will bring them honor.

20 I will restore the nation's ancient power and establish it firmly again; I will punish all who oppress them.

21 Their ruler will come from their own nation, their prince from their own people. He will approach me when I invite him, for who would dare come uninvited? They will be my people, and I will be their God. I, the Lord, have spoken."

23 The Lord's anger is a storm, a furious wind that will rage over the heads of the wicked. It will not end until he has done all that he intends to do. In days to come his people will understand this clearly.