Book of Jeremiah Chapter 1

1. The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests that were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin,
2. to whom the word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.
3. It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, unto the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah, unto the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month.
4. And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying:
5. Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee, and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee; I have appointed thee a prophet unto the nations.
6. Then said I: 'Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak; for I am a child.'
7. But the LORD said unto me: say not: I am a child; for to whomsoever I shall send thee thou shalt go, and whatsoever I shall command thee thou shalt speak.
8. Be not afraid of them; for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the LORD.
9. Then the LORD put forth His hand, and touched my mouth; and the LORD said unto me: Behold, I have put My words in thy mouth;
10. See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out and to pull down, and to destroy and to overthrow; to build, and to plant.
11. Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying: 'Jeremiah, what seest thou?' And I said: 'I see a rod of an almond-tree.'
12. Then said the LORD unto me: 'Thou hast well seen; for I watch over My word to perform it.'
13. And the word of the LORD came unto me the second time, saying: 'What seest thou?' And I said: 'I see a seething pot; and the face thereof is from the north.'
14. Then the LORD said unto me: 'Out of the north the evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land.
15. For, lo, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, saith the LORD; and they shall come, and they shall set every one his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all the walls thereof round about, and against all the cities of Judah.
16. And I will utter My judgments against them touching all their wickedness; in that they have forsaken me, and have offered unto other gods, and worshipped the work of their own hands.
17. Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee; be not dismayed at them, lest I dismay thee before them.
18. For, behold, I have made thee this day a fortified city, and an iron pillar, and brazen walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land.
19. And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee; For I am with thee, saith the LORD, to deliver thee.'

Book of Jeremiah Chapter 2

1. And the word of the LORD came to me, saying:
2. Go, and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying: Thus saith the LORD: I remember for thee the affection of thy youth, the love of thine espousals; how thou wentest after Me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown.
3. Israel is the LORD'S hallowed portion, His first-fruits of the increase; all that devour him shall be held guilty, evil shall come upon them, saith the LORD.
4. Hear ye the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel;
5. Thus saith the LORD: what unrighteousness have your fathers found in Me, that they are gone far from Me, and have walked after things of nought, and are become nought?
6. Neither said they: 'Where is the LORD that brought us up out of the land of Egypt; that led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought and of the shadow of death, through a land that no man passed through, and where no man dwelt?'
7. And I brought you into a land of fruitful fields, to eat the fruit thereof and the good thereof; but when ye entered, ye defiled My land, and made My heritage an abomination.
8. The priests said not: 'Where is the LORD?' And they that handle the law knew Me not, and the rulers transgressed against Me; the prophets also prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit.
9. Wherefore I will yet plead with you, saith the LORD, and with your children's children will I plead.
10. For pass over to the isles of the Kittites, and see, and send unto Kedar, and consider diligently, and see if there hath been such a thing.
11. Hath a nation changed its gods, which yet are no gods? But My people hath changed its glory for that which doth not profit.
12. Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye exceeding amazed, saith the LORD.
13. For My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.
14. Is Israel a servant? Is he a home-born slave? Why is he become a prey?
15. The young lions have roared upon him, and let their voice resound; and they have made his land desolate, his cities are laid waste, without inhabitant.
16. The children also of Noph and Tahpanhes feed upon the crown of thy head.
17. Is it not this that doth cause it unto thee, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, when He led thee by the way?
18. And now what hast thou to do in the way to Egypt, to drink the waters of Shihor? Or what hast thou to do in the way to Assyria, to drink the waters of the River?
19. Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil and a bitter thing, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, neither is My fear in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.
20. For of old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bands, and thou saidst: 'I will not transgress'; upon every high hill and under every leafy tree thou didst recline, playing the harlot.
21. Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed; how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto Me?
22. For though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before Me, saith the Lord GOD.
23. How canst thou say: 'I am not defiled, I have not gone after the Baalim'? See thy way in the Valley, know what thou hast done; thou art a swift young camel traversing her ways;
24. A wild ass used to the wilderness, that snuffeth up the wind in her desire; her lust, who can hinder it? All they that seek her will not weary themselves; in her month they shall find her.
25. Withhold thy foot from being unshod, and thy throat from thirst; but thou saidst: 'There is no hope; no, for I have loved strangers, and after them will I go.'
26. As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets;
27. Who say to a stock: 'Thou art my father', and to a stone: 'Thou hast brought us forth', for they have turned their back unto Me, and not their face; but in the time of their trouble they will say: 'Arise, and save us.'
28. But where are thy gods that thou hast made thee? Let them arise, if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble; for according to the number of thy cities are thy gods, O Judah.
29. Wherefore will ye contend with Me? Ye all have transgressed against Me, saith the LORD.
30. In vain have I smitten your children--they received no correction; your sword hath devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion.
31. O generation, see ye the word of the LORD: have I been a wilderness unto Israel? or a land of thick darkness? Wherefore say My people: 'We roam at large; we will come no more unto Thee'?
32. Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet My people have forgotten Me days without number.
33. How trimmest thou thy way to seek love! Therefore--even the wicked women hast thou taught thy ways;
34. Also in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the innocent poor; thou didst not find them breaking in; yet for all these things
35. Thou saidst: 'I am innocent; surely His anger is turned away from me'--behold, I will enter into judgment with thee, because thou sayest: 'I have not sinned.'
36. How greatly dost thou cheapen thyself to change thy way? Thou shalt be ashamed of Egypt also, as thou wast ashamed of Asshur.
37. From him also shalt thou go forth, with thy hands upon thy head; for the LORD hath rejected them in whom thou didst trust, and thou shalt not prosper in them.

Book of Jeremiah Chapter 3

1. ... saying: If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man's, may he return unto her again? Will not that land be greatly polluted? But thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; and wouldest thou yet return to Me? saith the LORD.
2. Lift up thine eyes unto the high hills, and see: where hast thou not been lain with? By the ways hast thou sat for them, as an Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with thy harlotries and with thy wickedness.
3. Therefore the showers have been withheld, and there hath been no latter rain; yet thou hadst a harlot's forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed.
4. Didst thou not just now cry unto Me: 'My father, Thou art the friend of my youth.
5. Will He bear grudge for ever? Will He keep it to the end?' Behold, thou hast spoken, but hast done evil things, and hast had thy way.
6. And the LORD said unto me in the days of Josiah the king: 'Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel did? she went up upon every high mountain and under every leafy tree, and there played the harlot.
7. And I said: After she hath done all these things, she will return unto me; but she returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it.
8. And I saw, when, forasmuch as backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a bill of divorcement, that yet treacherous Judah her sister feared not; but she also went and played the harlot;
9. and it came to pass through the lightness of her harlotry, that the land was polluted, and she committed adultery with stones and with stocks;
10. and yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not returned unto Me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the LORD--
11. even the LORD said unto me--backsliding Israel hath proved herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.
12. Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say: return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the LORD; I will not frown upon you; for I am merciful, saith the LORD, I will not bear grudge for ever.
13. Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every leafy tree, and ye have not hearkened to My voice, saith the LORD.
14. Return, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am a lord unto you, and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion;
15. and I will give you shepherds according to My heart, who shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.
16. And it shall come to pass, when ye are multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, saith the LORD, they shall say no more: The ark of the covenant of the LORD; neither shall it come to mind; neither shall they make mention of it; neither shall they miss it; neither shall it be made any more.
17. At that time they shall call Jerusalem The throne of the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem; neither shall they walk any more after the stubbornness of their evil heart.
18. In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers.'
19. But I said: 'How would I put thee among the sons, and give thee a pleasant land, the goodliest heritage of the nations!' And I said: 'Thou shalt call Me, My father; and shalt not turn away from following Me.'
20. Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with Me, O house of Israel, saith the LORD.
21. Hark! upon the high hills is heard the suppliant weeping of the children of Israel; for that they have perverted their way, they have forgotten the LORD their God.
22. Return, ye backsliding children, I will heal your backslidings.--'Here we are, we are come unto Thee; for Thou art the LORD our God.
23. Truly vain have proved the hills, the uproar on the mountains; truly in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel.
24. But the shameful thing hath devoured the labour of our fathers from our youth; their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.
25. Let us lie down in our shame, and let our confusion cover us; for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day; and we have not hearkened to the voice of the LORD our God.'

Book of Jeremiah Chapter 4

1. If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the LORD, yea, return unto Me; and if thou wilt put away thy detestable things out of My sight, and wilt not waver;
2. And wilt swear: 'As the LORD liveth' in truth, in justice, and in righteousness; then shall the nations bless themselves by Him, and in Him shall they glory.
3. For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem: break up for you a fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.
4. Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest My fury go forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
5. Declare ye in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem, and say: 'Blow ye the horn in the land'; cry aloud and say: 'Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the fortified cities.'
6. Set up a standard toward Zion; put yourselves under covert, stay not; for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction.
7. A lion is gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations is set out, gone forth from his place; to make thy land desolate, that thy cities be laid waste, without inhabitant.
8. For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and wail; for the fierce anger of the LORD is not turned back from us.
9. And it shall come to pass at that day, saith the LORD, that the heart of the king shall fail, and the heart of the princes; and the priests shall be astonished, and the prophets shall wonder.
10. Then said I: 'Ah, Lord GOD! surely Thou hast greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying: Ye shall have peace; whereas the sword reacheth unto the soul.'
11. At that time shall it be said of this people and of Jerusalem; a hot wind of the high hills in the wilderness toward the daughter of My people, not to fan, nor to cleanse;
12. A wind too strong for this shall come for Me; now will I also utter judgments against them.
13. Behold, he cometh up as clouds, and his chariots are as the whirlwind; his horses are swifter than eagles.--'Woe unto us! for we are undone.'--
14. O Jerusalem, wash thy heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thy baleful thoughts lodge within thee?
15. For hark! one declareth from Dan, and announceth calamity from the hills of Ephraim:
16. 'Make ye mention to the nations: behold--publish concerning Jerusalem--watchers come from a far country, and give out their voice against the cities of Judah.'
17. As keepers of a field are they against her round about; because she hath been rebellious against Me, saith the LORD.
18. Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee; this is thy wickedness; yea, it is bitter, yea, it reacheth unto thy heart.
19. My bowels, my bowels! I writhe in pain! The chambers of my heart! My heart moaneth within me! I cannot hold my peace! because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the horn, the alarm of war.
20. Destruction followeth upon destruction, for the whole land is spoiled; suddenly are my tents spoiled, my curtains in a moment.
21. How long shall I see the standard, shall I hear the sound of the horn?
22. For My people is foolish, they know Me not; they are sottish children, and they have no understanding; they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.
23. I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was waste and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.
24. I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved to and fro.
25. I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled.
26. I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful field was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and before His fierce anger.
27. For thus saith the LORD: The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end.
28. For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black; because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and I have not repented, neither will I turn back from it.
29. For the noise of the horsemen and bowmen the whole city fleeth; they go into the thickets, and climb up upon the rocks; every city is forsaken, and not a man dwelleth therein.
30. And thou, that art spoiled, what doest thou, that thou clothest thyself with scarlet, that thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, that thou enlargest thine eyes with paint? In vain dost thou make thyself fair; thy lovers despise thee, they seek thy life.
31. For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, that gaspeth for breath, that spreadeth her hands: 'Woe is me, now! for my soul fainteth before the murderers.'

Book of Jeremiah Chapter 5

1. Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that doeth justly, that seeketh truth; and I will pardon her.
2. And though they say: 'As the LORD liveth', surely they swear falsely.
3. O LORD, are not Thine eyes upon truth? Thou hast stricken them, but they were not affected; Thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction; they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.
4. And I said: 'Surely these are poor, they are foolish, for they know not the way of the LORD, nor the ordinance of their God;
5. I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they know the way of the LORD, and the ordinance of their God.' But these had altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bands.
6. Wherefore a lion out of the forest doth slay them, a wolf of the deserts doth spoil them, a leopard watcheth over their cities, every one that goeth out thence is torn in pieces; because their transgressions are many, their backslidings are increased.
7. Wherefore should I pardon thee? The children have forsaken Me, and sworn by no-gods; and when I had fed them to the full, they committed adultery, and assembled themselves in troops at the harlots' houses.
8. They are become as well-fed horses, lusty stallions; every one neigheth after his neighbour's wife.
9. Shall I not punish for these things? saith the LORD; and shall not My soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
10. Go ye up into her rows, and destroy, but make not a full end; take away her shoots; for they are not the LORD'S.
11. For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against Me, saith the LORD.
12. They have belied the LORD, and said: 'It is not He, neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor famine;
13. And the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them; thus be it done unto them.'
14. Wherefore thus saith the LORD, the God of hosts: Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make My words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.
15. Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, saith the LORD; it is an enduring nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou knowest not, neither understandest what they say.
16. Their quiver is an open sepulchre, they are all mighty men.
17. And they shall eat up thy harvest, and thy bread, they shall eat up thy sons and thy daughters, they shall eat up thy flocks and thy herds, they shall eat up thy vines and thy fig-trees; they shall batter thy fortified cities, wherein thou trusteth, with the sword.
18. But even in those days, saith the LORD, I will not make a full end with you.
19. And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say: 'Wherefore hath the LORD our God done all these things unto us?' then shalt Thou say unto them: 'Like as ye have forsaken Me, and served strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours.'
20. Declare ye this in the house of Jacob, and announce it in Judah, saying:
21. Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding, that have eyes, and see not, that have ears, and hear not:
22. Fear ye not Me? saith the LORD; will ye not tremble at My presence? who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea, an everlasting ordinance, which it cannot pass; and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it.
23. But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted, and gone.
24. Neither say they in their heart: 'Let us now fear the LORD our God, that giveth the former rain, and the latter in due season; that keepeth for us the appointed weeks of the harvest.'
25. Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good from you.
26. For among My people are found wicked men; they pry, as fowlers lie in wait; they set a trap, they catch men.
27. As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit; therefore they are become great, and waxen rich;
28. They are waxen fat, they are become sleek; yea, they overpass in deeds of wickedness; they plead not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they might make it to prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge.
29. Shall I not punish for these things? saith the LORD; shall not My soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
30. An appalling and horrible thing is come to pass in the land:
31. The prophets prophesy in the service of falsehood, and the priests bear rule at their beck; and My people love to have it so; what then will ye do in the end thereof?

Book of Jeremiah Chapter 6

1. Put yourselves under covert, ye children of Benjamin, away from the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the horn in Tekoa, and set up a signal on Beth-cherem; for evil looketh forth from the north, and a great destruction.
2. The comely and delicate one, the daughter of Zion, will I cut off.
3. Shepherds with their flocks come unto her; they pitch their tents against her round about; they feed bare every one what is nigh at hand.
4. 'Prepare ye war against her; arise, and let us go up at noon!' 'Woe unto us! for the day declineth, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out!'
5. 'Arise, and let us go up by night, and let us destroy her palaces.'
6. For thus hath the LORD of hosts said: hew ye down her trees, and cast up a mound against Jerusalem; this is the city to be punished; everywhere there is oppression in the midst of her.
7. As a cistern welleth with her waters, so she welleth with her wickedness; violence and spoil is heard in her; before Me continually is sickness and wounds.
8. Be thou corrected, O Jerusalem, lest My soul be alienated from thee, lest I make thee desolate, a land not inhabited.
9. Thus saith the LORD of hosts: They shall thoroughly glean as a vine the remnant of Israel; turn again thy hand as a grape-gatherer upon the shoots.
10. To whom shall I speak and give warning, that they may hear? Behold, their ear is dull, and they cannot attend; behold, the word of the LORD is become unto them a reproach, they have no delight in it.
11. Therefore I am full of the fury of the LORD, I am weary with holding in: pour it out upon the babes in the street, and upon the assembly of young men together; for even the husband with the wife shall be taken, the aged with him that is full of days.
12. And their houses shall be turned unto others, their fields and their wives together; for I will stretch out My hand upon the inhabitants of the land, saith the LORD.
13. For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is greedy for gain; and from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely.
14. They have healed also the hurt of My people lightly, saying: 'Peace, peace', when there is no peace.
15. They shall be put to shame because they have committed abomination; yea, they are not at all ashamed, neither know they how to blush; therefore they shall fall among them that fall, at the time that I punish them they shall stumble, saith the LORD.
16. Thus saith the LORD: stand ye in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said: 'We will not walk therein.'
17. And I set watchmen over you: 'Attend to the sound of the horn', but they said: 'We will not attend.'
18. Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O congregation, what is against them.
19. Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not attended unto My words, and as for My teaching, they have rejected it.
20. To what purpose is to Me the frankincense that cometh from Sheba, and the sweet cane, from a far country? Your burnt-offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices pleasing unto Me.
21. Therefore thus saith the LORD: Behold, I will lay stumblingblocks before this people, and the fathers and the sons together shall stumble against them, the neighbour and his friend, and they shall perish.
22. Thus saith the LORD: Behold, a people cometh from the north country, and a great nation shall be roused from the uttermost parts of the earth.
23. They lay hold on bow and spear, they are cruel, and have no compassion; their voice is like the roaring sea, and they ride upon horses; set in array, as a man for war, against thee, O daughter of Zion.
24. 'We have heard the fame thereof, our hands wax feeble, anguish hath taken hold of us, and pain, as of a woman in travail.'
25. Go not forth into the field, nor walk by the way; for there is the sword of the enemy, and terror on every side.
26. O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth, and wallow thyself in ashes; make thee mourning, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation; for the spoiler shall suddenly come upon us.
27. I have made thee a tower and a fortress among My people; that thou mayest know and try their way.
28. They are all grievous revolters, going about with slanders; they are brass and iron; they all of them deal corruptly.
29. The bellows blow fiercely, the lead is consumed of the fire; in vain doth the founder refine, for the wicked are not separated.
30. Refuse silver shall men call them, because the LORD hath rejected them.

Book of Jeremiah Chapter 7

1. The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying:
2. Stand in the gate of the LORD'S house, and proclaim there this word, and say: Hear the word of the LORD, all ye of Judah, that enter in at these gates to worship the LORD.
3. Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.
4. Trust ye not in lying words, saying: 'The temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, are these.'
5. Nay, but if ye thoroughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye thoroughly execute justice between a man and his neighbour;
6. if ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt;
7. then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever.
8. Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit.
9. Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and offer unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye have not known,
10. and come and stand before Me in this house, whereupon My name is called, and say: 'We are delivered', that ye may do all these abominations?
11. Is this house, whereupon My name is called, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it, saith the LORD.
12. For go ye now unto My place which was in Shiloh, where I caused My name to dwell at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of My people Israel.
13. And now, because ye have done all these works, saith the LORD, and I spoke unto you, speaking betimes and often, but ye heard not, and I called you, but ye answered not;
14. therefore will I do unto the house, whereupon My name is called, wherein ye trust, and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh.
15. And I will cast you out of My sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim.
16. Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to Me; for I will not hear thee.
17. Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
18. The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead the dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke Me.
19. Do they provoke Me? saith the LORD; do they not provoke themselves, to the confusion of their own faces?
20. Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD: Behold, Mine anger and My fury shall be poured out upon this place, upon man, and upon beast, and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of the land; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched.
21. Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Add your burnt-offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat ye flesh.
22. For I spoke not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt-offerings or sacrifices;
23. but this thing I commanded them, saying: 'Hearken unto My voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be My people; and walk ye in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.'
24. But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in their own counsels, even in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward and not forward,
25. even since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day; and though I have sent unto you all My servants the prophets, sending them daily betimes and often,
26. yet they hearkened not unto Me, nor inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff; they did worse than their fathers.
27. And thou shalt speak all these words unto them, but they will not hearken to thee; thou shalt also call unto them, but they will not answer thee.
28. Therefore thou shalt say unto them: This is the nation that hath not hearkened to the voice of the LORD their God, nor received correction; faithfulness is perished, and is cut off from their mouth.
29. Cut off thy hair, and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on the high hills; for the LORD hath rejected and forsaken the generation of His wrath.
30. For the children of Judah have done that which is evil in My sight, saith the LORD; they have set their detestable things in the house whereon My name is called, to defile it.
31. And they have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded not, neither came it into My mind.
32. Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more be called Topheth, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of slaughter; for they shall bury in Topheth, for lack of room.
33. And the carcasses of this people shall be food for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth; and none shall frighten them away.
34. Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride; for the land shall be desolate.

Book of Jeremiah Chapter 8

1. At that time, saith the LORD, they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves;
2. and they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the host of heaven, whom they have loved, and whom they have served, and after whom they have walked, and whom they have sought, and whom they have worshipped; they shall not be gathered, nor be buried, they shall be for dung upon the face of the earth.
3. And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue that remain of this evil family, that remain in all the places whither I have driven them, saith the LORD of hosts.
4. Moreover thou shalt say unto them: Thus saith the LORD: do men fall, and not rise up again? Doth one turn away, and not return?
5. Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? They hold fast deceit, they refuse to return.
6. I attended and listened, but they spoke not aright; no man repenteth him of his wickedness, saying: 'What have I done?' Every one turneth away in his course, as a horse that rusheth headlong in the battle.
7. Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the swallow and the crane observe the time of their coming; but My people know not the ordinance of the LORD.
8. How do ye say: 'We are wise, and the Law of the LORD is with us'? Lo, certainly in vain hath wrought the vain pen of the scribes.
9. The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken; lo, they have rejected the word of the LORD; and what wisdom is in them?
10. Therefore will I give their wives unto others, and their fields to them that shall possess them; for from the least even unto the greatest every one is greedy for gain, from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely.
11. And they have healed the hurt of the daughter of My people lightly, saying: 'Peace, peace', when there is no peace.
12. They shall be put to shame because they have committed abomination; yea, they are not at all ashamed, neither know they how to blush; therefore shall they fall among them that fall, in the time of their visitation they shall stumble, saith the LORD.
13. I will utterly consume them, saith the LORD; there are no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig-tree, and the leaf is faded; and I gave them that which they transgress.
14. 'Why do we sit still? Assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the fortified cities, and let us be cut off there; for the LORD our God hath cut us off, and given us water of gall to drink, because we have sinned against the LORD.
15. We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of healing, and behold terror!'
16. The snorting of his horses is heard from Dan; at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones the whole land trembleth; for they are come, and have devoured the land and all that is in it, the city and those that dwell therein.
17. For, behold, I will send serpents, basilisks, among you, which will not be charmed; and they shall bite you, saith the LORD.
18. Though I would take comfort against sorrow, my heart is faint within me.
19. Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people from a land far off: 'Is not the LORD in Zion? Is not her King in her?'--'Why have they provoked Me with their graven images, and with strange vanities?'--
20. 'The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.'
21. For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I seized with anguish; I am black, appalment hath taken hold on me.
22. Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?
23. Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!

Book of Jeremiah Chapter 9

1. Oh that I were in the wilderness, in a lodging-place of wayfaring men, that I might leave my people, and go from them! For they are all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men.
2. And they bend their tongue, their bow of falsehood; and they are grown mighty in the land, but not for truth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and Me they know not, saith the LORD.
3. Take ye heed every one of his neighbour, and trust ye not in any brother; for every brother acteth subtly, and every neighbour goeth about with slanders.
4. And they deceive every one his neighbour, and truth they speak not; they have taught their tongue to speak lies, they weary themselves to commit iniquity.
5. Thy habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know Me, saith the LORD.
6. Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts: behold, I will smelt them, and try them; for how else should I do, because of the daughter of My people?
7. Their tongue is a sharpened arrow, it speaketh deceit; one speaketh peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth, but in his heart he layeth wait for him.
8. Shall I not punish them for these things? saith the LORD; shall not My soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
9. For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the pastures of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up, so that none passeth through. And they hear not the voice of the cattle; both the fowl of the heavens and the beast are fled, and gone.
10. And I will make Jerusalem heaps, a lair of jackals; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without an inhabitant.
11. Who is the wise man, that he may understand this? And who is he to whom the mouth of the LORD hath spoken, that he may declare it? Wherefore is the land perished and laid waste like a wilderness, so that none passeth through?
12. And the LORD saith: Because they have forsaken My law which I set before them, and have not hearkened to My voice, neither walked therein;
13. But have walked after the stubbornness of their own heart, and after the Baalim, which their fathers taught them.
14. Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.
15. I will scatter them also among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them.
16. Thus saith the LORD of hosts: Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for the wise women, that they may come;
17. And let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters.
18. For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion: 'How are we undone! We are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because our dwellings have cast us out.'
19. Yea, hear the word of the LORD, O ye women, and let your ear receive the word of His mouth, and teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbour lamentation:
20. 'For death is come up into our windows, it is entered into our palaces, to cut off the children from the street, and the young men from the broad places.--
21. Speak: Thus saith the LORD--And the carcasses of men fall as dung upon the open field, and as the handful after the harvestman, which none gathereth.'
22. Thus saith the LORD: Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches;
23. But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth, and knoweth Me, that I am the LORD who exercise mercy, justice, and righteousness, in the earth; for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.
24. Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will punish all them that are circumcised in their uncircumcision:
25. Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all that have the corners of their hair polled, that dwell in the wilderness; for all the nations are uncircumcised, but all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart.

Book of Jeremiah Chapter 10

1. Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you, O house of Israel;
2. thus saith the LORD: Learn not the way of the nations, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the nations are dismayed at them.
3. For the customs of the peoples are vanity; for it is but a tree which one cutteth out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the axe.
4. They deck it with silver and with gold, they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.
5. They are like a pillar in a garden of cucumbers, and speak not; they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good.
6. There is none like unto Thee, O LORD; Thou art great, and Thy name is great in might.
7. Who would not fear Thee, O king of the nations? For it befitteth Thee; forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their royalty, there is none like unto Thee.
8. But they are altogether brutish and foolish: the vanities by which they are instructed are but a stock;
9. Silver beaten into plates which is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the craftsman and of the hands of the goldsmith; blue and purple is their clothing; they are all the work of skilful men.
10. But the LORD God is the true God, He is the living God, and the everlasting King; at His wrath the earth trembleth, and the nations are not able to abide His indignation.
11. Thus shall ye say unto them: 'The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, these shall perish from the earth, and from under the heavens.'
12. He that hath made the earth by His power, that hath established the world by His wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by His understanding;
13. At the sound of His giving a multitude of waters in the heavens, when He causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; when He maketh lightnings with the rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of His treasuries;
14. Every man is proved to be brutish, without knowledge, every goldsmith is put to shame by the graven image, his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.
15. They are vanity, a work of delusion; in the time of their visitation they shall perish.
16. Not like these is the portion of Jacob; for He is the former of all things, and Israel is the tribe of His inheritance; the LORD of hosts is His name.
17. Gather up thy wares from the ground, O thou that abidest in the siege.
18. For thus saith the LORD: Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land at this time, and will distress them, that they may feel it.
19. Woe is me for my hurt! My wound is grievous; but I said: 'This is but a sickness, and I must bear it.'
20. My tent is spoiled, and all my cords are broken; my children are gone forth of me, and they are not; there is none to stretch forth my tent any more, and to set up my curtains.
21. For the shepherds are become brutish, and have not inquired of the LORD; therefore they have not prospered, and all their flocks are scattered.
22. Hark! a report, behold, it cometh, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah desolate, a dwelling-place of jackals.
23. O LORD, I know that man's way is not his own; it is not in man to direct his steps as he walketh.
24. O LORD, correct me, but in measure; not in Thine anger, lest Thou diminish me.
25. Pour out Thy wrath upon the nations that know Thee not, and upon the families that call not on Thy name; for they have devoured Jacob, yea, they have devoured him and consumed him, and have laid waste his habitation.

Book of Jeremiah Chapter 11

1. The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying:
2. 'Hear ye the words of this covenant, and speak unto the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem;
3. and say thou unto them: Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel: Cursed be the man that heareth not the words of this covenant,
4. which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the iron furnace, saying: Hearken to My voice, and do them, according to all which I command you; so shall ye be My people, and I will be your God;
5. that I may establish the oath which I swore unto your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as at this day.' Then answered I, and said: 'Amen, O LORD.'
6. And the LORD said unto me: 'Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying: Hear ye the words of this covenant, and do them.
7. For I earnestly forewarned your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even unto this day, forewarning betimes and often, saying: Hearken to My voice.
8. Yet they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked every one in the stubbornness of their evil heart; therefore I brought upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did them not.'
9. And the LORD said unto me: 'A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
10. They are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to hear My words; and they are gone after other gods to serve them; the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken My covenant which I made with their fathers.
11. Therefore thus saith the LORD: Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry unto Me, I will not hearken unto them.
12. Then shall the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem go and cry unto the gods unto whom they offer; but they shall not save them at all in the time of their trouble.
13. For according to the number of thy cities are thy gods, O Judah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem have ye set up altars to the shameful thing, even altars to offer unto Baal.
14. Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them; for I will not hear them in the time that they cry unto Me for their trouble.'
15. What hath My beloved to do in My house, seeing she hath wrought lewdness with many, and the hallowed flesh is passed from thee? When thou doest evil, then thou rejoicest.
16. The LORD called thy name a leafy olive-tree, fair with goodly fruit; with the noise of a great tumult He hath kindled fire upon it, and the branches of it are broken.
17. For the LORD of hosts, that planted thee, hath pronounced evil against thee, because of the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have wrought for themselves in provoking Me by offering unto Baal.
18. And the LORD gave me knowledge of it, and I knew it; then Thou showedst me their doings.
19. But I was like a docile lamb that is led to the slaughter; and I knew not that they had devised devices against me: 'Let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered.'
20. But, O LORD of hosts, that judgest righteously, that triest the reins and the heart, let me see Thy vengeance on them; for unto Thee have I revealed my cause.
21. Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the men of Anathoth, that seek thy life, saying: 'Thou shalt not prophesy in the name of the LORD, that thou die not by our hand';
22. therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts: Behold, I will punish them; the young men shall die by the sword, their sons and their daughters shall die by famine;
23. And there shall be no remnant unto them; for I will bring evil upon the men of Anathoth, even the year of their visitation.

Book of Jeremiah Chapter 12

1. Right wouldest Thou be, O LORD, were I to contend with Thee, yet will I reason with Thee: Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? Wherefore are all they secure that deal very treacherously?
2. Thou hast planted them, yea, they have taken root; they grow, yea, they bring forth fruit; Thou art near in their mouth, and far from their reins.
3. But Thou, O LORD, knowest me, Thou seest me, and triest my heart toward Thee; pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter.
4. How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of the whole field wither? For the wickedness of them that dwell therein, the beasts are consumed, and the birds; because they said: 'He seeth not our end.'
5. 'If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? And though in a land of peace thou art secure, yet how wilt thou do in the thickets of the Jordan?
6. For even thy brethren, and the house of thy father, even they have dealt treacherously with thee, even they have cried aloud after thee; believe them not, though they speak fair words unto thee.'
7. I have forsaken My house, I have cast off My heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of My soul into the hand of her enemies.
8. My heritage is become unto Me as a lion in the forest; she hath uttered her voice against Me; therefore have I hated her.
9. Is My heritage unto Me as a speckled bird of prey? Are the birds of prey against her round about? Come ye, assemble all the beasts of the field, bring them to devour.
10. Many shepherds have destroyed My vineyard, they have trodden My portion under foot, they have made My pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.
11. They have made it a desolation, it mourneth unto Me, being desolate; the whole land is made desolate, because no man layeth it to heart.
12. Upon all the high hills in the wilderness spoilers are come; for the sword of the LORD devoureth from the one end of the land even to the other end of the land, no flesh hath peace.
13. They have sown wheat, and have reaped thorns; they have put themselves to pain, they profit not; be ye then ashamed of your increase, because of the fierce anger of the LORD.
14. Thus saith the LORD: As for all Mine evil neighbours, that touch the inheritance which I have caused My people Israel to inherit, behold, I will pluck them up from off their land, and will pluck up the house of Judah from among them.
15. And it shall come to pass, after that I have plucked them up, I will again have compassion on them; and I will bring them back, every man to his heritage, and every man to his land.
16. And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of My people to swear by My name: 'As the LORD liveth,' even as they taught My people to swear by Baal; then shall they be built up in the midst of My people.
17. But if they will not hearken, then will I pluck up that nation, plucking up and destroying it, saith the LORD.

Book of Jeremiah Chapter 13

1. Thus said the LORD unto me: 'Go, and get thee a linen girdle, and put it upon thy loins, and put it not in water.'
2. So I got a girdle according to the word of the LORD, and put it upon my loins.
3. And the word of the LORD came unto me the second time, saying:
4. 'Take the girdle that thou hast gotten, which is upon thy loins, and arise, go to Perath, and hide it there in a cleft of the rock.'
5. So I went, and hid it in Perath, as the LORD commanded me.
6. And it came to pass after many days, that the LORD said unto me: 'Arise, go to Perath, and take the girdle from thence, which I commanded thee to hide there.'
7. Then I went to Perath, and digged, and took the girdle from the place where I had hid it; and, behold, the girdle was marred, it was profitable for nothing.
8. Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying:
9. Thus saith the LORD: After this manner will I mar the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem,
10. even this evil people, that refuse to hear My words, that walk in the stubbornness of their heart, and are gone after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, that it be as this girdle, which is profitable for nothing.
11. For as the girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man, so have I caused to cleave unto Me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, saith the LORD, that they might be unto Me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory; but they would not hearken.
12. Moreover thou shalt speak unto them this word: Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel: 'Every bottle is filled with wine'; and when they shall say unto thee: 'Do we not know that every bottle is filled with wine?'
13. Then shalt thou say unto them: Thus saith the LORD: Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land, even the kings that sit upon David's throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with drunkenness.
14. And I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together, saith the LORD; I will not pity, nor spare, nor have compassion, that I should not destroy them.
15. Hear ye, and give ear, be not proud; for the LORD hath spoken.
16. Give glory to the LORD your God, before it grow dark, and before your feet stumble upon the mountains of twilight, and, while ye look for light, He turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness.
17. But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret for your pride; and mine eyes shall weep sore, and run down with tears, because the LORD'S flock is carried away captive.
18. Say thou unto the king and to the queen-mother: 'Sit ye down low; for your headtires are come down, even your beautiful crown.'
19. The cities of the South are shut up, and there is none to open them; Judah is carried away captive all of it; it is wholly carried away captive.
20. Lift up your eyes, and behold them that come from the north; where is the flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock?
21. What wilt thou say, when He shall set the friends over thee as head, whom thou thyself hast trained against thee? Shall not pangs take hold of thee, as of a woman in travail?
22. And if thou say in thy heart: 'Wherefore are these things befallen me?'--for the greatness of thine iniquity are thy skirts uncovered, and thy heels suffer violence.
23. Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.
24. Therefore will I scatter them, as the stubble that passeth away by the wind of the wilderness.
25. This is thy lot, the portion measured unto thee from Me, saith the LORD; because thou hast forgotten Me, and trusted in falsehood.
26. Therefore will I also uncover thy skirts upon thy face, and thy shame shall appear.
27. Thine adulteries, and thy neighings, the lewdness of thy harlotry, on the hills in the field have I seen thy detestable acts. Woe unto thee, O Jerusalem! thou wilt not be made clean! When shall it ever be?

Book of Jeremiah Chapter 14

1. The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the droughts.
2. Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof languish, they bow down in black unto the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up.
3. And their nobles send their lads for water: they come to the pits, and find no water; their vessels return empty; they are ashamed and confounded, and cover their heads.
4. Because of the ground which is cracked, for there hath been no rain in the land, the plowmen are ashamed, they cover their heads.
5. Yea, the hind also in the field calveth, and forsaketh her young, because there is no grass,
6. And the wild asses stand on the high hills, they gasp for air like jackals; their eyes fail, because there is no herbage.
7. Though our iniquities testify against us, O LORD, work Thou for Thy name's sake; for our backslidings are many, we have sinned against Thee.
8. O Thou hope of Israel, the Saviour thereof in time of trouble, why shouldest Thou be as a stranger in the land, and as a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night?
9. Why shouldest thou be as a man overcome, as a mighty man that cannot save? Yet Thou, O LORD, art in the midst of us, and Thy name is called upon us; leave us not.
10. Thus saith the LORD unto this people: Even so have they loved to wander, they have not refrained their feet; therefore the LORD doth not accept them, now will He remember their iniquity, and punish their sins.
11. And the LORD said unto me: 'Pray not for this people for their good.
12. When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt-offering and meal-offering, I will not accept them; but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence.'
13. Then said I: 'Ah, Lord GOD! behold, the prophets say unto them: Ye shall not see the sword, neither shall ye have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place.'
14. Then the LORD said unto me: 'The prophets prophesy lies in My name; I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spoke I unto them; they prophesy unto you a lying vision, and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their own heart.
15. Therefore thus saith the LORD: As for the prophets that prophesy in My name, and I sent them not, yet they say: Sword and famine shall not be in this land, by sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed;
16. and the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and they shall have none to bury them, them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters; for I will pour their evil upon them.'
17. And thou shalt say this word unto them: Let mine eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease; for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach, with a very grievous blow.
18. If I go forth into the field, then behold the slain with the sword! And if I enter into the city, then behold them that are sick with famine! For both the prophet and the priest are gone about to a land, and knew it not.
19. Hast Thou utterly rejected Judah? Hath Thy soul loathed Zion? Why hast Thou smitten us, and there is no healing for us? We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of healing, and behold terror!
20. We acknowledge, O LORD, our wickedness, even the iniquity of our fathers; for we have sinned against Thee.
21. Do not contemn us, for Thy name's sake, do not dishonour the throne of Thy glory; remember, break not Thy covenant with us.
22. Are there any among the vanities of the nations that can cause rain? or can the heavens give showers? Art not Thou He, O LORD our God, and do we not wait for Thee? For Thou hast made all these things.

Book of Jeremiah Chapter 15

 1. Then said the LORD unto me: 'Though Moses and Samuel stood before Me, yet My mind could not be toward this people; cast them out of My sight, and let them go forth.
2. And it shall come to pass, when they say unto thee: Whither shall we go forth? then thou shall tell them: Thus saith the LORD: Such as are for death, to death; and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for the famine, to the famine; and such as are for captivity, to captivity.
3. And I will appoint over them four kinds, saith the LORD: the sword to slay, and the dogs to drag, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the earth, to devour and to destroy.
4. And I will cause them to be a horror among all the kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem.
5. For who shall have pity upon thee, O Jerusalem? Or who shall bemoan thee? Or who shall turn aside to ask of thy welfare?
6. Thou hast cast Me off, saith the LORD, thou art gone backward; therefore do I stretch out My hand against thee, and destroy thee; I am weary with repenting.
7. And I fan them with a fan in the gates of the land; I bereave them of children, I destroy My people, since they return not from their ways.
8. Their widows are increased to Me above the sand of the seas; I bring upon them, against the mother, a chosen one, even a spoiler at noonday; I cause anguish and terrors to fall upon her suddenly.
9. She that hath borne seven languisheth; her spirit droopeth; her sun is gone down while it was yet day, she is ashamed and confounded; and the residue of them will I deliver to the sword before their enemies, saith the LORD.'
10. Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have not lent, neither have men lent to me; yet every one of them doth curse me.
11. The LORD said: 'Verily I will release thee for good; verily I will cause the enemy to make supplication unto thee in the time of evil and in the time of affliction.
12. Can iron break iron from the north and brass?
13. Thy substance and thy treasures will I give for a spoil without price, and that for all thy sins, even in all thy borders.
14. And I will make thee to pass with thine enemies into a land which thou knowest not; for a fire is kindled in My nostril, which shall burn upon you.'
15. Thou, O LORD, knowest; remember me, and think of me, and avenge me of my persecutors; take me not away because of Thy long-suffering; know that for Thy sake I have suffered taunts.
16. Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and Thy words were unto me a joy and the rejoicing of my heart; because Thy name was called on me, O LORD God of hosts.
17. I sat not in the assembly of them that make merry, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of Thy hand; for Thou hast filled me with indignation.
18. Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, so that it refuseth to be healed? Wilt Thou indeed be unto me as a deceitful brook, as waters that fail?
19. Therefore thus saith the LORD: if thou return, and I bring thee back, thou shalt stand before Me; and if thou bring forth the precious out of the vile, thou shalt be as My mouth; let them return unto thee, but thou shalt not return unto them.
20. And I will make thee unto this people a fortified brazen wall; and they shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee to save thee and to deliver thee, saith the LORD.
21. And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible.

Book of Jeremiah Chapter 16

1. The word of the LORD came also unto me, saying:
2. Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have sons or daughters in this place.
3. For thus saith the LORD concerning the sons and concerning the daughters that are born in this place, and concerning their mothers that bore them, and concerning their fathers that begot them in this land:
4. They shall die of grievous deaths; they shall not be lamented, neither shall they be buried, they shall be as dung upon the face of the ground; and they shall be consumed by the sword, and by famine; and their carcasses shall be meat for the fowls of heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.
5. For thus saith the LORD: Enter not into the house of mourning, neither go to lament, neither bemoan them; for I have taken away My peace from this people, saith the LORD, even mercy and compassion.
6. Both the great and the small shall die in this land; they shall not be buried; neither shall men lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them;
7. neither shall men break bread for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead; neither shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother.
8. And thou shalt not go into the house of feasting to sit with them, to eat and to drink.
9. For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will cause to cease out of this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.
10. And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt tell this people all these words, and they shall say unto thee: 'Wherefore hath the LORD pronounced all this great evil against us? or what is our iniquity? or what is our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?'
11. then shalt thou say unto them: 'Because your fathers have forsaken Me, saith the LORD, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshipped them, and have forsaken Me, and have not kept My law;
12. and ye have done worse than your fathers; for, behold, ye walk every one after the stubbornness of his evil heart, so that ye hearken not unto Me;
13. therefore will I cast you out of this land into a land that ye have not known, neither ye nor your fathers; and there shall ye serve other gods day and night; forasmuch as I will show you no favour.'
14. Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more be said: 'As the LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt,'
15. but: 'As the LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the countries whither He had driven them'; and I will bring them back into their land that I gave unto their fathers.
16. Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the LORD, and they shall fish them; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the clefts of the rocks.
17. For Mine eyes are upon all their ways, they are not hid from My face; neither is their iniquity concealed from Mine eyes.
18. And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double; because they have profaned My land; they have filled Mine inheritance with the carcasses of their detestable things and their abominations.
19. O LORD, my strength, and my stronghold, and my refuge, in the day of affliction, unto Thee shall the nations come from the ends of the earth, and shall say: 'Our fathers have inherited nought but lies, vanity and things wherein there is no profit.'
20. Shall a man make unto himself gods, and they are no gods?
21. Therefore, behold, I will cause them to know, this once will I cause them to know My hand and My might; and they shall know that My name is the LORD.

Book of Jeremiah Chapter 17

 1. The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond; it is graven upon the tablet of their heart, and upon the horns of your altars.
2. Like the symbols of their sons are their altars, and their Asherim are by the leafy trees, upon the high hills.
3. O thou that sittest upon the mountain in the field, I will give thy substance and all thy treasures for a spoil, and thy high places, because of sin, throughout all thy borders.
4. And thou, even of thyself, shalt discontinue from thy heritage that I gave thee; and I will cause thee to serve thine enemies in the land which thou knowest not; for ye have kindled a fire in My nostril, which shall burn for ever.
5. Thus saith the LORD: Cursed is the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD.
6. For he shall be like a tamarisk in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, a salt land and not inhabited.
7. Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose trust the LORD is.
8. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out its roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but its foliage shall be luxuriant; and shall not be anxious in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.
9. The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceeding weak--who can know it?
10. I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.
11. As the partridge that broodeth over young which she hath not brought forth, so is he that getteth riches, and not by right; in the midst of his days he shall leave them, and at his end he shall be a fool.
12. Thou throne of glory, on high from the beginning, thou place of our sanctuary,
13. Thou hope of Israel, the LORD! All that forsake Thee shall be ashamed; they that depart from Thee shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters.
14. Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved; for Thou art my praise.
15. Behold, they say unto me: 'Where is the word of the LORD? let it come now.'
16. As for me, I have not hastened from being a shepherd after Thee; neither have I desired the woeful day; Thou knowest it; that which came out of my lips was manifest before Thee.
17. Be not a ruin unto me; thou art my refuge in the day of evil.
18. Let them be ashamed that persecute me, but let not me be ashamed; let them be dismayed, but let not me be dismayed; bring upon them the day of evil, and destroy them with double destruction.
19. Thus said the LORD unto me: Go, and stand in the gate of the children of the people, whereby the kings of Judah come in, and by which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem;
20. and say unto them: Hear ye the word of the LORD, ye kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that enter in by these gates;
21. thus saith the LORD: Take heed for the sake of your souls, and bear no burden on the sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem;
22. neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the sabbath day, neither do ye any work; but hallow ye the sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers;
23. but they hearkened not, neither inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, nor receive instruction.
24. And it shall come to pass, if ye diligently hearken unto Me, saith the LORD, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the sabbath day, but to hallow the sabbath day, to do no work therein;
25. then shall there enter in by the gates of this city kings and princes sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their princes, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and this city shall be inhabited for ever.
26. And they shall come from the cities of Judah, and from the places round about Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the Lowland, and from the mountains, and from the South, bringing burnt-offerings, and sacrifices, and meal-offerings, and frankincense, and bringing sacrifices of thanksgiving, unto the house of the LORD.
27. But if ye will not hearken unto Me to hallow the sabbath day, and not to bear a burden and enter in at the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day; then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.

Book of Jeremiah Chapter 18

1. The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying:
2. 'Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear My words.'
3. Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he was at his work on the wheels.
4. And whensoever the vessel that he made of the clay was marred in the hand of the potter, he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
5. Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying:
6. 'O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay in the potter's hand, so are ye in My hand, O house of Israel.
7. At one instant I may speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy it;
8. but if that nation turn from their evil, because of which I have spoken against it, I repent of the evil that I thought to do unto it.
9. And at one instant I may speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it;
10. but if it do evil in My sight, that it hearken not to My voice, then I repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit it.
11. Now therefore do thou speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying: Thus saith the LORD: Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you; return ye now every one from his evil way, and amend your ways and your doings.
12. But they say: There is no hope; but we will walk after our own devices, and we will do every one after the stubbornness of his evil heart.'
13. Therefore thus saith the LORD: Ask ye now among the nations, who hath heard such things; the virgin of Israel hath done a very horrible thing.
14. Doth the snow of Lebanon fail from the rock of the field? or are the strange cold flowing waters plucked up?
15. For My people hath forgotten Me, they offer unto vanity; and they have been made to stumble in their ways, in the ancient paths, to walk in bypaths, in a way not cast up;
16. To make their land an astonishment, and a perpetual hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished, and shake his head.
17. I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will look upon their back, and not their face, in the day of their calamity.
18. Then said they: 'Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for instruction shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.'
19. Give heed to me, O LORD, and hearken to the voice of them that contend with me.
20. Shall evil be recompensed for good? for they have digged a pit for my soul. Remember how I stood before Thee to speak good for them, to turn away Thy wrath from them.
21. Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and hurl them to the power of the sword; and let their wives be bereaved of their children, and widows; and let their men be slain of death, and their young men smitten of the sword in battle.
22. Let a cry be heard from their houses, when thou shalt bring a troop suddenly upon them; for they have digged a pit to take me, and hid snares for my feet.
23. Yet, LORD, Thou knowest all their counsel against me to slay me; forgive not their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from Thy sight; but let them be made to stumble before Thee; deal Thou with them in the time of Thine anger.

Book of Jeremiah Chapter 19

 1. Thus said the LORD: Go, and get a potter's earthen bottle, and take of the elders of the people, and of the elders of the priests;
2. and go forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the gate Harsith, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell thee;
3. and say: Hear ye the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem; thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, which whosoever heareth, his ears shall tingle;
4. because they have forsaken Me, and have estranged this place, and have offered in it unto other gods, whom neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Judah; and have filled this place with the blood of innocents;
5. and have built the high places of Baal, to burn their sons in the fire for burnt-offerings unto Baal; which I commanded not, nor spoke it, neither came it into My mind.
6. Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that this place shall no more be called Topheth, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of slaughter;
7. and I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place; and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of them that seek their life; and their carcasses will I give to be food for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth;
8. and I will make this city an astonishment, and a hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all the plagues thereof;
9. and I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend, in the siege and in the straitness, wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their life, shall straiten them.
10. Then shalt thou break the bottle in the sight of the men that go with thee,
11. and shalt say unto them: Thus saith the LORD of hosts: Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaketh a potter's vessel, that cannot be made whole again; and they shall bury in Topheth, for want of room to bury.
12. Thus will I do unto this place, saith the LORD, and to the inhabitants thereof, even making this city as Topheth;
13. and the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, which are defiled, shall be as the place of Topheth, even all the houses upon whose roofs they have offered unto all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink-offerings unto other gods.
14. Then came Jeremiah from Topheth, whither the LORD had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of the LORD'S house, and said to all the people:
15. 'Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all her towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it; because they have made their neck stiff, that they might not hear My words.'

Book of Jeremiah Chapter 20

1. Now Pashhur the son of Immer the priest, who was chief officer in the house of the LORD, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things.
2. Then Pashhur smote Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the upper gate of Benjamin, which was in the house of the LORD.
3. And it came to pass on the morrow, that Pashhur brought forth Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then said Jeremiah unto him: 'The LORD hath not called thy name Pashhur, but Magormissabib.
4. For thus saith the LORD: Behold, I will make thee a terror to thyself, and to all thy friends; and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and thine eyes shall behold it; and I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive to Babylon, and shall slay them with the sword.
5. Moreover I will give all the store of this city, and all the gains thereof, and all the wealth thereof, yea, all the treasures of the kings of Judah will I give into the hand of their enemies, who shall spoil them, and take them, and carry them to Babylon.
6. And thou, Pashhur, and all that dwell in thy house shall go into captivity; and thou shalt come to Babylon, and there thou shalt die, and there shalt thou be buried, thou, and all thy friends, to whom thou hast prophesied falsely.'
7. O LORD, Thou hast enticed me, and I was enticed, Thou hast overcome me, and hast prevailed; I am become a laughing-stock all the day, every one mocketh me.
8. For as often as I speak, I cry out, I cry: 'Violence and spoil'; because the word of the LORD is made a reproach unto me, and a derision, all the day.
9. And if I say: 'I will not make mention of Him, nor speak any more in His name', then there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I weary myself to hold it in, but cannot.
10. For I have heard the whispering of many, terror on every side: 'Denounce, and we will denounce him'; even of all my familiar friends, them that watch for my halting: 'Peradventure he will be enticed, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him.'
11. But the LORD is with me as a mighty warrior; therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail; they shall be greatly ashamed, because they have not prospered, even with an everlasting confusion which shall never be forgotten.
12. But, O LORD of hosts, that triest the righteous, that seest the reins and the heart, let me see Thy vengeance on them; for unto Thee have I revealed my cause.
13. Sing unto the LORD, praise ye the LORD; for He hath delivered the soul of the needy from the hand of evil-doers.
14. Cursed be the day wherein I was born; the day wherein my mother bore me, let it not be blessed.
15. Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father, saying: 'A man-child is born unto thee'; making him very glad.
16. And let that man be as the cities which the LORD overthrew, and repented not; and let him hear a cry in the morning, and an alarm at noontide;
17. Because He slew me not from the womb; and so my mother would have been my grave, and her womb always great.
18. Wherefore came I forth out of the womb to see labour and sorrow, that my days should be consumed in shame?

Book of Jeremiah Chapter 21

 1. The word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, when king Zedekiah sent unto him Pashhur the son of Malchiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, saying:
2. 'Inquire, I pray thee, of the LORD for us; for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon maketh war against us; peradventure the LORD will deal with us according to all His wondrous works, that he may go up from us.'
3. Then said Jeremiah unto them: Thus shall ye say to Zedekiah:
4. Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel: Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, wherewith ye fight against the king of Babylon, and against the Chaldeans, that besiege you without the walls, and I will gather them into the midst of this city.
5. And I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger, and in fury, and in great wrath.
6. And I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast; they shall die of a great pestilence.
7. And afterward, saith the LORD, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, and such as are left in this city from the pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those that seek their life; and he shall smite them with the edge of the sword; he shall not spare them, neither have pity, nor have compassion.
8. And unto this people thou shalt say: Thus saith the LORD: Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death.
9. He that abideth in this city shall die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence; but he that goeth out, and falleth away to the Chaldeans that besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be unto him for a prey.
10. For I have set My face against this city for evil, and not for good, saith the LORD; it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.
11. And unto the house of the king of Judah: Hear ye the word of the LORD;
12. O house of David, thus saith the LORD: Execute justice in the morning, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor, lest My fury go forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
13. Behold, I am against thee, O inhabitant of the valley, and rock of the plain, saith the LORD; ye that say: 'Who shall come down against us? or who shall enter into our habitations?'
14. And I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, saith the LORD; and I will kindle a fire in her forest, and it shall devour all that is round about her.

Book of Jeremiah Chapter 22

1. Thus said the LORD: Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word,
2. and say: Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, that sittest upon the throne of David, thou, and thy servants, and thy people that enter in by these gates.
3. Thus saith the LORD: Execute ye justice and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor; and do no wrong, do no violence, to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place.
4. For if ye do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people.
5. But if ye will not hear these words, I swear by Myself, saith the LORD, that this house shall become a desolation.
6. For thus saith the LORD concerning the house of the king of Judah: Thou art Gilead unto Me, the head of Lebanon; yet surely I will make thee a wilderness, cities which are not inhabited.
7. And I will prepare destroyers against thee, every one with his weapons; and they shall cut down thy choice cedars, and cast them into the fire.
8. And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say every man to his neighbour: 'Wherefore hath the LORD done thus unto this great city?'
9. Then they shall answer: 'Because they forsook the covenant of the LORD their God, and worshipped other gods, and served them.'
10. Weep ye not for the dead, neither bemoan him; but weep sore for him that goeth away, for he shall return no more, nor see his native country.
11. For thus saith the LORD touching Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, and who went forth out of this place: He shall not return thither any more;
12. but in the place whither they have led him captive, there shall he die, and he shall see this land no more.
13. Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by injustice; that useth his neighbour's service without wages, and giveth him not his hire;
14. That saith: 'I will build me a wide house and spacious chambers', and cutteth him out windows, and it is ceiled with cedar, and painted with vermilion.
15. Shalt thou reign, because thou strivest to excel in cedar? Did not thy father eat and drink, and do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him.
16. He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. Is not this to know Me? saith the LORD.
17. But thine eyes and thy heart are not but for thy covetousness, and for shedding innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it.
18. Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: They shall not lament for him: 'Ah my brother!' or: 'Ah sister!' They shall not lament for him: 'Ah lord!' or: 'Ah his glory!'
19. He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.
20. Go up to Lebanon, and cry, and lift up thy voice in Bashan; and cry from Abarim, for all thy lovers are destroyed.
21. I spoke unto thee in thy prosperity, but thou saidst: 'I will not hear.' This hath been thy manner from thy youth, that thou hearkenedst not to My voice.
22. The wind shall feed upon all thy shepherds, and thy lovers shall go into captivity; surely then shalt thou be ashamed and confounded for all thy wickedness.
23. O inhabitant of Lebanon, that art nestled in the cedars, how gracious shalt thou be when pangs come upon thee, the pain as of a woman in travail!
24. As I live, saith the LORD, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon My right hand, yet would I pluck thee thence;
25. and I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life, and into the hand of them of whom thou art afraid, even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.
26. And I will cast thee out, and thy mother that bore thee, into another country, where ye were not born; and there shall ye die.
27. But to the land whereunto they long to return, thither shall they not return.
28. Is this man Coniah a despised, broken image? Is he a vessel wherein is no pleasure? Wherefore are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into the land which they know not?
29. O land, land, land, hear the word of the LORD.
30. Thus saith the LORD: Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days; for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah.

Book of Jeremiah Chapter 23

1. Woe unto the shepherds that destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture! saith the LORD.
2. Therefore thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, against the shepherds that feed My people: Ye have scattered My flock, and driven them away, and have not taken care of them; behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD.
3. And I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all the countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them back to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and multiply.
4. And I will set up shepherds over them, who shall feed them; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be lacking, saith the LORD.
5. Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous shoot, and he shall reign as king and prosper, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.
6. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely; and this is his name whereby he shall be called, The LORD is our righteousness.
7. Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that they shall no more say: 'As the LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt';
8. but: 'As the LORD liveth, that brought up and that led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all the countries whither I had driven them'; and they shall dwell in their own land.
9. Concerning the prophets. My heart within me is broken, all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine hath overcome; because of the LORD, and because of His holy words.
10. For the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the land mourneth, the pastures of the wilderness are dried up; and their course is evil, and their force is not right.
11. For both prophet and priest are ungodly; yea, in My house have I found their wickedness, saith the LORD.
12. Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery places in the darkness, they shall be thrust, and fall therein; for I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation, saith the LORD.
13. And I have seen unseemliness in the prophets of Samaria: they prophesied by Baal, and caused My people Israel to err.
14. But in the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies, and they strengthen the hands of evil-doers, that none doth return from his wickedness; they are all of them become unto Me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.
15. Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets: Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall; for from the prophets of Jerusalem is ungodliness gone forth into all the land.
16. Thus saith the LORD of hosts: Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you, they lead you unto vanity; they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD.
17. They say continually unto them that despise Me: 'The LORD hath said: Ye shall have peace'; and unto every one that walketh in the stubbornness of his own heart they say: 'No evil shall come upon you';
18. For who hath stood in the council of the LORD, that he should perceive and hear His word? Who hath attended to His word, and heard it?
19. Behold, a storm of the LORD is gone forth in fury, yea, a whirling storm; it shall whirl upon the head of the wicked.
20. The anger of the LORD shall not return, until He have executed, and till He have performed the purposes of His heart; in the end of days ye shall consider it perfectly.
21. I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran; I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.
22. But if they have stood in My council, then let them cause My people to hear My words, and turn them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.
23. Am I a God near at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off?
24. Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.
25. I have heard what the prophets have said, that prophesy lies in My name, saying: 'I have dreamed, I have dreamed.'
26. How long shall this be? Is it in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies, and the prophets of the deceit of their own heart?
27. That think to cause My people to forget My name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, as their fathers forgot My name for Baal.
28. The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath My word; let him speak My word faithfully. What hath the straw to do with the wheat? saith the LORD.
29. Is not My word like as fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?
30. Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that steal My words every one from his neighbour.
31. Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that use their tongues and say: 'He saith.'
32. Behold, I am against them that prophesy lying dreams, saith the LORD, and do tell them, and cause My people to err by their lies, and by their wantonness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them; neither can they profit this people at all, saith the LORD.
33. And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask thee, saying: 'What is the burden of the LORD?' then shalt thou say unto them: 'What burden! I will cast you off, saith the LORD.'
34. And as for the prophet, and the priest, and the people, that shall say: 'The burden of the LORD', I will even punish that man and his house.
35. Thus shall ye say every one to his neighbour, and every one to his brother: 'What hath the LORD answered?' and: 'What hath the LORD spoken?'
36. And the burden of the LORD shall ye mention no more; for every man's own word shall be his burden; and would ye pervert the words of the living God, of the LORD of hosts our God?
37. Thus shalt thou say to the prophet: 'What hath the LORD answered thee?' and: 'What hath the LORD spoken?'
38. But if ye say: 'The burden of the LORD'; therefore thus saith the LORD: Because ye say this word: 'The burden of the LORD', and I have sent unto you, saying: 'Ye shall not say: The burden of the LORD';
39. therefore, behold, I will utterly tear you out, and I will cast you off, and the city that I gave unto you and to your fathers, away from My presence;
40. and I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.

Book of Jeremiah Chapter 24

1. The LORD showed me, and behold two baskets of figs set before the temple of the LORD; after that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the craftsmen and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon.
2. One basket had very good figs, like the figs that are first-ripe; and the other basket had very bad figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad.
3. Then said the LORD unto me: 'What seest thou, Jeremiah?' And I said: 'Figs; the good figs, very good; and the bad, very bad, that cannot be eaten, they are so bad.'
4. And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying:
5. 'Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel: Like these good figs, so will I regard the captives of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans, for good.
6. And I will set Mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them back to this land; and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up.
7. And I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the LORD; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God; for they shall return unto Me with their whole heart.
8. And as the bad figs, which cannot be eaten, they are so bad; surely thus saith the LORD: So will I make Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, that remain in this land, and them that dwell in the land of Egypt;
9. I will even make them a horror among all the kingdoms of the earth for evil; a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places whither I shall drive them.
10. And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, till they be consumed from off the land that I gave unto them and to their fathers.'

Book of Jeremiah Chapter 25

1. The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, that was the first year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon;
2. which Jeremiah the prophet spoke unto all the people of Judah, and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying:
3. From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even unto this day, these three and twenty years, the word of the LORD hath come unto me, and I have spoken unto you, speaking betimes and often; but ye have not hearkened.
4. And the LORD hath sent unto you all His servants the prophets, sending them betimes and often--but ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear--
5. saying: 'Return ye now every one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that the LORD hath given unto you and to your fathers, for ever and ever;
6. and go not after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, and provoke Me not with the work of your hands, and I will do you no hurt.'
7. Yet ye have not hearkened unto Me, saith the LORD; that ye might provoke Me with the work of your hands to your own hurt.
8. Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts: Because ye have not heard My words,
9. behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the LORD, and I will send unto Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about; and I will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and a hissing, and perpetual desolations.
10. Moreover I will cause to cease from among them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the lamp.
11. And this whole land shall be a desolation, and a waste; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
12. And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make it perpetual desolations.
13. And I will bring upon that land all My words which I have pronounced against it, even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah hath prophesied against all the nations.
14. For many nations and great kings shall make bondmen of them also; and I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the work of their own hands.
15. For thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, unto me: Take this cup of the wine of fury at My hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it.
16. And they shall drink, and reel to and fro, and be like madmen, because of the sword that I will send among them.--
17. Then took I the cup of the LORD'S hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom the LORD had sent me:
18. Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof, to make them an appalment, an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse; as it is this day;
19. Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people;
20. and all the mingled people; and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Gaza, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod;
21. Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon;
22. and all the kings of Tyre, and all the kings of Zidon, and the kings of the isle which is beyond the sea;
23. Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all that have the corners of their hair polled;
24. and all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mingled people that dwell in the wilderness;
25. and all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes;
26. and all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another; and all the kingdoms of the world, which are upon the face of the earth.--And the king of Sheshach shall drink after them.
27. And thou shalt say unto them:  Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Drink ye, and be drunken, and spew, and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you.
28. And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thy hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them: Thus saith the LORD of hosts: Ye shall surely drink.
29. For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city whereupon My name is called, and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished; for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the LORD of hosts.
30. Therefore prophesy thou against them all these words, and say unto them: The LORD doth roar from on high, and utter His voice from His holy habitation; He doth mightily roar because of His fold; He giveth a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth.
31. A noise is come even to the end of the earth; for the LORD hath a controversy with the nations, He doth plead with all flesh; as for the wicked, He hath given them to the sword, saith the LORD.
32. Thus saith the LORD of hosts: Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great storm shall be raised up from the uttermost parts of the earth.
33. And the slain of the LORD shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth; they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the face of the ground.
34. Wail, ye shepherds, and cry; and wallow yourselves in the dust, ye leaders of the flock; for the days of your slaughter are fully come, and I will break you in pieces, and ye shall fall like a precious vessel.
35. And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the leaders of the flock to escape.
36. Hark! the cry of the shepherds, and the wailing of the leaders of the flock! For the LORD despoileth their pasture.
37. And the peaceable folds are brought to silence because of the fierce anger of the LORD.
38. He hath forsaken His covert, as the lion; for their land is become a waste because of the fierceness of the oppressing sword, and because of His fierce anger.