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The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests that
were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin:
To whom the word of
the LORD came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, in the
thirteenth year of his reign.
It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the
son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah
the son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the carrying away of Jerusalem captive
in the fifth month.
Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest
forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a
prophet unto the nations.
Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot
speak: for I am a child.
But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt
go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt
speak.
Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to
deliver thee, saith the LORD.
Then the LORD put forth his hand, and
touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in
thy mouth.
See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the
kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down,
to build, and to plant.
Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what
seest thou? And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree.
Then said the
LORD unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I will hasten my word to perform it.
And the word of the LORD came unto me the second time, saying, What
seest thou? And I said, I see a seething pot; and the face thereof is
toward the north.
Then the LORD said unto me, Out of the north an evil
shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land.
For, lo, I will
call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, saith the LORD; and they
shall come, and they shall set every one his throne at the entering of the
gates of Jerusalem, and against all the walls thereof round about, and
against all the cities of Judah.
And I will utter my judgments against
them touching all their wickedness, who have forsaken me, and have burned
incense unto other gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands.
Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all
that I command thee: be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound thee
before them.
For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city,
and an iron pillar, and brasen walls against the whole land, against the
kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and
against the people of the land.
And they shall fight against thee; but
they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the
LORD, to deliver thee.
Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
Go and cry
in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; I remember thee, the
kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after
me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown.
Israel
was holiness unto the LORD, and the firstfruits of his
increase: all that devour him shall offend; evil shall come upon them, saith
the LORD.
Hear ye the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, and all the
families of the house of Israel:
Thus saith the LORD, What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that
they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain?
Neither said they, Where is the LORD that brought us up out of
the land of Egypt, that led us through the wilderness, through a land of
deserts and of pits, through a land of drought, and of the shadow of death,
through a land that no man passed through, and where no man dwelt?
And I
brought you into a plentiful country, to eat the fruit thereof and the
goodness thereof; but when ye entered, ye defiled my land, and made mine
heritage an abomination.
The priests said not, Where is the
LORD? and they that handle the law knew me not: the pastors also transgressed
against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things
that do not profit.
Wherefore I will yet plead with you, saith the LORD, and with your
children’s children will I plead.
For pass over the isles of Chittim,
and see; and send unto Kedar, and consider diligently, and see if there be
such a thing.
Hath a nation changed their gods, which
are yet no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that
which doth not profit.
Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be
horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the LORD.
For my people
have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living
waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold
no water.
Is Israel a servant? is he a homeborn slave?
why is he spoiled?
The young lions roared upon him, and yelled,
and they made his land waste: his cities are burned without inhabitant.
Also the children of Noph and Tahapanes have broken the crown of thy
head.
Hast thou not procured this unto thyself, in that thou hast
forsaken the LORD thy God, when he led thee by the way?
And now what
hast thou to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Sihor? or what
hast thou to do in the way of Assyria, to drink the waters of the river?
Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall
reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing
and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear
is not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.
For of old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bands;
and thou saidst, I will not transgress; when upon every high hill and under
every green tree thou wanderest, playing the harlot.
Yet I had planted
thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the
degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me?
For though thou wash thee
with nitre, and take thee much sope, yet thine iniquity is marked
before me, saith the Lord GOD.
How canst thou say, I am not polluted, I
have not gone after Baalim? see thy way in the valley, know what thou hast
done: thou art a swift dromedary traversing her ways;
A wild
ass used to the wilderness, that snuffeth up the wind at her
pleasure; in her occasion who can turn her away? all they that seek her will
not weary themselves; in her month they shall find her.
Withhold thy
foot from being unshod, and thy throat from thirst: but thou saidst, There is
no hope: no; for I have loved strangers, and after them will I go.
As
the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed;
they, their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets,
Saying to a stock, Thou art my father; and to a stone, Thou
hast brought me forth: for they have turned their back unto me, and
not their face: but in the time of their trouble they will say,
Arise, and save us.
But where are thy gods that thou hast made
thee? let them arise, if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble: for
according to the number of thy cities are thy gods, O Judah.
Wherefore will ye plead with me? ye all have transgressed against me,
saith the LORD.
In vain have I smitten your children; they received no
correction: your own sword hath devoured your prophets, like a destroying
lion.
O generation, see ye the word of the LORD. Have I been a wilderness
unto Israel? a land of darkness? wherefore say my people, We are lords; we
will come no more unto thee?
Can a maid forget her ornaments,
or a bride her attire? yet my people have forgotten me days without
number.
Why trimmest thou thy way to seek love? therefore hast thou
also taught the wicked ones thy ways.
Also in thy skirts is found the
blood of the souls of the poor innocents: I have not found it by secret
search, but upon all these.
Yet thou sayest, Because I am innocent,
surely his anger shall turn from me. Behold, I will plead with thee, because
thou sayest, I have not sinned.
Why gaddest thou about so much to
change thy way? thou also shalt be ashamed of Egypt, as thou wast ashamed of
Assyria.
Yea, thou shalt go forth from him, and thine hands upon thine
head: for the LORD hath rejected thy confidences, and thou shalt not prosper
in them.
They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and
become another man’s, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be
greatly polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet
return again to me, saith the LORD.
Lift up thine eyes unto the high
places, and see where thou hast not been lien with. In the ways hast thou sat
for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land
with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness.
Therefore the showers have
been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain; and thou hadst a whore’s
forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed.
Wilt thou not from this time cry
unto me, My father, thou art the guide of my youth?
Will he reserve
his anger for ever? will he keep it to the end? Behold, thou
hast spoken and done evil things as thou couldest.
The LORD said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou
seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? she is gone up upon
every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the
harlot.
And I said after she had done all these things, Turn
thou unto me. But she returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah saw
it.
And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding
Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of
divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the
harlot also.
And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom,
that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with
stocks.
And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not
turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the LORD.
And
the LORD said unto me, The backsliding Israel hath justified herself more
than treacherous Judah.
Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou
backsliding Israel, saith the LORD; and I will not cause mine anger
to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the LORD, and I
will not keep anger for ever.
Only acknowledge thine iniquity,
that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy
ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my
voice, saith the LORD.
Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD;
for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a
family, and I will bring you to Zion:
And I will give you pastors
according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and
understanding.
And it shall come to pass, when ye be multiplied and
increased in the land, in those days, saith the LORD, they shall say no more,
The ark of the covenant of the LORD: neither shall it come to mind: neither
shall they remember it; neither shall they visit it; neither shall
that be done any more.
At that time they shall call Jerusalem
the throne of the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the
name of the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the
imagination of their evil heart.
In those days the house of Judah shall
walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land
of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your
fathers.
But I said, How shall I put thee among the children, and give
thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations? and I said,
Thou shalt call me, My father; and shalt not turn away from me.
Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so
have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the LORD.
A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and
supplications of the children of Israel: for they have perverted their way,
and they have forgotten the LORD their God.
Return, ye
backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we
come unto thee; for thou art the LORD our God.
Truly in vain
is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude
of mountains: truly in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel.
For shame hath devoured the labour of our fathers from our youth; their
flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.
We lie down in
our shame, and our confusion covereth us: for we have sinned against the LORD
our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day, and have not
obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.
If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the LORD, return unto me: and
if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight, then shalt thou not
remove.
And thou shalt swear, The LORD liveth, in truth, in judgment,
and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in
him shall they glory.
For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your
fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.
Circumcise yourselves to the
LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and
inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that
none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
Declare
ye in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem; and say, Blow ye the trumpet in the
land: cry, gather together, and say, Assemble yourselves, and let us go into
the defenced cities.
Set up the standard toward Zion: retire, stay not:
for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction.
The lion
is come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way;
he is gone forth from his place to make thy land desolate; and thy
cities shall be laid waste, without an inhabitant.
For this gird you
with sackcloth, lament and howl: for the fierce anger of the LORD is not
turned back from us.
And it shall come to pass at that day, saith the
LORD, that the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the
princes; and the priests shall be astonished, and the prophets shall wonder.
Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! surely thou hast greatly deceived this
people and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall have peace; whereas the sword reacheth
unto the soul.
At that time shall it be said to this people and to
Jerusalem, A dry wind of the high places in the wilderness toward the
daughter of my people, not to fan, nor to cleanse,
Even a full
wind from those places shall come unto me: now also will I give
sentence against them.
Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his
chariots shall be as a whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles.
Woe unto us! for we are spoiled.
O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from
wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge
within thee?
For a voice declareth from Dan, and publisheth affliction
from mount Ephraim.
Make ye mention to the nations; behold, publish
against Jerusalem, that watchers come from a far country, and give
out their voice against the cities of Judah.
As keepers of a field, are
they against her round about; because she hath been rebellious against me,
saith the LORD.
Thy way and thy doings have procured these
things unto thee; this is thy wickedness, because it is
bitter, because it reacheth unto thine heart.
My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a
noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the
sound of the trump, the alarm of war.
Destruction upon destruction is
cried; for the whole land is spoiled: suddenly are my tents spoiled,
and my curtains in a moment.
How long shall I see the standard,
and hear the sound of the trumpet?
For my people is
foolish, they have not known me; they are sottish children, and they
have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good
they have no knowledge.
I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was
without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.
I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved
lightly.
I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds
of the heavens were fled.
I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place
was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the
presence of the LORD, and by his fierce anger.
For thus hath
the LORD said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full
end.
For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black:
because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not
repent, neither will I turn back from it.
The whole city shall flee for
the noise of the horsemen and bowmen; they shall go into thickets, and climb
up upon the rocks: every city shall be forsaken, and not a man dwell
therein.
And when thou art spoiled, what wilt thou do?
Though thou clothest thyself with crimson, though thou deckest thee with
ornaments of gold, though thou rentest thy face with painting, in vain shalt
thou make thyself fair; thy lovers will despise thee, they will seek
thy life.
For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail,
and the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child, the
voice of the daughter of Zion, that bewaileth herself, that
spreadeth her hands, saying, Woe is me now! for my soul is
wearied because of murderers.
Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now,
and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if
there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I
will pardon it.
And though they say, The LORD liveth; surely they swear
falsely.
O LORD, are not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast
stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them,
but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their
faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.
Therefore I said,
Surely these are poor; they are foolish: for they know not the way of
the LORD, nor the judgment of their God.
I will get me unto the
great men, and will speak unto them; for they have known the way of the LORD,
and the judgment of their God: but these have altogether broken the
yoke, and burst the bonds.
Wherefore a lion out of the forest
shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them, a
leopard shall watch over their cities: every one that goeth out thence shall
be torn in pieces: because their transgressions are many, and their
backslidings are increased.
How shall I pardon thee for this? thy children have forsaken me, and
sworn by them that are no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they
then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’
houses.
They were as fed horses in the morning: every one
neighed after his neighbour’s wife.
Shall I not visit for these
things? saith the LORD: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a
nation as this?
Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end: take
away her battlements; for they are not the LORD’S.
For the
house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against
me, saith the LORD.
They have belied the LORD, and said, It is
not he; neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor
famine:
And the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not
in them: thus shall it be done unto them.
Wherefore thus saith the LORD
God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy
mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.
Lo, I will
bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, saith the LORD: it
is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose
language thou knowest not, neither understandest what they say.
Their
quiver is as an open sepulchre, they are all mighty men.
And they shall eat up thine harvest, and thy bread, which thy
sons and thy daughters should eat: they shall eat up thy flocks and thine
herds: they shall eat up thy vines and thy fig trees: they shall impoverish
thy fenced cities, wherein thou trustedst, with the sword.
Nevertheless
in those days, saith the LORD, I will not make a full end with you.
And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Wherefore doeth the LORD
our God all these things unto us? then shalt thou answer them, Like
as ye have forsaken me, and served strange gods in your land, so shall ye
serve strangers in a land that is not yours.
Declare this in
the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying,
Hear now this, O
foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not;
which have ears, and hear not:
Fear ye not me? saith the LORD: will ye
not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound
of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the
waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar,
yet can they not pass over it?
But this people hath a revolting and a
rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone.
Neither say they in their
heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God, that giveth rain, both the former
and the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of
the harvest.
Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins
have withholden good things from you.
For among my people are
found wicked men: they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set
a trap, they catch men.
As a cage is full of birds, so are
their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich.
They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds of the
wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they
prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge.
Shall I not
visit for these things? saith the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged
on such a nation as this?
A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land;
The
prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my
people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?
O ye children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the
midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a sign of fire
in Beth-haccerem: for evil appeareth out of the north, and great destruction.
I have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate woman.
The shepherds with their flocks shall come unto her; they shall
pitch their tents against her round about; they shall feed every one
in his place.
Prepare ye war against her; arise, and let us go up at
noon. Woe unto us! for the day goeth away, for the shadows of the evening are
stretched out.
Arise, and let us go by night, and let us destroy her
palaces.
For thus hath the LORD of hosts said, Hew ye down trees, and cast a
mount against Jerusalem: this is the city to be visited; she
is wholly oppression in the midst of her.
As a fountain casteth
out her waters, so she casteth out her wickedness: violence and spoil is
heard in her; before me continually is grief and wounds.
Be thou
instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from thee; lest I make thee
desolate, a land not inhabited.
Thus saith the LORD of hosts, They shall throughly glean the remnant of
Israel as a vine: turn back thine hand as a grapegatherer into the baskets.
To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? behold,
their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word
of the LORD is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it.
Therefore I am full of the fury of the LORD; I am weary with holding
in: I will pour it out upon the children abroad, and upon the assembly of
young men together: for even the husband with the wife shall be taken, the
aged with him that is full of days.
And their houses shall be
turned unto others, with their fields and wives together: for I will
stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants of the land, saith the LORD.
For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one
is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest
every one dealeth falsely.
They have healed also the hurt of the
daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there
is no peace.
Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination?
nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they
shall fall among them that fall: at the time that I visit them they
shall be cast down, saith the LORD.
Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in
the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk
therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not
walk therein.
Also I set watchmen over you, saying,
Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken.
Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O congregation, what is
among them.
Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people,
even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened
unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it.
To what purpose cometh
there to me incense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country? your
burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet unto
me.
Therefore thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will lay stumblingblocks
before this people, and the fathers and the sons together shall fall upon
them; the neighbour and his friend shall perish.
Thus saith the LORD,
Behold, a people cometh from the north country, and a great nation shall be
raised from the sides of the earth.
They shall lay hold on bow and
spear; they are cruel, and have no mercy; their voice roareth like
the sea; and they ride upon horses, set in array as men for war against thee,
O daughter of Zion.
We have heard the fame thereof: our hands wax
feeble: anguish hath taken hold of us, and pain, as of a woman in
travail.
Go not forth into the field, nor walk by the way; for the
sword of the enemy and fear is on every side.
O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth, and wallow
thyself in ashes: make thee mourning, as for an only son, most bitter
lamentation: for the spoiler shall suddenly come upon us.
I have set
thee for a tower and a fortress among my people, that thou
mayest know and try their way.
They are all grievous revolters,
walking with slanders: they are brass and iron; they are all
corrupters.
The bellows are burned, the lead is consumed of the fire;
the founder melteth in vain: for the wicked are not plucked away.
Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the LORD hath
rejected them.
The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
Stand in
the gate of the LORD’S house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the
word of the LORD, all ye of Judah, that enter in at these gates to
worship the LORD.
Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend
your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.
Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the LORD, The temple
of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, are these.
For if ye
throughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye throughly execute judgment
between a man and his neighbour;
If ye oppress not the stranger,
the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place,
neither walk after other gods to your hurt:
Then will I cause you to
dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and
ever.
Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit.
Will ye steal,
murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal,
and walk after other gods whom ye know not;
And come and stand before
me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do
all these abominations?
Is this house, which is called by my name,
become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it,
saith the LORD.
But go ye now unto my place which was in
Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the
wickedness of my people Israel.
And now, because ye have done all these
works, saith the LORD, and I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking,
but ye heard not; and I called you, but ye answered not;
Therefore will
I do unto this house, which is called by my name, wherein ye trust,
and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to
Shiloh.
And I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all
your brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim.
Therefore pray
not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither
make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee.
Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets
of Jerusalem?
The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the
fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of
heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may
provoke me to anger.
Do they provoke me to anger? saith the LORD:
do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own
faces?
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, mine anger and my
fury shall be poured out upon this place, upon man, and upon beast, and upon
the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn,
and shall not be quenched.
Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Put your burnt
offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat flesh.
For I spake not unto
your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the
land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices:
But this thing
commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall
be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it
may be well unto you.
But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear,
but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil
heart, and went backward, and not forward.
Since the day that your
fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day I have even sent
unto you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending
them:
Yet they hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear,
but hardened their neck: they did worse than their fathers.
Therefore
thou shalt speak all these words unto them; but they will not hearken to
thee: thou shalt also call unto them; but they will not answer thee.
But thou shalt say unto them, This is a nation that obeyeth not
the voice of the LORD their God, nor receiveth correction: truth is perished,
and is cut off from their mouth.
Cut off thine hair, O Jerusalem, and cast it away, and
take up a lamentation on high places; for the LORD hath rejected and forsaken
the generation of his wrath.
For the children of Judah have done evil
in my sight, saith the LORD: they have set their abominations in the house
which is called by my name, to pollute it.
And they have built the high
places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their
sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not,
neither came it into my heart.
Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more
be called Tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of
slaughter: for they shall bury in Tophet, till there be no place.
And
the carcases of this people shall be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and
for the beasts of the earth; and none shall fray them away.
Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the
streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the
voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride: for the land shall be
desolate.
At that time, saith the LORD, they shall bring out the bones of the
kings of Judah, and the bones of his princes, and the bones of the priests,
and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
out of their graves:
And they shall spread them before the sun, and the
moon, and all the host of heaven, whom they have loved, and whom they have
served, and after whom they have walked, and whom they have sought, and whom
they have worshipped: they shall not be gathered, nor be buried; they shall
be for dung upon the face of the earth.
And death shall be chosen rather
than life by all the residue of them that remain of this evil family, which
remain in all the places whither I have driven them, saith the LORD of
hosts.
Moreover thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD; Shall they fall,
and not arise? shall he turn away, and not return?
Why then is
this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold
fast deceit, they refuse to return.
I hearkened and heard, but
they spake not aright: no man repented him of his wickedness, saying, What
have I done? every one turned to his course, as the horse rusheth into the
battle.
Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and
the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming;
but my people know not the judgment of the LORD.
How do ye say, We
are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us? Lo, certainly
in vain made he it; the pen of the scribes is in vain.
The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken: lo, they
have rejected the word of the LORD; and what wisdom is in them?
Therefore will I give their wives unto others, and their fields
to them that shall inherit them: for every one from the least even
unto the greatest is given to covetousness, from the prophet even unto the
priest every one dealeth falsely.
For they have healed the hurt of the
daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is
no peace.
Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay,
they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore shall they
fall among them that fall: in the time of their visitation they shall be cast
down, saith the LORD.
I will surely consume them, saith the LORD: there shall be no
grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; and
the things that I have given them shall pass away from them.
Why do we sit still? assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the
defenced cities, and let us be silent there: for the LORD our God hath put us
to silence, and given us water of gall to drink, because we have sinned
against the LORD.
We looked for peace, but no good came; and
for a time of health, and behold trouble!
The snorting of his horses
was heard from Dan: the whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of
his strong ones; for they are come, and have devoured the land, and all that
is in it; the city, and those that dwell therein.
For, behold, I will
send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which will not be
charmed, and they shall bite you, saith the LORD.
When I would comfort myself against sorrow, my heart is
faint in me.
Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people
because of them that dwell in a far country: Is not the LORD in Zion?
is not her king in her? Why have they provoked me to anger with their
graven images, and with strange vanities?
The harvest is past,
the summer is ended, and we are not saved.
For the hurt of the daughter
of my people am I hurt; I am black; astonishment hath taken hold on me.
Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician
there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?
Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears,
that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!
Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; that I
might leave my people, and go from them! for they be all adulterers,
an assembly of treacherous men.
And they bend their tongues like
their bow for lies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the
earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the
LORD.
Take ye heed every one of his neighbour, and trust ye not in any
brother: for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbour will
walk with slanders.
And they will deceive every one his neighbour, and
will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies,
and weary themselves to commit iniquity.
Thine habitation
is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me,
saith the LORD.
Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, I will
melt them, and try them; for how shall I do for the daughter of my people?
Their tongue is as an arrow shot out; it speaketh deceit:
one speaketh peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth, but in heart
he layeth his wait.
Shall I not visit them for these things? saith the LORD: shall
not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
For the mountains will
I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the habitations of the wilderness a
lamentation, because they are burned up, so that none can pass through
them; neither can men hear the voice of the cattle; both the
fowl of the heavens and the beast are fled; they are gone.
And I will
make Jerusalem heaps, and a den of dragons; and I will make the
cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant.
Who is the wise man, that may understand this? and who is
he to whom the mouth of the LORD hath spoken, that he may declare it, for
what the land perisheth and is burned up like a wilderness, that none
passeth through?
And the LORD saith, Because they have forsaken my law
which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked
therein;
But have walked after the imagination of their own heart, and
after Baalim, which their fathers taught them:
Therefore thus saith the
LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will feed them, even this
people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.
I will
scatter them also among the heathen, whom neither they nor their fathers have
known: and I will send a sword after them, till I have consumed them.
Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning
women, that they may come; and send for cunning women, that they may
come:
And let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our
eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters.
For
a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we spoiled! we are greatly
confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because our dwellings have
cast us out.
Yet hear the word of the LORD, O ye women, and let
your ear receive the word of his mouth, and teach your daughters wailing, and
every one her neighbour lamentation.
For death is come up into our
windows, and is entered into our palaces, to cut off the children
from without, and the young men from the streets.
Speak, Thus
saith the LORD, Even the carcases of men shall fall as dung upon the open
field, and as the handful after the harvestman, and none shall gather
them.
Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his
wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the
rich man glory in his riches:
But let him that glorieth glory
in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD
which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for
in these things I delight, saith the LORD.
Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will punish all them
which are circumcised with the uncircumcised;
Egypt, and Judah, and
Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all that are in the
utmost corners, that dwell in the wilderness: for all these nations
are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are
uncircumcised in the heart.
Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you, O house of
Israel:
Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be
not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.
For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth
a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.
They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and
with hammers, that it move not.
They are upright as the palm
tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not
afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them
to do good.
Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee, O LORD;
thou art great, and thy name is great in might.
Who would not
fear thee, O King of nations? for to thee doth it appertain: forasmuch as
among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms,
there is none like unto thee.
But they are altogether brutish
and foolish: the stock is a doctrine of vanities.
Silver spread
into plates is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the
workman, and of the hands of the founder: blue and purple is their clothing:
they are all the work of cunning men.
But the LORD
is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting
king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able
to abide his indignation.
Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that
have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from
the earth, and from under these heavens.
He hath made the earth by his
power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out
the heavens by his discretion.
When he uttereth his voice, there
is a multitude of waters in the heavens, and he causeth the vapors to
ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings with rain, and
bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures.
Every man is brutish in
his knowledge: every founder is confounded by the graven image: for
his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.
They are vanity, and the work of errors: in the time of
their visitation they shall perish.
The portion of Jacob is not
like them: for he is the former of all things; and Israel
is the rod of his inheritance: The LORD of hosts is his
name.
Gather up thy wares out of the land, O inhabitant of the fortress.
For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of
the land at this once, and will distress them, that they may find it
so.
Woe is me for my hurt! my wound is grievous: but I said, Truly this
is a grief, and I must bear it.
My tabernacle is spoiled, and
all my cords are broken: my children are gone forth of me, and they
are not: there is none to stretch forth my tent any more, and
to set up my curtains.
For the pastors are become brutish, and have not
sought the LORD: therefore they shall not prosper, and all their flocks shall
be scattered.
Behold, the noise of the bruit is come, and a great
commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah desolate,
and a den of dragons.
O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it
is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.
O LORD, correct me,
but with judgment; not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing.
Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not, and upon the
families that call not on thy name: for they have eaten up Jacob, and
devoured him, and consumed him, and have made his habitation desolate.
The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
Hear ye
the words of this covenant, and speak unto the men of Judah, and to the
inhabitants of Jerusalem;
And say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD
God of Israel; Cursed be the man that obeyeth not the words of this
covenant,
Which I commanded your fathers in the day that I
brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying,
Obey my voice, and do them, according to all which I command you: so shall ye
be my people, and I will be your God:
That I may perform the oath which
I have sworn unto your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and
honey, as it is this day. Then answered I, and said, So be it, O
LORD.
Then the LORD said unto me, Proclaim all these words in the cities
of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, Hear ye the words of this
covenant, and do them.
For I earnestly protested unto your fathers in
the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even
unto this day, rising early and protesting, saying, Obey my voice.
Yet
they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear, but walked every one in the
imagination of their evil heart: therefore I will bring upon them all the
words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do; but they did
them not.
And the LORD said unto me, A conspiracy is found among
the men of Judah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
They are
turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, which refused to hear my
words; and they went after other gods to serve them: the house of Israel and
the house of Judah have broken my covenant which I made with their
fathers.
Therefore thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon them,
which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry unto me, I
will not hearken unto them.
Then shall the cities of Judah and
inhabitants of Jerusalem go, and cry unto the gods unto whom they offer
incense: but they shall not save them at all in the time of their trouble.
For according to the number of thy cities were thy gods, O
Judah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem have
ye set up altars to that shameful thing, even altars to burn
incense unto Baal.
Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither
lift up a cry or prayer for them: for I will not hear them in the
time that they cry unto me for their trouble.
What hath my beloved to
do in mine house, seeing she hath wrought lewdness with many, and the
holy flesh is passed from thee? when thou doest evil, then thou rejoicest.
The LORD called thy name, A green olive tree, fair, and of
goodly fruit: with the noise of a great tumult he hath kindled fire upon it,
and the branches of it are broken.
For the LORD of hosts, that planted
thee, hath pronounced evil against thee, for the evil of the house of Israel
and of the house of Judah, which they have done against themselves to provoke
me to anger in offering incense unto Baal.
And the LORD hath given me knowledge of it, and I know
it: then thou shewedst me their doings.
But I was like
a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter; and I knew
not that they had devised devices against me, saying, Let us destroy
the tree with the fruit thereof, and let us cut him off from the land of the
living, that his name may be no more remembered.
But, O LORD of hosts,
that judgest righteously, that triest the reins and the heart, let me see thy
vengeance on them: for unto thee have I revealed my cause.
Therefore
thus saith the LORD of the men of Anathoth, that seek thy life, saying,
Prophesy not in the name of the LORD, that thou die not by our hand:
Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, I will punish them: the
young men shall die by the sword; their sons and their daughters shall die by
famine:
And there shall be no remnant of them: for I will bring evil
upon the men of Anathoth, even the year of their visitation.
Righteous art thou, O LORD, when I plead with thee: yet
let me talk with thee of thy judgments: Wherefore doth the way of the
wicked prosper? wherefore are all they happy that deal very
treacherously?
Thou hast planted them, yea, they have taken root: they
grow, yea, they bring forth fruit: thou art near in their mouth, and
far from their reins.
But thou, O LORD, knowest me: thou hast seen me,
and tried mine heart toward thee: pull them out like sheep for the slaughter,
and prepare them for the day of slaughter.
How long shall the land
mourn, and the herbs of every field wither, for the wickedness of them that
dwell therein? the beasts are consumed, and the birds; because they said, He
shall not see our last end.
If thou hast run with the footmen, and they
have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? and if in
the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee,
then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?
For even thy brethren,
and the house of thy father, even they have dealt treacherously with thee;
yea, they have called a multitude after thee: believe them not, though they
speak fair words unto thee.
I have forsaken mine house, I have left mine heritage; I have given the
dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies.
Mine heritage is
unto me as a lion in the forest; it crieth out against me: therefore have I
hated it.
Mine heritage is unto me as a speckled bird,
the birds round about are against her; come ye, assemble all the
beasts of the field, come to devour.
Many pastors have destroyed my
vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant
portion a desolate wilderness.
They have made it desolate, and
being desolate it mourneth unto me; the whole land is made desolate,
because no man layeth it to heart.
The spoilers are come upon
all high places through the wilderness: for the sword of the LORD shall
devour from the one end of the land even to the other end of
the land: no flesh shall have peace.
They have sown wheat, but shall
reap thorns: they have put themselves to pain, but shall not profit:
and they shall be ashamed of your revenues because of the fierce anger of the
LORD.
Thus saith the LORD against all mine evil neighbours, that touch the
inheritance which I have caused my people Israel to inherit; Behold, I will
pluck them out of their land, and pluck out the house of Judah from among
them.
And it shall come to pass, after that I have plucked them out I
will return, and have compassion on them, and will bring them again, every
man to his heritage, and every man to his land.
And it shall come to
pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my
name, The LORD liveth; as they taught my people to swear by Baal; then shall
they be built in the midst of my people.
But if they will not obey, I
will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation, saith the LORD.
Thus saith the LORD unto me, Go and get thee a linen girdle, and
put it upon thy loins, and put it not in water.
So I got a girdle
according to the word of the LORD, and put it on my loins.
And
the word of the LORD came unto me the second time, saying,
Take the
girdle that thou hast got, which is upon thy loins, and arise, go to
Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole of the rock.
So I went, and hid
it by Euphrates, as the LORD commanded me.
And it came to pass after
many days, that the LORD said unto me, Arise, go to Euphrates, and take the
girdle from thence, which I commanded thee to hide there.
Then I went to
Euphrates, and digged, and took the girdle from the place where I had hid it:
and, behold, the girdle was marred, it was profitable for nothing.
Then
the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Thus saith the LORD, After
this manner will I mar the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem.
This evil people, which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the
imagination of their heart, and walk after other gods, to serve them, and to
worship them, shall even be as this girdle, which is good for nothing.
For as the girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man, so have I caused to
cleave unto me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, saith
the LORD; that they might be unto me for a people, and for a name, and for a
praise, and for a glory: but they would not hear.
Therefore thou shalt speak unto them this word; Thus saith the LORD God
of Israel, Every bottle shall be filled with wine: and they shall say unto
thee, Do we not certainly know that every bottle shall be filled with wine?
Then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will fill
all the inhabitants of this land, even the kings that sit upon David’s
throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, with drunkenness.
And I will dash them one against another,
even the fathers and the sons together, saith the LORD: I will not pity, nor
spare, nor have mercy, but destroy them.
Hear ye, and give ear; be not proud: for the LORD hath spoken.
Give glory to the LORD your God, before he cause darkness, and before
your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and, while ye look for light, he
turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness.
But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for
your pride; and mine eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears,
because the LORD’S flock is carried away captive.
Say unto the king and
to the queen, Humble yourselves, sit down: for your principalities shall come
down, even the crown of your glory.
The cities of the south
shall be shut up, and none shall open them: Judah shall be carried
away captive all of it, it shall be wholly carried away captive.
Lift
up your eyes, and behold them that come from the north: where is the
flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock?
What wilt thou
say when he shall punish thee? for thou hast taught them to be
captains, and as chief over thee: shall not sorrows take thee, as a
woman in travail?
And if thou say in thine heart, Wherefore come these things upon me?
For the greatness of thine iniquity are thy skirts discovered, and
thy heels made bare.
Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard
his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.
Therefore will I scatter them as the stubble that passeth away by the
wind of the wilderness.
This is thy lot, the portion of thy
measures from me, saith the LORD; because thou hast forgotten me, and trusted
in falsehood.
Therefore will I discover thy skirts upon thy face, that
thy shame may appear.
I have seen thine adulteries, and thy neighings,
the lewdness of thy whoredom, and thine abominations on the hills in
the fields. Woe unto thee, O Jerusalem! wilt thou not be made clean? when
shall it once be?
The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the
dearth.
Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof languish; they are black
unto the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up.
And their nobles
have sent their little ones to the waters: they came to the pits, and
found no water; they returned with their vessels empty; they were ashamed and
confounded, and covered their heads.
Because the ground is chapt, for
there was no rain in the earth, the plowmen were ashamed, they covered their
heads.
Yea, the hind also calved in the field, and forsook it,
because there was no grass.
And the wild asses did stand in the high
places, they snuffed up the wind like dragons; their eyes did fail, because
there was no grass.
O LORD, though our iniquities testify against us, do thou it for
thy name’s sake: for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against thee.
O the hope of Israel, the saviour thereof in time of trouble, why
shouldest thou be as a stranger in the land, and as a wayfaring man
that turneth aside to tarry for a night?
Why shouldest thou be
as a man astonied, as a mighty man that cannot save? yet thou, O
LORD, art in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name; leave us
not.
Thus saith the LORD unto this people, Thus have they loved to wander,
they have not refrained their feet, therefore the LORD doth not accept them;
he will now remember their iniquity, and visit their sins.
Then said
the LORD unto me, Pray not for this people for their good.
When
they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and
an oblation, I will not accept them: but I will consume them by the sword,
and by the famine, and by the pestilence.
Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, the prophets say unto them, Ye shall
not see the sword, neither shall ye have famine; but I will give you assured
peace in this place.
Then the LORD said unto me, The prophets prophesy
lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither
spake unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a
thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart.
Therefore thus saith
the LORD concerning the prophets that prophesy in my name, and I sent them
not, yet they say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land; By sword and
famine shall those prophets be consumed.
And the people to whom they
prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine
and the sword; and they shall have none to bury them, them, their wives, nor
their sons, nor their daughters: for I will pour their wickedness upon
them.
Therefore thou shalt say this word unto them; Let mine eyes run down
with tears night and day, and let them not cease: for the virgin daughter of
my people is broken with a great breach, with a very grievous blow.
If
I go forth into the field, then behold the slain with the sword! and if I
enter into the city, then behold them that are sick with famine! yea, both
the prophet and the priest go about into a land that they know not.
Hast thou utterly rejected Judah? hath thy soul lothed Zion? why hast
thou smitten us, and there is no healing for us? we looked for peace,
and there is no good; and for the time of healing, and behold
trouble!
We acknowledge, O LORD, our wickedness, and the
iniquity of our fathers: for we have sinned against thee.
Do not abhor
us, for thy name’s sake, do not disgrace the throne of thy glory:
remember, break not thy covenant with us.
Are there any among
the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain? or can the heavens give
showers? art not thou he, O LORD our God? therefore we will wait upon
thee: for thou hast made all these things.
Then said the LORD unto me, Though Moses and Samuel stood
before me, yet my mind could not be toward this
people: cast them out of my sight, and let them go forth.
And it
shall come to pass, if they say unto thee, Whither shall we go forth? then
thou shalt tell them, Thus saith the LORD; Such as are for death, to
death; and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as
are for the famine, to the famine; and such as are for the
captivity, to the captivity.
And I will appoint over them four kinds,
saith the LORD: the sword to slay, and the dogs to tear, and the fowls of the
heaven, and the beasts of the earth, to devour and destroy.
And I will
cause them to be removed into all kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh
the son of Hezekiah king of Judah, for that which he did in
Jerusalem.
For who shall have pity upon thee, O Jerusalem? or who shall
bemoan thee? or who shall go aside to ask how thou doest?
Thou hast
forsaken me, saith the LORD, thou art gone backward: therefore will I stretch
out my hand against thee, and destroy thee; I am weary with repenting.
And I will fan them with a fan in the gates of the land; I will bereave
them of children, I will destroy my people, since they return
not from their ways.
Their widows are increased to me above the sand of
the seas: I have brought upon them against the mother of the young men a
spoiler at noonday: I have caused him to fall upon it suddenly, and
terrors upon the city.
She that hath borne seven languisheth: she hath
given up the ghost; her sun is gone down while it was yet day: she
hath been ashamed and confounded: and the residue of them will I deliver to
the sword before their enemies, saith the LORD.
Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and a man
of contention to the whole earth! I have neither lent on usury, nor men have
lent to me on usury; yet every one of them doth curse me.
The
LORD said, Verily it shall be well with thy remnant; verily I will cause the
enemy to entreat thee well in the time of evil and in the time of
affliction.
Shall iron break the northern iron and the steel?
Thy
substance and thy treasures will I give to the spoil without price, and
that for all thy sins, even in all thy borders.
And I will make
thee to pass with thine enemies into a land which thou
knowest not: for a fire is kindled in mine anger, which shall burn
upon you.
O LORD, thou knowest: remember me, and visit me, and revenge me of my
persecutors; take me not away in thy longsuffering: know that for thy sake I
have suffered rebuke.
Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy
word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy
name, O LORD God of hosts.
I sat not in the assembly of the mockers,
nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of thy hand: for thou hast filled me with
indignation.
Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable,
which refuseth to be healed? wilt thou be altogether unto me as a
liar, and as waters that fail?
Therefore thus saith the LORD, If thou return, then will I bring thee
again, and thou shalt stand before me: and if thou take forth the
precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth: let them return unto thee;
but return not thou unto them.
And I will make thee unto this people a
fenced brasen wall: and they shall fight against thee, but they shall not
prevail against thee: for I am with thee to save thee and to deliver
thee, saith the LORD.
And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the
wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible.
The word of the LORD came also unto me, saying,
Thou shalt
not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have sons or daughters in this
place.
For thus saith the LORD concerning the sons and concerning the
daughters that are born in this place, and concerning their mothers that bare
them, and concerning their fathers that begat them in this land;
They
shall die of grievous deaths; they shall not be lamented; neither shall they
be buried; but they shall be as dung upon the face of the earth: and
they shall be consumed by the sword, and by famine; and their carcases shall
be meat for the fowls of heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.
For
thus saith the LORD, Enter not into the house of mourning, neither go to
lament nor bemoan them: for I have taken away my peace from this people,
saith the LORD, even lovingkindness and mercies.
Both the great
and the small shall die in this land: they shall not be buried, neither shall
men lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for
them:
Neither shall men tear themselves for them in
mourning, to comfort them for the dead; neither shall men give them
the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother.
Thou shalt not also go into the house of feasting, to sit with them to
eat and to drink.
For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel;
Behold, I will cause to cease out of this place in your eyes, and in your
days, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the
bridegroom, and the voice of the bride.
And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt shew this people all these
words, and they shall say unto thee, Wherefore hath the LORD pronounced all
this great evil against us? or what is our iniquity? or what
is our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?
Then shalt thou say unto them, Because your fathers have forsaken me,
saith the LORD, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and
have worshipped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law;
And ye have done worse than your fathers; for, behold, ye walk every
one after the imagination of his evil heart, that they may not hearken unto
me:
Therefore will I cast you out of this land into a land that ye know
not, neither ye nor your fathers; and there shall ye serve other gods
day and night; where I will not shew you favour.
Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more
be said, The LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the
land of Egypt;
But, The LORD liveth, that brought up the children of
Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had
driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto
their fathers.
Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the LORD, and they shall
fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them
from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.
For mine eyes are upon all their ways: they are not hid from my
face, neither is their iniquity hid from mine eyes.
And first I will
recompense their iniquity and their sin double; because they have defiled my
land, they have filled mine inheritance with the carcases of their detestable
and abominable things.
O LORD, my strength, and my fortress, and my
refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the
ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies,
vanity, and things wherein there is no profit.
Shall a
man make gods unto himself, and they are no gods?
Therefore,
behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know mine
hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is The LORD.
The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron,
and with the point of a diamond: it is graven upon the table
of their heart, and upon the horns of your altars;
Whilst their children
remember their altars and their groves by the green trees upon the high
hills.
O my mountain in the field, I will give thy substance and
all thy treasures to the spoil, and thy high places for sin,
throughout all thy borders.
And thou, even thyself, shalt discontinue
from thine heritage that I gave thee; and I will cause thee to serve thine
enemies in the land which thou knowest not: for ye have kindled a fire in
mine anger, which shall burn for ever.
Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh
flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD.
For he shall be
like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall
inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not
inhabited.
Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and
whose hope the LORD is.
For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters,
and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when
heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the
year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately
wicked: who can know it?
I the LORD search the heart, I try the
reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to
the fruit of his doings.
As the partridge sitteth on eggs, and
hatcheth them not; so he that getteth riches, and not by
right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a
fool.
A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our
sanctuary.
O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be
ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth,
because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters.
Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved:
for thou art my praise.
Behold, they say unto me, Where is the word of the LORD? let it
come now.
As for me, I have not hastened from being a pastor to
follow thee: neither have I desired the woeful day; thou knowest: that which
came out of my lips was right before thee.
Be not a terror unto
me: thou art my hope in the day of evil.
Let them be confounded
that persecute me, but let not me be confounded: let them be dismayed, but
let not me be dismayed: bring upon them the day of evil, and destroy them
with double destruction.
Thus said the LORD unto me; Go and stand in the gate of the children of
the people, whereby the kings of Judah come in, and by the which they go out,
and in all the gates of Jerusalem;
And say unto them, Hear ye the word
of the LORD, ye kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, that enter in by these gates:
Thus saith the LORD; Take heed
to yourselves, and bear no burden on the sabbath day, nor bring it in
by the gates of Jerusalem;
Neither carry forth a burden out of your
houses on the sabbath day, neither do ye any work, but hallow ye the sabbath
day, as I commanded your fathers.
But they obeyed not, neither inclined
their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, nor receive
instruction.
And it shall come to pass, if ye diligently hearken unto
me, saith the LORD, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on
the sabbath day, but hallow the sabbath day, to do no work therein;
Then shall there enter into the gates of this city kings and princes
sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and
their princes, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: and this
city shall remain for ever.
And they shall come from the cities of
Judah, and from the places about Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin,
and from the plain, and from the mountains, and from the south, bringing
burnt offerings, and sacrifices, and meat offerings, and incense, and
bringing sacrifices of praise, unto the house of the LORD.
But if ye
will not hearken unto me to hallow the sabbath day, and not to bear a burden,
even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day; then will I
kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of
Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.
The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
Arise,
and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear my
words.
Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he wrought a
work on the wheels.
And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in
the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to
the potter to make it.
Then the word of the LORD came to me,
saying,
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