Distresses Foretold

1 The word of the LORD also came to me saying, 2 “You shall not take a wife for yourself nor have sons or daughters in this place. 3 For thus says the LORD concerning the sons and daughters born in this place, and concerning their mothers who bear them, and their fathers who beget them in this land: 4 “They will die of deadly diseases, they will not be lamented or buried; they will be as dung on the surface of the ground and come to an end by sword and famine, and their carcasses will become food for the birds of the sky and for the beasts of the earth.

 5 For thus says the LORD, “Do not enter a house of mourning, or go to lament or to console them; for I have withdrawn My peace from this people, declares the LORD, “{My} lovingkindness and compassion. 6 “Both great men and small will die in this land; they will not be buried, they will not be lamented, nor will anyone gash himself or shave his head for them. 7 “Men will not break {bread} in mourning for them, to comfort anyone for the dead, nor give them a cup of consolation to drink for anyone’s father or mother. 8 “Moreover you shall not go into a house of feasting to sit with them to eat and drink. 9 For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, I am going to eliminate from this place, before your eyes and in your time, the voice of rejoicing and the voice of gladness, the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride.

 10 “Now when you tell this people all these words, they will say to you, `For what reason has the LORD declared all this great calamity against us? And what is our iniquity, or what is our sin which we have committed against the LORD our God?’ 11 “Then you are to say to them, `{It is} because your forefathers have forsaken Me,’ declares the LORD, `and have followed other gods and served them and bowed down to them; but Me they have forsaken and have not kept My law. 12 `You too have done evil, {even} more than your forefathers; for behold, you are each one walking according to the stubbornness of his own evil heart, without listening to Me. 13 `So I will hurl you out of this land into the land which you have not known, neither you nor your fathers; and there you will serve other gods day and night, for I will grant you no favor.’

God Will Restore Them

 14 “Therefore behold, days are coming, declares the LORD, “when it will no longer be said, `As the LORD lives, who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ 15 but, `As the LORD lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of the north and from all the countries where He had banished them.’ For I will restore them to their own land which I gave to their fathers.

 16 “Behold, I am going to send for many fishermen, declares the LORD, “and they will fish for them; and afterwards I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them from every mountain and every hill and from the clefts of the rocks. 17 “For My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from My face, nor is their iniquity concealed from My eyes. 18 “I will first doubly repay their iniquity and their sin, because they have polluted My land; they have filled My inheritance with the carcasses of their detestable idols and with their abominations.

 19
O LORD, my strength and my stronghold,
And my refuge in the day of distress,
To You the nations will come
From the ends of the earth and say,
“Our fathers have inherited nothing but falsehood,
Futility and things of no profit. 20
Can man make gods for himself?
Yet they are not gods!

 21
“Therefore behold, I am going to make them know–
This time I will make them know
My power and My might;
And they shall know that My name is the LORD.

Judgment Must Come

1 Then the LORD said to me, “Even though Moses and Samuel were to stand before Me, My heart would not be with this people; send them away from My presence and let them go! 2 “And it shall be that when they say to you, `Where should we go?’ then you are to tell them, `Thus says the LORD:
“Those {destined} for death, to death;
And those {destined} for the sword, to the sword;
And those {destined} for famine, to famine;
And those {destined} for captivity, to captivity.’

 3 “I will appoint over them four kinds {of doom,} declares the LORD: “the sword to slay, the dogs to drag off, and the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy. 4 “I will make them an object of horror among all the kingdoms of the earth because of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem.

 5
“Indeed, who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem,
Or who will mourn for you,
Or who will turn aside to ask about your welfare? 6
“You who have forsaken Me, declares the LORD,
“You keep going backward.
So I will stretch out My hand against you and destroy you;
I am tired of relenting! 7
“I will winnow them with a winnowing fork
At the gates of the land;
I will bereave {them} of children, I will destroy My people;
They did not repent of their ways. 8
“Their widows will be more numerous before Me
Than the sand of the seas;
I will bring against them, against the mother of a young man,
A destroyer at noonday;
I will suddenly bring down on her
Anguish and dismay. 9
“She who bore seven {sons} pines away;
Her breathing is labored.
Her sun has set while it was yet day;
She has been shamed and humiliated.
So I will give over their survivors to the sword
Before their enemies, declares the LORD.

 10
Woe to me, my mother, that you have borne me
{As} a man of strife and a man of contention to all the land!
I have not lent, nor have men lent money to me,
{Yet} everyone curses me. 11
The LORD said, “Surely I will set you free for {purposes of} good;
Surely I will cause the enemy to make supplication to you
In a time of disaster and a time of distress.

 12
“Can anyone smash iron,
Iron from the north, or bronze? 13
“Your wealth and your treasures
I will give for booty without cost,
Even for all your sins
And within all your borders. 14
“Then I will cause your enemies to bring {it}
Into a land you do not know;
For a fire has been kindled in My anger,
It will burn upon you.

Jeremiah’s Prayer and God’s Answer

 15
You who know, O LORD,
Remember me, take notice of me,
And take vengeance for me on my persecutors.
Do not, in view of Your patience, take me away;
Know that for Your sake I endure reproach. 16
Your words were found and I ate them,
And Your words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart;
For I have been called by Your name,
O LORD God of hosts. 17
I did not sit in the circle of merrymakers,
Nor did I exult.
Because of Your hand {upon me} I sat alone,
For You filled me with indignation. 18
Why has my pain been perpetual
And my wound incurable, refusing to be healed?
Will You indeed be to me like a deceptive {stream}
With water that is unreliable?

 19
Therefore, thus says the LORD,
“If you return, then I will restore you–
Before Me you will stand;
And if you extract the precious from the worthless,
You will become My spokesman.
They for their part may turn to you,
But as for you, you must not turn to them. 20
“Then I will make you to this people
A fortified wall of bronze;
And though they fight against you,
They will not prevail over you;
For I am with you to save you
And deliver you, declares the LORD. 21
“So I will deliver you from the hand of the wicked,
And I will redeem you from the grasp of the violent.

Drought and a Prayer for Mercy

1 That which came as the word of the LORD to Jeremiah in regard to the drought: 2
“Judah mourns
And her gates languish;
They sit on the ground in mourning,
And the cry of Jerusalem has ascended. 3
“Their nobles have sent their servants for water;
They have come to the cisterns and found no water.
They have returned with their vessels empty;
They have been put to shame and humiliated,
And they cover their heads. 4
“Because the ground is cracked,
For there has been no rain on the land;
The farmers have been put to shame,
They have covered their heads. 5
“For even the doe in the field has given birth only to abandon {her young,}
Because there is no grass. 6
“The wild donkeys stand on the bare heights;
They pant for air like jackals,
Their eyes fail
For there is no vegetation. 7
“Although our iniquities testify against us,
O LORD, act for Your name’s sake!
Truly our apostasies have been many,
We have sinned against You. 8
“O Hope of Israel,
Its Savior in time of distress,
Why are You like a stranger in the land
Or like a traveler who has pitched his {tent} for the night? 9
“Why are You like a man dismayed,
Like a mighty man who cannot save?
Yet You are in our midst, O LORD,
And we are called by Your name;
Do not forsake us!

 10 Thus says the LORD to this people, “Even so they have loved to wander; they have not kept their feet in check. Therefore the LORD does not accept them; now He will remember their iniquity and call their sins to account. 11 So the LORD said to me, “Do not pray for the welfare of this people. 12 “When they fast, I am not going to listen to their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I am not going to accept them. Rather I am going to make an end of them by the sword, famine and pestilence.

False Prophets

 13 But, “Ah, Lord GOD! I said, “Look, the prophets are telling them, `You will not see the sword nor will you have famine, but I will give you lasting peace in this place.’ 14 Then the LORD said to me, “The prophets are prophesying falsehood in My name. I have neither sent them nor commanded them nor spoken to them; they are prophesying to you a false vision, divination, futility and the deception of their own minds. 15 “Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the prophets who are prophesying in My name, although it was not I who sent them–yet they keep saying, `There will be no sword or famine in this land’–by sword and famine those prophets shall meet their end! 16 “The people also to whom they are prophesying will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and there will be no one to bury them–{neither} them, {nor} their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters–for I will pour out their {own} wickedness on them. 17
“You will say this word to them,
`Let my eyes flow down with tears night and day,
And let them not cease;
For the virgin daughter of my people has been crushed with a mighty blow,
With a sorely infected wound. 18
`If I go out to the country,
Behold, those slain with the sword!
Or if I enter the city,
Behold, diseases of famine!
For both prophet and priest
Have gone roving about in the land that they do not know.’

 19
Have You completely rejected Judah?
Or have You loathed Zion?
Why have You stricken us so that we are beyond healing?
{We} waited for peace, but nothing good {came;}
And for a time of healing, but behold, terror! 20
We know our wickedness, O LORD,
The iniquity of our fathers, for we have sinned against You. 21
Do not despise {us,} for Your own name’s sake;
Do not disgrace the throne of Your glory;
Remember {and} do not annul Your covenant with us. 22
Are there any among the idols of the nations who give rain?
Or can the heavens grant showers?
Is it not You, O LORD our God?
Therefore we hope in You,
For You are the one who has done all these things.

The Ruined Waistband

1 Thus the LORD said to me, “Go and buy yourself a linen waistband and put it around your waist, but do not put it in water. 2 So I bought the waistband in accordance with the word of the LORD and put it around my waist. 3 Then the word of the LORD came to me a second time, saying, 4 “Take the waistband that you have bought, which is around your waist, and arise, go to the Euphrates and hide it there in a crevice of the rock. 5 So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the LORD had commanded me. 6 After many days the LORD said to me, “Arise, go to the Euphrates and take from there the waistband which I commanded you to hide there. 7 Then I went to the Euphrates and dug, and I took the waistband from the place where I had hidden it; and lo, the waistband was ruined, it was totally worthless.

 8 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 9 “Thus says the LORD, `Just so will I destroy the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. 10 `This wicked people, who refuse to listen to My words, who walk in the stubbornness of their hearts and have gone after other gods to serve them and to bow down to them, let them be just like this waistband which is totally worthless. 11 `For as the waistband clings to the waist of a man, so I made the whole household of Israel and the whole household of Judah cling to Me,’ declares the LORD, `that they might be for Me a people, for renown, for praise and for glory; but they did not listen.’

Captivity Threatened

 12 “Therefore you are to speak this word to them, `Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, “Every jug is to be filled with wine.’ And when they say to you, `Do we not very well know that every jug is to be filled with wine?’ 13 then say to them, `Thus says the LORD, “Behold I am about to fill all the inhabitants of this land–the kings that sit for David on his throne, the priests, the prophets and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem–with drunkenness! 14 “I will dash them against each other, both the fathers and the sons together, declares the LORD. “I will not show pity nor be sorry nor have compassion so as not to destroy them.’

 15
Listen and give heed, do not be haughty,
For the LORD has spoken. 16
Give glory to the LORD your God,
Before He brings darkness
And before your feet stumble
On the dusky mountains,
And while you are hoping for light
He makes it into deep darkness,
{And} turns {it} into gloom. 17
But if you will not listen to it,
My soul will sob in secret for {such} pride;
And my eyes will bitterly weep
And flow down with tears,
Because the flock of the LORD has been taken captive. 18
Say to the king and the queen mother,
“Take a lowly seat,
For your beautiful crown
Has come down from your head. 19
The cities of the Negev have been locked up,
And there is no one to open {them;}
All Judah has been carried into exile,
Wholly carried into exile.

 20
“Lift up your eyes and see
Those coming from the north.
Where is the flock that was given you,
Your beautiful sheep? 21
“What will you say when He appoints over you–
And you yourself had taught them–
Former companions to be head over you?
Will not pangs take hold of you
Like a woman in childbirth? 22
“If you say in your heart,
`Why have these things happened to me?’
Because of the magnitude of your iniquity
Your skirts have been removed
And your heels have been exposed. 23
“Can the Ethiopian change his skin
Or the leopard his spots?
{Then} you also can do good
Who are accustomed to doing evil. 24
“Therefore I will scatter them like drifting straw
To the desert wind. 25
“This is your lot, the portion measured to you
From Me, declares the LORD,
“Because you have forgotten Me
And trusted in falsehood. 26
“So I Myself have also stripped your skirts off over your face,
That your shame may be seen. 27
“As for your adulteries and your {lustful} neighings,
The lewdness of your prostitution
On the hills in the field,
I have seen your abominations.
Woe to you, O Jerusalem!
How long will you remain unclean?

Jeremiah’s Prayer

1
Righteous are You, O LORD, that I would plead {my} case with You;
Indeed I would discuss matters of justice with You:
Why has the way of the wicked prospered?
{Why} are all those who deal in treachery at ease? 2
You have planted them, they have also taken root;
They grow, they have even produced fruit.
You are near to their lips
But far from their mind. 3
But You know me, O LORD;
You see me;
And You examine my heart’s {attitude} toward You.
Drag them off like sheep for the slaughter
And set them apart for a day of carnage! 4
How long is the land to mourn
And the vegetation of the countryside to wither?
For the wickedness of those who dwell in it,
Animals and birds have been snatched away,
Because {men} have said, “He will not see our latter ending.

 5
“If you have run with footmen and they have tired you out,
Then how can you compete with horses?
If you fall down in a land of peace,
How will you do in the thicket of the Jordan? 6
“For even your brothers and the household of your father,
Even they have dealt treacherously with you,
Even they have cried aloud after you.
Do not believe them, although they may say nice things to you.

God’s Answer

 7
“I have forsaken My house,
I have abandoned My inheritance;
I have given the beloved of My soul
Into the hand of her enemies. 8
“My inheritance has become to Me
Like a lion in the forest;
She has roared against Me;
Therefore I have come to hate her. 9
“Is My inheritance like a speckled bird of prey to Me?
Are the birds of prey against her on every side?
Go, gather all the beasts of the field,
Bring them to devour! 10
“Many shepherds have ruined My vineyard,
They have trampled down My field;
They have made My pleasant field
A desolate wilderness. 11
“It has been made a desolation,
Desolate, it mourns before Me;
The whole land has been made desolate,
Because no man lays it to heart. 12
“On all the bare heights in the wilderness
Destroyers have come,
For a sword of the LORD is devouring
From one end of the land even to the other;
There is no peace for anyone. 13
“They have sown wheat and have reaped thorns,
They have strained themselves to no profit.
But be ashamed of your harvest
Because of the fierce anger of the LORD.

 14 Thus says the LORD concerning all My wicked neighbors who strike at the inheritance with which I have endowed My people Israel, “Behold I am about to uproot them from their land and will uproot the house of Judah from among them. 15 “And it will come about that after I have uprooted them, I will again have compassion on them; and I will bring them back, each one to his inheritance and each one to his land. 16 “Then if they will really learn the ways of My people, to swear by My name, `As the LORD lives,’ even as they taught My people to swear by Baal, they will be built up in the midst of My people. 17 “But if they will not listen, then I will uproot that nation, uproot and destroy it, declares the LORD.

The Broken Covenant

1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, 2 “Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem; 3 and say to them, `Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, “Cursed is the man who does not heed the words of this covenant 4 which I commanded your forefathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, `Listen to My voice, and do according to all which I command you; so you shall be My people, and I will be your God,’ 5 in order to confirm the oath which I swore to your forefathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as {it is} this day.’ Then I said, “Amen, O LORD.

 6 And the LORD said to me, “Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, `Hear the words of this covenant and do them. 7 `For I solemnly warned your fathers in the day that I brought them up from the land of Egypt, even to this day, warning persistently, saying, “Listen to My voice. 8 `Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked, each one, in the stubbornness of his evil heart; therefore I brought on them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded {them} to do, but they did not.’

 9 Then the LORD said to me, “A conspiracy has been found among the men of Judah and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 10 “They have turned back to the iniquities of their ancestors who refused to hear My words, and they have 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 says the LORD, “Behold I am bringing disaster on them which they will not be able to escape; though they will cry to Me, yet I will not listen to them. 12 “Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry to the gods to whom they burn incense, but they surely will not save them in the time of their disaster. 13 “For your gods are as many as your cities, O Judah; and as many as the streets of Jerusalem are the altars you have set up to the shameful thing, altars to burn incense to Baal.

 14 “Therefore do not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry or prayer for them; for I will not listen when they call to Me because of their disaster. 15
“What right has My beloved in My house
When she has done many vile deeds?
Can the sacrificial flesh take away from you your disaster,
So {that} you can rejoice? 16
The LORD called your name,
“A green olive tree, beautiful in fruit and form;
With the noise of a great tumult
He has kindled fire on it,
And its branches are worthless.

 17 The LORD of hosts, who planted you, has pronounced evil against you because of the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done to provoke Me by offering up sacrifices to Baal.

Plots against Jeremiah

 18
Moreover, the LORD made it known to me and I knew it;
Then You showed me their deeds. 19
But I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter;
And I did not know that they had devised plots against me, {saying,}
“Let us destroy the tree with its fruit,
And let us cut him off from the land of the living,
That his name be remembered no more. 20
But, O LORD of hosts, who judges righteously,
Who tries the feelings and the heart,
Let me see Your vengeance on them,
For to You have I committed my cause.

 21 Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the men of Anathoth, who seek your life, saying, “Do not prophesy in the name of the LORD, so that you will not die at our hand; 22 therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts, “Behold, I am about to punish them! The young men will die by the sword, their sons and daughters will die by famine; 23 and a remnant will not be left to them, for I will bring disaster on the men of Anathoth–the year of their punishment.

A Satire on Idolatry

1 Hear the word which the LORD speaks to you, O house of Israel. 2 Thus says the LORD,
“Do not learn the way of the nations,
And do not be terrified by the signs of the heavens
Although the nations are terrified by them; 3
For the customs of the peoples are delusion;
Because it is wood cut from the forest,
The work of the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool. 4
“They decorate {it} with silver and with gold;
They fasten it with nails and with hammers
So that it will not totter. 5
“Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field are they,
And they cannot speak;
They must be carried,
Because they cannot walk!
Do not fear them,
For they can do no harm,
Nor can they do any good.

 6
There is none like You, O LORD;
You are great, and great is Your name in might. 7
Who would not fear You, O King of the nations?
Indeed it is Your due!
For among all the wise men of the nations
And in all their kingdoms,
There is none like You. 8
But they are altogether stupid and foolish
{In their} discipline of delusion–their idol is wood! 9
Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish,
And gold from Uphaz,
The work of a craftsman and of the hands of a goldsmith;
Violet and purple are their clothing;
They are all the work of skilled men. 10
But the LORD is the true God;
He is the living God and the everlasting King.
At His wrath the earth quakes,
And the nations cannot endure His indignation.

 11 Thus you shall say to them, “The gods that did not make the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from under the heavens.

 12
{It is} He who made the earth by His power,
Who established the world by His wisdom;
And by His understanding He has stretched out the heavens. 13
When He utters His voice, {there is} a tumult of waters in the heavens,
And He causes the clouds to ascend from the end of the earth;
He makes lightning for the rain,
And brings out the wind from His storehouses. 14
Every man is stupid, devoid of knowledge;
Every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols;
For his molten images are deceitful,
And there is no breath in them. 15
They are worthless, a work of mockery;
In the time of their punishment they will perish. 16
The portion of Jacob is not like these;
For the Maker of all is He,
And Israel is the tribe of His inheritance;
The LORD of hosts is His name.

 17
Pick up your bundle from the ground,
You who dwell under siege!

 18 For thus says the LORD,
“Behold, I am slinging out the inhabitants of the land
At this time,
And will cause them distress,
That they may be found.

 19
Woe is me, because of my injury!
My wound is incurable.
But I said, “Truly this is a sickness,
And I must bear it. 20
My tent is destroyed,
And all my ropes are broken;
My sons have gone from me and are no more.
There is no one to stretch out my tent again
Or to set up my curtains. 21
For the shepherds have become stupid
And have not sought the LORD;
Therefore they have not prospered,
And all their flock is scattered. 22
The sound of a report! Behold, it comes–
A great commotion out of the land of the north–
To make the cities of Judah
A desolation, a haunt of jackals.

 23
I know, O LORD, that a man’s way is not in himself,
Nor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps. 24
Correct me, O LORD, but with justice;
Not with Your anger, or You will bring me to nothing. 25
Pour out Your wrath on the nations that do not know You
And on the families that do not call Your name;
For they have devoured Jacob;
They have devoured him and consumed him
And have laid waste his habitation.

A Lament over Zion

1
Oh that my head were waters
And my eyes a fountain of tears,
That I might weep day and night
For the slain of the daughter of my people!2
Oh that I had in the desert
A wayfarers’ lodging place;
That I might leave my people
And go from them!
For all of them are adulterers,
An assembly of treacherous men.3
“They bend their tongue {like} their bow;
Lies and not truth prevail in the land;
For they proceed from evil to evil,
And they do not know Me, declares the LORD.4
“Let everyone be on guard against his neighbor,
And do not trust any brother;
Because every brother deals craftily,
And every neighbor goes about as a slanderer.5
“Everyone deceives his neighbor
And does not speak the truth,
They have taught their tongue to speak lies;
They weary themselves committing iniquity.6
“Your dwelling is in the midst of deceit;
Through deceit they refuse to know Me, declares the LORD.

7 Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts,
“Behold, I will refine them and assay them;
For what {else} can I do, because of the daughter of My people?8
“Their tongue is a deadly arrow;
It speaks deceit;
With his mouth one speaks peace to his neighbor,
But inwardly he sets an ambush for him.9
“Shall I not punish them for these things? declares the LORD.
“On a nation such as this
Shall I not avenge Myself?

10
“For the mountains I will take up a weeping and wailing,
And for the pastures of the wilderness a dirge,
Because they are laid waste so that no one passes through,
And the lowing of the cattle is not heard;
Both the birds of the sky and the beasts have fled; they are gone.11
“I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins,
A haunt of jackals;
And I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.

12 Who is the wise man that may understand this? And {who is} he to whom the mouth of the LORD has spoken, that he may declare it? Why is the land ruined, laid waste like a desert, so that no one passes through?13 The LORD said, “Because they have forsaken My law which I set before them, and have not obeyed My voice nor walked according to it,14 but have walked after the stubbornness of their heart and after the Baals, as their fathers taught them,15 therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, “behold, I will feed them, this people, with wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink.16 “I will scatter them among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the sword after them until I have annihilated them.

17 Thus says the LORD of hosts,
“Consider and call for the mourning women, that they may come;
And send for the wailing women, that they may come!18
“Let them make haste and take up a wailing for us,
That our eyes may shed tears
And our eyelids flow with water.19
“For a voice of wailing is heard from Zion,
`How are we ruined!
We are put to great shame,
For we have left the land,
Because they have cast down our dwellings.’20
Now hear the word of the LORD, O you women,
And let your ear receive the word of His mouth;
Teach your daughters wailing,
And everyone her neighbor a dirge.21
For death has come up through our windows;
It has entered our palaces
To cut off the children from the streets,
The young men from the town squares.22
Speak, “Thus says the LORD,
`The corpses of men will fall like dung on the open field,
And like the sheaf after the reaper,
But no one will gather {them.}’

23 Thus says the LORD, “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches;24 but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things, declares the LORD.

25 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, “that I will punish all who are circumcised and yet uncircumcised–26 Egypt and Judah, and Edom and the sons of Ammon, and Moab and all those inhabiting the desert who clip the hair on their temples; for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised of heart.

The Sin and Treachery of Judah

1 “At that time, declares the LORD, “they will bring out the bones of the kings of Judah and the bones of its princes, and the bones of the priests and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem from their graves.2 “They will spread them out to the sun, the moon and to all the host of heaven, which they have loved and which they have served, and which they have gone after and which they have sought, and which they have worshiped. They will not be gathered or buried; they will be as dung on the face of the ground.3 “And death will be chosen rather than life by all the remnant that remains of this evil family, that remains in all the places to which I have driven them, declares the LORD of hosts.

4 “You shall say to them, `Thus says the LORD,
“Do {men} fall and not get up again?
Does one turn away and not repent?5
“Why then has this people, Jerusalem,
Turned away in continual apostasy?
They hold fast to deceit,
They refuse to return.6
“I have listened and heard,
They have spoken what is not right;
No man repented of his wickedness,
Saying, `What have I done?’
Everyone turned to his course,
Like a horse charging into the battle.7
“Even the stork in the sky
Knows her seasons;
And the turtledove and the swift and the thrush
Observe the time of their migration;
But My people do not know
The ordinance of the LORD.

8
“How can you say, `We are wise,
And the law of the LORD is with us’?
But behold, the lying pen of the scribes
Has made {it} into a lie.9
“The wise men are put to shame,
They are dismayed and caught;
Behold, they have rejected the word of the LORD,
And what kind of wisdom do they have?10
“Therefore I will give their wives to others,
Their fields to new owners;
Because from the least even to the greatest
Everyone is greedy for gain;
From the prophet even to the priest
Everyone practices deceit.11
“They heal the brokenness of the daughter of My people superficially,
Saying, `Peace, peace,’
But there is no peace.12
“Were they ashamed because of the abomination they had done?
They certainly were not ashamed,
And they did not know how to blush;
Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;
At the time of their punishment they shall be brought down,
Says the LORD.

13
“I will surely snatch them away, declares the LORD;
“There will be no grapes on the vine
And no figs on the fig tree,
And the leaf will wither;
And what I have given them will pass away.’14
Why are we sitting still?
Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the fortified cities
And let us perish there,
Because the LORD our God has doomed us
And given us poisoned water to drink,
For we have sinned against the LORD.15
{We} waited for peace, but no good {came;}
For a time of healing, but behold, terror!16
From Dan is heard the snorting of his horses;
At the sound of the neighing of his stallions
The whole land quakes;
For they come and devour the land and its fullness,
The city and its inhabitants.17
“For behold, I am sending serpents against you,
Adders, for which there is no charm,
And they will bite you, declares the LORD.

18
My sorrow is beyond healing,
My heart is faint {within me!}19
Behold, listen! The cry of the daughter of my people from a distant land:
“Is the LORD not in Zion? Is her King not within her?
“Why have they provoked Me with their graven images, with foreign idols?20
“Harvest is past, summer is ended,
And we are not saved.21
For the brokenness of the daughter of my people I am broken;
I mourn, dismay has taken hold of me.22
Is there no balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
Why then has not the health of the daughter of my people been restored?

Message at the Temple Gate

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 you of Judah, who enter by these gates to worship the LORD!’3 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, “Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place.4 “Do not trust in deceptive words, saying, `This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD.’5 “For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly practice justice between a man and his neighbor,6 {if} you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, nor walk after other gods to your own ruin,7 then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.

8 “Behold, you are trusting in deceptive words to no avail.9 “Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery and swear falsely, and offer sacrifices to Baal and walk after other gods that you have not known,10 then come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My name, and say, `We are delivered!’–that you may do all these abominations?11 “Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your sight? Behold, I, even I, have seen {it,} declares the LORD.

12 “But go now to My place which was in Shiloh, where I made My name dwell at the first, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel.13 “And now, because you have done all these things, declares the LORD, “and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you did not hear, and I called you but you did not answer,14 therefore, I will do to the house which is called by My name, in which you trust, and to the place which I gave you and your fathers, as I did to Shiloh.15 “I will cast you out of My sight, as I have cast out all your brothers, all the offspring of Ephraim.

16 “As for you, do not pray for this people, and do not lift up cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with Me; for I do not hear you.17 “Do you not see what they are doing 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 dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and {they} pour out drink offerings to other gods in order to spite Me.19 “Do they spite Me? declares the LORD. “Is it not themselves {they spite,} to their own shame?20 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, My anger and My wrath will be poured out on this place, on man and on beast and on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground; and it will burn and not be quenched.

21 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat flesh.22 “For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices.23 “But this is what I commanded them, saying, `Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you will be My people; and you will walk in all the way which I command you, that it may be well with you.’24 “Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in {their own} counsels {and} in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward and not forward.25 “Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have sent you all My servants the prophets, daily rising early and sending {them.}26 “Yet they did not listen to Me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck; they did more evil than their fathers.

27 “You shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you; and you shall call to them, but they will not answer you.28 “You shall say to them, `This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the LORD their God or accept correction; truth has perished and has been cut off from their mouth.29
`Cut off your hair and cast {it} away,
And take up a lamentation on the bare heights;
For the LORD has rejected and forsaken
The generation of His wrath.’

30 “For the sons of Judah have done that which is evil in My sight, declares the LORD, “they have set their detestable things in the house which is called by My name, to defile it.31 “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 did not command, and it did not come into My mind.

32 “Therefore, behold, days are coming, declares the LORD, “when it will no longer be called Topheth, or the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of the Slaughter; for they will bury in Topheth because there is no {other} place.33 “The dead bodies of this people will be food for the birds of the sky and for the beasts of the earth; and no one will frighten {them away.}34 “Then I will make to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride; for the land will become a ruin.