Destruction of Jerusalem Impending

1
“Flee for safety, O sons of Benjamin,
From the midst of Jerusalem!
Now blow a trumpet in Tekoa
And raise a signal over Beth-haccerem;
For evil looks down from the north,
And a great destruction.2
“The comely and dainty one, the daughter of Zion, I will cut off.3
“Shepherds and their flocks will come to her,
They will pitch {their} tents around her,
They will pasture each in his place.4
“Prepare war against her;
Arise, and let us attack at noon.
Woe to us, for the day declines,
For the shadows of the evening lengthen!5
“Arise, and let us attack by night
And destroy her palaces!

6 For thus says the LORD of hosts,
“Cut down her trees
And cast up a siege against Jerusalem.
This is the city to be punished,
In whose midst there is only oppression.7
“As a well keeps its waters fresh,
So she keeps fresh her wickedness.
Violence and destruction are heard in her;
Sickness and wounds are ever before Me.8
“Be warned, O Jerusalem,
Or I shall be alienated from you,
And make you a desolation,
A land not inhabited.

9
Thus says the LORD of hosts,
“They will thoroughly glean as the vine the remnant of Israel;
Pass your hand again like a grape gatherer
Over the branches.10
To whom shall I speak and give warning
That they may hear?
Behold, their ears are closed
And they cannot listen.
Behold, the word of the LORD has become a reproach to them;
They have no delight in it.11
But I am full of the wrath of the LORD;
I am weary with holding {it} in.
“Pour {it} out on the children in the street
And on the gathering of young men together;
For both husband and wife shall be taken,
The aged and the very old.12
“Their houses shall be turned over to others,
Their fields and their wives together;
For I will stretch out My hand
Against the inhabitants of the land, declares the LORD.13
“For from the least of them even to the greatest of them,
Everyone is greedy for gain,
And from the prophet even to the priest
Everyone deals falsely.14
“They have healed the brokenness of My people superficially,
Saying, `Peace, peace,’
But there is no peace.15
“Were they ashamed because of the abomination they have done?
They were not even ashamed at all;
They did not even know how to blush.
Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;
At the time that I punish them,
They shall be cast down, says the LORD.

16
Thus says the LORD,
“Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths,
Where the good way is, and walk in it;
And you will find rest for your souls.
But they said, `We will not walk {in it.}’17
“And I set watchmen over you, {saying,}
`Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’
But they said, `We will not listen.’18
“Therefore hear, O nations,
And know, O congregation, what is among them.19
“Hear, O earth: behold, I am bringing disaster on this people,
The fruit of their plans,
Because they have not listened to My words,
And as for My law, they have rejected it also.20
“For what purpose does frankincense come to Me from Sheba
And the sweet cane from a distant land?
Your burnt offerings are not acceptable
And your sacrifices are not pleasing to Me.

21 Therefore, thus says the LORD,
“Behold, I am laying stumbling blocks before this people.
And they will stumble against them,
Fathers and sons together;
Neighbor and friend will perish.

The Enemy from the North

22
Thus says the LORD,
“Behold, a people is coming from the north land,
And a great nation will be aroused from the remote parts of the earth.23
“They seize bow and spear;
They are cruel and have no mercy;
Their voice roars like the sea,
And they ride on horses,
Arrayed as a man for the battle
Against you, O daughter of Zion!24
We have heard the report of it;
Our hands are limp.
Anguish has seized us,
Pain as of a woman in childbirth.25
Do not go out into the field
And do not walk on the road,
For the enemy has a sword,
Terror is on every side.26
O daughter of my people, put on sackcloth
And roll in ashes;
Mourn as for an only son,
A lamentation most bitter.
For suddenly the destroyer
Will come upon us.

27
“I have made you an assayer {and} a tester among My people,
That you may know and assay their way.28
All of them are stubbornly rebellious,
Going about as a talebearer.
{They are} bronze and iron;
They, all of them, are corrupt.29
The bellows blow fiercely,
The lead is consumed by the fire;
In vain the refining goes on,
But the wicked are not separated.30
They call them rejected silver,
Because the LORD has rejected them.

Jerusalem’s Godlessness

1
“Roam to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem,
And look now and take note.
And seek in her open squares,
If you can find a man,
If there is one who does justice, who seeks truth,
Then I will pardon her.2
“And although they say, `As the LORD lives,’
Surely they swear falsely.3
O LORD, do not Your eyes {look} for truth?
You have smitten them,
{But} they did not weaken;
You have consumed them,
But they refused to take correction.
They have made their faces harder than rock;
They have refused to repent.

4
Then I said, “They are only the poor,
They are foolish;
For they do not know the way of the LORD
{Or} the ordinance of their God.5
“I will go to the great
And will speak to them,
For they know the way of the LORD
{And} the ordinance of their God.
But they too, with one accord, have broken the yoke
{And} burst the bonds.6
Therefore a lion from the forest will slay them,
A wolf of the deserts will destroy them,
A leopard is watching their cities.
Everyone who goes out of them will be torn in pieces,
Because their transgressions are many,
Their apostasies are numerous.

7
“Why should I pardon you?
Your sons have forsaken Me
And sworn by those who are not gods.
When I had fed them to the full,
They committed adultery
And trooped to the harlot’s house.8
“They were well-fed lusty horses,
Each one neighing after his neighbor’s wife.9
“Shall I not punish these {people,} declares the LORD,
“And on a nation such as this
Shall I not avenge Myself?

10
“Go up through her vine rows and destroy,
But do not execute a complete destruction;
Strip away her branches,
For they are not the LORD’S.11
“For the house of Israel and the house of Judah
Have dealt very treacherously with Me, declares the LORD.12
They have lied about the LORD
And said, “Not He;
Misfortune will not come on us,
And we will not see sword or famine.13
“The prophets are {as} wind,
And the word is not in them.
Thus it will be done to them!

Judgment Proclaimed

14
Therefore, thus says the LORD, the God of hosts,
“Because you have spoken this word,
Behold, I am making My words in your mouth fire
And this people wood, and it will consume them.15
“Behold, I am bringing a nation against you from afar, O house of Israel, declares the LORD.
“It is an enduring nation,
It is an ancient nation,
A nation whose language you do not know,
Nor can you understand what they say.16
“Their quiver is like an open grave,
All of them are mighty men.17
“They will devour your harvest and your food;
They will devour your sons and your daughters;
They will devour your flocks and your herds;
They will devour your vines and your fig trees;
They will demolish with the sword your fortified cities in which you trust.

18 “Yet even in those days, declares the LORD, “I will not make you a complete destruction.19 “It shall come about when they say, `Why has the LORD our God done all these things to us?’ then you shall say to them, `As you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so you will serve strangers in a land that is not yours.’

20
“Declare this in the house of Jacob
And proclaim it in Judah, saying,21
`Now hear this, O foolish and senseless people,
Who have eyes but do not see;
Who have ears but do not hear.22
`Do you not fear Me?’ declares the LORD.
`Do you not tremble in My presence?
For I have placed the sand as a boundary for the sea,
An eternal decree, so it cannot cross over it.
Though the waves toss, yet they cannot prevail;
Though they roar, yet they cannot cross over it.23
`But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart;
They have turned aside and departed.24
`They do not say in their heart,
“Let us now fear the LORD our God,
Who gives rain in its season,
Both the autumn rain and the spring rain,
Who keeps for us
The appointed weeks of the harvest.25
`Your iniquities have turned these away,
And your sins have withheld good from you.26
`For wicked men are found among My people,
They watch like fowlers lying in wait;
They set a trap,
They catch men.27
`Like a cage full of birds,
So their houses are full of deceit;
Therefore they have become great and rich.28
`They are fat, they are sleek,
They also excel in deeds of wickedness;
They do not plead the cause,
The cause of the orphan, that they may prosper;
And they do not defend the rights of the poor.29
`Shall I not punish these {people?}’ declares the LORD,
`On a nation such as this
Shall I not avenge Myself?’

30
“An appalling and horrible thing
Has happened in the land:31
The prophets prophesy falsely,
And the priests rule on their {own} authority;
And My people love it so!
But what will you do at the end of it?

Judah Threatened with Invasion

1
“If you will return, O Israel, declares the LORD,
“{Then} you should return to Me.
And if you will put away your detested things from My presence,
And will not waver,2
And you will swear, `As the LORD lives,’
In truth, in justice and in righteousness;
Then the nations will bless themselves in Him,
And in Him they will glory.

3 For thus says the LORD to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem,
“Break up your fallow ground,
And do not sow among thorns.4
“Circumcise yourselves to the LORD
And remove the foreskins of your heart,
Men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem,
Or else My wrath will go forth like fire
And burn with none to quench it,
Because of the evil of your deeds.

5
Declare in Judah and proclaim in Jerusalem, and say,
“Blow the trumpet in the land;
Cry aloud and say,
`Assemble yourselves, and let us go
Into the fortified cities.’6
“Lift up a standard toward Zion!
Seek refuge, do not stand {still,}
For I am bringing evil from the north,
And great destruction.7
“A lion has gone up from his thicket,
And a destroyer of nations has set out;
He has gone out from his place
To make your land a waste.
Your cities will be ruins
Without inhabitant.8
“For this, put on sackcloth,
Lament and wail;
For the fierce anger of the LORD
Has not turned back from us.

9 “It shall come about in that day, declares the LORD, “that the heart of the king and the heart of the princes will fail; and the priests will be appalled and the prophets will be astounded.

10 Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD! Surely You have utterly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, `You will have peace’; whereas a sword touches the throat.

11 In that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A scorching wind from the bare heights in the wilderness in the direction of the daughter of My people–not to winnow and not to cleanse,12 a wind too strong for this–will come at My command; now I will also pronounce judgments against them.13
“Behold, he goes up like clouds,
And his chariots like the whirlwind;
His horses are swifter than eagles.
Woe to us, for we are ruined!

14
Wash your heart from evil, O Jerusalem,
That you may be saved.
How long will your wicked thoughts
Lodge within you?15
For a voice declares from Dan,
And proclaims wickedness from Mount Ephraim.16
“Report {it} to the nations, now!
Proclaim over Jerusalem,
`Besiegers come from a far country,
And lift their voices against the cities of Judah.17
`Like watchmen of a field they are against her round about,
Because she has rebelled against Me,’ declares the LORD.18
“Your ways and your deeds
Have brought these things to you.
This is your evil. How bitter!
How it has touched your heart!

Lament over Judah’s Devastation

19
My soul, my soul! I am in anguish! Oh, my heart!
My heart is pounding in me;
I cannot be silent,
Because you have heard, O my soul,
The sound of the trumpet,
The alarm of war.20
Disaster on disaster is proclaimed,
For the whole land is devastated;
Suddenly my tents are devastated,
My curtains in an instant.21
How long must I see the standard
And hear the sound of the trumpet?22
“For My people are foolish,
They know Me not;
They are stupid children
And have no understanding.
They are shrewd to do evil,
But to do good they do not know.

23
I looked on the earth, and behold, {it was}  formless and void;
And to the heavens, and they had no light.24
I looked on the mountains, and behold, they were quaking,
And all the hills moved to and fro.25
I looked, and behold, there was no man,
And all the birds of the heavens had fled.26
I looked, and behold, the fruitful land was a wilderness,
And all its cities were pulled down
Before the LORD, before His fierce anger.

27
For thus says the LORD,
“The whole land shall be a desolation,
Yet I will not execute a complete destruction.28
“For this the earth shall mourn
And the heavens above be dark,
Because I have spoken, I have purposed,
And I will not change My mind, nor will I turn from it.29
At the sound of the horseman and bowman every city flees;
They go into the thickets and climb among the rocks;
Every city is forsaken,
And no man dwells in them.30
And you, O desolate one, what will you do?
Although you dress in scarlet,
Although you decorate {yourself with} ornaments of gold,
Although you enlarge your eyes with paint,
In vain you make yourself beautiful.
{Your} lovers despise you;
They seek your life.31
For I heard a cry as of a woman in labor,
The anguish as of one giving birth to her first child,
The cry of the daughter of Zion gasping for breath,
Stretching out her hands, {saying,}
“Ah, woe is me, for I faint before murderers.

The Polluted Land

1
{God} says, “If a husband divorces his wife
And she goes from him
And belongs to another man,
Will he still return to her?
Will not that land be completely polluted?
But you are a harlot {with} many lovers;
Yet you turn to Me, declares the LORD.2
“Lift up your eyes to the bare heights and see;
Where have you not been violated?
By the roads you have sat for them
Like an Arab in the desert,
And you have polluted a land
With your harlotry and with your wickedness.3
“Therefore the showers have been withheld,
And there has been no spring rain.
Yet you had a harlot’s forehead;
You refused to be ashamed.4
“Have you not just now called to Me,
`My Father, You are the friend of my youth?5
`Will He be angry forever?
Will He be indignant to the end?’
Behold, you have spoken
And have done evil things,
And you have had your way.

Faithless Israel

6 Then the LORD said to me in the days of Josiah the king, “Have you seen what faithless Israel did? She went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and she was a harlot there.7 “I thought, `After she has done all these things she will return to Me’; but she did not return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it.8 “And I saw that for all the adulteries of faithless Israel, I had sent her away and given her a writ of divorce, yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear; but she went and was a harlot also.9 “Because of the lightness of her harlotry, she polluted the land and committed adultery with stones and trees.10 “Yet in spite of all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart, but rather in deception, declares the LORD.

God Invites Repentance

11 And the LORD said to me, “Faithless Israel has proved herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.12 “Go and proclaim these words toward the north and say,
`Return, faithless Israel,’ declares the LORD;
`I will not look upon you in anger.
For I am gracious,’ declares the LORD;
`I will not be angry forever.13
`Only acknowledge your iniquity,
That you have transgressed against the LORD your God
And have scattered your favors to the strangers under every green tree,
And you have not obeyed My voice,’ declares the LORD.14
`Return, O faithless sons,’ declares the LORD;
`For I am a master to you,
And I will take you one from a city and two from a family,
And I will bring you to Zion.’

15 “Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will feed you on knowledge and understanding.16 “It shall be in those days when you are multiplied and increased in the land, declares the LORD, “they will no longer say, `The ark of the covenant of the LORD.’ And it will not come to mind, nor will they remember it, nor will they miss {it,} nor will it be made again.17 “At that time they will call Jerusalem `The Throne of the LORD,’ and all the nations will be gathered to it, to Jerusalem, for the name of the LORD; nor will they walk anymore after the stubbornness of their evil heart.18 “In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together from the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers as an inheritance.

19 “Then I said,
`How I would set you among My sons
And give you a pleasant land,
The most beautiful inheritance of the nations!’
And I said, `You shall call Me, My Father,
And not turn away from following Me.’20
“Surely, as a woman treacherously departs from her lover,
So you have dealt treacherously with Me,
O house of Israel, declares the LORD.

21
A voice is heard on the bare heights,
The weeping {and} the supplications of the sons of Israel;
Because they have perverted their way,
They have forgotten the LORD their God.22
“Return, O faithless sons,
I will heal your faithlessness.
“Behold, we come to You;
For You are the LORD our God.23
“Surely, the hills are a deception,
A tumult {on} the mountains.
Surely in the LORD our God
Is the salvation of Israel.

24 “But the shameful thing has consumed the labor of our fathers since our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.25 “Let us lie down in our shame, and let our humiliation cover us; for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day. And we have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.

Judah’s Apostasy

1 Now the word of the LORD came to me saying,2 “Go and proclaim in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, `Thus says the LORD,
“I remember concerning you the devotion of your youth,
The love of your betrothals,
Your following after Me in the wilderness,
Through a land not sown.3
“Israel was holy to the LORD,
The first of His harvest.
All who ate of it became guilty;
Evil came upon them, declares the LORD.’

4 Hear the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel.5 Thus says the LORD,
“What injustice did your fathers find in Me,
That they went far from Me
And walked after emptiness and became empty?6
“They did not say, `Where is the LORD
Who brought us up out of the land of Egypt,
Who led us through the wilderness,
Through a land of deserts and of pits,
Through a land of drought and of deep darkness,
Through a land that no one crossed
And where no man dwelt?’7
“I brought you into the fruitful land
To eat its fruit and its good things.
But you came and defiled My land,
And My inheritance you made an abomination.8
“The priests did not say, `Where is the LORD?’
And those who handle the law did not know Me;
The rulers also transgressed against Me,
And the prophets prophesied by Baal
And walked after things that did not profit.

9
“Therefore I will yet contend with you, declares the LORD,
“And with your sons’ sons I will contend.10
“For cross to the coastlands of Kittim and see,
And send to Kedar and observe closely
And see if there has been such {a thing} as this!11
“Has a nation changed gods
When they were not gods?
But My people have changed their glory
For that which does not profit.12
“Be appalled, O heavens, at this,
And shudder, be very desolate, declares the LORD.13
“For My people have committed two evils:
They have forsaken Me,
The fountain of living waters,
To hew for themselves cisterns,
Broken cisterns
That can hold no water.

14
“Is Israel a slave? Or is he a homeborn servant?
Why has he become a prey?15
“The young lions have roared at him,
They have roared loudly.
And they have made his land a waste;
His cities have been destroyed, without inhabitant.16
“Also the men of Memphis and Tahpanhes
Have shaved the crown of your head.17
“Have you not done this to yourself
By your forsaking the LORD your God
When He led you in the way?18
“But now what are you doing on the road to Egypt,
To drink the waters of the Nile?
Or what are you doing on the road to Assyria,
To drink the waters of the Euphrates?19
“Your own wickedness will correct you,
And your apostasies will reprove you;
Know therefore and see that it is evil and bitter
For you to forsake the LORD your God,
And the dread of Me is not in you, declares the Lord GOD of hosts.

20
“For long ago I broke your yoke
{And} tore off your bonds;
But you said, `I will not serve!’
For on every high hill
And under every green tree
You have lain down as a harlot.21
“Yet I planted you a choice vine,
A completely faithful seed.
How then have you turned yourself before Me
Into the degenerate shoots of a foreign vine?22
“Although you wash yourself with lye
And use much soap,
The stain of your iniquity is before Me, declares the Lord GOD.23
“How can you say, `I am not defiled,
I have not gone after the Baals’?
Look at your way in the valley!
Know what you have done!
You are a swift young camel entangling her ways,24
A wild donkey accustomed to the wilderness,
That sniffs the wind in her passion.
In {the time of} her heat who can turn her away?
All who seek her will not become weary;
In her month they will find her.25
“Keep your feet from being unshod
And your throat from thirst;
But you said, `It is hopeless!
No! For I have loved strangers,
And after them I will walk.’

26
“As the thief is shamed when he is discovered,
So the house of Israel is shamed;
They, their kings, their princes
And their priests and their prophets,27
Who say to a tree, `You are my father,’
And to a stone, `You gave me birth.’
For they have turned {their} back to Me,
And not {their} face;
But in the time of their trouble they will say,
`Arise and save us.’28
“But where are your gods
Which you made for yourself?
Let them arise, if they can save you
In the time of your trouble;
For {according to} the number of your cities
Are your gods, O Judah.

29
“Why do you contend with Me?
You have all transgressed against Me, declares the LORD.30
“In vain I have struck your sons;
They accepted no chastening.
Your sword has devoured your prophets
Like a destroying lion.31
“O generation, heed the word of the LORD.
Have I been a wilderness to Israel,
Or a land of thick darkness?
Why do My people say, `We {are free to} roam;
We will no longer come to You’?32
“Can a virgin forget her ornaments,
Or a bride her attire?
Yet My people have forgotten Me
Days without number.33
“How well you prepare your way
To seek love!
Therefore even the wicked women
You have taught your ways.34
“Also on your skirts is found
The lifeblood of the innocent poor;
You did not find them breaking in.
But in spite of all these things,35
Yet you said, `I am innocent;
Surely His anger is turned away from me.’
Behold, I will enter into judgment with you
Because you say, `I have not sinned.’36
“Why do you go around so much
Changing your way?
Also, you will be put to shame by Egypt
As you were put to shame by Assyria.37
“From this {place} also you will go out
With your hands on your head;
For the LORD has rejected those in whom you trust,
And you will not prosper with them.

Jeremiah’s Call and Commission

1 The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin,2 to whom the word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.3 It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the exile of Jerusalem in the fifth month.

4 Now the word of the LORD came to me saying,5
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
And before you were born I consecrated you;
I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.6
Then I said, “Alas, Lord GOD!
Behold, I do not know how to speak,
Because I am a youth.7
But the LORD said to me,
“Do not say, `I am a youth,’
Because everywhere I send you, you shall go,
And all that I command you, you shall speak.8
“Do not be afraid of them,
For I am with you to deliver you, declares the LORD.

9 Then the LORD stretched out His hand and touched my mouth, and the LORD said to me,
“Behold, I have put My words in your mouth.10
“See, I have appointed you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms,
To pluck up and to break down,
To destroy and to overthrow,
To build and to plant.

The Almond Rod and Boiling Pot

11 The word of the LORD came to me saying, “What do you see, Jeremiah? And I said, “I see a rod of an almond tree.12 Then the LORD said to me, “You have seen well, for I am watching over My word to perform it.

13 The word of the LORD came to me a second time saying, “What do you see? And I said, “I see a boiling pot, facing away from the north.14 Then the LORD said to me, “Out of the north the evil will break forth on all the inhabitants of the land.15 “For, behold, I am calling all the families of the kingdoms of the north, declares the LORD; “and they will come and they will set each one his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all its walls round about and against all the cities of Judah.16 “I will pronounce My judgments on them concerning all their wickedness, whereby they have forsaken Me and have offered sacrifices to other gods, and worshiped the works of their own hands.17 “Now, gird up your loins and arise, and speak to them all which I command you. Do not be dismayed before them, or I will dismay you before them.18 “Now behold, I have made you today as a fortified city and as a pillar of iron and as walls of bronze against the whole land, to the kings of Judah, to its princes, to its priests and to the people of the land.19 “They will fight against you, but they will not overcome you, for I am with you to deliver you, declares the LORD.