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JEREMIAH
CHAPTER
1
1
The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests that were in Anathoth
in the land of Benjamin:
2 to whom the word of Jehovah came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king
of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.
3 It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, unto
the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, unto
the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month.
4 Now the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,
5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee, and before thou camest forth
out of the womb I sanctified thee; I have appointed thee a prophet unto the
nations.
6 Then said I, Ah, Lord Jehovah! behold, I know not how to speak; for I am a
child.
7 But Jehovah said unto me, Say not, I am a child; for to whomsoever I shall
send thee thou shalt go, and whatsoever I shall command thee thou shalt speak.
8 Be not afraid because of them; for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith
Jehovah.
9 Then Jehovah put forth his hand, and touched my mouth; and Jehovah said unto
me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth:
10 see, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to
pluck up and to break down and to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to
plant.
11 Moreover the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what seest thou?
And I said, I see a rod of an almond-tree.
12 Then said Jehovah unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I watch over my word to
perform it.
13 And the word of Jehovah came unto me the second time, saying, What seest
thou? And I said, I see a boiling caldron; and the face thereof is from the
north.
14 Then Jehovah said unto me, Out of the north evil shall break forth upon all
the inhabitants of the land.
15 For, lo, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, saith
Jehovah; and they shall come, and they shall set every one his throne at the
entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all the walls thereof round
about, and against all the cities of Judah.
16 And I will utter my judgments against them touching all their wickedness, in
that they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, and
worshipped the works of their own hands.
17 Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I
command thee: be not dismayed at them, lest I dismay thee before them.
18 For, behold, I have made thee this day a fortified city, and an iron pillar,
and brazen walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against
the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the
land.
19 And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee:
for I am with thee, saith Jehovah, to deliver thee.
CHAPTER
2
1 And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying,
2 Go, and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith Jehovah, I remember
for thee the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals; how thou
wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown.
3 Israel `was' holiness unto Jehovah, the first-fruits of his increase: all that
devour him shall be held guilty; evil shall come upon them, saith Jehovah.
4 Hear ye the word of Jehovah, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the
house of Israel:
5 thus saith Jehovah, What unrighteousness have your fathers found in me, that
they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain?
6 Neither said they, Where is Jehovah 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
none passed through, and where no man dwelt?
7 And I brought you into a plentiful land, to eat the fruit thereof and the
goodness thereof; but when ye entered, ye defiled my land, and made my heritage
an abomination.
8 The priests said not, Where is Jehovah? and they that handle the law knew me
not: the rulers also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by
Baal, and walked after things that do not profit.
9 Wherefore I will yet contend with you, saith Jehovah, and with your children's
children will I contend.
10 For pass over to the isles of Kittim, and see; and send unto Kedar, and
consider diligently; and see if there hath been such a thing.
11 Hath a nation changed `its' gods, which yet are no gods? but my people have
changed their glory for that which doth not profit.
12 Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very
desolate, saith Jehovah.
13 For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain
of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no
water.
14 Is Israel a servant? is he a home-born `slave'? why is he become a prey?
15 The young lions have roared upon him, and yelled; and they have made his land
waste: his cities are burned up, without inhabitant.
16 The children also of Memphis and Tahpanhes have broken the crown of thy head.
17 Hast thou not procured this unto thyself, in that thou hast forsaken Jehovah
thy God, when he led thee by the way?
18 And now what hast thou to do in the way to Egypt, to drink the waters of the
Shihor? or what hast thou to do in the way to Assyria, to drink the waters of
the River?
19 Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove
thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and a bitter, that thou
hast forsaken Jehovah thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord,
Jehovah of hosts.
20 For of old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bonds; and thou saidst,
I will not serve; for upon every high hill and under every green tree thou didst
bow thyself, playing the harlot.
21 Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou
turned into the degenerate branches of a foreign vine unto me?
22 For though thou wash thee with lye, and take thee much soap, yet thine
iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord Jehovah.
23 How canst thou say, I am not defiled, I have not gone after the Baalim? see
thy way in the valley, know what thou hast done: `thou art' a swift dromedary
traversing her ways;
24 a wild ass used to the wilderness, that snuffeth up the wind in her desire;
in her occasion who can turn her away? all they that seek her will not weary
themselves; in her month they shall find her.
25 Withhold thy foot from being unshod, and thy throat from thirst: but thou
saidst, It is in vain; no, for I have loved strangers, and after them will I go.
26 As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed;
they, their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets;
27 who say to a stock, Thou art my father; and to a stone, Thou hast brought 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.
28 But where are thy gods that thou hast made thee? let them arise, if they can
save thee in the time of thy trouble: for according to the number of thy cities
are thy gods, O Judah.
29 Wherefore will ye contend with me? ye all have transgressed against me, saith
Jehovah.
30 In vain have I smitten your children; they received no correction: your own
sword hath devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion.
31 O generation, see ye the word of Jehovah. Have I been a wilderness unto
Israel? or a land of thick darkness? wherefore say my people, We are broken
loose; we will come no more unto thee?
32 Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? yet my people have
forgotten me days without number.
33 How trimmest thou thy way to seek love! therefore even the wicked women hast
thou taught thy ways.
34 Also in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the innocent poor: thou
didst not find them breaking in; but it is because of all these things.
35 Yet thou saidst, I am innocent; surely his anger is turned away from me.
Behold, I will enter into judgment with thee, because thou sayest, I have not
sinned.
36 Why gaddest thou about so much to change thy way? thou shalt be ashamed of
Egypt also, as thou wast ashamed of Assyria.
37 From thence also shalt thou go forth, with thy hands upon thy head: for
Jehovah hath rejected those in whom thou trustest, and thou shalt not prosper
with them.
CHAPTER
3
1 They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another
man's, will he return unto her again? will not that land be greatly polluted?
But thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith
Jehovah.
2 Lift up thine eyes unto the bare heights, and see; where hast thou not been
lain with? By the ways hast thou sat for them, as an Arabian in the wilderness;
and thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness.
3 Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter
rain; yet thou hast a harlot's forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed.
4 Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My Father, thou art the guide of my
youth?
5 Will he retain `his anger' for ever? will he keep it to the end? Behold, thou
hast spoken and hast done evil things, and hast had thy way.
6 Moreover Jehovah said 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.
7 And I said after she had done all these things, She will return unto me; but
she returned not: and her treacherous sister Judah saw it.
8 And I saw, when, for this very cause that backsliding Israel had committed
adultery, I had put her away and given her a bill of divorcement, yet
treacherous Judah her sister feared not; but she also went and played the
harlot.
9 And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that the land was
polluted, and she committed adultery with stones and with stocks.
10 And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not returned unto me
with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith Jehovah.
11 And Jehovah said unto me, Backsliding Israel hath showed herself more
righteous than treacherous Judah.
12 Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou
backsliding Israel, saith Jehovah; I will not look in anger upon you; for I am
merciful, saith Jehovah, I will not keep `anger' for ever.
13 Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against Jehovah
thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree,
and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith Jehovah.
14 Return, O backsliding children, saith Jehovah; for I am a husband unto you:
and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to
Zion:
15 and I will give you shepherds according to my heart, who shall feed you with
knowledge and understanding.
16 And it shall come to pass, when ye are multiplied and increased in the land,
in those days, saith Jehovah, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of
Jehovah; neither shall it come to mind; neither shall they remember it; neither
shall they miss it; neither shall it be made any more.
17 At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of Jehovah; and all the
nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of Jehovah, to Jerusalem: neither
shall they walk any more after the stubbornness of their evil heart.
18 In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and
they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I gave
for an inheritance unto your fathers.
19 But I said, How I will put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant
land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of the nations! and I said, Ye shall call
me My Father, and shall not turn away from following me.
20 Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt
treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith Jehovah.
21 A voice is heard upon the bare heights, the weeping `and' the supplications
of the children of Israel; because they have perverted their way, they have
forgotten Jehovah their God.
22 Return, ye backsliding children, I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we
are come unto thee; for thou art Jehovah our God.
23 Truly in vain is `the help that is looked for' from the hills, the tumult on
the mountains: truly in Jehovah our God is the salvation of Israel.
24 But the shameful thing hath devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth,
their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.
25 Let us lie down in our shame, and let our confusion cover us; for we have
sinned against Jehovah our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto
this day; and we have not obeyed the voice of Jehovah our God.
CHAPTER
4
1 If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith Jehovah, if thou wilt return unto me, and
if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight; then shalt thou not be
removed;
2 and thou shalt swear, As Jehovah liveth, in truth, in justice, and in
righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall
they glory.
3 For thus saith Jehovah to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, Break up your
fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.
4 Circumcise yourselves to Jehovah, and take away the foreskins of your heart,
ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go forth like fire,
and burn so that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
5 Declare ye in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem; and say, Blow ye the trumpet in
the land: cry aloud and say, Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the
fortified cities.
6 Set up a standard toward Zion: flee for safety, stay not; for I will bring
evil from the north, and a great destruction.
7 A lion is gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations; he is on his
way, he is gone forth from his place, to make thy land desolate, that thy cities
be laid waste, without inhabitant.
8 For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and wail; for the fierce anger of
Jehovah is not turned back from us.
9 And it shall come to pass at that day, saith Jehovah, 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.
10 Then said I, Ah, Lord Jehovah! surely thou hast greatly deceived this people
and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall have peace; whereas the sword reacheth unto the
life.
11 At that time shall it be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A hot wind
from the bare heights in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not to
winnow, nor to cleanse;
12 a full wind from these shall come for me: now will I also utter judgments
against them.
13 Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots `shall be' as the
whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe unto us! for we are ruined.
14 O Jerusalem, wash thy heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How
long shall thine evil thoughts lodge within thee?
15 For a voice declareth from Dan, and publisheth evil from the hills of
Ephraim:
16 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.
17 As keepers of a field are they against her round about, because she hath been
rebellious against me, saith Jehovah.
18 Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee; this is thy
wickedness; for it is bitter, for it reacheth unto thy heart.
19 My anguish, my anguish! I am pained at my very heart; my heart is disquieted
in me; I cannot hold my peace; because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of
the trumpet, the alarm of war.
20 Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is laid waste:
suddenly are my tents destroyed, `and' my curtains in a moment.
21 How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet?
22 For my people are foolish, they know me not; they are sottish children, and
they have no understanding; they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have
no knowledge.
23 I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was waste and void; and the heavens, and they
had no light.
24 I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved to
and fro.
25 I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were
fled.
26 I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful field was a wilderness, and all the cities
thereof were broken down at the presence of Jehovah, `and' before his fierce
anger.
27 For thus saith Jehovah, The whole land shall be a desolation; yet will I not
make a full end.
28 For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black; because I
have spoken it, I have purposed it, and I have not repented, neither will I turn
back from it.
29 Every city fleeth for the noise of the horsemen and bowmen; they go into the
thickets, and climb up upon the rocks: every city is forsaken, and not a man
dwelleth therein.
30 And thou, when thou art made desolate, what wilt thou do? Though thou
clothest thyself with scarlet, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold,
though thou enlargest thine eyes with paint, in vain dost thou make thyself
fair; `thy' lovers despise thee, they seek thy life.
31 For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, the anguish as of her that
bringeth forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, that gaspeth
for breath, that spreadeth her hands, `saying', Woe is me now! for my soul
fainteth before the murderers.
CHAPTER
5
1 Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and
seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that
doeth justly, that seeketh truth; and I will pardon her.
2 And though they say, As Jehovah liveth; surely they swear falsely.
3 O Jehovah, do not thine eyes look upon truth? thou hast stricken them, but
they were 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.
4 Then I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish; for they know not the
way of Jehovah, nor the law of their God:
5 I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they know the
way of Jehovah, and the law of their God. But these with one accord have broken
the yoke, and burst the bonds.
6 Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, a wolf of the evenings
shall destroy them, a leopard shall watch against their cities; every one that
goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces; because their transgressions are many,
`and' their backslidings are increased.
7 How can I pardon thee? thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that
are no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they committed adultery, and
assembled themselves in troops at the harlots' houses.
8 They were as fed horses roaming at large; every one neighed after his
neighbor's wife.
9 Shall I not visit for these things? saith Jehovah; and shall not my soul be
avenged on such a nation as this?
10 Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end: take away her
branches; for they are not Jehovah's.
11 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously
against me, saith Jehovah.
12 They have denied Jehovah, and said, It is not he; neither shall evil come
upon us; neither shall we see sword nor famine:
13 and the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them: thus shall
it be done unto them.
14 Wherefore thus saith Jehovah, the God of hosts, Because ye speak this word,
behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it
shall devour them.
15 Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, saith
Jehovah: it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language
thou knowest not, neither understandest what they say.
16 Their quiver is an open sepulchre, they are all mighty men.
17 And they shall eat up thy harvest, and thy bread, `which' thy sons and thy
daughters should eat; they shall eat up thy flocks and thy herds; they shall eat
up thy vines and thy fig-trees; they shall beat down thy fortified cities,
wherein thou trustest, with the sword.
18 But even in those days, saith Jehovah, I will not make a full end with you.
19 And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Wherefore hath Jehovah our God
done all these things unto us? then shalt thou say unto them, Like as ye have
forsaken me, and served foreign gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers
in a land that is not yours.
20 Declare ye this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying,
21 Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; that have eyes,
and see not; that have ears, and hear not:
22 Fear ye not me? saith Jehovah: will ye not tremble at my presence, who 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.
23 But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted
and gone.
24 Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear Jehovah our God, that giveth
rain, both the former and the latter, in its season; that preserveth unto us the
appointed weeks of the harvest.
25 Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden
good from you.
26 For among my people are found wicked men: they watch, as fowlers lie in wait;
they set a trap, they catch men.
27 As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore
they are become great, and waxed rich.
28 They are waxed fat, they shine: yea, they overpass in deeds of wickedness;
they plead not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they may prosper;
and the right of the needy do they not judge.
29 Shall I not visit for these things? saith Jehovah; shall not my soul be
avenged on such a nation as this?
30 A wonderful and horrible thing is come to pass in the land:
31 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?
CHAPTER
6
1 Flee for safety, ye children of Benjamin, out of the midst of Jerusalem, and
blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and raise up a signal on Beth-haccherem; for evil
looketh forth from the north, and a great destruction.
2 The comely and delicate one, the daughter of Zion, will I cut off.
3 Shepherds with their flocks shall come unto her; they shall pitch their tents
against her round about; they shall feed every one in his place.
4 Prepare ye war against her; arise, and let us go up at noon. Woe unto us! for
the day declineth, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out.
5 Arise, and let us go up by night, and let us destroy her palaces.
6 For thus hath Jehovah of hosts said, Hew ye down trees, and cast up a mound
against Jerusalem: this is the city to be visited; she is wholly oppression in
the midst of her.
7 As a well casteth forth its waters, so she casteth forth her wickedness:
violence and destruction is heard in her; before me continually is sickness and
wounds.
8 Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul be alienated from thee; lest I
make thee a desolation, a land not inhabited.
9 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, They shall thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel
as a vine: turn again thy hand as a grape-gatherer into the baskets.
10 To whom shall I speak and testify, that they may hear? behold, their ear is
uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of Jehovah is become
unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it.
11 Therefore I am full of the wrath of Jehovah; I am weary with holding in: pour
it out upon the children in the street, and upon the assembly of young men
together; for even the husband with the wife shall be taken, the aged with him
that is full of days.
12 And their houses shall be turned unto others, their fields and their wives
together; for I will stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants of the land, saith
Jehovah.
13 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.
14 They have healed also the hurt of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace;
when there is no peace.
15 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 Jehovah.
16 Thus saith Jehovah, Stand ye in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths,
where is the good way; and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls:
but they said, We will not walk `therein'.
17 And I set watchmen over you, `saying', Hearken to the sound of the trumpet;
but they said, We will not hearken.
18 Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them.
19 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; and as for my
law, they have rejected it.
20 To what purpose cometh there to me frankincense from Sheba, and the sweet
cane from a far country? your burnt-offerings are not acceptable, nor your
sacrifices pleasing unto me.
21 Therefore thus saith Jehovah, Behold, I will lay stumbling-blocks before this
people; and the fathers and the sons together shall stumble against them; the
neighbor and his friend shall perish.
22 Thus saith Jehovah, Behold, a people cometh from the north country; and a
great nation shall be stirred up from the uttermost parts of the earth.
23 They lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel, and have no mercy; their
voice roareth like the sea, and they ride upon horses, every one set in array,
as a man to the battle, against thee, O daughter of Zion.
24 We have heard the report thereof; our hands wax feeble: anguish hath taken
hold of us, `and' pangs as of a woman in travail.
25 Go not forth into the field, nor walk by the way; for the sword of the enemy,
`and' terror, are on every side.
26 O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth, and wallow thyself in
ashes: make thee mourning, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation; for the
destroyer shall suddenly come upon us.
27 I have made thee a trier `and' a fortress among my people; that thou mayest
know and try their way.
28 They are all grievous revolters, going about with slanders; they are brass
and iron: they all of them deal corruptly.
29 The bellows blow fiercely; the lead is consumed of the fire: in vain do they
go on refining; for the wicked are not plucked away.
30 Refuse silver shall men them, because Jehovah hath rejected them.
CHAPTER
7
1 The word that came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying,
2 Stand in the gate of Jehovah's house, and proclaim there this word, and say,
Hear the word of Jehovah, all ye of Judah, that enter in at these gates to
worship Jehovah.
3 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your
doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.
4 Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of Jehovah, the temple of
Jehovah, the temple of Jehovah, are these.
5 For if ye thoroughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye thoroughly execute
justice between a man and his neighbor;
6 if ye oppress not the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not
innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your own hurt:
7 then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your
fathers, from of old even for evermore.
8 Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit.
9 Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn
incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods that ye have not known,
10 and come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and
say, We are delivered; that ye may do all these abominations?
11 Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your
eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it, saith Jehovah.
12 But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I caused my name to
dwell at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people
Israel.
13 And now, because ye have done all these works, saith Jehovah, and I spake
unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called you, but
ye answered not:
14 therefore will I do unto the 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 did to
Shiloh.
15 And I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brethren,
even the whole seed of Ephraim.
16 Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for
them, neither make intercession to me; for I will not hear thee.
17 Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of
Jerusalem?
18 The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women
knead the dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out
drink-offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.
19 Do they provoke me to anger? saith Jehovah; `do they' not `provoke'
themselves, to the confusion of their own faces?
20 Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, mine anger and my wrath 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.
21 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Add your burnt-offerings unto
your sacrifices, and eat ye flesh.
22 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:
23 but this thing I commanded them, saying, Hearken unto my voice, and I will be
your God, and ye shall be my people; and walk ye in all the way that I command
you, that it may be well with you.
24 But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in `their own'
counsels `and' in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward, and
not forward.
25 Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this
day, I have sent unto you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early
and sending them:
26 yet they hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear, but made their neck
stiff: they did worse than their fathers.
27 And thou shalt speak all these words unto them; but they will not hearken to
thee: thou shalt also call unto them; but they will not answer thee.
28 And thou shalt say unto them, This is the nation that hath not hearkened to
the voice of Jehovah their God, nor received instruction: truth is perished, and
is cut off from their mouth.
29 Cut off thy hair, `O Jerusalem', and cast it away, and take up a lamentation
on the bare heights; for Jehovah hath rejected and forsaken the generation of
his wrath.
30 For the children of Judah have done that which is evil in my sight, saith
Jehovah: they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my
name, to defile it.
31 And they have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the
son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I
commanded not, neither came it into my mind.
32 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that it shall no more be
called Topheth, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of
Slaughter: for they shall bury in Topheth, till there be no place `to bury'.
33 And the dead bodies of this people shall be food for the birds of the
heavens, and for the beasts of the earth; and none shall frighten them away.
34 Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of
Jerusalem, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the
bridegroom and the voice of the bride; for the land shall become a waste.
CHAPTER
8
1 At that time, saith Jehovah, they shall bring out the bones of the kings of
Judah, and the bones of his princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones
of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their
graves;
2 and they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the host of
heaven, which they have loved, and which they have served, and after which they
have walked, and which they have sought, and which they have worshipped: they
shall not be gathered, nor be buried, they shall be for dung upon the face of
the earth.
3 And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue that remain of
this evil family, that remain in all the places whither I have driven them,
saith Jehovah of hosts.
4 Moreover thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith Jehovah: Shall men fall, and not
rise up again? Shall one turn away, and not return?
5 Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding?
they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return.
6 I hearkened and heard, but they spake not aright: no man repenteth him of his
wickedness, saying, What have I done? every one turneth to his course, as a
horse that rusheth headlong in the battle.
7 Yea, the stork in the heavens knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle-dove
and the swallow and the crane observe the time of their coming; but my people
know not the law of Jehovah.
8 How do ye say, We are wise, and the law of Jehovah is with us? But, behold,
the false pen of the scribes hath wrought falsely.
9 The wise men are put to shame, they are dismayed and taken: lo, they have
rejected the word of Jehovah; and what manner of wisdom is in them?
10 Therefore will I give their wives unto others, and their fields to them that
shall possess 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.
11 And they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying,
Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
12 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 Jehovah.
13 I will utterly consume them, saith Jehovah: 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.
14 Why do we sit still? assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the fortified
cities, and let us be silent there; for Jehovah our God hath put us to silence,
and given us water of gall to drink, because we have sinned against Jehovah.
15 We looked for peace, but no good came; `and' for a time of healing, and,
behold, dismay!
16 The snorting of his horses is heard from Dan: at the sound of the neighing of
his strong ones the whole land trembleth; for they are come, and have devoured
the land and all that is in it; the city and those that dwell therein.
17 For, behold, I will send serpents, adders, among you, which will not be
charmed; and they shall bite you, saith Jehovah.
18 Oh that I could comfort myself against sorrow! my heart is faint within me.
19 Behold, the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people from a land that is
very far off: is not Jehovah in Zion? is not her King in her? Why have they
provoked me to anger with their graven images, and with foreign vanities?
20 The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.
21 For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt: I mourn; dismay hath
taken hold on me.
22 Is there no balm in Gilead? is there no physician there? why then is not the
health of the daughter of my people recovered?
CHAPTER
9
1 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!
2 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 are all adulterers, an assembly of
treacherous men.
3 And they bend their tongue, `as it were' their bow, for falsehood; and they
are grown strong in the land, but not for truth: for they proceed from evil to
evil, and they know not me, saith Jehovah.
4 Take ye heed every one of his neighbor, and trust ye not in any brother; for
every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbor will go about with
slanders.
5 And they will deceive every one his neighbor, and will not speak the truth:
they have taught their tongue to speak lies; they weary themselves to commit
iniquity.
6 Thy habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know
me, saith Jehovah.
7 Therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts, Behold, I will melt them, and try them;
for how `else' should I do, because of the daughter of my people?
8 Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaketh deceit: one speaketh peaceably to
his neighbor with his mouth, but in his heart he layeth wait for him.
9 Shall I not visit them for these things? saith Jehovah; shall not my soul be
avenged on such a nation as this?
10 For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the pastures
of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up, so that none
passeth through; neither can men hear the voice of the cattle; both the birds of
the heavens and the beasts are fled, they are gone.
11 And I will make Jerusalem heaps, a dwelling-place 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 Jehovah hath spoken, that he may declare it? wherefore is the land
perished and burned up like a wilderness, so that none passeth through?
13 And Jehovah saith, Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them,
and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked therein,
14 but have walked after the stubbornness of their own heart, and after the
Baalim, which their fathers taught them;
15 therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will feed
them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.
16 I will scatter them also among the nations, whom neither they nor their
fathers have known; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed
them.
17 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women,
that they may come; and send for the skilful women, that they may come:
18 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.
19 For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we ruined! we are
greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because they have cast
down our dwellings.
20 Yet hear the word of Jehovah, O ye women, and let your ear receive the word
of his mouth; and teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbor
lamentation.
21 For death is come up into our windows, it is entered into our palaces; to cut
off the children from without, `and' the young men from the streets.
22 Speak, Thus saith Jehovah, The dead bodies of men shall fall as dung upon the
open field, and as the handful after the harvestman; and none shall gather
`them'.
23 Thus saith Jehovah, 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;
24 but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he hath understanding, and
knoweth me, that I am Jehovah who exerciseth lovingkindness, justice, and
righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith Jehovah.
25 Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will punish all them that are
circumcised in `their' uncircumcision:
26 Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all that
have the corners `of their hair' cut off, that dwell in the wilderness; for all
the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in
heart.
CHAPTER
10
1 Hear ye the word which Jehovah speaketh unto you, O house of Israel:
2 thus saith Jehovah, Learn not the way of the nations, and be not dismayed at
the signs of heaven; for the nations are dismayed at them.
3 For the customs of the peoples are vanity; for one cutteth a tree out of the
forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the axe.
4 They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with
hammers, that it move not.
5 They are like a palm-tree, of turned work, and speak not: they must needs be
borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil,
neither is it in them to do good.
6 There is none like unto thee, O Jehovah; thou art great, and thy name is great
in might.
7 Who should not fear thee, O King of the nations? for to thee doth it
appertain; forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their
royal estate, there is none like unto thee.
8 But they are together brutish and foolish: the instruction of idols! it is but
a stock.
9 There is silver beaten into plates, which is brought from Tarshish, and gold
from Uphaz, the work of the artificer and of the hands of the goldsmith; blue
and purple for their clothing; they are all the work of skilful men.
10 But Jehovah is the true God; he is the living God, and an everlasting King:
at his wrath the earth trembleth, and the nations are not able to abide his
indignation.
11 Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the
earth, these shall perish from the earth, and from under the heavens.
12 He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his
wisdom, and by his understanding hath he stretched out the heavens:
13 when he uttereth his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and
he causeth the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings
for the rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasuries.
14 Every man is become brutish `and is' without knowledge; every goldsmith is
put to shame by his graven image; for his molten image is falsehood, and there
is no breath in them.
15 They are vanity, a work of delusion: in the time of their visitation they
shall perish.
16 The portion of Jacob is not like these; for he is the former of all things;
and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance: Jehovah of hosts is his name.
17 Gather up thy wares out of the land, O thou that abidest in the siege.
18 For thus saith Jehovah, Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land
at this time, and will distress them, that they may feel `it'.
19 Woe is me because of my hurt! my wound is grievous: but I said, Truly this is
`my' grief, and I must bear it.
20 My tent is destroyed, and all my cords are broken: my children are gone forth
from me, and they are not: there is none to spread my tent any more, and to set
up my curtains.
21 For the shepherds are become brutish, and have not inquired of Jehovah:
therefore they have not prospered, and all their flocks are scattered.
22 The voice of tidings, behold, it cometh, and a great commotion out of the
north country, to make the cities of Judah a desolation, a dwelling-place of
jackals.
23 O Jehovah, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man
that walketh to direct his steps.
24 O Jehovah, correct me, but in measure: not in thine anger, lest thou bring me
to nothing.
25 Pour out thy wrath upon the nations that know thee not, and upon the families
that call not on thy name: for they have devoured Jacob, yea, they have devoured
him and consumed him, and have laid waste his habitation.
CHAPTER
11
1 The word that came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying,
2 Hear ye the words of this covenant, and speak unto the men of Judah, and to
the inhabitants of Jerusalem;
3 and say thou unto them, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel: Cursed be the
man that heareth not the words of this covenant,
4 which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the
land of Egypt, out of the iron furnace, saying, 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;
5 that I may establish the oath which I sware unto your fathers, to give them a
land flowing with milk and honey, as at this day. Then answered I, and said,
Amen, O Jehovah.
6 And Jehovah said unto me, Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah, and
in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, Hear ye the words of this covenant, and do
them.
7 For I earnestly 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.
8 Yet they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear, but walked every one in the
stubbornness of their evil heart: therefore I brought upon them all the words of
this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did them not.
9 And Jehovah said unto me, A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah, and
among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
10 They are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to
hear my words; and they are gone after other gods to serve them: the house of
Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant which I made with their
fathers.
11 Therefore thus saith Jehovah, Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they
shall not be able to escape; and they shall cry unto me, but I will not hearken
unto them.
12 Then shall the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem go and cry
unto the gods unto which they offer incense: but they will not save them at all
in the time of their trouble.
13 For according to the number of thy cities are thy gods, O Judah; and
according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem have ye set up altars to the
shameful thing, even altars to burn incense unto Baal.
14 Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for
them; for I will not hear them in the time that they cry unto me because of
their trouble.
15 What hath my beloved to do in my house, seeing she hath wrought lewdness
`with' many, and the holy flesh is passed from thee? when thou doest evil, then
thou rejoicest.
16 Jehovah called thy name, A green olive-tree, fair with goodly fruit: with the
noise of a great tumult he hath kindled fire upon it, and the branches of it are
broken.
17 For Jehovah of hosts, who planted thee, hath pronounced evil against thee,
because of the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they
have wrought for themselves in provoking me to anger by offering incense unto
Baal.
18 And Jehovah gave me knowledge of it, and I knew it: then thou showedst me
their doings.
19 But I was like a gentle lamb that is led 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.
20 But, O Jehovah of hosts, who judgest righteously, who triest the heart and
the mind, I shall see thy vengeance on them; for unto thee have I revealed my
cause.
21 Therefore thus saith Jehovah concerning the men of Anathoth, that seek thy
life, saying, Thou shalt not prophesy in the name of Jehovah, that thou die not
by our hand;
22 therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts, Behold, I will punish them: the young
men shall die by the sword; their sons and their daughters shall die by famine;
23 and there shall be no remnant unto them: for I will bring evil upon the men
of Anathoth, even the year of their visitation.
CHAPTER
12
1 Righteous art thou, O Jehovah, when I contend with thee; yet would I reason
the cause with thee: wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are
all they at ease that deal very treacherously?
2 Thou hast planted them, yea, they have taken root; they grow, yea, they bring
forth fruit: thou art near in their mouth, and far from their heart.
3 But thou, O Jehovah, knowest me; thou seest me, and triest my heart toward
thee: pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day
of slaughter.
4 How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of the whole country wither? for
the wickedness of them that dwell therein, the beasts are consumed, and the
birds; because they said, He shall not see our latter end.
5 If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst
thou contend with horses? and though in a land of peace thou art secure, yet how
wilt thou do in the pride of the Jordan?
6 For even thy brethren, and the house of thy father, even they have dealt
treacherously with thee; even they have cried aloud after thee: believe them
not, though they speak fair words unto thee.
7 I have forsaken my house, I have cast off my heritage; I have given the dearly
beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies.
8 My heritage is become unto me as a lion in the forest: she hath uttered her
voice against me; therefore I have hated her.
9 Is my heritage unto me as a speckled bird of prey? are the birds of prey
against her round about? go ye, assemble all the beasts of the field, bring them
to devour.
10 Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under
foot, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.
11 They have made it a desolation; it mourneth unto me, being desolate; the
whole land is made desolate, because no man layeth it to heart.
12 Destroyers are come upon all the bare heights in the wilderness; for the
sword of Jehovah devoureth from the one end of the land even to the other end of
the land: no flesh hath peace.
13 They have sown wheat, and have reaped thorns; they have put themselves to
pain, and profit nothing: and ye shall be ashamed of your fruits, because of the
fierce anger of Jehovah.
14 Thus saith Jehovah against all mine evil neighbors, that touch the
inheritance which I have caused my people Israel to inherit: behold, I will
pluck them up from off their land, and will pluck up the house of Judah from
among them.
15 And it shall come to pass, after that I have plucked them up, I will return
and have compassion on them; and I will bring them again, every man to his
heritage, and every man to his land.
16 And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of my
people, to swear by my name, As Jehovah liveth; even as they taught my people to
swear by Baal; then shall they be built up in the midst of my people.
17 But if they will not hear, then will I pluck up that nation, plucking up and
destroying it, saith Jehovah.
CHAPTER
13
1 Thus saith Jehovah unto me, Go, and buy thee a linen girdle, and put it upon
thy loins, and put it not in water.
2 So I bought a girdle according to the word of Jehovah, and put it upon my
loins.
3 And the word of Jehovah came unto me the second time, saying,
4 Take the girdle that thou hast bought, which is upon thy loins, and arise, go
to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a cleft of the rock.
5 So I went, and hid it by the Euphrates, as Jehovah commanded me.
6 And it came to pass after many days, that Jehovah said unto me, Arise, go to
the Euphrates, and take the girdle from thence, which I commanded thee to hide
there.
7 Then I went to the 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.
8 Then the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,
9 Thus saith Jehovah, After this manner will I mar the pride of Judah, and the
great pride of Jerusalem.
10 This evil people, that refuse to hear my words, that walk in the stubbornness
of their heart, and are gone after other gods to serve them, and to worship
them, shall even be as this girdle, which is profitable for nothing.
11 For as the girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man, so have I caused to cleave
unto me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, saith Jehovah;
that they may be unto me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for
a glory: but they would not hear.
12 Therefore thou shalt speak unto them this word: Thus saith Jehovah, the 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?
13 Then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith Jehovah, Behold, I will fill all
the inhabitants of this land, even the kings that sit upon David's throne, and
the priests, and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with
drunkenness.
14 And I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons
together, saith Jehovah: I will not pity, nor spare, nor have compassion, that I
should not destroy them.
15 Hear ye, and give ear; be not proud; for Jehovah hath spoken.
16 Give glory to Jehovah 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.
17 But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret for `your' pride;
and mine eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears, because Jehovah's flock
is taken captive.
18 Say thou unto the king and to the queen-mother, Humble yourselves, sit down;
for your headtires are come down, even the crown of your glory.
19 The cities of the South are shut up, and there is none to open them: Judah is
carried away captive, all of it; it is wholly carried away captive.
20 Lift up your eyes, and behold them that come from the north: where is the
flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock?
21 What wilt thou say, when he shall set over thee as head those whom thou hast
thyself taught to be friends to thee? shall not sorrows take hold of thee, as of
a woman in travail?
22 And if thou say in thy heart, Wherefore are these things come upon me? for
the greatness of thine iniquity are thy skirts uncovered, and thy heels suffer
violence.
23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also
do good, that are accustomed to do evil.
24 Therefore will I scatter them, as the stubble that passeth away, by the wind
of the wilderness.
25 This is thy lot, the portion measured unto thee from me, saith Jehovah;
because thou hast forgotten me, and trusted in falsehood.
26 Therefore will I also uncover thy skirts upon thy face, and thy shame shall
appear.
27 I have seen thine abominations, even thine adulteries, and thy neighings, the
lewdness of thy whoredom, on the hills in the field. Woe unto thee, O Jerusalem!
thou wilt not be made clean; how long shall it yet be?
CHAPTER
14
1 The word of Jehovah that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought.
2 Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof languish, they sit in black upon the
ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up.
3 And their nobles send their little ones to the waters: they come to the
cisterns, and find no water; they return with their vessels empty; they are put
to shame and confounded, and cover their heads.
4 Because of the ground which is cracked, for that no rain hath been in the
land, the plowmen are put to shame, they cover their heads.
5 Yea, the hind also in the field calveth, and forsaketh `her young', because
there is no grass.
6 And the wild asses stand on the bare heights, they pant for air like jackals;
their eyes fail, because there is no herbage.
7 Though our iniquities testify against us, work thou for thy name's sake, O
Jehovah; for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against thee.
8 O thou hope of Israel, the Saviour thereof in the time of trouble, why
shouldest thou be as a sojourner in the land, and as a wayfaring man that
turneth aside to tarry for a night?
9 Why shouldest thou be as a man affrighted, as a mighty man that cannot save?
yet thou, O Jehovah, art in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name;
leave us not.
10 Thus saith Jehovah unto this people, Even so have they loved to wander; they
have not refrained their feet: therefore Jehovah doth not accept them; now will
he remember their iniquity, and visit their sins.
11 And Jehovah said unto me, Pray not for this people for `their' good.
12 When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt-offering
and meal-offering, I will not accept them; but I will consume them by the sword,
and by the famine, and by the pestilence.
13 Then said I, Ah, Lord Jehovah! behold, the prophets say unto them, Ye shall
not see the sword, neither shall ye have famine; but I will give you assured
peace in this place.
14 Then Jehovah said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name; I sent them
not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake I unto them: they prophesy
unto you a lying vision, and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit
of their own heart.
15 Therefore thus saith Jehovah 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.
16 And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of
Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and they shall have none to bury
them-them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters: for I will pour
their wickedness upon them.
17 And thou shalt say this word unto them, Let mine eyes run down with tears
night and day, and let them not cease; for the virgin daughter of my people is
broken with a great breach, with a very grievous wound.
18 If I go forth into the field, then, behold, the slain with the sword! and if
I enter into the city, then, behold, they that are sick with famine! for both
the prophet and the priest go about in the land, and have no knowledge.
19 Hast thou utterly rejected Judah? hath thy soul loathed Zion? why hast thou
smitten us, and there is no healing for us? We looked for peace, but no good
came; and for a time of healing, and, behold, dismay!
20 We acknowledge, O Jehovah, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers;
for we have sinned against thee.
21 Do not abhor `us', for thy name's sake; do not disgrace the throne of thy
glory: remember, break not thy covenant with us.
22 Are there any among the vanities of the nations that can cause rain? or can
the heavens give showers? art not thou he, O Jehovah our God? therefore we will
wait for thee; for thou hast made all these things.
CHAPTER
15
1 Then said Jehovah unto me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my
mind would not be toward this people: cast them out of my sight, and let them go
forth.
2 And it shall come to pass, when they say unto thee, Whither shall we go forth?
then thou shalt tell them, Thus saith Jehovah: Such as are for death, to death;
and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for the famine, to
the famine; and such as are for captivity, to captivity.
3 And I will appoint over them four kinds, saith Jehovah: the sword to slay, and
the dogs to tear, and the birds of the heavens, and the beasts of the earth, to
devour and to destroy.
4 And I will cause them to be tossed to and fro among all the kingdoms of the
earth, because of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for that which
he did in Jerusalem.
5 For who will have pity upon thee, O Jerusalem? or who will bemoan thee? or who
will turn aside to ask of thy welfare?
6 Thou hast rejected me, saith Jehovah, thou art gone backward: therefore have I
stretched out my hand against thee, and destroyed thee; I am weary with
repenting.
7 And I have winnowed them with a fan in the gates of the land; I have bereaved
`them' of children, I have destroyed my people; they returned not from their
ways.
8 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 destroyer at noonday: I have
caused anguish and terrors to fall upon her suddenly.
9 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 put to shame and confounded: and
the residue of them will I deliver to the sword before their enemies, saith
Jehovah.
10 Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and a man of
contention to the whole earth! I have not lent, neither have men lent to me;
`yet' every one of them doth curse me.
11 Jehovah said, Verily I will strengthen thee for good; verily I will cause the
enemy to make supplication unto thee in the time of evil and in the time of
affliction.
12 Can one break iron, even iron from the north, and brass?
13 Thy substance and thy treasures will I give for a spoil without price, and
that for all thy sins, even in all thy borders.
14 And I will make `them' 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.
15 O Jehovah, thou knowest; remember me, and visit me, and avenge me of my
persecutors; take me not away in thy longsuffering: know that for thy sake I
have suffered reproach.
16 Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy words were unto me a joy
and the rejoicing of my heart: for I am called by thy name, O Jehovah, God of
hosts.
17 I sat not in the assembly of them that make merry, nor rejoiced; I sat alone
because of thy hand; for thou hast filled me with indignation.
18 Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuseth to be
healed? wilt thou indeed be unto me as a deceitful `brook', as waters that fail?
19 Therefore thus saith Jehovah, If thou return, then will I bring thee again,
that thou mayest stand before me; and if thou take forth the precious from the
vile, thou shalt be as my mouth: they shall return unto thee, but thou shalt not
return unto them.
20 And I will make thee unto this people a fortified brazen wall; and they shall
fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee
to save thee and to deliver thee, saith Jehovah.
21 And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee
out of the hand of the terrible.
CHAPTER
16
1 The word of Jehovah came also unto me, saying,
2 Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have sons or daughters, in
this place.
3 For thus saith Jehovah 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:
4 They shall die grievous deaths: they shall not be lamented, neither shall they
be buried; they shall be as dung upon the face of the ground; and they shall be
consumed by the sword, and by famine; and their dead bodies shall be food for
the birds of the heavens, and for the beasts of the earth.
5 For thus saith Jehovah, Enter not into the house of mourning, neither go to
lament, neither bemoan them; for I have taken away my peace from this people,
saith Jehovah, even lovingkindness and tender mercies.
6 Both great and small shall die in this land; they shall not be buried, neither
shall men lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for
them;
7 neither shall men break `bread' for them in mourning, to comfort them for the
dead; neither shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their
father or for their mother.
8 And thou shalt not go into the house of feasting to sit with them, to eat and
to drink.
9 For thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will cause to
cease out of this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of mirth
and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the
bride.
10 And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt show this people all these words,
and they shall say unto thee, Wherefore hath Jehovah pronounced all this great
evil against us? or what is our iniquity? or what is our sin that we have
committed against Jehovah our God?
11 Then shalt thou say unto them, Because your fathers have forsaken me, saith
Jehovah, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have
worshipped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law;
12 and ye have done evil more than your fathers; for, behold, ye walk every one
after the stubbornness of his evil heart, so that ye hearken not unto me:
13 therefore will I cast you forth out of this land into the land that ye have
not known, neither ye nor your fathers; and there shall ye serve other gods day
and night; for I will show you no favor.
14 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that it shall no more be
said, As Jehovah liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land
of Egypt;
15 but, As Jehovah liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land
of the north, and from all the countries whither he had driven them. And I will
bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers.
16 Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith Jehovah, and they shall fish them
up; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from
every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the clefts of the rocks.
17 For mine eyes are upon all their ways; they are not hid from my face, neither
is their iniquity concealed from mine eyes.
18 And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double, because they
have polluted my land with the carcasses of their detestable things, and have
filled mine inheritance with their abominations.
19 O Jehovah, my strength, and my stronghold, and my refuge in the day of
affliction, unto thee shall the nations come from the ends of the earth, and
shall say, Our fathers have inherited nought but lies, `even' vanity and things
wherein there is no profit.
20 Shall a man make unto himself gods, which yet are no gods?
21 Therefore, behold, I will cause them to know, this once will I cause them to
know my hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is Jehovah.
CHAPTER
17
1 The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, `and' with the point of a
diamond: it is graven upon the tablet of their heart, and upon the horns of your
altars;
2 whilst their children remember their altars and their Asherim by the green
trees upon the high hills.
3 O my mountain in the field, I will give thy substance and all thy treasures
for a spoil, `and' thy high places, because of sin, throughout all thy borders.
4 And thou, even of thyself, shalt discontinue from thy heritage that I gave
thee; and I will cause thee to serve thine enemies in the land which thou
knowest not: for ye have kindled a fire in mine anger which shall burn for ever.
5 Thus saith Jehovah: Cursed is the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh
his arm, and whose heart departeth from Jehovah.
6 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, a salt land and
not inhabited.
7 Blessed is the man that trusteth in Jehovah, and whose trust Jehovah is.
8 For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, that spreadeth out its roots
by the river, and shall not fear when heat cometh, but its leaf shall be green;
and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from
yielding fruit.
9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly corrupt: who
can know it?
10 I, Jehovah, search the mind, I try the heart, even to give every man
according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.
11 As the partridge that sitteth on `eggs' which she hath not laid, so is he
that getteth riches, and not by right; in the midst of his days they shall leave
him, and at his end he shall be a fool.
12 A glorious throne, `set' on high from the beginning, is the place of our
sanctuary.
13 O Jehovah, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be put to shame.
They that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have
forsaken Jehovah, the fountain of living waters.
14 Heal me, O Jehovah, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for
thou art my praise.
15 Behold, they say unto me, Where is the word of Jehovah? let it come now.
16 As for me, I have not hastened from being a shepherd after thee; neither have
I desired the woeful day; thou knowest: that which came out of my lips was
before thy face.
17 Be not a terror unto me: thou art my refuge in the day of evil.
18 Let them be put to shame that persecute me, but let not me be put to shame;
let them be dismayed, but let not me be dismayed; bring upon them the day of
evil, and destroy them with double destruction.
19 Thus said Jehovah unto me: Go, and stand in the gate of the children of the
people, whereby the kings of Judah come in, and by which they go out, and in all
the gates of Jerusalem;
20 and say unto them, Hear ye the word of Jehovah, ye kings of Judah, and all
Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that enter in by these gates:
21 Thus saith Jehovah, Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the
sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem;
22 neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the sabbath day, neither
do ye any work: but hallow ye the sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers.
23 But they hearkened not, neither inclined their ear, but made their neck
stiff, that they might not hear, and might not receive instruction.
24 And it shall come to pass, if ye diligently hearken unto me, saith Jehovah,
to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the sabbath day, but to
hallow the sabbath day, to do no work therein;
25 then shall there enter in by the gates of this city kings and princes sitting
upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their
princes, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and this city shall
remain for ever.
26 And they shall come from the cities of Judah, and from the places round about
Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the lowland, and from the
hill-country, and from the South, bringing burnt-offerings, and sacrifices, and
meal-offerings, and frankincense, and bringing `sacrifices of' thanksgiving,
unto the house of Jehovah.
27 But if ye will not hearken unto me to hallow the sabbath day, and not to bear
a burden and enter in at the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day; then will I
kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of
Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.
CHAPTER
18
1 The word which came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying,
2 Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear
my words.
3 Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he was making a work on
the wheels.
4 And when the vessel that he made of the clay was marred in the hand of the
potter, he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make
it.
5 Then the word of Jehovah came to me, saying,
6 O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith Jehovah. Behold,
as the clay in the potter's hand, so are ye in my hand, O house of Israel.
7 At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom,
to pluck up and to break down and to destroy it;
8 if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turn from their evil, I will
repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.
9 And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a
kingdom, to build and to plant it;
10 if they do that which is evil in my sight, that they obey not my voice, then
I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them.
11 Now therefore, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I frame evil against you, and
devise a device against you: return ye now every one from his evil way, and
amend your ways and your doings.
12 But they say, It is in vain; for we will walk after our own devices, and we
will do every one after the stubbornness of his evil heart.
13 Therefore thus saith Jehovah: Ask ye now among the nations, who hath heard
such the virgin of Israel hath done
a very horrible thing.
14 Shall the snow of Lebanon fail from the rock of the field? `or' shall the
cold waters that flow down from afar be dried up?
15 For my people have forgotten me, they have burned incense to false `gods';
and they have been made to stumble in their ways, in the ancient paths, to walk
in bypaths, in a way not cast up;
16 to make their land an astonishment, and a perpetual hissing; every one that
passeth thereby shall be astonished, and shake his head.
17 I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will show them
the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.
18 Then said they, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law
shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from
the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give
heed to any of his words.
19 Give heed to me, O Jehovah, and hearken to the voice of them that contend
with me.
20 Shall evil be recompensed for good? for they have digged a pit for my soul.
Remember how I stood before thee to speak good for them, to turn away thy wrath
from them.
21 Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and give them over to the
power of the sword; and let their wives become childless, and widows; and let
their men be slain of death, `and' their young men smitten of the sword in
battle.
22 Let a cry be heard from their houses, when thou shalt bring a troop suddenly
upon them; for they have digged a pit to take me, and hid snares for my feet.
23 Yet, Jehovah, thou knowest all their counsel against me to slay me; forgive
not their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from thy sight; but let them be
overthrown before thee; deal thou with them in the time of thine anger.
CHAPTER
19
1 Thus said Jehovah, Go, and buy a potter's earthen bottle, and `take' of the
elders of the people, and of the elders of the priests;
2 and go forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of
the gate Harsith, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell thee;
3 and say, Hear ye the word of Jehovah, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of
Jerusalem: thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will bring
evil upon this place, which whosoever heareth, his ears shall tingle.
4 Because they have forsaken me, and have estranged this place, and have burned
incense in it unto other gods, that they knew not, they and their fathers and
the kings of Judah; and have filled this place with the blood of innocents,
5 and have built the high places of Baal, to burn their sons in the fire for
burnt-offerings unto Baal; which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it
into my mind:
6 therefore, behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that this place shall no more
be called Topheth, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of
Slaughter.
7 And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place; and I
will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of
them that seek their life: and their dead bodies will I give to be food for the
birds of the heavens, and for the beasts of the earth.
8 And I will make this city an astonishment, and a hissing; every one that
passeth thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all the plagues thereof.
9 And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their
daughters; and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend, in the siege
and in the distress, wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their life,
shall distress them.
10 Then shalt thou break the bottle in the sight of the men that go with thee,
11 and shalt say unto them, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Even so will I break
this people and this city, as one breaketh a potter's vessel, that cannot be
made whole again; and they shall bury in Topheth, till there be no place to
bury.
12 Thus will I do unto this place, saith Jehovah, and to the inhabitants
thereof, even making this city as Topheth:
13 and the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, which are
defiled, shall be as the place of Topheth, even all the houses upon whose roofs
they have burned incense unto all the host of heaven, and have poured out
drink-offerings unto other gods.
14 Then came Jeremiah from Topheth, whither Jehovah had sent him to prophesy;
and he stood in the court of Jehovah's house, and said to all the people:
15 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will bring upon
this city and upon all its towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it;
because they have made their neck stiff, that they may not hear my words.
CHAPTER
20
1 Now Pashhur, the son of Immer the priest, who was chief officer in the house
of Jehovah, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things.
2 Then Pashhur smote Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were
in the upper gate of Benjamin, which was in the house of Jehovah.
3 And it came to pass on the morrow, that Pashhur brought forth Jeremiah out of
the stocks. Then said Jeremiah unto him, Jehovah hath not called thy name
Pashhur, but Magor-missabib.
4 For thus saith Jehovah, Behold, I will make thee a terror to thyself, and to
all thy friends; and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and thine
eyes shall behold it; and I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of
Babylon, and he shall carry them captive to Babylon, and shall slay them with
the sword.
5 Moreover I will give all the riches of this city, and all the gains thereof,
and all the precious things thereof, yea, all the treasures of the kings of
Judah will I give into the hand of their enemies; and they shall make them a
prey, and take them, and carry them to Babylon.
6 And thou, Pashhur, and all that dwell in thy house shall go into captivity;
and thou shalt come to Babylon, and there thou shalt die, and there shalt thou
be buried, thou, and all thy friends, to whom thou hast prophesied falsely.
7 O Jehovah, thou hast persuaded me, and I was persuaded; thou art stronger than
I, and hast prevailed: I am become a laughing-stock all the day, every one
mocketh me.
8 For as often as I speak, I cry out; I cry, Violence and destruction! because
the word of Jehovah is made a reproach unto me, and a derision, all the day.
9 And if I say, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name,
then there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I
am weary with forbearing, and I cannot `contain'.
10 For I have heard the defaming of many, terror on every side. Denounce, and we
will denounce him, `say' all my familiar friends, they that watch for my fall;
peradventure he will be persuaded, and we shall prevail against him, and we
shall take our revenge on him.
11 But Jehovah is with me as a mighty one `and' a terrible: therefore my
persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail; they shall be utterly put
to shame, because they have not dealt wisely, even with an everlasting dishonor
which shall never be forgotten.
12 But, O Jehovah of hosts, that triest the righteous, that seest the heart and
the mind, let me see thy vengeance on them; for unto thee have I revealed my
cause.
13 Sing unto Jehovah, praise ye Jehovah; for he hath delivered the soul of the
needy from the hand of evil-doers.
14 Cursed be the day wherein I was born: let not the day wherein my mother bare
me be blessed.
15 Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father, saying, A man-child is
born unto thee; making him very glad.
16 And let that man be as the cities which Jehovah overthrew, and repented not:
and let him hear a cry in the morning, and shouting at noontime;
17 because he slew me not from the womb; and so my mother would have been my
grave, and her womb always great.
18 Wherefore came I forth out of the womb to see labor and sorrow, that my days
should be consumed with shame?
CHAPTER
21
1 The word which came unto Jeremiah from Jehovah, when king Zedekiah sent unto
him Pashhur the son of Malchijah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest,
saying,
2 Inquire, I pray thee, of Jehovah for us; for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon
maketh war against us: peradventure Jehovah will deal with us according to all
his wondrous works, that he may go up from us.
3 Then said Jeremiah unto them, Thus shall ye say to Zedekiah:
4 Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, Behold, I will turn back the weapons of
war that are in your hands, wherewith ye fight against the king of Babylon, and
against the Chaldeans that besiege you, without the walls; and I will gather
them into the midst of this city.
5 And I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a
strong arm, even in anger, and in wrath, and in great indignation.
6 And I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast: they shall
die of a great pestilence.
7 And afterward, saith Jehovah, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, and his
servants, and the people, even such as are left in this city from the
pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar
king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those
that seek their life: and he shall smite them with the edge of the sword; he
shall not spare them, neither have pity, nor have mercy.
8 And unto this people thou shalt say, Thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I set before
you the way of life and the way of death.
9 He that abideth in this city shall die by the sword, and by the famine, and by
the pestilence; but he that goeth out, and passeth over to the Chaldeans that
besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be unto him for a prey.
10 For I have set my face upon this city for evil, and not for good, saith
Jehovah: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall
burn it with fire.
11 And touching the house of the king of Judah, hear ye the word of Jehovah:
12 O house of David, thus saith Jehovah, Execute justice in the morning, and
deliver him that is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor, lest my wrath go
forth like fire, and burn so that none can quench it, because of the evil of
your doings.
13 Behold, I am against thee, O inhabitant of the valley, `and' of the rock of
the plain, saith Jehovah; you that say, Who shall come down against us? or who
shall enter into our habitations?
14 And I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, saith Jehovah;
and I will kindle a fire in her forest, and it shall devour all that is round
about her.
CHAPTER
22
1 Thus said Jehovah: Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there
this word,
2 And say, Hear the word of Jehovah, O king of Judah, that sittest upon the
throne of David, thou, and thy servants, and thy people that enter in by these
gates.
3 Thus saith Jehovah: Execute ye justice and righteousness, and deliver him that
is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence, to
the sojourner, the fatherless, nor the widow; neither shed innocent blood in
this place.
4 For if ye do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates of this
house kings sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses,
he, and his servants, and his people.
5 But if ye will not hear these words, I swear by myself, saith Jehovah, that
this house shall become a desolation.
6 For thus saith Jehovah concerning the house of the king of Judah: Thou art
Gilead unto me, `and' the head of Lebanon; `yet' surely I will make thee a
wilderness, `and' cities which are not inhabited.
7 And I will prepare destroyers against thee, every one with his weapons; and
they shall cut down thy choice cedars, and cast them into the fire.
8 And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say every man to his
neighbor, Wherefore hath Jehovah done thus unto this great city?
9 Then they shall answer, Because they forsook the covenant of Jehovah their
God, and worshipped other gods, and served them.
10 Weep ye not for the dead, neither bemoan him; but weep sore for him that
goeth away; for he shall return no more, nor see his native country.
11 For thus saith Jehovah touching Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who
reigned instead of Josiah his father, `and' who went forth out of this place: He
shall not return thither any more.
12 But in the place whither they have led him captive, there shall he die, and
he shall see this land no more.
13 Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by
injustice; that useth his neighbor's service without wages, and giveth him not
his hire;
14 that saith, I will build me a wide house and spacious chambers, and cutteth
him out windows; and it is ceiled with cedar, and painted with vermilion.
15 Shalt thou reign, because thou strivest to excel in cedar? Did not thy father
eat and drink, and do justice and righteousness? then it was well with him.
16 He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. Was not this to
know me? saith Jehovah.
17 But thine eyes and thy heart are not but for thy covetousness, and for
shedding innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it.
18 Therefore thus saith Jehovah concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of
Judah: they shall not lament for him, `saying', Ah my brother! or, Ah sister!
They shall not lament for him, `saying' Ah lord! or, Ah his glory!
19 He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the
gates of Jerusalem.
20 Go up to Lebanon, and cry; and lift up thy voice in Bashan, and cry from
Abarim; for all thy lovers are destroyed.
21 I spake unto thee in thy prosperity; but thou saidst, I will not hear. This
hath been thy manner from thy youth, that thou obeyedst not my voice.
22 The wind shall feed all thy shepherds, and thy lovers shall go into
captivity: surely then shalt thou be ashamed and confounded for all thy
wickedness.
23 O inhabitant of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the cedars, how greatly to
be pitied shalt thou be when pangs come upon thee, the pain as of a woman in
travail!
24 As I live, saith Jehovah, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah
were the signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck thee thence;
25 and I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life, and into the
hand of them of whom thou art afraid, even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king
of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.
26 And I will cast thee out, and thy mother that bare thee, into another
country, where ye were not born; and there shall ye die.
27 But to the land whereunto their soul longeth to return, thither shall they
not return.
28 Is this man Coniah a despised broken vessel? is he a vessel wherein none
delighteth? wherefore are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into the
land which they know not?
29 O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of Jehovah.
30 Thus saith Jehovah, Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper
in his days; for no more shall a man of his seed prosper, sitting upon the
throne of David, and ruling in Judah.
CHAPTER
23
1 Woe unto the shepherds that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith
Jehovah.
2 Therefore thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, against the shepherds that
feed my people: Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not
visited them; behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith
Jehovah.
3 And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries whither I
have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be
fruitful and multiply.
4 And I will set up shepherds over them, who shall feed them; and they shall
fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be lacking, saith Jehovah.
5 Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will raise unto David a righteous
Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice
and righteousness in the land.
6 In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely; and this is
his name whereby he shall be called: Jehovah our righteousness.
7 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that they shall no more say,
As Jehovah liveth, who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of
Egypt;
8 but, As Jehovah liveth, who brought up and who led the seed of the house of
Israel out of the north country, and from all the countries whither I had driven
them. And they shall dwell in their own land.
9 Concerning the prophets. My heart within me is broken, all my bones shake; I
am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine hath overcome, because of
Jehovah, and because of his holy words.
10 For the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the land mourneth;
the pastures of the wilderness are dried up. And their course is evil, and their
might is not right;
11 for both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house have I found their
wickedness, saith Jehovah.
12 Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery places in the darkness:
they shall be driven on, and fall therein; for I will bring evil upon them, even
the year of their visitation, saith Jehovah.
13 And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied by Baal,
and caused my people Israel to err.
14 In the prophets of Jerusalem also I have seen a horrible thing: they commit
adultery, and walk in lies; and they strengthen the hands of evil-doers, so that
none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them become unto me as
Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.
15 Therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts concerning the prophets: Behold, I will
feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall; for from the
prophets of Jerusalem is ungodliness gone forth into all the land.
16 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that
prophesy unto you: they teach you vanity; they speak a vision of their own
heart, and not out of the mouth of Jehovah.
17 They say continually unto them that despise me, Jehovah hath said, Ye shall
have peace; and unto every one that walketh in the stubbornness of his own heart
they say, No evil shall come upon you.
18 For who hath stood in the council of Jehovah, that he should perceive and
hear his word? who hath marked my word, and heard it?
19 Behold, the tempest of Jehovah, `even his' wrath, is gone forth, yea, a
whirling tempest: it shall burst upon the head of the wicked.
20 The anger of Jehovah shall not return, until he have executed, and till he
have performed the intents of his heart: in the latter days ye shall understand
it perfectly.
21 I sent not these prophets, yet they ran: I spake not unto them, yet they
prophesied.
22 But if they had stood in my council, then had they caused my people to hear
my words, and had turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their
doings.
23 Am I a God at hand, saith Jehovah, and not a God afar off?
24 Can any hide himself in secret places so that I shall not see him? saith
Jehovah. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith Jehovah.
25 I have heard what the prophets have said, that prophesy lies in my name,
saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed.
26 How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies, even
the prophets of the deceit of their own heart?
27 that think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they
tell every man to his neighbor, as their fathers forgat my name for Baal.
28 The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my
word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the straw to the wheat? saith
Jehovah.
29 Is not my word like fire? saith Jehovah; and like a hammer that breaketh the
rock in pieces?
30 Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith Jehovah, that steal my
words every one from his neighbor.
31 Behold, I am against the prophets, saith Jehovah, that use their tongues, and
say, He saith.
32 Behold, I am against them that prophesy lying dreams, saith Jehovah, and do
tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their vain boasting:
yet I sent them not, nor commanded them; neither do they profit this people at
all, saith Jehovah.
33 And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask thee, saying,
What is the burden of Jehovah? then shalt thou say unto them, What burden! I
will cast you off, saith Jehovah.
34 And as for the prophet, and the priest, and the people, that shall say, The
burden of Jehovah, I will even punish that man and his house.
35 Thus shall ye say every one to his neighbor, and every one to his brother,
What hath Jehovah answered? and, What hath Jehovah spoken?
36 And the burden of Jehovah shall ye mention no more: for every man's own word
shall be his burden; for ye have perverted the words of the living God, of
Jehovah of hosts our God.
37 Thus shalt thou say to the prophet, What hath Jehovah answered thee? and,
What hath Jehovah spoken?
38 But if ye say, The burden of Jehovah; therefore thus saith Jehovah: Because
ye say this word, The burden of Jehovah, and I have sent unto you, saying, Ye
shall not say, The burden of Jehovah;
39 therefore, behold, I will utterly forget you, and I will cast you off, and
the city that I gave unto you and to your fathers, away from my presence:
40 and I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame,
which shall not be forgotten.
CHAPTER
24
1 Jehovah showed me, and, behold, two baskets of figs set before the temple of
Jehovah, after that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive
Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the
craftsmen and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon.
2 One basket had very good figs, like the figs that are first-ripe; and the
other basket had very bad figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad.
3 Then said Jehovah unto me, What seest thou, Jeremiah? And I said, Figs; the
good figs, very good; and the bad, very bad, that cannot be eaten, they are so
bad.
4 And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,
5 Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel: Like these good figs, so will I regard
the captives of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the
Chaldeans, for good.
6 For I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to
this land: and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them,
and not pluck them up.
7 And I will give them a heart to know me, that I am Jehovah: and they shall be
my people, and I will be their God; for they shall return unto me with their
whole heart.
8 And as the bad figs, which cannot be eaten, they are so bad, surely thus saith
Jehovah, So will I give up Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the
residue of Jerusalem, that remain in this land, and them that dwell in the land
of Egypt,
9 I will even give them up to be tossed to and fro among all the kingdoms of the
earth for evil; to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all
places whither I shall drive them.
10 And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, till
they be consumed from off the land that I gave unto them and to their fathers.
CHAPTER
25
1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the
fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (the same was the
first year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon,)
2 which Jeremiah the prophet spake unto all the people of Judah, and to all the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying:
3 From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even unto
this day, these three and twenty years, the word of Jehovah hath come unto me,
and I have spoken unto you, rising up early and speaking; but ye have not
hearkened.
4 And Jehovah hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets, rising up early
and sending them, (but ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear,)
5 saying, Return ye now every one from his evil way, and from the evil of your
doings, and dwell in the land that Jehovah hath given unto you and to your
fathers, from of old and even for evermore;
6 and go not after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, and provoke me
not to anger with the work of your hands; and I will do you no hurt.
7 Yet ye have not hearkened unto me, saith Jehovah; that ye may provoke me to
anger with the work of your hands to your own hurt.
8 Therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Because ye have not heard my words,
9 behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith Jehovah, and
`I will send' unto Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will
bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against
all these nations round about; and I will utterly destroy them, and make them an
astonishment, and a hissing, and perpetual desolations.
10 Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness,
the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the
millstones, and the light of the lamp.
11 And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these
nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
12 And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will
punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith Jehovah, for their iniquity,
and the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make it desolate for ever.
13 And I will bring upon that land all my words which I have pronounced against
it, even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah hath prophesied
against all the nations.
14 For many nations and great kings shall make bondmen of them, even of them;
and I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the work
of their hands.
15 For thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, unto me: take this cup of the wine
of wrath at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink
it.
16 And they shall drink, and reel to and fro, and be mad, because of the sword
that I will send among them.
17 Then took I the cup at Jehovah's hand, and made all the nations to drink,
unto whom Jehovah had sent me:
18 `to wit', Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the
princes thereof, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and a
curse, as it is this day;
19 Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people;
20 and all the mingled people, and all the kings of the land of the Uz, and all
the kings of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Gaza, and Ekron, and the remnant
of Ashdod;
21 Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon;
22 and all the kings of Tyre, and all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the
isle which is beyond the sea;
23 Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all that have the corners `of their hair' cut
off;
24 and all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mingled people that
dwell in the wilderness;
25 and all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of
the Medes;
26 and all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another; and all the
kingdoms of the world, which are upon the face of the earth: and the king of
Sheshach shall drink after them.
27 And thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel:
Drink ye, and be drunken, and spew, and fall, and rise no more, because of the
sword which I will send among you.
28 And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thy hand to drink, then
shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Ye shall surely drink.
29 For, lo, I begin to work evil at the city which is called by my name; and
should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished; for I will call for
a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith Jehovah of hosts.
30 Therefore prophesy thou against them all these words, and say unto them,
Jehovah will roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he
will mightily roar against his fold; he will give a shout, as they that tread
`the grapes', against all the inhabitants of the earth.
31 A noise shall come even to the end of the earth; for Jehovah hath a
controversy with the nations; he will enter into judgment with all flesh: as for
the wicked, he will give them to the sword, saith Jehovah.
32 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to
nation, and a great tempest shall be raised up from the uttermost parts of the
earth.
33 And the slain of Jehovah shall be at that day from one end of the earth even
unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered,
nor buried; they shall be dung upon the face of the ground.
34 Wail, ye shepherds, and cry; and wallow `in ashes', ye principal of the
flock; for the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions are fully come,
and ye shall fall like a goodly vessel.
35 And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the principal of the flock
to escape.
36 A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and the wailing of the principal of the
flock! for Jehovah layeth waste their pasture.
37 And the peaceable folds are brought to silence because of the fierce anger of
Jehovah.
38 He hath left his covert, as the lion; for their land is become an
astonishment because of the fierceness of the oppressing `sword', and because of
his fierce anger.
CHAPTER
26
1 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah,
came this word from Jehovah, saying,
2 Thus saith Jehovah: Stand in the court of Jehovah's house, and speak unto all
the cities of Judah, which come to worship in Jehovah's house, all the words
that I command thee to speak unto them; diminish not a word.
3 It may be they will hearken, and turn every man from his evil way; that I may
repent me of the evil which I purpose to do unto them because of the evil of
their doings.
4 And thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith Jehovah: If ye will not hearken to
me, to walk in my law, which I have set before you,
5 to hearken to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I send unto you,
even rising up early and sending them, but ye have not hearkened;
6 then will I make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to
all the nations of the earth.
7 And the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking
these words in the house of Jehovah.
8 And it came to pass, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that
Jehovah had commanded him to speak unto all the people, that the priests and the
prophets and all the people laid hold on him, saying, Thou shalt surely die.
9 Why hast thou prophesied in the name of Jehovah, saying, This house shall be
like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate, without inhabitant? And all the
people were gathered unto Jeremiah in the house of Jehovah.
10 And when the princes of Judah heard these things, they came up from the
king's house unto the house of Jehovah; and they sat in the entry of the new
gate of Jehovah's `house'.
11 Then spake the priests and the prophets unto the princes and to all the
people, saying, This man is worthy of death; for he hath prophesied against this
city, as ye have heard with your ears.
12 Then spake Jeremiah unto all the princes and to all the people, saying,
Jehovah sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the
words that ye have heard.
13 Now therefore amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of Jehovah
your God; and Jehovah will repent him of the evil that he hath pronounced
against you.
14 But as for me, behold, I am in your hand: do with me as is good and right in
your eyes.
15 Only know ye for certain that, if ye put me to death, ye will bring innocent
blood upon yourselves, and upon this city, and upon the inhabitants thereof; for
of a truth Jehovah hath sent me unto you to speak all these words in your ears.
16 Then said the princes and all the people unto the priests and to the
prophets: This man is not worthy of death; for he hath spoken to us in the name
of Jehovah our God.
17 Then rose up certain of the elders of the land, and spake to all the assembly
of the people, saying,
18 Micah the Morashtite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah; and he
spake to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Zion
shall be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain
of the house as the high places of a forest.
19 Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him to death? did he not fear
Jehovah, and entreat the favor of Jehovah, and Jehovah repented him of the evil
which he had pronounced against them? Thus should we commit great evil against
our own souls.
20 And there was also a man that prophesied in the name of Jehovah, Uriah the
son of Shemaiah of Kiriath-jearim; and he prophesied against this city and
against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah:
21 and when Jehoiakim the king, with all his mighty-men, and all the princes,
heard his words, the king sought to put him to death; but when Uriah heard it,
he was afraid, and fled, and went into Egypt:
22 and Jehoiakim the king sent men into Egypt, `namely', Elnathan the son of
Achbor, and certain men with him, into Egypt;
23 and they fetched forth Uriah out of Egypt, and brought him unto Jehoiakim the
king, who slew him with the sword, and cast his dead body into the graves of the
common people.
24 But the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, that they should
not give him into the hand of the people to put him to death.
CHAPTER
27
1 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah,
came this word unto Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying,
2 Thus saith Jehovah to me: Make thee bonds and bars, and put them upon thy
neck;
3 and send them to the king of Edom, and to the king of Moab, and to the king of
the children of Ammon, and to the king of Tyre, and to the king of Sidon, by the
hand of the messengers that come to Jerusalem unto Zedekiah king of Judah;
4 and give them a charge unto their masters, saying, Thus saith Jehovah of
hosts, the God of Israel, Thus shall ye say unto your masters:
5 I have made the earth, the men and the beasts that are upon the face of the
earth, by my great power and by my outstretched arm; and I give it unto whom it
seemeth right unto me.
6 And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king
of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field also have I given him to
serve him.
7 And all the nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son's son, until the
time of his own land come: and then many nations and great kings shall make him
their bondman.
8 And it shall come to pass, that the nation and the kingdom which will not
serve the same Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck
under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith Jehovah,
with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have
consumed them by his hand.
9 But as for you, hearken ye not to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to
your dreams, nor to your soothsayers, nor to your sorcerers, that speak unto
you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon:
10 for they prophesy a lie unto you, to remove you far from your land, and that
I should drive you out, and ye should perish.
11 But the nation that shall bring their neck under the yoke of the king of
Babylon, and serve him, that `nation' will I let remain in their own land, saith
Jehovah; and they shall till it, and dwell therein.
12 And I spake to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words, saying,
Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his
people, and live.
13 Why will ye die, thou and thy people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the
pestilence, as Jehovah hath spoken concerning the nation that will not serve the
king of Babylon?
14 And hearken not unto the words of the prophets that speak unto you, saying,
Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon; for they prophesy a lie unto you.
15 For I have not sent them, saith Jehovah, but they prophesy falsely in my
name; that I may drive you out, and that ye may perish, ye, and the prophets
that prophesy unto you.
16 Also I spake to the priests and to all this people, saying, Thus saith
Jehovah: Hearken not to the words of your prophets that prophesy unto you,
saying, Behold, the vessels of Jehovah's house shall now shortly be brought
again from Babylon; for they prophesy a lie unto you.
17 Hearken not unto them; serve the king of Babylon, and live: wherefore should
this city become a desolation?
18 But if they be prophets, and if the word of Jehovah be with them, let them
now make intercession to Jehovah of hosts, that the vessels which are left in
the house of Jehovah, and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem,
go not to Babylon.
19 For thus saith Jehovah of hosts concerning the pillars, and concerning the
sea, and concerning the bases, and concerning the residue of the vessels that
are left in this city,
20 which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took not, when he carried away captive
Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all
the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem;
21 yea, thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels
that are left in the house of Jehovah, and in the house of the king of Judah,
and at Jerusalem:
22 They shall be carried to Babylon, and there shall they be, until the day that
I visit them, saith Jehovah; then will I bring them up, and restore them to this
place.
CHAPTER
28
1 And it came to pass the same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah
king of Judah, in the fourth year, in the fifth month, that Hananiah the son of
Azzur, the prophet, who was of Gibeon, spake unto me in the house of Jehovah, in
the presence of the priests and of all the people, saying,
2 Thus speaketh Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, I have broken the
yoke of the king of Babylon.
3 Within two full years will I bring again into this place all the vessels of
Jehovah's house, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place,
and carried to Babylon:
4 and I will bring again to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of
Judah, with all the captives of Judah, that went to Babylon, saith Jehovah; for
I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.
5 Then the prophet Jeremiah said unto the prophet Hananiah in the presence of
the priests, and in the presence of all the people that stood in the house of
Jehovah,
6 even the prophet Jeremiah said, Amen: Jehovah do so; Jehovah perform thy words
which thou hast prophesied, to bring again the vessels of Jehovah's house, and
all them of the captivity, from Babylon unto this place.
7 Nevertheless hear thou now this word that I speak in thine ears, and in the
ears of all the people:
8 The prophets that have been before me and before thee of old prophesied
against many countries, and against great kingdoms, of war, and of evil, and of
pestilence.
9 The prophet that prophesieth of peace, when the word of the prophet shall come
to pass, then shall the prophet be known, that Jehovah hath truly sent him.
10 Then Hananiah the prophet took the bar from off the prophet Jeremiah's neck,
and brake it.
11 And Hananiah spake in the presence of all the people, saying, Thus saith
Jehovah: Even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon within
two full years from off the neck of all the nations. And the prophet Jeremiah
went his way.
12 Then the word of Jehovah came unto Jeremiah, after that Hananiah the prophet
had broken the bar from off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, saying,
13 Go, and tell Hananiah, saying, Thus saith Jehovah: Thou hast broken the bars
of wood; but thou hast made in their stead bars of iron.
14 For thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: I have put a yoke of iron
upon the neck of all these nations, that they may served Nebuchadnezzar king of
Babylon; and they shall serve him: and I have given him the beasts of the field
also.
15 Then said the prophet Jeremiah unto Hananiah the prophet, Hear now, Hananiah:
Jehovah hath not sent thee; but thou makest this people to trust in a lie.
16 Therefore thus saith Jehovah, Behold, I will send thee away from off the face
of the earth: this year thou shalt die, because thou hast spoken rebellion
against Jehovah.
17 So Hananiah the prophet died the same year in the seventh month.
CHAPTER
29
1 Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from
Jerusalem unto the residue of the elders of the captivity, and to the priests,
and to the prophets, and to all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away
captive from Jerusalem to Babylon,
2 (after that Jeconiah the king, and the queen-mother, and the eunuchs, `and'
the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, and the craftsmen, and the smiths, were
departed from Jerusalem,)
3 by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah,
(whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent unto Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of
Babylon,) saying,
4 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all the captivity, whom I
have caused to be carried away captive from Jerusalem unto Babylon:
5 Build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of
them.
6 Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and
give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; and
multiply ye there, and be not diminished.
7 And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away
captive, and pray unto Jehovah for it; for in the peace thereof shall ye have
peace.
8 For thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Let not your prophets that
are in the midst of you, and your diviners, deceive you; neither hearken ye to
your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed.
9 For they prophesy falsely unto you in my name: I have not sent them, saith
Jehovah.
10 For thus saith Jehovah, After seventy years are accomplished for Babylon, I
will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to
this place.
11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith Jehovah, thoughts of
peace, and not of evil, to give you hope in your latter end.
12 And ye shall call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will
hearken unto you.
13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your
heart.
14 And I will be found of you, saith Jehovah, and I will turn again your
captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places
wither I have driven you, saith Jehovah; and I will bring you again unto the
place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.
15 Because ye have said, Jehovah hath raised us up prophets in Babylon;
16 thus saith Jehovah concerning the king that sitteth upon the throne of David,
and concerning all the people that dwell in this city, your brethren that are
not gone forth with you into captivity;
17 thus saith Jehovah of hosts; Behold, I will send upon them the sword, the
famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that cannot be
eaten, they are so bad.
18 And I will pursue after them with the sword, with the famine, and with the
pestilence, and will deliver them to be tossed to and fro among all the kingdoms
of the earth, to be an execration, and an astonishment, and a hissing, and a
reproach, among all the nations whither I have driven them;
19 because they have not hearkened to my words, saith Jehovah, wherewith I sent
unto them my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them; but ye
would not hear, saith Jehovah.
20 Hear ye therefore the word of Jehovah, all ye of the captivity, whom I have
sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon.
21 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of
Kolaiah, and concerning Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who prophesy a lie unto
you in my name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king
of Babylon; and he shall slay them before your eyes;
22 and of them shall be taken up a curse by all the captives of Judah that are
in Babylon, saying, Jehovah make thee like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king
of Babylon roasted in the fire;
23 because they have wrought folly in Israel, and have committed adultery with
their neighbors' wives, and have spoken words in my name falsely, which I
commanded them not; and I am he that knoweth, and am witness, saith Jehovah.
24 And concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite thou shalt speak, saying,
25 Thus speaketh Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, Because thou hast
sent letters in thine own name unto all the people that are at Jerusalem, and to
Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, and to all the priests, saying,
26 Jehovah hath made thee priest in the stead of Jehoiada the priest, that there
may be officers in the house of Jehovah, for every man that is mad, and maketh
himself a prophet, that thou shouldest put him in the stocks and in shackles.
27 Now therefore, why hast thou not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth, who maketh
himself a prophet to you,
28 forasmuch as he hath sent unto us in Babylon, saying, `The captivity' is
long: build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit
of them?
29 And Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the ears of Jeremiah the
prophet.
30 Then came the word of Jehovah unto Jeremiah, saying,
31 Send to all them of the captivity, saying, Thus saith Jehovah concerning
Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Because that Shemaiah hath prophesied unto you, and I
sent him not, and he hath caused you to trust in a lie;
32 therefore thus saith Jehovah, Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite,
and his seed; he shall not have a man to dwell among this people, neither shall
he behold the good that I will do unto my people, saith Jehovah, because he hath
spoken rebellion against Jehovah.
CHAPTER
30
1 The word that came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying,
2 Thus speaketh Jehovah, the God of Israel, saying, Write thee all the words
that I have spoken unto thee in a book.
3 For, lo, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will turn again the captivity of
my people Israel and Judah, saith Jehovah; and I will cause them to return to
the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.
4 And these are the words that Jehovah spake concerning Israel and concerning
Judah.
5 For thus saith Jehovah: We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not
of peace.
6 Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child: wherefore do I see
every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are
turned into paleness?
7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of
Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.
8 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith Jehovah of hosts, that I will
break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds; and strangers shall
no more make him their bondman;
9 but they shall serve Jehovah their God, and David their king, whom I will
raise up unto them.
10 Therefore fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, saith Jehovah; neither be
dismayed, O Israel: for, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the
land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be quiet and at ease,
and none shall make him afraid.
11 For I am with thee, saith Jehovah, to save thee: for I will make a full end
of all the nations whither I have scattered thee, but I will not make a full end
of thee; but I will correct thee in measure, and will in no wise leave thee
unpunished.
12 For thus saith Jehovah, Thy hurt is incurable, and thy wound grievous.
13 There is none to plead thy cause, that thou mayest be bound up: thou hast no
healing medicines.
14 All thy lovers have forgotten thee; they seek thee not: for I have wounded
thee with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the
greatness of thine iniquity, because thy sins were increased.
15 Why criest thou for thy hurt? thy pain is incurable: for the greatness of
thine iniquity, because thy sins were increased, I have done these things unto
thee.
16 Therefore all they that devour thee shall be devoured; and all thine
adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity; and they that despoil
thee shall be a spoil, and all that prey upon thee will I give for a prey.
17 For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds,
saith Jehovah; because they have called thee an outcast, `saying', It is Zion,
whom no man seeketh after.
18 Thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I will turn again the captivity of Jacob's tents,
and have compassion on his dwelling-places; and the city shall be builded upon
its own hill, and the palace shall be inhabited after its own manner.
19 And out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of them that make
merry: and I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will also glorify
them, and they shall not be small.
20 Their children also shall be as aforetime, and their congregation shall be
established before me; and I will punish all that oppress them.
21 And their prince shall be of themselves, and their ruler shall proceed from
the midst of them; and I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach unto
me: for who is he that hath had boldness to approach unto me? saith Jehovah.
22 And ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.
23 Behold, the tempest of Jehovah, `even his' wrath, is gone forth, a sweeping
tempest: it shall burst upon the head of the wicked.
24 The fierce anger of Jehovah shall not return, until he have executed, and
till he have performed the intents of his heart: in the latter days ye shall
understand it.
CHAPTER
31
1 At that time, saith Jehovah, will I be the God of all the families of Israel,
and they shall be my people.
2 Thus saith Jehovah, The people that were left of the sword found favor in the
wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest.
3 Jehovah appeared of old unto me, `saying', Yea, I have loved thee with an
everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.
4 Again will I build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel: again
shalt thou be adorned with thy tabrets, and shalt go forth in the dances of them
that make merry.
5 Again shalt thou plant vineyards upon the mountains of Samaria; the planters
shall plant, and shall enjoy `the fruit thereof'.
6 For there shall be a day, that the watchmen upon the hills of Ephraim shall
cry, Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion unto Jehovah our God.
7 For thus saith Jehovah, Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout for the chief
of the nations: publish ye, praise ye, and say, O Jehovah, save thy people, the
remnant of Israel.
8 Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the
uttermost parts of the earth, `and' with them the blind and the lame, the woman
with child and her that travaileth with child together: a great company shall
they return hither.
9 They shall come with weeping; and with supplications will I lead them: I will
cause them to walk by rivers of waters, in a straight way wherein they shall not
stumble; for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my first-born.
10 Hear the word of Jehovah, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off;
and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as shepherd
doth his flock.
11 For Jehovah hath ransomed Jacob, and redeemed him from the hand of him that
was stronger than he.
12 And they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow unto the
goodness of Jehovah, to the grain, and to the new wine, and to the oil, and to
the young of the flock and of the herd: and their soul shall be as a watered
garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all.
13 Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old
together; for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and
make them rejoice from their sorrow.
14 And I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and my people shall
be satisfied with my goodness, saith Jehovah.
15 Thus saith Jehovah: A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter
weeping, Rachel weeping for her children; she refuseth to be comforted for her
children, because they are not.
16 Thus saith Jehovah: Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from
tears; for thy work shall be rewarded, saith Jehovah; and they shall come again
from the land of the enemy.
17 And there is hope for thy latter end, saith Jehovah; and `thy' children shall
come again to their own border.
18 I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself `thus', Thou hast chastised me,
and I was chastised, as a calf unaccustomed `to the yoke': turn thou me, and I
shall be turned; for thou art Jehovah my God.
19 Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed,
I smote upon my thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear
the reproach of my youth.
20 Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a darling child? for as often as I speak
against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my heart yearneth for
him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith Jehovah.
21 Set thee up waymarks, make thee guide-posts; set thy heart toward the
highway, even the way by which thou wentest: turn again, O virgin of Israel,
turn again to these thy cities.
22 How long wilt thou go hither and thither, O thou backsliding daughter? for
Jehovah hath created a new thing in the earth: a woman shall encompass a man.
23 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, Yet again shall they use this
speech in the land of Judah and in the cities thereof, when I shall bring again
their captivity: Jehovah bless thee, O habitation of righteousness, O mountain
of holiness.
24 And Judah and all the cities thereof shall dwell therein together, the
husbandmen, and they that go about with flocks.
25 For I have satiated the weary soul, and every sorrowful soul have I
replenished.
26 Upon this I awaked, and beheld; and my sleep was sweet unto me.
27 Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will sow the house of Israel and
the house of Judah with the seed of man, and with the seed of beast.
28 And it shall come to pass that, like as I have watched over them to pluck up
and to break down and to overthrow and to destroy and to afflict, so will I
watch over them to build and to plant, saith Jehovah.
29 In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and
the children's teeth are set on edge.
30 But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour
grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.
31 Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will make a new covenant with
the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that
I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my
covenant they brake, although I was a husband unto them, saith Jehovah.
33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after
those days, saith Jehovah: I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their
heart will I write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people:
34 and they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his
brother, saying, Know Jehovah; for they shall all know me, from the least of
them unto the greatest of them, saith Jehovah: for I will forgive their
iniquity, and their sin will I remember no more.
35 Thus saith Jehovah, who giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances
of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, who stirreth up the sea, so
that the waves thereof roar; Jehovah of hosts is his name:
36 If these ordinances depart from before me, saith Jehovah, then the seed of
Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever.
37 Thus saith Jehovah: If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of
the earth searched out beneath, then will I also cast off all the seed of Israel
for all that they have done, saith Jehovah.
38 Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that the city shall be built to Jehovah
from the tower of Hananel unto the gate of the corner.
39 And the measuring line shall go out further straight onward unto the hill
Gareb, and shall turn about unto Goah.
40 And the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields
unto the brook Kidron, unto the corner of the horse gate toward the east, shall
be holy unto Jehovah; it shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down any more for
ever.
CHAPTER
32
1 The word that came to Jeremiah from Jehovah in the tenth year of Zedekiah king
of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar.
2 Now at that time the king of Babylon's army was besieging Jerusalem; and
Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the guard, which was in the
king of Judah's house.
3 For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, Wherefore dost thou
prophesy, and say, Thus saith Jehovah, Behold, I will give this city into the
hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it;
4 and Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans,
but shall surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall
speak with him mouth to mouth, and his eyes shall behold his eyes;
5 and he shall bring Zedekiah to Babylon, and there shall he be until I visit
him, saith Jehovah: though ye fight with the Chaldeans, ye shall not prosper?
6 And Jeremiah said, The word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,
7 Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum thine uncle shall come unto thee, saying,
Buy thee my field that is in Anathoth; for the right of redemption is thine to
buy it.
8 So Hanamel mine uncle's son came to me in the court of the guard according to
the word of Jehovah, and said unto me, Buy my field, I pray thee, that is in
Anathoth, which is in the land of Benjamin; for the right of inheritance is
thine, and the redemption is thine; buy it for thyself. Then I knew that this
was the word of Jehovah.
9 And I bought the field that was in Anathoth of Hanamel mine uncle's son, and
weighed him the money, even seventeen shekels of silver.
10 And I subscribed the deed, and sealed it, and called witnesses, and weighed
him the money in the balances.
11 So I took the deed of the purchase, both that which was sealed, `according
to' the law and custom, and that which was open:
12 and I delivered the deed of the purchase unto Baruch the son of Neriah, the
son of Mahseiah, in the presence of Hanamel mine uncle's `son', and in the
presence of the witnesses that subscribed the deed of the purchase, before all
the Jews that sat in the court of the guard.
13 And I charged Baruch before them, saying,
14 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Take these deeds, this deed
of the purchase which is sealed, and this deed which is open, and put them in an
earthen vessel; that they may continue many days.
15 For thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and
vineyards shall yet again be bought in this land.
16 Now after I had delivered the deed of the purchase unto Baruch the son of
Neriah, I prayed unto Jehovah, saying,
17 Ah Lord Jehovah! behold, thou hast made the heavens and the earth by thy
great power and by thine outstretched arm; there is nothing too hard for thee,
18 who showest lovingkindness unto thousands, and recompensest the iniquity of
the fathers into the bosom of their children after them; the great, the mighty
God, Jehovah of hosts is his name;
19 great in counsel, and mighty in work; whose eyes are open upon all the ways
of the sons of men, to give every one according to his ways, and according to
the fruit of his doings:
20 who didst set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, even unto this day,
both in Israel and among `other' men; and madest thee a name, as at this day;
21 and didst bring forth thy people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs,
and with wonders, and with a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with
great terror;
22 and gavest them this land, which thou didst swear to their fathers to give
them, a land flowing with milk and honey;
23 and they came in, and possessed it, but they obeyed not thy voice, neither
walked in thy law; they have done nothing of all that thou commandedst them to
do: therefore thou hast caused all this evil to come upon them.
24 Behold, the mounds, they are come unto the city to take it; and the city is
given into the hand of the Chaldeans that fight against it, because of the
sword, and of the famine, and of the pestilence; and what thou hast spoken is
come to pass; and, behold, thou seest it.
25 And thou hast said unto me, O Lord Jehovah, Buy thee the field for money, and
call witnesses; whereas the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.
26 Then came the word of Jehovah unto Jeremiah, saying,
27 Behold, I am Jehovah, the God of all flesh: is there anything too hard for
me?
28 Therefore thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I will give this city into the hand of
the Chaldeans, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and he shall
take it:
29 and the Chaldeans, that fight against this city, shall come and set this city
on fire, and burn it, with the houses, upon whose roofs they have offered
incense unto Baal, and poured out drink-offerings unto other gods, to provoke me
to anger.
30 For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have done only that
which was evil in my sight from their youth; for the children of Israel have
only provoked me to anger with the work of their hands, saith Jehovah.
31 For this city hath been to me a provocation of mine anger and of my wrath
from the day that they built it even unto this day; that I should remove it from
before my face,
32 because of all the evil of the children of Israel and of the children of
Judah, which they have done to provoke me to anger, they, their kings, their
princes, their priests, and their prophets, and the men of Judah, and the
inhabitants of Jerusalem.
33 And they have turned unto me the back, and not the face: and though I taught
them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not hearkened to receive
instruction.
34 But they set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to
defile it.
35 And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of
Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through `the fire' unto
Molech; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind, that they
should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.
36 And now therefore thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, concerning this
city, whereof ye say, It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by the
sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence:
37 Behold, I will gather them out of all the countries, whither I have driven
them in mine anger, and in my wrath, and in great indignation; and I will bring
them again unto this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely:
38 and they shall be my people, and I will be their God:
39 and I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me for ever,
for the good of them, and of their children after them:
40 and I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away
from following them, to do them good; and I will put my fear in their hearts,
that they may not depart from me.
41 Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this
land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul.
42 For thus saith Jehovah: Like as I have brought all this great evil upon this
people, so will I bring upon them all the good that I have promised them.
43 And fields shall be bought in this land, whereof ye say, It is desolate,
without man or beast; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.
44 Men shall buy fields for money, and subscribe the deeds, and seal them, and
call witnesses, in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and
in the cities of Judah, and in the cities of the hill-country, and in the cities
of the lowland, and in the cities of the South: for I will cause their captivity
to return, saith Jehovah.
CHAPTER
33
1 Moreover the word of Jehovah came unto Jeremiah the second time, while he was
yet shut up in the court of the guard, saying,
2 Thus saith Jehovah that doeth it, Jehovah that formeth it to establish it;
Jehovah is his name:
3 Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and will show thee great things, and
difficult, which thou knowest not.
4 For thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city,
and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, which are broken down `to make
a defence' against the mounds and against the sword;
5 while `men' come to fight with the Chaldeans, and to fill them with the dead
bodies of men, whom I have slain in mine anger and in my wrath, and for all
whose wickedness I have hid my face from this city:
6 Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them; and I will
reveal unto them abundance of peace and truth.
7 And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return,
and will build them, as at the first.
8 And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned
against me; and I will pardon all their iniquities, whereby they have sinned
against me, and whereby they have transgressed against me.
9 And `this city' shall be to me for a name of joy, for a praise and for a
glory, before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good that I
do unto them, and shall fear and tremble for all the good and for all the peace
that I procure unto it.
10 Thus saith Jehovah: Yet again there shall be heard in this place, whereof ye
say, It is waste, without man and without beast, even in the cities of Judah,
and in the streets of Jerusalem, that are desolate, without man and without
inhabitant and without beast,
11 the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and
the voice of the bride, the voice of them that say, Give thanks to Jehovah of
hosts, for Jehovah is good, for his lovingkindness `endureth' for ever; `and of
them' that bring `sacrifices of' thanksgiving into the house of Jehovah. For I
will cause the captivity of the land to return as at the first, saith Jehovah.
12 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Yet again shall there be in this place, which is
waste, without man and without beast, and in all the cities thereof, a
habitation of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down.
13 In the cities of the hill-country, in the cities of the lowland, and in the
cities of the South, and in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about
Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, shall the flocks again pass under the
hands of him that numbereth them, saith Jehovah.
14 Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will perform that good word
which I have spoken concerning the house of Israel and concerning the house of
Judah.
15 In those days, and at that time, will I cause a Branch of righteousness to
grow up unto David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.
16 In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely; and
this is `the name' whereby she shall be called: Jehovah our righteousness.
17 For thus saith Jehovah: David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne
of the house of Israel;
18 neither shall the priests the Levites want a man before me to offer
burnt-offerings, and to burn meal-offerings, and to do sacrifice continually.
19 And the word of Jehovah came unto Jeremiah, saying,
20 Thus saith Jehovah: If ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant
of the night, so that there shall not be day and night in their season;
21 then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he shall not
have a son to reign upon his throne; and with the Levites the priests, my
ministers.
22 As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea
measured; so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Levites that
minister unto me.
23 And the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah, saying,
24 Considerest thou not what this people have spoken, saying, The two families
which Jehovah did choose, he hath cast them off? thus do they despise my people,
that they should be no more a nation before them.
25 Thus saith Jehovah: If my covenant of day and night `stand' not, if I have
not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth;
26 then will I also cast away the seed of Jacob, and of David my servant, so
that I will not take of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return, and will have mercy on
them.
CHAPTER
34
1 The word which came unto Jeremiah from Jehovah, when Nebuchadnezzar king of
Babylon, and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth that were under his
dominion, and all the peoples, were fighting against Jerusalem, and against all
the cities thereof, saying:
2 Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, Go, and speak to Zedekiah king of
Judah, and tell him, Thus saith Jehovah, Behold, I will give this city into the
hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire:
3 and thou shalt not escape out of his hand, but shalt surely be taken, and
delivered into his hand; and thine eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of
Babylon, and he shall speak with thee mouth to mouth, and thou shalt go to
Babylon.
4 Yet hear the word of Jehovah, O Zedekiah king of Judah: thus saith Jehovah
concerning thee, Thou shalt not die by the sword;
5 thou shalt die in peace; and with the burnings of thy fathers, the former
kings that were before thee, so shall they make a burning for thee; and they
shall lament thee, `saying', Ah Lord! for I have spoken the word, saith Jehovah.
6 Then Jeremiah the prophet spake all these words unto Zedekiah king of Judah in
Jerusalem,
7 when the king of Babylon's army was fighting against Jerusalem, and against
all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish and against Azekah; for
these `alone' remained of the cities of Judah `as' fortified cities.
8 The word that came unto Jeremiah from Jehovah, after that the king Zedekiah
had made a covenant with all the people that were at Jerusalem, to proclaim
liberty unto them;
9 that every man should let his man-servant, and every man his maid-servant,
that is a Hebrew or a Hebrewess, go free; that none should make bondmen of them,
`to wit', of a Jew his brother.
10 And all the princes and all the people obeyed, that had entered into the
covenant, that every one should let his man-servant, and every one his
maid-servant, go free, that none should make bondmen of them any more; they
obeyed, and let them go:
11 but afterwards they turned, and caused the servants and the handmaids, whom
they had let go free, to return, and brought them into subjection for servants
and for handmaids.
12 Therefore the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying,
13 Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel: I made a covenant with your fathers in
the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of
bondage, saying,
14 At the end of seven years ye shall let go every man his brother that is a
Hebrew, that hath been sold unto thee, and hath served thee six years, thou
shalt let him go free from thee: but your fathers hearkened not unto me, neither
inclined their ear.
15 And ye were now turned, and had done that which is right in mine eyes, in
proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbor; and ye had made a covenant before
me in the house which is called by my name:
16 but ye turned and profaned my name, and caused every man his servant, and
every man his handmaid, whom ye had let go free at their pleasure, to return;
and ye brought them into subjection, to be unto you for servants and for
handmaids.
17 Therefore thus saith Jehovah: ye have not hearkened unto me, to proclaim
liberty, every man to his brother, and every man to his neighbor: behold, I
proclaim unto you a liberty, saith Jehovah, to the sword, to the pestilence, and
to the famine; and I will make you to be tossed to and fro among all the
kingdoms of the earth.
18 And I will give the men that have transgressed my covenant, that have not
performed the words of the covenant which they made before me, when they cut the
calf in twain and passed between the parts thereof;
19 the princes of Judah, and the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, and the
priests, and all the people of the land, that passed between the parts of the
calf;
20 I will even give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of
them that seek their life; and their dead bodies shall be for food unto the
birds of the heavens, and to the beasts of the earth.
21 And Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes will I give into the hand of their
enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life, and into the hand of
the king of Babylon's army, that are gone away from you.
22 Behold, I will command, saith Jehovah, and cause them to return to this city;
and they shall fight against it, and take it, and burn it with fire: and I will
make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.
CHAPTER
35
1 The word which came unto Jeremiah from Jehovah in the days of Jehoiakim the
son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying,
2 Go unto the house of the Rechabites, and speak unto them, and bring them into
the house of Jehovah, into one of the chambers, and give them wine to drink.
3 Then I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habazziniah, and his
brethren, and all his sons, and the whole house of the Rechabites;
4 and I brought them into the house of Jehovah, into the chamber of the sons of
Hanan the son of Igdaliah, the man of God, which was by the chamber of the
princes, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the keeper
of the threshold.
5 And I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites bowls full of wine,
and cups; and I said unto them, Drink ye wine.
6 But they said, We will drink no wine; for Jonadab the son of Rechab, our
father, commanded us, saying, Ye shall drink no wine, neither ye, nor your sons,
for ever:
7 neither shall ye build house, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyard, nor have any;
but all your days ye shall dwell in tents; that ye may live many days in the
land wherein ye sojourn.
8 And we have obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, in all
that he charged us, to drink no wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, or
our daughters;
9 nor to build houses for us to dwell in; neither have we vineyard, nor field,
nor seed:
10 but we have dwelt in tents, and have obeyed, and done according to all that
Jonadab our father commanded us.
11 But it came to pass, when Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came up into the
land, that we said, Come, and let us go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the
Chaldeans, and for fear of the army of the Syrians; so we dwell at Jerusalem.
12 Then came the word of Jehovah unto Jeremiah, saying,
13 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Go, and say to the men of
Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Will ye not receive instruction to
hearken to my words? saith Jehovah.
14 The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, that he commanded his sons, not to
drink wine, are performed; and unto this day they drink none, for they obey
their father's commandment: but I have spoken unto you, rising up early and
speaking; and ye have not hearkened unto me.
15 I have sent also unto you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and
sending them, saying, Return ye now every man from his evil way, and amend your
doings, and go not after other gods to serve them, and ye shall dwell in the
land which I have given to you and to your fathers: but ye have not inclined
your ear, nor hearkened unto me.
16 Forasmuch as the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have performed the
commandment of their father which he commanded them, but this people hath not
hearkened unto me;
17 therefore thus saith Jehovah, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I
will bring upon Judah and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the evil
that I have pronounced against them; because I have spoken unto them, but they
have not heard; and I have called unto them, but they have not answered.
18 And Jeremiah said unto the house of the Rechabites, Thus saith Jehovah of
hosts, the God of Israel: Because ye have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your
father, and kept all his precepts, and done according unto all that he commanded
you;
19 therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Jonadab the son of
Rechab shall not want a man to stand before me for ever.
CHAPTER
36
1 And it came to pass in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of
Judah, that this word came unto Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying,
2 Take thee a roll of a book, and write therein all the words that I have spoken
unto thee against Israel, and against Judah, and against all the nations, from
the day I spake unto thee, from the days of Josiah, even unto this day.
3 It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to do
unto them; that they may return every man from his evil way; that I may forgive
their iniquity and their sin.
4 Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah; and Baruch wrote from the mouth
of Jeremiah all the words of Jehovah, which he had spoken unto him, upon a roll
of a book.
5 And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, I am shut up; I cannot go into the
house of Jehovah:
6 therefore go thou, and read in the roll, which thou hast written from my
mouth, the words of Jehovah in the ears of the people in Jehovah's house upon
the fast-day; and also thou shalt read them in the ears of all Judah that come
out of their cities.
7 It may be they will present their supplication before Jehovah, and will return
every one from his evil way; for great is the anger and the wrath that Jehovah
hath pronounced against this people.
8 And Baruch the son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet
commanded him, reading in the book the words of Jehovah in Jehovah's house.
9 Now it came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of
Judah, in the ninth month, that all the people in Jerusalem, and all the people
that came from the cities of Judah unto Jerusalem, proclaimed a fast before
Jehovah.
10 Then read Baruch in the book the words of Jeremiah in the house of Jehovah,
in the chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan, the scribe, in the upper court,
at the entry of the new gate of Jehovah's house, in the ears of all the people.
11 And when Micaiah the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, had heard out of
the book all the words of Jehovah,
12 he went down into the king's house, into the scribe's chamber: and, lo, all
the princes were sitting there, `to wit', Elishama the scribe, and Delaiah the
son of Shemaiah, and Elnathan the son of Achbor, and Gemariah the son of Shaphan,
and Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the princes.
13 Then Micaiah declared unto them all the words that he had heard, when Baruch
read the book in the ears of the people.
14 Therefore all the princes sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, the son of
Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, unto Baruch, saying, Take in thy hand the roll
wherein thou hast read in the ears of the people, and come. So Baruch the son of
Neriah took the roll in his hand, and came unto them.
15 And they said unto him, Sit down now, and read it in our ears. So Baruch read
it in their ears.
16 Now it came to pass, when they had heard all the words, they turned in fear
one toward another, and said unto Baruch, We will surely tell the king of all
these words.
17 And they asked Baruch, saying, Tell us now, How didst thou write all these
words at his mouth?
18 Then Baruch answered them, He pronounced all these words unto me with his
mouth, and I wrote them with ink in the book.
19 Then said the princes unto Baruch, Go, hide thee, thou and Jeremiah; and let
no man know where ye are.
20 And they went in to the king into the court; but they had laid up the roll in
the chamber of Elishama the scribe; and they told all the words in the ears of
the king.
21 So the king sent Jehudi to fetch the roll; and he took it out of the chamber
of Elishama the scribe. And Jehudi read it in the ears of the king, and in the
ears of all the princes that stood beside the king.
22 Now the king was sitting in the winter-house in the ninth month: and `there
was a fire in' the brazier burning before him.
23 And it came to pass, when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, that `the
king' cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire that was in the
brazier, until all the roll was consumed in the fire that was in the brazier.
24 And they were not afraid, nor rent their garments, neither the king, nor any
of his servants that heard all these words.
25 Moreover Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah had made intercession to the king
that he would not burn the roll; but he would not hear them.
26 And the king commanded Jerahmeel the king's son, and Seraiah the son of
Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to take Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah
the prophet; but Jehovah hid them.
27 Then the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah, after that the king had burned the
roll, and the words which Baruch wrote at the mouth of Jeremiah, saying,
28 Take thee again another roll, and write in it all the former words that were
in the first roll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah hath burned.
29 And concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah thou shalt say, Thus saith Jehovah:
Thou hast burned this roll, saying, Why hast thou written therein, saying, The
king of Babylon shall certainly come and destroy this land, and shall cause to
cease from thence man and beast?
30 Therefore thus saith Jehovah concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: He shall
have none to sit upon the throne of David; and his dead body shall be cast out
in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost.
31 And I will punish him and his seed and his servants for their iniquity; and I
will bring upon them, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and upon the men of
Judah, all the evil that I have pronounced against them, but they hearkened not.
32 Then took Jeremiah another roll, and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of
Neriah, who wrote therein from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book
which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire; and there were added
besides unto them many like words.
CHAPTER
37
1 And Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned as king, instead of Coniah the son of
Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah.
2 But neither he, nor his servants, nor the people of the land, did hearken unto
the words of Jehovah, which he spake by the prophet Jeremiah.
3 And Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah the son
of Maaseiah, the priest, to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, Pray now unto Jehovah
our God for us.
4 Now Jeremiah came in and went out among the people; for they had not put him
into prison.
5 And Pharaoh's army was come forth out of Egypt; and when the Chaldeans that
were besieging Jerusalem heard tidings of them, they brake up from Jerusalem.
6 Then came the word of Jehovah unto the prophet Jeremiah, saying,
7 Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, Thus shall ye say to the king of Judah,
that sent you unto me to inquire of me: Behold, Pharaoh's army, which is come
forth to help you, shall return to Egypt into their own land.
8 And the Chaldeans shall come again, and fight against this city; and they
shall take it, and burn it with fire.
9 Thus saith Jehovah, Deceive not yourselves, saying, The Chaldeans shall surely
depart from us; for they shall not depart.
10 For though ye had smitten the whole army of the Chaldeans that fight against
you, and there remained but wounded men among them, yea would they rise up every
man in his tent, and burn this city with fire.
11 And it came to pass that, when the army of the Chaldeans was broken up from
Jerusalem for fear of Pharaoh's army,
12 then Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin, to
receive his portion there, in the midst of the people.
13 And when he was in the gate of Benjamin, a captain of the ward was there,
whose name was Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah; and he laid
hold on Jeremiah the prophet, saying, Thou art falling away to the Chaldeans.
14 Then said Jeremiah, It is false; I am not falling away to the Chaldeans. But
he hearkened not to him; so Irijah laid hold on Jeremiah, and brought him to the
princes.
15 And the princes were wroth with Jeremiah, and smote him, and put him in
prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe; for they had made that the prison.
16 When Jeremiah was come into the dungeon-house, and into the cells, and
Jeremiah had remained there many days;
17 Then Zedekiah the king sent, and fetched him: and the king asked him secretly
in his house, and said, Is there any word from Jehovah? And Jeremiah said, There
is. He said also, Thou shalt be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.
18 Moreover Jeremiah said unto king Zedekiah, Wherein have I sinned against
thee, or against thy servants, or against this people, that ye have put me in
prison?
19 Where now are your prophets that prophesied unto you, saying, The king of
Babylon shall not come against you, nor against this land?
20 And now hear, I pray thee, O my lord the king: let my supplication, I pray
thee, be presented before thee, that thou cause me not to return to the house of
Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there.
21 Then Zedekiah the king commanded, and they committed Jeremiah into the court
of the guard; and they gave him daily a loaf of bread out of the bakers' street,
until all the bread in the city was spent. Thus Jeremiah remained in the court
of the guard.
CHAPTER
38
1 And Shephatiah the son of Mattan, and Gedaliah the son of Pashhur, and Jucal
the son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur the son of Malchijah, heard the words that
Jeremiah spake unto all the people, saying,
2 Thus saith Jehovah, He that abideth in this city shall die by the sword, by
the famine, and by the pestilence; but he that goeth forth to the Chaldeans
shall live, and his life shall be unto him for a prey, and he shall live.
3 Thus saith Jehovah, This city shall surely be given into the hand of the army
of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it.
4 Then the princes said unto the king, Let this man, we pray thee, be put to
death; forasmuch as he weakeneth the hands of the men of war that remain in this
city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words unto them: for
this man seeketh not the welfare of this people, but the hurt.
5 And Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he is in your hand; for the king is not he
that can do anything against you.
6 Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchijah the king's
son, that was in the court of the guard: and they let down Jeremiah with cords.
And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire; and Jeremiah sank in the mire.
7 Now when Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, a eunuch, who was in the king's house,
heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon (the king then sitting in the
gate of Benjamin,)
8 Ebed-melech went forth out of the king's house, and spake to the king, saying,
9 My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to
Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon; and he is like to
die in the place where he is, because of the famine; for there is no more bread
in the city.
10 Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, Take from hence
thirty men with thee, and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon,
before he die.
11 So Ebed-melech took the men with him, and went into the house of the king
under the treasury, and took thence rags and worn-out garments, and let them
down by cords into the dungeon to Jeremiah.
12 And Ebed-melech the Ethiopian said unto Jeremiah, Put now these rags and
worn-out garments under thine armholes under the cords. And Jeremiah did so.
13 So they drew up Jeremiah with the cords, and took him up out of the dungeon:
and Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.
14 Then Zedekiah the king sent, and took Jeremiah the prophet unto him into the
third entry that is in the house of Jehovah: and the king said unto Jeremiah, I
will ask thee a thing; hide nothing from me.
15 Then Jeremiah said unto Zedekiah, If I declare it unto thee, wilt thou not
surely put me to death? and if I give thee counsel, thou wilt not hearken unto
me.
16 So Zedekiah the king sware secretly unto Jeremiah, saying, As Jehovah liveth,
that made us this soul, I will not put thee to death, neither will I give thee
into the hand of these men that seek thy life.
17 Then said Jeremiah unto Zedekiah, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of hosts, the
God of Israel: If thou wilt go forth unto the king of Babylon's princes, then
thy soul shall live, and this city shall not be burned with fire; and thou shalt
live, and thy house.
18 But if thou wilt not go forth to the king of Babylon's princes, then shall
this city be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with
fire, and thou shalt not escape out of their hand.
19 And Zedekiah the king said unto Jeremiah, I am afraid of the Jews that are
fallen away to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand, and they
mock me.
20 But Jeremiah said, They shall not deliver thee. Obey, I beseech thee, the
voice of Jehovah, in that which I speak unto thee: so it shall be well with
thee, and thy soul shall live.
21 But if thou refuse to go forth, this is the word that Jehovah hath showed me:
22 behold, all the women that are left in the king of Judah's house shall be
brought forth to the king of Babylon's princes, and those women shall say, Thy
familiar friends have set thee on, and have prevailed over thee: `now that' thy
feet are sunk in the mire, they are turned away back.
23 And they shall bring out all thy wives and thy children to the Chaldeans; and
thou shalt not escape out of their hand, but shalt be taken by the hand of the
king of Babylon: and thou shalt cause this city to be burned with fire.
24 Then said Zedekiah unto Jeremiah, Let no man know of these words, and thou
shalt not die.
25 But if the princes hear that I have talked with thee, and they come unto
thee, and say unto thee, Declare unto us now what thou hast said unto the king;
hide it not from us, and we will not put thee to death; also what the king said
unto thee:
26 then thou shalt say unto them, I presented my supplication before the king,
that he would not cause me to return to Jonathan's house, to die there.
27 Then came all the princes unto Jeremiah, and asked him; and he told them
according to all these words that the king had commanded. So they left off
speaking with him; for the matter was not perceived.
28 So Jeremiah abode in the court of the guard until the day that Jerusalem was
taken.
CHAPTER
39
1 And it came to pass when Jerusalem was taken, (in the ninth year of Zedekiah
king of Judah, in the tenth month, came Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and all
his army against Jerusalem, and besieged it;
2 in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the ninth day of the
month, a breach was made in the city,)
3 that all the princes of the king of Babylon came in, and sat in the middle
gate, `to wit', Nergal-sharezer, Samgar-nebo, Sarsechim, Rab-saris,
Nergal-sharezer, Rab-mag, with all the rest of the princes of the king of
Babylon.
4 And it came to pass that, when Zedekiah the king of Judah and all the men of
war saw them, then they fled, and went forth out of the city by night, by the
way of the king's garden, through the gate betwixt the two walls; and he went
out toward the Arabah.
5 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after them, and overtook Zedekiah in the
plains of Jericho: and when they had taken him, they brought him up to
Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath; and he gave
judgment upon him.
6 Then the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah before his eyes:
also the king of Babylon slew all the nobles of Judah.
7 Moreover he put out Zedekiah's eyes, and bound him in fetters, to carry him to
Babylon.
8 And the Chaldeans burned the king's house, and the houses of the people, with
fire, and brake down the walls of Jerusalem.
9 Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive into Babylon
the residue of the people that remained in the city, the deserters also that
fell away to him, and the residue of the people that remained.
10 But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left of the poor of the people, that
had nothing, in the land of Judah, and gave them vineyards and fields at the
same time.
11 Now Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon gave charge concerning Jeremiah to
Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, saying,
12 Take him, and look well to him, and do him no harm; but do unto him even as
he shall say unto thee.
13 So Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard sent, and Nebushazban, Rab-saris, and
Nergal-sharezer, Rab-mag, and all the chief officers of the king of Babylon;
14 they sent, and took Jeremiah out of the court of the guard, and committed him
unto Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, that he should carry him
home: so he dwelt among the people.
15 Now the word of Jehovah came unto Jeremiah, while he was shut up in the court
of the guard, saying,
16 Go, and speak to Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, Thus saith Jehovah of
hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring my words upon this city for evil,
and not for good; and they shall be accomplished before thee in that day.
17 But I will deliver thee in that day, saith Jehovah; and thou shalt not be
given into the hand of the men of whom thou art afraid.
18 For I will surely save thee, and thou shalt not fall by the sword, but thy
life shall be for a prey unto thee; because thou hast put thy trust in me, saith
Jehovah.
CHAPTER
40
1 The word which came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, after that Nebuzaradan the
captain of the guard had let him go from Ramah, when he had taken him being
bound in chains among all the captives of Jerusalem and Judah, that were carried
away captive unto Babylon.
2 And the captain of the guard took Jeremiah, and said unto him, Jehovah thy God
pronounced this evil upon this place;
3 and Jehovah hath brought it, and done according as he spake: because ye have
sinned against Jehovah, and have not obeyed his voice, therefore this thing is
come upon you.
4 And now, behold, I loose thee this day from the chains which are upon thy
hand. If it seem good unto thee to come with me into Babylon, come, and I will
look well unto thee; but if it seem ill unto thee to come with me into Babylon,
forbear: behold, all the land is before thee; whither it seemeth good and right
unto thee to go, thither go.
5 Now while he was not yet gone back, Go back then, `said he', to Gedaliah the
son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon hath made governor
over the cities of Judah, and dwell with him among the people; or go wheresoever
it seemeth right unto thee to go. So the captain of the guard gave him victuals
and a present, and let him go.
6 Then went Jeremiah unto Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah, and dwelt with
him among the people that were left in the land.
7 Now when all the captains of the forces that were in the fields, even they and
their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam
governor in the land, and had committed unto him men, and women, and children,
and of the poorest of the land, of them that were not carried away captive to
Babylon;
8 then they came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, `to wit', Ishmael the son of Nethaniah,
and Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth,
and the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jezaniah the son of the Maacathite,
they and their men.
9 And Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan sware unto them and to their
men, saying, Fear not to serve the Chaldeans: dwell in the land, and serve the
king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.
10 As for me, behold, I will dwell at Mizpah, to stand before the Chaldeans that
shall come unto us: but ye, gather ye wine and summer fruits and oil, and put
them in your vessels, and dwell in your cities that ye have taken.
11 Likewise when all the Jews that were in Moab, and among the children of Ammon,
and in Edom, and that were in all the countries, heard that the king of Babylon
had left a remnant of Judah, and that he had set over them Gedaliah the son of
Ahikam, the son of Shaphan;
12 then all the Jews returned out of all places whither they were driven, and
came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah, unto Mizpah, and gathered wine and
summer fruits very much.
13 Moreover Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that
were in the fields, came to Gedaliah to Mizpah,
14 and said unto him, Dost thou know that Baalis the king of the children of
Ammon hath sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to take thy life? But Gedaliah the
son of Ahikam believed them not.
15 Then Johanan the son of Kareah spake to Gedaliah in Mizpah secretly, saying,
Let me go, I pray thee, and I will slay Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and no man
shall know it: wherefore should he take thy life, that all the Jews that are
gathered unto thee should be scattered, and the remnant of Judah perish?
16 But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam said unto Johanan the son of Kareah, Thou
shalt not do this thing; for thou speakest falsely of Ishmael.
CHAPTER
41
1 Now it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah,
the son of Elishama, of the seed royal and `one of' the chief officers of the
king, and ten men with him, came unto Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah; and
there they did eat bread together in Mizpah.
2 Then arose Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and the ten men that were with him,
and smote Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan with the sword, and slew
him, whom the king of Babylon had made governor over the land.
3 Ishmael also slew all the Jews that were with him, `to wit', with Gedaliah, at
Mizpah, and the Chaldeans that were found there, the men of war.
4 And it came to pass the second day after he had slain Gedaliah, and no man
knew it,
5 that there came men from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, even
fourscore men, having their beards shaven and their clothes rent, and having cut
themselves, with meal-offerings and frankincense in their hand, to bring them to
the house of Jehovah.
6 And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah went forth from Mizpah to meet them, weeping
all along as he went: and it came to pass, as he met them, he said unto them,
Come to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam.
7 And it was so, when they came into the midst of the city, that Ishmael the son
of Nethaniah slew them, `and cast them' into the midst of the pit, he, and the
men that were with him.
8 But ten men were found among them that said unto Ishmael, Slay us not; for we
have stores hidden in the field, of wheat, and of barley, and of oil, and of
honey. So he forbare, and slew them not among their brethren.
9 Now the pit wherein Ishmael cast all the dead bodies of the men whom he had
slain, by the side of Gedaliah (the same was that which Asa the king had made
for fear of Baasha king of Israel,) Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with
them that were slain.
10 Then Ishmael carried away captive all the residue of the people that were in
Mizpah, even the king's daughters, and all the people that remained in Mizpah,
whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had committed to Gedaliah the son of
Ahikam; Ishmael the son of Nethaniah carried them away captive, and departed to
go over to the children of Ammon.
11 But when Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that
were with him, heard of all the evil that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had done,
12 then they took all the men, and went to fight with Ishmael the son of
Nethaniah, and found him by the great waters that are in Gibeon.
13 Now it came to pass that, when all the people that were with Ishmael saw
Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were with
him, then they were glad.
14 So all the people that Ishmael had carried away captive from Mizpah turned
about and came back, and went unto Johanan the son of Kareah.
15 But Ishmael the son of Nethaniah escaped from Johanan with eight men, and
went to the children of Ammon.
16 Then took Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that
were with him, all the remnant of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael
the son of Nethaniah, from Mizpah, after that he had slain Gedaliah the son of
Ahikam, `to wit', the men of war, and the women, and the children, and the
eunuchs, whom he had brought back from Gibeon:
17 and they departed, and dwelt in Geruth Chimham, which is by Beth-lehem, to go
to enter into Egypt,
18 because of the Chaldeans; for they were afraid of them, because Ishmael the
son of Nethaniah had slain Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon
made governor over the land.
CHAPTER
42
1 Then all the captains of the forces, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and
Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least even unto the
greatest, came near,
2 and said unto Jeremiah the prophet, Let, we pray thee, our supplication be
presented before thee, and pray for us unto Jehovah thy God, even for all this
remnant; for we are left but a few of many, as thine eyes do behold us:
3 that Jehovah thy God may show us the way wherein we should walk, and the thing
that we should do.
4 Then Jeremiah the prophet said unto them, I have heard you; behold, I will
pray unto Jehovah your God according to your words; and it shall come to pass
that whatsoever thing Jehovah shall answer you, I will declare it unto you; I
will keep nothing back from you.
5 Then they said to Jeremiah, Jehovah be a true and faithful witness amongst us,
if we do not according to all the word wherewith Jehovah thy God shall send thee
to us.
6 Whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of Jehovah
our God, to whom we send thee; that it may be well with us, when we obey the
voice of Jehovah our God.
7 And it came to pass after ten days, that the word of Jehovah came unto
Jeremiah.
8 Then called he Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces
that were with him, and all the people from the least even to the greatest,
9 and said unto them, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, unto whom ye sent
me to present your supplication before him:
10 If ye will still abide in this land, then will I build you, and not pull you
down, and I will plant you, and not pluck you up; for I repent me of the evil
that I have done unto you.
11 Be not afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom ye are afraid; be not afraid of
him, saith Jehovah: for I am with you to save you, and to deliver you from his
hand.
12 And I will grant you mercy, that he may have mercy upon you, and cause you to
return to your own land.
13 But if ye say, We will not dwell in this land; so that ye obey not the voice
of Jehovah your God,
14 saying, No; but we will go into the land of Egypt, where we shall see no war,
nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor have hunger of bread; and there will we
dwell:
15 now therefore hear ye the word of Jehovah, O remnant of Judah: Thus saith
Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, If ye indeed set your faces to enter into
Egypt, and go to sojourn there;
16 then it shall come to pass, that the sword, which ye fear, shall overtake you
there in the land of Egypt; and the famine, whereof ye are afraid, shall follow
hard after you there in Egypt; and there ye shall die.
17 So shall it be with all the men that set their faces to go into Egypt to
sojourn there: they shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the
pestilence; and none of them shall remain or escape from the evil that I will
bring upon them.
18 For thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: As mine anger and my
wrath hath been poured forth upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so shall my
wrath be poured forth upon you, when ye shall enter into Egypt; and ye shall be
an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach; and ye shall
see this place no more.
19 Jehovah hath spoken concerning you, O remnant of Judah, Go ye not into Egypt:
know certainly that I have testified unto you this day.
20 For ye have dealt deceitfully against your own souls; for ye sent me unto
Jehovah your God, saying, Pray for us unto Jehovah our God; and according unto
all that Jehovah our God shall say, so declare unto us, and we will do it:
21 and I have this day declared it to you; but ye have not obeyed the voice of
Jehovah your God in anything for which he hath sent me unto you.
22 Now therefore know certainly that ye shall die by the sword, by the famine,
and by the pestilence, in the place whither ye desire to go to sojourn there.
CHAPTER
43
1 And it came to pass that, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking unto all
the people all the words of Jehovah their God, wherewith Jehovah their God had
sent him to them, even all these words,
2 then spake Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all
the proud men, saying unto Jeremiah, Thou speakest falsely: Jehovah our God hath
not sent thee to say, Ye shall not go into Egypt to sojourn there;
3 but Baruch the son of Neriah setteth thee on against us, to deliver us into
the hand of the Chaldeans, that they may put us to death, and carry us away
captive to Babylon.
4 So Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, and all the
people, obeyed not the voice of Jehovah, to dwell in the land of Judah.
5 But Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, took all
the remnant of Judah, that were returned from all the nations whither they had
been driven, to sojourn in the land of Judah;
6 the men, and the women, and the children, and the king's daughters, and every
person that Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah the son
of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan; and Jeremiah the prophet, and Baruch the son of
Neriah;
7 and they came into the land of Egypt; for they obeyed not the voice of
Jehovah: and they came unto Tahpanhes.
8 Then came the word of Jehovah unto Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying,
9 Take great stones in thy hand, and hide them in mortar in the brickwork, which
is at the entry of Pharaoh's house in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of
Judah;
10 and say unto them, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I
will send and take Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will set
his throne upon these stones that I have hid; and he shall spread his royal
pavilion over them.
11 And he shall come, and shall smite the land of Egypt; such as are for death
`shall be given' to death, and such as are for captivity to captivity, and such
as are for the sword to the sword.
12 And I will kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt; and he shall
burn them, and carry them away captive: and he shall array himself with the land
of Egypt, as a shepherd putteth on his garment; and he shall go forth from
thence in peace.
13 He shall also break the pillars of Beth-shemesh, that is in the land of
Egypt; and the houses of the gods of Egypt shall he burn with fire.
CHAPTER
44
1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews that dwelt in the land
of Egypt, that dwelt at Migdol, and at Tahpanhes, and at Memphis, and in the
country of Pathros, saying,
2 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Ye have seen all the evil that
I have brought upon Jerusalem, and upon all the cities of Judah; and, behold,
this day they are a desolation, and no man dwelleth therein,
3 because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke me to anger,
in that they went to burn incense, `and' to serve other gods, that they knew
not, neither they, nor ye, nor your fathers.
4 Howbeit I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and
sending them, saying, Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate.
5 But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear to turn from their wickedness,
to burn no incense unto other gods.
6 Wherefore my wrath and mine anger was poured forth, and was kindled in the
cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they are wasted and
desolate, as it is this day.
7 Therefore now thus saith Jehovah, the God of hosts, the God of Israel:
Wherefore commit ye `this' great evil against your own souls, to cut off from
you man and woman, infant and suckling, out of the midst of Judah, to leave you
none remaining;
8 in that ye provoke me unto anger with the works of your hands, burning incense
unto other gods in the land of Egypt, whither ye are gone to sojourn; that ye
may be cut off, and that ye may be a curse and a reproach among all the nations
of the earth?
9 Have ye forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, and the wickedness of the
kings of Judah, and the wickedness of their wives, and your own wickedness, and
the wickedness of your wives which they committed in the land of Judah, and in
the streets of Jerusalem?
10 They are not humbled even unto this day, neither have they feared, nor walked
in my law, nor in my statutes, that I set before you and before your fathers.
11 Therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will set
my face against you for evil, even to cut off all Judah.
12 And I will take the remnant of Judah, that have set their faces to go into
the land of Egypt to sojourn there, and they shall all be consumed; in the land
of Egypt shall they fall; they shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine;
they shall die, from the least even unto the greatest, by the sword and by the
famine; and they shall be an execration, `and' an astonishment, and a curse, and
a reproach.
13 For I will punish them that dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished
Jerusalem, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence;
14 so that none of the remnant of Judah, that are gone into the land of Egypt to
sojourn there, shall escape or be left, to return into the land of Judah, to
which they have a desire to return to dwell there: for none shall return save
such as shall escape.
15 Then all the men who knew that their wives burned incense unto other gods,
and all the women that stood by, a great assembly, even all the people that
dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying,
16 As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of Jehovah, we will
not hearken unto thee.
17 But we will certainly perform every word that is gone forth out of our mouth,
to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings unto
her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the
cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem; for then had we plenty of
victuals, and were well, and saw no evil.
18 But since we left off burning incense to the queen of heaven, and pouring out
drink-offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by
the sword and by the famine.
19 And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out
drink-offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out
drink-offerings unto her, without our husbands?
20 Then Jeremiah said unto all the people, to the men, and to the women, even to
all the people that had given him that answer, saying,
21 The incense that ye burned in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of
Jerusalem, ye and your fathers, your kings and your princes, and the people of
the land, did not Jehovah remember them, and came it not into his mind?
22 so that Jehovah could not longer bear, because of the evil of your doings,
and because of the abominations which ye have committed; therefore is your land
become a desolation, and an astonishment, and a curse, without inhabitant, as it
is this day.
23 Because ye have burned incense, and because ye have sinned against Jehovah,
and have not obeyed the voice of Jehovah, nor walked in his law, nor in his
statutes, nor in his testimonies; therefore this evil is happened unto you, as
it is this day.
24 Moreover Jeremiah said unto all the people, and to all the women, Hear the
word of Jehovah, all Judah that are in the land of Egypt:
25 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, Ye and your wives
have both spoken with your mouths, and with your hands have fulfilled it,
saying, We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to
the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings unto her: establish then
your vows, and perform your vows.
26 Therefore hear ye the word of Jehovah, all Judah that dwell in the land of
Egypt: Behold, I have sworn by my great name, saith Jehovah, that my name shall
no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt,
saying, As the Lord Jehovah liveth.
27 Behold, I watch over them for evil, and not for good; and all the men of
Judah that are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by the
famine, until there be an end of them.
28 And they that escape the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt into the
land of Judah, few in number; and all the remnant of Judah, that are gone into
the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall know whose word shall stand, mine, or
theirs.
29 And this shall be the sign unto you, saith Jehovah, that I will punish you in
this place, that ye may know that my words shall surely stand against you for
evil:
30 Thus saith Jehovah, Behold, I will give Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the
hand of his enemies, and into the hand of them that seek his life; as I gave
Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, who was
his enemy, and sought his life.
CHAPTER
45
1 The word that Jeremiah the prophet spake unto Baruch the son of Neriah, when
he wrote these word in a book at the mouth of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of
Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying,
2 Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, unto thee, O Baruch:
3 Thou didst say, Woe is me now! for Jehovah hath added sorrow to my pain; I am
weary with my groaning, and I find no rest.
4 Thus shalt thou say unto him, Thus saith Jehovah: Behold, that which I have
built will I break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up; and this
in the whole land.
5 And seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not; for, behold, I will
bring evil upon all flesh, saith Jehovah; but thy life will I give unto thee for
a prey in all places whither thou goest.
CHAPTER
46
1 The word of Jehovah which came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations.
2 Of Egypt: concerning the army of Pharaoh-neco king of Egypt, which was by the
river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon smote in the
fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah.
3 Prepare ye the buckler and shield, and draw near to battle.
4 Harness the horses, and get up, ye horsemen, and stand forth with your
helmets; furbish the spears, put on the coats of mail.
5 Wherefore have I seen it? they are dismayed and are turned backward; and their
mighty ones are beaten down, and are fled apace, and look not back: terror is on
every side, saith Jehovah.
6 Let not the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape; in the north by the
river Euphrates have they stumbled and fallen.
7 Who is this that riseth up like the Nile, whose waters toss themselves like
the rivers?
8 Egypt riseth up like the Nile, and his waters toss themselves like the rivers:
and he saith, I will rise up, I will cover the earth; I will destroy cities and
the inhabitants thereof.
9 Go up, ye horses; and rage, ye chariots; and let the mighty men go forth: Cush
and Put, that handle the shield; and the Ludim, that handle and bend the bow.
10 For that day is `a day' of the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, a day of vengeance,
that he may avenge him of his adversaries: and the sword shall devour and be
satiate, and shall drink its fill of their blood; for the Lord, Jehovah of
hosts, hath a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.
11 Go up into Gilead, and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt: in vain dost
thou use many medicines; there is no healing for thee.
12 The nations have heard of thy shame, and the earth is full of thy cry; for
the mighty man hath stumbled against the mighty, they are fallen both of them
together.
13 The word that Jehovah spake to Jeremiah the prophet, how that Nebuchadrezzar
king of Babylon should come and smite the land of Egypt.
14 Declare ye in Egypt, and publish in Migdol, and publish in Memphis and in
Tahpanhes: say ye, Stand forth, and prepare thee; for the sword hath devoured
round about thee.
15 Why are thy strong ones swept away? they stood not, because Jehovah did drive
them.
16 He made many to stumble, yea, they fell one upon another: and they said,
Arise, and let us go again to our own people, and to the land of our nativity,
from the oppressing sword.
17 They cried there, Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise; he hath let the
appointed time pass by.
18 As I live, saith the King, whose name is Jehovah of hosts, surely like Tabor
among the mountains, and like Carmel by the sea, so shall he come.
19 O thou daughter that dwellest in Egypt, furnish thyself to go into captivity;
for Memphis shall become a desolation, and shall be burnt up, without
inhabitant.
20 Egypt is a very fair heifer; `but' destruction out of the north is come, it
is come.
21 Also her hired men in the midst of her are like calves of the stall; for they
also are turned back, they are fled away together, they did not stand: for the
day of their calamity is come upon them, the time of their visitation.
22 The sound thereof shall go like the serpent; for they shall march with an
army, and come against her with axes, as hewers of wood.
23 They shall cut down her forest, saith Jehovah, though it cannot be searched;
because they are more than the locusts, and are innumerable.
24 The daughter of Egypt shall be put to shame; she shall be delivered into the
hand of the people of the north.
25 Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, saith: Behold, I will punish Amon of No,
and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with her gods, and her kings; even Pharaoh, and them
that trust in him:
26 and I will deliver them into the hand of those that seek their lives, and
into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of his
servants; and afterwards it shall be inhabited, as in the days of old, saith
Jehovah.
27 But fear not thou, O Jacob my servant, neither be dismayed, O Israel: for,
lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity;
and Jacob shall return, and shall be quiet and at ease, and none shall make him
afraid.
28 Fear not thou, O Jacob my servant, saith Jehovah; for I am with thee: for I
will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee; but I will
not make a full end of thee, but I will correct thee in measure, and will in no
wise leave thee unpunished.
CHAPTER
47
1 The word of Jehovah that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the
Philistines, before that Pharaoh smote Gaza.
2 Thus saith Jehovah: Behold, waters rise up out of the north, and shall become
an overflowing stream, and shall overflow the land and all that is therein, the
city and them that dwell therein; and the men shall cry, and all the inhabitants
of the land shall wail.
3 At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his strong ones, at the rushing
of his chariots, at the rumbling of his wheels, the fathers look not back to
their children for feebleness of hands;
4 because of the day that cometh to destroy all the Philistines, to cut off from
Tyre and Sidon every helper that remaineth: for Jehovah will destroy the
Philistines, the remnant of the isle of Caphtor.
5 Baldness is come upon Gaza; Ashkelon is brought to nought, the remnant of
their valley: how long wilt thou cut thyself?
6 O thou sword of Jehovah, how long will it be ere thou be quiet? put up thyself
into thy scabbard; rest, and be still.
7 How canst thou be quiet, seeing Jehovah hath given thee a charge? Against
Ashkelon, and against the sea-shore, there hath he appointed it.
CHAPTER
48
1 Of Moab. Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Woe unto Nebo! for it
is laid waste; Kiriathaim is put to shame, it is taken; Misgab is put to shame
and broken down.
2 The praise of Moab is no more; in Heshbon they have devised evil against her:
Come, and let us cut her off from being a nation. Thou also, O Madmen, shalt be
brought to silence: the sword shall pursue thee.
3 The sound of a cry from Horonaim, desolation and great destruction!
4 Moab is destroyed; her little ones have caused a cry to be heard.
5 For by the ascent of Luhith with continual weeping shall they go up; for at
the descent of Horonaim they have heard the distress of the cry of destruction.
6 Flee, save your lives, and be like the heath in the wilderness.
7 For, because thou hast trusted in thy works and in thy treasures, thou also
shalt be taken: and Chemosh shall go forth into captivity, his priests and his
princes together.
8 And the destroyer shall come upon every city, and no city shall escape; the
valley also shall perish, and the plain shall be destroyed; as Jehovah hath
spoken.
9 Give wings unto Moab, that she may fly and get her away: and her cities shall
become a desolation, without any to dwell therein.
10 Cursed be he that doeth the work of Jehovah negligently; and cursed be he
that keepeth back his sword from blood.
11 Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and he hath settled on his lees, and
hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into
captivity: therefore his taste remaineth in him, and his scent is not changed.
12 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will send unto him
them that pour off, and they shall pour him off; and they shall empty his
vessels, and break their bottles in pieces.
13 And Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of
Beth-el their confidence.
14 How say ye, We are mighty men, and valiant men for the war?
15 Moab is laid waste, and they are gone up into his cities, and his chosen
young men are gone down to the slaughter, saith the King, whose name is Jehovah
of hosts.
16 The calamity of Moab is near to come, and his affliction hasteth fast.
17 All ye that are round about him, bemoan him, and all ye that know his name;
say, How is the strong staff broken, the beautiful rod!
18 O thou daughter that dwellest in Dibon, come down from thy glory, and sit in
thirst; for the destroyer of Moab is come up against thee, he hath destroyed thy
strongholds.
19 O inhabitant of Aroer, stand by the way, and watch: ask him that fleeth, and
her that escapeth; say, What hath been done?
20 Moab is put to shame; for it is broken down: wail and cry; tell ye it by the
Arnon, that Moab is laid waste.
21 And judgment is come upon the plain country, upon Holon, and upon Jahzah, and
upon Mephaath,
22 and upon Dibon, and upon Nebo, and upon Beth-diblathaim,
23 and upon Kiriathaim, and upon Beth-gamul, and upon Beth-meon,
24 and upon Kerioth, and upon Bozrah, and upon all the cities of the land of
Moab, far or near.
25 The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken, saith Jehovah.
26 Make ye him drunken; for he magnified himself against Jehovah: and Moab shall
wallow in his vomit, and he also shall be in derision.
27 For was not Israel a derision unto thee? was he found among thieves? for as
often as thou speakest of him, thou waggest the head.
28 O ye inhabitants of Moab, leave the cities, and dwell in the rock; and be
like the dove that maketh her nest over the mouth of the abyss.
29 We have heard of the pride of Moab, `that' he is very proud; his loftiness,
and his pride, and his arrogancy, and the haughtiness of his heart.
30 I know his wrath, saith Jehovah, that it is nought; his boastings have
wrought nothing.
31 Therefore will I wail for Moab; yea, I will cry out for all Moab: for the men
of Kir-heres shall they mourn.
32 With more than the weeping of Jazer will I weep for thee, O vine of Sibmah:
thy branches passed over the sea, they reached even to the sea of Jazer: upon
thy summer fruits and upon thy vintage the destroyer is fallen.
33 And gladness and joy is taken away from the fruitful field and from the land
of Moab; and I have caused wine to cease from the winepresses: none shall tread
with shouting; the shouting shall be no shouting.
34 From the cry of Heshbon even unto Elealeh, even unto Jahaz have they uttered
their voice, from Zoar even unto Horonaim, to Eglath-shelishiyah: for the waters
of Nimrim also shall become desolate.
35 Moreover I will cause to cease in Moab, saith Jehovah, him that offereth in
the high place, and him that burneth incense to his gods.
36 Therefore my heart soundeth for Moab like pipes, and my heart soundeth like
pipes for the men of Kir-heres: therefore the abundance that he hath gotten is
perished.
37 For every head is bald, and every beard clipped: upon all the hands are
cuttings, and upon the loins sackcloth.
38 On all the housetops of Moab and in the streets thereof there is lamentation
every where; for I have broken Moab like a vessel wherein none delighteth, saith
Jehovah.
39 How is it broken down! `how' do they wail! how hath Moab turned the back with
shame! so shall Moab become a derision and a terror to all that are round about
him.
40 For thus saith Jehovah: Behold, he shall fly as an eagle, and shall spread
out his wings against Moab.
41 Kerioth is taken, and the strongholds are seized, and the heart of the mighty
men of Moab at that day shall be as the heart of a woman in her pangs.
42 And Moab shall be destroyed from being a people, because he hath magnified
himself against Jehovah.
43 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of Moab, saith
Jehovah.
44 He that fleeth from the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that getteth up
out of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for I will bring upon him, even upon
Moab, the year of their visitation, saith Jehovah.
45 They that fled stand without strength under the shadow of Heshbon; for a fire
is gone forth out of Heshbon, and a flame from the midst of Sihon, and hath
devoured the corner of Moab, and the crown of the head of the tumultuous ones.
46 Woe unto thee, O Moab! the people of Chemosh is undone; for thy sons are
taken away captive, and thy daughters into captivity.
47 Yet will I bring back the captivity of Moab in the latter days, saith
Jehovah. Thus far is the judgment of Moab.
CHAPTER
49
1 Of the children of Ammon. Thus saith Jehovah: Hath Israel no sons? hath he no
heir? why then doth Malcam possess Gad, and his people well in the cities
thereof?
2 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will cause an alarm of
war to be heard against Rabbah of the children of Ammon; and it shall become a
desolate heap, and her daughters shall be burned with fire: then shall Israel
possess them that did possess him, saith Jehovah.
3 Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai is laid waste; cry, ye daughters of Rabbah, gird you
with sackcloth: lament, and run to and fro among the fences; for Malcam shall go
into captivity, his priests and his princes together.
4 Wherefore gloriest thou in the valleys, thy flowing valley, O backsliding
daughter? that trusted in her treasures, `saying', Who shall come unto me?
5 Behold, I will bring a fear upon thee, saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, from
all that are round about thee; and ye shall be driven out every man right forth,
and there shall be none to gather together the fugitives.
6 But afterward I will bring back the captivity of the children of Ammon, saith
Jehovah.
7 Of Edom. Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Is wisdom no more in Teman? is counsel
perished from the prudent? is their wisdom vanished?
8 Flee ye, turn back, dwell in the depths, O inhabitants of Dedan; for I will
bring the calamity of Esau upon him, the time that I shall visit him.
9 If grape-gatherers came to thee, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? if
thieves by night, would they not destroy till they had enough?
10 But I have made Esau bare, I have uncovered his secret places, and he shall
not be able to hide himself: his seed is destroyed, and his brethren, and his
neighbors; and he is not.
11 Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive; and let thy widows
trust in me.
12 For thus saith Jehovah: Behold, they to whom it pertained not to drink of the
cup shall assuredly drink; and art thou he that shall altogether go unpunished?
thou shalt not go unpunished, but thou shalt surely drink.
13 For I have sworn by myself, saith Jehovah, that Bozrah shall become an
astonishment, a reproach, a waste, and a curse; and all the cities thereof shall
be perpetual wastes.
14 I have heard tidings from Jehovah, and an ambassador is sent among the
nations, `saying', Gather yourselves together, and come against her, and rise up
to the battle.
15 For, behold, I have made thee small among the nations, and despised among
men.
16 As for thy terribleness, the pride of thy heart hath deceived thee, O thou
that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, that holdest the height of the hill:
though thou shouldest make thy nest as high as the eagle, I will bring thee down
from thence, saith Jehovah.
17 And Edom shall become an astonishment: every one that passeth by it shall be
astonished, and shall hiss at all the plagues thereof.
18 As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbor cities thereof,
saith Jehovah, no man shall dwell there, neither shall any son of man sojourn
therein.
19 Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the pride of the Jordan against the
strong habitation: for I will suddenly make them run away from it; and whoso is
chosen, him will I appoint over it: for who is like me? and who will appoint me
a time? and who is the shepherd that will stand before me?
20 Therefore hear ye the counsel of Jehovah, that he hath taken against Edom;
and his purposes, that he hath purposed against the inhabitants of Teman: Surely
they shall drag them away, `even' the little ones of the flock; surely he shall
make their habitation desolate over them.
21 The earth trembleth at the noise of their fall; there is a cry, the noise
whereof is heard in the Red Sea.
22 Behold, he shall come up and fly as the eagle, and spread out his wings
against Bozrah: and the heart of the mighty men of Edom at that day shall be as
the heart of a woman in her pangs.
23 Of Damascus. Hamath is confounded, and Arpad; for they have heard evil
tidings, they are melted away: there is sorrow on the sea; it cannot be quiet.
24 Damascus is waxed feeble, she turneth herself to flee, and trembling hath
seized on her: anguish and sorrows have taken hold of her, as of a woman in
travail.
25 How is the city of praise not forsaken, the city of my joy?
26 Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war
shall be brought to silence in that day, saith Jehovah of hosts.
27 And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall devour the
palaces of Ben-hadad.
28 Of Kedar, and of the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon
smote. Thus saith Jehovah: Arise ye, go up to Kedar, and destroy the children of
the east.
29 Their tents and their flocks shall they take; they shall carry away for
themselves their curtains, and all their vessels, and their camels; and they
shall cry unto them, Terror on every side!
30 Flee ye, wander far off, dwell in the depths, O ye inhabitants of Hazor,
saith Jehovah; for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath taken counsel against
you, and hath conceived a purpose against you.
31 Arise, get you up unto a nation that is at ease, that dwelleth without care,
saith Jehovah; that have neither gates nor bars, that dwell alone.
32 And their camels shall be a booty, and the multitude of their cattle a spoil:
and I will scatter unto all winds them that have the corners `of their hair' cut
off; and I will bring their calamity from every side of them, saith Jehovah.
33 And Hazor shall be a dwelling-place of jackals, a desolation for ever: no man
shall dwell there, neither shall any son of man sojourn therein.
34 The word of Jehovah that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam, in the
beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying,
35 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the chief
of their might.
36 And upon Elam will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven,
and will scatter them toward all those winds; and there shall be no nation
whither the outcasts of Elam shall not come.
37 And I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies, and before them
that seek their life; and I will bring evil upon them, even my fierce anger,
saith Jehovah; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them;
38 and I will set my throne in Elam, and will destroy from thence king and
princes, saith Jehovah.
39 But it shall come to pass in the latter days, that I will bring back the
captivity of Elam, saith Jehovah.
CHAPTER
50
1 The word that Jehovah spake concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the
Chaldeans, by Jeremiah the prophet.
2 Declare ye among the nations and publish, and set up a standard; publish, and
conceal not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is put to shame, Merodach is dismayed;
her images are put to shame, her idols are dismayed.
3 For out of the north there cometh up a nation against her, which shall make
her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they are fled, they are gone,
both man and beast.
4 In those days, and in that time, saith Jehovah, the children of Israel shall
come, they and the children of Judah together; they shall go on their way
weeping, and shall seek Jehovah their God.
5 They shall inquire concerning Zion with their faces thitherward, `saying',
Come ye, and join yourselves to Jehovah in an everlasting covenant that shall
not be forgotten.
6 My people have been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray;
they have turned them away on the mountains; they have gone from mountain to
hill; they have forgotten their resting-place.
7 All that found them have devoured them; and their adversaries said, We are not
guilty, because they have sinned against Jehovah, the habitation of
righteousness, even Jehovah, the hope of their fathers.
8 Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the
Chaldeans, and be as the he-goats before the flocks.
9 For, lo, I will stir up and cause to come up against Babylon a company of
great nations from the north country; and they shall set themselves in array
against her; from thence she shall be taken: their arrows shall be as of an
expert mighty man; none shall return in vain.
10 And Chaldea shall be a prey: all that prey upon her shall be satisfied, saith
Jehovah.
11 Because ye are glad, because ye rejoice, O ye that plunder my heritage,
because ye are wanton as a heifer that treadeth out `the grain', and neigh as
strong horses;
12 your mother shall be utterly put to shame; she that bare you shall be
confounded: behold, she shall be the hindermost of the nations, a wilderness, a
dry land, and a desert.
13 Because of the wrath of Jehovah she shall not be inhabited, but she shall be
wholly desolate: every one that goeth by Babylon shall be astonished, and hiss
at all her plagues.
14 Set yourselves in array against Babylon round about, all ye that bend the
bow; shoot at her, spare no arrows: for she hath sinned against Jehovah.
15 Shout against her round about: she hath submitted herself; her bulwarks are
fallen, her walls are thrown down; for it is the vengeance of Jehovah: take
vengeance upon her; as she hath done, do unto her.
16 Cut off the sower from Babylon, and him that handleth the sickle in the time
of harvest: for fear of the oppressing sword they shall turn every one to his
people, and they shall flee every one to his own land.
17 Israel is a hunted sheep; the lions have driven him away: first, the king of
Assyria devoured him; and now at last Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath broken
his bones.
18 Therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will
punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria.
19 And I will bring Israel again to his pasture, and he shall feed on Carmel and
Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied upon the hills of Ephraim and in Gilead.
20 In those days, and in that time, saith Jehovah, the iniquity of Israel shall
be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall
not be found: for I will pardon them whom I leave as a remnant.
21 Go up against the land of Merathaim, even against it, and against the
inhabitants of Pekod: slay and utterly destroy after them, saith Jehovah, and do
according to all that I have commanded thee.
22 A sound of battle is in the land, and of great destruction.
23 How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken! how is Babylon
become a desolation among the nations!
24 I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon, and thou
wast not aware: thou art found, and also caught, because thou hast striven
against Jehovah.
25 Jehovah hath opened his armory, and hath brought forth the weapons of his
indignation; for the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, hath a work `to do' in the land of
the Chaldeans.
26 Come against her from the utmost border; open her store-houses; cast her up
as heaps, and destroy her utterly; let nothing of her be left.
27 Slay all her bullocks; let them go down to the slaughter: woe unto them! for
their day is come, the time of their visitation.
28 The voice of them that flee and escape out of the land of Babylon, to declare
in Zion the vengeance of Jehovah our God, the vengeance of his temple.
29 Call together the archers against Babylon, all them that bend the bow; encamp
against her round about; let none thereof escape: recompense her according to
her work; according to all that she hath done, do unto her; for she hath been
proud against Jehovah, against the Holy One of Israel.
30 Therefore shall her young men fall in her streets, and all her men of war
shall be brought to silence in that day, saith Jehovah.
31 Behold, I am against thee, O thou proud one, saith the Lord, Jehovah of
hosts; for thy day is come, the time that I will visit thee.
32 And the proud one shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise him up; and I
will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all that are round about
him.
33 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: The children of Israel and the children of Judah
are oppressed together; and all that took them captive hold them fast; they
refuse to let them go.
34 Their Redeemer is strong; Jehovah of hosts is his name: he will thoroughly
plead their cause, that he may give rest to the earth, and disquiet the
inhabitants of Babylon.
35 A sword is upon the Chaldeans, saith Jehovah, and upon the inhabitants of
Babylon, and upon her princes, and upon her wise men.
36 A sword is upon the boasters, and they shall become fools; a sword is upon
her mighty men, and they shall be dismayed.
37 A sword is upon their horses, and upon their chariots, and upon all the
mingled people that are in the midst of her; and they shall become as women: a
sword is upon her treasures, and they shall be robbed.
38 A drought is upon her waters, and they shall be dried up; for it is a land of
graven images, and they are mad over idols.
39 Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wolves shall dwell there,
and the ostriches shall dwell therein: and it shall be no more inhabited for
ever; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation.
40 As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbor cities thereof,
saith Jehovah, so shall no man dwell there, neither shall any son of man sojourn
therein.
41 Behold, a people cometh from the north; and a great nation and many kings
shall be stirred up from the uttermost parts of the earth.
42 They lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel, and have no mercy; their
voice roareth like the sea; and they ride upon horses, every one set in array,
as a man to the battle, against thee, O daughter of Babylon.
43 The king of Babylon hath heard the tidings of them, and his hands wax feeble:
anguish hath taken hold of him, `and' pangs as of a woman in travail.
44 Behold, `the enemy' shall come up like a lion from the pride of the Jordan
against the strong habitation: for I will suddenly make them run away from it;
and whoso is chosen, him will I appoint over it: for who is like me? and who
will appoint me a time? and who is the shepherd that can stand before me?
45 Therefore hear ye the counsel of Jehovah, that he hath taken against Babylon;
and his purposes, that he hath purposed against the land of the Chaldeans:
Surely they shall drag them away, `even' the little ones of the flock; surely he
shall make their habitation desolate over them.
46 At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth trembleth, and the cry is
heard among the nations.
CHAPTER
51
1 Thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against them
that dwell in Leb-kamai, a destroying wind.
2 And I will send unto Babylon strangers, that shall winnow her; and they shall
empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about.
3 Against `him that' bendeth let the archer bend his bow, and against `him that'
lifteth himself up in his coat of mail: and spare ye not her young men; destroy
ye utterly all her host.
4 And they shall fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans, and thrust
through in her streets.
5 For Israel is not forsaken, nor Judah, of his God, of Jehovah of hosts; though
their land is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel.
6 Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and save every man his life; be not cut off
in her iniquity: for it is the time of Jehovah's vengeance; he will render unto
her a recompense.
7 Babylon hath been a golden cup in Jehovah's hand, that made all the earth
drunken: the nations have drunk of her wine; therefore the nations are mad.
8 Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: wail for her; take balm for her
pain, if so be she may be healed.
9 We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us
go every one into his own country; for her judgment reacheth unto heaven, and is
lifted up even to the skies.
10 Jehovah hath brought forth our righteousness: come, and let us declare in
Zion the work of Jehovah our God.
11 Make sharp the arrows; hold firm the shields: Jehovah hath stirred up the
spirit of the kings of the Medes; because his purpose is against Babylon, to
destroy it: for it is the vengeance of Jehovah, the vengeance of his temple.
12 Set up a standard against the walls of Babylon, make the watch strong, set
the watchmen, prepare the ambushes; for Jehovah hath both purposed and done that
which he spake concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.
13 O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is
come, the measure of thy covetousness.
14 Jehovah of hosts hath sworn by himself, `saying', Surely I will fill thee
with men, as with the canker-worm; and they shall lift up a shout against thee.
15 He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his
wisdom, and by his understanding hath he stretched out the heavens:
16 when he uttereth his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and
he causeth the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings
for the rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasuries.
17 Every man is become brutish `and is' without knowledge; every goldsmith is
put to shame by his image; for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no
breath in them.
18 They are vanity, a work of delusion: in the time of their visitation they
shall perish.
19 The portion of Jacob is not like these; for he is the former of all things;
and `Israel' is the tribe of his inheritance: Jehovah of hosts is his name.
20 Thou art my battle-axe and weapons of war: and with thee will I break in
pieces the nations; and with thee will I destroy kingdoms;
21 and with thee will I break in pieces the horse and his rider;
22 and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and him that rideth therein;
and with thee will I break in pieces man and woman; and with thee will I break
in pieces the old man and the youth; and with thee will I break in pieces the
young man and the virgin;
23 and with thee will I break in pieces the shepherd and his flock; and with
thee will I break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke `of oxen'; and with thee
will I break in pieces governors and deputies.
24 And I will render unto Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all
their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight, saith Jehovah.
25 Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith Jehovah, which
destroyest all the earth; and I will stretch out my hand upon thee, and roll
thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain.
26 And they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for
foundations; but thou shalt be desolate for ever, saith Jehovah.
27 Set ye up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, prepare
the nations against her, call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni,
and Ashkenaz: appoint a marshal against her; cause the horses to come up as the
rough canker-worm.
28 Prepare against her the nations, the kings of the Medes, the governors
thereof, and all the deputies thereof, and all the land of their dominion.
29 And the land trembleth and is in pain; for the purposes of Jehovah against
Babylon do stand, to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant.
30 The mighty men of Babylon have forborne to fight, they remain in their
strongholds; their might hath failed; they are become as women: her
dwelling-places are set on fire; her bars are broken.
31 One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to met another, to show
the king of Babylon that his city is taken on every quarter:
32 and the passages are seized, and the reeds they have burned with fire, and
the men of war are affrighted.
33 For thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: The daughter of Babylon
is like a threshing-floor at the time when it is trodden; yet a little while,
and the time of harvest shall come for her.
34 Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon hath devoured me, he hath crushed me, he
hath made me an empty vessel, he hath, like a monster, swallowed me up, he hath
filled his maw with my delicacies; he hath cast me out.
35 The violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon, shall the inhabitant
of Zion say; and, My blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, shall Jerusalem
say.
36 Therefore thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I will plead thy cause, and take
vengeance for thee; and I will dry up her sea, and make her fountain dry.
37 And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwelling-place for jackals, an
astonishment, and a hissing, without inhabitant.
38 They shall roar together like young lions; they shall growl as lions' whelps.
39 When they are heated, I will make their feast, and I will make them drunken,
that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith Jehovah.
40 I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with he-goats.
41 How is Sheshach taken! and the praise of the whole earth seized! how is
Babylon become a desolation among the nations!
42 The sea is come up upon Babylon; she is covered with the multitude of the
waves thereof.
43 Her cities are become a desolation, a dry land, and a desert, a land wherein
no man dwelleth, neither doth any son of man pass thereby.
44 And I will execute judgment upon Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out
of his mouth that which he hath swallowed up; and the nations shall not flow any
more unto him: yea, the wall of Babylon shall fall.
45 My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and save yourselves every man from
the fierce anger of Jehovah.
46 And let not your heart faint, neither fear ye for the tidings that shall be
heard in the land; for tidings shall come one year, and after that in another
year `shall come' tidings, and violence in the land, ruler against ruler.
47 Therefore, behold, the days come, that I will execute judgment upon the
graven images of Babylon; and her whole land shall be confounded; and all her
slain shall fall in the midst of her.
48 Then the heavens and the earth, and all that is therein, shall sing for joy
over Babylon; for the destroyers shall come unto her from the north, saith
Jehovah.
49 As Babylon hath caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fall
the slain of all the land.
50 Ye that have escaped the sword, go ye, stand not still; remember Jehovah from
afar, and let Jerusalem come into your mind.
51 We are confounded, because we have heard reproach; confusion hath covered our
faces: for strangers are come into the sanctuaries of Jehovah's house.
52 Wherefore, behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will execute judgment
upon her graven images; and through all her land the wounded shall groan.
53 Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify the
height of her strength, yet from me shall destroyers come unto her, saith
Jehovah.
54 The sound of a cry from Babylon, and of great destruction from the land of
the Chaldeans!
55 For Jehovah layeth Babylon waste, and destroyeth out of her the great voice;
and their waves roar like many waters; the noise of their voice is uttered:
56 for the destroyer is come upon her, even upon Babylon, and her mighty men are
taken, their bows are broken in pieces; for Jehovah is a God of recompenses, he
will surely requite.
57 And I will make drunk her princes and her wise men, her governors and her
deputies, and her mighty men; and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not
wake, saith the King, whose name is Jehovah of hosts.
58 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly
overthrown, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and the peoples shall
labor for vanity, and the nations for the fire; and they shall be weary.
59 The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the
son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah to Babylon in the
fourth year of his reign. Now Seraiah was chief chamberlain.
60 And Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come upon Babylon, even
all these words that are written concerning Babylon.
61 And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When thou comest to Babylon, then see that thou
read all these words,
62 and say, O Jehovah, thou hast spoken concerning this place, to cut it off,
that none shall dwell therein, neither man nor beast, but that it shall be
desolate for ever.
63 And it shall be, when thou hast made an end of reading this book, that thou
shalt bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates:
64 and thou shalt say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise again because
of the evil that I will bring upon her; and they shall be weary. Thus far are
the words of Jeremiah.
CHAPTER
52
1 Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign; and he reigned
eleven years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Hamutal the daughter of
Jeremiah of Libnah.
2 And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, according to all that
Jehoiakim had done.
3 For through the anger of Jehovah did it come to pass in Jerusalem and Judah,
until he had cast them out from his presence. And Zedekiah rebelled against the
king of Babylon.
4 And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the
tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his
army, against Jerusalem, and encamped against it; and they built forts against
it round about.
5 So the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of king Zedekiah.
6 In the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the famine was sore in the
city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land.
7 Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled, and went
forth out of the city by night by the way of the gate between the two walls,
which was by the king's garden; (now the Chaldeans were against the city round
about;) and they went toward the Arabah.
8 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king, and overtook Zedekiah in
the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him.
9 Then they took the king, and carried him up unto the king of Babylon to Riblah
in the land of Hamath; and he gave judgment upon him.
10 And the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes: he slew
also all the princes of Judah in Riblah.
11 And he put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him in
fetters, and carried him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his
death.
12 Now in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month, which was the
nineteenth year of king Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan the
captain of the guard, who stood before the king of Babylon, into Jerusalem:
13 and he burned the house of Jehovah, and the king's house; and all the houses
of Jerusalem, even every great house, burned he with fire.
14 And all the army of the Chaldeans, that were with the captain of the guard,
brake down all the walls of Jerusalem round about.
15 Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the poorest
of the people, and the residue of the people that were left in the city, and
those that fell away, that fell to the king of Babylon, and the residue of the
multitude.
16 But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left of the poorest of the land to
be vinedressers and husbandmen.
17 And the pillars of brass that were in the house of Jehovah, and the bases and
the brazen sea that were in the house of Jehovah, did the Chaldeans break in
pieces, and carried all the brass of them to Babylon.
18 The pots also, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the basins, and the
spoons, and all the vessels of brass wherewith they ministered, took they away.
19 And the cups, and the firepans, and the basins, and the pots, and the
candlesticks, and the spoons, and the bowls-that which was of gold, in gold, and
that which was of silver, in silver,- the captain of the guard took away.
20 The two pillars, the one sea, and the twelve brazen bulls that were under the
bases, which king Solomon had made for the house of Jehovah-the brass of all
these vessels was without weight.
21 And as for the pillars, the height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits; and
a line of twelve cubits did compass it; and the thickness thereof was four
fingers: it was hollow.
22 And a capital of brass was upon it; and the height of the one capital was
five cubits, with network and pomegranates upon the capital round about, all of
brass: and the second pillar also had like unto these, and pomegranates.
23 And there were ninety and six pomegranates on the sides; all the pomegranates
were a hundred upon the network round about.
24 And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the
second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold:
25 and out of the city he took an officer that was set over the men of war; and
seven men of them that saw the king's face, that were found in the city; and the
scribe of the captain of the host, who mustered the people of the land; and
threescore men of the people of the land, that were found in the midst of the
city.
26 And Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them, and brought them to the
king of Babylon to Riblah.
27 And the king of Babylon smote them, and put them to death at Riblah in the
land of Hamath. So Judah was carried away captive out of his land.
28 This is the people whom Nebuchadrezzar carried away captive: in the seventh
year three thousand Jews and three and twenty;
29 in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar he carried away captive from
Jerusalem eight hundred thirty and two persons;
30 in the three and twentieth year of Nebuchadrezzar Nebuzaradan the captain of
the guard carried away captive of the Jews seven hundred forty and five persons:
all the persons were four thousand and six hundred.
31 And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of
Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, in the five and twentieth day of
the month, that Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the `first' year of his reign,
lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah, and brought him forth out of
prison;
32 and he spake kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings
that were with him in Babylon,
33 and changed his prison garments. And `Jehoiachin' did eat bread before him
continually all the days of his life:
34 and for his allowance, there was a continual allowance given him by the king
of Babylon, every day a portion until the day of his death, all the days of his
life.
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