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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 the LORD came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king
of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.
3 It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, unto
the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah; unto
the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month.
4 ¶ Now the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee, and before thou camest forth
out of the womb I sanctified thee; I have appointed thee a prophet unto the
nations.
6 Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child.
7 But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for to whomsoever I shall
send thee thou shalt go, and whatsoever I shall command thee thou shalt speak.
8 Be not afraid because of them: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the
LORD.
9 Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth; and the LORD said unto
me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth:
10 see, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to
pluck up and to break down, and to destroy and to overthrow; to build, and to
plant.
11 ¶ Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what seest
thou? And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree.
12 Then said the LORD unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I watch over my word to
perform it.
13 And the word of the LORD came unto me the second time, saying, What seest
thou? And I said, I see a seething caldron; and the face thereof is from the
north.
14 Then the LORD 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 the
LORD; and they shall come, and they shall set every one his throne at the
entering of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all the walls thereof round
about, and against all the cities of Judah.
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 defenced city, and an iron pillar,
and brasen walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against
the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the
land.
19 And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee:
for I am with thee, saith the LORD, to deliver thee.
CHAPTER
2
1 ¶ And the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
2 Go, and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD, I remember
for thee the 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 the LORD, the firstfruits of his increase: all that
devour him shall be held guilty; evil shall come upon them, saith the LORD.
4 Hear ye the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the
house of Israel:
5 thus saith the LORD, What unrighteousness have your fathers found in me, that
they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain?
6 Neither said they, Where is the LORD that brought us up out of the land of
Egypt; that led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of
pits, through a land of drought and of the shadow of death, through a land that
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 mine
heritage an abomination.
8 The priests said not, Where is the LORD? 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 plead with you, saith the LORD, and with your
children’s children will I plead.
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 [their] 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 the LORD.
13 For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of
living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no
water.
14 ¶ Is Israel a servant? is he a homeborn [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 Noph and Tahpanhes have broken the crown of thy head.
17 Hast thou not procured this unto thyself, in that thou hast forsaken the LORD
thy God, when he led thee by the way?
18 And now what hast thou to do in the way to Egypt, to drink the waters of
Shihor? or what hast thou to do in the way to Assyria, to drink the waters of
the River?
19 Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove
thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and a bitter, that thou
hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord,
the LORD of hosts.
20 ¶ For of old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bands; 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 plant of a strange 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 GOD.
23 How canst thou say, I am not defiled, I have not gone after the Baalim? see
thy way in the valley, know what thou hast done: [thou art] a swift 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, There is no hope: no; for I have loved strangers, and after them will I
go.
26 As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed;
they, their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets;
27 which 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 plead with me? ye all have transgressed against me,
saith the LORD.
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 the LORD. 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 maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? yet my people have
forgotten me days without number.
33 How trimmest thou thy way to seek love! therefore even the wicked women hast
thou taught thy ways.
34 Also, in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the innocent poor: I
have not found it at the place of breaking in, but upon all these.
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 him also shalt thou go forth, with thine hands upon thine head: for the
LORD hath rejected thy confidences, and thou shalt not prosper in them.
CHAPTER
3
1 ¶ They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become
another man’s, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly
polluted? But thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to
me, saith the LORD.
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 hadst a whore’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 the LORD 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 the LORD.
11 And the LORD said unto me, Backsliding Israel hath shewn herself more
righteous than treacherous Judah.
12 ¶ Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou
backsliding Israel, saith the LORD; I will not look in anger upon you: for I am
merciful, saith the LORD, I will not keep [anger] for ever.
13 Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD
thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree,
and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD.
14 Return, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; 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 mine heart, which shall feed you
with knowledge and understanding.
16 And it shall come to pass, when ye be multiplied and increased in the land,
in those days, saith the LORD, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant
of the LORD; neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it;
neither shall they visit it; neither shall [that] be done any more.
17 At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all the
nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem:
neither shall they walk any more after the stubbornness of their evil heart.
18 In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and
they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I gave
for an inheritance unto your fathers.
19 But I said, How shall I 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 the LORD.
21 A voice is heard upon the bare heights, the weeping [and] the supplications
of the children of Israel; for that they have perverted their way, they have
forgotten the LORD their God.
22 Return, ye backsliding children, I will heal your backslidings, Behold, we
are come unto thee; for thou art the LORD our God.
23 Truly in vain is [the help that is looked for] from the hills, the tumult on
the mountains: truly in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel.
24 But the shameful thing hath devoured the labour of our fathers from our
youth; their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.
25 Let us lie down in our shame, and let our confusion cover us: for we have
sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto
this day: and we have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.
CHAPTER
4
1 ¶ If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the LORD, unto me shalt thou return:
and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight, then shalt thou
not be removed;
2 and thou shalt swear, As the LORD liveth, in truth, in judgment, and in
righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall
they glory.
3 ¶ For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, Break up your
fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.
4 Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart,
ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury go forth like fire,
and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
5 ¶ Declare ye in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem; and say, Blow ye the trumpet
in the land: cry aloud and say? Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the
fenced 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 howl: for the fierce anger of the
LORD is not turned back from us.
9 And it shall come to pass at that day, saith the LORD, that the heart of the
king shall perish, and the heart of the princes; and the priests shall be
astonished, and the prophets shall wonder.
10 Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! surely thou hast greatly deceived this people and
Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall have peace; whereas the sword reacheth unto the
soul.
11 At that time shall it be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A hot wind
from the bare heights in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not to
fan, 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 spoiled.
14 O Jerusalem, wash thine 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 the LORD.
18 Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee; this is thy
wickedness; for it is bitter, for it reacheth unto thine heart.
19 ¶ My bowels, my bowels! 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 spoiled:
suddenly are my tents spoiled, [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 is foolish, they know me not; they are sottish children, and
they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have
no knowledge.
23 I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was waste and void; and the heavens, and they
had no light.
24 I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved to
and fro.
25 I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were
fled.
26 I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful field was a wilderness, and all the cities
thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, [and] before his fierce
anger.
27 For thus saith the LORD, The whole land shall be 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 The whole 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 spoiled, 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 the LORD liveth; surely they swear falsely.
3 O LORD, 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 the LORD, nor the judgment of their God:
5 I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they know the
way of the LORD, and the judgment of their God. But these with one accord have
broken the yoke, and burst the bands.
6 Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, a wolf of the evenings
shall spoil them, a leopard shall watch over their cities, every one that goeth
out thence shall be torn in pieces: because their transgressions are many, [and]
their backslidings are increased.
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 in the morning: every one neighed after his
neighbour’s wife.
9 shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: 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 the LORD’S.
11 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously
against me, saith the LORD.
12 They have denied the LORD, and said, It is not he; neither shall evil come
upon us; neither shall we see sword nor famine:
13 and the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them: thus shall
it be done unto them.
14 Wherefore thus saith the LORD, the God of hosts, Because ye speak this word,
behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it
shall devour them.
15 Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, saith the
LORD: it is 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 thine harvest and thy bread, [which] thy sons and thy
daughters should eat: they shall eat up thy flocks and thine herds: they shall
eat up thy vines and thy fig trees: they shall beat down thy fenced cities,
wherein thou trustest, with the sword.
18 But even in those days, saith the LORD, I will not make a full end with you.
19 And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Wherefore hath the LORD our God
done all these things unto us? then shalt thou say unto them, Like as ye have
forsaken me, and served strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers
in a land that is not yours.
20 ¶ Declare ye this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying,
21 Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes,
and see not; which have ears, and hear not:
22 Fear ye not me? saith the LORD: will ye not tremble at my presence, which
have placed the sand for the bound of the sea, by a perpetual decree, that it
cannot pass it? and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not
prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it.
23 But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted
and gone.
24 Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God, that
giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in its season; that reserveth 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 waxen rich.
28 They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass in deeds of wickedness:
they plead not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they should prosper;
and the right of the needy do they not judge.
29 shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: 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 the LORD of hosts said, Hew ye down trees, and cast up a mount
against Jerusalem: this is the city to be visited; she is wholly oppression in
the midst of her.
7 As a well casteth forth her waters, so she casteth forth her wickedness:
violence and spoil 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 the LORD of hosts, They shall throughly glean the remnant of
Israel as a vine: turn again thine hand as a grapegatherer 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 the LORD is become
unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it.
11 Therefore I am full of the fury of the LORD; I am weary with holding in: pour
it out upon the 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
the LORD.
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 lightly, 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 the LORD.
16 Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths,
where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls:
but they said, We will not walk [therein].
17 And I set watchmen over you, [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 the LORD, Behold, I will lay stumblingblocks before this
people: and the fathers and the sons together shall stumble against them; the
neighbour and his friend shall perish.
22 Thus saith the LORD, 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 fame 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 [there is] the sword of
the enemy, [and] terror on every side.
26 O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth, and wallow thyself in
ashes: make thee mourning, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation; for the
spoiler shall suddenly come upon us.
27 I have made thee a tower [and] a fortress among my people; that thou mayest
know and try their way.
28 They are all grievous revolters, going about with slanders; they are brass
and iron: they all of them deal corruptly.
29 The bellows blow fiercely; the lead is consumed of the fire: in vain do they
go on refining; for the wicked are not plucked away.
30 Refuse silver shall men call them, because the LORD hath rejected them.
CHAPTER
7
1 ¶ The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
2 Stand in the gate of the LORD’S house, and proclaim there this word, and
say, Hear the word of the LORD, all ye of Judah, that enter in at these gates to
worship the LORD.
3 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your
doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.
4 Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the LORD, the temple of the
LORD, the temple of the LORD, are these.
5 For if ye throughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye throughly execute
judgment between a man and his neighbour;
6 if ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not
innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your 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 whom 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 the LORD.
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 the LORD, 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 have
done to Shiloh.
15 And I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brethren,
even the whole seed of Ephraim.
16 ¶ Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer
for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee.
17 Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of
Jerusalem?
18 The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women
knead the dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink
offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.
19 Do they provoke me to anger? saith the LORD; [do they] not [provoke]
themselves, to the confusion of their own faces?
20 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD: Behold, mine anger and my fury shall be
poured out upon this place, upon man, and upon beast, and upon the trees of the
field, and upon the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be
quenched.
21 ¶ Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Add your burnt offerings
unto your sacrifices, and eat ye flesh.
22 For I 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 the LORD their God, nor received instruction: truth is perished,
and is cut off from their mouth.
29 ¶ Cut off thine hair, [O Jerusalem], and cast it away, and take up a
lamentation on the bare heights; for the LORD hath rejected and forsaken the
generation of his wrath.
30 For the children of Judah have done that which is evil in my sight, saith the
LORD: they have set their 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 the LORD, that it shall no more be
called Topheth, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of
Slaughter: for they shall bury in Topheth, till there be no place [to bury].
33 And the carcases of this people shall be meat for the fowls of the heaven,
and for the beasts of the earth; and none shall fray them away.
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 the LORD, they shall bring out the bones of the kings
of Judah, and the bones of his princes, and the bones of the priests, and the
bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of
their graves:
2 and they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the host of
heaven, whom they have loved, and whom they have served, and after whom they
have walked, and whom they have sought, and whom they have worshipped: they
shall not be gathered, nor be buried; they shall be for dung upon the face of
the earth.
3 And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue that remain of
this evil family, which remain in all the places whither I have driven them,
saith the LORD of hosts.
4 ¶ Moreover thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD: 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 heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and
the swallow and the crane observe the time of their coming; but my people know
not the ordinance of the LORD.
8 How do ye say, We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us? But, behold,
the false pen of the scribes hath wrought falsely.
9 The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken: lo, they have rejected
the word of the LORD; 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 lightly, 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 the LORD.
13 ¶ I will utterly consume them, saith the LORD: there shall be no grapes on
the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; and [the things
that] I have given them shall pass away from them.
14 Why do we sit still? assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the defenced
cities, and let us be silent there: for the LORD our God hath put us to silence,
and given us water of gall to drink, because we have sinned against the LORD.
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, basilisks, among you, which will not be
charmed; and they shall bite you, saith the LORD.
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 the LORD in Zion? is not her King in her? Why have they
provoked me to anger with their graven images, and with strange vanities?
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 am black; astonishment
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 be 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 the LORD.
4 Take ye heed every one of his neighbour, and trust ye not in any brother: for
every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbour will go about with
slanders.
5 And they will deceive every one his neighbour, and will not speak the truth:
they have taught their tongue to speak lies; they weary themselves to commit
iniquity.
6 Thine habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know
me, saith the LORD.
7 Therefore thus saith the LORD 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 neighbour with his mouth, but in his heart he layeth wait for him.
9 Shall I not visit them for these things? saith the LORD: 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 fowl of
the heavens and the beast 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 the LORD hath spoken, that he may declare it? wherefore is the land and
perished burned up like a wilderness, so that none passeth through?
13 And the LORD 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 the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will
feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to
drink.
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 the LORD of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women,
that they may come; and send for the cunning 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 spoiled! we are
greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because they have cast
down our dwellings.
20 Yet hear the word of the LORD, O ye women, and let your ear receive the word
of his mouth, and teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbour
lamentation.
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 the LORD, The carcases 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 the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let
the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches:
24 but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth, and knoweth
me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and
righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.
25 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will punish all them which 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] polled, 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 the LORD speaketh unto you, O house of Israel:
2 thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the nations, and be not dismayed at
the signs of heaven; for the nations are dismayed at them.
3 For the customs of the peoples are vanity: for 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 LORD; thou art great, and thy name is great in
might.
7 Who would 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 cunning men.
10 But the LORD 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 vapours 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: the LORD 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 the LORD, Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land
at this time, and will distress them, that they may feel [it].
19 Woe is me for my hurt! my wound is grievous: but I said, Truly this is [my]
grief, and I must bear it.
20 My tent is spoiled, and all my cords are broken: my children are gone forth
of me, and they are not: there is none to stretch forth my tent any more, and to
set up my curtains.
21 For the shepherds are become brutish, and have not inquired of the LORD:
therefore they have not prospered, and all their flocks are scattered.
22 The voice of a rumour, 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 LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that
walketh to direct his steps.
24 O LORD, correct me, but with judgment; not in thine anger, lest thou bring me
to nothing.
25 Pour out thy fury upon the heathen 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 the LORD, saying,
2 Hear ye the words of this covenant, and speak unto the men of Judah, and to
the inhabitants of Jerusalem;
3 and say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel: Cursed be the
man that heareth not the words of this covenant,
4 which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the
land of Egypt, out of the iron furnace, saying, 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 LORD.
6 And the LORD said unto me, Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah,
and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, Hear ye the words of this covenant, and
do them.
7 For I earnestly 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 the LORD said unto me, A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah, and
among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
10 They are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, which refused to
hear my words; and they are gone after other gods to serve them: the house of
Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant which I made with their
fathers.
11 ¶ Therefore thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which
they shall not be able to escape; and 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 whom they offer incense: but they shall not save them at all
in the time of their trouble.
13 For according to the number of thy cities are thy gods, O Judah; and
according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem have ye set up altars to the
shameful thing, even altars to 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 for their
trouble.
15 What hath my beloved to do in mine house, seeing she hath wrought lewdness
[with] many, and the holy flesh is passed from thee? when thou doest evil, then
thou rejoicest.
16 The LORD 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 the LORD of hosts, that planted thee, hath pronounced evil against thee,
because of the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they
have wrought for themselves in provoking me to anger by offering incense unto
Baal.
18 ¶ And the LORD gave me knowledge of it, and I knew it: then thou shewedst 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 LORD of hosts, that judgest righteously, that triest the reins and the
heart, let me see thy vengeance on them: for unto thee have I revealed my cause.
21 Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the men of Anathoth, that seek thy
life, saying, Thou shalt not prophesy in the name of the LORD, that thou die not
by our hand:
22 therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, I will punish them: the young
men shall die by the sword; their sons and their daughters shall die by famine;
23 and there shall be no remnant unto them: for I will bring evil upon the men
of Anathoth, even the year of their visitation.
CHAPTER
12
1 ¶ Righteous art thou, O LORD, when I plead 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 reins.
3 But thou, O LORD, knowest me; thou seest me, and triest mine 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 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 mine house, I have cast off mine heritage; I have given the
dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies.
8 Mine 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 mine 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 Spoilers are come upon all the bare heights in the wilderness: for the sword
of the LORD devoureth from the one end of the land even to the other end of the
land: no flesh hath peace.
13 They have sown wheat, and have reaped thorns; they have put themselves to
pain, and profit nothing: and ye shall be ashamed of your fruits, because of the
fierce anger of the LORD.
14 ¶ Thus saith the LORD against all mine evil neighbours, that touch the
inheritance which I have caused my people Israel to inherit: Behold, I will
pluck them 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 the LORD liveth; even as they taught my people
to swear by Baal; then shall they be built up in the midst of my people.
17 But if they will not hear, then will I pluck up that nation, plucking up and
destroying it, saith the LORD.
CHAPTER
13
1 ¶ Thus said the LORD 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 the LORD, and put it upon my
loins.
3 And the word of the LORD came unto me the second time, saying,
4 Take the girdle that thou hast bought, which is upon thy loins, and arise, go
to Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole of the rock.
5 So I went, and hid it by Euphrates, as the LORD commanded me.
6 And it came to pass after many days, that the LORD said unto me, Arise, go to
Euphrates, and take the girdle from thence, which I commanded thee to hide
there.
7 Then I went to Euphrates, and digged, and took the girdle from the place where
I had hid it: and, behold, the girdle was marred, it was profitable for nothing.
8 Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
9 Thus saith the LORD, After this manner will I mar the pride of Judah, and the
great pride of Jerusalem.
10 This evil people, which refuse to hear my words, which 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 the LORD;
that they might be unto me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and
for a glory: but they would not hear.
12 ¶ Therefore thou shalt speak unto them this word: Thus saith the LORD, the
God of Israel, Every bottle shall be filled with wine: and they shall say unto
thee, Do we not know that every bottle shall be filled with wine?
13 Then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will fill all
the inhabitants of this land, even the kings that sit upon David’s throne, and
the priests, and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with
drunkenness.
14 And I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons
together, saith the LORD: I will not pity, nor spare, nor have compassion, that
I should not destroy them.
15 Hear ye, and give ear; be not proud: for the LORD hath spoken.
16 Give glory to the LORD your God, before 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 the LORD’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 [thy] friends over thee as head, seeing
thou thyself hast instructed them against thee? shall not sorrows take hold of
thee, as of a woman in travail?
22 ¶ And if thou say in thine heart, Wherefore are these things come upon me?
for the greatness of thine iniquity are thy skirts discovered, and thy heels
suffer violence.
23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also
do good, that are accustomed to do evil.
24 Therefore will I scatter them, as the stubble that passeth away, by the wind
of the wilderness.
25 This is thy lot, the portion measured unto thee from me, saith the LORD;
because thou hast forgotten me, and trusted in falsehood.
26 Therefore will I also discover 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 the LORD 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 pits,
and find no water; they return with their vessels empty: they are ashamed and
confounded, and cover their heads.
4 Because of the ground which is chapt, for that no rain hath been in the land,
the plowmen are ashamed, they cover their heads.
5 Yea, the hind also in the field calveth, and forsaketh [her young], because
there is no grass.
6 And the wild asses stand on the 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
LORD: 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 astonied, as a mighty man that cannot save? yet
thou, O LORD, art in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name; leave us
not.
10 ¶ Thus saith the LORD unto this people, Even so have they loved to wander;
they have not refrained their feet: therefore the LORD doth not accept them; now
will he remember their iniquity, and visit their sins.
11 And the LORD said unto me, Pray not for this people for [their] good.
12 When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering
and oblation, I will not accept them: but I will consume them by the sword, and
by the famine, and by the pestilence;
13 Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, the prophets say unto them, Ye shall not
see the sword, neither shall ye have famine; but I will give you assured peace
in this place.
14 Then the LORD said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent
them not, neither have I commanded them, neither 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 the LORD concerning the prophets that prophesy in my
name, and I sent them not, yet they say, Sword and famine shall not be in this
land: By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed.
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 them 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 LORD, 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 heathen that can cause rain? or can
the heavens give showers? art not thou he, O LORD our God? therefore we will
wait upon thee; for thou hast made all these things.
CHAPTER
15
1 ¶ Then said the LORD unto me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my
mind could not be toward this people: cast them out of my sight, and let them go
forth.
2 And it shall come to pass, when they say unto thee, Whither shall we go forth?
then thou shalt tell them, Thus saith the LORD: Such as are for death, to death;
and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for the famine, to
the famine; and such as are for captivity, to captivity.
3 And I will appoint over them four kinds, saith the LORD: the sword to slay,
and the dogs to tear, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the earth,
to devour and 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 shall have pity upon thee, O Jerusalem? or who shall bemoan thee? or
who shall turn aside to ask of thy welfare?
6 Thou hast rejected me, saith the LORD, 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 fanned them with a fan in the gates of the land; I have bereaved
[them] of children, I have destroyed my people; they have not returned 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 spoiler 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 ashamed and confounded: and the
residue of them will I deliver to the sword before their enemies, saith the
LORD.
10 ¶ Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and a man of
contention to the whole earth! I have not lent on usury, neither have men lent
to me on usury; [yet] every one of them doth curse me.
11 The LORD 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 LORD, 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 mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of
hosts.
17 I sat not in the assembly of them that make merry, nor rejoiced: I sat alone
because of thy hand; for thou hast filled me with indignation.
18 Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuseth to be
healed? wilt thou indeed be unto me as a deceitful [brook], as waters that fail?
19 Therefore thus saith the LORD, If thou return, 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 fenced brasen wall; and they shall
fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee: for I am with thee
to save thee and to deliver thee, saith the LORD.
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 the LORD came also unto me, saying,
2 Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have sons or daughters in
this place.
3 For thus saith the LORD concerning the sons and concerning the daughters that
are born in this place, and concerning their mothers that bare them, and
concerning their fathers that begat them in this land:
4 They shall die of grievous deaths; they shalt 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 carcases shall be meat
for the fowls of heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.
5 For thus saith the LORD, Enter not into the house of mourning, neither go to
lament, neither bemoan them: for I have taken away my peace from this people,
saith the LORD, even 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 the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will cause to
cease out of this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of mirth
and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the
bride.
10 ¶ And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt shew this people all these
words, and they shall say unto thee, Wherefore hath the LORD pronounced all this
great evil against us? or what is our iniquity? or what is our sin that we have
committed against the LORD our God?
11 Then shalt thou say unto them, Because your fathers have forsaken me, saith
the LORD, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have
worshipped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law;
12 and ye have done 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 shew you no favour.
14 ¶ Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more be
said, As the LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land
of Egypt;
15 but, As the LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land
of the north, and from all the countries whither he had driven them: and I will
bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers.
16 Behold, I will send for many fishers saith the LORD, and they shall fish
them; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from
every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes 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 carcases of their detestable things, and have
filled mine inheritance with their abominations.
19 O LORD, my strength, and my strong hold, 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 mine 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 table 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 thine heritage that I gave
thee; and I will cause thee to serve thine enemies in the land which thou
knowest not: for ye have kindled a fire in mine anger which shall burn for ever.
5 ¶ Thus saith the LORD: Cursed is the man that trusteth in man, and maketh
flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD.
6 For he shall be like 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 the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.
8 For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out his
roots by the river, and shall not fear when heat cometh, but his 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 desperately sick: who can
know it?
10 I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man
according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.
11 As the partridge that gathereth [young] which she hath not brought forth, 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 LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed; they that
depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the
LORD, the fountain of living waters.
14 Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for
thou art my praise.
15 Behold, they say unto me, Where is the word of the LORD? let it come now.
16 As for me, I have not hastened from being a shepherd after thee; neither have
I desired the woeful day; thou knowest: 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 ashamed that persecute me, but let not me be ashamed; let them be
dismayed, but let not me be dismayed: bring upon them the day of evil, and
destroy them with double destruction.
19 ¶ Thus said the LORD unto me: Go, and stand in the gate of the children of
the people, whereby the kings of Judah come in, and by the which they go out,
and in all the gates of Jerusalem;
20 and say unto them, Hear ye the word of the LORD, ye kings of Judah, and all
Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that enter in by these gates;
21 Thus saith the LORD: Take heed 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 the LORD,
to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the sabbath day, but to
hallow the sabbath day, to do no work therein;
25 then shall there enter in by the gates of this city kings and princes sitting
upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their
princes, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: and this city shall
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
mountains, and from the South, bringing burnt offerings, and sacrifices, and
oblations, and frankincense, and bringing [sacrifices of] thanksgiving, unto the
house of the LORD.
27 But if ye will not hearken unto me to hallow the sabbath day, and not to bear
a burden and enter in at the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day; then will I
kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of
Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.
CHAPTER
18
1 ¶ The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
2 Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to
hear my words.
3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he wrought his 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 the LORD came to me, saying,
6 O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD.
Behold, as the clay in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine 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 it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of
the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them.
11 ¶ Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD: Behold, I frame evil against you, and
devise a device against you: return ye now every one from his evil way, and
amend your ways and your doings.
12 But they say, There is no hope: 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 the LORD: Ask ye now among the nations, who hath heard
such things; 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 hath forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity; and they
have caused them to stumble in their ways, in the ancient paths, to walk in
bypaths, in a way not cast up;
16 to make their land an astonishment, and a perpetual hissing; every one that
passeth thereby shall be astonished, and shake his head.
17 I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will look upon
their back, and not their face, in the day of their calamity.
18 ¶ Then said they, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for 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 LORD, and hearken to the voice of them that contend with
me.
20 Shall evil be recompensed for good? for they have digged a pit for my soul.
Remember how I stood before thee to speak good for them, to turn away thy fury
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, LORD, thou knowest all their counsel against me to slay me; forgive not
their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from thy sight: but let them be
overthrown before thee; deal thou with them in the time of thine anger.
CHAPTER
19
1 ¶ Thus said the LORD, 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 the LORD, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of
Jerusalem; thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will bring
evil upon this place, the 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, whom 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 the LORD, that this place shall no
more be called Topheth, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of
Slaughter.
7 And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place; and I
will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of
them that seek their life: and their carcases will I give to be meat for the
fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.
8 And I will make this city an astonishment, and an hissing; every one that
passeth thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all the plagues thereof.
9 And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their
daughters, and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend, in the siege
and in the straitness, wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their life,
shall straiten them.
10 ¶ Then shalt thou break the bottle in the sight of the men that go with
thee,
11 and shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts: Even so will I break
this people and this city, as one breaketh a potter’s vessel, that cannot be
made whole again: and they shall bury in Topheth, till there be no place to
bury.
12 Thus will I do unto this place, saith the LORD, and to the inhabitants
thereof, even making this city as Topheth:
13 and the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, which are
defiled, shall be as the place of Topheth, even all the houses upon whose roofs
they have burned incense unto all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink
offerings unto other gods.
14 Then came Jeremiah from Topheth, whither the LORD had sent him to prophesy;
and he stood in the court of the LORD’S house, and said to all the people:
15 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will bring upon
this city and upon all her towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it;
because they have made their neck stiff, that they might not hear my words.
CHAPTER
20
1 ¶ Now Pashhur the son of Immer the priest, who was chief officer in the house
of the LORD, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things.
2 Then Pashhur smote Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were
in the upper gate of Benjamin, which was in the house of the LORD.
3 And it came to pass on the morrow, that Pashhur brought forth Jeremiah out of
the stocks. Then said Jeremiah unto him, The LORD hath not called thy name
Pashhur, but Magor–missabib.
4 For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will make thee a terror to thyself, and to
all thy friends: and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and thine
eyes shall behold it: and I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of
Babylon, and he shall carry them captive to Babylon, and shall slay them with
the sword.
5 Moreover I will give all the 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, which shall spoil them, and
take them, and carry them to Babylon.
6 And thou, Pashhur, and all that dwell in thine house shall go into captivity:
and thou shalt come to Babylon, and there thou shalt die, and there shalt thou
be buried, thou, and all thy friends, to whom thou hast prophesied falsely.
7 ¶ O LORD, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived: thou art stronger than
I, and hast prevailed: I am become a laughingstock all the day, every one
mocketh me.
8 For as often as I speak, I cry out; I cry, Violence and spoil: because the
word of the LORD is made a reproach unto me, and a derision, all the day.
9 And if I say, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name,
then there is in mine 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
halting; peradventure he will be enticed, and we shall prevail against him, and
we shall take our revenge on him.
11 But the LORD is with me as a mighty one [and] a terrible: therefore my
persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail: they shall be greatly
ashamed, because they have not dealt wisely, even with an everlasting dishonour
which shall never be forgotten.
12 But, O LORD of hosts, that triest the righteous, that seest the reins and the
heart, let me see thy vengeance on them; for unto thee have I revealed my cause.
13 Sing unto the LORD, praise ye the LORD: for he hath delivered the soul of the
needy from the hand of evil–doers.
14 ¶ Cursed be the day wherein I was born: 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 the LORD overthrew, and repented not:
and let him hear a cry in the morning, and shouting at noontide;
17 because he slew me not from the womb; and so my mother should have been my
grave, and her womb always great.
18 Wherefore came I forth out of the womb to see labour and sorrow, that my days
should be consumed with shame?
CHAPTER
21
1 ¶ The word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, 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 the LORD for us; for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon
maketh war against us: peradventure the LORD will deal with us according to all
his wondrous works, that he may go up from us.
3 Then said Jeremiah unto them, Thus shall ye say to Zedekiah:
4 Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, Behold, I will turn back the weapons
of war that are in your hands; wherewith ye fight against the king of Babylon,
and against the Chaldeans which besiege you, without the walls, and I will
gather them into the midst of this city.
5 And I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a
strong arm, even in anger, and in fury, and in great wrath.
6 And I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast: they shall
die of a great pestilence.
7 And afterward, saith the LORD, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, and his
servants, and the people, 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 the LORD: Behold, I set
before you the way of life and the way of death.
9 He that abideth in this city shall die by the sword, and by the famine, and by
the pestilence: but he that goeth out, and falleth away to the Chaldeans that
besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be unto him for a prey.
10 For I have set my face upon this city for evil, and not for good, saith the
LORD: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn
it with fire.
11 And touching the house of the king of Judah, hear ye the word of the LORD:
12 O house of David, thus saith the LORD, Execute judgment in the morning, and
deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor, lest my fury go forth like
fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
13 Behold, I am against thee, O inhabitant of the valley, [and] of the rock of
the plain, saith the LORD; ye which say, Who shall come down against us? or who
shall enter into our habitations?
14 And I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, saith the LORD:
and I will kindle a fire in her forest, and it shall devour all that is round
about her.
CHAPTER
22
1 ¶ Thus said the LORD: Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak
there this word,
2 And say, Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, that sittest upon the
throne of David, thou, and thy servants, and thy people that enter in by these
gates.
3 Thus saith the LORD: Execute ye judgment and righteousness, and deliver the
spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence, to
the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this
place.
4 For if ye do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates of this
house kings sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses,
he, and his servants, and his people.
5 But if ye will not hear these words, I swear by myself, saith the LORD, that
this house shall become a desolation.
6 For thus saith the LORD concerning the house of the king of Judah: Thou art
Gilead unto me, [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
neighbour, Wherefore hath the LORD done thus unto this great city?
9 Then they shall answer, Because they forsook the covenant of the LORD their
God, and worshipped other gods, and served them.
10 ¶ Weep ye not for the dead, neither bemoan him: but weep sore for him that
goeth away; for he shall return no more, nor see his native country.
11 For thus saith the LORD touching Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah,
which reigned instead of Josiah his father, which went forth out of this place:
He shall not return thither any more;
12 But in the place whither they have led him captive, there shall he die, and
he shall see this land no more.
13 Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by
injustice; that useth his neighbour’s service without wages, and giveth him
not his hire;
14 that saith, I will build me a wide house and spacious chambers, and cutteth
him out windows; and it is cieled 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 judgment and justice? 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 the LORD.
17 But thine eyes and thine heart are not but for thy covetousness, and for to
shed innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it.
18 Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of
Judah: They shall not lament for him, [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 the LORD, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah
were the signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck thee thence;
25 and I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life, and into the
hand of them of whom thou art afraid, even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king
of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.
26 And I will cast thee out, and thy mother that 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 is no
pleasure? 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 the LORD.
30 Thus saith the LORD, Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not
prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the
throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah.
CHAPTER
23
1 ¶ Woe unto the shepherds that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!
saith the LORD.
2 Therefore thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, against the shepherds that
feed my people: Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not
visited them; behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the
LORD.
3 And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries whither I
have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be
fruitful and multiply.
4 And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall
fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be lacking, saith the LORD.
5 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a
righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute
judgment and justice in the land.
6 In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is
his name whereby he shall be called, The LORD is our righteousness.
7 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that they shall no more say,
As the LORD liveth, which brought up the Children of Israel out of the land of
Egypt;
8 but, As the LORD liveth, which brought up and which 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. Mine heart within me is broken, all my bones
shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine hath overcome; because
of the LORD, and because of his holy words.
10 For the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the land mourneth;
the pastures of the wilderness are dried up; and their course is evil, and their
force is not right.
11 for both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house have I found their
wickedness, saith the LORD.
12 Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery places in the darkness:
they shall be driven on, and fall therein: for I will bring evil upon them, even
the year of their visitation, saith the LORD.
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 an horrible thing; they commit
adultery, and walk in lies, and they strengthen the hands of evil–doers, that
none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them become unto me as
Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.
15 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets: Behold, I
will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall: for from
the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land.
16 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that
prophesy unto you; they teach you vanity: they speak a vision of their own
heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD.
17 They say continually unto them that despise me, The LORD hath said, Ye shall
have peace; and unto every one that walketh in the stubbornness of his own heart
they say, No evil shall come upon you.
18 For who hath stood in the council of the LORD, that he should perceive and
hear his word? who hath marked my word, and heard it?
19 Behold, the tempest of the LORD, [even his] fury, is gone forth, yea, a
whirling tempest: it shall burst upon the head of the wicked.
20 The anger of the LORD shall not return, until he have executed, and till he
have performed the 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 the LORD, and not a God afar off?
24 Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the
LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.
25 I have heard what the prophets have said, that prophesy lies in my name,
saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed.
26 How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies; even
the prophets of the deceit of their own heart?
27 which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they
tell every man to his neighbour, 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
the LORD.
29 Is not my word like as fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh
the rock in pieces?
30 Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that steal my
words every one from his neighbour.
31 Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that use their tongues,
and say, He saith.
32 Behold, I am against them that prophesy lying dreams, saith the LORD, and do
tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their vain boasting:
yet I sent them not, nor commanded them; neither shall they profit this people
at all, saith the LORD.
33 ¶ And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask thee, saying,
What is the burden of the LORD? then shalt thou say unto them, What burden! I
will cast you off, saith the LORD.
34 And as for the prophet, and the priest, and the people, that shall say, The
burden of the LORD, I will even punish that man and his house.
35 Thus shall ye say every one to his neighbour, and every one to his brother,
What hath the LORD answered? and, What hath the LORD spoken?
36 And the burden of the LORD shall ye mention no more: for every man’s own
word shall be his burden; for ye have perverted the words of the living God, of
the LORD of hosts our God.
37 Thus shalt thou say to the prophet, What hath the LORD answered thee? and,
What hath the LORD spoken?
38 But if ye say, The burden of the LORD; therefore thus saith the LORD: Because
ye say this word, The burden of the LORD, and I have sent unto you, saying, Ye
shall not say, The burden of the LORD;
39 therefore, behold, I will utterly 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 ¶ The LORD shewed me, and, behold, two baskets of figs set before the temple
of the LORD; after that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive
Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the
craftsmen and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon.
2 One basket had very good figs, like the figs that are first ripe: and the
other basket had very bad figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad.
3 Then said the LORD unto me, What seest thou, Jeremiah? And I said, Figs; the
good figs, very good; and the bad, very bad, that cannot be eaten, they are so
bad.
4 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
5 Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Like these good figs, so will I regard
the captives of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the
Chaldeans, for good.
6 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 an heart to know me, that I am the LORD: and they shall
be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their
whole heart.
8 And as the bad figs, which cannot be eaten, they are so bad; surely thus saith
the LORD, So will I 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 the 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 the LORD hath come unto me,
and I have spoken unto you, rising up early and speaking; but ye have not
hearkened.
4 And the LORD 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 the LORD 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 the LORD; that ye might provoke me to
anger with the work of your hands to your own hurt.
8 ¶ Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Because ye have not heard my words,
9 behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the LORD,
and [I will send] unto Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will
bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against
all these nations round about; and I will utterly destroy them, and make them an
astonishment, and an 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 candle.
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 the LORD, 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 serve themselves 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 the LORD, the God of Israel, unto me: Take the cup of the
wine of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to
drink it.
16 And they shall drink, and reel to and fro, and be mad, because of the sword
that I will send among them.
17 Then took I the cup at the LORD’S hand, and made all the nations to drink,
unto whom the LORD 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, an hissing, and a
curse; as it is this day;
19 Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people;
20 and all the mingled people, and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the
kings of the land of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Gaza, and Ekron, and the
remnant of Ashdod;
21 Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon;
22 and all the kings of Tyre, and all the kings of Zidon, and the kings of the
isle which is beyond the sea;
23 Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all that have the corners [of their hair]
polled;
24 and all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mingled people that
dwell in the wilderness;
25 and all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of
the Medes;
26 and all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another; and all the
kingdoms of the world, which are upon the face of the earth: and the king of
Sheshach shall drink after them.
27 And thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of
Israel: Drink ye, and be drunken, and spue, 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 thine hand to drink, then
shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts: Ye shall surely drink.
29 For, lo, I begin to 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 the LORD of hosts.
30 ¶ Therefore prophesy thou against them all these words, and say unto them,
The LORD shall roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation;
he shall mightily roar against his fold; he shall 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 the LORD hath a
controversy with the nations, he will plead with all flesh; as for the wicked,
he will give them to the sword, saith the LORD.
32 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to
nation, and a great tempest shall be raised up from the uttermost parts of the
earth.
33 And the slain of the LORD shall be at that day from one end of the earth even
unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered,
nor buried; they shall be dung upon the face of the ground.
34 Howl, ye shepherds, and cry; and wallow yourselves [in ashes], ye principal
of the flock: for the days of your slaughter are fully come, and I will break
you in pieces, and ye shall fall like a pleasant 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 howling of the principal of the
flock! for the LORD layeth waste their pasture.
37 And the peaceable folds are brought to silence because of the fierce anger of
the LORD.
38 He hath forsaken his covert, as the lion: for their land is become 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 the LORD, saying,
2 Thus saith the LORD: Stand in the court of the LORD’S house, and speak unto
all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in the LORD’S house, all the
words that I command thee to speak unto them; keep not back 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 the LORD: 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 the LORD.
8 And it came to pass, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that the
LORD 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 the LORD, 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 the LORD.
10 And when the princes of Judah heard these things, they came up from the
king’s house unto the house of the LORD; and they sat in the entry of the new
gate of the LORD’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, The
LORD sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words
that ye have heard.
13 Therefore now amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the LORD
your God; and the LORD 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 shall bring innocent
blood upon yourselves, and upon this city, and upon the inhabitants thereof: for
of a truth the LORD 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 the LORD our God.
17 Then rose up certain of the elders of the land, and spake to all the assembly
of the people, saying,
18 Micaiah the Morashtite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah; and
he spake to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus saith the LORD 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 at all to death? did he not
fear the LORD, and entreat the favour of the LORD, and the LORD 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 the LORD, 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 the LORD, saying,
2 Thus saith the LORD to me: Make thee bands 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 Zidon, by the
hand of the messengers which come to Jerusalem unto Zedekiah king of Judah;
4 and give them a charge unto their masters; saying, Thus saith the LORD of
hosts, the God of Israel: Thus shall ye say unto your masters;
5 I have made the earth, the man and the beast 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 serve
themselves of him.
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 the
LORD, 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, which 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
the LORD; 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 the LORD 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 the LORD, but they prophesy falsely in my
name; that I might drive you out, and that ye might perish, ye, and the prophets
that prophesy unto you.
16 Also I spake to the priests and to all this people, saying, Thus saith the
LORD: Hearken not to the words of your prophets that prophesy unto you, saying,
Behold, the vessels of the LORD’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 the LORD be with them, let them
now make intercession to the LORD of hosts, that the vessels which are left in
the house of the LORD, and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem,
go not to Babylon.
19 For thus saith the LORD 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 the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels
that are left in the house of the LORD, 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 the LORD; 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, which was of Gibeon, spake unto me in the house of
the LORD, in the presence of the priests and of all the people, saying,
2 Thus speaketh the LORD 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
the LORD’S house, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this
place, and carried them 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 the LORD: 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
the LORD,
6 even the prophet Jeremiah said, Amen: the LORD do so: the LORD perform thy
words which thou hast prophesied, to bring again the vessels of the LORD’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 which prophesieth of peace, when the word of the prophet shall
come to pass, then shall the prophet be known, that the LORD 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 the
LORD: 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 the LORD 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 the LORD: Thou hast broken the bars
of wood; but thou shalt make in their stead bars of iron.
14 For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: I have put a yoke of
iron upon the neck of all these nations, that they may serve 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;
the LORD hath not sent thee; but thou makest this people to trust in a lie.
16 Therefore thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will send thee away from off the
face of the earth: this year thou shalt die, because thou hast spoken rebellion
against the LORD.
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 the LORD 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 the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have
peace.
8 ¶ For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Let not your prophets
that be 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 the
LORD.
10 For thus saith the LORD, After seventy years be 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 the LORD, 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 year
heart.
14 And I will be found of you, saith the LORD, and I will turn again your
captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places
whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again unto the
place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.
15 ¶ For ye have said, The LORD hath raised us up prophets in Babylon.
16 for thus saith the LORD 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 the LORD 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 an hissing, and a
reproach, among all the nations whither I have driven them:
19 because they have not hearkened to my words, saith the LORD, wherewith I sent
unto them my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them; but ye
would not hear, saith the LORD.
20 Hear ye therefore the word of the LORD, all ye of the captivity, whom I have
sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon.
21 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of
Kolaiah, and concerning Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, which 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 which are
in Babylon, saying, The LORD make thee like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the
king Babylon roasted in the fire:
23 because they have wrought folly in Israel, and have committed adultery with
their neighbours’ wives, and have spoken words in my name falsely, which I
commanded them not; and I am he that knoweth, and am witness, saith the LORD.
24 ¶ And concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite thou shalt speak, saying,
25 Thus speaketh the LORD 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 The LORD hath made thee priest in the stead of Jehoiada the priest, that ye
should be officers in the house of the LORD, 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, which 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 the LORD unto Jeremiah, saying,
31 Send to all them of the captivity, saying, Thus saith the LORD 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 the LORD, 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 the LORD: because he
hath spoken rebellion against the LORD.
CHAPTER
30
1 ¶ The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
2 Thus speaketh the LORD, 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 the LORD, that I will turn again the captivity
of my people Israel and Judah, saith the LORD: 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 the LORD spake concerning Israel and concerning
Judah.
5 For thus saith the LORD: 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 the LORD of hosts, that I will
break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bands; and strangers shall
no more serve themselves of him:
9 but they shall serve the LORD their God, and David their king, whom I will
raise up unto them.
10 ¶ Therefore fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, saith the LORD; 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 the LORD, 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 with judgment, and will in no wise leave thee
unpunished.
12 For thus saith the LORD, 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 spoil
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 the LORD; because they have called thee an outcast, [saying], It is Zion,
whom no man seeketh after.
18 ¶ Thus saith the LORD: 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 her own heap, and the palace shall remain after the manner thereof.
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 the LORD.
22 And ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.
23 Behold, the tempest of the LORD, [even his] fury, is gone forth, a sweeping
tempest: it shall burst upon the head of the wicked.
24 The fierce anger of the LORD 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 the LORD, will I be the God of all the families of
Israel, and they shall be my people.
2 Thus saith the LORD, The people which were left of the sword found grace in
the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest.
3 The LORD 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 the LORD our God.
7 For thus saith the LORD, Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout for the chief
of the nations: publish ye, praise ye, and say, O LORD, 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 firstborn.
10 ¶ Hear the word of the LORD, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar
off; and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a
shepherd doth his flock.
11 For the LORD 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 together
unto the goodness of the LORD, to the corn, and to the 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 the LORD.
15 Thus saith the LORD: 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 the LORD: Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from
tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the LORD; and they shall come again
from the land of the enemy.
17 And there is hope for thy latter end, saith the LORD; 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 the LORD 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 pleasant child? for as often as I speak
against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my bowels are troubled
for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the LORD.
21 Set thee up waymarks, make thee guide–posts: set thine 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
the LORD hath created a new thing in the earth, A woman shall encompass a man.
23 Thus saith the LORD 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: The LORD bless thee, O habitation of justice, 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 the LORD, 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 the LORD.
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 the LORD, 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 an husband unto them, saith the LORD.
33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after
those days, saith the LORD; 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 neighbour, and every man his
brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of
them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their
iniquity, and their sin will I remember no more.
35 ¶ Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the
ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which stirreth up
the sea, that the waves thereof roar; the LORD of hosts is his name:
36 If these ordinances depart from before me, saith the LORD, then the seed of
Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever.
37 Thus saith the LORD: 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 the LORD.
38 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that the city shall be built to the
LORD from the tower of Hananel unto the gate of the corner.
39 And the measuring line shall yet go out 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 the LORD; it shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down any more for
ever.
CHAPTER
32
1 ¶ The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD 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 besieged 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 the LORD, 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 lead Zedekiah to Babylon, and there shall he be until I visit
him, saith the LORD: though ye fight with the Chaldeans, ye shall not prosper?
6 And Jeremiah said, The word of the LORD 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 the LORD, 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 the LORD.
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 the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Take these deeds, this deed
of the purchase, both that 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 the LORD 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 the LORD, saying,
17 Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great
power and by thy stretched out arm; there is nothing too hard for thee:
18 which shewest mercy unto thousands, and recompensest the iniquity of the
fathers into the bosom of their children after them: the great, the mighty God,
the LORD 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 which 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 a stretched out arm, and with
great terror;
22 and gavest them this land, which thou didst swear to their fathers to give
them, a land flowing 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 mounts, 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 GOD, 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 the LORD unto Jeremiah, saying,
27 Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for
me?
28 Therefore thus saith the LORD: 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 only done 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 the LORD.
31 For this city hath been to me a provocation of mine anger and of my fury 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 the LORD, 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 fury, and in great wrath; 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 them, to do them good; and I will put my fear in their hearts, that they
shall 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 the LORD: 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 cities of the
lowland, and in the cities of the South: for I will cause their captivity to
return, saith the LORD.
CHAPTER
33
1 ¶ Moreover the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah the second time, while he
was yet shut up in the court of the guard, saying,
2 Thus saith the LORD that doeth it, the LORD that formeth it to establish it;
the LORD is his name:
3 Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and will shew thee great things, and
difficult, which thou knowest not.
4 For thus saith the LORD, 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 mounts, and against the sword:
5 they come to fight with the Chaldeans, but it is to fill them with the dead
bodies of men, whom I have slain in mine anger and in my fury, 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 the LORD: 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 the LORD of
hosts, for the LORD is good, for his mercy [endureth] for ever: [and of them]
that bring [sacrifices] of thanksgiving into the house of the LORD. For I will
cause the captivity of the land to return as at the first, saith the LORD.
12 Thus saith the LORD of hosts: Yet again shall there be in this place, which
is waste, without man and without beast, and in all the cities thereof, an
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 telleth them, saith the LORD.
14 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, 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 judgment 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, The LORD is our righteousness.
17 ¶ For thus saith the LORD: 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 oblations, and to do sacrifice continually.
19 And the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah, saying,
20 Thus saith the LORD: If ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant
of the night, so that there should not be day and night in their season;
21 then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should 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 the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying,
24 Considerest thou not what this people have spoken, saying, The two families
which the LORD 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 the LORD: 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 the LORD, 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, fought against Jerusalem, and against all the
cities thereof, saying:
2 Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, Go, and speak to Zedekiah king of
Judah, and tell him, Thus saith the LORD, 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 the LORD, O Zedekiah king of Judah: thus saith the LORD
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 which 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 the
LORD.
6 Then Jeremiah the prophet spake all these words unto Zedekiah king of Judah in
Jerusalem,
7 when the king of Babylon’s army fought 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] fenced cities.
8 ¶ The word that came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, after that the king
Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people which were at Jerusalem, to
proclaim liberty unto them;
9 that every man should let his manservant, and every man his maidservant, being
an Hebrew or an Hebrewess, go free; that none should serve himself of them, [to
wit], of a Jew his brother:
10 And all the princes and all the people obeyed, which had entered into the
covenant, that every one should let his manservant, and every one his
maidservant, go free, that none should serve themselves 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 the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
13 Thus saith the LORD, 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 an
Hebrew, which 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 neighbour; 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 the LORD: Ye have not hearkened unto me, to proclaim
liberty, every man to his brother, and every man to his neighbour: behold, I
proclaim unto you a liberty, saith the LORD, 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, which 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, which 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 meat unto the
fowls of the heaven, 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, which are gone up from you.
22 Behold, I will command, saith the LORD, 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 the LORD 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 the LORD, 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 the LORD, 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 door:
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, nor
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 the LORD unto Jeremiah, saying,
13 Thus saith the LORD 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 the LORD.
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 the LORD, 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 the LORD 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 the LORD 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 the LORD, saying,
2 Take thee a roll of a book, and write thereon 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 the LORD, 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 the LORD:
6 therefore go thou, and read in the roll, which thou hast written from my
mouth, the words of the LORD in the ears of the people in the LORD’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 the LORD, and will
return every one from his evil way: for great is the anger and the fury that the
LORD 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 the LORD in the LORD’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 the LORD.
10 Then read Baruch in the book the words of Jeremiah in the house of the LORD,
in the chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the scribe, in the upper court, at
the entry of the new gate of the LORD’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 the LORD,
12 he went down into the king’s house, into the scribe’s chamber: and, lo,
all the princes sat there, even 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 thine 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 be.
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 which stood beside the king.
22 Now the king sat in the winter house in the ninth month: and [there was a
fire in] the brasier 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
brasier, until all the roll was consumed in the fire that was in the brasier.
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 the LORD hid them.
27 Then the word of the LORD 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 the LORD:
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 the LORD 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 the LORD, 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 the LORD
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
besieged Jerusalem heard tidings of them, they brake up from Jerusalem.
6 Then came the word of the LORD unto the prophet Jeremiah, saying,
7 Thus saith the LORD, 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 the LORD: 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, yet should 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 fallest away to the Chaldeans.
14 Then said Jeremiah, It is false; I fall not 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 the LORD? 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 which 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 accepted 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 the LORD, 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 the LORD, 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 any thing 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, an eunuch, which 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 old cast clouts and old rotten rags, and let
them down by cords into the dungeon to Jeremiah.
12 And Ebed–melech the Ethiopian said unto Jeremiah, Put now these old cast
clouts and rotten rags 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 the LORD: 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 the LORD 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 the LORD, 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 thine 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 the LORD, 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 the LORD hath shewed
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. And it came to pass when Jerusalem was taken,
CHAPTER
39
1 ¶ (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, even 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, by the gate betwixt the two walls: and he went out
the way of 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,
which 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 the LORD 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 the LORD 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 the LORD: 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
the LORD.
CHAPTER
40
1 ¶ The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, 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, which were
carried away captive unto Babylon.
2 And the captain of the guard took Jeremiah, and said unto him, the LORD thy
God pronounced this evil upon this place:
3 and the LORD hath brought it, and done according as he spake; because ye have
sinned against the LORD, 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 thine
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
convenient 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 convenient 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 which 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, even 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,
which 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 which 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, even with Gedaliah, at
Mizpah, and the Chaldeans that were found there, even 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 certain from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, even
fourscore men, having their beards shaven and their clothes rent, and having cut
themselves, with oblations and frankincense in their hand, to bring them to the
house of the LORD.
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 which 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 cast
about and returned, 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, even the men of war, and the women, and the children, and the eunuchs,
whom he had brought again from Gibeon:
17 and they departed, and dwelt in Geruth Chimham, which is by Bethlehem, 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
accepted before thee, and pray for us unto the LORD thy God, even for all this
remnant; for we are left but a few of many, as thine eyes do behold us:
3 that the LORD thy God may shew 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 the LORD your God according to your words; and it shall come to pass
that whatsoever thing the LORD shall answer you, I will declare it unto you; I
will keep nothing back from you.
5 Then they said to Jeremiah, The LORD be a true and faithful witness amongst
us, if we do not even according to all the word wherewith the LORD thy God shall
send thee to us.
6 Whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of the LORD
our God, to whom we send thee; that it may be well with us, when we obey the
voice of the LORD our God.
7 ¶ And it came to pass after ten days, that the word of the LORD came unto
Jeremiah.
8 Then called he Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces
which were with him, and all the people from the least even to the greatest,
9 and said unto them, Thus saith the LORD, 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 the LORD: 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 the LORD 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 the LORD, O remnant of Judah: thus saith
the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, If ye wholly set your faces to enter into
Egypt, and go to sojourn there;
16 then it shall come to pass, that the sword, which ye feel 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 the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; As mine anger and my
fury hath been poured forth upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so shall my fury
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 The LORD 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 the
LORD your God, saying, Pray for us unto the LORD our God; and according unto all
that the LORD 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
the LORD your God in any thing for the 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 the LORD their God, wherewith the LORD 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: the LORD 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, for to deliver us
into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they may put us to death, and carry us away
captives 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 the LORD, 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 the
LORD: and they came even to Tahpanhes.
8 ¶ Then came the word of the LORD unto Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying,
9 Take great stones in thine 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 the LORD 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 captives: 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 which dwelt in the
land of Egypt, which dwelt at Migdol, and at Tahpanhes, and at Noph, and in the
country of Pathros, saying,
2 Thus saith the LORD 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, whom 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 fury 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 the LORD, 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 be 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 the LORD 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, which are gone into the land of Egypt
to sojourn there, shall escape or remain, that they should return into the land
of Judah, to the which they have a desire to return to dwell there: for none
shall return save such as shall escape.
15 ¶ Then all the men which 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 the LORD, 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 to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour 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 which 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 the LORD remember them, and came it not into his mind?
22 so the LORD could no 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 the LORD,
and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD, 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 the LORD, all Judah that are in the land of Egypt:
25 Thus saith the LORD 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 the LORD, all Judah that dwell in the land of
Egypt: Behold, I have sworn by my great name, saith the LORD, 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 GOD 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 the LORD, 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 the LORD: 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, his
enemy, and that sought his life.
CHAPTER
45
1 ¶ The word that Jeremiah the prophet spake unto Baruch the son of Neriah,
when he wrote these words 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 the LORD, the God of Israel, unto thee, O Baruch:
3 Thou didst say, Woe is me now! for the LORD 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 the LORD: 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 the LORD: but thy life will I give unto thee
for a prey in all places whither thou goest.
CHAPTER
46
1 ¶ The word of the LORD 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 Order 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 the LORD.
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?
Jer 46:8 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 the
city 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, the LORD 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, the LORD 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 the LORD 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 Noph 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 the LORD 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 the LORD 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 Noph 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 the LORD, 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 The LORD 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 the
LORD.
27 But fear not thou, O Jacob my servant, neither be dismayed, O Israel: for,
low, 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 the LORD; 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 with judgment, and will in
no wise leave thee unpunished.
CHAPTER
47
1 ¶ The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the
Philistines, before that Pharaoh smote Gaza.
2 Thus saith the LORD: 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 howl.
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 spoil all the Philistines, to cut off from
Tyre and Zidon every helper that remaineth: for the LORD will spoil 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 the LORD, 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 the LORD hath given thee a charge? against
Ashkelon, and against the sea shore, there hath he appointed it.
CHAPTER
48
1 ¶ Of Moab. Thus saith the LORD 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, spoiling 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 in
the going down 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 spoiler shall come upon every city, and no city shall escape; the
valley also shall perish, and the plain shall be destroyed; as the LORD 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 the LORD 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 the LORD, 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 her cities; and his chosen
young men are gone down to the slaughter, saith the King, whose name is the LORD
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 spoiler of Moab is come up against thee, he hath destroyed thy
strong holds.
19 O inhabitant of Aroer, stand by the way, and espy: ask him that fleeth, and
her that escapeth; say, What hath been done?
20 Moab is put to shame; for it is broken down: howl and cry; tell ye it in
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 the LORD.
26 Make ye him drunken; for he magnified himself against the LORD: 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 in the sides of the holes mouth.
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 the LORD, that it is nought; his boastings have
wrought nothing.
31 Therefore will I howl 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 spoiler 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 the LORD, him that offereth in
the high place, and him that burneth incense to his gods.
36 Therefore mine heart soundeth for Moab like pipes, and mine 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 is no pleasure, saith
the LORD.
39 How is it broken down! [how] do they howl! how hath Moab turned the back with
shame! so shall Moab become a derision and a dismaying to all that are round
about him.
40 For thus saith the LORD: Behold, he shall fly as an eagle, and shall spread
out his wings against Moab.
41 Kerioth is taken, and the strong holds are surprised, 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 the LORD.
43 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of Moab, saith
the LORD.
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 her, even upon
Moab, the year of their visitation, saith the LORD.
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 again the captivity of Moab in the latter days, saith the
LORD. Thus far is the judgment of Moab.
CHAPTER
49
1 ¶ Of the children of Ammon. Thus saith the LORD: Hath Israel no sons? hath he
no heir? why then doth Malcam possess Gad, and his people dwell in the cities
thereof?
2 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, 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 the LORD.
3 Howl, O Heshbon, for Ai is spoiled; 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, the LORD 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 up him that wandereth.
6 But afterward I will bring again the captivity of the children of Ammon, saith
the LORD.
7 ¶ Of Edom. Thus saith the LORD of hosts: Is wisdom no more in Teman? is
counsel perished from the prudent? is their wisdom vanished?
8 Flee ye, turn back, dwell deep, O inhabitants of Dedan; for I will bring the
calamity of Esau upon him, the time that I shall visit him.
9 If grapegatherers 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 spoiled, and his brethren, and his
neighbours, 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 the LORD: 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 the LORD, 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 the LORD, 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 thine 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 the LORD;
17 And Edom shall become an astonishment: every one that passeth by it shall he
astonished, and shall hiss at all the plagues thereof.
18 As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof,
saith the LORD, 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 Jordan against the
strong habitation: but I will suddenly make him run away from her; and whoso is
chosen, him will I appoint over her: 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 the LORD, 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 with 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 ashamed, 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 the LORD 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 the LORD: Arise ye, go up to Kedar, and spoil 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 deep, O ye inhabitants of Hazor, saith the
LORD; 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 the LORD; which have neither gates nor bars, which 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]
polled; and I will bring their calamity from every side of them, saith the LORD.
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 the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam in
the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying,
35 Thus saith the LORD 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 the LORD; 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 the LORD.
39 But it shall come to pass in the latter days, that I will bring again the
captivity of Elam, saith the LORD.
CHAPTER
50
1 ¶ The word that the LORD 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 the LORD, the children of Israel shall
come, they and the children of Judah together; they shall go on their way
weeping, and shall seek the LORD their God.
5 They shall inquire concerning Zion with their faces thitherward, [saying],
Come ye, and join yourselves to the LORD in an everlasting covenant that shall
not be forgotten.
6 My people hath 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 offend
not, because they have sinned against the LORD, the habitation of justice, even
the LORD, 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 an assembly 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 spoil: all that spoil her shall be satisfied, saith
the LORD.
11 Because ye are glad, because ye rejoice, O ye that plunder mine heritage,
because ye are wanton as an heifer that treadeth out [the corn], and neigh as
strong horses;
12 your mother shall be sore ashamed; 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 the LORD it shall not be inhabited, but it 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 the LORD.
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 the LORD; 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 scattered sheep; the lions have driven him away: first the king
of Assyria hath devoured him; and last this Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath
broken his bones.
18 Therefore thus saith the LORD 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 the LORD, 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 the LORD, 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 the LORD.
25 The LORD hath opened his armoury, and hath brought forth the weapons of his
indignation: for the Lord, the LORD of hosts, hath a work [to do] in the land of
the Chaldeans.
26 Come against her from the utmost border, open her storehouses: 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 the LORD our God, the vengeance of his temple.
29 Call together the archers against Babylon, all them that bend the bow; camp
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 the LORD, 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 the LORD.
31 Behold, I am against thee, O thou proud one, saith the Lord, the LORD 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 the LORD of hosts: The children of Israel and the children of
Judah are oppressed together: and all that took them captives hold them fast;
they refuse to let them go.
34 Their redeemer is strong; the LORD of hosts is his name: he shall throughly
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 the LORD, 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 dote: a sword is upon her mighty
men, and they shall be dismayed.
37 A sword is upon their horse, 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 upon 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 neighbour cities thereof,
saith the LORD; 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 man to the battle, against thee, O daughter of Babylon.
43 The king of Babylon hath heard the fame of them, and his hands wax feeble:
anguish hath taken hold of him, [and] pangs as of a woman in travail.
44 Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the pride of Jordan against the
strong habitation: but I will suddenly make them run away from her; and whoso is
chosen, him will I appoint over her: for who is like me? and who will appoint me
a time? and who is the shepherd that will stand before me?
45 Therefore hear ye the counsel of the LORD, 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 with 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 the LORD: Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against
them that dwell in Lebkamai, a destroying wind.
2 And I will send unto Babylon strangers, that shall fan her; and they shall
empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about.
3 Let not the archer bend his bow, and let him not lift 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 the LORD 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 the LORD’S vengeance; he will render
unto her a recompence.
7 Babylon hath been a golden cup in the LORD’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: howl 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 The LORD hath brought forth our righteousness: come, and let us declare in
Zion the work of the LORD our God.
11 Make sharp the arrows; hold firm the shields: the LORD hath stirred up the
spirit of the kings of the Medes; because his device is against Babylon, to
destroy it: for it is the vengeance of the LORD, 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 the LORD hath both devised 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 The LORD of hosts hath sworn by himself, [saying], Surely I will fill thee
with men, as with the cankerworm; 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 vapours 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 graven 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: the LORD 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; and with thee
will I break in pieces the chariot and him that rideth therein;
22 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 maid;
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 the LORD.
25 Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the LORD, which
destroyest all the earth: and I will stretch out mine 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 the LORD.
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 cankerworm.
28 Prepare against her the nations, the kings of the Medes, the governors
thereof, and all the deputies thereof, and all the land of his dominion.
29 And the land trembleth and is in pain: for the purposes of the LORD 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 strong
holds; 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 meet another, to
shew the king of Babylon that his city is taken on every quarter:
32 and the passages are surprised, and the reeds they have burned with fire, and
the men of war are affrighted.
33 For thus saith the LORD 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 swallowed me up like a dragon, he hath
filled his maw with my delicates; 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 the LORD: 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 an 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 the
LORD.
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 surprised! 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 do 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 together
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 the LORD.
46 And let not your heart faint, neither fear ye for the rumour that shall be
heard in the land; for a rumour shall come one year, and after that in another
year [shall come] a rumour, and violence in the land, ruler against ruler.
47 Therefore, behold, the days come, that I will do judgment upon the graven
images of Babylon, and her whole land shall be ashamed; and all her slain shall
fall in the midst of her.
48 Then the heaven and the earth, and all that is therein, shall sing for joy
over Babylon; for the spoilers shall come unto her from the north, saith the
LORD.
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 the LORD
from afar, and let Jerusalem come into your mind.
51 We are ashamed, because we have heard reproach; confusion hath covered our
faces: for strangers are come into the sanctuaries of the LORD’S house.
52 Wherefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will do 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 spoilers come unto her, saith the
LORD.
54 The sound of a cry from Babylon, and of great destruction from the land of
the Chaldeans!
55 For the LORD spoileth Babylon, 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 spoiler is come upon her, even upon Babylon, and her mighty men are
taken, their bows are broken in pieces: for the LORD is a God of recompences, he
shall 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 the LORD of hosts.
58 Thus saith the LORD of hosts: The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly
overthrown, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and the peoples shall
labour 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 LORD, 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 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 the LORD, according to all that
Jehoiakim had done.
3 For through the anger of the LORD 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 by the way of 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, which stood before the king of Babylon, into Jerusalem:
13 and he burned the house of the LORD, 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
sort 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 the LORD, and the bases
and the brasen sea that were in the house of the LORD, 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 basons, and the
spoons, and all the vessels of brass wherewith they ministered, took they away.
19 And the cups, and the firepans, and the basons, 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 brasen bulls that were under the
bases, which king Solomon had made for the house of the LORD: 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 chapiter of brass was upon it; and the height of the one chapiter was
five cubits, with network and pomegranates upon the chapiter 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 an 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 door:
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, which 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 he changed his prison garments, and did eat bread before him continually
all the days of his life.
34 and for his allowance, there was a continual allowance given him of the king
of Babylon, every day a portion until the day of his death, all the days of his
life.
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