THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET
Jeremiah
Part 1 (Chapters 1-26)
1:1: The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of
the priests that were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin:
1:2: 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.
1:3: 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.
1:4: Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
1:5: Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee;
and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee,
and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
1:6: Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot
speak: for I am a child.
1:7: But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I am a child:
for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever
I command thee thou shalt speak.
1:8: Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with
thee to deliver thee, saith the LORD.
1:9: 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.
1:10: See, I have this day set thee over the nations
and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy,
and to throw down, to build, and to plant.
1:11: 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.
1:12: Then said the LORD unto me, Thou hast well
seen: for I will hasten my word to perform it.
1:13: And the word of the LORD came unto me the second
time, saying, What seest thou? And I said, I see a seething pot;
and the face thereof is toward the north.
1:14: Then the LORD said unto me, Out of the north
an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land.
1:15: 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.
1:16: And I will utter my judgments against them
touching all their wickedness, who have forsaken me, and have
burned incense unto other gods, and worshipped the works of their
own hands.
1:17: Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise,
and speak unto them all that I command thee: be not dismayed at
their faces, lest I confound thee before them.
1:18: 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.
1:19: And they shall fight against thee; but they
shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the
LORD, to deliver thee.
2:1: Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
2:2: Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying,
Thus saith the LORD; I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth,
the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the
wilderness, in a land that was not sown.
2:3: Israel was holiness unto the LORD, and the firstfruits
of his increase: all that devour him shall offend; evil shall
come upon them, saith the LORD.
2:4: Hear ye the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob,
and all the families of the house of Israel:
2:5: Thus saith the LORD, What iniquity have your
fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have
walked after vanity, and are become vain?
2:6: 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 no man passed
through, and where no man dwelt?
2:7: And I brought you into a plentiful country,
to eat the fruit thereof and the goodness thereof; but when ye
entered, ye defiled my land, and made mine heritage an abomination.
2:8: The priests said not, Where is the LORD? and
they that handle the law knew me not: the pastors also transgressed
against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after
things that do not profit.
2:9: Wherefore I will yet plead with you, saith the
LORD, and with your children's children will I plead.
2:10: For pass over the isles of Chittim, and see;
and send unto Kedar, and consider diligently, and see if there
be such a thing.
2:11: Hath a nation changed their gods, which are
yet no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that
which doth not profit.
2:12: Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be
horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the LORD.
2:13: 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.
2:14: Is Israel a servant? is he a homeborn slave?
why is he spoiled?
2:15: The young lions roared upon him, and yelled,
and they made his land waste: his cities are burned without inhabitant.
2:16: Also the children of Noph and Tahapanes have
broken the crown of thy head.
2:17: Hast thou not procured this unto thyself, in
that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, when he led thee by
the way?
2:18: And now what hast thou to do in the way of
Egypt, to drink the waters of Sihor? or what hast thou to do
in the way of Assyria, to drink the waters of the river?
2:19: Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and
thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that
it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD
thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of
hosts.
2:20: For of old time I have broken thy yoke, and
burst thy bands; and thou saidst, I will not transgress; when
upon every high hill and under every green tree thou wanderest,
playing the harlot.
2:21: 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?
2:22: For though thou wash thee with nitre, and take
thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, saith
the Lord GOD.
2:23: How canst thou say, I am not polluted, I have
not gone after Baalim? see thy way in the valley, know what thou
hast done: thou art a swift dromedary traversing her ways;
2:24: A wild ass used to the wilderness, that snuffeth
up the wind at her pleasure; in her occasion who can turn her
away? all they that seek her will not weary themselves; in her
month they shall find her.
2:25: 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.
2:26: 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,
2:27: Saying to a stock, Thou art my father; and
to a stone, Thou hast brought me forth: for they have turned their
back unto me, and not their face: but in the time of their trouble
they will say, Arise, and save us.
2:28: 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.
2:29: Wherefore will ye plead with me? ye all have
transgressed against me, saith the LORD.
2:30: In vain have I smitten your children; they
received no correction: your own sword hath devoured your prophets,
like a destroying lion.
2:31: O generation, see ye the word of the LORD.
Have I been a wilderness unto Israel? a land of darkness? wherefore
say my people, We are lords; we will come no more unto thee?
2:32: Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride
her attire? yet my people have forgotten me days without number.
2:33: Why trimmest thou thy way to seek love? therefore
hast thou also taught the wicked ones thy ways.
2:34: Also in thy skirts is found the blood of the
souls of the poor innocents: I have not found it by secret search,
but upon all these.
2:35: Yet thou sayest, Because I am innocent, surely
his anger shall turn from me. Behold, I will plead with thee,
because thou sayest, I have not sinned.
2:36: Why gaddest thou about so much to change thy
way? thou also shalt be ashamed of Egypt, as thou wast ashamed
of Assyria.
2:37: Yea, thou shalt go forth from him, and thine
hands upon thine head: for the LORD hath rejected thy confidences,
and thou shalt not prosper in them.
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.
3:2: Lift up thine eyes unto the high places, and
see where thou hast not been lien with. In the ways hast thou
sat for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast
polluted the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness.
3:3: Therefore the showers have been withholden,
and there hath been no latter rain; and thou hadst a whore's forehead,
thou refusedst to be ashamed.
3:4: Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My
father, thou art the guide of my youth?
3:5: Will he reserve his anger for ever? will he
keep it to the end? Behold, thou hast spoken and done evil things
as thou couldest.
3:6: The LORD said also unto me in the days of Josiah
the king, Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done?
she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green
tree, and there hath played the harlot.
3:7: And I said after she had done all these things,
Turn thou unto me. But she returned not. And her treacherous
sister Judah saw it.
3:8: And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding
Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a
bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not,
but went and played the harlot also.
3:9: And it came to pass through the lightness of
her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery
with stones and with stocks.
3:10: And yet for all this her treacherous sister
Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly,
saith the LORD.
3:11: And the LORD said unto me, The backsliding
Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah.
3:12: Go and proclaim these words toward the north,
and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the LORD; and
I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful,
saith the LORD, and I will not keep anger for ever.
3:13: 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.
3:14: Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD;
for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city,
and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:
3:15: And I will give you pastors according to mine
heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.
3:16: 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.
3:17: 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 imagination of their evil heart.
3:18: 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 have given for an inheritance
unto your fathers.
3:19: But I said, How shall I put thee among the
children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of
the hosts of nations? and I said, Thou shalt call me, My father;
and shalt not turn away from me.
3:20: Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from
her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of
Israel, saith the LORD.
3:21: A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping
and supplications of the children of Israel: for they have perverted
their way, and they have forgotten the LORD their God.
3:22: Return, ye backsliding children, and I will
heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art
the LORD our God.
3:23: Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the
hills, and from the multitude of mountains: truly in the LORD
our God is the salvation of Israel.
3:24: For shame hath devoured the labour of our fathers
from our youth; their flocks and their herds, their sons and their
daughters.
3:25: We lie down in our shame, and our confusion
covereth us: for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and
our fathers, from our youth even unto this day, and have not obeyed
the voice of the LORD our God.
4:1: If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the LORD,
return unto me: and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out
of my sight, then shalt thou not remove.
4:2: And thou shalt swear, The LORD liveth, in truth,
in judgment, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless
themselves in him, and in him shall they glory.
4:3: For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah
and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among
thorns.
4:4: Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take
away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants
of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that
none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
4:5: Declare ye in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem;
and say, Blow ye the trumpet in the land: cry, gather together,
and say, Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the defenced
cities.
4:6: Set up the standard toward Zion: retire, stay
not: for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction.
4:7: The lion is come up from his thicket, and the
destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way; he is gone forth from
his place to make thy land desolate; and thy cities shall be laid
waste, without an inhabitant.
4:8: For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and
howl: for the fierce anger of the LORD is not turned back from
us.
4:9: 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.
4:10: 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.
4:11: At that time shall it be said to this people
and to Jerusalem, A dry wind of the high places in the wilderness
toward the daughter of my people, not to fan, nor to cleanse,
4:12: Even a full wind from those places shall come
unto me: now also will I give sentence against them.
4:13: Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his
chariots shall be as a whirlwind: his horses are swifter than
eagles. Woe unto us! for we are spoiled.
4:14: O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness,
that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge
within thee?
4:15: For a voice declareth from Dan, and publisheth
affliction from mount Ephraim.
4:16: 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.
4:17: As keepers of a field, are they against her
round about; because she hath been rebellious against me, saith
the LORD.
4:18: Thy way and thy doings have procured these
things unto thee; this is thy wickedness, because it is bitter,
because it reacheth unto thine heart.
4:19: My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very
heart; my heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace,
because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet,
the alarm of war.
4:20: Destruction upon destruction is cried; for
the whole land is spoiled: suddenly are my tents spoiled, and
my curtains in a moment.
4:21: How long shall I see the standard, and hear
the sound of the trumpet?
4:22: For my people is foolish, they have not known
me; they are sottish children, and they have none understanding:
they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.
4:23: I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without
form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.
4:24: I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled,
and all the hills moved lightly.
4:25: I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all
the birds of the heavens were fled.
4:26: I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a
wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the
presence of the LORD, and by his fierce anger.
4:27: For thus hath the LORD said, The whole land
shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end.
4:28: For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens
above be black: because I have spoken it, I have purposed it,
and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it.
4:29: The whole city shall flee for the noise of
the horsemen and bowmen; they shall go into thickets, and climb
up upon the rocks: every city shall be forsaken, and not a man
dwell therein.
4:30: And when thou art spoiled, what wilt thou do?
Though thou clothest thyself with crimson, though thou deckest
thee with ornaments of gold, though thou rentest thy face with
painting, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair; thy lovers will
despise thee, they will seek thy life.
4:31: For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail,
and the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child,
the voice of the daughter of Zion, that bewaileth herself, that
spreadeth her hands, saying, Woe is me now! for my soul is wearied
because of murderers.
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 executeth judgment, that
seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it.
5:2: And though they say, The LORD liveth; surely
they swear falsely.
5:3: O LORD, are not thine eyes upon the truth?
thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast
consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they
have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to
return.
5:4: Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they
are foolish: for they know not the way of the LORD, nor the judgment
of their God.
5:5: I will get me unto the great men, and will speak
unto them; for they have known the way of the LORD, and the judgment
of their God: but these have altogether broken the yoke, and burst
the bonds.
5:6: Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay
them, and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them, a leopard shall
watch over their cities: every one that goeth out thence shall
be torn in pieces: because their transgressions are many, and
their backslidings are increased.
5:7: How shall I pardon thee for this? thy children
have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods: when I had
fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled
themselves by troops in the harlots' houses.
5:8: They were as fed horses in the morning: every
one neighed after his neighbour's wife.
5:9: Shall I not visit for these things? saith the
LORD: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
5:10: Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy; but make
not a full end: take away her battlements; for they are not the
LORD's.
5:11: For the house of Israel and the house of Judah
have dealt very treacherously against me, saith the LORD.
5:12: They have belied the LORD, and said, It is
not he; neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see
sword nor famine:
5:13: And the prophets shall become wind, and the
word is not in them: thus shall it be done unto them.
5:14: Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts,
Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy
mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.
5:15: 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.
5:16: Their quiver is as an open sepulchre, they
are all mighty men.
5:17: 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 impoverish thy fenced cities, wherein
thou trustedst, with the sword.
5:18: Nevertheless in those days, saith the LORD,
I will not make a full end with you.
5:19: And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say,
Wherefore doeth the LORD our God all these things unto us? then
shalt thou answer them, Like as ye have forsaken me, and served
strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land
that is not yours.
5:20: Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish
it in Judah, saying,
5:21: Hear now this, O foolish people, and without
understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears,
and hear not:
5:22: 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?
5:23: But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious
heart; they are revolted and gone.
5:24: Neither say they in their heart, Let us now
fear the LORD our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the
latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks
of the harvest.
5:25: Your iniquities have turned away these things,
and your sins have withholden good things from you.
5:26: For among my people are found wicked men: they
lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch
men.
5:27: As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses
full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich.
5:28: They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass
the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of
the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do
they not judge.
5:29: Shall I not visit for these things? saith
the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
5:30: A wonderful and horrible thing is committed
in the land;
5:31: 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?
6:1: O ye children of Benjamin, gather yourselves
to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in
Tekoa, and set up a sign of fire in Beth-haccerem: for evil appeareth
out of the north, and great destruction.
6:2: I have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely
and delicate woman.
6:3: The shepherds with their flocks shall come unto
her; they shall pitch their tents against her round about; they
shall feed every one in his place.
6:4: Prepare ye war against her; arise, and let us
go up at noon. Woe unto us! for the day goeth away, for the
shadows of the evening are stretched out.
6:5: Arise, and let us go by night, and let us destroy
her palaces.
6:6: For thus hath the LORD of hosts said, Hew ye
down trees, and cast a mount against Jerusalem: this is the city
to be visited; she is wholly oppression in the midst of her.
6:7: As a fountain casteth out her waters, so she
casteth out her wickedness: violence and spoil is heard in her;
before me continually is grief and wounds.
6:8: Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul
depart from thee; lest I make thee desolate, a land not inhabited.
6:9: Thus saith the LORD of hosts, They shall throughly
glean the remnant of Israel as a vine: turn back thine hand as
a grapegatherer into the baskets.
6:10: To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that
they may hear? behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot
hearken: behold, the word of the LORD is unto them a reproach;
they have no delight in it.
6:11: Therefore I am full of the fury of the LORD;
I am weary with holding in: I will pour it out upon the children
abroad, and upon the assembly of young men together: for even
the husband with the wife shall be taken, the aged with him that
is full of days.
6:12: And their houses shall be turned unto others,
with their fields and wives together: for I will stretch out my
hand upon the inhabitants of the land, saith the LORD.
6:13: 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.
6:14: They have healed also the hurt of the daughter
of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no
peace.
6:15: 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.
6:16: 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.
6:17: Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken
to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken.
6:18: Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O congregation,
what is among them.
6:19: 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, nor to my law, but rejected it.
6:20: To what purpose cometh there to me incense
from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country? your burnt
offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet unto me.
6:21: Therefore thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will
lay stumblingblocks before this people, and the fathers and the
sons together shall fall upon them; the neighbour and his friend
shall perish.
6:22: Thus saith the LORD, Behold, a people cometh
from the north country, and a great nation shall be raised from
the sides of the earth.
6:23: They shall lay hold on bow and spear; they
are cruel, and have no mercy; their voice roareth like the sea;
and they ride upon horses, set in array as men for war against
thee, O daughter of Zion.
6:24: We have heard the fame thereof: our hands wax
feeble: anguish hath taken hold of us, and pain, as of a woman
in travail.
6:25: Go not forth into the field, nor walk by the
way; for the sword of the enemy and fear is on every side.
6:26: 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.
6:27: I have set thee for a tower and a fortress
among my people, that thou mayest know and try their way.
6:28: They are all grievous revolters, walking with
slanders: they are brass and iron; they are all corrupters.
6:29: The bellows are burned, the lead is consumed
of the fire; the founder melteth in vain: for the wicked are not
plucked away.
6:30: Reprobate silver shall men call them, because
the LORD hath rejected them.
7:1: The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD,
saying,
7:2: 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.
7:3: 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.
7:4: Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple
of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, are
these.
7:5: For if ye throughly amend your ways and your
doings; if ye throughly execute judgment between a man and his
neighbour;
7:6: 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 hurt:
7:7: Then will I cause you to dwell in this place,
in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever.
7:8: Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot
profit.
7:9: Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery,
and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after
other gods whom ye know not;
7:10: And come and stand before me in this house,
which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all
these abominations?
7:11: Is this house, which is called by my name,
become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen
it, saith the LORD.
7:12: But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh,
where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for
the wickedness of my people Israel.
7:13: 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;
7:14: Therefore will I do unto this house, which
is called by my name, wherein ye trust, and unto the place which
I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh.
7:15: And I will cast you out of my sight, as I have
cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim.
7:16: 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.
7:17: Seest thou not what they do in the cities of
Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
7:18: The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle
the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the
queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods,
that they may provoke me to anger
7:19: Do they provoke me to anger? saith the LORD:
do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces?
7:20: 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.
7:21: Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel;
Put your burnt offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat flesh.
7:22: 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:
7:23: But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey
my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and
walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may
be well unto you.
7:24: But they hearkened not, nor inclined their
ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their
evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.
7:25: Since the day that your fathers came forth
out of the land of Egypt unto this day I have even sent unto you
all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending
them:
7:26: Yet they hearkened not unto me, nor inclined
their ear, but hardened their neck: they did worse than their
fathers.
7:27: Therefore thou shalt speak all these words
unto them; but they will not hearken to thee: thou shalt also
call unto them; but they will not answer thee.
7:28: But thou shalt say unto them, This is a nation
that obeyeth not the voice of the LORD their God, nor receiveth
correction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth.
7:29: Cut off thine hair, O Jerusalem, and cast it
away, and take up a lamentation on high places; for the LORD hath
rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.
7:30: For the children of Judah have done evil in
my sight, saith the LORD: they have set their abominations in
the house which is called by my name, to pollute it.
7:31: And they have built the high places of Tophet,
which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons
and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither
came it into my heart.
7:32: Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the
LORD, that it shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of
the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter: for they shall
bury in Tophet, till there be no place.
7:33: 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.
7:34: 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 be desolate.
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:
8:2: 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.
8:3: And death shall be chosen rather than life by
all the residue of them that remain of this evil family, which
remain in all the places whither I have driven them, saith the
LORD of hosts.
8:4: Moreover thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith
the LORD; Shall they fall, and not arise? shall he turn away,
and not return?
8:5: Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden
back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they
refuse to return.
8:6: I hearkened and heard, but they spake not aright:
no man repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done?
every one turned to his course, as the horse rusheth into the
battle.
8:7: Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed
times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the
time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the
LORD.
8:8: How do ye say, We are wise, and the law of the
LORD is with us? Lo, certainly in vain made he it; the pen of
the scribes is in vain.
8:9: The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed
and taken: lo, they have rejected the word of the LORD; and what
wisdom is in them?
8:10: Therefore will I give their wives unto others,
and their fields to them that shall inherit them: for every one
from the least even unto the greatest is given to covetousness,
from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely.
8:11: For they have healed the hurt of the daughter
of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no
peace.
8:12: 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.
8:13: I will surely consume them, saith the LORD:
there shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree,
and the leaf shall fade; and the things that I have given them
shall pass away from them.
8:14: 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.
8:15: We looked for peace, but no good came; and
for a time of health, and behold trouble!
8:16: The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan:
the whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of his strong
ones; for they are come, and have devoured the land, and all that
is in it; the city, and those that dwell therein.
8:17: For, behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices,
among you, which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you,
saith the LORD.
8:18: When I would comfort myself against sorrow,
my heart is faint in me.
8:19: Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter
of my people because of them that dwell in a far country: Is not
the LORD in Zion? is not her king in her? Why have they provoked
me to anger with their graven images, and with strange vanities?
8:20: The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and
we are not saved.
8:21: For the hurt of the daughter of my people am
I hurt; I am black; astonishment hath taken hold on me.
8:22: Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician
there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people
recovered?
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!
9:2: 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.
9:3: And they bend their tongues like their bow for
lies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for
they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the
LORD.
9:4: 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 walk with slanders.
9:5: And they will deceive every one his neighbour,
and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to
speak lies, and weary themselves to commit iniquity.
9:6: Thine habitation is in the midst of deceit;
through deceit they refuse to know me, saith the LORD.
9:7: Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold,
I will melt them, and try them; for how shall I do for the daughter
of my people?
9:8: Their tongue is as an arrow shot out; it speaketh
deceit: one speaketh peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth,
but in heart he layeth his wait.
9:9: Shall I not visit them for these things? saith
the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
9:10: For the mountains will I take up a weeping
and wailing, and for the habitations of the wilderness a lamentation,
because they are burned up, so that none can pass through them;
neither can men hear the voice of the cattle; both the fowl of
the heavens and the beast are fled; they are gone.
9:11: And I will make Jerusalem heaps, and a den
of dragons; and I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without
an inhabitant.
9:12: 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, for what the land perisheth and is burned up
like a wilderness, that none passeth through?
9:13: And the LORD saith, Because they have forsaken
my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice,
neither walked therein;
9:14: But have walked after the imagination of their
own heart, and after Baalim, which their fathers taught them:
9:15: 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.
9:16: I will scatter them also among the heathen,
whom neither they nor their fathers have known: and I will send
a sword after them, till I have consumed them.
9:17: Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Consider ye,
and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send
for cunning women, that they may come:
9:18: 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.
9:19: 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 our dwellings have cast us out.
9:20: 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.
9:21: For death is come up into our windows, and
is entered into our palaces, to cut off the children from without,
and the young men from the streets.
9:22: Speak, Thus saith the LORD, Even the carcases
of men shall fall as dung upon the open field, and as the handful
after the harvestman, and none shall gather them.
9:23: 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:
9:24: 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.
9:25: Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that
I will punish all them which are circumcised with the uncircumcised;
9:26: Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children
of Ammon, and Moab, and all that are in the utmost corners, that
dwell in the wilderness: for all these nations are uncircumcised,
and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart.
10:1: Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto
you, O house of Israel:
10:2: Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the
heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen
are dismayed at them.
10:3: For the customs of the people are vain: for
one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of
the workman, with the axe.
10:4: They deck it with silver and with gold; they
fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.
10:5: They are upright as the palm tree, but speak
not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not
afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in
them to do good.
10:6: Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee,
O LORD; thou art great, and thy name is great in might.
10:7: Who would not fear thee, O King of nations?
for to thee doth it appertain: forasmuch as among all the wise
men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like
unto thee.
10:8: But they are altogether brutish and foolish:
the stock is a doctrine of vanities.
10:9: Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish,
and gold from Uphaz, the work of the workman, and of the hands
of the founder: blue and purple is their clothing: they are all
the work of cunning men.
10:10: But the LORD is the true God, he is the living
God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble,
and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation.
10:11: Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that
have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish
from the earth, and from under these heavens.
10:12: He hath made the earth by his power, he hath
established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the
heavens by his discretion.
10:13: When he uttereth his voice, there is a multitude
of waters in the heavens, and he causeth the vapours to ascend
from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings with rain, and
bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures.
10:14: Every man is brutish in his knowledge: every
founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image
is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.
10:15: They are vanity, and the work of errors: in
the time of their visitation they shall perish.
10:16: The portion of Jacob is not like them: for
he is the former of all things; and Israel is the rod of his inheritance:
The LORD of hosts is his name.
10:17: Gather up thy wares out of the land, O inhabitant
of the fortress.
10:18: For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will sling
out the inhabitants of the land at this once, and will distress
them, that they may find it so.
10:19: Woe is me for my hurt! my wound is grievous:
but I said, Truly this is a grief, and I must bear it.
10:20: My tabernacle is spoiled, and all my cords
are broken: my children are gone forth of me, and they are not:
there is none to stretch forth my tent any more, and to set up
my curtains.
10:21: For the pastors are become brutish, and have
not sought the LORD: therefore they shall not prosper, and all
their flocks shall be scattered.
10:22: Behold, the noise of the bruit is come, and
a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities
of Judah desolate, and a den of dragons.
10:23: O LORD, I know that the way of man is not
in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.
10:24: O LORD, correct me, but with judgment; not
in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing.
10:25: Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know
thee not, and upon the families that call not on thy name: for
they have eaten up Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him,
and have made his habitation desolate.
11:1: The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD,
saying,
11:2: Hear ye the words of this covenant, and speak
unto the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem;
11:3: And say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD
God of Israel; Cursed be the man that obeyeth not the words of
this covenant,
11:4: Which I commanded your fathers in the day that
I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace,
saying, Obey my voice, and do them, according to all which I command
you: so shall ye be my people, and I will be your God:
11:5: That I may perform the oath which I have sworn
unto your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey,
as it is this day. Then answered I, and said, So be it, O LORD.
11:6: Then the LORD said unto me, Proclaim all these
words in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem,
saying, Hear ye the words of this covenant, and do them.
11:7: 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.
11:8: Yet they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear,
but walked every one in the imagination of their evil heart: therefore
I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant, which I
commanded them to do; but they did them not.
11:9: And the LORD said unto me, A conspiracy is
found among the men of Judah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
11:10: They are turned back to the iniquities of
their forefathers, which refused to hear my words; and they went
after other gods to serve them: the house of Israel and the house
of Judah have broken my covenant which I made with their fathers.
11:11: Therefore thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will
bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape;
and though they shall cry unto me, I will not hearken unto them.
11:12: Then shall the cities of Judah and inhabitants
of Jerusalem go, and cry unto the gods unto whom they offer incense:
but they shall not save them at all in the time of their trouble.
11:13: For according to the number of thy cities
were thy gods, O Judah; and according to the number of the streets
of Jerusalem have ye set up altars to that shameful thing, even
altars to burn incense unto Baal.
11:14: Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither
lift up a cry or prayer for them: for I will not hear them in
the time that they cry unto me for their trouble.
11:15: 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.
11:16: The LORD called thy name, A green olive tree,
fair, and of goodly fruit: with the noise of a great tumult he
hath kindled fire upon it, and the branches of it are broken.
11:17: For the LORD of hosts, that planted thee,
hath pronounced evil against thee, for the evil of the house of
Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done against
themselves to provoke me to anger in offering incense unto Baal.
11:18: And the LORD hath given me knowledge of it,
and I know it: then thou shewedst me their doings.
11:19: But I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought
to the slaughter; and I knew not that they had devised devices
against me, saying, Let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof,
and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name
may be no more remembered.
11:20: 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.
11:21: Therefore thus saith the LORD of the men of
Anathoth, that seek thy life, saying, Prophesy not in the name
of the LORD, that thou die not by our hand:
11:22: 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:
11:23: And there shall be no remnant of them: for
I will bring evil upon the men of Anathoth, even the year of their
visitation.
12:1: Righteous art thou, O LORD, when I plead with
thee: yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments: Wherefore doth
the way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are all they happy that
deal very treacherously?
12:2: 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.
12:3: But thou, O LORD, knowest me: thou hast seen
me, and tried mine heart toward thee: pull them out like sheep
for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter.
12:4: How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs
of every field wither, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein?
the beasts are consumed, and the birds; because they said, He
shall not see our last end.
12:5: If thou hast run with the footmen, and they
have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? and
if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied
thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?
12:6: For even thy brethren, and the house of thy
father, even they have dealt treacherously with thee; yea, they
have called a multitude after thee: believe them not, though they
speak fair words unto thee.
12:7: I have forsaken mine house, I have left mine
heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the
hand of her enemies.
12:8: Mine heritage is unto me as a lion in the forest;
it crieth out against me: therefore have I hated it.
12:9: Mine heritage is unto me as a speckled bird,
the birds round about are against her; come ye, assemble all the
beasts of the field, come to devour.
12:10: Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they
have trodden my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant
portion a desolate wilderness.
12:11: They have made it desolate, and being desolate
it mourneth unto me; the whole land is made desolate, because
no man layeth it to heart.
12:12: The spoilers are come upon all high places
through the wilderness: for the sword of the LORD shall devour
from the one end of the land even to the other end of the land:
no flesh shall have peace.
12:13: They have sown wheat, but shall reap thorns:
they have put themselves to pain, but shall not profit: and they
shall be ashamed of your revenues because of the fierce anger
of the LORD.
12:14: 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 out of their
land, and pluck out the house of Judah from among them.
12:15: And it shall come to pass, after that I have
plucked them out I will return, and have compassion on them, and
will bring them again, every man to his heritage, and every man
to his land.
12:16: And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently
learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, The LORD liveth;
as they taught my people to swear by Baal; then shall they be
built in the midst of my people.
12:17: But if they will not obey, I will utterly
pluck up and destroy that nation, saith the LORD.
13:1: Thus saith the LORD unto me, Go and get thee
a linen girdle, and put it upon thy loins, and put it not in water.
13:2: So I got a girdle according to the word of
the LORD, and put it on my loins.
13:3: And the word of the LORD came unto me the second
time, saying,
13:4: Take the girdle that thou hast got, which is
upon thy loins, and arise, go to Euphrates, and hide it there
in a hole of the rock.
13:5: So I went, and hid it by Euphrates, as the
LORD commanded me.
13:6: 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.
13:7: 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.
13:8: Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
13:9: Thus saith the LORD, After this manner will
I mar the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem.
13:10: This evil people, which refuse to hear my
words, which walk in the imagination of their heart, and walk
after other gods, to serve them, and to worship them, shall even
be as this girdle, which is good for nothing.
13:11: 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.
13:12: Therefore thou shalt speak unto them this
word; Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Every bottle shall be
filled with wine: and they shall say unto thee, Do we not certainly
know that every bottle shall be filled with wine?
13:13: 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.
13:14: 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 mercy, but destroy them.
13:15: Hear ye, and give ear; be not proud: for the
LORD hath spoken.
13:16: 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.
13:17: But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall
weep in secret places for your pride; and mine eye shall weep
sore, and run down with tears, because the LORD's flock is carried
away captive.
13:18: Say unto the king and to the queen, Humble
yourselves, sit down: for your principalities shall come down,
even the crown of your glory.
13:19: The cities of the south shall be shut up,
and none shall open them: Judah shall be carried away captive
all of it, it shall be wholly carried away captive.
13:20: Lift up your eyes, and behold them that come
from the north: where is the flock that was given thee, thy beautiful
flock?
13:21: What wilt thou say when he shall punish thee?
for thou hast taught them to be captains, and as chief over thee:
shall not sorrows take thee, as a woman in travail?
13:22: And if thou say in thine heart, Wherefore
come these things upon me? For the greatness of thine iniquity
are thy skirts discovered, and thy heels made bare.
13:23: Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the
leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed
to do evil.
13:24: Therefore will I scatter them as the stubble
that passeth away by the wind of the wilderness.
13:25: This is thy lot, the portion of thy measures
from me, saith the LORD; because thou hast forgotten me, and trusted
in falsehood.
13:26: Therefore will I discover thy skirts upon
thy face, that thy shame may appear.
13:27: I have seen thine adulteries, and thy neighings,
the lewdness of thy whoredom, and thine abominations on the hills
in the fields. Woe unto thee, O Jerusalem! wilt thou not be
made clean? when shall it once be?
14:1: The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah
concerning the dearth.
14:2: Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof languish;
they are black unto the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone
up.
14:3: And their nobles have sent their little ones
to the waters: they came to the pits, and found no water; they
returned with their vessels empty; they were ashamed and confounded,
and covered their heads.
14:4: Because the ground is chapt, for there was
no rain in the earth, the plowmen were ashamed, they covered their
heads.
14:5: Yea, the hind also calved in the field, and
forsook it, because there was no grass.
14:6: And the wild asses did stand in the high places,
they snuffed up the wind like dragons; their eyes did fail, because
there was no grass.
14:7: O LORD, though our iniquities testify against
us, do thou it for thy name's sake: for our backslidings are many;
we have sinned against thee.
14:8: O the hope of Israel, the saviour thereof in
time of trouble, why shouldest thou be as a stranger in the land,
and as a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night?
14:9: 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.
14:10: Thus saith the LORD unto this people, Thus
have they loved to wander, they have not refrained their feet,
therefore the LORD doth not accept them; he will now remember
their iniquity, and visit their sins.
14:11: Then said the LORD unto me, Pray not for this
people for their good.
14:12: When they fast, I will not hear their cry;
and when they offer burnt offering and an oblation, I will not
accept them: but I will consume them by the sword, and by the
famine, and by the pestilence.
14:13: 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.
14:14: Then the LORD said unto me, The prophets prophesy
lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them,
neither spake unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision
and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their
heart.
14:15: 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.
14:16: 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.
14:17: Therefore thou shalt say this word unto them;
Let mine eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them
not cease: for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with
a great breach, with a very grievous blow.
14:18: 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! yea, both the prophet
and the priest go about into a land that they know not.
14:19: Hast thou utterly rejected Judah? hath thy
soul lothed Zion? why hast thou smitten us, and there is no healing
for us? we looked for peace, and there is no good; and for the
time of healing, and behold trouble!
14:20: We acknowledge, O LORD, our wickedness, and
the iniquity of our fathers: for we have sinned against thee.
14:21: Do not abhor us, for thy name's sake, do not
disgrace the throne of thy glory: remember, break not thy covenant
with us.
14:22: Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles
that can cause rain? or can the heavens give showers? art not
thou he, O LORD our God? therefore we will wait upon thee: for
thou hast made all these things.
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.
15:2: And it shall come to pass, if they say unto
thee, Whither shall we go forth? then thou shalt tell them, Thus
saith the LORD; Such as are for death, to death; and such as are
for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for the famine, to
the famine; and such as are for the captivity, to the captivity.
15:3: 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 destroy.
15:4: And I will cause them to be removed into all
kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah
king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem.
15:5: For who shall have pity upon thee, O Jerusalem?
or who shall bemoan thee? or who shall go aside to ask how thou
doest?
15:6: Thou hast forsaken me, saith the LORD, thou
art gone backward: therefore will I stretch out my hand against
thee, and destroy thee; I am weary with repenting.
15:7: And I will fan them with a fan in the gates
of the land; I will bereave them of children, I will destroy my
people, since they return not from their ways.
15:8: 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 him to fall
upon it suddenly, and terrors upon the city.
15:9: 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.
15:10: 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 neither lent on usury, nor men have lent to me on usury;
yet every one of them doth curse me.
15:11: The LORD said, Verily it shall be well with
thy remnant; verily I will cause the enemy to entreat thee well
in the time of evil and in the time of affliction.
15:12: Shall iron break the northern iron and the
steel?
15:13: Thy substance and thy treasures will I give
to the spoil without price, and that for all thy sins, even in
all thy borders.
15:14: And I will make thee to pass with thine enemies
into a land which thou knowest not: for a fire is kindled in mine
anger, which shall burn upon you.
15:15: O LORD, thou knowest: remember me, and visit
me, and revenge me of my persecutors; take me not away in thy
longsuffering: know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke.
15:16: Thy words were found, and I did eat them;
and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart:
for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts.
15:17: I sat not in the assembly of the mockers,
nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of thy hand: for thou hast filled
me with indignation.
15:18: Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable,
which refuseth to be healed? wilt thou be altogether unto me
as a liar, and as waters that fail?
15:19: Therefore thus saith the LORD, If thou return,
then will I bring thee again, and thou shalt stand before me:
and if thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt
be as my mouth: let them return unto thee; but return not thou
unto them.
15:20: 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.
15:21: And I will deliver thee out of the hand of
the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible.
16:1: The word of the LORD came also unto me, saying,
16:2: Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt
thou have sons or daughters in this place.
16:3: 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;
16:4: They shall die of grievous deaths; they shall
not be lamented; neither shall they be buried; but they shall
be as dung upon the face of the earth: and they shall be consumed
by the sword, and by famine; and their carcases shall be meat
for the fowls of heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.
16:5: For thus saith the LORD, Enter not into the
house of mourning, neither go to lament nor bemoan them: for I
have taken away my peace from this people, saith the LORD, even
lovingkindness and mercies.
16:6: Both the great and the small shall die in this
land: they shall not be buried, neither shall men lament for them,
nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them:
16:7: Neither shall men tear themselves for them
in mourning, to comfort them for the dead; neither shall men give
them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their
mother.
16:8: Thou shalt not also go into the house of feasting,
to sit with them to eat and to drink.
16:9: For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of
Israel; Behold, I will cause to cease out of this place in your
eyes, and in your days, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness,
the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride.
16:10: 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?
16:11: 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;
16:12: And ye have done worse than your fathers;
for, behold, ye walk every one after the imagination of his evil
heart, that they may not hearken unto me:
16:13: Therefore will I cast you out of this land
into a land that ye know not, neither ye nor your fathers; and
there shall ye serve other gods day and night; where I will not
shew you favour.
16:14: Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the
LORD, that it shall no more be said, The LORD liveth, that brought
up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;
16:15: But, The LORD liveth, that brought up the
children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the
lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again
into their land that I gave unto their fathers.
16:16: Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith
the LORD, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for
many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and
from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.
16:17: For mine eyes are upon all their ways: they
are not hid from my face, neither is their iniquity hid from mine
eyes.
16:18: And first I will recompense their iniquity
and their sin double; because they have defiled my land, they
have filled mine inheritance with the carcases of their detestable
and abominable things.
16:19: O LORD, my strength, and my fortress, and
my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto
thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers
have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit.
16:20: Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they
are no gods?
16:21: Therefore, behold, I will this once cause
them to know, I will cause them to know mine hand and my might;
and they shall know that my name is The LORD.
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;
17:2: Whilst their children remember their altars
and their groves by the green trees upon the high hills.
17:3: O my mountain in the field, I will give thy
substance and all thy treasures to the spoil, and thy high places
for sin, throughout all thy borders.
17:4: And thou, even thyself, shalt discontinue from
thine heritage that I gave thee; and I will cause thee to serve
thine enemies in the land which thou knowest not: for ye have
kindled a fire in mine anger, which shall burn for ever.
17:5: Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that
trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth
from the LORD.
17:6: 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, in a salt land and not inhabited.
17:7: Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD,
and whose hope the LORD is.
17:8: For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters,
and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see
when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be
careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding
fruit.
17:9: The heart is deceitful above all things, and
desperately wicked: who can know it?
17:10: I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins,
even to give every man according to his ways, and according to
the fruit of his doings.
17:11: As the partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth
them not; so he that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave
them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool.
17:12: A glorious high throne from the beginning
is the place of our sanctuary.
17:13: O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake
thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written
in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain
of living waters.
17:14: Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save
me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise.
17:15: Behold, they say unto me, Where is the word
of the LORD? let it come now.
17:16: As for me, I have not hastened from being
a pastor to follow thee: neither have I desired the woeful day;
thou knowest: that which came out of my lips was right before
thee.
17:17: Be not a terror unto me: thou art my hope
in the day of evil.
17:18: Let them be confounded that persecute me,
but let not me be confounded: let them be dismayed, but let not
me be dismayed: bring upon them the day of evil, and destroy them
with double destruction.
17:19: 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;
17:20: 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:
17:21: 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;
17:22: 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.
17:23: But they obeyed not, neither inclined their
ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, nor
receive instruction.
17:24: 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 hallow the sabbath
day, to do no work therein;
17:25: Then shall there enter into the gates of this
city kings and princes sitting upon the throne of David, riding
in chariots and on horses, they, and their princes, the men of
Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: and this city shall remain
for ever.
17:26: And they shall come from the cities of Judah,
and from the places about Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin,
and from the plain, and from the mountains, and from the south,
bringing burnt offerings, and sacrifices, and meat offerings,
and incense, and bringing sacrifices of praise, unto the house
of the LORD.
17:27: But if ye will not hearken unto me to hallow
the sabbath day, and not to bear a burden, even entering in at
the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day; then will I kindle
a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of
Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.
18:1: The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD,
saying,
18:2: Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and
there I will cause thee to hear my words.
18:3: Then I went down to the potter's house, and,
behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.
18:4: And the vessel that he made of clay was marred
in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel,
as seemed good to the potter to make it.
18:5: Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
18:6: O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as
this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's
hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.
18:7: At what instant I shall speak concerning a
nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down,
and to destroy it;
18:8: If that nation, against whom I have pronounced,
turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought
to do unto them.
18:9: And at what instant I shall speak concerning
a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it;
18:10: 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.
18:11: 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 make your
ways and your doings good.
18:12: And they said, There is no hope: but we will
walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination
of his evil heart.
18:13: Therefore thus saith the LORD; Ask ye now
among the heathen, who hath heard such things: the virgin of Israel
hath done a very horrible thing.
18:14: Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon which
cometh from the rock of the field? or shall the cold flowing
waters that come from another place be forsaken?
18:15: Because my people hath forgotten me, they
have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused them to stumble
in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in paths, in a way
not cast up;
18:16: To make their land desolate, and a perpetual
hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished, and
wag his head.
18:17: I will scatter them as with an east wind before
the enemy; I will shew them the back, and not the face, in the
day of their calamity.
18:18: 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.
18:19: Give heed to me, O LORD, and hearken to the
voice of them that contend with me.
18:20: Shall evil be recompensed for good? for they
have digged a pit for my soul. Remember that I stood before thee
to speak good for them, and to turn away thy wrath from them.
18:21: Therefore deliver up their children to the
famine, and pour out their blood by the force of the sword; and
let their wives be bereaved of their children, and be widows;
and let their men be put to death; let their young men be slain
by the sword in battle.
18:22: 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.
18:23: 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 thus with them in the time of thine anger.
19:1: Thus saith the LORD, Go and get a potter's
earthen bottle, and take of the ancients of the people, and of
the ancients of the priests;
19:2: And go forth unto the valley of the son of
Hinnom, which is by the entry of the east gate, and proclaim there
the words that I shall tell thee,
19:3: 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.
19:4: Because they have forsaken me, and have estranged
this place, and have burned incense in it unto other gods, whom
neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Judah,
and have filled this place with the blood of innocents;
19:5: They have built also the high places of Baal,
to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which
I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my mind:
19:6: Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the
LORD, that this place shall no more be called Tophet, nor The
valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of slaughter.
19:7: 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 hands of them that seek
their lives: and their carcases will I give to be meat for the
fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.
19:8: And I will make this city desolate, and an
hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished and
hiss because of all the plagues thereof.
19:9: 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 straitness, wherewith
their enemies, and they that seek their lives, shall straiten
them.
19:10: Then shalt thou break the bottle in the sight
of the men that go with thee,
19:11: 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 them in Tophet, till there be no place to bury.
19:12: Thus will I do unto this place, saith the
LORD, and to the inhabitants thereof, and even make this city
as Tophet:
19:13: And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses
of the kings of Judah, shall be defiled as the place of Tophet,
because of 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.
19:14: Then came Jeremiah from Tophet, 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,
19:15: 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
hardened their necks, that they might not hear my words.
20:1: Now Pashur the son of Immer the priest, who
was also chief governor in the house of the LORD, heard that Jeremiah
prophesied these things.
20:2: Then Pashur smote Jeremiah the prophet, and
put him in the stocks that were in the high gate of Benjamin,
which was by the house of the LORD.
20:3: And it came to pass on the morrow, that Pashur
brought forth Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then said Jeremiah
unto him, The LORD hath not called thy name Pashur, but Magor-missabib.
20:4: 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 into Babylon, and shall slay them
with the sword.
20:5: Moreover I will deliver all the strength of
this city, and all the labours thereof, and all the precious things
thereof, and 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.
20:6: And thou, Pashur, and all that dwell in thine
house shall go into captivity: and thou shalt come to Babylon,
and there thou shalt die, and shalt be buried there, thou, and
all thy friends, to whom thou hast prophesied lies.
20:7: O LORD, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived:
thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am in derision
daily, every one mocketh me.
20:8: For since I spake, I cried out, I cried violence
and spoil; because the word of the LORD was made a reproach unto
me, and a derision, daily.
20:9: Then I said, I will not make mention of him,
nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart
as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing,
and I could not stay.
20:10: For I heard the defaming of many, fear on
every side. Report, say they, and we will report it. All my
familiars watched for my halting, saying, Peradventure he will
be enticed, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take
our revenge on him.
20:11: But the LORD is with me as a mighty terrible
one: therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not
prevail: they shall be greatly ashamed; for they shall not prosper:
their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten.
20:12: But, O LORD of hosts, that triest the righteous,
and seest the reins and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on
them: for unto thee have I opened my cause.
20:13: Sing unto the LORD, praise ye the LORD: for
he hath delivered the soul of the poor from the hand of evildoers.
20:14: Cursed be the day wherein I was born: let
not the day wherein my mother bare me be blessed.
20:15: Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my
father, saying, A man child is born unto thee; making him very
glad.
20:16: And let that man be as the cities which the
LORD overthrew, and repented not: and let him hear the cry in
the morning, and the shouting at noontide;
20:17: Because he slew me not from the womb; or that
my mother might have been my grave, and her womb to be always
great with me.
20:18: Wherefore came I forth out of the womb to
see labour and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?
21:1: The word which came unto Jeremiah from the
LORD, when king Zedekiah sent unto him Pashur the son of Melchiah,
and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, saying,
21:2: Enquire, I pray thee, of the LORD for us; for
Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon maketh war against us; if so be
that the LORD will deal with us according to all his wondrous
works, that he may go up from us.
21:3: Then said Jeremiah unto them, Thus shall ye
say to Zedekiah:
21:4: Thus saith the LORD 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 assemble them
into the midst of this city.
21:5: 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.
21:6: And I will smite the inhabitants of this city,
both man and beast: they shall die of a great pestilence.
21:7: And afterward, saith the LORD, I will deliver
Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, and
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.
21:8: 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.
21:9: 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 to the Chaldeans that besiege you, he shall live,
and his life shall be unto him for a prey.
21:10: For I have set my face against 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.
21:11: And touching the house of the king of Judah,
say, Hear ye the word of the LORD;
21:12: O house of David, thus saith the LORD; Execute
judgment in the morning, and deliver him that is spoiled out of
the hand of the oppressor, lest my fury go out like fire, and
burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
21:13: Behold, I am against thee, O inhabitant of
the valley, and rock of the plain, saith the LORD; which say,
Who shall come down against us? or who shall enter into our habitations?
21:14: But I will punish you according to the fruit
of your doings, saith the LORD: and I will kindle a fire in the
forest thereof, and it shall devour all things round about it.
22:1: Thus saith the LORD; Go down to the house of
the king of Judah, and speak there this word,
22:2: 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:
22:3: 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.
22:4: 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.
22:5: But if ye will not hear these words, I swear
by myself, saith the LORD, that this house shall become a desolation.
22:6: For thus saith the LORD unto the king's house
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.
22:7: 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.
22:8: 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?
22:9: Then they shall answer, Because they have forsaken
the covenant of the LORD their God, and worshipped other gods,
and served them.
22:10: 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.
22:11: 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:
22:12: But he shall die in the place whither they
have led him captive, and shall see this land no more.
22:13: Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness,
and his chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbour's service
without wages, and giveth him not for his work;
22:14: That saith, I will build me a wide house and
large chambers, and cutteth him out windows; and it is cieled
with cedar, and painted with vermilion.
22:15: Shalt thou reign, because thou closest thyself
in cedar? did not thy father eat and drink, and do judgment and
justice, and then it was well with him?
22:16: He judged the cause of the poor and needy;
then it was well with him: was not this to know me? saith the
LORD.
22:17: 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.
22:18: 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!
22:19: He shall be buried with the burial of an ass,
drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.
22:20: Go up to Lebanon, and cry; and lift up thy
voice in Bashan, and cry from the passages: for all thy lovers
are destroyed.
22:21: 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.
22:22: The wind shall eat up all thy pastors, and
thy lovers shall go into captivity: surely then shalt thou be
ashamed and confounded for all thy wickedness.
22:23: O inhabitant of Lebanon, that makest thy nest
in the cedars, how gracious shalt thou be when pangs come upon
thee, the pain as of a woman in travail!
22:24: 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;
22:25: And I will give thee into the hand of them
that seek thy life, and into the hand of them whose face thou
fearest, even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon,
and into the hand of the Chaldeans.
22:26: 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.
22:27: But to the land whereunto they desire to return,
thither shall they not return.
22:28: Is this man Coniah a despised broken idol?
is he a vessel wherein is no pleasure? wherefore are they cast
out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land which they know
not?
22:29: O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the
LORD.
22:30: 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.
23:1: Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter
the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD.
23:2: Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel
against the pastors 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.
23:3: And I will gather the remnant of my flock out
of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them
again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase.
23:4: And I will set up shepherds over them which
shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed,
neither shall they be lacking, saith the LORD.
23:5: Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that
I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign
and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.
23:6: In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel
shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called,
THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
23:7: Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the
LORD, that they shall no more say, The LORD liveth, which brought
up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;
23:8: But, The LORD liveth, which brought up and
which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country,
and from all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall
dwell in their own land.
23:9: Mine heart within me is broken because of the
prophets; 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 the words of his holiness.
23:10: For the land is full of adulterers; for because
of swearing the land mourneth; the pleasant places of the wilderness
are dried up, and their course is evil, and their force is not
right.
23:11: For both prophet and priest are profane; yea,
in my house have I found their wickedness, saith the LORD.
23:12: Wherefore their way shall be unto them as
slippery ways 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.
23:13: And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria;
they prophesied in Baal, and caused my people Israel to err.
23:14: I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem
an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they
strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return
from his wickedness: they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and
the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.
23:15: 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.
23:16: Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not
unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make
you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out
of the mouth of the LORD.
23:17: They say still unto them that despise me,
The LORD hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every
one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil
shall come upon you.
23:18: For who hath stood in the counsel of the LORD,
and hath perceived and heard his word? who hath marked his word,
and heard it?
23:19: Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD is gone forth
in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon
the head of the wicked.
23:20: The anger of the LORD shall not return, until
he have executed, and till he have performed the thoughts of his
heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly.
23:21: I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran:
I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.
23:22: But if they had stood in my counsel, and had
caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned
them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.
23:23: Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not
a God afar off?
23:24: 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.
23:25: I have heard what the prophets said, that
prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed.
23:26: How long shall this be in the heart of the
prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are prophets of the deceit
of their own heart;
23:27: Which think to cause my people to forget my
name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour,
as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal.
23:28: 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 chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD.
23:29: Is not my word like as a fire? saith the
LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?
23:30: Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets,
saith the LORD, that steal my words every one from his neighbour.
23:31: Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the
LORD, that use their tongues, and say, He saith.
23:32: Behold, I am against them that prophesy false
dreams, saith the LORD, and do tell them, and cause my people
to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them
not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this
people at all, saith the LORD.
23:33: And when this people, or the prophet, or a
priest, shall ask thee, saying, What is the burden of the LORD?
thou shalt then say unto them, What burden? I will even forsake
you, saith the LORD.
23:34: 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.
23:35: 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?
23:36: And the burden of the LORD shall ye mention
no more: for every man's word shall be his burden; for ye have
perverted the words of the living God, of the LORD of hosts our
God.
23:37: Thus shalt thou say to the prophet, What hath
the LORD answered thee? and, What hath the LORD spoken?
23:38: But since 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;
23:39: Therefore, behold, I, even I, will utterly
forget you, and I will forsake you, and the city that I gave you
and your fathers, and cast you out of my presence:
23:40: And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon
you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.
24:1: The LORD shewed me, and, behold, two baskets
of figs were 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 carpenters and
smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon.
24:2: One basket had very good figs, even like the
figs that are first ripe: and the other basket had very naughty
figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad.
24:3: Then said the LORD unto me, What seest thou,
Jeremiah? And I said, Figs; the good figs, very good; and the
evil, very evil, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil.
24:4: Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
24:5: Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Like
these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away
captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the
land of the Chaldeans for their good.
24:6: 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.
24:7: 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.
24:8: And as the evil figs, which cannot be eaten,
they are so evil; surely thus saith the LORD, So will I give 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:
24:9: And I will deliver them to be removed into
all the kingdoms of the earth for their hurt, to be a reproach
and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places whither I shall
drive them.
24:10: 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.
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, that was the first year of Nebuchadrezzar
king of Babylon;
25:2: The which Jeremiah the prophet spake unto all
the people of Judah, and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
saying,
25:3: From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son
of Amon king of Judah, even unto this day, that is the three and
twentieth year, the word of the LORD hath come unto me, and I
have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking; but ye have not
hearkened.
25:4: And the LORD hath sent unto you all his servants
the prophets, rising early and sending them; but ye have not hearkened,
nor inclined your ear to hear.
25:5: They said, Turn ye again 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 for
ever and ever:
25:6: And go not after other gods to serve them,
and to worship them, and provoke me not to anger with the works
of your hands; and I will do you no hurt.
25:7: Yet ye have not hearkened unto me, saith the
LORD; that ye might provoke me to anger with the works of your
hands to your own hurt.
25:8: Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Because
ye have not heard my words,
25:9: Behold, I will send and take all the families
of the north, saith the LORD, and 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 will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment,
and an hissing, and perpetual desolations.
25:10: 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.
25:11: And this whole land shall be a desolation,
and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of
Babylon seventy years.
25:12: 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 will make it perpetual desolations.
25:13: 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.
25:14: For many nations and great kings shall serve
themselves of them also: and I will recompense them according
to their deeds, and according to the works of their own hands.
25:15: For thus saith the LORD God of Israel unto
me; Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the
nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it.
25:16: And they shall drink, and be moved, and be
mad, because of the sword that I will send among them.
25:17: Then took I the cup at the LORD's hand, and
made all the nations to drink, unto whom the LORD had sent me:
25:18: 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;
25:19: Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, and
his princes, and all his people;
25:20: 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 Azzah, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod,
25:21: Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon,
25:22: And all the kings of Tyrus, and all the kings
of Zidon, and the kings of the isles which are beyond the sea,
25:23: Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all that are
in the utmost corners,
25:24: And all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings
of the mingled people that dwell in the desert,
25:25: And all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings
of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes,
25:26: 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.
25:27: Therefore 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.
25:28: 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 certainly drink.
25:29: For, lo, I begin to bring evil on 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.
25:30: 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
upon his habitation; he shall give a shout, as they that tread
the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth.
25:31: A noise shall come even to the ends of the
earth; for the LORD hath a controversy with the nations, he will
plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the
sword, saith the LORD.
25:32: Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, evil
shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall
be raised up from the coasts of the earth.
25:33: 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 ground.
25:34: Howl, ye shepherds, and cry; and wallow yourselves
in the ashes, ye principal of the flock: for the days of your
slaughter and of your dispersions are accomplished; and ye shall
fall like a pleasant vessel.
25:35: And the shepherds shall have no way to flee,
nor the principal of the flock to escape.
25:36: A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and an
howling of the principal of the flock, shall be heard: for the
LORD hath spoiled their pasture.
25:37: And the peaceable habitations are cut down
because of the fierce anger of the LORD.
25:38: He hath forsaken his covert, as the lion:
for their land is desolate because of the fierceness of the oppressor,
and because of his fierce anger.
26:1: In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim
the son of Josiah king of Judah came this word from the LORD,
saying,
26:2: 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; diminish not a word:
26:3: If so 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.
26:4: 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,
26:5: To hearken to the words of my servants the
prophets, whom I sent unto you, both rising up early, and sending
them, but ye have not hearkened;
26:6: Then will I make this house like Shiloh, and
will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.
26:7: So the priests and the prophets and all the
people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the
LORD.
26:8: Now 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 took him, saying, Thou shalt surely die.
26:9: Why hast thou prophesied in the name of the
LORD, saying, This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall
be desolate without an inhabitant? And all the people were gathered
against Jeremiah in the house of the LORD.
26:10: When the princes of Judah heard these things,
then they came up from the king's house unto the house of the
LORD, and sat down in the entry of the new gate of the LORD's
house.
26:11: Then spake the priests and the prophets unto
the princes and to all the people, saying, This man is worthy
to die; for he hath prophesied against this city, as ye have heard
with your ears.
26:12: 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.
26:13: 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.
26:14: As for me, behold, I am in your hand: do with
me as seemeth good and meet unto you.
26:15: But know ye for certain, that if ye put me
to death, ye shall surely 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.
26:16: Then said the princes and all the people unto
the priests and to the prophets; This man is not worthy to die:
for he hath spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God.
26:17: Then rose up certain of the elders of the
land, and spake to all the assembly of the people, saying,
26:18: Micah the Morasthite prophesied in the days
of Hezekiah king of Judah, and spake to all the people of Judah,
saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Zion shall be plowed like
a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountains of
the house as the high places of a forest.
26:19: Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put
him at all to death? did he not fear the LORD, and besought the
LORD, and the LORD repented him of the evil which he had pronounced
against them? Thus might we procure great evil against our souls.
26:20: And there was also a man that prophesied in
the name of the LORD, Urijah the son of Shemaiah of Kirjath-jearim,
who prophesied against this city and against this land according
to all the words of Jeremiah:
26:21: 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 Urijah heard it, he was afraid,
and fled, and went into Egypt;
26:22: And Jehoiakim the king sent men into Egypt,
namely, Elnathan the son of Achbor, and certain men with him into
Egypt.
26:23: And they fetched forth Urijah 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.
26:24: Nevertheless 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.