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Genesis 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 Exodus 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 Leviticus 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 Numbers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 Deuteronomy 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 Joshua 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Judges 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Ruth 1 2 3 4 1 Samuel 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 2 Samuel 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 1 Kings 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 2 Kings 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 1 Chronicles 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 2 Chronicles 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 Ezra 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Nehemiah 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Esther 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Job 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 Psalms 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 Proverbs 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Ecclesiastes 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Song of Solomon 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Isaiah 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 Jeremiah 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 Lamentations 1 2 3 4 5 Ezekiel 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 Daniel 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Hosea 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Joel 1 2 3 Amos 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Obadiah 1 Jonah 1 2 3 4 Micah 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Nahum 1 2 3 Habakkuk 1 2 3 Zephaniah 1 2 3 Haggai 1 2 Zechariah 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Malachi 1 2 3 4 Matthew 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Mark 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Luke 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 John 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Acts 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Romans 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 1 Corinthians 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 2 Corinthians 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Galatians 1 2 3 4 5 6 Ephesians 1 2 3 4 5 6 Philippians 1 2 3 4 Colossians 1 2 3 4 1 Thessalonians 1 2 3 4 5 2 Thessalonians 1 2 3 1 Timothy 1 2 3 4 5 6 2 Timothy 1 2 3 4 Titus 1 2 3 Philemon 1 Hebrews 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 James 1 2 3 4 5 1 Peter 1 2 3 4 5 2 Peter 1 2 3 1 John 1 2 3 4 5 2 John 1 3 John 1 Jude 1 Revelations 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 |
Jer 1:1 THE WORDS of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin [two or three miles north of Jerusalem], Jer 1:2 To whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah in the thirteenth year of his reign. Jer 1:3 It came also in the days of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah son of Josiah king of Judah, until the carrying away of Jerusalem into captivity in the fifth month. Jer 1:4 Then the word of the Lord came to me [Jeremiah], saying, Jer 1:5 Before I formed you in the womb I knew [and] approved of you [as My chosen instrument], and before you were born I separated {and} set you apart, consecrating you; [and] I appointed you as a prophet to the nations. Jer 1:6 Then said I, Ah, Lord God! Behold, I cannot speak, for I am only a youth. Jer 1:7 But the Lord said to me, Say not, I am only a youth; for you shall go to all to whom I shall send you, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. Jer 1:8 Be not afraid of them [their faces], for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord. Jer 1:9 Then the Lord put forth His hand and touched my mouth. And the Lord said to me, Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. Jer 1:10 See, I have this day appointed you to the oversight of the nations and of the kingdoms to root out and pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant. Jer 1:11 Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Jeremiah, what do you see? And I said, I see a branch {or} shoot of an almond tree [the emblem of alertness and activity, blossoming in late winter]. Jer 1:12 Then said the Lord to me, You have seen well, for I am alert {and} active, watching over My word to perform it. Jer 1:13 And the word of the Lord came to me the second time, saying, What do you see? And I said, I see a boiling pot, and the face of it is [tipped away] from the north [its mouth about to pour forth on the south, on Judea]. Jer 1:14 Then the Lord said to me, Out of the north the evil [which the prophets had foretold as the result of national sin] shall disclose itself {and} break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land. Jer 1:15 For, behold, I will call all the tribes of the kingdoms of the north, says the Lord; and they will come and set every one his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, against all its walls round about, and against all the cities of Judah [as God's judicial act, a consequence of Judah's wickedness]. Jer 1:16 And I will utter My judgments against them for all the wickedness of those who have forsaken Me, burned incense to other gods, and worshiped the works of their own hands [idols]. Jer 1:17 But you [Jeremiah], gird up your loins! Arise and tell them all that I command you. Do not be dismayed {and} break down at the sight of their faces, lest I confound you before them {and} permit you to be overcome. Jer 1:18 For I, behold, I have made you this day a fortified city and an iron pillar and bronze walls against the whole land--against the [successive] kings of Judah, against its princes, against its priests, and against the people of the land [giving you divine strength which no hostile power can overcome]. Jer 1:19 And they shall fight against you, but they shall not [finally] prevail against you, for I am with you, says the Lord, to deliver you. Jer 2:1 AND THE word of the Lord came to me [Jeremiah], saying, Jer 2:2 Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus says the Lord: I [earnestly] remember the kindness {and} devotion of your youth, your love after your betrothal [in Egypt] {and} marriage [at Sinai] when you followed Me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. Jer 2:3 Israel was holiness [something set apart from ordinary purposes, dedicated] to the Lord, the firstfruits of His harvest [of which no stranger was allowed to partake]; all who ate of it [injuring Israel] offended {and} became guilty; evil came upon them, says the Lord. Jer 2:4 Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel. Jer 2:5 Thus says the Lord: What unrighteousness did your fathers find in Me, that they went far from Me and [habitually] went after emptiness, falseness, {and} futility and themselves became fruitless {and} worthless? Jer 2:6 Nor did they say, Where is the Lord, Who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, Who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and pits, through a land of drought and of the shadow of death {and} deep darkness, through a land that no man passes through and where no man dwells? Jer 2:7 And I brought you into a plentiful land to enjoy its fruits and good things. But when you entered, you defiled My land and made My heritage an abomination [detestable and loathsome]. Jer 2:8 [Even] the priests did not say, Where is the Lord? And those who handle the law [given by God to Moses] knew Me not. The rulers {and} secular shepherds also transgressed against Me, and the prophets prophesied by [the authority and in the name of] Baal and followed after things that do not profit. Jer 2:9 Therefore I will still contend with you [by inflicting further judgments on you], says the Lord, and with your children's children will I contend. Jer 2:10 For cross over to the coasts of Cyprus [to the west] and see, send also to Kedar [to the east] and carefully consider; and see whether there has been such a thing as this: Jer 2:11 Has a nation [ever] changed its gods, even though they are not gods? But My people have changed their Glory [God] for that which does not profit. Jer 2:12 Be astonished {and} appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked {and} shrivel up with horror, says the Lord [at the behavior of the people]. Jer 2:13 For My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the Fountain of living waters, {and} they have hewn for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns which cannot hold water. Jer 2:14 Is Israel a servant? Is he a homeborn slave? Why has he become a captive {and} a prey? Jer 2:15 The young lions have roared over him {and} made their voices heard. And they have made his land a waste; his cities are burned ruins without inhabitant. Jer 2:16 Moreover, the children of Memphis and Tahpanhes (Egypt) [have in times past shown their power as a foe; they] have broken {and} fed on the crown of your head [Israel]--so do not rely on them as an ally now. Jer 2:17 Have you not brought this upon yourself by forsaking the Lord your God when He led you in the way? Jer 2:18 And now what have you to gain by allying yourself with Egypt {and} going her way, to drink the [black and roiled] waters of the Nile? Or what have you to gain in going the way of Assyria, to drink the waters of the Euphrates? Jer 2:19 Your own wickedness shall chasten {and} correct you, and your backslidings {and} desertion of faith shall reprove you. Know therefore {and} recognize that this is an evil and bitter thing: [first,] you have forsaken the Lord your God; [second,] you are indifferent to Me {and} the fear of Me is not in you, says the Lord of hosts. Jer 2:20 For long ago [in Egypt] I broke your yoke and burst your bonds [not that you might be free, but that you might serve Me] {and} long ago you shattered the yoke and snapped the bonds [of My law which I put upon you]; you said, I will not serve {and} obey You! For upon every high hill and under every green tree you [eagerly] prostrated yourself [in idolatrous worship], playing the harlot. Jer 2:21 Yet I had planted you [O house of Israel] a choice vine, wholly of pure seed. How then have you turned into degenerate shoots of wild vine alien to Me? Jer 2:22 For though you wash yourself with lye and use much soap, yet your iniquity {and} guilt are still [upon you; you are] spotted, dirty, {and} stained before Me, says the Lord. Jer 2:23 How can you say, I am not defiled; I have not gone after the Baals [other gods]? Look at your way in the valley; know what you have done. You are a restive young female camel [in the uncontrollable violence of her brute passion eagerly] running hither and thither, Jer 2:24 Or [you have the untamed and reckless nature of] a wild donkey used to the desert, in her heat sniffing the wind [for the scent of a male]. In her mating season who can restrain her? No males seeking her need weary themselves; in her month they will find her [seeking them]. Jer 2:25 [Cease from your mad running after idols, from which you get nothing but bitter injury.] Keep your feet from being unshod and your throat from thirst. But you said, It is hopeless! For I have loved strangers {and} foreigners, and after them I will go. Jer 2:26 As the thief is brought to shame when he is caught, so shall the house of Israel be brought to shame--they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets-- Jer 2:27 [Inasmuch as] they say to a tree, You are my father, and to a stone, You gave me birth. For they have turned their backs to Me and not their faces; but in the time of their trouble, they say, Arise [O Lord] and save us! Jer 2:28 But where are your gods that you made for yourself? Let them arise if they can save you in the time of your trouble! For [as many as] the number of your cities are your gods, O Judah. [Surely so many handmade idols should be able to help you!] Jer 2:29 Why do you complain {and} remonstrate against My wrath? You all have rebelled {and} revolted against Me, says the Lord. Jer 2:30 In vain have I stricken your children (your people); they received no discipline (no correction). Your own sword devoured your prophets like a destroying lion. Jer 2:31 O generation [that you are]! Behold, consider, {and} regard the word of the Lord: Have I been a wilderness to Israel [like a land without food]? A land of deep darkness [like a way without light]? Why do My people say, We have broken loose [we are free and will roam at large]; we will come no more to You? Jer 2:32 Can a maid forget {and} neglect [to wear] her ornaments, or a bride her [marriage] girdle [with its significance like that of a wedding ring]? Yet My people have forgotten Me, days without number. Jer 2:33 How you deck yourself {and} direct your way to procure [adulterous] love! Because of it even wicked women have learned [indecent] ways from you. Jer 2:34 Also on your skirts is found the lifeblood of the persons of the innocent poor; you did not find them housebreaking, {nor} have I found it out by secret search. But it is because of [your lust for idolatry that you have done] all these things--[that is everywhere evident.] Jer 2:35 Yet you keep saying, I am innocent; surely His anger has turned away from Me. Behold, I will bring you to judgment {and} will plead against you because you say, I have not sinned. Jer 2:36 Why do you gad {or} wander about so much to change your way? You shall be put to shame by Egypt as you were put to shame by Assyria. Jer 2:37 From [Egypt] also you will come away with your hands upon your head, for the Lord has rejected those in whom you confide, and you will not prosper with [respect to] them. Jer 3:1 THAT IS to say, If a man puts away his wife and she goes from him and becomes another man's, will he return to her again? [Of course not!] Would not that land [where such a thing happened] be greatly polluted? But you have played the harlot [against Me] with many lovers--yet would you now return to Me? says the Lord [or do you even think to return to Me?] Jer 3:2 Lift up your eyes to the bare heights and see. Where have you not been adulterously lain with? By the wayside you have sat waiting for lovers [eager for idolatry], like an Arabian [desert tribesman who waits to plunder] in the wilderness; and you have polluted the land with your vile harlotry and your wickedness (unfaithfulness and disobedience to God). Jer 3:3 Therefore the showers have been withheld, and there has been no spring rain. Yet you have the brow of a prostitute; you refuse to be ashamed. Jer 3:4 Have you not just now cried to Me: My Father, You were the guide {and} companion of my youth? Jer 3:5 Will He retain His anger forever? Will He keep it to the end? Behold, you have so spoken, but you have done all the evil things you could {and} have had your way {and} have carried them through. Jer 3:6 Moreover, the Lord said to me [Jeremiah] in the days of Josiah the king [of Judah], Have you seen what that faithless {and} backsliding Israel has done--how she went up on every high hill and under every green tree and there played the harlot? Jer 3:7 And I said, After she has done all these things, she will return to Me; but she did not return, and her faithless {and} treacherous sister Judah saw it. Jer 3:8 And I saw, even though [Judah knew] that for this very cause of committing adultery (idolatry) I [the Lord] had put faithless Israel away and given her a bill of divorce; yet her faithless {and} treacherous sister Judah was not afraid, but she also went and played the harlot [following after idols]. Jer 3:9 And through the infamy {and} unseemly frivolity of Israel's whoredom [because her immorality mattered little to her], she polluted {and} defiled the land, [by her idolatry] committing adultery with [idols of] stones and trees. Jer 3:10 But in spite of all this, her faithless {and} treacherous sister Judah did not return to Me in sincerity {and} with her whole heart, but only in sheer hypocrisy [has she feigned obedience to King Josiah's reforms], says the Lord. Jer 3:11 And the Lord said to me, Backsliding {and} faithless Israel has shown herself less guilty than false {and} treacherous Judah. Jer 3:12 Go and proclaim these words toward the north [where the ten tribes have been taken as captives] and say, Return, faithless Israel, says the Lord, {and} I will not cause My countenance to fall {and} look in anger upon you, for I am merciful, says the Lord; I will not keep My anger forever. Jer 3:13 Only know, understand, {and} acknowledge your iniquity {and} guilt--that you have rebelled {and} transgressed against the Lord your God and have scattered your favors among strangers under every green tree, and you have not obeyed My voice, says the Lord. Jer 3:14 Return, O faithless children [of the whole twelve tribes], says the Lord, for I am Lord {and} Master {and} Husband to you, and I will take you [not as a nation, but individually]--one from a city and two from a tribal family--and I will bring you to Zion. Jer 3:15 And I will give you [spiritual] shepherds after My own heart [in the final time], who will feed you with knowledge and understanding {and} judgment. Jer 3:16 And it shall be that when you have multiplied and increased in the land in those days, says the Lord, they shall no more say, The ark of the covenant of the Lord. It shall not come to mind, nor shall they [seriously] remember it, nor shall they miss {or} visit it, nor shall it be repaired {or} made again [for instead of the ark, which represented God's presence, He will show Himself to be present throughout the city]. Jer 3:17 At that time they shall call Jerusalem The Throne of the Lord, and all the nations shall be gathered to it, in the renown {and} name of the Lord, to Jerusalem; nor shall they walk any more after the stubbornness of their own evil hearts. Jer 3:18 In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and together they shall come out of the land of the north to the land that I gave as an inheritance to your fathers. Jer 3:19 And I thought how [gloriously and honorably] I would set you among My children and give you a pleasant land, a goodly heritage, the most beautiful {and} best [inheritance] among all nations! And I thought you would call Me My Father and would not turn away from following Me. Jer 3:20 Surely, as a wife treacherously {and} faithlessly departs from her husband, so have you dealt treacherously {and} faithlessly with Me, O house of Israel, says the Lord. Jer 3:21 A voice is heard on the bare heights, the weeping {and} pleading of the sons of Israel, because they have perverted their ways, they have [eagerly] forgotten the Lord their God. Jer 3:22 Return, O faithless sons, [says the Lord, and] I will heal your faithlessness. [And they answer] Behold, we come to You, for You are the Lord our God. Jer 3:23 Truly in vain is the hope of salvation from the hills and from the tumult {and} noisy throng on the mountains; truly in {and} with the Lord our God rests the salvation of Israel. Jer 3:24 [We have been ruined as a nation by our faithlessness and idolatry] for the shameful thing has consumed all for which our fathers toiled from our youth--their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. Jer 3:25 Let us lie prostrate in our shame, and let our dishonor {and} confusion cover us; for we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers; from our youth even to this day we have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God. Jer 4:1 IF YOU will return, O Israel, says the Lord, if you will return to Me, and if you will put away your abominable false gods out of My sight and not stray {or} waver, Jer 4:2 And if you swear, As the Lord lives, in truth, in judgment {and} justice, and in righteousness (uprightness in every area and relation), then the nations will bless themselves in Him and in Him will they glory. Jer 4:3 For thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem: Break up your ground left uncultivated for a season, so that you may not sow among thorns. Jer 4:4 Circumcise yourselves to the Lord and take away the foreskins of your hearts, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, lest My wrath go forth like fire [consuming all that gets in its way] and burn so that no one can quench it because of the evil of your doings. Jer 4:5 Declare in Judah and publish in Jerusalem and say: Blow the trumpet in the land; cry aloud and say: Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the fortified cities. Jer 4:6 Raise a standard toward Zion [to mark out the safest route to those seeking safety within Jerusalem's walls]! Flee for safety, stay not, for I bring evil from the north, and great destruction. Jer 4:7 A lion has gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations is on his way. He has gone forth from his place to make your land a desolate waste; and your cities shall be left in ruins without an inhabitant. Jer 4:8 For this, gird yourselves with sackcloth, lament and wail, for the fierce anger of the Lord has not turned back from us. Jer 4:9 And it shall be in that day, says the Lord, that the understanding {and} courage of the king shall fail (be paralyzed), and also that of the princes; the priests shall be appalled and the prophets astounded {and} dazed with horror. Jer 4:10 Then I [Jeremiah] said, Alas, Lord God! Surely You have greatly deceived {and} misled this people and Jerusalem, [for the prophets represented You as] saying [to Your people], You shall have peace, whereas the sword has reached to [their very] life. Jer 4:11 At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A hot wind from the bare heights in the wilderness [comes at My command] against the daughter of My people--not [a wind] to fan or cleanse [from chaff, as when threshing, but] Jer 4:12 A wind too strong {and} full for winnowing comes at My word. Now I will also speak in judgment against [My people]. Jer 4:13 Behold, [the enemy] comes up like clouds, his chariots like the whirlwind; his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are ruined (destroyed)! Jer 4:14 O Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved! How long shall your iniquitous {and} grossly offensive thoughts lodge within you? Jer 4:15 For a voice declares from Dan [in the north] and proclaims evil from Mount Ephraim [the range dividing Israel from Judah]. Jer 4:16 Warn the [neighboring] nations [that our adversary is coming]; announce to Jerusalem that besiegers are coming from a far country, and they shout against the cities of Judah. Jer 4:17 Like keepers of a field they are against her round about, because she has been rebellious against Me, says the Lord. Jer 4:18 Your ways and your doings have brought these things upon you. This is your calamity {and} doom; surely it is bitter, for surely it reaches your very heart! Jer 4:19 [It is not only the prophet but also the people who cry out in their thoughts] My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! Oh, the walls of my heart! My heart is disquieted {and} throbs aloud within me; I cannot be silent! For I have heard the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. Jer 4:20 News of one violent disaster {and} calamity comes close after another, for the whole land is laid waste; suddenly are my tents spoiled {and} destroyed, and my [tent] curtains ruined in a moment. Jer 4:21 [O Lord] how long must I see the flag [marking the route for flight] and hear the sound of the trumpet [urging the people to flee for refuge]? Jer 4:22 [Their chastisement will continue until it has accomplished its purpose] for My people are stupid, says the Lord [replying to Jeremiah]; they do not know {and} understand Me. They are thickheaded children, and they have no understanding. They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge [and know not how]. Jer 4:23 [In a vision Jeremiah sees Judah laid waste by conquest and captivity.] I looked at the land, and behold, it was [as at the time of creation] waste and vacant (void); and at the heavens, and they had no light. Jer 4:24 I looked at the mountains, and behold, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly to and fro. Jer 4:25 I looked, and behold, there was no man, and all the birds of the air had fled. Jer 4:26 I looked, and behold, the fruitful land was a desert, and all its cities were laid waste before the Lord's presence, before His fierce anger. Jer 4:27 For thus says the Lord: The whole land will be a desolation, yet I will not make a full {and} complete end of it. Jer 4:28 For this will the earth mourn and the heavens above be black; because I have spoken, I have purposed, and I will not relent, nor will I turn back [from it]. Jer 4:29 Every city flees because of the noise of the horsemen and bowmen. They go into the thickets and climb among the rocks; every city is forsaken, and not a man dwells in them. Jer 4:30 And you [plundered one], when you are made desolate, what will you do? Though you clothe yourself with scarlet, though you deck yourself with ornaments of gold, though you paint your eyelids {and} make them look farther apart, in vain you beautify yourself. Your lovers (allies) despise you; they seek your life. Jer 4:31 For I have heard a cry as of a woman in travail, the anguish as of one who brings forth her first child--the cry of the Daughter of Zion, who gasps for breath, who spreads her hands, saying, Woe is me now! I am fainting before the murderers. Jer 5:1 RUN TO and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now and take notice! Seek in her broad squares to see if you can find a man [as Abraham sought in Sodom], one who does justice, who seeks truth, sincerity, {and} faithfulness; and I will pardon [Jerusalem--for one uncompromisingly righteous person]. Jer 5:2 And though they say, As the Lord lives, surely they swear falsely. Jer 5:3 O Lord, do not your eyes look on the truth? [They have meant to please You outwardly, but You look on their hearts.] You have stricken them, but they have not grieved; You have consumed them, but they have refused to take correction {or} instruction. They have made their faces harder than a rock, they have refused to repent {and} return to You. Jer 5:4 Then I said, Surely these are only the poor; they are [sinfully] foolish {and} have no understanding, for they know not the way of the Lord, the judgment (the just and righteous law) of their God. Jer 5:5 I will go to the great men and will speak to them, for they must know the way of the Lord, the judgment (the just and righteous law) of their God. But [I found the very reverse to be true] these had all alike broken the yoke [of God's law] and had burst the bonds [of obedience to Him]. Jer 5:6 Therefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, a wolf of the desert shall destroy them, a leopard {or} panther shall lie in wait against their cities. Everyone who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces, because their transgressions are many, their backslidings {and} total desertion of faith are increased {and} have become great {and} mighty. Jer 5:7 Why should I {and} how can I pass over this {and} forgive you for it? Your children have forsaken Me and sworn by those that are no gods. When I had fed them to the full {and} bound them to Me by oath, they committed [spiritual] adultery, assembling themselves in troops at the houses of [idol] harlots. Jer 5:8 They were like fed stallions roaming at large; each one neighed after his neighbor's wife. Jer 5:9 Shall I not punish them for these things? says the Lord; and shall I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this? Jer 5:10 Go up within [Jerusalem's] walls and destroy [her vines], but do not make a full {and} complete end. Trim away the tendrils [of her vines], for they are not the Lord's. Jer 5:11 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very faithlessly {and} treacherously against Me, says the Lord. Jer 5:12 They have lied about {and} denied the Lord by saying, It is not He [Who speaks through His prophets]! Evil shall not come upon us; nor shall we see war or famine. Jer 5:13 And [say they] the prophets will become wind [what they prophesy will not come to pass], and the word [of God] is not in them. Thus shall it be done to them [as they threatened would be done to us]. Jer 5:14 Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts: Because you [the people] have spoken this word, behold, I will make My words fire in your mouth [Jeremiah] and this people wood, and it will devour them. Jer 5:15 Behold, I am bringing a nation upon you from afar, O house of Israel, says the Lord. It is a mighty {and} enduring nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know, nor can you understand what they say. Jer 5:16 Their quiver is [filled with deadly missiles] like an open sepulcher [filled with dead bodies; the foes] are all mighty men (heroes). Jer 5:17 They shall consume your harvest and your food; they shall consume your sons and your daughters; they shall consume your flocks and your herds; they shall consume your vines and your fig trees. They shall break down {and} impoverish your fortified cities in which you trust, with the sword [they shall destroy them]. Jer 5:18 But even in those days, says the Lord, I will not make a full {and} complete end of you. Jer 5:19 And when your people say, Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us? then you shall answer them, As you have forsaken Me, says the Lord, and have served strange gods in your land, so shall you serve strangers (gods) in a land that is not yours. Jer 5:20 Declare this in the house of Jacob and publish it in Judah: Jer 5:21 Hear now this, O foolish people without understanding {or} heart, who have eyes and see not, who have ears and hear not: Jer 5:22 Do you not fear {and} reverence Me? says the Lord. Do you not tremble before Me? {I} placed the sand for the boundary of the sea, a perpetual barrier beyond which it cannot pass {and} by an everlasting ordinance beyond which it cannot go? And though the waves of the sea toss {and} shake themselves, yet they cannot prevail [against the feeble grains of sand which God has ordained by nature to be sufficient for His purpose]; though [the billows] roar, yet they cannot pass over that [barrier]. [Is not such a God to be reverently feared and worshiped?] Jer 5:23 But these people have hearts that draw back from God and wills that rebel against Him; they have revolted {and} quit His service and have gone away [into idolatry]. Jer 5:24 Nor do they say in their hearts, Let us now reverently fear {and} worship the Lord our God, Who gives rain, both the autumn and the spring rain in its season, Who reserves {and} keeps for us the appointed weeks of the harvest. Jer 5:25 Your iniquities have turned these blessings away, and your sins have kept good [harvests] from you. Jer 5:26 For among My people are found wicked men; they watch like fowlers who lie in wait; they set a trap, they catch men. Jer 5:27 As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit {and} treachery; therefore they have become great and grown rich, Jer 5:28 They have grown fat {and} sleek. Yes, they surpass in deeds of wickedness; they do not judge {and} plead with justice the cause of the fatherless, that they may prosper, and they do not defend the rights of the needy. Jer 5:29 Shall I not punish them for these things? says the Lord. Shall I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this? Jer 5:30 An appalling and horrible thing [bringing desolation and destruction] has come to pass in the land: Jer 5:31 The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests exercise rule at their own hands {and} by means of the prophets. And My people love to have it so! But what will you do when the end comes? Jer 6:1 FLEE FOR safety, you children of Benjamin, out of the midst of Jerusalem! And blow the trumpet in Tekoa [a town far south in Judah], and raise a [fire] signal over Beth-haccherem [a town near Jerusalem]! For evil is looking forth with eagerness from the north, and great destruction. Jer 6:2 The comely and delicate one, [Jerusalem] the Daughter of Zion, I will destroy. [To a pasturage, yes, a luxurious pasturage, have I likened her.] Jer 6:3 Shepherds with their flocks shall come against her; they shall pitch their tents round about her; they shall pasture, each one in his place [eating up all her luxurious herbage on every side]. Jer 6:4 Prepare yourselves for war against her [they cry]; up, let us attack her at noon! But alas, the day declines, the evening shadows lengthen. Jer 6:5 Arise, let us go by night and destroy her palaces! Jer 6:6 For the Lord of hosts has said, Hew down her trees and cast up a siege mound against Jerusalem. This is the city which must be punished; there is nothing but oppression within her. Jer 6:7 As a fountain wells up {and} casts forth its waters {and} keeps them fresh, so she is [continually] casting forth [fresh] wickedness. Violence and destruction are heard within her; sickness and wounds are continually before Me. Jer 6:8 Be corrected, reformed, instructed, {and} warned, O Jerusalem, lest I be alienated {and} parted from you, lest I make you a desolation, an uninhabited land. Jer 6:9 Thus says the Lord of hosts: They shall thoroughly glean as a vine what is left of Israel; turn back your hand again {and} again [O minister of destruction] into the baskets, like a grape gatherer, {and} strip the tendrils [of the vine]. Jer 6:10 To whom shall I [Jeremiah] speak and give warning, that they may hear? Behold, their ears are uncircumcised [never brought into covenant with God or consecrated to His service], and they cannot hear {or} obey. Behold, the word of the Lord has become to them a reproach {and} the object of their scorn; they have no delight in it. Jer 6:11 Therefore I am full of the wrath of the Lord; I am weary of restraining it. I will pour it out on the children in the street and on the gathering of young men together; for even the husband with the wife will be taken, the aged with the very old. Jer 6:12 And their houses will be turned over to others, their fields and their wives together; for I will stretch out My hand against the inhabitants of the land, says the Lord. Jer 6:13 For from the least of them even to the greatest of them, everyone is given to covetousness (to greed for unjust gain); and from the prophet even to the priest, everyone deals falsely. Jer 6:14 They have healed also the wound of the daughter of My people lightly {and} neglectfully, saying, Peace, peace, when there is no peace. Jer 6:15 Were they brought to shame because they had committed abominations (extremely disgusting and vile things)? No, they were not at all ashamed, nor could they blush [at their idolatry]. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; at the time that I punish them they shall be overthrown, says the Lord. Jer 6:16 Thus says the Lord: Stand by the roads and look; and ask for the eternal paths, where the good, old way is; then walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk in it! Jer 6:17 Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hear {and} obey the sound of the trumpet! But they said, We will not listen {or} obey. Jer 6:18 Therefore hear, O [Gentile] nations, and know, O congregation [of believing ones], what [great things I will do] to them. Jer 6:19 Hear, O earth: behold, I am bringing evil upon this people, the fruit of their thoughts (their schemes and devices) because they have not listened {and} obeyed My words, and as for My law, they have rejected it. Jer 6:20 To what purpose does frankincense come to Me from Sheba [in southwestern Arabia] and the sweet cane from a far country? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor are your sacrifices sweet {or} pleasing to Me. Jer 6:21 Therefore thus says the Lord: Behold, I will lay stumbling blocks before this people. And the fathers and the sons together will stumble against them; the neighbor and his friend will perish. Jer 6:22 Thus says the Lord: Behold, a people is coming from the north country, and a great nation is arousing itself from the ends of the earth. Jer 6:23 They lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel (ruthless and inhuman) and have no mercy. Their voice sounds like the roaring sea; they ride on horses, every one set in array as a man for battle against you, O Daughter of Zion! Jer 6:24 We have heard the report of it; our hands become feeble {and} helpless. Anguish has taken hold of us, pangs like that of a woman in childbirth. Jer 6:25 Go not out into the field nor walk on the road, for the enemy is armed with the sword; terror is on every side. Jer 6:26 O daughter of my people [says Jeremiah], gird yourself with sackcloth and wallow in ashes; make mourning as for an only son, a most bitter lamentation, for the destroyer will suddenly come upon us [on prophet and people]. Jer 6:27 I [says the Lord] have set you [Jeremiah] as an assayer {and} a prover of ore among My people, that you may know and try their doings and be like a watchtower. Jer 6:28 They are all the worst [kind] of rebels {and} utter and total revolters against God, going about publishing slander. They are [not gold and silver ore, but] bronze and iron; they are all corrupters. Jer 6:29 The bellows blow fiercely, the lead is consumed by the fire; in vain do they continue refining, for the wicked [the dross] are not removed. Jer 6:30 Men will call them reprobate {and} rejected silver [only dross, without good metal], because the Lord has rejected them. Jer 7:1 THE WORD that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Jer 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 you of Judah who enter in at these gates to worship the Lord. Jer 7:3 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. Jer 7:4 Trust not in the lying words [of the false prophets who maintain that God will protect Jerusalem because His temple is there], saying, This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord. Jer 7:5 For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughly {and} truly execute justice between every man and his neighbor, Jer 7:6 If you do not oppress the transient {and} the alien, the fatherless, and the widow or shed innocent blood [by oppression and by judicial murders] in [Jerusalem] or go after other gods to your own hurt, Jer 7:7 Then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your fathers to dwell in forever. Jer 7:8 Behold, you trust in lying words that cannot benefit [so that you do not profit]. Jer 7:9 Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, Jer 7:10 And [then dare to] come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My Name, and say, [By the discharge of this religious formality] we are set free!--only to go on with this wickedness {and} these abominations? Jer 7:11 Has this house, which is called by My Name, become a den of robbers in your eyes [a place of retreat for you between acts of violence]? Behold, I Myself have seen it, says the Lord. Jer 7:12 But go now to My place which was in Shiloh [in Ephraim], where I set My Name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of My people Israel. Jer 7:13 And now, because you have done all these things, says the Lord, and [because] when I spoke to you persistently [even rising up early and speaking], you did not listen, and when I called you, you did not answer, Jer 7:14 Therefore will I do to this house (the temple), which is called by My Name {and} in which you trust, to the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shiloh. Jer 7:15 And I will cast you out of My sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole posterity of Ephraim. Jer 7:16 Therefore do not pray for this people [of Judah] or lift up a cry or entreaty for them or make intercession to Me, for I will not listen to {or} hear you. Jer 7:17 Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? Jer 7:18 The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead the dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke Me to anger! Jer 7:19 Am I the One Whom they provoke to anger? says the Lord. Is it not themselves [whom they provoke], to their own confusion {and} vexation {and} to their own shame? Jer 7:20 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, My anger and My wrath will be poured out on this place, on man and beast, on the trees of the field and the fruit of the ground; it will burn and not be quenched. Jer 7:21 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat the flesh [if you will. It will avail you nothing]. Jer 7:22 For in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to your fathers or command them concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices. Jer 7:23 But this thing I did command them: Listen to {and} obey My voice, and I will be your God and you will be My people; and walk in the whole way that I command you, that it may be well with you. Jer 7:24 But they would not listen to {and} obey Me or bend their ear [to Me], but followed the counsels {and} the stubborn promptings of their own evil hearts {and} minds, and they turned their backs {and} went in reverse instead of forward. Jer 7:25 Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have persistently sent to you all My servants the prophets, sending them daily, early and late. Jer 7:26 Yet the people would not listen to {and} obey Me or bend their ears [to Me], but stiffened their necks and behaved worse than their fathers. Jer 7:27 Speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to {and} obey you; also call to them, but they will not answer you. Jer 7:28 Yet you shall say to them, This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the Lord their God or receive instruction {and} correction {and} warning; truth {and} faithfulness have perished and have completely vanished from their mouths. Jer 7:29 Cut off your hair [your crown, O Jerusalem] and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on the bare heights, for the Lord has rejected and forsaken the generation of His wrath. Jer 7:30 For the children of Judah have done evil in My sight, says the Lord; they have set their abominations (extremely disgusting and shamefully vile things) in the house which is called by My Name to defile it. Jer 7:31 And they have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the Valley of Ben-hinnom [son of Hinnom], to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire [in honor of Molech, the fire god]--which I did not command, nor did it come into My mind {or} heart. Jer 7:32 Therefore, behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when it shall no more be called Topheth or the Valley of Ben-hinnom [son of Hinnom], but the Valley of Slaughter, for [in bloody warfare] they will bury in Topheth till there is no more room {and} no place else to bury. Jer 7:33 And the dead bodies of this people will be meat for the fowls of the air and for the beasts of the earth, and none will frighten them away. Jer 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 will become a waste. Jer 8:1 AT THAT time, says the Lord, [the Babylonian army will break open the sepulchers, and] they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of its princes, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem from their graves. Jer 8:2 And they will [carelessly] scatter [the corpses] before the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven, which [the dead] have loved and which they have served and after which they have walked and which they have sought, inquired of, {and} required and which they have worshiped. They shall not be gathered, or be buried; they shall be like dung upon the face of the earth. Jer 8:3 And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue of those who remain of this evil family (nation), who remain in all the places to which I have driven them, says the Lord of hosts. Jer 8:4 Moreover, you [Jeremiah] shall say to them, Thus says the Lord: Shall men fall and not rise up again? Shall one turn away [from God] and not repent {and} return [to Him]? Jer 8:5 Why then is this people of Jerusalem turned away with a perpetual turning away [from Me]? They hold fast to deceit (idolatry); they refuse to repent {and} return [to God]. Jer 8:6 I have listened and heard, but they have not spoken aright; no man repents of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? Everyone turns to his [individual] course, as the horse rushes like a torrent into battle. Jer 8:7 [Even the migratory birds are punctual to their seasons.] Yes, the stork [excelling in the great height of her flight] in the heavens knows her appointed times [of migration], and the turtledove, the swallow, and the crane observe the time of their return. But My people do not know the law of the Lord [which the lower animals instinctively recognize in so far as it applies to them]. Jer 8:8 How can you say, We are wise, and we have the written law of the Lord [and are learned in its language and teachings]? Behold, the truth is, the lying pen of the scribes has made of the law a falsehood (a mere code of ceremonial observances). Jer 8:9 The wise men shall be put to shame; they shall be dismayed and taken [captive]. Behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord, and what wisdom {and} broad, full intelligence is in them? Jer 8:10 Therefore will I give their wives to others and their fields to those who gain possession of them; for everyone, from the least even to the greatest, is given to covetousness (is greedy for unjust gain); from the prophet even to the priest, everyone deals falsely. Jer 8:11 For they have healed the wound of the daughter of My people only lightly {and} slightingly, saying, Peace, peace, when there is no peace. Jer 8:12 They are brought to shame because they have committed abominations (extremely disgusting and shamefully vile things). And yet they were not at all ashamed, nor could they blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; at the time of their punishment they shall be overthrown, says the Lord. Jer 8:13 I will gather {and} sweep them away, utterly consuming them, says the Lord. [I will find] no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and even the leaf is withered; and the things that I have given them shall pass away from them [for I have appointed to them those who shall pass over them]. Jer 8:14 [Then say the people to each other] Why do we sit still? Assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the fortified cities and be silent {or} perish there! For the Lord our God has decreed our ruin and given us bitter {and} poisonous water to drink, because we have sinned against the Lord. Jer 8:15 We looked for peace {and} completeness, but no good came, and for a time of healing, but behold, dismay, trouble, {and} terror! Jer 8:16 The snorting of [Nebuchadnezzar's] horses is heard from Dan [on the northern border of Palestine]. At the sound of the neighing of his strong war-horses the whole land quakes; for they come and devour the land and all that is in it, the city and those who dwell in it. Jer 8:17 For behold, I am sending among you serpents, adders which cannot be charmed, and they shall bite you, says the Lord. Jer 8:18 Oh, that I [Jeremiah] could comfort myself against sorrow, [for my grief is beyond healing], my heart is sick {and} faint within me! Jer 8:19 Behold [says the prophet, listen to the voice of] the cry of the daughter of my people [for help] because of those who dwell in a far country: Is not the Lord in Zion? Is not her King in her? [But the Lord answers] Why have they provoked Me to anger with their carved images and with foreign idols? Jer 8:20 The harvest is past, the summer has ended {and} the gathering of fruit is over, yet we are not saved! [comes again the voice of the people.] Jer 8:21 For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I [Jeremiah] hurt; I go around mourning; dismay has taken hold on me. Jer 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 restored? [Because Zion no longer enjoyed the presence of the Great Physician!] Jer 9:1 OH, THAT my head were waters and my eyes a reservoir of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! Jer 9:2 Oh, that I had in the wilderness a lodging place (a mere shelter) for wayfaring men, that I might leave my people and go away from them! For they are all adulterers [rendering worship to idols instead of to the Lord, Who has espoused the people to Himself]; they are a gang of treacherous men [faithless even to each other]. Jer 9:3 And they bend their tongue, [which is] their bow for the lies [they shoot]. And not according to faithfulness do they rule {and} become strong in the land; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know {and} understand {and} acknowledge Me, says the Lord. Jer 9:4 Let everyone beware of his neighbor and put no trust in any brother. For every brother is an utter {and} complete supplanter (one who takes by the heel and trips up, a deceiver, a Jacob), and every neighbor goes about as a slanderer. Jer 9:5 And they deceive {and} mock every one his neighbor and do not speak the truth. They have taught their tongues to speak lies; they weary themselves committing iniquity. Jer 9:6 Your habitation is in the midst of deceit [oppression upon oppression and deceit upon deceit]; through deceit they refuse to know {and} understand Me, says the Lord. Jer 9:7 Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: Behold, I will melt them [by the process of affliction to remove the dross] and test them, for how else should I deal with the daughter of My people? Jer 9:8 Their tongue is a murderous arrow; it speaks deceitfully; one speaks peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth, but in his heart he lays snares and waits in ambush for him. Jer 9:9 Shall I not punish them for these things? says the Lord. Shall I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this? Jer 9:10 For the mountains I will take up a weeping and wailing and for the pastures of the wilderness a lament, because they are burned up {and} desolated, so that no one passes through [them]; neither can men hear [any longer] the lowing of cattle. Both the fowls of the air and the beasts have fled, they are gone! Jer 9:11 I will make Jerusalem heaps [of ruins], a dwelling place of jackals; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant. Jer 9:12 Who is the wise man who may understand this? To whom has the mouth of the Lord spoken, that he may declare it? Why is the land ruined {and} laid waste like a wilderness, so that no one passes through it? Jer 9:13 And the Lord says, Because they have forsaken My law, which I set before them, and have not listened to {and} obeyed My voice or walked in accordance with it Jer 9:14 But have walked stubbornly after their own hearts and after the Baals, as their fathers taught them, Jer 9:15 Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood and give them bitter {and} poisonous water to drink. Jer 9:16 I will scatter them also among nations that neither they nor their fathers have known, and I will send the sword among them {and} after them until I have consumed them. Jer 9:17 Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider and call for the mourning women to come; send for the skillful women to come. Jer 9:18 Let them make haste and raise a wailing over us {and} for us, that our eyes may run down with tears and our eyelids gush with water. Jer 9:19 For a sound of wailing is heard [coming] out of Zion: How we are plundered {and} ruined! We are greatly confounded {and} utterly put to shame, because we have forsaken the land, because they have cast down our dwellings [our dwellings that have cast us out]. Jer 9:20 Yet hear the word of the Lord, O you women, and let your ears receive the word of His mouth; teach your daughters a lament, and each one [teach] her neighbor a dirge. Jer 9:21 For death has come up into our windows; it has entered into our palaces, cutting off the children from outdoors and the young men from the streets. Jer 9:22 Speak, Thus says the Lord: The dead bodies of men shall fall like dung on the open field and like sheaves [of grain] behind the reaper, and none shall gather them. Jer 9:23 Thus says the Lord: Let not the wise {and} skillful person glory {and} boast in his wisdom {and} skill; let not the mighty {and} powerful person glory {and} boast in his strength {and} power; let not the person who is rich [in physical gratification and earthly wealth] glory {and} boast in his [temporal satisfactions and earthly] riches; Jer 9:24 But let him who glories glory in this: that he understands and knows Me [personally and practically, directly discerning and recognizing My character], that I am the Lord, Who practices loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth, for in these things I delight, says the Lord. Jer 9:25 Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will punish all who though circumcised [outwardly, in the flesh] are still uncircumcised [in corresponding inward purity]-- Jer 9:26 Egypt, Judah, Edom, the children of Ammon, Moab [all of whom are related except Egypt], and all who live in the desert and who clip off the corners of their hair {and} beards; for all these nations are uncircumcised [in heart], and all the house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart. Jer 10:1 HEAR THE word which the Lord speaks to you, O house of Israel. Jer 10:2 Thus says the Lord: Learn not the way of the [heathen] nations and be not dismayed at the signs of the heavens, though they are dismayed at them, Jer 10:3 For the customs {and} ordinances of the peoples are false, empty, {and} futile; it is but a tree which one cuts out of the forest [to make for himself a god], the work of the hands of the craftsman with the ax {or} other tool. Jer 10:4 They deck [the idol] with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers so it will not fall apart {or} move around. Jer 10:5 [Their idols] are like pillars of turned work [as upright and stationary and immobile as a palm tree], like scarecrows in a cucumber field; they cannot speak; they have to be carried, for they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, neither is it possible for them to do good [and it is not in them]. Jer 10:6 None at all is like You, O Lord; You are great, and Your name is great in might. Jer 10:7 Who would not fear You, O King of the nations? For it is fitting to You {and} Your due! For among all the wise [men or gods] of the nations and in all their kingdoms, there is none like You. Jer 10:8 But they are altogether irrational {and} stupid and foolish. Their instruction is given by idols who are but wood [it is a teaching of falsity, emptiness, futility]! Jer 10:9 Silver beaten [into plates] is brought from Tarshish and gold from Uphaz, the work of the craftsman and of the hands of the goldsmith; the [idols'] clothing is violet and purple--they are all the work of skillful men. Jer 10:10 But the Lord is the true God {and} the God of truth (the God Who is Truth). He is the living God and the everlasting King. At His wrath the earth quakes, and the nations are not able to bear His indignation. Jer 10:11 Thus shall you say to them: The gods, who did not make the heavens and the earth, shall perish from the earth and from under the heavens. Jer 10:12 God made the earth by His power; He established the world by His wisdom and by His understanding {and} skill stretched out the heavens. Jer 10:13 When He utters His voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. He makes lightnings for the rain and brings forth the wind out from His treasuries {and} from His storehouses. Jer 10:14 Every man has become like a brute, irrational {and} stupid, without knowledge [of God]; every goldsmith is brought to shame by his graven idols; for his molten images are frauds {and} falsehood, and there is no breath in them. Jer 10:15 They are devoid of worth, usefulness, {or} truth, a work of delusion {and} mockery; in their time of trial {and} punishment they shall [helplessly] perish. Jer 10:16 The Portion of Jacob [the true God on Whom Israel has a claim] is not like these, for He is the Fashioner {and} Maker of all things, and Israel is the tribe of His inheritance--the Lord of hosts is His name. Jer 10:17 Gather up your bundle [of baggage] from the ground, O you who dwell under siege. Jer 10:18 For thus says the Lord: Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land at this time and will bring distress on them, that they may feel it {and} find it [to be as I have said, and turn to Me]. Jer 10:19 Woe is me because of my hurt! [says Jeremiah, speaking for the nation.] My wound is grievous {and} incurable. But I said, Surely this sickness {and} suffering {and} grief are mine, and I must endure, tolerate, {and} bear them. Jer 10:20 My tent (home) is taken by force {and} plundered, and all my [tent] cords are broken. My children have gone forth [as captives] from me, and they are no more; there is no one to stretch forth my tent any more and to set up my [tent] curtains. Jer 10:21 For the shepherds [of the people] have become like brutes, irrational {and} stupid, and have not sought the Lord {or} inquired of Him {or} required Him [by necessity and by right of His word]. Therefore they have not dealt prudently {and} have not prospered, and all their flocks are scattered. Jer 10:22 Hark, the sound of a rumor! [The invading army] comes!--a great commotion out of the north country--to make the cities of Judah a desolation, a dwelling place of jackals. Jer 10:23 O Lord [pleads Jeremiah in the name of the people], I know that [the determination of] the way of a man is not in himself; it is not in man [even in a strong man or in a man at his best] to direct his [own] steps. Jer 10:24 O Lord, correct, instruct, {and} chastise me, but with judgment {and} in just measure--not in Your anger, lest You diminish me {and} bring me to nothing. Jer 10:25 Pour out Your wrath upon the nations that do not know {or} recognize You and upon the peoples that do not call upon Your name. For they have devoured Jacob, yes, devoured him and consumed him and made his habitation a desolate waste. Jer 11:1 THE WORD that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: Jer 11:2 Hear the words of this covenant {or} solemn pledge, and speak to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Jer 11:3 Say to them, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Cursed is the man who does not heed the words of this covenant {or} solemn pledge Jer 11:4 Which I commanded your fathers at the time that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, Listen to My voice and do according to all that I command you. So will you be My people, and I will be your God, Jer 11:5 That I may perform the oath which I swore to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day. Then I answered, Amen (so be it), O Lord. Jer 11:6 And the Lord said to me, Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: Hear the words of this covenant {or} solemn pledge and do them. Jer 11:7 For I earnestly protested to {and} warned your fathers at the time that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even to this day, protesting to {and} warning them persistently, saying, Obey My voice. Jer 11:8 Yet they did not obey or incline their ear [to Me], but everyone walked in the stubbornness of his own evil heart. Therefore I brought upon them all [the calamities threatened in] the words of this covenant {or} solemn pledge, which I had commanded, but they did not do. Jer 11:9 And the Lord said to me, A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Jer 11:10 They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to hear My words; they have gone after other gods to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken My covenant {or} solemn pledge which I made with their fathers. Jer 11:11 Therefore thus says the Lord: Behold, I am bringing evil {and} calamity upon them which they will not be able to escape; though they cry to Me, I will not listen to them. Jer 11:12 Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to whom they offer incense, but they cannot save them at all in the time of their evil trouble. Jer 11:13 For [as many as] the number of your cities are your gods, O Judah; and [as many as] the number of the streets of Jerusalem are the altars you have set up to the shameful thing, even altars to burn incense to Baal. Jer 11:14 Therefore do not pray for this people or lift up a cry or prayer for them, for I will not listen when they cry out to Me in the time of their evil trouble. Jer 11:15 What right has My beloved [to be] in My house when she has wrought lewdness {and} done treacherously many times? Can vows {and} the holy flesh [of your sacrifices] remove from you your wickedness {and} avert your calamity? Can you by these [escape your doom and] rejoice exultantly? Jer 11:16 The Lord [acknowledged you once to be worthy to be] called a green olive tree, fair {and} of good fruit; but with the roar of a great tempest He will set fire to it, and its branches will be consumed. Jer 11:17 For the Lord of hosts, Who planted you, has pronounced evil {and} calamity against you because of the evil which the house of Israel and the house of Judah have done against themselves in provoking Me to anger by offering incense to Baal. Jer 11:18 And the Lord gave me [Jeremiah] knowledge of it [their plot], and I knew it; then You [O Lord] showed me their doings. Jer 11:19 But I was like a tame lamb that is brought to the slaughter; I did not know that they had devised inventions {and} schemes against me, saying, Let us destroy the tree with its fruit; let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered. Jer 11:20 But, O Lord of hosts, Who judges rightly {and} justly, Who tests the heart and the mind, let me see Your vengeance on them, for to You I have revealed {and} committed my cause [rolling it upon You]. Jer 11:21 Therefore thus says the Lord about the men of Anathoth [Jeremiah's hometown], who seek your life [Jeremiah] and say, Prophesy not in the name of the Lord, that you die not by our hands-- Jer 11:22 Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: Behold, I will punish them. Their young men will die by the sword, their sons and their daughters will die by famine; Jer 11:23 And there will be no remnant [of the conspirators] left, for I will bring evil {and} calamity upon the men of Anathoth in the year of their punishment. Jer 12:1 UNCOMPROMISINGLY RIGHTEOUS {and} rigidly just are You, O Lord, when I complain against {and} contend with You. Yet let me plead {and} reason the case with You: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are all they at ease {and} thriving who deal very treacherously {and} deceitfully? Jer 12:2 You have planted them, yes, they have taken root; they grow, yes, they bring forth fruit. You are near in their mouths but far from their hearts. Jer 12:3 But You, O Lord, know {and} understand me {and} my devotion to You; You see me and try my heart toward You. [O Lord] pull [these rebellious ones] out like sheep for the slaughter and devote {and} prepare them for the day of slaughter. Jer 12:4 How long must the land mourn and the grass {and} herbs of the whole country wither? Through the wickedness of those who dwell in it, the beasts and the birds are consumed {and} are swept away [by the drought], because men [mocked] me, saying, He shall not [live to] see our final end. Jer 12:5 [But the Lord rebukes Jeremiah's impatience, saying] If you have raced with men on foot and they have tired you out, then how can you compete with horses? And if [you take to flight] in a land of peace where you feel secure, then what will you do [when you tread the tangled maze of jungle haunted by lions] in the swelling {and} flooding of the Jordan? Jer 12:6 For even your brethren and the house of your father--even they have dealt treacherously with you; yes, even they are [like a pack of hounds] in full cry after you. Believe them not, though they speak fair words {and} promise good things to you. Jer 12:7 I have forsaken My house, I have cast off My heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of My life into the hands of her enemies. Jer 12:8 My heritage has become to Me like a lion in the forest; she has uttered her voice against Me; therefore I have [treated her as if I] hated her. Jer 12:9 Is My heritage to Me like a speckled bird of prey? Are the birds of prey against her round about? Go, assemble all the wild beasts of the field; bring them to devour. Jer 12:10 Many shepherds [of an invading host] have destroyed My vineyard, they have trampled My portion underfoot; they have made My pleasant portion a desolate wilderness. Jer 12:11 They have made it a desolation, and desolate it mourns before Me; the whole land has been made desolate, but no man lays it to heart. Jer 12:12 Destroyers have come upon all the bare heights in the desert, for the sword of the Lord devours from one end of the land even to the other; no flesh has peace {or} can find the means to escape. Jer 12:13 They have sown wheat but have reaped thorns; they have worn themselves out but without profit. And they shall be ashamed of your [lack of] harvests {and} revenues because of the fierce {and} glowing anger of the Lord. Jer 12:14 Thus says the Lord against all My evil neighbor [nations] who touch the inheritance which I have caused My people Israel to inherit: Behold, I will pluck them up from their land and I will pluck up the house of Judah from among them. Jer 12:15 And after I have plucked them up, I will return and have compassion on them and will bring them back again, every man to his heritage and every man to his land. Jer 12:16 And if these [neighbor nations] will diligently learn the ways of My people, to swear by My name, saying, As the Lord lives--even as they taught My people to swear by Baal--then will they be built up in the midst of My people. Jer 12:17 But if any nation will not hear and obey, I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation, says the Lord. Jer 13:1 THUS THE Lord said to me: Go and buy yourself a linen girdle and put it on your loins, but do not put it in water. Jer 13:2 So I bought a girdle {or} waistcloth, according to the word of the Lord, and put it on my loins. Jer 13:3 And the word of the Lord came to me the second time, saying, Jer 13:4 Take the girdle which you have bought, which is on your loins, and arise, go to the [river] Euphrates, and hide it there in a cleft of the rock. Jer 13:5 So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord commanded me. Jer 13:6 And after many days the Lord said to me, Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take from there the girdle which I commanded you to hide there. Jer 13:7 Then I went to the Euphrates and dug and took the girdle {or} waistcloth from the place where I had hidden it. And behold, the girdle was decayed {and} spoiled; it was good for nothing. Jer 13:8 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Jer 13:9 Thus says the Lord: After this manner will I mar the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. Jer 13:10 These evil people, who refuse to hear My words, who walk in the stubbornness of their hearts and have gone after other gods to serve them and to worship them, shall even be like this girdle {or} waistcloth, which is profitable for nothing. Jer 13:11 For as the girdle clings to the loins of a man, so I caused the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to cling to Me, says the Lord, that they might be for Me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory; but they would not listen {or} obey. Jer 13:12 Therefore you shall speak to them this word: Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Every bottle {and} jar should be filled with wine. [The people] will say to you, Do we not certainly know that every bottle {and} jar should be filled with wine? Jer 13:13 Then say to them, Thus says the Lord: Behold, I will fill with drunkenness all the inhabitants of this land, even the kings who sit upon David's throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Jer 13:14 And I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together, says the Lord. I will not pity or spare or have compassion, that I should not destroy them. Jer 13:15 Hear and give ear, do not be proud, for the Lord has spoken [says Jeremiah]. Jer 13:16 Give glory to the Lord your God before He brings darkness and before your feet stumble upon the dark {and} twilit mountains, and [before], while you are looking for light, He turns it into the shadow of death and makes it thick darkness. Jer 13:17 But if you will not hear {and} obey, I will weep in secret for your pride; my eyes will weep bitterly and run down with tears, because the Lord's flock has been taken captive. Jer 13:18 Say to the king and the queen mother, Humble yourselves {and} take a lowly seat, for down from your head has come your beautiful crown (the crown of your glory). Jer 13:19 The cities of the South (the Negeb) have been shut up, and there is no one to open them; all Judah has been carried away captive, it has been wholly taken captive {and} into exile. Jer 13:20 Lift up your eyes and behold those [the eruption of a hostile army] who come from the north. Where is the flock that was given to you [to shepherd], your beautiful flock? Jer 13:21 What will you say [O Jerusalem] when He [the Lord] sets over you as head those [tyrannical foreign nations] whom you yourselves [at intervals] have taught to be lovers (allies) with you [instructing them, even your friends, to be head over you]? Will not pangs take hold of you like that of a woman in travail? Jer 13:22 And if you say in your heart, Why have these things come upon me?--[the answer is], Because of the greatness of your iniquity has your long robe been pulled aside [showing you in the garb of a menial] {and} have you [barefooted and treated like a slave] suffered violence. Jer 13:23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then also can you do good who are accustomed {and} taught [even trained] to do evil. Jer 13:24 Therefore I will scatter you like chaff driven away by the wind from the desert. Jer 13:25 This is your lot, the portion measured to you from Me, says the Lord, because you have forgotten Me and trusted in falsehood [false gods and alliances with idolatrous nations]. Jer 13:26 Therefore I Myself will [retaliate], throwing your skirts up over your face, that your shame [of being clad like a slave] may be exposed. Jer 13:27 I have seen your detestable acts, even your adulteries and your lustful neighings [after idols], and the lewdness of your harlotry on the hills in the field. Woe to you, O Jerusalem! For how long a time yet will you not [meet My conditions and] be made clean? Jer 14:1 THE WORD of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought: Jer 14:2 Judah mourns and her gates languish; [her people] sit in black [mourning garb] upon the ground, and the cry of Jerusalem goes up. Jer 14:3 And their nobles send their little ones {and} their inferiors for water; they come to the cisterns and find no water. They return with empty vessels; they are put to shame and confounded and cover their heads. Jer 14:4 Because the ground is cracked {and} the tillers are dismayed, since there has been no rain on the land, the plowmen are put to shame, and they cover their heads. Jer 14:5 Yes, even the hind gives birth to her calf in the field and forsakes it, because there is no grass {or} herbage. Jer 14:6 And the wild donkeys stand on the bare heights; they pant for air like jackals {or} crocodiles; their eyesight fails because there is no grass. Jer 14:7 O Lord, though our iniquities testify against us [prays Jeremiah], deal {and} work with us for Your own name's sake [that the heathen may witness Your might and faithfulness]! For our backslidings are many; we have sinned against You. Jer 14:8 O Hope of Israel, her Savior in time of trouble, why should You be like a sojourner in the land and like a wayfaring man who turns aside {and} spreads his tent to tarry [only] for a night? Jer 14:9 Why should You be [hesitant and inactive] like a man stunned {and} confused, like a mighty man who cannot save? Yet You, O Lord, are in the midst of us, and we are called by Your name; do not leave us! Jer 14:10 [And the Lord replied to Jeremiah] Thus says the Lord to this people [Judah]: In the manner {and} to the degree already pointed out have they loved to wander; they have not restrained their feet. Therefore the Lord does not accept them; He will now [seriously] remember their iniquity and punish them for their sins. Jer 14:11 The Lord said to me, Do not pray for this people for their good. Jer 14:12 Though they fast, I will not hear their cry; and though they offer burnt offering and cereal offering [without heartfelt surrender to Me, or by offering it too late], I will not accept them. But I will consume them by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence. Jer 14:13 Then said I, Alas, Lord God! Behold, the [false] prophets say to them, You will not see the sword, nor will you have famine; but I [the Lord] will give you assured peace (peace that lasts, the peace of truth) in this place. Jer 14:14 Then the Lord said to me, The [false] prophets prophesy lies in My name. I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, nor have I spoken to them. They prophesy to you a false {or} pretended vision, a worthless divination [conjuring or practicing magic, trying to call forth the responses supposed to be given by idols], and the deceit of their own minds. Jer 14:15 Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the [false] prophets who prophesy in My name--although I did not send them--and who say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land: By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed. Jer 14:16 And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem, victims of famine and sword; and they shall have none to bury them--them, their wives, their sons, and their daughters. For I will pour out their wickedness upon them [and not on their false teachers only, for the people could not have been deceived except by their own consent]. Jer 14:17 Therefore [Jeremiah] you shall say to them, Let my eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease; for the virgin daughter of my people has been smitten with a great wound, with a very grievous blow. Jer 14:18 If I go out into the field, then behold, those slain with the sword! And if I enter the city, then behold, those tormented with the diseases of famine! For both prophet and priest go about not knowing what to do {or} as beggars [exiled] in a land that they know not, and they have no knowledge. Jer 14:19 [O Lord] have You utterly rejected Judah? Do You loathe Zion? Why have You smitten us so that there is no healing for us? We looked for peace {and} completeness, but no good came, and for a time of healing, but behold, dismay, disaster, {and} terror! Jer 14:20 We know {and} acknowledge, O Lord, our wickedness and the iniquity of our fathers; for we have sinned against You. Jer 14:21 Do not abhor, condemn, {and} spurn us, for Your name's sake; do not dishonor, debase, {and} lightly esteem Your glorious throne; [earnestly] remember, break not Your covenant {or} solemn pledge with us. Jer 14:22 Are there any among the false gods of the nations who can cause rain? Or can the heavens [of their own will] give showers? Are You [alone] not He, O Lord our God? Therefore we will wait [expectantly] for You, for You have made all these things [the heavens and the rain]. Jer 15:1 THEN THE Lord said to me, Though Moses and Samuel stood [interceding for them] before Me, yet My mind could not be turned with favor toward this people [Judah]. Send them out of My sight and let them go! Jer 15:2 And if they say to you, Where shall we go? then tell them, Thus says the Lord: Such as are [destined] for death, to death; and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for famine, to famine; and such as are for captivity, to captivity. Jer 15:3 And I will appoint over them four kinds [of destroyers], says the Lord: the sword to slay, the dogs to tear {and} drag away, and the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth to devour and to destroy. Jer 15:4 And I will cause them to be tossed to and fro among all the kingdoms of the earth {and} to be made a horror to all nations because of Manasseh son of Hezekiah king of Judah, for [the horrible wickedness] which he did in Jerusalem. Jer 15:5 For who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem? Or who will bemoan you? Or who will turn aside to ask about your welfare? Jer 15:6 You have rejected {and} forsaken Me, says the Lord. You keep going in reverse. Therefore I will stretch out My hand against you and destroy you; I am weary of relenting [concerning your punishment]. Jer 15:7 I will winnow them with a fan {and} a winnowing fork in the gates of the land; I will bereave them [of children], I will destroy My people; from their [evil] ways they did not return. Jer 15:8 I will increase the number of their widows more than the sand of the seas. I will bring upon them, [both] against the mother of young men {and} the young men [themselves], a destroyer at noonday. I will cause anguish and terrors to fall upon her [Jerusalem] suddenly. Jer 15:9 She who has borne seven languishes; she has expired. Her sun has gone down while it was yet day; she has been put to shame, confounded, {and} disgraced. And the rest of them I will deliver to the sword before their enemies, says the Lord. Jer 15:10 Woe is me, my mother, that you bore me to be a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have neither loaned, nor have men loaned to me, yet everyone curses me. Jer 15:11 The Lord said, Truly your release, affliction, {and} strengthening will be for good [purposes]; surely [Jeremiah] I will intercede for you with the enemy {and} I will cause the enemy to ask for your aid in the time of evil and in the time of affliction. Jer 15:12 Can iron break the iron from the north and the bronze? Jer 15:13 Your [nation's] substance and your treasures will I give as spoil, without price, and that for all your sins, even in all your territory. Jer 15:14 And I will make [your possessions] to pass with your enemies into a land which you do not know {and} I will make you to serve [your conquerors] there, for a fire is kindled in My anger which will burn upon you [Israel]. Jer 15:15 [Jeremiah said] O Lord, You know {and} understand; [earnestly] remember me and visit me and avenge me on my persecutors. Take me not away [from joy or from life itself] in Your long-suffering [to my enemies]; know that for Your sake I suffer {and} bear reproach. Jer 15:16 Your words were found, and I ate them; and Your words were to me a joy and the rejoicing of my heart, for I am called by Your name, O Lord God of hosts. Jer 15:17 I sat not in the assembly of those who make merry, nor did I rejoice; I sat alone because Your [powerful] hand was upon me, for You had filled me with indignation. Jer 15:18 Why is my pain perpetual and my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Will you indeed be to me like a deceitful brook, like waters that fail {and} are uncertain? Jer 15:19 Therefore thus says the Lord [to Jeremiah]: If you return [and give up this mistaken tone of distrust and despair], then I will give you again a settled place of quiet {and} safety, and you will be My minister; and if you separate the precious from the vile [cleansing your own heart from unworthy and unwarranted suspicions concerning God's faithfulness], you shall be My mouthpiece. [But do not yield to them.] Let them return to you--not you to [the people]. Jer 15:20 And I will make you to this people a fortified, bronze wall; they will fight against you, but they will not prevail over you, for I am with you to save {and} deliver you, says the Lord. Jer 15:21 And I will deliver you out of the hands of the wicked, and I will redeem you out of the palms of the terrible {and} ruthless tyrants. Jer 16:1 THE WORD of the Lord came also to me, saying, Jer 16:2 You shall not take a wife or have sons and daughters in this place [Jerusalem]. Jer 16:3 For thus says the Lord concerning the sons and daughters who are born in this place and concerning the mothers who bore them and the fathers who begot them in this land: Jer 16:4 They shall die of deadly diseases. They shall not be lamented, nor shall they be buried, but they shall be like dung upon the face of the ground. They shall perish {and} be consumed by the sword and by famine, and their dead bodies shall be food for the fowls of the air and for the beasts of the earth. Jer 16:5 For thus says the Lord: Enter not into the house of mourning, nor go to lament or bemoan [the dead], for I have taken away My peace from this people, says the Lord, even My steadfast love {and} loving-kindness and tender mercy. Jer 16:6 Both the great and the small shall die in this land. They shall not be buried, neither shall men lament for them or cut themselves or make themselves bald for them. Jer 16:7 Neither shall men prepare food for the mourners to comfort them for the dead; nor shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother. Jer 16:8 And you [Jeremiah] shall not go into the house of feasting to sit with them to eat and drink. Jer 16:9 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will cause to cease from this place before your very 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. Jer 16:10 And when you tell these people all these words and they inquire of you, Why has the Lord decreed all this enormous evil against us? Or, What is our iniquity? Or, What is the sin that we have committed against the Lord our God? Jer 16:11 Then you shall say to them, [It is] because your fathers have forsaken Me, says the Lord, and have walked after other gods and have served and worshiped them and have forsaken Me and have not kept My law, Jer 16:12 And because you have done worse than your fathers. For behold, every one of you walks after the stubbornness of his own evil heart, so that you do not listen to {and} obey Me. Jer 16:13 Therefore I will cast you out of this land [of Judah] into the land [of the Babylonians] neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you will serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor there. Jer 16:14 Therefore, behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when it shall no more be said, As the Lord lives, Who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, Jer 16:15 But, As the Lord lives, Who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north and from all the countries to which He had driven them. And I will bring them again to their land which I gave to their fathers. Jer 16:16 Behold, I will send for many fishers, says the Lord, and they will fish them out; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them from every mountain and from every hill and out of the clefts of the rocks. Jer 16:17 For My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from My face, neither is their iniquity concealed from My eyes. Jer 16:18 First [before I bring them back to their land] I will doubly recompense {and} punish them for their iniquity and their sin, because they have polluted My land with the carcasses of their detestable idols and with the abominable things offered to false gods with which they have filled My inheritance. Jer 16:19 [Then said Jeremiah] O Lord, my Strength and my Stronghold, and my Refuge in the day of affliction, to You shall the nations come from the ends of the earth and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited nothing but lies, emptiness, {and} futility, worthless things in which there is no profit! Jer 16:20 Can a man make gods for himself? Such are not gods! Jer 16:21 Therefore [says the Lord] behold, I will make them know--[yes] this once I will make them know My power and My might; and they will know {and} recognize that My name is the Lord. Jer 17:1 THE SIN of Judah is written with a pen {or} stylus of iron and with the point of a diamond; it is engraved on the tablets of their hearts and on the horns of their altars, Jer 17:2 While their children [earnestly] remember their [heathen] altars and their Asherim [wooden symbols of the goddess Asherah] beside the green trees upon the high hills. Jer 17:3 O [Jerusalem] My mountain in the field, I will give your wealth {and} all your treasures to the spoil and your high places for sin [as the price of your sin] throughout all your territory. Jer 17:4 And you, through your own fault, will loosen your hand {and} discontinue from your heritage which I gave you; and I will cause you to serve your enemies in a land which you do not know, for you have kindled a fire in My anger which will burn throughout the ages. Jer 17:5 Thus says the Lord: Cursed [with great evil] is the strong man who trusts in {and} relies on frail man, making weak [human] flesh his arm, and whose mind {and} heart turn aside from the Lord. Jer 17:6 For he shall be like a shrub {or} a person naked and destitute in the desert; and he shall not see any good come, but shall dwell in the parched places in the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land. Jer 17:7 [Most] blessed is the man who believes in, trusts in, {and} relies on the Lord, and whose hope {and} confidence the Lord is. Jer 17:8 For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters that spreads out its roots by the river; and it shall not see {and} fear when heat comes; but its leaf shall be green. It shall not be anxious {and} full of care in the year of drought, nor shall it cease yielding fruit. Jer 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly perverse {and} corrupt and severely, mortally sick! Who can know it [perceive, understand, be acquainted with his own heart and mind]? Jer 17:10 I the Lord search the mind, I try the heart, even to give to every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings. Jer 17:11 Like the partridge that gathers a brood which she did not hatch {and} sits on eggs which she has not laid, so is he who gets riches by unjust means {and} not by right. He will leave them, {or} they will leave him, in the midst of his days, and at his end he will be a fool. Jer 17:12 A glorious throne, set on high from the beginning, is the place of our sanctuary (the temple). Jer 17:13 O Lord, the Hope of Israel, all who forsake You shall be put to shame. They who depart from You {and} me [Your prophet] shall [disappear like] writing upon the ground, because they have forsaken the Lord, the Fountain of living waters. Jer 17:14 Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved, for You are my praise. Jer 17:15 Behold, they say to me, Where is the word of the Lord [predicting the disaster that you said would befall us]? Let it come now! Jer 17:16 But as for me, I have not sought to escape from being a shepherd after You, nor have I desired the woeful day [of judgment]; You know that. Whatever I said was spoken in Your presence {and} was from You. Jer 17:17 Be not a terror to me; You are my refuge {and} my hope in the day of evil. Jer 17:18 Let those be put to shame who persecute me, but let me not be put to shame; let them be dismayed, but let me not be dismayed. Bring on them the day of evil, and destroy them with double destruction. Jer 17:19 Thus said the Lord to me: Go and stand in the gate of the sons of the people, through which the kings of Judah enter and through which they go out, and also [stand] in all the gates of Jerusalem. Jer 17:20 Say to them, Hear the word of the Lord, you kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem who enter through these gates. Jer 17:21 Thus says the Lord: Take heed to yourselves {and} for the sake of your lives bear no burden on the Sabbath day or bring it in through the gates of Jerusalem. Jer 17:22 And do not carry a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath day or do any work, but keep the Sabbath day holy (set apart to the worship of God), as I commanded your fathers. Jer 17:23 Yet they would not listen {and} obey or incline their ears; but they stiffened their necks, that they might not hear and might not receive instruction. Jer 17:24 But if you diligently listen to {and} obey Me, says the Lord, and bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but keep the Sabbath day holy (set apart to the worship of God), to do no work on it, Jer 17:25 Then there will enter through the gates of this city kings and princes who will sit upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses--the kings and their princes, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and this city will be inhabited {and} last throughout the ages. Jer 17:26 And people shall come from the cities of Judah and the places round about Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin, from the lowland, from the hill country, and from the South (the Negeb), bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices, cereal offerings and frankincense, and bringing sacrifices of thanksgiving to the house of the Lord. Jer 17:27 But if you will not listen to Me to keep the Sabbath day holy (set apart to the worship of God), and not to bear a burden and enter in at the gates of Jerusalem [with one] on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in her gates, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched. Jer 18:1 THE WORD which came to Jeremiah from the Lord: Jer 18:2 Arise and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause you to hear My words. Jer 18:3 Then I went down to the potter's house, and behold, he was working at the wheel. Jer 18:4 And the vessel that he was making from clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he made it over, reworking it into another vessel as it seemed good to the potter to make it. Jer 18:5 Then the word of the Lord came to me: Jer 18:6 O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does? says the Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel. Jer 18:7 At one time I will suddenly speak concerning a nation or kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it; Jer 18:8 And if [the people of] that nation concerning which I have spoken turn from their evil, I will relent {and} reverse My decision concerning the evil that I thought to do to them. Jer 18:9 At another time I will suddenly speak concerning a nation or kingdom, that I will build up and plant it; Jer 18:10 And if they do evil in My sight, obeying not My voice, then I will regret {and} reverse My decision concerning the good with which I said I would benefit them. Jer 18:11 Now therefore say to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Thus says the Lord: Behold, I am shaping evil against you and devising a plan against you. Return now each one from his evil way; reform your [accustomed] ways {and} make your [individual] actions good {and} right. Jer 18:12 But they will say, That is in vain! For we will walk after our own devices, and we will each do as the stubbornness of his own evil heart dictates. Jer 18:13 Therefore thus says the Lord: Ask now among the nations: Who has heard such things? Virgin Israel has done a very vile {and} horrible thing. Jer 18:14 Will the snow of Mount Lebanon fail {and} vanish from its rocks [which tower above the land of Israel]? Will the cold, rushing waters of strange lands [that dash down from afar] be dried up? Jer 18:15 Yet My people have forgotten Me; they burn incense to false gods, they have been caused to stumble in their ways and in the ancient roads, to walk in bypaths, in a way not graded {and} built up [not on a highway], Jer 18:16 Making their land a desolation {and} a horror, a thing to be hissed at perpetually; everyone who passes by shall be astounded {and} horrified and shake his head. Jer 18:17 I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will show them My back and not My face in the day of their calamity [says the Lord]. Jer 18:18 Then [my enemies] said, Come and let us devise schemes against Jeremiah; for the law [of Moses] shall not perish from the priest [as this false prophet Jeremiah predicts], nor will counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, let us smite him with the tongue [making a charge against him to the king], and let us not pay any attention to his words. Jer 18:19 Give heed to me, Lord; listen to [what] my adversaries [are plotting to do to me--and intercede]. Jer 18:20 Shall evil be recompensed for good? Yet they have dug a pit for my life. [Earnestly] remember that I stood before You to speak good for them, to turn away Your anger from them. Jer 18:21 Therefore deliver up their children to the famine; give them over to the power of the sword. And let their wives become childless and widows; let their men meet death by pestilence, their young men be slain by the sword in battle. Jer 18:22 Let a cry be heard from their houses when You suddenly bring a troop upon them, for they have dug a pit to take me and have hidden snares for my feet. Jer 18:23 Yet, Lord, You know all their plotting against me to slay me. Forgive not their iniquity, nor blot out their sin from Your sight. But let them be overthrown before You; deal with them in the time of Your anger. Jer 19:1 THUS SAYS the Lord: Go and get a potter's earthen bottle, and take some of the old people and some of the elderly priests Jer 19:2 And go out to the Valley of Ben-hinnom [son of Hinnom], which is by the entrance of the Potsherd Gate; and proclaim there the words that I shall tell you, Jer 19:3 And say, Hear the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am going to bring such evil upon this place that the ears of whoever hears of it will tingle. Jer 19:4 Because the people have forsaken Me and have estranged {and} profaned this place [Jerusalem] by burning incense in it to other gods that neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah ever knew, and because they have filled this place with the blood of innocents Jer 19:5 And have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, which I commanded not nor spoke of it, nor did it come into My mind {and} heart-- Jer 19:6 Therefore, behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when this place shall no more be called Topheth or the Valley of Ben-hinnom [son of Hinnom], but the Valley of Slaughter. Jer 19:7 And I will pour out {and} make void the counsel {and} the plans of [the men of] Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and I will cause their people to fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hands of those who seek their lives, and their dead bodies I will give to be food for the birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth. Jer 19:8 And I will make this city an astonishment {and} a horror and a hissing; everyone who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss [in scorn] because of all its plagues {and} disasters. Jer 19:9 And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and their daughters, and they shall eat each one the flesh of his neighbor {and} friend in the siege and in the distress with which their enemies and those who seek their lives distress them. Jer 19:10 Then you shall break the bottle in the sight of the men who accompany you, Jer 19:11 And say to them, Thus said the Lord of hosts: Even so will I break this people and this city as one breaks a potter's vessel, so that it cannot be mended. Men will bury in Topheth because there will be no other place for burial {and} until there is no more room to bury. Jer 19:12 Thus will I do to this place, says the Lord, and to its inhabitants; and I will even make this city like Topheth. Jer 19:13 And the houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah, which are defiled, shall be like the place of Topheth--even all the houses upon whose roofs incense has been burned to all the host of the heavens and drink offerings have been poured out to other gods. Jer 19:14 Then came Jeremiah from Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy, and he stood in the court of the Lord's house and said to all the people, Jer 19:15 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all its towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they have stiffened their necks, refusing to hear My words. Jer 20:1 NOW PASHHUR son of Immer, the priest, who was [also] chief officer in the house of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things. Jer 20:2 Then Pashhur beat Jeremiah the prophet and put him in the stocks that were at the upper Benjamin Gate by the house of the Lord. Jer 20:3 And the next day Pashhur brought Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then Jeremiah said to him, The Lord does not call your name Pashhur, but Magor-missabib [terror on every side]. Jer 20:4 For thus says the Lord: Behold, I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends; they will fall by the sword of their enemies while you look on. And I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon; he will carry them captive to Babylon and will slay them with the sword. Jer 20:5 Moreover, I will deliver all the riches of this city--all the results of its labors, all its precious things, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah--into the hand of their enemies, who will make them a prey {and} plunder them and seize them and carry them to Babylon. Jer 20:6 And you, Pashhur, and all who dwell in your house shall go into captivity; you shall go to Babylon, and there you shall die and be buried, you and all your friends to whom you have prophesied falsely. Jer 20:7 [But Jeremiah said] O Lord, You have persuaded {and} deceived me, and I was persuaded {and} deceived; You are stronger than I am and You have prevailed. I am a laughingstock all the day; everyone mocks me. Jer 20:8 For whenever I speak, I must cry out {and} complain; I shout, Violence and destruction! For the word of the Lord has become to me a reproach and a derision {and} has brought me insult all day long. Jer 20:9 If I say, I will not make mention of [the Lord] or speak any more in His name, in my mind {and} heart it is as if there were a burning fire shut up in my bones. And I am weary of enduring {and} holding it in; I cannot [contain it any longer]. Jer 20:10 For I have heard many whispering {and} defaming, [There is] terror on every side! Denounce him! Let us denounce him! Say all my familiar friends, they who watch for my fall, Perhaps he will be persuaded {and} deceived; then we will prevail against him, and we will get our revenge on him. Jer 20:11 But the Lord is with me as a mighty {and} terrible One; therefore my persecutors will stumble, and they will not overcome [me]. They will be utterly put to shame, for they will not deal wisely {or} prosper [in their schemes]; their eternal dishonor will never be forgotten. Jer 20:12 But, O Lord of hosts, You Who try the righteous, Who see the heart and the mind, let me see Your vengeance on them, for to You have I revealed {and} committed my cause. Jer 20:13 Sing to the Lord! Praise the Lord! For He has delivered the life of the poor {and} needy from the hands of evildoers. Jer 20:14 Cursed be the day on which I was born! Let not the day on which my mother bore me be blessed! Jer 20:15 Cursed be the man who brought the tidings to my father, saying, A son is born to you!--making him very glad. Jer 20:16 And let that man be like the cities which the Lord overthrew, and did not relent. Let him hear the [war] cry in the morning and the shouting of alarm at noon, Jer 20:17 Because he did not slay me in the womb, so that my mother might have been my grave, and her womb always great. Jer 20:18 Why did I come out of the womb to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed in shame? Jer 21:1 THE WORD which came to Jeremiah from the Lord when King Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur son of Malchiah, and Zephaniah the priest, the son of Maaseiah, saying, Jer 21:2 Inquire, I pray you, of the Lord for us, for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon is making war against us. Perhaps the Lord will deal with us according to all His wonderful works, forcing him to withdraw from us. Jer 21:3 Then said Jeremiah to them, Say this to Zedekiah: Jer 21:4 Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Behold, I will turn back {and} dull the edge of the weapons of war that are in your hands, with which you fight against the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans who are besieging you outside the walls; and I will bring them into the midst of this city [Jerusalem]. Jer 21:5 And I Myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm in anger, in fury, and in great indignation {and} wrath. Jer 21:6 And I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast; they will die of a great pestilence. Jer 21:7 And afterward, says the Lord, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah and his servants and the people in this city who survive the pestilence, the sword, and the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and into the hands of their enemies, into the hands of those who seek their lives. And he will smite them with the edge of the sword; he will not spare them nor have pity or mercy {and} compassion upon them. Jer 21:8 And to this people you [Jeremiah] shall say, Thus says the Lord: Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death. Jer 21:9 He who remains in this city [Jerusalem] shall die by the sword and by famine and by pestilence. But he who goes out and passes over to the Chaldeans who besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be to him his only booty [as a prize of war]. Jer 21:10 For I have set My face against this city for evil and not for good, says the Lord. It shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire. Jer 21:11 And concerning the royal house of the king of Judah, hear the word of the Lord: Jer 21:12 O house of David, thus says the Lord: Execute justice in the morning, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed, lest My wrath go forth like fire and burn so that none can quench it--because of the evil of your doings. Jer 21:13 Behold, I am against you, O inhabitant of the valley, O rock of the plain, says the Lord--you who say, Who shall come down against us? Or, Who shall enter into our dwelling places? Jer 21:14 And I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, says the Lord. I will kindle a fire in your forest, and it will devour all that is round about you. Jer 22:1 THUS SAYS the Lord: Go down to the house of the king of Judah and speak there this word: Jer 22:2 Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, you who sit upon the throne of David--you and your servants and your people who enter by these gates. Jer 22:3 Thus says the Lord: Execute justice and righteousness, and deliver out of the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong; do no violence to the stranger {or} temporary resident, the fatherless, or the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place. Jer 22:4 For if you will indeed obey this word, then will there enter in through the gates of this [the king's] house kings sitting [for David] upon David's throne, riding in chariots and on horses--they and their servants and their people. Jer 22:5 But if you will not hear these words, I swear by Myself, says the Lord, that this house will become a desolation. Jer 22:6 For thus says the Lord concerning the house of the king of Judah: [If you will not listen to Me, though] you are [as valuable] to Me as [the fat pastures of] Gilead [east of the Jordan] or as the [plentiful] summit of Lebanon [west of the Jordan], yet surely I will make you a wilderness and uninhabited cities. Jer 22:7 And I will prepare, solemnly set apart, {and} appoint [to execute My judgments against you] destroyers, each with his weapons, and they will cut down your [palaces built of] choicest cedars and cast them into the fire. Jer 22:8 And many nations will pass by this city, and every man will say to his neighbor, Why has the Lord done this to this great city? Jer 22:9 Then they will answer, Because [the people] forsook the covenant {or} solemn pledge with the Lord their God and worshiped other gods and served them. Jer 22:10 Weep not for him who is dead nor bemoan him; but weep bitterly for him who goes away [into captivity], for he shall return no more nor see his native country [again]. Jer 22:11 For thus says the Lord concerning Shallum son of Josiah king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father and who went forth out of this place: [Shallum] shall not return here any more; Jer 22:12 But he shall die in the place where they have led him captive, and he shall see this land no more. Jer 22:13 Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness and his [upper] chambers by injustice, who uses his neighbor's service without wages and does not give him his pay [for his work], Jer 22:14 Who says, I will build myself a wide house with large rooms, and he cuts himself out windows, and it is ceiled {or} paneled with cedar and painted with vermilion. Jer 22:15 Do you think that being a king [merely] means [self-indulgent] vying [with Solomon] {and} striving to excel in cedar [palaces]? Did not your father [Josiah], as he ate and drank, do justice and righteousness [being upright and in right standing with God]? Then it was well with him. Jer 22:16 He judged {and} defended the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. Was not [all] this [what it means] to know {and} recognize Me? says the Lord. Jer 22:17 But your eyes and your heart are only for your covetousness {and} dishonest gain, for shedding innocent blood, for oppression and doing violence. Jer 22:18 Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah: [Relatives] shall not lament for him, saying, Ah, my brother! or, Ah, sister, [how great our loss! Subjects] shall not lament for him saying, Ah, lord! or Ah, his majesty! {or} Ah, [how great was] his glory! Jer 22:19 [No] he shall be buried with the burial of a donkey--dragged out and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem. Jer 22:20 Go up [north] to Lebanon and cry out, and raise your voice in [the hills] of Bashan [across the Jordan], and cry out from Abarim [a range of mountains southeast of Palestine], for all your lovers (the king's chosen allies) are destroyed. Jer 22:21 I spoke to you in your [times of] prosperity, but you said, I will not listen! This has been your attitude from your youth; you have not obeyed My voice. Jer 22:22 The wind [of adversity] shall pasture upon {and} consume all your shepherds (your princes and statesmen), and your lovers (allies) shall go into captivity. Surely then shall you be ashamed and confounded {and} dismayed because of all your wickedness. Jer 22:23 O inhabitant of Lebanon [Jerusalem, whose palaces are made of Lebanon's trees], you who make your nest among the cedars, how you will groan {and} how pitiable you will be when pangs come upon you, pain like that of a woman in childbirth! Jer 22:24 As I live, says the Lord, though Coniah [also called Jeconiah and Jehoiachin] son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet [ring] upon My right hand, yet would I tear you off. Jer 22:25 And I will give you into the hands of those who seek your life and into the hand of those of whom you are afraid, even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and into the hands of the Chaldeans. Jer 22:26 And I will hurl you and the mother who bore you into another country, where you were not born, and there you will die. Jer 22:27 But to the land to which they will yearn to return, there they will not return. Jer 22:28 Is this man [King] Coniah a despised, broken pot? Is he a vessel in which no one takes pleasure? Why are they hurled out, he and his royal offspring, and cast into a land which they do not know, understand, {or} recognize? Jer 22:29 O land, land, land, hear the word of the Lord! Jer 22:30 Thus says the Lord: Write this man [Coniah] down as childless, a man who shall not prosper in his days, for no man of his offspring shall succeed in sitting upon the throne of David and ruling any more in Judah. Jer 23:1 WOE TO the shepherds (the civil leaders) who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasturing! says the Lord. Jer 23:2 Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who care for {and} feed My people: You have scattered My flock and driven them away and have not visited {and} attended to them; behold, I will visit {and} attend to you for the evil of your doings, says the Lord. Jer 23:3 And I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all the countries to which I have driven them and will bring them again to their folds {and} pastures; and they will be fruitful and multiply. Jer 23:4 And I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them. And they will fear no more nor be dismayed, neither will any be missing {or} lost, says the Lord. Jer 23:5 Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch (Sprout), and He will reign as King and do wisely and will execute justice and righteousness in the land. Jer 23:6 In His days Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is His name by which He shall be called: The Lord Our Righteousness. Jer 23:7 Therefore behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when they shall no more say, As the Lord lives, Who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, Jer 23:8 But, As the Lord lives, Who brought up and led the offspring of the house of Israel from the north country and from all the countries to which I had driven them. And they shall dwell in their own land. . Jer 23:9 Concerning the prophets: My heart [says Jeremiah] is broken within me, all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, a man whom wine has overcome, because of the Lord and because of His holy words [which He has pronounced against unfaithful leaders]. Jer 23:10 For the land is full of adulterers (forsakers of God, Israel's true Husband). Because of the curse [of God upon it] the land mourns, the pastures of the wilderness are dried up. They [both false prophets and people] rush into wickedness; {and} their course is evil, their might is not right. Jer 23:11 For both [false] prophet and priest are ungodly {and} profane; even in My house have I found their wickedness, says the Lord. Jer 23:12 Therefore their way will be to them like slippery paths in the dark; they will be driven on and fall into them. For I will bring evil upon them in the year of their punishment, says the Lord. Jer 23:13 And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria: they prophesied by Baal and caused My people Israel to err {and} go astray. Jer 23:14 I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem a horrible thing: they commit adultery and walk in lies; they encourage {and} strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that none returns from his wickedness. They have all of them become to Me like Sodom, and her inhabitants like Gomorrah. Jer 23:15 Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets: Behold, I will feed them with [the bitterness of] wormwood and make them drink the [poisonous] water of gall, for from the [false] prophets of Jerusalem profaneness {and} ungodliness have gone forth into all the land. Jer 23:16 Thus says the Lord of hosts: Do not listen to the words of the [false] prophets who prophesy to you. They teach you vanity (emptiness, falsity, and futility) {and} fill you with vain hopes; they speak a vision of their own minds and not from the mouth of the Lord. Jer 23:17 They are continually saying to those who despise Me {and} the word of the Lord, The Lord has said: You shall have peace; and they say to everyone who walks after the stubbornness of his own mind {and} heart, No evil shall come upon you. Jer 23:18 For who among them has stood in the council of the Lord, that he should perceive and hear His word? Who has marked His word [noticing and observing and giving attention to it] and has [actually] heard it? Jer 23:19 Behold, the tempest of the Lord has gone forth in wrath, a whirling tempest; it shall whirl {and} burst upon the heads of the wicked. Jer 23:20 The anger of the Lord shall not turn back until He has executed {and} accomplished the thoughts {and} intents of His mind {and} heart. In the latter days you shall consider {and} understand it perfectly. Jer 23:21 I did not send these [false] prophets, yet they ran; I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied. Jer 23:22 But if they had stood in My council, then they would have caused My people to hear My words, then they would have turned them [My people] from their evil way and from the evil of their doings. Jer 23:23 Am I a God at hand, says the Lord, and not a God afar off? Jer 23:24 Can anyone hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? says the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? says the Lord. Jer 23:25 I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in My name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed [visions on my bed at night]. Jer 23:26 [How long shall this state of things continue?] How long yet shall it be in the minds of the prophets who prophesy falsehood, even the prophets of the deceit of their own hearts, Jer 23:27 Who think that they can cause My people to forget My name by their dreams which every man tells to his neighbor, just as their fathers forgot My name because of Baal? Jer 23:28 The prophet who has a dream, let him tell his dream; but he who has My word, let him speak My word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat [for nourishment]? says the Lord. Jer 23:29 Is not My word like fire [that consumes all that cannot endure the test]? says the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks in pieces the rock [of most stubborn resistance]? Jer 23:30 Therefore behold, I am against the [false] prophets, says the Lord, [I am even now descending upon them with punishment, these prophets] who steal My words from one another [imitating the phrases of the true prophets]. Jer 23:31 Behold, I am against the prophets, says the Lord, who use their [own deceitful] tongues and say, Thus says the Lord. Jer 23:32 Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, says the Lord, and tell them and cause My people to err {and} go astray by their lies and by their vain boasting {and} recklessness--when I did not send them or command them; nor do they profit these people at all, says the Lord. Jer 23:33 And when these people, or a prophet or a priest, ask you, What is the burden of the Lord [the thing to be lifted up now]? then you shall say to them, What burden [indeed]! [You are the burden!] And I will disburden Myself of you {and} I will cast you off, says the Lord. Jer 23:34 And as for the prophet, the priest, or [any of these] the people, whoever [in mockery calls the word of the Lord a burden and] says, The burden of the Lord, I will even visit in wrath {and} punish that man and his house. Jer 23:35 [For the future, in speaking of the utterances of the Lord] thus shall you say every one to his neighbor and every one to his brother: What has the Lord answered? or, What has the Lord spoken? Jer 23:36 But the burden of the Lord you must mention no more, for every man's burden is his own response {and} word [for as they mockingly call all prophecies burdens, whether good or bad, so will it prove to be to them; God will take them at their own word]; for you pervert the words [not of a lifeless idol, but] of the living God, the Lord of hosts, our God! Jer 23:37 Thus shall you [reverently] say to the prophet: What has the Lord answered you? Or, What has the Lord spoken? Jer 23:38 But if you say, The burden of the Lord, therefore thus says the Lord: Because you said these words, The burden of the Lord, when I sent to you, saying, You shall not say, The burden of the Lord, Jer 23:39 Therefore behold, I, even I, will assuredly take you up and cast you away from My presence, you and the city [Jerusalem] which I gave to you and to your fathers. Jer 23:40 And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you and a perpetual shame which will not be forgotten. Jer 24:1 AFTER NEBUCHADREZZAR king of Babylon had taken into exile Jeconiah [also called Coniah and Jehoiachin] son of Jehoiakim king of Judah and the princes of Judah, with the craftsmen and smiths from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon, the Lord showed me [in a vision] two baskets of figs set before the temple of the Lord. Jer 24:2 One basket had very good figs, like the figs that are first ripe; but the other basket had very bad figs, so bad that they could not be eaten. Jer 24:3 Then the Lord said to me, What do you see, Jeremiah? And I said, Figs--the good figs very good, and the bad very bad, so bad that they cannot be eaten. Jer 24:4 Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Jer 24:5 Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Like these good figs, so will I regard the captives of Judah whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good. Jer 24:6 For I will set My eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land; and I will build them up and not pull them down, and I will plant them and not pluck them up. Jer 24:7 And I will give them a heart to know (recognize, understand, and be acquainted with) Me, that I am the Lord; and they will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with their whole heart. Jer 24:8 And as for the bad figs, which are so bad that they cannot be eaten, surely thus says the Lord, So will I give up Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes and the residue of Jerusalem who remains in this land and those who dwell in the land of Egypt. Jer 24:9 I will even give them up to be a dismay {and} a horror {and} to be tossed to and fro among all the kingdoms of the earth for evil, to be a reproach, a byword {or} proverb, a taunt, and a curse in all places where I will drive them. Jer 24:10 And I will send the sword, famine, and pestilence among them until they are consumed from off the land that I gave to them and to their fathers. Jer 25:1 THE WORD that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah--which was the first year of the reign of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon-- Jer 25:2 Which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem: Jer 25:3 For these twenty-three years--from the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah, even to this day--the word of the Lord has come to me and I have spoken to you persistently early and late, but you have not listened {and} obeyed. Jer 25:4 Although the Lord persistently sent you all the prophets, His servants, yet you have not listened and obeyed or [even] inclined your ear to hear. Jer 25:5 [The prophets came on My behalf] saying, Turn again now every one from his evil way and wrongdoing; [that you may not forfeit the right to] dwell in the land that the Lord gave to you and to your fathers from of old {and} forevermore. Jer 25:6 Do not go after other gods to serve and worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands. Then I will do you no harm. Jer 25:7 Yet you have not listened to {and} obeyed Me, says the Lord, that you might provoke Me to anger with the works (idols) made by your hands to your own hurt. Jer 25:8 Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: Because you have not heard {and} obeyed My words, Jer 25:9 Behold, I will send for all the tribes of the north, says the Lord, and I will send for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, My servant [or agent to fulfill My designs], and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all these nations round about; and I will devote them [to God] {and} utterly destroy them and make them an amazement, a hissing, and perpetual {and} agelong desolations. Jer 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 [grinding out the meal] and the light of the candle [which every home burned throughout the night]. Jer 25:11 And this whole land shall be a waste and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. Jer 25:12 Then when seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, says the Lord, for their iniquity, and will make the land [of the Chaldeans] a perpetual waste. Jer 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 has prophesied against all the nations. Jer 25:14 For many nations and great kings shall make bondmen of them, even them [the Chaldeans who enslaved other nations]; and I will recompense [all of] them according to their deeds and according to the work of their [own] hands. Jer 25:15 For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, to me: Take this cup of the wine of wrath from My hand and cause all the nations to whom I send you to drink it. Jer 25:16 They shall drink and reel to and fro and be crazed because of the sword that I will send among them. Jer 25:17 Then I [Jeremiah] took the cup from the Lord's hand and made all the nations drink it to whom the Lord had sent me: [that is,] Jer 25:18 Jerusalem and the cities of Judah [being most guilty because their privileges were greatest], its kings and princes, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse, as it is to this day; Jer 25:19 Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his princes, all his people, Jer 25:20 And all the mixed foreign population; all the kings of the land of Uz; and all the kings of the land of the Philistines and [their cities of] Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod; Jer 25:21 Edom, Moab, and the children of Ammon; Jer 25:22 All the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the islands {and} the coastlands across the [Mediterranean] Sea; Jer 25:23 Dedan, Tema, Buz [neighboring tribes north of Arabia], and all who clip off the corners of their hair {and} beards; Jer 25:24 All the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the mixed foreign people who dwell in the desert; Jer 25:25 All the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam (Persia), and all the kings of Media; Jer 25:26 All the kings of the north, far and near, one after another--and all the kingdoms of the world which are on the face of the earth. And after them the king of Sheshach (Babel or Babylon) shall drink. Jer 25:27 Then you shall say to them, Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Drink, be drunk, vomit, and fall to rise no more because of the sword which I am sending among you. Jer 25:28 And if they refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, Thus says the Lord of hosts: You shall surely drink! Jer 25:29 For behold, I am beginning to work evil in the city which is called by My Name, and shall you go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, for I am calling for a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth, says the Lord of hosts. Jer 25:30 Therefore prophesy against them all these words and say to them: The Lord shall roar from on high and utter His voice from His holy habitation; He shall roar mightily against His fold {and} pasture. He shall give a shout like those who tread grapes [in the winepress, but His shout will be] against all the inhabitants of the earth. Jer 25:31 A noise will come even to the ends of the earth, for the Lord has a controversy and an indictment against the nations; He will enter into judgment with all mankind; as for the wicked, He will give them to the sword, says the Lord. Jer 25:32 Thus says the Lord of hosts: Behold, evil will go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirling tempest will rise from the uttermost parts of the earth. Jer 25:33 And those slain by the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth. They shall not be lamented or gathered or buried; their [dead bodies] shall be dung upon the ground. Jer 25:34 Wail, you shepherds, and cry; and roll in ashes, you principal ones of the flock. For the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions have fully come, and you shall fall {and} be dashed into pieces like a choice vessel. Jer 25:35 And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the principal ones of the flock any means of escape. Jer 25:36 A voice! The cry of the shepherds and the wailing of the principal ones of the flock! For the Lord is laying waste {and} destroying their pasture. Jer 25:37 And the peaceable folds are devastated {and} brought to silence because of the fierce anger of the Lord. Jer 25:38 He has left His shelter like the lion; for their land has become a waste {and} an astonishment because of the fierceness of the oppressor and because of [the Lord's] fierce anger. Jer 26:1 IN THE beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah came this word from the Lord: Jer 26:2 Thus says the Lord: Stand in the court of the Lord's house [Jeremiah] and speak to all [the people of] the cities of Judah who come to worship in the Lord's house all the words that I command you to speak to them; subtract not a word. Jer 26:3 It may be that they will listen and turn every man from his evil way, that I may relent {and} reverse My decision concerning the evil which I purpose to do to them because of their evil doings. Jer 26:4 And you will say to them, Thus says the Lord: If you will not listen to {and} obey Me, to walk in My law, which I have set before you, Jer 26:5 And to hear {and} obey the words of My servants the prophets, whom I have sent to you urgently {and} persistently--though you have not listened {and} obeyed-- Jer 26:6 Then will I make this house [the temple] like Shiloh [the home of the Tent of Meeting, abandoned and later destroyed after the ark was captured by the Philistines], and I will make this city subject to the curses of all nations of the earth [so vile in their sight will it be]. Jer 26:7 And the priests and the [false] prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord. Jer 26:8 Now when Jeremiah had finished speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak to all the people, the priests and the [false] prophets and all the people seized him, saying, You shall surely die! Jer 26:9 Why have you prophesied in the name of the Lord, saying, This house shall be like Shiloh [after the ark of the Lord had been taken by our enemies] and this city [Jerusalem] shall be desolate, without inhabitant? And all the people were gathered around Jeremiah in the [outer area of the] house of the Lord. Jer 26:10 When the princes of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king's house to the house of the Lord and sat down in the entry of the New Gate of the house of the Lord. Jer 26:11 Then the priests and the prophets said to the princes and to all the people, This man is deserving of death, for he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your own ears. Jer 26:12 Then Jeremiah said to all the princes and to all the people: The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that you have heard. Jer 26:13 Therefore now amend your ways and your doings and obey the voice of the Lord your God; then the Lord will relent {and} reverse the decision concerning the evil which He has pronounced against you. Jer 26:14 As for me, behold, I am in your hands; do with me as seems good and suitable to you. Jer 26:15 But know for certain that if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood upon yourselves and upon this city and upon its inhabitants, for in truth the Lord has sent me to you to speak all these words in your hearing. Jer 26:16 Then said the princes and all the people to the priests and to the prophets: This man is not deserving of death, for he has spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God. Jer 26:17 Then certain of the elders of the land arose and said to all the assembly of the people, Jer 26:18 Micah of Moresheth prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah and said to all the people of Judah, Thus says the Lord of hosts: Zion shall be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps [of ruins], and the mountain of the house [of the Lord--Mount Moriah, on which stands the temple, shall become covered not with buildings, but] like a densely wooded height. Jer 26:19 Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put [Micah] to death? Did he not [reverently] fear the Lord and entreat the Lord? And did not the Lord relent {and} reverse the decision concerning the evil which He had pronounced against them? But [here] we are thinking of committing what will be a great evil against ourselves. Jer 26:20 And there was also a man who prophesied in the name of the Lord, Uriah son of Shemaiah of Kiriath-jearim, who prophesied against this city and against this land in words similar to those of Jeremiah. Jer 26:21 And when Jehoiakim the king, with all his mighty men and all the princes, heard his words, the king sought to put [Uriah] to death; but when Uriah heard of it, he was afraid and fled and escaped to Egypt. Jer 26:22 And Jehoiakim the king sent men into Egypt, namely, Elnathan son of Achbor and certain other men [who went] with him into Egypt. Jer 26:23 And they fetched Uriah from Egypt and brought him to Jehoiakim the king, who slew him [God's spokesman] with the sword and cast his dead body among the graves of the common people. Jer 26:24 But the hand of Ahikam son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, that he might not be given into the hands of the people to put him [also] to death. Jer 27:1 IN THE beginning of the reign of Zedekiah son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord: Jer 27:2 Thus says the Lord to me: Make for yourself thongs and yoke bars and put them on your neck, Jer 27:3 And send them to the king of Edom, to the king of Moab, to the king of the Ammonites, to the king of Tyre, and to the king of Sidon by the hand of the messengers who have come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah. Jer 27:4 And command them to say to their masters, Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Thus shall you say to your masters: Jer 27:5 I have made the earth, the men, and the beasts that are upon the face of the earth by My great power and by My outstretched arm, and I give it to whomever it seems right {and} suitable to Me. Jer 27:6 And now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, My servant {and} instrument, and the beasts of the field also I have given him to serve him. Jer 27:7 And all nations shall serve him and his son and his grandson until the [God-appointed] time [of punishment] of his own land comes; and then many nations and great kings shall make him their slave. Jer 27:8 But any nation or kingdom that will not serve this same Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, says the Lord, with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence, until I have consumed it by [Nebuchadnezzar's] hand. Jer 27:9 So do not listen to your [false] prophets, your diviners, your dreamers [and your dreams, whether your own or others'], your soothsayers, your sorcerers, who say to you, You shall not serve the king of Babylon. Jer 27:10 For they prophesy a lie to you which will cause you to be removed far from your land; and I will drive you out, and you will perish. Jer 27:11 But any nation that brings its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serves him, that nation will I let remain on its own land, says the Lord, to cultivate it and dwell in it. Jer 27:12 I spoke also to Zedekiah king of Judah in the same way: Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live. Jer 27:13 Why will you and your people die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as the Lord has spoken concerning any nation that will not serve the king of Babylon? Jer 27:14 Do not listen to {and} believe the words of the [false] prophets who are saying to you, You shall not serve the king of Babylon, for it is a lie that they prophesy to you. Jer 27:15 For I have not sent them, says the Lord; but they are prophesying falsely in My name. [It will only end when] I will drive you out to perish together with the [false] prophets who prophesy to you. Jer 27:16 Also I said to the priests and to all these people, Thus says the Lord: Do not listen to the words of your [false] prophets who are prophesying to you, saying, Behold, the vessels of the Lord's house shall now shortly be brought back from Babylon; for they are prophesying a lie to you. Jer 27:17 Do not listen to them {or} heed them; serve the king of Babylon, and live. Why should this city be laid waste? Jer 27:18 But if they are true prophets and if the word of the Lord is really spoken by them, let them now make intercession to the Lord of hosts, that the vessels which are [still] left in the house of the Lord, in the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem may not go to Babylon. Jer 27:19 For thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the [bronze] pillars [each twenty-seven feet high], the [bronze] Sea [the laver at which the priests cleansed their hands and feet before ministering at the altar], the [bronze] bases [of the ten lavers in Solomon's temple used for washing animals to be offered as sacrifices], and the remainder of the vessels which are left in this city [Jerusalem], Jer 27:20 Which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take when he carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon Jeconiah [also called Coniah and Jehoiachin] son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, with all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem-- Jer 27:21 Yes, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels which [still] remain in the house of the Lord, in the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem: Jer 27:22 They will be carried to Babylon and there will they be until the day that I visit them [with My favor], says the Lord. Then I will bring them back and restore them to this place. Jer 28:1 IN THAT same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year and the fifth month, Hananiah son of Azzur, the [false] prophet, who was from Gibeon [one of the priests' cities], said [falsely] to me in the house of the Lord in the presence of the priests and all the people: Jer 28:2 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. Jer 28:3 Within two [full] years will I bring back into this place all the vessels of the Lord's house that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place and carried to Babylon. Jer 28:4 And I will also bring back to this place Jeconiah [also called Coniah and Jehoiachin] son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, with all the exiles from Judah who went to Babylon, says the Lord, for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon. Jer 28:5 Then the prophet Jeremiah spoke to the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests and all the people who stood in the house of the Lord. Jer 28:6 The prophet Jeremiah said, Amen! May the Lord do so; may the Lord perform your words which you have prophesied to bring back to this place from Babylon the vessels of the Lord's house and all who were carried away captive. Jer 28:7 Nevertheless, listen now to {and} hear this word which I speak in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people: Jer 28:8 The prophets who were before me and before you from of old prophesied against many countries and against great kingdoms, of war, of evil, and of pestilence. Jer 28:9 But as for the prophet who [on the contrary] prophesies of peace, when that prophet's word comes to pass, [only] then will it be known that the Lord has truly sent him. Jer 28:10 Then Hananiah the prophet took the yoke bar off the prophet Jeremiah's neck and smashed it. Jer 28:11 And Hananiah said in the presence of all the people, Thus says the Lord: Even so will I break the yoke bars of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all the nations within the space of two [full] years. But the prophet Jeremiah went his way. Jer 28:12 The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet [some time] after Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke bar from the neck of the prophet Jeremiah: Jer 28:13 Go, tell Hananiah, Thus says the Lord: You have broken yoke bars of wood, but you have made in their stead bars of iron. Jer 28:14 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: I have put upon the neck of all these nations the iron yoke of servitude of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and they shall serve him. For I have given him even the beasts of the field. Jer 28:15 Then said the prophet Jeremiah to Hananiah the prophet, Listen now, Hananiah, The Lord has not sent you, but you have made this people trust in a lie. Jer 28:16 Therefore thus says the Lord: Behold, I will cast you from the face of the earth. This year you will die, because you have uttered {and} taught rebellion against the Lord. Jer 28:17 So Hananiah the prophet died [two months later], the same year, in the seventh month. Jer 29:1 NOW THESE are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the rest of the elders in exile and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon. Jer 29:2 This was after King Jeconiah [also called Coniah and Jehoiachin] and the queen mother, the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen and the smiths had departed from Jerusalem. Jer 29:3 [The letter was sent] by the hand of Elasah son of Shaphan and Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. It said: Jer 29:4 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the captives whom I have caused to be carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Jer 29:5 Build yourselves houses and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat the fruit of them. Jer 29:6 Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not be diminished. Jer 29:7 And seek (inquire for, require, and request) the peace {and} welfare of the city to which I have caused you to be carried away captive; and pray to the Lord for it, for in the welfare of [the city in which you live] you will have welfare. Jer 29:8 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Let not your [false] prophets and your diviners who are in your midst deceive you; pay no attention {and} attach no significance to your dreams which you dream {or} to theirs, Jer 29:9 For they prophesy falsely to you in My name. I have not sent them, says the Lord. Jer 29:10 For thus says the Lord, When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you and keep My good promise to you, causing you to return to this place. Jer 29:11 For I know the thoughts {and} plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts {and} plans for welfare {and} peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome. Jer 29:12 Then you will call upon Me, and you will come and pray to Me, and I will hear {and} heed you. Jer 29:13 Then you will seek Me, inquire for, {and} require Me [as a vital necessity] and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. Jer 29:14 I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will release you from captivity and gather you from all the nations and all the places to which I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I caused you to be carried away captive. Jer 29:15 [But as for those still in Jerusalem] because you have said, The Lord has raised up prophets for us in Babylon, Jer 29:16 Thus says the Lord concerning the king who sits upon the throne of David and concerning all the people who dwell in this city, your brethren who did not go forth with you into captivity-- Jer 29:17 Thus says the Lord of hosts: Behold, I am sending on them the sword, famine, and pestilence, and I will make them like vile figs which are so bad they cannot be eaten. Jer 29:18 And I will pursue them with the sword, famine, and pestilence and will give them up to be tossed to and fro {and} to be a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, an astonishment, {and} a terror, a hissing and a reproach among all the nations to which I have driven them, Jer 29:19 Because they have not listened to {and} heeded My words, says the Lord, which I sent to them persistently by My servants the prophets; but you [exiles] would not listen [either], says the Lord. Jer 29:20 Hear therefore the word of the Lord, all you exiles whom I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon. Jer 29:21 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab son of Kolaiah and concerning Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying lies to you in My name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and he will slay them [those false prophets whom you say I have raised up for you in Babylon] before your eyes! Jer 29:22 And because of them, this curse shall be taken up {and} used by all from Judah who are in captivity in Babylon: The Lord make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire-- Jer 29:23 Because they have committed folly in Israel and have committed adultery with their neighbors' wives and have spoken words in My name falsely, which I had not commanded them. I am the One Who knows and I am witness, says the Lord. Jer 29:24 Also you shall say this concerning {and} to Shemaiah of Nehelam [among the exiles in Babylon]: Jer 29:25 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Because you have sent letters in your [own] name to all the people who are in Jerusalem and to Zephaniah son of Maaseiah the priest and to all the priests, saying, Jer 29:26 The Lord has made you [Zephaniah] priest instead of Jehoiada the [deputy] priest, that you should have oversight in the house of the Lord over every madman who makes himself a prophet, that you should put him in the stocks and collar. Jer 29:27 Now therefore [continued the letter from Shemaiah in Babylon to Zephaniah in Jerusalem], why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth, who makes himself a prophet to you? Jer 29:28 For he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, [This captivity of yours] is to be long; build houses and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat the fruit of them. Jer 29:29 And Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the hearing of Jeremiah the prophet. Jer 29:30 Then came the word of the Lord to Jeremiah: Jer 29:31 Send [this message] to all those in captivity, saying, Thus says the Lord concerning Shemaiah of Nehelam: Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, though I did not send him, and has caused you to trust in a lie, Jer 29:32 Therefore thus says the Lord: Behold, I will punish Shemaiah of Nehelam and his offspring. He will not have anyone [born] to dwell among this people, nor will he see the good that I will do to My people, says the Lord, because he has spoken {and} taught rebellion against the Lord. Jer 30:1 THE WORD that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: Jer 30:2 Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Write all the words that I have spoken to you in a book. Jer 30:3 For, note well, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will release from captivity My people Israel and Judah, says the Lord, and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they will possess it. Jer 30:4 And these are the words the Lord spoke concerning Israel and Judah: Jer 30:5 Thus says the Lord: We have heard a voice of trembling {and} panic--of terror, and not peace. Jer 30:6 Ask now and see whether a man can give birth to a child? Why then do I see every man with his hands on his loins like a woman in labor? Why are all faces turned pale? Jer 30:7 Alas! for that day will be great, so that none will be like it; it will be the time of Jacob's [unequaled] trouble, but he will be saved out of it. Jer 30:8 For it will come to pass in that day, says the Lord of hosts, that I will break [the oppressor's] yoke from your neck, and I will burst your bonds; and strangers will no more make slaves of [the people of Israel]. Jer 30:9 But they will serve the Lord their God and David's [descendant] their King, Whom I will raise up for them. Jer 30:10 Therefore fear not, O My servant Jacob, says the Lord, nor be dismayed {or} cast down, O Israel; for behold, I will save you out of a distant land [of exile] and your posterity from the land of their captivity. Jacob will return and will be quiet and at ease, and none will make him afraid {or} cause him to be terrorized {and} to tremble. Jer 30:11 For I am with you, says the Lord, to save you; for I will make a full {and} complete end of all the nations to which I have scattered you, but I will not make a full {and} complete end of you. But I will correct you in measure {and} with judgment and will in no sense hold you guiltless {or} leave you unpunished. Jer 30:12 For thus says the Lord: Your hurt is incurable and your wound is grievous. Jer 30:13 There is none to plead your cause; for [the pressing together of] your wound you have no healing [device], no binding plaster. Jer 30:14 All your lovers (allies) have forgotten you; they neither seek, inquire of, {or} require you. For I have hurt you with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel {and} merciless foe, because of the greatness of your perversity {and} guilt, because your sins are glaring {and} innumerable. Jer 30:15 Why do you cry out because of your hurt [the natural result of your sins]? Your pain is deadly (incurable). Because of the greatness of your perversity {and} guilt, because your sins are glaring {and} innumerable, I have done these things to you. Jer 30:16 Therefore all who devour you will be devoured; and all your adversaries, every one of them, will go into captivity. And they who despoil you will become a spoil, and all who prey upon you will I give for a prey. Jer 30:17 For I will restore health to you, and I will heal your wounds, says the Lord, because they have called you an outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no one seeks after {and} for whom no one cares! Jer 30:18 Thus says the Lord: Behold, I will release from captivity the tents of Jacob and have mercy on his dwelling places; the city will be rebuilt on its own [old] moundlike site, and the palace will be dwelt in after its former fashion. Jer 30:19 Out of them [city and palace] will come songs of thanksgiving and the voices of those who make merry. And I will multiply them, and they will not be few; I will also glorify them, and they will not be small. Jer 30:20 Their children too shall be as in former times, and their congregation shall be established before Me, and I will punish all who oppress them. Jer 30:21 And their prince will be one of them, and their ruler will come from the midst of them. I will cause him to draw near and he will approach Me, for who is he who would have the boldness {and} would dare [on his own initiative] to approach Me? says the Lord. Jer 30:22 Then you will be My people, and I will be your God. Jer 30:23 Behold, the tempest of the Lord has gone forth with wrath, a sweeping {and} gathering tempest; it shall whirl {and} burst upon the heads of the wicked. Jer 30:24 The fierce anger {and} indignation of the Lord shall not turn back until He has executed {and} accomplished the thoughts {and} intents of His mind {and} heart. In the latter days you shall understand this. Jer 31:1 AT THAT time, says the Lord, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be My people. Jer 31:2 Thus says the Lord: The people who survived the sword found favor in the wilderness [place of exile]--when Israel sought to find rest. Jer 31:3 The Lord appeared from of old to me [Israel], saying, Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn you {and} continued My faithfulness to you. Jer 31:4 Again I will build you and you will be built, O Virgin Israel! You will again be adorned with your timbrels [small one-headed drums] and go forth in the dancing [chorus] of those who make merry. Jer 31:5 Again you shall plant vineyards upon the mountains of Samaria; the planters shall plant and make the fruit common {and} enjoy it [undisturbed]. Jer 31:6 For there shall be a day when the watchmen on the hills of Ephraim shall cry out, Arise, and let us go up to Zion, to the Lord our God. Jer 31:7 For thus says the Lord: Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob, and shout for the head of the nations [on account of the chosen people, Israel]. Proclaim, praise, and say, The Lord has saved His people, the remnant of Israel! Jer 31:8 Behold, I will bring them from the north country and gather them from the uttermost parts of the earth, and among them will be the blind and the lame, the woman with child and she who labors in childbirth together; a great company, they will return here to Jerusalem. Jer 31:9 They will come with weeping [in penitence and for joy], pouring out prayers [for the future]. I will lead them back; I will cause them to walk by streams of water and bring them in a straight way in which they will not stumble, for I am a Father to Israel, and Ephraim [Israel] is My firstborn. Jer 31:10 Hear the word of the Lord, O you nations, and declare it in the isles {and} coastlands far away, and say, He Who scattered Israel will gather him and will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock. Jer 31:11 For the Lord has ransomed Jacob and has redeemed him from the hand of him who was too strong for him. Jer 31:12 They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion and shall flow together {and} be radiant with joy over the goodness of the Lord--for the corn, for the juice [of the grape], for the oil, and for the young of the flock and the herd. And their life shall be like a watered garden, and they shall not sorrow {or} languish any more at all. Jer 31:13 Then will the maidens rejoice in the dance, and the young men and old together. For I will turn their mourning into joy and will comfort them and make them rejoice after their sorrow. Jer 31:14 I will satisfy fully the life of the priests with abundance [of offerings shared with them], and My people will be satisfied with My goodness, says the Lord. Jer 31:15 Thus says the Lord: A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more. Jer 31:16 Thus says the Lord: Restrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for your work shall be rewarded, says the Lord; and [your children] shall return from the enemy's land. Jer 31:17 And there is hope for your future, says the Lord; your children shall come back to their own country. Jer 31:18 I have surely heard Ephraim [Israel] moaning thus: You have chastised me, and I was chastised, like a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke; bring me back, that I may be restored, for You are the Lord my God. Jer 31:19 Surely after I [Ephraim] was turned [from You], I repented; and after I was instructed, I penitently smote my thigh. I was ashamed, yes, even confounded, because I bore the disgrace of my youth [as a nation]. Jer 31:20 Is Ephraim My dear son? Is he a darling child {and} beloved? For as often as I speak against him, I do [earnestly] remember him still. Therefore My affection is stirred {and} My heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy, pity, {and} loving-kindness for him, says the Lord. Jer 31:21 Set up for yourselves highway markers [back to Canaan], make for yourselves guideposts; turn your thoughts {and} attention to the way by which you went [into exile]. Retrace your steps, O Virgin Israel, return to these your cities. Jer 31:22 How long will you waver {and} hesitate [to return], O you backsliding daughter? For the Lord has created a new thing in the land [of Israel]: a female shall compass (woo, win, and protect) a man. Jer 31:23 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Once more they shall use these words in the land of Judah and in her cities when I release them from exile: The Lord bless you, O habitation of justice {and} righteousness, O holy mountain! Jer 31:24 And [the people of] Judah and all its cities shall dwell there together--[nomad] farmers and those who wander about with their flocks. Jer 31:25 For I will [fully] satisfy the weary soul, and I will replenish every languishing {and} sorrowful person. Jer 31:26 Thereupon I [Jeremiah] awoke and looked, and my [trancelike] sleep was sweet [in the assurance it gave] to me. Jer 31:27 Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed (offspring) of man and of beast. Jer 31:28 And it will be that as I have watched over them to pluck up and to break down, and to overthrow, destroy, and afflict [with evil], so will I watch over them to build and to plant [with good], says the Lord. Jer 31:29 In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge. Jer 31:30 But everyone shall die for his own iniquity [only]; every man who eats sour grapes--his [own] teeth shall be set on edge. Jer 31:31 Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, Jer 31:32 Not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was their Husband, says the Lord. Jer 31:33 But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel: After those days, says the Lord, I will put My law within them, and on their hearts will I write it; and I will be their God, and they will be My people. Jer 31:34 And they will no more teach each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they will all know Me [recognize, understand, and be acquainted with Me], from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will [seriously] remember their sin no more. Jer 31:35 Thus says the Lord, Who gives the sun for a light by day and the fixed order of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, Who stirs up the sea's roaring billows {or} stills the waves when they roar--the Lord of hosts is His name: Jer 31:36 If these ordinances [of fixed order] depart from before Me, says the Lord, then the posterity of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before Me throughout the ages. Jer 31:37 Thus says the Lord: If the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, then I will cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done, says the Lord. Jer 31:38 Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when the city [of Jerusalem] shall be built [again] for the Lord from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. Jer 31:39 And the measuring line shall go out farther straight onward to the hill Gareb and shall then turn to Goah [exact location unknown]. Jer 31:40 And the whole valley [Hinnom] of the dead bodies and [the hill] of the ashes [long dumped there from the temple sacrifices], and all the fields as far as the brook Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, shall be holy to the Lord. It [the city] shall not be plucked up or overthrown any more to the end of the age. Jer 32:1 THE WORD that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar. Jer 32:2 For the king of Babylon's army was then besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the guard, which was in the house of the king of Judah. Jer 32:3 For Zedekiah king of Judah had locked him up, saying, Why do you prophesy and say, Thus says the Lord: Behold, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it; Jer 32:4 And Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape out of the hands of the Chaldeans but shall surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him face to face and see him eye to eye; Jer 32:5 And he shall lead Zedekiah to Babylon, and there shall he be until I visit him [for evil], says the Lord; and though you fight against the Chaldeans, you shall not prosper [why do you thus prophesy]? Jer 32:6 And Jeremiah said, The word of the Lord came to me, saying, Jer 32:7 Behold, Hanamel son of Shallum your uncle shall come to you and say, Buy my field that is in Anathoth, for the right of redemption is yours to buy it. Jer 32:8 So Hanamel my uncle's son came to me in the court of the guard in accordance with the word of the Lord, and he said to me, I pray you, buy my field that is in Anathoth, which is in the land of Benjamin, for the right of inheritance is yours and the redemption is yours; buy it for yourself. Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord. Jer 32:9 And I bought the field that was in Anathoth from Hanamel my uncle's son and weighed out for him the money--seventeen shekels of silver. Jer 32:10 And I signed the deed and sealed it, called witnesses, and weighed out for him the money on the scales. Jer 32:11 So I took the deed of the purchase--both that which was sealed, containing the terms and conditions, and the copy which was unsealed-- Jer 32:12 And I gave the purchase deed to Baruch son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the sight of Hanamel my uncle's son and the witnesses who signed the purchase deed, in the presence of all the Jews who were sitting in the court of the guard. Jer 32:13 And I charged Baruch before them, saying, Jer 32:14 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Take these deeds, both this purchase deed which is sealed and this unsealed deed, and put them in an earthen vessel, that they may last a long time. Jer 32:15 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall be purchased yet again in this land. Jer 32:16 Now when I had delivered the purchase deed to Baruch son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord, saying: Jer 32:17 Alas, Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! There is nothing too hard {or} too wonderful for You-- Jer 32:18 You Who show loving-kindness to thousands but recompense the iniquity of the fathers into the bosoms of their children after them. The great, the mighty God; the Lord of hosts is His name-- Jer 32:19 Great [are You] in counsel and mighty in deeds, Whose eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of men, to reward {or} repay each one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings, Jer 32:20 Who wrought signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, and even to this day [continues to do so], both in Israel and among other men, and made for Yourself a name, as at this day. Jer 32:21 And You brought forth Your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and outstretched arm and with great terror; Jer 32:22 And You gave them this land which You swore to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey; Jer 32:23 And they entered and took possession of it, but they obeyed not Your voice, nor walked in Your law; they have done nothing of all that You commanded them to do. Therefore You have caused all this evil to come upon them. Jer 32:24 See the siege mounds [of earth which the foe has heaped against the walls]; they have come up to the city to take it. And the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans who fight against it, because [the people are overcome] by the sword and the famine and the pestilence. What You have spoken has come to pass, and behold, You see it. Jer 32:25 Yet, O Lord God, You said to me, Buy the field with money and get witnesses, even though the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans. Jer 32:26 Then came the word of the Lord to Jeremiah, saying, Jer 32:27 Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; is there anything too hard for Me? Jer 32:28 Therefore thus says the Lord: Behold, I am giving this city into the hands of the Chaldeans and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and he shall take it; Jer 32:29 And the Chaldeans who are fighting against this city shall come in and set this city on fire and burn it, along with the houses on whose roofs incense has been offered to Baal and drink offerings have been poured out to other gods to provoke Me to anger. Jer 32:30 For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have done only evil before Me from their youth; for the children of Israel have only provoked Me to anger with the work of their hands [the idols], says the Lord. Jer 32:31 For this city has been to Me a [such a] provocation of My anger and My wrath from the day that they [finished] building it [in the time of Solomon, who was the first Israelite king who turned to idolatry] even to this day that I must remove it from before My face-- Jer 32:32 Because of all the evil of the children of Israel and of the children of Judah which they have done to provoke Me to anger--they, their kings, their princes, their priests, their prophets, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Jer 32:33 And they have turned their backs to Me and not their faces; though I taught them persistently, yet they would not listen and receive instruction. Jer 32:34 But they set their abominations [of idol worship] in the house which is called by My Name to defile it. Jer 32:35 And they built the high places [for worship] of Baal in the Valley of Ben-hinnom [son of Hinnom] to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire [in worship also of and] to Molech--which I did not command them, nor did it come into My mind {or} heart that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin. Jer 32:36 And now therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning this city of which you say, It shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon by sword and by famine and by pestilence: Jer 32:37 Behold, I will gather them out of all countries to which I drove them in My anger and in My wrath and in great indignation; I will bring them again to this place, and I will make them dwell safely. Jer 32:38 And they will be My people, and I will be their God. Jer 32:39 And I will give them one heart and one way, that they may [reverently] fear Me forever for the good of themselves and of their children after them. Jer 32:40 And I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will not turn away from following them to do them good, and I will put My [reverential] fear in their hearts, so that they will not depart from Me. Jer 32:41 Yes, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly {and} in truth with My whole heart and with My whole being. Jer 32:42 For thus says the Lord: As I have brought all this great evil upon this people, so will I bring upon them all the good that I have promised them. Jer 32:43 And fields shall be bought in this land of which you say, It is desolate, without man or beast; it is given into the hands of the Chaldeans. Jer 32:44 Men shall buy fields for money and shall sign deeds, seal them, and call witnesses in the land of Benjamin, in the places around Jerusalem, in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the lowland, and in the cities of the South (the Negeb), for I will cause them to be released from their exile, says the Lord. Jer 33:1 MOREOVER, THE word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the second time, while he was still shut up in the court of the guard, saying, Jer 33:2 Thus says the Lord Who made [the earth], the Lord Who formed it to establish it--the Lord is His name: Jer 33:3 Call to Me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things, fenced in {and} hidden, which you do not know (do not distinguish and recognize, have knowledge of and understand). Jer 33:4 For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city and the houses of the kings of Judah which are torn down to make a defense against the siege mounds and before the sword: Jer 33:5 They [the besieged Jews] are coming in to fight against the Chaldeans, and they [the houses] will be filled with the dead bodies of men whom I shall slay in My anger and My wrath; for I have hidden My face [in indignation] from this city because of all their wickedness. Jer 33:6 Behold, [in the future restored Jerusalem] I will lay upon it health and healing, and I will cure them and will reveal to them the abundance of peace (prosperity, security, stability) and truth. Jer 33:7 And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to be reversed and will rebuild them as they were at first. Jer 33:8 And I will cleanse them from all the guilt {and} iniquity by which they have sinned against Me, and I will forgive all their guilt {and} iniquities by which they have sinned and rebelled against Me. Jer 33:9 And [Jerusalem] shall be to Me a name of joy, a praise and a glory before all the nations of the earth that hear of all the good I do for it, and they shall fear and tremble because of all the good and all the peace, prosperity, security, {and} stability I provide for it. Jer 33:10 Thus says the Lord: Yet again there shall be heard in this place of which you say, It is a desolate waste, without man and without beast--even in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, without man and without inhabitant and without beast-- Jer 33:11 [There shall be heard again] the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voices of those who sing as they bring sacrifices of thanksgiving into the house of the Lord, Give praise {and} thanks to the Lord of hosts, for the Lord is good; for His mercy {and} kindness {and} steadfast love endure forever! For I will cause the captivity of the land to be reversed {and} return to be as it was at first, says the Lord. Jer 33:12 Thus says the Lord of hosts: In this place which is desolate, without man and without beast, and in all its cities, there shall again be dwellings {and} pastures of shepherds resting their flocks. Jer 33:13 In the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the lowland, in the cities of the South (the Negeb), in the land of Benjamin, in the places around Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah shall flocks pass again under the hands of him who counts them, says the Lord. Jer 33:14 Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the good promise I have made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. Jer 33:15 In those days and at that time will I cause a righteous Branch [the Messiah] to grow up to David; and He shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. Jer 33:16 In those days Judah shall be saved and Jerusalem shall dwell safely. And this is the name by which it will be called, The Lord is Our Righteousness (our Rightness, our Justice). Jer 33:17 For thus says the Lord: David shall never fail [to have] a man [descendant] to sit on the throne of the house of Israel, Jer 33:18 Nor shall the Levitical priests fail [to have] a man [descendant] to offer burnt offerings before Me and to burn cereal offerings and to make sacrifices continually (all day long). Jer 33:19 And the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, Jer 33:20 Thus says the Lord: If you can break My covenant with the day, and My covenant with the night, so that there should not be day and night in their season, Jer 33:21 Then can also My covenant be broken with David My servant, so that he shall not have a son to reign upon his throne, and [My league be broken also] with the Levitical priests, My ministers. Jer 33:22 As the host of [the stars of] the heavens cannot be numbered nor the sand of the sea be measured, so will I multiply the offspring of David My servant and the Levites who minister to Me. Jer 33:23 Moreover, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, Jer 33:24 Have you not noticed that these people [the Jews] are saying, The Lord has cast off the two families [Israel and Judah] which He chose? Thus My people have despised [themselves in relation to God as His covenant people], so that they are no more a nation in their [own] sight. Jer 33:25 Thus says the Lord: If My covenant with day and night does not stand, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of the heavens and the earth [the whole order of nature], Jer 33:26 Then will I also cast away the descendants of Jacob and David My servant and will not choose one of his offspring to be ruler over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will cause their captivity to be reversed, and I will have mercy, kindness, {and} steadfast love on {and} for them. Jer 34:1 THE WORD that came to Jeremiah from the Lord when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army and all the kingdoms of the earth under his dominion and all the people were fighting against Jerusalem and all of its cities: Jer 34:2 Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah and tell him, Thus says the Lord: Behold, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire. Jer 34:3 And you will not escape out of his hand but will surely be taken and delivered into his hand; you will see the king of Babylon eye to eye, and he will speak with you face to face; and you will go to Babylon. Jer 34:4 Yet hear the word of the Lord, O Zedekiah king of Judah! Thus says the Lord concerning you: You shall not die by the sword; Jer 34:5 But you shall die in peace. And as with the burnings of [spices and perfumes on wood that were granted as suitable for and in honor of] your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so shall a burning be made for you; and [people] shall lament for you, saying, Alas, lord! For I have spoken the word, says the Lord. Jer 34:6 Then Jeremiah the prophet spoke all these words to Zedekiah king of Judah, in Jerusalem, Jer 34:7 When the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and against all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish and Azekah, for these were the only fortified cities remaining of the cities of Judah. Jer 34:8 [This is] the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people who were at Jerusalem to proclaim liberty to them: Jer 34:9 Every man should let his Hebrew slaves, male and female, go free, so that no one should make a slave of a Jew, his brother. Jer 34:10 And all the princes and all the people obeyed, who had entered into the covenant that everyone would let his manservant and his maidservant go free, so that none should make bondmen of them any more; they obeyed, and let them go. Jer 34:11 But afterward they turned around and caused the servants and the handmaids whom they had let go free to return [to their former masters] and brought them into subjection for servants and for handmaids. Jer 34:12 Therefore the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Jer 34:13 Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, saying, Jer 34:14 At the end of seven years you shall let every man his brother who is a Hebrew go free who has sold himself {or} has been sold to you and has served you six years; but your fathers did not listen to {and} obey Me or incline their ear [submitting and consenting to Me]. Jer 34:15 And you recently turned around {and} repented, doing what was right in My sight by proclaiming liberty each one to his neighbor [who was his bond servant]; and you made a covenant {or} pledge before Me in the house which is called by My Name. Jer 34:16 But then you turned around and defiled My name; each of you caused to return to you your servants, male and female, whom you had set free as they might desire; and you brought them into subjection again to be your slaves. Jer 34:17 Therefore thus says the Lord: You have not listened to Me {and} obeyed Me in proclaiming liberty each one to his brother and neighbor. Behold, I proclaim to you liberty--to the sword, to pestilence, and to famine, says the Lord; and I will make you to be tossed to and fro {and} to be a horror among all the kingdoms of the earth! Jer 34:18 And the men who have transgressed My covenant, who have not kept the terms of the covenant {or} solemn pledge which they had made before Me, I will make them [like] the [sacrificial] calf which they cut in two and then passed between its separated parts [solemnizing their pledge to Me]--I will make those men the calf! Jer 34:19 The princes of Judah, the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf, Jer 34:20 I will give them into the hands of their enemies and into the hands of those who seek their life. And their dead bodies will be food for the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the earth. Jer 34:21 And Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes will I give into the hands of their enemies and into the hands of those who seek their life, and into the hand of the king of Babylon's army which has withdrawn from you. Jer 34:22 Behold, I will command, says the Lord, and cause them [the Chaldeans] to return to this city; and they shall fight against it and take it and burn it with fire. I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without inhabitant. Jer 35:1 THE WORD that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the days of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah: Jer 35:2 Go to the house of the Rechabites and speak to them and bring them into the house of the Lord, into one of the chambers; then give them [who are pledged to drink no wine] some wine to drink. Jer 35:3 So I took Jaazaniah son of Jeremiah, the son of Habazziniah, and his brothers and all his sons, and the whole house of the Rechabites, Jer 35:4 And I brought them into the house of the Lord, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan son of Igdaliah the man of God, which was by the chamber of the princes, above the chamber of Maaseiah son of Shallum the keeper of the door. Jer 35:5 And I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites pitchers full of wine, and cups, and I said to them, Drink wine. Jer 35:6 But they said, We will drink no wine, for Jonadab son of Rechab, our father, commanded us: You shall not drink wine, neither you nor your sons, forever. Jer 35:7 Neither shall you build a house or sow seed or plant a vineyard or have them; but you shall dwell all your days in tents, that you may live many days in the land where you are temporary residents. Jer 35:8 And we have obeyed the voice of Jonadab son of Rechab, our father, in all that he charged us, to drink no wine all our days--we, our wives, our sons, and our daughters-- Jer 35:9 And not to build ourselves houses to live in; nor do we have vineyard or field or seed. Jer 35:10 But we have dwelt in tents and have obeyed and done according to all that Jonadab our ancestor commanded us. Jer 35:11 But when Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came up against the land, we said, Come and let us go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chaldeans and the army of the Syrians. So we are living in Jerusalem. Jer 35:12 Then came the word of the Lord to Jeremiah: Jer 35:13 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Go and say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Will you not receive instruction and listen to My words {and} obey them? says the Lord. Jer 35:14 The command which Jonadab son of Rechab gave to his sons not to drink wine, has been carried out {and} established [as a custom for more than two hundred years]. To this day they drink no wine, but they have obeyed their father's command. But I, even I, have persistently spoken to you, but you have not listened to {and} obeyed Me. Jer 35:15 I have sent also to you all My servants the prophets earnestly {and} persistently, saying, Return now every man from his evil way and amend your doings and go not after other gods to serve them; and then you shall dwell in the land which I have given to you and to your fathers. But you did not submit {and} consent to Me or listen to {and} obey Me. Jer 35:16 Since the sons of Jonadab son of Rechab have fulfilled {and} established the command of their father which he commanded them, but these people have not listened to and obeyed Me, Jer 35:17 Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing upon Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the evil that I have pronounced against them, because I have spoken to them, but they have not listened, and I have called to them, but they have not answered. Jer 35:18 And Jeremiah said to the house of the Rechabites, Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Because you have obeyed the command of Jonadab your father and have kept all his precepts and have done according to all that he commanded you, Jer 35:19 Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Jonadab son of Rechab shall never fail [to have] a man [descendant] to stand before Me. Jer 36:1 IN THE fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord: Jer 36:2 Take a scroll [of parchment] for a book and write on it all the words I have spoken to you against Israel and Judah and all the nations from the day I spoke to you in the days of [King] Josiah until this day. Jer 36:3 It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to do to them, so that each one may turn from his evil way, that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin. Jer 36:4 Then Jeremiah called Baruch son of Neriah, and Baruch wrote upon the scroll of the book all the words which Jeremiah dictated, [words] that the Lord had spoken to him. Jer 36:5 And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, I am [in hiding, virtually] restrained {and} shut up; I cannot go into the house of the Lord. Jer 36:6 Therefore you go, and on a day of fasting, in the hearing of all the people in the Lord's house, you shall read the words of the Lord which you have written on the scroll at my dictation. Also you shall read them in the hearing of all who come out of the cities of Judah. Jer 36:7 It may be that they will make their supplication [for mercy] before the Lord, and each one will turn back from his evil way, for great is the anger and the wrath that the Lord has pronounced against this people. Jer 36:8 And Baruch son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading from [Jeremiah's] book the words of the Lord in the Lord's house. Jer 36:9 And in the fifth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, in the ninth month, a fast was proclaimed before the Lord for all the people in Jerusalem and all the people who came to Jerusalem from the cities of Judah. Jer 36:10 Then Baruch read in the hearing of all the people the words of Jeremiah from the scroll of the book in the house of the Lord, in the chamber of Gemariah son of Shaphan the scribe, in the upper court at the entry of the New Gate of the Lord's house. Jer 36:11 When Micaiah son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, had heard out of the book all the words of the Lord, Jer 36:12 He went down to the king's house into the scribe's chamber, and behold, all the princes were sitting there: Elishama the scribe, Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Achbor, Gemariah son of Shaphan, Zedekiah son of Hananiah, and all the [other] princes. Jer 36:13 Then Micaiah declared to them all the words that he had heard when Baruch read the book in the hearing of the people. Jer 36:14 Therefore all the princes sent Jehudi son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, to Baruch, saying, Take in your hand the scroll from which you have read in the hearing of the people and come [to us]. So Baruch son of Neriah took the scroll in his hand and came to them. Jer 36:15 And they said to him, Sit down now and read it in our hearing. So Baruch read it in their hearing. Jer 36:16 Now when they had heard all the words, they turned one to another in fear and said to Baruch, We must surely tell the king of all these words. Jer 36:17 And they asked Baruch, Tell us now, how did you write all these words? At [Jeremiah's] dictation? Jer 36:18 Then Baruch answered them, He dictated all these words to me, and I wrote them with ink in the book. Jer 36:19 Then the princes said to Baruch, Go and hide, you and Jeremiah, and let no one know where you are. Jer 36:20 Then they went into the court to the king, but they [first] put the scroll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe; then they reported all the words to the king. Jer 36:21 So the king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and he took it out of the chamber of Elishama the scribe. And Jehudi read it in the hearing of the king and of all the princes who stood beside the king. Jer 36:22 Now it was the ninth month, and the king was sitting in the winter house, and a fire was burning there before him in the brazier. Jer 36:23 And [each time] when Jehudi had read three or four columns [of the scroll], he [King Jehoiakim] would cut them off with a penknife and cast them into the fire that was in the brazier, until the entire scroll was consumed in the fire that was in the brazier. Jer 36:24 Yet they were not afraid, nor did they rend their garments--neither the king, nor any of his servants who heard all these words. Jer 36:25 Even though Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah tried to persuade the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them. Jer 36:26 And the king commanded Jerahmeel the king's son and Seraiah son of Azriel and Shelemiah son of Abdeel to seize Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet, but the Lord hid them. Jer 36:27 Now the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah after the king had burned the scroll with the words which Baruch wrote at the dictation of Jeremiah, [and the Lord] said: Jer 36:28 Take another scroll and write on it all the former words that were on the first scroll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah burned. Jer 36:29 And concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah you shall say, Thus says the Lord: You have burned this scroll, saying, Why have you written on it that the king of Babylon shall surely come and destroy this land and shall cut off man and beast from it? Jer 36:30 Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: He shall have no [heir] to sit upon the throne of David, and his dead body shall be cast out to the heat by day and to the frost by night. Jer 36:31 And I will punish him and his offspring and his servants for their iniquity; and I will bring upon them and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the men of Judah all the evil that I have pronounced against them--but they would not hear. Jer 36:32 Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah, who wrote on it at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire; and besides them many similar words were added. Jer 37:1 AND ZEDEKIAH son of Josiah, whom Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah, reigned instead of Coniah [also called Jeconiah and Jehoiachin] son of Jehoiakim. Jer 37:2 But neither he nor his servants nor the people of the land listened to {and} obeyed the words of the Lord which He spoke through the prophet Jeremiah. Jer 37:3 Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal son of Shelemiah with Zephaniah son of Maaseiah, the priest, to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, Pray now to the Lord our God for us. Jer 37:4 Now Jeremiah was coming in and going out among the people, for they had not [yet] put him in prison. Jer 37:5 And Pharaoh's army had come forth out of Egypt, and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard the news about them, they withdrew from Jerusalem {and} departed. Jer 37:6 Then came the word of the Lord to the prophet Jeremiah: Jer 37:7 Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Thus shall you say to the king of Judah, who sent you to Me to inquire of Me: Behold, Pharaoh's army, which has come forth to help you, will return to Egypt, to their own land. Jer 37:8 And the Chaldeans shall come again and fight against this city, and they shall take it and burn it with fire. Jer 37:9 Thus says the Lord: Do not deceive yourselves, saying, The Chaldeans will surely stay away from us--for they will not stay away. Jer 37:10 For though you should defeat the whole army of the Chaldeans who fight against you, and there remained only the wounded {and} men stricken through among them, every man confined to his tent, yet they would rise up and burn this city with fire. Jer 37:11 And when the army of the Chaldeans had departed from Jerusalem for fear of Pharaoh's approaching army, Jer 37:12 Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin [to slip away during the brief lull in the Chaldean invasion] to receive [the title to] his portion [of land, which the Lord had promised would eventually be valuable] there among the people. Jer 37:13 And when he was at the Gate of Benjamin, a sentry was [on guard] there, whose name was Irijah son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah; and he seized Jeremiah the prophet, saying, You are deserting to the Chaldeans. Jer 37:14 Then said Jeremiah, It is false! I am not deserting to the Chaldeans. But the sentry would not listen to him. So Irijah took Jeremiah and brought him to the princes. Jer 37:15 Therefore the princes were enraged with Jeremiah and beat him and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe--for they had made that the prison. Jer 37:16 When Jeremiah had come into the cells in the dungeon and had remained there many days, Jer 37:17 Zedekiah the king sent and brought him out; and the king asked him secretly in his house, Is there any word from the Lord? And Jeremiah said, There is! And he said also, You shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon. Jer 37:18 Moreover, Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, In what have I sinned against you or against your servants or against this people, that you have put me in prison? Jer 37:19 Where now are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, The king of Babylon shall not come against you or against this land? Jer 37:20 Therefore hear now, I pray you, O my lord the king. Let my supplication, I pray you, come before you {and} be acceptable, that you do not cause me to return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there. Jer 37:21 Then Zedekiah the king commanded, and they committed Jeremiah to the court of the guard, and a round loaf of bread from the bakers' street was given to him daily until all the bread in the city was gone. So Jeremiah remained [imprisoned] in the court of the guard. Jer 38:1 NOW SHEPHATIAH son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur, Jucal [also called Jehucal] son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malchiah heard the words that Jeremiah spoke to all the people, saying, Jer 38:2 Thus says the Lord: He who remains in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, but he who goes out to the Chaldeans shall live; for he shall have his life as his only booty [as a prize of war], and he shall live. Jer 38:3 Thus says the Lord: This city shall surely be given into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it. Jer 38:4 Therefore the princes said to the king, We beseech you, let this man [Jeremiah] be put to death; for [talking] thus he weakens the hands of the soldiers who remain in this city and the hands of all the people by speaking such words to them. For this man is not seeking the welfare of these people, but [to do them] harm. Jer 38:5 Then Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he is in your hands; for the king is in no position to do anything against you. Jer 38:6 So they took Jeremiah and cast him into the dungeon {or} cistern pit [in the charge] of Malchiah the king's son, which was in the court of the guard; and they let Jeremiah down [into the pit] with ropes. And in the dungeon {or} cistern pit there was no water, but only mire, and Jeremiah sank in the mire. Jer 38:7 Now when Ebed-melech the Ethiopian [a Cushite], one of the eunuchs who was in the king's house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon {or} cistern pit; and while the king was then sitting in the Gate of Benjamin, Jer 38:8 Ebed-melech went out of the king's house and spoke to the king, saying, Jer 38:9 My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon {or} cistern pit; and he is liable to die of hunger {and} is [as good as] dead in the place where he is, for there is no more bread left in the city. Jer 38:10 Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, Take from here thirty men with you and raise Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon {or} cistern pit before he dies. Jer 38:11 So Ebed-melech took the men with him and went into the house of the king [to a room] under the treasury, and took along from there old rags and worn-out garments and let them down by ropes into the dungeon {or} cistern pit to Jeremiah. Jer 38:12 And Ebed-melech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, Put now these old rags and worn-out garments under your armpits under the ropes. And Jeremiah did so. Jer 38:13 So they drew up Jeremiah with the ropes and took him up out of the dungeon {or} cistern pit; and Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard. Jer 38:14 Then Zedekiah the king sent and brought Jeremiah the prophet to him into the third entrance that is in the house of the Lord. And the king said to Jeremiah, I am going to ask you something; hide nothing from me. Jer 38:15 Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, If I tell you, will you not surely put me to death? And even if I did give you counsel, you would not listen to me. Jer 38:16 So Zedekiah the king swore secretly to Jeremiah, As the Lord lives, Who made our lives, I will not put you to death or give you into the hands of these men who seek your life. Jer 38:17 Then said Jeremiah to Zedekiah, Thus says the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel: If you will go forth {and} surrender to the princes of the king of Babylon, then you will live and this city will not be burned with fire; and you will live--you and your house. Jer 38:18 But if you will not go forth {and} surrender to the princes of the king of Babylon, then this city will be given into the hands of the Chaldeans and they will burn it with fire; and you will not escape out of their hands. Jer 38:19 And Zedekiah the king said to Jeremiah, I am afraid of the Jews who have deserted to the Chaldeans, lest the enemy deliver me into their [these former subjects'] hands and they mock me {and} abuse me. Jer 38:20 But Jeremiah said, They will not deliver you [to them]. Obey, I beg of you, the voice of the Lord, Who speaks to you through me. Then it will be well with you, and you will live. Jer 38:21 But if you refuse to go forth {and} surrender to them, this is the word [the vision] that the Lord has shown me: Jer 38:22 Behold, [in it] all the women who are left in the house of the king of Judah will be brought forth to the king of Babylon's princes and will say [to you, King Zedekiah], Your friends have prevailed against your better judgment {and} have deceived you. Now when your feet are sunk in the mire [of trouble], they have turned their backs. Jer 38:23 All your wives and your children will be brought out to the Chaldeans; and you [yourself] will not escape out of their hands, but you will be seized by the king of Babylon, and you will cause this city [Jerusalem] to be burned with fire. Jer 38:24 Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, Let no man know of this conversation and you will not die. Jer 38:25 But if the princes hear that I have talked with you, and they come to you and say, Tell us what you said to the king and what he said to you; hide it not from us and we will not put you to death, Jer 38:26 Then you shall say to them, I was presenting to the king my humble plea that he would not send me back to Jonathan's house to die there. Jer 38:27 Then came all the princes to Jeremiah and asked him [just what King Zedekiah had anticipated they would ask], and he told them all that the king had commanded. So they left off speaking with him, for what the conversation [with the king] had been was not discovered. Jer 38:28 So Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard until the day that Jerusalem was taken [by the Chaldeans]. Jer 39:1 IN THE ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and besieged it. Jer 39:2 And in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, they broke into the city. Jer 39:3 [When Jerusalem was taken] all the princes of the king of Babylon came in and sat in the Middle Gate: Nergal-sharezer, Samgar-nebo, Sarsechim [the Rabsaris] a chief of the eunuchs, and Nergal-sharezer [II, the Rabmag] a chief of the magicians, with all the rest of the officials of the king of Babylon. Jer 39:4 And when Zedekiah king of Judah and all the men of war saw them, they fled and went forth out of the city at night by way of the king's garden, through the gate between the two walls, and [the king] went out toward the Arabah (the Jordan Valley). Jer 39:5 But the Chaldean army pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. And when they had taken him, they brought him up to Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon at Riblah in the [Syrian] land of Hamath, where he pronounced sentence upon him. Jer 39:6 Then the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah at Riblah before his eyes; also the king of Babylon slew all the nobles of Judah. Jer 39:7 Moreover, he put out Zedekiah's eyes and bound him with shackles to take him to Babylon. Jer 39:8 And the Chaldeans burned the king's house and the houses of the people and broke down the walls of Jerusalem. Jer 39:9 Then Nebuzaradan the [chief executioner and] captain of the guard carried away captive to Babylon the rest of the people who remained in the city, along with those who deserted to him, and the remainder of the [so-called better class of] people who were left. Jer 39:10 But Nebuzaradan the [Babylonian] captain of the guard left in the land of Judah some of the poor of the people who had nothing, giving them vineyards and fields at the same time. Jer 39:11 Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon gave command concerning Jeremiah to Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, saying, Jer 39:12 Take him and look after him well; do him no harm but deal with him as he may ask of you. Jer 39:13 So Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, Nebushasban [the Rabsaris] a chief of the eunuchs, Nergal-sharezer [II, the Rabmag] a chief of the magicians, and all the chief officers of the king of Babylon Jer 39:14 Sent and took Jeremiah out of the court of the guard and entrusted him to Gedaliah [a prominent man whose father had once saved the prophet's life] son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, that he should take him home [with him to Mizpah]. So Jeremiah was released {and} dwelt among the people. Jer 39:15 Now the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah while he was [still] shut up in the court of the guard, saying, Jer 39:16 Go and say to Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring to pass My words against this city for evil and not for good; and they will be accomplished before you on that day. Jer 39:17 But I will deliver you [Ebed-melech] on that day, says the Lord, and you will not be given into the hands of the men of whom you are afraid. Jer 39:18 For I will surely deliver you; and you will not fall by the sword, but your life will be [as your only booty and] as a reward of battle to you, because you have put your trust in Me, says the Lord. Jer 40:1 THE WORD that came to Jeremiah from the Lord after Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had let him go from Ramah, when he had taken him bound in chains among all who were carried away captive from Jerusalem and Judah, who were taken as exiles to Babylon. Jer 40:2 And the captain of the guard took Jeremiah and said to him, The Lord your God pronounced evil upon this place. Jer 40:3 Now the Lord has brought it about and has done as He said: [It is] because you [of Judah] have sinned against the Lord and have not obeyed His voice, therefore this thing has come upon you. Jer 40:4 Now, see, I am freeing you today [Jeremiah] from the chains upon your hands. If it seems good to you to come with me to Babylon, come, and I will keep an eye on you {and} look after you well. But if it seems bad to you to come with me to Babylon, then do not do it. Behold, all the land is before you; wherever it seems good, right, {and} convenient for you to go, go there. Jer 40:5 While [Jeremiah] was hesitating, [the captain of the guard] said, Go back then to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon made governor over the cities of Judah, and dwell with him among the people; or go wherever it seems right for you to go. So the captain of the guard gave him an allowance of food and a present and let him go. Jer 40:6 Then Jeremiah went to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah and dwelt with him among the people who were left in the land. Jer 40:7 Now when all the captains of the forces that were in the open country [of Judah] and their men heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah son of Ahikam governor in the land [of Judah] and had committed to him men, women, and children, those of the poorest of the land who had not been taken into exile to Babylon, Jer 40:8 They went to Gedaliah at Mizpah--Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth, the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jezaniah the son of the Maacathite, they and their men. Jer 40:9 And Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, swore to them and their men, saying, Do not be afraid to serve the Chaldeans; dwell in [this] land and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you. Jer 40:10 As for me, I will dwell at Mizpah to stand [for you] before the Chaldeans who come to us [ministering to them and looking after the king's interests]; but as for you, gather the juice [of the grape], summer fruits and oil, and store them in your utensils [chosen for such purposes], and dwell in your cities that you have seized. Jer 40:11 Likewise, when all the Jews who were in Moab and among the people of Ammon and in Edom and who were in all the other countries heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant in Judah and had set over them [as governor] Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, Jer 40:12 Then all the Jews returned from all the places to which they had been driven and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah, and gathered a great abundance of juice [of the grape] and summer fruits. Jer 40:13 Moreover, Johanan son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces that were in the open country came to Gedaliah at Mizpah Jer 40:14 And said to him, Do you know that Baalis king of the Ammonites has sent Ishmael son of Nethaniah to take your life? But Gedaliah son of Ahikam did not believe them. Jer 40:15 Then Johanan son of Kareah spoke to Gedaliah in Mizpah secretly, saying, Let me go, I pray you, and I will slay Ishmael son of Nethaniah, and no man will know it. Why should he slay you and cause all the Jews who are gathered to you to be scattered and the remnant of Judah to perish? Jer 40:16 But Gedaliah son of Ahikam said to Johanan son of Kareah, You shall not do this thing, for you speak falsely of Ishmael. Jer 41:1 NOW IN the seventh month [of that year] Ishmael son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal descendants and one of the princes of the king, came [at the instigation of the Ammonites] with ten men to Gedaliah son of Ahikam in Mizpah. As they were eating a meal together there in Mizpah, Jer 41:2 Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the ten men who were with him arose and struck down Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, with the sword and killed him, the one whom the king of Babylon had made governor over the land. Jer 41:3 Ishmael [manipulated by the Ammonites] also slew all the Jews who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah, and the Chaldean soldiers who were found there. Jer 41:4 And the second day after the slaying of Gedaliah, before anyone knew about it, Jer 41:5 There came eighty men from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, having their beards shaved off and their clothes torn and having cut themselves, bringing cereal offerings and incense, going up [to Jerusalem] to present them in the house of the Lord. Jer 41:6 And Ishmael son of Nethaniah went out from Mizpah to meet them, weeping all the way as he went. As he met them, he said to them, Come to Gedaliah son of Ahikam. Jer 41:7 And when they came into the city, Ishmael son of Nethaniah slew them, and cast them into the midst of the [city] cistern pit--he and the men with him. Jer 41:8 But ten men were among them who said to Ishmael, Do not kill us! For we have stores hidden in the field--of wheat and barley and oil and honey. So he refrained and did not slay them with their brethren. Jer 41:9 Now the cistern pit into which Ishmael had cast all the dead bodies of the men whom he had slain in addition to Gedaliah was the one which Asa the king [of Judah] had once made for fear of Baasha king of Israel [should Baasha lay siege to Mizpah]. Ishmael son of Nethaniah filled it with those who were slain. Jer 41:10 Then Ishmael carried away captive all the rest of the people who were in Mizpah--even the king's daughters and all the people who remained in Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had committed to Gedaliah son of Ahikam. Ishmael son of Nethaniah carried them away captive and departed to cross over [the Jordan] to the Ammonites. Jer 41:11 But when Johanan son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces that were with him heard of all the evil that Ishmael son of Nethaniah had done, Jer 41:12 They took all their men and went to fight with Ishmael son of Nethaniah and found him by the great pool that is in Gibeon. Jer 41:13 Now when all the people who were [captives] with Ishmael saw Johanan son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces that were with him, they were glad. Jer 41:14 So all the people whom Ishmael had carried away captive from Mizpah turned around and came back, and went to Johanan son of Kareah. Jer 41:15 But Ishmael son of Nethaniah escaped from Johanan with eight men and went to the Ammonites. Jer 41:16 Then Johanan son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces that were with him took from Mizpah all the remainder of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael son of Nethaniah after he had slain Gedaliah son of Ahikam: [they were] the soldiers, the women, the children, and the eunuchs whom [Johanan] had brought back from Gibeon. Jer 41:17 And they departed and stayed at the lodging place of Chimham, which is near Bethlehem, [intending] to go to Egypt Jer 41:18 Because of the Chaldeans; for they were afraid of them because Ishmael son of Nethaniah had slain Gedaliah son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had made governor over the land [and whose death the king could avenge without much discrimination]. Jer 42:1 THEN ALL the captains of the forces, and Johanan son of Kareah and Jezaniah [Azariah] son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least even to the greatest came near Jer 42:2 And said to Jeremiah the prophet, We beseech you that you will let our supplication be presented before you and that you will pray to the Lord your God for us, even for all this remnant [of the people of Judah]; for whereas we were once many, there are but a few of us left, as you see with your [own] eyes. Jer 42:3 [Pray] that the Lord your God may show us the way in which we should walk and the thing that we should do. Jer 42:4 Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, I have heard you. Behold, I will pray to the Lord your God according to your words; and it will be that whatever thing the Lord will answer you, I will declare it to you; I will keep nothing back from you. Jer 42:5 Then they said to Jeremiah, May the Lord be a true and faithful witness against us if we fail to do according to all the things that the Lord your God sends you to tell us. Jer 42:6 Whether it is good or evil, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God, to Whom we are sending you [to inquire], that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the Lord our God. Jer 42:7 And after ten days the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. Jer 42:8 Then he called Johanan son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces that were with him and all the people from the least even to the greatest, Jer 42:9 And said to them, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, to Whom you sent me to present your supplication before Him: Jer 42:10 If you will remain in this land, then I will build you up and not pull you down, and I will plant you and not pull you up; for I will relent {and} comfort {and} ease Myself concerning the evil that [in chastisement] I have done to you [and I will substitute mercy and loving-kindness for judgment]. Jer 42:11 Be not afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom you are fearful [with the profound and reverent dread inspired by deity]; be not afraid of him, says the Lord, for [he is a mere man, while I am the all-wise, all-powerful, and ever-present God] I [the Lord] am with you to save you and to deliver you from his hand. Jer 42:12 And I will grant mercy to you, that he may have mercy on you and permit you to remain in your own land. Jer 42:13 But if you say, We will not dwell in this land, and so disobey the voice of the Lord your God, Jer 42:14 Saying, No, but we will go to the land of Egypt, where we will not see war or hear the sound of the trumpet or be hungry for bread, and we will dwell there, Jer 42:15 Then hear the word of the Lord, O remnant of Judah. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: If you are fully determined to go to Egypt and you do go to dwell there temporarily, Jer 42:16 Then the sword which you fear shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine of which you are afraid shall follow close after you to Egypt {and} in it, and there you shall die. Jer 42:17 So will it be with all the men who set their faces to go to Egypt to dwell there temporarily; they will die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; none of them will remain or survive the evil that I will bring upon them. Jer 42:18 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: As My anger and My wrath have been poured forth upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so shall My wrath be poured forth upon you when you enter Egypt. You shall be a detested thing, an astonishment {and} horror, a curse, a thing lightly esteemed {and} a taunt {and} a reproach; you shall see this place no more. Jer 42:19 The Lord has said to you, O remnant of Judah, Do not go to Egypt. Know for a certainty that I [Jeremiah] have warned {and} testified to you this day Jer 42:20 That you have dealt deceitfully against your own lives; for you sent me [Jeremiah] to the Lord your God, saying, Pray for us to the Lord our God; and whatever the Lord our God says, declare it to us and we will do it. Jer 42:21 And I have this day declared it to you, but you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord your God in anything that He sent me to tell you. Jer 42:22 Now therefore know for a certainty that you shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence in the place [Egypt] where you desire to go to dwell temporarily. Jer 43:1 AND WHEN Jeremiah had finished speaking to all the people all these words of the Lord their God--everything for which the Lord their God had sent him to them-- Jer 43:2 Then Azariah son of Hoshaiah and Johanan son of Kareah and all the proud {and} insolent men said to Jeremiah, You are not telling the truth! The Lord our God has not sent you to say, Do not go into Egypt to dwell there temporarily. Jer 43:3 But Baruch son of Neriah is setting you against us to deliver us into the hands of the Chaldeans, so they may put us to death or carry us away captive to Babylon. Jer 43:4 So Johanan son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces and all the people did not obey the voice of the Lord to remain in the land of Judah. Jer 43:5 But Johanan son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces took all the remnant of Judah who had returned to dwell in the land of Judah from all the nations to which they had been driven-- Jer 43:6 Even men, women, and children, the king's daughters, and every person whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan; also he took Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch son of Neriah. Jer 43:7 So they came into the land of Egypt--for they obeyed not the voice of the Lord. And they came to Tahpanhes. Jer 43:8 Then came the word of the Lord to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying, Jer 43:9 Take large stones in your hands and hide them in the mortar in the pavement of brick which is at the entrance of Pharaoh's house in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah; Jer 43:10 And say to them, Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, My servant [because he works for Me], and I [through him] will set his throne upon these stones that I have hidden; and his [glittering, royal] canopy will be stretched over them. Jer 43:11 And he shall come and smite the land of Egypt, giving such as are [destined] for death, to death, and such as are [destined] for captivity, to captivity, and such as are [destined] for the sword, to the sword. Jer 43:12 And I [through him] will kindle a fire in the temples of the gods of Egypt; and he will burn [the houses] and carry [the people] away captive. And he will array himself with the land of Egypt, as a shepherd puts on his garment [as he wills and when he chooses]; and he will go away from there in peace. Jer 43:13 [Nebuchadrezzar] shall break also the images {and} obelisks of Heliopolis [called On or Beth-shemesh--house of the sun] in the land of Egypt, and the temples of the gods of Egypt shall he burn with fire. Jer 44:1 THE WORD that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews who were dwelling in the land of Egypt--at Migdol, at Tahpanhes, at Memphis--and in the country of Pathros, saying, Jer 44:2 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: You have seen all the evil that I brought upon Jerusalem and upon all the cities of Judah; and see, this day they are a desolation and no man dwells in them Jer 44:3 Because of the wickedness which they committed, provoking Me to anger in that they went to burn incense to serve other gods that they did not know--neither they, nor you, nor your fathers. Jer 44:4 Yet I sent to you all My servants the prophets earnestly {and} persistently, saying, Oh, do not do this loathsome {and} shamefully vile thing that I hate {and} abhor! Jer 44:5 But they did not listen {and} obey or submit {and} consent to turn from their wickedness and burn no incense to other gods. Jer 44:6 Therefore My wrath and My anger were poured out and were kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they became wasted and desolate, as it is this day. Jer 44:7 Therefore now thus says the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel: Why do you commit this great evil against yourselves that will cut off from you man and woman, infant and weaned child, out of Judah, to leave yourselves with none remaining? Jer 44:8 Why do you provoke Me to anger with the works (idols) of your own hands, burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt, where you [of your own accord] have come to dwell temporarily, that you might be cut off and become a curse and a reproach (an object of reviling and taunts) among all the nations of the earth? Jer 44:9 Have you forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, the wickedness of the kings of Judah, the wickedness of their wives [who clung to their foreign gods], your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives [who imitated their queens], which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? Jer 44:10 They are not humbled (contrite, penitent, and bruised for their guilt and iniquities) even to this day, neither have they feared {and} revered [Me] nor walked in My law or My statutes which I set before you and before your fathers. Jer 44:11 Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will set My face against you for evil--even to cut off all Judah [from the land]. Jer 44:12 And I will take away the remnant of Judah who have set their faces to come into the land of Egypt to dwell here temporarily [fleeing to Egypt instead of surrendering to the Chaldeans as directed by the Lord through Jeremiah], and they will all be consumed and will fall in the land of Egypt; they will be consumed by the sword and by famine. From the least even to the greatest, they shall die by the sword and by famine. And they will be a detestable thing, an astonishment, a curse, and a reproach (an object of horror, reviling, and taunts). Jer 44:13 For I will punish all the inhabitants of the land of Egypt as I have punished Jerusalem--by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence-- Jer 44:14 So that none of the remnant of Judah who have come to the land of Egypt to dwell temporarily shall escape or survive or return to the land of Judah, to which they desire {and} lift up their souls to return to dwell there; for none shall return except [a few] fugitives. Jer 44:15 Then all the men who knew that their wives were burning incense to other gods, and all the women who stood by--a great assembly--even all the people who dwelt in Pathros in the land of Egypt, answered Jeremiah: Jer 44:16 As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, we will not listen to {or} obey you. Jer 44:17 But we will certainly perform every word of the vows we have made: to burn incense to the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings to her as we have done--we and our fathers, our kings and our princes--in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; for then we had plenty of food and were well off {and} prosperous and saw no evil. Jer 44:18 But since we stopped burning incense to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything and have been consumed by the sword and by famine. Jer 44:19 [And the wives said] When we burned incense to the queen of heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, did we make cakes [in the shape of a star] to represent {and} honor her and pour out drink offerings to her without [the knowledge and approval of] our husbands? Jer 44:20 Then Jeremiah said to all the people--to the men and to the women and to all the people who had given him that answer-- Jer 44:21 The incense that you burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem--you and your fathers, your kings and your princes, and the people of the land--did not the Lord [earnestly] remember [your idolatrous wickedness] and did it not come into His mind? Jer 44:22 The Lord could no longer endure the evil of your doings and the abominations which you have committed; because of them therefore has your land become a desolation and an [astonishing] waste and a curse, without inhabitants, as it is this day. Jer 44:23 Because you have burned incense [to idols] and because you have sinned against the Lord and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord or walked in His law and in His statutes and in His testimonies, therefore this evil has fallen upon you, as it is this day. Jer 44:24 Moreover, Jeremiah said to all the people, including all the women, Hear the word of the Lord, all you of Judah who are in the land of Egypt, Jer 44:25 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: You and your wives have both declared with your mouths and fulfilled it with your hands, saying, We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed to burn incense to the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings to her. [Surely] then confirm your vows and [surely] perform your vows! [If you will defy all My warnings to you, then, by all means, go ahead!] Jer 44:26 Therefore hear the word of the Lord, all [you people of] Judah who dwell in the land of Egypt: Behold, I have sworn by My great name, says the Lord, that My name shall no more be invoked by the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, As the Lord God lives. Jer 44:27 Behold, I am watching over them for evil and not for good; and all the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by famine until there is an end of them {and} they are all destroyed. Jer 44:28 Yet a small number who escape the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt to the land of Judah; and all the remnant of Judah who came to the land of Egypt to dwell temporarily shall know whose words shall stand, Mine or theirs. Jer 44:29 And this will be the sign to you, says the Lord, that I will punish you in this place, so that you may know that My words will surely stand against you for evil. Jer 44:30 Thus says the Lord: Behold, I will give Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hands of his enemies and into the hands of those who seek his life, just as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, who was his enemy and was seeking his life. Jer 45:1 THE WORD that Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Baruch son of Neriah, when he had written these words in a book at the dictation of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, saying, Jer 45:2 Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, unto you, O Baruch: Jer 45:3 You said, Woe is me now! For the Lord has added sorrow to my pain; I am weary with my groaning {and} sighing and I find no rest. Jer 45:4 Say this to him: The Lord speaks thus: Behold, what I have built I will break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up--and this means the whole land. Jer 45:5 And should you seek great things for yourself? Seek them not; for behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, says the Lord, but your life I will give to you [as your only booty and] as a [snatched] prize of war wherever you go. Jer 46:1 THE WORD of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning {and} against the [Gentile] nations. Jer 46:2 Concerning {and} against Egypt: against the army of Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates at Carchemish, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon smote {and} defeated in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah: Jer 46:3 Put in order the buckler and shield, and advance for battle! Jer 46:4 Harness the horses, and mount, you horsemen! Stand forth with your helmets! Polish the spears, put on the coats of mail! Jer 46:5 Why have I seen it? They are dismayed and have turned backward, and their mighty warriors are beaten down. They flee in haste and look not back; terror is on every side! says the Lord. Jer 46:6 Let not the swift flee nor the mighty man escape; in the north by the river Euphrates they stumble and fall. Jer 46:7 Who is this that rises up like the Nile [River], like the branches [of the Nile in the delta of Egypt] whose waters surge {and} toss? Jer 46:8 Egypt rises like the Nile, like the rivers whose waters surge {and} toss. She says, I will rise, I will cover the earth; I will destroy cities and their inhabitants. Jer 46:9 Go up, you horses, and drive furiously, you chariots! Let the warriors go forth--men of Ethiopia and Put who handle the shield, men of Lud who are skilled in handling and stringing the bow. Jer 46:10 But that day is a day of the Lord, the Lord of hosts--a day of vengeance, that He may avenge Himself on His adversaries. And the sword shall devour, and it shall be satiated and shall drink its fill of their blood; for the Lord, the Lord of hosts has a sacrifice [like that of a great sin offering] in the north country by the river Euphrates. Jer 46:11 Go up into Gilead and take [healing] balm, O Virgin Daughter of Egypt! In vain do you use many medicines; for you there is no healing {or} remedy. Jer 46:12 The nations have heard of your disgrace {and} shame, and your cry has filled the earth. For warrior has stumbled against {and} thrown down warrior, and they have fallen both of them together. Jer 46:13 The word that the Lord spoke to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the coming of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and his smiting of the land of Egypt: Jer 46:14 Declare in Egypt and proclaim in Migdol; and publish in Memphis and in Tahpanhes; say, Stand forth and get yourself ready, for the sword devours round about you. Jer 46:15 Why is your strong one [the sacred bull-god Apis] swept {and} dragged away? He stood not, because the Lord drove him {and} thrust him down. Jer 46:16 [The Lord] made many to stumble {and} fall; yes, they fell one upon another. And they said, Arise, and let us go back to our own people and to the land of our birth, away from the sword of the oppressor. Jer 46:17 They cried there, Pharaoh king of Egypt is destroyed {and} is only a noise; he has let the appointed time [in which God had him on probation] pass by! Jer 46:18 As I live, says the King, Whose name is the Lord of hosts, surely like Tabor among the mountains and like Carmel by the sea, so shall he [the king of Babylon, standing out above other rulers] come. Jer 46:19 O you daughter who dwells in Egypt {and} you who dwell with her, furnish yourselves [with all you will need] to go into exile, for Memphis will be waste, desolate, {and} burned up, without inhabitant. Jer 46:20 Egypt is a very fair heifer [like Apis the bull-god, to which the country is, so to speak, espoused], but destruction [a gadfly] is coming--out of the north it is coming [against her]! Jer 46:21 Also her hired troops in the midst of her are like fatted calves [in the stall], for they also are turned back and are fleeing together; they do not stand, because the day of their calamity is coming upon them, the time of their visitation (their inspection and punishment). Jer 46:22 The sound [of Egypt fleeing from the enemy] is like the rustling of an escaping serpent, for her foes advance with a mighty army and come against her with axes, like those who fell trees {and} cut wood. Jer 46:23 They shall cut down her forest, says the Lord, though it is impenetrable, because they [the invading army] are more numerous than locusts and cannot be counted. Jer 46:24 The Daughter of Egypt shall be disgraced; she shall be delivered into the hands of the people of the north [the Chaldeans]. Jer 46:25 The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, says: Behold, I will visit punishment upon Amon [the chief god of the sacred city, the capital of Upper Egypt] of No {or} Thebes, and upon Pharaoh and Egypt, with her gods and her kings--even Pharaoh and all those [Jews and others] who put their trust in [Pharaoh as a support against Babylon]. Jer 46:26 And I will deliver them into the hands of those who seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hands of his servants. Afterward [Egypt] will be inhabited as in the days of old, says the Lord. Jer 46:27 But fear not, O My servant Jacob, and be not dismayed, O Israel. For behold, I will save you from afar, and your offspring from the land of their exile; and Jacob will return and be quiet and at ease, and none will make him afraid. Jer 46:28 Fear not, O Jacob My servant, says the Lord, for I am with you. For I will make a full {and} complete end of all the nations to which I have driven you; yet I will not make a full end of you. But I will chasten {and} correct you in just measure, and I will not hold you guiltless by any means {or} leave you unpunished. Jer 47:1 THE WORD of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the Philistines before Pharaoh smote [the Philistine city] Gaza. Jer 47:2 Thus says the Lord: Behold, waters are rising out of the north and shall become an overflowing stream and shall overflow the land and all that is in it, the city and those who dwell in it. Then the men shall cry, and all the inhabitants of the land [of Philistia] shall wail. Jer 47:3 At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of [the Chaldean king's] war-horses, at the rattling of his chariots, and at the rumbling of his wheels, the fathers do not look back to their children, so feeble are their hands [with terror] Jer 47:4 Because of the day that is coming to destroy all the Philistines and to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every helper who remains. For the Lord is destroying the Philistines, the remnant [still surviving] of the isle {or} coastland of Caphtor [where the Philistines originated]. Jer 47:5 Baldness [as a token of mourning] will come upon Gaza; Ashkelon will be cut off {and} be dumb. O remnant of their valley {and} of the giants, how long will you gash yourselves [as a token of mourning]? Jer 47:6 O you sword of the Lord, how long will it be before you are quiet? Put yourself into your scabbard; rest and be still. Jer 47:7 How can it [the sword of the Lord] be quiet when the Lord has given it an assignment to discharge? Against Ashkelon and against the [whole Philistine] seashore He has appointed it. Jer 48:1 CONCERNING MOAB: Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Woe to [the city of] Nebo, for it is laid waste! Kiriathaim is put to shame and taken; Misgab [the high fortress] is put to shame, broken down, {and} crushed. Jer 48:2 The glory of Moab is no more; in Heshbon [a border town between Reuben and Gad, east of the Jordan River] they planned evil against her, saying, Come, let us cut her off from being a nation. You also, O [town of] Madmen, shall be brought to silence; the sword shall pursue you. Jer 48:3 The sound of a cry from Horonaim, [a cry of] desolation and great destruction! Jer 48:4 Moab is destroyed; her little ones have caused a cry to be heard [as far as Zoar]. Jer 48:5 For the ascent of Luhith will be climbed [by successive bands of fugitives] with continual weeping; for on the descent of Horonaim they have heard the distress of the cry of destruction. Jer 48:6 Flee! Save your lives! But they shall be like a destitute {and} forsaken person in the wilderness. Jer 48:7 For because you have trusted in your works [your bungling idol images] and in your treasures [instead of in God], you shall also be taken. And Chemosh [your god] shall go into captivity, his priests and his princes together. Jer 48:8 And the destroyer shall come upon every city; no city shall escape. The [Jordan] valley also shall perish, and the plain shall be devastated, as the Lord has said. Jer 48:9 Give wings to Moab, for [by that means only] she will flee and get away; her cities will be desolate, without any to dwell in them. Jer 48:10 Cursed be he who does the work of the Lord negligently [with slackness, deceitfully]; and cursed be he who keeps back his sword from blood [in executing judgment pronounced by the Lord]. Jer 48:11 Moab has been at ease from his youth, and he has settled on his lees [like wine] and has not been drawn off from one vessel to another, neither has he gone into exile. Therefore his taste remains in him, and his scent has not changed. Jer 48:12 Therefore behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I shall send to [Moab] tilters who shall tilt him up and shall empty his vessels and break his bottles (earthenware) in pieces. Jer 48:13 And Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh [his god], as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, their confidence. Jer 48:14 How can you say, We are heroes and mighty men in the war? Jer 48:15 Moab has been made desolate, and his cities have gone up [in smoke and flame]; and his chosen young men have gone down to the slaughter, says the King, Whose name is the Lord of hosts. Jer 48:16 The destruction of Moab is coming near, and his calamity hastens swiftly. Jer 48:17 Bemoan him, all you [nations] who are around him, and all you [nations more remote] who know his name; say, How broken is the mighty scepter [of national power] and the splendid rod [of glory]! Jer 48:18 Come down from your glory, you inhabitant of the Daughter of Dibon, and sit on the ground among the thirsty! For the destroyer of Moab is advancing against you; he will destroy your strongholds. Jer 48:19 O inhabitant of Aroer, stand by the way and watch! Ask him who flees and her who escapes, What has happened? Jer 48:20 Moab is put to shame, for she is broken down. Wail and cry out! Tell by [the banks of] the Arnon that Moab is laid waste (destroyed). Jer 48:21 Judgment has come upon the land of the plain--upon Holon and Jahzah and Mephaath, Jer 48:22 And upon Dibon and Nebo and Beth-diblathaim, Jer 48:23 And upon Kiriathaim and Beth-gamul and Beth-meon, Jer 48:24 And upon Kerioth and Bozrah--and all the cities of the land of Moab, far and near. Jer 48:25 The horn (strength) of Moab is cut off, and his arm [of authority] is shattered, says the Lord. Jer 48:26 Make him drunk, for he has magnified himself against the Lord [by resisting Reuben's occupation of the land the Lord had assigned him]. Moab also shall splash in his vomit, and he too shall be held in derision. Jer 48:27 For was not Israel [an object of] derision to you? Was he found among thieves--since whenever you speak of him you wag your head [in scorn]? Jer 48:28 O you inhabitants of Moab, leave the cities and dwell among the rocks, and be like the dove that makes her nest in the walls of the yawning ravine. Jer 48:29 We have heard of the [giddy] pride of Moab, the extremely proud one--his loftiness, his arrogance, his conceit, and the haughtiness of his heart. Jer 48:30 I know his insolent wrath, says the Lord, and the nothingness of his boastings {and} his deeds; they are false {and} have accomplished nothing. Jer 48:31 Therefore I will wail over Moab, and I will cry out over the whole of Moab. Over the men of Kir-heres (Kir-hareseth) there will be sighing {and} mourning. Jer 48:32 O vines of Sibmah, I weep for you more than the weeping of Jazer [over its ruins and wasted vineyards]. Your tendrils [of influence] have gone over the sea, reaching even to Jazer. The destroyer has fallen upon your summer fruit harvest and your [season's] crop of grapes. Jer 48:33 Joy and gladness are taken away from the fruitful orchards {and} fields and from the land of Moab. And I have made the juice [of the grape] to fail from what is pressed out in the vats; no one treads [the grapes] with shouting. Their shouting is no shouting [of joy, but is a battle cry]. Jer 48:34 From the cry of Heshbon even to Elealeh even to Jahaz have they uttered their voice, from Zoar even to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah [like a three-year-old heifer], for even the waters of Nimrim have become desolations. Jer 48:35 Moreover, I will cause to cease in Moab, says the Lord, the one who ascends {and} offers in the high place and the one who burns incense to his gods. Jer 48:36 Therefore My heart moans {and} sighs for Moab like flutes, and My heart moans {and} sighs like flutes for the men of Kir-heres (Kir-hareseth); therefore [the remnant of] the abundant riches they gained has perished. Jer 48:37 For every head is shaven bald and every beard cut off: upon all the hands are cuts (slashes) and upon the loins is sackcloth [all to express mourning]. Jer 48:38 On all the housetops of Moab and in its streets there is lamentation everywhere, for I have broken Moab like a vessel in which there is no pleasure, says the Lord. Jer 48:39 How it is broken down! How they wail! How Moab has turned his back in shame! So Moab has become [an object of] a derision and a [horrifying] terror to all who are round about him. Jer 48:40 For thus says the Lord: Behold, he [Babylon] shall fly swiftly like an eagle and shall spread out his wings against Moab. Jer 48:41 Kerioth [and the cities] shall be taken and the strongholds seized; and the hearts of the mighty warriors of Moab in that day shall be as the heart of a woman in her pangs [in childbirth]. Jer 48:42 And Moab shall be destroyed from being a nation, because he has magnified himself against the Lord. Jer 48:43 Terror and pit and snare are before you, O inhabitant of Moab, says the Lord. Jer 48:44 He who flees from the terror will fall into the pit, and he who gets up out of the pit will be taken {and} caught in the trap {or} snare; for I will bring upon it, even upon Moab, the year of their visitation (their inspection and infliction of punishment), says the Lord. Jer 48:45 In the shadow of Heshbon the fugitives stand powerless (stopped in their tracks, helpless and without strength), for a fire has gone forth from Heshbon, a flame from the midst of Sihon; it has destroyed the corner of Moab and the crowns of the heads of the ones in tumult [the proud Moabites]. Jer 48:46 Woe to you, O Moab! The people of [the god] Chemosh {are} undone; for your sons are taken away captive and your daughters into captivity. Jer 48:47 Yet will I reverse the captivity {and} restore the fortunes of Moab in the latter days, says the Lord. Thus far is the judgment on Moab. Jer 49:1 CONCERNING {and} against the Ammonites: Thus says the Lord: Has Israel no sons [to return after their captivity and claim the territory of Gad east of the Jordan which the Ammonites have taken over]? Has [Israel's Gad] no heir? Why then has Milcom [the god the Ammonites call their king] dispossessed {and} inherited Gad, and [why do] his people dwell in Gad's cities? Jer 49:2 Therefore behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will cause an alarm of war to be heard against Rabbah of the Ammonites; and it [the high ground on which it stands] will become a desolate heap, and its daughter [villages] will be burned with fire. Then will Israel dispossess those who dispossessed him, says the Lord. Jer 49:3 Wail, O Heshbon [in Moab, just south of Ammon], for Ai [in Ammon] is laid waste! Cry out, you daughter [villages] of Rabbah! Gird yourselves with sackcloth, lament, and run to and fro inside the [sheepfold] enclosures; for Milcom [the god-king] shall go into exile, together with his priests and his princes. Jer 49:4 Why do you boast of your valleys? Your valley flows away, O [Ammon] rebellious {and} faithless daughter, who trusted in her treasures, who said, Who can come against me? Jer 49:5 Behold, I will bring terror upon you, says the Lord, the Lord of hosts, from all who are round about you; and you will be driven out, each man fleeing straight before him [without thought of his neighbor], and there will be no one to gather together the fugitives. Jer 49:6 And afterward I will reverse the captivity of the children of Ammon {and} restore their fortunes, says the Lord. Jer 49:7 Concerning {and} against Edom: Thus says the Lord of hosts: Is there no longer wisdom in Teman [a district in Edom]? Has counsel vanished from the intelligent {and} prudent? Is their wisdom all poured out {and} used up? Jer 49:8 Flee, turn back, dwell deep [in the deserts to escape the Chaldeans], O inhabitants of Dedan [neighbor of Edom]! For I will bring the calamity {and} destruction of Esau upon him [Edom] when I inspect {and} punish him. Jer 49:9 If grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave some ungleaned grapes? If thieves came by night, would they not destroy only what is enough [for them]? Jer 49:10 But I have stripped Esau (Edom) bare; I have uncovered his hiding places, and he cannot hide himself. His offspring will be destroyed, with his brethren and his neighbors; and he will be no more. Jer 49:11 Leave your fatherless children; I will [do what is necessary to] preserve them alive. And let [those who have been made] your widows trust {and} confide in Me. Jer 49:12 For thus says the Lord: Behold, they [Israel] whose rule was not to drink the cup [of wrath] shall assuredly drink--and are you to remain unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, but you shall surely drink. Jer 49:13 For I have sworn by Myself, says the Lord, that Bozrah [in Edom, between Petra and the Dead Sea] shall become a horror, a reproach, a waste, and a curse; and all its cities shall be perpetual wastes. Jer 49:14 I have heard a report from the Lord, and a messenger is sent to the nations, saying, Gather together and come against her! And rise up for the battle. Jer 49:15 For, behold, I will make you [Edom] small among the nations and despised among men. Jer 49:16 Your [object of] horror (your idol) has deceived you, and the pride of your heart [has deceived you], O you who dwell in the clefts of the rock [Sela or Petra], who hold {and} occupy the height of the hill. Though you make your nest as high as the eagle's, I will bring you down from there, says the Lord. Jer 49:17 And Edom shall be an astonishment {and} a horror; everyone who goes by it shall be astonished {and} shall hiss with horror at all its plagues {and} disasters. Jer 49:18 As [it was] in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring cities, says the Lord, no man shall dwell there; neither shall a son of man live in it temporarily. Jer 49:19 See, there comes up one [Nebuchadnezzar] like a lion from [lurking in] the jungles (the pride) of the Jordan against the strong habitation [of Edom] {and} into the permanent pastures; for in a twinkling I will drive him [Edom] from there. And I will appoint over him the one whom I choose. For who is like Me? And who will appoint for Me the time {and} prosecute Me for this proceeding? And what [earthly, national] shepherd can stand before Me {and} defy Me? Jer 49:20 Therefore hear the plan of the Lord which He has made against Edom, and His purposes which He has formed against the inhabitants of Teman: Surely they shall be dragged away [by Nebuchadnezzar], even the little ones of the flock; surely He shall make their habitation desolate because of them {and} their fold shocked at their fate. Jer 49:21 At the sound of their fall the earth shall tremble; at their crying the sound shall be heard at the Red Sea. Jer 49:22 Behold, one will come up and fly swiftly like an eagle and spread his wings against [the Edomite city of] Bozrah; and in that day the hearts of the mighty warriors of Edom will be like the heart of a woman in her pangs [in childbirth]. Jer 49:23 Concerning {and} against Damascus [in Syria]: Hamath and Arpad are confounded {and} put to shame, for they have heard bad news; they are fainthearted {and} wasting away; there is trouble {and} anxiety [like] on a [storm-tossed] sea which cannot rest. Jer 49:24 Damascus has become feeble; she has turned to flee, and terror {and} panic have seized her; anguish and sorrow have taken hold of her, like a woman in childbirth. Jer 49:25 How [remarkable that] the renowned city is not deserted, the city of my joy! [exclaims one from Damascus]. Jer 49:26 Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all her soldiers shall be destroyed in that day, says the Lord of hosts. Jer 49:27 And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it will consume the palaces of Ben-hadad [title of several kings of Syria]. Jer 49:28 Concerning Kedar [a tribe of nomad Arabs] and concerning the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon shall smite: Thus says the Lord [to him]: Arise, go up against Kedar and destroy the sons of the east. Jer 49:29 Their tents and their flocks shall they [the Chaldeans] take--their tent hangings and all their utensils and their camels. And men shall cry to them, Terror on every side! Jer 49:30 Flee, wander far off, dwell deep [in the deserts], O you inhabitants of Hazor [in the Arabian Desert] says the Lord, for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon has planned a course against you and has conceived a purpose against you. Jer 49:31 Arise [Nebuchadrezzar], get up into a nation which is at ease, which dwells without care, says the Lord, [a nation] which has neither gates nor bars, which dwells apart {and} alone. Jer 49:32 And their camels will be booty, and their herds of cattle a spoil; and I will scatter to all [the four] winds those who [as evidence of their idolatry] clip off the corners of their hair, and I will bring their calamity from every side, says the Lord. Jer 49:33 And Hazor shall become a dwelling place of jackals, a desolation forever; no man shall dwell there; neither shall a son of man live in it temporarily. Jer 49:34 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning {and} against Elam, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying, Jer 49:35 Thus says the Lord of hosts: Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the chief [weapon and part] of their strength. Jer 49:36 And upon Elam will I bring the four winds from the four corners of heaven; and I will scatter them toward all those winds, and there will be no nation to which the outcasts of Elam will not come. Jer 49:37 And I will cause Elam to be dismayed {and} terrified before their enemies and before those who seek {and} demand their lives; and I will bring evil {and} disaster upon them, even My fierce anger, says the Lord. And I will send the sword after them until I have consumed them. Jer 49:38 And I will set My throne [of judgment] in Elam [whose capital city was Shushan, from which God wrought wonders through Nehemiah, Esther, and Daniel]; and I will destroy from their king and princes, says the Lord. Jer 49:39 But it shall be in the latter days (the end of days) that I will reverse the captivity and restore the fortunes of Elam, says the Lord. Jer 50:1 THE WORD that the Lord spoke concerning {and} against Babylon and concerning {and} against the land of the Chaldeans through Jeremiah the prophet: Jer 50:2 Declare it among the nations and publish it and set up a signal [to spread the news]--publish and conceal it not; say, Babylon has been taken; Bel [the patron god] is put to shame, Merodach (Bel) is dismayed {and} broken down. [Babylon's] images are put to shame, her [senseless] idols are thrown down! Jer 50:3 For out of the north there has come up a nation [Media] against her which will make her land desolate, and none will dwell there. They will have fled, they will be gone--from man even to beast. Jer 50:4 In those days and at that time, says the Lord, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together; they shall come up weeping as they come and seek the Lord their God [inquiring for and of Him and requiring Him, both by right of necessity and of the promises of God's Word]. Jer 50:5 They shall ask the way to Zion, with their faces in that direction, saying, Come, let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten. Jer 50:6 My people have been lost sheep; their shepherds have led them astray [to favorite places of idolatry] on mountains [that seduce]. They have gone from [one sin to another] mountain to hill; they have forgotten their [own] resting-place. Jer 50:7 All who found them devoured them; and their adversaries said, We are not guilty, because they have sinned against the Lord [and are no longer holy to Him], their true habitation of righteousness {and} justice, even the Lord, the hope of their fathers. Jer 50:8 Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans; and be as the he-goats [who serve as examples and as leaders in the flight] before the flocks. Jer 50:9 For behold, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the north country. They will equip {and} set themselves against her; from there she will be taken. Their arrows will be like [both] an expert, mighty warrior {and} like his arrows--none [of them] will return in vain. Jer 50:10 And Chaldea shall become plunder; all who plunder her shall be satisfied, says the Lord. Jer 50:11 Though you are glad, though you rejoice, O you who plunder My heritage, though you are wanton {and} skip about like a heifer at grass and neigh like strong stallions, Jer 50:12 Your mother [Babylon] shall be put to great shame; she who bore you shall blush {and} be disgraced. Behold, she shall be at the rear of the nations [least of the nations]--a wilderness, waste, and desert. Jer 50:13 Because of the wrath of the Lord she shall not be inhabited but shall be wholly desolate; everyone who goes by Babylon shall be appalled and hiss {and} mock at all her wounds {and} plagues. Jer 50:14 Set yourselves in array against Babylon round about, all you archers. Shoot at her! Spare not the arrows, for she has sinned against the Lord. Jer 50:15 Raise the battle cry against her round about! She gives her hand [in agreement] {and} surrenders; her supports {and} battlements fall, her walls are thrown down. For this is the vengeance of the Lord: take vengeance on her; as she has done [to others], do to her. Jer 50:16 Exterminate the sower from Babylon, and the one who handles the sickle in the time of harvest. For fear of the sword of the oppressor everyone shall return to his people, and everyone shall flee to his own land. Jer 50:17 Israel is a hunted {and} scattered sheep [driven hither and thither and preyed upon by savage beasts]; the lions have chased him. First the king of Assyria devoured him, and now at last Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon has broken {and} gnawed his bones. Jer 50:18 Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will visit {and} punish the king of Babylon and his land, just as I visited {and} punished the king of Assyria. Jer 50:19 And I will bring Israel [home] again to his fold {and} pasturage, and he will feed on Carmel and Bashan [in the most fertile districts both west and east], and his soul will be satisfied upon the hills of Ephraim and Gilead. Jer 50:20 In those days and at that time, says the Lord, the iniquity of Israel will be sought, but there will be none, and the sins of Judah [will be sought], but none will be found, for I will pardon those whom I cause to remain as a remnant (the preserved ones who come forth after a long tribulation). Jer 50:21 Go up against [Babylon] the land of Merathaim [two rebellions, double or intense defiance], even against it and against the inhabitants of Pekod [visitation and punishment]. Slay and utterly destroy them, says the Lord, and do according to all that I have commanded you. Jer 50:22 The cry {and} noise of battle is in the land, and [the noise] of great destruction. Jer 50:23 How the hammer of the whole earth is crushed and broken! How Babylon has become a horror of desolation among the nations! Jer 50:24 I set a trap for you, and you also were taken, O Babylon, and you did not know it; you were found and also caught because you have struggled {and} contended against the Lord. Jer 50:25 The Lord has opened His armory and has brought forth [the nations who unknowingly are] the weapons of His indignation {and} wrath, for the Lord God of hosts has work to do in the land of the Chaldeans. Jer 50:26 Come against her from every quarter {and} from the utmost border. Open her granaries {and} storehouses; pile up [their contents] like heaps of rubbish. Burn {and} destroy her utterly; let nothing be left of her. Jer 50:27 Slay all her bullocks (her choice youths, the strength of her army); let them go down to the slaughter! Woe to [the Chaldeans]! For their day has come, the time of their visitation (their inspection and punishment). Jer 50:28 Listen! The voice of those [Jews] who flee and escape out of the land of Babylon proclaiming in Zion the vengeance of the Lord our God, the vengeance [of the Lord upon the Chaldeans] for [the plundering and destruction of] His temple. Jer 50:29 Call together [many] archers against Babylon, all those who bend the bow. Encamp against her round about; let none from there escape. Recompense her according to her deeds; just as she has done, do to her. For against the Lord, against the Holy One of Israel, has she been proudly defiant {and} presumptuous. Jer 50:30 Therefore shall her young men fall in her streets {and} squares, and all her soldiers shall be destroyed on that day, says the Lord. Jer 50:31 Behold, I am against you, O Babylon [you who are pride and presumption personified], says the Lord, the Lord of hosts, for your day has come, the time when I will visit {and} punish you. Jer 50:32 And Pride (the arrogant one) shall stumble (totter) and fall, and none shall raise him up. And I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all who are round about him. Jer 50:33 Thus says the Lord of hosts: The children of Israel and the children of Judah are oppressed together; all who took them captive have held them fast; they refuse to let them go. Jer 50:34 Their Redeemer is strong; the Lord of hosts is His name. He will surely {and} thoroughly plead their case {and} defend their cause, that He may give rest to [the land of Israel and to the Babylonian-enslaved nations of] the earth, but unrest to the inhabitants of Babylon. Jer 50:35 A sword upon the Chaldeans, says the Lord--upon the inhabitants of Babylon and upon her princes (rulers in civic matters) and upon her wise men (the astrologers and rulers in religious affairs)! Jer 50:36 A sword upon the babbling liars (the diviners), that they may become fools! A sword upon her mighty warriors, that they may be dismayed {and} destroyed! Jer 50:37 A sword upon their horses and upon their chariots and upon all the mixed foreign troops that are in the midst of her, that they may become [as weak and defenseless as] women! A sword upon her treasures, that they may be plundered! Jer 50:38 A sword {and} a drought upon her waters, that they may be dried up! For it is a land of images, and they are mad over idols (objects of terror in which they foolishly trust). Jer 50:39 Therefore wild beasts of the desert shall dwell [in Babylon] with the jackals, and ostriches shall dwell there. And it shall never again be inhabited with people, even from generation to generation. Jer 50:40 As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring cities, says the Lord, so no man shall dwell there; neither shall any son of man live there temporarily. Jer 50:41 Behold, a people is coming from the north; and a great nation and many kings are stirring from the uttermost parts of the earth. Jer 50:42 They lay hold of bow, lance, {and} spear; they are cruel {and} have no mercy {or} compassion. They sound like the roaring of the sea; they ride upon horses, every man equipped like a man [ready] for the battle against you, O Daughter of Babylon! Jer 50:43 The king of Babylon has heard the news about them, and his hands fall feeble {and} helpless; anguish has seized him, and pangs like that of a woman in childbirth. Jer 50:44 See, there comes up one like a lion from the jungles (the pride) of the Jordan against the strong habitation [of Babylon] {and} into the permanent pasturage {and} sheepfold; for in a twinkling I will drive him [Babylon] from there. And I will appoint over him the one whom I choose. For who is like Me? And who will challenge Me {and} prosecute Me for this proceeding? And what [earthly, national] shepherd can stand before Me {and} defy Me? Jer 50:45 Therefore hear the plan of the Lord which He has made against Babylon, and His purposes which He has formed against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely they shall be dragged away, even the little ones of the flock; surely He shall make their habitation desolate because of them {and} their fold amazed {and} appalled at their fate. Jer 50:46 At the cry, Babylon has been taken! the earth shall tremble, and the cry shall be heard among the nations. Jer 51:1 THUS SAYS the Lord: Behold, I will raise up against Babylon and against those who dwell among those rebelling against Me a destroying wind {and} spirit; Jer 51:2 And I will send to Babylon strangers {or} winnowers who will winnow her and will empty her land; for in the day of calamity they will be against her on every side. Jer 51:3 Against him who bends let the archer bend his bow, and against him who lifts himself up in his coat of mail. And spare not her young men; devote [to God] and utterly destroy her entire host. Jer 51:4 Thus they shall fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans, and wounded in her streets. Jer 51:5 For Israel has not been widowed {and} forsaken, nor has Judah, by his God, the Lord of hosts, though their land is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel. Jer 51:6 Flee out of the midst of Babylon! Let every man save his life! Let not destruction come upon you through her [punishment for] sin {and} guilt. For it is the time of the Lord's vengeance; He will render to her a recompense. Jer 51:7 Babylon was a golden cup in the Lord's hand, making all the earth drunken. The nations drank of her wine; therefore the nations have gone mad. Jer 51:8 Babylon has suddenly fallen and is shattered (destroyed)! Wail for her [if you care to]! Get balm for her [incurable] pain; if [you do] so she may [possibly] be healed! Jer 51:9 We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed. Forsake her and let us each go to his own country, for her guilt {and} the judgment against her reach to heaven and are lifted even to the skies. Jer 51:10 The Lord has brought forth {and} made known the righteousness [of our cause]; come and let us declare in Zion the work of the Lord our God. Jer 51:11 Make clean {and} sharp the arrows, take up the shields {or} coats of armor [and cover your bodies with them]! The Lord has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes [who with the Persians will destroy the Babylonian Empire], for His purpose concerning Babylon is to destroy it; for that is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance [upon Babylon for the plundering and destruction] of His temple. Jer 51:12 Set up a standard {or} signal [to spread the news] upon the walls of Babylon! Make the watch {and} blockade strong, set the guards, prepare the ambushes! For the Lord has both purposed and done that which He spoke against the inhabitants of Babylon. Jer 51:13 O [Babylon] you who dwell by many waters, rich in treasures, your end has come, and the line measuring your life is cut. Jer 51:14 The Lord of hosts has sworn by Himself, saying, Surely I will fill you with men, as with [a swarm of] locusts [who strip a land clean], and they will lift up a song {and} shout [of victory] over you. Jer 51:15 He made the earth by His power; He established the world by His wisdom and stretched out the heavens by His understanding. Jer 51:16 When He utters His voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. He makes lightnings for the rain and brings forth the wind from His treasuries. Jer 51:17 Every man has become stupid {and} brutelike, without knowledge [of God]; every goldsmith is put to shame by the images he has made; for his molten idols are a lie, and there is no breath [of life] in them. Jer 51:18 They are worthless (emptiness, falsity, futility), a work of delusion {and} worthy of derision; in the time of their inspection {and} punishment they shall [helplessly] perish. Jer 51:19 Not like these [gods] is He Who is the Portion of Jacob [the true God on Whom Israel has a claim], for He is the One Who formed all things, and Israel is the tribe of His inheritance--the Lord of hosts is His name. Jer 51:20 You [Cyrus of Persia, soon to conquer Babylon] are My battle-ax {or} maul and weapon of war--for with you I break nations in pieces, with you I destroy kingdoms, Jer 51:21 With you I break in pieces the horse and his rider, with you I break in pieces the chariot and the charioteer, Jer 51:22 With you I break in pieces man and woman, with you I break in pieces old man and youth, with you I break in pieces young man and maiden, Jer 51:23 With you I break in pieces the shepherd and his flock, with you I break in pieces the farmer and his yoke of oxen, and with you I break in pieces governors and commanders. Jer 51:24 And I will [completely] repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea for all the evil that they have done in Zion--before your very eyes [I will do it], says the Lord. Jer 51:25 Behold, I am against you, says the Lord, O destroying mountain [which is burning out, you who will be as barren and desolate as an extinct volcano], you who [would] destroy the whole earth. I will stretch out My hand over {and} against you and roll you down from the [burnt] crags and will make you a burnt-out mountain [of combustive fires]. Jer 51:26 And [O Babylon] they shall not take your cracked stones for a cornerstone, or any stone for foundations, but you shall be waste {and} desolate forever, says the Lord. Jer 51:27 Set up a standard {or} signal in the land [to spread the news]! Blow the trumpet among the nations! Prepare {and} dedicate the nations for war against her; call against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz. Appoint a marshal against her; cause the horses to come up like [a swarm of] locusts [when their wings are not yet released from their horny cases]. Jer 51:28 Prepare {and} dedicate the nations for war against her--the kings of Media, with their governors and commanders (deputies), and every land of their dominion. Jer 51:29 [I foresee this:] The land trembles and writhes in pain {and} sorrow, for the purposes of the Lord against Babylon stand--to make the land of Babylon a desolation without inhabitant. Jer 51:30 The mighty warriors of Babylon have ceased to fight; they have remained in their holds. Their might has failed; they have become [weak and helpless] like women. Her dwelling places are burned up; her bars [and defenses generally] are broken. Jer 51:31 One post shall run to meet another and one messenger to meet another to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken on every side {and} to its farthest end, Jer 51:32 And that the passages [or ferries across the Euphrates] are stopped, and the great marshes they [the Medes] have burned with fire, and the men of war are frightened. Jer 51:33 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: The Daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time it is [being prepared]; yet a little while and the time of harvest shall come to her. Jer 51:34 [The inhabitants of Zion say] Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon has devoured us, he has crushed us, he has made us an empty vessel. Like a monster he has swallowed us up, he has filled his belly with our delicacies; he has rinsed us out {and} cast us away. Jer 51:35 May the violence done to me and to my flesh {and} blood be upon Babylon, will the inhabitant of Zion say; and, May my blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, will Jerusalem say. Jer 51:36 Therefore thus says the Lord: Behold, I will plead your cause and take vengeance for you. I will dry up her lake {or} great reservoir and make her fountain dry. Jer 51:37 And Babylon shall become heaps [of ruins], a dwelling place of jackals, a horror (an astonishing desolation) and a hissing [of amazement], without inhabitant. Jer 51:38 They [the Chaldean lords] shall be roaring together [before their sudden capture] like young lions [over their prey], they [the princes] shall be growling like lions' whelps. Jer 51:39 When the revelers are inflamed [with wine and lust during their drinking bouts], I will prepare them a feast [of My wrath] and make them drunk, that they may rejoice and fall asleep to a perpetual sleep and not waken, says the Lord. Jer 51:40 I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams together with he-goats. Jer 51:41 How Sheshach [Babylon] is taken! And the praise of the whole earth is surprised {and} seized! How Babylon has become an astonishing desolation {and} a horror among the nations! Jer 51:42 The sea has come up upon Babylon; she is covered with the tumult {and} multitude of its waves. Jer 51:43 Her cities have become a desolation {and} a horror, a land of drought and a wilderness, a land in which no one lives, nor does any son of man pass through it. Jer 51:44 And I will punish {and} execute judgment upon Bel [the god] in Babylon and take out of his mouth what he has swallowed up [the sacred vessels and the people of Judah and elsewhere who were taken captive]. The nations will not flow any more to him. Yes, the wall of Babylon has fallen! Jer 51:45 My people, come out of the midst of her! And let every man save his life from the fierce anger of the Lord! Jer 51:46 And beware, lest your heart faint and you be afraid at the report (rumor) heard in the land; for in one year shall one report come and in another year another report, and violence shall be in the land, ruler against ruler. Jer 51:47 Therefore behold, the days will come when I will execute judgment {and} punishment upon the idols of Babylon; her whole land will be confounded {and} put to shame, and all her slain will fall in the midst of her. Jer 51:48 Then heaven and earth and all that is in them shall sing for joy over Babylon, for the [Median] destroyers shall come against her from the north, says the Lord. Jer 51:49 As Babylon caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all [her] land. Jer 51:50 You who have escaped the sword, go away, stand not still! [Seriously and earnestly] remember the Lord from afar [Babylon], and let [desolate] Jerusalem come into your mind. Jer 51:51 We are confounded {and} ashamed, for we have heard reproach; confusion {and} shame have covered our faces, for strangers have come into the [most] sacred parts of the sanctuary of the Lord [even those forbidden for entrance by all but the high priest or the appointed priests]. Jer 51:52 Therefore behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will execute judgment upon [Babylon's] idols {and} images, and throughout all her land the wounded will groan. Jer 51:53 Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify her strong height (her lofty stronghold), yet destroyers will come upon her from Me, says the Lord. Jer 51:54 The sound of a cry [comes] from Babylon, and [the sound of] great destruction {and} ruin from the land of the Chaldeans! Jer 51:55 For the Lord is destroying Babylon {and} laying her waste and stilling her great voice [the hum of the city's life]. And the waves [of her conquerors] roar like great waters, the noise of their voices is raised up [like the tramping of an army]. Jer 51:56 For the destroyer is coming upon her, upon Babylon; and her mighty warriors are taken, their bows are broken in pieces; for the Lord is a God of recompense; He will surely requite. Jer 51:57 And I will make drunk her princes and her wise men, her governors and her commanders (deputies) and her mighty warriors; and they will sleep a perpetual sleep and not waken, says the King--the Lord of hosts is His name. Jer 51:58 Thus says the Lord of hosts: The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly overthrown {and} [the foundations] made bare, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; the peoples shall labor in vain, and the nations [only] to satisfy the fire, and they shall be weary. Jer 51:59 The word that Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. Now this Seraiah was chief chamberlain {or} quartermaster [and brother of Baruch]. Jer 51:60 So Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that would come upon Babylon--even all these words that are written against Babylon. Jer 51:61 And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When you come to Babylon, see to it that you read all these words. Jer 51:62 Then say, O Lord, You have spoken concerning this place that it shall be cut off, so that nothing shall remain and dwell in it, neither man nor beast; but it shall be desolate forever. Jer 51:63 And it shall be that when you have finished reading this book, you shall bind a stone to it and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates. Jer 51:64 Then say, Thus will Babylon sink and not rise because of the evil that I will bring upon her; and [the Babylonians] will be weary (hopelessly exhausted). Thus far are the words of Jeremiah. Jer 52:1 ZEDEKIAH WAS twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah [not the prophet] of Libnah. Jer 52:2 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. Jer 52:3 For all this came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah because of the anger of the Lord, and [in the end] He cast them out from His presence. And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. Jer 52:4 And in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem; and they pitched against it and built moveable towers {and} siege mounds against it round about. Jer 52:5 So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. Jer 52:6 And in the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, the famine was so severe in the city that there was no bread for the people of the land. Jer 52:7 Then the city [wall] was broken through, so that all the men of war might flee, and they went forth out of the city by night [as Ezekiel had foretold] by way of the gate between the two walls by the king's garden, though the Chaldeans were round about the city. And they [the Jewish soldiers fled] by way of the Arabah (the Jordan Valley). Jer 52:8 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him. Jer 52:9 Then they seized the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the [Syrian] land of Hamath [on the northern border of Israel], where he pronounced sentence upon him. Jer 52:10 And the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes; he slew also all the princes of Judah at Riblah. Jer 52:11 Then he put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him with shackles and carried him to Babylon and put him in prison [mill] till the day of his death. Jer 52:12 Now in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, there came to Jerusalem Nebuzaradan captain of the guard, who stood {and} served before the king of Babylon. Jer 52:13 And he burned the house of the Lord and the king's house and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he consumed with fire. Jer 52:14 And all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard broke down all the walls round about Jerusalem. Jer 52:15 Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive some of the poorest of the people and those who were left in the city [at the time it was captured], along with those who went out to the king of Babylon [during the siege] and the remnant of the multitude [the country's working people]. Jer 52:16 But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and tillers of the soil. Jer 52:17 Also the pillars of bronze that belonged to the house of the Lord, and the bronze bases {or} pedestals [which supported the ten basins] and the bronze Sea {or} huge laver that were in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans broke into pieces and carried all the bronze of them to Babylon. Jer 52:18 The pots [for carrying away ashes] also and the shovels and the snuffers and the bowls and the spoons and all the vessels of bronze used in the temple service they took away. Jer 52:19 Also the small bowls and the firepans and the basins and the pots and the lampstands and the incense cups and the bowls for the drink offerings--whatever was of gold the captain of the guard took away as gold, and whatever was of silver as silver. Jer 52:20 The two pillars, one Sea {or} huge laver, and twelve bronze bulls {or} oxen under the Sea, which King Solomon had made in the house of the Lord--the bronze of all these things was beyond weighing. Jer 52:21 Concerning the pillars, the height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits (twenty-seven feet), and an ornamental molding of twelve cubits (eighteen feet) went around its circumference; it was four fingers thick, and it [the pillar] was hollow. Jer 52:22 An upper part {or} capital of bronze was on top of it. The height of one capital was five cubits (seven and one-half feet), with a network and pomegranates around it, all of bronze. The second pillar also, with its pomegranates, was similar to these. Jer 52:23 And there were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides; and all the pomegranates upon the network were a hundred round about. Jer 52:24 And the captain of the guard took [as prisoners] Seraiah the chief priest and Zephaniah the second priest and the three keepers of the door. Jer 52:25 He took also out of the city a court officer who had been overseer of the soldiers, and seven men of them who were next to the king [as advisers] {and} saw his face, who were found in the city, and the scribe of the prince {or} captain of the army who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the midst of the city. Jer 52:26 And Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. Jer 52:27 And the king of Babylon smote them and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. Thus Judah was carried away captive out of his own land. Jer 52:28 This is the number of people whom Nebuchadrezzar carried away captive: in the seventh year, 3,023 Jews; Jer 52:29 In the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar, he carried away captive from Jerusalem 832 persons; Jer 52:30 In the twenty-third year of Nebuchadrezzar, Nebuzaradan the captain of the [Babylonian] guard carried away captive of the Jews 745 persons. All the persons were 4,600. Jer 52:31 And in the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin [also called Coniah and Jeconiah] king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth day of the month, Evil-merodach king of Babylon in the first year of his reign lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah [and showed favor to him] and brought him out of prison. Jer 52:32 He spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat above the seats of the kings who were [captives] with him in Babylon, Jer 52:33 Jehoiachin put off his prison garments, and he dined regularly at the king's table all the days of his life. Jer 52:34 And his allowance, a continual one, was given him by the king of Babylon, a portion according to his requirements until the day of his death, all the days of his life. |