DASV: Jeremiah 2

¹ The word of the LORD came to me, saying,

² "Go and proclaim in the ears of the people of Jerusalem, saying, 'This is what the LORD says,

I remember the devotion of your youth,

you loved me as a young bride does;

you followed me in the wilderness,

in a land that was not sown.

³ Israel was holy to the LORD,

the firstfruits of his harvest.

All who devoured them were held guilty;

disaster will come on them,"'

says the LORD.

⁴ Hear the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob,

and all the families of the house of Israel:

⁵ This is what the LORD says,

"What did your fathers find wrong with me,

that they strayed so far from me?

They have walked after worthless idols,

and they themselves became worthless.

⁶ They never asked, 'Where is the LORD

who brought us up out of the land of Egypt,

who led us through the wilderness,

a land of deserts and pits,

a land of drought and deep darkness,

a land that no one travels through,

and where no one lives?'

⁷ I brought you into a plentiful land,

to eat its fruit and goodness.

But when you entered it,

you defiled my land,

and made my heritage an abomination.

⁸ The priests never asked, 'Where is the LORD?'

Those who handled the law did not know me.

The rulers also rebelled against me;

the prophets prophesied by Baal,

and followed idols that do not profit.

⁹ So once again I will make my accusation against you,"

says the LORD,

"and I will even bring charges against your grandchildren.

¹⁰ Cross over to the shores of Cyprus, and see.

Send someone to Kedar and carefully search;

see if such a thing has ever happened.

¹¹ Has a nation ever changed its gods,

even though they are not gods at all?

But my people have changed their Glory

for idols that are worthless.

¹² Be appalled at this, O heavens,

and shocked with horror,"

says the LORD.

¹³ "For my people have committed two evils:

they have forsaken me,

the fountain of living water,

and dug out cisterns,

broken cisterns that can hold no water.

¹⁴ Is Israel a slave?

Was he born a slave?

Why then has he been carried off as plunder?

¹⁵ The young lions have roared against him;

they have roared loudly.

They have made his land a wasteland;

his cities are burned up, without inhabitant.

¹⁶ Even the people of Memphis and Tahpanhes

have shaved the crown of your head.

¹⁷ Did you not bring this on yourself

by forsaking the LORD your God,

when he led you on the way?

¹⁸ Now what have you really gained by going to Egypt,

to drink the waters of the Nile?

Or what have you gained by going to Assyria,

to drink the waters of the Euphrates?

¹⁹ Your own wickedness will bring on you punishment,

and your apostasy will result in your being disciplined.

Know, therefore and realize that it is an evil thing

and bitter for you to forsake the LORD your God,

and the fear of me is not in you,"

says the sovereign LORD of hosts.

²⁰ "For long ago I broke your yoke,

and burst your chains;

you said, 'I will not serve you.'

For on every high hill and under every green tree

you lay yourself down like a whore.

²¹ Yet I planted you like a choice vine,

from the best stock.

How then did you turn into degenerate branches

of a foreign vine to me?

²² For though you wash yourself with detergent,

and use a lot of soap,

yet the stain of your guilt is before me,"

says the sovereign LORD.

²³ "How can you claim, 'I am not defiled,

I have not gone after the Baals?'

Just look at how you acted in the valley;

realize what you have done.

You are a restless camel running here and there.

²⁴ A wild female donkey at home in the wilderness,

that in her heat sniffs at the wind.

Who can restrain her when she is in heat?

No one who seeks her need weary themselves;

for at her mating time they will easily find her.

²⁵ Do not chase other gods until your shoes are worn out,

and your throat becomes parched.

But you said, 'It is useless,

for I love foreign gods,

and I want to pursue them.'

²⁶ As the thief is ashamed when he is caught,

so the house of Israel will be shamed--

they, their kings, their officials,

their priests, and their prophets.

²⁷ They say to a piece of wood, 'You are my father;'

and to a block of stone, 'You have given me birth.'

For they have turned their backs to me,

and not their faces.

But when they get in trouble they will plead,

'Come and save us.'

²⁸ But where are your gods that you have made?

Let them rise up and save you

in your time of trouble, if they can.

For you have as many gods as you have towns, O Judah.

²⁹ Why will you argue with me?

You all have rebelled against me,"

says the LORD.

³⁰ "It was useless to have smitten your children;

they do not respond to correction.

Your own sword has devoured your prophets

like a ferocious lion.

³¹ You of this generation, look at the word of the LORD.

Have I been a wilderness to Israel?

Have I been like a land of deep darkness?

Why do my people say,

'We are free, we will no longer come to you?'

³² Does a young woman forget about her jewelry,

or a bride her wedding attire?

Yet my people have forgotten me,

days without number.

³³ How good you have become at chasing lovers!

Even a prostitute could learn a lesson from you.

³⁴ Also in your skirts is found the blood of the innocent poor,

though you did not catch them breaking into your house.

Yet in spite of all these things,

³⁵ you still claim, 'I am innocent;

surely he's not angry with me anymore.'

Look, I am rendering judgment on you,

because you claim, 'I have not sinned.'

³⁶ Why do you flit about changing your ways?

You will be put to shame by Egypt,

just as you were put to shame by Assyria.

³⁷ You will be led away there with your hands on your head,

for the LORD has rejected those in whom you trust,

and you will not be helped by them.

DASV: Jeremiah 3

¹ "If a man divorces his wife, and she leaves him,

and becomes another man's wife,

can he get back together with her again?

Would that not totally pollute the land?

But you have played the prostitute with many lovers,

yet you expect to return to me?"

says the LORD.

² "Lift up your eyes to the bare hilltops, and see.

Where have you not committed adultery with other gods?

By the roadways you have sat waiting for them,

as an Arab in the desert.

You have polluted the land with your whoring

and with your wickedness.

³ Therefore the showers have been withheld,

and there has been no spring rain.

Yet you have the defiant look of a prostitute,

you refuse to be ashamed.

⁴ Even now you call out to me,

'My Father, you have been my guide since my youth.

⁵ Will you retain your anger forever?

Will you stay mad to the end?'

This is what you say,

yet you have done all the evil you could."

⁶ The LORD said to me in the days of Josiah the king, "Have you seen what faithless Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and there has prostituted herself.

⁷ I thought, 'After she had done all these things, surely she will return to me. But she has not returned and her faithless sister Judah saw it.

⁸ She saw that for the adultery of Israel I sent her away and gave her a bill of divorce, yet her treacherous sister Judah was not afraid; she also went and became a prostitute.

⁹ Because she took her whoring so lightly, the land was polluted, since she committed adultery with wood and stone.

¹⁰ Yet after all this her treacherous sister Judah has not returned to me with her whole heart, but has only pretended to do so," says the LORD.

¹¹ Then the LORD said to me, "Faithless Israel has shown herself to be more righteous than treacherous Judah.

¹² Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say,

'Return, faithless Israel, says the LORD.

I will not look on you with anger,

for I am merciful, says the LORD,

I will not be angry forever.

¹³ Just acknowledge your sin,

that you have rebelled against the LORD your God,

and have scattered your favors to the strangers under every green tree,

and you have not obeyed my voice,'" says the LORD.

¹⁴ "Come back, O faithless children," says the LORD; "for I am your master and I will bring you back, one from a city, and two from a clan, I will bring you to Zion.

¹⁵ I will give you shepherds after my own heart who will shepherd you with knowledge and understanding.

¹⁶ It will come to pass, when your numbers have multiplied and increased in the land, in those days," says the LORD, "they will no longer say, 'The ark of the covenant of the LORD.' It will not even come to mind or be remembered. It will not be missed and another one will not be made.

¹⁷ At that time they will call Jerusalem 'The Throne of the LORD,' and all the nations will be gathered to Jerusalem to honor the name of the LORD. They will no longer follow after the stubbornness of their own evil hearts.

¹⁸ In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will both return from the land of the north to the land that I gave your forefathers for an inheritance."

¹⁹ Then I said,

"How I would love to treat you like one of my own children

and give you a pleasant land,

a beautiful heritage of all the nations!

Then I thought, 'You would call me My Father,'

and would not turn away from following me.

²⁰ But as an unfaithful wife leaves her husband,

so you have been unfaithful to me, O house of Israel,"

says the LORD.

²¹ A voice is heard on the bare hilltops,

the weeping and pleading of the children of Israel,

because they have perverted their way;

they have forgotten the LORD their God.

²² Return, O faithless children;

I will heal your unfaithfulness.

'Look, we are coming to you,

for you are the LORD our God.

²³ We realize the hills are a delusion,

the sacred orgies on the mountains.

Truly the salvation of Israel is in the LORD our God.

²⁴ But from our youth the shameful idolatrous thing

has devoured all that our fathers had labored for,

their flocks and herds,

their sons and daughters.

²⁵ Let us lie down in our shame,

and let our disgrace cover us;

for we have sinned against the LORD our God,

both we and our forefathers,

from our youth even to this day.

We have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.'"

DASV: Jeremiah 4

¹ "If you will return, O Israel,"

says the LORD,

"if you will return to me,

if you will put away your detestable idols out of my sight,

and no longer be so fickle,

² and if you will swear, 'As the LORD lives,'

in truth, justice, and righteousness;

then the nations will be blessed by him,

and they will boast about him."

³ For this is what the LORD says to the people of Judah and to Jerusalem,

"Break up your fallow ground,

and do not sow among thorns.

⁴ Circumcise yourselves to the LORD,

and cut away the foreskins of your heart,

you people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem.

If not, my wrath will go forth like fire,

and burn so that no one can extinguish it

because of your evil deeds.

⁵ Declare in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem

and say, 'Blow the war trumpet in the land.'

Cry aloud and say, 'Assemble yourselves,

and flee into the fortified cities.'

⁶ Set up a signal flag telling them to go to Zion,

flee for safety, do not wait;

for I will bring disaster from the north,

and great destruction."

⁷ A lion is gone up from its thicket,

and a destroyer of nations is on his way.

He has left his place to make your land a wasteland,

your cities become ruins without inhabitant.

⁸ For this clothe yourself with sackcloth, lament and wail;

for the fierce anger of the LORD has not turned away from us.

⁹ "In that day," says the LORD,

"the king and the officials will lose heart;

the priests will be appalled,

and the prophets will be stunned."

¹⁰ Then I said, "Ah, sovereign LORD, surely you have deceived this people and Jerusalem, when you say, 'You will have peace,' when the sword is at our throat.

¹¹ At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, "A blistering wind comes from the bare heights in the desert toward the daughter of my people, not to winnow or to cleanse.

¹² A wind too strong for that comes from me. Now I will also announce judgments against them."

¹³ "Look, He comes up like clouds,

and his chariots like a whirlwind.

His horses are swifter than eagles.

Woe to us! For we are ruined."

¹⁴ "O Jerusalem, wash the wickedness from your heart

that you may be saved.

How long will you retain evil thoughts within you?

¹⁵ For a voice declares from Dan,

and publishes disaster from the hills of Ephraim.

¹⁶ Announce it to the nations;

publish it against Jerusalem,

'the one besieging is coming from a far country,

and raising the battle cry against the towns of Judah.'

¹⁷ They have surrounded her like watchmen guarding a field,

because she has been rebellious against me," says the LORD.

¹⁸ "Your behavior and actions

have brought these things on you;

this is your bitter punishment,

for it has penetrated into your heart."

¹⁹ My anguish, my anguish!

I writhe in pain,

O how my heart hurts;

my heart throbs within me;

I cannot be quiet,

because I have heard the sound of the war trumpet,

the alarm of war.

²⁰ One destruction on top of another;

the whole land lies in rubble.

Suddenly my tents are destroyed,

my curtains torn down in a moment.

²¹ How long will I see the battle flags,

and hear the sound of the war trumpet?

²² "My people are foolish;

they do not know me.

They are senseless children,

and they have no understanding.

They are skillful at doing evil,

but they have no knowledge of how to do good."

²³ I looked at the earth;

it was formless and empty;

and at the heavens,

they had no light.

²⁴ I looked at the mountains;

they trembled;

all the hills moved back and forth.

²⁵ I looked and there were no human beings;

all the birds of the heavens had fled.

²⁶ I looked, the fruitful field had become a desert;

all its cities were turned to rubble

at the presence of the LORD,

and before his fierce anger.

²⁷ For this is what the LORD says,

"The whole land will be desolate,

yet I will not totally destroy it.

²⁸ Because of this the earth will mourn,

and the heavens above grow dark;

because I have spoken it,

I have purposed it,

and I have not changed my mind,

and I will not turn back.

²⁹ Every city flees from the roar of the horsemen and bowmen;

they hide in the bushes,

and climb up on the rocks.

Every city is abandoned,

and no one will live in them.

³⁰ When you are made desolate, what will you do?

Though you clothe yourself with scarlet,

though you adorn yourself with ornaments of gold,

though you enlarge your eyes with eye shadow,

in vain you attempt to make yourself beautiful;

your lovers despise you,

they seek your life.

³¹ For I have heard a cry like a woman in labor,

anguish, like one giving birth to her first child,

the cry of the daughter of Zion gasping for breath,

reaching out her hands for help, saying,

"Woe is me! My life fades away before these murderers."

DASV: Jeremiah 5

¹ "Search up and down the streets of Jerusalem,

look around and know,

inspect its squares,

see if you can find one person

who acts justly and seeks truth,

and I will pardon the city.

² Though they say, 'As the LORD lives;'

in fact they are swearing falsely."

³ O LORD, do not your eyes look for truth?

You have struck them,

but they felt no pain.

You have consumed them,

but they refused to be corrected.

They have made their faces harder than a rock;

they have refused to repent.

⁴ Then I said, "Surely these are just the poor;

they are foolish,

for they do not know the way of LORD,

or the law of their God.

⁵ I will go to the leaders

and will speak to them,

for these know the way of the LORD,

and the law of their God."

But these, to a person, have broken the yoke of God's law,

and burst the bonds.

⁶ So a lion out of the forest will slay them,

a desert wolf will destroy them,

a leopard will lurk outside their cities

and every one that goes out will be torn in pieces,

because their rebellions are many

and their unfaithfulness has increased.

⁷ "How can I pardon you?

Even your children have forsaken me,

and sworn by those who are not gods.

When I had fed them to their full,

then they committed adultery,

and flocked to the houses of harlots.

⁸ They were like well-fed stallions running wild,

every one neighing after his neighbor's wife.

⁹ Will I not punish them for these things?" says the LORD.

"Should I not be avenged on such a nation as this?

¹⁰ Go through her vineyards and destroy,

but do not totally destroy them.

Strip away her branches,

for they are not LORD's.

¹¹ For the house of Israel and the house of Judah

have been absolutely unfaithful to me,"

says the LORD.

¹² They have denied what the LORD says,

by saying, "He won't do anything.

No disaster will come on us;

we will not see the sword or famine.

¹³ The prophets are mere blustering wind,

and the word of God is not in them.

Let those threats happen to them."

¹⁴ Therefore this is what the LORD says,

the God of hosts,

"Because you talk like this,

I will make my words a fire in your mouth,

and this people will be consumed like wood.

¹⁵ I will bring a nation on you from far away, O house of Israel,"

says the LORD.

"It is an ancient nation that has endured,

a nation whose language you do not know,

you cannot understand what they say.

¹⁶ Their quiver is like an open tomb;

they are all mighty warriors.

¹⁷ They will eat up your harvest and food;

they will devour your sons and daughters.

They will eat up your flocks and herds;

they will eat up your vines and fig trees.

They will decimate your fortified cities with the sword,

those you trusted in.

¹⁸ But even in those days," says the LORD,

"I will not totally destroy you.

¹⁹ When you ask,

'Why has the LORD our God done all these things to us?'

Then you will say to them,

'It is because they have abandoned me,

and served foreign gods in your land,

so you will serve strangers in a land that is not yours.'

²⁰ Declare this in the house of Jacob,

and proclaim it in Judah:

²¹ Hear this, O foolish people who lack understanding,

who have eyes, but do not see;

who have ears, but do not hear.

²² Do you not fear me?" says the LORD.

"Will you not tremble at my presence?

I placed the sand for the boundary of the sea,

a permanent barrier that it cannot pass.

Even though the waves toss themselves against it,

yet they cannot prevail.

Even though they roar,

yet they cannot pass over it.

²³ But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart;

they have turned aside and left.

²⁴ They do not say in their heart,

'Let us now fear the LORD our God,

who gives the autumn and spring rains at the right time,

who guarantees for us the appointed weeks of the harvest.

²⁵ Your iniquities have stopped these things,

your sins have deprived you of good.

²⁶ For the wicked are found among my people;

they watch like bird catchers who hide,

only they set traps to catch people.

²⁷ Like a cage full of birds,

so their houses are full of deceit;

therefore they have become great,

and grown rich.

²⁸ They have grown fat and sleek.

Their deeds of wickedness know no limit;

they do not plead the cause of the fatherless

that they may prosper,

and do not defend the rights of the needy.

²⁹ Should I not punish them for these things?"

says the LORD;

"Should I not be avenged on such a nation as this?

³⁰ A shocking and horrible thing

has happened in the land:

³¹ The prophets prophesy falsely,

and the priests rule by their own authority,

and my people love it that way.

But what will you do when the end comes?"

DASV: Jeremiah 6

¹ "Flee for safety, O people of Benjamin!

Get out of Jerusalem!

Blow the trumpet in Tekoa,

and send out a signal from Beth-haccherem!

For disaster is emerging from the north,

and great destruction.

² The lovely and delicate one,

the daughter of Zion I will destroy.

³ Kings like shepherds with their flocks will come against her;

they will pitch their tents surrounding her.

They each will feed in their assigned place.

⁴ They will say, 'Prepare for battle against her;

get up and let us attack at noon.'

Later, 'Woe to us! For the day is fading,

for the shadows of the evening are lengthening.

⁵ Get up, and let us attack at night,

and let us destroy her palaces.'"

⁶ For this is what the LORD says,

"Cut down trees,

and cast up a siege ramp against Jerusalem.

This is the city to be punished.

There is nothing but oppression in her midst.

⁷ As a well pours out its waters,

so she pours out her wickedness.

Violence and destruction is heard in her;

her sickness and wounds are continually before me.

⁸ Be warned, O Jerusalem,

or I will turn away from you in disgust;

I will turn you into a ruin,

a land not inhabited."

⁹ This is what the LORD of hosts says,

"They will thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel like a vine.

Go over it again, your hand as a grape gatherer into the branches.

¹⁰ To whom can I speak and offer a warning?

Look, their ears are closed,

they cannot hear.

Look, the word of the LORD has become a joke to them;

they have no delight in it.

¹¹ But I am full of the wrath of the LORD;

I am weary from holding it in.

"Pour it out on the children in the street,

and upon the assembly of young men as well;

both husband and wife will be taken,

the aged and those well along in years.

¹² Their houses will be turned over to others,

as well as their fields and their wives;

I will stretch out my hand on the inhabitants of the land,"

says the LORD.

¹³ "For from the least to the greatest of them

every one is greedy for dishonest gain.

From the prophet even to the priest,

they all practice deceit.

¹⁴ They have treated the wound of my people

as if it were only superficial,

saying, 'Peace, peace;'

when there is no peace.

¹⁵ Are they ashamed that they have committed such detestable things?

No, they were not ashamed at all;

they cannot even blush.

Therefore they will fall among those who have fallen dead.

At the time I will punish them,

they will be knocked down," says the LORD.

¹⁶ This is what the LORD says,

"Stand at the crossroads and look,

ask for the old paths,

where the good way is,

and walk in it,

and you will find rest for your souls.

But they said, 'We will not walk that way.'

¹⁷ I set up watchmen over you, saying,
'Listen for the sound of the trumpet.'

But they said, 'We won't listen.'

¹⁸ Therefore listen, you nations,

realize, O congregation, what is going to happen to them.

¹⁹ Listen, O earth:

I will bring disaster on this people,

which is the fruit of their schemes,

because they have not paid attention to my words;

they have rejected my law.

²⁰ Do I care when they offer frankincense from Sheba,

and sweet smelling calamus from a far country?

Your burnt offerings are not acceptable;

your sacrifices are not pleasing to me."

²¹ Therefore this is what the LORD says,

"Look, I will lay stumbling blocks in front of this people;

the fathers and sons both will stumble over them.

Friends and neighbors will perish."

²² This is what the LORD says,

"Look, a people is coming from the north country;

a great nation is being stirred up

from the farthest parts of the earth.

²³ They lay hold on bows and spears;

they are cruel and have no mercy;

their voice roars like the sea,

as they ride out on horses.

Every one is set in battle formation

as a unit coming to the battle, against you,

O daughter of Zion.

²⁴ They will say, 'We have heard the report about them.

Our hands fall limp,

anguish has taken hold of us,

like the pain of a woman in labor.

²⁵ Do not go out into the field,

or walk by the road;

because of the sword of the enemy,

terror is on every side.'

²⁶ O daughter of my people,

dress in sackcloth,

grovel in ashes.

Grieve as you would for an only son,

with bitter weeping,

for the destroyer will come on us suddenly.

²⁷ I have made you, Jeremiah, a tester and a fortress among my people,

that you may know and test their ways.

²⁸ They are all stubborn rebels,

going around peddling slander.

They are bronze and iron;

they all act corruptly.

²⁹ The refining bellows blow fiercely;

the lead is consumed by the fire.

In vain they attempt to refine;

the wicked are not removed.

³⁰ They are called 'rejected silver',

for the LORD has rejected them."

DASV: Jeremiah 7

¹ The word came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

² "Stand in the gate of the LORD's house, and proclaim this word there, and say, 'Hear the word of the LORD, all you people of Judah, who enter through these gates to worship the LORD.

³ This is what the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says: Improve your ways and your actions, and I will let you stay in this place.

⁴ Do not trust in lying words, that claim, 'This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD.'

⁵ For if you truly improve your ways and your actions, if you truly practice justice between each other,

⁶ if you do not oppress the foreigners, fatherless, and widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and do not follow after other gods to your own peril,

⁷ then I will allow you to stay in this place, in the land that I gave to your forefathers, forever and ever.

⁸ Look, you trust in lying words that cannot benefit you.

⁹ Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense to Baal, and follow after other gods that you have not known,

¹⁰ and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and claim, 'We are safe;' only to continue doing all these disgusting things?

¹¹ Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Look, I myself have seen everything," says the LORD.

¹² "Go now to my place that was in Shiloh where I first caused my name to dwell, and discover what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel.

¹³ Now because you have done all these things," says the LORD, "and I spoke to you about it repeatedly, but you did not listen; I called you, but you did not answer,

¹⁴ therefore I will do to this house, which is called by my name, that you trust in, the place that I gave to you and to your forefathers, just as I did to Shiloh.

¹⁵ I will drive you out of my sight, just as I drove into exile all your relatives, even the entire offspring of Ephraim.

¹⁶ Therefore do not pray for this people, Jeremiah, do not lift up a cry, prayer for them, or make intercession to me, for I will not listen to you.

¹⁷ Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

¹⁸ The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead the dough, to make cakes to the Queen of Heaven. They pour out drink offerings to other gods, just so they may provoke me to anger.

¹⁹ But are they really provoking me?" says the LORD. "Are they not really hurting themselves, to their own shame?"

²⁰ Therefore this is what the sovereign LORD says: "My anger and wrath will be poured out on this place, on human beings, animals, trees of the field, and the fruit of the ground. It will burn and not be extinguished."

²¹ This is what the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says, "Go right ahead and add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat the meat.

²² For I did not speak to your forefathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt just about burnt offerings or sacrifices.

²³ This is what I commanded them, 'Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you will be my people; walk completely in the way that I command you, so that it may go well with you.'

²⁴ But they did not listen or incline their ears. Instead they followed the stubborn counsels of their own evil hearts, and went backward and not forward.

²⁵ Since the day that your forefathers came out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have sent to you my servants the prophets, repeatedly rising early and sending them.

²⁶ Yet they did not listen to me, or incline their ears, but stiffened their stubborn necks even worse than their forefathers did.

²⁷ Tell them all these words; but they will not listen to you. Now you will call to them, but they will not answer you.

²⁸ Tell them, 'this is the nation that has not obeyed the voice of the LORD their God, or accepted correction. Truth has perished; it is banished from their mouths.

²⁹ Cut off your hair and throw it away, take up a lamentation on the barren hilltops, for the LORD has rejected and forsaken the generation that has provoked his wrath.

³⁰ The people of Judah have done evil in my sight, says the LORD. They have set up their disgusting idols in the house that is called by my name to defile it.

³¹ They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of Ben Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; something I never commanded nor did such a thing ever enter my mind.

³² Therefore, the days are coming, says the LORD, that it will no more be called Topheth, or the valley of Ben Hinnom, but The Valley of Slaughter, for they will bury their dead in Topheth until there is no room left.

³³ The dead bodies of this people will be food for the birds of the heavens, and for the beasts of the earth, and no one will frighten them away.

³⁴ Then I will bring to an end the sound of joy and gladness of brides and grooms in the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem, for the land will become a wasteland.'"

DASV: Jeremiah 8

¹ "At that time," says the LORD, "they will bring out the bones of the kings of Judah and his officials, and the bones of the priests and prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem will be exhumed out of their graves.

² They will spread them before the sun, moon, and all the host of heaven, which they have loved and served, which they have followed after, sought, and worshipped. They will not be respectfully gathered or be reburied, but they will be spread like manure on the face of the ground.

³ Death will be preferred to life by all the survivors who remain of this evil family, who remain in all the places where I have driven them," says the LORD of hosts.

⁴ You are to tell them, "This is what the LORD says:

'When people fall, do they not get up again?

Will one turn away and not return?

⁵ Why then do these people of Jerusalem turn away

with perpetual apostasy?

They hold tightly to deceit;

they refuse to return.

⁶ I have listened carefully,

but they do not speak honestly.

No one repents of his wickedness,

saying, "What have I done?"

Each one turns back to his own course,

like a horse charging into battle.

⁷ Yes, the stork in the heavens knows her appointed times;

and the turtledove, swallow and the crane

observe the time for their migration.

But my people do not know what the LORD requires.

⁸ How can you say, "We are wise,

the law of the LORD is with us?"

The false pen of the scribes have turned it into a lie.

⁹ The sages will be put to shame;

they are dismayed and caught in their own trap.

Since they have rejected the word of the LORD,

what type of wisdom is in them?

¹⁰ Therefore I will give their wives to others,

and their fields to those who conquer them,

because everyone from the least to the greatest

is dominated by greed;

from the prophet to the priest, everyone acts deceptively.

¹¹ They have treated the wound of my people

as if it were only superficial,

saying, "Peace, peace;" when there is no peace.

¹² Are they ashamed they had committed such an abomination?

No, they are not ashamed at all.

They do not even know how to blush.

Therefore they will fall among those who have fallen dead;

in the time of their punishment they will be brought down,'"

says the LORD.

¹³ "I will totally consume them," says the LORD.

"There will be no grapes left on the vine,

or figs on the fig tree,

even the leaves will fade.

The things that I have given them

will be taken away from them."

¹⁴ They say, "Why do we sit still?

Assemble together, let us enter into the fortified cities

and let us die there.

For the LORD our God has condemned us to death,

and given us poisoned water to drink,

because we have sinned against the LORD.

¹⁵ We looked for peace,

but no good comes our way.
We hoped for a time of healing,

but instead, only terror."

¹⁶ "The snorting of his warhorses is heard from Dan,

at the sound of the neighing of his strong stallions

the whole earth quakes.

They are coming to devour the land and all that is in it;

the city and those who live there.

¹⁷ Look, I am sending an enemy like serpents among you,

like vipers that cannot be charmed,

and they will bite you," says the LORD.

¹⁸ I said, "My grief is beyond cure!

My heart is faint within me.

¹⁹ Look, the voice of the cry of my people

from a land that is very far off:

Is not the LORD in Zion?

Is her King not in her?"

"Why have they provoked me to anger with their graven images,

and with foreign idols?"

²⁰ "The harvest is past,

the summer is ended,

and we are not saved," they lament.

²¹ For I am broken because of the brokenness of my people;

I mourn; dismay has taken hold of me.

²² Is there no balm in Gilead?

Is there no physician there?

Why has the wound of my people not been healed?

DASV: Jeremiah 9

¹ "O that my head were a spring of water,

and my eyes a fountain of tears,

that I might weep day and night

for the slain of the daughter of my people!

² O that I had a lodge for travelers in the wilderness,

that I might leave my people and go away from them!

For they are all adulterers,

a gang of traitors.

³ They bend their tongue like a bow

ready to shoot out lies.

They have grown strong in the land,

but not for the cause of truth;

for they proceed from one evil to the next,

and they do not know me," says the LORD.

⁴ "Let each one beware of his neighbor,

and do not trust any brother.

For every brother will supplant by deception,

and every neighbor will go around as a slanderer.

⁵ Everyone will deceive his neighbor,

and no one tells the truth.

They have taught their tongue to speak lies;

they wear themselves out trying to commit sin.

⁶ Your home is in the midst of one lie on top of another.

They refuse to know me," says the LORD.

⁷ Therefore this is what the LORD of hosts says,

"I will refine and test them,

for what else can I do with my people?

⁸ Their tongue is a deadly arrow;

it speaks deceit.

Each one speaks friendly words to his neighbor with his mouth,

but in his heart he sets up an ambush for him.

⁹ Shall I not punish them for these things?" says the LORD.

"Shall I not avenge myself on such a nation as this?"

¹⁰ For the mountains I will take up a weeping and wailing,

and for the pastures of the wilderness I will lament,

because they are so scorched,

no one passes through them.

They cannot hear the sound of the cattle there.

Both the birds of the air and the beasts

have fled and gone.

¹¹ I will make Jerusalem into a heap of rubble,

a haunt of jackals;

I will make the cities of Judah an uninhabitable wasteland.

¹² Who is wise enough to understand this? To whom has the mouth of the LORD spoken so that he may explain it? Why is the land devastated and scorched like a wilderness so that no one passes through it?

¹³ Then the LORD said, "This happened because they have forsaken my law that I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, or walked according to it,

¹⁴ but have followed after their own stubborn hearts. They pursued the Baals, just as their parents taught them."

¹⁵ Therefore this is what the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says, "Look, I will feed this people with bitter food and give them poisoned water to drink.

¹⁶ I will scatter them also among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known. I will send the sword after them until I have destroyed them."

¹⁷ This is what the LORD of hosts says,

"Consider, and call for the mourning women to come;

send for those most skilled at it.

¹⁸ Let them hurry and wail for us,

that our eyes may stream with tears

and our eyelids overflow with water.

¹⁹ For a voice of wailing is heard from Zion,

'O how we are ruined!

We are absolutely shamed;

we have had to forsake the land,

because they have torn down our homes.'"

²⁰ Yet hear the word of the LORD, O women,

and let your ear receive the word of his mouth;

teach your daughters to wail,

and everyone her neighbor a lament.

²¹ For death has climbed in through our windows;

it has entered into our palaces,

to cut off the children in the streets

and the young from the town squares.

²² Say, This is what the LORD says,

"The corpses will fall like manure spread on the open field,

and like grain fallen behind the reaper with no one to pick it up."

²³ This is what the LORD says,

"Do not let the wise boast in their wisdom,

or the mighty boast in their might;

do not let the rich boast in their riches,

²⁴ but let the one who boasts boast in this;

that they understand and know me,

that I am the LORD who acts with

loyal love, justice, and righteousness,

in the earth,

for these are the things I delight in," says the LORD.

²⁵ "The days are coming," says the LORD, "that I will punish all those who are circumcised only in their flesh,

²⁶ Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, and Moab, and all who live in the desert in remote places. For all these nations are uncircumcised, along with all the house of Israel who is also uncircumcised in heart."

DASV: Jeremiah 10

¹ Hear the word that the LORD speaks to you, O house of Israel:

² This is what the LORD says:

"Do not learn the way of the nations,

or be intrigued by the signs of heaven,

for the nations are intrigued with them.

³ For the religious customs of the peoples are worthless;

one cuts a tree out of the forest,

shaped by the hands of a craftsman with his tools.

⁴ They decorate it with silver and with gold;

they fasten it down with hammers and nails

so that it will not topple over.

⁵ Their idols are like a scarecrow in a cucumber patch,

they cannot speak;

they need to be carried because they cannot even walk.

Do not be afraid of them;

they cannot do any harm,

nor do they have the ability to do good.

⁶ There is no one like you, O LORD;

you are great,

and your name is great in power.

⁷ Who should not fear you, O King of the nations?

This is what you deserve.

For among all the wise men of the nations,

and in all their kingdoms,

there is no one like you.

⁸ But they are both stupid and foolish;

the instruction of wooden idols is worthless.

⁹ They bring finely hammered silver for plating from Tarshish,

and gold from Uphaz,

the work of an artisan and the hands of a goldsmith;

blue and purple for their clothing,

they are all the work of a skilled craftsmen.

¹⁰ But the LORD is the true God;

he is the living God and everlasting King.

The earth trembles at his wrath,

and the nations cannot withstand his fury.

¹¹ This is what you should say to them,

"The gods who have not made the heavens and the earth,

these will perish from the earth,

and from under the heavens.

¹² The LORD made the earth by his power;

he has established the world by his wisdom,

and by his understanding he has stretched out the heavens.

¹³ When his voice thunders,

the rain roars from the heavens.

He causes the clouds to ascend

from the ends of the earth;

he makes lightning in the rain,

and brings the wind out of his storehouses.

¹⁴ Everyone is ignorant and without knowledge.

Every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols,

for his image is bogus;

there is no breath in them.

¹⁵ They are worthless,

a work of delusion;

in the time of their punishment, they will perish.

¹⁶ He who is the portion of Jacob is not like these,

for he is the creator of all things.

Israel is the tribe of his inheritance:

the LORD of hosts is his name.

¹⁷ Gather your possessions in preparation for leaving the land,

O you inhabitants under siege.

¹⁸ For this is what the LORD says,

"Look, I will hurl out the inhabitants of the land at this time,

and I will bring distress on them so they may feel it."
¹⁹ Woe is me because of my injury!

My wound is serious,

but I said, "Truly this is a sickness and I must bear it."

²⁰ My tent is destroyed,

and all my tent cords are broken.

My children are gone from me,

never to be seen again.

There is none to spread my tent any more,

or to set up my tent curtains.

²¹ For the shepherds are become stupid,

and have not inquired of the LORD.

Therefore they have not prospered,

and all their flocks are scattered.

²² Listen, the news is coming,

and a great commotion out of the north country,

to turn the cities of Judah into a wasteland,

a lair of jackals.

²³ O LORD, I know that people do not control their own way;

it is not in mortals who walk to determine their own steps.

²⁴ O LORD, correct me but with justice;

not in your anger or you will reduce me to nothing.

²⁵ Pour out your wrath on the nations that do not know you,

and on the peoples that do not call on your name.

For they have devoured Jacob;

they have devoured and consumed him,

and have laid waste his home.

DASV: Jeremiah 11

¹ The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

² "Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

³ Tell them, 'This is what the LORD, the God of Israel says: "Cursed is the person who does not obey the words of this covenant,

⁴ which I commanded your forefathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the iron-smelting furnace,' saying, 'Obey my voice, and do everything that I command you then you will be my people, and I will be your God,

⁵ so that I may keep the promise that I swore to your forefathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey,'" the very land you have this day.'" Then I answered, and said, "Amen, may it be so, LORD."

⁶ The LORD told me, "Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, 'Listen to the words of this covenant, and do them.

⁷ For I solemnly warned your forefathers when I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even to this day, repeatedly warning them, "Obey my voice."

⁸ Yet they did not listen or incline their ear, but everyone walked in the stubbornness of their own evil hearts. So I brought on them all the words contained in this covenant which I commanded them to do, but they did not do them.'"

⁹ Then the LORD said to me, "A conspiracy has been exposed among the men of Judah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

¹⁰ They have turned back to the sins of their forefathers, who refused to obey my words. They have pursued other gods and worshipped them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant that I made with their forefathers.

¹¹ Therefore, this is what the LORD says, 'I will bring disaster on them, which they will not be able to escape. They will cry out to me, but I will not listen to them.

¹² Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry to the gods to which they made offerings, but they will never save them in the time of their trouble.

¹³ You have as many gods as you have cities, O Judah. You have as many altars devoted to shameful things as you have streets in Jerusalem. There are even altars for burning incense to Baal.'"

¹⁴ "Therefore do not pray for this people, Jeremiah, or lift up a cry or prayer for them, for I will not listen to them when they cry to me in their trouble.

¹⁵ What right do my beloved people have to be in my house,

seeing they have committed such vile deeds?

Can sacrificial meat really spare you of punishment,

when you do evil then celebrate it?'

¹⁶ The LORD called your name, A flourishing olive tree,

beautiful with good fruit.

But with the roar of a blazing fire

he will set it on fire,

with its branches burned off.

¹⁷ For the LORD of hosts, who planted you, has pronounced disaster against you, because of the evil the house of Israel and Judah have done. They have provoked me to anger by offering incense to Baal.

¹⁸ Then the LORD gave me knowledge of their plots, and I understood it. Then you showed me what they were doing.

¹⁹ But I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter; and I did not realize that they were devising plans against me, saying,

"Let us destroy the tree with its fruit,

and let us cut him off from the land of the living

so that his name may be remembered no more."

²⁰ But, O LORD of hosts, who judges righteously,

who tests the heart and the mind,

I will see your vengeance on them,

for I have committed my situation to you.

²¹ Therefore this is what the LORD says concerning the men of Anathoth who seek your life, saying, "Do not prophesy in the name of the LORD, or you will die by our hands."

²² This is what the LORD of hosts says, "Look, I will punish them. The young men will die by the sword; their sons and daughters will die by famine.

²³ There will be no survivors, for I will bring disaster on the men of Anathoth, in the year of their punishment."

DASV: Jeremiah 12

¹ You are righteous, O LORD,

when I bring my complaint to you,

so let me bring this case to you.

Why is the way of the wicked prosperous?

Why do all who are dishonest have such cushy lives?

² You have planted them,

they have taken root;

they grow and produce fruit.

You are always on their lips,

but far from their hearts.

³ Yet you know me O LORD;

you see me and test my heart's commitment to you.

Drag them away like sheep for the slaughter.

Set them aside for the day of slaughter.

⁴ How long will the land mourn,

and the herbs of the entire countryside wither,

for the wickedness of those who live there?

The birds and animals have been swept away,

because they said, "God does not see our destiny."

⁵ "If you have run against human runners

and they have tired you out,

then how can you compete with horses?

If you stumble in a safe open land,

yet how will you do in the thickets along the Jordan River?

⁶ For even your brothers and family

have dealt treacherously with you.

They have cried aloud against you.

Do not believe them

when they say flattering things to you.

⁷ I have forsaken my house,

I have abandoned my heritage;

I have given the beloved of my soul

into the hand of her enemies.

⁸ My heritage has become like a lion in the forest to me.

She has roared against me;

therefore I have hated her.

⁹ Is my heritage like a speckled bird of prey

that is surrounded and attacked by vultures?

Go, gather all the wild animals of the field;

bring them to devour my people.

¹⁰ Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard;

they have trampled down my portion;

they have made my pleasant vineyard

a desolate wilderness.

¹¹ They have turned it into a wasteland.

It mourns to me, being desolate.

The whole land is desolate,

because no one really cares.

¹² Destroyers are come on all the bare hilltops in the wilderness,

for the sword of the LORD devours from the one end of the land

to the other end.

Nobody will be safe.

¹³ They have planted wheat,

but have reaped thorns.

They have worked themselves to exhaustion,

and have profited nothing.

They will be ashamed of their harvests,

because of the fierce anger of the LORD."

¹⁴ This is what the LORD says against all my evil neighbors, who grab the inheritance which I have given my people Israel to inherit. "Look, I will uproot them from their own land and will uproot the house of Judah from among them.

¹⁵ After I have uprooted them, I will again have compassion on them; I will bring them back again, each to their own heritage, and every one to their own land.

¹⁶ If they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear oaths by my name, 'As the LORD lives;' just like they taught my people to swear oaths by Baal; then they will be built up in the midst of my people.

¹⁷ But if they will not listen, then I will uproot that nation, plucking it up and destroying it," says the LORD.

DASV: Jeremiah 13

¹ This is what the LORD said to me, "Go and buy linen shorts, and put them on your waist, but do not put them in water."

² So I bought shorts according to the word of the LORD, and put them on my waist.

³ The word of the LORD came to me a second time, saying,

⁴ "Take the shorts that you have bought, that are on your waist, and get up and go to the Euphrates River, and hide them there in a crevice of the rock."

⁵ So I went and hid them by the Euphrates, as the LORD told me to.

⁶ After many days, the LORD said to me, "Get up, go to the Euphrates, and retrieve the shorts that I told you to hide there."

⁷ So I went to the Euphrates, and dug, and retrieved the shorts from the place where I had hid them. The shorts were ruined, they were good for nothing.

⁸ Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

⁹ "This is what the LORD says,

'In this same way I will ruin the pride of Judah,

and the great pride of Jerusalem.

¹⁰ This evil people, who refuse to hear my words,

that follow the stubbornness of their own heart,

and pursued other gods to serve and worship them,

they will be just like these shorts,

which are good for nothing.

¹¹ For as the shorts cling to the waist of a person,

so I have caused to cling to me the whole house of Israel

and the whole house of Judah,'"

says the LORD.

"so that they would have been a special people to me,

for my fame, honor, and glory.

But they would not listen."

¹² "Therefore you tell them this word: 'This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says, May every jar be filled with wine.' And they will reply, 'Obviously, do you think we don't know that every jar should be filled with wine?'

¹³ Then tell them, 'This is what the LORD says, Look, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land with drunkenness--the kings who sit on David's throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

¹⁴ I will slam them against each other, both the parents and the children,'" says the LORD. "I will not let pity, mercy, or compassion deter me from destroying them."

¹⁵ Listen and pay attention.

Do not be arrogant,

for the LORD has spoken.

¹⁶ Give glory to the LORD your God,

before he causes it to become dark,

and before your feet stumble on the darkening mountains.

While you look for light,

he will turn it into deep darkness and gloom.

¹⁷ But if you refuse to hear it,

my soul will weep in secret for your pride;

my eyes will weep bitterly with tears streaming,

because the LORD's flock will be taken into exile.

¹⁸ Tell the king and the queen-mother,

"Humble yourselves, take a lowly seat,

for your beautiful crowns will fall

from your heads."

¹⁹ The towns of the Negev will be locked down,

and no one will be able to open them.

All Judah will be carried away into exile,

it will be totally carried off into exile.

²⁰ Lift up your eyes, and see those who come from the north.

Where is the flock that was given to you, your beautiful flock?

²¹ What will you say, when the LORD sets as head over you

those whom you have enlisted to be your allies?

Will not sorrows take hold of you,

like those of a woman in labor?

²² Perhaps you will ask yourself,

'Why have these things happened to me?'

It is because of the greatness of your sin

that your skirts will be stripped off,

and your genitals violated.

²³ Can an Ethiopian change his skin,

or the leopard its spots?

How then can you do good,

who are so accustomed to doing evil?

²⁴ "I will scatter them,

like stubble that is blown away

by the desert wind.

²⁵ This is your lot,

the portion measured to you from me,"

says the LORD;

"because you have forgotten me,

and trusted in false idols.

²⁶ Therefore I will also pull your skirts up over your face,

and your shame will be exposed.

²⁷ I have seen your abominations,

your adulteries and your lustful pursuits,

your shameless prostitution on the hills of the fields.

Woe to you, O Jerusalem!

How long before you are made clean?"

DASV: Jeremiah 14

¹ The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought:

² "Judah mourns,

and her city gates languish.

They lie on the ground in grief;

a cry of distress goes up from Jerusalem.

³ Their nobles send their servants for water.

They come to the cisterns but find no water.

They return with their containers empty.

They are dismayed and humiliated,

and cover their heads.

⁴ Because the ground is cracked,

because there is no rain in the land,

the farmers also are dismayed,

and cover their heads.

⁵ Even the doe in the field forsakes her fawn

because there is no grass.

⁶ The wild donkeys stand on the bare hilltops,

they pant for breath like jackals;

their eyes fail because there is no vegetation.

⁷ Though our sins testify against us,

get involved for your name's sake, O LORD;

for our backslidings are many;

we have sinned against you.

⁸ O hope of Israel, its Savior in the time of trouble,

why are you like a stranger in the land?

Why are you like a traveler who turns in

for just one night?

⁹ Why should you be like a person startled,

like a mighty warrior who cannot save?

Yet you, O LORD, are in the midst of us,

and we are called by your name.

Do not abandon us."

¹⁰ This is what the LORD says to this people,

"Even still they love to go astray;

they have not refrained their feet.

Therefore the LORD does not accept them;

now he will remember their iniquity,

and punish their sins."

¹¹ The LORD said to me, "Do not pray for the welfare of this people.

¹² Even though they fast, I will not hear their cry; when they offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Instead I will consume them by the sword, famine, and pestilence."

¹³ Then I said, "Ah, sovereign LORD! The prophets tell them, 'You will not see the sword, or experience a famine; but I will give you a guarantee of peace in this place.'"

¹⁴ Then the LORD said to me, "The prophets prophesy lies in my name. I did not send them, nor have I commanded them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a phony vision, worthless revelations, and the deceptions of their own hearts.

¹⁵ Therefore this is what the LORD says concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name, who I have not sent, yet they say, 'Sword and famine will not come on this land.' Those prophets themselves will be consumed by sword and famine.

¹⁶ The people to whom they prophesy will be cast out into the streets of Jerusalem because of famine and the sword. They will have no one to bury them -- including their wives, their sons, and their daughters. I will pour their wickedness upon them.

¹⁷ Tell them this message,

'Let my eyes run down with tears night and day,

and let them not cease;

for the virgin daughter of my people

is broken with a great breach,

with a very grievous wound.

¹⁸ If I go out into the field, look, those slain by the sword!

If I enter into the city, look, those who are sick from famine!

For both the prophet and the priest go around in the land,

having no knowledge.'"

¹⁹ Have you completely rejected Judah?

Do you really detest Zion?

Why have you smitten us with no chance of healing?

We looked for peace, but no good came of it;

for a time of healing, but found only terror!

²⁰ We acknowledge, O LORD, our wickedness,

and the wrongs of our forefathers,

for we too have sinned against you.

²¹ Do not despise us, for your name's sake;

do not disgrace the throne of your glory.

Remember and do not break your covenant with us.

²² Can any among the worthless idols of the nations produce rain?

Can the heavens themselves give showers?

Is it not from you, O LORD our God?

Therefore we will hope in you,

because you do all these things.

DASV: Jeremiah 15

¹ Then the LORD said to me, "Even if Moses and Samuel stood before me, my heart would not turn toward this people. Get them out of my sight, and get them out of here.

² When they ask you, 'Where shall we go?' Then tell them, 'This is what the LORD says,

Those destined for death, to death;

those destined for the sword, to the sword;

those destined for the famine, to the famine;

and those destined for captivity, to captivity.'"

³ "I will appoint over them four kinds of destroyers," says the LORD, "the sword to kill, the dogs to drag away, and the birds of the sky and the wild animals of the earth to devour and to destroy.

⁴ I will make them an object of horror among all the kingdoms of the earth, because of what Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, did in Jerusalem.

⁵ For who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem?

Who will grieve for you?

Who will even turn to ask how you are doing?

⁶ You have rejected me," says the LORD,

"you have gone back on me.

Therefore I have stretched out my hand against you,

and destroyed you.

I am tired of giving you another chance.

⁷ I will winnow them with a winnowing fork in the gates of the land;

I will bereave them of their children,

I will destroy my people,

for they did not turn from their ways.

⁸ Their widows will be to me

more numerous than the sand of the seas.

I will bring against the mother of their young men

a destroyer at noon.

I will cause anguish and terrors to fall on them suddenly.

⁹ She who has borne seven will grow weak;

she will gasp for her last breath.

Her sun will go down while it is yet day;

she will be put to shame and disgrace.

Any survivors I will deliver to the sword

before their enemies," says the LORD.

¹⁰ Woe is me, my mother, that you ever gave me birth,

a man of strife and a man arguing with the whole earth!

I have not lent to anyone,

nor have I borrowed from anyone;

yet all of them curse me.

¹¹ The LORD said,

"Surely I will keep you free for good;

surely I will cause the enemy to plead with you

in the time of disaster and affliction.

¹² Can one break iron,

especially iron from the north or bronze?

¹³ Your substance and your treasures I will give for plunder,

free of charge for all your sins,

even in all your territory.

¹⁴ I will make you serve your enemies in a land

that you do not know,

for a fire is kindled in my anger that will burn against you."

¹⁵ O LORD, you know my situation;

remember me and visit me.

Avenge me on those who have persecuted me.

Do not take me away in light of your patience.

Know that for your sake I have suffered insults.

¹⁶ When your words were found, I ate them;

they were my joy

and the delight of my heart,

for I am called by your name, O LORD, God of hosts.

¹⁷ I did not sit in the company partiers, and laugh;

I sat alone because of your hand;

you have filled me with indignation.

¹⁸ Why is my pain perpetual,

and my wound incurable,

unable to be healed?

You are like a deceitful brook to me,

like springs that have dried up.

¹⁹ Therefore this is what the LORD says,

"If you return, then I will bring you back again

so that you may stand before me.

If you speak what is valuable and not what is worthless,

you will be like my mouth.

They will turn to you,

but you should not turn to them.

²⁰ I will make you to this people like a fortified bronze wall;

they will fight against you,

but they will not prevail against you,

for I am with you to save and rescue you," says the LORD.

²¹ "I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked,

and I will redeem you out of the grip of the ruthless."

DASV: Jeremiah 16

¹ The word of the LORD came to me, saying,

² "Do not get married and do not have sons or daughters in this place."

³ For this is what the LORD says concerning the sons and daughters that have been born in this place, and concerning their mothers who bore them, and their fathers that fathered them in this land:

⁴ "They will die of deadly diseases. No one will grieve for them. They will not be buried but will be like manure spread on the surface of the ground. They will be consumed by the sword and famine. Their dead bodies will be food for the birds of the sky and for the wild animals of the earth."

⁵ For this is what the LORD says, "Do not enter the house of mourning, or go to lament, or grieve for them, for I have taken away my peace from this people," says the LORD, "even my loyal love and compassion.

⁶ Both great and small will die in this land. They will not be buried. No one will lament for them or cut themselves for them, or shave their heads for them.

⁷ No one will bring food to those who are in mourning in order to comfort them for the dead. No one will give them the cup to drink in order to console them for the loss of their father or mother."

⁸ "You will not enter the house of feasting to sit with them, or to eat and drink."

⁹ For this is what the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel says, "Before your eyes and in your lifetime, I will eliminate from this place the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of the bride and bridegroom.

¹⁰ When you will show this people all these words, they will ask you, 'Why has the LORD pronounced all this great disaster against us? What have we done wrong? What sin have we committed against the LORD our God?'

¹¹ Then tell them, 'Because your fathers have forsaken me,' says the LORD, 'and have followed after other gods, and have served and worshipped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law.

¹² You have done more evil than your forefathers did. Each one of you walks after the stubbornness of your own evil heart, refusing to listen to me.

¹³ Therefore I will throw you out of this land into the land that neither you nor your forefathers have known. There you will serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor.'"

¹⁴ "Therefore, the days are coming," says the LORD, "that it will no longer be said, 'As the LORD lives, who brought up the Israelites out of the land of Egypt;'

¹⁵ but rather, 'As the LORD lives, who brought up the Israelites from the land of the north, and from all the countries to which he had exiled them.' For I will bring them back again into their land that I gave to their forefathers."

¹⁶ "I will send for many fishermen," says the LORD, "and they will catch them. Then after that I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down from every mountain and hill, and out of the caves in the rocks.

¹⁷ For my eyes are on all their ways. They are not hid from my face, and their sin is not concealed from my eyes.

¹⁸ First I will repay double their iniquity and sin, because they have polluted my land with the carcasses of their detestable idols, and have filled my inheritance with their abominations."

¹⁹ O LORD, my strength, and my stronghold,

my refuge in the day of trouble,

to you the nations will come

from the ends of the earth, and confess,

"Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies,

worthless idols which were of no use at all.

²⁰ Will humans make for themselves gods?

These are not really gods at all?"

²¹ "Therefore, I will have them know,

this time I will make them realize my hand and my might.

Then they will acknowledge that my name is the LORD."

DASV: Jeremiah 17

¹ "The sin of Judah is written with an iron implement,

and inscribed with the point of a diamond

on the tablet of their heart,

and on the horns of their altars.

² Even their children think about their altars

and their Asherim

by the green trees on the high hills,

³ on the mountains and in the open fields.

I will give your wealth and all your treasures for plunder,

including your high places,

because of the sin that permeates all your territory.

⁴ You yourself will lose your heritage that I gave you;

I will cause you to serve your enemies

in a land that you do not know.

For you have kindled a fire in my anger

that will burn forever.

⁵ This is what the LORD says:

"Cursed is the one who trusts in human beings,

and makes human flesh his strength,

and whose heart turns away from the LORD.

⁶ For he will be like a bush in the desert,

and will not see good even when it comes,

but will inhabit parched places in the desert,

an uninhabited salt land.

⁷ Blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD,

and whose confidence is the LORD.

⁸ That one will be like a tree planted by the waters,

that spreads out its roots by the river.

It will not fear when heat comes,

but its leaf will remain green.

It will not be concerned in the year of drought;

it will not fail to produce fruit.

⁹ The heart is deceitful above all things,

and incurably sick.

Who can understand it?

¹⁰ I, the LORD, search the mind,

and test the heart,

to give everyone according to their ways,

according to the fruit of their actions.

¹¹ As the partridge that sits on eggs she did not lay,

so is one who gets riches unjustly.

In mid-life they will desert him,

and at the end of his life he will be a fool."

¹² A glorious throne,

set on high from the beginning,

so is the place of our sanctuary.

¹³ O LORD, the hope of Israel,

all who forsake you will be put to shame.

They who depart from you will be recorded in the dust,

because they have forsaken the LORD,

the fountain of living water.

¹⁴ Heal me, O LORD, and I will be healed;

save me, and I will be saved,

for you are my praise.

¹⁵ See how they say to me,

"Where is the word of the LORD?

Let it happen now."

¹⁶ As for me, I have not hurried away from being your shepherd;

neither have I desired the day of disaster.

You know everything that came from my lips,

it was before your face.

¹⁷ Do not be a terror to me;

you are my refuge in the day of disaster.

¹⁸ Let them be put to shame who persecute me,

but may I not be put to shame.

Let them be dismayed,

but may I not be dismayed.

Bring on them the day of disaster,

and destroy them with double destruction.

¹⁹ This is what the LORD said to me: "Go, and stand in the gate of the people, by which the kings of Judah enter and leave, and in all the gates of Jerusalem.

²⁰ Tell them, 'Hear the word of the LORD, you kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who enter by these gates.

²¹ This is what the LORD says, 'Be careful not to carry a load of goods on the Sabbath day or bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem.

²² Do not carry a load of goods out of your houses on the Sabbath or do any work. But keep the Sabbath holy, as I commanded your forefathers.

²³ But they did not listen or pay attention, but became stiff necked, and refused to listen, or receive instruction.

²⁴ If you listen carefully to me," says the LORD, "and do not bring any load of goods through the gates of this city on the Sabbath, but keep the Sabbath holy, by not doing any work on it;

²⁵ then kings and princes sitting on the throne of David will enter in by the gates of this city, riding in chariots and on horses--they, their officials, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. This city will remain forever.

²⁶ They will come from the towns of Judah and places around Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin, and from the Shephelah western foothills and the hill-country, and from the Negev, bringing burnt offerings, sacrifices, grain offerings, frankincense, and thank offerings to the house of the LORD.

²⁷ But if you will not listen to me to keep the Sabbath holy, and not carry loads of goods entering at the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath, then I will kindle a fire in its gates and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem and it will not be extinguished."

DASV: Jeremiah 18

¹ The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

² "Get up and go down to the potter's house, and I will tell you my message there."

³ So I went down to the potter's house, where he was working at his wheel.

⁴ When the pot that he was molding was spoiled in the hand of the potter, he reworked it into another pot, that was more to the potter's liking.

⁵ Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

⁶ "O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter did?" says the LORD. "Just like the clay in the potter's hand, so you are in my hand, O house of Israel.

⁷ Sometimes I may announce concerning a nation or a kingdom, to uproot, tear down or destroy it.

⁸ But if that nation, concerning which I have announced, turns from their evil, I will change my mind about the disaster that I was intending to do to it.

⁹ Sometimes I may announce concerning a nation or kingdom, to build and plant it.

¹⁰ But if they do what is evil in my sight, refusing to obey my voice, then I will change my mind about the good I was intending to do to it.

¹¹ Now tell the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, 'This is what the LORD says:
I am preparing a disaster against you,

and devising a plan against you.

So turn now everyone from his evil way,

and improve your ways and your actions.'

¹² But they will say, 'It is useless; for we want to follow our own plans, and each of us will act according to the stubbornness of our own evil hearts.'"

¹³ Therefore this is what the LORD says:

"Ask now among the nations:

Who has ever heard of such a thing?

The virgin of Israel has done a horrendous thing.

¹⁴ Does snow ever totally disappear from the rocky slopes of Lebanon?

Do the cold waters that flow down from those distant mountains

ever dry up?

¹⁵ But my people have forgotten me,

they have burned incense to false gods;

they have been made to stumble in their ways,

in the ancient roads,

to walk in paths on trails that are not even built.

¹⁶ Their land will become desolate,

a thing resulting in perpetual scornful hissing;

everyone who passes by will be astounded

and shake their head in disgust.

¹⁷ I will scatter them before their enemy like an east wind;

I will show them my back and not my face,

in the day of their calamity."

¹⁸ Then they replied, "Come, and let us devise plots against Jeremiah; for the law will not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us bring charges against him, and let us ignore all of his words."

¹⁹ Pay attention to me, O LORD,

and listen to the voice of those who contend with me.

²⁰ Will evil be repaid for good?

Yet they have dug a pit for my life.

Remember how I stood before you pleading on their behalf,

to turn your wrath away from them.

²¹ Therefore give their children up to famine;

turn them over to be cut down by the sword.

Let their wives become childless and widows;

let their adults die from the plague,

and their young men be killed by the sword in battle.

²² Let screams be heard from their houses

when you bring raiders suddenly upon them,

for they have dug a pit to trap me

and hid snares for my feet.

²³ Yet, you know, O LORD, all their plots to kill me.

Do not forgive their iniquity,

or blot out their sin from your sight;

let them be overthrown before you.

Deal with them while you are angry.

DASV: Jeremiah 20

¹ Now Pashhur, the son of Immer the priest, who was chief officer in the house of the LORD, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things.

² Then Pashhur beat Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were at the upper Benjamin Gate, which was in the house of the LORD.

³ The next day when Pashhur released Jeremiah out of the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, "The LORD has not called you 'Pashhur,' but 'Terror on every side.'

⁴ For this is what the LORD says, 'I will make you a terror to yourself, and to all your friends. They will fall by the sword of their enemies and your eyes will see it. I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will carry them captive to Babylon or kill them with the sword.

⁵ I will give all the wealth of this city, all its produce and all its precious jewels, yes, all the treasures of the kings of Judah into the hand of their enemies. They will seize it as plunder and carry it off with them to Babylon.

⁶ You, Pashhur, and all who live in your house will go into exile to Babylon. There you will die, and there you will be buried, you and all your friends to whom you have prophesied falsely."

⁷ O LORD, you have intimidated me,

and I was intimidated,

for you are stronger than I am,

and you have prevailed.

I have become a laughingstock all the day;

everyone mocks me.

⁸ For whenever I speak, I have to cry out;

I have to proclaim, "Violence and destruction!"

The word of the LORD has made me

an object of insult and derision all the day long.

⁹ If I say, "I will not make mention of him,

or speak any more in his name,"

then his word becomes in my heart

like a burning fire locked up in my bones.

I am exhausted trying to hold it in;

truly, I cannot contain it.

¹⁰ For I have heard the slanderous whispering of many,

"Terror on every side,

denounce him,

let us denounce him,"

so say all my close friends.

They expectantly hope for my downfall, saying,

"Perhaps he can be trapped,

and we can prevail against him,

then we can get our revenge on him."

¹¹ But the LORD is with me as a dreaded warrior;

therefore my persecutors will stumble,

and they will not prevail.

They will be put to absolute shame,

because they did not succeed;

an everlasting dishonor

that will never be forgotten.

¹² But, O LORD of hosts, you test the righteous,

you see into the heart and mind.

Let me see your vengeance on them;

for to you I have committed my cause.

¹³ Sing to the LORD, praise the LORD;

he has rescued the life of the needy

from the hand of evildoers.

¹⁴ Cursed be the day on which I was born;

let not the day when my mother bore me be blessed.

¹⁵ Cursed be the man who announced to my father,

"It's a baby boy,"

making him very glad.

¹⁶ Let that man be like the cities that the LORD overthrew

without mercy.

Let him hear a cry in the morning,

and battle cry at noon,

¹⁷ because he did not kill me in the womb;

and so my mother would have been my grave,

and her womb pregnant forever.

¹⁸ Why did I come out of the womb

just to see toil and sorrow,

and spend my days in shame?

DASV: Jeremiah 22

¹ This is what the LORD says: "Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak this word there,

² say: Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, who sits on the throne of David-- you, your servants, and your people who enter by these gates.

³ This is what the LORD says:

Execute justice and righteousness.

Deliver those who are robbed from their oppressors.

Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, fatherless, or the widow,

or shed innocent blood in this place.

⁴ For if you do this then there will enter through the gates of this house kings sitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses,--he, his servants, and his people.

⁵ But if you refuse to obey these words, I swear by myself, says the LORD, that this house will become a heap of rubble."

⁶ For this is what the LORD says concerning the house of the king of Judah:

"You are like Gilead to me,

and the heights of Lebanon;

yet I swear I will make you a desert,

whose towns are uninhabited.

⁷ I will prepare destroyers against you,

everyone with his weapons;

they will cut down your choice cedars,

and throw them into the fire."

⁸ Many nations will pass by this city, and they will ask each other, "Why has the LORD done this to this great city?"

⁹ Then they will reply, "Because they forsook the covenant of the LORD their God, and worshipped other gods, and served them."

¹⁰ Do not weep for the dead king,

neither grieve for him;

but weep bitterly for the one who goes away;

for that one will never return,

or ever see his native country again.

¹¹ For this is what the LORD says concerning Shallum [Jehoahaz] the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, and who was exiled from this place: "He will never return here.

¹² But in the place where they have led him captive, there he will die, and he will never see this land again."

¹³ "Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness,

and his upper rooms by injustice,

who uses forced labor,

and gives his workers no wages for their labor.

¹⁴ Who brags, 'I will build a large palace

with spacious upper rooms.

He cuts out windows and panels it with cedar,

and paints it red.

¹⁵ Were you made king, because you have the most cedar?

Did not your father have enough to eat and drink?

Yet he did what was just and right.

That is why it went well for him.

¹⁶ He judged the cause of the poor and needy,

then it was well.

Is not this what it is to know me? says the LORD.

¹⁷ But your eyes and your heart only think about dishonest gain,

shedding innocent blood,

imposing oppression and committing violence."

¹⁸ Therefore this is what the LORD says concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:

"They will not lament for him, saying,

'Too bad for my brother!'

or, 'Too bad for my sister!'

They will not lament for him, saying,

'Too bad for my lord!'

or, 'Too bad for his majesty!'

¹⁹ He will be buried with the burial of a donkey,

dragged off and dumped outside the gates of Jerusalem.

²⁰ Go up to Lebanon, and cry;

lift up your voice in Bashan,

and cry from Abarim,

for all your lovers are crushed.

²¹ I warned you in your prosperity,

but you said, 'I will not listen.'

This has been your response from your youth,

for you have not obeyed my voice.

²² The wind will feed all your shepherds,

and your lovers will go into exile.

Surely then you will be ashamed

and humiliated from all your wickedness.

²³ O inhabitant of Lebanon,

who makes your nest in the cedars,

how greatly you will groan

when the pains of punishment come on you,

pain like a woman in labor!"

²⁴ "As I live," swears the LORD, "even if Jehoiachin the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet ring on my right hand, I would pull you off from there.

²⁵ I will give you into the hand of those who seek your life, and into the hand of those you are afraid of, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.

²⁶ I will throw you and your mother who bore you out into another country, where you were not born and there you will die.

²⁷ But you will never return to the land which you long for."

²⁸ Is this man Jehoiachin a despised broken pot?

Is he a pot no one wants?

Why are he and his descendants thrown out,

cast into the land that they do not know?

²⁹ O land, land, land,

hear the word of the LORD:

³⁰ This is what the LORD says:

"Record this man childless,

a man who will not be successful in his lifetime;

for none of his descendants will succeed

in sitting on the throne of David,

or rule over Judah."

DASV: Jeremiah 23

¹ "Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!" says the LORD.

² Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says against the shepherds that rule my people: "You have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not taken care of them. So I will take care of you for your evil actions," says the LORD.

³ "I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and will bring them back again to their folds. There they will be fruitful and multiply.

⁴ I will set up shepherds over them, who will take care of them; they will not be afraid anymore or terrified. None of them will be missing," says the LORD.

⁵ "The days are coming," says the LORD,

"that I will raise up for David a righteous Branch,

and he will reign as king

and will act with wisdom,

justice and righteousness in the land.

⁶ In his days Judah will be saved,

and Israel will dwell in safety;

and this is his name by which he will be called:

'The LORD is our righteousness.'"

⁷ "So, look, the days are coming," says the LORD, "that they will no more say, 'As the LORD lives, who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt.'

⁸ But instead, 'As the LORD lives, who brought up and who led the descendants of the house of Israel out of the land of the north, and from all the countries where he had exiled them. Then they will live in their own land.'"

⁹ "Concerning the prophets:

My heart is broken within me,

all my bones shake;

I am like a drunken person,

and like a person overcome with wine,

because of the LORD,

and because of his holy words.

¹⁰ For the land is full of adulterers;

for because of the curse the land mourns;

the pastures of the wilderness are dried up.

For the course on which they run is evil,

and they use their power abusively;

¹¹ for both prophet and priest are ungodly;

even in my house I have found their wickedness,"

says the LORD.

¹² "Therefore their paths will be like slippery places

in the darkness.

They will be chased and fall there.

For I will bring disaster on them,

even in the year of their punishment," says the LORD.

¹³ "I have seen something disgusting among the prophets of Samaria:

They prophesied by Baal,

and led my people Israel astray.

¹⁴ Among the prophets of Jerusalem also I have seen something horrible:

They commit adultery and walk in lies;

they strengthen the hands of evildoers,

so that no one turns from his wickedness.

They have all become like Sodom to me,

and its inhabitants like Gomorrah."

¹⁵ Therefore this is what the LORD of hosts says concerning the prophets:

"I will feed them with bitterness,

and make them drink poison.

For it is from the prophets of Jerusalem that ungodliness

has spread through the entire land."

¹⁶ This is what the LORD of hosts says,

"Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you.

They fill you with empty delusions.

They speak visions from their own heart,

and not from the mouth of the LORD.

¹⁷ They say continually to those who despise me,

'The LORD has said, You will have peace.'

To everyone who follows their own stubborn heart, they say,

'No harm will happen to you.'

¹⁸ For who has stood in the council of the LORD

that he should perceive and hear his word?

Who has paid attention to my word and listened to it?

¹⁹ Look, the LORD's wrath will sweep in like a storm.

Like a raging tempest it will swirl down on the head of the wicked.

²⁰ The anger of the LORD will not turn back

until he has executed

and performed the purposes of his heart.

In the latter days you will understand it clearly.

²¹ I did not send these prophets,

yet they ran around claiming to have a message.

I did not speak to them,

yet they prophesied.

²² But if they had stood in my council,

then they would have proclaimed my words to my people,

and they would have turned them from their evil way

and from their evil actions."

²³ "Am I only a God nearby," says the LORD,

"and not also a God afar away?"

²⁴ "Can anyone hide in secret places

so that I will not see him?" says the LORD.

"Do I not fill heaven and earth?" says the LORD.

²⁵ "I have heard what the prophets have said, who prophesy lies in my name, claiming, 'I have dreamed, I have dreamed.'

²⁶ How long will this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies, who prophesy the fantasies of their own minds?

²⁷ They intend to make my people forget my name by their dreams which they tell each other, just as when their forefathers forgot my name because of Baal.

²⁸ The prophet that has a dream, let him tell a dream. Let the one who has my word, speak my word faithfully. What does straw have in common with wheat?" says the LORD.

²⁹ "Is not my word like fire?" says the LORD, "and like a hammer that smashes a rock in pieces?"

³⁰ "Therefore, I am against the prophets," says the LORD, "who steal my words from each other."
³¹ "I am against the prophets," says the LORD, "who use their tongues, and claim, 'The LORD says.'

³² I am against those who prophesy lying dreams," says the LORD, "and report them, and lead my people to astray by their lies and recklessness. Yet I did not send them, or commission them, so they are of no benefit to this people at all," says the LORD.

³³ When this people, prophet, or priest, asks you, "What is the burden message of the LORD?" Then tell them, "You are the burden and I will cast you off, says the LORD."

³⁴ As for the prophet, priest, or people, who says, "The burden message of the LORD," I will punish that person and their family.

³⁵ This is what each of you shall ask their neighbor and relative, "What did the LORD answer?" and, "What did the LORD say?"

³⁶ Stop mentioning "the burden message of the LORD," for every one's own word is what he is claiming is his burden. This is how you have perverted the words of the living God, of the LORD of hosts, our God.

³⁷ This is what you will say to the prophet, "What did the LORD answer you?" and, "What did the LORD say?"

³⁸ But if you claim, "The burden message of the LORD." This is what the LORD actually says: "You say this phrase, 'The burden message of the LORD,' even though I told you, "You should not say, 'The burden of the LORD.'

³⁹ Therefore, I will absolutely forget you and I will cast you from my presence, including the city that I gave to you and your forefathers.

⁴⁰ I will bring everlasting disgrace on you and perpetual shame, which will never be forgotten."

DASV: Jeremiah 25

¹ The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah. It was the same as the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.

² Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying:

³ "For twenty-three years, from the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah to this day, the word of the LORD has come to me. I have spoken to you repeatedly, but you have not listened.

⁴ Even though the LORD repeatedly sent to you all his servants the prophets, you have still not listened or paid attention.

⁵ They said, 'Turn now everyone from his evil way, from the evil actions, and dwell in the land that the LORD has given to you and to your forefathers forever and forever.

⁶ Do not go after other gods to serve or worship them, and do not provoke me to anger with the work of your hands, then I will do you no harm.'"

⁷ "Yet you have not listened to me," says the LORD, "you have provoked me to anger with the work of your hands to your own harm."

⁸ Therefore, this is what the LORD of hosts says: "Because you have not listened to my words,

⁹ I will send and gather all the tribes of the north, says the LORD, led by Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land, and against its inhabitants, and against all the surrounding nations. I will utterly destroy them and make them an object of horror, a hissing ridicule, and a perpetual ruin.

¹⁰ Moreover I will remove from them the voice of laughter and gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the bride, the sound of the millstones and the night lights of the lamps in their homes.

¹¹ This whole land will become a desolate wasteland and these nations will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years.

¹² When seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, because of their iniquity," says the LORD, "I will make the land of the Chaldeans desolate forever.

¹³ I will bring on that land all my words that I have pronounced against it, everything that is written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations.

¹⁴ For many nations and great kings will enslave them, and I will repay them according to their deeds and according to the work of their hands."

¹⁵ For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says to me: "Take this cup of the wine of wrath from my hand and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it.

¹⁶ They will drink, stagger, and then go crazy, because of the sword that I will send among them."

¹⁷ So I took the cup at the LORD's hand, and made all the nations to whom the LORD had sent me drink it:

¹⁸ Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and its kings and officials, to make them a desolation, an object of horror, a hissing ridicule, and a curse, as it is this day;

¹⁹ Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants and officials and all his people;

²⁰ along with all the foreigners there, and all the kings of the land of Uz; and all the kings of the Philistines, that is, Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod;

²¹ Edom, Moab, and the Ammonites;

²² as well as all the kings of Tyre and Sidon, and the kings of the coastland which is across the sea;

²³ Dedan, Tema, and Buz, and all those who are in distant regions;

²⁴ all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the various groups that live in the desert;

²⁵ and all the kings of Zimri, Elam, and Media;

²⁶ and all the kings of the north, far and near, one after another; in short, all the kingdoms of the world that are upon the face of the earth. Finally, even the king of Sheshach will drink.

²⁷ "You will say to them, 'This is what the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel says: Drink, get drunk, and vomit, then fall and rise no more, because of the sword that I will send among you.'

²⁸ But if they refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, then you will say to them, 'This is what the LORD of hosts says: You have to drink it.

²⁹ For, look, I am beginning to bring disaster on the city that is called by my name. How then can you avoid being punished? You will not be unpunished; for I will call for a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth,'" says the LORD of hosts.

³⁰ Therefore prophesy against them all these words, and say to them,

"The LORD will roar from on high,

and utter his voice from his holy habitation;

he will roar mightily against his fold;

he will give a shout,

as they that tread grapes,

against all the inhabitants of the earth.

³¹ A clamor will resound to the ends of the earth;

for the LORD has a controversy with the nations.

He will enter into judgment with all flesh;

as for the wicked, he will give them to the sword," says the LORD.

³² This is what the LORD of hosts says,

"Look, disaster will spread from nation to nation,

and a tremendous storm will arise from the distant regions of the earth."

³³ Those slain by the LORD on that day will be from one end of the earth to the other. They will not be grieved over, or gathered, or buried. They will be like manure spread on the face of the ground.

³⁴ Wail, you shepherds, and cry;

wallow in ashes, you leaders of the flock;

for the days of your slaughter have fully come

and you will fall like precious pottery.

³⁵ The shepherds will have nowhere to flee to,

or the leaders of the flock to escape to.

³⁶ A voice of the cry of the shepherds,

and the wailing of the leaders of the flock,

for the LORD is laying waste their pasture.

³⁷ The peaceable dwellings will be laid waste

because of the fierce anger of the LORD.

³⁸ Like a lion he has come out of his lair;

for their land is become a wasteland,

because of the fierceness of the oppressor's sword,

and because of his fierce anger.

DASV: Jeremiah 26

¹ In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came from the LORD, saying,

² "This is what the LORD says: 'Stand in the court of the LORD's house, and speak to all the cities of Judah, that come to worship in the LORD's house, all the words that I command you to speak to them. Do not miss a single word.

³ It may be they will listen, and each one turn from his evil way; then I may change my mind about the disaster that I planned to do to them because of the evil they have been doing.'

⁴ You will say to them, 'This is what the LORD says: If you will not listen to me, to walk in my law, that I have set before you,

⁵ to pay attention to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I have repeatedly sent to you--but you have not listened to them--

⁶ then I will make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city to be used by all the nations of the earth as a curse.'"

⁷ Then the priests, prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the LORD.

⁸ When Jeremiah finished speaking all that the LORD had commanded him to all the people, the priests, prophets then all the people seized him, saying, "You should surely die.

⁹ Why have you prophesied in the name of the LORD, saying,

'This house will be like Shiloh,

and this city shall be desolate, without inhabitant'?"

So all the people were gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the LORD.

¹⁰ When the princes of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king's house to the house of the LORD; and they sat in the entry of the New Gate of the LORD's house.

¹¹ Then the priests and the prophets spoke to the officials and to all the people, saying, "This man deserves to die! For he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your own ears."

¹² Then Jeremiah spoke to all the officials and to all the people, saying, "The LORD sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that you have heard.

¹³ Now therefore improve your ways and actions, and obey the voice of the LORD your God; and the LORD will change his mind about the disaster that he has pronounced against you.

¹⁴ But as for me, I am in your hand; do with me what seems good and right in your eyes.

¹⁵ Only know for certain that if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood on yourselves, this city, and on its inhabitants; for, in fact, the LORD has sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears."

¹⁶ Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and prophets: "This man does not deserve to die, for he has spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God."

¹⁷ Then there arose some of the elders of the land, and spoke to all the assembly of the people, saying,

¹⁸ "Micah the Morashtite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah. He spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, 'This is what the LORD of hosts says:

Zion will be plowed like a field,

Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins,

and the Temple Mount like a hill overgrown with brush.'

¹⁹ Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him to death? Did he not fear the LORD, and entreat the favor of the LORD, and the LORD changed his mind about the disaster that he had announced against them? So should we commit this great harm against ourselves."
²⁰ Now there was also a man who prophesied in the name of the LORD, Uriah the son of Shemaiah from Kiriath-jearim. He prophesied against this city and against this land using the same words that Jeremiah has used.

²¹ When King Jehoiakim with all his mighty warriors, and all the officials, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death. But when Uriah heard it, he was afraid, fled, and went to Egypt.

²² King Jehoiakim sent men to Egypt, namely, Elnathan the son of Achbor, and some men with him to Egypt.

²³ They brought back Uriah out of Egypt, and presented him to King Jehoiakim, who killed him with the sword, and threw his corpse into the burial place of the common people.

²⁴ But Ahikam the son of Shaphan helped Jeremiah, so that they would not give him into the hand of the people in order to put him to death.

DASV: Jeremiah 27

¹ In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

² "This is what the LORD said to me: Make a yoke of leather straps and wooden crossbars, and put them on your neck.

³ Send word to the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammonites, Tyre, and Sidon, by the hand of the messengers who come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah.

⁴ Give them a message for their masters, saying, 'This is what the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says, This is what you will tell your masters:

⁵ I have made the earth, people and animals that are on the face of the earth, by my great power and by my outstretched arm, and I give it to whomever I want.

⁶ Now I have given all these lands to the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; as well as the wild animals of the field to serve him.

⁷ All the nations will serve him, his son, and his grandson, until the time of his own land comes to an end. Then many nations and great kings will make him their slave.

⁸ The nation and the kingdom which will not serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish that nation, says the LORD, with the sword, famine, and plague, until I have consumed them by his hand.

⁹ But as for you, do not listen to your prophets, diviners, dreams, soothsayers, or your sorcerers, that speak to you, saying, 'You will not serve the king of Babylon.'

¹⁰ For they prophesy lies to you, that will result in removing you far from your land, so that I should drive you out and you will perish.
¹¹ But the nation that will bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will allow to remain in their own land," says the LORD, "and they will farm it and live there."

¹² I told King Zedekiah of Judah all these same words, saying, "Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him and his people and live.

¹³ Why would you want to die, you and your people, by the sword, famine, and plague, as the LORD has spoken concerning the nation that refuses to serve the king of Babylon?

¹⁴ Do not listen to the words of the prophets who claim, 'You will not serve the king of Babylon,' for they are prophesying a lie to you.

¹⁵ 'For I have not sent them,' says the LORD, 'but they are prophesying lies in my name; resulting in my driving you out and you will perish, both you and the prophets who are prophesying to you.'"

¹⁶ I also spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying, "This is what the LORD says: Do not listen to the words of your prophets who prophesy to you, saying, 'Look, the sacred vessels of the LORD's house will be brought back again from Babylon soon,' for they are prophesying a lie to you.

¹⁷ Do not listen to them, rather serve the king of Babylon and live. Why should this city become a ruin?

¹⁸ But if they are prophets, and if the word of the LORD is with them, let them now make intercession to the LORD of hosts, that the sacred vessels that are left in the house of the LORD, and in the house of the king of Judah and at Jerusalem not go to Babylon.

¹⁹ For this is what the LORD of hosts says concerning the pillars, bronze sea, bases, and all the rest of the sacred vessels that are left in this city,

²⁰ which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take, when he exiled Jehoiachin the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah from Jerusalem to Babylon, along with all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem.

²¹ Yes, this is what the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says, concerning the sacred vessels that are left in the house of the LORD, and in the house of the king of Judah and at Jerusalem:

²² 'They will be carried to Babylon. They will stay there, until the day that I punish them,' says the LORD, 'then will I bring them back, and restore them to this place.'"

DASV: Jeremiah 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 priests, prophets, and all the people, Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon.

² This was after Jehoiachin the king, the queen mother, eunuchs, officials of Judah and Jerusalem, craftsmen, and metal workers had been deported from Jerusalem.

³ The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah had sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. The letter said:

⁴ "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says to all the exiles, whom I had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon:

⁵ Build houses,

and live in them;

plant gardens,

and eat their produce.

⁶ Take wives,

and have sons and daughters;

take wives for your sons,

and give your daughters to husbands,

that they may have sons and daughters;

multiply there,

and do not decrease.

⁷ Seek the welfare of the city

where I have had you carried away as exiles,

and pray to the LORD for it;

for when it prospers,

you also will prosper."

⁸ For this is what the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel says: "Let not your prophets and diviners that are in your midst, deceive you; do not listen to the dreams you are prompting them to dream.

⁹ They prophesy falsely to you in my name. I have not sent them," says the LORD.

¹⁰ For this is what the LORD says, "After seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and fulfill my promise to you by bringing you back to this place.

¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you," says the LORD, "plans to prosper you, and not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope.

¹² You will call on me and you will come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.

¹³ You will seek me and find me, when you search for me with all your heart.

¹⁴ Then I will be found by you," says the LORD, "and I will restore your fortunes and regather you from all the nations, and from all the places I have exiled you," says the LORD; "and I will bring you back to the place from where I exiled you into captivity."

¹⁵ Because you claim, "The LORD has raised up prophets in Babylon for us."

¹⁶ This is what the LORD says concerning the king who sits on the throne of David, and all the people that live in this city, your relatives who have not gone with you into exile:

¹⁷ "This is what the LORD of hosts says, "I will send on them the sword, famine, and plague, and will make them like rotten figs, that are so bad they cannot be eaten.

¹⁸ I will pursue after them with the sword, famine, and plague, and I will make the kingdoms of the earth appalled at what happens to them. They will be used when people want to curse others, a terror, an object of ridicule hissing and contempt among all the nations where I have driven them.

¹⁹ For they have not listened to my words," says the LORD, "when I repeatedly sent to them my servants the prophets, but you would not listen," says the LORD.

²⁰ So listen to the word of the LORD, all you exiles whom I have deported from Jerusalem to Babylon.

²¹ This is what the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel says concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who prophesy a lie to you in my name: "I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; he will kill them before your eyes.

²² Their situation will be taken up as a curse by all the exiles of Judah who are in Babylon, saying, 'May the LORD make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire.'

²³ For they have preformed folly in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbors' wives, and have spoken lies in my name, which I never ordered them to say. I am aware of what they have done and am a witness to it," says the LORD.

²⁴ Now tell Shemaiah the Nehelamite,

²⁵ "This is what the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel says, You have sent letters in your own name to all the people who are in Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, and to all the priests, saying,

²⁶ 'The LORD has made you priest instead of Jehoiada the priest, so that there may be officers in the house of the LORD, so that anyone who acts crazy and pretends to be a prophet you should put in the stocks with an iron neck-collar.'

²⁷ Now therefore, why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth, who pretends to be your prophet?

²⁸ He has sent a message to us in Babylon, saying, 'The exile will last a long time.

Build houses,

and live in them;

plant gardens,

and eat their produce.'"

²⁹ Zephaniah the priest read this letter to Jeremiah the prophet.

³⁰ Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying,

³¹ Send to all the exiles, saying, "This is what the LORD says concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite. Since Shemaiah has prophesied to you, and I did not send him, and he has caused you to trust in a lie,

³² therefore this is what the LORD says, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite, and his descendants. None of his descendants will live among this people, nor will he see the good that I will do to my people," says the LORD, "because he has spoken rebellion against the LORD."

DASV: Jeremiah 30

¹ The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

² "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel says, 'Write all the words that I have spoken to you in a book.

³ For the days are coming,' says the LORD, 'that I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel and Judah,' says the LORD. 'I will bring them back to the land that I gave to their forefathers and they will possess it.'"

⁴ These are the words that the LORD spoke concerning Israel and Judah.

⁵ For this is what the LORD says:

"We have heard cries of terror,

fear, and not peace.

⁶ Ask now, and see:

Can a man give birth to a child?

Why do I see every man with his hands holding his stomach,

like a woman in labor,

and all faces have turned pale?

⁷ Alas, that day is so great that there has never been one like it.

It is the time of Jacob's trouble;

but he will be saved out of it."

⁸ "In that day," says the LORD of hosts,

"I will break the oppressor's yoke from off your neck,

and will snap your bonds.

Foreigners will no more make him their slave.

⁹ But they will serve the LORD their God,

and David their king,

whom I will raise up for them."

¹⁰ "Therefore do not be afraid, O Jacob my servant,"

says the LORD,

"do not be dismayed, O Israel,

for I will save you from a land far off,

and your seed from the land of their exile;

and Jacob will return,

and will enjoy peace and quiet,

and no one will make him afraid.

¹¹ For I am with you," says the LORD,

"to save you,

for I will totally destroy all the nations

where I have scattered you,

but I will not totally destroy you;

but I will discipline you with due measure,

and will in no way allow you to go unpunished."

¹² For this is what the LORD says,

"Your wound is incurable,

and your injury is severe.

¹³ There is no one to plead your cause,

no cure for your wound,

no healing for you.

¹⁴ All your lovers have forgotten you;

they do not care about you.

I have wounded you like an enemy would,

with the punishment of a cruel foe,

because your iniquity is great,

because your sins are so numerous.

¹⁵ Why do you cry about your injuries?

Your pain is incurable,

because your iniquity is great,

because your sins are so numerous,

I have done these things to you.

¹⁶ Therefore all those who devour you will be devoured.

All your adversaries, every last one of them,

will go into exile.

They who have plundered you will be plundered,

and all who prey on you I will give up for prey.

¹⁷ For I will restore your health,

and I will heal your wounds, says the LORD;

because they have called you an outcast,

mocking, 'It is Zion, whom no one cares about.'"

¹⁸ This is what the LORD says:

"I will bring back Jacob's tents from captivity,

and have compassion on his dwellings;

the city will be rebuilt on its own hill,

and the palace will be set in its rightful place.

¹⁹ Out of them will proceed thanksgiving

and the voice of those having fun.

I will multiply them,

and they will not be few.

I will also honor them,

and they will not be despised.

²⁰ Their children also will be just like it was long ago,

and their congregation will be established before me;

I will punish all who oppress them.

²¹ They will have their own prince,

and their ruler will come from the midst of them;

I will bring him near,

and he will approach me.

For who would dare to approach me otherwise?"

says the LORD.

²² "You will be my people,

and I will be your God."

²³ Look, the storm of the LORD,

His wrath has broken out.

Like a swirling tempest,

it will burst upon the head of the wicked.

²⁴ The fierce anger of the LORD will not turn back,

until he has executed,

and completed everything his heart intended.

In the latter days you will understand it.

DASV: Jeremiah 31

¹ "At that time," says the LORD, "I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be my people."

² This is what the LORD says,

"The people who survive death by the sword

will find favor in the wilderness,

when Israel goes to find its rest.

³ The LORD appeared to them far away, saying,

"Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love;

therefore with loyal love I have drawn you.

⁴ Again I will build you,

and you will be rebuilt, O virgin of Israel.

Again you will take up your tambourine,

and will join in with the dances of those who are rejoicing.

⁵ Again you will plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria;

the planters will plant,

and will enjoy its fruit.

⁶ For there will come a day when the watchmen

on the hills of Ephraim will call out,

'Get up, let us go up to Zion to the LORD our God.'"

⁷ For this is what the LORD says,

"Sing with gladness for Jacob,

and shout for the chief of the nations.

Proclaim and praise, saying,

'O LORD, rescue your people,

the remnant of Israel.'

⁸ I will bring them from the north country,

and gather them from the ends of the earth,

along with them will be the blind and the lame,

both the woman with child and she who is in labor;

a huge crowd will return here.

⁹ They will come with weeping;

and with prayerful pleadings I will bring them back.

I will lead them beside streams of waters,

in smooth ways where they will not stumble,

for I am Israel's father,

and Ephraim is my firstborn."

¹⁰ "Hear the word of the LORD, O nations,

and declare it in the coastlands afar off;

say, 'He who scattered Israel will regather him,

and keep him as a shepherd protectively cares for his flock.

¹¹ For the LORD has ransomed Jacob,

and redeemed him from the hand of him

who was stronger than him.'

¹² They will come and sing on the heights of Zion,

and will be radiant over the goodness of the LORD,

over the grain, new wine, and olive oil

and the young of the flock and the herd.

Their lives will become like a watered garden;

they will never again wither away.

¹³ Then the young women will joyfully dance,

and the young men and the old will celebrate.

For I will turn their mourning into joy,

and will comfort them

giving them joy for their sorrow.

¹⁴ I will satisfy the priests with abundance,

and my people will be satisfied with my benefits,"

says the LORD.

¹⁵ This is what the LORD says:

"A voice is heard in Ramah,

lamentation and bitter weeping.

Rachel weeping for her children;

she refuses to be comforted for her children,

because they are no more."

¹⁶ This is what the LORD says:

"Restrain your voice from weeping,

and your eyes from shedding tears,

for your work will be rewarded,"

says the LORD;

"and they will return from the land of the enemy."

¹⁷ "There is hope for your future," says the LORD;

"your children will come back to their own territory.

¹⁸ I have surely heard Ephraim grieving,

'You have disciplined me,

and I was disciplined,

like a calf untrained with a yoke.

Bring me back,

and I will return;

for you are the LORD my God.

¹⁹ For after I had turned away, I repented;

after I was instructed, I slapped my thigh;

I was ashamed and humiliated,

when I realized the disgrace of my youth.'

²⁰ Is Ephraim my dear son?

Is he a delightful child?

For as often as I rebuke him,

yet I still remember him.

Therefore my heart yearns for him;

I will surely have mercy on him," says the LORD.

²¹ "Set up road markers,

make guide-posts;

set your heart to consider the highway,

even the road you took.

Return, O virgin of Israel,

return again to these your cities.

²² How long will you waver, O faithless daughter?

for the LORD will create something as new in the earth;

as a woman protecting a man."

²³ This is what the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel says, "When I bring them back from their captivity, once again they will say this in the land of Judah and in its towns: 'The LORD bless you, O dwelling of righteousness, O mountain of holiness.'

²⁴ Judah and all its towns will live there together, both the farmers, and those who follow their flocks.

²⁵ For I will satisfy the weary soul and refresh everyone who is faint."

²⁶ After this I woke up and looked. My sleep was sweet to me.

²⁷ "Look, the days are coming," says the LORD, "that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of humans and animals.

²⁸ Then just as I have watched over them to uproot, tear down, overthrow, destroy and afflict, so I will watch over them to build and to plant," says the LORD.

²⁹ "In those days they will no longer say,

'The fathers have eaten sour grapes,

and the children's teeth are set on edge.'

³⁰ But everyone will die for his own sin;

then, everyone who eats sour grapes,

their own teeth will be set on edge."

³¹ "Look, 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.

³² But it will not be like the covenant

that I made with their forefathers

in the day that I took them by the hand

to bring them out of the land of Egypt;

for they broke my covenant,

although I was their husband," says the LORD.

³³ "But this is the covenant

that I will make with the house of Israel

after those days," says the LORD.

"I will put my law within them;

I will write it in their hearts.

I will be their God,

and they will be my people.

³⁴ Each person will no longer have to teach his neighbor,

or each one his brother, saying,

'Know the LORD.'

For they will all know me,

from the least to the greatest of them," says the LORD.

"For I will forgive their iniquity,

and remember their sin no more."

³⁵ This is what the LORD says,

who gives the sun for a light by day,

and orders the moon and the stars for lights by night,

who stirs up the sea, so that its waves roar.

the LORD of hosts is his name.

³⁶ "As likely for this order to cease from before me," says the LORD,

"it would be for the seed of Israel to cease from being a nation before me forever."

³⁷ This is what the LORD says:
"If heaven above can be measured,

and the foundations of the earth beneath searched out,

then I would also reject all the descendants of Israel

for all that they have done," says the LORD.

³⁸ "Look, the days are coming," says the LORD, "that the city will be rebuilt to the LORD from the tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate.

³⁹ The measuring line will be stretched straight to the hill Gareb, and will turn to Goah.

⁴⁰ The whole valley of the dead bodies and ashes, and all the fields to the brook Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, will be holy to the LORD. It will not be uprooted or torn down anymore forever."

DASV: Jeremiah 32

¹ The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, that was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar.

² Now at that time the king of Babylon's army was besieging Jerusalem; Jeremiah the prophet was locked up in the courtyard of the guard that was in the palace of the king of Judah.

³ For Zedekiah king of Judah had incarcerated him, saying, "Why do you prophesy, and say, 'This is what the LORD says, Look, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will capture it.

⁴ Zedekiah king of Judah will not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans, but will surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, and will speak with him face to face, and look him straight in the eye.

⁵ He will bring Zedekiah to Babylon, and he will be there until I have taken care of him, says the LORD. Though you fight against the Chaldeans, you will not succeed?'"

⁶ Then Jeremiah said, "The word of the LORD came to me, saying,

⁷ Look, Hanamel the son of your uncle Shallum will come to you, saying, 'Buy my field that is in Anathoth; for you have the right of redemption to buy it.'"

⁸ So Hanamel my uncle's son came to me in the courtyard of the guard just as the word of the LORD had told me. He said "Please buy my field, that is in Anathoth, which is in the land of Benjamin, for you have the right of possession and redemption to it. Purchase it for yourself." Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD.

⁹ So I bought the field that was in Anathoth from Hanamel my uncle's son, and weighed out the money for him, seventeen shekels of silver.

¹⁰ I signed the bill of sale and sealed it, had witnesses, and then weighed the money on the scales for him.

¹¹ So I took the bill of sale, both the one that was sealed, having the terms and conditions, and the other copy that was open.

¹² I delivered the bill of sale to Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the presence of Hanamel my uncle's son, and in the presence of the witnesses who had signed the bill of sale, before all the Jews who sat in the courtyard of the guard.

¹³ Then I told Baruch before them, saying,

¹⁴ "This is what the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel says: Take both these bills of sale, the sealed as well as the open one, and put them in a clay pot that they may be preserved for a long time.

¹⁵ For this is what the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel says: Houses, fields and vineyards will be bought again in this land."

¹⁶ Now after I had delivered the bill of sale to Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to the LORD, saying,

¹⁷ "Ah sovereign LORD! You have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for you.

¹⁸ You show loyal love to thousands, and repay the sins of the fathers into the lap of their children after them, O great and mighty God, whose name is the LORD of hosts.

¹⁹ You are great in wisdom and mighty in deed. Your eyes are open on all the ways of human beings, to reward everyone according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his actions.

²⁰ You did signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, still talked about to this day both in Israel and among all nations. You have made a name for yourself that remains to this day.

²¹ You brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, and with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm and with great terror.

²² You gave them this land that you promised to their forefathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.

²³ They entered and possessed it, but they did not obey your voice, neither walked in your law. They did nothing of all that you commanded them to do. Therefore you have caused all this disaster to come on them.

²⁴ Look, the siege ramps are come against the city to capture it. The city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans who are fighting against it. You are using the sword, famine, and plague; just as you said would happen, as you now can see that it is.

²⁵ You told me, O sovereign LORD, 'Buy the field for money and have witnesses.' But the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.'"

²⁶ Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying,

²⁷ "I am the LORD, the God of all flesh.

Is there anything too hard for me?

²⁸ Therefore, this is what the LORD says: I will give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will capture it.

²⁹ The Chaldeans who are attacking this city will come and set this city on fire, and burn it, along with the houses on whose roofs they previously offered incense to Baal, and poured out drink offerings to other gods to provoke me to anger.

³⁰ For the people of Israel and Judah have done only what was evil in my sight from their youth up. For the children of Israel have done nothing but provoke me to anger with the work of their hands, says the LORD.

³¹ For this city has provoked my anger and wrath from the day that it was built until this day. So I am committed to removing it from my sight,

³² because of all the evil of the people of Israel and Judah have done to provoke me to anger--they, their kings, officials, priests and prophets, along with the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

³³ They have turned their backs to me and not their faces. Though I repeatedly taught them, yet they did not listen or accept correction.

³⁴ But they set up their abominable idols in the house that is called by my name and defiled it.

³⁵ They built the high places of Baal in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, in order to cause their sons and daughters to pass through the fire in sacrifice to Molech. I never commanded them to do that, nor did it ever come into my mind that they should do this abomination, causing Judah to sin."

³⁶ "Now therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Israel says concerning this city, as you have been saying, 'It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by sword, famine, and plague.'

³⁷ Look, I will gather them out of all the countries where I have driven them in my anger, fury and great wrath. I will bring them back to this place, and I will cause them to live in safety.

³⁸ They will be my people, and I will be their God.

³⁹ I will give them one heart and one path that they may fear me forever, for their good and the good of their children after them.

⁴⁰ I will make an everlasting covenant with them. I will never cease doing good to them. I will put my fear in their hearts, so that they will never turn aside from me.

⁴¹ Yes, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land with the faithfulness of my whole heart and soul.

⁴² For this is what the LORD says: Just as I brought all this great disaster on this people, so will I bring on them all the good that I have promised them.

⁴³ Fields will be bought in this land of which you are saying, 'It is desolate, uninhabitable by humans or animals. It is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.'

⁴⁴ People will buy fields for money, and sign and seal deeds before witnesses, in the land of Benjamin, and in the places around Jerusalem, and in the towns of Judah, and in the towns of the hill country, and in the towns of the Shephelah foothills, and in the towns of the Negev. For I will restore their fortunes," says the LORD.

DASV: Jeremiah 33

¹ The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah a second time, while he was still incarcerated in the courtyard of the guard:

² "This is what the LORD says who does these things, the LORD who plans it and makes it happen; the LORD is his name:

³ Call to me, and I will answer you, and will show you great and incredible things that you have no clue about.

⁴ For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says concerning the houses of this city, and the palaces of the kings of Judah, which were torn down to make defensive structures against the siege ramps and the sword.

⁵ The troops will go out to fight against the Chaldeans, but the houses will be filled with corpses that I have slain in my anger and wrath for I have hid my face from this city because of all their wickedness.

⁶ I will bring it health and healing, and I will cure them and reveal to them an abundance of peace and truth.

⁷ I will restore the fortunes of Judah and Israel and will rebuild them as they were at first.

⁸ I will cleanse them from all their sin whereby they have sinned against me. I will pardon all their sins by which they have sinned against me, and by which they have rebelled against me.

⁹ This city will bring me joy, praise and glory before all the nations of the earth that will hear all the good that I do for them, and they will fear and tremble for all the good and peace that I provide for it.

¹⁰ This is what the LORD says: 'Yet again there will be heard in this place, where you say, 'It is a wasteland, without humans or animals.' Yet even in the towns of Judah and streets of Jerusalem that are now desolate, without humans, inhabitants and animals,

¹¹ there will be the sounds of joy and gladness, the jubilant voice of the bridegroom and bride, and the voice of those who say,

'Give thanks to the LORD of hosts,

for the LORD is good,

for his loyal love endures forever;'

along with those bringing thanksgiving offerings to the house of the LORD. For I will restore the fortunes of the land as it was at the first," says the LORD.

¹² This is what the LORD of hosts says: "Yet again there will be in this place, which is now a wasteland, without humans and animals, and in all its towns, pastures for shepherds where their flocks may rest.

¹³ In the towns of the hill country, in the towns of the Shephelah foothills, and in the towns of the Negev, and in the land of Benjamin, and in the places around Jerusalem, and in the towns of Judah, the flocks will again pass under the hands of the one who counts them," says the LORD.

¹⁴ "Look, the days are coming," says the LORD, "that I will perform the good promise that I have spoken concerning the house of Israel and the house of Judah.

¹⁵ In those days, and at that time,

I will cause a righteous Branch to sprout up for David;

he will execute justice and righteousness in the land.

¹⁶ In those days Judah will be saved,

and Jerusalem will dwell in safety.

She will be called by this name:

'the LORD our righteousness.'"

¹⁷ For this is what the LORD says: "David will never lack a successor to sit on the throne of the house of Israel.

¹⁸ The Levitical priests also will not lack a person before me to offer burnt offerings and to burn grain offerings and to offer the daily sacrifices."

¹⁹ The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying,

²⁰ "This is what the LORD says: If you could break my covenant with the day, and my covenant with the night, so that there would not be day or night in their assigned times;

²¹ only then could my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he would not have a son to reign on his throne, as well as my covenant with the Levitical priests, my ministers.

²² As the stars of the sky cannot be numbered, or the sand of the sea measured so I will multiply the seed of David my servant and the Levites who minister before me."

²³ Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying,

²⁴ "Have you not noticed what this people have alleged, 'the two families the LORD chose, he has rejected'? They so despise my people, that they no longer considered them to be a nation.

²⁵ This is what the LORD says: 'If my covenant ordering the arrival of day and night does not stand, if I have not instituted the laws ordering the heaven and earth,

²⁶ then I also will reject the descendants of Jacob and of David my servant, so that I not choose his descendants to be rulers over the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will restore their fortunes and will have mercy on them.'"

DASV: Jeremiah 34

¹ The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and his entire army from all the kingdoms and peoples of the earth that were under his rule, were fighting against Jerusalem and all its towns, saying:

² "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel says, Go, speak to Zedekiah king of Judah, and tell him, 'This is what the LORD says, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire.

³ You will not escape out of his hand, but will surely be captured and delivered into his hand. You will look the king of Babylon straight in the eye, and he will speak with you face to face, and you will go to Babylon.

⁴ Yet hear the word of the LORD, O Zedekiah king of Judah: This is what the LORD says concerning you, you will not die by the sword.

⁵ You will die in peace, and just as people burned incense for your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so they will burn incense at your burial. They will grieve for you saying, 'Alas, Lord!' For I have given you my word, says the LORD.'"

⁶ Jeremiah the prophet spoke all these words to Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem,

⁷ when the king of Babylon's army was fighting against Jerusalem, and against all the towns of Judah that were left, including Lachish and Azekah, for these were the only fortified cities of Judah left.

⁸ The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, after the king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people that were in Jerusalem to make a proclamation of liberty freeing all slaves.

⁹ Everyone was to set free his male and female Hebrew slaves, so that no one was to keep a fellow Jew in slavery.

¹⁰ All the officials and all the people obeyed, who had entered into the covenant that everyone would let his male and female slaves go free, so that none of them would have slaves anymore. They obeyed, and released them.

¹¹ But afterwards they changed their minds, and forced the male and female slaves whom they had released, back into slavery again.

¹² Therefore the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD:

¹³ "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel says: I made a covenant with your forefathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, saying,

¹⁴ 'At the end of seven years you must release any fellow Hebrew who has been sold to you, and has served you for six years. You must set them free. But your fathers did not obey me or listen to me.

¹⁵ You recently turned and did what was right in my eyes, in proclaiming liberty to each other. You made a covenant before me in the house that is called by my name.

¹⁶ But now you have turned and profaned my name, by everyone forcing his male and female servants, whom you had set free at their wishes, back into slavery again as male and female slaves.

¹⁷ Therefore this is what the LORD says. You have not obeyed me by granting freedom, each one to his brother and countryman. So I grant you freedom to die by the sword, famine and plague, says the LORD. I will make what happens to you to be seen as a horror among all the kingdoms of the earth.

¹⁸ This is what I will give those who have violated my covenant and not kept the terms of the covenant that they made before me, when they cut the calf in two and passed between its parts,

¹⁹ including the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the eunuchs, the priests, and all the people of the land, who passed between the parts of the calf.

²⁰ I will hand them over to their enemies, and to those who are seeking their lives. Their dead bodies will be food for the birds of the heavens and the animals of the earth.

²¹ Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials I will hand over to their enemies, to those seeking their lives. I will deliver them over to the king of Babylon's army that has withdrawn from you.

²² Look, I will issue a command, says the LORD, and bring them back to this city. They will fight against it, capture and burn it with fire. I will also make the towns of Judah a desolation without inhabitant."

DASV: Jeremiah 36

¹ In the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

² "Get a scroll, and write on it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel, Judah, and all the nations, from the day I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah until this day.

³ It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the disaster I plan on doing to them and turn everyone from their evil way so that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin."

⁴ So Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah and Baruch wrote on the scroll all the words Jeremiah dictated that the LORD had spoken to him.

⁵ Then Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, "I am banned from entering into the house of the LORD.

⁶ Therefore go, and read from the scroll that you have written from my dictation of the words of the LORD. Read it to the people in the LORD's house on the fast day. Read them to all the people of Judah who come from their towns.

⁷ It may be they will present their pleas before the LORD, and will turn each one from his evil way; for great is the anger and the wrath that the LORD has pronounced against this people."

⁸ So Baruch the son of Neriah did everything that Jeremiah the prophet told him to do, reading from the scroll the words of the LORD in the LORD's house.

⁹ Now in the ninth month of the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, all the people in Jerusalem and all who came from the towns of Judah to Jerusalem, proclaimed a fast before the LORD.

¹⁰ Then Baruch read in the hearing of all the people from the scroll the words of Jeremiah in the house of the LORD, in the room of Gemariah the son of Shaphan, the scribe, in the upper court, at the entry of the New Gate of the LORD's house.

¹¹ When Micaiah the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, heard all the words of the LORD from the scroll,

¹² he went down into the king's house, into the scribe's room and all the officials were sitting there, including Elishama the scribe, Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, Elnathan the son of Achbor, Gemariah the son of Shaphan, Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the other officials.

¹³ Then Micaiah declared to them everything that he had heard when Baruch had read the scroll to the people.

¹⁴ Therefore all the officials sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, to Baruch, saying, "Bring in your hand the scroll that you have read to the people, and come here." So Baruch the son of Neriah brought the scroll in his hand and came to them.

¹⁵ They told him, "Sit down now and read it to us." So Baruch read it to them.

¹⁶ When they had heard all the words, they turned toward each other in panic, and said to Baruch, "We must certainly report all these words to the king."

¹⁷ So they asked Baruch, "Tell us now, how did you write all these words? Was this a dictation taken from Jeremiah's mouth?"

¹⁸ Then Baruch replied, "He dictated all these words to me with his mouth, and I wrote them with ink on this scroll."

¹⁹ Then the officials told Baruch, "Go, hide, both you and Jeremiah. Do not let anyone know where you are."

²⁰ Then they went to the king in the court, but they left the scroll in the room of Elishama the scribe. They reported all the words to the king.

²¹ So the king sent Jehudi to fetch the scroll. He took it out of the room of Elishama the scribe. Jehudi read it to the king and all the officials that stood beside the king.

²² Now the king was sitting in the winter house in the ninth month. There was a fire in the firepot before him.

²³ When Jehudi would finish reading three or four columns, then the king would cut it off with a knife, and throw it into the fire that was in the firepot, until the whole scroll was burned up in the fire that was in the firepot.

²⁴ The king and his servants who heard the words were not frightened and did not tear their clothes.

²⁵ Although Elnathan, Delaiah and Gemariah urged the king that he not burn the scroll, yet he refused to listen to them.

²⁶ The king commanded Jerahmeel the king's son, Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to arrest Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet, but the LORD hid them.

²⁷ Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, after the king had burned up the scroll, and the words that Baruch wrote from Jeremiah's dictation, saying,

²⁸ "Get another scroll, and write on it all the former words that were on the first scroll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah has burned up.

²⁹ Now concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah you shall say: This is what the LORD says: You have burned up this scroll, saying, 'Why have you written in it that the king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land and will eliminate it, the people and animals?'

³⁰ Therefore this is what the LORD says concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: 'None of his heirs will sit on the throne of David. His corpse will be thrown out enduring the heat of day and the frost at night.

³¹ I will punish him and his descendants and his servants for their iniquity. I will bring on them, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and on the people of Judah, all the disasters that I have pronounced against them.'" But they still refused to listen.

³² Then Jeremiah took another scroll, and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah, who wrote on it all the words Jeremiah dictated from the scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned up in the fire. They added to it many similar messages as well.

DASV: Jeremiah 38

¹ Shephatiah the son of Mattan, Gedaliah the son of Pashhur, Jehucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur the son of Malchijah, heard the words that Jeremiah spoke to all the people, saying,

² "This is what the LORD says, 'Anyone who stays in this city will die by the sword, famine, or plague; but anyone who surrenders to the Chaldeans will live, and their lives will be their reward and they will live.'"

³ "This is what the LORD says, 'This city will surely be given into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon and he will capture it.'"

⁴ Then the princes said to the king, "Please, let this man be put to death; because he is demoralizing the soldiers and all the people who remain in this city by telling them such things, for this man does not seek the welfare of this people, but their harm."

⁵ Zedekiah the king said, "He is in your hand; for the king can do nothing to stop you."

⁶ So they took Jeremiah and threw him into the cistern of Malchijah the king's son, that was in the courtyard of the guard. They let down Jeremiah with ropes. There was no water in the cistern, only mud and Jeremiah sank into the muck.

⁷ Now when Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, a eunuch, who was in the king's house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the cistern. While the king was sitting in the gate of Benjamin,

⁸ Ebed-melech went out of the king's house, and spoke to the king, saying,

⁹ "My lord the king, these men were wrong in what they did to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have thrown into the cistern. He is likely to die of hunger there because there is no food left in the city."

¹⁰ Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, "Take with you thirty men from here and pull up Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern, before he dies."

¹¹ So Ebed-melech took the men with him and went into the palace of the king under the treasury, and got some old rags and worn out clothes, and let them down by ropes into the cistern to Jeremiah.

¹² Ebed-melech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, "Put these rags and worn out clothes under your armpits to cushion the ropes." So Jeremiah did it.

¹³ Then they drew up Jeremiah with the ropes, and pulled him up out of the cistern but Jeremiah still was confined to the courtyard of the guard.

¹⁴ Then Zedekiah the king sent and brought Jeremiah the prophet to him at the third entrance of the house of the LORD. The king said to Jeremiah, "I want to ask you something don't hide anything from me."

¹⁵ Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, "If I tell you, won't you kill me? If I give you advice, you will not listen to me anyway."

¹⁶ So Zedekiah the king secretly swore to Jeremiah, "As the LORD lives, who gives us breath, I will not put you to death, nor I will hand you over to these men who are seeking your life."

¹⁷ Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, "This is what the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel, says: 'If you will surrender to the king of Babylon's officials, then your life will be spared, and this city will not be burned down; both you and your family will live.

¹⁸ But if you refuse to surrender to the king of Babylon's officials, then this city will be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they will burn it down, and you will not escape from their hand.'"

¹⁹ Zedekiah the king responded to Jeremiah, "I am afraid of the Judeans who have deserted to the Chaldeans, lest the Chaldeans deliver me into their hands, and they torture me."

²⁰ But Jeremiah said, "They will not hand you over to them. Please obey the voice of the LORD, in what I just told you so that it may go well for you, and your life may be spared.

²¹ But if you refuse to surrender, this is the word that the LORD has showed me:

²² All the women that are left in the king of Judah's palace will be brought out to the king of Babylon's officials, and those women will say, 'Your trusted friends have betrayed you and have overcome you. Now your feet are stuck in the mire, they have abandoned you.'

²³ They will bring out all your wives and children to the Chaldeans. You will not escape out of their hand, but you will be captured by the king of Babylon and this city will be burned down."

²⁴ Then said Zedekiah to Jeremiah, "Don't let anyone know about this conversation, and you will not die."

²⁵ But if the officials hear that I have talked with you, and they come to you, and demand from you, 'Tell us now what you have told the king. Don't hide it from us, and we will not put you to death. Also tell us what the king said to you.'

²⁶ Then just tell them, 'I presented my pleas before the king, so that he would not force me to return to Jonathan's house to die there.'"

²⁷ Then all the officials did in fact come to Jeremiah and ask him, but he told them exactly what the king had told him to. So they stopped questioning him for they were unaware of what was said.

²⁸ So Jeremiah stayed in the courtyard of the guard until the day that Jerusalem was captured.

DASV: Jeremiah 44

¹ The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews living in the land of Egypt, at Migdol, Tahpanhes, and Memphis, and in the region of southern Egypt, saying,

² This is what the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says: "You have seen all the disaster that I have brought on Jerusalem and on all the cities of Judah. Look, even today they are still in ruins and uninhabited.

³ This is because of their wickedness which they have done provoking me to anger, in that they went to burn incense and serve other gods, that neither they, nor you, nor your forefathers knew.

⁴ Yet I repeatedly sent to you all my servants the prophets, saying, 'Please do not do this disgusting thing that I hate.'

⁵ But they refused to listen, or incline their ear to turn from their wickedness and to stop burning incense to other gods.

⁶ So my wrath and anger was poured out, and burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. They became the desolate wasteland that they are to this day.

⁷ Now this is what the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel, says: Why are you hurting yourselves? Why destroy every man, woman, child and infant from the midst of Judah, leaving you with not even a remnant left?

⁸ Why provoke me to anger with the idolatrous works of your hands, burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt, where you have settled? You will be destroyed and become an example used to curse and ridicule among all the nations of the earth.

⁹ Have you forgotten the wickedness done by your forefathers, the kings of Judah and their wives, and even your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

¹⁰ They have shown no contrition even to this day. They have not feared or walked in my law, or in my statutes, that I set before you and before your forefathers.

¹¹ Therefore this is what the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says: Look, I am determined to bring disaster against you, even to destroy Judah completely.

¹² I will take the remnant of Judah, who have determined to go to the land of Egypt and to settle there, and they will all be consumed. In the land of Egypt they will fall and die by the sword or famine. They will die from the least to the greatest by the sword or famine. They will become an object of execration, horror, cursing and ridicule.

¹³ I will punish those who live in the land of Egypt, just as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, famine, and plague.

¹⁴ None of the remnant of Judah, who have gone to the land of Egypt to settle there, will escape or survive to return to the land of Judah. Even though they have a desire to return to live there, none will return except a few refugees."

¹⁵ Then all the men who knew that their wives had burned incense to other gods, and all the women who were present, a great assembly of all the people who lived in Pathros in the land of Egypt, answered Jeremiah, saying,

¹⁶ "As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD, we will not listen to you.

¹⁷ But we will do everything that we have vowed. We will burn incense to the Queen of Heaven, and pour out drink offerings to her, just as we, our forefathers, our kings and our officials have done in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food, were well-off, and had no trouble.

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 famine."

¹⁹ The women continued, "When we burned incense to the Queen of Heaven, and poured out drink offerings to her, did our husbands not know that we were making cakes to worship her, and pouring out drink offerings to her?"

²⁰ Then Jeremiah said to all the people, both men and women, even to all the people who had replied to him, saying,

²¹ "The incense that you, your forefathers, your kings and officials and the people of the land burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, did not the LORD remember it? Did it not come into his mind?

²² At last the LORD could no longer bear your evil deeds and the disgusting things that you were doing; that is the reason your land become desolate, an object of horror, and a curse, uninhabited, as it is to this day.

²³ Because you have burned incense, and because you have sinned against the LORD, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD, or walked in his law, statutes or testimonies, therefore this evil has happened to you, as it is to this day."

²⁴ Then Jeremiah said to all the people, especially to all the women, "Hear the word of the LORD, all you Judeans who are in the land of Egypt:

²⁵ This is what the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says, You and your wives have done what your mouths have promised when you said, 'We will certainly perform our vows that we have made to burn incense to the Queen of Heaven, and to pour out drink offerings to her.' Alright then, keep your promises and perform your vows.

²⁶ Therefore hear the word of the LORD, all Judeans who live in the land of Egypt: 'Look, I have sworn by my great name, says the LORD, that my name will no longer be invoked by the mouth of anyone from Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, 'As the sovereign LORD lives.'

²⁷ Look, I will watch over them for disaster and not for good. All the people of Judah who are in the land of Egypt will perish by the sword and famine, until not one of them is left.

²⁸ Those who manage to escape the sword, and return from the land of Egypt into the land of Judah, will be few in number. All the remnant of Judah, who have gone into the land of Egypt to settle there will know whose word will stand, mine or theirs.

²⁹ This will be the sign to you, says the LORD, that I will punish you in this place, that you may know that my words will surely stand against you to bring disaster.

³⁰ This is what the LORD says, 'Look, I will give Pharaoh Hophra, king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of those seeking his life; just as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who was his enemy and sought his life.'"

DASV: Jeremiah 46

¹ The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations.

² About Egypt: concerning the army of Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt, which was camped by the Euphrates River at Carchemish. Now King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon defeated this army in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah.

³ "Prepare your buckler and shield,

and get ready for battle.

⁴ Harness the horses,

mount your steeds.

Take your positions with your helmets,

sharpen your spears.

Put on your armor.

⁵ What do I see?

They are terrified and retreating.

Their warriors are defeated,

and quickly fleeing without looking back.

Terror is on every side," says the LORD.

⁶ "Even the quickest cannot get away,

nor can the mighty warrior escape.

In the north by the Euphrates River

they have stumbled and fallen.

⁷ Who is this that rises up like the Nile,

like rivers whose flooding waters surge?

⁸ Egypt rises up like the Nile,

like the flood waters of surging rivers.

He says, 'I will rise up,

I will cover the earth;

I will destroy cities and their inhabitants.'

⁹ Go ahead, you horses;

and charge, you chariots.

Let the warriors move out;

Cush and Put, that carry the shields,

and the soldiers of Lydia skilled with the bow.

¹⁰ For this is the day of the Lord, the LORD of hosts,

a day of vengeance that he will avenge himself on his enemies.

The sword will devour until it is satisfied,

it will drink its fill of their blood.

For the Lord, the LORD of hosts, holds a sacrifice

in the north country by the Euphrates River.

¹¹ Go up into Gilead and get medicinal balm,

O virgin daughter of Egypt.

It is worthless to use so many medicines;

for there is no healing for you.

¹² The nations have heard of your shame,

and the earth is full of your outcry;

one mighty warrior has stumbled over another,

they both have fallen together."

¹³ The word that the LORD spoke to Jeremiah the prophet, how that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon would come and attack the land of Egypt.

¹⁴ "Announce it in Egypt,

and proclaim it in Migdol,

and declare it in Memphis and Tahpanhes.

Take your position and prepare for battle;

the sword will devour those around you.

¹⁵ Why are your soldiers lying face down?

They cannot stand,

because I, the LORD have knocked them down.

¹⁶ He will make many stumble,

yes, they will fall on top of one another.

They will say, 'Get up, let's go back to our own people,

and to the land of our birth,

away from the sword of the oppressor.'

¹⁷ Call Pharaoh king of Egypt

'A blustery noise who has missed his opportunity.'

¹⁸ As surely as I live," says the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts,

a conqueror is coming

as impressive as Mount Tabor among the mountains,

and as Carmel by the sea.

¹⁹ Pack your bags for deportation,

O daughter who lives in Egypt,

for Memphis will become a wasteland,

and a ruin, without inhabitant.

²⁰ Egypt is a beautiful heifer,

but a horsefly is coming from the north--

it is coming.

²¹ Also her mercenaries in her midst are like fattened calves;

they too will turn and run,

they will not stand their ground;

for the day of their disaster is come on them,

the time of their punishment.

²² Egypt's sound will be like a serpent slithering away;

for the enemy troops march in,

and come against her with axes,

like those who chop down trees.

²³ They will cut down her forest," says the LORD,

"though it is impenetrable;

because they are more numerous than the locusts,

absolutely innumerable.

²⁴ The daughter of Egypt will be put to shame;

she will be delivered into the hand of the people of the north."

²⁵ The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says: "Look, I will punish Amon the god of Thebes, Pharaoh, and Egypt, along with her gods and her kings, even Pharaoh and those who trust in him.

²⁶ I will deliver them into the hand of those who seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and his army. Afterward, however, Egypt will be inhabited as in the days of old," says the LORD.

²⁷ "O Jacob my servant, do not be afraid

or troubled, O Israel;

for I will save you from distance lands,

and your descendants from the land of their captivity.

Jacob will return and will be quiet and relaxed,

and no one will make them afraid.

²⁸ Do not be afraid, O Jacob my servant," says the LORD;

"for I am with you.

For I will totally destroy all the nations

where I have driven you.

But I will not totally destroy you,

but I will discipline you fairly,

and I will by no means let you go unpunished."

DASV: Jeremiah 48

¹ About Moab.

"This is what the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says:

Woe to Nebo! For it is laid waste.

Kiriathaim is put to shame, it is captured;

the fortress is put to shame and torn down.

² Moab will be famous no more;

in Heshbon they have plotted evil against her:

'Come, and let us cut her off from being a nation.'

O Town of Madmen you will be silenced,

the sword will pursue you.

³ The cries of despair from Horonaim are:

'Devastation and great destruction!'

⁴ Moab is destroyed;

her little ones will cry out.

⁵ For going up the Ascent of Luhith,

there will be continual weeping;

for at the Descent of Horonaim

cries of distress will be heard

because of the destruction.

⁶ Flee, save your lives,

like a sole surviving juniper bush in the desert.

⁷ Because you trusted in your achievements and treasures,

you also will be taken captive.

Your god Chemosh will go into captivity too,

along with its priests and attendants.

⁸ The destroyer will come on every town,

and no town will escape;

the valley also will perish,

and the plain will be destroyed,

just as the LORD has said.

⁹ Give wings to Moab,

so that he may fly and get away.

Her towns will become ruins,

without anyone to live in them.

¹⁰ Cursed be one who is slack in doing the work of the LORD;

cursed be the one who restrains his sword from bloodshed.

¹¹ Moab has been at ease from his youth,

like wine left to settle on its dregs,

it has not been poured from flask to flask,

neither has he gone into exile.

Therefore it retains its flavor,

and its aroma is unchanged.

¹² Therefore, the days are coming," says the LORD,

"that I will send to him those who pour it out,

and they will pour him off;

and they will empty it out,

then break their jars in pieces.

¹³ Then Moab will be ashamed of their god Chemosh,

as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, their confidence.

¹⁴ How can you claim, 'We are heroes,

valiant warriors?'

¹⁵ Moab will be destroyed,

and they will scale into its cities.

His chosen young men are gone down to the slaughter,"

says the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts.

¹⁶ "The disaster of Moab is coming near,

and its doom quickly approaches.

¹⁷ All you who are around him, mourn for him,

and all you who know his name, say,

'How is the strong scepter broken,

the splendid staff!'

¹⁸ Come down from your glory,

sit on the parched ground,

O daughter dwelling in Dibon.

For the destroyer of Moab is come up against you,

he has destroyed your strongholds.

¹⁹ O inhabitant of Aroer, stand by the road and watch.

Ask the man who flees,

and the woman who escapes;

'What happened?'

²⁰ Moab is put to shame,

for it is broken down.

Wail and cry out.

Proclaim it by the Wadi Arnon,

'Moab has been destroyed.'

²¹ Judgment has come on the towns of the plain,

on Holon, Jahzah, and Mephaath,

²² on Dibon, Nebo, and Beth-diblathaim,

²³ on Kiriathaim, Beth-gamul, and Beth-meon,

²⁴ on Kerioth, and Bozrah,

and on all the towns of the land of Moab,

far and near.

²⁵ The horn of Moab is cut off,

and his arm is broken," says the LORD.

²⁶ "Get him drunk,

for he has exalted himself against the LORD.

Let Moab wallow in his own vomit,

and become a laughingstock.

²⁷ For was not Israel a laughingstock to you?

Was he caught among thieves

that whenever you spoke of him,

you scornfully shook your head?

²⁸ O inhabitants of Moab, leave your towns,

dwell in the rocks;

be like a dove that makes her nest on the cliffs of a gorge.

²⁹ We have heard of the pride of Moab;

indeed, he is very proud.

His conceitedness, pride, arrogance,

and the haughtiness of his heart are obvious.

³⁰ I know his insolence," says the LORD,

his bragging is empty;

his boastings accomplish nothing.

³¹ Therefore I will wail for Moab;

yes, I will cry out for all Moab;

for the people of Kir-heres I will mourn.

³² More than Jazer weeps,

I will weep for you, O vine of Sibmah.

Your branches extended to the Dead Sea,

they reach even to the town of Jazer,

even on your summer fruits and on your grape harvest

the destroyer is fallen.

³³ Gladness and joy is taken away

from the fruitful orchards of the land of Moab.

I have dried up wine from the winepresses;

no one will tread them with shouts of joy;

there will be shouting,

but it will not be shouts of joy.

³⁴ The cries of Heshbon to Elealeh can be heard,

as far as Jahaz they utter their voice,

from Zoar all the way to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah,

for even the waters of Nimrim will become a waseland.

³⁵ I will make an end of Moab," says the LORD,

"those who sacrifice on the high places,

and those who burn incense to their gods.

³⁶ Therefore my heart grieves for Moab like the dirge of a flute,

and like pipes mourning for the men of Kir-heres.

Therefore the wealth they have gotten is gone.

³⁷ For every head is shaved bald,

and every beard cut off,

on all the hands are slashings,

and around their waists is sackcloth.

³⁸ On all the housetops of Moab

and in its streets there is lamentation everywhere;

for I have broken Moab like an unwanted jar,"

says the LORD.

³⁹ "How it shattered!

O how they wail!

How Moab has turned away in shame!

So Moab has become an object of ridicule and horror

to all who are around him."

⁴⁰ For this is what the LORD says:

"Look, he will swoop down like an eagle,

and will spread his wings over Moab.

⁴¹ Kerioth will be captured,

and the strongholds seized.

The hearts of the warriors of Moab on that day

will be like the heart of a woman having labor pains.

⁴² Moab will be destroyed as a people,

because he has exalted himself against the LORD.

⁴³ Terror, the pit, and the snare, is your destiny,

O inhabitant of Moab," says the LORD.

⁴⁴ "The one who flees from fear

will fall into the pit;

the one who climbs out of the pit

will be taken by the snare.

For I will bring on him, even on Moab,

the year of their punishment," says the LORD.

⁴⁵ "They who fled stand exhausted under the shadow of Heshbon;

for a fire is gone out of Heshbon,

and a flame from the hometown of Sihon.

It will burn the forehead of Moab,

and the skulls of the riotous rebels.

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 exile.

⁴⁷ Yet I will bring back the exiles of Moab

in the latter days," says the LORD.

This is the end of the judgment on Moab.

DASV: Jeremiah 49

¹ About the Ammonites.

This is what the LORD says:

"Does Israel have no sons?

Does he have no heirs?

Why then do those who worship Milcom dispossess Gad,

and its people live in its towns?

² Therefore, the days are coming," says the LORD,

"that I will cause the battle cry to be heard

against Rabbah of the Ammonites;

it will become a heap of rubble,

and her villages will be burned down.

Then Israel will take back possession

from those who dispossessed her,"

says the LORD.

³ "Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai of the Ammonites is destroyed;

cry, you villages around Rabbah;

clothe yourself with sackcloth and lament,

rush back and forth inside the walls;

for Milcom will go into captivity,

along with its priests and attendants.

⁴ Why do you brag about your valleys,

your flowing valleys, O faithless daughter?

Who trusted in her treasures, boasting,

'Who can attack me?'

⁵ Look, I will bring a terror on you,"

says the Lord, the LORD of hosts,

"From all your neighbors around you,

you will be driven out each one of you,

and there will be no one to gather the fugitives.

⁶ But afterward, I will bring back the exiles of the Ammonites,"

says the LORD.

⁷ About Edom.

This is what the LORD of hosts, says:

"Is wisdom no more in Teman?

Has counsel perished from the prudent?

Has their wisdom vanished?

⁸ Flee, turn back, hide in the depths,

O inhabitants of Dedan;

I will bring the disaster of Esau on him.

At that time I will punish him.

⁹ If grape-gatherers came to you,

would they not leave some grapes behind?

If thieves came at night,

would they not pillage until they had enough?

¹⁰ But I have stripped Esau bare,

I have uncovered his hiding places,

and he will not be able to hide himself.

His descendants are destroyed,

along with his relatives and his neighbors.

Edom itself will be no more.

¹¹ Leave your orphans;

I will keep them alive;

and let your widows trust in me."

¹² For this is what the LORD says: "If those who do not deserve to drink from the cup still must drink it, how can you imagine that you will go unpunished? You will not go unpunished, but will surely drink it.

¹³ For I have sworn by myself," says the LORD, "that Bozrah will become an object of horror, a ridicule, a heap of rubble, and a curse. All its towns will be perpetual ruins.

¹⁴ I have heard a message from the LORD,

and an ambassador has been sent among the nations, announcing,

'Gather yourselves together.

Come attack her.

Prepare for battle.

¹⁵ For I have made you small among the nations,

and despised among all people.

¹⁶ For the terror you cause,

and the pride of your heart have deceived you,

O you who live in the rocky cliffs,

who hold the heights of the hill.

Though you make your nest as high as the eagle,

from there I will bring you down," says the LORD.

¹⁷ "Edom will become an object of horror;

every one who passes by will be astonished,

and will be appalled at all its wounds.

¹⁸ Just like when Sodom and Gomorrah were overthrown

and its neighboring towns," says the LORD,

"no one will live there,

neither will anybody settle there.

¹⁹ He will come up like a lion from the thickets of the Jordan

against the perennial pastureland;

for I will suddenly chase them back away from it.

Then I will appoint over it whomever I choose.

For who is like me?

Who will call me into court?

Who is the shepherd who can stand in opposition to me?"

²⁰ Therefore hear the plan of the LORD,

that he has made against Edom.

These are his purposes that he intends to carry out

against the inhabitants of Teman.

They will drag them away,

even the little sheep of the flock;

their own pasture will be completely destroyed.

²¹ The earth will tremble at the crash of their downfall;

their cry will echo to the Red Sea.

²² He will soar and fly like the eagle,

and spread out his wings against Bozrah.

The heart of the warriors of Edom in that day

will be like the heart of a woman in labor.

²³ About Damascus.

"Hamath and Arpad are distressed,

for they have heard the bad news.

Their courage melts away;

they are troubled like the raging sea,

that cannot be calmed.

²⁴ Damascus has become feeble,

she has turned herself to flee,

and trembling has seized her,

anguish and sorrows have grabbed a hold of her,

like a woman in labor.

²⁵ How is the famous city forsaken,

the city formerly filled with joy?

²⁶ Her young men will fall in her city squares,

and all her warriors will be silenced in that day,"

says the LORD of hosts.

²⁷ "I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus,

and it will devour the palaces of Ben-hadad."

²⁸ About Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon conquered.

This is what the LORD says:

"Arise, go up to attack Kedar,

and destroy the people of the east.

²⁹ Their tents and their flocks, they will take away;

they will carry away their curtains, goods, and camels;

and observers will cry to them,

'Terror on every side!'

³⁰ "Flee, get out of there, hide in the depths,

O inhabitants of Hazor," says the LORD;

"for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon plans to attack you,

and has definite intentions against you.

³¹ Arise, get up against a nation that is at ease,

that lives securely," says the LORD;

"that has neither gates nor bars, but dwells alone.

³² Their camels will be booty,

and the multitude of their cattle spoil.

I will scatter to all the winds

those who have cut the corners of their foreheads.

I will bring disaster on them from every direction," says the LORD.

³³ Then Hazor will be a dwelling place for jackals,

a wasteland forever.

No one will dwell there,

neither will anybody settle there."

³⁴ The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam, in the beginning of the reign of King Zedekiah of Judah, saying,

³⁵ "This is what the LORD of hosts says:

"Look, I will break the bow of Elam,

the main source of their might.

³⁶ On Elam I will bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven,

and will scatter them to all those winds.

The fugitives of Elam will flee

and they will be scattered into every nation.

³⁷ I will cause Elam to be terrified before their enemies,

and before those who seek their life.

I will bring disaster on them,

even my fierce anger," says the LORD.

"I will send the sword after them,

until I have consumed them.

³⁸ I will set my throne in Elam,

and will destroy their king and officials from there,"

says the LORD.

³⁹ "But in the latter days,

I will bring back the exiles of Elam,"

says the LORD.

DASV: Jeremiah 50

¹ The word that the LORD spoke concerning Babylon,

concerning the land of the Chaldeans,

by Jeremiah the prophet.

² "Declare among the nations and proclaim,

and set up a signal flag.

Proclaim it and do not conceal, say,

'Babylon will be taken captive;

her god Bel is put to shame,

Marduk is dismayed.

Her images are put to shame,

her idols are dismayed.

³ For out of the north a nation will come to attack her.

It will turn her land into a wasteland,

and no one will dwell there.

Both humans and animals have fled.'

⁴ In those days and at that time," says the LORD,

"the people of Israel will come,
they and the people of Judah together.

They will go on their way weeping,

and will seek the LORD their God.

⁵ They will ask the way to Zion

with their faces toward it.

They will come and join themselves to the LORD

in an everlasting covenant

that will never be forgotten.

⁶ My people have been lost sheep.

Their shepherds have led them astray.

They have turned them loose on the mountains.

They have wandered from mountain to hill.

They have forgotten their way back to their resting place.

⁷ All who found them devoured them;

their enemies said, 'We are not guilty,

because they have sinned against the LORD,

the habitation of righteousness,

even the LORD, the hope of their forefathers.'

⁸ Flee out of the midst of Babylon,

and get out of the land of the Chaldeans,

and be like male goats leading the flocks.

⁹ For I will stir up and bring up against Babylon

a company of great nations from the north country.

They will draw up their battle lines against her;

from there she will be captured.

Their arrows will be like those of a skilled warrior

who does not return empty-handed.

¹⁰ Chaldea will be plundered.

All who loot her will be satisfied," says the LORD.

¹¹ "Be glad and rejoice,

O you who plundered my inheritance,

you romp around like a heifer that treads out the grain,

and neigh like a stallion.

¹² Your mother will be totally shamed;

she who bore you will be disgraced.

She will be the least significant of the nations,

a wilderness, a parched and desert land.

¹³ Because of the wrath of the LORD

she will uninhabited.

She will be a deserted wasteland;

everyone who goes by Babylon will be appalled,

and hiss in ridicule at all her wounds.

¹⁴ Take up your battle position against Babylon,

all you who bend the bow.

Shoot at her,

spare no arrows;

she has sinned against the LORD.

¹⁵ Shout a battle cry against her from all sides.

She surrenders.

Her bulwarks have fallen,

her walls are torn down.

For this is the vengeance of the LORD;

take vengeance on her.

As she has done to others,

do to her.

¹⁶ Cut off the sower from Babylon,

and the one who swings the sickle in the time of harvest.

For fear of the oppressing sword

they all will return to their own people,

and all will flee to their homelands.

¹⁷ Israel is like sheep the lions have scattered.

First, the king of Assyria devoured them;

and now Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has gnawed on his bones."

¹⁸ Therefore this is what the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says:

"I will punish the king of Babylon and his land,

as I have already punished the king of Assyria.

¹⁹ Then I will bring Israel again to his pasture,

and he will feed on Carmel and Bashan,

and his appetite will be satisfied on the hills of Ephraim

and in Gilead.

²⁰ In those days and at that time," says the LORD,

"the sin of Israel will be sought for,

but there will be none,

and the sins of Judah,

but they will not be found.

For I will pardon those I have left as a remnant.

²¹ Go up against the land of Merathaim, go against it,

attack the inhabitants of Pekod;

kill and totally destroy them," says the LORD,

"Do everything I have commanded you.

²² The din of battle is in the land,

and great destruction.

²³ How is the hammer of the whole earth

cut down and broken!

How Babylon has become an object of horror among the nations!

²⁴ I have set a snare for you,

and you are trapped before you even knew it, O Babylon.

You were discovered and caught,

because you have opposed the LORD.

²⁵ The LORD has opened his armory,

and has brought out the weapons of his indignation;

for the Lord, the LORD of hosts,

has a mission to accomplish in the land of the Chaldeans.

²⁶ Come against her from far way;

open up her granaries;

pile her up like heaps of grain,

and totally destroy her,

let nothing be left of her.

²⁷ Slay all her young bulls,

let them go down to the slaughter.

Woe to them!

For their day has come,

the time of their punishment.

²⁸ The sound of fugitives and refugees

come from the land of Babylon,

to declare in Zion the vengeance of the LORD our God,

revenge for what was done to his temple.

²⁹ Call for the archers to come against Babylon,

all those who bend the bow.

Set up camp surrounding her;

let none of them escape.

Repay her according to her deeds;

do to her, just as she has done.

She has haughtily defied the LORD,

the Holy One of Israel.

³⁰ Therefore her young men will fall in her squares,

and all her warriors will be silenced in that day,"

says the LORD.

³¹ "I am against you, O arrogant one,"

says the Lord, the LORD of hosts,

"for your day has come,

the time when I will punish you.

³² The proud one will stumble and fall,

and no one will help you up.

I will kindle a fire in his cities,

and it will burn up everything around him."

³³ This is what the LORD of hosts, says:

"The people of Israel are oppressed,

along with the people of Judah.

All those who took them captive hold them;

they refuse to let them go.

³⁴ Their Redeemer is strong;

the LORD of hosts is his name.

He will thoroughly plead their cause,

that he may give rest to the earth,

while the inhabitants of Babylon will face turmoil.

³⁵ A sword is against the Chaldeans, says the LORD,

and against the inhabitants of Babylon,

and against her officials and sages.

³⁶ A sword is against her diviners,

and they will become fools.

A sword is against her warriors,

and they will be seized by terror.

³⁷ A sword is against their horses,

and against their chariots,

and against all the foreign troops in her midst.

They will become like women.

A sword is against her treasures,

and they will be plundered.

³⁸ A drought is against her waters,

and they will be dried up.

For it is a land of carved images,

and they go mad,

terrified of their idols.

³⁹ Therefore the wild animals of the desert

with the wolves will dwell there,

Ostriches will dwell there.

It will be uninhabited forever;

no one will dwell there from generation to generation.

⁴⁰ As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah

and its neighboring cities," says the LORD,

"So no one will dwell there,

neither will any human being settle there.

⁴¹ A people is coming from the north;

and a great nation and many kings are stirring

from the end of the earth.

⁴² They take hold of bow and spear;

they are cruel and have no mercy.

Their voices roar like the sea;

they ride on horses,

every one lined up like a warrior in battle formation.

They are coming against you, O daughter of Babylon.

⁴³ The king of Babylon has heard the report of them,

and his hands hang limp;

anguish has taken hold of him,

and pain like a woman in labor.

⁴⁴ I will come up like a lion from the thickets of the Jordan

against the perennial pasture.

I will suddenly chase them away from her;

I will appoint over him whomever I choose.

Who is like me?

Who will call me into court?

Who is the shepherd who can stand in opposition to me?"

⁴⁵ Therefore hear the plan of the LORD,

that he has made against Babylon.

These are his purposes that he intends to carry out

against the land of the Chaldeans.

They will drag them away,

even the little sheep of the flock;

their own pasture will be completely destroyed.

⁴⁶ At the sound of the taking of Babylon the earth trembles,

and its cry will be heard among the nations.

DASV: Jeremiah 51

¹ This is what the LORD says:

"Look, I will raise up against Babylon,

and against those who live in Leb-Kamai,

a destroying wind.

² I will send foreigners to Babylon,

who will winnow, blowing her away like chaff.

They will empty her land.

For in the day of trouble they will attack her

from every direction.

³ Do not let the archer bend his bow,

or let him put on his armor.

Do not spare her young men;

totally destroy her army.

⁴ They will fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans,

and be run through by a sword in her streets.

⁵ For Israel and Judah have not been forsaken,

by their God, the LORD of hosts,

though their land is full of guilt

against the Holy One of Israel.

⁶ Get out of Babylon,

each person should save their own life,

Do not be destroyed in the punishment of her iniquity.

For it is the time of the LORD's vengeance;

he will pay her back for what she has done.

⁷ Babylon has been a golden cup in the LORD's hand,

that made all the earth drunk.

The nations have drunk of her wine;

resulting in the nations going mad.

⁸ Babylon will suddenly fall and be destroyed.

Wail for her, get medicinal balm for her pain,

if there is a chance that she may be healed.

⁹ 'We tried to heal Babylon,

but she could not be healed.

Abandon her,

and let each one of us go back to his own country;

for her judgment reaches to heaven,

and is lifted up even to the skies.'

¹⁰ The LORD has brought about our vindication;

come, and let us declare in Zion

the work of the LORD our God.

¹¹ Sharpen the arrows;

fill the quivers.

The LORD has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes,

because his plan against Babylon is to destroy it,

for it is the vengeance of the LORD,

vengeance for his temple.

¹² Raise the flag signaling the attack of the walls of Babylon,

reinforce the watchmen,

post the guards,

prepare the ambushes.

For the LORD has planned and done what he has spoken

concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.

¹³ O you who dwell along many waters,

abundant in treasures,

your end is come,

the thread of your life is cut.

¹⁴ The LORD of hosts has sworn by himself, saying,

"Surely I will fill you with soldiers,

like a swarm of locusts;

they will lift up victory shouts over you."

¹⁵ He has made the earth by his power;

he has established the world by his wisdom,

and by his understanding has stretched out the heavens.

¹⁶ When he utters his voice,

the waters in the heavens roar.

He causes the clouds to ascend from the ends of the earth;

he makes lightning accompany the rain,

and brings the wind out of his storehouses.

¹⁷ Everyone is stupid and without knowledge;

every goldsmith will be put to shame by his idols;

for his cast images are a delusion,

and there is no breath in them.

¹⁸ They are worthless,

a total mockery.

In the time of their punishment, they perish.

¹⁹ The Portion of Jacob is not like these,

for he is the one who formed all things.

Israel is the tribe of his inheritance,

the LORD of hosts is his name.

²⁰ You are my war-club, and weapon for battle.

With you I will smash the nations;

with you I will destroy kingdoms.

²¹ With you I will smash to pieces the horse and his rider;

²² with you I will smash to pieces the chariot and its rider.

With you I will smash to pieces man and woman,

and with you I will smash to pieces the old and the young.

and with you I will smash to pieces the young man and woman,

²³ and with you I will smash to pieces the shepherd and his flock,

and with you I will smash to pieces the farmer and his team of oxen,

and with you I will smash to pieces governors and rulers.

²⁴ I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea

for all the damage they have done in Zion

before your eyes," says the LORD.

²⁵ "I am against you, O destroying mountain," says the LORD,

"you who destroy all the earth.

I will stretch out my hand against you,

and roll you down off cliffs,

and will make you like a burnt mountain.

²⁶ They will not take one of your stones for a cornerstone,

or a rock for foundations;

you will be a heap of ruins forever," says the LORD.

²⁷ "Set up a signal flag in the land!

Blow the war trumpet among the nations!

Prepare the nations for war against her;

summon the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz against her;

appoint a commander-in-chief against her;

cause the horses to come up like a swarm of locusts.

²⁸ Prepare the nations against her,

the kings of the Medes and its governors,

and all its rulers, and all the countries they rule.

²⁹ The land trembles and writhes in pain.

For the purposes of the LORD against Babylon stand,

to make the land of Babylon desolate without inhabitant.

³⁰ The warriors of Babylon have given up fighting;

they remain in their strongholds.

Their strength has failed;

they have become weak as women.

Her houses are set on fire;

the bars of her gates are broken.

³¹ One runner will run to meet another,

and one messenger to the next,

to tell the king of Babylon that his city is taken

from one end to the other.

³² The river fords have been captured,

and the marshes have been set on fire,

and the warriors are terrified."

³³ For this is what the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel says:

"The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor

at the time when it has been trampled out;

yet a little while and the time of her harvest will come.

³⁴ "Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me,

he has crushed me,

he has made us like an empty jar,

like a sea monster he has swallowed me up,

he has filled his belly with my delicacies;

he has spit me out.

³⁵ May the violence done to me and to my relatives
be repaid on Babylon,"

the inhabitants of Zion will say.

"May my blood be avenged on the inhabitants of Chaldea,"

Jerusalem will say.

³⁶ Therefore this is what the LORD says:

"I will plead your case,

and will avenge you.

I will dry up her sea,

and make her fountain dry.

³⁷ Babylon will become a heap of rubble,

a dwelling-place for jackals,

an object of horror,

and ridicule hissing, without inhabitant.

³⁸ They will roar together like young lions;

they will growl like lion cubs.

³⁹ When they are excited, I will make their feast,

and I will make them drunk, that they may rejoice,

and fall into a perpetual sleep never to wake up,"

says the LORD.

⁴⁰ "I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter,

like rams and male goats.

⁴¹ O how Sheshach has been captured!

The praise of the whole earth seized!

How has Babylon become an object of horror

among the nations!

⁴² The sea has flooded over Babylon;

she has been covered by its roaring billows.

⁴³ Her cities have become an object of horror,

a desert wasteland,

a land wherein no one lives,

neither does anybody even pass by.

⁴⁴ I will execute judgment on Bel in Babylon,

and I will make him vomit up what he has swallowed down.

The nations will not flow into him anymore;

the wall of Babylon will fall.

⁴⁵ My people, get out of her.

Each of you save yourselves

from the fierce anger of the LORD.

⁴⁶ Do not lose heart,

neither fear the rumor heard in the land;

for rumors will come one year,

and then another the next year.

There will be violence in the land,

ruler against ruler.

⁴⁷ Therefore the days will come,

when I will execute judgment

on the carved images of Babylon.

Her whole land will be disgraced;

and all her slain will fall in the midst of her.

⁴⁸ Then the heavens and the earth,

and all who are in them,

will shout for joy over Babylon.

For the destroyers will attack her from the north," says the LORD.

⁴⁹ Babylon will fall for the slain of Israel who have fallen,

just as the slain of all the earth have fallen because of Babylon.

⁵⁰ You who have escaped the sword,

leave, do not stick around.

Remember the LORD from a distant land,

and let Jerusalem come to mind.

⁵¹ We are disgraced, because we have heard the insults;

shame has covered our faces,

for foreigners have come

into the sanctuaries of the LORD's house.

⁵² "Therefore, the days are coming," says the LORD,

that I will execute judgment on her carved images.

The wounded throughout her land will groan.

⁵³ Though Babylon attempts to climb up to heaven,

and though she fortifies the towering heights,

yet from me destroyers will come against her," says the LORD.

⁵⁴ The sound of cries come from Babylon,

and the uproar of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans!

⁵⁵ For the LORD is laying Babylon waste,

and silencing her loud noise.

Their waves roar like many waters;

the noise of their voice resounds.

⁵⁶ For the destroyer is come against her,

even against Babylon.

Her warriors are captured,

their bows are broken in pieces.

For the LORD is a God who punishes fairly;

he will surely repay in full.

⁵⁷ "I will make her officials and wise men drunk,

also her governors, rulers, and her warriors.

They will fall into a perpetual sleep never to wake up,"

says the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts.

⁵⁸ This is what the LORD of hosts says:

"The broad walls of Babylon will be totally demolished.

Her high gates will be burned.

The peoples toil for nothing,

and the nations weary themselves only for the fire."

⁵⁹ The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. Now Seraiah was a chief of staff.

⁶⁰ Jeremiah wrote on a scroll all the disasters that were to come on Babylon--all these words that are written concerning Babylon.

⁶¹ Jeremiah said to Seraiah, "When you come to Babylon, make sure you read all these words,

⁶² and say, 'O LORD, you have spoken concerning this place, to destroy it, so that no one will live there, neither human nor animal, but it will be desolate forever.'

⁶³ When you have finished reading this scroll, tie a stone to it, and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates River.

⁶⁴ Then say, 'This is how Babylon will sink, and will never rise again because of the disaster I will bring on her, and they will be exhausted.'"

These end the words of Jeremiah.

DASV: Jeremiah 52

¹ Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.

² He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, just as Jehoiakim had done.

³ These things happened because of the anger of the LORD against Jerusalem and Judah, until he deported them out of his presence. Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

⁴ In the tenth day of the tenth month of the ninth year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came with his entire army against Jerusalem. They camped against it and built siege ramps all around it.

⁵ So the city was under siege to the eleventh year of king Zedekiah.

⁶ In the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine was severe in the city, so that there was no food for the people of the land.

⁷ Then a breach was made in the city wall, and all the warriors fled. They went out of the city at night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king's garden. Now the Chaldeans had the city surrounded, nevertheless they escaped toward the Arabah.

⁸ But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. All his army scattered, deserting him.

⁹ Then they took the king, and carried him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath where he rendered judgment on him.

¹⁰ The king of Babylon executed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. He also killed the officials of Judah in Riblah.

¹¹ Then he put out Zedekiah's eyes and the king of Babylon bound him in bronze chains, and brought him to Babylon, and put him in prison until the day of his death.

¹² Now in tenth day of the fifth month of the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, an official of the king of Babylon came into Jerusalem.

¹³ He burned the temple of the LORD, the king's palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every great house he burned down.

¹⁴ Then all the army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain of the guard, broke down all the walls surrounding Jerusalem.

¹⁵ Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard deported some of the poorest of the people, the rest of the people who were left in the city, and traitors who deserted to the king of Babylon, along with the rest of the craftsmen.

¹⁶ But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and farmers.

¹⁷ The pillars of bronze that were in the house of the LORD, the bases and the bronze sea that were in the house of the LORD, the Chaldeans broke into pieces, and carried off all the bronze to Babylon.

¹⁸ They also took the pots, shovels, lamp snuffers, basins, and the ladles, and all the vessels of bronze that were used by priests in the temple service.

¹⁹ The captain of the guard also took away all the cups, firepans, basins, pots, lampstands, ladles and cups and any other things made of gold or silver.

²⁰ The two pillars, the one sea with the twelve bronze oxen supporting it and the carts that King Solomon had made for the house of the LORD--the bronze of all these items was beyond weighing.

²¹ Each pillar was 27 feet tall and 27 feet around. They were hollow with walls 3 inches thick.

²² A capital of bronze on top of it was seven and a half feet tall, with latticework and pomegranate ornamentation around the capital, all in bronze. The second pillar was also the same with similar decorative pomegranates.

²³ There were 96 pomegranates on the sides and there were 100 pomegranates on the latticework.

²⁴ The captain of the guard took Seraiah, the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second ranking priest and the three door keepers.

²⁵ From the city he took an officer who was over the soldiers, and seven men who were the king's advisers, who were found in the city. The secretary of the commander-in-chief, who mustered the people of the land, and 60 men of the people of the land who were found inside the city.

²⁶ Then Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.

²⁷ The king of Babylon struck them down, and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was deported into exile out of his land.

²⁸ These are the people whom Nebuchadnezzar deported into exile. In the seventh year of his reign there were 3,023 Jews.

²⁹ In the eighteenth year, Nebuchadnezzar deported into exile 832 people from Jerusalem.

³⁰ In the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard deported into exile 745 Jews. All total there were 4,600 captives.

³¹ In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of King Jehoiachin of Judah, on the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month, that Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, graciously released King Jehoiachin of Judah and brought him out of prison.

³² He spoke kindly to him, and set his throne higher than the throne of the other kings who were with him in Babylon.

³³ He took off his prison clothes and he regularly ate food at the king's table all the days of his life.

³⁴ For his allowance, there was a daily allowance given him by the king of Babylon as long as he lived until the day of his death.