Bible in 90 Days
19 “I will set a sign among them, and I will send those who escape of them to the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to far-away islands, who have not heard my fame, nor have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the nations. 20 They shall bring all your brothers out of all the nations for an offering to Yahweh, on horses, in chariots, in litters, on mules, and on camels, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says Yahweh, as the children of Israel bring their offering in a clean vessel into Yahweh’s house. 21 Of them I will also select priests and Levites,” says Yahweh.
22 “For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me,” says Yahweh, “so your offspring and your name shall remain. 23 It shall happen that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, all flesh will come to worship before me,” says Yahweh. 24 “They will go out, and look at the dead bodies of the men who have transgressed against me; for their worm will not die, nor will their fire be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind.”
1 The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, one of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin. 2 Yahweh’s[a] word came to him in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. 3 It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, to the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, to the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month. 4 Now Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,
5 “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.
Before you were born, I sanctified you.
I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
6 Then I said, “Ah, Lord[b] Yahweh! Behold,[c] I don’t know how to speak; for I am a child.”
7 But Yahweh said to me, “Don’t say, ‘I am a child;’ for you must go to whomever I send you, and you must say whatever I command you. 8 Don’t be afraid because of them, for I am with you to rescue you,” says Yahweh.
9 Then Yahweh stretched out his hand, and touched my mouth. Then Yahweh said to me, “Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. 10 Behold, I have today set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to uproot and to tear down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”
11 Moreover Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, “Jeremiah, what do you see?”
I said, “I see a branch of an almond tree.”
12 Then Yahweh said to me, “You have seen well; for I watch over my word to perform it.”
13 Yahweh’s word came to me the second time, saying, “What do you see?”
I said, “I see a boiling cauldron; and it is tipping away from the north.”
14 Then Yahweh said to me, “Out of the north, evil will break out on all the inhabitants of the land. 15 For, behold, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north,” says Yahweh.
“They will come, and they will each set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem,
and against all its walls all around, and against all the cities of Judah.
16 I will utter my judgments against them concerning all their wickedness,
in that they have forsaken me,
and have burned incense to other gods,
and worshiped the works of their own hands.
17 “You therefore put your belt on your waist, arise, and say to them all that I command you. Don’t be dismayed at them, lest I dismay you before them. 18 For, behold, I have made you today a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against its princes, against its priests, and against the people of the land. 19 They will fight against you, but they will not prevail against you; for I am with you”, says Yahweh, “to rescue you.”
2 Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 2 “Go and proclaim in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Yahweh says,
“I remember for you the kindness of your youth,
the love of your weddings;
how you went after me in the wilderness,
in a land that was not sown.
3 Israel was holiness to Yahweh,
the first fruits of his increase.
All who devour him will be held guilty.
Evil will come on them,”’ says Yahweh.”
4 Hear Yahweh’s word, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel! 5 Yahweh says,
“What unrighteousness have your fathers found in me,
that they have gone far from me,
and have walked after worthless vanity,
and have become worthless?
6 They didn’t say, ‘Where is Yahweh who brought us up out of the land of Egypt,
who led us through the wilderness,
through a land of deserts and of pits,
through a land of drought and of the shadow of death,
through a land that no one passed through,
and where no man lived?’
7 I brought you into a plentiful land
to eat its fruit and its goodness;
but when you entered, you defiled my land,
and made my heritage an abomination.
8 The priests didn’t say, ‘Where is Yahweh?’
and those who handle the law didn’t know me.
The rulers also transgressed against me,
and the prophets prophesied by Baal
and followed things that do not profit.
9 “Therefore I will yet contend with you,” says Yahweh,
“and I will contend with your children’s children.
10 For pass over to the islands of Kittim, and see.
Send to Kedar, and consider diligently,
and see if there has been such a thing.
11 Has a nation changed its gods,
which really are no gods?
But my people have changed their glory for that which doesn’t profit.
12 “Be astonished, you heavens, at this
and be horribly afraid.
Be very desolate,” says Yahweh.
13 “For my people have committed two evils:
they have forsaken me, the spring of living waters,
and cut out cisterns for themselves: broken cisterns that can’t hold water.
14 Is Israel a slave?
Is he born into slavery?
Why has he become a captive?
15 The young lions have roared at him and yelled.
They have made his land waste.
His cities are burned up, without inhabitant.
16 The children also of Memphis and Tahpanhes have broken the crown of your head.
17 “Haven’t you brought this on yourself,
in that you have forsaken Yahweh your God,[d] when he led you by the way?
18 Now what do you gain by going to Egypt, to drink the waters of the Shihor?
Or why do you to go on the way to Assyria, to drink the waters of the River?[e]
19 “Your own wickedness will correct you,
and your backsliding will rebuke you.
Know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing,
that you have forsaken Yahweh your God,
and that my fear is not in you,” says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies.
20 “For long ago I broke off your yoke,
and burst your bonds.
You said, ‘I will not serve;’
for on every high hill and under every green tree you bowed yourself,
playing the prostitute.
21 Yet I had planted you a noble vine,
a pure and faithful seed.
How then have you turned into the degenerate branches of a foreign vine to me?
22 For though you wash yourself with lye,
and use much soap,
yet your iniquity is marked before me,” says the Lord Yahweh.
23 “How can you say, ‘I am not defiled.
I have not gone after the Baals’?
See your way in the valley.
Know what you have done.
You are a swift dromedary traversing her ways, 24 a wild donkey used to the wilderness, that sniffs the wind in her craving.
When she is in heat, who can turn her away?
All those who seek her will not weary themselves. In her month, they will find her.
25 “Keep your feet from being bare,
and your throat from thirst.
But you said, ‘It is in vain.
No, for I have loved strangers,
and I will go after them.’
26 As the thief is ashamed when he is found,
so the house of Israel is ashamed:
they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets,
27 who tell wood, ‘You are my father,’
and a stone, ‘You have given birth to me,’
for they have turned their back to me,
and not their face;
but in the time of their trouble they will say, ‘Arise, and save us!’
28 “But where are your gods that you have made for yourselves?
Let them arise, if they can save you in the time of your trouble;
for you have as many gods as you have towns, O Judah.
29 “Why will you contend with me?
You all have transgressed against me,” says Yahweh.
30 “I have struck your children in vain.
They received no correction.
Your own sword has devoured your prophets,
like a destroying lion.
31 Generation, consider Yahweh’s word.
Have I been a wilderness to Israel?
Or a land of thick darkness?
Why do my people say, ‘We have broken loose.
We will come to you no more’?
32 “Can a virgin forget her ornaments,
or a bride her attire?
Yet my people have forgotten me for days without number.
33 How well you prepare your way to seek love!
Therefore you have even taught the wicked women your ways.
34 Also the blood of the souls of the innocent poor is found in your skirts.
You didn’t find them breaking in,
but it is because of all these things.
35 “Yet you said, ‘I am innocent.
Surely his anger has turned away from me.’
“Behold, I will judge you,
because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’
36 Why do you go about so much to change your ways?
You will be ashamed of Egypt also,
as you were ashamed of Assyria.
37 You will also leave that place with your hands on your head;
for Yahweh has rejected those in whom you trust,
and you won’t prosper with them.
3 “They say, ‘If a man puts away his wife, and she goes from him, and becomes another man’s, should he return to her again?’ Wouldn’t that land be greatly polluted? But you have played the prostitute with many lovers; yet return again to me,” says Yahweh.
2 “Lift up your eyes to the bare heights, and see! Where have you not been lain with? You have sat waiting for them by the road, as an Arabian in the wilderness. You have polluted the land with your prostitution and with your wickedness. 3 Therefore the showers have been withheld and there has been no latter rain; yet you have had a prostitute’s forehead and you refused to be ashamed. 4 Will you not from this time cry to me, ‘My Father, you are the guide of my youth!’?
5 “‘Will he retain his anger forever? Will he keep it to the end?’ Behold, you have spoken and have done evil things, and have had your way.”
6 Moreover, Yahweh said to me in the days of Josiah the king, “Have you seen that which backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and has played the prostitute there. 7 I said after she had done all these things, ‘She will return to me;’ but she didn’t return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. 8 I saw when, for this very cause, that backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a certificate of divorce, yet treacherous Judah, her sister, had no fear; but she also went and played the prostitute. 9 Because she took her prostitution lightly, the land was polluted, and she committed adultery with stones and with wood. 10 Yet for all this her treacherous sister, Judah, has not returned to me with her whole heart, but only in pretense,” says Yahweh.
11 Yahweh said to me, “Backsliding Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. 12 Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, ‘Return, you backsliding Israel,’ says Yahweh; ‘I will not look in anger on you; for I am merciful,’ says Yahweh. ‘I will not keep anger forever. 13 Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against Yahweh your God, and have scattered your ways to the strangers under every green tree, and you have not obeyed my voice,’ says Yahweh.” 14 “Return, backsliding children,” says Yahweh; “for I am a husband to you. I will take one of you from a city, and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion. 15 I will give you shepherds according to my heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. 16 It will come to pass, when you are multiplied and increased in the land, in those days,” says Yahweh, “they will no longer say, ‘the ark of Yahweh’s covenant!’ It will not come to mind. They won’t remember it. They won’t miss it, nor will another be made. 17 At that time they will call Jerusalem ‘Yahweh’s Throne;’ and all the nations will be gathered to it, to Yahweh’s name, to Jerusalem. They will no longer walk after the stubbornness of their evil heart. 18 In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together out of the land of the north to the land that I gave for an inheritance to your fathers.
19 “But I said, ‘How I desire to put you among the children, and give you a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the armies of the nations!’ and I said, ‘You shall call me “My Father”, and shall not turn away from following me.’
20 “Surely as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, so you have dealt treacherously with me, house of Israel,” says Yahweh. 21 A voice is heard on the bare heights, the weeping and the petitions of the children of Israel; because they have perverted their way, they have forgotten Yahweh their God. 22 Return, you backsliding children, and I will heal your backsliding.
“Behold, we have come to you; for you are Yahweh our God. 23 Truly help from the hills, the tumult on the mountains, is in vain. Truly the salvation of Israel is in Yahweh our God. 24 But the shameful thing has devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. 25 Let us lie down in our shame, and let our confusion cover us; for we have sinned against Yahweh our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day. We have not obeyed Yahweh our God’s voice.”
4 “If you will return, Israel,” says Yahweh, “if you will return to me, and if you will put away your abominations out of my sight; then you will not be removed; 2 and you will swear, ‘As Yahweh lives,’ in truth, in justice, and in righteousness. The nations will bless themselves in him, and they will glory in him.”
3 For Yahweh says to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, “Break up your fallow ground, and don’t sow among thorns. 4 Circumcise yourselves to Yahweh, and take away the foreskins of your heart, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go out like fire, and burn so that no one can quench it, because of the evil of your doings. 5 Declare in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem; and say, ‘Blow the trumpet in the land!’ Cry aloud and say, ‘Assemble yourselves! Let’s go into the fortified cities!’ 6 Set up a standard toward Zion. Flee for safety! Don’t wait; for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction.”
7 A lion has gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations. He is on his way. He has gone out from his place, to make your land desolate, that your cities be laid waste, without inhabitant. 8 For this, clothe yourself with sackcloth, lament and wail; for the fierce anger of Yahweh hasn’t turned back from us. 9 “It will happen at that day,” says Yahweh, “that the heart of the king will perish, along with the heart of the princes. The priests will be astonished, and the prophets will wonder.”
10 Then I said, “Ah, Lord Yahweh! Surely you have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘You will have peace;’ whereas the sword reaches to the heart.”
11 At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A hot wind from the bare heights in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not to winnow, nor to cleanse; 12 a full wind from these will come for me. Now I will also utter judgments against them.”
13 Behold, he will come up as clouds, and his chariots will be as the whirlwind. His horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us! For we are ruined. 14 Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved. How long will your evil thoughts lodge within you? 15 For a voice declares from Dan, and publishes evil from the hills of Ephraim: 16 “Tell the nations, behold, publish against Jerusalem, ‘Watchers come from a far country, and raise their voice against the cities of Judah. 17 As keepers of a field, they are against her all around, because she has been rebellious against me,’” says Yahweh. 18 “Your way and your doings have brought these things to you. This is your wickedness; for it is bitter, for it reaches to your heart.”
19 My anguish, my anguish! I am pained at my very heart! My heart trembles within me. I can’t hold my peace, because you have heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. 20 Destruction on destruction is decreed, for the whole land is laid waste. Suddenly my tents are destroyed, and my curtains gone in a moment. 21 How long will I see the standard and hear the sound of the trumpet?
22 “For my people are foolish. They don’t know me. They are foolish children, and they have no understanding. They are skillful in doing evil, but they don’t know how to do good.” 23 I saw the earth, and, behold, it was waste and void, and the heavens, and they had no light. 24 I saw the mountains, and behold, they trembled, and all the hills moved back and forth. 25 I saw, and behold, there was no man, and all the birds of the sky had fled. 26 I saw, and behold, the fruitful field was a wilderness, and all its cities were broken down at the presence of Yahweh, before his fierce anger. 27 For Yahweh says, “The whole land will be a desolation; yet I will not make a full end. 28 For this the earth will mourn, and the heavens above be black, because I have spoken it. I have planned it, and I have not repented, neither will I turn back from it.”
29 Every city flees for the noise of the horsemen and archers. They go into the thickets, and climb up on the rocks. Every city is forsaken, and not a man dwells therein. 30 You, when you are made desolate, what will you do? Though you clothe yourself with scarlet, though you deck yourself with ornaments of gold, though you enlarge your eyes with makeup, you make yourself beautiful in vain. Your lovers despise you. They seek your life. 31 For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, the anguish as of her who gives birth to her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, who gasps for breath, who spreads her hands, saying, “Woe is me now! For my soul faints before the murderers.”
5 “Run back and forth through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in its wide places, if you can find a man, if there is anyone who does justly, who seeks truth, then I will pardon her. 2 Though they say, ‘As Yahweh lives,’ surely they swear falsely.”
3 O Yahweh, don’t your eyes look on truth? You have stricken them, but they were not grieved. You have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than a rock. They have refused to return.
4 Then I said, “Surely these are poor. They are foolish; for they don’t know Yahweh’s way, nor the law of their God. 5 I will go to the great men and will speak to them, for they know the way of Yahweh, and the law of their God.” But these with one accord have broken the yoke, and burst the bonds. 6 Therefore a lion out of the forest will kill them. A wolf of the evenings will destroy them. A leopard will watch against their cities. Everyone who goes out there will be torn in pieces, because their transgressions are many and their backsliding has increased.
7 “How can I pardon you? Your children have forsaken me, and sworn by what are no gods. When I had fed them to the full, they committed adultery, and assembled themselves in troops at the prostitutes’ houses. 8 They were as fed horses roaming at large. Everyone neighed after his neighbor’s wife. 9 Shouldn’t I punish them for these things?” says Yahweh. “Shouldn’t my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
10 “Go up on her walls, and destroy; but don’t make a full end. Take away her branches, for they are not Yahweh’s. 11 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me,” says Yahweh.
12 They have denied Yahweh, and said, “It is not he. Evil won’t come on us. We won’t see sword or famine. 13 The prophets will become wind, and the word is not in them. Thus it will be done to them.”
14 Therefore Yahweh, the God of Armies says, “Because you speak this word, behold, I will make my words in your mouth fire, and this people wood, and it will devour them. 15 Behold, I will bring a nation on you from far away, house of Israel,” says Yahweh. “It is a mighty nation. It is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you don’t know and don’t understand what they say. 16 Their quiver is an open tomb. They are all mighty men. 17 They will eat up your harvest and your bread, which your sons and your daughters should eat. They will eat up your flocks and your herds. They will eat up your vines and your fig trees. They will beat down your fortified cities in which you trust with the sword.
18 “But even in those days,” says Yahweh, “I will not make a full end of you. 19 It will happen when you say, ‘Why has Yahweh our God done all these things to us?’ Then you shall say to them, ‘Just as you have forsaken 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 publish it in Judah, saying, 21 ‘Hear this now, foolish people without understanding, who have eyes, and don’t see, who have ears, and don’t hear: 22 Don’t you fear me?’ says Yahweh ‘Won’t you tremble at my presence, who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea, by a perpetual decree, that it can’t pass it? Though its waves toss themselves, yet they can’t prevail. Though they roar, they still can’t pass over it.’
23 “But this people has a revolting and a rebellious heart. They have revolted and gone. 24 They don’t say in their heart, ‘Let’s now fear Yahweh our God, who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season, who preserves to us the appointed weeks of the harvest.’
25 “Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withheld good from you. 26 For wicked men are found among my people. They watch, as fowlers lie in wait. They set a trap. They catch men. 27 As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit. Therefore they have become great, and grew rich. 28 They have grown fat. They shine; yes, they excel in deeds of wickedness. They don’t plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they may prosper; and they don’t defend the rights of the needy.
29 “Shouldn’t I punish for these things?” says Yahweh. “Shouldn’t my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
30 “An astonishing 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 to have it so. What will you do in the end of it?
6 “Flee for safety, you children of Benjamin, out of the middle of Jerusalem! Blow the trumpet in Tekoa and raise up a signal on Beth Haccherem, for evil looks out from the north with a great destruction. 2 I will cut off the beautiful and delicate one, the daughter of Zion. 3 Shepherds with their flocks will come to her. They will pitch their tents against her all around. They will feed everyone in his place.”
4 “Prepare war against her! Arise! Let’s go up at noon. Woe to us! For the day declines, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out. 5 Arise! Let’s go up by night, and let’s destroy her palaces.” 6 For Yahweh of Armies said, “Cut down trees, and cast up a mound against Jerusalem. This is the city to be visited. She is wholly oppression within herself. 7 As a well produces its waters, so she produces her wickedness. Violence and destruction is heard in her. Sickness and wounds are continually before me. 8 Be instructed, Jerusalem, lest my soul be alienated from you, lest I make you a desolation, an uninhabited land.”
9 Yahweh of Armies says, “They will thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel like a vine. Turn again your hand as a grape gatherer into the baskets.”
10 To whom should I speak and testify, that they may hear? Behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they can’t listen. Behold, Yahweh’s word has become a reproach to them. They have no delight in it. 11 Therefore I am full of Yahweh’s wrath. I am weary with holding it in.
“Pour it out on the children in the street,
and on the assembly of young men together;
for even the husband with the wife will be taken,
the aged with him who is full of days.
12 Their houses will be turned to others,
their fields and their wives together;
for I will stretch out my hand on the inhabitants of the land, says Yahweh.”
13 “For from their least even to their greatest, everyone is given to covetousness.
From the prophet even to the priest, everyone deals falsely.
14 They have healed also the hurt of my people superficially,
saying, ‘Peace, peace!’ when there is no peace.
15 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination?
No, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush.
Therefore they will fall among those who fall.
When I visit them, they will be cast down,” says Yahweh.
16 Yahweh says, “Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, ‘Where is the good way?’ and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ 17 I set watchmen over you, saying, ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’ But they said, ‘We will not listen!’ 18 Therefore hear, you nations, and know, congregation, what is among them. 19 Hear, earth! Behold, I will bring evil on this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not listened to my words; and as for my law, they have rejected it. 20 To what purpose does frankincense from Sheba come to me, and the sweet cane from a far country? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, and your sacrifices are not pleasing to me.”
21 Therefore Yahweh says, “Behold, I will lay stumbling blocks before this people. The fathers and the sons together will stumble against them. The neighbor and his friend will perish.” 22 Yahweh says, “Behold, a people comes from the north country. A great nation will be stirred up from the uttermost parts of the earth. 23 They take hold of bow and spear. They are cruel, and have no mercy. Their voice roars like the sea, and they ride on horses, everyone set in array, as a man to the battle, against you, daughter of Zion.”
24 We have heard its report. Our hands become feeble. Anguish has taken hold of us, and pains as of a woman in labor. 25 Don’t go out into the field or walk by the way; for the sword of the enemy and terror are on every side. 26 Daughter of my people, clothe yourself with sackcloth, and wallow in ashes! Mourn, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation, for the destroyer will suddenly come on us.
27 “I have made you a tester of metals and a fortress among my people, that you may know and try their way. 28 They are all grievous rebels, going around to slander. They are bronze and iron. All of them deal corruptly. 29 The bellows blow fiercely. The lead is consumed in the fire. In vain they go on refining, for the wicked are not plucked away. 30 Men will call them rejected silver, because Yahweh has rejected them.”
7 The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying, 2 “Stand in the gate of Yahweh’s house, and proclaim this word there, and say, ‘Hear Yahweh’s word, all you of Judah, who enter in at these gates to worship Yahweh.’”
3 Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel says, “Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. 4 Don’t trust in lying words, saying, ‘Yahweh’s temple, Yahweh’s temple, Yahweh’s temple, are these.’ 5 For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughly execute justice between a man and his neighbor; 6 if you don’t oppress the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, and don’t shed innocent blood in this place, and don’t walk after other gods to your own hurt; 7 then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, from of old even forever more. 8 Behold, you trust in lying words that can’t profit. 9 Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods that you have not known, 10 then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, ‘We are delivered,’ that you may do all these abominations? 11 Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it,” says Yahweh.
12 “But go now to my place which was in Shiloh, where I caused my name to dwell at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel. 13 Now, because you have done all these works,” says Yahweh, “and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you didn’t hear; and I called you, but you didn’t answer; 14 therefore I will do to the house which is called by my name, in which you trust, and to the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shiloh. 15 I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brothers, even the whole offspring[f] of Ephraim.
16 “Therefore don’t pray for this people. Don’t lift up a cry or prayer for them or make intercession to me; for I will not hear you. 17 Don’t you see what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18 The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead the dough, to make cakes to the queen of the sky, and to pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke me to anger. 19 Do they provoke me to anger?” says Yahweh. “Don’t they provoke themselves, to the confusion of their own faces?”
20 Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: “Behold, my anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place, on man, on animal, on the trees of the field, and on the fruit of the ground; and it will burn and will not be quenched.”
21 Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel says: “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat meat. 22 For I didn’t speak to your fathers or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices; 23 but this thing I commanded them, saying, ‘Listen to my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people. Walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.’ 24 But they didn’t listen or turn their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward. 25 Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have sent to you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them. 26 Yet they didn’t listen to me or incline their ear, but made their neck stiff. They did worse than their fathers.
27 “You shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you. You shall also call to them, but they will not answer you. 28 You shall tell them, ‘This is the nation that has not listened to Yahweh their God’s voice, nor received instruction. Truth has perished, and is cut off from their mouth.’ 29 Cut off your hair, and throw it away, and take up a lamentation on the bare heights; for Yahweh has rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.
30 “For the children of Judah have done that which is evil in my sight,” says Yahweh. “They have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to defile it. 31 They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I didn’t command, nor did it come into my mind. 32 Therefore behold, the days come”, says Yahweh, “that it will no more be called ‘Topheth’ or ‘The valley of the son of Hinnom’, but ‘The valley of Slaughter’; for they will bury in Topheth until there is no place to bury. 33 The dead bodies of this people will be food for the birds of the sky, and for the animals of the earth. No one will frighten them away. 34 Then I will cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride; for the land will become a waste.”
8 “At that time,” says Yahweh, “they will bring the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of his princes, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves. 2 They will spread them before the sun, the moon, and all the army of the sky, which they have loved, which they have served, after which they have walked, which they have sought, and which they have worshiped. They will not be gathered or be buried. They will be like dung on the surface of the earth. 3 Death will be chosen rather than life by all the residue that remain of this evil family, that remain in all the places where I have driven them,” says Yahweh of Armies. 4 “Moreover you shall tell them, ‘Yahweh says:
“‘Do men fall, and not rise up again?
Does one turn away, and not return?
5 Why then have the people of Jerusalem fallen back by a perpetual backsliding?
They cling to deceit.
They refuse to return.
6 I listened and heard, but they didn’t say what is right.
No one repents of his wickedness, saying, “What have I done?”
Everyone turns to his course,
as a horse that rushes headlong in the battle.
7 Yes, the stork in the sky knows her appointed times.
The turtledove, the swallow, and the crane observe the time of their coming;
but my people don’t know Yahweh’s law.
8 “‘How do you say, “We are wise, and Yahweh’s law is with us?”
But, behold, the false pen of the scribes has made that a lie.
9 The wise men are disappointed.
They are dismayed and trapped.
Behold, they have rejected Yahweh’s word.
What kind of wisdom is in them?
10 Therefore I will give their wives to others
and their fields to those who will possess them.
For everyone from the least even to the greatest is given to covetousness;
from the prophet even to the priest everyone deals falsely.
11 They have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying,
“Peace, peace,” when there is no peace.
12 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination?
No, they were not at all ashamed.
They couldn’t blush.
Therefore they will fall among those who fall.
In the time of their visitation they will be cast down, says Yahweh.
13 “‘I will utterly consume them, says Yahweh.
No grapes will be on the vine,
no figs on the fig tree,
and the leaf will fade.
The things that I have given them
will pass away from them.’”
14 “Why do we sit still?
Assemble yourselves!
Let’s enter into the fortified cities,
and let’s be silent there;
for Yahweh our God has put us to silence,
and given us poisoned water to drink,
because we have sinned against Yahweh.
15 We looked for peace, but no good came;
and for a time of healing, and behold, dismay!
16 The snorting of his horses is heard from Dan.
The whole land trembles at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones;
for they have come, and have devoured the land and all that is in it,
the city and those who dwell therein.”
17 “For, behold, I will send serpents,
adders among you,
which will not be charmed;
and they will bite you,” says Yahweh.
18 Oh that I could comfort myself against sorrow!
My heart is faint within me.
19 Behold, the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people from a land that is very far off:
“Isn’t Yahweh in Zion?
Isn’t her King in her?”
“Why have they provoked me to anger with their engraved images,
and with foreign idols?”
20 “The harvest is past.
The summer has ended,
and we are not saved.”
21 For the hurt of the daughter of my people, I am hurt.
I mourn.
Dismay has taken hold of me.
22 Is there no balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
Why then isn’t the health of the daughter of my people recovered?
9 Oh that my head were waters,
and my eyes a spring of tears,
that I might weep day and night
for the slain of the daughter of my people!
2 Oh that I had in the wilderness
a lodging place of wayfaring men;
that I might leave my people,
and go from them!
For they are all adulterers,
an assembly of treacherous men.
3 “They bend their tongue,
as their bow, for falsehood.
They have grown strong in the land,
but not for truth;
for they proceed from evil to evil,
and they don’t know me,” says Yahweh.
4 “Everyone beware of his neighbor,
and don’t trust in any brother;
for every brother will utterly supplant,
and every neighbor will go around like a slanderer.
5 Friends deceive each other,
and will not speak the truth.
They have taught their tongue to speak lies.
They weary themselves commiting iniquity.
6 Your habitation is in the middle of deceit.
Through deceit, they refuse to know me,” says Yahweh.
7 Therefore Yahweh of Armies says,
“Behold, I will melt them and test them;
for how should I deal with the daughter of my people?
8 Their tongue is a deadly arrow.
It speaks deceit.
One speaks peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth,
but in his heart, he waits to ambush him.
9 Shouldn’t I punish them for these things?” says Yahweh.
“Shouldn’t my soul be avenged on a nation such as this?
10 I will weep and wail for the mountains,
and lament for the pastures of the wilderness,
because they are burned up, so that no one passes through;
Men can’t hear the voice of the livestock.
Both the birds of the sky and the animals have fled.
They are gone.
11 “I will make Jerusalem heaps,
a dwelling place of jackals.
I will make the cities of Judah a desolation,
without inhabitant.”
12 Who is wise enough to understand this? Who is he to whom the mouth of Yahweh has spoken, that he may declare it? Why has the land perished and burned up like a wilderness, so that no one passes through?
13 Yahweh says, “Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice or walked in my ways, 14 but have walked after the stubbornness of their own heart and after the Baals, which their fathers taught them.” 15 Therefore Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says, “Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood 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 consumed them.”
17 Yahweh of Armies says,
“Consider, and call for the mourning women, that they may come.
Send for the skillful women, that they may come.
18 Let them make haste
and take up a wailing for us,
that our eyes may run down with tears
and our eyelids gush out with waters.
19 For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion,
‘How we are ruined!
We are greatly confounded
because we have forsaken the land,
because they have cast down our dwellings.’”
20 Yet hear Yahweh’s word, you women.
Let your ear receive the word of his mouth.
Teach your daughters wailing.
Everyone teach her neighbor a lamentation.
21 For death has come up into our windows.
It has entered into our palaces
to cut off the children from outside,
and the young men from the streets.
22 Speak, “Yahweh says,
“‘The dead bodies of men will fall as dung on the open field,
and as the handful after the harvester.
No one will gather them.’”
23 Yahweh says,
“Don’t let the wise man glory in his wisdom.
Don’t let the mighty man glory in his might.
Don’t let the rich man glory in his riches.
24 But let him who glories glory in this,
that he has understanding, and knows me,
that I am Yahweh who exercises loving kindness, justice, and righteousness in the earth,
for I delight in these things,” says Yahweh.
25 “Behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that I will punish all those who are circumcised only in their flesh: 26 Egypt, Judah, Edom, the children of Ammon, Moab, and all who have the corners of their hair cut off, who dwell in the wilderness, for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart.”
10 Hear the word which Yahweh speaks to you, house of Israel! 2 Yahweh says,
“Don’t learn the way of the nations,
and don’t be dismayed at the signs of the sky;
for the nations are dismayed at them.
3 For the customs of the peoples are vanity;
for one cuts a tree out of the forest,
the work of the hands of the workman with the ax.
4 They deck it with silver and with gold.
They fasten it with nails and with hammers,
so that it can’t move.
5 They are like a palm tree, of turned work,
and don’t speak.
They must be carried,
because they can’t move.
Don’t be afraid of them;
for they can’t do evil,
neither is it in them to do good.”
6 There is no one like you, Yahweh.
You are great,
and your name is great in might.
7 Who shouldn’t fear you,
King of the nations?
For it belongs to you.
Because among all the wise men of the nations,
and in all their royal estate,
there is no one like you.
8 But they are together brutish and foolish,
instructed by idols!
It is just wood.
9 There is silver beaten into plates, which is brought from Tarshish,
and gold from Uphaz,
the work of the engraver and of the hands of the goldsmith.
Their clothing is blue and purple.
They are all the work of skillful men.
10 But Yahweh is the true God.
He is the living God,
and an everlasting King.
At his wrath, the earth trembles.
The nations aren’t able to withstand his indignation.
11 “You shall say this to them: ‘The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth, and from under the heavens.’”
12 God has made the earth by his power.
He has established the world by his wisdom,
and by his understanding has he stretched out the heavens.
13 When he utters his voice,
the waters in the heavens roar,
and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth.
He makes lightnings for the rain,
and brings the wind out of his treasuries.
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