Jeremiah 14:11-16:15

New International Version

¹¹Then the Lord said to me, “Do not pray^(A) for the well-being of this people. ¹²Although they fast, I will not listen to their cry;^(B) though they offer burnt offerings^(C) and grain offerings,^(D) I will not accept^(E) them. Instead, I will destroy them with the sword,^(F) famine^(G) and plague.”^(H)

¹³But I said, “Alas, Sovereign Lord! The prophets^(I) keep telling them, ‘You will not see the sword or suffer famine.^(J) Indeed, I will give you lasting peace^(K) in this place.’”

¹⁴Then the Lord said to me, “The prophets are prophesying lies^(L) in my name. I have not sent^(M) them or appointed them or spoken to them. They are prophesying to you false visions,^(N) divinations,^(O) idolatries^[a] and the delusions of their own minds. ¹⁵Therefore this is what the Lord says about the prophets who are prophesying in my name: I did not send them, yet they are saying, ‘No sword or famine will touch this land.’ Those same prophets will perish^(P) by sword and famine.^(Q) ¹⁶And the people they are prophesying to will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and sword. There will be no one to bury^(R) them, their wives, their sons and their daughters.^(S) I will pour out on them the calamity they deserve.^(T)

¹⁷“Speak this word to them:

“‘Let my eyes overflow with tears^(U)
    night and day without ceasing;
for the Virgin^(V) Daughter, my people,
    has suffered a grievous wound,
    a crushing blow.^(W)
¹⁸If I go into the country,
    I see those slain by the sword;
if I go into the city,
    I see the ravages of famine.^(X)
Both prophet and priest
    have gone to a land they know not.^(Y)’”

¹⁹Have you rejected Judah completely?^(Z)
    Do you despise Zion?
Why have you afflicted us
    so that we cannot be healed?^(AA)
We hoped for peace
    but no good has come,
for a time of healing
    but there is only terror.^(AB)
²⁰We acknowledge^(AC) our wickedness, Lord,
    and the guilt of our ancestors;^(AD)
    we have indeed sinned^(AE) against you.
²¹For the sake of your name^(AF) do not despise us;
    do not dishonor your glorious throne.^(AG)
Remember your covenant^(AH) with us
    and do not break it.
²²Do any of the worthless idols^(AI) of the nations bring rain?^(AJ)
    Do the skies themselves send down showers?
No, it is you, Lord our God.
    Therefore our hope is in you,
    for you are the one who does all this.^(AK)

15 Then the Lord said to me: “Even if Moses^(AL) and Samuel^(AM) were to stand before me, my heart would not go out to this people.^(AN) Send them away from my presence!^(AO) Let them go! ²And if they ask you, ‘Where shall we go?’ tell them, ‘This is what the Lord says:

“‘Those destined for death, to death;
those for the sword, to the sword;^(AP)
those for starvation, to starvation;^(AQ)
those for captivity, to captivity.’^(AR)

³“I will send four kinds of destroyers^(AS) against them,” declares the Lord, “the sword^(AT) to kill and the dogs^(AU) to drag away and the birds^(AV) and the wild animals to devour and destroy.^(AW) ⁴I will make them abhorrent^(AX) to all the kingdoms of the earth^(AY) because of what Manasseh^(AZ) son of Hezekiah king of Judah did in Jerusalem.

⁵“Who will have pity^(BA) on you, Jerusalem?
    Who will mourn for you?
    Who will stop to ask how you are?
⁶You have rejected^(BB) me,” declares the Lord.
    “You keep on backsliding.
So I will reach out^(BC) and destroy you;
    I am tired of holding back.^(BD)
⁷I will winnow^(BE) them with a winnowing fork
    at the city gates of the land.
I will bring bereavement^(BF) and destruction on my people,^(BG)
    for they have not changed their ways.^(BH)
⁸I will make their widows^(BI) more numerous
    than the sand of the sea.
At midday I will bring a destroyer^(BJ)
    against the mothers of their young men;
suddenly I will bring down on them
    anguish and terror.^(BK)
⁹The mother of seven will grow faint^(BL)
    and breathe her last.^(BM)
Her sun will set while it is still day;
    she will be disgraced^(BN) and humiliated.
I will put the survivors to the sword^(BO)
    before their enemies,”^(BP)
declares the Lord.

¹⁰Alas, my mother, that you gave me birth,^(BQ)
a man with whom the whole land strives and contends!^(BR)
I have neither lent^(BS) nor borrowed,
yet everyone curses^(BT) me.

¹¹The Lord said,

“Surely I will deliver you^(BU) for a good purpose;
surely I will make your enemies plead^(BV) with you
in times of disaster and times of distress.

¹²“Can a man break iron—
iron from the north^(BW)—or bronze?

¹³“Your wealth^(BX) and your treasures
    I will give as plunder,^(BY) without charge,^(BZ)
because of all your sins
    throughout your country.^(CA)
¹⁴I will enslave you to your enemies
    in^[b] a land you do not know,^(CB)
for my anger will kindle a fire^(CC)
    that will burn against you.”

¹⁵Lord, you understand;
    remember me and care for me.
    Avenge me on my persecutors.^(CD)
You are long-suffering^(CE)—do not take me away;
    think of how I suffer reproach for your sake.^(CF)
¹⁶When your words came, I ate^(CG) them;
    they were my joy and my heart’s delight,^(CH)
for I bear your name,^(CI)
    Lord God Almighty.
¹⁷I never sat^(CJ) in the company of revelers,
    never made merry with them;
I sat alone because your hand^(CK) was on me
    and you had filled me with indignation.
¹⁸Why is my pain unending
    and my wound grievous and incurable?^(CL)
You are to me like a deceptive brook,
    like a spring that fails.^(CM)

¹⁹Therefore this is what the Lord says:

“If you repent, I will restore you
    that you may serve^(CN) me;
if you utter worthy, not worthless, words,
    you will be my spokesman.^(CO)
Let this people turn to you,
    but you must not turn to them.
²⁰I will make you a wall^(CP) to this people,
    a fortified wall of bronze;
they will fight against you
    but will not overcome^(CQ) you,
for I am with you
    to rescue and save you,”^(CR)
declares the Lord.
²¹“I will save^(CS) you from the hands of the wicked^(CT)
    and deliver^(CU) you from the grasp of the cruel.”^(CV)

Day of Disaster

16 Then the word of the Lord came to me: ²“You must not marry^(CW) and have sons or daughters in this place.” ³For this is what the Lord says about the sons and daughters born in this land and about the women who are their mothers and the men who are their fathers:^(CX) ⁴“They will die of deadly diseases. They will not be mourned or buried^(CY) but will be like dung lying on the ground.^(CZ) They will perish by sword and famine,^(DA) and their dead bodies will become food for the birds and the wild animals.”^(DB)

⁵For this is what the Lord says: “Do not enter a house where there is a funeral meal; do not go to mourn or show sympathy, because I have withdrawn my blessing, my love and my pity^(DC) from this people,” declares the Lord. ⁶“Both high and low will die in this land.^(DD) They will not be buried or mourned,^(DE) and no one will cut^(DF) themselves or shave^(DG) their head for the dead. ⁷No one will offer food^(DH) to comfort those who mourn^(DI) for the dead—not even for a father or a mother—nor will anyone give them a drink to console^(DJ) them.

⁸“And do not enter a house where there is feasting and sit down to eat and drink.^(DK) ⁹For this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Before your eyes and in your days I will bring an end to the sounds^(DL) of joy and gladness and to the voices of bride^(DM) and bridegroom in this place.^(DN)

¹⁰“When you tell these people all this and they ask you, ‘Why has the Lord decreed such a great disaster against us? What wrong have we done? What sin have we committed against the Lord our God?’^(DO) ¹¹then say to them, ‘It is because your ancestors forsook me,’ declares the Lord, ‘and followed other gods and served and worshiped^(DP) them. They forsook me and did not keep my law.^(DQ) ¹²But you have behaved more wickedly than your ancestors.^(DR) See how all of you are following the stubbornness of your evil hearts^(DS) instead of obeying me. ¹³So I will throw you out of this land^(DT) into a land neither you nor your ancestors have known,^(DU) and there you will serve other gods^(DV) day and night, for I will show you no favor.’^(DW)

¹⁴“However, the days are coming,”^(DX) declares the Lord, “when it will no longer be said, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,’^(DY) ¹⁵but it will be said, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites up out of the land of the north^(DZ) and out of all the countries where he had banished them.’^(EA) For I will restore^(EB) them to the land I gave their ancestors.^(EC)

Footnotes

Jeremiah 14:14 Or visions, worthless divinations
Jeremiah 15:14 Some Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint and Syriac (see also 17:4); most Hebrew manuscripts I will cause your enemies to bring you / into

Jeremiah 14:11-16:15

New King James Version

¹¹Then the Lord said to me, ^(A)“Do not pray for this people, for their good. ¹²^(B)When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and ^(C)when they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I will not accept them. But ^(D)I will consume them by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.”

¹³^(E)Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, the prophets say to them, ‘You shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine, but I will give you ^[a]assured ^(F)peace in this place.’ ”

¹⁴And the Lord said to me, ^(G)“The prophets prophesy lies in My name. ^(H)I have not sent them, commanded them, nor spoken to them; they prophesy to you a false vision, ^[b]divination, a worthless thing, and the ^(I)deceit of their heart. ¹⁵Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who prophesy in My name, whom I did not send, ^(J)and who say, ‘Sword and famine shall not be in this land’—‘By sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed! ¹⁶And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; ^(K)they will have no one to bury them—them nor their wives, their sons nor their daughters—for I will pour their wickedness on them.’

¹⁷“Therefore you shall say this word to them:

^(L)‘Let my eyes flow with tears night and day,
And let them not cease;
^(M)For the virgin daughter of my people
Has been broken with a mighty stroke, with a very severe blow.
¹⁸If I go out to ^(N)the field,
Then behold, those slain with the sword!
And if I enter the city,
Then behold, those sick from famine!
Yes, both prophet and ^(O)priest go about in a land they do not know.’ ”

The People Plead for Mercy

¹⁹^(P)Have You utterly rejected Judah?
Has Your soul loathed Zion?
Why have You stricken us so that ^(Q)there is no healing for us?
^(R)We looked for peace, but there was no good;
And for the time of healing, and there was trouble.
²⁰We acknowledge, O Lord, our wickedness
And the iniquity of our ^(S)fathers,
For ^(T)we have sinned against You.
²¹Do not abhor us, for Your name’s sake;
Do not disgrace the throne of Your glory.
^(U)Remember, do not break Your covenant with us.
²²^(V)Are there any among ^(W)the idols of the nations that can cause ^(X)rain?
Or can the heavens give showers?
^(Y)Are You not He, O Lord our God?
Therefore we will wait for You,
Since You have made all these.

The Lord Will Not Relent

15 Then the Lord said to me, ^(Z)“Even if ^(AA)Moses and ^(AB)Samuel stood before Me, My ^[c]mind would not be favorable toward this people. Cast them out of My sight, and let them go forth. ²And it shall be, if they say to you, ‘Where should we go?’ then you shall tell them, ‘Thus says the Lord:

^(AC)“Such as are for death, to death;
And such as are for the sword, to the sword;
And such as are for the famine, to the famine;
And such as are for the ^(AD)captivity, to the captivity.” ’

³“And I will ^(AE)appoint over them four forms of destruction,” says the Lord: “the sword to slay, the dogs to drag, ^(AF)the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy. ⁴I will hand them over to ^(AG)trouble, to all kingdoms of the earth, because of ^(AH)Manasseh the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem.

⁵“For who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem?
Or who will bemoan you?
Or who will turn aside to ask how you are doing?
⁶^(AI)You have forsaken Me,” says the Lord,
“You have ^(AJ)gone backward.
Therefore I will stretch out My hand against you and destroy you;
^(AK)I am ^[d]weary of relenting!
⁷And I will winnow them with a winnowing fan in the gates of the land;
I will ^(AL)bereave them of children;
I will destroy My people,
Since they ^(AM)do not return from their ways.
⁸Their widows will be increased to Me more than the sand of the seas;
I will bring against them,
Against the mother of the young men,
A plunderer at noonday;
I will cause anguish and terror to fall on them ^(AN)suddenly.

⁹“She^(AO) languishes who has borne seven;
She has breathed her last;
^(AP)Her sun has gone down
While it was yet day;
She has been ashamed and confounded.
And the remnant of them I will deliver to the sword
Before their enemies,” says the Lord.

Jeremiah’s Dejection

¹⁰^(AQ)Woe is me, my mother,
That you have borne me,
A man of strife and a man of contention to the whole ^[e]earth!
I have neither lent for interest,
Nor have men lent to me for interest.
Every one of them curses me.

¹¹The Lord said:

“Surely it will be well with your remnant;
Surely I will cause ^(AR)the enemy to intercede with you
In the time of adversity and in the time of affliction.
¹²Can anyone break iron,
The northern iron and the bronze?
¹³Your wealth and your treasures
I will give as ^(AS)plunder without price,
Because of all your sins,
Throughout your territories.
¹⁴And I will ^[f]make you cross over with your enemies
^(AT)Into a land which you do not know;
For a ^(AU)fire is kindled in My anger,
Which shall burn upon you.”

¹⁵O Lord, ^(AV)You know;
Remember me and ^[g]visit me,
And ^(AW)take vengeance for me on my persecutors.
In Your enduring patience, do not take me away.
Know that ^(AX)for Your sake I have suffered rebuke.
¹⁶Your words were found, and I ^(AY)ate them,
And ^(AZ)Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart;
For I am called by Your name,
O Lord God of hosts.
¹⁷^(BA)I did not sit in the assembly of the mockers,
Nor did I rejoice;
I sat alone because of Your hand,
For You have filled me with indignation.
¹⁸Why is my ^(BB)pain perpetual
And my wound incurable,
Which refuses to be healed?
Will You surely be to me ^(BC)like an unreliable stream,
As waters that ^[h]fail?

The Lord Reassures Jeremiah

¹⁹Therefore thus says the Lord:

^(BD)“If you return,
Then I will bring you back;
You shall ^(BE)stand before Me;
If you ^(BF)take out the precious from the vile,
You shall be as My mouth.
Let them return to you,
But you must not return to them.
²⁰And I will make you to this people a fortified bronze ^(BG)wall;
And they will fight against you,
But ^(BH)they shall not prevail against you;
For I am with you to save you
And deliver you,” says the Lord.
²¹“I will deliver you from the hand of the wicked,
And I will redeem you from the grip of the terrible.”

Jeremiah’s Lifestyle and Message

16 The word of the Lord also came to me, saying, ²“You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place.” ³For thus says the Lord concerning the sons and daughters who are born in this place, and concerning their mothers who bore them and their fathers who begot them in this land: ⁴“They shall die ^(BI)gruesome deaths; they shall not be ^(BJ)lamented nor shall they be ^(BK)buried, but they shall be ^(BL)like refuse on the face of the earth. They shall be consumed by the sword and by famine, and their ^(BM)corpses shall be meat for the birds of heaven and for the beasts of the earth.”

⁵For thus says the Lord: ^(BN)“Do not enter the house of mourning, nor go to lament or bemoan them; for I have taken away My peace from this people,” says the Lord, “lovingkindness and mercies. ⁶Both the great and the small shall die in this land. They shall not be buried; ^(BO)neither shall men lament for them, ^(BP)cut themselves, nor ^(BQ)make themselves bald for them. ⁷Nor shall men break bread in mourning for them, to comfort them for the dead; nor shall men give them the cup of consolation to ^(BR)drink for their father or their mother. ⁸Also you shall not go into the house of feasting to sit with them, to eat and drink.”

⁹For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, ^(BS)I will cause to cease from this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of ^[i]mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.

¹⁰“And it shall be, when you show this people all these words, and they say to you, ^(BT)‘Why has the Lord pronounced all this great disaster against us? Or what is our iniquity? Or what is our sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?’ ¹¹then you shall say to them, ^(BU)‘Because your fathers have forsaken Me,’ says the Lord; ‘they have walked after other gods and have served them and worshiped them, and have forsaken Me and not kept My law. ¹²And you have done ^(BV)worse than your fathers, for behold, ^(BW)each one ^[j]follows the dictates of his own evil heart, so that no one listens to Me. ¹³^(BX)Therefore I will cast you out of this land ^(BY)into a land that you do not know, neither you nor your fathers; and there you shall serve other gods day and night, where I will not show you favor.’

God Will Restore Israel^(BZ)

¹⁴“Therefore behold, the ^(CA)days are coming,” says the Lord, “that it shall no more be said, ‘The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ ¹⁵but, ‘The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the ^(CB)north and from all the lands where He had driven them.’ For ^(CC)I will bring them back into their land which I gave to their fathers.

Footnotes

Jeremiah 14:13 true
Jeremiah 14:14 Telling the future by signs and omens
Jeremiah 15:1 Lit. soul was not toward
Jeremiah 15:6 tired
Jeremiah 15:10 Or land
Jeremiah 15:14 So with MT, Vg.; LXX, Syr., Tg. cause you to serve (cf. 17:4)
Jeremiah 15:15 attend to
Jeremiah 15:18 Or cannot be trusted
Jeremiah 16:9 rejoicing
Jeremiah 16:12 walks after the stubbornness or imagination

Jeremiah 14:11-16:15

New American Standard Bible

¹¹So the Lord said to me, “^(A)Do not pray for a good outcome on behalf of this people. ¹²When they fast, I am ^(B)not going to listen to their cry; and when they offer ^(C)burnt offering and grain offering, I am not going to accept them. Rather, I am going to ^(D)put an end to them by the ^(E)sword, famine, and plague.”

False Prophets

¹³But I said, “Oh, Lord ^[a]God! Behold, the prophets are telling them, ‘You ^(F)will not see a sword, nor will you have famine; on the contrary, I will give you lasting ^(G)peace in this place.’” ¹⁴Then the Lord said to me, “The ^(H)prophets are prophesying falsehood in My name. ^(I)I have neither sent them nor commanded them, nor spoken to them; they are prophesying to you a ^(J)false vision, divination, futility, and the deception of their own ^[b]minds. ¹⁵Therefore this is what the Lord says concerning the prophets who are prophesying in My name, although it was not I who sent them—yet they keep saying: ‘There will be no sword or famine in this land’—^(K)by sword and famine those prophets shall meet their end! ¹⁶And the people to whom they are prophesying will be ^(L)thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and there will be no one to ^(M)bury them—neither them, nor their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters. For I will ^(N)pour out their own wickedness upon them.

¹⁷You will say this word to them,
‘^(O)Let my eyes stream down tears night and day,
And let them not cease;
For the virgin ^(P)daughter of my people has been crushed with a mighty blow,
With a sorely ^(Q)infected wound.
¹⁸If I ^(R)go out to the country,
There are those killed by the sword!
Or if I enter the city,
There are diseases from famine!
For ^(S)both prophet and priest
Have wandered around in the land that they do not know.’”

¹⁹Have You completely ^(T)rejected Judah?
Or have ^[c]You loathed Zion?
Why have You stricken us so that we ^(U)are beyond healing?
We ^(V)waited for peace, but nothing good came;
And for a time of healing, but behold, terror!
²⁰We ^(W)know our wickedness, Lord,
The wrongdoing of our fathers, for ^(X)we have sinned against You.
²¹Do not despise us, ^(Y)for the sake of Your own name;
Do not disgrace the ^(Z)throne of Your glory.
Remember and do not annul Your covenant with us.
²²Are there any among the ^[d]^(AA)idols of the nations who ^(AB)give rain?
Or can the heavens grant showers?
Is it not You, Lord our God?
Therefore we ^(AC)wait for You,
For You are the one who has done all these things.

Judgment Must Come

15 Then the Lord said to me, “Even ^(AD)if ^(AE)Moses and ^(AF)Samuel were to ^(AG)stand before Me, My ^[e]heart would not be ^[f]with this people. ^(AH)Send them away from My presence and have them go! ²And it shall be that when they say to you, ‘Where should we go?’ then you are to tell them, ‘This is what the Lord says:

“Those destined ^(AI)for death, to death;
And those destined for the sword, to the sword;
And those destined for famine, to famine;
And those destined for captivity, to captivity.”’

³And I will ^(AJ)appoint over them four kinds of doom,” declares the Lord: “the sword to kill, the ^(AK)dogs to drag away, and the ^(AL)birds of the sky and the animals of the earth to devour and destroy. ⁴I will ^(AM)make them an object of terror among all the kingdoms of the earth because of ^(AN)Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem.

⁵“Indeed, who will have ^(AO)pity on you, Jerusalem,
Or who will ^(AP)mourn for you,
Or who will turn aside to ask about your welfare?
⁶You who have ^(AQ)forsaken Me,” declares the Lord,
“You keep ^(AR)going backward.
So I will ^(AS)stretch out My hand against you and destroy you;
I am ^(AT)tired of relenting!
⁷I will ^(AU)winnow them with a winnowing fork
At the gates of the land;
I will ^(AV)bereave them of children, I will destroy My people;
^(AW)They did not ^[g]repent of their ways.
⁸Their ^(AX)widows will be more numerous before Me
Than the sand of the seas;
I will bring against them, against the mother of a young man,
A ^(AY)destroyer at noon;
I will suddenly bring down on her
Shock and horror.
⁹She who ^(AZ)gave birth to seven sons withers away;
^[h]Her breathing is labored.
Her ^(BA)sun has set while it was still day;
She has been ^(BB)shamed and humiliated.
So I will ^(BC)turn over their survivors to the sword
Before their enemies,” declares the Lord.

¹⁰^(BD)Woe to me, my mother, that you have given birth to me
As a ^(BE)man of strife and a man of contention to all the land!
I have not ^(BF)lent, nor have people lent money to me,
Yet everyone curses me.
¹¹The Lord said, “I will certainly ^(BG)set you free for purposes of good;
I will certainly make the ^(BH)enemy plead with you
In a time of disaster and a time of distress.

¹²“Can anyone smash iron,
^(BI)Iron from the north, or bronze?
¹³I will give your ^(BJ)wealth and your treasures
As plunder ^(BK)without cost,
For all your sins
And within all your borders.
¹⁴Then I will make your enemies bring your possessions
Into a ^(BL)land that you do not know;
For a ^(BM)fire has been kindled in My anger,
And it will burn upon you.”

Jeremiah’s Prayer and God’s Answer

¹⁵^(BN)You know, Lord;
Remember me, take notice of me,
And ^(BO)take vengeance for me on my persecutors.
Do not, in view of Your patience, take me away;
Know that ^(BP)for Your sake I endure reproach.
¹⁶Your words were found and I ^(BQ)ate them,
And Your ^(BR)words became a joy to me and the delight of my heart;
For I have been ^(BS)called by Your name,
Lord God of armies.
¹⁷I ^(BT)did not sit in a circle of revelers and celebrate.
Because of Your hand upon me I sat ^(BU)alone,
For You ^(BV)filled me with indignation.
¹⁸Why has my pain been endless
And my ^(BW)wound incurable, refusing to be healed?
Will You indeed be to me ^(BX)like a deceptive stream
With water that is unreliable?

¹⁹Therefore, this is what the Lord says:
“^(BY)If you return, then I will restore you—
^(BZ)You will stand before Me;
And ^(CA)if you extract the precious from the worthless,
You will become ^[i]My spokesman.
They, for their part, may turn to you,
But as for you, you are not to turn to them.
²⁰Then I will ^(CB)make you to this people
A fortified wall of bronze;
And though they fight against you,
They will not prevail over you;
For ^(CC)I am with you to save you
And rescue you,” declares the Lord.
²¹“So I will ^(CD)rescue you from the hand of the wicked,
And I will ^(CE)redeem you from the ^[j]grasp of the violent.”

Distresses Foretold

16 The word of the Lord also came to me, saying, ²“You shall not take a wife for yourself nor have sons or daughters in this place.” ³For this is what the Lord says concerning the sons and daughters born in this place, and concerning their ^(CF)mothers who give birth to them, and their ^(CG)fathers who father them in this land: ⁴“They will ^(CH)die of deadly diseases, they ^(CI)will not be mourned or buried; they will be like ^(CJ)dung on the surface of the ground. And they will perish by sword and famine, and their dead bodies will become food for the ^(CK)birds of the sky and for the animals of the earth.”

⁵For this is what the Lord says: “Do not enter a house of ^(CL)mourning, or go to mourn or to console them; for I have ^(CM)withdrawn My peace from this people,” declares the Lord, “and My ^(CN)favor and compassion. ⁶Both ^(CO)great people and small will die in this land; they will not be buried, people will not mourn for them, nor will anyone ^(CP)make cuts on himself or have his head ^(CQ)shaved for them. ⁷People will not ^(CR)break bread in mourning for them, to comfort anyone for the dead, nor give them a cup of consolation to drink for anyone’s father or mother. ⁸Moreover, you shall ^(CS)not go into a house of feasting to sit with them to eat and drink.” ⁹For this is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: “Behold, I am going to ^(CT)eliminate from this place, before your eyes and in your time, the voice of rejoicing and the voice of joy, the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride.

¹⁰“Now it will happen that, when you tell this people all these words, they will say to you, ‘^(CU)For what reason has the Lord declared all this great disaster against us? And what is our wrongdoing, or what is our sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?’ ¹¹Then you are to say to them, ‘It is ^(CV)because your forefathers have abandoned Me,’ declares the Lord, ‘and have followed ^(CW)other gods, and served and worshiped them; but they have abandoned Me and have not kept My Law. ¹²You too have done evil, even ^(CX)more than your forefathers; for behold, each one of you is following the ^(CY)stubbornness of his own ^(CZ)evil heart, without listening to Me. ¹³So I will ^(DA)hurl you off this land to the ^(DB)land which you have not known, neither you nor your fathers; and there you will ^(DC)serve other gods day and night, because I will show you no compassion.’

God Will Restore Them

¹⁴“^(DD)Therefore behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when it will no longer be said, ‘As the Lord lives, who ^(DE)brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ ¹⁵but, ‘As the Lord lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the ^(DF)land of the north and from all the lands where He had banished them.’ For I will restore them to their own land which I gave to their fathers.

Footnotes

Jeremiah 14:13 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord
Jeremiah 14:14 Lit heart
Jeremiah 14:19 Lit Your soul
Jeremiah 14:22 Lit futilities
Jeremiah 15:1 Lit soul
Jeremiah 15:1 Lit toward
Jeremiah 15:7 Lit turn back from
Jeremiah 15:9 Or She has breathed out her soul
Jeremiah 15:19 Lit as My mouth
Jeremiah 15:21 Lit palm

Jeremiah 14:11-16:15

New Living Translation

The Lord Forbids Jeremiah to Intercede

¹¹Then the Lord said to me, “Do not pray for these people anymore. ¹²When they fast, I will pay no attention. When they present their burnt offerings and grain offerings to me, I will not accept them. Instead, I will devour them with war, famine, and disease.”

¹³Then I said, “O Sovereign Lord, their prophets are telling them, ‘All is well—no war or famine will come. The Lord will surely send you peace.’”

¹⁴Then the Lord said, “These prophets are telling lies in my name. I did not send them or tell them to speak. I did not give them any messages. They prophesy of visions and revelations they have never seen or heard. They speak foolishness made up in their own lying hearts. ¹⁵Therefore, this is what the Lord says: I will punish these lying prophets, for they have spoken in my name even though I never sent them. They say that no war or famine will come, but they themselves will die by war and famine! ¹⁶As for the people to whom they prophesy—their bodies will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem, victims of famine and war. There will be no one left to bury them. Husbands, wives, sons, and daughters—all will be gone. For I will pour out their own wickedness on them. ¹⁷Now, Jeremiah, say this to them:

“Night and day my eyes overflow with tears.
    I cannot stop weeping,
for my virgin daughter—my precious people—
    has been struck down
    and lies mortally wounded.
¹⁸If I go out into the fields,
    I see the bodies of people slaughtered by the enemy.
If I walk the city streets,
    I see people who have died of starvation.
The prophets and priests continue with their work,
    but they don’t know what they’re doing.”

A Prayer for Healing

¹⁹Lord, have you completely rejected Judah?
    Do you really hate Jerusalem?^[a]
Why have you wounded us past all hope of healing?
    We hoped for peace, but no peace came.
    We hoped for a time of healing, but found only terror.
²⁰Lord, we confess our wickedness
    and that of our ancestors, too.
    We all have sinned against you.
²¹For the sake of your reputation, Lord, do not abandon us.
    Do not disgrace your own glorious throne.
Please remember us,
    and do not break your covenant with us.

²²Can any of the worthless foreign gods send us rain?
    Does it fall from the sky by itself?
No, you are the one, O Lord our God!
    Only you can do such things.
    So we will wait for you to help us.

Judah’s Inevitable Doom

15 Then the Lord said to me, “Even if Moses and Samuel stood before me pleading for these people, I wouldn’t help them. Away with them! Get them out of my sight! ²And if they say to you, ‘But where can we go?’ tell them, ‘This is what the Lord says:

“‘Those who are destined for death, to death;
those who are destined for war, to war;
those who are destined for famine, to famine;
those who are destined for captivity, to captivity.’

³“I will send four kinds of destroyers against them,” says the Lord. “I will send the sword to kill, the dogs to drag away, the vultures to devour, and the wild animals to finish up what is left. ⁴Because of the wicked things Manasseh son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, did in Jerusalem, I will make my people an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.

⁵“Who will feel sorry for you, Jerusalem?
    Who will weep for you?
    Who will even bother to ask how you are?
⁶You have abandoned me
    and turned your back on me,”
    says the Lord.
“Therefore, I will raise my fist to destroy you.
    I am tired of always giving you another chance.
⁷I will winnow you like grain at the gates of your cities
    and take away the children you hold dear.
I will destroy my own people,
    because they refuse to change their evil ways.
⁸There will be more widows
    than the grains of sand on the seashore.
At noontime I will bring a destroyer
    against the mothers of young men.
I will cause anguish and terror
    to come upon them suddenly.
⁹The mother of seven grows faint and gasps for breath;
    her sun has gone down while it is still day.
She sits childless now,
    disgraced and humiliated.
And I will hand over those who are left
    to be killed by the enemy.
    I, the Lord, have spoken!”

Jeremiah’s Complaint

¹⁰Then I said,

“What sorrow is mine, my mother.
    Oh, that I had died at birth!
    I am hated everywhere I go.
I am neither a lender who threatens to foreclose
    nor a borrower who refuses to pay—
    yet they all curse me.”

¹¹The Lord replied,

“I will take care of you, Jeremiah.
    Your enemies will ask you to plead on their behalf
    in times of trouble and distress.
¹²Can a man break a bar of iron from the north,
    or a bar of bronze?
¹³At no cost to them,
    I will hand over your wealth and treasures
as plunder to your enemies,
    for sin runs rampant in your land.
¹⁴I will tell your enemies to take you
    as captives to a foreign land.
For my anger blazes like a fire
    that will burn forever.^[b]”

¹⁵Then I said,

“Lord, you know what’s happening to me.
    Please step in and help me. Punish my persecutors!
Please give me time; don’t let me die young.
    It’s for your sake that I am suffering.
¹⁶When I discovered your words, I devoured them.
    They are my joy and my heart’s delight,
for I bear your name,
    O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies.
¹⁷I never joined the people in their merry feasts.
    I sat alone because your hand was on me.
    I was filled with indignation at their sins.
¹⁸Why then does my suffering continue?
    Why is my wound so incurable?
Your help seems as uncertain as a seasonal brook,
    like a spring that has gone dry.”

¹⁹This is how the Lord responds:

“If you return to me, I will restore you
    so you can continue to serve me.
If you speak good words rather than worthless ones,
    you will be my spokesman.
You must influence them;
    do not let them influence you!
²⁰They will fight against you like an attacking army,
    but I will make you as secure as a fortified wall of bronze.
They will not conquer you,
    for I am with you to protect and rescue you.
    I, the Lord, have spoken!
²¹Yes, I will certainly keep you safe from these wicked men.
    I will rescue you from their cruel hands.”

Jeremiah Forbidden to Marry

16 The Lord gave me another message. He said, ²“Do not get married or have children in this place. ³For this is what the Lord says about the children born here in this city and about their mothers and fathers: ⁴They will die from terrible diseases. No one will mourn for them or bury them, and they will lie scattered on the ground like manure. They will die from war and famine, and their bodies will be food for the vultures and wild animals.”

Judah’s Coming Punishment

⁵This is what the Lord says: “Do not go to funerals to mourn and show sympathy for these people, for I have removed my protection and peace from them. I have taken away my unfailing love and my mercy. ⁶Both the great and the lowly will die in this land. No one will bury them or mourn for them. Their friends will not cut themselves in sorrow or shave their heads in sadness. ⁷No one will offer a meal to comfort those who mourn for the dead—not even at the death of a mother or father. No one will send a cup of wine to console them.

⁸“And do not go to their feasts and parties. Do not eat and drink with them at all. ⁹For this is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: In your own lifetime, before your very eyes, I will put an end to the happy singing and laughter in this land. The joyful voices of bridegrooms and brides will no longer be heard.

¹⁰“When you tell the people all these things, they will ask, ‘Why has the Lord decreed such terrible things against us? What have we done to deserve such treatment? What is our sin against the Lord our God?’

¹¹“Then you will give them the Lord’s reply: ‘It is because your ancestors were unfaithful to me. They worshiped other gods and served them. They abandoned me and did not obey my word. ¹²And you are even worse than your ancestors! You stubbornly follow your own evil desires and refuse to listen to me. ¹³So I will throw you out of this land and send you into a foreign land where you and your ancestors have never been. There you can worship idols day and night—and I will grant you no favors!’

Hope despite the Disaster

¹⁴“But the time is coming,” says the Lord, “when people who are taking an oath will no longer say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who rescued the people of Israel from the land of Egypt.’ ¹⁵Instead, they will say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the people of Israel back to their own land from the land of the north and from all the countries to which he had exiled them.’ For I will bring them back to this land that I gave their ancestors.

Footnotes

14:19 Hebrew Zion?
15:14 As in some Hebrew manuscripts (see also 17:4); most Hebrew manuscripts read will burn against you.

Jeremiah 14:11-16:15

The Message

The Killing Fields

^11-12God said to me, “Don’t pray that everything will turn out all right for this people. When they skip their meals in order to pray, I won’t listen to a thing they say. When they redouble their prayers, bringing all kinds of offerings from their herds and crops, I’ll not accept them. I’m finishing them off with war and famine and disease.”

¹³I said, “But Master, God! Their preachers have been telling them that everything is going to be all right—no war and no famine—that there’s nothing to worry about.”

¹⁴Then God said, “These preachers are liars, and they use my name to cover their lies. I never sent them, I never commanded them, and I don’t talk with them. The sermons they’ve been handing out are sheer illusion, tissues of lies, whistlings in the dark.

^15-16“So this is my verdict on them: All the preachers who preach using my name as their text, preachers I never sent in the first place, preachers who say, ‘War and famine will never come here’—these preachers will die in war and by starvation. And the people to whom they’ve been preaching will end up as corpses, victims of war and starvation, thrown out in the streets of Jerusalem unburied—no funerals for them or their wives or their children! I’ll make sure they get the full brunt of all their evil.

^17-18“And you, Jeremiah, will say this to them:

“‘My eyes pour out tears.
    Day and night, the tears never quit.
My dear, dear people are battered and bruised,
    hopelessly and cruelly wounded.
I walk out into the fields,
    shocked by the killing fields strewn with corpses.
I walk into the city,
    shocked by the sight of starving bodies.
And I watch the preachers and priests
    going about their business as if nothing’s happened!’”

^19-22God, have you said your final No to Judah?
    Can you simply not stand Zion any longer?
If not, why have you treated us like this,
    beaten us nearly to death?
We hoped for peace—
    nothing good came from it;
We looked for healing—
    and got kicked in the stomach.
We admit, O God, how badly we’ve lived,
    and our ancestors, how bad they were.
We’ve sinned, they’ve sinned,
    we’ve all sinned against you!
Your reputation is at stake! Don’t quit on us!
    Don’t walk out and abandon your glorious Temple!
Remember your covenant.
    Don’t break faith with us!
Can the no-gods of the godless nations cause rain?
    Can the sky water the earth by itself?
You’re the one, O God, who does this.
    So you’re the one for whom we wait.
You made it all,
    you do it all.

15 ^1-2Then God said to me: “Jeremiah, even if Moses and Samuel stood here and made their case, I wouldn’t feel a thing for this people. Get them out of here. Tell them to get lost! And if they ask you, ‘So where do we go?’ tell them God says,

“‘If you’re assigned to die, go and die;
if assigned to war, go and get killed;
If assigned to starve, go starve;
if assigned to exile, off to exile you go!’

^3-4“I’ve arranged for four kinds of punishment: death in battle, the corpses dropped off by killer dogs, the rest picked clean by vultures, the bones gnawed by hyenas. They’ll be a sight to see, a sight to shock the whole world—and all because of Manasseh son of Hezekiah and all he did in Jerusalem.

⁵“Who do you think will feel sorry for you, Jerusalem?
Who do you think will waste tears on you?
Who will bother to take the time to ask,
‘So, how are things going?’

^6-9“You left me, remember?” God’s Decree.
    “You turned your back and walked out.
So I will grab you and hit you hard.
    I’m tired of letting you off the hook.
I threw you to the four winds
    and let the winds scatter you like leaves.
I made sure you’ll lose everything,
    since nothing makes you change.
I created more widows among you
    than grains of sand on the ocean beaches.
At noon mothers will get the news
    of their sons killed in action.
Sudden anguish for the mothers—
    all those terrible deaths.
A mother of seven falls to the ground,
    gasping for breath,
Robbed of her children in their prime.
    Her sun sets at high noon!
Then I’ll round up any of you that are left alive
    and see that you’re killed by your enemies.”
        God’s Decree.

Giving Everything Away for Nothing

^10-11Unlucky mother—that you had me as a son,
    given the unhappy job of indicting the whole country!
I’ve never hurt or harmed a soul,
    and yet everyone is out to get me.
But, God knows, I’ve done everything I could to help them,
    prayed for them and against their enemies.
I’ve always been on their side, trying to stave off disaster.
    God knows how I’ve tried!

* * *

^12-14“O Israel, O Judah, what are your chances
    against the iron juggernaut from the north?
In punishment for your sins, I’m giving away
    everything you’ve got, giving it away for nothing.
I’ll make you slaves to your enemies
    in a strange and far-off land.
My anger is blazing and fierce,
    burning in hot judgment against you.”

* * *

^15-18You know where I am, God! Remember what I’m doing here!
    Take my side against my detractors.
Don’t stand back while they ruin me.
    Just look at the abuse I’m taking!
When your words showed up, I ate them—
    swallowed them whole. What a feast!
What delight I took in being yours,
    O God, God-of-the-Angel-Armies!
I never joined the party crowd
    in their laughter and their fun.
Led by you, I went off by myself.
    You’d filled me with indignation. Their sin had me seething.
But why, why this chronic pain,
    this ever worsening wound and no healing in sight?
You’re nothing, God, but a mirage,
    a lovely oasis in the distance—and then nothing!

* * *

^19-21This is how God answered me:

“Take back those words, and I’ll take you back.
    Then you’ll stand tall before me.
Use words truly and well. Don’t stoop to cheap whining.
    Then, but only then, you’ll speak for me.
Let your words change them.
    Don’t change your words to suit them.
I’ll turn you into a steel wall,
    a thick steel wall, impregnable.
They’ll attack you but won’t put a dent in you
    because I’m at your side, defending and delivering.”
        God’s Decree.
“I’ll deliver you from the grip of the wicked.
    I’ll get you out of the clutch of the ruthless.”

Can Mortals Manufacture Gods?

16 God’s Message to me:

^2-4“Jeremiah, don’t get married. Don’t raise a family here. I have signed the death warrant on all the children born in this country, the mothers who bear them and the fathers who beget them—an epidemic of death. Death unlamented, the dead unburied, dead bodies decomposing and stinking like dung, all the killed and starved corpses served up as meals for carrion crows and mongrel dogs!”

^5-7God continued: “Don’t enter a house where there’s mourning. Don’t go to the funeral. Don’t sympathize. I’ve quit caring about what happens to this people.” God’s Decree. “No more loyal love on my part, no more compassion. The famous and obscure will die alike here, unlamented and unburied. No funerals will be conducted, no one will give them a second thought, no one will care, no one will say, ‘I’m sorry,’ no one will so much as offer a cup of tea, not even for the mother or father.

⁸“And if there happens to be a feast celebrated, don’t go there either to enjoy the festivities.”

⁹God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel, says, “Watch this! I’m about to banish smiles and laughter from this place. No more brides and bridegrooms celebrating. And I’m doing it in your lifetime, before your very eyes.

^10-13“When you tell this to the people and they ask, ‘Why is God talking this way, threatening us with all these calamities? We’re not criminals, after all. What have we done to our God to be treated like this?’ tell them this: ‘It’s because your ancestors left me, walked off and never looked back. They took up with the no-gods, worshiped and doted on them, and ignored me and wouldn’t do a thing I told them. And you’re even worse! Take a good look in the mirror—each of you doing whatever you want, whenever you want, refusing to pay attention to me. And for this I’m getting rid of you, throwing you out in the cold, into a far and strange country. You can worship your precious no-gods there to your heart’s content. Rest assured, I won’t bother you anymore.’

* * *

^14-15“On the other hand, don’t miss this: The time is coming when no one will say any longer, ‘As sure as God lives, the God who delivered Israel from Egypt.’ What they’ll say is, ‘As sure as God lives, the God who brought Israel back from the land of the north, brought them back from all the places where he’d scattered them.’ That’s right, I’m going to bring them back to the land I first gave to their ancestors.

* * *

New International Version (NIV)