Isaiah 64:1 - Jeremiah 18

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

64 O that you would tear open the heavens and come down,
    so that the mountains would quake at your presence—^(A)
2 [a]as when fire kindles brushwood
    and the fire causes water to boil—
to make your name known to your adversaries,
    so that the nations might tremble at your presence!^(B)
3 When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect,
    you came down; the mountains quaked at your presence.^(C)
4 From ages past no one has heard,
    no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides you,
    who works for those who wait for him.^(D)
5 You meet those who gladly do right,
    those who remember you in your ways.
But you were angry, and we sinned;
    because you hid yourself we transgressed.^[b](E)
6 We have all become like one who is unclean,
    and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth.
We all fade like a leaf,
    and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.^(F)
7 There is no one who calls on your name
    or attempts to take hold of you,
for you have hidden your face from us
    and have delivered^[c] us into the hand of our iniquity.^(G)
8 Yet, O Lord, you are our Father;
    we are the clay, and you are our potter;
    we are all the work of your hand.^(H)
9 Do not be exceedingly angry, O Lord,
    and do not remember iniquity forever.
    Now consider, we are all your people.^(I)
10 Your holy cities have become a wilderness;
    Zion has become a wilderness,
    Jerusalem a desolation.^(J)
11 Our holy and beautiful house,
    where our ancestors praised you,
has been burned by fire,
    and all our pleasant places have become ruins.^(K)
12 After all this, will you restrain yourself, O Lord?
    Will you keep silent and punish us so severely?^(L)

³ Whoever slaughters an ox is like one who kills a human,
    whoever sacrifices a lamb like one who breaks a dog’s neck,
whoever presents a grain offering like one who offers pig’s blood,
    whoever makes a memorial offering of frankincense like one who blesses an idol.
Just as these have chosen their own ways
    and in their abominations they take delight,^(AM)
4 so I will choose their punishments
    and bring upon them what they fear,
because, when I called, no one answered,
    when I spoke, they did not listen,
but they did what was evil in my sight
    and chose what did not please me.^(AN)

⁶ Listen, a roar from the city!
    A voice from the temple!
The voice of the Lord,
    dealing retribution to his enemies!^(AP)

⁷ Before she was in labor
    she gave birth;
before her pain came upon her
    she delivered a son.^(AQ)
8 Who has heard of such a thing?
    Who has seen such things?
Shall a land be born in one day?
    Shall a nation be delivered in one moment?
Yet as soon as Zion was in labor
    she delivered her children.^(AR)
9 Shall I open the womb and not deliver?
    says the Lord;
shall I, the one who delivers, shut the womb?
    says your God.

¹⁰ Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her,
    all you who love her;
rejoice with her in joy,
    all you who mourn over her—^(AS)
11 that you may nurse and be satisfied
    from her consoling breast,
that you may drink deeply with delight
    from her glorious bosom.^(AT)

¹² For thus says the Lord:
I will extend prosperity to her like a river
    and the wealth of the nations like an overflowing stream,
and you shall nurse and be carried on her arm
    and bounced on her knees.^(AU)
13 As a mother comforts her child,
    so I will comfort you;
    you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.^(AV)

²² For as the new heavens and the new earth,
    which I will make,
shall remain before me, says the Lord,
    so shall your descendants and your name remain.^(BE)
23 From new moon to new moon
    and from Sabbath to Sabbath,
all flesh shall come to worship before me,
says the Lord.^(BF)

⁵ “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”^(BK)

“Do not say, ‘I am only a boy,’
for you shall go to all to whom I send you,
and you shall speak whatever I command you.
⁸ Do not be afraid of them,
for I am with you to deliver you,
            says the Lord.”^(BM)

“Now I have put my words in your mouth.^(BN)
10 See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms,
to pluck up and to pull down,
to destroy and to overthrow,
to build and to plant.”^(BO)

I remember the devotion of your youth,
    your love as a bride,
how you followed me in the wilderness,
    in a land not sown.^(BX)
3 Israel was holy to the Lord,
    the first fruits of his harvest.
All who ate of it were held guilty;
    disaster came upon them,
            says the Lord.^(BY)

What wrong did your ancestors find in me
    that they went far from me
and went after worthless things and became worthless themselves?^(BZ)
6 They did not say, “Where is the Lord,
    who brought us up from the land of Egypt,
who led us in the wilderness,
    in a land of deserts and pits,
in a land of drought and deep darkness,
    in a land that no one passes through,
    where no one lives?”^(CA)
7 I brought you into a plentiful land
    to eat its fruits and its good things.
But when you entered you defiled my land
    and made my heritage an abomination.^(CB)
8 The priests did not say, “Where is the Lord?”
    Those who handle the law did not know me;
the rulers^[o] transgressed against me;
    the prophets prophesied by Baal
    and went after things that do not profit.^(CC)

⁹ Therefore once more I accuse you,
            says the Lord,
    and I accuse your children’s children.^(CD)
10 Cross to the coasts of Cyprus and look;
    send to Kedar and examine with care;
    see if there has ever been such a thing.
¹¹ Has a nation changed its gods,
    even though they are no gods?
But my people have changed their glory
    for something that does not profit.^(CE)
12 Be appalled, O heavens, at this;
    be shocked; be utterly desolate,
            says the Lord,
¹³ for my people have committed two evils:
    they have forsaken me,
the fountain of living water,
    and dug out cisterns for themselves,
cracked cisterns
    that can hold no water.^(CF)

¹⁴ Is Israel a slave? Is he a homeborn servant?
    Why then has he become plunder?^(CG)
15 The lions have roared against him;
    they have roared loudly.
They have made his land a waste;
    his cities are in ruins, without inhabitant.^(CH)
16 Moreover, the people of Memphis and Tahpanhes
    have broken the crown of your head.^(CI)
17 Have you not brought this upon yourself
    by forsaking the Lord your God,
    while he led you in the way?^(CJ)
18 What then do you gain by going to Egypt,
    to drink the waters of the Nile?
Or what do you gain by going to Assyria,
    to drink the waters of the Euphrates?^(CK)
19 Your wickedness will punish you,
    and your faithlessness will convict you.
Know and see that it is evil and bitter
    for you to forsake the Lord your God;
    the fear of me is not in you,
            says the Lord God of hosts.^(CL)

²⁰ For long ago you broke your yoke
    and burst your bonds,
    and you said, “I will not serve!”
On every high hill
    and under every green tree
    you sprawled and prostituted yourself.^(CM)
21 Yet I planted you as a choice vine
    from the purest stock.
How then did you turn degenerate
    and become a wild vine?^(CN)
22 Though you wash yourself with lye
    and use much soap,
    the stain of your guilt is still before me,
            says the Lord God.^(CO)
23 How can you say, “I am not defiled;
    I have not gone after the Baals”?
Look at your way in the valley;
    know what you have done:
a restive young camel interlacing her tracks,^(CP)
24     a wild ass at home in the wilderness
in her heat sniffing the wind!
    Who can restrain her lust?
None who seek her need weary themselves;
    in her month they will find her.^(CQ)
25 Keep your feet from going bare
    and your throat from thirst.
But you said, “It is no use,
    for I have loved strangers,
    and after them I will go.”^(CR)

²⁶ As a thief is shamed when caught,
    so the house of Israel shall be shamed:
they, their kings, their officials,
    their priests, and their prophets,^(CS)
27 who say to a tree, “You are my father,”
    and to a stone, “You gave me birth.”
For they have turned their backs to me
    and not their faces.
But in the time of their trouble they say,
    “Come and save us!”^(CT)
28 But where are your gods
    that you made for yourself?
Let them come, if they can save you,
    in your time of trouble,
for you have as many gods
    as you have towns, O Judah.^(CU)

²⁹ Why do you complain against me?
    You have all rebelled against me,
            says the Lord.^(CV)
30 In vain I have struck down your children;
    they accepted no correction.
Your own sword devoured your prophets
    like a ravening lion.^(CW)
31 And you, O generation, behold the word of the Lord!^[p]
Have I been a wilderness to Israel
    or a land of thick darkness?
Why then do my people say, “We are free;
    we will come to you no more”?^(CX)
32 Can a young woman forget her ornaments
    or a bride her attire?
Yet my people have forgotten me,
    days without number.^(CY)

³³ How well you direct your course
    to seek lovers!
So that even to wicked women
    you have taught your ways.
³⁴ Also on your skirts is found
    the lifeblood of the innocent poor,
though you did not catch them breaking in.
    Yet in spite of all these things^[q](CZ)
35 you say, “I am innocent;
    surely his anger has turned from me.”
Now I am bringing you to judgment
    for saying, “I have not sinned.”^(DA)
36 Why do you go about so much
    to change your way?
You shall be put to shame by Egypt
    as you were put to shame by Assyria.^(DB)
37 From there also you will come away
    with your hands on your head,
for the Lord has rejected those in whom you trust,
    and you will not prosper through them.^(DC)

Return, faithless Israel,
            says the Lord.
I will not look on you in anger,
    for I am merciful,
            says the Lord;
I will not be angry forever.^(DO)
13 Only acknowledge your guilt,
    that you have rebelled against the Lord your God
and scattered your favors among strangers under every green tree
    and have not obeyed my voice,
            says the Lord.^(DP)
14 Return, O faithless children,
            says the Lord,
    for I am your husband;
I will take you, one from a city and two from a family,
    and I will bring you to Zion.^(DQ)

¹⁹ I thought
    how I would set you among my children
and give you a pleasant land,
    the most beautiful heritage of all the nations.
And I thought you would call to me, “My Father,”
    and would not turn from following me.^(DV)
20 Instead, as a faithless wife leaves her husband,
    so you have been faithless to me, O house of Israel,
            says the Lord.^(DW)

²¹ A voice on the bare heights^[u] is heard,
    the plaintive weeping of Israel’s children,
because they have perverted their way;
    they have forgotten the Lord their God:^(DX)
22 Return, O faithless children,
    I will heal your faithlessness.

“Here we come to you,
    for you are the Lord our God.^(DY)
23 Truly the hills are^[v] a delusion,
    a tumult on the mountains.
Truly in the Lord our God
    is the salvation of Israel.^(DZ)

4 If you return, O Israel,
            says the Lord,
    if you return to me,
if you remove your abominations from my presence
    and do not waver,^(EB)
2 and if you swear, “As the Lord lives!”
    in truth, in justice, and in uprightness,
then nations shall be blessed^[w] by you,^[x]
    and by you^[y] they shall boast.^(EC)

Break up your fallow ground,
    and do not sow among thorns.^(ED)
4 Circumcise yourselves to the Lord;
    remove the foreskin of your hearts,
    O people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem,
or else my wrath will go forth like fire
    and burn with no one to quench it,
    because of the evil of your doings.^(EE)

Blow the trumpet through the land;
    shout aloud^[z] and say,
“Gather together, and let us go
    into the fortified cities!”^(EF)
6 Raise a standard toward Zion;
    flee for safety; do not delay,
for I am bringing evil from the north
    and a great destruction.^(EG)
7 A lion has gone up from its thicket;
    a destroyer of nations has set out;
    he has gone out from his place
to make your land a waste;
    your cities will be ruins
    without inhabitant.^(EH)
8 Because of this put on sackcloth,
    lament and wail:
“The fierce anger of the Lord
    has not turned away from us.”^(EI)

¹³ Look! He comes up like clouds,
    his chariots like the whirlwind;
his horses are swifter than eagles—
    woe to us, for we are ruined!^(EN)
14 O Jerusalem, wash your heart clean of wickedness
    so that you may be saved.
How long shall your evil schemes
    lodge within you?^(EO)
15 For a voice declares from Dan
    and proclaims disaster from Mount Ephraim.
¹⁶ Tell the nations, “Here they are!”
    Proclaim against Jerusalem,
“Besiegers come from a distant land;
    they shout against the cities of Judah.^(EP)
17 They have closed in around her like watchers of a field
    because she has rebelled against me,
            says the Lord.^(EQ)
18 Your ways and your doings
    have brought this upon you.
This is your doom; how bitter it is!
    It has reached your very heart.”^(ER)

²³ I looked on the earth, and it was complete chaos,
    and to the heavens, and they had no light.^(EV)
24 I looked on the mountains, and they were quaking,
    and all the hills moved to and fro.^(EW)
25 I looked, and there was no one at all,
    and all the birds of the air had fled.^(EX)
26 I looked, and the fruitful land was a desert,
    and all its cities were laid in ruins
    before the Lord, before his fierce anger.^(EY)

²⁸ Because of this the earth shall mourn
    and the heavens above grow black,
for I have spoken; I have purposed;
    I have not relented, nor will I turn back.^(FA)

²⁹ At the noise of horseman and archer
    every town takes to flight;
they enter thickets; they climb among rocks;
    all the towns are forsaken,
    and no one lives in them.^(FB)
30 And you, O desolate one,
what do you mean that you dress in crimson,
    that you deck yourself with ornaments of gold,
    that you enlarge your eyes with paint?
In vain you beautify yourself.
    Your lovers despise you;
    they seek your life.^(FC)
31 For I heard a cry as of a woman in labor,
    anguish as of one bringing forth her first child,
the cry of daughter Zion gasping for breath,
    stretching out her hands,
“Woe is me! I am fainting before killers!”^(FD)

⁴ Then I said, “These are only the poor;
    they have no sense,
for they do not know the way of the Lord,
    the law of their God.^(FH)
5 Let me go to the rich^[ad]
    and speak to them;
surely they know the way of the Lord,
    the law of their God.”
But they all alike had broken the yoke;
    they had burst the bonds.^(FI)

⁶ Therefore a lion from the forest shall kill them;
    a wolf from the desert shall destroy them.
A leopard is watching against their cities;
    everyone who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces,
because their transgressions are many;
    their faithlessness is great.^(FJ)

⁷ How can I pardon you?
    Your children have forsaken me
    and have sworn by those who are no gods.
When I fed them to the full,
    they committed adultery
    and trooped to the houses of prostitutes.^(FK)
8 They were well-fed lusty stallions,
    each neighing for his neighbor’s wife.^(FL)
9 Shall I not punish them for these things?
            says the Lord,
    and shall I not bring retribution
    on a nation such as this?^(FM)

¹⁰ Go up through her vine rows and destroy,
    but do not make a full end;
strip away her branches,
    for they are not the Lord’s.^(FN)
11 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah
    have been utterly faithless to me,
            says the Lord.^(FO)
12 They have spoken falsely of the Lord
    and have said, “He will do nothing.
No evil will come upon us,
    and we shall not see sword or famine.”^(FP)
13 The prophets are nothing but wind,
    for the word is not in them.
Thus shall it be done to them!^(FQ)

¹⁴ Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of hosts:
Because you have spoken this word,
I am now making my words in your mouth a fire
    and this people wood, and the fire shall devour them.^(FR)
15 I am going to bring upon you
    a nation from far away, O house of Israel,
            says the Lord.
It is an enduring nation;
    it is an ancient nation,
a nation whose language you do not know,
    nor can you understand what they say.^(FS)
16 Their quiver is like an open tomb;
    all of them are mighty warriors.^(FT)
17 They shall eat up your harvest and your food;
    they shall eat up your sons and your daughters;
they shall eat up your flocks and your herds;
    they shall eat up your vines and your fig trees;
they shall destroy with the sword
    your fortified cities in which you trust.^(FU)

²⁰ Declare this in the house of Jacob;
    proclaim it in Judah:
²¹ Hear this, O foolish and senseless people,
    who have eyes but do not see,
    who have ears but do not hear.^(FX)
22 Do you not fear me? says the Lord;
    Do you not tremble before me?
I placed the sand as a boundary for the sea,
    a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass;
though the waves toss, they cannot prevail;
    though they roar, they cannot pass over it.^(FY)
23 But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart;
    they have turned aside and gone away.^(FZ)
24 They do not say in their hearts,
    “Let us fear the Lord our God,
who gives the rain in its season,
    the autumn rain and the spring rain,
and keeps for us
    the weeks appointed for the harvest.”^(GA)
25 Your iniquities have turned these away,
    and your sins have deprived you of good.^(GB)
26 For the wicked are found among my people.
    They lie in wait like hunters;
destroyers,^[ae] they catch humans.^(GC)
27 Like a cage full of birds,
    their houses are full of treachery;
therefore they have become great and rich;^(GD)
28     they have grown fat and sleek.
They know no limits in deeds of wickedness;
    they do not judge with justice
the cause of the orphan, to make it prosper,
    and they do not defend the rights of the needy.^(GE)
29 Shall I not punish them for these things?
            says the Lord,
    and shall I not bring retribution
    on a nation such as this?^(GF)

³⁰ An appalling and horrible thing
    has happened in the land:^(GG)
31 the prophets prophesy falsely,
    and the priests rule as the prophets direct;^[af]
my people love to have it so,
    but what will you do when the end comes?^(GH)

⁹ Thus says the Lord of hosts:
Glean^[ai] thoroughly as a vine
    the remnant of Israel;
like a grape gatherer, pass your hand again
    over its branches.^(GQ)

¹⁰ To whom shall I speak and give warning,
    that they may hear?
See, their ears are closed;^[aj]
    they cannot listen.
The word of the Lord is to them an object of scorn;
    they take no pleasure in it.^(GR)
11 But I am full of the wrath of the Lord;
    I am weary of holding it in.

Pour it out on the children in the street
    and on the gatherings of young men as well;
both husband and wife shall be taken,
    the elderly and those full of days.^(GS)
12 Their houses shall be turned over to others,
    their fields and wives together;
for I will stretch out my hand
    against the inhabitants of the land,
            says the Lord.^(GT)

¹³ For from the least to the greatest of them,
    everyone is greedy for unjust gain;
and from prophet to priest,
    everyone deals falsely.^(GU)
14 They have treated the wound of my people carelessly,
    saying, “Peace, peace,”
    when there is no peace.^(GV)
15 They acted shamefully; they committed abomination,
    yet they were not ashamed;
    they did not know how to blush.
Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;
    at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown,
            says the Lord.
¹⁶ Thus says the Lord:
Stand at the crossroads and look,
    and ask for the ancient paths,
where the good way lies; and walk in it,
    and find rest for your souls.
But they said, “We will not walk in it.”^(GW)
17 Also I raised up sentinels for you:
    “Give heed to the sound of the trumpet!”
But they said, “We will not give heed.”^(GX)
18 Therefore hear, O nations,
    and know, O congregation, what will happen to them.
¹⁹ Hear, O earth; I am going to bring disaster on this people,
    the fruit of their schemes,
because they have not given heed to my words,
    and as for my teaching, they have rejected it.^(GY)
20 Of what use to me is frankincense that comes from Sheba
    or sweet cane from a distant land?
Your burnt offerings are not acceptable,
    nor are your sacrifices pleasing to me.^(GZ)
21 Therefore thus says the Lord:
See, I am laying before this people
    stumbling blocks against which they shall stumble;
parents and children together,
    neighbor and friend shall perish.^(HA)

²² Thus says the Lord:
See, a people is coming from the land of the north;
    a great nation is stirring from the farthest parts of the earth.^(HB)
23 They grasp the bow and the javelin;
    they are cruel and have no mercy;
    their sound is like the roaring sea;
they ride on horses,
    equipped like a warrior for battle,
    against you, O daughter Zion!^(HC)

²⁴ “We have heard news of them;
    our hands fall helpless;
anguish has taken hold of us,
    pain as of a woman in labor.^(HD)
25 Do not go out into the field
    or walk on the road,
for the enemy has a sword;
    terror is on every side.”^(HE)

²⁶ O daughter of my people, put on sackcloth
    and roll in ashes;
make mourning as for an only child,
    most bitter lamentation,
for suddenly the destroyer
    will come upon us.^(HF)

²⁷ I have made you a tester and a refiner^[ak] among my people
    so that you may know and test their ways.
²⁸ They are all stubbornly rebellious,
    going about with slanders;
they are bronze and iron;
    all of them act corruptly.^(HG)
29 The bellows blow fiercely;
    the lead is consumed by the fire;^[al]
in vain the refining goes on,
    for the wicked are not removed.
³⁰ They are called “rejected silver,”
    for the Lord has rejected them.

²⁹ Cut off your hair and throw it away;
    raise a lamentation on the bare heights,^[ap]
for the Lord has rejected and forsaken
    the generation that provoked his wrath.^(IC)

⁸ How can you say, “We are wise,
    and the law of the Lord is with us,”
when, in fact, the false pen of the scribes
    has made it into a lie?^(IO)
9 The wise shall be put to shame;
    they shall be dismayed and taken;
since they have rejected the word of the Lord,
    what wisdom is in them?^(IP)
10 Therefore I will give their wives to others
    and their fields to conquerors,
because from the least to the greatest
    everyone is greedy for unjust gain;
from prophet to priest,
    everyone deals falsely.^(IQ)
11 They have treated the wound of the daughter of my people carelessly,
    saying, “Peace, peace,”
    when there is no peace.^(IR)
12 They acted shamefully; they committed abomination,
    yet they were not at all ashamed;
    they did not know how to blush.
Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;
    at the time when I punish them, they shall be overthrown,
            says the Lord.^(IS)
13 I will surely gather them,^[at] says the Lord;
    there are no grapes on the vine
    nor figs on the fig tree;
even the leaves are withered,
    and what I gave them has passed away from them.^[au](IT)

¹⁴ Why do we sit still?
Gather together; let us go into the fortified cities
    and perish there,
for the Lord our God has doomed us to perish
    and has given us poisoned water to drink
    because we have sinned against the Lord.^(IU)
15 We look for peace but find no good,
    for a time of healing, but there is terror instead.^(IV)

¹⁶ The snorting of their horses is heard from Dan;
    at the sound of the neighing of their stallions
    the whole land quakes.
They come and devour the land and all that fills it,
    the city and those who live in it.^(IW)
17 See, I am letting snakes loose among you,
    adders that cannot be charmed,
    and they shall bite you,
            says the Lord.^(IX)

²² Is there no balm in Gilead?
    Is there no physician there?
Why then has the health of the daughter of my people
    not been restored?^(JA)

9 ^[av]O that my head were a spring of water
    and my eyes a fountain of tears,
so that I might weep day and night
    for the slain of the daughter of my people!^(JB)
2 [aw]O that I had in the desert
    a traveler’s lodging place,
that I might leave my people
    and go away from them!
For they are all adulterers,
    a band of traitors.^(JC)
3 They bend their tongues like bows;
    they have grown strong in the land for falsehood and not for truth,
for they proceed from evil to evil,
    and they do not know me, says the Lord.^(JD)

⁴ Beware of your neighbors,
    and put no trust in any of your kin,
for all your kin are supplanters,
    and every neighbor goes around like a slanderer.^(JE)
5 They all deceive their neighbors,
    and no one speaks the truth;
they have taught their tongues to speak lies;
    they commit iniquity and are too weary to repent.^[ax](JF)
6 Oppression upon oppression, deceit^[ay] upon deceit!
    They refuse to know me, says the Lord.^(JG)

⁷ Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts:
I will now refine and test them,
    for what else can I do with the daughter of my people?^(JH)
8 Their tongue is a deadly arrow;
    it speaks deceit through the mouth.
They all speak friendly words to their neighbors
    but inwardly are planning to lay an ambush.^(JI)
9 Shall I not punish them for these things? says the Lord,
    and shall I not bring retribution
    on a nation such as this?^(JJ)

¹⁰ Take up^[az] weeping and wailing for the mountains
    and a lamentation for the pastures of the wilderness,
because they are laid waste so that no one passes through,
    and the lowing of cattle is not heard;
both the birds of the air and the animals
    have fled and are gone.^(JK)
11 I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins,
    a lair of jackals,
and I will make the towns of Judah a desolation,
    without inhabitant.^(JL)

²⁰ Hear, O women, the word of the Lord,
    and let your ears receive the word of his mouth;
teach to your daughters a dirge
    and each to her neighbor a lament.^(JU)
21 “Death has come up into our windows;
    it has entered our palaces
to cut off the children from the streets
    and the young men from the squares.”^(JV)
22 Speak! Thus says the Lord:
“Human corpses shall fall
    like dung upon the open field,
like sheaves behind the reaper,
    and no one shall gather them.”^(JW)

Do not learn the way of the nations
    or be dismayed at the signs of the heavens,
    for the nations are dismayed at them.^(KB)
3 For the customs of the peoples are false:
a tree from the forest is cut down
    and worked with an ax by the hands of an artisan;^(KC)
4 they deck it with silver and gold;
    they fasten it with hammers and nails
    so that it cannot move.^(KD)
5 Their idols^[ba] are like scarecrows in a cucumber field,
    and they cannot speak;
they have to be carried,
    for they cannot walk.
Do not be afraid of them,
    for they cannot do evil,
    nor is it in them to do good.^(KE)

⁶ There is none like you, O Lord;
    you are great, and your name is great in might.^(KF)
7 Who would not fear you, O King of the nations?
    For that is your due;
among all the wise ones of the nations
    and in all their kingdoms
    there is no one like you.^(KG)
8 They are both stupid and foolish;
    the instruction given by idols
    is no better than wood!^[bb](KH)
9 Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish
    and gold from Uphaz.
They are the work of the artisan and of the hands of the goldsmith;
    their clothing is blue and purple;
    they are all the product of skilled workers.^(KI)
10 But the Lord is the true God;
    he is the living God and the everlasting King.
At his wrath the earth quakes,
    and the nations cannot endure his indignation.^[bc](KJ)

¹² It is he who made the earth by his power,
    who established the world by his wisdom
    and by his understanding stretched out the heavens.^(KL)
13 When he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens,
    and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth.
He makes lightning for the rain
    and brings out the wind from his storehouses.^(KM)
14 Everyone is stupid and without knowledge;
    goldsmiths are all put to shame by their idols,
for their images are false,
    and there is no breath in them.^(KN)
15 They are worthless, a work of delusion;
    at the time of their punishment they shall perish.
¹⁶ The portion of Jacob is not like these,
    for he is the one who formed all things,
and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance;
    the Lord of hosts is his name.^(KO)

¹⁹ Woe is me because of my hurt!
    My wound is severe.
But I said, “Truly this is my punishment,
    and I must bear it.”^(KP)
20 My tent is destroyed,
    and all my cords are broken;
my children have gone from me,
    and they are no more;
there is no one to spread my tent again
    and to set up my curtains.^(KQ)
21 For the shepherds are stupid
    and do not inquire of the Lord;
therefore they have not prospered,
    and all their flock is scattered.^(KR)

²² Hear, a noise! Listen, it is coming—
    a great commotion from the land of the north
to make the cities of Judah a desolation,
    a lair of jackals.^(KS)

²³ I know, O Lord, that the way of humans is not in their control,
    that mortals as they walk cannot direct their steps.^(KT)
24 Correct me, O Lord, but in just measure;
    not in your anger, or you will bring me to nothing.^(KU)

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 him and consumed him
    and have laid waste his habitation.^(KV)

⁷ I have forsaken my house;
    I have abandoned my heritage;
I have given the beloved of my heart
    into the hands of her enemies.^(LT)
8 My heritage has become to me
    like a lion in the forest;
she has lifted up her voice against me—
    therefore I hate her.^(LU)
9 Is the hawk hungry for my heritage?
    Are the vultures all around her?
Go, assemble all the wild animals;
    bring them to devour her.^(LV)
10 Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard;
    they have trampled down my portion;
they have made my pleasant portion
    a desolate wilderness.^(LW)
11 They have made it a desolation;
    desolate, it mourns to me.
The whole land is made desolate,
    but no one lays it to heart.^(LX)
12 Upon all the bare heights^[bg] in the desert,
    spoilers have come,
for the sword of the Lord devours
    from one end of the land to the other;
    no one shall be safe.^(LY)
13 They have sown wheat and have reaped thorns;
    they have tired themselves out but profit nothing.
They shall be ashamed of their^[bh] harvests
    because of the fierce anger of the Lord.^(LZ)

¹⁸ Say to the king and the queen mother:
    “Take a lowly seat,
for your beautiful crown
    has come down from your head.”^[bm](MQ)
19 The towns of the Negeb are shut up,
    with no one to open them;
all Judah is taken into exile,
    wholly taken into exile.^(MR)

²⁰ Lift up your eyes and see
    those who come from the north.
Where is the flock that was given you,
    your beautiful flock?^(MS)
21 What will you say when they set as head over you
    those whom you have trained
    to be your allies?
Will not pangs seize you
    like those of a woman in labor?^(MT)
22 And if you say in your heart,
    “Why have these things come upon me?”
it is for the greatness of your iniquity
    that your skirts are lifted up
    and you are violated.^(MU)
23 Can Cushites change their skin
    or leopards their spots?
Then also you can do good,
    who are accustomed to do evil.^(MV)
24 I will scatter you^[bn] like chaff
    driven by the wind from the desert.^(MW)
25 This is your lot,
    the portion I have measured out to you, says the Lord,
because you have forgotten me
    and trusted in lies.^(MX)
26 I myself will lift up your skirts over your face,
    and your shame will be seen.^(MY)
27 I have seen your abominations,
    your adulteries and neighings, your shameless prostitutions
    on the hills of the countryside.
Woe to you, O Jerusalem!
    How long will it be
    before you are made clean?^(MZ)

² Judah mourns,
    and her gates languish;
they lie in gloom on the ground,
    and the cry of Jerusalem goes up.^(NB)
3 Her^[bo] nobles send their servants for water;
    they come to the cisterns;
they find no water;
    they return with their vessels empty.
They are ashamed and dismayed
    and cover their heads,^(NC)
4 because the ground is cracked.
    Because there has been no rain on the land,
the farmers are dismayed;
    they cover their heads.^(ND)
5 Even the doe in the field forsakes her newborn fawn
    because there is no grass.
⁶ The wild asses stand on the bare heights;^[bp]
    they pant for air like jackals;
their eyes fail
    because there is no herbage.^(NE)

⁷ Although our iniquities testify against us,
    act, O Lord, for your name’s sake;
our rebellions indeed are many,
    and we have sinned against you.^(NF)
8 O hope of Israel,
    its savior in time of trouble,
why should you be like a stranger in the land,
    like a traveler turning aside for the night?^(NG)
9 Why should you be like someone confused,
    like a mighty warrior who cannot give help?
Yet you, O Lord, are in the midst of us,
    and we are called by your name;
    do not forsake us!^(NH)

¹⁰ Thus says the Lord concerning this people:
Truly they have loved to wander;
    they have not restrained their feet;
therefore the Lord does not accept them;
    now he will remember their iniquity
    and punish their sins.^(NI)

¹⁷ You shall say to them this word:
Let my eyes run down with tears night and day,
    and let them not cease,
for the virgin daughter of my people is struck down with a crushing blow,
    with a very grievous wound.^(NP)
18 If I go out into the field,
    look—those killed by the sword!
And if I enter the city,
    look—those sick with^[bq] famine!
For both prophet and priest ply their trade throughout the land
    and have no knowledge.^(NQ)

Those destined for pestilence, to pestilence,
    and those destined for the sword, to the sword;
those destined for famine, to famine,
    and those destined for captivity, to captivity.^(NW)

⁵ Who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem,
    or who will bemoan you?
Who will turn aside
    to ask about your welfare?
⁶ You have rejected me, says the Lord;
    you are going backward,
so I have stretched out my hand against you and destroyed you—
    I am weary of relenting.^(NZ)
7 I have winnowed them with a winnowing fork
    in the gates of the land;
I have bereaved them; I have destroyed my people;
    they did not turn from their ways.^(OA)
8 Their widows became more numerous
    than the sand of the seas;
I have brought against the mothers of youths
    a destroyer at noonday;
I have made anguish and terror
    fall upon her suddenly.
⁹ She who bore seven has languished;
    she has swooned away;
her sun went down while it was yet day;
    she has been shamed and disgraced.
And the rest of them I will give to the sword
    before their enemies,
            says the Lord.^(OB)

¹⁵ O Lord, you know;
    remember me and visit me,
    and bring down retribution for me on my persecutors.
In your forbearance do not take me away;
    know that on your account I suffer insult.^(OG)
16 Your words were found, and I ate them,
    and your words became to me a joy
    and the delight of my heart,
for I am called by your name,
    O Lord, God of hosts.^(OH)
17 I did not sit in the company of merrymakers,
    nor did I rejoice;
under the weight of your hand I sat alone,
    for you had filled me with indignation.^(OI)
18 Why is my pain unceasing,
    my wound incurable,
    refusing to be healed?
Truly, you are to me like a deceitful brook,
    like waters that fail.^(OJ)

¹⁹ Therefore thus says the Lord:
If you turn back, I will take you back,
    and you shall stand before me.
If you utter what is precious and not what is worthless,
    you shall serve as my mouth.
It is they who will turn to you,
    not you who will turn to them.^(OK)
20 And I will make you to this people
    a fortified wall of bronze;
they will fight against you,
    but they shall not prevail over you,
for I am with you
    to save you and deliver you,
            says the Lord.^(OL)
21 I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked
    and redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless.^(OM)

¹⁹ O Lord, my strength and my stronghold,
    my refuge in the day of trouble,
to you shall the nations come
    from the ends of the earth and say:
“Our ancestors have inherited nothing but lies,
    worthless things in which there is no profit.^(PF)
20 Can mortals make for themselves gods?
    Such are no gods!”^(PG)

⁵ Thus says the Lord:
Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals
    and make mere flesh their strength,
    whose hearts turn away from the Lord.^(PK)
6 They shall be like a shrub in the desert
    and shall not see when relief comes.
They shall live in the parched places of the wilderness,
    in an uninhabited salt land.^(PL)

⁷ Blessed are those who trust in the Lord,
    whose trust is the Lord.^(PM)
8 They shall be like a tree planted by water,
    sending out its roots by the stream.
It shall not fear when heat comes,
    and its leaves shall stay green;
in the year of drought it is not anxious,
    and it does not cease to bear fruit.^(PN)

⁹ The heart is devious above all else;
    it is perverse—
    who can understand it?^(PO)
10 I the Lord test the mind
    and search the heart,
to give to all according to their ways,
    according to the fruit of their doings.^(PP)

¹¹ Like the partridge hatching what it did not lay,
    so are all who amass wealth unjustly;
in midlife it will leave them,
    and at their end they will prove to be fools.

¹² O glorious throne, exalted from the beginning,
    shrine of our sanctuary!
¹³ O hope of Israel! O Lord!
    All who forsake you shall be put to shame;
those who turn away from you^[bx] shall be recorded in the underworld,^[by]
    for they have forsaken the fountain of living water, the Lord.^(PQ)