Isaiah 64 - Jeremiah 22

New Living Translation

⁸ And yet, O Lord, you are our Father.
    We are the clay, and you are the potter.
    We all are formed by your hand.
⁹ Don’t be so angry with us, Lord.
    Please don’t remember our sins forever.
Look at us, we pray,
    and see that we are all your people.
¹⁰ Your holy cities are destroyed.
    Zion is a wilderness;
    yes, Jerusalem is a desolate ruin.
¹¹ The holy and beautiful Temple
    where our ancestors praised you
has been burned down,
    and all the things of beauty are destroyed.
¹² After all this, Lord, must you still refuse to help us?
    Will you continue to be silent and punish us?

“I was ready to respond, but no one asked for help.
    I was ready to be found, but no one was looking for me.
I said, ‘Here I am, here I am!’
    to a nation that did not call on my name.^[d]
2 All day long I opened my arms to a rebellious people.^[e]
    But they follow their own evil paths
    and their own crooked schemes.
³ All day long they insult me to my face
    by worshiping idols in their sacred gardens.
    They burn incense on pagan altars.
⁴ At night they go out among the graves,
    worshiping the dead.
They eat the flesh of pigs
    and make stews with other forbidden foods.
⁵ Yet they say to each other,
    ‘Don’t come too close or you will defile me!
    I am holier than you!’
These people are a stench in my nostrils,
    an acrid smell that never goes away.

⁶ “Look, my decree is written out^[f] in front of me:
    I will not stand silent;
I will repay them in full!
    Yes, I will repay them—
⁷ both for their own sins
    and for those of their ancestors,”
    says the Lord.
“For they also burned incense on the mountains
    and insulted me on the hills.
    I will pay them back in full!

⁸ “But I will not destroy them all,”
    says the Lord.
“For just as good grapes are found among a cluster of bad ones
    (and someone will say, ‘Don’t throw them all away—
    some of those grapes are good!’),
so I will not destroy all Israel.
    For I still have true servants there.
⁹ I will preserve a remnant of the people of Israel^[g]
    and of Judah to possess my land.
Those I choose will inherit it,
    and my servants will live there.
¹⁰ The plain of Sharon will again be filled with flocks
    for my people who have searched for me,
    and the valley of Achor will be a place to pasture herds.

¹¹ “But because the rest of you have forsaken the Lord
    and have forgotten his Temple,
and because you have prepared feasts to honor the god of Fate
    and have offered mixed wine to the god of Destiny,
¹² now I will ‘destine’ you for the sword.
    All of you will bow down before the executioner.
For when I called, you did not answer.
    When I spoke, you did not listen.
You deliberately sinned—before my very eyes—
    and chose to do what you know I despise.”

¹³ Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“My servants will eat,
    but you will starve.
My servants will drink,
    but you will be thirsty.
My servants will rejoice,
    but you will be sad and ashamed.
¹⁴ My servants will sing for joy,
    but you will cry in sorrow and despair.
¹⁵ Your name will be a curse word among my people,
    for the Sovereign Lord will destroy you
    and will call his true servants by another name.
¹⁶ All who invoke a blessing or take an oath
    will do so by the God of truth.
For I will put aside my anger
    and forget the evil of earlier days.

¹⁷ “Look! I am creating new heavens and a new earth,
    and no one will even think about the old ones anymore.
¹⁸ Be glad; rejoice forever in my creation!
    And look! I will create Jerusalem as a place of happiness.
    Her people will be a source of joy.
¹⁹ I will rejoice over Jerusalem
    and delight in my people.
And the sound of weeping and crying
    will be heard in it no more.

²⁰ “No longer will babies die when only a few days old.
    No longer will adults die before they have lived a full life.
No longer will people be considered old at one hundred!
    Only the cursed will die that young!
²¹ In those days people will live in the houses they build
    and eat the fruit of their own vineyards.
²² Unlike the past, invaders will not take their houses
    and confiscate their vineyards.
For my people will live as long as trees,
    and my chosen ones will have time to enjoy their hard-won gains.
²³ They will not work in vain,
    and their children will not be doomed to misfortune.
For they are people blessed by the Lord,
    and their children, too, will be blessed.
²⁴ I will answer them before they even call to me.
    While they are still talking about their needs,
    I will go ahead and answer their prayers!
²⁵ The wolf and the lamb will feed together.
    The lion will eat hay like a cow.
    But the snakes will eat dust.
In those days no one will be hurt or destroyed on my holy mountain.
    I, the Lord, have spoken!”

“Heaven is my throne,
    and the earth is my footstool.
Could you build me a temple as good as that?
    Could you build me such a resting place?
² My hands have made both heaven and earth;
    they and everything in them are mine.^[h]
    I, the Lord, have spoken!

“I will bless those who have humble and contrite hearts,
    who tremble at my word.
³ But those who choose their own ways—
    delighting in their detestable sins—
    will not have their offerings accepted.
When such people sacrifice a bull,
    it is no more acceptable than a human sacrifice.
When they sacrifice a lamb,
    it’s as though they had sacrificed a dog!
When they bring an offering of grain,
    they might as well offer the blood of a pig.
When they burn frankincense,
    it’s as if they had blessed an idol.
⁴ I will send them great trouble—
    all the things they feared.
For when I called, they did not answer.
    When I spoke, they did not listen.
They deliberately sinned before my very eyes
    and chose to do what they know I despise.”

⁵ Hear this message from the Lord,
    all you who tremble at his words:
“Your own people hate you
    and throw you out for being loyal to my name.
‘Let the Lord be honored!’ they scoff.
    ‘Be joyful in him!’
    But they will be put to shame.
⁶ What is all the commotion in the city?
    What is that terrible noise from the Temple?
It is the voice of the Lord
    taking vengeance against his enemies.

⁷ “Before the birth pains even begin,
    Jerusalem gives birth to a son.
⁸ Who has ever seen anything as strange as this?
    Who ever heard of such a thing?
Has a nation ever been born in a single day?
    Has a country ever come forth in a mere moment?
But by the time Jerusalem’s^[i] birth pains begin,
    her children will be born.
⁹ Would I ever bring this nation to the point of birth
    and then not deliver it?” asks the Lord.
“No! I would never keep this nation from being born,”
    says your God.

¹⁰ “Rejoice with Jerusalem!
    Be glad with her, all you who love her
    and all you who mourn for her.
¹¹ Drink deeply of her glory
    even as an infant drinks at its mother’s comforting breasts.”

¹² This is what the Lord says:
“I will give Jerusalem a river of peace and prosperity.
    The wealth of the nations will flow to her.
Her children will be nursed at her breasts,
    carried in her arms, and held on her lap.
¹³ I will comfort you there in Jerusalem
    as a mother comforts her child.”

¹⁴ When you see these things, your heart will rejoice.
    You will flourish like the grass!
Everyone will see the Lord’s hand of blessing on his servants—
    and his anger against his enemies.
¹⁵ See, the Lord is coming with fire,
    and his swift chariots roar like a whirlwind.
He will bring punishment with the fury of his anger
    and the flaming fire of his hot rebuke.
¹⁶ The Lord will punish the world by fire
    and by his sword.
He will judge the earth,
    and many will be killed by him.

²² “As surely as my new heavens and earth will remain,
    so will you always be my people,
with a name that will never disappear,”
    says the Lord.
²³ “All humanity will come to worship me
    from week to week
    and from month to month.
²⁴ And as they go out, they will see
    the dead bodies of those who have rebelled against me.
For the worms that devour them will never die,
    and the fire that burns them will never go out.
All who pass by
    will view them with utter horror.”

⁵ “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb.
    Before you were born I set you apart
    and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.”

“Look, I have put my words in your mouth!
¹⁰ Today I appoint you to stand up
    against nations and kingdoms.
Some you must uproot and tear down,
    destroy and overthrow.
Others you must build up
    and plant.”

“They will set their thrones
    at the gates of the city.
They will attack its walls
    and all the other towns of Judah.
¹⁶ I will pronounce judgment
    on my people for all their evil—
for deserting me and burning incense to other gods.
    Yes, they worship idols made with their own hands!

¹⁷ “Get up and prepare for action.
    Go out and tell them everything I tell you to say.
Do not be afraid of them,
    or I will make you look foolish in front of them.
¹⁸ For see, today I have made you strong
    like a fortified city that cannot be captured,
    like an iron pillar or a bronze wall.
You will stand against the whole land—
    the kings, officials, priests, and people of Judah.
¹⁹ They will fight you, but they will fail.
    For I am with you, and I will take care of you.
    I, the Lord, have spoken!”

“I remember how eager you were to please me
    as a young bride long ago,
how you loved me and followed me
    even through the barren wilderness.
³ In those days Israel was holy to the Lord,
    the first of his children.^[p]
All who harmed his people were declared guilty,
    and disaster fell on them.
    I, the Lord, have spoken!”

“What did your ancestors find wrong with me
    that led them to stray so far from me?
They worshiped worthless idols,
    only to become worthless themselves.
⁶ They did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord
    who brought us safely out of Egypt
and led us through the barren wilderness—
    a land of deserts and pits,
a land of drought and death,
    where no one lives or even travels?’

⁷ “And when I brought you into a fruitful land
    to enjoy its bounty and goodness,
you defiled my land and
    corrupted the possession I had promised you.
⁸ The priests did not ask,
    ‘Where is the Lord?’
Those who taught my word ignored me,
    the rulers turned against me,
and the prophets spoke in the name of Baal,
    wasting their time on worthless idols.
⁹ Therefore, I will bring my case against you,”
    says the Lord.
“I will even bring charges against your children’s children
    in the years to come.

¹⁰ “Go west and look in the land of Cyprus^[q];
    go east and search through the land of Kedar.
Has anyone ever heard of anything
    as strange as this?
¹¹ Has any nation ever traded its gods for new ones,
    even though they are not gods at all?
Yet my people have exchanged their glorious God^[r]
    for worthless idols!
¹² The heavens are shocked at such a thing
    and shrink back in horror and dismay,”
    says the Lord.
¹³ “For my people have done two evil things:
They have abandoned me—
    the fountain of living water.
And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns
    that can hold no water at all!

¹⁸ “What have you gained by your alliances with Egypt
    and your covenants with Assyria?
What good to you are the streams of the Nile^[t]
    or the waters of the Euphrates River?^[u]
19 Your wickedness will bring its own punishment.
    Your turning from me will shame you.
You will see what an evil, bitter thing it is
    to abandon the Lord your God and not to fear him.
    I, the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, have spoken!

²⁰ “Long ago I broke the yoke that oppressed you
    and tore away the chains of your slavery,
but still you said,
    ‘I will not serve you.’
On every hill and under every green tree,
    you have prostituted yourselves by bowing down to idols.
²¹ But I was the one who planted you,
    choosing a vine of the purest stock—the very best.
    How did you grow into this corrupt wild vine?
²² No amount of soap or lye can make you clean.
    I still see the stain of your guilt.
    I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!

²⁶ “Israel is like a thief
    who feels shame only when he gets caught.
They, their kings, officials, priests, and prophets—
    all are alike in this.
²⁷ To an image carved from a piece of wood they say,
    ‘You are my father.’
To an idol chiseled from a block of stone they say,
    ‘You are my mother.’
They turn their backs on me,
    but in times of trouble they cry out to me,
    ‘Come and save us!’
²⁸ But why not call on these gods you have made?
    When trouble comes, let them save you if they can!
For you have as many gods
    as there are towns in Judah.
²⁹ Why do you accuse me of doing wrong?
    You are the ones who have rebelled,”
    says the Lord.
³⁰ “I have punished your children,
    but they did not respond to my discipline.
You yourselves have killed your prophets
    as a lion kills its prey.

³¹ “O my people, listen to the words of the Lord!
    Have I been like a desert to Israel?
    Have I been to them a land of darkness?
Why then do my people say, ‘At last we are free from God!
    We don’t need him anymore!’
³² Does a young woman forget her jewelry,
    or a bride her wedding dress?
Yet for years on end
    my people have forgotten me.

³³ “How you plot and scheme to win your lovers.
    Even an experienced prostitute could learn from you!
³⁴ Your clothing is stained with the blood of the innocent and the poor,
    though you didn’t catch them breaking into your houses!
³⁵ And yet you say,
‘I have done nothing wrong.
    Surely God isn’t angry with me!’
But now I will punish you severely
    because you claim you have not sinned.
³⁶ First here, then there—
    you flit from one ally to another asking for help.
But your new friends in Egypt will let you down,
    just as Assyria did before.
³⁷ In despair, you will be led into exile
    with your hands on your heads,
for the Lord has rejected the nations you trust.
    They will not help you at all.

3 “If a man divorces a woman
    and she goes and marries someone else,
he will not take her back again,
    for that would surely corrupt the land.
But you have prostituted yourself with many lovers,
    so why are you trying to come back to me?”
    says the Lord.
² “Look at the shrines on every hilltop.
    Is there any place you have not been defiled
    by your adultery with other gods?
You sit like a prostitute beside the road waiting for a customer.
    You sit alone like a nomad in the desert.
You have polluted the land with your prostitution
    and your wickedness.
³ That’s why even the spring rains have failed.
    For you are a brazen prostitute and completely shameless.
⁴ Yet you say to me,
    ‘Father, you have been my guide since my youth.
⁵ Surely you won’t be angry forever!
    Surely you can forget about it!’
So you talk,
    but you keep on doing all the evil you can.”

“O Israel, my faithless people,
    come home to me again,
for I am merciful.
    I will not be angry with you forever.
¹³ Only acknowledge your guilt.
    Admit that you rebelled against the Lord your God
and committed adultery against him
    by worshiping idols under every green tree.
Confess that you refused to listen to my voice.
    I, the Lord, have spoken!

¹⁴ “Return home, you wayward children,”
    says the Lord,
    “for I am your master.
I will bring you back to the land of Israel^[x]—
    one from this town and two from that family—
    from wherever you are scattered.
¹⁵ And I will give you shepherds after my own heart,
    who will guide you with knowledge and understanding.

¹⁹ “I thought to myself,
    ‘I would love to treat you as my own children!’
I wanted nothing more than to give you this beautiful land—
    the finest possession in the world.
I looked forward to your calling me ‘Father,’
    and I wanted you never to turn from me.
²⁰ But you have been unfaithful to me, you people of Israel!
    You have been like a faithless wife who leaves her husband.
    I, the Lord, have spoken.”

²¹ Voices are heard high on the windswept mountains,
    the weeping and pleading of Israel’s people.
For they have chosen crooked paths
    and have forgotten the Lord their God.

²² “My wayward children,” says the Lord,
    “come back to me, and I will heal your wayward hearts.”

“Yes, we’re coming,” the people reply,
    “for you are the Lord our God.
²³ Our worship of idols on the hills
    and our religious orgies on the mountains
    are a delusion.
Only in the Lord our God
    will Israel ever find salvation.
²⁴ From childhood we have watched
    as everything our ancestors worked for—
their flocks and herds, their sons and daughters—
    was squandered on a delusion.
²⁵ Let us now lie down in shame
    and cover ourselves with dishonor,
for we and our ancestors have sinned
    against the Lord our God.
From our childhood to this day
    we have never obeyed him.”

4 “O Israel,” says the Lord,
    “if you wanted to return to me, you could.
You could throw away your detestable idols
    and stray away no more.
² Then when you swear by my name, saying,
    ‘As surely as the Lord lives,’
you could do so
    with truth, justice, and righteousness.
Then you would be a blessing to the nations of the world,
    and all people would come and praise my name.”

“Plow up the hard ground of your hearts!
    Do not waste your good seed among thorns.
⁴ O people of Judah and Jerusalem,
    surrender your pride and power.
Change your hearts before the Lord,^[y]
    or my anger will burn like an unquenchable fire
    because of all your sins.

⁵ “Shout to Judah, and broadcast to Jerusalem!
    Tell them to sound the alarm throughout the land:
‘Run for your lives!
    Flee to the fortified cities!’
⁶ Raise a signal flag as a warning for Jerusalem^[z]:
    ‘Flee now! Do not delay!’
For I am bringing terrible destruction upon you
    from the north.”

⁷ A lion stalks from its den,
    a destroyer of nations.
It has left its lair and is headed your way.
    It’s going to devastate your land!
Your towns will lie in ruins,
    with no one living in them anymore.
⁸ So put on clothes of mourning
    and weep with broken hearts,
for the fierce anger of the Lord
    is still upon us.

⁹ “In that day,” says the Lord,
    “the king and the officials will tremble in fear.
The priests will be struck with horror,
    and the prophets will be appalled.”

¹⁰ Then I said, “O Sovereign Lord,
    the people have been deceived by what you said,
for you promised peace for Jerusalem.
    But the sword is held at their throats!”

¹¹ The time is coming when the Lord will say
    to the people of Jerusalem,
“My dear people, a burning wind is blowing in from the desert,
    and it’s not a gentle breeze useful for winnowing grain.
¹² It is a roaring blast sent by me!
    Now I will pronounce your destruction!”

¹³ Our enemy rushes down on us like storm clouds!
    His chariots are like whirlwinds.
His horses are swifter than eagles.
    How terrible it will be, for we are doomed!
¹⁴ O Jerusalem, cleanse your heart
    that you may be saved.
How long will you harbor
    your evil thoughts?
¹⁵ Your destruction has been announced
    from Dan and the hill country of Ephraim.

¹⁶ “Warn the surrounding nations
    and announce this to Jerusalem:
The enemy is coming from a distant land,
    raising a battle cry against the towns of Judah.
¹⁷ They surround Jerusalem like watchmen around a field,
    for my people have rebelled against me,”
    says the Lord.
¹⁸ “Your own actions have brought this upon you.
    This punishment is bitter, piercing you to the heart!”

²² “My people are foolish
    and do not know me,” says the Lord.
“They are stupid children
    who have no understanding.
They are clever enough at doing wrong,
    but they have no idea how to do right!”

²⁷ This is what the Lord says:
“The whole land will be ruined,
    but I will not destroy it completely.
²⁸ The earth will mourn
    and the heavens will be draped in black
because of my decree against my people.
    I have made up my mind and will not change it.”

²⁹ At the noise of charioteers and archers,
    the people flee in terror.
They hide in the bushes
    and run for the mountains.
All the towns have been abandoned—
    not a person remains!
³⁰ What are you doing,
    you who have been plundered?
Why do you dress up in beautiful clothing
    and put on gold jewelry?
Why do you brighten your eyes with mascara?
    Your primping will do you no good!
The allies who were your lovers
    despise you and seek to kill you.

³¹ I hear a cry, like that of a woman in labor,
    the groans of a woman giving birth to her first child.
It is beautiful Jerusalem^[aa]
    gasping for breath and crying out,
    “Help! I’m being murdered!”

³ Lord, you are searching for honesty.
You struck your people,
    but they paid no attention.
You crushed them,
    but they refused to be corrected.
They are determined, with faces set like stone;
    they have refused to repent.

⁴ Then I said, “But what can we expect from the poor?
    They are ignorant.
They don’t know the ways of the Lord.
    They don’t understand God’s laws.
⁵ So I will go and speak to their leaders.
    Surely they know the ways of the Lord
    and understand God’s laws.”
But the leaders, too, as one man,
    had thrown off God’s yoke
    and broken his chains.
⁶ So now a lion from the forest will attack them;
    a wolf from the desert will pounce on them.
A leopard will lurk near their towns,
    tearing apart any who dare to venture out.
For their rebellion is great,
    and their sins are many.

⁷ “How can I pardon you?
    For even your children have turned from me.
They have sworn by gods that are not gods at all!
    I fed my people until they were full.
But they thanked me by committing adultery
    and lining up at the brothels.
⁸ They are well-fed, lusty stallions,
    each neighing for his neighbor’s wife.
⁹ Should I not punish them for this?” says the Lord.
    “Should I not avenge myself against such a nation?

¹⁰ “Go down the rows of the vineyards and destroy the grapevines,
    leaving a scattered few alive.
Strip the branches from the vines,
    for these people do not belong to the Lord.
¹¹ The people of Israel and Judah
    are full of treachery against me,”
    says the Lord.
¹² “They have lied about the Lord
    and said, ‘He won’t bother us!
No disasters will come upon us.
    There will be no war or famine.
¹³ God’s prophets are all windbags
    who don’t really speak for him.
    Let their predictions of disaster fall on themselves!’”

“Because the people are talking like this,
    my messages will flame out of your mouth
    and burn the people like kindling wood.
¹⁵ O Israel, I will bring a distant nation against you,”
    says the Lord.
“It is a mighty nation,
    an ancient nation,
a people whose language you do not know,
    whose speech you cannot understand.
¹⁶ Their weapons are deadly;
    their warriors are mighty.
¹⁷ They will devour the food of your harvest;
    they will devour your sons and daughters.
They will devour your flocks and herds;
    they will devour your grapes and figs.
And they will destroy your fortified towns,
    which you think are so safe.

²⁶ “Among my people are wicked men
    who lie in wait for victims like a hunter hiding in a blind.
They continually set traps
    to catch people.
²⁷ Like a cage filled with birds,
    their homes are filled with evil plots.
    And now they are great and rich.
²⁸ They are fat and sleek,
    and there is no limit to their wicked deeds.
They refuse to provide justice to orphans
    and deny the rights of the poor.
²⁹ Should I not punish them for this?” says the Lord.
    “Should I not avenge myself against such a nation?
³⁰ A horrible and shocking thing
    has happened in this land—
³¹ the prophets give false prophecies,
    and the priests rule with an iron hand.
Worse yet, my people like it that way!
    But what will you do when the end comes?

⁶ This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says:
“Cut down the trees for battering rams.
    Build siege ramps against the walls of Jerusalem.
This is the city to be punished,
    for she is wicked through and through.
⁷ She spouts evil like a fountain.
    Her streets echo with the sounds of violence and destruction.
    I always see her sickness and sores.
⁸ Listen to this warning, Jerusalem,
    or I will turn from you in disgust.
Listen, or I will turn you into a heap of ruins,
    a land where no one lives.”

⁹ This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says:
“Even the few who remain in Israel
    will be picked over again,
as when a harvester checks each vine a second time
    to pick the grapes that were missed.”

“I will pour out my fury on children playing in the streets
    and on gatherings of young men,
on husbands and wives
    and on those who are old and gray.
¹² Their homes will be turned over to their enemies,
    as will their fields and their wives.
For I will raise my powerful fist
    against the people of this land,”
    says the Lord.
¹³ “From the least to the greatest,
    their lives are ruled by greed.
From prophets to priests,
    they are all frauds.
¹⁴ They offer superficial treatments
    for my people’s mortal wound.
They give assurances of peace
    when there is no peace.
¹⁵ Are they ashamed of their disgusting actions?
    Not at all—they don’t even know how to blush!
Therefore, they will lie among the slaughtered.
    They will be brought down when I punish them,”
    says the Lord.

¹⁸ “Therefore, listen to this, all you nations.
    Take note of my people’s situation.
¹⁹ Listen, all the earth!
    I will bring disaster on my people.
It is the fruit of their own schemes,
    because they refuse to listen to me.
    They have rejected my word.
²⁰ There’s no use offering me sweet frankincense from Sheba.
    Keep your fragrant calamus imported from distant lands!
I will not accept your burnt offerings.
    Your sacrifices have no pleasing aroma for me.”

²¹ Therefore, this is what the Lord says:
    “I will put obstacles in my people’s path.
Fathers and sons will both fall over them.
    Neighbors and friends will die together.”

²⁴ We have heard reports about the enemy,
    and we wring our hands in fright.
Pangs of anguish have gripped us,
    like those of a woman in labor.
²⁵ Don’t go out to the fields!
    Don’t travel on the roads!
The enemy’s sword is everywhere
    and terrorizes us at every turn!
²⁶ Oh, my people, dress yourselves in burlap
    and sit among the ashes.
Mourn and weep bitterly, as for the loss of an only son.
    For suddenly the destroying armies will be upon you!

²⁷ “Jeremiah, I have made you a tester of metals,^[ae]
    that you may determine the quality of my people.
²⁸ They are the worst kind of rebel,
    full of slander.
They are as hard as bronze and iron,
    and they lead others into corruption.
²⁹ The bellows fiercely fan the flames
    to burn out the corruption.
But it does not purify them,
    for the wickedness remains.
³⁰ I will label them ‘Rejected Silver,’
    for I, the Lord, am discarding them.”

“‘When people fall down, don’t they get up again?
    When they discover they’re on the wrong road, don’t they turn back?
⁵ Then why do these people stay on their self-destructive path?
    Why do the people of Jerusalem refuse to turn back?
They cling tightly to their lies
    and will not turn around.
⁶ I listen to their conversations
    and don’t hear a word of truth.
Is anyone sorry for doing wrong?
    Does anyone say, “What a terrible thing I have done”?
No! All are running down the path of sin
    as swiftly as a horse galloping into battle!
⁷ Even the stork that flies across the sky
    knows the time of her migration,
as do the turtledove, the swallow, and the crane.^[ag]
    They all return at the proper time each year.
But not my people!
    They do not know the Lord’s laws.

⁸ “‘How can you say, “We are wise because we have the word of the Lord,”
    when your teachers have twisted it by writing lies?
⁹ These wise teachers will fall
    into the trap of their own foolishness,
for they have rejected the word of the Lord.
    Are they so wise after all?
¹⁰ I will give their wives to others
    and their farms to strangers.
From the least to the greatest,
    their lives are ruled by greed.
Yes, even my prophets and priests are like that.
    They are all frauds.
¹¹ They offer superficial treatments
    for my people’s mortal wound.
They give assurances of peace
    when there is no peace.
¹² Are they ashamed of these disgusting actions?
    Not at all—they don’t even know how to blush!
Therefore, they will lie among the slaughtered.
    They will be brought down when I punish them,
    says the Lord.
¹³ I will surely consume them.
    There will be no more harvests of figs and grapes.
Their fruit trees will all die.
    Whatever I gave them will soon be gone.
    I, the Lord, have spoken!’

¹⁴ “Then the people will say,
    ‘Why should we wait here to die?
Come, let’s go to the fortified towns and die there.
    For the Lord our God has decreed our destruction
and has given us a cup of poison to drink
    because we sinned against the Lord.
¹⁵ We hoped for peace, but no peace came.
    We hoped for a time of healing, but found only terror.’

¹⁶ “The snorting of the enemies’ warhorses can be heard
    all the way from the land of Dan in the north!
The neighing of their stallions makes the whole land tremble.
    They are coming to devour the land and everything in it—
    cities and people alike.
¹⁷ I will send these enemy troops among you
    like poisonous snakes you cannot charm.
They will bite you, and you will die.
    I, the Lord, have spoken!”

“Oh, why have they provoked my anger with their carved idols
    and their worthless foreign gods?” says the Lord.

²⁰ “The harvest is finished,
    and the summer is gone,” the people cry,
    “yet we are not saved!”

²¹ I hurt with the hurt of my people.
    I mourn and am overcome with grief.
²² Is there no medicine in Gilead?
    Is there no physician there?
Why is there no healing
    for the wounds of my people?

9 ^[ai]If only my head were a pool of water
    and my eyes a fountain of tears,
I would weep day and night
    for all my people who have been slaughtered.
^2 [aj]Oh, that I could go away and forget my people
    and live in a travelers’ shack in the desert.
For they are all adulterers—
    a pack of treacherous liars.

⁴ “Beware of your neighbor!
    Don’t even trust your brother!
For brother takes advantage of brother,
    and friend slanders friend.
⁵ They all fool and defraud each other;
    no one tells the truth.
With practiced tongues they tell lies;
    they wear themselves out with all their sinning.
⁶ They pile lie upon lie
    and utterly refuse to acknowledge me,”
    says the Lord.

⁷ Therefore, this is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says:
“See, I will melt them down in a crucible
    and test them like metal.
What else can I do with my people?^[ak]
8     For their tongues shoot lies like poisoned arrows.
They speak friendly words to their neighbors
    while scheming in their heart to kill them.
⁹ Should I not punish them for this?” says the Lord.
    “Should I not avenge myself against such a nation?”

¹⁰ I will weep for the mountains
    and wail for the wilderness pastures.
For they are desolate and empty of life;
    the lowing of cattle is heard no more;
    the birds and wild animals have all fled.

¹¹ “I will make Jerusalem into a heap of ruins,” says the Lord.
    “It will be a place haunted by jackals.
The towns of Judah will be ghost towns,
    with no one living in them.”

²⁰ Listen, you women, to the words of the Lord;
    open your ears to what he has to say.
Teach your daughters to wail;
    teach one another how to lament.
²¹ For death has crept in through our windows
    and has entered our mansions.
It has killed off the flower of our youth:
    Children no longer play in the streets,
    and young men no longer gather in the squares.

²² This is what the Lord says:
“Bodies will be scattered across the fields like clumps of manure,
    like bundles of grain after the harvest.
    No one will be left to bury them.”

²³ This is what the Lord says:
“Don’t let the wise boast in their wisdom,
    or the powerful boast in their power,
    or the rich boast in their riches.
²⁴ But those who wish to boast
    should boast in this alone:
that they truly know me and understand that I am the Lord
    who demonstrates unfailing love
    and who brings justice and righteousness to the earth,
and that I delight in these things.
    I, the Lord, have spoken!

“Do not act like the other nations,
    who try to read their future in the stars.
Do not be afraid of their predictions,
    even though other nations are terrified by them.
³ Their ways are futile and foolish.
    They cut down a tree, and a craftsman carves an idol.
⁴ They decorate it with gold and silver
    and then fasten it securely with hammer and nails
    so it won’t fall over.
⁵ Their gods are like
    helpless scarecrows in a cucumber field!
They cannot speak,
    and they need to be carried because they cannot walk.
Do not be afraid of such gods,
    for they can neither harm you nor do you any good.”

⁶ Lord, there is no one like you!
    For you are great, and your name is full of power.
⁷ Who would not fear you, O King of nations?
    That title belongs to you alone!
Among all the wise people of the earth
    and in all the kingdoms of the world,
    there is no one like you.

⁸ People who worship idols are stupid and foolish.
    The things they worship are made of wood!
⁹ They bring beaten sheets of silver from Tarshish
    and gold from Uphaz,
and they give these materials to skillful craftsmen
    who make their idols.
Then they dress these gods in royal blue and purple robes
    made by expert tailors.
¹⁰ But the Lord is the only true God.
    He is the living God and the everlasting King!
The whole earth trembles at his anger.
    The nations cannot stand up to his wrath.

¹² But the Lord made the earth by his power,
    and he preserves it by his wisdom.
With his own understanding
    he stretched out the heavens.
¹³ When he speaks in the thunder,
    the heavens roar with rain.
He causes the clouds to rise over the earth.
    He sends the lightning with the rain
    and releases the wind from his storehouses.
¹⁴ The whole human race is foolish and has no knowledge!
    The craftsmen are disgraced by the idols they make,
for their carefully shaped works are a fraud.
    These idols have no breath or power.
¹⁵ Idols are worthless; they are ridiculous lies!
    On the day of reckoning they will all be destroyed.
¹⁶ But the God of Israel^[ao] is no idol!
    He is the Creator of everything that exists,
including Israel, his own special possession.
    The Lord of Heaven’s Armies is his name!

¹⁹ My wound is severe,
    and my grief is great.
My sickness is incurable,
    but I must bear it.
²⁰ My home is gone,
    and no one is left to help me rebuild it.
My children have been taken away,
    and I will never see them again.
²¹ The shepherds of my people have lost their senses.
    They no longer seek wisdom from the Lord.
Therefore, they fail completely,
    and their flocks are scattered.
²² Listen! Hear the terrifying roar of great armies
    as they roll down from the north.
The towns of Judah will be destroyed
    and become a haunt for jackals.

¹⁵ “What right do my beloved people have to come to my Temple,
    when they have done so many immoral things?
Can their vows and sacrifices prevent their destruction?
    They actually rejoice in doing evil!
¹⁶ I, the Lord, once called them a thriving olive tree,
    beautiful to see and full of good fruit.
But now I have sent the fury of their enemies
    to burn them with fire,
    leaving them charred and broken.

²⁰ O Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
you make righteous judgments,
    and you examine the deepest thoughts and secrets.
Let me see your vengeance against them,
    for I have committed my cause to you.

⁴ How long must this land mourn?
    Even the grass in the fields has withered.
The wild animals and birds have disappeared
    because of the evil in the land.
For the people have said,
    “The Lord doesn’t see what’s ahead for us!”

⁷ “I have abandoned my people, my special possession.
    I have surrendered my dearest ones to their enemies.
⁸ My chosen people have roared at me like a lion of the forest,
    so I have treated them with contempt.
⁹ My chosen people act like speckled vultures,^[aq]
    but they themselves are surrounded by vultures.
    Bring on the wild animals to pick their corpses clean!

¹⁰ “Many rulers have ravaged my vineyard,
    trampling down the vines
    and turning all its beauty into a barren wilderness.
¹¹ They have made it an empty wasteland;
    I hear its mournful cry.
The whole land is desolate,
    and no one even cares.
¹² On all the bare hilltops,
    destroying armies can be seen.
The sword of the Lord devours people
    from one end of the nation to the other.
    No one will escape!
¹³ My people have planted wheat
    but are harvesting thorns.
They have worn themselves out,
    but it has done them no good.
They will harvest a crop of shame
    because of the fierce anger of the Lord.”

¹⁸ Say to the king and his mother,
“Come down from your thrones
    and sit in the dust,
for your glorious crowns
    will soon be snatched from your heads.”
¹⁹ The towns of the Negev will close their gates,
    and no one will be able to open them.
The people of Judah will be taken away as captives.
    All will be carried into exile.

²⁰ Open up your eyes and see
    the armies marching down from the north!
Where is your flock—
    your beautiful flock—
    that he gave you to care for?
²¹ What will you say when the Lord takes the allies you have cultivated
    and appoints them as your rulers?
Pangs of anguish will grip you,
    like those of a woman in labor!
²² You may ask yourself,
“Why is all this happening to me?”
    It is because of your many sins!
That is why you have been stripped
    and raped by invading armies.
²³ Can an Ethiopian^[as] change the color of his skin?
    Can a leopard take away its spots?
Neither can you start doing good,
    for you have always done evil.

²⁴ “I will scatter you like chaff
    that is blown away by the desert winds.
²⁵ This is your allotment,
    the portion I have assigned to you,”
    says the Lord,
“for you have forgotten me,
    putting your trust in false gods.
²⁶ I myself will strip you
    and expose you to shame.
²⁷ I have seen your adultery and lust,
    and your disgusting idol worship out in the fields and on the hills.
What sorrow awaits you, Jerusalem!
    How long before you are pure?”

² “Judah wilts;
    commerce at the city gates grinds to a halt.
All the people sit on the ground in mourning,
    and a great cry rises from Jerusalem.
³ The nobles send servants to get water,
    but all the wells are dry.
The servants return with empty pitchers,
    confused and desperate,
    covering their heads in grief.
⁴ The ground is parched
    and cracked for lack of rain.
The farmers are deeply troubled;
    they, too, cover their heads.
⁵ Even the doe abandons her newborn fawn
    because there is no grass in the field.
⁶ The wild donkeys stand on the bare hills
    panting like thirsty jackals.
They strain their eyes looking for grass,
    but there is none to be found.”

⁷ The people say, “Our wickedness has caught up with us, Lord,
    but help us for the sake of your own reputation.
We have turned away from you
    and sinned against you again and again.
⁸ O Hope of Israel, our Savior in times of trouble,
    why are you like a stranger to us?
Why are you like a traveler passing through the land,
    stopping only for the night?
⁹ Are you also confused?
    Is our champion helpless to save us?
You are right here among us, Lord.
    We are known as your people.
    Please don’t abandon us now!”

¹⁰ So this is what the Lord says to his people:
“You love to wander far from me
    and do not restrain yourselves.
Therefore, I will no longer accept you as my people.
    Now I will remember all your wickedness
    and will punish you for your sins.”

“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.
¹⁸ If 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.”

²² Can 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.

“‘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.’

⁵ “Who will feel sorry for you, Jerusalem?
    Who will weep for you?
    Who will even bother to ask how you are?
⁶ You 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.
⁷ I 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.
⁸ There 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.
⁹ The 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!”

“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.”

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

“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.
¹⁶ When 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.
¹⁷ I 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.
¹⁸ Why 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.”

“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!
²⁰ They 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!
²¹ Yes, I will certainly keep you safe from these wicked men.
    I will rescue you from their cruel hands.”

²¹ The Lord says,
“Now I will show them my power;
    now I will show them my might.
At last they will know and understand
    that I am the Lord.

⁷ “But blessed are those who trust in the Lord
    and have made the Lord their hope and confidence.
⁸ They are like trees planted along a riverbank,
    with roots that reach deep into the water.
Such trees are not bothered by the heat
    or worried by long months of drought.
Their leaves stay green,
    and they never stop producing fruit.

⁹ “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things,
    and desperately wicked.
    Who really knows how bad it is?
¹⁰ But I, the Lord, search all hearts
    and examine secret motives.
I give all people their due rewards,
    according to what their actions deserve.”

¹⁴ O Lord, if you heal me, I will be truly healed;
    if you save me, I will be truly saved.
    My praises are for you alone!
¹⁵ People scoff at me and say,
“What is this ‘message from the Lord’ you talk about?
    Why don’t your predictions come true?”

¹⁶ Lord, I have not abandoned my job
    as a shepherd for your people.
I have not urged you to send disaster.
    You have heard everything I’ve said.
¹⁷ Lord, don’t terrorize me!
    You alone are my hope in the day of disaster.
¹⁸ Bring shame and dismay on all who persecute me,
    but don’t let me experience shame and dismay.
Bring a day of terror on them.
    Yes, bring double destruction upon them!

“Has anyone ever heard of such a thing,
    even among the pagan nations?
My virgin daughter Israel
    has done something terrible!
¹⁴ Does the snow ever disappear from the mountaintops of Lebanon?
    Do the cold streams flowing from those distant mountains ever run dry?
¹⁵ But my people are not so reliable, for they have deserted me;
    they burn incense to worthless idols.
They have stumbled off the ancient highways
    and walk in muddy paths.
¹⁶ Therefore, their land will become desolate,
    a monument to their stupidity.
All who pass by will be astonished
    and will shake their heads in amazement.
¹⁷ I will scatter my people before their enemies
    as the east wind scatters dust.
And in all their trouble I will turn my back on them
    and refuse to notice their distress.”

¹⁹ Lord, hear me and help me!
    Listen to what my enemies are saying.
²⁰ Should they repay evil for good?
    They have dug a pit to kill me,
though I pleaded for them
    and tried to protect them from your anger.
²¹ So let their children starve!
    Let them die by the sword!
Let their wives become childless widows.
    Let their old men die in a plague,
    and let their young men be killed in battle!
²² Let screaming be heard from their homes
    as warriors come suddenly upon them.
For they have dug a pit for me
    and have hidden traps along my path.
²³ Lord, you know all about their murderous plots against me.
    Don’t forgive their crimes and blot out their sins.
Let them die before you.
    Deal with them in your anger.

¹¹ But the Lord stands beside me like a great warrior.
    Before him my persecutors will stumble.
    They cannot defeat me.
They will fail and be thoroughly humiliated.
    Their dishonor will never be forgotten.
¹² O Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
you test those who are righteous,
    and you examine the deepest thoughts and secrets.
Let me see your vengeance against them,
    for I have committed my cause to you.
¹³ Sing to the Lord!
    Praise the Lord!
For though I was poor and needy,
    he rescued me from my oppressors.

¹⁴ Yet I curse the day I was born!
    May no one celebrate the day of my birth.
¹⁵ I curse the messenger who told my father,
    “Good news—you have a son!”
¹⁶ Let him be destroyed like the cities of old
    that the Lord overthrew without mercy.
Terrify him all day long with battle shouts,
¹⁷     because he did not kill me at birth.
Oh, that I had died in my mother’s womb,
    that her body had been my grave!
¹⁸ Why was I ever born?
    My entire life has been filled
    with trouble, sorrow, and shame.

“‘Give justice each morning to the people you judge!
    Help those who have been robbed;
    rescue them from their oppressors.
Otherwise, my anger will burn like an unquenchable fire
    because of all your sins.
¹³ I will personally fight against the people in Jerusalem,
    that mighty fortress—
the people who boast, “No one can touch us here.
    No one can break in here.”
¹⁴ And I myself will punish you for your sinfulness,
    says the Lord.
I will light a fire in your forests
    that will burn up everything around you.’”

“I love you as much as fruitful Gilead
    and the green forests of Lebanon.
But I will turn you into a desert,
    with no one living within your walls.
⁷ I will call for wreckers,
    who will bring out their tools to dismantle you.
They will tear out all your fine cedar beams
    and throw them on the fire.

“The people will not mourn for him, crying to one another,
    ‘Alas, my brother! Alas, my sister!’
His subjects will not mourn for him, crying,
    ‘Alas, our master is dead! Alas, his splendor is gone!’
¹⁹ He will be buried like a dead donkey—
    dragged out of Jerusalem and dumped outside the gates!
²⁰ Weep for your allies in Lebanon.
    Shout for them in Bashan.
Search for them in the regions east of the river.^[bc]
    See, they are all destroyed.
    Not one is left to help you.
²¹ I warned you when you were prosperous,
    but you replied, ‘Don’t bother me.’
You have been that way since childhood—
    you simply will not obey me!
²² And now the wind will blow away your allies.
    All your friends will be taken away as captives.
    Surely then you will see your wickedness and be ashamed.
²³ It may be nice to live in a beautiful palace
    paneled with wood from the cedars of Lebanon,
but soon you will groan with pangs of anguish—
    anguish like that of a woman in labor.

²⁸ “Why is this man Jehoiachin like a discarded, broken jar?
    Why are he and his children to be exiled to a foreign land?
²⁹ O earth, earth, earth!
    Listen to this message from the Lord!
³⁰ This is what the Lord says:
‘Let the record show that this man Jehoiachin was childless.
    He is a failure,
for none of his children will succeed him on the throne of David
    to rule over Judah.’