Isaiah 66:19 - Jeremiah 10:13

New American Standard Bible

¹⁹And I will put a ^(A)sign among them and send survivors from them to the nations: ^(B)Tarshish, ^[a]Put, ^(C)Lud, ^[b]Meshech, ^(D)Tubal, and ^[c]Javan, to the distant ^(E)coastlands that have neither heard of My fame nor seen My glory. And they will ^(F)declare My glory among the nations. ²⁰Then they shall ^(G)bring all your countrymen from all the nations as a grain offering to the Lord, on horses, in chariots, in litters, on mules, and on camels, to My ^(H)holy mountain Jerusalem,” says the Lord, “just as the sons of Israel bring their grain offering in a ^(I)clean vessel to the house of the Lord. ²¹I will also take some of them as ^(J)priests and Levites,” says the Lord.

²²“For just as the ^(K)new heavens and the new earth,
Which I make, will endure before Me,” declares the Lord,
“So will your ^(L)descendants and your ^(M)name endure.
²³And it shall be from ^(N)new moon to new moon
And from Sabbath to Sabbath,
All ^[d]mankind will come to ^(O)bow down before Me,” says the Lord.
²⁴“Then they will go out and look
At the ^(P)corpses of the people
Who have ^(Q)rebelled against Me.
For their ^(R)worm will not die
^(S)And their fire will not be extinguished;
And they will be an ^(T)abhorrence to all ^[e]mankind.”

Jeremiah’s Call and Commission

1 The words of ^(U)Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in ^(V)Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, ²to whom the word of the Lord came in the days of ^(W)Josiah the son of ^(X)Amon, king of Judah, in the ^(Y)thirteenth year of his reign. ³It came also in the days of ^(Z)Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the end of the eleventh year of ^(AA)Zedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the exile of Jerusalem in the fifth month.

⁴Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

⁵“Before I ^(AB)formed you in the womb I knew you,
And ^(AC)before you were born I consecrated you;
I have ^(AD)appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
⁶Then ^(AE)I said, “Oh, Lord ^[f]God!
Behold, I do not know how to speak,
Because ^(AF)I am a youth.”
⁷But the Lord said to me,
“Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’
^(AG)Because everywhere I send you, you shall go,
And ^(AH)all that I command you, you shall speak.
⁸^(AI)Do not be afraid of them,
For ^(AJ)I am with you to save you,” declares the Lord.

⁹Then the Lord stretched out His hand and ^(AK)touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me,

“Behold, I have ^(AL)put My words in your mouth.
¹⁰See, ^(AM)I have appointed you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms,
^(AN)To root out and to tear down,
To destroy and to overthrow,
^(AO)To build and to plant.”

The Almond Branch and Boiling Pot

¹¹And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “What do you see, ^(AP)Jeremiah?” And I said, “I see a branch of an ^[g]almond tree.” ¹²Then the Lord said to me, “You have seen well, for ^(AQ)I am ^[h]watching over My word to perform it.”

¹³And the word of the Lord came to me a second time, saying, “^(AR)What do you see?” And I said, “I see a boiling ^(AS)pot, facing away from the north.” ¹⁴Then the Lord said to me, “^(AT)Out of the north the evil ^[i]will be unleashed on all the inhabitants of the land. ¹⁵For, behold, I am calling ^(AU)all the families of the kingdoms of the north,” declares the Lord; “and they will come and ^(AV)place, each one of them, his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all its walls around, and against all the ^(AW)cities of Judah. ¹⁶And I will ^[j]pronounce My judgments against them concerning all their wickedness, since they have ^(AX)abandoned Me and have ^[k]^(AY)offered sacrifices to other gods, and worshiped the ^(AZ)works of their own hands. ¹⁷Now, ^(BA)belt your garment around your waist and arise, and speak to them all that I command you. ^(BB)Do not be dismayed before them, or I will make you dismayed before them. ¹⁸Now behold, I have made you today like a fortified city and like a pillar of iron and walls of bronze against the whole land, to the kings of Judah, to its leaders, to its priests, and to the people of the land. ¹⁹And they will fight against you but they will not overcome you, for ^(BC)I am with you to save you,” declares the Lord.

Judah’s Apostasy

2 Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ²“Go and ^(BD)proclaim in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, ‘This is what the Lord says:

“I remember regarding you the ^[l]^(BE)devotion of your youth,
Your love when you were a bride,
^(BF)Your following after Me in the wilderness,
Through a land not sown.
³Israel was ^(BG)holy to the Lord,
The ^(BH)first of His harvest.
^(BI)All who ate of it became guilty;
Evil came upon them,” declares the Lord.’”

⁴Hear the word of the Lord, house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel. ⁵This is what the Lord says:

“^(BJ)What injustice did your fathers find in Me,
That they went far from Me,
And walked after ^(BK)emptiness and became empty?
⁶They did not say, ‘Where is the Lord
Who ^(BL)brought us up out of the land of Egypt,
Who ^(BM)led us through the wilderness,
Through a land of deserts and of pits,
Through a land of drought and of ^[m]deep darkness,
Through a land that no one crossed
And where no person lived?’
⁷I brought you into the ^(BN)fruitful land
To eat its fruit and its good things.
But you came and ^(BO)defiled My land,
And you made My inheritance an abomination.
⁸The ^(BP)priests did not say, ‘Where is the Lord?’
And those who handle the Law ^(BQ)did not know Me;
The ^[n]rulers also revolted against Me,
And the ^(BR)prophets prophesied by Baal
And walked after ^(BS)things that were of no benefit.

⁹“Therefore I will still ^(BT)contend with you,” declares the Lord,
“And I will contend with your sons’ sons.
¹⁰For ^(BU)cross to the coastlands of ^[o]Kittim and see,
And send to ^(BV)Kedar and observe closely,
And see if there has been anything like this!
¹¹Has a nation changed gods,
When ^(BW)they were not gods?
But My people have ^(BX)exchanged their glory
For that which is of no benefit.
¹²Be appalled at this, ^(BY)you heavens,
And shudder, be very desolate,” declares the Lord.
¹³“For My people have committed two evils:
They have abandoned Me,
The ^(BZ)fountain of living waters,
To carve out for themselves ^(CA)cisterns,
Broken cisterns
That do not hold water.

¹⁴“Is Israel ^(CB)a slave? Or is he a servant born in the home?
Why has he become plunder?
¹⁵The young ^(CC)lions have roared at him,
They have ^[p]roared loudly.
And they have ^(CD)made his land a waste;
His cities have been destroyed, without inhabitant.
¹⁶Also the ^[q]men of ^(CE)Memphis and Tahpanhes
Have ^[r]shaved ^(CF)your head.
¹⁷Have you not ^(CG)done this to yourself
By your abandoning the Lord your God
When He ^(CH)led you in the way?
¹⁸But now what are you doing ^(CI)on the road to Egypt,
Except to drink the waters of the ^[s]^(CJ)Nile?
Or what are you doing on the road to Assyria,
Except to drink the waters of the Euphrates River?
¹⁹^(CK)Your own wickedness will correct you,
And your ^(CL)apostasies will punish you;
Know therefore and see that it is evil and ^(CM)bitter
For you to abandon the Lord your God,
And ^(CN)the fear of Me is not in you,” declares the Lord ^[t]God of armies.

²⁰“For long ago ^[u]^(CO)I broke your yoke
And tore off your restraints;
But you said, ‘I will not serve!’
For on every ^(CP)high hill
And under every leafy tree
You have lain down as a prostitute.
²¹Yet I ^(CQ)planted you as a choice vine,
A completely faithful seed.
How then have you turned yourself before Me
Into the ^(CR)degenerate shoots of a foreign vine?
²²Although you ^(CS)wash yourself with lye
And ^[v]use much soap,
The ^(CT)stain of your guilt is before Me,” declares the Lord ^[w]God.
²³“^(CU)How can you say, ‘I am not defiled,
I have not gone after the ^(CV)Baals’?
Look at your way in the ^(CW)valley!
Know what you have done!
You are a swift young camel ^(CX)running about senselessly on her ways,
²⁴A ^(CY)wild donkey accustomed to the wilderness,
That sniffs the wind in her passion.
Who can turn her away in her mating season?
None who seek her will grow weary;
In her month they will find her.
²⁵Keep your feet from being bare,
And your throat from thirst;
But you said, ‘^(CZ)It is ^[x]hopeless!
No! For I have ^(DA)loved strangers,
And I will walk after them.’

²⁶“Like the shame of a ^(DB)thief when he is discovered,
So the house of Israel is shamed;
They, their kings, their leaders,
Their priests, and their prophets,
²⁷Who say to a tree, ‘You are my father,’
And to a stone, ‘You gave me birth.’
For they have turned their ^(DC)backs to Me,
And not their faces;
But in the ^(DD)time of their ^[y]trouble they will say,
‘Arise and save us!’
²⁸But where are your ^(DE)gods
Which you made for yourself?
Let them arise, if they can ^(DF)save you
In the time of your ^[z]trouble!
For ^(DG)as many as the number of your cities
Are your gods, Judah.

²⁹“Why do you contend with Me?
You have ^(DH)all revolted against Me,” declares the Lord.
³⁰“^(DI)In vain I have struck your sons;
They did not accept discipline.
Your ^(DJ)sword has devoured your prophets
Like a destroying lion.
³¹You generation, look to the word of the Lord.
Have I been a wilderness to Israel,
Or a ^(DK)land of thick darkness?
Why do My people say, ‘^(DL)We are free to roam;
We will no longer come to You’?
³²Can a virgin forget her jewelry,
Or a bride her attire?
Yet My people have ^(DM)forgotten Me
For days without number.
³³How well you prepare your way
To seek love!
Therefore even to the wicked women
You have taught your ways.
³⁴Also on your skirts is found
The ^(DN)lifeblood of the innocent poor;
You did not find them ^(DO)breaking in.
But in spite of all these things,
³⁵You said, ‘I am innocent;
Surely His anger is turned away from me.’
Behold, I will ^(DP)enter into judgment with you
Because you ^(DQ)say, ‘I have not sinned.’
³⁶Why do you ^(DR)go around so much
Changing your way?
Also, ^(DS)you will be put to shame by Egypt,
Just as you were put to shame by ^(DT)Assyria.
³⁷From this place as well you will go out
With ^(DU)your hands on your head;
For the Lord has rejected ^(DV)those in whom you trust,
And you will not prosper with them.”

The Defiled Land

3 God ^[aa]says, “^(DW)If a husband divorces his wife
And she leaves him
And becomes another man’s wife,
Will he return to her again?
Would that land not be completely defiled?
But you ^(DX)are a prostitute with many ^[ab]lovers;
Yet you ^(DY)turn to Me,” declares the Lord.
²“Raise your eyes to the ^(DZ)bare heights and see;
Where have you not been violated?
You have ^(EA)sat for them by the roads
Like an Arab in the desert,
And you have ^(EB)defiled a land
With your prostitution and your wickedness.
³Therefore the ^(EC)showers have been withheld,
And there has been no spring rain.
Yet you had a ^(ED)prostitute’s ^[ac]forehead;
You refused to be ashamed.
⁴Have you not just now called to Me,
‘^(EE)My Father, You are the ^(EF)friend of my ^(EG)youth?
⁵^(EH)Will He be angry forever,
Or keep His anger to the end?’
Behold, you have spoken
And have done evil things,
And you have ^[ad]had your own way.”

Faithless Israel

⁶Then the Lord said to me in the days of King Josiah, “Have you seen what faithless Israel did? She ^(EI)went up on every high hill and under every leafy tree, and she prostituted herself there. ⁷Yet ^(EJ)I ^[ae]thought, ‘After she has done all these things she will return to Me’; but she did not return, and her ^(EK)treacherous sister Judah saw it. ⁸And I saw that for all the ^[af]adulteries of faithless Israel, I had sent her away and ^(EL)given her a certificate of divorce, yet her ^(EM)treacherous sister Judah did not fear; but she went and prostituted herself also. ⁹And because of the thoughtlessness of her prostitution, she ^(EN)defiled the land and committed ^[ag]adultery with ^(EO)stones and trees. ¹⁰Yet in spite of all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart, but rather in ^(EP)deception,” declares the Lord.

God Invites Repentance

¹¹And the Lord said to me, “^(EQ)Faithless Israel has proved herself to be more righteous than treacherous Judah. ¹²Go and proclaim these words toward the north and say,

‘^(ER)Return, faithless Israel,’ declares the Lord;
‘^(ES)I will not ^[ah]look at you in anger.
For I am ^(ET)gracious,’ declares the Lord;
‘I will not be angry forever.
¹³Only ^[ai]^(EU)acknowledge your wrongdoing,
That you have revolted against the Lord your God,
And have ^(EV)scattered your ^[aj]favors to the strangers ^(EW)under every leafy tree,
And you have not obeyed My voice,’ declares the Lord.
¹⁴‘Return, you faithless sons,’ declares the Lord;
‘For I am a ^(EX)master to you,
And I will take you, one from a city and two from a family,
And ^(EY)bring you to Zion.’

¹⁵“Then I will give you ^(EZ)shepherds ^[ak]after My own heart, who will ^(FA)feed you knowledge and understanding. ¹⁶And it shall be in those days when you become numerous and are fruitful in the land,” declares the Lord, “they will ^(FB)no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of the Lord.’ And it will not come to mind, nor will they remember it, nor miss it, nor will it be made again. ¹⁷At that time they will call Jerusalem ‘The ^(FC)Throne of the Lord,’ and ^(FD)all the nations will assemble at it, at Jerusalem, for the ^(FE)name of the Lord; and they will no longer ^(FF)follow the stubbornness of their evil heart. ¹⁸^(FG)In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together ^(FH)from the land of the north to the ^(FI)land that I gave your fathers as an inheritance.

¹⁹“Then I said,

‘How I would set you among ^[al]My sons
And give you a pleasant land,
The most ^(FJ)beautiful inheritance of the nations!’
And I said, ‘You shall call Me, ^(FK)My Father,
And not turn away from following Me.’
²⁰However, as a woman treacherously leaves her lover,
So you have ^(FL)dealt treacherously with Me,
House of Israel,” declares the Lord.

²¹A voice is heard on the ^(FM)bare heights,
The weeping, the pleading of the sons of Israel.
Because they have perverted their way,
They have ^(FN)forgotten the Lord their God.
²²“Return, you faithless sons,
^(FO)I will heal your faithlessness.”
“Behold, we come to You;
For You are the Lord our God.
²³Certainly ^(FP)the hills are a deception,
^[am]Commotion on the mountains.
Certainly in the ^(FQ)Lord our God
Is the salvation of Israel.

²⁴“But ^(FR)the shame has consumed the product of our fathers’ labor since our youth—their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. ²⁵Let us lie down in our ^(FS)shame, and let our humiliation cover us; for we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, ^(FT)from our youth even to this day. And we have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.”

Judah Threatened with Invasion

4 “If you will ^(FU)return, Israel,” declares the Lord,
“Then you should return to Me.
And ^(FV)if you will put away your detestable things from My presence,
And will not waver,
²And if you will ^(FW)swear, ‘As the Lord lives,’
^(FX)In truth, in justice, and in righteousness;
Then the ^(FY)nations will bless themselves in Him,
And ^(FZ)in Him they will boast.”

³For this is what the Lord says to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem:

“^[an]^(GA)Break up your uncultivated ground,
And ^(GB)do not sow among thorns.
⁴^(GC)Circumcise yourselves to the Lord
And remove the foreskins of your hearts,
Men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem,
Or else My ^(GD)wrath will spread like fire
And burn with ^(GE)no one to quench it,
Because of the evil of your deeds.”

⁵Declare in Judah and proclaim in Jerusalem, and say,
“^(GF)Blow the trumpet in the land;
Cry aloud and say,
‘^(GG)Assemble, and let’s go
Into the fortified cities.’
⁶Raise a ^(GH)flag toward Zion!
Take refuge, do not stand still,
For I am bringing ^(GI)evil from the north,
And great destruction.
⁷A ^(GJ)lion has gone up from his thicket,
And a ^(GK)destroyer of nations has set out;
He has gone out from his place
To ^(GL)make your land a waste.
Your cities will be ruins,
Without an inhabitant.
⁸For this, ^(GM)put on sackcloth,
Mourn and wail;
For the ^(GN)fierce anger of the Lord
Has not turned away from us.”

⁹“And it shall come about on that day,” declares the Lord, “that the ^(GO)heart of the king and the hearts of the leaders will fail; and the priests will tremble, and the ^(GP)prophets will be astonished.”

¹⁰Then I said, “Oh, Lord ^[ao]God! Surely You have utterly ^(GQ)deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘^(GR)You will have peace’; yet a sword touches the ^[ap]throat.”

¹¹At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A ^(GS)scorching wind from the bare heights in the wilderness, in the direction of the daughter of My people—not to winnow and not to cleanse, ¹²a wind too ^[aq]strong for ^[ar]this—will come ^[as]at My command; now I will also pronounce judgments against them.”

¹³“Behold, he ^(GT)goes up like clouds,
And his ^(GU)chariots like the whirlwind;
His horses are ^(GV)swifter than eagles.
Woe to us, for ^(GW)we are ruined!”

¹⁴Wash your heart from evil, Jerusalem,
So that you may be saved.
How long will your ^(GX)wicked thoughts
Lodge within you?
¹⁵For a voice declares from ^(GY)Dan,
And proclaims wickedness from Mount Ephraim.
¹⁶“Report it to the nations, now!
Proclaim to Jerusalem,
‘^[at]Enemies are coming from a ^(GZ)remote country,
And ^(HA)they raise their voices against the cities of Judah.
¹⁷Like watchmen of a field they are ^(HB)against her all around,
Because she has ^(HC)rebelled against Me,’ declares the Lord.
¹⁸Your ^(HD)ways and your deeds
Have ^[au]brought these things upon you.
This is your evil. How ^(HE)bitter!
How it has touched your heart!”

Grief over Judah’s Devastation

¹⁹^(HF)My ^[av]soul, my ^[aw]soul! I am in anguish! ^[ax]Oh, my heart!
My ^(HG)heart is pounding in me;
I cannot keep silent,
Because, ^[ay]my soul, you have heard
The ^(HH)sound of the trumpet,
The alarm of war.
²⁰^(HI)Disaster upon disaster is proclaimed,
For the ^(HJ)whole land is devastated;
Suddenly my ^(HK)tents are devastated,
And my curtains in an instant.
²¹How long must I see the flag
And hear the sound of the trumpet?
²²“^(HL)For My people are foolish,
They do not know Me;
They are foolish children
And have no understanding.
They are skillful at ^(HM)doing evil,
But they do not know how to do good.”

²³I looked at the earth, and behold, it was a ^[az]^(HN)formless and desolate emptiness;
And to the heavens, and they had no light.
²⁴I looked on the mountains, and behold, they were ^(HO)quaking,
And all the hills jolted back and forth.
²⁵I looked, and behold, there was no human,
And all the ^(HP)birds of the sky had fled.
²⁶I looked, and behold, ^[ba]the ^(HQ)fruitful land was a wilderness,
And all its cities were pulled down
Before the Lord, before His fierce anger.

²⁷For this is what the Lord says:
“The ^(HR)whole land shall be a desolation,
Yet I will ^(HS)not execute a complete destruction.
²⁸For this the ^(HT)earth will mourn,
And the ^(HU)heavens above will become dark,
Because I have ^(HV)spoken, I have purposed,
And I have not ^[bb]changed My mind, nor will I turn from it.”
²⁹At the sound of the horseman and archer ^(HW)every city flees;
They ^(HX)go into the thickets and climb among the rocks;
^(HY)Every city is abandoned,
And no one lives in them.
³⁰And you, desolate one, ^(HZ)what will you do?
Although you dress in scarlet,
Although you adorn yourself with jewelry of gold,
Although you ^(IA)enlarge your eyes with makeup,
In vain you make yourself beautiful.
Your ^[bc]^(IB)lovers despise you;
They seek your life.
³¹For I heard a voice cry as of a woman in labor,
The anguish as of one giving birth to her first child.
The voice of the daughter of Zion ^(IC)gasping for breath,
^(ID)Stretching out her ^[bd]hands, saying,
“Ah, woe to me, for ^[be]I faint before murderers.”

Jerusalem’s Godlessness

5 “^(IE)Roam about through the streets of Jerusalem,
And look and take notice.
And seek in her public squares,
If you can ^(IF)find a person,
^(IG)If there is one who does justice, who seeks honesty,
Then I will forgive ^[bf]her.
²And ^(IH)although they say, ‘As the Lord lives,’
Certainly they swear falsely.”
³Lord, do ^(II)Your eyes not look for honesty?
You have ^(IJ)struck them,
But they did not ^[bg]weaken;
You have consumed them,
But they ^(IK)refused to accept discipline.
They have ^(IL)made their faces harder than rock;
They have refused to repent.

⁴Then I said, “They are only the poor,
They are foolish;
For they ^(IM)do not know the way of the Lord
Or the judgment of their God.
⁵I will go to the great
And speak to them,
For ^(IN)they know the way of the Lord
And the judgment of their God.”
But together they too have ^(IO)broken the yoke
And burst the restraints.
⁶Therefore ^(IP)a lion from the forest will kill them,
A ^(IQ)wolf of the deserts will destroy them,
A ^(IR)leopard is watching their cities.
Everyone who goes out of them will be torn in pieces,
Because their ^(IS)wrongdoings are many,
Their apostasies are numerous.

⁷“Why should I forgive you?
Your sons have forsaken Me
And ^(IT)sworn by those who are ^(IU)not gods.
When I had fed them to the full,
They ^(IV)committed adultery
And stayed at the prostitute’s house.
⁸They were well-fed lusty horses,
Each one neighing at his ^(IW)neighbor’s wife.
⁹Shall I not punish them for these things?” declares the Lord,
“And ^(IX)shall I not avenge Myself
On a nation such as this?

¹⁰“Go up through her vine rows and destroy,
But do not execute a complete destruction;
Strip away her branches,
For they are not the Lord’s.
¹¹For the ^(IY)house of Israel and the house of Judah
Have dealt very treacherously with Me,” declares the Lord.
¹²They have ^(IZ)lied about the Lord
And said, “^[bh]^(JA)Not He;
Misfortune will ^(JB)not come upon us,
^(JC)Nor will we see sword or famine.
¹³The ^(JD)prophets are as wind,
And the word is not in them.
So it will be done to them!”

Judgment Proclaimed

¹⁴Therefore, this is what the Lord, the God of armies says:
“Because you have spoken this word,
Behold, I am ^(JE)making My words fire in your mouth,
And this people wood, and it will consume them.
¹⁵Behold, I am ^(JF)bringing a nation against you from far away, you house of Israel,” declares the Lord.
“It is an enduring nation,
It is an ancient nation,
A nation whose ^(JG)language you do not know,
Nor can you understand what they say.
¹⁶Their ^(JH)quiver is like an ^(JI)open grave,
All of them are warriors.
¹⁷They will ^(JJ)devour your harvest and your food;
They will devour your sons and your daughters;
They will devour your flocks and your herds;
They will devour your ^(JK)vines and your fig trees;
They will demolish your ^(JL)fortified cities, in which you trust, with the sword.

¹⁸“Yet even in those days,” declares the Lord, “I will not make a complete destruction of you. ¹⁹And it shall come about ^(JM)when ^[bi]they say, ‘Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us?’ then you shall say to them, ‘Just as you have abandoned Me and served foreign gods in your land, so you will ^(JN)serve strangers in a land that is not yours.’

²⁰“Declare this in the house of Jacob
And proclaim it in Judah, saying,
²¹‘Now hear this, you foolish and ^[bj]senseless people,
Who have ^(JO)eyes but do not see,
Who have ears but do not hear.
²²Do you not ^(JP)fear Me?’ declares the Lord.
‘Do you not tremble in My presence?
For I have ^(JQ)placed the sand as a boundary for the sea,
An eternal limit, and it will not cross over it.
Though the waves toss, they cannot prevail;
Though they roar, they will not cross over it.
²³But this people has a ^(JR)stubborn and rebellious heart;
They have turned aside and departed.
²⁴They do not say in their heart,
“Let us now fear the Lord our God,
Who ^(JS)gives rain in its season,
Both ^(JT)the autumn rain and the spring rain,
Who keeps for us
The ^(JU)appointed weeks of the harvest.”
²⁵Your ^(JV)wrongdoings have turned these away,
And your sins have kept good away from you.
²⁶For wicked people are found among My people,
They ^(JW)watch like fowlers ^[bk]lying in wait;
They set a trap,
They catch people.
²⁷Like a cage full of birds,
So their houses are full of ^(JX)deceit;
Therefore they have become great and rich.
²⁸They are ^(JY)fat, they are sleek,
They also ^[bl]excel in deeds of wickedness;
They do not plead the cause,
The cause of the ^[bm]^(JZ)orphan, so that they may be successful;
And they do not ^[bn]defend the rights of the poor.
²⁹^(KA)Shall I not punish them for these things?’ declares the Lord,
‘Or shall I not avenge Myself
On a nation such as this?’

³⁰“An appalling and ^(KB)horrible thing
Has happened in the land:
³¹The ^(KC)prophets prophesy falsely,
And the priests rule ^[bo]on their own authority;
And My people ^(KD)love it this way!
But what will you do ^[bp]when the end comes?

The Coming Destruction of Jerusalem

6 “Flee to safety, you sons of ^(KE)Benjamin,
From the midst of Jerusalem!
Blow a trumpet in Tekoa
And raise a warning signal over ^[bq]^(KF)Beth-haccerem;
For evil looks down from the ^(KG)north,
Along with a great destruction.
²The beautiful and ^(KH)delicate one, ^(KI)the daughter of Zion, I will destroy.
³^(KJ)Shepherds and their flocks will come to her,
They will ^(KK)pitch their tents ^[br]around her,
They will pasture, each in his ^[bs]place.
⁴‘^[bt]^(KL)Prepare for war against her;
Arise, and let’s ^[bu]attack at ^(KM)noon.
Woe to us, for the day declines,
For the shadows of the evening lengthen!
⁵Arise, and let’s ^[bv]attack by night
And ^(KN)destroy her ^[bw]palaces!’”
⁶For this is what the Lord of armies says:
“^(KO)Cut down her trees
And pile up an ^(KP)assault ramp against Jerusalem.
This is the city to be punished,
In whose midst there is only ^(KQ)oppression.
⁷^(KR)As a well ^[bx]keeps its waters fresh,
So she ^[by]keeps fresh her wickedness.
^(KS)Violence and destruction are heard in her;
^(KT)Sickness and wounds are constantly before Me.
⁸^(KU)Be warned, Jerusalem,
Or ^[bz]^(KV)I shall be alienated from you,
And make you a desolation,
An uninhabited land.”

⁹This is what the Lord of armies says:
“They will ^(KW)thoroughly glean the ^(KX)remnant of Israel like the vine;
Pass your hand over the branches again
Like a grape gatherer.”
¹⁰To whom shall I speak and give warning,
That they may hear?
Behold, their ^(KY)ears are ^[ca]closed
And they cannot listen.
Behold, ^(KZ)the word of the Lord has become for them a rebuke;
They take no delight in it.
¹¹But I am ^(LA)full of the wrath of the Lord;
I am ^(LB)weary of holding it in.
“^(LC)Pour it out on the children in the street
And on the ^[cb]gathering of young men together;
For both husband and wife shall be taken,
The old ^[cc]and the very old.
¹²Their ^(LD)houses shall be turned over to others,
Their fields and their wives together;
For I will ^(LE)stretch out My hand
Against the inhabitants of the land,” declares the Lord.
¹³“For ^(LF)from the least of them to the greatest of them,
Everyone is ^(LG)greedy for gain,
And from the prophet to the priest
Everyone deals falsely.
¹⁴They have ^(LH)healed the brokenness of My people superficially,
Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’
But there is no peace.
¹⁵Were they ^(LI)ashamed because of the abomination they had done?
They were not ashamed at all,
Nor did they know even how to be ashamed.
Therefore they will fall among those who fall;
At the time that I punish them,
They will collapse,” says the Lord.

¹⁶This is what the Lord says:
“Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ^(LJ)ancient paths,
Where the good way is, and walk in it;
Then ^(LK)you will find a resting place for your souls.
But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
¹⁷And I set ^(LL)watchmen over you, saying,
‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’
But they said, ‘We will not listen.’
¹⁸Therefore hear, you nations,
And know, you congregation, what is among them.
¹⁹^(LM)Hear, earth: behold, I am bringing disaster on this people,
The ^(LN)fruit of their ^[cd]plans,
Because they have not listened to My words,
And as for My Law, they have ^(LO)rejected it also.
²⁰^(LP)For what purpose does ^(LQ)frankincense come to Me from Sheba,
And the ^[ce]^(LR)sweet cane from a distant land?
^(LS)Your burnt offerings are not acceptable
And your sacrifices are not pleasing to Me.”
²¹Therefore, this is what the Lord says:
“Behold, ^(LT)I am ^[cf]placing stumbling blocks before this people.
And they will stumble against them,
^(LU)Fathers and sons together;
Neighbor and ^[cg]friend will perish.”

The Enemy from the North

²²This is what the Lord says:
“Behold, there is ^(LV)a people coming from the north land,
And a great nation will be stirred up from the ^(LW)remote parts of the earth.
²³They seize ^(LX)bow and spear;
They are ^(LY)cruel and have no mercy;
Their voice ^(LZ)roars like the sea,
And they ride on horses,
Lined up as a man for the battle
Against you, daughter of Zion!”
²⁴We have ^(MA)heard the report of it;
Our hands are limp.
^(MB)Anguish has seized us,
Pain like that of a woman in childbirth.
²⁵^(MC)Do not go out into the field,
And ^(MD)do not walk on the road;
For the enemy has a sword,
^(ME)Terror is on every side.
²⁶Daughter of my people, ^(MF)put on sackcloth
And ^(MG)roll in ashes;
^[ch]^(MH)Mourn as for an only son,
A most bitter mourning.
For suddenly the destroyer
Will come against us.

²⁷“I have ^(MI)made you an assayer and an examiner among My people,
So that you may know and put their way to the test.”
²⁸All of them are stubbornly rebellious,
^(MJ)Going about as a slanderer;
They are ^(MK)bronze and iron.
They are, all of them, corrupt.
²⁹The bellows blow fiercely,
The lead is consumed by the fire;
In vain the refining goes on,
But the ^(ML)wicked are not ^[ci]separated.
³⁰^(MM)They call them rejected silver,
Because the ^(MN)Lord has rejected them.

Message at the Temple Gate

7 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, ²“^(MO)Stand at the gate of the Lord’s house and proclaim there this word, and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, all you of Judah, who enter by these gates to worship the Lord!’” ³This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: “^(MP)Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you live in this place. ⁴^(MQ)Do not trust in deceptive words, saying, ‘^[cj]This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.’ ⁵For ^(MR)if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly ^(MS)practice justice between a person and his neighbor, ⁶if you do not oppress the stranger, the ^[ck]^(MT)orphan, or the widow, and do not shed ^(MU)innocent blood in this place, nor ^(MV)follow other gods to your own ruin, ⁷then I will let you ^(MW)live in this place, in the ^(MX)land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.

⁸“Behold, you are trusting in ^(MY)deceptive words to no avail. ⁹Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, ^[cl]^(MZ)offer sacrifices to Baal, and follow ^(NA)other gods that you have not known, ¹⁰then ^(NB)come and stand before Me in ^(NC)this house which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are saved!’—so that you may do all these abominations? ¹¹Has ^(ND)this house, which is called by My name, become a ^(NE)den of robbers in your sight? Behold, ^(NF)I Myself have seen it,” declares the Lord.

¹²“But go now to My place which was in ^(NG)Shiloh, where I ^(NH)made My name dwell at the beginning, and ^(NI)see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel. ¹³And now, because you have done all these things,” declares the Lord, “and I spoke to you, ^(NJ)speaking again and again, but you did not listen, and I ^(NK)called you but you did not answer, ¹⁴therefore I will do to the ^(NL)house which is called by My name, ^(NM)in which you trust, and to the place which I gave you and your fathers, just as I ^(NN)did to Shiloh. ¹⁵I will ^(NO)hurl you out of My sight, just as I have hurled out all your brothers, all the ^[cm]descendants of ^(NP)Ephraim.

¹⁶“As for you, ^(NQ)do not pray for this people, and do not lift up a cry or prayer for them, and do not plead with Me; for I am not listening to you. ¹⁷Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? ¹⁸The ^[cn]children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough to make sacrificial cakes for the queen of heaven; and they ^(NR)pour out drink offerings to other gods in order to ^(NS)provoke Me to anger. ¹⁹^(NT)Are they provoking Me?” declares the Lord. “Is it not themselves instead, to their ^[co]own ^(NU)shame?” ²⁰Therefore this is what the Lord ^[cp]God says: “Behold, My ^(NV)anger and My wrath will be poured out on this place, on human and animal life, and on the ^(NW)trees of the field and the fruit of the ground; and it will burn and not be quenched.”

²¹This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: “Add your ^(NX)burnt offerings to your sacrifices and ^(NY)eat flesh. ²²For I did not ^(NZ)speak to your fathers, or command them on the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. ²³But this is ^[cq]what I commanded them, saying, ‘^(OA)Obey My voice, and ^(OB)I will be your God, and you will be My people; and you shall walk ^[cr]entirely in the way which I command you, so that it may ^(OC)go well for you.’ ²⁴Yet they ^(OD)did not obey or incline their ear, but walked by their own advice and in the stubbornness of their evil hearts, and they ^[cs]^(OE)went backward and not forward. ²⁵Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have ^(OF)sent you all My servants the prophets, sending them daily, again and again. ²⁶Yet they did not listen to Me or incline their ear, but ^(OG)stiffened their neck; they ^(OH)did more evil than their fathers.

²⁷“So you shall ^(OI)speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you; and you shall call to them, but they will ^(OJ)not answer you. ²⁸And you shall say to them, ‘This is the nation that ^(OK)did not obey the voice of the Lord their God or accept discipline; ^[ct]^(OL)trustworthiness has perished and has been eliminated from their mouth.

²⁹^(OM)Cut off ^[cu]your hair and throw it away,
And ^(ON)take up a song of mourning on the bare heights;
For the Lord has ^(OO)rejected and forsaken
The generation of His wrath.’

³⁰For the sons of Judah have done that which is evil in My sight,” declares the Lord. “They have ^(OP)put their detestable things in the house which is called by My name, to defile it. ³¹They have ^(OQ)built the high places of Topheth, which is in the Valley of Ben-hinnom, to ^(OR)burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I ^(OS)did not command, and it did not come into My ^[cv]mind.

³²“^(OT)Therefore, behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when it will no longer be called Topheth, or the Valley of Ben-hinnom, but the Valley of the Slaughter; for they will ^(OU)bury in Topheth ^[cw]because there is no other place. ³³The ^(OV)dead bodies of this people will be food for the birds of the sky and for the animals of the earth; and no one will frighten them away. ³⁴Then I will ^(OW)eliminate from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride; for the ^(OX)land will become a site of ruins.

The Sin and Treachery of Judah

8 “At that time,” declares the Lord, “they will ^(OY)bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of its leaders, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem from their graves. ²They will spread them out to the sun, the moon, and to all the ^(OZ)heavenly ^[cx]lights, which they have loved, which they have served, which they have followed, which they have sought, and which they have worshiped. They will not be gathered ^(PA)nor buried; ^(PB)they will be like dung on the face of the ground. ³And ^(PC)death will be chosen rather than life by all the remnant that remains of this evil family, that remains in all the ^(PD)places to which I have driven them,” declares the Lord of armies.

⁴“You shall say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says:

“Do people ^(PE)fall and not get up?
Does one turn away and not ^[cy]repent?
⁵Why has this people, Jerusalem,
^(PF)Turned away in continual apostasy?
They ^(PG)hold on to deceit,
They ^(PH)refuse to return.
⁶I ^(PI)have listened and heard,
They have spoken what is not right;
^(PJ)No one repented of his wickedness,
Saying, ‘What have I done?’
Everyone turned to his own course,
Like a ^(PK)horse charging into the battle.
⁷Even the stork in the sky
^(PL)Knows her seasons;
And the ^(PM)turtledove, the swallow, and the crane
Keep to the time of their ^[cz]migration;
But ^(PN)My people do not know
The judgment of the Lord.

⁸“^(PO)How can you say, ‘We are wise,
And the Law of the Lord is with us’?
But behold, the lying pen of the scribes
Has made it into a lie.
⁹The wise men are ^(PP)put to shame,
They are dismayed and caught;
Behold, they have ^(PQ)rejected the word of the Lord,
So what kind of wisdom do they have?
¹⁰Therefore I will ^(PR)give their wives to others,
Their fields to new owners;
Because from the least even to the greatest
Everyone is ^(PS)greedy for gain;
From the prophet even to the priest,
Everyone practices deceit.
¹¹They have ^(PT)healed the brokenness of the daughter of My people superficially,
Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’
But there is no peace.
¹²Were they ^(PU)ashamed because of the abomination they had done?
They were not ashamed at all,
And they did not know how to be ashamed;
Therefore they will ^(PV)fall among those who fall;
At the ^(PW)time of their punishment they will collapse,”
Says the Lord.

¹³“I will ^(PX)certainly snatch them away,” declares the Lord.
“There will be ^(PY)no grapes on the vine
And ^(PZ)no figs on the fig tree,
And the leaf will wither;
And what I have given them will pass away.”’”
¹⁴Why are we sitting still?
^(QA)Assemble yourselves, and let’s ^(QB)go into the fortified cities
And perish there,
For the Lord our God has doomed us
And given us ^(QC)poisoned water to drink,
Because ^(QD)we have sinned against the Lord.
¹⁵We ^(QE)waited for peace, but no good came;
For a time of healing, but behold, terror!
¹⁶From ^(QF)Dan there is heard the snorting of his horses;
At the sound of the neighing of his ^(QG)stallions
The whole land quakes;
For they come and ^(QH)devour the land and its fullness,
The city and its inhabitants.
¹⁷“For behold, I am ^(QI)sending serpents among you,
Vipers for which there is ^(QJ)no charm;
And they will bite you,” declares the Lord.

¹⁸^[da]My ^(QK)sorrow is beyond healing,
My ^(QL)heart is faint within me!
¹⁹Behold, listen! The cry of the daughter of my people from a ^(QM)distant land:
“Is the Lord not in Zion? Is her King not within her?”
“Why have they ^(QN)provoked Me with their carved images, with foreign ^[db]^(QO)idols?”
²⁰“Harvest is past, summer is over,
And we are not saved.”
²¹I am broken over the ^(QP)brokenness of the daughter of my people.
I ^(QQ)mourn, dismay has taken hold of me.
²²Is there no ^(QR)balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
^(QS)Why then has not the ^[dc]health of the daughter of my people ^[dd]been restored?

Grief over Zion

9 ^[de]^(QT)Oh, that my head were waters
And my eyes a fountain of tears,
That I might weep day and night
For those slain of the ^(QU)daughter of my people!
²^[df]^(QV)Oh that I had in the desert
A travelers’ lodging place;
So that I might leave my people
And go away from them!
For all of them are ^(QW)adulterers,
An assembly of ^(QX)treacherous people.
³“They ^(QY)bend their tongues like their bows;
Lies and not truth prevail in the land;
For they ^(QZ)proceed from evil to evil,
And they ^(RA)do not know Me,” declares the Lord.
⁴“Let everyone ^(RB)be on guard against his neighbor,
And ^(RC)do not trust any brother;
Because every ^(RD)brother utterly ^[dg]betrays,
And every neighbor ^(RE)goes about as a slanderer.
⁵Everyone ^(RF)deceives his neighbor
And does not speak the truth.
They have taught their tongue to speak lies;
They ^(RG)weary themselves committing wrongdoing.
⁶Your ^(RH)dwelling is in the midst of deceit;
Through deceit they ^(RI)refuse to know Me,” declares the Lord.

⁷Therefore this is what the Lord of armies says:

“Behold, I will refine them and ^(RJ)put them to the test;
For ^(RK)what else can I do, because of the daughter of My people?
⁸Their ^(RL)tongue is a deadly arrow;
It speaks deceit;
With his mouth one ^(RM)speaks peace to his neighbor,
But inwardly he ^(RN)sets an ambush for him.
⁹^(RO)Shall I not punish them for these things?” declares the Lord.
“Shall I not avenge Myself
On a nation such as this?

¹⁰“I will take up a weeping and wailing for the ^(RP)mountains,
And for the pastures of the ^(RQ)wilderness a song of mourning,
Because they are ^(RR)laid waste so that no one passes through,
And the sound of the livestock is not heard;
Both the ^(RS)birds of the sky and the animals have fled; they are gone.
¹¹I will make Jerusalem a ^(RT)heap of ruins,
A haunt of ^(RU)jackals;
And I will make the cities of Judah a ^(RV)desolation without inhabitant.”

¹²Who is the ^(RW)wise person who may understand this? And who is he to whom ^(RX)the mouth of the Lord has spoken, that he may declare it? ^(RY)Why is the land destroyed, laid waste like the desert, so that no one passes through? ¹³The Lord said, “Because they have ^(RZ)abandoned My Law which I put before them, and have not obeyed My voice nor walked according to it, ¹⁴but have ^(SA)followed the stubbornness of their heart and the ^(SB)Baals, ^[dh]as their ^(SC)fathers taught them,” ¹⁵therefore this is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: “Behold, ^(SD)I will feed this people wormwood; and I will give them ^(SE)poisoned water to drink. ¹⁶I will also ^(SF)scatter them among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the ^(SG)sword after them until I have put an end to them.”

¹⁷This is what the Lord of armies says:

“Consider and call for the ^(SH)mourning women, that they may come;
And send for the ^[di]^(SI)skillful women, that they may come!
¹⁸Have them hurry and take up a wailing for us,
So that our ^(SJ)eyes may shed tears,
And our eyelids flow with water.
¹⁹For a voice of ^(SK)wailing is heard from Zion:
‘^(SL)How devastated we are!
We are put to great shame,
For we have ^(SM)abandoned the land
Because they have torn down our homes.’”
²⁰Now hear the word of the Lord, you ^(SN)women,
And let your ears receive the word of His mouth;
Teach your daughters wailing,
And have every woman teach her neighbor a song of mourning.
²¹For ^(SO)death has come up through our windows;
It has entered our palaces
To eliminate the ^(SP)children from the streets,
The young men from the public squares.
²²Speak, “This is what the Lord says:
‘The corpses of people will fall ^(SQ)like dung on the open field,
And like the sheaf after the reaper,
But no one will gather them.’”

²³This is what the Lord says: “^(SR)Let no wise man boast of his wisdom, nor let the ^(SS)mighty man boast of his might, nor a ^(ST)rich man boast of his riches; ²⁴but let the one who boasts ^(SU)boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who ^(SV)exercises ^[dj]mercy, justice, and righteousness on the earth; for I ^(SW)delight in these things,” declares the Lord.

²⁵“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “that I will punish all who are circumcised and yet ^(SX)uncircumcised— ²⁶Egypt, Judah, Edom, the sons of Ammon, Moab, and ^(SY)all those inhabiting the desert who trim the hair on their temples; for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are ^(SZ)uncircumcised of heart.”

A Satire on Idolatry

10 Hear the word which the Lord speaks to you, house of Israel. ²This is what the Lord says:

“^(TA)Do not learn the way of the nations,
And do not be terrified by the signs of the heavens,
Although the nations are terrified by them;
³For the customs of the peoples are ^(TB)futile;
For ^(TC)it is wood cut from the forest,
The work of the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool.
⁴They ^(TD)decorate the idol with silver and gold;
They ^(TE)fasten it with nails and hammers
So that it will not totter.
⁵They are like a scarecrow in a cucumber field,
And they ^(TF)cannot speak;
They must be ^(TG)carried,
Because they cannot walk!
Do not fear them,
For they ^(TH)can do no harm,
Nor can they do any good.”

⁶^(TI)There is none like You, Lord;
You are ^(TJ)great, and Your name is great in might.
⁷^(TK)Who would not fear You, O ^(TL)King of the nations?
For it is Your due!
For among all the ^(TM)wise men of the nations
And in all their kingdoms,
There is none like You.
⁸But they are altogether ^(TN)stupid and foolish;
The instruction from idols is nothing but wood!
⁹Beaten ^(TO)silver is brought from ^(TP)Tarshish,
And ^(TQ)gold from Uphaz,
The work of a craftsman and of the hands of a goldsmith;
Their clothing is of violet and purple;
They are all the ^(TR)work of skilled people.
¹⁰But the Lord is the ^(TS)true God;
He is the ^(TT)living God and the ^(TU)everlasting King.
The ^(TV)earth quakes at His wrath,
And the nations cannot ^(TW)endure His indignation.

¹¹^[dk]This is what you shall say to them: “The ^(TX)gods that did not make the heavens and the earth will ^(TY)perish from the earth and from under these heavens.”

¹²It is ^(TZ)He who made the earth by His power,
Who ^(UA)established the world by His wisdom;
And by His understanding He has ^(UB)stretched out the heavens.
¹³When He utters His ^(UC)voice, there is a roar of waters in the heavens,
And He makes the ^(UD)clouds ascend from the end of the earth;
He makes lightning for the rain,
And brings out the ^(UE)wind from His storehouses.