Jeremiah 10:17-13:11

English Standard Version

¹⁷^(A)Gather up your bundle from the ground,
    O you who dwell under siege!
¹⁸For thus says the Lord:
^(B)“Behold, I am slinging out the inhabitants of the land
    at this time,
^(C)and I will bring distress on them,
    that they may feel it.”

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

²²A voice, a rumor! Behold, it comes!—
^(K)a great commotion out of the north country
to make ^(L)the cities of Judah a desolation,
^(M)a lair of jackals.

²³^(N)I know, O Lord, that the way of man is not in himself,
that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.
²⁴^(O)Correct me, O Lord, but in justice;
not in your anger, lest you bring me to nothing.

²⁵^(P)Pour out your wrath on the nations that know you not,
    and on the peoples that call not on your name,
^(Q)for they have devoured Jacob;
    they have devoured him and consumed him,
    and have laid waste his habitation.

The Broken Covenant

11 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ²^(R)“Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ³You shall say to them, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ^(S)Cursed be the man who does not hear the words of this covenant ⁴that I commanded your fathers when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, ^(T)from the iron furnace, saying, ^(U)Listen to my voice, and do all that I command you. ^(V)So shall you be my people, and I will be your God, ⁵^(W)that I may confirm the oath that I swore to your fathers, ^(X)to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as at this day.” Then I answered, “So be it, Lord.”

⁶And the Lord said to me, ^(Y)“Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: ^(Z)Hear the words of this covenant and do them. ⁷For I solemnly warned your fathers when I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, ^(AA)warning them persistently, even to this day, saying, ^(AB)Obey my voice. ⁸^(AC)Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, ^(AD)but everyone walked in the stubbornness of his evil heart. Therefore I brought upon them all ^(AE)the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did not.”

⁹Again the Lord said to me, ^(AF)“A conspiracy exists among the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ¹⁰They have turned back to ^(AG)the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to hear my words. ^(AH)They have gone after other gods to serve them. ^(AI)The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant that I made with their fathers. ¹¹Therefore, thus says the Lord, Behold, I am bringing disaster upon them that they cannot escape. ^(AJ)Though they cry to me, I will not listen to them. ¹²Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem ^(AK)will go and cry to the gods to whom they make offerings, ^(AL)but they cannot save them in the time of their trouble. ¹³^(AM)For your gods have become as many as your cities, O Judah, and as many as the streets of Jerusalem are the altars you have set up to shame, ^(AN)altars to make offerings to Baal.

¹⁴“Therefore ^(AO)do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer on their behalf, ^(AP)for I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their trouble. ¹⁵^(AQ)What right has my beloved in my house, ^(AR)when she has done many vile deeds? Can even sacrificial flesh avert your doom? ^(AS)Can you then exult? ¹⁶The Lord once called you ^(AT)‘a green olive tree, beautiful with good fruit.’ But ^(AU)with the roar of a great tempest he will set fire to it, and ^(AV)its branches will be consumed. ¹⁷The Lord of hosts, ^(AW)who planted you, has decreed disaster against you, because of the evil that the house of Israel and the house of Judah have done, ^(AX)provoking me to anger by making offerings to Baal.”

¹⁸The Lord made it known to me and I knew;
    then you showed me their deeds.
¹⁹But I was ^(AY)like a gentle lamb
    led to the slaughter.
I did not know ^(AZ)it was against me
    they devised schemes, saying,
“Let us destroy the tree with its fruit,
    ^(BA)let us cut him off from ^(BB)the land of the living,
    that his name be remembered no more.”
²⁰But, O Lord of hosts, who judges righteously,
    who ^(BC)tests ^(BD)the heart and the mind,
^(BE)let me see your vengeance upon them,
    for to you have I committed my cause.

²¹Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the men of ^(BF)Anathoth, ^(BG)who seek your life, and say, ^(BH)“Do not prophesy in the name of the Lord, or you will die by our hand”— ²²therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: “Behold, I will punish them. The young men shall die by the sword, their sons and their daughters shall die by famine, ²³and none of them shall be left. For I will bring disaster upon the men of ^(BI)Anathoth, ^(BJ)the year of their punishment.”

Jeremiah's Complaint

12 ^(BK)Righteous are you, O Lord,
    when I complain to you;
    yet I would plead my case before you.
^(BL)Why does the way of the wicked prosper?
    Why do all ^(BM)who are treacherous thrive?
²You plant them, and they take root;
    they grow and produce fruit;
^(BN)you are near in their mouth
    and far from their heart.
³^(BO)But you, O Lord, know me;
    ^(BP)you see me, and test my heart toward you.
^(BQ)Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter,
    and set them apart for ^(BR)the day of slaughter.
⁴^(BS)How long will the land mourn
    and the grass of every field wither?
^(BT)For the evil of those who dwell in it
    ^(BU)the beasts and the birds are swept away,
    because they said, “He will not see our latter end.”

The Lord Answers Jeremiah

⁵“If you have raced with men on foot, and they have wearied you,
    how will you compete with horses?
And if in a safe land you are so trusting,
    what will you do in ^(BV)the thicket of the Jordan?
⁶For ^(BW)even your brothers and the house of your father,
    ^(BX)even they have dealt treacherously with you;
    they are in full cry after you;
^(BY)do not believe them,
    though they speak friendly words to you.”

⁷“I have forsaken my house;
    I have abandoned ^(BZ)my heritage;
I have given ^(CA)the beloved of my soul
    into the hands of her enemies.
⁸^(CB)My heritage has become to me
    like a lion in the forest;
she has lifted up her voice against me;
    therefore I hate her.
⁹Is ^(CC)my heritage to me like ^(CD)a hyena's lair?
    Are the ^(CE)birds of prey against her all around?
Go, ^(CF)assemble all the wild beasts;
    bring them to devour.
¹⁰Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard;
    ^(CG)they have trampled down my portion;
they have made my pleasant portion
    a desolate wilderness.
¹¹They have made it a desolation;
    desolate, ^(CH)it mourns to me.
The whole land is made desolate,
    ^(CI)but no man lays it to heart.
¹²Upon all the bare heights in the desert
    destroyers have come,
for the sword of the Lord devours
    from one end of the land to the other;
    no flesh has peace.
¹³^(CJ)They have sown wheat and have reaped thorns;
    ^(CK)they have tired themselves out but profit nothing.
They shall be ashamed of their^[a] harvests
    ^(CL)because of the fierce anger of the Lord.”

¹⁴Thus says the Lord concerning all ^(CM)my evil neighbors ^(CN)who touch the heritage that ^(CO)I have given my people Israel to inherit: “Behold, I will pluck them up from their land, and I will pluck up the house of Judah from among them. ¹⁵And after I have plucked them up, I will again have compassion on them, ^(CP)and I will bring them again each to his heritage and each to his land. ¹⁶And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, ^(CQ)to swear by my name, ‘As the Lord lives,’ even as they taught my people to swear by Baal, ^(CR)then they shall be built up in the midst of my people. ¹⁷^(CS)But if any nation will not listen, then I will utterly pluck it up and destroy it, declares the Lord.”

The Ruined Loincloth

13 Thus says the Lord to me, “Go and buy a linen loincloth and ^(CT)put it around your waist, and do not dip it in water.” ²So I bought a loincloth according to the word of the Lord, and put it around my waist. ³And the word of the Lord came to me a second time, ⁴“Take the loincloth that you have bought, which is around your waist, and arise, ^(CU)go to the Euphrates and hide it there in ^(CV)a cleft of the rock.” ⁵So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord commanded me. ⁶And after many days the Lord said to me, “Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take from there ^(CW)the loincloth that I commanded you to hide there.” ⁷Then I went to the Euphrates, and dug, and I took ^(CX)the loincloth from the place where I had hidden it. And behold, the loincloth was ^(CY)spoiled; it was ^(CZ)good for nothing.

⁸Then the word of the Lord came to me: ⁹“Thus says the Lord: ^(DA)Even so will I spoil the pride of Judah and the great ^(DB)pride of Jerusalem. ¹⁰This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, ^(DC)who stubbornly follow their own heart and have gone after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be like this loincloth, which is ^(DD)good for nothing. ¹¹For as the loincloth clings to the waist of a man, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, declares the Lord, ^(DE)that they might be for me a people, ^(DF)a name, a praise, and a glory, but they would not listen.