Jeremiah 14:11-16:15
New American Standard Bible
11 So the Lord said to me, “(A)Do not pray for a good outcome on behalf of this people. 12 When they fast, I am (B)not going to listen to their cry; and when they offer (C)burnt offering and grain offering, I am not going to accept them. Rather, I am going to (D)put an end to them by the (E)sword, famine, and plague.”
False Prophets
13 But I said, “Oh, Lord [a]God! Behold, the prophets are telling them, ‘You (F)will not see a sword, nor will you have famine; on the contrary, I will give you lasting (G)peace in this place.’” 14 Then the Lord said to me, “The (H)prophets are prophesying falsehood in My name. (I)I have neither sent them nor commanded them, nor spoken to them; they are prophesying to you a (J)false vision, divination, futility, and the deception of their own [b]minds. 15 Therefore this is what the Lord says concerning the prophets who are prophesying in My name, although it was not I who sent them—yet they keep saying: ‘There will be no sword or famine in this land’—(K)by sword and famine those prophets shall meet their end! 16 And the people to whom they are prophesying will be (L)thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and there will be no one to (M)bury them—neither them, nor their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters. For I will (N)pour out their own wickedness upon them.
17 You will say this word to them,
‘(O)Let my eyes stream down tears night and day,
And let them not cease;
For the virgin (P)daughter of my people has been crushed with a mighty blow,
With a sorely (Q)infected wound.
18 If I (R)go out to the country,
There are those killed by the sword!
Or if I enter the city,
There are diseases from famine!
For (S)both prophet and priest
Have wandered around in the land that they do not know.’”
19 Have You completely (T)rejected Judah?
Or have [c]You loathed Zion?
Why have You stricken us so that we (U)are beyond healing?
We (V)waited for peace, but nothing good came;
And for a time of healing, but behold, terror!
20 We (W)know our wickedness, Lord,
The wrongdoing of our fathers, for (X)we have sinned against You.
21 Do not despise us, (Y)for the sake of Your own name;
Do not disgrace the (Z)throne of Your glory.
Remember and do not annul Your covenant with us.
22 Are there any among the [d](AA)idols of the nations who (AB)give rain?
Or can the heavens grant showers?
Is it not You, Lord our God?
Therefore we (AC)wait for You,
For You are the one who has done all these things.
Judgment Must Come
15 Then the Lord said to me, “Even (AD)if (AE)Moses and (AF)Samuel were to (AG)stand before Me, My [e]heart would not be [f]with this people. (AH)Send them away from My presence and have them go! 2 And it shall be that when they say to you, ‘Where should we go?’ then you are to tell them, ‘This is what the Lord says:
“Those destined (AI)for death, to death;
And those destined for the sword, to the sword;
And those destined for famine, to famine;
And those destined for captivity, to captivity.”’
3 And I will (AJ)appoint over them four kinds of doom,” declares the Lord: “the sword to kill, the (AK)dogs to drag away, and the (AL)birds of the sky and the animals of the earth to devour and destroy. 4 I will (AM)make them an object of terror among all the kingdoms of the earth because of (AN)Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem.
5 “Indeed, who will have (AO)pity on you, Jerusalem,
Or who will (AP)mourn for you,
Or who will turn aside to ask about your welfare?
6 You who have (AQ)forsaken Me,” declares the Lord,
“You keep (AR)going backward.
So I will (AS)stretch out My hand against you and destroy you;
I am (AT)tired of relenting!
7 I will (AU)winnow them with a winnowing fork
At the gates of the land;
I will (AV)bereave them of children, I will destroy My people;
(AW)They did not [g]repent of their ways.
8 Their (AX)widows will be more numerous before Me
Than the sand of the seas;
I will bring against them, against the mother of a young man,
A (AY)destroyer at noon;
I will suddenly bring down on her
Shock and horror.
9 She who (AZ)gave birth to seven sons withers away;
[h]Her breathing is labored.
Her (BA)sun has set while it was still day;
She has been (BB)shamed and humiliated.
So I will (BC)turn over their survivors to the sword
Before their enemies,” declares the Lord.
10 (BD)Woe to me, my mother, that you have given birth to me
As a (BE)man of strife and a man of contention to all the land!
I have not (BF)lent, nor have people lent money to me,
Yet everyone curses me.
11 The Lord said, “I will certainly (BG)set you free for purposes of good;
I will certainly make the (BH)enemy plead with you
In a time of disaster and a time of distress.
12 “Can anyone smash iron,
(BI)Iron from the north, or bronze?
13 I will give your (BJ)wealth and your treasures
As plunder (BK)without cost,
For all your sins
And within all your borders.
14 Then I will make your enemies bring your possessions
Into a (BL)land that you do not know;
For a (BM)fire has been kindled in My anger,
And it will burn upon you.”
Jeremiah’s Prayer and God’s Answer
15 (BN)You know, Lord;
Remember me, take notice of me,
And (BO)take vengeance for me on my persecutors.
Do not, in view of Your patience, take me away;
Know that (BP)for Your sake I endure reproach.
16 Your words were found and I (BQ)ate them,
And Your (BR)words became a joy to me and the delight of my heart;
For I have been (BS)called by Your name,
Lord God of armies.
17 I (BT)did not sit in a circle of revelers and celebrate.
Because of Your hand upon me I sat (BU)alone,
For You (BV)filled me with indignation.
18 Why has my pain been endless
And my (BW)wound incurable, refusing to be healed?
Will You indeed be to me (BX)like a deceptive stream
With water that is unreliable?
19 Therefore, this is what the Lord says:
“(BY)If you return, then I will restore you—
(BZ)You will stand before Me;
And (CA)if you extract the precious from the worthless,
You will become [i]My spokesman.
They, for their part, may turn to you,
But as for you, you are not to turn to them.
20 Then I will (CB)make you to this people
A fortified wall of bronze;
And though they fight against you,
They will not prevail over you;
For (CC)I am with you to save you
And rescue you,” declares the Lord.
21 “So I will (CD)rescue you from the hand of the wicked,
And I will (CE)redeem you from the [j]grasp of the violent.”
Distresses Foretold
16 The word of the Lord also came to me, saying, 2 “You shall not take a wife for yourself nor have sons or daughters in this place.” 3 For this is what the Lord says concerning the sons and daughters born in this place, and concerning their (CF)mothers who give birth to them, and their (CG)fathers who father them in this land: 4 “They will (CH)die of deadly diseases, they (CI)will not be mourned or buried; they will be like (CJ)dung on the surface of the ground. And they will perish by sword and famine, and their dead bodies will become food for the (CK)birds of the sky and for the animals of the earth.”
5 For this is what the Lord says: “Do not enter a house of (CL)mourning, or go to mourn or to console them; for I have (CM)withdrawn My peace from this people,” declares the Lord, “and My (CN)favor and compassion. 6 Both (CO)great people and small will die in this land; they will not be buried, people will not mourn for them, nor will anyone (CP)make cuts on himself or have his head (CQ)shaved for them. 7 People will not (CR)break bread in mourning for them, to comfort anyone for the dead, nor give them a cup of consolation to drink for anyone’s father or mother. 8 Moreover, you shall (CS)not go into a house of feasting to sit with them to eat and drink.” 9 For this is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: “Behold, I am going to (CT)eliminate from this place, before your eyes and in your time, the voice of rejoicing and the voice of joy, the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride.
10 “Now it will happen that, when you tell this people all these words, they will say to you, ‘(CU)For what reason has the Lord declared all this great disaster against us? And what is our wrongdoing, or what is our sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?’ 11 Then you are to say to them, ‘It is (CV)because your forefathers have abandoned Me,’ declares the Lord, ‘and have followed (CW)other gods, and served and worshiped them; but they have abandoned Me and have not kept My Law. 12 You too have done evil, even (CX)more than your forefathers; for behold, each one of you is following the (CY)stubbornness of his own (CZ)evil heart, without listening to Me. 13 So I will (DA)hurl you off this land to the (DB)land which you have not known, neither you nor your fathers; and there you will (DC)serve other gods day and night, because I will show you no compassion.’
God Will Restore Them
14 “(DD)Therefore behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when it will no longer be said, ‘As the Lord lives, who (DE)brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ 15 but, ‘As the Lord lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the (DF)land of the north and from all the lands where He had banished them.’ For I will restore them to their own land which I gave to their fathers.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 14:13 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord
- Jeremiah 14:14 Lit heart
- Jeremiah 14:19 Lit Your soul
- Jeremiah 14:22 Lit futilities
- Jeremiah 15:1 Lit soul
- Jeremiah 15:1 Lit toward
- Jeremiah 15:7 Lit turn back from
- Jeremiah 15:9 Or She has breathed out her soul
- Jeremiah 15:19 Lit as My mouth
- Jeremiah 15:21 Lit palm
Jeremiah 14:11-16:15
New Living Translation
The Lord Forbids Jeremiah to Intercede
11 Then the Lord said to me, “Do not pray for these people anymore. 12 When they fast, I will pay no attention. When they present their burnt offerings and grain offerings to me, I will not accept them. Instead, I will devour them with war, famine, and disease.”
13 Then I said, “O Sovereign Lord, their prophets are telling them, ‘All is well—no war or famine will come. The Lord will surely send you peace.’”
14 Then the Lord said, “These prophets are telling lies in my name. I did not send them or tell them to speak. I did not give them any messages. They prophesy of visions and revelations they have never seen or heard. They speak foolishness made up in their own lying hearts. 15 Therefore, this is what the Lord says: I will punish these lying prophets, for they have spoken in my name even though I never sent them. They say that no war or famine will come, but they themselves will die by war and famine! 16 As for the people to whom they prophesy—their bodies will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem, victims of famine and war. There will be no one left to bury them. Husbands, wives, sons, and daughters—all will be gone. For I will pour out their own wickedness on them. 17 Now, Jeremiah, say this to them:
“Night and day my eyes overflow with tears.
I cannot stop weeping,
for my virgin daughter—my precious people—
has been struck down
and lies mortally wounded.
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.”
A Prayer for Healing
19 Lord, have you completely rejected Judah?
Do you really hate Jerusalem?[a]
Why have you wounded us past all hope of healing?
We hoped for peace, but no peace came.
We hoped for a time of healing, but found only terror.
20 Lord, we confess our wickedness
and that of our ancestors, too.
We all have sinned against you.
21 For the sake of your reputation, Lord, do not abandon us.
Do not disgrace your own glorious throne.
Please remember us,
and do not break your covenant with us.
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.
Judah’s Inevitable Doom
15 Then the Lord said to me, “Even if Moses and Samuel stood before me pleading for these people, I wouldn’t help them. Away with them! Get them out of my sight! 2 And if they say to you, ‘But where can we go?’ tell them, ‘This is what the Lord says:
“‘Those who are destined for death, to death;
those who are destined for war, to war;
those who are destined for famine, to famine;
those who are destined for captivity, to captivity.’
3 “I will send four kinds of destroyers against them,” says the Lord. “I will send the sword to kill, the dogs to drag away, the vultures to devour, and the wild animals to finish up what is left. 4 Because of the wicked things Manasseh son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, did in Jerusalem, I will make my people an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.
5 “Who will feel sorry for you, Jerusalem?
Who will weep for you?
Who will even bother to ask how you are?
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!”
Jeremiah’s Complaint
10 Then I said,
“What sorrow is mine, my mother.
Oh, that I had died at birth!
I am hated everywhere I go.
I am neither a lender who threatens to foreclose
nor a borrower who refuses to pay—
yet they all curse me.”
11 The Lord replied,
“I will take care of you, Jeremiah.
Your enemies will ask you to plead on their behalf
in times of trouble and distress.
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.[b]”
15 Then I said,
“Lord, you know what’s happening to me.
Please step in and help me. Punish my persecutors!
Please give me time; don’t let me die young.
It’s for your sake that I am suffering.
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.”
19 This is how the Lord responds:
“If you return to me, I will restore you
so you can continue to serve me.
If you speak good words rather than worthless ones,
you will be my spokesman.
You must influence them;
do not let them influence you!
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.”
Jeremiah Forbidden to Marry
16 The Lord gave me another message. He said, 2 “Do not get married or have children in this place. 3 For this is what the Lord says about the children born here in this city and about their mothers and fathers: 4 They will die from terrible diseases. No one will mourn for them or bury them, and they will lie scattered on the ground like manure. They will die from war and famine, and their bodies will be food for the vultures and wild animals.”
Judah’s Coming Punishment
5 This is what the Lord says: “Do not go to funerals to mourn and show sympathy for these people, for I have removed my protection and peace from them. I have taken away my unfailing love and my mercy. 6 Both the great and the lowly will die in this land. No one will bury them or mourn for them. Their friends will not cut themselves in sorrow or shave their heads in sadness. 7 No one will offer a meal to comfort those who mourn for the dead—not even at the death of a mother or father. No one will send a cup of wine to console them.
8 “And do not go to their feasts and parties. Do not eat and drink with them at all. 9 For this is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: In your own lifetime, before your very eyes, I will put an end to the happy singing and laughter in this land. The joyful voices of bridegrooms and brides will no longer be heard.
10 “When you tell the people all these things, they will ask, ‘Why has the Lord decreed such terrible things against us? What have we done to deserve such treatment? What is our sin against the Lord our God?’
11 “Then you will give them the Lord’s reply: ‘It is because your ancestors were unfaithful to me. They worshiped other gods and served them. They abandoned me and did not obey my word. 12 And you are even worse than your ancestors! You stubbornly follow your own evil desires and refuse to listen to me. 13 So I will throw you out of this land and send you into a foreign land where you and your ancestors have never been. There you can worship idols day and night—and I will grant you no favors!’
Hope despite the Disaster
14 “But the time is coming,” says the Lord, “when people who are taking an oath will no longer say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who rescued the people of Israel from the land of Egypt.’ 15 Instead, they will say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the people of Israel back to their own land from the land of the north and from all the countries to which he had exiled them.’ For I will bring them back to this land that I gave their ancestors.
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
