Jeremiah 1-2
Holman Christian Standard Bible
1 The words of Jeremiah,(A) the son of Hilkiah, one of the priests living in Anathoth(B) in the territory of Benjamin. 2 The word of the Lord came to him in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah(C) son of Amon, king of Judah. 3 It also came throughout the days of Jehoiakim(D) son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the fifth month of the eleventh year of Zedekiah(E) son of Josiah, king of Judah, when the people of Jerusalem went into exile.
The Call of Jeremiah
4 The word of the Lord came to me:
5 I chose you before I formed you in the womb;
I set you apart before you were born.(F)
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.(G)
6 But I protested, “Oh no, Lord, God! Look, I don’t know how to speak(H) since I am only a youth.”(I)
7 Then the Lord said to me:
Do not say, “I am only a youth,”(J)
for you will go to everyone I send you to
and speak whatever I tell you.(K)
8 Do not be afraid of anyone,(L)
for I will be with you to deliver you.(M)
This is the Lord’s declaration.
9 Then the Lord reached out His hand, touched my mouth,(N) and told me:
I have now filled your mouth with My words.(O)
10 See, I have appointed you today
over nations and kingdoms
to uproot and tear down,
to destroy and demolish,(P)
to build and plant.(Q)
Two Visions
11 Then the word of the Lord came to me, asking, “What do you see, Jeremiah?”(R)
I replied, “I see a branch of an almond tree.”
12 The Lord said to me, “You have seen correctly, for I watch over My word to accomplish it.”(S) 13 Again the word of the Lord came to me inquiring, “What do you see?”
And I replied, “I see a boiling pot,(T) its lip tilted from the north to the south.”
14 Then the Lord said to me, “Disaster will be poured out[a] from the north(U) on all who live in the land. 15 Indeed, I am about to summon all the clans and kingdoms of the north.”(V)
This is the Lord’s declaration.
They will come, and each king will set up his throne
at the entrance to Jerusalem’s gates.
They will attack all her surrounding walls
and all the other cities of Judah.
16 “I will pronounce My judgments against them for all the evil they did when they abandoned Me to burn incense to other gods and to worship the works of their own hands.(W)
17 “Now, get ready. Stand up and tell them everything that I command you. Do not be intimidated by them(X) or I will cause you to cower before them. 18 Today, I am the One who has made you a fortified city,(Y) an iron pillar, and bronze walls(Z) against the whole land—against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the population. 19 They will fight against you but never prevail over you,(AA) since I am with you to rescue you.”(AB)
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Israel Accused of Apostasy
2 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Go and announce directly to Jerusalem that this is what the Lord says:
I remember the loyalty of your youth,(AC)
your love as a bride—
how you followed Me in the wilderness,
in a land not sown.
3 Israel was holy to the Lord,(AD)
the firstfruits of His harvest.(AE)
All who ate of it found themselves guilty;(AF)
disaster came on them.”
This is the Lord’s declaration.
4 Hear the word of the Lord, house of Jacob
and all families of the house of Israel.
5 This is what the Lord says:
What fault did your fathers find in Me(AG)
that they went so far from Me,
followed worthless idols,(AH)
and became worthless themselves?(AI)
6 They stopped asking, “Where is the Lord(AJ)
who brought us from the land of Egypt,
who led us through the wilderness,(AK)
through a land of deserts and ravines,
through a land of drought and darkness,[b]
a land no one traveled through
and where no one lived?”
7 I brought you to a fertile land(AL)
to eat its fruit and bounty,
but after you entered, you defiled My land;(AM)
you made My inheritance(AN) detestable.
8 The priests quit asking, “Where is the Lord?”
The experts in the law no longer knew Me,(AO)
and the rulers(AP) rebelled against Me.
The prophets prophesied by[c] Baal(AQ)
and followed useless idols.(AR)
9 Therefore, I will bring a case against you again.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
I will bring a case against your children’s children.(AS)
10 Cross over to Cyprus[d](AT) and take a look.
Send someone to Kedar(AU) and consider carefully;
see if there has ever been anything like this:
11 Has a nation ever exchanged its gods?(AV)
(But they were not gods!(AW))
Yet My people have exchanged their[e] Glory
for useless idols.(AX)
12 Be horrified at this, heavens;(AY)
be shocked and utterly appalled.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
13 For My people have committed a double evil:
They have abandoned Me,(AZ)
the fountain of living water,(BA)
and dug cisterns for themselves,
cracked cisterns that cannot hold water.(BB)
Consequences of Apostasy
14 Is Israel a slave?
Was he born into slavery?[f]
Why else has he become a prey?
15 The young lions have roared at him;(BC)
they have roared loudly.
They have laid waste his land.(BD)
His cities are in ruins, without inhabitants.
16 The men of Memphis and Tahpanhes(BE)
have also broken your skull.
17 Have you not brought this on yourself(BF)
by abandoning the Lord your God
while He was leading you along the way?
18 Now what will you gain
by traveling along the way to Egypt(BG)
to drink the waters of the Nile?[g]
What will you gain
by traveling along the way to Assyria(BH)
to drink the waters of the Euphrates?(BI)
19 Your own evil will discipline you;(BJ)
your own apostasies will reprimand you.
Think it over and see how evil and bitter(BK) it is
for you to abandon the Lord your God
and to have no fear of Me.
This is the declaration
of the Lord God of Hosts.
20 For long ago I[h] broke your yoke;(BL)
I[i] tore off your chains.
You insisted, “I will not serve!”
On every high hill
and under every green tree(BM)
you lie down like a prostitute.(BN)
21 I planted you, a choice vine(BO)
from the very best seed.
How then could you turn into
a degenerate, foreign vine?(BP)
22 Even if you wash with lye
and use a great amount of soap,(BQ)
the stain of your sin is still in front of Me.(BR)
This is the Lord God’s declaration.
23 How can you protest, “I am not defiled;
I have not followed the Baals”?(BS)
Look at your behavior in the valley;
acknowledge what you have done.(BT)
You are a swift young camel
twisting and turning on her way,
24 a wild donkey(BU) at home[j] in the wilderness.
She sniffs the wind in the heat of her desire.
Who can control her passion?
All who look for her will not become tired;
they will find her in her mating season.[k]
25 Keep your feet from going bare
and your throat from thirst.
But you say, “It’s hopeless;(BV)
I love strangers,(BW)
and I will continue to follow them.”
26 Like the shame of a thief when he is caught,
so the house of Israel has been put to shame.(BX)
They, their kings, their officials,
their priests, and their prophets(BY)
27 say to a tree, “You are my father,”
and to a stone, “You gave birth to me.”
For they have turned their back to Me
and not their face,(BZ)
yet in their time of disaster(CA) they beg,
“Rise up and save us!”
28 But where are your gods you made for yourself?
Let them rise up and save you(CB)
in your time of disaster if they can,
for your gods are as numerous as your cities, Judah.
Judgment Deserved
29 Why do you bring a case against Me?(CC)
All of you have rebelled against Me.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
30 I have struck down your children in vain;
they would not accept discipline.(CD)
Your own sword has devoured your prophets(CE)
like a ravaging lion.
31 Evil generation,
pay attention to the word of the Lord!
Have I been a wilderness to Israel
or a land of dense darkness?(CF)
Why do My people claim,
“We will go where we want;[l]
we will no longer come to You”?
32 Can a young woman forget her jewelry(CG)
or a bride her wedding sash?
Yet My people have forgotten Me(CH)
for countless days.
33 How skillfully you pursue love;
you also teach evil women your ways.
34 Moreover, your skirts are stained
with the blood of the innocent poor.(CI)
You did not catch them breaking and entering.(CJ)
But in spite of all these things
35 you claim, “I am innocent.(CK)
His anger is sure to turn away from me.”
But I will certainly judge you
because you have said, “I have not sinned.”(CL)
36 How unstable you are,(CM)
constantly changing your ways!
You will be put to shame by Egypt(CN)
just as you were put to shame by Assyria.
37 Moreover, you will be led out from here
with your hands on your head(CO)
since the Lord has rejected those you trust;(CP)
you will not succeed even with their help.[m]
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 1:14 LXX reads will boil
- Jeremiah 2:6 Or shadow of death
- Jeremiah 2:8 = in the name of
- Jeremiah 2:10 Lit to the islands of Kittim
- Jeremiah 2:11 Ancient Jewish tradition reads My
- Jeremiah 2:14 Lit born of a house
- Jeremiah 2:18 Lit of Shihor
- Jeremiah 2:20 LXX reads you
- Jeremiah 2:20 LXX reads you
- Jeremiah 2:24 Lit donkey taught
- Jeremiah 2:24 Lit her month
- Jeremiah 2:31 Or We have taken control, or We can roam
- Jeremiah 2:37 Lit with them
Jeremiah 4-5
Holman Christian Standard Bible
Blessing or Curse
4 If you return,[a] Israel—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
you will return to Me,(A)
if you remove your detestable idols(B)
from My presence
and do not waver,
2 then you can swear, “As the Lord lives,”(C)
in truth,(D) in justice, and in righteousness,(E)
then the nations will be blessed[b] by Him(F)
and will pride themselves in Him.(G)
3 For this is what the Lord says to the men of Judah and Jerusalem:
Break up the unplowed ground;(H)
do not sow among the thorns.(I)
4 Circumcise yourselves to the Lord;
remove the foreskin of your hearts,(J)
men of Judah and residents of Jerusalem.
Otherwise, My wrath will break out like fire
and burn with no one to extinguish it(K)
because of your evil deeds.
Judgment from the North
5 Declare in Judah, proclaim in Jerusalem, and say:
Blow the ram’s horn throughout the land.(L)
Cry out loudly and say:
Assemble yourselves,
and let’s flee to the fortified cities.
6 Lift up a signal flag toward Zion.(M)
Run for cover! Don’t stand still!
For I am bringing disaster from the north—
a great destruction.(N)
7 A lion has gone up from his thicket;(O)
a destroyer of nations has set out.
He has left his lair
to make your land a waste.
Your cities will be reduced to uninhabited ruins.(P)
8 Because of this, put on sackcloth;
mourn and wail,(Q)
for the Lord’s burning anger(R)
has not turned away from us.
9 “On that day”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“the king and the officials will lose their courage. The priests will tremble in fear, and the prophets will be scared speechless.”
10 I said, “Oh no, Lord God, You have certainly deceived(S) this people and Jerusalem, by announcing, ‘You will have peace,’(T) while a sword is at[c] our throats.”
11 “At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, ‘A searing wind(U) blows from the barren heights in the wilderness on the way to My dear[d] people. It comes not to winnow or to sift; 12 a wind too strong for this comes at My call.[e] Now I will also pronounce judgments against them.’”(V)
13 Look, he advances like clouds;(W)
his chariots are like a storm.(X)
His horses are swifter than eagles.(Y)
Woe to us, for we are ruined!(Z)
14 Wash the evil from your heart,(AA) Jerusalem,
so that you will be delivered.
How long will you harbor
malicious thoughts within you?(AB)
15 For a voice announces from Dan,
proclaiming malice from Mount Ephraim.
16 Warn the nations: Look!
Proclaim to Jerusalem:
Those who besiege are coming
from a distant land;(AC)
they raise their voices
against the cities of Judah.
17 They have her surrounded(AD)
like those who guard a field,
because she has rebelled against Me.(AE)
This is the Lord’s declaration.
18 Your way of life and your actions
have brought this on you.(AF)
This is your punishment. It is very bitter,
because it has reached your heart!
Jeremiah’s Lament
19 My anguish, my anguish![f] I writhe in agony!
Oh, the pain in[g] my heart!(AG)
My heart pounds;
I cannot be silent.
For you, my soul,
have heard the sound of the ram’s horn—
the shout of battle.
20 Disaster after disaster(AH) is reported
because the whole land is destroyed.
Suddenly my tents are destroyed,
my tent curtains, in a moment.
21 How long must I see the signal flag
and hear the sound of the ram’s horn?
22 “For My people are fools;
they do not know Me.
They are foolish children,
without understanding.(AI)
They are skilled in doing what is evil,
but they do not know how to do what is good.”(AJ)
23 I looked at the earth,
and it was formless and empty.(AK)
I looked to the heavens,
and their light was gone.(AL)
24 I looked at the mountains,
and they were quaking;(AM)
all the hills shook.
25 I looked, and no man was left;(AN)
all the birds of the sky had fled.(AO)
26 I looked, and the fertile field(AP) was a wilderness.(AQ)
All its cities were torn down
because of the Lord
and His burning anger.(AR)
27 For this is what the Lord says:
The whole land will be a desolation,(AS)
but I will not finish it off.(AT)
28 Because of this, the earth will mourn;(AU)
the skies above will grow dark.(AV)
I have spoken; I have planned,
and I will not relent or turn back from it.(AW)
29 Every city flees(AX)
at the sound of the horseman and the archer.
They enter the thickets
and climb among the rocks.(AY)
Every city is abandoned;
no inhabitant is left.
30 And you, devastated one, what are you doing(AZ)
that you dress yourself in scarlet,
that you adorn yourself with gold jewelry,
that you enlarge your eyes with paint?(BA)
You beautify yourself for nothing.
Your lovers reject you;(BB)
they want to take your life.(BC)
31 I hear a cry like a woman in labor,(BD)
a cry of anguish like one bearing her first child.
The cry of Daughter Zion gasping for breath,
stretching out her hands:(BE)
Woe is me, for my life is weary
because of the murderers!
The Depravity of Jerusalem
5 Roam(BF) through the streets of Jerusalem.
Look and take note;
search in her squares.
If you find one person,(BG)
any who acts justly,
who seeks to be faithful,
then I will forgive her.(BH)
2 When they say, “As the Lord lives,”(BI)
they are swearing falsely.(BJ)
3 Lord, don’t Your eyes look for faithfulness?(BK)
You have struck them, but they felt no pain.(BL)
You finished them off,
but they refused to accept discipline.(BM)
They made their faces harder than rock,(BN)
and they refused to return.(BO)
4 Then I thought:
They are just the poor;
they have played the fool.
For they don’t understand the way of the Lord,(BP)
the justice of their God.(BQ)
5 I will go to the powerful
and speak to them.
Surely they know the way of the Lord,
the justice of their God.(BR)
However, these also had broken the yoke
and torn off the chains.(BS)
6 Therefore, a lion from the forest will strike them down.(BT)
A wolf from an arid plain will ravage them.
A leopard(BU) keeps watch over their cities.
Anyone who leaves them will be torn to pieces
because their rebellious acts are many,(BV)
their unfaithful deeds numerous.(BW)
7 Why should I forgive you?
Your children have abandoned Me
and sworn by those who are not gods.(BX)
I satisfied their needs, yet they committed adultery;(BY)
they gashed themselves(BZ) at the[h] prostitute’s house.
8 They are well-fed,[i] eager[j] stallions,(CA)
each neighing(CB) after someone else’s wife.(CC)
9 Should I not punish them for these things?(CD)
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Should I not avenge Myself(CE)
on such a nation as this?
10 Go up among her vineyard terraces and destroy them,(CF)
but do not finish them off.(CG)
Prune away her shoots,
for they do not belong to the Lord.(CH)
11 They, the house of Israel and the house of Judah,
have dealt very treacherously with Me.(CI)
This is the Lord’s declaration.
12 They have contradicted the Lord
and insisted, “It won’t happen.[k](CJ)
Harm won’t come to us;
we won’t see sword or famine.”
13 The prophets become only wind,
for the Lord’s word is not in them.
This will in fact happen to them.
Coming Judgment
14 Therefore, this is what the Lord God of Hosts says:
Because you have spoken this word,
I am going to make My words
become fire in your mouth.(CK)
These people are the wood,
and the fire will consume them.(CL)
15 I am about to bring a nation
from far away against you,(CM)
house of Israel.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
It is an established nation,
an ancient nation,
a nation whose language you do not know
and whose speech you do not understand.(CN)
16 Their quiver is like an open grave;(CO)
they are all mighty warriors.
17 They will consume your harvest and your food.(CP)
They will consume your sons and your daughters.
They will consume your flocks and your herds.
They will consume your vines and your fig trees.
They will destroy with the sword
your fortified cities(CQ) in which you trust.
18 “But even in those days”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“I will not finish you off.(CR) 19 When people ask, ‘For what offense has the Lord our God done all these things to us?’ You will respond to them: Just as you abandoned Me(CS) and served foreign gods in your land, so will you serve strangers in a land that is not yours.(CT)
20 “Declare this in the house of Jacob; proclaim it in Judah, saying:
21 Hear this,
you foolish and senseless[l] people.(CU)
They have eyes, but they don’t see.
They have ears, but they don’t hear.(CV)
22 Do you not fear Me?
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Do you not tremble before Me,
the One who set the sand as the boundary of the sea,
an enduring barrier that it cannot cross?(CW)
The waves surge, but they cannot prevail.
They roar but cannot pass over it.
23 But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts.(CX)
They have turned aside and have gone away.
24 They have not said to themselves,
‘Let’s fear the Lord our God,(CY)
who gives the rain,(CZ) both early and late,(DA) in its season,(DB)
who guarantees to us the fixed weeks of the harvest.’
25 Your guilty acts have diverted these things from you.
Your sins have withheld My bounty from you,(DC)
26 for wicked men live among My people.
They watch like fowlers lying in wait.[m](DD)
They set a trap;(DE)
they catch men.
27 Like a cage full of birds,
so their houses are full of deceit.(DF)
Therefore they have grown powerful and rich.
28 They have become fat(DG) and sleek.
They have also excelled in evil matters.
They have not taken up cases,
such as the case of the fatherless, so they might prosper,
and they have not defended the rights of the needy.(DH)
29 Should I not punish them for these things?
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Should I not avenge Myself(DI)
on such a nation as this?
30 A horrible, terrible thing
has taken place in the land.(DJ)
31 The prophets prophesy falsely,(DK)
and the priests rule by their own authority.
My people love it like this.
But what will you do at the end of it?(DL)
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 4:1 Or Repent
- Jeremiah 4:2 Or will bless themselves
- Jeremiah 4:10 Lit sword touches
- Jeremiah 4:11 Lit to the daughter of My
- Jeremiah 4:12 Lit comes for Me
- Jeremiah 4:19 Lit My inner parts, my inner parts
- Jeremiah 4:19 Lit the walls of
- Jeremiah 5:7 Or adultery and trooped to the, or adultery and lodged at the; Hb obscure
- Jeremiah 5:8 Lit well-equipped; Hb obscure
- Jeremiah 5:8 Lit early-rising; Hb obscure
- Jeremiah 5:12 Lit He does not exist
- Jeremiah 5:21 Lit without heart
- Jeremiah 5:26 Hb obscure
Jeremiah 13
Holman Christian Standard Bible
Linen Underwear
13 This is what the Lord said to me: “Go and buy yourself a linen undergarment(A) and put it on,[a] but do not put it in water.” 2 So I bought underwear as the Lord instructed me and put it on.
3 Then the word of the Lord came to me a second time: 4 “Take the underwear that you bought and are wearing,[b] and go at once to the Euphrates[c] and hide it in a rocky crevice.”(B) 5 So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord commanded me.
6 A long time later the Lord said to me, “Go at once to the Euphrates and get the underwear that I commanded you to hide there.” 7 So I went to the Euphrates and dug up the underwear and got it from the place where I had hidden it, but it was ruined—of no use at all.
8 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 9 “This is what the Lord says: Just like this I will ruin the great pride of both Judah and Jerusalem.(C) 10 These evil people, who refuse to listen to Me, who follow the stubbornness of their own hearts,(D) and who have followed other gods to serve and worship—they will be like this underwear, of no use at all. 11 Just as underwear clings to one’s waist, so I fastened the whole house of Israel and of Judah to Me”(E)—this is the Lord’s declaration—“so that they might be My people for My fame, praise, and glory,(F) but they would not obey.
The Wine Jars
12 “Say this to them: This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Every jar should be filled with wine. Then they will respond to you, ‘Don’t we know that every jar should be filled with wine?’ 13 And you will say to them: This is what the Lord says: I am about to fill all who live in this land—the kings who reign for David on his throne, the priests, the prophets and all the residents of Jerusalem—with drunkenness. 14 I will smash them against each other, fathers and sons alike”—this is the Lord’s declaration. “I will allow no mercy, pity, or compassion to keep Me from destroying them.”(G)
The Lord’s Warning
15 Listen and pay attention. Do not be proud,
for the Lord has spoken.
16 Give glory to the Lord your God(H)
before He brings darkness,
before your feet stumble
on the mountains at dusk.
You wait for light,
but He brings darkest gloom[d]
and makes thick darkness.
17 But if you will not listen,
my innermost being will weep in secret
because of your pride.
My eyes will overflow with tears,
for the Lord’s flock(I) has been taken captive.
18 Say to the king and the queen mother:(J)
Take a humble seat,
for your glorious crowns
have fallen from your heads.
19 The cities of the Negev are under siege;
no one can help them.
All of Judah has been taken into exile,
taken completely into exile.
20 Look up and see
those coming from the north.(K)
Where is the flock entrusted to you,
the sheep that were your pride?
The Destiny of Jerusalem
21 What will you say when He appoints
close friends as leaders over you,
ones you yourself trained?
Won’t labor pains seize you,(L)
as they do a woman in labor?
22 And when you ask yourself,
“Why have these things happened to me?”
It is because of your great guilt(M)
that your skirts have been stripped off,(N)
your body exposed.[e]
23 Can the Cushite change his skin,
or a leopard his spots?
If so, you might be able to do what is good,(O)
you who are instructed in evil.
24 I will scatter you[f] like drifting chaff(P)
before the desert wind.
25 This is your lot,
what I have decreed for you—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
because you have forgotten Me
and trusted in Falsehood.[g](Q)
26 I will pull your skirts up over your face
so that your shame might be seen.(R)
27 Your adulteries and your lustful neighing,(S)
your heinous prostitution
on the hills, in the fields—
I have seen your detestable acts.
Woe to you, Jerusalem!
You are unclean—
for how long yet?(T)
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 13:1 Lit around your waist
- Jeremiah 13:4 Lit wearing around your waist
- Jeremiah 13:4 Perhaps a place near Anathoth with the same spelling as river
- Jeremiah 13:16 Or brings a shadow of death
- Jeremiah 13:22 Lit your heels have suffered violence
- Jeremiah 13:24 Lit them
- Jeremiah 13:25 = Baal
Jeremiah 21
Holman Christian Standard Bible
Zedekiah’s Request Denied
21 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord when King Zedekiah sent Pashhur(A) son of Malchijah and the priest Zephaniah(B) son of Maaseiah to Jeremiah, asking, 2 “Ask the Lord on our behalf, since Nebuchadnezzar[a](C) king of Babylon is making war against us. Perhaps the Lord will perform for us something like all His past wonderful works so that Nebuchadnezzar will withdraw from us.”
3 But Jeremiah answered, “This is what you are to say to Zedekiah: 4 ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I will repel the weapons of war in your hands,(D) those you are using to fight the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans[b] who are besieging you outside the wall, and I will bring them into the center of this city.(E) 5 I will fight against you(F) with an outstretched hand and a mighty arm,(G) with anger, rage, and great wrath. 6 I will strike the residents of this city, both man and beast. They will die in a great plague. 7 Afterward’”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“‘King Zedekiah of Judah, his officers, and the people—those in this city who survive the plague, the sword, and the famine—I will hand over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon,(H) to their enemies, yes, to those who want to take their lives. He will put them to the sword; he won’t spare them or show pity or compassion.’(I)
A Warning for the People
8 “But you must say to this people, ‘This is what the Lord says: Look, I am presenting to you the way of life and the way of death.(J) 9 Whoever stays in this city will die by the sword, famine, and plague, but whoever goes out and surrenders to the Chaldeans who are besieging you will live and will retain his life like the spoils of war.(K) 10 For I have turned[c] against this city to bring disaster(L) and not good’”—this is the Lord’s declaration. “‘It will be handed over to the king of Babylon, who will burn it down.’(M)
11 “And to the house of the king of Judah say this: ‘Hear the word of the Lord! 12 House of David, this is what the Lord says:
Administer justice every morning,
and rescue the victim of robbery
from the hand of his oppressor,(N)
or My anger will flare up like fire
and burn unquenchably
because of their evil deeds.
13 Beware! I am against you,(O)
you who sit above the valley,
you atop the rocky plateau—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
you who say, “Who can come down against us?(P)
Who can enter our hiding places?”
14 I will punish you according to what you have done(Q)—
this is the Lord’s declaration.
I will kindle a fire in its forest(R)
that will consume everything around it.’”(S)
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 21:2 Lit Nebuchadrezzar
- Jeremiah 21:4 = Babylonians
- Jeremiah 21:10 Lit set My face
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