Jeremiah 11-13
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Israel and Judah Have Broken the Covenant
11 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 3 You shall say to them, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Cursed be anyone who does not heed the words of this covenant,(A) 4 which I commanded your ancestors when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron smelter, saying, ‘Listen to my voice, and do all that I command you. So shall you be my people, and I will be your God,(B) 5 that I may perform the oath that I swore to your ancestors, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as at this day.’ ” Then I answered, “So be it, Lord.”(C)
6 And the Lord said to me: Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: Hear the words of this covenant and do them. 7 For I solemnly warned your ancestors when I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, warning them persistently, even to this day, saying, “Obey my voice.”(D) 8 Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but everyone walked in the stubbornness of an evil will. So I brought upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did not.(E)
9 And the Lord said to me: Conspiracy exists among the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.(F) 10 They have turned back to the iniquities of their ancestors of old, who refused to heed my words; they have gone after other gods to serve them; the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken the covenant that I made with their ancestors.(G) 11 Therefore, thus says the Lord, assuredly I am going to bring disaster upon them that they cannot escape; though they cry out to me, I will not listen to them.(H) 12 Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to whom they make offerings, but they will never save them in the time of their trouble.(I) 13 For your gods have become as many as your towns, O Judah, and as many as the streets of Jerusalem are the altars to shame you have set up, altars to make offerings to Baal.
14 As for you, do not pray for this people or lift up a cry or prayer on their behalf, for I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their trouble.(J) 15 What right has my beloved in my house, when she has done vile deeds? Can vows[a] and sacrificial flesh avert your doom? Can you then exult?(K) 16 The Lord once called you, “A green olive tree, fair with goodly fruit,” but with the roar of a great tempest he will set fire to it, and its branches will be consumed.(L) 17 The Lord of hosts, who planted you, has pronounced evil against you because of the evil that the house of Israel and the house of Judah have done, provoking me to anger by making offerings to Baal.(M)
Jeremiah’s Life Threatened
18 It was the Lord who made it known to me, and I knew;
then you showed me their deeds.
19 But I was like a gentle lamb
led to the slaughter.
And I did not know it was against me
that they devised schemes, saying,
“Let us destroy the tree with its fruit;
let us cut him off from the land of the living,
so that his name will no longer be remembered!”(N)
20 But you, O Lord of hosts, who judge righteously,
who try the heart and the mind,
let me see your retribution upon them,
for to you I have committed my cause.(O)
21 Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the people of Anathoth who seek your life and say, “You shall not prophesy in the name of the Lord, or you will die by our hand”(P)— 22 therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: I am going to punish them; the young men shall die by the sword; their sons and their daughters shall die by famine, 23 and not even a remnant shall be left of them. For I will bring disaster upon the people of Anathoth, the year of their punishment.(Q)
Jeremiah Complains to God
12 You will be in the right, O Lord,
when I lay charges against you,
but let me put my case to you.
Why does the way of the guilty prosper?
Why do all who are treacherous thrive?(R)
2 You plant them, and they take root;
they grow and bring forth fruit;
you are near in their mouths
yet far from their hearts.(S)
3 But you, O Lord, know me;
you see me and test me; my heart is with you.
Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter,
and set them apart for the day of slaughter.(T)
4 How long will the land mourn
and the grass of every field wither?
For the wickedness of those who live in it,
the animals and the birds are swept away,
and because people said, “He is blind to our ways.”[b](U)
God Replies to Jeremiah
5 If you have raced with runners and they have wearied you,
how will you compete with horses?
And if you trust in a safe land,
how will you fare in the thickets of the Jordan?(V)
6 For even your kinsfolk and your own family,
even they have dealt treacherously with you;
they are in full cry after you;
do not believe them,
though they speak friendly words to you.(W)
7 I have forsaken my house;
I have abandoned my heritage;
I have given the beloved of my heart
into the hands of her enemies.(X)
8 My heritage has become to me
like a lion in the forest;
she has lifted up her voice against me—
therefore I hate her.(Y)
9 Is the hawk hungry for my heritage?
Are the vultures all around her?
Go, assemble all the wild animals;
bring them to devour her.(Z)
10 Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard;
they have trampled down my portion;
they have made my pleasant portion
a desolate wilderness.(AA)
11 They have made it a desolation;
desolate, it mourns to me.
The whole land is made desolate,
but no one lays it to heart.(AB)
12 Upon all the bare heights[c] in the desert,
spoilers have come,
for the sword of the Lord devours
from one end of the land to the other;
no one shall be safe.(AC)
13 They have sown wheat and have reaped thorns;
they have tired themselves out but profit nothing.
They shall be ashamed of their[d] harvests
because of the fierce anger of the Lord.(AD)
14 Thus says the Lord concerning all my evil neighbors who touch the heritage that I have given my people Israel to inherit: I am about to pluck them up from their land, and I will pluck up the house of Judah from among them.(AE) 15 And after I have plucked them up, I will again have compassion on them, and I will bring them again to their heritage and to their land, every one of them.(AF) 16 And then, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, “As the Lord lives,” as they taught my people to swear by Baal, then they shall be built up in the midst of my people.(AG) 17 But if any nation will not listen, then I will completely uproot it and destroy it, says the Lord.(AH)
The Linen Loincloth
13 Thus said the Lord to me, “Go and buy yourself a linen loincloth and put it on your loins, but do not dip it in water.”(AI) 2 So I bought a loincloth according to the word of the Lord and put it on my loins.(AJ) 3 And the word of the Lord came to me a second time, saying, 4 “Take the loincloth that you bought and are wearing, and go now to the Euphrates,[e] and hide it there in a cleft of the rock.”(AK) 5 So I went and hid it by the Euphrates,[f] as the Lord commanded me.(AL) 6 And after many days the Lord said to me, “Go now to the Euphrates,[g] and take from there the loincloth that I commanded you to hide there.” 7 Then I went to the Euphrates[h] and dug, and I took the loincloth from the place where I had hidden it. But now the loincloth was ruined; it was good for nothing.
8 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 9 Thus says the Lord: Just so I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem.(AM) 10 This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who stubbornly follow their own will and have gone after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be like this loincloth, which is good for nothing.(AN) 11 For as the loincloth clings to one’s loins, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, says the Lord, in order that they might be for me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory. But they would not listen.(AO)
Symbol of the Wine Jars
12 You shall speak to them this word: Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Every wine jar should be filled with wine. And they will say to you, “Do you think we do not know that every wine jar should be filled with wine?” 13 Then you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord: I am about to fill all the inhabitants of this land—the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem—with drunkenness.(AP) 14 And I will dash them one against another, parents and children together, says the Lord. I will not pity or spare or have compassion when I destroy them.(AQ)
Exile Threatened
15 Hear and give ear; do not be haughty,
for the Lord has spoken.(AR)
16 Give glory to the Lord your God
before he brings darkness
and before your feet stumble
on the mountains at twilight;
while you look for light,
he turns it into gloom
and makes it deep darkness.(AS)
17 But if you will not listen,
my soul will weep in secret for your pride;
my eyes will weep bitterly and run down with tears
because the Lord’s flock has been taken captive.(AT)
18 Say to the king and the queen mother:
“Take a lowly seat,
for your beautiful crown
has come down from your head.”[i](AU)
19 The towns of the Negeb are shut up,
with no one to open them;
all Judah is taken into exile,
wholly taken into exile.(AV)
20 Lift up your eyes and see
those who come from the north.
Where is the flock that was given you,
your beautiful flock?(AW)
21 What will you say when they set as head over you
those whom you have trained
to be your allies?
Will not pangs seize you
like those of a woman in labor?(AX)
22 And if you say in your heart,
“Why have these things come upon me?”
it is for the greatness of your iniquity
that your skirts are lifted up
and you are violated.(AY)
23 Can Cushites change their skin
or leopards their spots?
Then also you can do good,
who are accustomed to do evil.(AZ)
24 I will scatter you[j] like chaff
driven by the wind from the desert.(BA)
25 This is your lot,
the portion I have measured out to you, says the Lord,
because you have forgotten me
and trusted in lies.(BB)
26 I myself will lift up your skirts over your face,
and your shame will be seen.(BC)
27 I have seen your abominations,
your adulteries and neighings, your shameless prostitutions
on the hills of the countryside.
Woe to you, O Jerusalem!
How long will it be
before you are made clean?(BD)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.