Jeremiah 11-20

New King James Version

The Broken Covenant

11 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, ²“Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem; ³and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ^(A)“Cursed is the man who does not obey the words of this covenant ⁴which I commanded your fathers in the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt, ^(B)from the iron furnace, saying, ^(C)‘Obey My voice, and do according to all that I command you; so shall you be My people, and I will be your God,’ ⁵that I may establish the ^(D)oath which I have sworn to your fathers, to give them ^(E)‘a land flowing with milk and honey,’ as it is this day.” ’ ”

And I answered and said, ^[a]“So be it, Lord.”

⁶Then the Lord said to me, “Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying: ‘Hear the words of this covenant ^(F)and do them. ⁷For I earnestly exhorted your fathers in the day I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, until this day, ^(G)rising early and exhorting, saying, “Obey My voice.” ⁸^(H)Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but ^(I)everyone ^[b]followed the dictates of his evil heart; therefore I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but which they have not done.’ ”

⁹And the Lord said to me, ^(J)“A conspiracy has been found among the men of Judah and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ¹⁰They have turned back to ^(K)the iniquities of their forefathers who refused to hear My words, and they have gone after other gods to serve them; the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken My covenant which I made with their fathers.”

¹¹Therefore thus says the Lord: “Behold, I will surely bring calamity on them which they will not be able to ^[c]escape; and ^(L)though they cry out to Me, I will not listen to them. ¹²Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and ^(M)cry out to the gods to whom they offer incense, but they will not save them at all in the time of their trouble. ¹³For according to the number of your ^(N)cities were your gods, O Judah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem you have set up altars to that shameful thing, altars to burn incense to Baal.

¹⁴“So ^(O)do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer for them; for I will not hear them in the time that they cry out to Me because of their trouble.

¹⁵“What^(P) has My beloved to do in My house,
Having ^(Q)done lewd deeds with many?
And ^(R)the holy flesh has passed from you.
When you do evil, then you ^(S)rejoice.
¹⁶The Lord called your name,
^(T)Green Olive Tree, Lovely and of Good Fruit.
With the noise of a great tumult
He has kindled fire on it,
And its branches are broken.

¹⁷“For the Lord of hosts, ^(U)who planted you, has pronounced doom against you for the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done against themselves to provoke Me to anger in offering incense to Baal.”

Jeremiah’s Life Threatened

¹⁸Now the Lord gave me knowledge of it, and I know it; for You showed me their doings. ¹⁹But I was like a docile lamb brought to the slaughter; and I did not know that they had devised schemes against me, saying, “Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, ^(V)and let us cut him off from ^(W)the land of the living, that his name may be remembered no more.”

²⁰But, O Lord of hosts,
You who judge righteously,
^(X)Testing the ^[d]mind and the heart,
Let me see Your ^(Y)vengeance on them,
For to You I have revealed my cause.

²¹“Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the men of ^(Z)Anathoth who seek your life, saying, ^(AA)‘Do not prophesy in the name of the Lord, lest you 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 ^(AB)die by famine; ²³and there shall be no remnant of them, for I will bring catastrophe on the men of Anathoth, even ^(AC)the year of their punishment.’ ”

Jeremiah’s Question

12 Righteous ^(AD)are You, O Lord, when I plead with You;
Yet let me talk with You about Your judgments.
^(AE)Why does the way of the wicked prosper?
Why are those happy who deal so treacherously?
²You have planted them, yes, they have taken root;
They grow, yes, they bear fruit.
^(AF)You are near in their mouth
But far from their ^[e]mind.

³But You, O Lord, ^(AG)know me;
You have seen me,
And You have ^(AH)tested my heart toward You.
Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter,
And prepare them for ^(AI)the day of slaughter.
⁴How long will ^(AJ)the land mourn,
And the herbs of every field wither?
^(AK)The beasts and birds are consumed,
^(AL)For the wickedness of those who dwell there,
Because they said, “He will not see our final end.”

The Lord Answers Jeremiah

⁵“If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you,
Then how can you contend with horses?
And if in the land of peace,
In which you trusted, they wearied you,
Then how will you do in ^(AM)the ^[f]floodplain of the Jordan?
⁶For even ^(AN)your brothers, the house of your father,
Even they have dealt treacherously with you;
Yes, they have called ^[g]a multitude after you.
^(AO)Do not believe them,
Even though they speak ^[h]smooth words to you.

⁷“I have forsaken My house, I have left My heritage;
I have given the dearly beloved of My soul into the hand of her enemies.
⁸My heritage is to Me like a lion in the forest;
It cries out against Me;
Therefore I have ^(AP)hated it.
⁹My ^[i]heritage is to Me like a speckled vulture;
The vultures all around are against her.
Come, assemble all the beasts of the field,
^(AQ)Bring them to devour!

¹⁰“Many ^(AR)rulers^[j] have destroyed ^(AS)My vineyard,
They have ^(AT)trodden My portion underfoot;
They have made My ^[k]pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.
¹¹They have made it ^(AU)desolate;
Desolate, it mourns to Me;
The whole land is made desolate,
Because ^(AV)no one takes it to heart.
¹²The plunderers have come
On all the desolate heights in the wilderness,
For the sword of the Lord shall devour
From one end of the land to the other end of the land;
No flesh shall have peace.
¹³^(AW)They have sown wheat but reaped thorns;
They have ^[l]put themselves to pain but do not profit.
But be ashamed of your harvest
Because of the fierce anger of the Lord.”

¹⁴Thus says the Lord: “Against all My evil neighbors who ^(AX)touch the inheritance which I have caused My people Israel to inherit—behold, I will ^(AY)pluck them out of their land and pluck out the house of Judah from among them. ¹⁵^(AZ)Then it shall be, after I have plucked them out, that I will return and have compassion on them ^(BA)and bring them back, everyone to his heritage and everyone to his land. ¹⁶And it shall be, if they will learn carefully the ways of My people, ^(BB)to swear by My name, ‘As the Lord lives,’ as they taught My people to swear by Baal, then they shall be ^(BC)established in the midst of My people. ¹⁷But if they do not ^(BD)obey, I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation,” says the Lord.

Symbol of the Linen Sash

13 Thus the Lord said to me: “Go and get yourself a linen sash, and put it ^[m]around your waist, but do not put it in water.” ²So I got a ^[n]sash according to the word of the Lord, and put it around my waist.

³And the word of the Lord came to me the second time, saying, ⁴“Take the ^[o]sash that you acquired, which is ^[p]around your waist, and arise, go to the ^[q]Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole in the rock.” ⁵So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord commanded me.

⁶Now it came to pass after many days that the Lord said to me, “Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take from there the sash which I commanded you to hide there.” ⁷Then I went to the Euphrates and dug, and I took the ^[r]sash from the place where I had hidden it; and there was the sash, ruined. It was profitable for nothing.

⁸Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ⁹“Thus says the Lord: ‘In this manner ^(BE)I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great ^(BF)pride of Jerusalem. ¹⁰This evil people, who ^(BG)refuse to hear My words, who ^(BH)follow^[s] the dictates of their hearts, and walk after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be just like this sash which is profitable for nothing. ¹¹For as the sash clings to the waist of a man, so I have caused the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to cling to Me,’ says the Lord, ‘that ^(BI)they may become My people, ^(BJ)for renown, for praise, and for ^(BK)glory; but they would ^(BL)not hear.’

Symbol of the Wine Bottles

¹²“Therefore you shall speak to them this word: ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel: “Every bottle shall be filled with wine.” ’

“And they will say to you, ‘Do we not certainly know that every bottle will be filled with wine?’

¹³“Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land—even the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem—^(BM)with drunkenness! ¹⁴And ^(BN)I will dash them ^[t]one against another, even the fathers and the sons together,” says the Lord. “I will not pity nor spare nor have mercy, but will destroy them.” ’ ”

Pride Precedes Captivity

¹⁵Hear and give ear:
Do not be proud,
For the Lord has spoken.
¹⁶^(BO)Give glory to the Lord your God
Before He causes ^(BP)darkness,
And before your feet stumble
On the dark mountains,
And while you are ^(BQ)looking for light,
He turns it into ^(BR)the shadow of death
And makes it dense darkness.
¹⁷But if you will not hear it,
My soul will ^(BS)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.

¹⁸Say to ^(BT)the king and to the queen mother,
“Humble yourselves;
Sit down,
For your rule shall collapse, the crown of your glory.”
¹⁹The cities of the South shall be shut up,
And no one shall open them;
Judah shall be carried away captive, all of it;
It shall be wholly carried away captive.

²⁰Lift up your eyes and see
Those who come from the ^(BU)north.
Where is the flock that was given to you,
Your beautiful sheep?
²¹What will you say when He punishes you?
For you have taught them
To be chieftains, to be head over you.
Will not ^(BV)pangs seize you,
Like a woman in ^[u]labor?
²²And if you say in your heart,
^(BW)“Why have these things come upon me?”
For the greatness of your iniquity
^(BX)Your skirts have been uncovered,
Your heels ^[v]made bare.
²³Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots?
Then may you also do good who are accustomed to do evil.

²⁴“Therefore I will ^(BY)scatter them ^(BZ)like stubble
That passes away by the wind of the wilderness.
²⁵^(CA)This is your lot,
The portion of your measures from Me,” says the Lord,
“Because you have forgotten Me
And trusted in ^(CB)falsehood.
²⁶Therefore ^(CC)I will uncover your skirts over your face,
That your shame may appear.
²⁷I have seen your adulteries
And your lustful ^(CD)neighings,
The lewdness of your harlotry,
Your abominations ^(CE)on the hills in the fields.
Woe to you, O Jerusalem!
Will you still not be made clean?”

Sword, Famine, and Pestilence

14 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the droughts.

²“Judah mourns,
And ^(CF)her gates languish;
They ^(CG)mourn for the land,
And ^(CH)the cry of Jerusalem has gone up.
³Their nobles have sent their lads for water;
They went to the cisterns and found no water.
They returned with their vessels empty;
They were ^(CI)ashamed and confounded
^(CJ)And covered their heads.
⁴Because the ground is parched,
For there was ^(CK)no rain in the land,
The plowmen were ashamed;
They covered their heads.
⁵Yes, the deer also gave birth in the field,
But ^[w]left because there was no grass.
⁶And ^(CL)the wild donkeys stood in the desolate heights;
They sniffed at the wind like jackals;
Their eyes failed because there was no grass.”

⁷O Lord, though our iniquities testify against us,
Do it ^(CM)for Your name’s sake;
For our backslidings are many,
We have sinned against You.
⁸^(CN)O the Hope of Israel, his Savior in time of trouble,
Why should You be like a stranger in the land,
And like a traveler who turns aside to tarry for a night?
⁹Why should You be like a man astonished,
Like a mighty one ^(CO)who cannot save?
Yet You, O Lord, ^(CP)are in our midst,
And we are called by Your name;
Do not leave us!

¹⁰Thus says the Lord to this people:

^(CQ)“Thus they have loved to wander;
They have not restrained their feet.
Therefore the Lord does not accept them;
^(CR)He will remember their iniquity now,
And punish their sins.”

¹¹Then the Lord said to me, ^(CS)“Do not pray for this people, for their good. ¹²^(CT)When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and ^(CU)when they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I will not accept them. But ^(CV)I will consume them by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.”

¹³^(CW)Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, the prophets say to them, ‘You shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine, but I will give you ^[x]assured ^(CX)peace in this place.’ ”

¹⁴And the Lord said to me, ^(CY)“The prophets prophesy lies in My name. ^(CZ)I have not sent them, commanded them, nor spoken to them; they prophesy to you a false vision, ^[y]divination, a worthless thing, and the ^(DA)deceit of their heart. ¹⁵Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who prophesy in My name, whom I did not send, ^(DB)and who say, ‘Sword and famine shall not be in this land’—‘By sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed! ¹⁶And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; ^(DC)they will have no one to bury them—them nor their wives, their sons nor their daughters—for I will pour their wickedness on them.’

¹⁷“Therefore you shall say this word to them:

^(DD)‘Let my eyes flow with tears night and day,
And let them not cease;
^(DE)For the virgin daughter of my people
Has been broken with a mighty stroke, with a very severe blow.
¹⁸If I go out to ^(DF)the field,
Then behold, those slain with the sword!
And if I enter the city,
Then behold, those sick from famine!
Yes, both prophet and ^(DG)priest go about in a land they do not know.’ ”

The People Plead for Mercy

¹⁹^(DH)Have You utterly rejected Judah?
Has Your soul loathed Zion?
Why have You stricken us so that ^(DI)there is no healing for us?
^(DJ)We looked for peace, but there was no good;
And for the time of healing, and there was trouble.
²⁰We acknowledge, O Lord, our wickedness
And the iniquity of our ^(DK)fathers,
For ^(DL)we have sinned against You.
²¹Do not abhor us, for Your name’s sake;
Do not disgrace the throne of Your glory.
^(DM)Remember, do not break Your covenant with us.
²²^(DN)Are there any among ^(DO)the idols of the nations that can cause ^(DP)rain?
Or can the heavens give showers?
^(DQ)Are You not He, O Lord our God?
Therefore we will wait for You,
Since You have made all these.

The Lord Will Not Relent

15 Then the Lord said to me, ^(DR)“Even if ^(DS)Moses and ^(DT)Samuel stood before Me, My ^[z]mind would not be favorable toward this people. Cast them out of My sight, and let them go forth. ²And it shall be, if they say to you, ‘Where should we go?’ then you shall tell them, ‘Thus says the Lord:

^(DU)“Such as are for death, to death;
And such as are for the sword, to the sword;
And such as are for the famine, to the famine;
And such as are for the ^(DV)captivity, to the captivity.” ’

³“And I will ^(DW)appoint over them four forms of destruction,” says the Lord: “the sword to slay, the dogs to drag, ^(DX)the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy. ⁴I will hand them over to ^(DY)trouble, to all kingdoms of the earth, because of ^(DZ)Manasseh the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem.

⁵“For who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem?
Or who will bemoan you?
Or who will turn aside to ask how you are doing?
⁶^(EA)You have forsaken Me,” says the Lord,
“You have ^(EB)gone backward.
Therefore I will stretch out My hand against you and destroy you;
^(EC)I am ^[aa]weary of relenting!
⁷And I will winnow them with a winnowing fan in the gates of the land;
I will ^(ED)bereave them of children;
I will destroy My people,
Since they ^(EE)do not return from their ways.
⁸Their widows will be increased to Me more than the sand of the seas;
I will bring against them,
Against the mother of the young men,
A plunderer at noonday;
I will cause anguish and terror to fall on them ^(EF)suddenly.

⁹“She^(EG) languishes who has borne seven;
She has breathed her last;
^(EH)Her sun has gone down
While it was yet day;
She has been ashamed and confounded.
And the remnant of them I will deliver to the sword
Before their enemies,” says the Lord.

Jeremiah’s Dejection

¹⁰^(EI)Woe is me, my mother,
That you have borne me,
A man of strife and a man of contention to the whole ^[ab]earth!
I have neither lent for interest,
Nor have men lent to me for interest.
Every one of them curses me.

¹¹The Lord said:

“Surely it will be well with your remnant;
Surely I will cause ^(EJ)the enemy to intercede with you
In the time of adversity and in the time of affliction.
¹²Can anyone break iron,
The northern iron and the bronze?
¹³Your wealth and your treasures
I will give as ^(EK)plunder without price,
Because of all your sins,
Throughout your territories.
¹⁴And I will ^[ac]make you cross over with your enemies
^(EL)Into a land which you do not know;
For a ^(EM)fire is kindled in My anger,
Which shall burn upon you.”

¹⁵O Lord, ^(EN)You know;
Remember me and ^[ad]visit me,
And ^(EO)take vengeance for me on my persecutors.
In Your enduring patience, do not take me away.
Know that ^(EP)for Your sake I have suffered rebuke.
¹⁶Your words were found, and I ^(EQ)ate them,
And ^(ER)Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart;
For I am called by Your name,
O Lord God of hosts.
¹⁷^(ES)I did not sit in the assembly of the mockers,
Nor did I rejoice;
I sat alone because of Your hand,
For You have filled me with indignation.
¹⁸Why is my ^(ET)pain perpetual
And my wound incurable,
Which refuses to be healed?
Will You surely be to me ^(EU)like an unreliable stream,
As waters that ^[ae]fail?

The Lord Reassures Jeremiah

¹⁹Therefore thus says the Lord:

^(EV)“If you return,
Then I will bring you back;
You shall ^(EW)stand before Me;
If you ^(EX)take out the precious from the vile,
You shall be as My mouth.
Let them return to you,
But you must not return to them.
²⁰And I will make you to this people a fortified bronze ^(EY)wall;
And they will fight against you,
But ^(EZ)they shall not prevail against you;
For I am with you to save you
And deliver you,” says the Lord.
²¹“I will deliver you from the hand of the wicked,
And I will redeem you from the grip of the terrible.”

Jeremiah’s Lifestyle and Message

16 The word of the Lord also came to me, saying, ²“You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place.” ³For thus says the Lord concerning the sons and daughters who are born in this place, and concerning their mothers who bore them and their fathers who begot them in this land: ⁴“They shall die ^(FA)gruesome deaths; they shall not be ^(FB)lamented nor shall they be ^(FC)buried, but they shall be ^(FD)like refuse on the face of the earth. They shall be consumed by the sword and by famine, and their ^(FE)corpses shall be meat for the birds of heaven and for the beasts of the earth.”

⁵For thus says the Lord: ^(FF)“Do not enter the house of mourning, nor go to lament or bemoan them; for I have taken away My peace from this people,” says the Lord, “lovingkindness and mercies. ⁶Both the great and the small shall die in this land. They shall not be buried; ^(FG)neither shall men lament for them, ^(FH)cut themselves, nor ^(FI)make themselves bald for them. ⁷Nor shall men break bread in mourning for them, to comfort them for the dead; nor shall men give them the cup of consolation to ^(FJ)drink for their father or their mother. ⁸Also you shall not go into the house of feasting to sit with them, to eat and drink.”

⁹For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, ^(FK)I will cause to cease from this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of ^[af]mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.

¹⁰“And it shall be, when you show this people all these words, and they say to you, ^(FL)‘Why has the Lord pronounced all this great disaster against us? Or what is our iniquity? Or what is our sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?’ ¹¹then you shall say to them, ^(FM)‘Because your fathers have forsaken Me,’ says the Lord; ‘they have walked after other gods and have served them and worshiped them, and have forsaken Me and not kept My law. ¹²And you have done ^(FN)worse than your fathers, for behold, ^(FO)each one ^[ag]follows the dictates of his own evil heart, so that no one listens to Me. ¹³^(FP)Therefore I will cast you out of this land ^(FQ)into a land that you do not know, neither you nor your fathers; and there you shall serve other gods day and night, where I will not show you favor.’

God Will Restore Israel^(FR)

¹⁴“Therefore behold, the ^(FS)days are coming,” says the Lord, “that it shall no more be said, ‘The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ ¹⁵but, ‘The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the ^(FT)north and from all the lands where He had driven them.’ For ^(FU)I will bring them back into their land which I gave to their fathers.

¹⁶“Behold, I will send for many ^(FV)fishermen,” says the Lord, “and they shall fish them; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks. ¹⁷For My ^(FW)eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from My face, nor is their iniquity hidden from My eyes. ¹⁸And first I will repay ^(FX)double for their iniquity and their sin, because ^(FY)they have defiled My land; they have filled My inheritance with the carcasses of their detestable and abominable idols.”

¹⁹O Lord, ^(FZ)my strength and my fortress,
^(GA)My refuge in the day of affliction,
The Gentiles shall come to You
From the ends of the earth and say,
“Surely our fathers have inherited lies,
Worthlessness and ^(GB)unprofitable things.”
²⁰Will a man make gods for himself,
^(GC)Which are not gods?

²¹“Therefore behold, I will this once cause them to know,
I will cause them to know
My hand and My might;
And they shall know that ^(GD)My name is the Lord.

Judah’s Sin and Punishment

17 “The sin of Judah is ^(GE)written with a ^(GF)pen of iron;
With the point of a diamond it is ^(GG)engraved
On the tablet of their heart,
And on the horns of your altars,
²While their children remember
Their altars and their ^(GH)wooden^[ah] images
By the green trees on the high hills.
³O My mountain in the field,
I will give as plunder your wealth, all your treasures,
And your high places of sin within all your borders.
⁴And you, even yourself,
Shall let go of your heritage which I gave you;
And I will cause you to serve your enemies
In ^(GI)the land which you do not know;
For ^(GJ)you have kindled a fire in My anger which shall burn forever.”

⁵Thus says the Lord:

^(GK)“Cursed is the man who trusts in man
And makes ^(GL)flesh his ^[ai]strength,
Whose heart departs from the Lord.
⁶For he shall be ^(GM)like a shrub in the desert,
And ^(GN)shall not see when good comes,
But shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness,
^(GO)In a salt land which is not inhabited.

⁷“Blessed^(GP) is the man who trusts in the Lord,
And whose hope is the Lord.
⁸For he shall be ^(GQ)like a tree planted by the waters,
Which spreads out its roots by the river,
And will not ^[aj]fear when heat comes;
But its leaf will be green,
And will not be anxious in the year of drought,
Nor will cease from yielding fruit.

⁹“The ^(GR)heart is deceitful above all things,
And ^[ak]desperately wicked;
Who can know it?
¹⁰I, the Lord, ^(GS)search the heart,
I test the ^[al]mind,
^(GT)Even to give every man according to his ways,
According to the fruit of his doings.

¹¹“As a partridge that ^[am]broods but does not hatch,
So is he who gets riches, but not by right;
It ^(GU)will leave him in the midst of his days,
And at his end he will be ^(GV)a fool.”

¹²A glorious high throne from the beginning
Is the place of our sanctuary.
¹³O Lord, ^(GW)the hope of Israel,
^(GX)All who forsake You shall be ashamed.

“Those who depart from Me
Shall be ^(GY)written in the earth,
Because they have forsaken the Lord,
The ^(GZ)fountain of living waters.”

Jeremiah Prays for Deliverance

¹⁴Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed;
Save me, and I shall be saved,
For ^(HA)You are my praise.
¹⁵Indeed they say to me,
^(HB)“Where is the word of the Lord?
Let it come now!”
¹⁶As for me, ^(HC)I have not hurried away from being a shepherd who follows You,
Nor have I desired the woeful day;
You know what came out of my lips;
It was right there before You.
¹⁷Do not be a terror to me;
^(HD)You are my hope in the day of doom.
¹⁸^(HE)Let them be ashamed who persecute me,
But ^(HF)do not let me be put to shame;
Let them be dismayed,
But do not let me be dismayed.
Bring on them the day of doom,
And ^(HG)destroy^[an] them with double destruction!

Hallow the Sabbath Day

¹⁹Thus the Lord said to me: “Go and stand in the gate of the children of the people, by which the kings of Judah come in and by which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem; ²⁰and say to them, ^(HH)‘Hear the word of the Lord, you kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who enter by these gates. ²¹Thus says the Lord: ^(HI)“Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem; ²²nor carry a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath day, nor do any work, but hallow the Sabbath day, as I ^(HJ)commanded your fathers. ²³^(HK)But they did not obey nor incline their ear, but ^[ao]made their neck stiff, that they might not hear nor receive instruction.

²⁴“And it shall be, ^(HL)if you heed Me carefully,” says the Lord, “to bring no burden through the gates of this city on the ^(HM)Sabbath day, but hallow the Sabbath day, to do no work in it, ²⁵^(HN)then shall enter the gates of this city kings and princes sitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their princes, accompanied by the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and this city shall remain forever. ²⁶And they shall come from the cities of Judah and from ^(HO)the places around Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin and from ^(HP)the ^[ap]lowland, from the mountains and from ^(HQ)the ^[aq]South, bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings and incense, bringing ^(HR)sacrifices of praise to the house of the Lord.

²⁷“But if you will not heed Me to hallow the Sabbath day, such as not carrying a burden when entering the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then ^(HS)I will kindle a fire in its gates, ^(HT)and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be ^(HU)quenched.” ’ ”

The Potter and the Clay

18 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: ²“Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear My words.” ³Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something at the ^[ar]wheel. ⁴And the vessel that he ^[as]made of clay was ^[at]marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make.

⁵Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ⁶“O house of Israel, ^(HV)can I not do with you as this potter?” says the Lord. “Look, ^(HW)as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel! ⁷The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to ^(HX)pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it, ⁸^(HY)if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, ^(HZ)I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it. ⁹And the instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it, ¹⁰if it does evil in My sight so that it does not obey My voice, then I will relent concerning the good with which I said I would benefit it.

¹¹“Now therefore, speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Behold, I am fashioning a disaster and devising a plan against you. ^(IA)Return now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings ^(IB)good.” ’ ”

God’s Warning Rejected

¹²And they said, ^(IC)“That is hopeless! So we will walk according to our own plans, and we will every one ^[au]obey the ^(ID)dictates^[av] of his evil heart.”

¹³Therefore thus says the Lord:

^(IE)“Ask now among the Gentiles,
Who has heard such things?
The virgin of Israel has done ^(IF)a very horrible thing.
¹⁴Will a man ^[aw]leave the snow water of Lebanon,
Which comes from the rock of the field?
Will the cold flowing waters be forsaken for strange waters?

¹⁵“Because My people have forgotten ^(IG)Me,
They have burned incense to worthless idols.
And they have caused themselves to stumble in their ways,
From the ^(IH)ancient paths,
To walk in pathways and not on a highway,
¹⁶To make their land ^(II)desolate and a perpetual ^(IJ)hissing;
Everyone who passes by it will be astonished
And shake his head.
¹⁷^(IK)I will scatter them ^(IL)as with an east wind before the enemy;
^(IM)I will ^[ax]show them the back and not the face
In the day of their calamity.”

Jeremiah Persecuted

¹⁸Then they said, ^(IN)“Come and let us devise plans against Jeremiah; ^(IO)for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come and let us attack him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.”

¹⁹Give heed to me, O Lord,
And listen to the voice of those who contend with me!
²⁰^(IP)Shall evil be repaid for good?
For they have ^(IQ)dug a pit for my life.
Remember that I ^(IR)stood before You
To speak good ^[ay]for them,
To turn away Your wrath from them.
²¹Therefore ^(IS)deliver up their children to the famine,
And pour out their blood
By the force of the sword;
Let their wives become widows
And ^(IT)bereaved of their children.
Let their men be put to death,
Their young men be slain
By the sword in battle.
²²Let a cry be heard from their houses,
When You bring a troop suddenly upon them;
For they have dug a pit to take me,
And hidden snares for my feet.
²³Yet, Lord, You know all their counsel
Which is against me, to slay me.
^(IU)Provide no atonement for their iniquity,
Nor blot out their sin from Your sight;
But let them be overthrown before You.
Deal thus with them
In the time of Your ^(IV)anger.

The Sign of the Broken Flask

19 Thus says the Lord: “Go and get a potter’s earthen flask, and take some of the elders of the people and some of the elders of the priests. ²And go out to ^(IW)the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the Potsherd Gate; and proclaim there the words that I will tell you, ³^(IX)and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, I will bring such a catastrophe on this place, that whoever hears of it, his ears will ^(IY)tingle.

⁴“Because they ^(IZ)have forsaken Me and made this an alien place, because they have burned incense in it to other gods whom neither they, their fathers, nor the kings of Judah have known, and have filled this place with ^(JA)the blood of the innocents ⁵^(JB)(they have also built the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings to Baal, ^(JC)which I did not command or speak, nor did it come into My mind), ⁶therefore behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “that this place shall no more be called Tophet or ^(JD)the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. ⁷And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, ^(JE)and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hands of those who seek their lives; their ^(JF)corpses I will give as meat for the birds of the heaven and for the beasts of the earth. ⁸I will make this city ^(JG)desolate and a hissing; everyone who passes by it will be astonished and hiss because of all its plagues. ⁹And I will cause them to eat the ^(JH)flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and everyone shall eat the flesh of his friend in the siege and in the desperation with which their enemies and those who seek their lives shall drive them to despair.” ’

¹⁰^(JI)“Then you shall break the flask in the sight of the men who go with you, ¹¹and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: ^(JJ)“Even so I will break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter’s vessel, which cannot be ^[az]made whole again; and they shall ^(JK)bury them in Tophet till there is no place to bury. ¹²Thus I will do to this place,” says the Lord, “and to its inhabitants, and make this city like Tophet. ¹³And the houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah shall be defiled ^(JL)like the place of Tophet, because of all the houses on whose ^(JM)roofs they have burned incense to all the host of heaven, and ^(JN)poured out drink offerings to other gods.” ’ ”

¹⁴Then Jeremiah came from Tophet, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in ^(JO)the court of the Lord’s house and said to all the people, ¹⁵“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Behold, I will bring on this city and on all her towns all the doom that I have pronounced against it, because ^(JP)they have stiffened their necks that they might not hear My words.’ ”

The Word of God to Pashhur

20 Now ^(JQ)Pashhur the son of ^(JR)Immer, the priest who was also chief governor in the house of the Lord, heard that Jeremiah prophesied these things. ²Then Pashhur struck Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the high ^(JS)gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the Lord.

³And it happened on the next day that Pashhur brought Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then Jeremiah said to him, “The Lord has not called your name Pashhur, but ^[ba]Magor-Missabib. ⁴For thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends; and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and your eyes shall see it. I will ^(JT)give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive to Babylon and slay them with the sword. ⁵Moreover I ^(JU)will deliver all the wealth of this city, all its produce, and all its precious things; all the treasures of the kings of Judah I will give into the hand of their enemies, who will plunder them, seize them, and ^(JV)carry them to Babylon. ⁶And you, Pashhur, and all who dwell in your house, shall go into captivity. You shall go to Babylon, and there you shall die, and be buried there, you and all your friends, to whom you have ^(JW)prophesied lies.’ ”

Jeremiah’s Unpopular Ministry

⁷O Lord, You ^[bb]induced me, and I was persuaded;
^(JX)You are stronger than I, and have prevailed.
^(JY)I am ^[bc]in derision daily;
Everyone mocks me.
⁸For when I spoke, I cried out;
^(JZ)I shouted, “Violence and plunder!”
Because the word of the Lord was made to me
A reproach and a derision daily.
⁹Then I said, “I will not make mention of Him,
Nor speak anymore in His name.”
But His word was in my heart like a ^(KA)burning fire
Shut up in my bones;
I was weary of holding it back,
And ^(KB)I could not.
¹⁰^(KC)For I heard many ^[bd]mocking:
“Fear on every side!”
“Report,” they say, “and we will report it!”
^(KD)All my acquaintances watched for my stumbling, saying,
“Perhaps he can be induced;
Then we will prevail against him,
And we will take our revenge on him.”

¹¹But the Lord is ^(KE)with me as a mighty, awesome One.
Therefore my persecutors will stumble, and will not ^(KF)prevail.
They will be greatly ashamed, for they will not prosper.
Their ^(KG)everlasting confusion will never be forgotten.
¹²But, O Lord of hosts,
You who ^(KH)test the righteous,
And see the ^[be]mind and heart,
^(KI)Let me see Your vengeance on them;
For I have pleaded my cause before You.

¹³Sing to the Lord! Praise the Lord!
For ^(KJ)He has delivered the life of the poor
From the hand of evildoers.

¹⁴^(KK)Cursed be the day in which I was born!
Let the day not be blessed in which my mother bore me!
¹⁵Let the man be cursed
Who brought news to my father, saying,
“A male child has been born to you!”
Making him very glad.
¹⁶And let that man be like the cities
Which the Lord ^(KL)overthrew, and did not relent;
Let him ^(KM)hear the cry in the morning
And the shouting at noon,
¹⁷^(KN)Because he did not kill me from the womb,
That my mother might have been my grave,
And her womb always enlarged with me.
¹⁸^(KO)Why did I come forth from the womb to ^(KP)see ^[bf]labor and sorrow,
That my days should be consumed with shame?