Jeremiah 5

New American Standard Bible

Jerusalem’s Godlessness

5 “^(A)Roam about through the streets of Jerusalem,
And look and take notice.
And seek in her public squares,
If you can ^(B)find a person,
^(C)If there is one who does justice, who seeks honesty,
Then I will forgive ^[a]her.
²And ^(D)although they say, ‘As the Lord lives,’
Certainly they swear falsely.”
³Lord, do ^(E)Your eyes not look for honesty?
You have ^(F)struck them,
But they did not ^[b]weaken;
You have consumed them,
But they ^(G)refused to accept discipline.
They have ^(H)made their faces harder than rock;
They have refused to repent.

⁴Then I said, “They are only the poor,
They are foolish;
For they ^(I)do not know the way of the Lord
Or the judgment of their God.
⁵I will go to the great
And speak to them,
For ^(J)they know the way of the Lord
And the judgment of their God.”
But together they too have ^(K)broken the yoke
And burst the restraints.
⁶Therefore ^(L)a lion from the forest will kill them,
A ^(M)wolf of the deserts will destroy them,
A ^(N)leopard is watching their cities.
Everyone who goes out of them will be torn in pieces,
Because their ^(O)wrongdoings are many,
Their apostasies are numerous.

⁷“Why should I forgive you?
Your sons have forsaken Me
And ^(P)sworn by those who are ^(Q)not gods.
When I had fed them to the full,
They ^(R)committed adultery
And stayed at the prostitute’s house.
⁸They were well-fed lusty horses,
Each one neighing at his ^(S)neighbor’s wife.
⁹Shall I not punish them for these things?” declares the Lord,
“And ^(T)shall I not avenge Myself
On a nation such as this?

¹⁰“Go up through her vine rows and destroy,
But do not execute a complete destruction;
Strip away her branches,
For they are not the Lord’s.
¹¹For the ^(U)house of Israel and the house of Judah
Have dealt very treacherously with Me,” declares the Lord.
¹²They have ^(V)lied about the Lord
And said, “^[c]^(W)Not He;
Misfortune will ^(X)not come upon us,
^(Y)Nor will we see sword or famine.
¹³The ^(Z)prophets are as wind,
And the word is not in them.
So it will be done to them!”

Judgment Proclaimed

¹⁴Therefore, this is what the Lord, the God of armies says:
“Because you have spoken this word,
Behold, I am ^(AA)making My words fire in your mouth,
And this people wood, and it will consume them.
¹⁵Behold, I am ^(AB)bringing a nation against you from far away, you house of Israel,” declares the Lord.
“It is an enduring nation,
It is an ancient nation,
A nation whose ^(AC)language you do not know,
Nor can you understand what they say.
¹⁶Their ^(AD)quiver is like an ^(AE)open grave,
All of them are warriors.
¹⁷They will ^(AF)devour your harvest and your food;
They will devour your sons and your daughters;
They will devour your flocks and your herds;
They will devour your ^(AG)vines and your fig trees;
They will demolish your ^(AH)fortified cities, in which you trust, with the sword.

¹⁸“Yet even in those days,” declares the Lord, “I will not make a complete destruction of you. ¹⁹And it shall come about ^(AI)when ^[d]they say, ‘Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us?’ then you shall say to them, ‘Just as you have abandoned Me and served foreign gods in your land, so you will ^(AJ)serve strangers in a land that is not yours.’

²⁰“Declare this in the house of Jacob
And proclaim it in Judah, saying,
²¹‘Now hear this, you foolish and ^[e]senseless people,
Who have ^(AK)eyes but do not see,
Who have ears but do not hear.
²²Do you not ^(AL)fear Me?’ declares the Lord.
‘Do you not tremble in My presence?
For I have ^(AM)placed the sand as a boundary for the sea,
An eternal limit, and it will not cross over it.
Though the waves toss, they cannot prevail;
Though they roar, they will not cross over it.
²³But this people has a ^(AN)stubborn and rebellious heart;
They have turned aside and departed.
²⁴They do not say in their heart,
“Let us now fear the Lord our God,
Who ^(AO)gives rain in its season,
Both ^(AP)the autumn rain and the spring rain,
Who keeps for us
The ^(AQ)appointed weeks of the harvest.”
²⁵Your ^(AR)wrongdoings have turned these away,
And your sins have kept good away from you.
²⁶For wicked people are found among My people,
They ^(AS)watch like fowlers ^[f]lying in wait;
They set a trap,
They catch people.
²⁷Like a cage full of birds,
So their houses are full of ^(AT)deceit;
Therefore they have become great and rich.
²⁸They are ^(AU)fat, they are sleek,
They also ^[g]excel in deeds of wickedness;
They do not plead the cause,
The cause of the ^[h]^(AV)orphan, so that they may be successful;
And they do not ^[i]defend the rights of the poor.
²⁹^(AW)Shall I not punish them for these things?’ declares the Lord,
‘Or shall I not avenge Myself
On a nation such as this?’

³⁰“An appalling and ^(AX)horrible thing
Has happened in the land:
³¹The ^(AY)prophets prophesy falsely,
And the priests rule ^[j]on their own authority;
And My people ^(AZ)love it this way!
But what will you do ^[k]when the end comes?

Footnotes

Jeremiah 5:1 I.e., Jerusalem
Jeremiah 5:3 Or become sick
Jeremiah 5:12 Lit He is not
Jeremiah 5:19 Or you
Jeremiah 5:21 Lit without heart
Jeremiah 5:26 Perhaps, crouching down
Jeremiah 5:28 Lit pass over; or overlook deeds
Jeremiah 5:28 Or fatherless
Jeremiah 5:28 Lit judge
Jeremiah 5:31 Lit over their own hands
Jeremiah 5:31 Lit at the end of it

Jeremiah 13

New American Standard Bible

The Ruined Undergarment

13 This is what the Lord said to me: “Go and ^(A)buy yourself a linen undergarment and put it around your waist, but do not put it in water.” ²So I bought the undergarment in accordance with the ^(B)word of the Lord, and put it around my waist. ³Then the word of the Lord came to me a second time, saying, ⁴“Take the undergarment that you bought, which is around your waist, and arise, go to the ^(C)Euphrates and hide it there in a crevice of the rock.” ⁵So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, ^(D)as the Lord had commanded me. ⁶After many days the Lord said to me, “Arise, go to the Euphrates and take from there the undergarment which I commanded you to hide there.” ⁷Then I went to the Euphrates and dug, and I took the undergarment from the place where I had hidden it; and behold, the undergarment was ruined, it was completely useless.

⁸Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ⁹“This is what the Lord says: ‘To the same extent I will destroy the ^(E)pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. ¹⁰This wicked people, who ^(F)refuse to listen to My words, who ^(G)walk in the stubbornness of their hearts and have followed other gods to serve them and to bow down to them, let them be just like this undergarment which is completely useless. ¹¹For as the undergarment clings to the waist of a man, so I made the entire household of Israel and the entire household of Judah ^(H)cling to Me,’ declares the Lord, ‘so that they might be My people, for ^[a]^(I)renown, for ^(J)praise, and for glory; but they ^(K)did not listen.’

Captivity Threatened

¹²“Therefore you are to speak this word to them. ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: “Every jug is to be filled with wine.”’ And when they say to you, ‘Do we not very well know that every jug is to be filled with wine?’ ¹³then say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says: “Behold, I am going to fill all the inhabitants of this land—the kings who sit for David on his throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem—with ^(L)drunkenness! ¹⁴Then I will ^(M)smash them against each other, both the ^(N)fathers and the sons together,” declares the Lord. “I will ^(O)not have compassion nor be troubled nor take pity so as to keep from destroying them.”’”

¹⁵Listen and pay attention, do not be ^(P)haughty;
For the Lord has spoken.
¹⁶^(Q)Give glory to the Lord your God
Before He brings ^(R)darkness
And before your ^(S)feet stumble
On the mountains in the dark,
And while you are hoping for light
He makes it into ^(T)gloom,
And turns it into thick darkness.
¹⁷But ^(U)if you do not listen to it,
My soul will ^(V)weep in secret for such pride;
And my eyes will shed
And stream down tears,
Because the ^(W)flock of the Lord has been taken captive.
¹⁸Say to the ^(X)king and the queen mother,
“^(Y)Take a lowly seat,
For your beautiful ^(Z)crown
Has come down from your head.”
¹⁹The ^(AA)cities of the Negev have been locked up,
And there is no one to open them;
All ^(AB)Judah has been taken into exile,
Wholly taken into exile.

²⁰“Raise your eyes and see
Those coming ^(AC)from the north.
Where is the ^(AD)flock that was given you,
Your beautiful sheep?
²¹What will you say when He appoints over you—
And you yourself had taught them—
Former ^(AE)companions to be head over you?
Will ^(AF)sharp pains not take hold of you
Like a woman in childbirth?
²²If you ^(AG)say in your heart,
‘^(AH)Why have these things happened to me?’
Because of the ^(AI)magnitude of your wrongdoing
^(AJ)Your skirts have been removed
And your ^[b]heels have suffered violence.
²³^(AK)Can the Ethiopian change his skin,
Or the leopard his spots?
Then you as well can ^(AL)do good
Who are accustomed to doing evil.
²⁴Therefore I will ^(AM)scatter them like drifting straw
To the desert ^(AN)wind.
²⁵This is your ^(AO)lot, the portion measured to you
From Me,” declares the Lord,
“Because you have ^(AP)forgotten Me
And trusted in falsehood.
²⁶So I Myself have ^(AQ)stripped your skirts off over your face,
So that your shame will be seen.
²⁷As for your ^(AR)adulteries and your lustful neighings,
The ^(AS)outrageous sin of your prostitution
On the ^(AT)hills in the field,
I have seen your abominations.
Woe to you, Jerusalem!
^(AU)How long will you remain unclean?”

Footnotes

Jeremiah 13:11 Lit a name
Jeremiah 13:22 I.e., a euphemism for private parts

Jeremiah 21

New American Standard Bible

Jeremiah’s Message for Zedekiah

21 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord when ^(A)King Zedekiah sent to him ^(B)Pashhur the son of Malchijah and ^(C)Zephaniah the priest, the son of Maaseiah, saying, ²“Please ^(D)inquire of the Lord in our behalf, because ^(E)Nebuchadnezzar king of ^(F)Babylon is making war against us; perhaps the Lord will deal with us ^(G)in accordance with all His ^[a]wonderful acts, so that the enemy will withdraw from us.”

³But Jeremiah said to them, “You shall say to Zedekiah as follows: ⁴‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: “Behold, I am going to ^(H)turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, with which you are making war against the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans who are besieging you outside the wall; and I will ^(I)gather them into the middle of this city. ⁵And I ^(J)Myself will make war against you with an ^(K)outstretched hand and a mighty arm, and in ^(L)anger, wrath, and great indignation. ⁶I will also strike the inhabitants of this city, both the people and the animals; they will die of a great ^(M)plague. ⁷Then afterward,” declares the Lord, “^(N)I will hand Zedekiah king of Judah, his servants, and the people, that is, those who survive in this city from the plague, the sword, and the famine, over to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, to their enemies, and to those who seek their lives; and he will strike and kill them with the edge of the sword. He ^(O)will not spare them nor have pity nor compassion.”’

⁸“You shall also say to this people, ‘This is what the Lord says: “Behold, I am ^(P)setting before you the way of life and the way of death. ⁹Anyone who ^(Q)stays in this city will die by the ^(R)sword, by famine, or by plague; but anyone who leaves and goes over to the Chaldeans who are besieging you will live, and he will have his own life as plunder. ¹⁰For I have ^(S)set My face against this city for harm and not for good,” declares the Lord. “It will be ^(T)handed over to the king of Babylon and he will ^(U)burn it with fire.”’

¹¹“Then say to the household of the ^(V)king of Judah, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, ¹²^(W)house of David, this is what the Lord says:

“^(X)Administer justice ^[b]every ^(Y)morning;
And save the person who has been robbed from the ^[c]power of his oppressor,
^(Z)So that My wrath will not spread like fire
And ^(AA)burn, with no one to extinguish it,
Because of the evil of their deeds.

¹³“Behold, ^(AB)I am against you, you inhabitant of the ^(AC)valley,
You ^[d]rocky plain,” declares the Lord,
“You who say, ‘^(AD)Who will come down against us?
Or who will enter our dwellings?’
¹⁴But I will punish you ^(AE)according to the ^[e]results of your deeds,” declares the Lord,
“And I will ^(AF)kindle a fire in its forest
So that it may devour all its surroundings.”’”