It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the exile of Jerusalem in the fifth month.

Will He be angry forever, Or keep His anger to the end?’ Behold, you have spoken And have done evil things, And you have had your own way.”

Behold, I am 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 language you do not know, Nor can you understand what they say.

The prophets prophesy falsely, And the priests rule on their own authority; And My people love it this way! But what will you do when the end comes?

I will also scatter them among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the sword after them until I have put an end to them.”

But the Lord is the true God; He is the living God and the everlasting King. The earth quakes at His wrath, And the nations cannot endure His indignation.

When He utters His voice, there is a roar of waters in the heavens, And He makes the clouds ascend from the end of the earth; He makes lightning for the rain, And brings out the wind from His storehouses.

Woe to me, because of my injury! My wound is incurable. But I said, “This certainly is a sickness, And I must endure it.”

How long is the land to mourn, And the vegetation of the countryside to dry up? Due to the wickedness of those who live in it, Animals and birds have been snatched away, Because people have said, “He will not see our final end.”

On all the bare heights in the wilderness Destroyers have come, For the sword of the Lord is devouring From one end of the land even to the other; There is no peace for anyone.

This is what the Lord says concerning all My wicked neighbors who do harm to the inheritance with which I have endowed My people Israel: “Behold, I am going to drive them out of their land, and I will drive the house of Judah out from among them.

When they fast, I am not going to listen to their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I am not going to accept them. Rather, I am going to put an end to them by the sword, famine, and plague.”

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’—by sword and famine those prophets shall meet their end!

Jeremiah’s Prayer and God’s Answer

You know, Lord; Remember me, take notice of me, And take vengeance for me on my persecutors. Do not, in view of Your patience, take me away; Know that for Your sake I endure reproach.

Why has my pain been endless And my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Will You indeed be to me like a deceptive stream With water that is unreliable?

Lord, my strength and my stronghold, And my refuge in the day of distress, To You the nations will come From the ends of the earth and say, “Our fathers have inherited nothing but falsehood, Futility, and things of no benefit.”

As a partridge that hatches eggs which it has not laid, So is a person who makes a fortune, but unjustly; In the middle of his days it will abandon him, And in the end he will be a fool.”

But if I say, “I will not remember Him Nor speak anymore in His name,” Then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire Shut up in my bones; And I am tired of holding it in, And I cannot endure it.

A clamor has come to the end of the earth, Because the Lord has a controversy with the nations. He is entering into judgment with humanity; As for the wicked, He has turned them over to the sword,’ declares the Lord.”

“Those put to death by the Lord on that day will be from one end of the earth to the other. They will not be mourned, gathered, or buried; they will be like dung on the face of the ground.

“At the end of seven years each of you shall set free his Hebrew brother who has been sold to you and has served you for six years, and you shall send him out free from you.” But your forefathers did not obey Me nor incline their ear to Me.

Now at the end of ten days the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah.

And I will take away the remnant of Judah who have set their minds on entering the land of Egypt to reside there, and they will all meet their end in the land of Egypt; they will fall by the sword or meet their end by famine. From the small to the great, they will die by the sword and famine; and they will become a curse, an object of horror, an imprecation, and a disgrace.

But since we stopped burning sacrifices to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything, and have met our end by the sword and by famine.”

So the Lord was no longer able to endure it, because of the evil of your deeds, because of the abominations which you have committed; so your land has become a place of ruins, an object of horror, and a curse, without an inhabitant, as it is this day.