Then I said, “Oh, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, Because I am a youth.”

But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’ Because everywhere I send you, you shall go, And all that I command you, you shall speak.

Now, belt your garment around your waist and arise, and speak to them all that I command you. Do not be dismayed before them, or I will make you dismayed before them.

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.”

For this the earth will mourn, And the heavens above will become dark, Because I have spoken, I have purposed, And I have not changed My mind, nor will I turn from it.”

I will go to the great And speak to them, For they know the way of the Lord And the judgment of their God.” But together they too have broken the yoke And burst the restraints.

Judgment Proclaimed

Therefore, this is what the Lord, the God of armies says: “Because you have spoken this word, Behold, I am making My words fire in your mouth, And this people wood, and it will consume them.

To whom shall I speak and give warning, That they may hear? Behold, their ears are closed And they cannot listen. Behold, the word of the Lord has become for them a rebuke; They take no delight in it.

And now, because you have done all these things,” declares the Lord, “and I spoke to you, speaking again and again, but you did not listen, and I called you but you did not answer,

For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them on the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices.

“So you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you; and you shall call to them, but they will not answer you.

I have listened and heard, They have spoken what is not right; No one repented of his wickedness, Saying, ‘What have I done?’ Everyone turned to his own course, Like a horse charging into the battle.

Everyone deceives his neighbor And does not speak the truth. They have taught their tongue to speak lies; They weary themselves committing wrongdoing.

Their tongue is a deadly arrow; It speaks deceit; With his mouth one speaks peace to his neighbor, But inwardly he sets an ambush for him.

Who is the wise person who may understand this? And who is he to whom the mouth of the Lord has spoken, that he may declare it? Why is the land destroyed, laid waste like the desert, so that no one passes through?

Speak, “This is what the Lord says: ‘The corpses of people will fall like dung on the open field, And like the sheaf after the reaper, But no one will gather them.’”

A Satire on Idolatry

Hear the word which the Lord speaks to you, house of Israel.

They are like a scarecrow in a cucumber field, And they cannot speak; They must be carried, Because they cannot walk! Do not fear them, For they can do no harm, Nor can they do any good.”

“Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem;

Captivity Threatened

“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?’

Listen and pay attention, do not be haughty; For the Lord has spoken.

Then the Lord said to me, “The prophets are prophesying falsehood in My name. I have neither sent them nor commanded them, nor spoken to them; they are prophesying to you a false vision, divination, futility, and the deception of their own minds.

Therefore, this is what the Lord says: “If you return, then I will restore you— You will stand before Me; And if you extract the precious from the worthless, You will become My spokesman. They, for their part, may turn to you, But as for you, you are not to turn to them.

At one moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to uproot it, to tear it down, or to destroy it;

if that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I planned to bring on it.