Beginning

1 Divrei Yirmeyah ben Chilkiyah, of the kohanim that were in Anatot in Eretz Binyamin;

² To whom the Devar Hashem came in the days of Yoshiyah ben Amon Melech Yehudah, in the thirteenth year of his reign [i.e., 627.B.C.E.).

³ And in the days of Y’hoyakim ben Yoshiyah Melech Yehudah, unto the end of the eleventh year of Tzidkiyah ben Yoshiyah Melech Yehudah, that is, until the Golus Yerushalayim captive in the fifth month [i.e., 587 B.C.E.].

⁴ Then the Devar Hashem came unto me, saying,

⁵ Before I formed thee in the beten I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the rechem I set thee apart as kodesh, and I ordained thee a navi unto the Goyim.

⁶ Then said I, Ah, Adonoi Hashem! hinei, I have no da’as to speak; for I am a na’ar.

⁷ But Hashem said unto me, Say not, Na’ar anochi; for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak.

⁸ Be not afraid of them; for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith Hashem.

⁹ Then Hashem put forth His yad, and touched my mouth. And Hashem said unto me, Hinei, I put My words in thy mouth.

¹⁰ See, I have this yom set thee over the Goyim and over the mamlachot (kingdoms), to uproot, and to tear down, and to destroy, and to demolish, to build, and to plant.

¹¹ Moreover the Devar Hashem came unto me, saying, Yirmeyah, what seest thou? And I said, I see a makel SHAQED (a branch of an almond tree).

¹² Then said Hashem unto me, Thou hast well seen: for SHOQED (WATCHING) I am over My Devar to carry it out.

¹³ And the Devar Hashem came unto me the second time, saying, What seest thou? And I said, I see a SIYR NAFUACH (A BOILING CAULDRON) tipping over from the north.

¹⁴ Then Hashem said unto me, From the north hara’ah (the evil, disaster) TIPATACH (SHALL BE POURED OUT) upon all the inhabitants of HaAretz.

¹⁵ For, hineni, I am now summoning all the mishpekhot mamlechot of the north, saith Hashem; they shall come, they shall set every one his kisse at the petach Sha’arei Yerushalayim, and against all the surrounding chomot thereof, against all the towns of Yehudah.

¹⁶ And I will pronounce My mishpatim against them touching all their wickedness, who have forsaken Me, and have burned ketoret unto elohim acherim, and worshiped the works of their own hands.

¹⁷ Thou therefore tighten thy gartel of readiness, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee; be not fearful before them, lest I make thee fearful before them.

¹⁸ For, hinei, I have made thee today an ir mivtzar (a fortified city), and an ammud barzel, and a chomat nechoshet against kol HaAretz, against the melachim of Yehudah, against the sarim thereof, against the kohanim thereof, and against the am ha’aretz.

¹⁹ And they shall make war against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith Hashem, to deliver thee.

2 Moreover the Devar Hashem came to me, saying,

² Go and cry, shouting in the ears of Yerushalayim, saying, Thus saith Hashem; I remember thee, the chesed of thy ne’urim, the ahavas of thy days as a kallah, when thou wentest after Me in midbar, in an eretz that was not sown.

³ Yisroel was Kodesh unto Hashem, and the reshit (firstfruit) of his tevu’ah (crop): all that devour him are held guilty; ra’ah shall overtake them, saith Hashem.

⁴ Hear ye the Devar Hashem, O Beis Ya’akov, and all the mishpekhot of Bais Yisroel:

⁵ Thus saith Hashem, What avel (wrong, fault) have avoteichem found in Me, that they are strayed far from Me, and have walked after hevel (vain, empty delusion), and are become deluded?

⁶ Neither did they ask, Where is Hashem that brought us up out of Eretz Mitzrayim, that led us through the midbar, through an eretz of deserts and pits, through an eretz tziyyah (land of drought) and tzalmavet, through eretz that no ish passed through, where no adam dwelt?

⁷ And I brought you into an eretz hacarmel, to eat the pri thereof and the tovah thereof; but when ye entered, ye made My land tameh, and made My nachalah a to’evah.

⁸ The Kohanim asked not, Where is Hashem? And they that handle the Torah had no da’as of Me; the ro’im also rebelled against Me, and the nevi’im prophesied by Ba’al, and walked after worthless things.

⁹ Therefore I will yet bring lawsuit against you, saith Hashem, and against bnei beneichem will I bring lawsuit.

¹⁰ For pass over to the isles of Kittim, and look; and send unto Kedar, and consider diligently, and see if there has ever been anything like this.

¹¹ Hath ever a nation changed elohim, and these no elohim at all? But My people have exchanged their kavod for that which is worthless.

¹² Be appalled, O ye Shomayim, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith Hashem.

¹³ For Ami have committed shtayim ra’ot (two evils); they have forsaken Me, the fountain of Mayim Chayim, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no mayim.

¹⁴ Is Yisroel an eved? Is he a homeborn slave? Why has he become plunder?

¹⁵ The young lions roared upon him, and growled, and they made his [Israel’s] Eretz waste; his towns are burned without inhabitant.

¹⁶ Also the Bnei Noph and Tachpanhes have broken the crown of thy head.

¹⁷ Hast thou not procured this unto thyself, in that thou hast forsaken Hashem Eloheicha, when He led thee by the derech?

¹⁸ And now what hast thou to do in the derech Mitzrayim, to drink the waters of the Shichor [[Nile] River]? Or what hast thou to do in the derech Ashur (Assyria), to drink the waters of the Euphrates [River]?

¹⁹ Thine own ra’ah shall correct thee, and thy meshuvot (backslidings) shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and mar (bitter), that thou hast forsaken Hashem Eloheicha, and that My pachad is not in thee, saith Adonoi Hashem Tzva’os.

²⁰ For long ago I have broken thy ol (yoke), and tore off thy bonds; and thou saidst, I will not serve; when upon every high hill and under every green tree thou hast sprawled, playing the zonah.

²¹ Yet I had planted thee a choice vine, wholly a zera emes. How then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a gefen nochriyah unto Me?

²² For though thou wash thee with lye, and take thee much soap, yet thine avon (iniquity) is marked before Me, saith Adonoi Hashem.

²³ How canst thou say, I am not tameh, I have not gone after Ba’alim? See thy derech in the valley, know what thou hast done: thou art a swift camel traversing her ways;

²⁴ A pereh used to the midbar, that sniffs up the ruach in the craving of her nefesh; in her occasion [of heat] who can turn her away? All they that seek her will not weary themselves; in her month they shall find her.

²⁵ Withhold thy regel from being unshod, and thy throat from thirst; but thou saidst, There is no hope: no; for I have loved zarim, and after them will I go.

²⁶ As the ganav is ashamed when he is caught, so is the Bais Yisroel ashamed; they, their melachim, their sarim, and their kohanim, and their nevi’im.

²⁷ Saying to Etz (wood), Thou art Avi; and to Even (stone), Thou hast brought me forth; for they have turned their back unto Me, and not their face; but in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise, and hoshi’einu (save us).

²⁸ But where are thy elohim that thou hast made for thee? Let them arise, if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble; for as many as are the mispar (number) of thy towns are thy elohim, O Yehudah.

²⁹ Why will ye bring lawsuit against Me? Ye all have rebelled against Me, saith Hashem.

³⁰ In vain have I struck your banim; they received no musar [cf Isa 53:5]; your own cherev hath devoured your nevi’im, like a destroying lion.

³¹ O HaDor (Generation), heed ye the Devar Hashem. Have I been a midbar unto Yisroel? An eretz of great darkness? Madu’a (why) say Ami, We are free; we will come no more unto Thee?

³² Can a betulah forget her jewelry, or a kallah her adornments? Yet My people have forgotten Me yamim ein mispar (days without number).

³³ How well thou direct thy derech to seek ahavah? Therefore hast thou also taught hara’ot (the worst women) the darkhei (ways) of thee.

³⁴ Also in thy skirts is found the dahm of the nefashot of the innocent poor; although you never caught them breaking in. Yet concerning all these

³⁵ Thou sayest, Because I am innocent, surely His anger shall turn from me. Hineni, I will plead with thee, because thou sayest, Loh chatati (I have not sinned).

³⁶ Why doest thou gad about so much to change the course of thy derech? Thou also shalt be ashamed of Mitzrayim, as thou wast ashamed of Assyria.

³⁷ Yea, thou shalt go forth from this [dependence on religiously entangling and compromising foreign allies], and thine hands upon thine head; for Hashem hath rejected thy confidences, and thou shalt not prosper in them.

3 They say, If an ish put away [in divorce] his isha, and she go from him, and become another man’s, shall he return unto her again? Shall not that eretz be defiled and forbidden? But thou hast played the zonah with re’im rabbim (many lovers); yet shuv (turn) to Me, saith Hashem.

² Lift up thine eyes unto the hilltops, and see! Where hast thou not been lain with? In the drakhim (ways, roads) hast thou sat [waiting] for them, as the nomad in the midbar; and thou hast defiled the eretz with thy zenut (whoredom, prostitution) and with thy ra’ah (wickedness).

³ Therefore the revivim (showers) have been withheld, and there hath been no malkosh (latter rain, spring rain); and thou hadst a metzach isha zonah (whore’s forehead), and thou refusedst to blush with shame.

⁴ Wilt thou not from this time cry unto Me, Avi, Thou art the Alluf (Guide, Friend) of my neurim (youth)?

⁵ Will He reserve His anger l’olam? Will He keep it lanetzach? Hinei, this is what you preach, but you practice all hara’ot (the evils) you can.

⁶ Hashem said also unto me in the days of Yoshiyah HaMelech, Hast thou seen that which meshuvah Yisroel (backsliding Yisroel) hath done? She is gone up upon every high hill and under every green tree, and there hath played the zonah.

⁷ And I said after she had done all these things, Turn thou unto Me. But she returned not. And her treacherous achot Yehudah saw it [i.e., saw Israel’s refusal to renounce fertility cult idolatry].

⁸ And I saw, when for all the causes whereby meshuvah Yisroel (backsliding Yisroel) committed adultery, I had put her away, and given her a sefer keritut (bill of divorce); yet her treacherous achot Yehudah feared not, but went and played the zonah also.

⁹ And it came to pass through the lightness with which she [Yisroel] took her zenut (whoredom), that she defiled HaAretz, and committed adultery with HaEven (the Stone [of the fertility cult of Ba’al worship]) and with HaEtz (the Wood [of the fertility cult of Ba’al worship]).

¹⁰ And yet for all this her treacherous achot Yehudah hath not returned unto Me with her kol lev, but in sheker (falsity, pretense, an insincere religious spirit), saith Hashem.

¹¹ And Hashem said unto me, Meshuvah Yisroel hath come nearer to justifying herself than treacherous Yehudah.

¹² Go and proclaim these devarim toward the north, and say, Return, thou meshuvah Yisroel, saith Hashem; and I will not cast down Mine anger to fall upon you; for I am chasid (displaying chesed, mercy), saith Hashem, and I will not keep anger l’olam.

¹³ Only acknowledge thine avon (iniquity, guilt of wrongdoing), that thou hast rebelled against Hashem your G-d, and hast scattered thy favors to the zarim under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed My voice, saith Hashem.

¹⁴ Shuvu (Turn), O banim shovaviv (backsliding children), saith Hashem; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one from a town, and two from a mishpakhah, and I will bring you to Tziyon:

¹⁵ And I will give you ro’im according to Mine lev, which shall feed you with da’as and seichel.

¹⁶ And it shall come to pass, when ye be multiplied and increased in HaAretz, in those days, saith Hashem, they shall say no more, The Aron Brit Hashem: neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall they ask for it; neither shall another be fashioned.

¹⁷ At that time they shall call Yerushalayim the Kisse Hashem; and all the Goyim shall be gathered unto it, to the Shem Hashem, to Yerushalayim; neither shall they walk any more after the sherirut libam harah (the stubbornness of their evil heart).

¹⁸ In those days Bais Yehudah shall walk with Bais Yisroel, and they shall come together out of the eretz tzafon to HaAretz that I have given for a nachalah unto Avoteichem.

¹⁹ But I said, How shall I set thee among the banim, and give thee an eretz chemdah (a land of desire), the most beautiful nachalah of the Goyim? And I said, Thou shalt call Me, Avi; and shalt not turn back from following Me.

²⁰ Surely as an isha treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with Me, O Bais Yisroel, saith Hashem.

²¹ A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and tachanunei Bnei Yisroel (supplications of the Children of Israel); for they have perverted their derech, and they have forgotten Hashem Eloheihem.

²² Shuvu (return), ye banim shovavim (backsliding children), and I will heal your meshuvot (backslidings). Behold, we come unto Thee; for Thou art Hashem Eloheinu.

²³ Truly in sheker is Salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains; truly in Hashem Eloheinu is the Teshu’at Yisroel (Salvation of Israel).

²⁴ For HaBoshet (the Shame, i.e., the Ba’al fertility cult false religion) hath devoured the labor of Avoteinu from ne’ureinu (our youth): their tzon and their bakar, their banim and their banot.

²⁵ We lie down in our Boshet (Shame), and kelimateinu (our humiliation) covereth us; for we have sinned against Hashem Eloheinu, we and Avoteinu, from our youth even unto this day, and have not obeyed the voice of Hashem Eloheinu.