Beginning
God speaks to Jeremiah
1 This book tells about Hilkiah's son, Jeremiah, and the words that he spoke. Jeremiah was a priest. He lived at Anathoth, a town in the land that belonged to the tribe of Benjamin. 2 The Lord first spoke to him when Amon's son Josiah had been king of Judah for 13 years.[a] 3 The Lord also spoke to him while Josiah's son, Jehoiakim, ruled Judah as king. He continued to speak to Jeremiah until Josiah's son Zedekiah had ruled Judah for 11 years. In the fifth month of that year, Judah's enemies took the people of Jerusalem away as their prisoners.
God chooses Jeremiah to be a prophet
4 The Lord gave me this message: 5 ‘I already knew you before I made you inside your mother's body. I chose you to be special before you were born. I chose you to be my prophet, to speak my message to other nations.’
6 I answered, ‘Lord God, I do not know how to speak. I am only a child.’
7 The Lord said to me, ‘Do not say, “I am only a child.” You must go to everyone that I send you to. You must say whatever I tell you to say. 8 Do not be afraid of them. Remember that I will be with you. I will keep you safe.’
9 Then the Lord touched my mouth with his hand. He said to me, ‘I am giving you the words that you must speak. 10 Look! I give you authority to tell nations and kingdoms what will happen to them. You will pull some of them out of the ground, like a plant and its roots. You will knock down and destroy some of them. You will bring an end to their power. But you will build up other nations and make them strong.’
The Lord shows Jeremiah two visions
11 The Lord asked me, ‘What do you see, Jeremiah?’
I replied, ‘I see the branch of an almond tree.’
12 The Lord said, ‘Yes, that is correct. I am watching carefully to make sure that what I say will happen really happens.’[b]
13 The Lord asked me again. ‘What do you see?’
I replied, ‘I see in the north a pot with boiling water in it. It will pour its water in this direction.’
The Lord said, 14 ‘Yes, trouble like boiling water will come from the north. It will destroy all the people who live in this land. 15 I will call all the nations that are in the north to come here. Their kings will come and they will sit on their thrones at the city gates of Jerusalem. Their armies will be all around the walls of Jerusalem and the other cities of Judah. 16 I will punish my people for the wicked things that they have done. They have turned away from me. They have offered sacrifices to false gods. They have worshipped idols that they have made with their own hands.
17 You must be ready to move, Jeremiah! Go and say to the people whatever I tell you. Do not be afraid of them. If you are afraid of them now, when you are among them, I will cause you to be very frightened! 18 I, the Lord, promise that I will make you as strong as a city with strong walls around it. You will be as strong as an iron pillar, or a wall that is made of bronze. You will speak a message against the whole nation of Judah. You will speak against its kings, its officers, its priests and all its people. 19 They will attack you. But they will not win against you, because I will be with you. I will keep you safe.
That is what the Lord says.’
Israel's people have turned against the Lord
2 The Lord spoke to me again. 2 He said, ‘Go and tell this to the people in Jerusalem:
“This is what the Lord says:
I remember how you used to love me when you were young.
You loved me as a young wife loves her husband.
You followed me through the wilderness,
where no crops were growing.
3 At that time, Israel belonged to me as my special people.
They were like the first crops that grew on my land.
I promised to punish anyone who tried to hurt them.
I sent great trouble to those who attacked you.
That is what I, the Lord, have said.” ’
4 Listen to what the Lord says, you descendants of Jacob, all you families in Israel. 5 This is the Lord's message to you:
‘I had done nothing wrong against your ancestors,
but they turned away from me.
Instead, they worshipped useless idols.
So they themselves became useless.
6 They did not think to themselves,
“Where is the Lord?
We should ask him to help us.
He brought us safely out of Egypt.
He led us through the wilderness.
It was a place with dry sand and deep holes.
There was no water there and it was dangerous.
Nobody lives in that desert,
and nobody even travels through it.”
7 But I, the Lord, brought you to a good land.
It was a place where fruit grew on trees.
You could eat all those good things,
as well as the crops that you grew there.
You came into the land that I had promised to give to you.
But you spoiled it with your sins.
You made it a disgusting place.
8 Your priests did not ask, “Where is the Lord?”
The people who taught my laws did not know me.
Your leaders turned against me.
Your prophets spoke messages from Baal.
They worshipped useless idols.’
9 So the Lord says this:
‘Because of your sins, I will speak against you in court.
I will show that you are guilty,
as well as your children and your grandchildren.
10 No other nation has done what you have done!
Send people across the sea to islands in the west.
Or send them to the deserts in the east.
Let them find out if any other people have done this terrible thing.
11 Have any other nations turned against their gods?
No! They have not done that, even to their false gods!
But my people have turned against me,
the true God who makes them great.’
12 The Lord says,
‘The whole universe should see how terrible this is.
Yes, everything should shake with fear!
13 My people have done two evil things:
I give them life, like a spring of fresh water,
but they have turned away from me.
Instead, they have tried to get water for themselves.
They have dug holes in the ground to store it.
But those holes cannot hold the water.
It quickly runs away.
14 Israel's people are surely not slaves.
They were not born as slaves.
But their enemies have taken them away as prisoners.
15 Their enemies have attacked them like lions.
They have destroyed my people's land.
They have destroyed your cities with fire.
Nobody lives in them any more.
16 Soldiers from Memphis and Tahpanhes have broken your skulls![c]
17 You Israelites have caused this to happen.
The Lord your God was leading you on the right way.
But you decided not to follow him any longer.
18 So what help will you get from Egypt?
If you drink water from the Nile river,
will that make you strong? No!
And what help will you get from Assyria?
If you drink water from the Euphrates river,
will that make you strong? No!
19 The wicked things that you have done will punish you.
You are guilty because you have turned away from me.
You have brought terrible trouble on yourselves,
because you have turned against me, the Lord your God.
Because you no longer respect me,
you will realize that you are in great trouble.’
That is what the Lord God Almighty says.
20 ‘A long time ago, you stopped obeying me.
You refused to accept my authority.
You said, “I will not serve you!”
Instead, you go up on the hills to worship other gods.
You lie down under the green trees,
and you live like prostitutes.
21 I planted you in my land,
like the very good seed of a vine.
But see how you have changed!
You have become like a wild vine.
Your grapes are bad and useless.
22 You may use strong soap to make yourselves clean.
But I still see the dirt of your sins.’
That is what the Almighty Lord says.
23 ‘You say, “We have not made ourselves unclean.
We do not worship the idols of Baal.”
But remember what you have done in the valleys.[d]
You hurry to find another idol that you can worship.
Like a female camel, you cannot control yourselves.
24 You are like a wild female donkey that lives in the wilderness.
She lifts her nose to smell the air.
She wants to find a male donkey.
Nobody can control her.
Male donkeys do not have to chase her.
She will come to them to have sex with them.
You are like that as you chase after false gods.
25 Stop running after them!
Your feet will hurt and you will become very thirsty.
You say, “Do not try to stop us! We cannot turn back.
We love foreign gods and we must serve them!”
26 A robber is ashamed when people catch him.
The people of Israel will become ashamed like that.
They will all be ashamed of their sins.
Their kings, their officers, their priests and their prophets are all guilty.
27 They worship a piece of wood,
and they say, “You are my father.”
They say to a stone, “You gave birth to me.”
They have not turned to come to me.
Instead, they have turned away from me.
But when trouble comes to them,
they call out to me to rescue them.
28 But where are the gods that you made for yourselves?
Ask them to save you when trouble comes!
You have enough gods to give you help.
Yes, people of Judah,
your gods are as many as your towns!
29 You cannot argue against me.
You have all turned against me.’
That is what the Lord says.
30 ‘When I punished your people,
they did not change how they lived.
When I sent my prophets to you,
you killed them as if you were a hungry lion.’
31 Listen to the Lord's message, you people who are alive today:
‘People of Israel, why do you not trust me?
Have I become like a desert for you?
Have I become a dark and dangerous land for you to live in?
No! But you say, “We are free to go where we like.
We do not need to serve you any more.”
32 A young woman does not forget to wear her jewels.
When a woman marries,
she does not forget to wear her special dress.
But for many years, my people have forgotten me.
33 You are very clever. You can always find someone to love.
Even prostitutes could learn something from you!
34 You have been cruel to poor people for no reason.
Your clothes have their blood on them!
They had not robbed you,
but you still killed them.
You have done all these bad things, but still you say,
35 “We have not done anything that is wrong.
God cannot be angry with us!”
Be careful! I will surely punish you,
because you say, “I am not guilty of any sin.”
36 You try to get help from other nations.
You run here and there to make new friends.
You hoped for help from Assyria,
but no help came.
And you will get no help from Egypt either.
37 You will come away from Egypt with your hands on your heads.
You will be ashamed and upset.
The Lord has turned away from those nations.
You have trusted them to help you,
But you will not receive any help from them.’
The Israelites are not faithful to God
3 The Lord says this:
‘If a man sends his wife away,
she may leave him and marry another man.
Then her first husband may not take her as his wife again.
That would be a sin against the land where you live.[e]
But you have left me to live with other gods.
You have lived like a prostitute,
but you still think that you can return to me.
2 Look up at the tops of the hills.
You have loved other gods on all of them!
You sat by the side of the road,
and you waited for a lover to come.
Like a robber, you waited to catch men
so that you could sleep with them.
You have not been faithful to me,
but you have looked for other gods, like a prostitute.
The wicked things that you have done
have made the land unclean.
3 That is why I have not sent any rain on your land.
Even the spring rains have not come.
But you still live like a proud prostitute.
You refuse to be ashamed of what you have done.
4 You still call me your Father.
You say, “You have always been my friend.
You have loved me all my life.
5 Surely you will not always be angry with me!
You cannot continue to be angry for ever.”
Those are the things that you say.
But you continue to do as many evil things as you can.’
6 The Lord spoke to me while Josiah was king of Judah. He said,
‘Look at what the Israelites have done. They have not been faithful to me. They have worshipped other gods under every big tree and on every high hill. Israel has been like a wife who is not faithful to her husband. 7 I thought that one day she would come back to me. But she did not return. Israel's sister, Judah, saw what Israel did.[f] 8 Israel was not faithful to me and she served other gods. So I sent her away, like a husband may send his wife away if she is not faithful to him. Judah saw what happened to Israel, but she was not afraid. Like a prostitute, she also went to find other gods that she could serve. 9 She was not ashamed of what she was doing. She worshipped idols made of wood and stone. She made the land unclean because she was not faithful to me. 10 Still Judah has not turned back to me. She wants me to think that she has, but she has not. Like her sister, Israel, she has not been faithful.’ That is what the Lord says.
11 The Lord said to me, ‘It is true that Israel's people have not been faithful to me. But Judah's people are even more guilty than them.[g]
12 Go now. Shout this message to my people in the north:
“You people of Israel have not been faithful to me.
But now return to me,” says the Lord.
“I will not always turn away from you.
I am kind and I forgive people.
I will not be angry with you for ever,” says the Lord.
13 “But you must agree that you are guilty of sin.
You have turned against me, the Lord your God.
You have loved to serve many foreign gods.
You have worshipped them under every big tree.
You have not obeyed my commands.” ’
That is what the Lord says.
14 The Lord says, ‘Return to me, you people who have turned away. Remember that you belong to me. If you turn back to me, I will choose one of you from each town and two from each family. I will bring you safely back to Zion. 15 I will give you leaders who will serve me faithfully. They will take care of you like shepherds. They will be wise and they will lead you well. 16 Then the number of your people who live in your land will increase. You will no longer need to talk about the Lord's Covenant Box. You will not think that it is important any more. You will forget all about it. You will not want to make another one. 17 Instead, you will call the city of Jerusalem “The Lord's throne”. At that time, people from all nations will come to Jerusalem. They will meet there to give honour to the Lord's name. They will no longer do the wicked things that they enjoy. 18 At that time, the nations of Judah and Israel will join together as one kingdom. They will leave their exile in a country in the north. They will come back to this land that I gave to your ancestors to be their home for ever.
19 I thought this:
“I want you people of Israel to be my children.
That would make me very happy.
I want to give you a good land as your home.
It is a more beautiful land than any other nation enjoys.”
I thought that you would call me “Father”.
I thought that you would always be faithful to me.
20 But you, Israel, have gone away from me,
like a woman who leaves her husband.
You have not been faithful to me.’
That is what the Lord says.
21 ‘I can hear a noise on the tops of the hills.
Israel's people are weeping.
They are calling out for help.
Yes, they have turned to bad ways.
They have forgotten to serve the Lord their God.
22 Return to me, all of you have turned away.
I will help you to be faithful to me.
Now you should say,
“Yes, we will return to you,
because you are the Lord our God.
23 The false gods that we worship on the hills have deceived us.
Our wild parties on the mountains have not helped us.
Only the Lord our God can really save Israel.
24 Since we were a young nation,
we have seen all our good things disappear.
The useless gods that we worshipped have taken them.
They took away the things that our ancestors worked to get.
They took away our sheep and our cows.
They even took away our sons and our daughters.
25 We are ashamed to agree that this is true.
We must accept the shame that we deserve.
We and our ancestors have done bad things
against the Lord our God.
Since long ago, we have not obeyed him,
and even today, we still do not listen to him.” ’
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