Beginning
Famine and wars
14 This is the Lord's message that he gave to Jeremiah about the famine:
2 ‘Judah's people are very sad and upset.
The people in Judah's cities are becoming weak.
They are sitting on the ground and they are weeping.
Jerusalem's people call to me for help.
3 Rich people send their servants to get water.
They go to the wells, but they do not find any water.
They return home with empty water jars.
They are ashamed and upset.
They hide their faces in their hands.
4 There has been no rain anywhere.
The ground is breaking apart.
The farmers too are very upset.
They hide their faces in their hands.
5 There is no grass in the fields for the deer to eat.
So the mother deer runs away from her new baby.
6 Wild donkeys stand on the empty hills.
They breathe very fast, like thirsty jackals.
Their eyes hurt as they look for grass,
but there is no food for them to eat.’
7 ‘Lord, our many sins show that we are guilty.[a]
But please help us, to show that you are our God.
We have turned away from you many times.
We have done bad things against you.
8 You are the one that we Israelites hope to give us help.
You are the one who saves us when we are in trouble.
But now you live among us like a foreigner.
You are like a visitor who stays for only one night.
9 You seem to be like a helpless person.
You are like a brave fighter who has lost his strength to save anyone.
But surely you are among us, Lord.
We belong to you as your own people.
Do not leave us alone!’
10 The Lord says this about his people:
‘These people love to go wherever they want.
They do not try to stay near to me.
So they do not please me.
Now I will remember the wrong things that they have done.
I will punish them for their sins.’
The lies of the false prophets
11 The Lord said to me, ‘Do not pray that I will do any more good things for these people. 12 Even if they fast, I will not listen when they ask me for help. I will not accept the burnt offerings or grain offerings that they offer to me. Instead, I will use war, famine and disease to destroy them.’
13 I said, ‘Lord God, the prophets are deceiving the people. They say that there will not be any war or famine or disease that will hurt the people. Instead, they say that you have promised peace in our land.’
14 The Lord said to me, ‘Those prophets say that they speak my messages, but they are telling lies. I did not send them. I did not give them my authority. I did not give them any messages. They are deceiving people with the visions that they talk about. When they prophesy about things, it means nothing. They only speak about their own foolish ideas. 15 They claim to speak with my authority, but I did not send them. They say that there will be no war or famine. So I tell you, this is what will happen to those prophets: War and famine will kill them. 16 And the people that they are speaking their messages to will also die because of war and famine. Their bodies will lie in Jerusalem's streets. Nobody will be there to bury them. This will happen to the men, their wives, their sons and their daughters. I will punish them as they deserve, because they are so wicked.
17 Say this to the people, Jeremiah:
“Tears pour from my eyes all the time.
I weep through each day and each night.
I am sad about my own dear people.
A great trouble has knocked them to the ground.
They have received a very bad wound.
18 When I go out into the fields,
I see the bodies of people who have died in war.
When I look in the city,
I see people who are dying from famine.
The prophets and the priests are busy with their work.
But they do not understand what is happening.” ’
A prayer that the Lord would save his people[b]
19 ‘Lord, have you completely turned away from the people of Judah?
Do you really hate the people of Zion?
You have knocked us down
so that we will never get better.
We hoped to live in peace,
but nothing good happened to us.
We hoped to have rest from our troubles,
but instead we live in fear.
20 Lord, we agree that we are wicked people.
Our ancestors also did bad things.
We have turned against you.
21 But please do not refuse to help us.
Show that you are a faithful God.
Jerusalem is the place where you have your beautiful throne.
So do not go away and leave us.
Remember the covenant that you made with us.
Please do what you promised to do for us.
22 The idols of other nations are useless.
None of them can cause rain to fall.
And the sky itself does not make rain.
No, it is you, Lord, our God, who sends rain.
You alone do all these things,
so we trust you to help us.’
Trouble will come to the people of Judah
15 The Lord said to me, ‘Even if Moses and Samuel asked me not to punish these people, I would not agree. I still would not help them. Send them away! I do not want to see them again! 2 They may ask you, “Where should we go?” Then tell them, “This is what the Lord says:
Those who should become ill and die will die.
Those who should die in war will die in war.
Those who should die from famine will die from famine.
Those who should go away as prisoners will go away as prisoners.”
3 I will send four kinds of punishments to hurt them. Soldiers will kill them in war. Dogs will carry away their dead bodies. Birds and wild animals will eat them and destroy them. 4 I will cause the people of all nations to think that the people of Judah are disgusting. That will be because of the evil things that the king of Judah, Hezekiah's son, Manasseh, did in Jerusalem.’
5 The Lord said,
‘People of Jerusalem, nobody will feel sorry for you.
Nobody will weep for you.
Nobody will stop to ask how you are.
6 I tell you this:
You have turned away from me.
You continue to go further away from me.
So I will prepare to use my power to destroy you.
I can no longer be kind to you.
7 I will punish the people of every town in the land.
I will blow them away,
like wind blows away straw.
My people have refused to change the way that they live.
So I will destroy them and their children too.
8 There will be more widows in Judah,
than there is sand on the shore of the sea.
At midday I will send an enemy to destroy the young men.
Their mothers will weep for them.
It will happen very suddenly.
Fear and terror will come!
9 A mother will feel very weak,
because all her seven children have died.
It is difficult for her even to breathe.
She has lost the children that made her happy,
while they were still young.
She will be ashamed and without honour.
I will send your enemies to kill
any of your people who are still alive.’
That is what the Lord says.
Jeremiah complains to the Lord
10 ‘This is terrible for me!
I am sorry, mother, that you gave birth to me.
I cause trouble and arguments
wherever I go in the land.
I never lend money to people,
and I do not ask them to lend money to me.
But everyone curses me anyway.’
11 The Lord said,[c]
‘I will take care of you
so that it brings something good for you.
I will cause your enemies to ask you for help.
They will come to you when they are in trouble.
12 Your enemy that comes from the north
is like a weapon made from iron and bronze.
You will never break it.
13 I will give all your valuable things to your enemies.
They will take them all away.
You will receive nothing in return.
That will pay for the sins that you have done
everywhere in your land.
14 Your enemies will make you their slaves
in a land that you do not know.
I will punish you as if in a hot fire,
because I am very angry with you.’
15 ‘Lord, you understand my problems.
Remember me and take care of me.
Please punish those people who hate me.
Do not be so patient with them that they kill me.
Remember that they have insulted me
because I am serving you.
16 As your words came to me,
I took them into me like sweet food.
I belong to you, Lord, God Almighty,
so your words made me very happy.
17 When people were enjoying wild parties,
I did not join with them.
I sat alone, because you held me.
You caused me to be angry with those people.
18 I am in pain which never ends.
People have hurt me and nothing makes it better.
Why are you not there to help me?
You are like a stream that becomes dry
and it has no water.’
19 So the Lord said this to me:
‘If you turn back to me,
I will help you to be strong.
Then you can continue to serve me.
Speak valuable words instead of useless words.
Then you can speak on my behalf.
These people must change to be like you have been.
You must not change to become like them.
20 When these people attack you,
I will make you like a strong wall.
You will be like a wall that is made of bronze.
The people will not be able to knock you down.
I will be with you to protect you.
I will keep you safe.’
That is what the Lord says.
21 ‘I will rescue you from the power of those wicked people.
I will keep you safe from those cruel people.’
The Lord tells Jeremiah how he must live
16 The Lord said to me, 2 ‘You must not marry in this place. You must not have sons or daughters here. 3 I will tell you what will happen to children who are born here and what will happen to their parents. 4 Terrible disease will kill them. Nobody will weep for them. Nobody will bury them. Their bodies will lie on the ground like dung. Either war or famine will kill them. Birds and wild animals will come to eat their dead bodies.’
5 The Lord also said to me, ‘Do not go into a house where they are eating a funeral meal. Do not join with them to weep because someone in the family has died. I have removed my blessing and my faithful love from these people. I will no longer be kind to them. That is what I say. 6 When people die, nobody will bury them, whether they are rich people or poor people. Nobody will weep for them. People will not cut their bodies because they are upset. They will not cut the hair from their heads. 7 Nobody will take food to comfort families when someone has died. Even if their mother or their father has died, nobody will bring any wine to comfort them.
8 Do not join with people who are eating a feast because they are happy. Do not go into their house to eat and drink with them. 9 I, the Lord Almighty, Israel's God, tell you what I will do. I will stop their happy songs and their marriage parties in this place. You will see this happen while you are still alive.
10 Tell the people everything that I have said. Then they will ask you, “Why has the Lord told us that he will punish us so much? What wrong things have we done? What sin have we done against the Lord, our God?” 11 Then you must tell them what I say: “It is because your ancestors turned against me. They went to other gods. They worshipped and they served those gods. They turned against me and they did not obey my law. 12 And you have done even more wicked things than your ancestors! You do any wicked thing that you want to do. You refuse to change. You do not obey me. 13 So I will throw you out of this land. I will send you away to a land that you and your ancestors never knew. There you will worship other gods, as much as you like. I will no longer help you.” ’
Hope for the future
14 The Lord also said, ‘Listen! A better time will come. When people make a promise, they will not say, “I promise to do this as surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites safely out of Egypt.” 15 Instead they will say, “I promise to do this as surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites safely back from the land in the north. He brought them back from all the places that he had sent them to as prisoners.” Yes, at that time I will bring them back to this land that I gave to their ancestors.
16 But now I will send enemies to catch these people. They will catch them like fishermen catch fish.[d] They will chase after them like hunters who catch wild animals. They will find them everywhere in the mountains, in the hills and in holes in the rocks. 17 I am watching them carefully all the time. They cannot hide from me. I can see all their sins. 18 I will punish them for their sins. I will make them pay twice for the wrong things that they have done. That is because they have spoiled my land. They have made it unclean with their disgusting idols that have no life. They have filled my special land with the evil things that they have done.’
19 Lord, you give me strength.
You are the safe place where I can hide.
When I am in trouble,
I can run to you and be safe.
People will come from nations all over the earth,
to give you honour.
They will say, ‘Our ancestors worshipped false gods.
Those gods were useless and they could not help us.
20 Can people make gods for themselves?
If they make them, they are not really gods.’
21 ‘So I, the Lord, will teach these people about my great power.
Then they will understand that I am the Lord,
the true God.’[e]
17 ‘The people of Judah love to do bad things.[f]
Their sins are deep inside them.
It is like they are written on their hearts
and on the horns of their altars.
They are written with an iron pen.
Nobody can remove the list of their sins.
2 Even their children always think about their altars
where they worship false gods.
They have put up their Asherah poles
under the big trees and on the high hills.
3 They also worship their false gods
on the mountains and in the fields.
So I will cause enemies to take all your valuable things.
They will take your riches for themselves.
That will be the price that you pay for your sins.
You have done evil things everywhere in the land.
4 I gave you this land to be your home for ever.
But it will no longer belong to you.
Your enemies will take you to a land that you do not know.
You will be their slaves.
You have made me very angry,
like a fire that nobody can stop.’
Trust in the Lord
5 The Lord says,
‘I will curse those who only trust people to help them.
They think that human strength will save them,
and they turn away from me, the Lord.
6 They will be like a bush that grows in the desert.
It grows in a place where nobody can live.
The ground is very dry and is spoiled by salt.
Even when good times come,
those people will not receive any good thing.
7 The Lord blesses people who trust in him.
They know that the Lord will help them.
8 They will be like trees that grow beside a river.
Their roots reach into the water.
When the sun is hot, they are not afraid.
Their leaves continue to be green.
They give fruit each year,
even when there is no rain.
9 A person's own mind deceives him,
more than anything else does.
Nobody can change it to be better.
Nobody completely understands it.
10 But I, the Lord, look inside a person's mind.
I see what he thinks and what he feels.
I see how everyone lives,
and I see the things that they do.
I give to each one what he deserves.
11 Someone may get rich because he cheats other people.
He is like a bird that sits on eggs
that it has taken from another nest.
He will lose his riches before he is old.
At the end of his life, he will die as a fool.’
Jeremiah's prayer
12 Lord, your beautiful throne is high above.
You have ruled there from the beginning.
That is where we worship you.[g]
13 You are the one that the Israelites hope in.
Everyone who turns away from you will be ashamed.
They will disappear,
as if their names are written in the dust.
Lord, you give life to your people,
like a spring of fresh water.
But they have turned against you.
14 Lord, please make me well again.
Then I will be completely well.
Rescue me so that I am completely safe.
You are the one that I praise!
15 People are asking me questions.
They say, ‘Nothing has happened to us yet!
When will the Lord's message become true?’
16 Lord, I have not stopped taking care of your people.
I have never asked you to destroy them on one final day.
You know that,
and you know everything that I have said.
17 Please do not make me afraid!
When I am in trouble,
I run to you to be safe.
18 Please bring shame on those who want to hurt me.
Do not make me ashamed.
Make those people afraid,
but do not make me afraid.
Destroy them with a time of great trouble.
Punish them completely!
Rules for Sabbath days
19 The Lord said to me, ‘Go and stand at the gate of the city that is called “The People's Gate”. That is the gate that the kings of Judah use to go in and out of the city. Then go and stand at the other gates of Jerusalem. 20 Stand in those places and say, “Listen, you kings of Judah, everyone who lives in Jerusalem and all the people of Judah. Hear this message from the Lord. 21 This is what the Lord says:
Be careful to obey these rules if you want to continue to live! On a Sabbath day, do not carry any loads in through the gates of Jerusalem. 22 Do not carry any loads out of your houses. Do not do any work on a Sabbath day. You must keep the Sabbath day as a special day for me. That is what I commanded your ancestors to do.[h] 23 But they did not listen to me and they did not obey me. They refused to accept the rules that I gave to them. When I warned them, they would not change.”
24 The Lord says, “But you must be careful to obey me. Do not carry any loads through the gates of this city on a Sabbath day. You must keep the Sabbath day as a special day for me. Do not do any work on a Sabbath day. 25 If you obey me, kings from David's family will continue to rule. Kings and their officers will pass through these gates, together with the people of Jerusalem and all Judah. They will ride on horses and in chariots. Many people will always live in this city. 26 People will come here from everywhere in Judah. They will bring offerings to the Lord's temple. They will come from Judah's towns and from the villages around Jerusalem. They will come from the land that belongs to Benjamin's tribe. They will come from the low hills in the west and from the hill country and the wilderness in the south. They will bring burnt offerings, grain offerings, other sacrifices and incense. They will offer sacrifices to the Lord to thank him.
27 But you must remember to obey me. You must keep the Sabbath day as a special day for me. You must not carry any loads in through Jerusalem's gates on a Sabbath day. If you do not obey this rule, I will burn Jerusalem's gates with fire. The fire will destroy all the strong buildings in Jerusalem. Nobody will be able to stop that fire.” ’
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