Beginning

1 The words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, one of the Priests who were at Anathoth, in the land of Benjamin,

² to whom the Word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah, the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign,

³ and also in the days of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, to the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month.

⁴ Then the Word of the LORD came to me, saying,

⁵ “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. And before you came out of the womb, I sanctified you and ordained you to be a Prophet to the nations.”

⁶ Then I said, “Oh, LORD God. Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a child.”

⁷ But the LORD said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am a child’. For you shall go to all that I shall send you. And whatever I Command you, you shall speak.

⁸ “Do not be afraid of their faces. For I am with you, to deliver you,” said the LORD.

⁹ Then the LORD stretched out His Hand and touched my mouth. And the LORD said to me, “Behold, I have put My Words in your mouth.

¹⁰ “Behold, this day I have set you over the nations, and over the kingdoms, to pluck up, and to root out, and to destroy, and throw down, to build, and to plant.”

¹¹ After this, the Word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Jeremiah, what do you see?” And I said, “I see a rod of almond tree.”

¹² Then the LORD said to me, “You have seen correctly. For I will hasten My Word, to perform it.”

¹³ Again the Word of the LORD came to me the second time, saying, “What do you see?” And I said, “I see a seething pot, looking out of the North.”

¹⁴ Then the LORD said to me, “A plague shall spread out of the North, upon all the inhabitants of the land.

¹⁵ “For lo, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the North,” says the LORD, “and they shall come. And everyone shall set his throne in the entering of the gates of Jerusalem, and on all its walls, all around, and in all the cities of Judah.

¹⁶ “And I will declare to them My Judgments touching all the wickedness of those who have forsaken Me, and have burnt incense to other gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands.

¹⁷ “You, therefore, truss up your loins and arise and speak to them, all that I Command you. Do not be afraid of their faces, lest I destroy you before them.

¹⁸ “For I, behold, I, this day, have made you a defensed city, and an iron pillar, and walls of brass, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against its princes, against its priests, and against the people of the land.

¹⁹ “For they shall fight against you. But they shall not prevail against you. For I am with you, to deliver you,” says the LORD.

2 Moreover, the Word of the LORD came to me, saying,

² “Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD: “I remember you—the kindness of your youth, the love of your marriage, when you went after Me in the wilderness in a land that was not sown—

³ “Israel, a thing hallowed to the LORD, His firstfruits. All those who eat it shall be guilty. Evil shall come upon them,” says the LORD.’”

⁴ Hear the Word of the LORD, O House of Jacob, and all the families of the House of Israel.

⁵ Thus says the LORD: “What iniquity have your fathers found in Me, that they have gone far from Me, and have walked after vanity, and have become vain?

⁶ “For they did not say, ‘Where is the LORD Who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, Who led us through the wilderness, through a desert and waste land, through a dry land, and by the shadow of death, by a land that no man passed through, and where no man dwelt?’

⁷ “And I brought you into a plentiful country, to eat its fruit, and the commodities of the same. But when you entered, you defiled My land, and made My heritage an abomination.

⁸ “The priests did not say, ‘Where is the LORD?’ And those who should minister the Law did not know Me. The pastors also sinned against Me, and the prophets prophesied in Baal, and went after things that did not profit.

⁹ “Therefore, I will still plead with you,” says the LORD, “and I will plead with your children’s children.

¹⁰ “For go to the isles of Chittim and behold, and send to Kedar and take diligent heed, and see whether there are such things.

¹¹ “Has any nation changed their gods, which yet are not gods? But My people have exchanged their glory for that which does not profit.

¹² “O, you heavens, be astonished at this! Be afraid and utterly confounded,” says the LORD.

¹³ “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the Fountain of Living Waters, to dig themselves pits, broken pits that can hold no water.

¹⁴ “Is Israel a servant, or is he born in the house? Why is he spoiled?

¹⁵ “The lions roared upon him, yelled, and they have made his land waste. His cities are burnt, without an inhabitant.

¹⁶ “Also, the children of Noph and Tahapanes have broken your head.

¹⁷ “Have you not brought this on yourself, because you have forsaken the LORD your God, when He led you by the way?

¹⁸ “And what are you now doing on the way of Egypt, to drink the water of Nilus? Or why do you take the way of Assyria, to drink the water of the River?

¹⁹ “Your own wickedness shall correct you, and your backslidings shall reprove you. Know, therefore, and behold that it is an evil thing, and bitter, that you have forsaken the LORD your God, and that My fear is not in you,” says the LORD God of Hosts.

²⁰ “For since ancient times I have broken your yoke, burst your bonds, and you said, ‘I will transgress no more.’ But, like a harlot, you run around upon all high hills, and under all green trees.

²¹ “Yet, I had planted you as a noble vine, whose plants were whole. How, then, have you turned before Me into the plants of a strange vine?

²² “Though you wash yourself with lye, and use much soap, your iniquity is marked before Me,” says the LORD God.

²³ “How can you say, ‘I am not polluted, nor have I followed Baal?’ Behold your ways in the valley and know what you have done. You are like a swift dromedary traversing her ways,

²⁴ “a wild donkey used to the wilderness that sniffs at the wind in her passion. Who can turn her back when in heat? All those who seek her will not weary themselves but will find her in her month.

²⁵ “Keep your feet from bareness, and your throat from thirst. But you said desperately, ‘No, for I have loved strangers, and them will I follow.’

²⁶ “As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the House of Israel ashamed, they, their kings, their princes and their priests, and their prophets,

²⁷ “saying to a tree, ‘You are my father,’ and to a stone, ‘You have begotten me.’ For they have turned their back to Me, and not their face. But in the time of their trouble, they will say, ‘Arise, and help us!’

²⁸ “But where are your gods that you have made yourself? Let them arise, if they can help you in the time of your trouble. For according to the number of your cities are your gods, O Judah.

²⁹ “Why will you plead with Me? You all have rebelled against Me,” says the LORD.

³⁰ “I have struck your children in vain. They received no correction. Your own sword has devoured your Prophets like a destroying lion.

³¹ “O generation, take heed to the Word of the LORD! Have I been a wilderness to Israel, or a land of darkness? Why, then, do My people say, ‘We are lords. We will come no more to You?’

³² “Can a maid forget her ornament, or a bride her attire? Yet My people have forgotten Me, days without number.

³³ “Why do you beautify your ways, to seek love? Therefore, you will also teach the wicked your ways.

³⁴ “Also in your wings is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents. I have not found it in holes, but upon all these.

³⁵ “Yet you say, ‘Because I am guiltless, surely His wrath shall turn from me.’ Behold, I will enter into judgment with you because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’

³⁶ “Why do you run around so much to change your ways? For you shall be confounded by Egypt as you are confounded by Assyria.

³⁷ “For you shall go forth from there, and your hands upon your head, because the LORD has rejected your confidence, and you shall not prosper thereby.”

3 “They say, ‘If a man puts away his wife, and she goes from him, and becomes another man’s, shall he return again to her? Shall not this land be polluted?’ But you have played the harlot, with many lovers, yet turn again to me,” says the LORD.

² “Lift up your eyes to the high places, and behold where you have not played the harlot. You have sat, waiting for them on the way, as the Arabian in the wilderness. And you have polluted the land with your whoredoms, and with your malice.

³ “Therefore the showers have been restrained, and the latter rain came not, and you had a whore’s forehead. You would not be ashamed.

⁴ “Did you not still cry to Me, ‘You are My Father, the guide of my youth?

⁵ ‘Will He keep His anger forever? Will He reserve it to the end?’ Thus have you spoken, but you still do evil, more and more.”

⁶ The LORD also said to me in the days of Josiah the king, “Have you seen what this rebel Israel has done? She has gone up upon every high mountain, and under every green tree, and there played the harlot.

⁷ “And I said, when she had done all this, ‘Turn to Me.’ But she did not return, as her rebellious sister Judah saw.

⁸ “Then I saw how that for all the occasions rebellious Israel had played the harlot, and I had cast her away and given her a bill of divorcement, yet her rebellious sister, Judah, was not afraid. And she also went and played the harlot.

⁹ “So that because of the lightness of her whoredom, she has even defiled the land. For she has committed fornication with stones and trees.

¹⁰ “Nevertheless, for all this, her rebellious sister Judah has not returned to Me with her whole heart, but deceptively,” says the LORD.

¹¹ And the LORD said to me, “The rebellious Israel has justified herself more than the rebellious Judah.

¹² “Go and cry these Words toward the North, and say, ‘You disobedient Israel, return,’ says the LORD, ‘and I will not let My wrath fall upon you.’ For I am merciful,” says the LORD, “and I will not always keep My anger.

¹³ “But know your iniquity. For you have rebelled against the LORD your God, and have scattered your ways to the strange gods under every green tree. But you would not obey My Voice,” says the LORD.

¹⁴ “O you disobedient children, turn again,” says the LORD, “for I am your LORD. And I will take you, one from a city, and two from a tribe, and will bring you to Zion.

¹⁵ “And I will give you pastors according to My Heart, who shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.

¹⁶ “Moreover, when you are increased and multiplied in the land, in those days,” says the LORD, “they shall say no more: ‘The Ark of the Covenant of the LORD.’ For it shall not come to mind anymore, nor shall they remember it, nor shall they visit it. For that shall not be done anymore.

¹⁷ “At that time, they shall call Jerusalem, ‘The Throne of the LORD.’ And all the nations shall be gathered to it, to the Name of the LORD in Jerusalem. And henceforth they shall not follow the hardness of their wicked heart anymore.

¹⁸ “In those days, the House of Judah shall walk with the House of Israel. And they shall come together out of the land of the North, into the land that I have given for an inheritance to your fathers.

¹⁹ “But I said, ‘How did I take you for children, and give you a pleasant land, the glorious heritage of the armies of the heathen?’ And I said, ‘You shall call Me, “My Father”, and shall not turn from Me.’

²⁰ “But as a woman rebels against her husband, so have you rebelled against Me, O House of Israel,” says the LORD.

²¹ A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel. For they have perverted their way, forgotten the LORD their God.

²² “O you disobedient children! Return and I will heal your rebellions.” “Behold, we come to You! For You are the LORD our God.

²³ “Truly the hope of the hills is but vain, and the multitude of mountains. But in the LORD our God is the health of Israel.

²⁴ “For confusion has devoured our father’s labor from our youth, their sheep and their bullocks, their sons and their daughters.

²⁵ “We lie down in our confusion, and our shame covers us. For we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers from our youth, even to this day. And we have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.”