Beginning
10 Hear the Word of the LORD that He speaks to you, O House of Israel!
2 Thus says the LORD: “Do not learn the way of the heathen, and do not be afraid of the signs of Heaven, though the heathen are afraid of such.
3 “For the customs of the people are frivolous. For one cuts a tree out of the forest (which is the work of the hands of the carpenter) with the axe,
4 “and another decorates it with silver and with gold. They fasten it with nails and hammers, so that it does not fall.
5 “They stand up, as the palm tree, but do not speak. They are carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them! For they cannot do evil, nor can they do good.”
6 There is no one like You, O LORD! You are great, and Your Name great in power!
7 Who would not fear You, O King of Nations? It befits You. For among all the wise men of the Gentiles, and in all their kingdoms, there is no one like You.
8 But altogether they dote and are foolish. Their wood is a doctrine of vanity.
9 Silver plates are brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the craftsman and the hands of the metalsmith, the blue silk and the purple their clothing. All these things are made by cunning men.
10 But the LORD, the God of Truth, He is the living God, and an everlasting King. At His anger the Earth shall tremble. And the nations cannot abide His wrath.
11 “Thus shall you say to them: ‘The gods that have not made the heavens and the Earth shall perish from the Earth, and from under these heavens.
12 ‘He has made the Earth by His power, and established the world by His wisdom, and has stretched out the heaven by His discretion.
13 ‘He gives, by voice, the multitude of waters in the heaven, and He causes the clouds to ascend from the ends of the Earth. He turns lightnings to rain and brings forth the wind out of His treasures.’”
14 Every man is a beast by knowledge. Every metalsmith is confounded by the molten image. For his idol is but falsehood and there is no breath in it.
15 They are vanity, the work of errors. At the time of their reckoning they shall perish.
16 The portion of Jacob is not like them. For He is the maker of all things, and Israel is the rod of His inheritance. The LORD of Hosts is His Name.
17 Gather up your wares out of the land, O you who dwells in the strong place.
18 For thus says the LORD: “Behold, at this time I will throw as with a sling the inhabitants of the land and will trouble them. And they shall find it so.”
19 Woe is me for my destruction and my grievous plague! But I thought, “Still, it is my sorrow and I will bear it.”
20 My tent is destroyed, and all my cords are broken. My children have gone from me and are no more. There is no one to spread out my tent anymore, and to set up my curtains.
21 For the shepherds have become beasts and have not sought the LORD. Therefore, have they no understanding. And all the flocks of their pastures are scattered.
22 Behold, the noise of the report has come, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah desolate, a den of dragons.
23 O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself, nor is it in man to walk and to direct his steps.
24 O LORD, correct me, but with judgment, not in Your anger, lest You bring me to nothing.
25 Pour out Your wrath upon the heathen who do not know You, and upon the families that do not call on Your Name. For they have eaten up Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him, and have made his habitation desolate.
11 The Word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
2 “Hear the words of this Covenant, and speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
3 “and say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD God of Israel: “Cursed is the man who does not obey the words of this Covenant,
4 “which I Commanded to your fathers when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, ‘Obey My Voice, and do according to all these things which I Command you.’ So shall you be My people, and I will be your God,
5 “so that I may confirm the oath that I have sworn to your fathers, to give them a land which flows with milk and honey, as it is this day.”’” Then I answered, and said, “So be it, O LORD.”
6 Then the LORD said to me, “Cry all these Words in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Hear the Words of this Covenant, and do them!’
7 “For I have protested to your fathers, when I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, until this day, rising early and protesting, saying, ‘Obey My Voice.’
8 “Nevertheless, they would not obey or incline their ear. But everyone walked in the stubbornness of his wicked heart. Therefore, I will bring upon them all the words of this Covenant, which I Commanded them to do, but they did not do it.”
9 And the LORD said to me, “A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
10 “They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to hear My Words. And they went after other gods, to serve them. The House of Israel and the House of Judah have broken My Covenant, which I made with their fathers.”
11 Therefore, thus says the LORD: “Behold, I will bring a plague upon them, which they shall not be able to escape. And though they cry to Me, I will not hear them.
12 “Then shall the cities of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, go and cry to the gods to whom they offer incense. But they shall not be able to help them in time of their trouble.
13 “For according to the number of your cities were your gods, O Judah. And according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem have you set up altars of confusion, altars to burn incense unto Baal.
14 “Therefore, you shall not pray for this people or lift up a cry or prayer for them. For when they cry to Me in their trouble, I will not hear them.
15 “What should My beloved be doing in My House, seeing they have committed abomination with many, and the holy flesh has gone away from you? Yet when you do evil, you rejoice.
16 “The LORD called your name, a green olive tree, fair, of good fruit. But with noise and great tumult, He has set fire upon it. And the branches of it are broken.
17 “For the LORD of Hosts, Who planted you, has pronounced a plague against you, for the wickedness of the House of Israel, and of the House of Judah, which they have done against themselves to provoke Me to anger in offering incense to Baal.”
18 And the LORD has taught me, and I know it. Then You showed me their practices.
19 But I was like a lamb, a bullock that is brought to the slaughter. And I did not know that they had devised this against me, saying, “Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, and cut him out of the land of the living, so that his name may be remembered no more.”
20 But, O LORD of Hosts, Who judges righteously and tests the inner core and the heart, let me see Your vengeance on them! For to You have I opened my cause!
21 Therefore, the LORD speaks this of the men of Anathoth, who seek your life, and say, “Do not prophesy in the Name of the LORD, so that you do not die by our hands.”
22 Thus, therefore, says the LORD of Hosts: “Behold, I will visit them. The young men shall die by the sword. Their sons and their daughters shall die by famine.
23 “And none of them shall remain. For I will bring a plague upon the men of Anathoth, the year of their punishment.”
12 O LORD, if I dispute with You, You are righteous. Yet, let me talk with You of judgments. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are all those wealthy who rebelliously transgress?
2 You have planted them, and they have taken root. They grow and bring forth fruit. You are near in their mouth, and far from their core.
3 But You, LORD, know me. You have seen me and tried my heart toward You. Pull them out, like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter.
4 How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of every field wither, for the wickedness of those who dwell in them? The beasts are consumed, and the birds, because they said, “He will not see our last end.”
5 “If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, then how can you match yourself with horses? And if you thought yourself safe in a peaceable land, what will you do in the swelling of Jordan?
6 “For even your brethren and the House of your father, even they have dealt unfaithfully with you. And they have cried out altogether upon you. Do not believe them, though they speak good things to you.
7 “I have forsaken My House. I have left My heritage. I have given the dearly beloved of My Soul into the hands of her enemies.
8 “My heritage is to Me as a lion in the forest. It cries out against Me. Therefore, I have hated it.
9 “Shall My heritage be to Me as a bird of diverse colors? Are not the birds around her saying, ‘Come, assemble all the beasts of the field. Come to eat her’?
10 “Many shepherds have destroyed My vineyard and trampled My portion under foot. They have made a desolate wilderness of My pleasant portion.
11 “They have laid it waste. And it, being waste, mourns to Me. The whole land lies waste because no man sets his mind on it.
12 “The destroyers have come upon all the high places in the wilderness. For the sword of the LORD shall devour. From one end of the land to the other end of the land, no flesh shall have peace.
13 “They have sown wheat and reaped thorns. They were sick and had no profit. And they were ashamed of your fruits because of the fierce wrath of the LORD.”
14 Thus says the LORD: “Against all My evil neighbors who touch the inheritance which I have caused My people Israel to inherit, behold, I will pluck them out of their land and pluck out the House of Judah from among them.
15 “And after I have plucked them out, I will return and have compassion on them, and will bring back every man to his heritage, and every man to his land.
16 “And if they will learn the ways of My people, to swear by My Name, ‘The LORD lives’ (as they taught My people to swear by Baal), then they shall be built in the midst of My people.
17 “But if they will not obey, then will I utterly pluck up and destroy that nation,” says the LORD.
13 Thus says the LORD to me: “Go and buy yourself a linen girdle, and put it upon your loins. And do not put it in water.”
2 So I bought the girdle, according to the Commandment of the LORD, and put it upon my loins.
3 And the Word of the LORD came to me a second time, saying,
4 “Take the girdle that you have bought, which is upon your loins. And arise, go toward Perath, and hide it there in the cleft of the rock.”
5 So I went and hid it by Perath, as the LORD had Commanded me.
6 And after many days, the LORD said to me, “Arise, go toward Perath, and take the girdle from there, which I Commanded you to hide there.”
7 Then I went to Perath and dug and took the girdle from the place where I had hidden it. And behold, the girdle was ruined, profitable for nothing.
8 Then the Word of the LORD came to me, saying,
9 “Thus says the LORD: After this manner I will destroy the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem.
10 “This wicked people has refused to hear My Word, and walk after the stubbornness of their own heart, and walk after other gods, to serve them and to worship them. Therefore they shall be as this girdle, which is profitable to nothing.
11 “For as the girdle clings to the loins of a man, so have I tied to Myself the whole House of Israel, and the whole House of Judah,” says the LORD, “so that they might be My people, so that they might have a name and praise and glory. But they would not hear.
12 “Therefore, you shall say this Word to them, ‘Thus says the LORD God of Israel: “Every bottle shall be filled with wine.”’ And they shall say to you, ‘Do we not know that every bottle shall be filled with wine?’
13 “Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD: “Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land—even the kings that sit upon the throne of David, and the priests and the Prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem—with drunkenness.”’
14 “And I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together,” says the LORD. “I will not spare. I will neither pity nor have compassion, but will destroy them.”
15 Hear and give ear! Do not be proud. For the LORD has spoken it.
16 Give glory to the LORD your God before He brings darkness, or if ever your feet stumble in the dark mountains while you look for light and He turns it into the shadow of death and makes it as darkness.
17 But if you will not hear this, my soul shall weep in secret for your pride. And my eye shall weep and drop down tears, because the LORD’s flock is carried away captive.
18 Say to the king and to the queen, “Humble yourselves. Sit down. For the crown of your glory shall come down from your heads.”
19 The cities of the South shall be shut up, and no man shall open them. All Judah shall be carried away captive. It shall be wholly carried away captive.
20 Lift up your eyes and behold those who come from the North. Where is the flock that was given to you, your beautiful flock?
21 What will you say when He shall reckon with you? For you have taught them to be captains, as chief over you. Shall not sorrow take you, as a woman in labor?
22 And if you say in your heart, “Why do these things come upon me?” For the multitude of your iniquities are your skirts uncovered and your heels made bare.
23 Can the black moor change his skin, or the leopard his spots? May you who are accustomed to doing evil also do good?
24 “Therefore, I will scatter them as the stubble that is taken away with the south wind.
25 “This is your portion, the part of your measures from Me,” says the LORD, “because you have forgotten Me and trusted in lies.
26 “Therefore, I have also uncovered your skirts upon your face, so that your shame may appear.
27 “I have seen your adulteries and your neighings, the filthiness of your whoredom on the hills, in the fields, your abominations. Woe to you, O Jerusalem! Will you not be made clean as you once were?”
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