Beginning

14 The Davar Hashem that came to Yirmeyah concerning the batzorot (droughts).

² Yehudah mourneth, and the she’arim (gates, i.e., towns) thereof languish; they are black unto the ground; and the cry of Yerushalayim is gone up.

³ And their nobles have sent their servants for mayim; they came to the cisterns, and found no mayim; they returned with their vessels empty; they were ashamed and dismayed, and covered their rosh.

⁴ Because the adamah is cracked, for there was no geshem in the earth, the ikkarim (plowmen) were ashamed, they covered their rosh.

⁵ Indeed, the deer also calved in the sadeh, and forsook it, because there was no desheh (grass).

⁶ And the pera’im (wild donkeys) did stand on the bare heights, they pant for ruach like jackals; their eyes did fail, because there was no esev (grass).

⁷ Hashem, though avoneinu (our iniquities) testify against us, do Thou it l’ama’an (for the sake of) Shemecha (Thy Name); for meshuvoteinu (our backslidings) are great; we have sinned against Thee.

⁸ O Mikveh Yisroel, the Moshi’a thereof in time of tzoros, why shouldest Thou be as a ger (stranger) in HaAretz, and as a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night?

⁹ Why shouldest Thou be as an ish astonished, as a gibbor that cannot save? Yet Thou, Hashem, art in the midst of us, and we are called by Thy Shem; forsake us not.

¹⁰ Thus saith Hashem unto this people, Thus have they loved to wander, they have not restrained their raglayim, therefore Hashem doth not accept them; He will now remember their avon (iniquity), and visit their sins.

¹¹ Then said Hashem unto me, Pray not for HaAm Hazeh for their tovah (well-being).

¹² When they undergo a tzom, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer olah (burnt offering) and minchah (grain offering), I will not accept them; but I will consume them by the cherev, and by the ra’av (famine), and by dever (pestilence).

¹³ Then said I, Ah, Adonoi Hashem! Hinei, the nevi’im say unto them, Ye shall not see the cherev, neither shall ye have ra’av (famine); but I will give you shalom emes in this makom.

¹⁴ Then Hashem said unto me, The nevi’im prophesy sheker in My Shem; I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spoke unto them; they prophesy unto you a chazon sheker (false vision) and kesem (divination, pagan fortunetelling), and a worthless thing, and the delusion of their lev.

¹⁵ Therefore thus saith Hashem concerning the nevi’im that prophesy in My Shem, and I sent them not, yet they say, Cherev and ra’av (famine) shall not be in HaAretz Hazot; By cherev and ra’av (famine) shall those nevi’im be consumed.

¹⁶ And HaAm to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Yerushalayim because of the ra’av (famine) and the cherev; and they shall have none to bury them—them, their nashim, nor their banim, nor their banot; for I will pour out their ra’ah (wickedness, disaster) upon them.

¹⁷ Therefore thou shalt say this davar unto them, Let mine eyes run down with tears lailah and yomam, and let them not cease: for the Betulat Bat Ami is broken with a shever gadol (great calamity), with a severe wound.

¹⁸ If I go forth into the sadeh, then hinei! The slain with the cherev! And if I enter into the Ir, then hinei them that are ravaged with ra’av (famine)! Indeed, both the navi and the kohen go roaming to a land that they know not.

¹⁹ Hast Thou utterly rejected Yehudah? Hath Thy nefesh loathed Tziyon? Why hast Thou afflicted us, and there is no healing for us? We hoped for shalom, and there is no tov; and for the time of healing, and hinei terror!

²⁰ We acknowledge, Hashem, our wickedness, and the avon Avoteinu; for we have sinned against Thee.

²¹ Do not abhor us, for the sake of Shimecha, do not disgrace the Kisse Kevodecha (throne of Thy glory); remember, annul not Thy Brit with us.

²² Are there any among the havalim (vanities, false g-ds) of the Goyim that can cause geshem? Or can HaShomayim give showers? Art not Thou He, Hashem Eloheinu? Therefore we will hope in and wait upon Thee; for Thou hast made all these things.

15 Then said Hashem unto me, Though Moshe and Shmuel stood before Me, yet My Nefesh could not be toward HaAm Hazeh; cast them out of My sight, and let them go forth.

² And it shall come to pass, if they say unto thee, Where shall we go forth? Then thou shalt tell them, Thus saith Hashem: Such as are for mavet, to mavet; and such as are for the cherev, to the cherev; and such as are for the ra’av (famine), to the ra’av (famine); and such as are for shevi (captivity, Golus) to the shevi.

³ And I will appoint over them four mishpechot (families, categories [of covenant reprisal]), saith Hashem; the cherev to slay, and the kelevim to drag off, and the oph HaShomayim, and the behemat ha’aretz, to devour and destroy.

⁴ And I will cause them to be a horrific sight to kol mamlechot ha’aretz, because of Menasheh Ben Chizkiyah Melech Yehudah, for that which he did in Yerushalayim.

⁵ For who shall have pity upon thee, O Yerushalayim? Or who shall mourn thee? Or who shall go aside to inquire regarding the shalom of thee?

⁶ Thou hast forsaken Me, saith Hashem, thou keepeth going backward; therefore will I stretch out My yad against thee, and destroy thee; I am weary with relenting.

⁷ And I will winnow them with a mizreh (winnowing fork) in the sha’arei ha’aretz; I will bereave them, I will destroy My people since they turn not from their drakhim.

⁸ Their almanot (widows) are increased before Me above the chol (sand) of the seas; I have brought upon them, against the em bochur (mother of youth), a shoded (plunderer) at noonday; I let fall upon her suddenly, Ir and terrors.

⁹ She that bore shivah (seven [sons]) languisheth; she hath gasped for her nefesh; her shemesh is gone down while it was yet day; she hath been humiliated and disgraced; and the she’erit (remnant) of them will I deliver to the cherev before their oyevim, saith Hashem.

¹⁰ Oy li, immi, that thou bore me, an ish riv (a man of strife) and an ish madon (a man of contention) to kol ha’aretz (the whole land)! I have neither lent, neither have any lent to me; yet every one of them doth curse me.

¹¹ Hashem said, Verily I will deliver thee for tov; verily I will cause the oyev (enemy) to supplicate thee in the time of ra’ah and in the time of tzarah (distress).

¹² Shall barzel (iron) break, barzel (iron) from tzafon (north)? Or nechoshet?

¹³ Thy wealth and thy otzerot (treasures) will I give as plunder without mekhir (price), and that for all thy chataim (sins), even in all thy territories.

¹⁴ And I will make thee to pass over thine oyevim (enemies) into an eretz which thou knowest not; for eish is kindled in Mine anger, which shall burn against you [plural].

¹⁵ Hashem, Thou knowest; remember me, and visit me, and take vengeance for me of my [pursuing] persecutors; in Thy patient forbearance take me not away; know that for Thy sake I have suffered cherpah (reproach).

¹⁶ Thy Devarim were found, and I did eat them; and Thy Davar was unto me the sasson and simchat levavi; for I am called by Thy Shem, Hashem Elohei Tzva’os.

¹⁷ I sat not in the sod (company) of merrymakers, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of Thy yad; for Thou hast filled me with za’am (indignation).

¹⁸ Why is my pain netzach (perpetual, never ending) and my wound incurable, which refuseth to be healed? Wilt Thou be altogether unto me like achzav (deception) and mayim lo ne’emanu (waters that have not proved reliable)?

¹⁹ Therefore thus saith Hashem, If thou make teshuva (repentance), then will I restore thee, and thou shalt stand before Me [for service, ministry]; and if thou bring forth [utterance] of the precious rather than the worthless, thou shalt be as My Peh (Mouth): let them turn unto thee; but turn not thou unto them.

²⁰ And I will make thee unto HaAm Hazeh (this people) a fortified chomat nechoshet; and they shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee to save thee and to deliver thee, saith Hashem.

²¹ And I will save thee out of the yad of the ra’im (wicked), and I will redeem thee out of the clutches of the ruthless.

16 The Davar Hashem came also unto me, saying,

² Thou shalt not take thee an isha, neither shalt thou have banim or banot in makom hazeh (this place).

³ For thus saith Hashem concerning the banim and concerning the banot that are born in makom hazeh, and concerning their immahot (mothers) that bore them, and concerning their avot that fathered them in ha’aretz hazot (this land);

⁴ The mot (death) they die will be of deadly diseases; they shall not be mourned; neither shall they be buried; but they shall be as refuse upon the face of ha’adamah; and they shall be consumed by the cherev, and by ra’av (famine); and their nevelot (dead bodies) shall be food for the oph haShomayim, and for the behemat ha’aretz.

⁵ For thus saith Hashem, Enter not into the bais marzeach (house of mourning), neither go to lament nor mourn them; for I have withdrawn away My shalom from HaAm Hazeh, saith Hashem, even chesed and rachamim.

⁶ Both the gedolim and the ketanim shall die in ha’aretz hazot; they shall not be buried, neither shall men mourn for them, nor make [pagan] cuttings on themselves, nor make themselves [like pagan mourners] bald for them [See Dt 14:1]:

⁷ Neither shall men break bread for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead; neither shall men give them the kos tanechumim (cup of consolation) to drink for their av or for their em.

⁸ Thou shalt not go into the bais mishteh (house of feasting), to sit with them to eat and to drink.

⁹ For thus saith Hashem Tzva’os Elohei Yisroel: Behold, I will cause to cease out of hamakom hazeh before your eyes, and in your days, the voice of sasson, and the voice of simcha, the voice of the choson, and the voice of the kallah.

¹⁰ And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt tell this people all these Devarim, and they shall say unto thee, Why hath Hashem pronounced all this ra’ah hagedolah against us? Or what is avonenu (our iniquity)? Or what is chattatenu (our sin) that we have committed against Hashem Eloheinu?

¹¹ Then shalt thou say unto them, Because avoteichem have forsaken Me, saith Hashem, and have walked after acharei elohim, and have served them, and have worshiped them, and have forsaken Me, and have not been shomer over My torah;

¹² And ye have done more wickedly than avoteichem; for, behold, ye walk every one after the sherirut (stubbornness) of his lev harah, that they may not pay heed unto Me:

¹³ Therefore will I cast you out of ha’aretz hazot into ha’aretz that ye know not, neither ye nor avoteichem; and there shall ye serve elohim acherim yomam valailah; for I will not show you [plural] chaninah (favor).

¹⁴ Therefore, hinei, the days come, saith Hashem, that it shall no more be said, Hashem liveth, that brought up the Bnei Yisroel out of Eretz Mitzrayim;

¹⁵ But, Hashem liveth, that brought up the Bnei Yisroel from the eretz tzaphon, and from kol ha’aratz where He had dispersed them; and I will bring them again into their adamah that I gave unto their avot.

¹⁶ Behold, I will send for many dayagim (fisherman), saith Hashem, and they shall fish them out; and after that will I send for many tzayadim (hunters), and they shall hunt them from every har (mountain), and from every givah (hill), and out of the crevices of the sela’im (rocks).

¹⁷ For Mine eyes are upon all their drakhim; they are not hid from My face, neither is their avon (iniquity) hid from Mine eyes.

¹⁸ And first I will recompense their avon (iniquity) and their sin mishneh (double); because they have defiled My Eretz (land), they have filled Mine nachalah with the nevelot (lifeless forms, carcasses) of their detestable and abominable idols.

¹⁹ Hashem, my strength, and my ma’oz (fortress), and my refuge in the yom tzarah, the Goyim shall come unto Thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely Avoteinu have inherited sheker, hevel, and things wherein there is no profit.

²⁰ Shall man make elohim unto himself and they are not Elohim?

²¹ Therefore, Behold, I will this time cause them to know, I will cause them to know Mine yad and My gevurah; and they shall know that My Shem is Hashem.

17 The chattat Yehudah is written with an et barzel (iron pen), and with the tzipporen shamir (point of a diamond); it is engraved upon the luach (tablet) of their lev, and upon the karenot (horns) of your mizbechot (altars);

² Whilst their banim remember their mizbechot and their asherim by the leafy trees upon the high hills.

³ O My mountain in the sadeh, I will give over thy wealth and all thy otzerot (treasures) as plunder, and thy high places for sin, throughout all thy territories.

⁴ And thou, even thyself, shalt let go of thine nachalah that I gave thee; and I will cause thee to serve thine oyevim in ha’aretz which thou knowest not; for ye have kindled an eish in Mine anger, which shall burn ad-olam (forever).

⁵ Thus saith Hashem: Arur (cursed) be the gever that trusteth in adam, and maketh basar his zero’a, and whose lev turneth away from Hashem.

⁶ For he shall be like the shrub in the aravah (desert), and shall not see when tov cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the midbar, in an eretz melechah (salt land) and not inhabited.

⁷ Baruch hagever asher yivtach baHashem (Blessed is the man that trusteth in Hashem), and whose mivtach (confidence) Hashem is.

⁸ For he shall be as an etz planted by the mayim, and that spreadeth out her shorashim (roots) by the brook, and shall not fear when chom (heat) cometh, but its leaf shall be green; and shall not be anxious in the shenat batzoret (year of drought), neither shall cease from yielding p’ri (fruit).

⁹ The lev (heart, mind) akov (is deceitful) above all things, and anush (incurable [in wickedness]); who can know it?

¹⁰ I, Hashem, search the lev, I test the kelayot (kidneys, i.e., most inward parts), requiting to every ish according to his drakhim, and according to the p’ri of his deeds.

¹¹ As the partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not; so he that getteth osher (riches), and not by mishpat, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a naval (fool).

¹² A glorious high kisse from the beginning is the place of Mikdasheinu (our Beis HaMikdash).

¹³ Hashem, the Mikveh Yisroel, all that forsake Thee shall be put to shame, and they that turn away from Me shall be written down in ha’aretz, because they have forsaken Hashem, the Makor Mayim Chayyim (Fountain of Living Waters).

¹⁴ Heal me, Hashem, and I shall be healed; hoshi’eini (save me), and I shall be saved; for Thou art my tehillah (praise).

¹⁵ Hinei, they say unto me, Where is the Devar Hashem? Let it come now.

¹⁶ As for me, I have not hastened away from being a ro’eh (shepherd) to follow Thee; neither did I lust for the woeful day; Thou knowest; that which came out of my lips was before Thee.

¹⁷ Be not a mechittah (terror) unto me; Thou art my refuge in the Yom Ra’ah (Day of Evil, Day of Disaster, Day of Doom).

¹⁸ Let them be ashamed that persecute me, but let not me be put to shame; let them be dismayed, but let not me be dismayed; bring upon them the Yom Ra’ah, and destroy them with mishneh (double) destruction.

¹⁹ Thus said Hashem unto me; Go and stand in the Sha’ar Bnei HaAm, whereby the melachim of Yehudah come in, and by the which they go out, and in all the Sha’arei Yerushalayim;

²⁰ And say unto them, Hear ye the Devar Hashem, ye melachim of Yehudah, and all Yehudah, and all the inhabitants of Yerushalayim, that enter in by these she’arim (gates);

²¹ Thus saith Hashem: Be shomer over your nefashot, and bear no massa (burden) on Shabbos, nor bring through the Sha’arei Yerushalayim;

²² Neither carry forth a massa (burden) out of your batim (houses) on Shabbos, neither do ye any melachah (work), but keep Shabbos set apart as kodesh, just as I commanded Avoteichem.

²³ But they obeyed not, neither inclined their ozen (ear), but made their stubborn neck stiff, that they might not hear, nor receive musar (discipline).

²⁴ And it shall come to pass, if ye diligently pay heed unto Me, saith Hashem, to bring in no massa (burden) through the she’arim (gates) of this city on the day of Shabbos, but keep the day of Shabbos holy, to do no melachah (work) therein;

²⁵ Then shall there enter into the she’arim (gates) of this city melachim and sarim sitting upon the kisse Dovid, riding in chariots and on susim, they, and their sarim, the Ish Yehudah, and the inhabitants of Yerushalayim; and this city shall be inhabited l’olam (forever).

²⁶ And they shall come from the towns of Yehudah, and from the places around Yerushalayim, and from Eretz Binyamin, and from the Shephalah (Lowlands), and from the har (hill country), and from the Negev bringing olah (burnt offering), and zevach (sacrifice), and minchah (grain offering), and levonah (frankincense), and bringing todah (thank offering), unto the Bais Hashem.

²⁷ But if ye will not pay heed unto Me to keep the day of Shabbos holy, and not to bear a massa (burden), when entering in at the She’arim of Yerushalayim on the day of Shabbos; then will I kindle an eish in the she’arim thereof, and it shall devour the fortresses of Yerushalayim, and it shall not be quenched.