Beginning
Idols are Worthless Scarecrows
10 Hear the word that Adonai speaks to you, house of Israel, 2 Thus says Adonai:
“Do not learn the way of the nations
or be frightened by signs of the heavens—
though the nations are terrified by them.
3 The customs of the peoples are useless:
it is just a tree cut from the forest,
the work of the hands of a craftsman with a chisel.
4 They decorate it with silver and gold,
and fasten it with hammer and nails
so it won’t totter.
5 Like a scarecrow in a cucumber garden,
their idols cannot speak.
They must be carried
because they cannot walk![a]
Do not fear them
for they can do no harm
—nor do any good.”
6 There is none like You, Adonai!
You are great
and great is Your Name in power.
7 Who should not fear You,
Ruler of the nations?
For it is your due!
For among all the wise of the nations
and in all their kingdoms,
there is none like You.
8 They are totally stupid and foolish.
Discipline is useless—it’s wood!
9 Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish
and gold from Uphaz.
The work of the craftsman and of the goldsmith’s hands
is clothed in blue and purple—
all the work of skillful men.
10 But Adonai Elohim is truth.
He is the living God and eternal King.
At His wrath the earth quakes
and the nations cannot endure His indignation.
11 Thus you will say to them: “The gods—which did not make the heavens and the earth—will perish from the earth and from under the heavens.”
12 He made the earth by His power,
established the world by His wisdom,
and stretched out heaven by His understanding.
13 When His voice thunders, waters in heaven roar.
He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth.
He makes lightning for the rain
and brings forth wind from His storehouses.
14 Everyone is stupid, ignorant.
Every goldsmith is put to shame by his idol!
His molten image is a fraud.
There is no breath in them.
15 They are futile, a work of mockery.
In the time of their punishment they will perish.
16 Jacob’s portion is not like these.
For He is the Maker of all things
and Israel, the tribe of His inheritance
—Adonai-Tzva’ot is His Name.”
Coming Pain of Exile
17 Pick up your bundle from the ground,
you who live under siege.
18 For thus says Adonai:
“I am about to hurl
the inhabitants out of the land.
At this time I will press hard on them
so that they will be found out.”
19 Oy to me because of my brokenness!
My wound is incurable.
Yet I said, “This is simply a sickness
and I must bear it.”
20 “My tent is destroyed
and all my ropes are snapped.
My children are gone from me
and are no more.
No one is left to stretch out my tent
or set up my tent curtains.
21 For the shepherds are stupid!
They have not sought Adonai.
Therefore they have not acted wisely
and all their flocks are scattered.”
22 Listen! The sound of a report is coming—
a great commotion out of the land of the north—
to make the cities of Judah desolate,
a haunt of jackals.
23 I know, Adonai, that a man’s way is not his own,
nor does man, as he walks, direct his steps.
24 Chasten me, Adonai, but with justice,
not in Your anger,
lest You reduce me to nothing.
25 Pour out Your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge You
and on the families that do not call on Your Name.
For they have devoured Jacob,
devoured and consumed him,
and destroyed his homeland.
Curse of the Covenant
11 The word that came to Jeremiah from Adonai, saying: 2 Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the people of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 3 Now say to them, Thus says Adonai, the God of Israel: “Cursed is the one who does not obey the words of this covenant, 4 which I commanded your forefathers in the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt—out of the iron furnace—saying: ‘Listen to My voice, and do all that I command you. Then you will be My people, and I will be your God. [b] 5 Then I will fulfill the oath which I swore to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is today.’”
In response I said, “Amen, Adonai.”
6 Then Adonai said to me: “Proclaim 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 earnestly forewarned your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt until this day, forewarning early and often, saying ‘Listen to My voice!’ 8 Yet they would not obey or incline their ear, but each one walked in the stubbornness of his evil heart. Therefore I brought on them all the words of this covenant—which I commanded them to do, but they did not.”
9 Then Adonai said to me, “A conspiracy has been discovered among the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 10 They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers who refused to hear My words. They have gone 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 Adonai. “I will soon bring a disaster on them that they will not be able to escape. They will cry out to Me, yet I will not listen to them. 12 Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to whom they burn incense—but they will not save them at all in the time of their trouble. 13 For as numerous as your cities are your gods, O Judah, and as numerous as the streets of Jerusalem are the altars you have set up to the shameful thing—altars to burn incense to Baal. 14 As for you, you are not to pray for this people or lift up supplication or prayer for them, for I will not hear them at the time they cry to out to Me because of their disaster.”[c]
Olive Tree with Broken Branches
15 “What is My beloved doing in My House
as she does evil schemes with many?
Can holy meat prevent your disaster?
So you may rejoice?
16 Adonai called your name—a leafy olive tree,[d]
beautiful with well-formed fruit.
With the noise of a great tumult
He has set it on fire,
and its branches are broken.
17 For Adonai-Tzva’ot, who planted you, has pronounced evil against you because of the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done to themselves, provoking Me by offering sacrifices to Baal. 18 Moreover, Adonai gave me knowledge of it, and I knew it, then You showed me their deeds.
19 But I was like a gentle lamb led to slaughter. I did not know they had devised plots against me: “Let us destroy the tree with its fruit. Let us cut him off from the land of the living, so that his name will be no more remembered.”
20 But Adonai-Tzva’ot, who judges righteously, who tests the mind and the heart, let me see your vengeance on them. For to You I have made my cause known.
21 Therefore thus says Adonai concerning the men of Anathoth who seek your life, saying, “You must not prophesy in the Name of Adonai, so you would not die by our hand.” 22 Therefore thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot: “I am about to punish them! The young men will die by the sword; their sons and their daughters will die by famine. 23 No remnant will be left to them, for I will bring calamity on the men of Anathoth—the year of their visitation.
Why do the Wicked Prosper?
12 Righteous are You, Adonai,
when I plead my case with You.
Yet I speak with You about justice.
Why does the way of the wicked prosper?
Why do all the treacherous thrive?
2 You planted them, so they have taken root.
They are growing, bearing fruit.
You are near in their mouth,
yet far from their mind.
3 But You have known me, Adonai.
You see me, and examine my heart toward You.
Drag them off like sheep for slaughter.
Set them apart for the day of carnage.[e]
4 How long will the land mourn
and the grass of all the field wither?
Because those living in it are evil,
beasts and birds are swept away.
For they said, “He cannot see our end.”
5 “If you raced with those on foot
and they wore you out,
how can you compete with horses?
If you are secure in a land of peace,
how will you do in Jordan’s thickets?
6 For even your brothers—your father’s house—
even they will betray you,
even they will shout out after you.
Have no confidence in them,
even if they say nice words to you.”
7 “I have abandoned My House.
I have forsaken My inheritance.
I have given the beloved of My soul
Into the hand of her enemies.
8 My inheritance became to Me
like a lion in the forest—
her voice roared against Me!
Therefore I despised her.
9 Is My inheritance a speckled vulture?
Are vultures circling all around her?
Go, gather all the wild beasts,
bring them for devouring!
Adonai’s Vineyard in Ruins
10 “Many shepherds ruined My vineyard.
They trampled My property.
They made My pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.
11 They made it a wasteland.
It mourns before Me, desolate.
The whole land will be laid waste,
because no one takes it to heart.”
12 On all the bare hills in the wilderness
destroyers have come.
For the sword of Adonai is devouring
from the one end of the land to the other end of the land.
No flesh has shalom.
13 They sowed wheat but reaped thorns.
They wore themselves out, gaining nothing.
So be ashamed of your harvest,
because of Adonai’s fierce anger.
14 Thus says Adonai, “As for all My evil neighbors who strike at the inheritance that I bequeathed to My people Israel—I am about to uproot them from their land and pluck the house of Judah from them. 15 Yet it will come to pass, after I have uprooted them, that I will again have compassion on them and I will bring them back, each one to his inheritance and each one to his land.
16 “So it will come to pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of My people—to swear by My Name, ‘As Adonai lives,’ just as they taught My people to swear by Baal—then they will be built up in the midst of My people. 17 But if they will not obey, then I will uproot that nation, plucking it up and destroying it.” It is a declaration of Adonai.
Linen Waistband and Wine Jugs
13 Thus Adonai said to me: “Go, and buy yourself a linen waistband and put it around your waist, and do not put it in water.”
2 So I got a waistband in keeping with the word of Adonai, and put it on my waist. 3 Then the word of Adonai came to me a second time, saying: 4 “Take the waistband that you bought, which is on your waist, and get up, go to Perath[f] and hide it there in a cleft of the rock.”
5 So I went and hid it at Perath, as Adonai commanded me. 6 Now it came to pass after many days that Adonai said to me: “Get up, go to Perath, and take the waistband that I commanded you to hide there.” 7 So I went to Perath, dug it up and took the waistband from the place where I had hidden it. But to my surprise, the waistband was marred, worth nothing at all.
8 Then the word of Adonai came to me, saying, 9 thus says Adonai: “Just so I will mar the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. 10 This wicked people, who refuse to hear My words, who walk in the stubbornness of their own heart, and go after other gods to serve them and worship them, will be just like this waistband—worth nothing at all. 11 For just as the waistband clings to a man’s waist, so I will make the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to Me,” declares Adonai, “to be to Me a people, a name, a praise and a glory. But they would not obey.”
12 Moreover, speak this word to them, thus says Adonai, the God of Israel: “Every jug should be filled with wine.” When they say to you, ‘Don’t we know very well that every jug should be filled with wine?’ 13 Then you will say to them, thus says Adonai, ‘I am about to fill all the inhabitants of this land—even the kings who sit on David’s throne, the kohanim, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem—with drunkenness. 14 And I will smash them against each other, even fathers and sons,’ says Adonai. ‘I will show no pity, nor regret, nor compassion, to keep Me from destroying them.’”
Darkness and Downfall
15 Hear and give ear!
o not be haughty!
For Adonai has spoken.
16 Give glory to Adonai your God,
before it grows dark,
and before your feet stumble
on mountains at dusk.
When you look for light,
He turns it into the shadow of death,
and turns it into deep darkness.
17 But if you will not listen,
my soul will sob in secret
before such pride,
and my eyes will weep bitterly
and overflow with tears,
for Adonai’s flock will be taken captive.
18 Say to the king and the queen mother:
“Sit down low,
for your glorious crown
has fallen from your head.”
19 The towns of the South will be shut up,
with no one to open them.
All Judah is taken into exile—
utterly swept into exile.
20 Lift up your eyes and see
those coming from the north.
Where is the flock given to you,
Your beautiful sheep?
21 What will you say, when He sets up the allies
you cultivated for yourself, over you as head?
Will not labor pains seize you,
like a woman in travail?
22 Suppose you say in your heart,
“Why did these things happen to me?”
Because of your great iniquity,
your skirts are uncovered
and your heels suffer violence.
23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin?
Or the leopard his spots?
So, could you do good,
that are accustomed to doing evil?
24 “Therefore I will scatter them
like drifting straw in the desert wind.
25 This is your lot, the portion
measured for you from Me.”
It is a declaration of Adonai.
“For you have forgotten Me
and trusted in falsehood.
26 Therefore I will also uncover your skirts over your face,
expose your shame.
27 Your adulteries, your lustful neighings,
the lewdness of your prostitution—
on the hills in the field
I have seen your loathsome acts.
Oy you, Jerusalem! You are unclean!
How much longer?”
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.