Bible in 90 Days
14 Everyone is too foolish to understand;
every goldsmith is dishonored by his idols,
for their images are shams;
they aren’t alive.
15 They are a delusion, a charade;
at the appointed time they will vanish!
16 Jacob’s portion is utterly different
because God has formed all things,
including Israel, his very own people—
the Lord of heavenly forces is his name!
Get ready for exile!
17 Pack your bags and get ready to leave,
you who live under siege.[a]
18 The Lord proclaims:
I’m going to eject those who live in the land at this time;
I will badger them until they leave.[b]
19 How terrible for me, due to my injury;
my wound is terrible.
Yet I said to myself:
This is my sickness,
and I must bear it.
20 But now my tent is destroyed;
all its ropes are cut,
and my children are gone for good.
There’s no one left to set up my tent frame
and to attach the fabric.
21 The shepherd kings have lost their senses
and don’t seek answers from the Lord.
That is why they have failed
and their flock is scattered.
22 Listen! The sound is getting louder,
a mighty uproar from the land of the north;
it will reduce the towns of Judah to ruins,
a den for wild dogs.
23 I know, Lord, that our lives are not our own,
that we’re not able to direct our paths.
24 So correct me, Lord, but with justice,
not in your anger,
or else you will reduce me to nothing.
25 Pour out your wrath on the nations
that ignore you
and on the people
who don’t call on you,
since they have devoured Jacob;
they have devoured him completely
and ruined his country.
Judah’s broken covenant with God
11 Jeremiah received the Lord’s word: 2 Listen to the terms of this covenant and proclaim them to the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem. 3 Say to them: This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Cursed are those who don’t heed the terms of this covenant 4 that I commanded your ancestors when I bought them out of the land of Egypt, that iron crucible, saying, Obey me and observe all that I instruct you. Then you will be my people and I, even I, will be your God. 5 I will fulfill my solemn pledge that I made to your ancestors to give them a land full of milk and honey, as is the case today.
And I replied, “As you say, Lord!”
6 The Lord said to me: Announce all these words in the towns of Judah and on the streets of Jerusalem: Obey the terms of this covenant and perform them. 7 I repeatedly and tirelessly warned your ancestors when I brought them out of the land of Egypt to this very day, saying, Obey me. 8 But they didn’t listen or pay attention; they followed their own willful ambitions. So I brought upon them all the punishments I prescribed for violating this covenant—for refusing to obey.
9 The Lord said to me: A conspiracy is taking place among the people of Judah and residents of Jerusalem. 10 They have returned to the sins of their ancestors who refused to obey my words. They too are following other gods and serving them. The people of Israel and the people of Judah have broken my covenant that I made with their ancestors.
11 Therefore, the Lord proclaims: I will bring upon them a disaster from which they won’t be able to escape. They will cry out to me, but I won’t listen to them. 12 Then the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem will call upon the gods they worship,[c] but they won’t save them when disaster strikes. 13 You have as many gods as you have towns, Judah, and you have as many shameful altars for worshipping Baal as you have streets in Jerusalem.
14 As for you, don’t pray for these people, don’t cry out or plead for them, for I won’t listen when they cry out to me on account of their distress.
15 What are my loved ones doing in my temple
while working out their many evil schemes?
Can sacred offerings cancel your sin
so that you revel in your evil deeds?[d]
16 The Lord named you,
“A blossoming olive tree, fair and fruitful”;
but with the blast of a powerful storm
he will set it ablaze,
until its branches are completely consumed.[e]
17 The Lord of heavenly forces who planted you has announced disaster for you, because the people of Israel and Judah have done evil and made me angry by worshipping Baal.
Jeremiah’s lament
18 The Lord informed me and I knew.
Then he helped me see what they were up to.
19 I was like a young lamb led to the slaughter;
I didn’t realize that they were planning
their schemes against me:
“Let’s destroy the tree with its fruit;
let’s cut him off from the land of the living
so that even any knowledge of him will be wiped out.”
20 Lord of heavenly forces, righteous judge,
who tests the heart and mind,
let me see your revenge upon them,
because I have committed my case to you.
21 This is what the Lord says concerning the men from Anathoth who seek your life and say, “Don’t prophesy in the Lord’s name or else you will die at our hands.” 22 Therefore, the Lord of heavenly forces proclaims, I’m going to punish them. Their young men will die in war, and their sons and daughters will die by famine. 23 No one will be left because I will bring disaster upon the men of Anathoth when their time comes.
12 If I took you to court, Lord,
you would win.
But I still have questions about your justice.
Why do guilty persons enjoy success?
Why are evildoers so happy?
2 You plant them, and they take root;
they flourish and bear fruit.
You are always on their lips
but far from their hearts.
3 Yet you, Lord, you know me.
You see me.
You can tell that I love you.[f]
So drag them away
and butcher them like sheep.
Prepare them for the slaughterhouse.
4 How long will the land mourn
and the grass in the fields dry up?
The animals and birds are swept away
due to the evil of those in the land.
The people say,
“God doesn’t see what we’re up to!”
5 If you have raced with people and are worn out,
how will you compete with horses?
If you fall down in an open field,[g]
how will you survive in the forest along the Jordan?
6 Even your relatives, your very family,
are planning to trap you.
They are out to get you.
So don’t trust them,
even if they appear to be on your side.
God’s lament over Judah’s destruction
7 I have abandoned my house;
I have deserted my inheritance.
I have given the one I love
into the power of her enemies.
8 My inheritance has turned against me
like a lion in the forest;
she growls at me;
therefore, I have rejected her.
9 My inheritance has become
like a bird of prey,
surrounded and attacked.[h]
Go, gather all the wild animals for the feast.
10 Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard;
they have trampled down my field;
they have reduced my treasured field
to a desolate wilderness.
11 They have devastated her;
desolate, she cries out to me in distress:
“The whole land is desolate,
and no one seems to care.”
12 Over all the desert roads
destroyers march;
for the sword of the Lord devours
from one end of the land to the other;
no one is safe.
13 They have sown wheat and reaped weeds;
they have worn themselves out for nothing.
They will be ashamed of their[i] harvest
on account of the Lord’s fierce anger.
14 The Lord proclaims: The evil nations have seized the land[j] that I gave my people Israel. I’m going to dig them up from their own lands, and I will dig up the people of Judah from among them. 15 And after I have dug them up, I will again have compassion on them and restore their inheritance and their land. 16 And then, if they will learn the ways of my people, to make a solemn pledge in my name, “As the Lord lives,” just as they once taught my people to swear to Baal, then they will be built up in the midst of my people. 17 But if they don’t listen, I will dig up that nation; yes, I will dig up and destroy, declares the Lord.
Jeremiah’s symbolic acts
13 The Lord proclaimed to me: Go and buy a linen undergarment. Wear it for a while without washing it. 2 So I bought a linen undergarment, as the Lord told me, and I put it on. 3 The Lord spoke to me again: 4 Take the undergarment that you are wearing and go at once to the Euphrates and put it under a rock. 5 So I went and buried it at the Euphrates,[k] as the Lord instructed. 6 After a long time, the Lord said to me: Return to the Euphrates and dig up the undergarment that I commanded you to bury there. 7 So I went to the Euphrates and I dug up the linen undergarment from the place I had buried it. But it was ruined and good for nothing.
8 Then the Lord’s word came to me: 9 The Lord proclaims: In the same way I will ruin the brazen pride of Judah and Jerusalem! 10 Instead of listening to me, this wicked people follow their own willful hearts and pursue other gods, worshipping and serving them. They will become like this linen garment—good for nothing! 11 Just as a linen undergarment clings to the body, so I created the people of Israel and Judah to cling to me, declares the Lord, to be my people for my honor, praise, and grandeur. But they wouldn’t obey.
12 So deliver this word to them: The Lord the God of Israel proclaims: Every wine jug should be filled with wine. And they will answer you, “Don’t we already know that? Obviously every wine jug should be filled with wine!” 13 Then you should say to them: The Lord proclaims: I’m going to fill everyone who lives in this country with wine that makes them drunk, including the kings on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets, and all those living in Jerusalem. 14 And I will shatter every one of them, even parents and children, declares the Lord. I won’t take pity; I won’t have compassion; I will show no mercy when I destroy them.
15 Listen closely, don’t be arrogant,
for the Lord has spoken.
16 Honor the Lord your God,
before it’s too late,
before you stumble
on the mountain paths
in the evening shadows.
Then you will hope for light,
only to find darkness and gloom.
17 If you are too proud to listen,
I will go off alone
and cry my eyes out.
I will weep uncontrollably
because the Lord’s flock
will be dragged off into exile.
18 Tell the king and the queen mother:
Come down from your lofty place,
because your glorious crowns
will soon be removed from your heads.
19 The towns of the arid southern plain will be surrounded;
no one will get in or out;
all Judah will be taken into exile;
everyone will be led away.
20 Lift up your eyes
and see who is approaching from the north.
Where is the flock entrusted to you,
your beautiful flock?
21 What will you say when he appoints someone as head over you:
your defenders, your trusted allies?[l]
Won’t pain grip you
like that of a woman in labor?
22 And when you ask yourself,
Why have all these things happened to me?
it is because of your many sins
that you have been stripped and violated.
23 Can a Cushite change his skin
or a leopard its spots?
Neither can you do good
when doing evil comes so naturally.
24 So I will scatter you[m] like straw
that is blown away by the desert winds.
25 This is the future
that I have prepared for you,
declares the Lord,
because you have forgotten me
and trusted in lies.
26 I myself will pull up your skirt over your face
and expose your shame.
27 I have seen your adultery and lust,
your disgusting idols and shameless prostitution
on the hills and in the fields.
How terrible for you, Jerusalem!
How long will you remain dirty?
Destruction on the horizon
14 The Lord’s word to Jeremiah concerning the droughts:
2 Judah mourns;
her gates wither away.
The people fall to the ground in sorrow,
as sobs of Jerusalem ascend.
3 The rich send their servants for water,
but the wells run dry.
They return with empty jars,
ashamed, bewildered, and in despair.
4 Because the ground is cracked due to lack of rain,
the farmers too are ashamed;
they cover their heads.
5 Even the doe in the field
abandons her newborn,
for there’s no grass.
6 The wild donkeys stand on the well-traveled paths,
panting like thirsty dogs;
they go blind
since there’s nothing to eat.
7 Even though our sins testify against us,
help us, Lord, for your name’s sake.
We have turned away from you
and sinned against you time and again.
8 You are the hope of Israel,
its savior in times of trouble.
Why are you like a stranger in the land,
like a tourist spending only the night?
9 Why are you like one taken by surprise,
like a warrior unable to act?
Yet you are in our midst, Lord;
we are called by your name.
Don’t give up on us.
10 This is what the Lord proclaims about this people:
Since they have loved to wander off
and haven’t restrained themselves,
I[n] won’t accept them.
Now I will recall their wrongdoing
and punish their sin.
11 The Lord said to me: Don’t pray for the safety of these people. 12 When they fast, I won’t pay attention to their pleas, and when they offer entirely burned offerings and grain offerings, I won’t accept them. Instead, I will devour them with war, famine, and disease.
13 I replied, “Lord God, the prophets are telling them: ‘You won’t see war or famine, for I will give you lasting peace in this place.’”
14 Then the Lord said to me: The prophets are telling lies in my name. I haven’t sent them. I haven’t commanded them. I haven’t spoken to them. They are prophesying to you false visions, worthless predictions, and deceit they have made up on their own. 15 Therefore, this is what the Lord proclaims concerning the prophets who are speaking in my name when I didn’t send them, and who are telling you that war or famine will never come to this land: Those very prophets will die in war and by famine! 16 And the people they are prophesying to will be thrown into the streets of Jerusalem, victims of famine and war. There will be no one to bury them or their wives and children. I will pour out on them their own wickedness.
17 So deliver this word to them:
My eyes well up with tears;
I can’t stop weeping—day and night,
because my virgin daughter, my people,
has suffered a crushing blow
and is mortally wounded.
18 If I go into the fields,
I see only the slain in battle.
If I enter the city,
I see only those suffering from famine.
Even both prophet and priest
wander about aimlessly in ignorance.
19 Have you completely rejected Judah?
Do you hate Zion?
Why then have you mortally wounded us?
We look for peace,
but nothing good comes of it;
for a time of healing,
only to be terrorized.
20 We acknowledge our sin, Lord,
the wrongdoing of our ancestors,
because we have sinned against you.
21 For your name’s sake, don’t reject us,
don’t scorn your glorious throne.
Remember your covenant with us;
don’t break it.
22 Can any of the false gods of the nations make it rain?
Can the sky by itself bring showers?
Aren’t you the Lord, our God?
You are our hope,
since only you can do such things.
Lamenting Jerusalem’s dire circumstances
15 The Lord said to me: Even if Moses and Samuel stood before me, I wouldn’t change my mind about these people. Send them away from me. Let them go! 2 And if they say, “Go where?” tell them, This is what the Lord proclaims:
Those marked for death—to death,
those marked for war—to war,
those marked for famine—to famine, and those marked for exile—to exile.
3 I will appoint over them four agents[o] of death, declares the Lord: soldiers to kill, dogs to drag off, and vultures and wild animals to devour and destroy. 4 Because of what Judah’s King Manasseh, Hezekiah’s son, has done in Jerusalem, I will make them an object of horror to all nations on earth.
5 Who will pity you, Jerusalem?
Who will shed tears over you?
Who will stop and ask how you’re doing?
6 You have deserted me,
declares the Lord.
You have turned your back on me.
So I will turn my hand against you
and destroy you.
I’m tired of holding back.
7 I will winnow them with a winnowing fork
at the gates of their country.
I will bereave and destroy my people
because they haven’t changed their ways.
8 Their widows will outnumber
the sand on the shore.
I will bring a destroyer in broad daylight
against the mothers of young men.[p]
Suddenly I will bring distress
and terror upon them.
9 The mother of seven
will grow weak and gasp for air;
her sun will set while it is yet day;
she will be ashamed and disgraced.
I will deliver the survivors to the sword,
to the power of their enemies,
declares the Lord.
10 I wish I had never been born! I have become a source of conflict and dissension in my own country. Even though I haven’t lent or borrowed, still everyone curses me.
11 The Lord said:
Haven’t I taken care of you?
Haven’t I helped you with your enemies
in time of trouble and distress?[q]
12 Can a person shatter iron,
iron from the north, or bronze?
13 Your wealth and belongings
I will deliver as plunder,
without a fee,
because of all your sins
throughout your territory.
14 I will make you serve your enemies
in a land you don’t know,
for my anger blazes like a fire
that won’t go out.
15 You understand, Lord!
Remember me and act on my behalf.
Bring judgment on those who torment me.
In your mercy, spare my life.[r]
Consider how I’m insulted on your account.
16 When your words turned up, I feasted on them;
and they became my joy, the delight of my heart,
because I belong to you,
Lord God of heavenly forces.
17 I didn’t join the festive occasions;
I took no delight in them.
I sat alone
because your hand was upon me
and you had filled me with curses.
18 Why am I always in pain?
Why is my wound incurable,
so far beyond healing?
You have become for me as unreliable
as a spring gone dry!
19 Therefore, the Lord proclaims:
If you return to me, I will take you back
and let you stand before me.
If you utter what is worthwhile,
not what is worthless,
you will be my spokesman.
They will turn to you,
not you to them!
20 I will make you a sturdy bronze wall
against these people.
They will attack you,
but they won’t triumph,
because I am with you
to protect and rescue you,
declares the Lord.
21 I will rescue you from the hand of the wicked;
I will redeem you from the grasp of the violent.
Loss of hope
16 The Lord’s word came to me: 2 Don’t marry or have children in this place. 3 This is what the Lord proclaims concerning children who are born in this place and their mothers and fathers who give birth to them in this place:
4 They will die of horrible diseases.
No one will mourn for them or bury them.
They will be like refuse lying on the ground.
They will die from the sword and by famine,
and their corpses will be food for birds and wild animals.
5 This is what the Lord says:
Don’t enter a house where there is mourning;
don’t grieve or lament for them,
for I have taken away my blessing, kindness, and mercy from this people,
declares the Lord.
6 From the least to the greatest,
all will die in this land,
and there will be no funerals or time of mourning.
No one will gash themselves in grief
or shave their heads in sorrow.
7 No one will bring food[s] for the mourner
as comfort for the dead.
No one will offer a cup of consolation
for the loss of father or mother.
8 Don’t enter a house where there is feasting and sit down to eat and drink. 9 This is what the Lord of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims:
Before your very eyes and in your own lifetime, I will silence in this place the sounds of joy and gladness and the voices of the bridegroom and the bride.
10 When you proclaim all these things to the people, and they ask you, “Why has the Lord pronounced such massive devastation against us? What have we done wrong? How have we sinned against the Lord our God?” 11 then you should tell them: It’s because your ancestors have deserted me and followed other gods, declares the Lord. They have served and worshipped them, while abandoning me and refusing to keep my Instruction. 12 And you, you have acted worse than your ancestors, each of you following your own willful, evil hearts and paying no attention to me. 13 So I will banish you from this land to a place that neither you nor your ancestors have known, and there you will serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no mercy.
14 But the time is coming, declares the Lord, when no one will say, “As the Lord lives who brought up the Israelites from the land of Egypt”; 15 instead, they will say, “As the Lord lives who brought up the Israelites from the land of the north and from all the lands where he has banished them.” I will bring them back to the land that I gave to their ancestors.
16 I’m going to send hordes of fishermen to catch them, declares the Lord. Afterward I will send a party of hunters to hunt them down on every mountain, hill, and cave. 17 I am watching their every move; not one is hidden from me. Nor is their sin concealed from my sight. 18 I will initially pay them back double for their evil and sin, because they have corrupted my land with their disgusting, lifeless idols and have filled my inheritance with their detestable practices.
19 Lord, you are my strength and my stronghold;
you are my refuge in time of trouble.
The nations will flock to you
from the ends of the earth,
and they will say:
“Our ancestors have inherited utter lies,
things that are hollow and useless.”
20 Can humans make their own gods?
If so, they are not gods at all!
21 Therefore, I will teach them;
this time I will teach them
my power and my might.
They will understand that I am the Lord.
17 Judah’s sin is engraved
with an iron pen.
It’s etched with a diamond point
on the tablets of their hearts
and on the horns of their altars.
2 Their children remember their altars and sacred poles[t]
by the lush trees and high hills.
3 Because you have committed such sins throughout your country,
I will give to your enemies
my mountain in the land,
as well as your wealth and all that you treasure.[u]
4 You will lose the inheritance that I gave you.
I will make you slaves of your enemies
in a land you don’t know,
for my anger blazes like a fire
that won’t go out.
5 The Lord proclaims:
Cursed are those who trust in mere humans,
who depend on human strength
and turn their hearts from the Lord.
6 They will be like a desert shrub
that doesn’t know when relief comes.
They will live in the parched places of the wilderness,
in a barren land where no one survives.
7 Happy are those who trust in the Lord,
who rely on the Lord.
8 They will be like trees planted by the streams,
whose roots reach down to the water.
They won’t fear drought when it comes;
their leaves will remain green.
They won’t be stressed in the time of drought
or fail to bear fruit.
9 The most cunning heart—
it’s beyond help.
Who can figure it out?
10 I, the Lord, probe the heart
and discern hidden motives,
to give everyone what they deserve,
the consequences of their deeds.
11 Like a partridge gathering a brood that is not its own,
so are those who acquire their wealth corruptly.
By midlife it will be gone;
afterward they will look like fools.
12 Splendid and exalted throne,
the place of our sanctuary
from the beginning!
13 Lord, the hope of Israel,
all who forsake you will suffer disgrace;
those who turn away from you[v] in the land
will be written off,[w]
for they have abandoned the Lord,
the fountain of living water.
14 Heal me, Lord, and I’ll be healed.
Save me and I’ll be saved,
for you are my heart’s desire.
15 See how they harass me:
“Where’s the Lord’s word?
Let it come now!”
16 Yet I didn’t urge you to bring disaster;[x]
I didn’t want the calamity to happen.
You know what comes out of my mouth;
it’s always before you.
17 Don’t terrorize me;
you are my refuge in time of disaster.
18 Let my tormentors be disgraced, but not me;
let them be terrorized, but not me.
Bring on them the time of disaster,
as they deserve; destroy them repeatedly.
19 The Lord proclaimed to me: Go and stand by the People’s Gate where Judah’s kings go in and out, and then by all the gates of Jerusalem, 20 and say to them: Listen to the Lord’s word, you kings of Judah, all you people of Judah, and anyone living in Jerusalem who passes through these gates. 21 The Lord says: Be on guard not to carry a load on the Sabbath day or conduct business at the gates of Jerusalem. 22 Don’t carry a load from your houses or do any kind of work on the Sabbath day. Rather, keep the Sabbath day holy as I commanded your ancestors, 23 although they didn’t listen or pay attention. They were stubborn and wouldn’t obey or accept correction. 24 If you are careful to obey me, declares the Lord, and don’t conduct business at the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, if you keep the Sabbath day holy by not working, 25 then through the gates of this city will come kings who occupy the throne of David and their officers, all riding on chariots and horses. They will be accompanied by the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem. And this city will always be inhabited. 26 Others will come from the towns of Judah and Benjamin, from all around Jerusalem, and from the western foothills, the highlands, and the arid southern plain—they will come bringing entirely burned offerings, sacrifices, grain offerings, incense, and thanksgiving offerings to the Lord’s temple. 27 But if you don’t obey me by keeping the Sabbath day holy, if you carry your loads and conduct your business at the gates of Jerusalem as usual, then I will set fire to those gates that will completely engulf the fortresses of Jerusalem; it will not be put out.
God the potter
18 Jeremiah received the Lord’s word: 2 Go down to the potter’s house, and I’ll give you instructions about what to do there. 3 So I went down to the potter’s house; he was working on the potter’s wheel. 4 But the piece he was making was flawed while still in his hands, so the potter started on another, as seemed best to him. 5 Then the Lord’s word came to me: 6 House of Israel, can’t I deal with you like this potter, declares the Lord? Like clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in mine, house of Israel! 7 At any time I may announce that I will dig up, pull down, and destroy a nation or kingdom; 8 but if that nation I warned turns from its evil, then I’ll relent and not carry out the harm I intended for it. 9 At the same time, I may announce that I will build and plant a nation or kingdom; 10 but if that nation displeases and disobeys me, then I’ll relent and not carry out the good I intended for it. 11 Now say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem: This is what the Lord says: I am a potter preparing a disaster for you; I’m working out a plan against you. So each one of you, turn from your evil ways; reform your ways and your actions. 12 But they said, “What’s the use! We will follow our own plans and act according to our own willful, evil hearts.”
13 Therefore, the Lord proclaims:
Ask among the nations:
Have you ever heard anything like this?
Virgin Israel has done
the most horrible thing.
14 Does the snow on the mountains of Lebanon ever melt entirely
off their rocky cliffs?
Do the cool mountain streams ever dry up?[y]
15 Yet my people have forgotten me;
they have offered sacrifices to a lie.
And so they have stumbled along the way,
even along the ancient paths.
They have taken side roads,
not the main roads.[z]
16 They have ruined their country
and brought utter shame on it.
All who pass by are shocked
and shake their heads.
17 Like a strong east wind,
I will scatter them before their enemy.
When disaster strikes them,
I will show them my back,
not my face.
18 Then they said, “Come, let’s unite against Jeremiah, for the priest’s instruction won’t fail, nor will the sage’s counsel, nor the prophet’s word. Come, let’s silence him and pay no attention to his words.”
19 Pay attention to me, Lord;
listen to what my enemies are saying.
20 Should evil be returned for good?
Yet they have set traps for me.
Remember that I stood before you,
begging you to be merciful
and not to punish them.
21 Enough! Let their children starve;
let them die by the sword.
Let their wives be barren widows;
let their men be slaughtered
and their youth struck down in battle.
22 Let screams be heard from their homes
when you suddenly bring armies against them.
They have dug a pit to capture me,
set traps for my feet.
23 But you, Lord, you know
all their sinister plots to kill me.
Don’t overlook their wrongdoing;
don’t cleanse their sin from before you.
May they stumble before you;
when you become angry, do something about them.
Broken beyond repair
19 The Lord proclaims: Go buy a clay jar from a potter in the presence of the elders of the people and the priests. 2 Then go out to the Ben-hinnom Valley at the entrance of the gate called Broken Pots and proclaim there the words I will tell you. 3 Listen to the Lord’s word, you kings of Judah and those of you living in Jerusalem: This is what the Lord of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, says: I’m going to bring such disaster upon this place that it will shock all who hear of it. 4 They have deserted me and degraded this place into a shrine for other gods, which neither they nor their ancestors nor Judah’s kings have ever known. And they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent. 5 Yes, they have built shrines to Baal, to burn their sons and daughters in the fire, although I never commanded or ordered such a thing, nor did it ever cross my mind.
6 So now the time is coming, declares the Lord, when people will no longer call this place Topheth or Ben-hinnom Valley but Carnage Valley. 7 I will foil the plans of Judah and Jerusalem in this place and will have them fall in battle before their enemies, before those who seek their lives. I will give their corpses as food to the birds and the wild animals. 8 I will make this city something that sounds horrible; all who pass by it will be shocked at its pain. 9 And when their enemies lay siege to the city, seeking their lives, they will resort in desperation to eating the flesh of their sons and daughters, and to devouring the flesh of their neighbors.
10 Then you should shatter the clay jar in the sight of the people who are with you, 11 and you should say to them: This is what the Lord of heavenly forces says: Just as one smashes the potter’s piece beyond repair, so I will smash this people and this city. And they will bury the dead in Topheth until there’s no room left. 12 That is what I will do to this place and its residents, declares the Lord: I will make this city like Topheth. 13 The houses of Jerusalem and those of Judah’s kings will become as foul as Topheth—all the houses on whose roofs they made offerings to the heavenly force and poured out drink offerings to other gods.
14 When Jeremiah returned from Topheth where the Lord had sent him to prophesy, he stood in the court of the Lord’s temple and said to all the people: 15 The Lord of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims: I am about to bring upon this city and its surrounding towns every disaster that I have pronounced against them, because they have been stubborn and wouldn’t obey my words.
20 When the priest Pashhur, Immer’s son, the officer in charge of the Lord’s temple, heard Jeremiah prophesying these words, 2 he beat the prophet and detained him in confinement at the upper Benjamin Gate in the Lord’s temple. 3 The next day, when Pashhur released Jeremiah from confinement, Jeremiah said to him, “The Lord has changed your name from Pashhur to Panic Lurks Everywhere. 4 The Lord proclaims: I’m going to strike panic into your heart and into the hearts of your friends. You will watch as they fall in battle to their enemies. I will hand over all Judah to the king of Babylon, who will exile some to Babylon and slaughter others. 5 I will hand over all the wealth of this city, all its goods and valuables, including the treasures of the kings of Judah, to their enemies, who will ransack and pillage and carry it all off to Babylon. 6 And you, Pashhur, and all those in your household, will go into captivity. You will be deported to Babylon where you will die. There you will be buried with all your friends to whom you prophesied falsely.”
Total despair
7 Lord, you enticed me, and I was taken in.
You were too strong for me, and you prevailed.
Now I’m laughed at all the time;
everyone mocks me.
8 Every time I open my mouth, I cry out
and say, “Violence and destruction!”
The Lord’s word has brought me
nothing but insult and injury, constantly.
9 I thought, I’ll forget him;
I’ll no longer speak in his name.
But there’s an intense fire in my heart,
trapped in my bones.
I’m drained trying to contain it;
I’m unable to do it.
10 I hear many whispering—
“Panic Lurks Everywhere!—
proclaim, yes, let’s proclaim it ourselves!”
All my friends are waiting for me to stumble:
“Perhaps he can be enticed.
Then we’ll prevail against him
and get our revenge on him!”
11 But the Lord is with me like a strong defender.
Therefore, my oppressors
will stumble and not prevail.
They will be disgraced by their own failures.
Their dishonor will never be forgotten.
12 The Lord of heavenly forces tests the righteous
and discerns the heart and the mind.
Let me see your retribution upon them,
for I have committed my case to you.
13 Sing to the Lord,
praise the Lord,
for he has rescued the needy
from the clutches of evildoers.
14 Cursed be the day that I was born.
May the day my mother gave birth to me not be blessed.
15 Cursed be the one
who delivered the news to my father,
“You have a son!”—
filling him with joy.
16 May the bearer of that news be like the cities
that the Lord destroyed without mercy.
May he hear screams in the morning,
and the battle cries at noon,
17 because he didn’t kill me in the womb
and let my mother become my grave,
her womb pregnant forever.
18 Why was I ever born
when all I see is suffering and misery,
and my days are filled with shame?
Verdict against king and city
21 Jeremiah received the Lord’s word when King Zedekiah sent Pashhur, Malchiah’s son, and the priest Zephaniah, Maaseiah’s son, to him with an appeal: 2 “Speak to the Lord on our behalf because Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar[aa] is attacking us. Perhaps the Lord will perform one of his mighty deeds and force him to withdraw from us.”
3 Jeremiah answered them: This is what you should tell Zedekiah: 4 The Lord, the God of Israel, says: I’m going to turn your own weapons against you, yes, the weapons you are using to fight the king of Babylon and the Babylonians[ab] who have surrounded you! I will round them up in the center of the city. 5 Then I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and strong arm in fierce anger and rage. 6 I will strike down those within this city—both people and animals—and they will die of a terrible plague. 7 Afterward, declares the Lord, I will deliver Judah’s King Zedekiah, his servants, and those in this city who have survived plague, war, and famine to Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar[ac] and to their enemies who seek to do them harm. He will put them to the sword without pity, mercy, or compassion.
8 This is what you should tell this people: The Lord says: I’m setting before you the way of life and the way of death. 9 Whoever stays in the city will die by the sword, famine, and disease. But whoever leaves the city and surrenders to the Babylonians[ad] will live; yes, their lives will be spared. 10 I have set my face against this city for harm and not for good, declares the Lord; it will be delivered to the king of Babylon, who will set it on fire.
Judah: Hear the Lord’s word
11 House of Judah! This is what the Lord says:
12 House of David! The Lord proclaims:
Begin each morning by administering justice,
rescue from their oppressor
those who have been robbed,
or else my anger will spread like a wildfire,
with no one to put it out,
because of your evil deeds.
13 I am against you,
you who live in the valley,[ae]
like a rock of the plain,
declares the Lord,
and who say, “Who will come down to attack us?
Who will breach our fortresses?”
14 I will punish you based on what you have done,
declares the Lord.
I will set your[af] forests on fire;
the flames will engulf
everything around you.[ag]
Oracles against the kings
22 The Lord proclaims: Go down to the palace of the king of Judah and declare this message: 2 Listen to the Lord’s word, king of Judah, you who sit on David’s throne—you and your attendants, and all those who go through these gates. 3 The Lord proclaims: Do what is just and right; rescue the oppressed from the power of the oppressor. Don’t exploit or mistreat the refugee, the orphan, and the widow. Don’t spill the blood of the innocent in this place. 4 If you obey this command, then through the gates of this palace will come kings who occupy the throne of David, riding on chariots and horses along with their entourage and subjects. 5 But if you ignore these words, I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that this palace will become a ruin. 6 The Lord proclaims concerning the palace of the king of Judah:
Though you are like Gilead to me,
like the summit of Lebanon,
I will turn you into a desert—uninhabited cities.
7 I will summon destroyers against you,
who will use their weapons
to cut down your finest cedars
and hurl them into the fire.
8 People from many nations will pass by this city and ask each other: “Why has the Lord treated that great city like this?” 9 And the answer will be, “Because they abandoned the covenant with the Lord their God and worshipped and served other gods.”
10 Don’t weep or lament for the dead king.[ah]
Weep instead for the one who has gone away,
for he will never return to see his native soil.
11 This is what the Lord says about Shallum son of Judah’s King Josiah, who succeeded his father Josiah as king but who is now gone from this place: He will never return! 12 He will die where he’s been exiled and never see this land again.
13 How terrible for Jehoiakim, who builds his house with corruption
and his upper chambers with injustice,
working his countrymen for nothing,
refusing to give them their wages.
14 He says, “I’ll build myself a grand palace,
with huge upper chambers,
ornate windows,
cedar paneling,
and rich red decor.”
15 Is this what makes you a king,
having more cedar than anyone else?
Didn’t your father eat and drink
and still do what was just and right?
Then it went well for him!
16 He defended the rights of the poor and needy;
then it went well.
Isn’t that what it means to know me?
declares the Lord.
17 But you set your eyes and heart
on nothing but unjust gain;
you spill the blood of the innocent;
you practice cruelty;
you oppress your subjects.
18 Therefore, this is what the Lord says to Jehoiakim son of Judah’s King Josiah:
They won’t grieve for him, saying, “My brother, my sister!”
They won’t grieve for him, saying, “My master, my majesty!”
19 They will give him a donkey’s burial,
dragging him outside the gates of Jerusalem
and dumping him there.
20 Go up to Lebanon and cry out,
lift up your voice in Bashan,
cry out from Abarim,
because all your lovers have been ravished.
21 I spoke to you when you felt safe and secure,
but you said, “I won’t listen.”
You have been that way since your youth:
not listening to a word I say.
22 Your shepherds will be tossed to the wind,
your lovers taken off to exile.
Then you will be embarrassed and humiliated
by all your wickedness.
23 You who live in Lebanon,
nestled in cedar,
who will pity you[ai]
when you are overcome in pain,
like that of childbirth?
24 As surely as I live, declares the Lord, even if Coniah,[aj] King Jehoiakim’s son from Judah were a signet ring on my right hand, I would still remove you from there. 25 I would hand you over to those who seek to kill you, those you dread, even Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar and his army.[ak] 26 I will banish you and your mother who bore you to a land far from your native soil, and there the two of you will die. 27 You[al] will never return to the land you[am] long to go back to.
28 Is this man Coniah
merely a defiled and broken pottery jar
that no one wants?
Why then have he and his children been hurled out
and cast into an unfamiliar land?
29 Land, land, land,
hear the Lord’s word:
30 The Lord proclaims:
Mark this man as childless;
he will not prosper during his lifetime.
None of his children
will sit on David’s throne
and rule again in Judah.
Promise of restoration
23 Watch out, you shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture, declares the Lord. 2 This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, proclaims about the shepherds who “tend to” my people: You are the ones who have scattered my flock and driven them away. You haven’t attended to their needs, so I will take revenge on you for the terrible things you have done to them, declares the Lord. 3 I myself will gather the few remaining sheep from all the countries where I have driven them. I will bring them back to their pasture, and they will be fruitful and multiply. 4 I will place over them shepherds who care for them. Then they will no longer be afraid or dread harm, nor will any be missing, declares the Lord.
Promise of a righteous and just king
5 The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up a righteous descendant[an] from David’s line, and he will rule as a wise king. He will do what is just and right in the land. 6 During his lifetime, Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And his name will be The Lord Is Our Righteousness.[ao]
7 So the time is coming, declares the Lord, when no one will say, “As the Lord lives who brought up the Israelites from the land of Egypt.” 8 Instead, they will say, “As the Lord lives who brought up the descendants of the people of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where he[ap] has banished them so that they can live in their own land.”
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible