Bible in 90 Days
14 People who worship idols are stupid.
They do not understand what they are doing.
The men who make idols will be ashamed.
They make images of gods that are false.
None of their idols have the breath of life in them.
15 They are useless things that people should laugh at.
When the time for their punishment arrives,
God will destroy them.
16 The God that Jacob's descendants worship
is not like those idols.
He created everything.
He chose the Israelites as the people who would belong to him.
His name is the Lord Almighty.
God will soon punish the people of Judah
17 Your enemies are all around
and they are ready to attack you.
So get all your things together.
Prepare to leave your country.
18 This is what the Lord says:
‘I will now throw out the people who live in this land.
I will bring much trouble to them,
and they will be in pain.’
19 ‘A terrible thing has happened to us![a]
We have received a very bad wound.
We thought, “We are very ill,
but one day we will get better.”
20 But now they have destroyed our tent.
They have broken the ropes that held it.[b]
Our children have gone,
and none of them remain.
There is nobody still alive
who can help us build our homes again.
21 Our leaders are fools.
They do not ask the Lord for his advice.
So they have failed to take care of us,
and all their people have disappeared.[c]
22 Listen! We have heard the news!
There is the noise of a great army in the north.
It is marching towards us!
It is coming to attack the towns of Judah.
It will make them heaps of stones.
Only wild animals will live in them.
23 Lord, I know that nobody controls their own life.
Nobody can decide what will happen to them.
24 Lord, teach us what is right,
but do it carefully.
Please do not punish us in your anger.
That would be the end of us.
25 Instead, be angry with the nations that do not respect you.
Be angry with the people who do not worship you.
Those are the people who have destroyed Jacob's descendants.[d]
They have killed our people.
They have destroyed our land and our homes.’
The people have not obeyed God's covenant with them
11 The Lord gave this message to Jeremiah: 2 ‘Listen to the rules of the covenant that I made with my people. Tell them to the people who live in Jerusalem and the other towns in Judah. 3 Tell them that the Lord, Israel's God, says, “I will curse anyone who does not obey the rules of this covenant. 4 I gave those rules to your ancestors when I brought them safely out of Egypt. That place was like a hot oven where they were in great pain. At that time, I said to them, ‘Obey me and do everything that I command you to do. If you obey my covenant with you, you will be my people and I will be your God. 5 I will do what I promised to your ancestors. I promised to give to them a land where there was plenty of food and drink, enough for everyone.’ That is the land that you still live in today.” ’
I answered, ‘Amen, Lord, I would like that to happen.’
6 The Lord said to me, ‘Speak all these words in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: “Listen to the rules of my covenant with you. Obey them! 7 I clearly warned your ancestors that they must obey me. I warned them many times since I brought them safely out of Egypt. I have continued to do that, even until today. 8 But they did not listen to me. They did not agree to obey my covenant. Instead, they continued to do all the wicked things that they wanted to do. They would not change how they lived. So I punished them in the way that the covenant said they deserved. I had commanded them to obey the rules of the covenant, and they did not do that.” ’
9 The Lord said to me, ‘The people of Judah and those who live in Jerusalem have decided to turn against me. 10 They are doing the same evil things that their ancestors did. Their ancestors refused to obey my commands. These people do that, and they also serve and worship other gods. I made a covenant with their ancestors. But the nations of Judah and Israel have refused to obey that covenant. 11 So now, I, the Lord, say this: “I will bring great trouble to these people. They will not be able to escape. When they call out to me for help, I will not listen to them. 12 The people who live in Jerusalem and in the other towns of Judah will ask their false gods to help them. Those are the gods that they offer sacrifices to. But when this terrible trouble comes, those gods will never be able to rescue them. 13 You people of Judah have as many gods as you have towns! You have built many altars to offer sacrifices to that disgusting god, Baal. You have built as many of those altars as there are streets in Jerusalem!”
14 So, Jeremiah, do not pray for these people. Do not ask me to do anything to help them. Do not ask me to save them. When trouble comes and they ask me for help, I will not listen to them.
15 The people that I love are doing wicked things.
They should not be in my temple.
They think that they will be safe
if they offer animal sacrifices to me.
They enjoy the evil things that they do,
and their punishment will certainly happen.
16 I, the Lord, called you a beautiful olive tree.
It was a tree that gave lots of good fruit.
But now I will destroy you with fire.
The flames will make a loud noise.
All your branches will be useless.
17 I, the Lord Almighty, planted you in the land, like a tree.
But now you have caused me to be angry.
You nations of Israel and Judah have done evil things.
And you have offered sacrifices to Baal.
So now I have decided to punish you with great trouble.’
The men in Anathoth want to kill Jeremiah
18 The Lord showed me what the people were doing.[e] He helped me to understood what was really happening. 19 Before that, I did not know about their plans to kill me. I was like a lamb that men were taking away to kill it. I did not know that they were saying, ‘We should cut down this tree and destroy its fruit![f] Jeremiah must not continue to live in this world. Then people will forget all about him.’
20 So I said, ‘Lord Almighty, you judge people in a fair way. You know what people are thinking. You understand how they feel. I trust you to show that I have not done anything that is wrong. So please punish these people. Pay them back for their sins.’
21 The Lord told me that some men in Anathoth wanted to kill me. They said to me, ‘Stop telling us messages from the Lord! If you do not stop, we will kill you.’ 22 So the Lord Almighty said, ‘Yes, I will certainly punish them! Their young men will die as they fight in war. Their children will be so hungry that they die. 23 All those men in Anathoth who wanted to kill you will die. At the right time, I will punish them with great trouble.’
Jeremiah tells the Lord about his troubles
12 Lord, when I complain to you,
you always do what is right.
But I must ask you about your justice.
Why do wicked people have success in life?
Why do people who cheat their friends
live in comfort?
2 They are like trees that you have planted.
They have strong roots.
They produce good fruits.
Those people like to talk about you a lot,
but they do not really love you.
3 But you know everything about me, Lord.
You watch me carefully to test me.
You know what I am thinking.
You should kill those wicked men, as they deserve!
Take them away like sheep,
to kill them when the time is right.
4 Our land has been dry for a long time.
The grass everywhere is dying.
How long will this continue?
The animals and the birds are dying.
This has happened because the people who live in this land do wicked things.
They like to boast,
‘God will not see what happens to us.’
The Lord answers Jeremiah
5 ‘Jeremiah, you are running a race against people,
and you are already tired!
So you will never be able to run a race against horses.
You are walking in flat fields,
and you still fall over!
So it will be much worse when you try to run
through the trees and bushes near the Jordan River.[g]
6 Even your own brothers and family have turned against you.
They join with other people to attack you.
So do not trust them,
even when they say kind words to you.
7 I have decided to turn away from my nation.
I will leave the people that I chose to belong to me.
I will put the people that I love
under the power of their enemies.
8 The people that belong to me
have turned against me.
They are like a lion that hides in the forest.
It roars and is ready to attack me.
Because of that,
I have turned against my people.
9 They attack me like hyenas,
but vultures are ready to attack them.
Tell all the wild animals to come,
so that they can eat their dead bodies!
10 Many foreign leaders will come.
They will destroy the land where my people live.
It was a beautiful garden where I planted my people.
But enemies will make it become like a desert.
11 They will make it a dry and empty place,
where nobody lives and nothing grows.
The whole land will be like a desert.
There will be nobody to take care of it.
12 Soldiers will march over the hills in the wilderness.
They will come to destroy the whole land.
I, the Lord, will use them as my weapon.
I will punish everyone.
Nobody will be safe.
13 My people will plant seeds of wheat,
but they will only have weeds at harvest time.
They will work very hard,
but they will get nothing.
At harvest time,
they will have no crops to be proud of.
Because I am very angry,
they will not have any food.’
14 This is what the Lord says: ‘I will punish the wicked nations that came to attack the land of my people. It was the land that I gave to Israel's people to be their home. But those enemies destroyed it. So I will remove them from their own lands. I will rescue the people of Judah from among them. 15 But after I have removed those nations, I will return to help them. I will be kind to them. I will bring them back to the countries where they belong. Each nation will return to live in its own land. 16 But they must learn to live in the way that my people live. At one time they taught my people to use Baal's name when they made promises. But now they must give honour to me as the true God. When they make a promise, they must say, “I promise to do this, as surely as the Lord lives.” If they do these things, they will belong among my people. 17 But if any nation refuses to obey me, I will destroy it completely.’ That is what the Lord says.
A linen belt
13 The Lord said to me, ‘Go and buy a linen belt.[h] Tie it around your body. But do not put it into water.’ 2 So I bought a belt, as the Lord had told me to do. I tied it around me.
3 The Lord spoke to me again. 4 He said, ‘Take the belt that you bought and you are now wearing. Take it now to Perath. Hide it there in a hole in the rocks.’ 5 So I went to Perath. I hid it there, as the Lord had commanded me to do.[i]
6 Many days after that, the Lord said to me, ‘Now go to Perath again. Get the belt that I told you to hide there.’ 7 So I went back to Perath. I dug out the belt from the place where I had hidden it. But it had become spoiled. I could not use it any more.
8 Then the Lord said to me, 9 ‘I, the Lord, tell you this: See what happened to your belt. Now I will destroy everything that the people of Judah and Jerusalem are proud of. 10 Those wicked people refuse to listen to my words. They do whatever they want to do. They are too proud to change. They serve other gods and they worship them. Now they will become as useless as this linen belt. 11 I tell you this: My people should have been like a belt for me. I held all the people of Israel and all the people of Judah very near to me. I chose them to be my special people. They should have respected me and given me honour so that people would praise me. But they refused to obey me.
12 You must tell them, “The Lord, Israel's God, says this: People make wine bottles so that they can fill them with wine.” They may answer, “We know that is why people make wine bottles. Everyone knows that!” 13 Then tell them, “Now I will fill all the people who live in this land. I will fill the kings from David's family, the prophets, the priests and the people who live in Jerusalem. Yes, I will fill them all with so much wine that they become drunk! 14 I will knock them against each other, so that they break like bottles. I will punish everyone, parents and their children. I will not be sorry for them and I will not be kind to them. I will destroy them, and nothing can stop me.” That is what the Lord says.’
Jeremiah warns the people of Judah
15 ‘Listen carefully to me.
Do not be too proud to listen!
The Lord has spoken to you.
16 Give honour to the Lord your God,
before it is too late.
Do it before he makes everywhere become dark.
Then you will fall down,
like someone who walks on the mountains at night.
You may hope for light to come,
but God will make it completely dark.[j]
17 If you refuse to listen to God's message,
I will hide myself and I will weep.
Because you are so proud,
tears will pour from my eyes.
I will cry because the Lord has sent his own people away
as prisoners to a foreign land.
18 Tell the king and his mother,
“Come down from your thrones.
Your beautiful crowns will soon fall from your heads.”[k]
19 The cities in the south of Judah will keep their gates shut.
Nobody will go in or out of the cities.
Enemies will take the people of Judah away as prisoners.
They will take them all into exile.
20 Leaders of Jerusalem, look up!
See the enemy that is coming from the north.
What has happened to your people?
You were proud of them
and you should have taken care of them.
You are like shepherds who have lost their sheep.
21 The Lord will choose other people to rule over you.
They are people that you wanted to be your friends,
but now they will have power over you.
So what will you say about that?
You will be afraid and in much pain,
like a woman who is giving birth to a baby.
22 You may ask,
“Why are these things happening to me?”
It is because of your many terrible sins.
Like an adulteress, they have torn off your dress
to make you ashamed.
23 You have done evil things for a long time.
So you cannot now start to do good things.
Can anyone change the colour of his skin?
Can a leopard remove the marks on its body?
No! And you cannot change yourselves either.’
24 The Lord says,
‘I will blow you away,
as a hot desert wind blows away straw.
25 That is how I have decided to punish you.
It is what you deserve
because you have forgotten me.
You have trusted in false gods.
26 So I will cause you to be very ashamed,
like a woman whose dress they have removed.
27 People of Jerusalem,
you are in terrible trouble!
I have seen the disgusting things that you do.
You are like a woman who has not been faithful to her husband.
Like a prostitute, you look for other gods to serve.
You cannot control yourselves,
as you do disgusting things on the hills and in the fields.
Will you never be clean and pure again?’[l]
Famine and wars
14 This is the Lord's message that he gave to Jeremiah about the famine:
2 ‘Judah's people are very sad and upset.
The people in Judah's cities are becoming weak.
They are sitting on the ground and they are weeping.
Jerusalem's people call to me for help.
3 Rich people send their servants to get water.
They go to the wells, but they do not find any water.
They return home with empty water jars.
They are ashamed and upset.
They hide their faces in their hands.
4 There has been no rain anywhere.
The ground is breaking apart.
The farmers too are very upset.
They hide their faces in their hands.
5 There is no grass in the fields for the deer to eat.
So the mother deer runs away from her new baby.
6 Wild donkeys stand on the empty hills.
They breathe very fast, like thirsty jackals.
Their eyes hurt as they look for grass,
but there is no food for them to eat.’
7 ‘Lord, our many sins show that we are guilty.[m]
But please help us, to show that you are our God.
We have turned away from you many times.
We have done bad things against you.
8 You are the one that we Israelites hope to give us help.
You are the one who saves us when we are in trouble.
But now you live among us like a foreigner.
You are like a visitor who stays for only one night.
9 You seem to be like a helpless person.
You are like a brave fighter who has lost his strength to save anyone.
But surely you are among us, Lord.
We belong to you as your own people.
Do not leave us alone!’
10 The Lord says this about his people:
‘These people love to go wherever they want.
They do not try to stay near to me.
So they do not please me.
Now I will remember the wrong things that they have done.
I will punish them for their sins.’
The lies of the false prophets
11 The Lord said to me, ‘Do not pray that I will do any more good things for these people. 12 Even if they fast, I will not listen when they ask me for help. I will not accept the burnt offerings or grain offerings that they offer to me. Instead, I will use war, famine and disease to destroy them.’
13 I said, ‘Lord God, the prophets are deceiving the people. They say that there will not be any war or famine or disease that will hurt the people. Instead, they say that you have promised peace in our land.’
14 The Lord said to me, ‘Those prophets say that they speak my messages, but they are telling lies. I did not send them. I did not give them my authority. I did not give them any messages. They are deceiving people with the visions that they talk about. When they prophesy about things, it means nothing. They only speak about their own foolish ideas. 15 They claim to speak with my authority, but I did not send them. They say that there will be no war or famine. So I tell you, this is what will happen to those prophets: War and famine will kill them. 16 And the people that they are speaking their messages to will also die because of war and famine. Their bodies will lie in Jerusalem's streets. Nobody will be there to bury them. This will happen to the men, their wives, their sons and their daughters. I will punish them as they deserve, because they are so wicked.
17 Say this to the people, Jeremiah:
“Tears pour from my eyes all the time.
I weep through each day and each night.
I am sad about my own dear people.
A great trouble has knocked them to the ground.
They have received a very bad wound.
18 When I go out into the fields,
I see the bodies of people who have died in war.
When I look in the city,
I see people who are dying from famine.
The prophets and the priests are busy with their work.
But they do not understand what is happening.” ’
A prayer that the Lord would save his people[n]
19 ‘Lord, have you completely turned away from the people of Judah?
Do you really hate the people of Zion?
You have knocked us down
so that we will never get better.
We hoped to live in peace,
but nothing good happened to us.
We hoped to have rest from our troubles,
but instead we live in fear.
20 Lord, we agree that we are wicked people.
Our ancestors also did bad things.
We have turned against you.
21 But please do not refuse to help us.
Show that you are a faithful God.
Jerusalem is the place where you have your beautiful throne.
So do not go away and leave us.
Remember the covenant that you made with us.
Please do what you promised to do for us.
22 The idols of other nations are useless.
None of them can cause rain to fall.
And the sky itself does not make rain.
No, it is you, Lord, our God, who sends rain.
You alone do all these things,
so we trust you to help us.’
Trouble will come to the people of Judah
15 The Lord said to me, ‘Even if Moses and Samuel asked me not to punish these people, I would not agree. I still would not help them. Send them away! I do not want to see them again! 2 They may ask you, “Where should we go?” Then tell them, “This is what the Lord says:
Those who should become ill and die will die.
Those who should die in war will die in war.
Those who should die from famine will die from famine.
Those who should go away as prisoners will go away as prisoners.”
3 I will send four kinds of punishments to hurt them. Soldiers will kill them in war. Dogs will carry away their dead bodies. Birds and wild animals will eat them and destroy them. 4 I will cause the people of all nations to think that the people of Judah are disgusting. That will be because of the evil things that the king of Judah, Hezekiah's son, Manasseh, did in Jerusalem.’
5 The Lord said,
‘People of Jerusalem, nobody will feel sorry for you.
Nobody will weep for you.
Nobody will stop to ask how you are.
6 I tell you this:
You have turned away from me.
You continue to go further away from me.
So I will prepare to use my power to destroy you.
I can no longer be kind to you.
7 I will punish the people of every town in the land.
I will blow them away,
like wind blows away straw.
My people have refused to change the way that they live.
So I will destroy them and their children too.
8 There will be more widows in Judah,
than there is sand on the shore of the sea.
At midday I will send an enemy to destroy the young men.
Their mothers will weep for them.
It will happen very suddenly.
Fear and terror will come!
9 A mother will feel very weak,
because all her seven children have died.
It is difficult for her even to breathe.
She has lost the children that made her happy,
while they were still young.
She will be ashamed and without honour.
I will send your enemies to kill
any of your people who are still alive.’
That is what the Lord says.
Jeremiah complains to the Lord
10 ‘This is terrible for me!
I am sorry, mother, that you gave birth to me.
I cause trouble and arguments
wherever I go in the land.
I never lend money to people,
and I do not ask them to lend money to me.
But everyone curses me anyway.’
11 The Lord said,[o]
‘I will take care of you
so that it brings something good for you.
I will cause your enemies to ask you for help.
They will come to you when they are in trouble.
12 Your enemy that comes from the north
is like a weapon made from iron and bronze.
You will never break it.
13 I will give all your valuable things to your enemies.
They will take them all away.
You will receive nothing in return.
That will pay for the sins that you have done
everywhere in your land.
14 Your enemies will make you their slaves
in a land that you do not know.
I will punish you as if in a hot fire,
because I am very angry with you.’
15 ‘Lord, you understand my problems.
Remember me and take care of me.
Please punish those people who hate me.
Do not be so patient with them that they kill me.
Remember that they have insulted me
because I am serving you.
16 As your words came to me,
I took them into me like sweet food.
I belong to you, Lord, God Almighty,
so your words made me very happy.
17 When people were enjoying wild parties,
I did not join with them.
I sat alone, because you held me.
You caused me to be angry with those people.
18 I am in pain which never ends.
People have hurt me and nothing makes it better.
Why are you not there to help me?
You are like a stream that becomes dry
and it has no water.’
19 So the Lord said this to me:
‘If you turn back to me,
I will help you to be strong.
Then you can continue to serve me.
Speak valuable words instead of useless words.
Then you can speak on my behalf.
These people must change to be like you have been.
You must not change to become like them.
20 When these people attack you,
I will make you like a strong wall.
You will be like a wall that is made of bronze.
The people will not be able to knock you down.
I will be with you to protect you.
I will keep you safe.’
That is what the Lord says.
21 ‘I will rescue you from the power of those wicked people.
I will keep you safe from those cruel people.’
The Lord tells Jeremiah how he must live
16 The Lord said to me, 2 ‘You must not marry in this place. You must not have sons or daughters here. 3 I will tell you what will happen to children who are born here and what will happen to their parents. 4 Terrible disease will kill them. Nobody will weep for them. Nobody will bury them. Their bodies will lie on the ground like dung. Either war or famine will kill them. Birds and wild animals will come to eat their dead bodies.’
5 The Lord also said to me, ‘Do not go into a house where they are eating a funeral meal. Do not join with them to weep because someone in the family has died. I have removed my blessing and my faithful love from these people. I will no longer be kind to them. That is what I say. 6 When people die, nobody will bury them, whether they are rich people or poor people. Nobody will weep for them. People will not cut their bodies because they are upset. They will not cut the hair from their heads. 7 Nobody will take food to comfort families when someone has died. Even if their mother or their father has died, nobody will bring any wine to comfort them.
8 Do not join with people who are eating a feast because they are happy. Do not go into their house to eat and drink with them. 9 I, the Lord Almighty, Israel's God, tell you what I will do. I will stop their happy songs and their marriage parties in this place. You will see this happen while you are still alive.
10 Tell the people everything that I have said. Then they will ask you, “Why has the Lord told us that he will punish us so much? What wrong things have we done? What sin have we done against the Lord, our God?” 11 Then you must tell them what I say: “It is because your ancestors turned against me. They went to other gods. They worshipped and they served those gods. They turned against me and they did not obey my law. 12 And you have done even more wicked things than your ancestors! You do any wicked thing that you want to do. You refuse to change. You do not obey me. 13 So I will throw you out of this land. I will send you away to a land that you and your ancestors never knew. There you will worship other gods, as much as you like. I will no longer help you.” ’
Hope for the future
14 The Lord also said, ‘Listen! A better time will come. When people make a promise, they will not say, “I promise to do this as surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites safely out of Egypt.” 15 Instead they will say, “I promise to do this as surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites safely back from the land in the north. He brought them back from all the places that he had sent them to as prisoners.” Yes, at that time I will bring them back to this land that I gave to their ancestors.
16 But now I will send enemies to catch these people. They will catch them like fishermen catch fish.[p] They will chase after them like hunters who catch wild animals. They will find them everywhere in the mountains, in the hills and in holes in the rocks. 17 I am watching them carefully all the time. They cannot hide from me. I can see all their sins. 18 I will punish them for their sins. I will make them pay twice for the wrong things that they have done. That is because they have spoiled my land. They have made it unclean with their disgusting idols that have no life. They have filled my special land with the evil things that they have done.’
19 Lord, you give me strength.
You are the safe place where I can hide.
When I am in trouble,
I can run to you and be safe.
People will come from nations all over the earth,
to give you honour.
They will say, ‘Our ancestors worshipped false gods.
Those gods were useless and they could not help us.
20 Can people make gods for themselves?
If they make them, they are not really gods.’
21 ‘So I, the Lord, will teach these people about my great power.
Then they will understand that I am the Lord,
the true God.’[q]
17 ‘The people of Judah love to do bad things.[r]
Their sins are deep inside them.
It is like they are written on their hearts
and on the horns of their altars.
They are written with an iron pen.
Nobody can remove the list of their sins.
2 Even their children always think about their altars
where they worship false gods.
They have put up their Asherah poles
under the big trees and on the high hills.
3 They also worship their false gods
on the mountains and in the fields.
So I will cause enemies to take all your valuable things.
They will take your riches for themselves.
That will be the price that you pay for your sins.
You have done evil things everywhere in the land.
4 I gave you this land to be your home for ever.
But it will no longer belong to you.
Your enemies will take you to a land that you do not know.
You will be their slaves.
You have made me very angry,
like a fire that nobody can stop.’
Trust in the Lord
5 The Lord says,
‘I will curse those who only trust people to help them.
They think that human strength will save them,
and they turn away from me, the Lord.
6 They will be like a bush that grows in the desert.
It grows in a place where nobody can live.
The ground is very dry and is spoiled by salt.
Even when good times come,
those people will not receive any good thing.
7 The Lord blesses people who trust in him.
They know that the Lord will help them.
8 They will be like trees that grow beside a river.
Their roots reach into the water.
When the sun is hot, they are not afraid.
Their leaves continue to be green.
They give fruit each year,
even when there is no rain.
9 A person's own mind deceives him,
more than anything else does.
Nobody can change it to be better.
Nobody completely understands it.
10 But I, the Lord, look inside a person's mind.
I see what he thinks and what he feels.
I see how everyone lives,
and I see the things that they do.
I give to each one what he deserves.
11 Someone may get rich because he cheats other people.
He is like a bird that sits on eggs
that it has taken from another nest.
He will lose his riches before he is old.
At the end of his life, he will die as a fool.’
Jeremiah's prayer
12 Lord, your beautiful throne is high above.
You have ruled there from the beginning.
That is where we worship you.[s]
13 You are the one that the Israelites hope in.
Everyone who turns away from you will be ashamed.
They will disappear,
as if their names are written in the dust.
Lord, you give life to your people,
like a spring of fresh water.
But they have turned against you.
14 Lord, please make me well again.
Then I will be completely well.
Rescue me so that I am completely safe.
You are the one that I praise!
15 People are asking me questions.
They say, ‘Nothing has happened to us yet!
When will the Lord's message become true?’
16 Lord, I have not stopped taking care of your people.
I have never asked you to destroy them on one final day.
You know that,
and you know everything that I have said.
17 Please do not make me afraid!
When I am in trouble,
I run to you to be safe.
18 Please bring shame on those who want to hurt me.
Do not make me ashamed.
Make those people afraid,
but do not make me afraid.
Destroy them with a time of great trouble.
Punish them completely!
Rules for Sabbath days
19 The Lord said to me, ‘Go and stand at the gate of the city that is called “The People's Gate”. That is the gate that the kings of Judah use to go in and out of the city. Then go and stand at the other gates of Jerusalem. 20 Stand in those places and say, “Listen, you kings of Judah, everyone who lives in Jerusalem and all the people of Judah. Hear this message from the Lord. 21 This is what the Lord says:
Be careful to obey these rules if you want to continue to live! On a Sabbath day, do not carry any loads in through the gates of Jerusalem. 22 Do not carry any loads out of your houses. Do not do any work on a Sabbath day. You must keep the Sabbath day as a special day for me. That is what I commanded your ancestors to do.[t] 23 But they did not listen to me and they did not obey me. They refused to accept the rules that I gave to them. When I warned them, they would not change.”
24 The Lord says, “But you must be careful to obey me. Do not carry any loads through the gates of this city on a Sabbath day. You must keep the Sabbath day as a special day for me. Do not do any work on a Sabbath day. 25 If you obey me, kings from David's family will continue to rule. Kings and their officers will pass through these gates, together with the people of Jerusalem and all Judah. They will ride on horses and in chariots. Many people will always live in this city. 26 People will come here from everywhere in Judah. They will bring offerings to the Lord's temple. They will come from Judah's towns and from the villages around Jerusalem. They will come from the land that belongs to Benjamin's tribe. They will come from the low hills in the west and from the hill country and the wilderness in the south. They will bring burnt offerings, grain offerings, other sacrifices and incense. They will offer sacrifices to the Lord to thank him.
27 But you must remember to obey me. You must keep the Sabbath day as a special day for me. You must not carry any loads in through Jerusalem's gates on a Sabbath day. If you do not obey this rule, I will burn Jerusalem's gates with fire. The fire will destroy all the strong buildings in Jerusalem. Nobody will be able to stop that fire.” ’
Jeremiah at the potter's house[u]
18 The Lord gave this message to Jeremiah: 2 ‘Go down to the potter's house. I will tell you my message there.’ 3 So I went down to the potter's house. He was working at his wheel. 4 He was using clay to make pots with his hands. But, as he worked, sometimes a pot had the wrong shape. So he used the clay to make it into another pot. He made it in the shape that he wanted.
5 Then the Lord told me his message. 6 He said, ‘I tell you this: I can do to you, nation of Israel, the same thing that this potter does with his clay. I hold you in my hands, as the potter holds the clay in his hands. 7 Sometimes I may warn a nation or a kingdom that I will knock it down and destroy it. 8 But when I warn them, those people might stop doing wicked things. Then I would not punish them as I had promised to do. 9 Sometimes I may promise to build up a nation or a kingdom and make it strong. 10 But those people might start to do evil things. They might stop obeying me. Then I would not help them as I had promised to do.
11 So now you must speak to the people who live in Jerusalem and in all of Judah. Tell them that the Lord says this: “Listen to me! I will cause great trouble for you. I have decided to punish you. So you must all stop doing the evil things that you have been doing. Change the way that you live and do things that are right.” 12 But they will say, “Do not try to stop us! We will do whatever we want to do. We will continue to do wicked things.” ’
13 So the Lord says this:
‘Go and ask the people of other nations!
Have they ever heard about anything as terrible as this?
My people, Israel, should have been pure.
But they have done a disgusting thing!
14 There is always snow on Lebanon's mountains.
Cold streams of water always pour down from those high rocks.
15 Those things never change,
but my people have forgotten me.
They offer sacrifices to useless idols.
Because of that, they live in a wrong way.
They have left the good paths that their ancestors knew.
Instead, they walk along narrow paths
that nobody takes care of.
16 So I will cause their land to become a terrible place.
People will always see how disgusting my people are.
Everybody who goes near there
will be very surprised.
They will shake their heads and they will insult my people.
17 I will send enemies to attack them.
They will chase my people away,
like an east wind that blows away dust.
I will turn away from them
when that day of great trouble arrives.
I will refuse to help them.’
The people turn against Jeremiah[v]
18 Then some people said, ‘We must find a way to stop Jeremiah. We do not need him. The priests will still be here to teach us. Wise men will still be here to give us advice. The prophets will still be here to give us God's messages. We should speak bad things against Jeremiah. Then we will not have to listen to him any more.’
19 ‘Please listen to me, Lord!
Hear what my enemies are saying against me.
20 I have done good things for them,
but they are paying me back with evil things.
They have already dug a grave for me!
Remember that I stood in front of you
and I asked you to forgive them.
I asked you not to be angry with them.
21 So now I ask you to punish them!
Yes, may famine kill their children.
May they die in war.
May wives no longer have husbands or children.
May disease kill the old men.
May the young men die in battle.
22 Send people to attack them suddenly
and rob them in their homes.
Then they will shout aloud in great fear.
They have dug a hole for me to fall into.
They have prepared traps to catch me.
23 But Lord, you know how they want to kill me.
They are guilty, so do not forgive them.
Do not forget to punish them for their sins.
Put them under your power!
Punish them while you are still angry!’
A pot that breaks
19 The Lord said to me, ‘Go to a potter. Buy from him a pot that he has made from clay. Take with you some leaders of the people and some leaders of the priests. 2 Go out into Ben-Hinnom Valley, which is near to the “Broken Pots” gate. There you must speak the words that I will tell you.
3 Say, “Hear the Lord's message, you kings of Judah and people who live in Jerusalem. The Lord Almighty, Israel's God says this: Listen to me! I will bring very great trouble to this place. It will be very bad. Everyone who hears about it will be very surprised. 4 That will happen because Judah's people have turned away from me. They worship foreign gods in this place. They have offered sacrifices to those gods. They are gods that their ancestors did not know about. The kings of Judah never knew about them either. In this place, Judah's people have killed people who did not deserve to die. 5 They have built altars here to give honour to Baal. They light fires to give their children to Baal as burnt offerings. I never even thought about it. I never commanded my people to offer those kinds of sacrifices. I never even thought about it. 6 So I tell you this: A time will soon come when people do not call this place Topheth or Ben-Hinnom Valley. Instead, they will call it Death Valley.[w]
7 I will spoil all the ideas that the people of Judah and Jerusalem have. In this place I will put them under the power of their enemies. Their enemies will kill them in war. I will give their dead bodies as food to the birds and the wild animals. 8 I will make this city a heap of stones. People will see how disgusting my people are. Everybody who goes near there will be very surprised. They will see all the terrible trouble that has happened to the city and they will insult it. 9 Enemies will make their camp all around the city, so that they can kill the people who live there. The people will not have any food to eat. They will be so hungry that they will eat their own children and they will eat each other.”
10 Then, Jeremiah, take the pot that you bought. Break it in front of all those people who are there with you. 11 Tell them that the Lord Almighty says, “I will destroy this nation and this city. They will be like this broken pot that nobody is able to mend. They will bury lots of dead people here in Topheth. There will be no space left to bury any more people. 12 I tell you this: I will cause this city and its people to become like Topheth. 13 The houses in Jerusalem will be full of dead bodies like Topheth. The palaces of the kings of Judah will be the same. I will do that because people went up on the roofs of their houses to offer sacrifices to the stars. They poured out drink offerings to other gods.” ’
14 Then Jeremiah left Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to speak his message. He went to the Lord's temple in the city. He stood in the yard of the temple. He spoke aloud to the people. 15 He said, ‘The Lord Almighty, Israel's God, says this: “Listen to me! I will soon punish this city and all the towns around it, as I have promised that I will do. I will do it because the people have refused to listen to my message.” ’
Jeremiah and Pashhur
20 Immer's son Pashhur was the priest who had authority in the Lord's temple. He heard Jeremiah's message about Jerusalem. 2 So he told his men to beat Jeremiah. Then they tied Jeremiah up with heavy pieces of wood on his legs. That was at the Benjamin Gate of the Lord's temple. 3 The next day, Pashhur let Jeremiah go free. Jeremiah said to him, ‘The Lord's name for you is not “Pashhur”. It is “Terror is all around”. 4 The Lord says, “I will send enemies to make you and your friends very afraid. You yourself will see enemies kill all your friends in war. I will put Judah's people under the power of Babylon's king. He will take some of them away as prisoners. His soldiers will kill others of them. 5 I will give all the riches in this city to Judah's enemies. I will give them all the things that the people have worked hard to get. They will take all the valuable things that belonged to the people, and to the kings of Judah. They will take everything away to Babylon. 6 They will also take you, Pashhur, and everybody who lives in your house. They will take you as prisoners to Babylon. You will die there and people will bury you there. The same thing will happen to all your friends. You spoke false messages to these people, as if they were messages from me.” ’
Jeremiah complains to the Lord
7 Lord, you forced me to become a prophet,
and I let you do that.
You used your power to make me agree,
and you won.
Now everybody laughs at me and they insult me.
8 When I speak your message, I have to say,
‘Terrible trouble is coming!’
When I shout that message from the Lord,
people laugh at me.
They insult me.
9 Sometimes I think,
‘I will say nothing about the Lord or his message.’
But then his message burns like a fire inside me.
It gives me pain in my mind and my body.
I cannot keep his message to myself.
I have to speak it.
10 I hear what people are saying against me.
They say, ‘Terror is all around him![x]
We should tell the officers what he is saying.’
All my friends want me to make a mistake
so that they can accuse me.
They say, ‘Perhaps we can cause him to say something wrong.
Then we will have power over him.
We will pay him back for the trouble he has given us.’
11 But the Lord is with me,
like a brave soldier who will fight for me.
So people who want to hurt me will fail.
They will not get power over me.
They will be very ashamed because they have failed.
Nobody will ever forget their shame.
12 Lord Almighty, you test righteous people,
to see if they are faithful.
You know what people think.
You know their feelings.
I trust you to show that I am not guilty.
So punish those people who want to hurt me.
13 Sing to the Lord!
Praise the Lord!
He rescues poor people
from the power of wicked people.
14 I would like to curse the day that I was born.
That day was not a happy day,
the day that my mother gave birth to me.
15 That day, a man told my father,
‘Good news! You have a son!’
I would like to curse that man too.
16 May the Lord destroy that man,
as he completely destroyed those cities long ago.[y]
I want that man to hear people who are weeping in the morning.
I want him to hear the noise of battles at noon.
17 He should have killed me before I was born.
I should have died inside my mother.
She would have held me inside her.
That would have been my grave for ever.
18 I should have stayed in that safe place.
In my life, I only receive trouble and pain.
When I die, all I will have is shame.
King Nebuchadnezzar will take Jerusalem
21 The Lord gave another message to Jeremiah. King Zedekiah sent Malkijah's son Pashhur, to speak to Jeremiah. He also sent the priest Zephaniah, Maaseiah's son. They went to say to Jeremiah, 2 ‘Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, is attacking us. Please ask the Lord to help us. Perhaps he will do a powerful miracle as he has done for us in the past. Perhaps he will cause Nebuchadnezzar to go away and leave us alone.’[z]
3 Jeremiah answered them, ‘Tell Zedekiah that the Lord, Israel's God, says this:
4 “Your soldiers have gone outside the city to fight against the king of Babylon and his soldiers. But I will make the weapons of your soldiers useless. You will have to bring them all back into the city. 5 I myself will use my great power and strength to fight against you. I will do that because I am very angry with you. 6 I will attack everything that lives in this city, both people and animals. A very bad disease will kill them.”
7 The Lord also says this: “Then I will put King Zedekiah of Judah under the power of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. I will do the same thing to any of his officers or people who are still alive. Those are the people that war, famine or disease has not already killed. I will give them to King Nebuchadnezzar and to their enemies who want to kill them. He will tell his soldiers to kill them. He will not be kind to them and he will kill them all.”
8 But also tell the people that the Lord says this: “I will let you choose between two things. One is a way that will give you life. The other is a way that will give you death. 9 Anyone who stays in the city will die. War or famine or disease will kill them. But you may choose to leave the city. You may put yourselves under the power of Babylon's army that is attacking the city. Anyone who does that will continue to live. 10 I, the Lord, tell you this: I have decided not to rescue this city. Instead I will destroy it. I will give it to the king of Babylon. He will destroy it with fire.” ’
A message to Judah's kings
11 This is the Lord's message to the king of Judah, to his family and his officers:
12 ‘Descendants of King David, the Lord says this to you:
Every day you must be fair as you judge people.
Punish those who rob other people.
Punish those who are cruel to other people.
Help the people that they have hurt.
If you do not do judge in a fair way,
I will be very angry.
My anger will burn like a hot fire
that nobody can stop.
It will destroy you
because of the evil things that you have done.’
The Lord says:
13 ‘I have turned against you, Jerusalem's palace.
Kings sit there on their thrones,
on a high rock above the valley.
You say, “We are safe here in our strong building.
No enemy can get in here to attack us.”
14 But I will punish you for everything that you have done.
I will destroy your palace with fire.
That fire will destroy everything that is around you.’
That is what the Lord says.
A message to Judah's kings[aa]
22 The Lord said to me, ‘Go down to the palace of the king of Judah. You must say to him, 2 “King of Judah, descendant of King David, listen to this message from the Lord. Your officers and the people of your palace must listen too. 3 The Lord says: You must do things that are right and fair. Punish those who rob other people. Help the people that they have hurt. Do not be cruel to foreigners who are living among you. Do not cheat them. Do not hurt or cheat widows, or children who have no family. Stop killing people who have not done anything wrong. 4 If you are careful to obey these commands, David's descendants will continue to rule as kings in this city. They will ride on horses and on chariots to come in through the city's gates. Their officers and their people will come with them. 5 But if you do not obey these commands, I will destroy this palace. I promise you that it will become a heap of stones! That is what I, the Lord, tell you.” ’
6 The Lord says this about the palace of the king of Judah:
‘This place is as beautiful as Gilead!
It is as beautiful as Lebanon's mountains.
But I will cause it to become a wilderness,
a place where nobody lives any more.
7 I will send enemies to destroy this place.
They will use their weapons to knock it all down.
They will cut down the strong beams of cedar wood.
They will throw them into the fire.
8 People from many nations will see what has happened here. They will ask each other, “Why has the Lord destroyed this great city?” 9 Other people will answer, “He did it because they refused to obey their covenant with the Lord their God. They worshipped other gods instead of him.” ’
A message about King Jehoahaz
10 Do not weep because the king is dead.
Do not be sad that he no longer lives.
Instead, weep for the king that has gone away.
He will never return to see his own land again.[ab]
11 Josiah's son, Shallum, became king of Judah after his father died. But enemies took him away as a prisoner to a foreign land. The Lord says this about him: ‘He will never return to this land. 12 He will die in the foreign land where they took him as prisoner. He will not see this land again.’
A message about King Jehoiakim[ac]
13 The Lord says,
‘Terrible trouble will happen to this man!
He cheats people
so that he can build a beautiful palace for himself.
He does not do what is right and fair.
He does not pay the people who work for him.
His own men have to work for nothing.
14 He says, “I will build a great palace for myself.
It will have large rooms upstairs.”
He puts windows in its walls.
He covers the walls with cedar wood.
He uses red paint to make it beautiful.
15 Are you better than other kings
because you use more cedar wood to build your palace?
Think about how your father lived.
He did what was right and fair.
He had enough to eat and to drink.
So he was happy with a good life.
16 He did what was right
for people who were poor and helpless.
So people were happy.
That is how people who know me should live.’
That is what the Lord says.
17 ‘But you always want to cheat people,
so that you can get more riches for yourself.
You make plans to kill people who have not done anything wrong.
You hurt people in cruel ways.’
18 So the Lord says this about Josiah's son, King Jehoiakim of Judah:
‘People will not weep when he dies.
They will not say, “I am very sad, my brother.
I am very sad, my sister.”
They will not weep and say,
“What a terrible thing has happened!
Our great king has died!”
19 Instead, they will bury him like a dead donkey.
They will pull his dead body to the city's gate.
They will throw it on the ground outside Jerusalem.’
20 ‘Go up to Lebanon and cry aloud.[ad]
Shout loudly in Bashan.
Cry aloud from the mountains of Moab.
The nations that were your lovers
have lost their power.
21 When you were feeling strong and safe,
I warned you that this would happen.
But you said, “I refuse to listen to you.”
You have been like that since you were young.
You have never obeyed me.
22 Your leaders will all disappear,
as if a strong wind had blown them away.
Enemies will take your friends away as prisoners.
Then you will feel very ashamed,
because of all the wicked things that you have done.
23 You live safely in beautiful houses
that are made from Lebanon's cedar wood.
But when I punish you, you will cry out with pain.
You will feel pain like a woman who is having a baby.’
A message about King Jeconiah
24 This is what the Lord says: ‘Jeconiah, king of Judah, son of Jehoiakim, I promise you this, as surely as I live. I will remove your power as king. If you were the special ring of authority on my right hand, I would pull you off! 25 You are afraid of your enemies who want to kill you, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and his army. Now I will let them catch you. 26 I will throw you and your mother out of Judah. I will send you both to a foreign land. You were not born in that land, but you will both die there. 27 You will want to return to this land of Judah, but you will never come back here.’
28 This man Jeconiah will be like a broken pot.
It is a clay pot that nobody wants any more.
He and his children will go as prisoners to a foreign country.
They will live in a country that they do not know.
Why will that happen to them?
29 Listen, people of this land! Listen, people of Judah!
Listen to the Lord's message!
30 The Lord says,
‘Write this man's name on the list.
Write it as the name of a man who has no children.[ae]
He will not have success in his life.
None of his sons will rule as a descendant of King David.
None of them will be king of Judah.’
A righteous King
23 The Lord says, ‘Terrible trouble will come to the rulers of my people. They should have taken care of my people, as shepherds take care of their sheep. Instead, they have caused them to run away.’ 2 So the Lord, Israel's God, says to the leaders who rule over his people, ‘You have not taken care of my people. You have chased them away to other places. So now I will come and punish you, because of the evil things that you have done. I, the Lord, tell you that!
3 I myself will bring back together all my people who are still alive. I will fetch them from the countries where I have sent them. I will bring them back to the land that is their home. They will give birth to many children and they will grow in number. 4 I will choose rulers for them who will truly take care of them. My people will no longer be afraid. They will all be safe.’ That is what the Lord says.
5 The Lord says, ‘The time will come when I do this:
I will cause a descendant of David to be born.
He will be righteous.
He will grow like a branch on the tree of David's family.
He will rule as king in a wise way.
He will do what is right and fair in the land.
6 While he rules, the people of Judah will be safe.
And Israel's people will live in peace.
People will give this name to him:
“The Lord is our righteous Saviour.” ’
7 The Lord says, ‘Yes, a new time will come. When people make a promise, they will not say, “I promise to do this as surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites safely out of Egypt.” 8 Instead they will say, “I promise to do this as surely as the Lord lives, who brought the descendants of Israel safely back from the land in the north. He brought them back from all the places where he had sent them as prisoners.” At that time they will live in their own land.’
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