Bible in 90 Days
19 I will set a sign among them, and send from them survivors to the nations: to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud—who draw the bow—to Tubal, and Javan, to the coastlands afar off who have not heard My fame nor seen My glory. And they shall declare My glory among the nations. 20 They shall bring all your brothers out of all nations as an offering to the Lord on horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and on mules, and on swift beasts to My holy mountain Jerusalem, says the Lord, as the sons of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord. 21 I will also take some of them for priests and for Levites, says the Lord.
22 For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before Me, says the Lord, so shall your descendants and your name remain. 23 From one New Moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, all flesh shall come to worship before Me, says the Lord. 24 And they shall go forth and look on the corpses of the men who have transgressed against Me. For their worm shall not die, nor shall their fire be quenched. And they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.
The Commission of Jeremiah
1 The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, 2 to whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. 3 It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, to the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the captivity of Jerusalem in the fifth month.
4 Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you;
and before you were born I sanctified you,
and I ordained you a prophet to the nations.”
6 Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Truly, I cannot speak, for I am a youth.”
7 But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am a youth.’ For you shall go everywhere that I send you, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. 8 Do not be afraid of their faces. For I am with you to deliver you,” says the Lord.
9 Then the Lord put forth His hand and touched my mouth. And the Lord said to me, “Now, I have put My words in your mouth. 10 See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant.”
The Almond Rod and Boiling Pot
11 Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Jeremiah, what do you see?”
And I said, “I see a branch of an almond tree.”
12 Then the Lord said to me, “You have seen well. For I will hasten My word to perform it.”
13 The word of the Lord came to me the second time, saying, “What do you see?”
And I said, “I see a boiling pot, and it is facing away from the north.”
14 Then the Lord said to me: Out of the north calamity will break forth on all the inhabitants of the land. 15 For I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, says the Lord.
And they will come and they will set each one his throne
at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem,
and against all the walls all around,
and against all the cities of Judah.
16 I will utter My judgments against them
concerning all their wickedness, whereby they have forsaken Me
and have burned incense to other gods,
and have worshipped the works of their own hands.
17 You therefore gird up your loins and arise, and speak to them all that I command you. Do not be dismayed at their faces, lest I confound you before them. 18 For indeed, I have made you this day a fortified city and an iron pillar and bronze walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the officials, against the priests, and against the people of the land. 19 They will fight against you, but they will not prevail against you, for I am with you, says the Lord, to deliver you.
God Pleads With Israel to Repent
2 Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 Go and proclaim in the ears of Jerusalem, saying,
Thus says the Lord:
I remember you, the kindness of your youth,
the love of your espousals,
when you followed Me in the wilderness,
in a land that was not sown.
3 Israel is holy to the Lord,
and the first fruits of His harvest.
All who eat of it will become guilty;
disaster will come upon them,
says the Lord.
4 Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob
and all the families of the house of Israel.
5 Thus says the Lord:
What iniquity have your fathers found in Me,
that they have gone far from Me,
and have walked after vanity
and have become vain?
6 They did not say, “Where is the Lord
who brought us up out of the land of Egypt,
who led us through the wilderness,
through a land of deserts and of pits,
through a land of drought and of the shadow of death,
through a land that no man passed through and where no man lived?”
7 And I brought you into a plentiful country
to eat its fruit and its goodness.
But when you entered, you defiled My land
and made My heritage an abomination.
8 The priests did not say,
“Where is the Lord?”
And those who handle the law did not know Me;
the shepherds also transgressed against Me,
and the prophets prophesied by Baal
and walked after things that do not profit.
9 Therefore I will yet contend with you,
says the Lord,
and with your sons’ sons I will contend.
10 For pass over the coastlands of Cyprus and see,
and send to Kedar and consider diligently,
and see if there is such a thing.
11 Has a nation changed their gods,
though they are not gods?
But My people have changed their glory
for that which does not profit.
12 Be astonished at this, O heavens,
and be horribly afraid, be very desolate,
says the Lord.
13 For My people have committed two evils.
They have forsaken Me,
the fountain of living waters,
and hewed out for themselves cisterns,
broken cisterns, that can hold no water.
14 Is Israel a servant? Is he a homeborn slave?
Why has he been plundered?
15 The young lions roared at him
and roared loudly,
and they made his land a waste;
his cities have been destroyed, without inhabitant.
16 Also the men of Memphis and Tahpanhes
have shaved the crown of your head.
17 Have you not brought this on yourself,
in that you have forsaken the Lord your God
when He led you in the way?
18 And now what are you doing in the way of Egypt,
to drink the waters of the Nile?
Or what are you doing in the way of Assyria,
to drink the waters of the River?
19 Your own wickedness will correct you,
and your backslidings will reprove you.
Know therefore and see
that it is an evil thing and bitter for you
to have forsaken the Lord your God,
and the fear of Me is not in you,
says the Lord God of Hosts.
20 For long ago I have broken your yoke
and burst your bonds;
and you said, “I will not serve.”
For upon every high hill
and under every green tree
you wander, playing the harlot.
21 Yet I had planted you a noble vine,
a wholly faithful seed.
How then have you turned
into the degenerate plant of a strange vine to Me?
22 For though you wash yourself with lye,
and take much soap,
yet your iniquity is marked before Me,
says the Lord God.
23 How can you say, “I am not polluted,
I have not gone after the Baals”?
See your way in the valley.
Know what you have done.
You are a swift young camel
entangling her ways,
24 a wild donkey used to the wilderness
that sniffs the wind in her passion.
In the time of her heat, who can turn her away?
All those who seek her will not weary themselves;
in her month they shall find her.
25 Withhold your foot from being unshod
and your throat from thirst.
But you said, “There is no hope. No!
For I have loved strangers,
and after them I will go.”
26 As the thief is ashamed when he is found,
so is the house of Israel ashamed.
They, their kings, their officials,
and their priests, and their prophets
27 say to a tree, “You are my father.”
And to a stone, “You gave birth to me.”
For they have turned their back to Me,
and not their face.
But in the time of their trouble they will say,
“Arise and save us.”
28 But where are your gods that you have made for yourself?
Let them arise, if they can save you
in the time of your trouble;
for according to the number of your cities
are your gods, O Judah.
29 Why will you plead with Me?
You all have transgressed against Me,
says the Lord.
30 In vain I have smitten your children;
they received no correction.
Your own sword has devoured your prophets
like a destroying lion.
31 O generation, consider the word of the Lord:
Have I been a wilderness to Israel?
A land of darkness?
Why do My people say, “We are free to roam.
We will come no more to You”?
32 Can a virgin forget her ornaments,
or a bride her attire?
Yet My people have forgotten Me
for days without number.
33 You prepare your way very well to seek love.
Therefore you have also taught the wicked women your ways.
34 Also in your skirts is found
the blood of the souls of the innocent poor.
I have not found it by breaking in,
but in spite of all these things.
35 Yet you say, “Because I am innocent,
surely His anger shall turn away from me.”
Now I will plead with you,
because you say, “I have not sinned.”
36 Why do you go about so much
to change your way?
You also shall be ashamed of Egypt,
as you were ashamed of Assyria.
37 Indeed, you shall go forth from him
with your hands upon your head;
for the Lord has rejected those in whom you trust,
and you shall not prosper in them.
Unfaithful Israel
3 If a man divorces his wife,
and she goes from him and becomes another man’s,
shall he return to her again?
Shall not that land be greatly polluted?
But you have played the harlot with many lovers;
yet return again to Me,
says the Lord.
2 Lift up your eyes to the high places,
and see! Where have you not been ravished?
In the roads you have sat for them
as the Arabian in the wilderness.
And you have polluted the land
with your harlotry and with your wickedness.
3 Therefore the showers have been withheld,
and there has been no latter rain.
And you had a harlot’s forehead;
you refused to be ashamed.
4 Shall you not from this time cry to Me,
“My Father, You are the guide of my youth?
5 Shall He reserve His anger forever?
Shall He keep it to the end?”
Indeed, you have spoken
and done evil things as you could.
A Call to Repentance
6 The Lord said also to me in the days of Josiah the king: Have you seen that which backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and there has played the harlot. 7 I said after she had done all these things, “Turn to Me.” But she did not return. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it. 8 I saw that for all the adulteries of backsliding Israel, I had put her away and given her a bill of divorce. Yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but went and played the harlot also. 9 Through the lightness of her harlotry she defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and with trees. 10 Yet for all this, her treacherous sister Judah has not turned to Me with her whole heart, but feignedly, says the Lord.
God Invites Repentance
11 The Lord said to me: Backsliding Israel has proved herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. 12 Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say:
Return, backsliding Israel, says the Lord,
and I will not cause My anger to fall on you.
For I am merciful, says the Lord,
and I will not keep anger forever.
13 Only acknowledge your iniquity,
that you have transgressed against the Lord your God
and have scattered your ways to the strangers
under every green tree,
and you have not obeyed My voice,
says the Lord.
14 Return, O backsliding sons, says the Lord. For I am married to you. And I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion. 15 And I will give you shepherds according to My heart, who shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. 16 It shall come to pass when you are multiplied and increased in the land in those days, says the Lord, they will say no more, “The ark of the covenant of the Lord.” And it will not come to mind, nor will they remember it, nor will they call for it, nor will it be made any more. 17 At that time they will call Jerusalem, the Throne of the Lord, and all the nations will be gathered to it, to Jerusalem, for the name of the Lord; nor will they walk any more after the stubbornness of their evil hearts. 18 In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given to your fathers for an inheritance.
19 But I said:
How can I put you among My sons
and give you a pleasant land,
the most beautiful heritage of the nations?
And I said: You shall call Me, My Father,
and shall not turn away from Me.
20 Surely as a wife treacherously departs from her husband,
so you have dealt treacherously with Me, O house of Israel,
says the Lord.
21 A voice was heard upon the high places,
the weeping and the supplications of the sons of Israel,
because they have perverted their way,
they have forgotten the Lord their God.
22 Return, O backsliding sons,
and I will heal your backslidings.
“We come to You;
for You are the Lord our God.
23 Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills,
and from the multitude of mountains.
Truly, in the Lord our God
is the salvation of Israel.
24 For shame has devoured the labor
of our fathers from our youth,
their flocks and their herds,
their sons and their daughters.
25 We lie down in our shame,
and our humiliation covers us.
For we have sinned against the Lord our God,
we and our fathers,
from our youth even to this day,
and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.”
Judah Threatened With Invasion
4 If you will return, O Israel,
says the Lord,
return to Me.
And if you will put away your abominations out of My sight,
then you shall not be moved.
2 You shall swear, “As the Lord lives,”
in truth, in justice, and in righteousness;
then the nations shall bless themselves in Him,
and in Him they shall glory.
3 For thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem:
Break up your fallow ground,
and do not sow among thorns.
4 Circumcise yourselves to the Lord,
and take away the foreskins of your heart,
you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem,
lest My fury come forth like fire,
and burn so that no one can quench it,
because of the evil of your deeds.
5 Declare in Judah and publish in Jerusalem, and say:
Blow the trumpet in the land.
Cry aloud and say,
“Assemble yourselves,
and let us go into the fortified cities.”
6 Set up the standard toward Zion.
Seek refuge, do not delay.
For I will bring disaster from the north,
and a great destruction.
7 The lion has come up from his thicket,
and the destroyer of the nations is on his way.
He has gone forth from his place
to make your land desolate.
And your cities shall be laid waste
without an inhabitant.
8 For this gird yourself with sackcloth,
lament and howl.
For the fierce anger of the Lord
is not turned back from us.
9 It shall come to pass in that day, says the Lord,
that the heart of the king will fail and the heart of the officials;
and the priests will be astonished
and the prophets will wonder.
10 Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Surely You have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘You shall have peace,’ whereas the sword reaches the throat.”
11 At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem: A dry wind of the high places in the wilderness toward the daughter of My people, not to fan or to cleanse, 12 even a full wind from those places, will come to Me. Now also I will pronounce judgments against them.
13 Look! He shall come up as clouds,
and his chariots shall be as a whirlwind.
His horses are swifter than eagles.
Woe to us, for we are ruined!
14 O Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved.
How long shall your evil thoughts lodge within you?
15 For a voice declares from Dan,
and publishes wickedness from Mount Ephraim:
16 “Report it to the nations, now!”
Indeed, proclaim against Jerusalem:
“Besiegers come from a far country,
and lift their voices against the cities of Judah.
17 As watchmen of a field, they are against her all around,
because she has been rebellious against Me,
says the Lord.
18 Your way and your deeds
have procured these things to you.
This is your wickedness.
How bitter it is!
How it touches your heart!”
Sorrow for a Doomed Nation
19 My soul, my soul!
I am pained at my very heart.
My heart makes a noise in me.
I cannot hold my peace,
because you have heard, O my soul,
the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.
20 Destruction upon destruction is proclaimed,
for the whole land is devastated.
Suddenly are my tents devastated,
and my curtains in a moment.
21 How long shall I see the standard
and hear the sound of the trumpet?
22 “For My people are foolish,
they have not known Me.
They are foolish children,
and they have no understanding.
They are wise to do evil,
but to do good they have no knowledge.”
23 I looked on the earth,
and it was without form and void.
And to the heavens,
and they had no light.
24 I looked on the mountains,
and they trembled,
and all the hills moved to and fro.
25 I looked, and there was no man,
and all the birds of the heavens had fled.
26 I looked, and the fruitful place was a wilderness,
and all the cities were broken down
at the presence of the Lord, and by His fierce anger.
27 For thus says the Lord:
The whole land shall be desolate.
Yet I will not make a full end.
28 For this the earth shall mourn,
and the heavens above be black,
because I have spoken it, I have purposed it,
and will not relent, nor will I turn back from it.
29 The whole city shall flee
for the noise of the horsemen and bowmen.
They shall go into thickets
and climb up upon the rocks.
Every city shall be forsaken,
and not a man dwell in it.
30 When you are devastated, what will you do?
Though you clothe yourself with crimson,
though you deck yourself with ornaments of gold,
though you enlarge your eyes with paint,
in vain you will make yourself fair.
Your lovers will despise you;
they will seek your life.
31 For I have heard a voice as of a woman in labor,
and the anguish as of her who brings forth her first child,
the voice of the daughter of Zion,
that bewails herself, that spreads her hands, saying,
“Ah, woe is me,
for my soul is wearied because of murderers.”
The Justice of God’s Judgment
5 Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem,
see now and know;
seek in the open places
if you can find a man,
if there is any who executes justice, who seeks the truth,
that I may pardon her.
2 Though they say, “The Lord lives,”
surely they swear falsely.
3 O Lord, are not Your eyes upon the truth?
You have stricken them, but they have not grieved.
You have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction.
They have made their faces harder than a rock;
they have refused to return.
4 Therefore I said, “Surely these are the poor.
They are foolish;
for they know not the way of the Lord
or the judgment of their God.
5 I will go to the great men
and will speak to them,
for they have known the way of the Lord
and the judgment of their God.”
But these have altogether broken the yoke
and burst the bonds.
6 Therefore a lion out of the forest will slay them,
and a wolf from the deserts will destroy them;
a leopard will watch over their cities.
Everyone who goes out from there will be torn in pieces,
because their transgressions are many
and their backslidings have increased.
7 How shall I pardon you for this?
Your children have forsaken Me
and sworn by those who are not gods.
When I had fed them to the full,
then they committed adultery
and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses.
8 They were as fed horses in the morning;
everyone neighed after his neighbor’s wife.
9 Shall I not punish for these things? says the Lord,
and shall not My soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
10 Go up upon her walls and destroy,
but make not a full end.
Take away her battlements.
For they are not the Lord’s.
11 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah
have dealt very treacherously against Me,
says the Lord.
12 They have lied about the Lord,
and said, “Not He.
Neither shall evil come upon us,
nor shall we see sword or famine.”
13 And the prophets shall become wind,
and the word is not in them.
Thus it shall be done to them!
14 Therefore thus says the Lord God of Hosts:
Because you speak this word,
indeed I will make My words in your mouth fire
and this people wood, and it shall devour them.
15 Truly, I will bring a nation upon you from far,
O house of Israel, says the Lord.
It is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation,
a nation whose language you do not know,
nor do you understand what they say.
16 Their quiver is as an open sepulcher,
they all are mighty men.
17 They will eat up your harvest and your bread
which your sons and your daughters should eat.
They will eat up your flocks and your herds;
they will eat up your vines and your fig trees;
they will impoverish your fenced cities,
in which you trusted, with the sword.
18 Nevertheless in those days, says the Lord, I will not make a full end of you. 19 It shall come to pass when they say, “Why does the Lord our God do all these things to us?” then you shall answer them, “As you have forsaken Me and served strange gods in your land, so you will serve strangers in a land that is not yours.”
20 Declare this in the house of Jacob
and publish it in Judah, saying:
21 Hear this now, O foolish people and without understanding,
who have eyes but do not see,
who have ears but do not hear.
22 Do you not fear Me? says the Lord.
Will you not tremble at My presence?
For I have placed the sand for the boundary of the sea
by a perpetual decree so that it cannot pass over it.
And though the waves toss themselves, yet they cannot prevail;
though they roar, yet they cannot pass over it.
23 But this people has a revolting and a rebellious heart;
they have revolted and gone aside.
24 They do not say in their heart,
“Let us now fear the Lord our God,
who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season.
He reserves for us the appointed weeks of the harvest.”
25 Your iniquities have turned away these things,
and your sins have withheld good things from you.
26 For among My people are found wicked men.
They lie in wait, as he who sets snares;
they set a trap, they catch men.
27 As a cage is full of birds,
so are their houses full of deceit.
Therefore they have become great and rich.
28 They are fat, they are sleek.
Indeed, they excel in deeds of wickedness.
They do not judge the cause of the fatherless,
so that they may prosper;
and the right of the needy they do not defend.
29 Shall I not punish them for these things?
says the Lord.
Shall not My soul be avenged
on such a nation as this?
30 An appalling and horrible thing
has been committed in the land.
31 The prophets prophesy falsely,
and the priests rule by their own authority;
and My people love to have it so.
Yet what will you do in the end?
Siege of Jerusalem
6 O sons of Benjamin, gather yourselves
to flee from the midst of Jerusalem,
and blow the trumpet in Tekoa,
and set up a sign of fire in Beth Hakkerem;
for disaster appears out of the north,
and great destruction.
2 I have likened the daughter of Zion
to a comely and delicate woman.
3 The shepherds with their flocks will come to her.
They will pitch their tents against her all around.
They will pasture each in his place.
4 “Prepare war against her;
arise, and let us go up at noon.”
“Woe to us, for the day declines,
for the shadows of the evening are stretched out.”
5 “Arise, and let us go by night
and let us destroy her palaces.”
6 For thus says the Lord of Hosts:
Hew down trees
and build a mound against Jerusalem.
This is the city to be punished.
She is full of oppression in her midst.
7 As a fountain casts out her waters,
so she casts out her wickedness.
Violence and devastation are heard in her;
before Me continually are grief and wounds.
8 Be instructed, O Jerusalem,
lest My soul depart from you;
lest I make you desolate,
a land not inhabited.
9 Thus says the Lord of Hosts:
They will thoroughly glean
the remnant of Israel as a vine.
Turn back your hand
as a grape gatherer into the baskets.
10 To whom shall I speak and give warning
that they may hear?
See, their ears are closed,
and they cannot listen.
Indeed, the word of the Lord is a reproach to them;
they have no delight in it.
11 Therefore I am full of the fury of the Lord;
I am weary with holding in.
I will pour it out upon the children in the street
and upon the assembly of young men together;
for even the husband with the wife shall be taken,
the aged with him who is full of days.
12 Their houses shall be turned to others,
with their fields and wives together;
for I will stretch out My hand
upon the inhabitants of the land,
says the Lord.
13 For from the least of them even to the greatest of them,
everyone is given to covetousness.
And from the prophet even to the priest,
everyone deals falsely.
14 They have healed also the brokenness
of the daughter of My people superficially,
saying, “Peace, peace,”
when there is no peace.
15 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination?
They were not at all ashamed,
nor could they blush.
Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;
at the time that I punish them they shall be cast down,
says the Lord.
16 Thus says the Lord
Stand in the ways and see,
and ask for the old paths
where the good way is and walk in it,
and you shall find rest for your souls.
But they said, “We will not walk in it.”
17 Also I set watchmen over you, saying,
“Listen to the sound of the trumpet.”
But they said, “We will not listen.”
18 Therefore hear, O nations,
and know, O congregation,
what is among them.
19 Hear, O earth.
I will bring calamity on this people,
even the fruit of their thoughts,
because they have not listened to My words,
nor to My law, but rejected it.
20 To what purpose does incense from Sheba come to Me,
and the sweet cane from a far country?
Your burnt offerings are not acceptable,
nor are your sacrifices sweet to Me.
21 Therefore thus says the Lord:
See, I will lay stumbling blocks before this people,
and the fathers and the sons together will fall upon them.
The neighbor and his friend will perish.
22 Thus says the Lord:
See, a people comes
from the north country,
and a great nation will be raised
from the remote parts of the earth.
23 They will lay hold on bow and spear;
they are cruel and have no mercy.
Their voice roars like the sea,
and they ride upon horses,
set in array as men for war
against you, O daughter of Zion.
24 “We have heard the report of it;
our hands grow feeble.
Anguish has taken hold of us,
and pain as of a woman in labor.
25 Do not go out into the field,
nor walk on the road.
For the sword of the enemy
and terror is on every side.”
26 O daughter of my people, gird yourself with sackcloth
and wallow in ashes.
Mourn as for an only son,
a most bitter lamentation;
for the destroyer
shall suddenly come upon us.
27 I have set you as an assayer
and fortress among My people
that you may know
and try their way.
28 They all are stubborn rebels
walking about practicing slander.
They are bronze and iron;
they all are corrupters.
29 The bellows blow fiercely,
the lead is consumed by the fire;
the founder melts in vain,
for the wicked are not plucked away.
30 Men will call them rejected silver,
because the Lord has rejected them.
False Trust in the Temple
7 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: 2 Stand in the gate of the house of the Lord and proclaim there this word:
Hear the word of the Lord, all you of Judah, who enter at these gates to worship the Lord. 3 Thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. 4 Do not trust in lying words, saying, “The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.” 5 For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your deeds, if you thoroughly execute justice between a man and his neighbor, 6 if you do not oppress the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, or walk after other gods to your harm, 7 then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, forever and ever. 8 Indeed, you trust in lying words that cannot profit.
9 Shall you steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know, 10 and come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My name, and say, “We are delivered,” so that you may do all these abominations? 11 Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Certainly, even I have seen it, says the Lord.
12 But go now to My place which was in Shiloh, where I set My name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of My people Israel. 13 And now, because you have done all these works, says the Lord, and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you did not hear, and I called you, but you did not answer, 14 therefore I will do to this house, which is called by My name, in which you trust, and to the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh. 15 I will cast you out of My sight as I have cast out all your brothers, even the whole seed of Ephraim.
16 As for you, do not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry nor prayer for them, nor make intercession to Me, for I will not hear you. 17 Do you not see what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18 The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke Me to anger. 19 Do they provoke Me to anger? says the Lord. Do they not provoke themselves to the shame of their own faces?
20 Therefore thus says the Lord God: My anger and My fury will be poured out upon this place, upon man and upon beast, and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched.
21 Thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat flesh. 22 For I spoke not to your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices. 23 But this thing I commanded them, saying, “Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.” 24 But they did not listen, nor incline their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward and not forward. 25 Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have even sent to you all My servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them. 26 Yet they did not listen to Me, nor incline their ear, but hardened their neck. They did worse than their fathers.
27 Therefore you will speak all these words to them. But they will not listen to you. You will also call to them, but they will not answer you. 28 You shall say to them: This is a nation that does not obey the voice of the Lord their God, nor receive correction. Truth has perished, and has been cut off from their mouth.
29 Cut off your hair, O Jerusalem, and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on high places; for the Lord has rejected and forsaken the generation of His wrath.
30 For the sons of Judah have done evil in My sight, says the Lord. They have set their abominations in the house which is called by My name, to pollute it. 31 They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command them, nor did it come into My heart. 32 Therefore, truly the days are coming, says the Lord, that it will no more be called Topheth, nor the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter; for they will bury in Topheth because there is no other place. 33 The corpses of this people shall be food for the fowl of the heaven and for the beasts of the earth; and no one will frighten them away. 34 Then I will cause to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of laughter and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride; for the land shall become desolate.
8 At that time, says the Lord, they will bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his officials, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem out of their graves. 2 And they will spread them before the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven, whom they have loved and whom they have served, and after whom they have walked and whom they have sought, and whom they have worshipped. They will not be gathered, nor be buried. They will be as dung upon the face of the earth. 3 Death will be chosen rather than life by all the rest of those who remain of this evil family, which remains in all the places wherever I have driven them, says the Lord of Hosts.
Sin and Judgment
4 Moreover you shall say to them, Thus says the Lord:
Do men fall and not arise?
Do they turn away and not repent?
5 Why then is this people of Jerusalem
turned away by a perpetual backsliding?
They hold fast to deceit;
they refuse to return.
6 I listened and heard,
but they did not speak what is right.
No man repented of his wickedness,
saying, “What have I done?”
Everyone turned to his course,
as the horse rushes into the battle.
7 Indeed, the stork in the sky
knows her appointed times.
And the turtledove and the crane and the swallow
observe the time of their coming.
But My people do not know
the judgment of the Lord.
8 How do you say, “We are wise,
and the law of the Lord is with us”?
Certainly the lying pen of the scribes
has made it into a lie.
9 The wise men are ashamed;
they are dismayed and caught.
Indeed, they have rejected the word of the Lord,
and what kind of wisdom do they have?
10 Therefore I will give their wives to others,
and their fields to those who shall inherit them.
For everyone from the least even to the greatest
is given to covetousness;
from the prophet even to the priest
everyone deals falsely.
11 For they have healed the brokenness
of the daughter of My people superficially,
saying, “Peace, peace,”
when there is no peace.
12 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination?
They were not at all ashamed,
nor could they blush.
Therefore they will fall among those who fall;
in the time of their punishment they will be cast down,
says the Lord.
13 I will surely consume them,
says the Lord.
There will be no grapes on the vine
nor figs on the fig tree,
and the leaf shall fade;
and the things that I have given them
will pass away from them.
14 Why do we sit still?
Assemble yourselves,
and let us enter the fortified cities
and let us perish there.
For the Lord our God has doomed us
and given us water of gall to drink,
because we have sinned against the Lord.
15 We looked for peace,
but no good came;
and for a time of health,
but there was trouble!
16 The snorting of his horses
was heard from Dan;
the whole land trembled
at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones.
For they have come and have devoured
the land and all that is in it,
the city, and those who dwell in it.
17 See, I will send serpents against you,
adders, which will not be charmed,
and they will bite you,
declares the Lord.
Jeremiah Mourns for His People
18 My sorrow is beyond healing;
my heart is faint within me.
19 Listen! The cry of the daughter of my people
from a far country:
“Is not the Lord in Zion?
Is not her king in her?”
“Why have they provoked Me to anger with their graven images,
with foreign vanities?”
20 “The harvest is past,
the summer is ended,
and we are not saved.”
21 For the brokenness of the daughter of my people am I broken;
I mourn; dismay has taken hold of me.
22 Is there no balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
Why then has not the health
of the daughter of my people recovered?
Failures of Judah
9 Oh, that my head were waters
and my eyes a fountain of tears,
that I might weep day and night
for the slain of the daughter of my people!
2 Oh, that I had in the wilderness
a lodging place of wayfaring men,
that I might leave my people
and go from them!
For they all are adulterers,
an assembly of treacherous men.
3 They bend their tongues like their bow;
lies and not truth prevail upon the land;
for they proceed from evil to evil,
and they do not know Me,
says the Lord.
4 Let everyone be on guard against his neighbor,
and do not trust in any brother;
for every brother supplants,
and every neighbor walks about with slanders.
5 Everyone deceives his neighbor
and does not speak the truth.
They have taught their tongue to speak lies;
they weary themselves in committing iniquity.
6 Your habitation is in the midst of deceit;
through deceit they refuse to know Me,
says the Lord.
7 Therefore thus says the Lord of Hosts:
Now, I will refine them and assay them;
for what else shall I do
for the daughter of My people?
8 Their tongue is a deadly arrow;
it speaks deceit.
One speaks peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth,
but in his heart he lies in wait.
9 Shall I not punish them for these things?
says the Lord.
Shall not My soul be avenged
on such a nation as this?
10 For the mountains I will take up a weeping and wailing,
and for the habitations of the wilderness a lamentation,
because they are burned up so that no one can pass through them;
nor can men hear the lowing of the cattle.
Both the fowl of the heavens and the beast have fled;
they are gone.
11 I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins
and a den of jackals;
and I will make the cities of Judah desolate,
without an inhabitant.
12 Who is the wise man who may understand this? And who is he to whom the mouth of the Lord has spoken, that he may declare it? Why is the land ruined and burned up like a wilderness, so that no one passes through?
13 And the Lord said: Because they have forsaken My law which I set before them, and have not obeyed My voice, nor walked in it, 14 but have walked after the imagination of their own heart and after the Baals, which their fathers taught them. 15 Therefore thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood and give them water of gall to drink. 16 I will scatter them also among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known. And I will send a sword after them until I have consumed them.
17 Thus says the Lord of Hosts:
Consider and call for the mourning women, that they may come;
and send for wailing women, that they may come.
18 And let them make haste
and take up a wailing for us,
that our eyes may run down with tears
and our eyelids gush out with waters.
19 For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion,
“How devastated we are!
We are greatly humiliated,
because we have forsaken the land,
because our dwellings have cast us out.”
20 Yet hear the word of the Lord, O you women,
and let your ear receive the word of His mouth;
and teach your daughters wailing,
and everyone her neighbor a lamentation.
21 “For death has come up into our windows;
and has entered our palaces,
to cut off the children from the streets,
and the young men from the squares.”
22 Speak, Thus says the Lord:
“The carcasses of men shall fall
as dung upon the open field,
and as the sheaf after the harvester,
and no one shall gather them.”
23 Thus says the Lord:
Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,
and let not the mighty man glory in his might,
let not the rich man glory in his riches;
24 but let him who glories glory in this,
that he understands and knows Me,
that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness,
justice, and righteousness in the earth.
For in these things I delight,
says the Lord.
25 The days are surely coming, says the Lord, that I will punish all who are circumcised and yet uncircumcised— 26 Egypt, Judah, Edom, the children of Ammon, Moab, and all who dwell in the wilderness who clip the hair on their temples; for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised of heart.
The True God and Idols(A)
10 Hear the word which the Lord speaks to you, O house of Israel. 2 Thus says the Lord:
Do not learn the way of the nations;
do not be terrified at the signs of heaven,
although the nations are terrified at them.
3 For the customs of the people are vain;
for with the axe one cuts a tree out of the forest,
the work of the hands of the workman.
4 They deck it with silver and with gold;
they fasten it with nails and with hammers
so that it may not move.
5 They are as a scarecrow in a cucumber field,
but do not speak;
they must be carried,
because they cannot walk.
Do not be afraid of them,
for they cannot do evil,
nor can they do good.
6 There is no one like You, O Lord.
You are great,
and Your name is great in might.
7 Who would not fear You,
O King of the nations?
Indeed, it is Your due.
For among all the wise men of the nations,
and in all their kingdoms,
there is no one like You.
8 But they are altogether unthinking and foolish;
the tree is a doctrine of vanities.
9 Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish,
and gold from Uphaz,
the work of the workman and of the hands of the founder;
blue and purple are their clothing;
they all are the work of skilled men.
10 But the Lord is the true God;
He is the living God and an everlasting King.
At His wrath the earth trembles,
and the nations cannot endure His indignation.
11 Thus you shall say to them: The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth and from under these heavens.
12 He has made the earth by His power.
He has established the world by His wisdom
and has stretched out the heavens by His discretion.
13 When He utters His voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens,
and He causes the vapors to ascend from the remote parts of the earth;
He makes lightning with rain,
and brings out the wind from His storehouses.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.