Bible in 90 Days
14 Every man is stupid, without knowledge;
every goldsmith is put to shame by an idol;
for his molded image is false,
and there is no breath in them.
15 They are vain and a work of mockery;
in the time of their punishment they shall perish.
16 The portion of Jacob is not like them,
for He is the Maker of all things,
and Israel is the rod of His inheritance.
The Lord of Hosts is His name.
The Exile Prophesied
17 Gather up your wares out of the land,
O inhabitant of the fortress.
18 For thus says the Lord:
I will sling out
the inhabitants of the land at this time,
and will distress them
that they may be found.
19 Woe is me because of my brokenness!
My wound is grievous.
But I said,
“Truly this is an illness, and I must bear it.”
20 My tabernacle is devastated,
and all my cords are broken.
My sons have gone from me and are no more.
There is no one to spread my tent anymore,
and to set up my curtains.
21 For the shepherds have become unthinking
and have not sought the Lord.
Therefore they have not prospered,
and all their flocks are scattered.
22 Listen! The sound of the report has come,
and a great commotion out of the north country,
to make the cities of Judah desolate
and a den of jackals.
The Prayer of Jeremiah
23 O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself;
it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.
24 O Lord, correct me, but with justice,
not in Your anger,
lest You bring me to nothing.
25 Pour out Your fury upon the nations
that do not know You
and upon the families that do not call on Your name;
for they have eaten up Jacob
and devoured him, and consumed him,
and have made his habitation desolate.
The Broken Covenant
11 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: 2 Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 3 And say you to them, Thus says the Lord God of Israel: Cursed is the man who does not obey the words of this covenant, 4 which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, Obey My voice, and do according to all which I command you. So you shall be My people, and I will be your God, 5 that I may perform the oath which I have sworn to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day.
Then I answered and said, “So be it, O Lord.”
6 Then the Lord said to me: Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: saying, Hear the words of this covenant, and do them. 7 For I earnestly warned your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even to this day, rising early and warning, saying, Obey My voice. 8 Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but everyone walked in the imagination of their evil heart. Therefore I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but which they did not do.
9 The Lord said to me: A conspiracy has been found among the men of Judah and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 10 They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers who refused to hear My words. And they have gone after other gods to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken My covenant which I made with their fathers. 11 Therefore thus says the Lord, Surely, I will bring calamity upon them which they will not be able to escape. And though they cry to Me, I will not listen to them. 12 Then the cities of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry to the gods to whom they offer incense. But they will not save them at all in the time of their trouble. 13 For according to the number of your cities are your gods, O Judah. And according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem you have set up altars to that shameful thing, even altars to burn incense to Baal.
14 Therefore do not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry or prayer for them. For I will not hear them in the time that they cry to Me because of their trouble.
15 What right has My beloved in My house,
seeing that she has done many lewd deeds?
Can the sacrificial meat take away from you your disaster,
so that you can rejoice while doing evil?
16 The Lord called your name,
“A green olive tree, fair in fruit and form.”
With the noise of a great tumult
He has kindled fire upon it,
and its branches are broken.
17 For the Lord of Hosts, who planted you, has pronounced disaster against you, because of the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done against themselves to provoke Me to anger in offering incense to Baal.
Jeremiah’s Life Threatened
18 The Lord has made it known to me and I knew it; then You showed me their deeds. 19 But I was like a gentle lamb that is brought to the slaughter, and I did not know that they had devised plots against me, saying,
“Let us destroy the tree with the fruit,
and let us cut him off from the land of the living
so that his name may be remembered no more.”
20 But, O Lord of Hosts, who judges righteously,
who tries the feelings and the heart,
let me see Your vengeance on them,
for to You I have revealed my cause.
21 Therefore thus says the Lord of the men of Anathoth who seek your life, saying, “Do not prophesy in the name of the Lord so that you not die by our hand.” 22 Therefore thus says the Lord of Hosts: I will punish them. The young men shall die by the sword. Their sons and their daughters shall die by famine. 23 And there shall be no remnant of them, for I will bring calamity upon the men of Anathoth, even the year of their punishment.
Jeremiah’s Plea
12 Righteous are You, O Lord,
that I plead with You.
Indeed, let me talk with You about matters of justice.
Why does the way of the wicked prosper?
Why are all those happy who deal very treacherously?
2 You have planted them; indeed, they have taken root;
they grow; indeed, they bring forth fruit.
You are near in their mouth,
but far from their mind.
3 But You, O Lord, know me;
You have seen me and tested my heart toward You.
Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter,
and prepare them for the day of slaughter.
4 How long shall the land mourn
and the herbs of every field wither?
For the wickedness of those who dwell in it,
the beasts and the birds have been snatched away,
because they said,
“He will not see our latter end.”
God Answers Jeremiah
5 If you have run with the footmen,
and they have wearied you,
then how can you contend with horses?
And if in the land of peace in which you trusted, they wearied you,
then how will you do in the thicket of the Jordan?
6 For even your brothers and the household of your father,
even they have dealt treacherously with you.
Indeed, they have cried aloud after you.
Do not believe them
though they speak fair words to you.
7 I have forsaken My house,
I have abandoned My heritage;
I have given the dearly beloved of My soul
into the hand of her enemies.
8 My heritage is to Me
as a lion in the forest.
She cries out against Me;
therefore I have hated her.
9 My heritage is to Me
as a speckled vulture;
the vultures all around are against her.
Come, assemble all the beasts of the field,
bring them to devour.
10 Many shepherds have destroyed My vineyard;
they have trodden My portion under foot;
they have made My pleasant portion
a desolate wilderness.
11 They have made it desolate,
and being desolate, it mourns to Me.
The whole land has been made desolate,
because no man lays it to heart.
12 The destroyers have come
upon all high places through the wilderness,
for the sword of the Lord shall devour
from the one end of the land even to the other end of the land.
No one shall have peace.
13 They have sown wheat, but reap thorns;
they have strained themselves, but shall not profit.
And they shall be ashamed of your harvest
because of the fierce anger of the Lord.
14 Thus says the Lord: Against all My evil neighbors who touch the inheritance which I have caused My people Israel to inherit, I will pluck them out of their land and pluck out the house of Judah from among them. 15 It shall come to pass that after I have plucked them out, I will again have compassion on them, and will bring them back, every man to his heritage, and every man to his land. 16 It shall come to pass if they will diligently learn the ways of My people, to swear by My name, “As the Lord lives,” as they taught My people to swear by Baal, then they will be built up in the midst of My people. 17 But if they will not obey, I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation, says the Lord.
A Linen Sash
13 Thus says the Lord to me, “Go and buy yourself a linen waistband and put it upon your loins, and do not put it in water.” 2 So I bought a waistband according to the word of the Lord and put it on my loins.
3 The word of the Lord came to me the second time, saying, 4 “Take the waistband that you have, which is upon your loins, and arise, go to the Euphrates and hide it there in a hole of the rock.” 5 So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord had commanded me.
6 After many days the Lord said to me, “Arise, go to the Euphrates and take the waistband from there, which I commanded you to hide there.” 7 Then I went to the Euphrates, and dug, and took the waistband from the place where I had hidden it. But the waistband was destroyed. It was profitable for nothing.
8 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 9 Thus says the Lord: After this manner I will destroy the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. 10 This evil people, who refuse to hear My words, who walk in the imagination of their hearts, and walk after other gods, to serve them, and to worship them, shall be even as this waistband which is good for nothing. 11 For as the waistband cleaves to the loins of a man, so I have caused the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to cleave to Me, says the Lord, so that they might be to Me a people for renown, and for a praise, and for a glory; but they would not listen.
The Metaphor of Wine Bottles
12 Therefore you shall speak to them this word: Thus says the Lord God of Israel: Every bottle shall be filled with wine. And when they say to you, “Do we not certainly know that every bottle should be filled with wine?” 13 then you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord: I will fill all the inhabitants of this land—even the kings that sit on the throne of David, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem—with drunkenness. 14 I will dash them against one another, even the fathers and the sons together, says the Lord. I will not show pity nor spare nor have mercy, but will destroy them.
Exile Threatened
15 Hear and give heed;
do not be proud,
for the Lord has spoken.
16 Give glory to the Lord your God,
before He causes darkness
and before your feet stumble
on the dark mountains,
and while you look for light,
He turns it into the shadow of death
and makes it gross darkness.
17 But if you will not listen to it,
my soul will weep in secret places
for your pride;
and my eyes will weep sorely
and run down with tears,
because the flock of the Lord is carried away captive.
18 Say to the king and to the queen mother:
“Humble yourselves, sit down,
for your beautiful crown
shall come down from your head.”
19 The cities of the Negev will be shut up,
and no one will open them;
all Judah will be carried away into captivity;
it will be wholly carried away captive.
20 Lift up your eyes and see
those who come from the north.
Where is the flock that was given to you,
your beautiful flock?
21 What will you say when He appoints over you
those you yourself had taught to be companions to you?
Shall not sorrows take hold of you,
as a woman in labor?
22 And if you say in your heart,
“Why have these things come upon me?”
for the greatness of your iniquity
your skirts have been removed
and your heels made bare.
23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin
or the leopard his spots?
Then you also can do good,
who are accustomed to doing evil.
24 Therefore I will scatter them as the stubble
that passes away by the wind of the wilderness.
25 This is your lot,
the portion of your measures from Me,
says the Lord,
because you have forgotten Me
and trusted in falsehood.
26 Therefore I Myself have uncovered your skirts over your face
so that your shame may appear.
27 I have seen your adulteries and your lustful neighings,
the lewdness of your harlotry,
and your abominations
on the hills in the fields.
Woe to you, O Jerusalem!
How long will you remain unclean?
Drought, Famine, and Sword
14 The word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah concerning the drought:
2 Judah mourns,
and the gates languish;
they sit on the ground while mourning,
and the cry of Jerusalem has gone up.
3 Their nobles have sent their servants for water;
they came to the cisterns and found no water.
They returned with their vessels empty;
they were ashamed and humiliated,
and covered their heads.
4 Because the ground is chapped,
for there was no rain in the earth,
the plowmen were ashamed;
they have covered their heads.
5 Indeed, the hind also calved in the field
and abandoned her young
because there was no grass.
6 The wild donkeys stand in the high places;
they pant for air like jackals;
their eyes fail
because there is no grass.
7 O Lord, though our iniquities testify against us,
do it for Your name’s sake.
Indeed, our backslidings are many;
we have sinned against You.
8 O the Hope of Israel,
its Savior in time of trouble,
why should You be as a stranger in the land,
and as a wayfaring man who turns aside to pitch his tent for a night?
9 Why should You be as a man dismayed,
as a mighty man who cannot save?
Yet You, O Lord, are in our midst,
and we are called by Your name.
Do not forsake us!
10 Thus says the Lord to this people:
Even so they have loved to wander;
they have not restrained their feet.
Therefore, the Lord does not accept them;
He will now remember their iniquity
and punish their sins.
11 Then the Lord said to me: Do not pray for the good of this people. 12 When they fast, I will not hear their cry. And when they offer a burnt offering and an oblation, I will not accept them. But I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence.
False Prophets
13 Yet I said, “Ah, Lord God! Here the prophets say to them, ‘You shall not see the sword nor shall you have famine, but I will give you assured peace in this place.’ ”
14 Then the Lord said to me: The prophets prophesy lies in My name. I have not sent them nor have I commanded them nor have I spoken to them. They prophesy to you a false vision and divination, and emptiness, and the deceit of their heart. 15 Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who prophesy in My name though I did not send them, yet they say, “Sword and famine will not be in this land.” By sword and famine those prophets will be consumed. 16 The people to whom they prophesy will be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword. And they will have no one to bury them, not them, nor their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters. For I will pour out their wickedness upon them.
17 Therefore you will say this word to them:
Let my eyes run down with tears
night and day, and let them not cease;
for the virgin daughter of my people
has been broken with a great blow,
with a very infected wound.
18 If I go out into the field,
I see those slain with the sword!
And if I enter the city,
I see those who are sick with famine!
Indeed, both the prophet and the priest
go about into a land that they do not know.
The People Ask for Mercy
19 Have You utterly rejected Judah?
Has Your soul loathed Zion?
Why have You stricken us
so that there is no healing for us?
We looked for peace,
but there was nothing good;
and for the time of healing,
but there is trouble!
20 We acknowledge, O Lord, our wickedness
and the iniquity of our fathers,
for we have sinned against You.
21 Do not abhor us. For Your name’s sake,
do not disgrace Your glorious throne.
Remember and do not break
Your covenant with us.
22 Are there any among the idols of the nations that can cause rain?
Or can the heavens give showers?
Is it not You, O Lord our God?
Therefore, we will wait upon You,
for You have done all these things.
The Lord Will Not Relent
15 Then the Lord said to me: Even though Moses and Samuel were to stand before Me, yet My heart would not be with this people. Cast them out of My sight and let them go! 2 It shall come to pass if they say to you, “Where should we go?” then you shall tell them: Thus says the Lord:
Those destined for death, to death;
and those destined for the sword, to the sword;
and those destined for the famine, to the famine;
and those destined for the captivity, to the captivity.
3 I will appoint over them four kinds of disaster, says the Lord: the sword to slay, the dogs to tear, the birds of the heaven, the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy. 4 I will cause them to be removed into all kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem.
5 For who shall have pity on you, O Jerusalem?
Or who shall bemoan you?
Or who shall go aside to ask how you are doing?
6 You who have forsaken Me, says the Lord,
you keep going backward.
Therefore I will stretch out My hand against you and destroy you.
I am weary of relenting!
7 I will winnow them with a winnowing fork
in the gates of the land;
I will bereave them of children. I will destroy My people,
since they did not repent from their ways.
8 Their widows will increase before Me
more than the sand of the seas;
I will bring against them, against the mother of a young man,
a destroyer at noonday;
I will suddenly bring down on her
sorrow and terrors.
9 She who has borne seven sons languishes;
she has given up the spirit;
her sun has gone down while it was yet day;
she has been ashamed and humiliated.
And the rest of them I will deliver to the sword
before their enemies,
says the Lord.
Jeremiah’s Sorrow
10 Woe is me, my mother, that you have borne me
as a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth!
I have not lent with usury, nor have men lent to me on usury,
yet every one of them curses me!
11 The Lord said:
Truly I will set you free for good purposes.
Truly I will cause the enemy to entreat you
in the time of evil and in the time of affliction.
12 Can anyone break the northern iron
or the bronze?
13 Your wealth and your treasures
I will give to the destroyer without price,
and that for all your sins,
even within all your borders.
14 I will make you to pass with your enemies
into a land which you do not know;
for a fire is kindled in My anger,
which shall burn upon you.
15 O Lord, You who know, remember me,
and take notice of me,
and take vengeance on my persecutors.
Because of your longsuffering, do not take me away.
Know that for Your sake I have suffered rebuke.
16 Your words were found and I ate them.
And Your word became to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart,
for I am called by Your name,
O Lord God of Hosts.
17 I did not sit in the assembly of mockers,
nor did I rejoice;
I sat alone because of Your hand,
for You have filled me with indignation.
18 Why is my pain perpetual
and my wound incurable, which refuses to be healed?
Shall You be altogether to me as a deceptive stream
and as waters that fail?
The Lord Reassures Jeremiah
19 Therefore thus says the Lord:
If you return, then I will bring you back,
and you shall stand before Me;
and if you take out the precious from the worthless,
you will be My spokesman.
Let them return to you,
but do not return to them.
20 I will make you to this people
a fortified bronze wall;
and they shall fight against you,
but they shall not prevail against you;
for I am with you
to save you and to deliver you,
says the Lord.
21 I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked,
and I will redeem you out of the hand of the violent.
The Day of Disaster
16 The word of the Lord came also to me, saying: 2 You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place. 3 For thus says the Lord concerning the sons and concerning the daughters who are born in this place, and concerning their mothers who bore them, and concerning their fathers who fathered them in this land: 4 They will die of deadly diseases. They will not be lamented, nor shall they be buried. But they will be as dung upon the face of the ground. And they will be consumed by the sword and by famine. And their carcasses will be food for the fowl of heaven and for the beasts of the earth.
5 For thus says the Lord: Do not enter a house of mourning, nor go to lament or bemoan them; for I have taken away My peace from this people, says the Lord, even lovingkindness and mercy. 6 Both the great and the small will die in this land. They will not be buried; neither will men lament for them, cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them. 7 Neither will men tear themselves for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead; nor will men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother.
8 Also you shall not go into the house of feasting, to sit with them to eat and to drink. 9 For thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: I will cause to cease out of this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of laughter and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.
10 And when you tell this people all these words, and they say to you, “Why has the Lord pronounced all this great disaster against us? Or what is our iniquity? Or what is our sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?” 11 then you shall say to them: Because your fathers have forsaken Me, says the Lord, and have walked after other gods and have served them and have worshipped them, but have forsaken Me and have not kept My law. 12 And you have done worse than your fathers, for here you are, each one walking after the imaginations of his evil heart so that they do not listen to Me. 13 Therefore I will cast you out of this land into a land that you do not know, neither you nor your fathers; and there you will serve other gods day and night because I will not show you favor.
God Will Restore Israel
14 Therefore, surely the days are coming, says the Lord, that it will no longer be said, “As the Lord lives, who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt,” 15 but, “As the Lord lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands wherever He had driven them.” And I will bring them again into their land that I gave to their fathers.
16 Now, I will send for many fishermen, says the Lord, and they shall fish for them; and afterwards I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them from every mountain and from every hill and out of the holes of the rocks. 17 For My eyes are upon all their ways; they are not hidden from My face, nor is their iniquity hidden from My eyes. 18 First I will doubly recompense their iniquity and their sin, because they have defiled My land; they have filled My inheritance with the carcasses of their detestable and abominable things.
19 O Lord, my strength and my fortress,
and my refuge in the day of affliction,
the nations will come to You
from the remote parts of the earth, and will say:
Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity,
and things in which there is no profit.
20 Shall a man make gods for himself,
which are not gods?
21 “Therefore, surely I will this once cause them to know,
I will cause them to know
My hand and My might;
and they shall know
that My name is the Lord.”
Judah’s Sin and Punishment
17 The sin of Judah is written with an iron pen
and with a diamond point;
it is engraved on the tablet of their heart
and on the horns of their altars;
2 as they remember their children,
so they remember their altars
and their groves by the green trees
on the high hills.
3 O My mountain in the field,
I will give your wealth
and all your treasures to the destroyer,
and your high places
for sin throughout all your borders.
4 You, even yourself, will discontinue
from your heritage that I gave you;
and I will cause you to serve your enemies
in the land which you do not know;
for you have kindled a fire in My anger
which will burn forever.
5 Thus says the Lord:
Cursed is the man who trusts in man
and makes flesh his strength,
and whose heart departs from the Lord.
6 For he will be like a bush in the desert
and will not see when good comes,
but will inhabit the parched places in the wilderness,
in a salt land and not inhabited.
7 Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
and whose hope is the Lord.
8 For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters,
and that spreads out its roots by the river,
and shall not fear when heat comes,
but its leaf shall be green,
and it shall not be anxious in the year of drought,
neither shall cease from yielding fruit.
9 The heart is more deceitful than all things
and desperately wicked;
who can understand it?
10 I, the Lord, search the heart,
I test the mind,
even to give to every man according to his ways,
and according to the fruit of his deeds.
11 As the partridge sits on eggs which it has not laid,
so is he who gets riches, but not justly;
it will forsake him in the midst of his days,
and in the end he will be a fool.
12 A glorious high throne from the beginning
is the place of our sanctuary.
13 O Lord, the Hope of Israel,
all who forsake You will be ashamed.
“Those who depart from Me in the earth will be written down,
because they have forsaken the Lord,
the fountain of living waters.”
Jeremiah Prays for Deliverance
14 Heal me, O Lord, and I will be healed;
save me, and I will be saved,
for You are my praise.
15 See how they say to me,
“Where is the word of the Lord?
Let it come now!”
16 As for me, I have not hurried away from being a shepherd after You,
nor have I desired the woeful day;
You Yourself know that which came out of my lips was in Your presence.
17 Do not be a terror to me;
You are my hope in the day of disaster.
18 Let those who persecute me be humiliated,
but let me not be humiliated;
let them be dismayed,
but let me not be dismayed.
Bring upon them the day of evil,
and destroy them with double destruction.
Keep the Sabbath Day Holy
19 Thus the Lord said to me: Go and stand in the gate of the sons of the people whereby the kings of Judah come in and by which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem. 20 And say to them: Hear the word of the Lord, kings of Judah, and all Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem who enter by these gates. 21 Thus says the Lord: Take heed to yourselves, and do not bear any load on the Sabbath day nor bring anything in by the gates of Jerusalem. 22 You shall not carry a load out of your houses on the Sabbath day, nor do any work, but keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your fathers. 23 But they did not obey or incline their ears, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear nor receive instruction. 24 It shall come to pass, if you diligently listen to Me, says the Lord, to bring in no load through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but sanctify the Sabbath day to do no work in it, 25 then there shall enter by the gates of this city kings and officials sitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their officials, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And this city will be inhabited forever. 26 They will come from the cities of Judah and from the places about Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the plain, and from the mountains, and from the Negev, bringing burnt offerings, and sacrifices, and grain offerings, and incense, and bringing sacrifices of praise to the house of the Lord. 27 But if you will not listen to Me to sanctify the Sabbath day and not to bear a load, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in the gates and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem and it will not be quenched.
The Potter and the Clay
18 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: 2 “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear My words.” 3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was making something on the wheel. 4 Yet the vessel that he made of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
5 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 6 O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter? says the Lord. As the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel. 7 At one moment I may speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it. 8 If that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to do to it. 9 Or at another moment I may speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom to build and to plant it. 10 If it does evil in My sight by not obeying My voice, then I will relent of the good with which I said I would bless it.
11 Now therefore speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying: Thus says the Lord: Look, I am shaping disaster against you and devising a plan against you. Repent now, everyone from his evil way, and make your ways and your deeds good. 12 But they say, “There is no hope! But we will walk after our own devices, and each of us will do according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.”
13 Therefore thus says the Lord:
Ask now among the nations,
who has heard such things?
The virgin of Israel
has done a very horrible thing.
14 Shall a man leave the snow of Lebanon,
which comes from the rock of the field?
Shall the cold flowing water that comes from another place
be forsaken?
15 Because My people have forgotten Me,
they have burned incense to vain gods
and they have stumbled in their ways
from the ancient paths,
to walk in bypaths,
not on a highway,
16 to make their land desolate,
and a perpetual hissing;
everyone who passes by shall be astonished
and shake his head.
17 I will scatter them before the enemy
as with an east wind;
I will show them the back and not the face
in the day of their calamity.
Jeremiah Persecuted
18 Then they said, “Come and let us devise plans against Jeremiah. For the law will not be lost from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come and let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.”
19 Give heed to me, O Lord,
and listen to the voice of those who contend with me.
20 Shall evil be recompensed for good?
For they have dug a pit for my soul.
Remember that I stood before You
to speak good for them,
and to turn away Your wrath from them.
21 Therefore, deliver up their children to the famine
and pour out their blood by the power of the sword;
and let their wives be bereaved of their children and become widows
and let their men be put to death;
let their young men be slain by the sword in battle.
22 Let a cry be heard from their houses,
when You bring a troop suddenly upon them;
for they have dug a pit to take me
and hidden snares for my feet.
23 Yet, Lord, You know
all their counsel against me to slay me.
Do not forgive their iniquity
nor blot out their sin from Your sight;
but let them be overthrown before You;
deal thus with them in the time of Your anger.
The Broken Jar
19 Thus says the Lord: Go and buy a potter’s earthen bottle, and take some of the elders of the people and some of the elders of the priests. 2 Then go out to the Valley of Ben Hinnom, which is by the entry of the Potsherd Gate, and proclaim there the words that I will tell you, 3 and say: Hear the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: I will bring such disaster upon this place, at which whoever hears of it, his ears shall tingle. 4 Because they have forsaken Me and have profaned this place by making offerings in it to other gods whom neither they, their fathers, nor the kings of Judah have known, and have filled this place with the blood of the innocent, 5 and have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command or decree, nor did it come into My mind— 6 therefore, surely the days are coming, says the Lord, when this place shall no more be called Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.
7 I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hands of those who seek their lives. And their corpses I will give to be food for the fowl of the heaven and for the beasts of the earth. 8 I will make this city desolate and a hissing. Everyone who passes by will be astonished and hiss because of all the wounds. 9 I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and everyone will eat the flesh of his friend in the siege and distress, with which their enemies and those who seek their lives will distress them.
10 Then you will break the bottle in the sight of the men that go with you, 11 and say to them: Thus says the Lord of Hosts: Even so I will break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter’s vessel that cannot be made whole again; and they will bury them in Topheth until there is no other place to bury. 12 Thus I will do to this place and to the inhabitants, says the Lord, and even make this city as Topheth. 13 And the houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be defiled as the place of Topheth, because of all the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense to all the host of heaven and have poured out drink offerings to other gods.
14 Then Jeremiah came from Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy. And he stood in the court of the house of the Lord and said to all the people: 15 Thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: I am about to bring upon this city and upon all her towns all the disaster that I have pronounced against it, because they have stiffened their necks so that they might not heed My words.
Pashhur Strikes Jeremiah
20 Now Pashhur the son of Immer the priest, who was also chief officer in the house of the Lord, heard that Jeremiah prophesied these things. 2 Then Pashhur struck Jeremiah the prophet and put him in the stocks that were in the upper Gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the Lord. 3 On the next day Pashhur brought Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then Jeremiah said to him, The Lord has not called your name Pashhur, but “Magor-missabib.”[a] 4 For thus says the Lord: I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends. And they will fall by the sword of their enemies while your eyes will see it. Thus I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will carry them captive into Babylon and will slay them with the sword. 5 Moreover I will deliver all the wealth of this city, and all its produce, and all the precious things; and all the treasures of the kings of Judah I will give into the hand of their enemies who will destroy them, and take them, and carry them to Babylon. 6 You, Pashhur, and all who dwell in your house will go into captivity; and you will come to Babylon, and there you will die and will be buried there, you and all your friends to whom you have prophesied lies.
Jeremiah Dejected
7 O Lord, You have deceived me and I was deceived;
You are stronger than I and have prevailed.
I am held in derision daily;
everyone mocks me.
8 For each time I speak, I cry out;
I cry out, “Violence and devastation,”
because to me the word of the Lord has resulted
in reproach and derision daily.
9 But if I say, “I will not make mention of Him
nor speak any more in His name,”
then His word was in my heart
as a burning fire shut up in my bones;
and I was weary of forbearing it,
and I could not endure it.
10 For I heard the defaming of many,
“Terror on every side!
Denounce him. Yes, denounce him!”
All my familiar friends
who watch for my fall, say,
“Perhaps he will be enticed
so that we can prevail against him,
and we will take our revenge on him.”
11 But the Lord is with me as a dread mighty One.
Therefore my persecutors will stumble, and will not prevail.
They will be greatly ashamed, for they will not prosper.
Their everlasting shame will never be forgotten.
12 But, O Lord of Hosts, who tests the righteous
and sees the mind and the heart,
let me see Your vengeance on them,
for to You I have presented my cause.
13 Sing to the Lord,
praise the Lord.
For He has delivered the soul of the poor
from the hand of evildoers.
14 Cursed be the day in which I was born.
Let not the day be blessed in which my mother bore me.
15 Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father,
saying, “A baby boy has been born to you!”
and made him very glad.
16 Let that man be as the cities
which the Lord overthrew and did not relent,
and let him hear the cry in the morning
and the shout of alarm at noon,
17 because he did not kill me from the womb,
so that my mother might have been my grave,
and her womb be always pregnant.
18 Why did I come forth from the womb
to see trouble and sorrow,
so that my days are spent in shame?
Zedekiah’s Request Denied
21 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord when King Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur the son of Malkijah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, saying, 2 “Please inquire of the Lord for us. For Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is making war against us. Perhaps the Lord will deal with us according to all His wondrous works, so that the enemy withdraws from us.”
3 Then Jeremiah said to them: Thus you shall say to Zedekiah: 4 Thus says the Lord God of Israel: Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands with which you fight against the king of Babylon and against the Chaldeans who besiege you outside the walls; and I will assemble them into the midst of this city. 5 I Myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger, and in fury, and in great wrath. 6 I will strike the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast; they will die of a great pestilence. 7 Afterwards, says the Lord, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah and his servants and the people and such as are left in this city from the pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life. And he will strike them with the edge of the sword. He will not spare them or have pity or mercy.
8 To this people you shall say: Thus says the Lord: See, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death. 9 He who abides in this city will die by the sword and by the famine and by the pestilence. But he who goes out and falls away to the Chaldeans who besiege you, he will live, and he will have his own life as booty. 10 For I have set My face against this city for disaster and not for good, says the Lord. It will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire.
Message to the House of David
11 Concerning the house of the king of Judah, say, Hear the word of the Lord, 12 O house of David; thus says the Lord:
Execute justice each morning,
and deliver him who has been robbed
from the hand of the oppressor,
lest My fury go out like fire
and burn so that no one can quench it,
because of the evil of your deeds.
13 See, I am against you,
O inhabitant of the valley,
O rocky plain,
says the Lord,
you men who say,
“Who shall come down against us?
Or who shall enter our dwellings?”
14 But I will punish you
according to the fruit of your deeds,
says the Lord,
and I will kindle a fire in the forest,
and it will devour all things around it.
Impending Judgment
22 Thus says the Lord: Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak this word there, 2 and say: Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah who sits on the throne of David, you and your servants and your people who enter by these gates. 3 Thus says the Lord: Execute justice and righteousness, and deliver the robbed out of the hand of the oppressor. And do no wrong or violence to the stranger, the fatherless, or the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place. 4 For if you indeed do these things, then kings sitting on the throne of David will enter by the gates of this house, riding in chariots and on horses, he and his servants and his people. 5 But if you will not obey these words, I swear by Myself, says the Lord, that this house will become a desolation.
6 For thus says the Lord to the king’s house of Judah:
You are Gilead to Me,
and the peak of Lebanon;
yet surely I will make you a wilderness
and cities which are not inhabited.
7 I will prepare destroyers against you,
everyone with his weapons;
and they shall cut down your choice cedars
and cast them into the fire.
8 Many nations will pass by this city, and every man will say to his neighbor, “Why has the Lord done thus to this great city?” 9 Then they will answer, “Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God, and worshipped other gods, and served them.”
10 Do not weep for the dead nor bemoan him,
but weep constantly for him who goes away;
for he will return no more
nor see his native country.
11 For thus says the Lord concerning Shallum the son of Josiah king of Judah, who became king instead of Josiah his father, who went from this place: He will not return any more, 12 but will die in the place where they have led him captive and will see this land no more.
13 Woe to him who builds his house with unrighteousness
and his chambers with injustice,
who uses his neighbor’s services without wages,
and gives him nothing for his work,
14 who says, “I will build myself a roomy house
and large chambers,”
and cuts out its windows,
paneling it with cedar
and painting it with vermilion.
15 Do you reign
because you compete in cedar?
Did not your father eat and drink
and do justice and righteousness,
and then it was well with him?
16 He judged the cause of the poor and needy;
then it was well with him.
Is not this what it means to know Me?
says the Lord.
17 But your eyes and your heart
are intent only on your covetousness
and on shedding innocent blood
and on oppression and violence.
18 Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:
They will not lament for him, saying,
“Ah, my brother!” or, “Ah, sister!”
They will not lament for him, saying,
“Ah, lord!” or, “Ah, his glory!”
19 He will be buried with the burial of a donkey,
drawn and cast out
beyond the gates of Jerusalem.
20 Go up to Lebanon and cry out,
and lift up your voice in Bashan,
and cry out from Abarim,
for all your lovers are destroyed.
21 I spoke to you in your prosperity,
but you said, “I will not listen!”
This has been your manner from your youth,
that you have not obeyed My voice.
22 The wind will sweep away all your shepherds,
and your lovers shall go into captivity;
surely then you will be ashamed and humiliated
for all your wickedness.
23 O inhabitant of Lebanon,
who makes your nest in the cedars,
how you will groan when pangs come upon you,
the pain as of a woman in labor!
24 As I live, says the Lord, though Koniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet on My right hand, yet would I pluck you from there. 25 And I will give you into the hand of those who seek your life and into the hand of those whose face you fear, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of the Chaldeans. 26 I will cast you and your mother that bore you out into another country where you were not born, and there you shall die. 27 But to the land where they desire to return, they will not return there.
28 Is this man Koniah a despised broken jar?
Is he a vessel in which is no desire?
Why are he and his seed cast out
and thrown into a land which they had not known?
29 O land, land, land,
hear the word of the Lord!
30 Thus says the Lord:
Write down this man childless,
a man who will not prosper in his days;
for no man of his seed shall prosper,
sitting on the throne of David
and ruling any more in Judah.
The Righteous Branch
23 Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture! says the Lord. 2 Therefore thus says the Lord God of Israel against the shepherds that feed My people: You have scattered My flock and driven them away and have not visited them. I am about to punish you for the evil of your deeds, says the Lord. 3 I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all countries wherever I have driven them and bring them again to their folds, and they shall be fruitful and increase. 4 I will also set up shepherds over them who will feed them; and they will fear no more, nor be dismayed, nor will they be missing, says the Lord.
5 The days are coming, says the Lord,
that I will raise up for David a righteous Branch,
and he shall reign as king and deal wisely,
and shall execute justice and righteousness in the earth.
6 In his days Judah will be saved,
and Israel will dwell safely.
And this is the name by which he will be called:
THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
7 Therefore, surely the days are coming, says the Lord, when they will no more say, “As the Lord lives who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt,” 8 but, “As the Lord lives who brought up and led the descendants of the house of Israel out of the north country and from all countries where I had driven them.” Then they will dwell in their own land.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.