The Book of the Prophet Jeremiah 
Jeremiah's Call and Early Visions
The Call 
1v 1 The messages of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, a member of the priestly order resident in Anathoth in the district of Benjamin.
 2A message came to him from Jehovah in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah, the son of Amon, 3king of Judah; and (such messages) continued to come to him in the days of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, and up to the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, when in the fifth month the people of Jerusalem were swept into exile.
 4This is the message that came to me from Jehovah:
 5"My thoughts were upon thee before I created thee,
And before thou wast born I had set thee apart,
And appointed thee unto the nations a prophet."
 6And thus I made answer:
"Alas! O Lord Jehovah, Behold!
I have no skill of speech, I am only a child."
 7Then Jehovah made answer to me:
"Do not plead thou art still but a child,
Thou must go wheresoever I send thee,
And say whatsoever I bid thee.
 8Be not afraid at the sight of them,
2 For I will be with thee to save thee."
 9Thus spoke Jehovah; then with His outstretched hand
He touched my mouth and said to me:
"Herewith do I put My words in thy mouth,
 10Behold this day do I give thee authority
Over the nations and over the kingdoms,
To uproot and demolish, destroy and tear down,
To upbuild and to plant."
The Reassuring Vision of the Almond Tree
 11This further message came to me from Jehovah:
"What seest thou there, Jeremiah?" (said the Voice).
 12"A branch of an almond tree," I answered. "Thou
hast seen truly," said Jehovah," for I am watching?
over My purpose, to perform it."
The Vision of the Caldron of War
 13Then there came to me a second message fromJehovah. "What seest thou now?" (said the Voice). "A boiling pot," I answered, "facing the
 14north." Then Jehovah said to me:
From the north shall disaster break forth
Over all that inhabit the land.
 15For I, saith Jehovah, do summon
The northern kingdoms all;
Each king shall come and set hi throne
At the gates that lead into Jerusalem,
And against her encircling walls,
And against all the cities of Judah.
 16I will utter My judgments against them
Because of their wickedness;
For Me they have forsaken,
And to to other gods offered sacrifice,
And bowed to the work of their hands.
The Divine Summons and the Divine Assurance
 Asfor thee, gird up thy loins,
Arise and declare unto them
Whatsoever I command thee.
Let the sight of them not dismay thee,
Else I will dismay thee before them.
 18As for Me, behold! This day
As a fortified city I make thee,
A pillar of iron, a wall of bronze,
Against the whole of the land—
The kings and the courtiers of Judah,
The priests and the folk of the land.
 Theywill fight thee, but thou shalt be victor:
For I — saith Jehovah most solemnly—
I will be with thee to save thee.
The Earlier Messages of Jeremiah
Israel's Ancient Fidelity and Happiness 2 
 1There came to me this message from Jehovah:
 2Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem:
Thus saith Jehovah:
I remember the love of thy youth—
An affectionate bride wast thou—
When thou followedst Me in the desert,
A land that was all unsown;
 3Then Israel belonged to Jehovah,
His first-fruits, sacred to Him.
Whosoever devoured her was punished,
On such did disaster fall.
Israel's Long Record of Infidelity with its Bitter Consequences
Her Ingratitude and Unparalleled Apostasy
 4Hear the word of Jehovah, O household of Jacob,
And all ye families of the household of Israel:
 5Thus saith Jehovah:
What wrong did your fathers discover in Me,
That they went from Me afar,
To follow after vanities,
Till they, too, becane a vanity,
 6And never sought afer Jehovah,
Who brought them up out of Egypt,
And led them through the desert,
A land of steppes and pits,
A land of drought and gloom,
A land that no man traversed,
A lanf where no man dwelt?
 7And I brought you into a garden-land,
To enjoy its fruits and its good things:
But ye came and defiled My land
And made Mine inheritance loathsome,
 8No priest was heard any more
Enquiring afer Jehovah;
They that handle the law did not know Me,
The rulers rebelled against Me.
The prophets spoke by Baal,
And followed useless idols.
 9I must therefore contend with you still,
And with your children's children.
 10Pass across to the isles of Cyprus,
Or send afar unto Kedar;
Note carefully, and see,
Hath there ever been aught like this?
 11Hath ever a nation exchanged its gods,
Though they be no gods at all?
But My people hath exchanged
Their Glory for useless idols.
 12Be appaled at this, ye heavens,
And shudder exceedingly.
 13For My people, saith Jehovah,
Have done two evil things:
Me they have forsaken,
The Fountain of Living Water,
To hew for themselves leaking cisterns,
That can hold no water at all.
The Consequences of Israel's Apostasy
 14Is Israel a servant?
Or is he a home-born slave?
Why then hath he fallen a prey?
 15And why are his cities wasted?
Young lions have roared against him,
And lifted up their voice;
They have made his land all desolate,
And no man dwelleth therein.
 16Yea, the people of Memphis and Daphnae
Have shorn the crown of thy head;
 17And is this not come upon thee
Through forsaking Jehovah thy God?
 18Now why dost thou wander to Egypt
And drink the waters of Nile?
And why dost thou go to Assyria,
To drink of the streams of Euphrates?
 19Thy defection shall bring thee pain,
And thy wickedness sore reproof;
Thou shalt know and see for thyself
What a bitte thing it is
To forsake Jehovah thy God,
And to cherish no awe of Me,
Saith the Lord Jehovah of Hosts.
Israel's Devotion to Idolatry
 20For of old thou didst break thy yoke,
And burst thy bonds in sunder;
Thou saidst, "I refuse to serve:"
But high upon every hill
And under every green tree
Thou didst stretch thee, playing the harlot.
 21Yet I as a choice vine had planted thee—
Sound was thy stock altogether;
But now art thou turned to be bitter,
Thou wild degenerate vine!
 22For though thou shouldst wash thee with soda,
And take thee abundance of soap,
Yet the Lord, as He seeth thy guilt,
Shall declare it of deepest dye.
 23How canst thou say, "All stainless am I,
I have not gone after the Baals"?
Look at thy way in the Valley,
And know what thou hast done.
A swift young camel art thou,
That courseth hither and thither,
 24A heifer run wild in the desert,
Aglow with the heat of ther passion;
That snifeth the wind in her longing,
And who can turn her back?
No one need wearily seek her—
In her month she is sure to be found.
 25Run not the shoes off thy feet,
And spare thy throat, lest it parch.
But thou saidst,"There is no hope — none:
For I am inlove with strangers,
And after them will I go."
The Impotence of the Gods solicited by Israel
 26But Israel's house shall be shamed
As a thief that is caught is ashamed—
They and their kings and their princes,
Their priests and their prophets together;
 27That say to a stock, "My father,"
To a stone, "It is thou that hast borne me."
For unto Me they turned
Their backs and not their faces;
Yet in time of trouble they say,
"O rise Thou up and save us."
 28But where are the gods thou didst make thee?
Let them arise, if they
Can save thee in time of trouble;
For as many as are thy cities,
So many thy gods, O Judah.
 29Why do ye wrangle with Me?
For wicked ye are, every man of you;
Rebels are ye, saith Jehovah—
Rebels against Me, each man of you.
 30In vain have I smitten your children,
They would not receive correction;
The sword hath devoured your prophets,
Like a lion that dealeth destruction,
 31And yet ye are unafraid.
So hear ye the word of Jehovah:
Have I been a desert to Israel,
A dark and gloomy land?
Why then do ye say, "We are free,
We will come unto Thee nevermore?"
 32Can a maid forget her ornaments,
Or a bride forget her sash?
Yet Me hath My people forgotten
Days and days without number.
 33In quest of love how bravely
Thou trippest along thy way!
Small wonder thy deeds are so vile,
And thy way hath been all polluted.
 34Yea, blood was found in thy skirts—
Of the lives of the innocent poor—
As though thou hadst caught them at theft!
For all this (I would therefore contend with thee);
 35Yet thou hast said: "I am innocent,
Surely His anger is over."
But see, I will enter with thee into judgment,
Because thou dost claim to be sinless.
 36Why runnest thou hither and thither
Witg so frivolous a heart?
Thou shalt yet reap shame from Egypt,
As thou has reaped shame from Assyria.
 37Yea, thence shalt thou also go forth,
With thy hands upon thy head;
For those whom thou trustest Jehovah hath spurned,
And thou shalt not make good thine escape.
Judah the Faithless 
 3If a man divorceth his wife,
1And she goeth away from him
And becometh the wife of another,
Can she ever again be his?
Is such a woman as she
Not altogether polluted?
Bit thou hast played the harlot
With many and many a lover;
And canst thou dare to dream
Of returning to Me, saith Jehovah?
 2Lift up thine eyes to the heights, and behold,
Where hast thou not been ravished?
Thou hast waited for them by the ways,
Like a Bedouin in the desert;
Thou hast stained the land by thy whoredoms,
And by thy wicked ways,
 3And through thy many lovers
Thou hast let thysef be snared.
Thou hast a harlot's forhead,
Refusing to be abashed,
 4Yet but now has been calling Me Father
And Comrade of thy youth.
 5"Can He keep His anger for ever,
Or cherished it to the end?
Yes, such were thy words; but they deeds
To the last degree were vile.
Judah's Infidelity more Awful than Israel's
 6In the days of the King Josiah Jehovah said to me:"Hast thou seem what back-sliding Israel did? Shewent up on every high mountain and under every 7green tree and ther she played the harlot. I hadhoped that, after all this, she would return to Me. Butno! she did not return. Her faithless sister Judah 8saw that I had put back-sliding Israel away because ofher adultery, and that I had given her a bill of divorce;nevertheless faithless Judah was not at all afraid, but 9she too went and played the harlot, defiling the landby her wanton whoredom, and committing adultery 10with stones and stocks. Nevertheless, when faithlessJudah turned to Me, it was not with her whole heart,but only in pretence."
Offer of Pardon and Promise of Glory
 11Then Jehovah said to me, "Backsliding Israel has 12justified herself more than faithless Judah. Go andproclaim these words towards the north and say:O backsliding Israel, turn,
I will not look in anger upon thee;
For I am kind, saith Jehovah,
I keep not Mine anger for ever.
 13But only acknowledge thy guilt—
That, disloyal to Jehovah thy God,
Thou hast lavished thy love upon strangers 
Beneath every spreading tree,
And unto My voice, saith Jehovah,
Thou hast not inclined thine ear.
 14Return, ye backsliding children, saith Jehovah,for I am your husband and lord; and I will takeone of you from each city and two from each clan, 15and I will brring you to Zion, and give you rulers afterMy own mind, who shall tend you with wisdom and 16skill. And when in those days you have grownnumerous and fruitful in the land, saith Jehovah, menshall speak no more of the ark of the covenant ofJehovah; it shall never enter their minds, they willneither think of it nor miss it, nor will they ever againmake another.
 17At that time Jerusalem shall be called the Throneof Jehovah, and all the nations shall gather thereto;they shall follow no more the stubbornness of their 18evil hearts. In those days the household of Judahshall join the household of Israel, and together they shall come from the north land to the land that I gaveyour forefathers for an inheritance.
A Penitent Return will be met by the Divine Acceptance
 19How glad, methought, shall I be
To give thee a place among sons,
To give thee a pleasant land,
An inheritance passing fair!
Me thought ye would call Me Father,
And follow Me evermore;
 20But ye have been false unto Me,
As a woman is false to her lover.
 21Hark! weeping is heard on the heights—
It is suppliant Israel crying,
Because they have walked perversely,
Forgetting Jehovah their God.
 22"Return, ye backsliding I will heal."
"Behold, we are come unto Thee,
For Thou art Jehovah our God.
 23The hills are but a dellusion,
And the orgies upon the mountains;
In Jehovah our God alone
Is Israel's salvation.
 24The Baal hath devoured the toil
Of our fathers from our youth—
Their sheep and their oxen together,
Their sons and their daughters together
 25We would lay us down in our shame,
All covered with confusion;
For before our God we have sinned,
We and our fathers from youth
Even unto this very day;
And we have not hearkened at all
To the voice of Jehovah our God." 
 4"O Israel, if thou wilt return," saith Jehovah,
1If thou but return unto Me,
And put out of My sight those things that I loathe;
If thou raom not hither and thither;
 2If sincerely and justly and truly
Thou swear, 'As Jehovah liveth,'
Then nations shall pray for a blessing like thine,
And in thee shall they make their boast.
 3For thus saith Jehovah to the citizens of Judah,
And to them that dwell in Jerusalem:
Break up the ground that lies fallow,
And sow ye not among thorns;
 4Circumcise ye your own selves to Jehovah,
Remove from your hearts the foreskin,
Ye citizens of Judah
And ye that dwell in Jerusalem;
Lest My fury go forth like fire
And blaze beyond all quenching,
Because of your evil doings."
The Impending Judgment to be Executed by a Foreign Invader
 5Declare ye this message in Judah,
And publish it in Jerusalem;
Blow the trumpet throughout the land,
Cry aloud and say,
"Gather and let us betake ourselves
Into the fortified cities."
 6Lift towards Zion a signal,
Flee ye for safety and stay out;
For disaster and fell destruction
I soon will bring out the north.
 7A lion hath gone from his thicket;
The Devastator of nations
Hath left and gone forth from his place
To desolate the earth.
 8Gird yourselves therefore with sackcloth,
Make ye lament and wail;
For the fierce glowing wrath of Jehovah
Doth turn not away nor leave us.
 9The heart of the king and the princes
Shall fail int that day, saith Jehovah;
The priests shall be seized with horror,
And the prophets with amazement.
 10They shall say "Ah, Lord Jehovah!
Ah! Surely Thou hast deluded
This people and Jerusalem,
Assuring us all would be well,
While the doth pierce to the soul."
 11This message shall then be declared 
To Jerusalem and this people:
A glowing wind from the desert
Cometh straight upon My people,
But not tp winnow or cleanse—
 12Too keen is the blast for that.
So now I will utter My judgment upon them.
 13Behold! he mounteth as clouds,
His chariots are like to the whirlwind,
His horses are swifter than eagles:
"Woe unto us! we are spoiled."
 14Wash thy heart of wickedness,
Jerusalem, that thou mayest be saved:
How long wilt thou harbour within thee
Thine evil imaginations?
 15Hark! a message from Dan,
From Mount Ephraim, evil tidings;
 16Procalaim it among the nations,
And publish it over Jerusalem.
Behold! leopards are coming
From a land that is far away,
They are raising loud their roar
Against the cities of Judah.
 17Lying in wait in the fields,
They beset her round and round—
"Because," declareth Jehovah,
"She hath rebelled against Me."
 18Thy doings and thy behaviour
Have brought these things upon thee;
This is the fruit of thy wickedness—
Bitter indeed it is,
It pierceth thy very heart.
The Prophet's Anguish
 19O the pain, the pain in my bosom,
The walls of my heart are athrob:
My heart is a tumuly within me,
I cannot hold my peace;
For the sound of the trumpet I hear,
The din and alarum of battle.
 20Ruin doth break upon ruin,
For all the land is laid waste;
My tents of a sudden are spoiled,
Yea, all in a moment my curtains.
 21How long must I look on the standard
And hear the sound of the trumpet?
 22For foolish is my people,
And me they do not know;
Sottish children they are,
Devoid of understanding:
Wise are they to do evil,
But they know not how to do good.
 23I looked at the earth, and behold! it was empty.
I looked at the heavens, and their light was gone,
 24I looked at the mountains, and lo! they were trembling,
And all the hills moved to and fro.
 25I looked and looked, but behold, there was no man,
And all the birds of the heaven had fled.
 26I looked at the fruit-land: behold! it was desert,
And all the cities were fallen in ruins,
Laid waste by the fierce hot wrath of Jehovah.
The Irrevocable Doom
 27For thus Jehovah hath said,
The land shall be all desolation.
 28For this the earth shall mourn,
And the heavens above be black;
For I have not repented My words,
And I will not turn back from My purpose.
 29At the noise of the horsemen and bowmen
The whole land taketh to flight;
They enter the thickets and caves,
They climb up on to the rocks.
Abandoned is very city,
And not a man dwelleth therein.
 30Why, then, dost thou robe thee in scarlet,
And deck thee with jewels of gold,
And paintest thine eyes to enlarge them?
In vain dost thou make thyself fair.
They that doted on thee despite thee;
It is thy life that they seek.
 31For a cry have I heard as of woman in travail,
A scream as of one bringing forth her first child.
Hark! 'tis the daughter of Zion
That gaspeth and spreadeth her hands,
Saying, "Ah! woe is me! I am faint,
I am sinking — the victim of muderers."
The Universal Corruption of the Nation 
 5Run to tand fro through the streets of Jerusalem,
1Look ye around and examine;
Search in her open spaces
If ye can find a man—
Any that acteth justly,
And seeketh after truth;
Then I — Jehovah declareth—
Will grant her My forgiveness.
 2But even when they say, "By Jehovah,"
They are ready to swear to a lie.
 3Dost Thou look then, Jehovah, on falsehood,
And not upon the truth?
To all Thy blows they were callous,
They refused to accept correction;
Their faces were harder than stone,
They refused to turn (and repent).
 4"But these," thought I, "are the poor,
The people without understanding,
Who know not the way of Jehovah,
The ordinance of their God.
 5I will get me unto the great men,
And unto them will I speak;
For they know the way of Jehovah,
The ordinance of their God."
But these very men have all broken the yoke,
And snapped the bonds asunder.
 6Soon therefore shall they be slain
By a lion out of the forest;
A wolf from the steppes shal despoil them.
A leopard shall lurk by their cities,
And rend all that issue therefrom.
For many are their their transgressions,
And far they have turned away.
 7How then for this can I pardon thee?
Thy children have forsaken Me,
Swearing by gods that are no gods;
And, when to the full I had fed them,
Adultery they committed,
They lodge in the houses of harlots.
 8Well fed stallions were they,
Neighing each for his neighbour's wife.
 9And crimes like these, saith Jehovah,
Am I to leave unpunished?
Shall not My soul be avenged
On a nation such as this?
The Implacable Doom
 10Get ye up to her vines and destroy them,
Make an utter end of them;
Take away her branches,
For they are not Jehova's.
 11For utterly faithless to Me
Are the households of Israel and Judah;
 12They have denied Jehovah,
And said, "He will never do it;
No evil shall come upon us,
We shall see neither sword nor famine.
 13The prophets are only wind,
The word is not in them:
So be it done unto them."
 14Therefore thus saith Jehovah, the God of Hosts:
Behold, MY word in thy mouth
I will make like a flaming fire,
And this people shall be as the fuel,
And it shall clean devour them.
 15Behold, I am bringing against you,
O household of Israel, saith Jehovah,
A nation from afar,
An imperishable nation,
A very ancient nation,
A nation whose language thou knowest not,
Whose speech is strange unto thee.
 16Like an open grave is their quiver,
And giants are they all:
 17They shall eat up thy bread and thy harvest,
They shall eat up thy sons thy daughters,
They shall eat up thy flocks and thy herds,
They shall eat up thy vines and thy fig-trees,
They shall beat down the fortified cities,
Wherein thou didst trust, with the sword.
 18But in those days, saith Jehovah,
I will not make a clean end of you.
 19And in time to come, when ye say to Me,
"Why hath Jehovah our God
Done all these things unto us?"
Then shalt thou say unto them,
"As ye have forsaken Me,
And served alien gods in your land,
So ye shall be servants to strangers
In a land that is not your own."
The Utter Depravity of the People and their Religious Leaders
 20Declare ye this in the household of Jacob,
And publish this message in Judah;
 21Hear this, ye foolish and senseless people,
With eyes that see not, and ears that hear not.
 22Fear ye not Me? saith Jehovah,
Tremble ye not at My presence,
Who hath set the sand as a bound for the sea,
As a barrier eternal which cannot be passed?
Its waters may toss, but they cannot prevail;
Its waves may roar, yet they cannot pass over it.
 23But these people are stubborn, defiant in heart,
They are turned aside and gone.
 24For they do bot say in their hearts,
"Let us fear Jehovah, our God,
Who giveth the rain in its season,
The early and latter rain,
And into us reseveth
the weeks appointed for harvest."
 25This order your sins have disturbed,
Your crimes have withheld from you blessing.
 26For among My people are knaves,
Who set snares and with traps catch men.
 27Like a cage full of birds, so their houses
Are full of (the gains of) deceit;
And so they grow great and rich,
 28They are waxen fat, they are sleek:
They run riot in deeds of wickedness.
They defend not the rights of the orphan,
Nor champion the cause of the needy.
 29And things like these, saith Jehovah,
Am I to leave unpunished?
Shall not My soul be avenged
On a nation such as this?
 30An appailing, a horrible thing
Is come to pass in the land.
 31The prophets prphesy falsely,
And from them do the priests take their teaching,
And My people love it so;
But what will ye do in the end? 
The Approach of the Invader 
 6Flee ye for safety, ye Benjamites,
1Forth from the midst of Jerusalem;
Blow ye the trump in Tekoa,
Raise a beacon on Beth-haccherem:
For out of the north there peereth
Disaster and fell destruction.
 2As a fair and luxurious mead
Is the height of the daughter of Zion;
 3But shepherds shall come to assail her,
They and their flocks together;
They shall pitch their tents around about her,
And graze on her, each were he camps.
 4"Prepare ye war agaisnt her;
Up! let us storm her at noon-day."
"Alas! for the day declineth,
The shadows of evening are lengthening."
 5"Then up! let us storm her by night,
And her palaces let us destroy."
 6For thus saith Jehovah of Hosts:
Hew ye down her trees,
And cast up a mound against her.
Woe to thee, City of Falsehood,
Within thee is nothing but tyranny.
 7As a well keepeth fresh her waters,
She keepeth her wickedness fresh;
Within her are rapine and violence heard,
Sickness and wounds are for ever before Me.
 8O Jerusalem, be admonished,
Lest My soul from thee be severed,
Lest I make thee a desolation,
An unihabited land.
 9Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts;
"Glean like a vine full thoroughly
Those that are left of Israel;
Set thy hand once more
As a vintager unto the branches."
 10"But to whom shall I speak and bear witness
In such wise that they listen?
For see! their ear is uncircumcised,
Helpless are they to hearken.
To them is the word of Jehovah
Become an utter scorn;
They have no pleasure in it.
 11I am filled with the wrath of Jehovah,
I am weary of holding it back:
On the child in the street I will pour it,
On youths, too, where'er they assemble;
It shall smite men and women alike,
And the aged, whose days are many.
 12Their homes shall be turned unto others,
Their fields and their wives together;
For against those that dwell in the land
I will stretch out My hand, saith Jehovah."
The National Materialism and its Doom
 13For great and small alike,
They are all of them greedy of gain;
Prophet and priest alike—
Every man of them practiseth falsehood.
 14They would heal the hurt of My people,
As though it were but slight;
"It is well, it is well," they say,
"When it is anything but well."
 15Are they at all abashed
At their deeds abominable?
Nay, they are unabashed,
They know not how to blush.
They shall therefore fall with the fallen;
In the hour of their visitation
They shall stumble, saith Jehovah.
 16Thus did Jehovah say:
Stand in the ways and see,
And ask for the ancient paths;
Mark that which leadeth to happiness,
See that ye walk therein—
And ye shall find rest to your souls.
But they said, " We refuse to walk in it."
 17And over you I set watchmen.
Saying "Hark for the sound of the trumpet."
But they said, "We refuse to hearken."
 18Wherefore hearken, ye nations, and hear, O earth,
Take knowledge of that which is coming.
 19Behold, I will bring on this people
Disaster, the fruits of their backsliding;
For they heeded not My words,
My instruction they rejected.
 20Of what avail to Me
Is the incense that cometh from Sheba,
And sweet cane from a distant land?
I accept not yout burnt-offerings,
Your sacrifice pleaseth Me not.
 21Therefore, thus saith Jehovah: Behold,
I will set on the way of this people
Stones over which they may stumble,
And over them stumble they shall,
Fathers and sons together—
And neighbour and friend shall perish.
 22Thus saith Jehovah, Behold!
A people doth come from the north land,
A mighty nation is stirring
At the uttermost ends of the earth
 23Bow they wield and javelin—
Cruel and pitiless they,
With a voice like the roar of the sea,
And they ride upon horses and chariots,
Arrayed, like one man, for the battle,
Against thee, O daughter of Zion.
 24The rumour thereof we have heard,
And all unnerved are we:
Anguish hath seized upon us,
And pangs as of women in travail.
 25Venture not forth to the open,
Go not abroad on the highway;
For there is the sword of the enemy—
Terror on every side.
 26O daughter of My people,
Gird thee about with sackcloth
And sprinkle thee with ashes;
Make mourning and bitter lament,
As for an only son;
For suddenly shall come
The Devastator upon us.
Jeremiah as Assayer of the National Character
 27I have set thee to test My people,
To discover and test their way.
 28Refractory are the all,
They slander as they go;
They are all of them brass amd iron,
They are all of them corrupt.
 29Fiercely the bellows blow,
The lead is consumed by the fire;
But in vain doth the smelter keep smelting,
The dross is not smelted away.
 30Their name shall be refuse silver,
For them hath Jehovah as refuse rejected.
Messages from the Middle Period of Jeremiah's Career
Salvation lies neither in Temple nor Ritual, but only in Repentance and Reform 
 7The message which came to Jeremiah from Jehovah: 2Take thy stand at the gate of the Temple, and theremake the following proclamation. Say, Listen tothis message from Jehovah, all ye men of Judah that 3enter these gates to worship Jehovah. Thus saithJehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will guarantee this place as your 4permanent home. But put no trust in lying messen-gers, who say: "This is the Temple of Jehovah, the 5Temple of Jehovah, the Temple of Jehovah." For ifyou really amend your ways and your doings: ifyou really do justice as between man and man; 6if you abstain from the oppression of the residentalien, the fatherless and the widow, from the shed-ding of innocent blood in this place, and from devotion 7to other gods to your own hurt, then I will guaranteeyou a home here for all time in the land that I gaveyour forefathers.
 8But see, you are putting your trust in doctrines that 9are as profitless as they are false. What! you committheft, murder, adultery, perjury, you burn sacrifice to the Baal, you run after other gods that are 10strange to you; and then you (have the hardihoodto) come and stand before me in this House which iscalled by My name, and say, "Now we are safe" — inorder, forsooth, to carry on all these abominations. 11This House which bears My name you regard, do you,as nothing but a robbers' cave? Make no mistake:I — saith Jehovah — I have not been blind to all this.
 12I would ask you to visit My sanctuary in Shiloh,where I put My name at the first, and see what thewickedness of My people Israel constrained Me to do 13to it. And so it will be now, saith Jehovah. Becauseyou have perpetrated all these anormities, in defianceof My most earnest and repeated words, and have 14refused to respond to My call, therefore this Templein which you repose your trust — called by My namethough it be — and the place that I gave to you andyour forefathers, I will consign to the same fate as 15overtook Shiloh; and I will hurl you out of My sightas I have hurled your brethren, the whole race of Ephraim.
 16As for thyself, offer no prayer for this people, raiseno cry or prayer on their behalf, and make no inter- 17cession to Me, for I will not listen to thee. Seest thounot what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in 18the streets of Jerusalem? The children gather wood,the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough,to make cakes to the Queen of Heaven, and to pourout drink-offerings to other gods, in order to vex Me. 19Is it I, then, saith Jehovah, whom they are vexing?is it not rather themselves, doomed as they are to 20bring confusion upon their own faces/. Therefore,thus saith the Lord Jehovah, "My anger and My fury shall be poured out upon this place, upon manand beast, upon trees of the field and fruit of the ground,and it shall blaze in unquenchable flame."
 21Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel,Put the flesh of your burnt-offerings and your(other) sacrifices together, and make a common meal 22of them both alike; for on the day that I brought yourforefathers out of the land of Egypt, I gave them nocommandment nor did I utter a syllable with regard to 23burnt offering or sacrifice. But the commandment Igave them was this: Listen, I said, to My voice, andthen I will be your God and you shall be My people,and take My commandments as the standard of all 24your life — this is the way to prosperity. But, insteadof inclining their ear and listening, they followed the dictates of their own stubborn and wicked hearts; they 25went backwards instead of forwards. Ever since your forefathers came out of the land of Egypt, every day upto this very day I have been sending you early and late 26all My servants the prophets. Instead, however,of inclining their ear, they stiffened their necks andbehaved worse than their forefathers.
 27This, then, is the message thou art to address tothem, though they will not listen to thee, nor respond 28to thy call — thy message is to be this:
This is the folk that refused to listen
To the voice of Jehovah their God—
That refused to accept correction.
Sincerity is vanished,
It is found on their lips no more.
The Fearful Judgment upon Idolatry
 29Shear off thy locks — away with them—
Lift up a dirge on the heights:
For Jehovah hath spurned and forsaken
The race that hath roused Him to anger.
 30The people of Judah, saith Jehovah, have done thething I abhor: the very House that bears My namethey have defiled by introducing into it their abomin- 31able worship. They have built a sanctuary of Tophethin the Valley of the son of Hinnom, for the burning oftheir sons and daughters in the fire, though this wasno commandment of Mine — such a thing never enteredinto My mind.
 32Mark this therefore: days are coming, saith Jehovah,when it shall be no more called Topheth, nor the Valleyof the son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter, andTopheth shall be used as a burial-place for want of 33room (elsewhere). The dead bodies of this peopleshall be devoured by the birds of the air and the beasts 34of the earth, and none shall scare them away. In thecities of Judah and on the streets of Jerusalem I willstill the voice of mirth and gladness, and the voice of bridegroom and bride; for the land shall become a waste. 
 8At the time, saith Jehovah, they shall bring out of1their graves the bones of the kings, the princes, thepriests, and the prophets, of Judah, and of the in- 2habitants of Jerusalem, and they shall spread thembefore the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven,whom they loved and served and followed and soughtand worshipped; and they shall remain ungatheredand unburried, they shall be for dung on the face of the 3ground. And in all places to which I have driven them,every man that is left of this evil family would chooserather death than life, saith Jehovah of Hosts.
The National Refusal to Repent and the Coming Retribution
 4Thou shalt say to them, Thus saith Jehovah:
Doth not one who has fallen rise up again,
And one who hath wandered turn back again?
 5Why, then, doth thy people keep turning
For ever and ever backward,
Clinging to ways deceitful,
Refusing to return?
 6I have listened with ear intent—
And their words are utterly false.
Not a man repents of his wickedness
Or thinks upon what he has done:
But each rushes on in his course
As a war-horse rushes in battle.
 7The very stork in the heavens
Doth know her appointed seasons;
The turtle, the swift, and the swallow,
Observe the time of their coming:
But the ordinance of Jehovah
My people doth not know.
 8How can ye say, "We are wise,
And with us is the law of Jehovah"?
For see! the false pen of the sribes
Hath turned it into a falsehood.
 9So the wise shall be put to shame,
Be dismayed and taken captive.
They have spurned the word of Jehovah—
What manner of wisdom have they?
 10So their wives I will give unto others,
To conquerors their fields.
For, great and small alike,
They are all of them greedy of gain;
Prophet and priest alike—
Every man of them practiseth falsehood.
 11They would heal the hurt of My people
As though it were but slight;
"It is well, it is well," they say,
"When it is anything but well."
 12Are they at all abashed
At their deeds abominable?
Nay, they are unabashed,
They know not how to blush.
They shall therefore fall with the fallen;
In the hour of their visitation
They shall stumble, saith Jehovah.
 13When I, saith Jehovah, would gather their fruit,
There is not a grape on the vine;
There is not a fig on the fig-tree,
All withered are the leaves.
 14"Why are we sitting still?
Assemble yourselves together,
Let us enter the fortified cities,
And there let us meet our doom;
For Jehovah our God hath doomed us,
Hath given us gall to drink,
Because we have sinned against Him.
 15We wait for peace, but no good cometh;
For a season of healing, but lo! dismay."
 16From Dan is heard the snort of his steeds,
At the sound of his stallions neighing
All the land doth tremble.
They come and devour the land
And all that is therein,
The city and her inhabitants.
 17For see! I will send amongst you
serpents of basilik order,
Which cannot be charmed at all;
And they, saith Jehovah, shall bite you.
Jeremiah's Lament over the Sin and the Doom of his people
 18Past healing is my sorrow,
My heart is heavy within me.
 19Hark! a voice is calling
From the daughter of my people
From a land that is far away:
"Is not Jehovah in Zion?
Is not her King therein?"
"With their images why have they vexed Me—
With futile foreign gods?"
 20"The harvest is past, the summer is ended,
And all unsaved are we."
 21For the daughter of my people,
All broken, mine own heart is broken;
I go about in mourning,
With the clutch of horror upon me.
 22Is there no balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
Why cometh then no healing
To the daughter of my people? 
 9O that my head were waters,
1And mine eyes a fountain of tears,
That day and night I might weep
For the slain of the daughter of my people!
 2O that I had in the desert
A spot such as travellers lodge in;
For then would I leave my people,
Yea, from them I would go;
For they be all adulterers,
A company of traitors,
That bend their tongue like a bow.
 3It is not the true, but the false,
That has mastery in the land;
For they pass from evil to evil,
And they know not Me, saith Jehovah.
 4Let each man beware of his neighbour,
And trust not any brother:
For brothers are tricksters, all of them,
And neighbours are slanderers all.
 5They all deceive one another,
The truth they will not speak;
They have taught their tongue to lie,
They behave like knaves and fools.
 6Oppression upon oppression,
Deceit upon deceit:
They refuse, saith Jehovah, to know Me.
 7Therefore thus saith Jehovah of Hosts,
Behold I will smelt them and test them,
For alas! I must turn Mine eyes away
From the daughter of My people.
 8Their tongue is a deadly arrow,
The words of their mouth are deceit;
They speak their neighbour fair,
But at heart they are laying a trap for him.
 9And crimes like these, saith Jehovah,
Am I to leave unpunished?
Shall not My soul be avenged
On a nation such as this?
 10Lift a lament for the mountains,
A dirge for the wilderness pastures;
For wasted they lie and untraversed,
No lowing of cattle they hear:
The birds of the air and the beasts
Are fled away and gone.
 11I will make of Jerusalem ruins,
A place for jackals to haunt;
I will make of the cities of judah
An uninhabited waste.
 12Where is the man that Jehovah
Himself hath communed with and charged
To declare why the land us a ruin,
Laid waste like the untravelled wilderness?
 13And Jehovah said unto me:
Because they forsook My law
Which I had set before them,
And did not live thereby,
But disobeyed My voice,
 14And followed their stubborn hearts,
And the Baals that their fathers had taught them:
 15Therefore thus saith Jehovah of Hosts,
The God of Israel; Behold,
I will feed this people with wormwood,
And give them gall to drink.
 16I will scatter them far among nations
To them and their fathers unknown;
The sword I will send to pursue them,
Until I have clean consumed them.
 17Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts:
Now mark ye well and summon
The women that chant in dirges;
And send for the skillful women,
That they may come in haste,
 18And lift up for us a lament;
That our eyes may run with tears,
And our eyelids gush with water.
 19Hark! from Zion float sounds of wailing,
"Alas!how are we spoiled;
We are put to utter shame,
Because we have left the land,
And our homes are hurled to the ground."
 20Hear then, ye women, the word of Jehovah,
Received with your ears the word of His mouth,
And teach this lament to your daughters,
Each one to her neighbour this dirge:
 21"Death hath climbed up to our windows,
And into our palaces entered,
sweeping the child from the streets
And the youth from the broad open spaces.
 22The corpses of men are fallen
Like dung on the face of the field;
Or like sheaves behind the reaper,
With none to gather them up."
The True Glory of a Man
 23Thus saith Jehovah:
Let the wise man not boast of his wisdom,
Let the strong man not boast of his strength;
Let the rich man not boast of his riches,
 24But in this be the boaster's boast—
In insight and knowledge of Me
As Jehovah, who over the earth
Doeth kindness and justice and right;
For these are the things that I love.
The Necessity for Circumcision of Heart
 25Mark this well, saith Jehovah: days are comingwhen I will punish all those that, though circumcised 26(in flesh) are uncircumcised (in heart) — Egypt, Judah,Edom, Ammon, Moab, and all those denizens of the wilderness that have the corners of their hair clipped;for while all the nations are uncircumcised, the wholehousehold of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.
The Approaching Doom of Exile 
 10Take up thy pack from the ground,
17(O Jerusalem), that sittest beleaguered.
 18For thus saith Jehovah, Behold,
This time I will surely sling out
The inhabitants of the land,
And bring them into such straits
That they shall melt for fear.
 19Ah! woe is me! I am broken,
And smitten very sore,
"Yes, this is a stroke indeed,"
Said I, "and I must bear it.
 20My tent is despoiled and perished,
And all my cords are broken;
My flock is vanished clean.
There is none to stretch my tent,
Or to hang up my curtains more.
 21For the shepherds are foolish grown,
And nothing they care for Jehovah;
For this cause they have not prospered,
And all their flock is scattered.
 22Hark! a rumour! behold, it cometh,
A mighty uproar from the land of the north,
It shall make of the cities of Judah a waste,
A place to be haunted of jackals.
Prayer that Judgment may be Tempered with Mercy
 23Well, O Jehovah, I know
That a man's way lies not with himself;`
It is not in the power of man
To walk and direct his steps.
 24When therefore Thou chastenest us,
Do Thou deal, O Jehovah, in measure,
And not in Thine indignation;
For so wouldst Thou bring us to nothing.
 25Pour out Thy wrath on the heathen,
That have not cared for Thee—
And on tribes that invoke not Thy name;
For Jacob they have devoured,
They have desolated his dwelling.
The Folly of Fearing the Impotent and Unreal Gods of the Heathen 
 10Listen, O household of Israel, to the word which Jehovah
 2hath spoken to you. Thus saith Jehovah:
Learn not the ways of the heathen,
And be not dismayed at the signs in the sky,
As the heathen are dismayed;
 3For heathen religion is vapour.
A tree is cut down in the forest
And fashioned by craftsman's axe,
 4aAdorned with silver and gold—
 9With silver beat fine, brought from Tarshish,
And gold that cometh form Ophir—
And wrought by the craftsman and goldsmith,
And robed in blue and in purple—
The work of skilled men are they all—
 4bAnd fastened with nails and hammers,
To keep them from toppling over.
 5They are altogether dumb,
Like a scarecrow in garden of cucumbers;
Carried they must needs be,
For they cannot go of themselves.
Be not afraid of them, then,
For they have it not in their power
To do either good or harm.
 6There is none like Thee, O Jehovah;
Thou art great, and great is Thy name in might.
 7Who should not fear Thee, O King of the nations?
For Thee it becometh well;
For among the wise men of the nations all,
And among their kingdoms all,
There is none that is like unto Thee.
 8One and all, they are senseless and silly,
Instructed of gods that are wooden.
 10But Jehovah is God indeed,
A living God, and a King everlasting;
The earth at His wrath doth tremble,
His anger no nation can bear.
 12He created the earth by His power,
He established the world by His wisdom,
He stretched out the heavens by His skill.
 13When He uttereth His voice,
The waters roar in the heavens,
And He causeth vapour to rise
From the uttermost ends of the earth.
Lightnings He made for the rain,
And the wind He brings out of His storehouses.
 14How foolish is man with his knowledge!
The goldsmith is shamed by his image;
His idols are delusion,
 15They are an empty mockery,
In the hour of their trial they shall perish.
 16Not such is the Portion of Jacob,
His God is the Framer of all things:
Jehovah of Hosts is His name.
Jeremiah Exhorts the People to be True to the Demands of the Deuteronomic Law 
 11The message which came to Jeremiah from Jehovah.
 2"Listen to the words of this covenant, and declarethem to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of 3Jerusalem. Say to them, Thus saith Jehovah, the Godof Israel: Accursed be the man that refuses to listen 4to the words of the covenant with which I charged yourforefathers on the day that I brought them out of thatiron furnace, the land of Egypt. I promised them thenthat, if they obeyed My voice, and conformed to allMy commandments, they should be My people and I 5would be their God, and thus the oath would be estab-lished that swore to their forefathers — to give thema land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day."Then I answered and said, "Amen, Jehovah."
 6Jehovah then said to me, "Make this proclamationthroughout the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: Listen to the words of this covenant and 7act upon them. For early and late, ever since the day that I brought your forefathers out of the land ofEgypt up to this day, I have been earnestly adjuring 8them to listen to My voice; but instead of obedientlyinclining their ear, every man of them followed thedictates of his own wicked and stubborn heart; so Ibrought upon them all the threats of this covenantwhich I had charged them to observe, but which theyfailed to observe."
 9Further Jehovah said to me, "The people of Judahand the inhabitants of Jerusalem have been engaged in 10a manifest conspiracy (against Me). They havereverted to the sins of their forefathers who refused tolisten to My words, and they are actually indulging inthe worship of other gods: the households of Israeland Judah alike have broken the covenant I made with 11their forefathers. Therefore thus saith Jehovah:Mark this — I will bring upon them a disaster which they shall be powerless to escape; and when they cry to Me, U 12will turn a deaf ear. Then the cities of Judah and theinhabitants of Jerusalem shall go and cry to the gods towhom they burn sacrifice; but no help shall they get 13from them in the day of their calamity: for your gods,O Judah, are as numerous as your cities; and asnumerous as the streets of Jerusalem are the altars youhave set up for sacrifice in the scandalous worshipof the Baal.
 14As for thyself, offer no prayer for this people, raiseno cry or prayer on their behalf; for I will not listedwhen they call to Me in the day of their calamity.
 15What business hath My Beloved
In My house, after conduct so vile?
Shall vows and the sacred flesh
Avert from thee thy doom
Then mightest thou rejoice.
 16A spreading, graceful olive
Jehovah had called thy name;
But to the roar of a mighty storm
He hath set it ablaze with lightning,
And the branches thereof are marred.
 17For Jehovah of Hosts that planted thee hath pro-nounced evil against thee in requital for th evil in whichthe households of Israel and Judah have vexatiouslyindulged, by burning sacrifice to the Baal."
A Plot against Jeremiah's Life
The plot
 18I knew — for Jehovah had told me,
And revealed to me what they were doing:
 19But I — like an innocent lamb
That is led to the slaughter was I.
Yea, all unconscious was I
Of the plots they were plotting against me—
To ruin the tree with its sap,
From the land of the living to root me
And banish my name out of mind.
 20But Jehovah of Hosts, Thou righteous Judge,
Who mind and heart dost prove,
Let me see Thy vengeance upon them,
For on Thee have I rolled my cause.
 21Therefore, thus saith Jehovah concerning the men of 
Anathoth who seek thy life and threaten thee with
death at their hands, if thou preach in the name of
Jehovah:
 22Therefore saith Jehovah of Hosts,
Behold I will visit them sternly;
Their young men shall die by the sword,
Their sons and their daughters shall perish with hunger.
 23Not one of them shall be left;
For over the men of Anathoth
Calamity I will bring
In the year of their visitation.
Jeremiah's Persplexity and Prayer for Vengeance 
 12"Righteous art thou, O Jehovah,
1when I make my plaint unto Thee;
Yet the case I would reason with Thee.
Why do the wicked prosper?
And why do the faithless all flourish?
 2Thou plantest them, yea, they take root;
They spread, yea, they bring forth fruit.
You are always on their lips,
But far, far away from their hearts.
 3But Thou, O Jehovah, dost know me,
My heart towards Thee Thou hast proved.
Pull them out, then, like sheep for the slaughter,
To the day of slaughter devote them.
 4How long must the land still mourn,
And the herbs of the fields be all withered?
Beast and bid are vanished,
Because of the sin of her people,
Who think God is blind to their ways."
The Divine Answer
 5"If thy race with the footmen hath wearied thee,
How wilt thou vie with the horse?
If thou takest to flight in a land that is safe,
Then how wilt thou do on the jungle of Jordan?
 6For thy father's household, thine own very brethren,
Even they have played thee false.
They pursue thee with clamours loud:
Trust them not, when they speak thee fair."
Lament over the Havoc wrought upon Judah by her Neighbours
The Havoc
 7My house I have forsaken,
My heritage I have cast off;
Into the hands of her foes
I have given the Beloved of My soul.
 8My darling is grown to Me (fierce)
As a lion in the jungle;
She hath lifted her voice against Me,
And therefore I abhor her.
 9Is My darling a speckled bird,
That the birds circle round and assail her?
Come, all ye beasts of the field,
Come hither to devour.
 10Shepherds many have ruined My vineyard,
And trampled My ground under foot;
They have turned My pleasant inheritance
Into a desolate wilderness.
 11They have made it a desolation,
It mourneth, ah me! all desolate.
Desolate all is the land,
But no one cares.
 12Upon all the bare heights in the wilderness
Spoilers have descended;
For the sword of Jehovah devours
From one end of the land to another;
No peace is there for any.
 13Wheat they have sown, but thorns they have reaped;
Their labour hath profited nothing;
Their harvest shall bring them to shame,
Because of Jehovah's hot anger.
 14This is the word of Jehovah,
To all Mine evil neighbours
That put forth a hand on the heritage
I gave to My people Israel.
Behold! I will pluck them away from their land,
And the household of Judah I pluck from the midst of them;
 15But when thus I have plucked them away,
I will once more take pity upon them,
And bring each man back to his heritage,
Each to his own land again.
 16And if ever they master the ways of My people,
To swear by My name, "As Jehovah liveth,"
As they once taught My people to swear by the Baal,
They shall then be built up in the midst of My people.
 17But the nation that will not listen,
I will pluck clean away and destroy, saith Jehovah.
The Parable of the Waistcloth 
 13Jehovah told me to go and buy a linen waistcloth and1put it on my loins, taking care not to let it get into 2water. So I bought a waistcloth, as Jehovah had bidden me, and I put it on my loins.
 3Then a second message from Jehovah came to me, 4telling me to take the waistcloth I had bought, thatwas on my loins, and to proceed to Parah and bury it 5there in a chink of the rock. So I went and burried it 6at Parah, as Jehovah had charged me. Many daysafter, Jehovah told me to proceed to Parah and removethe waistcloth which He had charged me to bury there. 7Then I went to Parah and dug out and took the linenwaistcloth from the place where I had buried it; andlo! the waistcloth was ruined — it was good fornothing.
 8Then there came to me this word from Jehovah: 9Thus saith Jehovah, Ruin like this I will bring upon the 10soaring pride of Judah and Jerusalem. As for thesedepraved people who, refusing to listen to My words,follow the dictates of their own stubborn hearts andindulge in the worship and service of other gods — letthem become like this waistcloth, good for nothing. 11For, as the waistcloth clings to a man's loins, so wouldI have had the whole household of Israel and Judahcling unto Me, saith Jehovah, to be My people, a source of renown and praise and glory: but they wouldnot listen.
The Parable of the Jars
 12Take to them therefore this message: Thus saithJehovah the God of Israel, "Every jar must be filled withwine." And if they say to thee, "Why, of course we 13know that every jar must be filled with wine," then thisis what thou shalt say to them: Thus saith Jehovah:Soon-mark it well-I will fill with drunkenness allthe inhabitants of this land — the kings that sit uponthe throne of David, the priests, the prophets, and all 14the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and I will dash them,saith Jehovah, one against another, fathers and sonstogether. I will neither spare nor pity: no compassionshall restrain Me from destroying them.
The Tender Solemn Warning
 15O hear and give ear, be not haughty;
Jehovah hath spoken.
 16To Jehovah your God give ye glory,
Before it grows dark,
And ere yet, on the mountains of twilight,
With feet that are stumbling,
Ye look for the light, which to gloom
And thick darkness He turneth.
 17But should ye refuse to give heed,
Then in secret my soul shall weep,
Because of your pride:
And with tears that flow ever and ever
Mine eyes shall run down
For the flock of Jehovah, afar
To captivity taken.
Lament on the Approaching Fate of King Jehoiachin and the Queen Mother
 18Say to the King and the Queen Mother,
Low ye be seated;
For down from your head hath been hurled
Your glorious crown.
 19The towns in the south land are shut,
There is no one to open them;
All Judah is swept into exile,
Swept all into exile.
Lament over the Sin and the Doom of Jerusalem
 20Jerusalem, lift up thine eyes and behold
How they come from the north.
Where is thy beautiful flock,
Even the sheep that were given thee?
 21What wilt thou say when He calleth—
To lord over thee—
The men thou thyself didst instruct
To approach thee as lovers?
Shall anguish not clutch at thee hard
As of woman in travail?
 22But if in thy heart thou shouldst say,
"Why is this come upon me?"
Thy manifold guilt is the cause
That thy skirts are stripped off
And thy modesty outraged.
 23Can the African change his skin,
Or the leopard his spots?
Just as helpless art thou to do good
That art wont to do evil.
 24And so to the winds of the desert
Like stubble that flies I will scatter them.
 25This is thy lot, this the portion
I measure to thee, saith Jehovah;
Because thou forgattest Me,
And hast trusted in falsehood.
 26Thy skirt I Myself will lift over thy face,
That thy shame may be seen.
 27Thine adulteries and thy neighings,
Thy harlotry foul—
In the field, on the hills, I have seen—
Thy detestable doings.
Woe unto thee, O Jerusalem!
How long time yet must pass
Until thou be cleansed?
A Grievous Drought and the Thoughts it Awakened in the Prophet
The Distress of the Drought 
 14The message which came from Jehovah to Jeremiah
1with regard to the drought.
 2Judah doth mourn, and the gates thereof languish;
(Her people) are sitting in black on the ground,
And a cry rises up from Jerusalem.
 3Her nobles have sent their attendants for water;
They come to the cisterns, no water they find:
Back then they go with their pitches empty,
In shame and confusion they cover their heads.
 4Dismayed are the men that till the ground,
Because on the land no rain hath fallen;
The ploughmen cover their heads in confusion.
 5Yea, even the hind in the field forsaketh
The young that she bore, because grass there is none.
 6And the wild asses stand on the bleak bare heights,
Panting for air, like the crocodile,
And the light dieth out of their eyes,
Because herbage there is none.
The Prophet's Supplication
 7And yet though our sins rise in witness against us,
Jehovah, O act, for Thine own name's sake;
For many a time have we turned from Thee back,
And against Thee we have sinned.
 8O Thou that art Israel's Hope,
Her Saviour in time of trouble,
Why like a stranger art Thou in Thy land,
Like a traveller who turneth to lodge but a night?
 9Why shouldst Thou be like a man fast asleep,
Like a warrior powerless to save?
Yet Thou, O Jehovah, art here in our midst,
By thy name we are called: O leave us not.
The Divine Answer
 10Touching this people Jehovah thus answered:
Thus do they love to wander
With unrestrained feet,
But Jehovah cannot accept them:
Their guilt He now calleth to mind,
Their sins He will visit with chastisement.
 11And Jehovah said to me: Offer no prayer for the
 12welfare of this people. When they fast, I will be deaf
to their cry; when they offer burnt-offerings and
cereal offerings, I will not accept them. By sword,
by famine, by pestilence, I will consume them.
The Prophet's Remonstrance
 13To this I made answer: Oh! Lord Jehovah, see!The prophets are ceaselessly telling them that they willnever see the sword or suffer from famine, but thatThou wilt bestow upon them stable peace in this place.
The Divine Answer
 14Then Jehovah said to me: The prophets are butpreaching lies in My name. I never sent them; theyhave no commission from Me; not a word have Ispoken to them. What thy preach to you is nothingbut a tissue of lying visions and idle divinations and 15inventions of their own deceitful hearts. This there-fore is the message of Jehovah concerning thoseprophets who, without any commision from Me, are ceaselessly preaching that this land will never sufferfrom sword or famine: by sword and famine shall 16those very prophets themselves be consumed, and the people they preach to shall be flung out in the streetsof Jerusalem as victims of sword and famine, and theyshall lie unburied — themselves, their wives, their sons,their daughters; for I will pour their wickedness overthem.
The Prophet's Lament and Confession
 17This is the word thou shalt speak to them:
Mine eyes run down with tears
By night and day unceasing;
For the daughters of my people
Is broken, grievously broken,
With a wound exceeding sore.
 18If to the field I go forth,
Lo, the slain of the sword lie there;
And if into the city I go,
Lo, there lie the victims of famine:
Yea, prophet and priest alike,
All wiltless, lie crouched on the ground,
 19Hast Thou utterly cast away Judah?
Is Zion grown loathsome to Thee?
Why hast Thou smitten us so,
That we can find no healing?
We look for peace, but no good cometh:
For a season of healing, but lo! dismay.
 20We acknowledge, Jehovah, our wickedness,
The guilt of our fathers also;
For we have sinned against Thee.
 21For Thy name's sake, O spurn us not,
O shame not Thy glorious throne:
O remember and break out Thy covenant with us.
 22Of the worthless gods of the heathen
Is there one that can bring down rain?
Can the sky give showers of itself?
Is it not Thou alone that canst do this—
Jehovah, our God, whom we wait for?
Yea, these things are all Thy creation.
The Divine Answer — Rejection and Doom 
 15Then Jehovah said to me:
1Though Moses and Samuel stood before Me,
Yet no learning of heart could I have for this people;
Away with them out of My sight — let them go.
 2When they ask thee where they shall go,
Then say to them, Thus saith Jehovah:
To death, those destined to death;
To the sword, those doomed to the sword;
To famine, those destined to famine,
To exile, those destined to exile.
 3And I, saith Jehovah, will set over them four kinds
(of destroyers) — the sword to slay, the dogs to tear,
the birds of the air to devour, and the beasts of the
 4earth to destroy; and I will make them an object of 
Consternation to every kingdom in the world, in return
for all the evil wrought in Jerusalem by Manasseh,
the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah.
 5O Jerusalem, who will then pity thee?
Who will commiserate thee?
Who will go out of his way
To enquire how it fareth with thee?
 6Thou hast cast Me off, saith Jehovah,
Thou ever wentest backward;
So, weary at length of relenting,
I stretch out My hand to destroy thee.
 7With winnowing-fork I will winnow thee,
In every gate of the land.
I will make My people childless,
And destroy them because of their wickedness,
 8cA destroyer I will bring 
Upon mother and suckling at noon-day;
I will bring of a sudden upon her
Agitation and dismay.
 9The mother of seven shall languish,
And she shall swoon away;
Her sun shall go down in the day-time,
Ashamed and abashed shall she be.
 8aTheir widows are more in number
 bThan the sand of all the seas,
 9eAnd the rest of them I will deliver
 fTo the sword in the face of their foes.
The Prophet's Passionate Lament
 10Alas for me! mother of mine, that bore me
To strive and to struggle with all the world.
Never lender nor borrower was I,
Yet one and all they curse me.
 11To their curses be "Amen, Jehovah,"
If ever I failed to entreat Thee
For a blessing upon my foes
In their time of distress and disaster.
 12Is the arm in my shoulder of iron?
Or is my brow of brass?
 15O Jehovah, remember and visit me,
Avenge me of my tormentors;
Let not Thine anger tarry.
Bethink Thee — it is in Thy cause
That I have been laden with insult.
 16They spurn Thy words — every man of them.
But to me is Thy word a delight,
The very joy of my heart;
For I have been called by Thy name,
O Jehovah, Thou God of Hosts.
 17No happy seat was mine
At gatherings of the merry;
But lonely I sat, for Thy hand was upon me:
With (holy) wrath Thou hast filled me.
 18Oh why is my pain unceasing?
And why is this wound of mine cureless?
Like a treacherous brook wilt Thou be unto me,
Like waters that are unsure?
The Divine Answer
 19Thus therefore saith Jehovah:
If thou turn again, I will restore thee,
And thou shalt be My servant.
Let thy speech but be noble, not petty,
And so thou shalt be My mouthpiece;
They then may turn unto thee,
But thou shalt not turn unto them.
 20And unto this folk I will make thee
A fortified wall of bronze.
They will fight thee, but thou shalt be victor;
For I will be with thee to save thee,
And rescue thee — thus saith Jehovah.
 21Yes, I from the land of the wicked will rescue thee,
I from the clutch of the cruel will redeem thee.
Predictions of Coming Disaster
The Prophet's Unutterable Loneliness 
 16There came to me this message from Jehovah:
 2Thou shalt not take thee a wife,
Saith Jehovah, the God of Israel;
Nor shalt thou have any sons
Or daughters in this place.
 3For thus Jehovah saith
Concerning the sons and the daughters
That in this place are born,
And concerning the mothers that bore them,
And the fathers that begat them:
 4"A grievous death shall they die,
Unburied, unlamented;
Like dung on the face of the field shall they be,
They shall perish by sword and famine;
By the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth
Shall their corpses be devoured."
The National Doom
 5For thus Jehovah saith:
Do not enter the house of grief,
Nor go to make lament,
And raise for them no wailing;
Because from this (My) people
I have taken away My peace.
 6Both great and small in this land shall die,
They shall be unburried, unmourned;
Not a man shall gash his body,
Or shear his hair for them.
 7No bread shall be broken for mourners,
To comfort them for the dead;
Nor shall cup of consolation
Be given for father or mother.
 8Do not enter the house of feasting,
To sit with them, eating and drinking.
 9For thus saith Jehovah of Hosts,
The God of Israel:
Mark this — ye shall live to see it—
This place I will bring to silence,
The voice of mirth and gladness,
The voice of bridegroom and bride.
The Infidelity which Justifies the Doom
 10After thou hast delivered this message to the people,they will ask thee why Jehovah has doomed them to allthis misery. "What is our guilt," they will say, "and what is the sin we have committed against Jehovah our 11God?" Tell them then, "Jehovah doth solemnly declare: it is because your fathers abandoned Mefor the worship and the service of other gods; yes, 12they abandoned Me and neglected My law. Andyour own behaviour has been worse than that of yourfathers. See how every man of you is following theimpulses of his own wicked and stubborn heart and 13refusing to listen to Me. For this, then, I will hurl youout of this land into a land that is strange to you andyour fathers; and there, day and night, ye shall serveother gods; for no favour shall ye have from Me."
The Doom
 16Behold, I will send many fishers,
And them they shall fish, saith Jehovah;
And then will I send many hunters,
And they shall hunt them down
From every mountain and hill
And out of the clefts of the rocks.
 17For Mine eyes are all their ways,
From My face they are not concealed,
And their guilt is not hid from Mine eyes.
 18I will therefore requite them double
For all their guilt and sin,
In profaning My land with the carcases
Of their detestable idols,
And filling Mine inheritance
With their abominations.
 21See then! I wil give them to feel—
This once I will give them to feel—
The weight of My mighty hand:
And then shall they know that My name is Jehovah.
Ultimate Recognition by the Heathen of Jehovah as the True God
 19O Jehovah, my strength and my stronghold,
My refuge in time of trouble,
To Thee from the ends of the earth
Shall nations come and say,
"Only lies have our fathers inherited,
Empty and useless (idols)."
 20Shall a man make gods for himself,
Which yet are no gods at all?
The Doom 
 17The sin of Judah is written
1With pencil of iron;
With diamond point it is graven
On the tablet of their heart,
On the horns of their altars,
 2On every green tree,
On every high hill,
 3On the heights in the field.
Thy substance and all thy treasures
As spoil I will give,
In requital for all the sins
That pervaded thy borders.
 4And then thou shalt slack thy hold
Of the land that I gave thee:
I will make thee the slave of thy foes
In a land that is strange to thee;
For a fire in Mine anger is kindled
That burneth for ever.
The Joy and Wisdom of Trust
 5Thus saith Jehovah:
Accursed the man that trusteth in man,
And maketh flesh his arm,
While his heart is estranged from Jehovah.
 6Like a bare desert shrub shall he be,
No destiny fair shall be his;
His home is the scorching wilderness,
A salt uninhabited land.
 7But blessed the man that trusteth Jehovah,
That maketh Jehovah his confidence;
 8Like a tree shall he be, by the waters planted,
That stretcheth its roots out towards the stream,
And is never afraid for the coming of heat,
But its leaves are for ever green—
In the year of drought untroubled—
And it yeildeth fruit without ceasing.
 11Like a patridge that sitteth on eggs
That it hath not laid,
Is the man that getteth him riches
In ways unjust.
In the midst of his days he must leave them,
His end shall declare him a fool.
 12A glorious throne, set on high from of old,
Is the site where standeth our holy place.
 13O Jehovah, Thou Hope of Israel,
Put to shame shall all be that forsake Thee;
Yea, they that prove faithless to Thee
In the land shall be put to confussion;
Because they have forsaken
The Fountain of Living Water.
The Prophet's Prayer
 9"The heart is most treacherous of all things,
And sick beyond cure: who cah know it?"
 10"I, Jehovah, am Searcher of hearts,
And Tester of thoughts am I,
To give each what his doings have earned,
To let each reap the fruit of his deeds."
 14"Heal me, Jehovah, and I shall be healed;
Save me, and I shall be saved indeed:
For Thou art my Praise.
 15Mark how they say to me ceaselessly
'Where is the word of Jehovah?
Pray, now, let it come to pass.'
 16Yet never for this did I urge Thee
To bring on the evil day,
Nor ever have longed in my heart
For the day of disaster — Thou knowest.
The words that came forth from my lips
Lie open before Thy face.
 17O be not a terror to me,
Thou Refuge of mine in the day of evil.
 18Confusion on them that torment me—
On them, but not on me:
Be dire dismay upon them—
On them, but not on me;
Bring the day of disaster upon them,
With two-fold destruction destroy them."
The Sanctity of the Sabbath
 19Jehovah commanded me to go and take my stand atthe Benjamin gate, through which the kings of Judah 20go in and out, and at all the gates of Jerusalem, andthere He charged me to address them as follows: "Ye kings of Judah, and all ye citizens of Judah and 21Jerusalem that pass through these gates, Thus saithJehovah: As ye value you lives, be very careful not to carry a burden or to bring anything of the kindthrough the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day; 22also to carry no load out of your houses on theSabbath day, and to do no work of any kind, but to keepthe Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your forefathers. 23But instead of obediently inclining their ear, theystiffened their neck; they would have nothing to 24do with obedience or discipline. If you, however,will give earnest heed to Me, saith Jehovah, andrefrain from bringing loads through the city gates on theSabbath day, if you keep the Sabbath day holy and 25abstain from work of every kind, then kings thatsit upon the throne of David shall enter the gates of this city riding on chariots and horses, accompaniedby their princes, the men of Judah, and the citizens of Jerusalem; and the city shall be inhabited for ever. 26From the cities of Judah, the neighbourhood ofJerusalem, and the district of Benjamin, from the low-land, the hill country, and the south, men shall cometo the Temple with burnt-offerings and sacrifices, 27oblations and frankincense, and praise-offerings. If,however, you refuse to give heed to Me and to keep the Sabbath day holy by refraining from carrying burdensthrough the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day,then I will kindle in her gates a fire unquenchable, thatshall devour the palaces of Jerusalem.
The Lesson of the Potter and the Clay 
 18Jeremiah received from Jehovah the message which 2follows: "Rise and go down to the potter's house—I have somewhat to say to thee, which I will com- 3municate to thee there." So I went down to thepotter's house: and there he was-engaged on a 4piece of work at the wheel. Now, if the thing he was making was spoiled in his hands, he would just shapethe material over again into another such vessel as he had decided to make.
 5Thereupon there flashed upon me this message from 6Jehovah. "Cannot I," He said, "deal with you,O household of Israel, like this potter? You arein My hand just like the clay in the potter's hand. 7At one moment I may decide to pluck up or break 8down and destroy some nation of kingdom; butif the nation whose fate I have decreed turn from itswickedness, then I relent and do not execute the doom 9I had planned for it. At another moment I maydecide to build up or to plant some nation of kingdom; 10but if its behaviour displeases Me, if it refuses to listento My voice, then I will retract the favours I hadintended to confer upon it.
 11Now, therefore, make this announcement to the menof Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem, Thus saithJehovah: Beware! I am shaping calamity for you, Iam fashioning plans for your discomfiture. Turn, then,every man of you, from your evil ways, and amend your 12life and behaviour." But they will say, "No, thereis no hope of that: rather will we follow devices of our own and yeild, every man of us, to the impulses of ourwicked and stubborn hearts." 13Thus therefore saith Jehovah:
Ask any heathen man
If he ever heard aught like this?
An utterly horrible thing
Hath been wrought by the Virgin of Israel.
 14Doth the white snow vanish from Sirion's crags?
Do the rills that flow cold from the hills ever dry?
 15Yet Me hath My people forgotten;
The gods that they worship are phantoms.
They have stumbled upon the way
Ordained for them of old,
And turned into bypaths
That never were truly laid.
 16So their land shall be made a horror—
An everlasting scorn.
It shall fill every traveller with horror—
Thereat he will shake his head,
 17I will scatter them like the sirocco
Before the face of their foes.
Not My face, but My back, will I show them,
In the day of their calamity.
Plots against Jeremiah
The Plots
 18Then said they, "Come, let us forge
A plot against Jeremiah.
For the priests will not lack for instruction to offer,
Nor the wise men for counsel to render,
Nor the prophet for words to declare.
Come, with the tongue let us smite him,
Let us watch him in all that he says."
Jeremiah's Prayer
 19O Jehovah, give heed unto me,
And hearken to my contention.
 20Shall evil be rendered for good
That a pit they have dug for my life?
Call to mind how I stood before Thee,
To utter a prayer for their welfare,
And to turn Thy fury from them.
 21Abandon Thou therefore their children to famine,
Deliver them up to the sword;
Let their wives become childless widows,
Let their men be slain of death,
And their youths may the sword smite in battle.
 22Let a cry ring out from their houses,
When swiftly Thou bringest the raiders upon them;
For a pit they have dug to take me,
And snares they have hid for my feet.
 23For well, O Jehovah, Thou knowest
How they plotted against me to slay me.
O pardon not their guilt,
And blot not their sin from Thy sight.
Let them prostrate be hurled before Thee;
Deal Thou with them in the time of Thine anger.
The Lesson of the Broken Flask and its Consequences for Jeremiah 
The Breaking of the Flask Symbolical of the Shattering of the Nation
 19Then Jehovah commanded me to go and buy a 1potter's earthenware flask, and, accompanied by a few 2elders of the people and a few priests, to proceedto the Valley of the son of Hinnom by the entry of thePotsherd gate, and there announce the message with 3which He would charge me. And the message wasthis: "Listen, ye kings of Judah, and ye citizens ofJerusalem, to what Jehovah is about to say: Thussaith Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: Markthis well. I will soon bring such a catastrophe uponthis place as will make the ears of all who hear of it 4tingle; because they have forsaken Me and de-nationalised this place by their burnt-offerings to othergods, strange alike to them and their forefathers;and the kings of Judah have filled this place with the 5blood of innocent men. They have built Baalsanctuaries to burn their sons in the fire as offerings to Baal, though this was no commandment of Mine — such 6a thing never entered into My mind. Mark this,therefore: days are coming, saith Jehovah, when thisplace shall be no more called Topheth, nor the Valleyof the son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter; 7and I will spill upon the ground the wisdom of Judahand Jerusalem in this place. I will lay them low bythe sword of their enemies and by the hands of thosethat seek their life: their dead bodies I will give to thebirds of the air and the beasts of the earth to devour. 8And I will make this city a horror and a scorn; allthat pass by her shall be filled with horror and with 9scorn at all the blows that I shall rain upon her. Iwill drive them to eat the flesh of their sons anddaughters: in the stress of the siege to which they shallbe reduced by their enemies and by those that seektheir life, they will devour one another.
 10Then thou shalt break the flask in the presence of 11the men that accompany thee, and thou shalt say tothem, Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts: This is how I willshatter this people and this city, just as a potter'sjar is shattered beyond all possibility of repair; and Topheth shall be used as a burying-place for want of 12room (elsewhere). This is how I will deal, saithJehovah, with this place and its inhabitants — I will 13make this city like Topheth; and the houses ofJerusalem and of the kings of Judah shall be, like theplace of Topheth, defiled — all the houses, that is,from whose roofs the smoke of sacrifice has ascendedto the host of heaven, and drink-offerings have beenpoured out to other gods.
Jeremiah Put in the Stocks for his Preaching
 14Then Jeremiah returned from Topheth to whichJehovah had sent him on his prophetic errand; and,taking his stand in the Temple court he thus addressed 15the assembled people: "Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts,the God of Israel, Mark this well; soon I will bringupon this city and upon all her villages the full measureof disaster with which I have threatened her, becausethey have stiffened their necks and refused to listento My words." 
 20Now when Pashhur, the son of Immer the priest,1who had the general supervision of the Temple, heard 2this prophetic utterance of Jeremiah's, he beat himand put him in the stocks that were at the upper 3Benjamin gate in the Temple. Next day, afterPashhur had released Jeremiah from the stocks,Jeremiah said to him, "Thy name is (henceforth) 4changed from Pashhur to Terror. For thus saithJehovah: See! I will make thee a terror to thyselfand to all thy friends. They shall fall by the enemy's sword, and thou shalt see it with thine own eyes. Iwill give the whole of Judah into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them to exile in 5Babylon and slay them with the sword. And all theresources of this city, all her wealth, all that she prizes,all the treasures of the kings of Judah, I will deliverinto the hands of their enemies, who shall despoil them 6and carry them off to Babylon. As for thee, Pashhur,thou and all who share thy home shall be swept intocaptivity. To Babylon thou shalt come; therethou shalt die, and there shalt thou be buried — thouand all the friends to whom thou hast prophesied lies."
Jeremiah's Irresistible Impulse to Preach
What it Cost
 7O Jehovah, Thou hast beguiled me,
And I let myself be beguiled;
Too strong for me art Thou,
And Thou hast won the victory.
All the day long am I ridiculed,
Every one mocketh at me.
 8Every word that I utter is laughed at;
"Wronged" and "despoiled" must I cry.
For to me is the word of Jehovah
An endless reproach and derision.
 9When I vow to put it out my mind
And to speak in His name no more,
It doth burn in my heart like a fire
Shut up within my bones;
I am weary of enduring,
and I can bear it no more.
 10For I hear their many whispers—
A terror on every side—
"Denounce him." "Yes, we will denounce him." 
"All ye his familiar friends,
Keep a narrow watch for his stumbling,
Perchance he will be beguiled,
And we shall prevail against him,
And take our vengeance upon him."
The Prophet's Sense of Divine Support
 11But Jehovah Himself is with me,
As a mighty One and a terrible;
So my persecutors shall stumble,
And they shall not prevail;
But because they have dealt unwisely,
They shall come to utter shame,
To perpetual confusion,
Which never shall be forgotten.
 12O Jehovah that triest the righteous,
That mind and heart dost behold,
Let me see Thy vengeance upon them;
For on Thee have I rolled my cause.
 13Sing to Jehovah, sing praise to Jehovah:
For He hath delivered the soul of the needy
From the hand of evil-doers.
The Prophet's Despair
 14A curse on the day whereon I was born,
Unblest be the day that my mother bore me.
 15A curse on the man who announced to my father
"A man child is born to thee" — making him glad.
 16Let the fate of that man be the fate of the cities
O'erthrown by Jehovah in pitiless anger;
Let him hear in the morning a cry (of distress)
And at noon the alarum of war:
 17That he slew me not in the womb,
So my mother had been my grave,
And her womb had been great for ever.
 18O why came I forth from the womb
To behold but labour and sorrow,
That my days should be wasted with shame?
Jeremiah Warns King Zedekiah that the Babylonians will Capture Jerusalem 
 21The message which came to Jeremiah from Jehovah,1when King Zedekiah sent the following request to himthrough Pashhur, the son of Malchiah and Zephaniah, 2the son of Maaseiah the priest. "Be good enough," theysaid, "to enquire of Jehovah on our behalf: for Nebuchadrezzar, the king of Babylon is fighting againstus. Perhaps Jehovah will so deal with us in His ownwonderful way that the siege will be raised."
 3To the deputation Jeremiah replied: "Take this 4answer back to Zedekiah. Thus saith Jehovah, theGod of Israel: Now you are able to fight outside the wall with the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans whoare besieging you; but soon I will drive you with the 5weapons you handle inside this city. And I myselfwill fight against you with outstretched hand andmighty arm — in anger, in fury, and in towering wrath. 6Yes, I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man 7and beast, with a great and deadly pestilence. There-after, saith Jehovah, Zedekiah, king of Judah and hisministers and the people in this city that survive thepestilence, sword and famine, I will deliver into thehands of Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, and intothe hands of their enemies, and into the hands of thosethat seek their life; and they shall smite them withthe edge of the sword without mercy, compassion, orpity.
 8To the people thy message shall be this. Thus saithJehovah: See! I set before you the way of life and the 9way of death. Whoever remains in this city shall dieby sword, famine, or pestilence; but whoever goes out and surrenders to the Chaldeans that besiege you shallbe spared, though he shall escape with nothing but 10his life. For, saith Jehovah, I have set My face againstthis city for evil and not for good; into the hands of theking of Babylon it shall be given, and he shall burn itwith fire.
 11To the royal house of Judah thy message shall be this.Hear ye the word of Jehovah.
 12O household of David, thus saith Jehovah:In the morning give righteous judgment,
Deliver the man that is plundered
From the clutch of his oppressor:
Lest My fury break forth like fire
And blaze unquenchably,
Because of your evil doings.
 13Behold, I am against thee,
Thou denizen of the vale
And the rock of the plain, saith Jehovah:
Ye who say, 'Who can come down against us
And find his way into our lairs?'
 14I will punish you, saith Jehovah;
The fruit of your deeds ye shall reap:
I will kindle a fire in her forest
Which round and round will devour."
Jeremiah's Judgment on the Kings of Judah
Solemn Warning 
 22Jehovah commanded me to go down to the palace1of the king of Judah and there deliver the following 2message: O king of Judah that sittest on the throne of David, listen to the word of Jehovah — thou and thyministers and thy people who enter these gates. 3Thus saith Jehovah: Conduct your administration onprinciples of justice and right, deliver the victimsof exploitation from the clutch of the oppressor, refrainfrom all wrong and violence to the resident alien, thefatherless and the widow, and shed no innocent blood 4in this place. If you carry out this policy faithfully,then kings upon the throne of David shall pass through tthe gates of this house, riding in chariots and on horses 5—they, their ministers and their people. But if youignore this message (of Mine), then, saith Jehovah, Isolemnly swear that this house shall be laid in ruins.
 6For thus saith Jehovah concerning the palace of theking of Judah:Though thou art to Me as Gilead,
Or the (thick-wooded) summit of Lebanon,
I will turn thee into a desert,
An unihabited city.
 7I will dedicate men to destroy thee,
Every one with his weapons;
They shall fell thy choicest cedars,
And hurl them into the fire.
 8The people of many nations, as they pass by this city,shall ask one another why Jehovah has dealt thus with 9this great city, and they shall answer: It is becausethey abandoned their convenant with Jehovah theirGod and gave themselves up to the worship and serviceof other gods.
On Jehoahaz
 10Weep not for him that is dead,
And mourn not for him;
But weep rather for him that is gone,
For he cometh no more:
And the land of his birth he shall see
Nevermore.
 11For this is the word of Jehovah concerning Shallum,the son of Josiah, king of Judah, the successor of hisfather Josiah, who went forth from this place: "He 12shall never come back to it again; but in the land ofexile to which they have carried him he shall die, andthis land he shall see no more."
On Jehoiakim
 13Woe to him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness,
And his chambers by injustice,
That serveth himself of his neighbour for nothing,
And giveth him not his wages—
 14That saith, "I will build me a spacious house,
And roomy chambers and windows broad,
With panels of cedar, and painted vermilion,"
 15Do great cedar palaces make thee a king?
Did not thy father eat and drink,
And enjoy his measure of good things?
Yet justice and right did he also dispense
 16And he cared for the cause of the poor and the needy.
Is not that true knowledge of Me, saith Jehovah?
 17But thou hast neither eyes nor heart
For aught save thine own mean profit,
The shedding of innocent blood,
And the practice of wrong and oppression.
 18This, therefore, is the message of Jehovah to Jehoia-
kim, the son Josiah, king of Judah:
Woe unto this man Jehoiakim!
No one for him shall lament
" O brother of mine," "O sister."
No one for him shall lament
"An lord!" "Alas for his glory."
 19But burial like that of an ass shall be his—
Dragged along and flung forth
Beyond the gates of Jerusalem.
On Jehoiachin
 20Get thee up tp Lebanon and cry,
And lift up thy voice in Bashan;
Cry from the hills of Abarim.
For all that thou lovest is shattered.
 21In the days of good fortune I spoke to thee,
But thou didst refuse to listen;
And such hath thy way been from youth,
To my voice thou hast never hearkened.
 22All thy shepherds like sheep by the wind shall be driven,
And those whom thou lovest shall captive depart;
Shame and confusion shall then be thy doom,
In requital for all thy wickedness.
 23O thou that inhabitest Lebanon,
Nestled amongst the cedars,
How wilt thou groan when thy pangs come upon thee,
Thy pain as of woman in travail!
 24As truly as I live, saith Jehovah, though Coniah,the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were the signet-ring on thy right hand, yet I would tear him off
 25Yea, I will delilver thee into the hands of those thatseek thy life, and into the hands of those thou dreadest,into the hands of Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, 26and into the hands of the Chaldeans. Yea, thee andthe mother that bore thee I will hurl into another landthan the land thou wast born in, and there thou shalt 27die. Nevermore shall they return to the land to whichthey long to return. 28Hath this man Coniah become
Like a figure one smasheth in scorn,
Or a vessel that no man doth care for?
Why hath he been cast forth,
And hurled to a land that was strange to him?
 29O land, land, land,
Hear thou the word of Jehovah.
 30Thus saith Jehovah:
Write this man down as childless;
For none of his seed shall be honoured
To sit on the throne of David
Or rule any more over Judah.
Unfaithful Rulers to be Succeeded by those that are Faithful 
 23Woe to the shepherds that ruin and scatter
1The flock that was theirs to pasture.
 2Therefore thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel,
Concerning the shepherds that tend my people:
Ye have scattered My flock and driven them away,
And ye have not visited them;
I therefore will visit you
For the wickedness of your doings.
 3I will gather My flock that is left
From the countries to which I have driven them;
I will bring them back to their homesteads,
And they shall be fruitful and multiply.
 4I will raise up shepherds to tend to them:
No fear or dismay or terror
Shall they know any more, saith Jehovah.
Promise of the Ideal King, or Messiah
 5Behold, saith Jehovah, in the days that are coming
I will raise up to David a righteous shoot,
Who shall reign as King, and behave with wisdom,
And execute justice and right in the land.
 6In his days shall Judah be crowned with salvation,
And Israel in safety shall dwell;
And this is the name men shall call him—
"Our Champion is Jehovah."
 7Therefore, behold, saith Jehovah, days are comingwhen men shall no more say, "As surely as Jehovahliveth who brought Israel up out of the land of Egypt," 8but "As surely as Jehovah liveth who brought the raceof the household of Israel from the north country andfrom all the countries to which He had driven them";and they shall dwell in their own land.
Jeremiah's Judgment on the Prophets
The Character and Fate of the False Prophets
 9Concerning the prophets.
My heart within me is broken,
My bones are all grown soft;
Like a drunken man am I,
Like a man overcome of wine,
By reason of Jehovah
And of His glorious majesty.
 10For the land is full of adulterers
Who run an evil course,
And whose might is not of right.
 11For prophet and priest are profane:
Their wickedness I have witnessed
In Mine own very house, saith Jehovah.
 12The way they must tread shall be therefore
As slippery ground in the darkness,
Whereon they are thrust till they fall:
For I will bring evil upon them—
The year of their visitation.
 13In samaria's prophets I witnessed
Behaviour that was revolting;
They prophesied by the Baal
And seduced My people Israel.
 14But a horrible thing have I seen
In the prophets of Jerusalem—
Adultery, walking in falsehood,
And strengthening the hands of the wicked,
That no man doth turn from his wickedness.
They are all of them grown like Sodom,
And her citizens like Gomorrah.
 15Thus therefore concerning the prophets
Declareth Jehovah of Hosts:
Behold! I will feed them with wormwood,
And gall will I give them to drink;
For from Jerusalem's prophets there spreadeth
Impiety over the land.
The Promises are False, because the Prophets are not Divinely Inspired
 16Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts:
Hearken not to the words of the prophets;
They fill you with hopes that are vain.
'Tis their own heart's vision they utter,
And not what Jehovah hath spoken.
 17They assure thos who mock at the word of Jehovah
That all with them shall be well.
They assure those who follow their own stubborn hearts
That no evil shall come upon them.
 18But which of them ever hath stood and looked on
In the council of Jehovah?
Or which of them ever hath listened
And heard any word of His?
 21I sent not the prophets, and yet they ran;
Notwithstanding I spoke not to them, yet they prophesied.
 22But if ever they truly had stood in My council
And heard any word that was Mine,
My people they would have turned
From their evil ways and behaviour.
Inescapable Doom of the False Prophets
 23Am I, saith Jehovah, a God that is nigh,
And not a God afar?
 24Can any man hide, saith Jehovah,
In secret, where I cannot see him?
Do not I fill heaven and earth?
 25I have heard what the prophets say,
That prophesy lies in My name;
"I have dreamed, I have dreamed, I have dreamed."
 26Will the heart of the prophets not turn
That prophesy lies, and that prophesy
Nought but their own heart's delusions,
 27And think to drive My name
Clean out of the minds of My people
By the dreams that they tell one another,
As erst by the Baal My name
Was driven from the mind of their fathers?
 28The prophet that hath a dream—
Let him declare his dream:
And he that hath My word—
Let him faithfully utter My word.
What hath straw, saith Jehovah, to do with the wheat?
 29Is not My word like a fire,
Like a hammer that shatters the rocks?
 30Mark this, therefore, saith Jehovah, I am againstthe prophets that steal My words from one another. 31I am against the prophets who take their tongues 32and immediately reel off an oracle. I am against the prophets that prophesy living dreams, seducing Mypeople by their lies and their windy boasts. They have not been sent by Me, nor have they any commissionfrom Me, and to this people they bring no sort of gainwhatever.
The "Burden" of the Lord No More
 33When a layman or a prophet or a priest asketh theewhat is the burden of Jehovah, tell them, "You"saith Jehovah, "are the burden, and I will cast you off. 34As for the prophet, the priest, or the layman, whospeaks any more of Jehovah's 'burden,', that man and 35his household I will visit with judgment. You mustsay to one another, 'What is Jehovah's answer?' or 36'What is Jehovah's message?' But you are not tomake mention to the burden of Jehovah any more.Every man's own (uninspired) word shall be hisburden; for you have perverted the words of the 38living God, Jehovah of Hosts, our God. If, however,you persist in speaking of 'the burden of Jehovah,'Jehovah pronounces this word of doom: Because youpersist in using this expression 'burden of Jehovah,'despite My explicit command to you not to use it, 39I will lift you up and cast you out of My sight — you 40and the city I gave to you and your fathers, and Iwill lay upon you everlasting reproach and unendingdisgrace which shall never be forgotten."
The Baskets of Figs and their Meaning 
 24After Jeconiah, the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah,1with the princes, the craftsmen and the smiths, had beencarried from Jerusalem by Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, into exile in Babylon, Jehovah in a visionshowed me two baskets of figs set down in front of 2Jehovah's Temple. One basket contained excellentfigs, like the figs that are first ripe: the figs in the otherwere very bad, so bad that they could not be eaten."
 3Then Jehovah said to me, "What seest thou, Jere-miah?" And I answered, "Figs — the good figs verygood, and the bad very bad, so bad that they cannot beeaten."
 4Thereupon this message came to me from Jehovah,
 5"Thus saith Jehovah the God of Israel: As with thesegood figs, so will I regard with favour the exiles of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land 6of the Chaldeans. I will set Mine eyes upon them forgood, and bring them back to this land. I will not pullthem down, but I will build them; I will not pluck themup, but I will plant them; and I will give them a heartto understand me, that I am Jehovah. They shall beMy people and I will be their God, if they turn to Mewith all their heart.
 8As for the figs that were too bad to eat, Thus saithJehovah: They are symbolic of the fate of Zedekiah,king of Judah, and his princes, and the survivors of Jerusalem that are left in this land, and those whose 9home is in the land of Egypt. For I will make theman object of consternation among every kingdom inthe world, a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and acurse, in every place to which I shall drive them; 10and I will send among them sword, famine and pesti-lence, till they perish from the land that I gave to themand their forefathers.
The Divine Judgment to be Executed by the Babylonians upon Judah, upon the Neighbouring Nations, and upon the World at Large
Prophetic Warning Disregarded by the People 
 25The message which came to Jeremiah concerning all1the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim,the son of Josiah, king of Judah, which was the first 2year of Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon — the mes-sage he delivered to all the people of Judah and allthe citizens of Jerusalem:
 3For twenty-three years — from the thirteenth yearof Josiah, the son of Amon, king of Judah, up to thisday — the message of Jehovah has been coming to me,and I have declared it to you early and late, but you 4have not listened. And early and late Jehovah hasbeen sending to you all His servants the prophets,through you have not listened nor inclined an attentive 5ear. My message was this: "If you abandon, everyman of you, your wicked ways and your evil behaviour,then you shall dwell for ever in the land which Jehovah,gave in the ancient time to you and your forefathers. 6But do not indulge in the worship or service of othergods, and do not provoke Jehovah with the fabri-cations of your own hands: this can only injure your- 7selves." But you have not listened to me.
Judgment upon Judah and Her Neighbours
 8Therefore thus saith Jehovah of Hosts: Because 9ye have not listened to My words, I will send andfetch a clan from the north, and I will bring themagainst this land and its inhabitants and against thesorrounding nation. I will devote them to destruc-tion so appalling that men shall hiss and revile them 10for ever; and I will banish form them the voice of mirthand gladness, the voice of bridegroom and bride, thesound of the millstones and the light of the lamp. 11This whole land shall be a waste and a horror, andthese nations shall serve the king of Babylon for seventyyears.
 12When, however, seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith Jehovah, for theirguilt, and also the land of the Chaldeans, which I will make 13desolate for ever; and I will bring upon that land all the words I have pronounced against it — everything prophesied byJeremiah against all the nations, that is recorded in this Book. 14They, yes they, shall be reduced to slavery at the hands of many nations and of great kings, and I will give them the rewardthat their acts and deeds deserve.
The Cup of Jehovah's Fury to be Drunk by all Nations
 15For thus said Jehovah, the God of Israel, to me,"Take from My hand this wine-cup of wrath, and giveit to all the nations to whom I send thee to drink from; 16and let them drink and reel in madness because of the 17sword that I will send among them." So I took thecup from the hand of Jehovah, and I gave it to all the nations to whom Jehovah had sent me, to drink from— 18Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, with her kings and princes, to be made a desolation, a horror, a scorn, 19and a curse; Pharaoh, king of Egypt, with his 20ministers, his princes, and all his people, and allthe foreign folk; all the kings of the land of Uz, andall the kings of the land of the Philistines — Ashkelon, 21Gaza, Ekron, and the survivors of Ashdod; Edom, 22Moab, and Ammon; all the kings of Tyre and sidon;and the kings of the coast-land across the sea; 23Dedan and Tema and Buz, and all those that have the 24corners of their hair clipped; all the kings of NorthernArabia, and all the kings of the north, far and near,one with another, and all the kingdoms on the face ofthe earth; and after them shall the king of Sheshachdrink.
 27Thou shalt say to them, Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts,the God of Israel: Drink yourselves drunk till ye fall inyour vomit, to rise no more, because of the sword that I 28shall send among you. If they refuse to take the cup fromthy hand to drink, then thou shalt say to them, Thus saith 29Jehovah of Hosts: Drink it you shall; for, if the citywhich is called by Mine own name is the first to feel theweight of My displeasure, how can you expect to goutterly unpunished? Nay, verily, ye shall not escape;for I am summoning the sword upon all the inhabitantsof the earth, saith Jehovah of Hosts.
 30As for thee, let thy prophetic message to them bethis:Jehovah will roar from on high,
He will utter His voice from His holy abode;
Against His own fold He will mightily roar,
He will lift a "hurrah" like the men at the vintage
Against those that dwell on the earth, every one.
 31Then din shall reach to the end of the earth,
For Jehovah doth hold a dispute with the nations;
Yeah, He with all flesh will contend in judgment,
And those that are base He will give to the sword.
 32Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts:
See! misery spreadeth from nation to nation;
From the uttermost corners of earth
There stirreth a mighty tempest.
 33That day the slain of Jehovah shall lie
From one end of the earth to the other,
Unmourned, ungathered, unburied,
As dung on the face of the ground.
 34Howl, ye shepherds, and cry,
And roll you in ashes, ye lords of the flock;
For the days are ripe for your slaughter,
Like lambs that are doomed shall ye fall.
 35No escape shall be left for the shepherds,
No flight for the lords of the flock;
 36O hark to the cry of the shepherds,
The howl of the lords of the flock;
For Jehovah destroyeth their pasture.
 37The meadows, so peaceful, are hushed
At the fierce hot wrath of Jehovah.
 38The lions have left their covert,
For the land is become a desert,
Because of the cruel sword,
And because of His fierce hot anger.
Jeremiah on Trial for his life 
 26In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim, the son of 1Josiah, king of Judah, the message which follows came 2(to Jeremiah) from Jehovah: Thus saith Jehovah,Take thy stand in the Temple court, and declare with-out reservation to all the people of Judah who are cometo worship in the Temple, the whole message that I 3have commissioned thee to declare. It may be thatthey will listen and severally abandon their wickedways: if they do, I will relent and not bring upon themthe calamity I am planning as penalty for their evil 4behaviour. This, then, is what thou art to say tothem, Thus saith Jehovah: If ye refuse to obey Me—to live in accordance with the law that I have set before 5you, and to listen, as ye have never yet listened, to thewords of My servants the prophets, whom early and 6late I have been sending to you — then I will make thisTemple like Shiloh, and as for this city, I will turn itinto an object of execration to every nation in the world.
 7Now the audience that listened to this message ofJeremiah's in the Temple included not only the wholebody of the people, but the priests and the prophets 8as well. So when he had concluded the message whichJehovah had commissioned him to declare to the whole 9people, the priests and the prophets seized him. "Youmust die," they exclaimed; "for how dare youdeliver in the name of Jehovah such a message as this,that this Temple will meet the fate of Shiloh, and thatthis city shall become an inhabited desolation?"At this juncture all the people began to crowd roundJeremiah in the Temple.
 10Now echoes of this tumult having reached the earsof the countries of Judah, they proceeded from thepalace up to the Temple; and after they had takentheir seats at the entrance to the new gate of the Temple, 11the priests and the prophets addressed themselves tothe countries and the whole body of the people. "Thisman." they said, "is guilty of a capital offence; forhe has solemnly declared that this city is doomed— 12you have heard him with your own ears. ThenJeremiah in his turn addressed himself to the courtiersand to the whole body of the people. "It is JehovahHimself," he said, "that has sent me to proclaim uponthis Temple and city the doom which you have just 13heard. If, however, you amend your life and con-duct, and listen to the voice of Jehovah your God, thenHe will relent and cancel His threat of catastrophe. 14As for myself, I am in your hands: deal with me as 15you think right and proper. But be very sure of this,that, if you put me to death, you will only be bringinginnocent blood upon yourselves, upon this city, andupon her people; for it is the simple truth that Jehovahhas sent me to deliver this message in your hearing." 16Thereupon, the courtiers and all the people said to thepriests and the prophets, "This man is not guilty of any capital offence; for his message to us has behindit the authority of Jehovah our God."
 17Them some of the elders, rising to their feet, thus ad- 18dressed the people assembled: "In the days of Hezekiah,king of Judah," they said, "Micah of Moresheth wasprophesying; and this is what he said to all the peopleof Judah:Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts:Like a field shall Zion be ploughed,
And Jerusalem levelled to ruins;
And the Temple Mount shall become
Like a thickly wooded height.
 19Did Hezekiah the king or the people of Judah dreamof putting him to death? Rather were they not so over-come by godly fear that they sued for the favour of Jehovah, with the result that He relented and cancelledHis threat of catastrophe? But look at us! Why, we areon the verge of involving ourselves in a great calamity."
 24Jeremiah, however, had (also) the support of Ahikam,the son of Shaphan, who saved him from being deliveredto the people for execution.
The Fate of Urijah
 20There was another case of a man who deliveredprophetic messages in the name of Jehovah — Uriah,the son of Shemaiah, who belonged to Kiriath-jearim.Quite in the manner of Jeremiah, he too had pronounced 21the doom of this city and land. His message havingreached the ears of King Jehoiakim, with all the courtand the military officials, the king took steps to havehim put to death. Urijah, however, got wind of hispurpose, and in terror he took to flight, finally reaching 22Egypt; but King Jehoiakim despatched commis-sioners to Egypt — Elnathan the son of Achbor, and a few 23others — who removed him from Egypt and broughthim back to the presence of King Jehoiakim, whohad him slain with the sword, and his dead body flunginto the public burying-ground.
No Hope of Speedy Release from Babylon
The Babylonian Yoke will not be soon or easily Broken 
 27In the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah, the son1of Josiah, king of Judah, Jeremiah received from 2Jehovah the message which follows. Thus spokeJehovah: Make thongs and bars and put them on 3thy neck, and send a message to the kings of Edom,Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon, through their am-bassadors who have come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah, 4king of Judah, and bid them say to their masters,"Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: 5Convey this message to your masters. I have madethe earth, with man and beast on the face of it,by My great power and outstretched arm, and I give it 6to whomsoever I please. At the moment I have givenall these lands into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, kingof Babylon, My servant; the beasts of the field alsohave I given him to serve him.
 7All the nations shall serve him and his son and his grandson,till the time of his own land shall come — then many nationsand great kings shall make him serve.
 8The nation and the kingdom which refuses to serveNebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and to put theirnecks to the yoke of the king of Babylon — that nation,saith Jehovah, I will punish with sword, famine and pestilence, till I have delivered them into his hands.
 9As for yourselves, do not listen to your prophets,diviners, dreamers, soothsayers, or sorcerers, who assure you that you will not be subject to the king of 10Babylon. It is a lie that they preach to you, and itwill end in your removal from your own land; for I 11will indeed drive you away and ye shall perish. Butthe nation that brings its neck to the yoke of the king of Babylon and serves him, I will leave on their own soil,which they shall continue to till and occupy."
 12A similar message I gave to zedekiah, king of Judah,"If,' said I, "you bring your neck to the yoke of theking of Babylon, and serve him and his people, you will 13be spared. Why should you and your people die by thesword, famine and pestilence, with which Jehovah hasthreatened the nation that refuses to serve the king of 14Babylon? Do not listen to the prophets when they tellyou that you will not be subject to the king of Babylon: 15they are preaching to you a lie. I have not sent them,saith Jehovah: it is a lie that they are preaching to youin My name, and it can only end in your being drivenout and perishing — you and the prophets that preachto you."
 16And the message that I gave to the priests and to allthis people was this: "Thus saith Jehovah: Do notlisten to the prophets when they tell you that the vesselsof the Temple will soon be brought back from Babylon. 17They are preaching to you a lie: do not listen to them.Serve the king of Babylon and you will be spared: 18why should this city become a ruin? But if they arereal prophets with a real message from Jehovah, letthem entreat Jehovah of Hosts not to allow the vesselsthat are left in the Temple and in the royal palace at 19Jerusalem, to be taken to Babylon. For thus saithJehovah of Hosts concerning the pillars and the seaand the stands and the rest of the vessels that are left 20in this city, which were not taken by Nebuchadnezzar,king of Babylon, when he carried Jeconiah, the son ofJehoiakim, king of Judah, with all the nobles of Judah 21and Jerusalem, from Jerusalem to Babylon. Yes,thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, con-cerning the vessels that are left in the Temple and in 22the royal palace and at Jerusalem; To Babylonthey shall be brought, and there they shall remain tillthe day that I visit them, saith Jehovah; then I willbring them up and restore them to this place."
The Clash between the False Prophet and the True 
 28The same year, at the beginning of the reign of 1Zedekiah, king of Judah, in the fifth month of the fourthyear, Hananiah the son of Azzur, the prophet, whobelonged to Gibeon, addressed me as follows in theTemple in the presence of the priests and of all the 2people. "Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, the God ofIsrael: 'I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. 3Within two years' time I will bring back to this place allthe Temple vessels that Nebuchadnezzar, king ofBabylon took from this place and carried to Babylon; 4and Jeconiah, the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, andall the exiles of Judah that have gone to Babylon, Iwill bring back to this place, saith Jehovah; for I willbreak the yoke of the king of Babylon.'"
 5Then Jeremiah the prophet replied to Hananiah theprophet in the presence of the priests and of all the people that were standing in the Temple; and Jeremiah 6the prophet said, "Amen! Jehovah do so! MayJohevah fulfil your prophecy and bring back the Templevessels and all the exiles from Babylon to this place! 7I ask you, however to listen to this word that I amabout to speak in your hearing and in the hearing of all 8the people. From the beginning the prophets who pre-ceded you and me in their messages concerning many 9lands and mighty kingdoms, prophesied war. If aprophet prophesies peace, it is only when his word hasbeen fulfilled that you can be sure that he has had a real 10commission from Jehovah." Then Hananiah took the 11bar off Jeremiah's neck, broke it, and declared in thepresence of all the people, "Thus saith Jehovah:'Within two years' time, I will similarly break theyoke of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, off thenecks of all the nations.'" Then Jeremiah the prophetwent away.
 12But after Hananiah had broken the bar off Jeremiah's neck, there came to Jeremiah this message from 13Jehovah: "Go and say to Hananiah, Thus saithJehovah, The wooden bar you have indeed broken,but 14I will replace it with a bar of iron. For thus saithJehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: The yoke that Iwill put on the necks of all these nations will be madeof iron — a yoke of service to Nebuchadnezzar, king ofBabylon: for serve him they shall. I have also given 15him the beasts of the field." Then Jeremiah said toHananiah, "Listen, Hananiah. You have no com- 16mission from Jehovah: you are making this peopletrust a lie. Therefore thus saith Jehovah: 'Mark thiswell: I will dismiss thee from the face of the earth.This very year thou shalt die; for thy words are a 17disloyalty to Jehovah.'" And that very year, in theseventh month, the prophet Hananaiah died.
Jeremiah Exhorts the Exiles to settle down in Babylon 
 29The following is a copy of the letter sent from1Jerusalem by Jeremiah the prophet to the elders, the priests, the prophets, and all the people, who had beencarried from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar to exile in 2Babylon — after the surrender of Jeconiah the king,and the queen-mother, and the eunuchs, and the princesof Judah and Jerusalem, and the craftsmen and smiths— 3the letter being sent by the hands of Eleasah the son ofShaphan and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, who hadbeen despatched to Babylon to Nebuchanezzar, king ofBabylon, by Zedekiah, king of Judah:
 4"Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, toall the exiles whom I have carried from Jerusalem to 5Babylon: Build houses and settle; plant gardensand eat the fruit of them; take wives and rear families; 6take wives also for your sons and give your daughtersto husbands, that they may have sons and daughters;increase your numbers and do not let them diminish. 7And strive for the welfare of the country to which Ihave brought you as exiles. Pray for it to Jehovah;for your own welfare and hers are bound up together. 8For thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel:Do not let yourselves be beguiled by the prophets anddiviners in your midst, and do not listen to the dreams 9they dream; for it is a lie that they preach to you inMy name — they have no commission from Me, saithJehovah.
 10For thus saith Jehovah: As soon as Babylon's seventy years are accomplished, I will visit you and bring you back to this place, in fulfilment of the garcious 11promise I made you. For I know the thoughts I cherishtowards you — thoughts of weal and not of woe — to 12bestow upon you a future and a hope. When youcall, I will answer you, and I will listen to your 13prayer. If ye seek Me ye shall find Me. If ye seek 14Me with all your heart, I will reveal Myself to you,saith Jehovah; and I will restore your fortunes and gather youfrom all the nations and places to which I have driven you,saith Jehovah, and I will bring you back to the place fromwhich I carried you into exile.
 16For thus saith Jehovah concerning the king who sits onthe throne of David, and concerning all the people whose homeis in this city — those brethren of yours who have not had to 17accompany you into exile. Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts: See! Iwill send the sword, the famine and the pestilence among them,and I will make them like figs that are too horribly bad to eat. 18I will hunt them with sword, famine, and pestilence and I willmake them an object of consternation to every kingdom in theworld, and object of execration and horror, of scorn and insult 19among all the nations to which I have driven them; because,saith Jehovah, they refused to listen to the messages I sent themearly and late through My servants the prophets — yes, they 20refused to listen, saith Jehovah. See, then, that ye listen to Jehovah's message, all of you exiles whom I have sent fromJerusalem to Babylon. 15But Jehovah, you say, has raised up for you prophets 21in Babylon. Well, thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, theGod of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah andZedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who preach to you a liein My name. Mark this: I will deliver them into thehands of Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, and he 22will slay them before your eyes; and their fate shall beadopted by all the exiles of Judah in Babylon as amodel for imprecation. "Jehovah make thee," theywill say, "like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of 23Babylon roasted in the fire," because they wroughtimpious folly in Israel, in committing adultery withtheir neighbours' wives and delivering in My namelying messages which I never gave them. Well I know it, saith Jehovah, and I am witness."
 24Touching the message of Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, to be delivered by Jeremiah concerning 25Shemaiah of Nehelam. This is the man who sent aletter in his own name to Zephaniah, the son of 26Maaseiah the priest. "Jehovah," he wrote, "hasmade you priest in the place of Jehoiada the priest,to exercise an oversight in the Temple over all that playthe mad prophet and the ecstatic, and to put all such 27in the stocks and in the iron collar. Why then did younot rebuke Jeremiah of Anathoth, who has been playing 28the mad prophet among you? For he has sent a message to us in Babylon, maintaining that the exilewould be long, and urging us to build houses and settle,and to plant gardens and eat the fruit of them." 29Now Zephaniah the priest read the letter in the hearingof Jeremiah the prophet.
 30Then there came to Jeremiah this message from 31Jehovah: Send to all the exiles and say, Thus saithJehovah concerning Shemaiah of Nehelam: Shemaiahhas been prophesying to you without any commission 32from Me and has made you trust in a lie. For thisreason, therefore— thus saith Jehovah — I will punishShemaiah of Nehelam and his descendants: not a man shall he have among you who will ever see the goodfortune I will bring you, saith Jehovah: for his wordsare a disloyalty to Jehovah.
The Glorious Future
The Restoration of Israel and Judah
Promise of Deliverance in the Day of Distress 
 30The message which came to Jeremiah from Jehovah: 2Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel: Write all the 3words I have spoken to thee in a book. For mark!the days are coming, saith Jehovah, when I will restorethe fortunes of My people Israel and Judah, and re-establish them in possession of the land I gave theirforefathers.
 4Now these are the words Jehovah hath spoken 5concerning Israel and Judah. Yea, thus saith Jehovah:
We have heard a cry of terror,
Of horror and dispeace.
 6Ask ye now and see
If a man doth travail with child.
What meaneth them this sight—
Every man with his hands on his loins?
And what mean all these faces
Turned to a deathly pallor?
 7Alas! for great is this day,
No day is like unto it;
A time of distress for Jacob—
Yet out of it he shall be saved.
 8On that day, saith Jehovah of Hosts,
I will break the yoke from their necks;
I will snap their bonds asunder,
And strangers no more shall they serve.
 9But Jehovah their God they shall serve.
And David also, their king,
Whom I will raise up unto them.
 10So fear thou not, O Jacob My servant,
O Israel, be not dismayed, saith Jehovah.
For see! I will save both thee and thine offspring
From the far distant land where captive ye lie.
And Jacob once more shall have quite and ease
In his own land, with no one make him afraid;
 11For I, saith Jehovah, am with thee to save thee.
An end I will make of the nations—
Of each, among whom I have scattered thee;
But of thee I will not make an end.
I will not leave thee wholly unpunished,
But in measure I will chastise thee.
Promise of Healing
 12For thus saith Jehovah:
Thou art wounded past all healing,
And smitten very sore.
 13There is no one to plead thy cause;
No healing for thy wound,
Thy scars remain unclosed.
 14Thy lovers have all forgotten thee,
They care for thee no more.
I have struck thee as foemen strike,
With chastisement unpitying,
Because of thy manifold guilt
And thy sins` that are grown so mighty.
 15Why criest thou over thy wound,
That thy pain is past all healing?
'Tis because of thy manifold guilt
And thy sins that are grown so mighty,
I have done these things unto thee.
 16Devoured shall be therefore all those that devour thee,
Thine enemies all shall go into captivity;
Those that despoil thee themselves shall be spoiled,
And thy plunders I will consign to be plundered.
 17I will cause new flesh to grow over thy wound,
I will heal thy scars, saith Jehovah;
For men have called thee an outcast,
"Our quarry" — for whom none careth.
The Happy City, with her Native Prince
 18Thus saith Jehovah:
The tents that were Jacob's I yet will restore,
On the sites that were his I will show My compassion;
On her own proper mound shall the city be built,
And the place shall stand on its rightful site.
 19And out of them songs of praise shall float,
And the voices of them that make merry;
I will add to their numbers till many they be,
I will crown them with glory, and they shall be honoured.
 20Their children shall be as in days of old,
And their sacred assembly safe under My care;
I will punish all those that oppress them.
 21Their prince shall be one of themselves,
And their ruler shall come from among them.
I will let him draw nigh and approach Me,
For where is the man, saith Jehovah,
That else had the courage to face Me?
 22And ye shall be My people,
And I will be your God.
Judgment shall Break upon the Wicked
 23Hark! 'tis Jehovah's tempest,
It goeth forth with fury—
A whirling temptest that whirleth
Full straight for the heads of the wicked.
 24The glowing wrath of Jehovah
Shall not be backward turned,
Until He have fully accomplished
The purpose of His heart.
At the end of the days ye shall know what this meaneth.
Israel's Happy Return form Exile 
 31At that time, saith Jehovah,
1I will be God indeed
Unto all the families of Israel,
And they shall be My people.
 2Thus saith Jehovah:
The people escaped from the sword
shall most surely find grace in the wilderness.
When Israel seeketh for rest,
 3From afar will Jehovah appear to him.
I have loved thee with love everlasting.
And so I with kindness have drawn thee.
 4Once more, O virgin of Israel,
I will build thee up securely:
Once more shalt thou deck thee with timbrels,
And step in the merry dance;
 5Once more on the hills of Samaria
Shall vineyards be planted by thee,
And the planters shall eat what they planted.
 6For a day shall come when the watchers
On Ephraim's highlands shall cry,
"Arise, let us pilgrim to Zion,
Where dwelleth Jehovah our God."
 7For thus saith Jehovah to Jacob,
Ring out a cry of joy;
Shout on the top of the mountains,
Publish, and praise, and say,
"Jehovah hath saved His people,
The remnant of Israel."
 8Behold, from the north land I bring them,
And out of earth's uttermost parts I will gather them—
Among them the blind and the lame,
And the women with child, with those soon to be mothers;
Hither again they shall come — a great company.
 9Forth they went with tears,
But their homeward way I will comfort;
I will lead them to streams of water,
On a level way without stumbling;
For I am a Father to Israel,
And Ephraim is My first-born.
 10Hear, O ye nations, the word of Jehovah,
Declare it to far distant islands and say,
"He that scattered Israel shall gather him,
And keep him as shepherd his flock."
 11For Jehovah hath ransomed Jacob,
And redeemed him from hands that were stronger than his.
 12They shall come, they shall sing on the heights of Zion,
All radiant with joy at the gifts of Jehovah—
The corn and the wine and the oil,
And the young of the flock and the herd;
Their soul like a well-watered garden shall be,
And they shall pine no more.
 13Then the maids shall rejoice in the dance,
And the young and the old shall be merry;
I will turn their mourning to joy,
I will comfort and gladden them after their sorrow.
 14The priests I will satisfy richly,
My folk shall be filled with My bounty.
Mother Rachel's Sorrow for her Exiled Children
 15Hark! there echoes through Ramah,
Lament and bitter weeping:
'Tis Rachel bewailing her children,
And refusing to be comforted,
Because they are no more.
 16Thus saith Jehovah:
Restrain thy voice from weeping,
And keep thine eyes from tears;
For thy work shall have its reward,
From the land of the foe shall thy children return.
 17There is hope for thy coming days,
Thy children shall return.
Israel's Penitence, Return and Welcome Home
 18Truly I heard the voice
Of Ephraim thus lamenting,
"Thou hast chastened me, and I was chastened;
Like a calf unbroken was I.
Bring me back, and let me return,
For Thou art Jehovah my God.
 19Mine exile hath led me to penitence;
Chastened, I smote on my beasts.
Put to shame and confusion am I,
For I bear the reproach of my youth."
 20Is not Ephraim my dear, dear son?
Is he not a darling child?
For let Me but utter his name,
And My mind keeps resting upon him.
So My heart for him doth yearn,
And pity him I must.
 21Set way-marks, and make thee guide-posts;
Bethink thee of the highway,;
The road by which thou didst travel.
Return, O virgin of Israel,
Return to these thy cities.
 22How long, O backsliding daughter,
Wilt thou remain irresolute?
For on earth hath Jehovah created a new thing,
A woman shall into a man be transformed.
The Restoration of Judah
 23Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts:
Once more shall this speech be used
In the land and the cities of Judah,
When I have restored their fortunes:
"Jehovah grant thee His blessing,
Thou sacred Mountain, where righteousness dwelleth."
 24Yea, Judah shall dwell therein,
And all her cities together—
The men that plough the land,
And the shepherds that wander with flocks.
 25For the weary soul I refresh,
And each soul that doth pine I replenish.
 26Thereupon I awoke and gazed,
For my sleep had been sweet unto me.
 27Behold, saith Jehovah, the days are coming,
When I will sow the households of Israel and Judah
With the seed of men and the seed of cattle.
 28And as once I was awakeful to pluck them up,
To break down, to afflict, overthrow and destroy them,
So now I will watch over them (once more,
But this time) to build up and to plant, saith Jehovah.
 29In those days men shall say no more,
"The fathers have eaten sour grapes,
And the children's teeth are on edge;"
 30But each for his own sin shall die.
And the man that hath eaten sour grapes
Shall find his own teeth set on edge.
The New Covenant
 31Behold the days are coming,
When I, saith Jehovah, will make a new covenant
With the households of Israel and Judah—
 32But unlike the covenant I made with their fathers,
The day, when I took their hand in Mine,
To bring them out of the land of Egypt—
The covenant they themselves did break,
So that I, on My part, was constrained to abhor them.
 33But this, saith Jehovah, is the covenant I will make
With the household of Israel after those days:
I will set My law in their bosom,
And write it upon their heart,
And I will be their God,
And they shall be My people.
 24No more need any teach
His fellow to know Jehovah;
For one and all shall know Me,
The small and the great alike;
For I will pardon their guilt,
And their sin will remember no more.
Perpetuity of Israel
 35Thus declareth Jehovah,
Who giveth the sun for a light by day, 
The moon and the stars for a light by night,
Who stirreth the sea that the waves thereof roar—
Jehovah of Hosts is His name:
 36Not until those fixed orbs shall vanish
Clean out of My sight, saith Jehovah,
Shall Israel's race cease to be
A nation before Me for ever.
 37Not till the heavens above can be measured,
And earth's foundations be searched out beneath,
Shall I ever cast off the race of Israel
For all they have done, saith Jehovah.
Expansion of Jerusalem's Ancient Boundary
 38Be assured, saith Jehovah, the days are coming, whenthe city shall again be built up for Jehovah from the
 39tower of Hananel to the gate at the corner, and theline of the wall shall pass straight on to the hill Gareb,
 40where it will turn round to Goah. Further, the entirevalley (of Hinnom) with its corpses and ashes andthe whole locality as far as the valley of Kidron upto the corner of the horse-gate on the east, shall beconsecrated to Jehovah; it shall not be plucked up orthrown down again for ever.
During the Siege Jeremiah Displays his Confidence in the UlimateRestoration of his People by Redeeming a Piece of Land Belonging to hisFamily at Anathoth
The Purchase 
 32The message which came to Jeremiah from Jehovah1in the tenth year of Zedekiah, king of Judah, which 2was in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar. At thattime the forces of the king of Babylon were investingJerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was confined to 3the guard-house of the royal palace, where Zedekiah theking had shut him up on account of his propheticpreaching. "What do you mean," he had demanded,"by an announcement of this kind: 'Thus saithJehovah, Depend upon it, I will give this city into thehands of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it. 4Nor shall Zedekiah, king of Judah, escape the hands ofthe Chaldeans; he will assuredly be delivered into thehands of the king of Babylon. He shall speak to him 5face to face, and see him eye to eye; and he shall bringZedekiah to Babylon, where he will remain till I visithim. Though you fight with the Chaldeans you shallhave no success.'"
 6Now there came to Jeremiah the following message 7from Jehovah: "Hanamel, the son of thine uncleShallum, is about to pay thee a visit, to request thee tobuy the land he holds at Anathoth; and he will urgethat, as thou art the next of kin, it is thy privilege and 8duty to receive it." And so it happened: my cousinHanamel paid me in the guard-house the visit Jehovahhad intimated, and said: "I want you to buy the landI possess at Anathoth; for you are the legal heir, andit is your duty to secure it — so buy it for yourself."Then I recognised that the message I had received was 9really from Jehovah. So I bought the land at Anathothfrom my cousin Hanamel, and I weighed out the money 10to him — seventeen silver shekels. Then I signed thedeed and sealed it, took witnesses, and paid him the 11money in full. I then took the purchase-deed—the one which was sealed and the one which was open— 12and gave it to Baruch, the son of Neriah, the son ofMachesiah, in the presence of my cousin Hanamel, andof the witnesses who had signed the purchase-deed 13and of all the Jews in the guard-house. In theirpresence I then gave these instructions to Baruch: 14"Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel:Take these deeds — this purchase deed which is sealedand this deed which is open — and put them in anearthenware jar, so that they may be preserved for a 15long time to come. For thus saith Jehovah of Hosts,the God of Israel: A time is coming when houses andfields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land."
The Prophet's Prayer
 16Now, after I had given the purchase-deed to Baruch,the son of Neriah, I prayed in these words to Jehovah: 17"Ah, Lord Jehovah! Thou, by Thy mighty power andoutstretched arm, hast made the heavens and the earth, 18and nothing is too hard for Thee. Kindness Thoushowest to thousands, and retribution for the guilt of the fathers thou bringest home to their children after 19them, Thou great and mighty God, great in purpose andmighty in action, whose eyes are open to all the ways of men, giving to each his deserts and the fruit of his deeds. 20In the land of Egypt Thou didst set in Israel andamong (other) men signs and wonders (which arecommemorated) unto this day, and so didst win for 21Thyself the renown that is Thine to-day; and Thoudidst bring Thy people Israel out of the land of Egyptby signs and wonders, with mighty hand out- 22stretched arm and terrors great; and Thou gavest themthis land which Thou didst swear to their fathers togive them — a land flowing with milk and honey — and 23they came in and took possession of it. But they wouldnot listen to Thy voice, nor live in accordance with Thylaw; they have left undone all that Thou didst com-mand them to do; and so Thou hast brought all thismisery upon them.
 24Behold how the siege-mounds for storming the cityare already close upon it, and under the stress ofsword, famine and pestilence, the city is already as goodas given into the hands of the Chaldeans that are assail-ing it. What Thou hast threatened has come, as 25Thou Thyself seest. And it was Thou Thyself, OLord Jehovah, who didst command me to buy the land;(and this I have done), writing and sealing the deedand calling witnesses, though all the while the city isalready as good as delivered into the hands of theChaldeans."
The Divine Answer: First, Judgment for Sin
 26Then there came to Jeremiah the following message 27from Jehovah: I am Jehovah, the God of all flesh: is 28there anything too hard for Me? Therefore thus saithJehovah: Behold! I am about to deliver this city intothe hands of the Chaldeans and of Nebuchadrezzar, 29king of Babylon, and he shall take it. Yes, theChaldeans that are assailing this city shall come and setthis city on fire and burn it, with the houses on whoseroofs they have provoked Me by burning sacrifice tothe Baal and by offering drink-offerings to other 30gods; for, ever since their youth the people of Israeland Judah have done nothing but evil in My sight. 31From the day it was built up to this day, this city hasprovoked Me to remove it, in wrath and fury, out of 32My sight, for all the evil that the people of Israel andJudah have wrought to vex Me — themselves, with theirkings, princes, priests and prophets, with the men of 33Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem. They haveturned their backs to Me instead of their faces; andthough I taught them early and late, they would never 34listen or accept correction. The very House thatbears My name they have defiled by introducing 35into it their abominable worship. They have builtBaal sanctuaries in the Valley of the son of Hinnomfor the (fiery) consecration of their sons and daughtersto Molech, though this was no commandment ofMine — it never entered into My mind that they should do this abomination, and thus involve Judah in sin.
Thereafter, Promise of Restoration
 36Now, therefore, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel,concerning the city of which ye say that hunger,famine and pestilence have already as good as delivered 37it into the hands of the king of Babylon: See! I willgather them out of all the lands to which, in My greatwrath, anger, and fury, I have driven them, for I willbring them back to this place and settle them here 38securely; and they shall be My people, and I will be 39their God. A single heart I will give them, and a singleway (will I set before them), that they may hold Mein reverence for ever, and that they and their children 40after them may prosper; and I will make with theman everlasting covenant to follow them ceaselesslywith My blessing, and I will put the fear of Me in theirhearts, that they may follow Me without swerving. 41It will also be a joy to Me to do them good; andfaithfully, with all My heart and soul, I will plant them inthis land.
 42For thus saith Jehovah, As surely as I have broughtupon this people all this mass of misery, so surely will Ibring upon them all the blessings I promise them. 43In this land that ye call a desolation, forsaken of manand beast and delivered into the hands of the Chal- 44deans, fields shall be bought once more. Yes, menshall buy fields for money, subscribing and sealing thedeeds, and taking witnesses, in the district of Benjaminand the neighbourhood of Jerusalem and the cities ofJudah, in the cities of the hill country, the lowland,and the south. For I will restore their fortunes, saithJehovah.
Renewed Promises of Restoration
Jerusalem and Judah will be Pardoned, Restored, Made Glad and Renowned 
 33A second message from Jehovah came to Jeremiah 2while he was still confined in the guard-house. Itwas this: Thus saith Jehovah, who created the earthand formed it to stand fast — Jehovah is His name:
 3"Call to Me, and in answer I will tell thee great andhidden things, of which thou art unaware."
 4Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, concerningthe houses of this city and the royal palaces of Judahwhich have been demolished to make a defence against 5the siege-mounds and the sword. The Chaldeans arecoming to fight and to fill them with the dead bodiesof the men whom I have slain in Mine anger and fury,and whose manifold wickedness has constrained Me 6to hide My face from them. Nevertheless, I will closeup the city's wounds and heal her completely, and Iwill unveil to them treasures of peace and stability. 7The fortunes of Judah and Israel I will restore; and I 8will build them up as of old. I will cleanse them of allthe guilt of their sin against Me, and I will forgive all 9the guilt of their sin and rebellion against Me. Andshe shall be to Me a source of delight, of praise, and ofglory among all the nations of the earth, when they hearof all the happiness that I shall achieve for them; andthey shall fear and tremble at all the happiness and allthe prosperity that I shall provide for them.
 10Thus saith Jehovah: In this place that you call adesolation, forsaken of man and beast, in the cities of Judah and on the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, 11forsaken of man and beast, there shall once again beheard the voice of mirth and gladness, the voice ofbridegroom and bride, the voice of those that say, as theybring their thank-offerings into the House of Jehovah,
Give thanks to Jehovah of Hosts,
For Jehovah is gracious,
His kindness endureth for ever.For I will restore the fortunes of the land, saith 12Jehovah, as in the olden time. Thus saith Jehovah ofHosts: In this place which is desolate, forsaken ofman and beast, and in all the cities thereof, there shallagain be homesteads of shepherds with flocks reclining. 13In the cities of the hill country, the lowland, and thesouth, in the district of Benjamin, the neighbourhood ofJerusalem, and the cities of Judah, flocks shall oncemore file past, to be counted under the hands (of the shepherds), saith Jehovah.
Promise of the Ideal King or Messiah
 14Mark this, saith Jehovah; the days are coming when I willperform My gracious promise to the households of Israel and 15Judah. In those days and at that timeI will raise up for David a righteous shoot,
Who shall execute justice and right in the land.
 16In those days shall Judah be crowned with salvation,
And Jerusalem in safety shall dwell:
And this is the name men shall call her,
"Our champion is Jehovah."
Promise of the Perpetuity of the Davidic Dynasty and the Levitical Priesthood
 17For thus saith Jehovah: David shall never want a man to sit 18upon the throne of the house of Israel; neither shall theLevitical priests ever, for all time to come, want a man tooffer burnt-offerings in My presence or to burn oblations or todo sacrifice.
 19Further, there came to Jeremiah this message from Jehovah, 20Thus saith Jehovah: Not until ye can annul My covenant withDay and Night, so that Day and Night shall come no more at 21their appointed time — not until then shall My covenant beannulled with David My servant, that a son od his should reignupon his throne; or My covenant with the Levitical priests, 22My ministers. Numberless as the host of heaven, measurelessas the sand of the sea, shall I multiply the descendants ofDavid, My servant, and the Levitical priests, My ministers.
 23Jeremiah received this further message from Jehovah: Hast 24thou observed what this people has been saying? They havesaid that Jehovah has cast off the two families of His choice,and in contempt for His people has ordained that they shall no 25longer exist as a nation before Him? Well, thus saithJehovah: As surely as I have created Day and Night and 26determined the order of heaven and earth, so surely will I nevercast off the descendants of Jacob and of David My servant,or fail to select his descendants as rulers over the race ofAbraham, Isaac and Jacob; for I will have compassion uponthem and restore their fortunes.
Incidents of the Siege of Jerusalem
Jeremiah Warns Zedekiah of the Folly of Resisting Babylon 
 34This message came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, when1Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, and all his army,and all the kingdoms and nations of the earth thatwere under his dominion were fighting against 2Jerusalem and all the cities of Judah: Thus saithJehovah, the God of Israel, Go to Zedekiah, king of Judah, and say to him, Thus saith Jehovah: I amabout to deliver this city into the hands of the king of 3Babylon, who will burn it with fire. As for thee, thoushalt not escape out of his hands: thou wilt assuredlybe seized and into his hands delivered: thou shalt seethe king of Babylon eye to eye, and speak to him face 4to face, and to Babylon thou shalt go. But listen,Zedekiah, king of Judah, to the message of Jehovah:Thus saith Jehovah concerning thee: Thou shalt not 5die by the sword, but thou shalt die in peace. (Sweet spices) shall be burned for thee, as for thine ancerstorsbefore thee, and lamentations shall be made for theewith "Ah! Lord," for I, saith Jehovah, have spokenthe word.
 6Then Jeremiah the prophet delivered this message to 7Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem, when the armyof the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem,and all the cities of Judah that were left, and Lachishand Azekah — the only cities of Judah that remained asfortified cities.
Dishonest Attitude of the Jews to the Liberation of theirSlaves: To be Punished by the Liberation of Disaster upon Themselves
 8The message which came to Jeremiah from Jehovah,after the King Zedekiah had covenanted with all the people 9in Jerusalem to make a proclamation of liberty — eachman to set free his Hebrew slave, wether male orfemale, so that no one of Jewish descent should serve 10as slave any longer. Now all the princes and all the people kept the covenant they had entered into toliberate their several male and female slaves and totreat them as slaves no longer: they kept it and set 11them free. Afterwards, however, they turned and forced back into slavery the male and female slaveswhom they had liberated.
 12Then there came to Jeremiah this message from 13Jehovah, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel:When I brought your forefathers out of the land ofEgypt, that house of slavery, I Myself made this 14covenant that at the end of six years they were torelease any Hebrew brother who had sold himself tothem-after six years of service, they were to set himfree: your forefathers, however, would not listen 15or incline their ear to Me. But you have in these daysacted in a very different spirit; you have done whatI desired in each proclaiming liberty to his (enslaved)neighbour; in My presence you made a covenant 16in the House that is called by My name. Now,however, you have turned round and dishonoured Myname by forcing back again into slavery the severalmale and female slaves you had set free to dispose ofthemselves as they would.
 17Therefore thus saith Jehovah: You have disobeyedMy injunction to make a proclamation of liberty, each ofyou to his (enslaved) neighbour. Well, then, saithJehovah: You shall have your proclamation of libertyfrom Me — (liberty) to the sword, pestilence andfamine — and I will make you an object of consternation 18to every kingdom in the world. As for the menthat broke the covenant they had made in My presence,when they passed between the pieces of the calf they 19had cut in two — I mean the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, the eunuchs, the priests and all the people ofthe land who passed between the pieces of the calf 20they had cut in two — I will deliver them into the handsof their enemies and of those that seek their life, andtheir dead bodies shall be devoured by the birds of the 21air and the beasts of the earth. Further, Zedekiah,king of Judah, and his princes, I will deliver into thehands of their enemies and of those that seek their life,and into the hands of the army of the king of Babylonwhich (for the moment) has raised the siege and left you.
 22Mark this well, saith Jehovah, I will issue My word of command and bring them back to this city; theyshall assault it and take it and burn it with fire, and thecities of Judah I will turn into an uninhabited desolation.
The Fidelity of the Rechabites contrasted with the Disobedience of the Jews 
 35In the days of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of1Judah, Jeremiah received the following message from 2Jehovah: Go to the clan of the Rechabites, talk withthem, bring them into one of the chambers (of the 3Temple) and offer them wine to drink. So I tookJaazaniah, the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habaz-ziniah, with his brothers and all his sons and the whole 4Rechabite clan, and brought them into the Templechamber belonging to the sons of Hanan, the son of Yigdaliah, the man of God, that was adjacent to thechamber of the princes, above the chamber of Maaseiah, the son of Shallum, the Keeper of the 5Threshold. I then set before the Rechabites bowls 6full of wine and cups and told them to drink. "No,"they said, "we will drink no wine; for Jonadab, theson of Rechab, our ancestor, laid a charge upon us and 7our children to drink no wine, to build no houses, to sowno seed, to plant and possess no vineyard for ever, but tospend all our days in tents, so that we might live long on 8the land where as strangers we dwell. In full obedience,therefore, to this charge of Jonadab, the son of Rechab,our ancestor, we have drunk no wine all our life long,neither we, nor our wives, nor our sons, nor our 9daughters. We have built no houses to live in, we 10have owned neither vineyard, field, nor seed, butwe have lived in tents and faithfully fulfilled all the 11instructions of our ancestors Jonadab. It was onlywhen the land was invaded by Nebuchadrezzar, kingof Babylon, that we decided to come to Jerusalem, toescape the Babylonian and Aramean armies; that iswhy we are (now) living in Jerusalem."
 12Then there came to Jeremiah this message from 13Jehovah: "Thus saith Jehovah the God of Israel:Go and say to the men of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem: Should this not be a lesson to you to obey 14My words, saith Jehovah? The injunction thatJonadab the son of Rechab laid upon his sons todrink no wine has been steadily observed: in obedienceto that ancestral charge they have abstained to this day.But when I spoke to you early and late, you refused 15to listen. Early and late I sent you all My servants theprophets with the message to each man of you that, ifyou would abandon your wicked ways, amend yourconduct, and no longer indulge in the service of othergods, you should continue in the land that I gave yourforefathers; but you would not incline your ear or 16listen to Me. Unlike the descendants of Jonadab theson of Rechab, who have steadily observed the in-junctions of their ancestor, this people has refused to 17listen to Me. Therefore thus saith Jehovah of Hosts,the God of Israel: See! I am about to bring uponJudah and upon all the citizens of Jerusalem all themisery with which I have threatened them, becausethey refused to listen to My words or respond to My 18call." But to the clan of the Rechabites Jeremiah said,"Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel:Because you have obeyed the injunction of yourancestor Jonadab, keeping all his commandments and 19fulfiling all his instructions, Jonadab, the son of Rechabshall never want a man to minister to Me, while theearth stands.
Jeremiah's Prophecies Committed to Writing, Publicly Read in the Temple,and Contemptuously Burned by King Jehoiakim 
 36In the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah,1king of Judah, Jeremiah received the following message 2from Jehovah: Take a book-roll, and write on it allthe messages I have communicated to thee with regardto Israel and Judah and all nations, from My firstmessage to thee in the days of Josiah right on to the 3present day. It may be that, when the people ofJudah hear of all the misery I am planning to bringupon them, they will severally abandon their wickedways, and receive at My hands pardon for their guiltand sin.
 4Then Jeremiah summoned Baruch, the son of Neriah,who wrote down on a book-roll to Jeremiah's dic-tation all the messages Jehovah had communicated to 5him. Thereafter Jeremiah gave instructions toBaruch in the following terms: "Seeing that I am personally under restraint and debarred from access 6to the Temple, do you go and, on the day appointedfor fasting, read aloud in the Temple the messages ofJehovah in the hearing of the people from the rollwhich you have written to my dictation; read themalso in the hearing of the Judeans who come from their 7respective country towns. It may be that they willhumbly supplicate Jehovah, and severally abandontheir wicked ways: for great is the anger and fury 8with which Jehovah has threatened this people." Inaccordance, therefore with his instructions fromJeremiah the prophet, Baruch read aloud from thebook the words of Jehovah in the Temple.
 9Now in the ninth month of the fifth year of Jehoiakimthe son of Josiah, king of Judah, a sacred fast wasproclaimed by all the people resident in Jerusalem,and all those also present from the country towns of 10Judah. Then in the hearing of all the people Baruchread from the book the messages of Jeremiah from the room that belonged to Gemariah, the son of Shaphanthe Secretary of State, which was situated in the upper 11court at the entrance to the new Temple gate. Nowwhen Micaiah, the son of Gemariah, the son ofShaphan, had heard the messages of Jehovah as they 12were read from the book, he went down to the palaceto the room of the Secretary of State, and there he foundthe whole court seated — Elishama, the Secretary andDelaiah, the son of Shemaiah, and Elanthan, theson of Achbor, and Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, andZedekiah, the son of Hananiah, and indeed the whole 13court. Micaiah proceeded to inform them of all thewords he had heard Baruch read out of the book in the 14hearing of the people. The whole court accordinglydespatched a messenger to Baruch, namely one Jehudi,the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, with instructions to Baruch to appear, bring-ing with him the roll from which he had read in thehearing of the people. So Baruch, the son of Neriah,appeared before them with the roll in his hand.
 15Then they told him to sit down and read it in their 16hearing; so Baruch read while they listened. Whenthey had heard it all, they turned to one another inconsternation, exclaiming to Baruch that they were 17bound to inform the king of all this. They thenasked Baruch to explain how he had written all these 18words. Baruch replied that Jeremiah had dictatedthem all to him, and he had written them down with 19ink in the book. "Well, then," said the princes toBaruch, "go into hiding, you and Jeremiah, and let 20nobody know where you are." After they haddeposited the roll in the chamber of Elishama theSecretary, they visited the king in his apartment,and reported the whole matter to him.
 21The king then despatched Jehudi to fetch the roll;and, when he had brought it form Elishama's chamber,he read it in the hearing of the king and of all the 22courtiers who were in attendance upon him. Nowthe king was sitting in the winter house, and the 23fire on the brazier was burning before him; andevery three or four columns that Jehudi read, the kingwould cut up with his penknife and fling into the firethat was on the brazier, till the whole roll was con- 24sumed in the fire that was on the brazier. But therewas no sense of horror either on the part of the kingor of any of his ministers as they listened to all these 25words, nor did they rend their garments. Elnathan,Delaiah, and Gemariah, however, had entreated theking not to burn the roll, but he would not listen to 26them. Then the king commanded the royal princeJerachmeel, and seraiah, the son of Azriel, andShelemiah, the son of Abdeel, to fetch Baruch the scribeand Jeremiah the prophet; but Jehovah kept them inconcealment.
 27After the king had burned the roll containing thewords written by Baruch to Jeremiah's dictation, 28Jeremiah received this message from Jehovah, "Oncemore take another roll, and write on it all the wordsthat were on the first roll that was consigned to the 29flames by Jehoiakim, king of Judah, Thus saithJehovah: Thou hast taken it upon thee to burn thisroll and to demand my reason for recording the threatthat the king of Babylon would assuredly come and 30destroy this land, and clear it of man and beast. There-fore thus saith Jehovah concerning Jehoiakim, king of Judah: Never a man shall he have to sit upon thethrone of David; his dead body shall be flung out and 31exposed to the heat of day and the cold of night. Iwill punish him, his descendants, and his ministers, fortheir sins; and I will bring upon them and upon thecitizens of Jerusalem all the misery with which Ithreatened them in vain."
 32Then Jeremiah took another roll and gave it toBaruch the scribe, the son of Neriah, who wrote on itto Jeremiah's dictation all the words of the book thathad been burned by Jehoiakim; and it was supple-mented by many messages of a similar kind.
Experiences of Jeremiah During the Siege and at the Capture of Jerusalem
Jeremiah Warns King Zedekiah of the Impending Fate of Jerusalem 
 37Now Zedekiah the son of Josiah was reigning in place1of Coniah, the son of Jehoiakim, having been set uponthe throne of Judah by Nebuchadrezzar, king of Baby- 2lon; but neither he nor his ministers nor the peopleof the land gave any heed to the messages Jehovah 3had delivered by the prophet Jeremiah. KingZedekiah, however, sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah,and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest toJeremiah, with the request that he would pray for 4them to Jehovah their God. Now Jeremiah, who hadnot yet been put in prison, was still coming and going among the people.
 5The Chaledeans who were engaged in the siege ofJerusalem, having received a report that Pharaoh'sarmy was advancing from Egypt, abandoned the siege. 6Then there came to Jeremiah this message from 7Jehovah, Thus saith Jehovah: Tell the king ofJudah who hath sent thee to consult Me, thatPharaoh's army which is advancing to your aid 8shall return to Egypt to their own land; and theChaldeans will come back and assault this city 9and take it and burn it with fire. Thus saith Jehovah:Do not delude yourselves with the idea that the Chal-deans will leave you for good: they will do nothing of 10the kind. For even if you defeated the wholeChaldean army that is fighting against you, so com-pletely that the only survivors were wounded men — aman to a tent— even they would rise up and burn thiscity with fire.
Jeremiah Arrested and Imprisoned
 11When, in view of the advance of Pharoah's army,the Chaldean forces had abandoned the siege of 12Jerusalem, Jeremiah made a journey from Jerusalemto the district of Benjamin to receive his inheritance 13among the people. He had just reached the Benjamingate when he was apprehended there by a sentrynamed Jirijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son ofHananiah, who called out, "You are deserting to the 14Chaldeans." "It is false, said Jeremiah, "I amnot deserting to the Chaldeans." But Jirijah, refusingto listen, apprehended Jeremiah and brought him 15before the courtiers, who in their exasperation hadJeremiah flogged and put in the house of Jonathan,the Secretary of State, which they had turned into a 16prison. So Jeremiah found himself in the cells of thedungeon, where he remained for a considerable time.
Amelioration of Jeremiah's Lot
 17Then King Zedekiah sent for him and questionedhim secretly in his house whether there was any com-munication from Jehovah. "There is," said Jeremiah;"you will be delivered into the hands of the king of 18Babylon. Further," said Jeremiah to the king,"what is my crime against you or your ministers or 19this people that you have put me in prison? Whereare your prophets (now) that assured you that the king 20of Babylon would never invade this country? Andnow I beseech your Majesty to listen with favour to mysupplication, and not to allow me to be taken backto the house of Jonathan the Secretary, where I am 21likely to perish." Jeremiah was accordingly committedby royal command to the guard-court, and furnishedwith a loaf of bread a day from the Baker's Street, tillall the bread in the city was consumed. So Jeremiahremained in the guard-court.
Jeremiah Accused of Treason, is Put into a Dungeon, from which he is Rescued by Ebedmelech, a Foreigner 
 38Now Shephatiah, the son of Mattan, and Gedaliah, the 1son of Pashhur, and Juca, the son of Shelemiah, andPashhur, the son of Malchiah, ahd heard Jeremiah 2addressing all the people in words like these: "Thussaith Jehovah: Whoever remains in this city shall dieby sword, famine and perstilence; but whoever goesover to the Chaldeans shall be spared, though he shall 3escape with nothing but his life." Also, "Thus saithJehovah, This city shall most assuredly be deliveredinto the hands of the king of Babylon's army, and 4it shall be captured." Whereupon those courtierssaid to the king, "We petition you to have this fellowput to death: this sort of talk is unnerving all thepeople and the soldiers left in the city. This fellow 5does not want to help the city, but to ruin it." "Heis in your power," said the king; for he was helpless 6against them. So they took Jeremiah and, loweringhim with ropes, they threw him into the cistern of theroyal prince Malchiah, that was in the guard-court.There was no water in the cistern, but only mud;and Jeremiah sank in the mud.
 7Now it came to the ears of Ebedmelech, an Ethiopianeunuch attached to the palace, that they had put 8Jeremiah in the cistern. Ebedmelech accordingly leftthe palace for the Benjamin gate where the kinghappened to be sitting at the time, and thus he 9addressed him: "Your Majesty, these men havebehaved most wrongfully in their treatment of Jeremiahthe prophet; they have flung him into the cistern andhe will die of hunger on the spot, for there is no more 10bread in the city." At once the king orderedEbedmelech to take with him three me and pullJeremiah out of the cistern before he perished. 11Ebedmelech, accordingly, taking the men with him,went to the palace, and secured form (a lumber room)underneath the treasury some torn and tattered rags,and let them down by ropes to Jeremiah into the 12cistern. Then he told Jeremiah to put the torn andtattered rags under his armpits beneath the ropes; 13and Jeremiah did so. Then they drew him up with theropes and pulled him out of the cistern; and Jeremiahremained in the guard-court.
Zedekiah Secretly Consults Jeremiah
 14King Zedekiah afterwards sent and had Jeremiahbrought to him at the third entry that leads into theTemple; and the king said to Jeremiah, "I am goingto ask you a question which you are to answer me 15unreservedly." "If I tell you," said Jeremiah, "areyou not certain to put me to death? besides, any advice 16I give you, you will simply disregard." Then, in secret,the king swore the following oath to Jeremiah, "AsJehovah liveth, who created this life of ours, I assureyou solemnly that I will neither put you to death nordeliver you into the hands of those men that are seek- 17ing your life." Then said Jeremiah to Zedekiah,"Thus saith Jehovah, If you surrender voluntarily tothe officers of the king of Babylon, your life will bespared, and this city shall not be burned with fire, but 18you and your family will be spared. If, however, yourefuse to surrender, then this city shall be deliveredinto the handso of the Chaldeans, who will burn it withfire; and you shall not escape from their hands." 19Then the king said to Jeremiah, "I am afraid of theJews who have gone over to them and subjected to violence." 20"No," said Jeremiah, "you will not be handed over.But I entreat you to listen to what I say — it is thevoice of Jehovah: your happiness and your life depend 21upon it. But if you refuse to surrender, then this isthe message revealed to me in a vision by Jehovah 22—mark it well; (I saw) all the women that are left inthe palace of the king of Judah brought out to the chiefofficers of the king of Babylon, chanting the while thissong:
Thy most excellent friends have beguiled
And prevailed over thee,
Thy feet they have thrust in the mire,
And thus sinking have left thee.
 23All your wives and children they shall bring out tothe Chaldeans, and you yourself shall not escape; youwill be seized by the hand of the king of Babylon; andthis city shall be burned with fire."
 24"Well, then," said the king to him, "let nobodyknow anything of this conversation, or else you are a dead 25man. If the courtiers hear that I have been talkingwith you, and come and ask you to tell them un-reservedly, on pain of death, what you have been saying 26to the king and the king to you, then just tell them thatyou were presenting a petition to the king that youshould not be taken back to Jonathan's house, where 27you were in danger of perishing." In point of fact, thecourtiers did all come to Jeremiah and question him;and the story he told them was in entire accordancewith the king's instructions. So they said no more tohim, for no part of the conversation had been heard. 28aJeremiah accordingly remained in the guard-courttill the day Jerusalem was taken.
Provision made for Jeremiah's safety after the Capture of Jerusalem
 28bWhen Jerusalem was taken, all the chief officers of  39the king of Babylon came and took their seats3in the middle gate — Nergalsharezer the Rab-mag,Nebushazban the Rab-saris, and all the rest of the 14Officers of the king of Babylon. They sent and hadJeremiah brought from the guard-court, and deliveredhim to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son ofShaphan, to be taken to his own home; so he stayed among the people.
The Capture of Jerusalem
 1In the tenth month of the ninth year of Zedekiah,king of Judah, Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon camewith all his forces against Jerusalem and laid siege to 2it. On the ninth day of the fourth month of theeleventh year of Zedekiah a breach was made in the 4city. On observing this, Zedekiah, king of Judah, andall the soldiers took to flight, leaving the city during thenight by way of the royal garden, by the gate betweenthe two walls, and they made for the Jordan valley. 5But the Chaldean army pursued them and overtookZedekiah in the steppes of Jericho. They seized himand brought him to Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon,who was at Riblah in the district of Hamath, and he 6pronounced judgment upon them. At Riblah theking of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before hiseyes, and all the noblemen of Judah also did the king 7of Babylon slay. He then put out Zedekiah's eyes,and loaded him with chains to carry him to Babylon. 8The palace and the houses of the people the Chaldeansburned with fire, and the walls of Jerusalem they 9demolished. The rest of the people that were left in thecity, and the deserters who had gonve over to him, andthose that werer left of the artificers, Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guard, carried to exile in Babylon. 10Some of the poor people who had nothing were left byNebuzaradan, the commander of the guard, in the landof Judah, and presented at the same time with vine-yards and fields.
 11With regard to Jeremiah, Nebuchadrezzar, king ofBabylon, had instructed Nebuzardan, the commander 12of the guard, to do him no harm, but to take and lookwell afer him and treat him according to his own 13instructions. So a messenger was despatched fromNebuzaradan, the commander of the guard, andNebuzaradan, the Rab-saris, and Nergalsharezer, theRab-mag, and all the chief officers of the king of Babylon.
Jeremiah's Gracious Promise to Ebedmelech
 15During Jeremiah's detention in the guard-court,there had come to him this message from Jehovah: 16Go and say to Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, Thus saithJehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: I will bring uponthis city all that I have said — for evil and not for good,and in that day it will be accomplished before thine 17eyes. But, saith Jehovah, I will deliver thee on that day, and thou shalt not be given into the hands of the 18men thou dreadest. I will save thee without fail;thou shalt not fall by the sword, but thou shalt escapewith thy life, because, saith Jehovah, thou hast putthy trust in Me.
Experiences of Jeremiah After the Capture of Jerusalem
Jeremiah Elects to Remain in Palestine 
 40The message which came to Jeremiah from Jehovah1after he had been released from Ramah by Nebuzar-adan, the commander of the guard, who had found himthere in chains among the captives of Jerusalem andJudah, who were being carried to exile in Babylon.
 2The commander of the guard took Jeremiah and saidto him: "Jehovah, your God, pronounced this doom 3upon this place, and He has kept His word. Youhave sinned against Him and refused to listen to His 4voice, and so this thing is come upon you. But see now,I will release you at once from the chains on your hands.If you are disposed to accompany me to Babyloncome and I will look well after you; but if not, thenleave it alone. The whole land is before you; go 5wherever you choose and prefer. Go back to Gedaliah,the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, whom the kingof Babylon has appointed Governor of the cities ofJudah: stay with him among the people or go whereveryou choose." Then the commander of the guarddismissed him with a gift of provisions and a present. 6So Jeremiah went to Gedaliah at Mizpah, where hestayed with him among the people left in the land.
Assassination of Gedaliah the Governor of Judah
 7When all the commanders of the forces in the openfield, together with their men, heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah Governor of the land,and charged him with the oversight of the men, womenand children, and of the poorest of the land, such as 8had not been carried to exile in Babylon, they camewith their men to Gedaliah at Mizpah — Ishmael theson of Nethaniah, Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth, and the sons ofEphai of Netophah, and Jezaniah, the son of the 9Maacathite. And Gedaliah gave his oath to them andtheir men: "Don't be afraid," he said, "of theChaldean officials. You will prosper if you stay in the 10land and serve the king of Babylon. As for myself,I will reside at Mizpah, to represent your interestswhen the Chaldean (officials) visit us; and you cangather wine, fruit, and oil, and store them up and live 11in the towns you take possession of." Further, all theJews that were in Moab, Ammon, Edom, or elsewhere,when they heard that the king of Babylon had grantedpermission to some to remain in Judah and had ap- 12pointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam Governor, theyall returned to Judah from all the places to which theyhad been driven — to Gedaliah at Mizpah — and theygathered immense stores of wine and fruit.
 13Now Johanan the son of Kareah and all the com-manders of the forces in the open field came to Gedaliah 14at Mizpah, and asked him whether he was awarethat Baalis king of Ammon had sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to assasiante him. But Gedaliah would 15not believe it. Then Johanan, in a secret audience withGedaliah at Mizpah, said to him: "I beseech you toallow me to go and slay Ishmael. Nobody need know.Why should he take your life? that will mean the scattering of all the Jews that have gathered round 16you, and the ruin of all that is left of Judah." "No,"said Gedaliah to Johanan, "do nothing of the kind:what you say of Ishmael is not true." 
 41In the seventh month, however, Ishamael, the son1of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, a member of theroyal family, accompanied by one of the chief officers ofthe king and ten (other) men, paid a visit to Gedaliah 2at Mizpah. While they were all dining together there,Ishmael and the ten men who accompanied him roseand with the sword smote and slew Gedaliah, whom the king of Babylon had appointed Governor of the land, 3together with all the Jews who were with him inMizpah and all the Chaldean soldiers who happenedto be there.
Murder of Pilgrims and Flight of Gedaliah's Assasin
 4The day after the murder of Gedaliah, of which no 5one was yet aware, eighty pilgrims from Shechem,Shiloh, and Samaria, with beards shaven, clothes rentand gashes (on their bodies), came with vegetable offer-ings and frankincense in their hand to present them at 6the house of Jehovah. Ishmael went out from Mizpahto meet them, and they were weeping as they wentalong. When he meet them, he invited them to come to 7Gedaliah; but when they were well within the town,he and the men who accompanied him slew them at 8the cistern. Ten of their number, however, entreatedIshmael not to kill them: "for we have stores ofwheat," they said, "and barley, oil, and honey, buried in the ground." So he let them alone and did not 9consign them to the doom of their brethren. Nowthe cistern into which Ishmael had cast all the corpsesof the men he had slain was the great cistern whichhad been constructed by king Asa in his war againstBaasha, king of Israel; and this Ishmael filled with theslain.
 10Then Ishmael carried away captive all the rest of thepeople that were at Mizpah, the princesses and all thepeople left in Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan, the com-mander of the guard, had committed to the charge of Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam; and he started across to 11Ammon. But when Johanan the son of Kareah, andall the commanders of the forces that were with him, 12heard of all the atrocities perpetrated by Ishmael, theytook all their men and set out to attack him; and they 13afound him by the great waters of Gibeon. All the 14apeople with Ishmael — all that he had carried captive 13bfrom Mizpah — when they saw Johanan and the com-manders of the forces that were with him, were filled 14bwith joy; and turning about, they came back and 15joined Johanan. But Ishmael, escaping with eightmen, repaired to Ammon.
 16Then Johanan and all the commanders of the forcesthat were with him, tool all the rest of the people whomIshmael had carried away captive from Mizpah, afterhis assassination of Gedaliah the son of Ahikam — men,women, and eunuchs, whom he had brought back from 17Gibeon. Then they took their journey and stayedawhile at the sheepfolds of Chimham in the neighbour-hood of Bethlehem, from which they intended to 18travel to Egypt; for they were in terror of theChaldeans, because Ishmael had assassinated Gedaliah,whom the king of Babylon had appointed Governor ofthe land.
Migration of the Jews to Egypt in Defiance of Jeremiah's Counsel  42Then all the commanders of the forces, together1with Johanan, and Azariah, the son of Hoshaiah, and 2all the people great and small, approached Jeremiahthe prophet with a petition, which they commended tohis most favourable consideration, that he would prayfor them, remnant as they were, to Jehovah his God."We are left," they said, "but a few out of many, as 3you see with your own eyes. Let Jehovah your Godtell us the way we should go and the things we should do." 4Jeremiah replied, "I have heard you; I promise topray to Jehovah our God, as you request; and what-ever be Jehovah's answer I will tell you unreservedly." 5Whereupon they said to Jeremiah, "Jehovah be our true and faithful Witness that we will act entirely inaccordance with any message that Jehovah your God 6may send us. We have sent you to Jehovah our God;and, be it welcome or unwelcome, we will obey Hisvoice, and so enjoy the prosperity that comes fromobedience to the voice of Jehovah our God."
 7After an interval of ten days, Jeremiah received a 8message from Jehovah. He accordingly summonedJohanan and all the commanders of the forces thatwere with him, and all the people, small and great, 9and thus he addressed them. "Thus saith Jehovah,the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your 10supplication: If you remain quitely in this land, I willbuild you up and not throw you down; I will plant youand not pluck you up: for I am grieved at the misery 11I have brought upon you. You are afraid of the king ofBabylon, but do not be afraid of him, saith Jehovah;do not be afraid of him, for I will be with you, to save 12you and to deliver you from his hand. I will havepity upon you and inspire him with pity for you, sothat he will allow you to remain in your own land. 13You may, however, disregard the voice of Jehovah your 14God, and refuse to remain in this land: you may say,'No; we will go to the land of Egypt, where we shallsee no war and hear no sound of trumpet and neversuffer for lack of bread — and there we shall make our 15home.' In that case I call upon you that are left ofJudah to listen to the message of Jehovah. Thus saithJehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: If you are reallydetermined to proceed to Egypt, and if you go and settle 16there, then the sword that you fear shall overtake youthere in the land of Egypt, and the hunger that youdread shall cling to your heels there in Egypt, and there 17ye shall die; and all the men that were determinedto go and settle in Egypt shall die by the sword, famine,and pestilence; not one shall survive or escape the dis- 18aster that I will bring upon them. For thus saithJehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: As Mine angerand fury have been poured out upon the inhabitants ofJerusalem, so shall My fury be poured out upon youwhen ye enter Egypt; and ye shall be an object ofexecration and horror, of cursing and scorn; and yeshall see this place no more.
 19This is Jehovah's message to you that are left ofJudah: 'Do not go to Egypt.' But now be very sure 20of this — I this day lay witness against you; you havedone yourselves a grievous wrong. You have sentme to Jehovah your God with the request that I shouldpray for you to Jehovah, and promising to act inentire accordance with the will of Jehovah when I 21declared it to you; but when I did declare it this day,you refused to listen to the voice of Jehovah in respect 22of any part of my commission. Now therefore be verysure of this, that ye shall die by the sword, famine,and pestilence, in the land where it is your desire togo and settle." 
 43When Jeremiah had finished addressing to the1assembled people all these words with which Jehovah 2had commissioned him, Azariah, the son of Hoshaniah,and Johanan the son of Kareah and all the defiant andinsolent men exclaimed to Jeremiah, "You are a liar;you have no commission to us from Jehovah to warn 3us against going and settling in Egypt; but it is Baruchthe son of Neriah who is setting you on against us withthe object of delivering us into the hands of the Chaldeans, to be killed or transported to Babylon." 4So Johanan and all the commanders of the forces and all the people refused to listen to the voice of Jehovahwhich urged them to remain in the land of Judah. 5Accordingly Johanan and all the commanders of theforces took all that were now left of Judah — those thathad come back from all the nations to which they had 6been driven, to settle in the land of Judah — the men,the women, the princesses, and all the persons whomNebuzaradan, the commander of the guard, had leftin the charge of Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the sonof Shaphan, including Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch 7the son of Neriah; and, disregarding the voice ofJehovah, they went to Egypt and arrived at Daphnae.
Jeremiah Predicts the Conquest of Egypt by Nebuchadrezzar
 8In Daphnae Jeremiah received the following message 9from Jehovah: "Take large stones in thy hand andhide them away in secret at the porch of Pharaoh'sresidence in Daphnae in the presence of a few of the 10men of Judah, and say to them, Thus saith Jehovah:Mark this well — I will send and bring Nebuchadrezzarthe king of Babylon My servant, who shall set histhrone above these stones thou hast buried and spread 11his glistening tapestry over them. He shall come andsmite the land of Egypt, devoting to death thosedoomed to death, to captivity those doomed to captivity, 12to the sword those doomed to the sword. He shallkindle a fire in the temples of the gods of Egypt, he shallclear the land of Egypt, as a shepherd clears his mantleof vermin, and then he shall depart from it in comfort. 13Also he will shatter the obelisks of Bethshemesh, in theland of Egypt, and the temples of the gods of Egypt hewill burn with fire.
Jeremiah Denounces the Jews in Egypt for their Idolatrous Worship of the Queen of Heaven 
 44Concerning all the Jews whose home was in Egypt—1at Migdol, Daphnae, Memphis, and in upper Egypt— 2Jeremiah received the following message: "Thussaith Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: Ye haveseen with your own eyes all the misery that I havewrought upon Jerusalem and upon all the cities ofJudah. Ye see what they are to-day — desolate and 3uninhabited — as a consequence of their wicked be-haviour which provoked Mine indignation; for theywent and burned sacrifice in the service of other gods,unknown alike to them or to you or your forefathers; 4and that, though early and late I had been sending to youMy servants the prophets to warn you against these 5abominable practices that I detest. But they refusedto listen or incline their ear: they would no abandon 6their wickedness or cease sacrificing to other gods. Andso Mine anger and fury were poured forth: it blazed inthe cities of Judah and on the streets of Jerusalem, sothat they became the waste and the desolation thatthey are to-day.
 7Now, therefore, thus saith Jehovah, the God of Hosts,the God of Israel: Why are ye doing yourselves thisgreat wrong, which can only end in the utter extermin-ation of Judah, man and woman, child and babe? 8Why are ye vexing Me with the fabrications of yourhands, burning sacrifice to other gods in the land ofEgypt, where ye have come to settle? All thiscan only end in your extermination and in your beingcursed and scorned by every nation in the world. 9Have you forgotten the crimes of your forefathers andof the kings and princes of Judah, the crimes, too,your own wives committed in the land of Judah and on 10the streets of Jerusalem? To this day they haveremained unhumbled and unafraid. They have notlived in accordance with My law or with the statutesI set before you and your forefathers. 11Therefore thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, the God ofIsrael: Mark this — I will set My face against you for 12Evil, to exterminate Judah utterly. I will take the remnant of Judah that were determined to come andsettle in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Egyptthey shall all be consumed; they shall fall by the swordand by famine; small and great, they shall die by the sword and by famine, and they shall be an object of 13execration and horror, of cursing and scorn; and,as I have punished Jerusalem by sword, famine, andpestilence, so will I punish those that have made Egypt 14their home, that not a man of the remnant of Judahwhich has come to settel in Egypt shall escape orsurvive to return to the land of Egypt for whichthey shall yearn; for none but a fugitive or twoshall return."
 15Then the great gathering, composed of all the menwho were aware that their wives burned sacrifice toother gods, and all the women that were standing by, 16replied to Jeremiah thus: "We refuse to listen to thismessage of yours that you have communicated to us in 17the name of Jehovah: but we will most assuredlykeep our solemn oath to burn sacrifice to the Queenof Heaven and to pour out drink-offerings in herhonour as we used to do — we and our fathers, ourkings and our princes, in the cities of Judah and on thestreets of Jerusalem. Then we had plenty of food, we 18lived well and were untouched by misfortune. Butever since the day we ceased burning sacrifice to theQueen of Heaven and pouring out drink-offerings inher honour, we have been utterly destitute, and sword 19and famine have consumed us. Yes," said the women,"as for our offering of sacrifice to the Queen of Heavenand pouring out drink-offerings in her honour — havewe not had the approval of our husbands in making cakesfor her stamped with her image, and in pouring herout drink-offerings?"
 20Such was the answer of all the people, men andwomen. Then Jeremiah addressed them as follows: 21"Yes, you did indeed burn your sacrifices in the cities of Judah and on the streets of Jerusalem — you and yourfathers, your kings and your princes and commons;and is it not precisely this that rankled in the mind and 22heart of Jehovah, till He could bear your wicked andabominable conduct no longer, with the result that yourcountry is become the uninhabited desolation, the 23horror, the curse that it is to-day? It is because youhave offered such sacrifces, sinning against Jehovah, dis-obeying the voice of Jehovah, refusing to live inaccordance with His laws. His statutes, His expressedwill: that is why the misery of to-day is come uponyou."
 24Further, Jeremiah said to the people and the womenassembled: "Listen to the message of Jehovah, all ye 25Jews that are in the land of Egypt. Thus saith Jehovahof Hosts, the God of Israel: Verily you womenhave indeed carried out your solemn resolve faithfullyto perform the vows you have taken upon you, to burnsacrifice to the Queen of Heaven and to pour out drink-offerings in her honour. Well, then, keep your word 26and perform your vows. But listen now to the world ofJehovah, all ye Jews who have made Egypt your home.Mark this well: I have sworn, saith Jehovah, by Mygreat name, that never again in all the land of Egyptshall My name be uttered by the lips of any man ofJudah in the oath 'As truly as the Lord Jehovah 27liveth.' Mark! I am watching over them for eviland not for good; and every man of Judah in theland of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by 28famine, until there be an end of them. Some whoescape the sword in Egypt shall return to Judah, butthey shall be few in number; and then all the remnantof Judah that have some to settle in Egypt shall knowwhose word it is that stands — Mine or theirs.
 29And this, saith Jehovah, shall be to you the signthat I will punish you in this place, to teach you thatMy threats of disaster shall be confirmed upon you. 30Thus saith Jehovah: I will give Pharaoh Hophra, kingof Egypt, into the hands of his enemies and of those thatseek his life, as I gave Zedekiah, king of Judah, intothe hands of Nebuchadrezzar. king of Babylon, hisenemy that sought his life."
Words of Mingled Rebuke and Promise Addressed to Baruch 
 45This is the message that Jeremiah the prophet1delivered to Baruch the son of Neriah, after he hadwritten these words in a book to Jeremiah's dictationin the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king 2of Judah. "This, Baruch, is the message to thee fromJehovah, the God of Israel. 3Thou hast said, 'Woe is me! for Jehovah
to my pain hath added sorrow;
With groaning I am weary,
And I have found no rest.'
 4Let this be thy message to him, Thus saith Jehovah:When I must destroy what I built,
And when I must uproot what I planted,
 5Shalt thou seek great things for thyself?
Seek them not; for, behold, I will bring
On all flesh, saith Jehovah, disaster;
But thou, wheresoever thou comest,
By My grace, shalt escape with thy life."
Oracles Against Foreign Nations
Oracle on Egypt 
 46The message concerning the nations which Jeremiah1the prophet received from Jehovah.
 2On Egypt.Concerning the army of Pharaoh Necho king of Egyptat Carchemish on the river Euphrates, where it wasdefeated by Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, in thefourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king ofJudah.
 3Set the buckler and shield in array,
And draw nigh for the battle.
 4Set the buckler and shield in array,
And draw nigh for the battle.
 4Harness the steeds, mount the chargers,
Stand forth in your helmets.
Polish your spears, don your breastplates.
 5Why are they turned in dismay—
Their warriors crushed,
Fled apace without once looking backward,
By terror beset?
 6The swift cannot flee,
Nor the strong man escape:
North by the banks of Euphrates
They stumble and fall.
 7Who is that rose up like the Nile,
Whose waters toss like floods?
 8It is Egypt that rose like the Nile,
Whose waters toll like floods.
" I will rise, I will cover the earth,
And destroy," said he, "her inhabitants.
 9Up, steeds; rage, ye chariots;
And forth, ye warriors, march—
Cush and Put, that handle the shield,
And ye Ludim, that bend the bow."
 10But that day is the Lord Jehovah's—
A day of revenge on His foes,
When the sword shall devour to its fill,
And be drunken with their blood.
For Jehovah of Hosts hath a sacrifice
In the northern land, by Euphrates.
 11Up to Gilead, fetch thee balsam.
O virgin daughter of Egypt;
In vain dost thou multiply medicines,
No healing is there for thee.
 12The nations have heard thy wail,
And the earth is full of thy cry;
For warrior stumbles on warrior,
Both are fallen together.
 13The message of Jehovah to Jeremiah the prophet, that
Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, would come and
smite the land of Egypt.
 14Tell it Migdol,
Publish it in Memphis:
Say, "Take thy stand and prepare,
For the sword hath devoured round about thee."
 15Wherefore is Apus fled?
Thy mighty one held not his ground,
Because down he was thrust by Jehovah.
 16The strangers amonf thee are fallen,
And prostate, they say each to other,
"Let us flee from the muderous sword,
Let us rise and go back to our people,
To the land wherein we were born."
 17Call Pharaoh of Egypt "Blusterer,
Who hath let ht hour go by."
 18As live, saith the King, whose name
Is Jehovah of Hosts: One shall come
Like Tabor among the mountains,
Or Carmel by the sea.
 19O daughter that dwellest in Egypt,
Prepare thee to go into exile;
For Noph is become like a desert,
An uninhabited waste.
 20A graceful heifer is Egypt,
But a wasp from the north hath assailed her.
 21eFor the day of disaster hath reached her,
 fThe time of her visitation.
 aThe warriors, too, that she hired,
 bWere like unto fatted calves:
 cAs for them, together they turned
 dAnd fled, without making a stand.
 22aShe hisseth like a serpent
 bAgainst the advancing hosts;
 23cFor more are they than locusts,
 dSo many they cannot be counted.
 22cAgainst her they come with axes,
Like men that hew down trees,
 23a"Fell, saith Jehovah, "her forest,
 bFor it is impenetrable,"
 24Put to shame is the daughter of Egypt,
To men from the north given over.
 25Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts,
The God of Israel:
See! Amon of Thebes I will punish,
And Pharaoh and those that trust him;
 26An I will deliver them over
To those that seek their life,
To the hands of Nebuchadrezzar,
King of Babylon, and his servants.
But afterwards she shall be peopled
As in days of old, saith Jehovah.
 27So fear them not, O Jacob My Servant;
O Israel, be not dismayed, saith Jehovah.
For see! I will save both thee and thine offspring
From the far distant land where captive ye lie.
And Jacob once more shall have quite and ease
In his own land, with no one to make him afraid;
 28So fear thou not, O Jacob My Servant,
For I, saith Jehovah, am with thee (to save thee).
An end I will make of the nations—
Of each, among whom I have driven thee;
But of thee I will not make an end.
I will not leave wholly unpunished,
But in measure I will chastise thee.
Oracle on the Philistines 
 47The message concerning the Philistines which1Jeremiah the prophet received from Jehovah, beforePharaoh smote Gaza. Thus saith Jehovah:
 2From the north, see! waters are rising,
They swell to a raging torrent:
They will sweep o'er the land and its fulness,
The city and (all) her inhabitants.
Men shall utter a cry,
Those that dwell in the land shall howl.
 3At the noise of the hoofs of his galloping steeds,
At the rush of his chariots, the roar of his wheels,
The father shall not look behind for the children;
For all unnerved shall they be—
 4Because of the day of destruction
That cometh on all the Philistines,
Sweeping from Tyre and Sidon
All helpers that yet remain;
For Jehovah shall work destruction
On all that are left in the coast-land.
 5Baldness is come upon Gaza,
Ashkelon is destroyed.
O ye that are left of the Anakim,
How long must ye gash yourselves yet?
 6"Ah! Sword of Jehovah!
How long will it be ere thou rest?
Into thy scabbard get thee,
And keep thee quiet and still."
 7But how can it be quiet,
Since Jehovah hath given it a charge?
He hath destined it for Ashkelon,
And for the shore washed by the sea.
Oracle on Moab 
 48Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel:
1Alas for the ruin of Nebo!
Kiriathaim is taken,
Misgab is shamed and dismayed.
 2The renown of Moab is vanished,
In Heshbon they plotted her ruin:
"Come, let us blot out the nation;
Thou, Madmen, shalt be silenced,
The sword shall follow thee hard."
 3Hark! a shriek from Horonaim—
Havoc and fell destruction.
 4Moab is destroyed,
The shriek can be heard far as Zoar,
 5They climb the ascent to Luhith,
Weeping the while as they go;
For the path that leads down to Horonaim
Is ringing with cries of destruction.
 6Fly, escape for your lives,
Though like bare desert shrub shall ye be.
 7Thou hast trusted in thy strongholds,
And therefore art thou taken:
Chemosh shall pass into exile,
His priests and his princes together.
 8Upon every city the spoiler shall come,
No city shall escape;
The valleys shall also perish,
And the table-land be destroyed,
In accord with the word of Jehovah.
 9Give ye wings unto Moab,
For fain would she fly away
From her cities that shll be desolate
And empty altogether.
 10Cursed be he that doeth
The work of Jehovah remissly;
And cursed be he that keepeth
His sword from (shedding) blood.
 11From his youth Moab been at ease,
On his lees he hath quitely rested—
Not emptied from vessel to vessel,
Nor ever to exile borne;
so his taste remaineth in him,
And his scent is all unchanged.
 12Therefore days, saith Jehovah, are coming,
When tilters I will send;
And they shall tilt him over
And empty out his vessels,
And dash his jars in pieces.
 13And the hopes of Moab in Chemosh
Shall be utterly disappointed,
As Israel was disappointed,
In Bethel, wherein she trusted.
 14How can ye claim to be heroes
And mighty men of war,
 15When the spoiler of Moab is come up against her,
And the flower of her youth is gone down to the slaughter?
Saith the King, whose name is Jehovah of Hosts.
 16The ruin of Moab is night at hand,
Her misery hasteth swiftly.
 17Bemoan her, all ye her neighbours,
All ye that know her name:
say, "How is the strong staff broken,
The rod that was so fair!"
 18Come down from thy splendour and sit in the mire,
Thou daughter that dwellest in Dibon;
For the spoiler of Moab is come up against thee,
Thy fortress he hath destroyed.
 19Stand by the way and spy,
O thou that dwellest in Aroer;
Ask of the fugitive men
And the women that flee, "What hath chanced?"
 20"Moab is put to shame:
She is broken; howl ye and cry."
 21Tell it by the Arnon that Moab is laid waste. Judg-
ment is come upon the table-land — upon Holon,
 22Jahzah, and Mephaath, upon Dibon, Nebo, and Beth-
 23diblathaim, upon Kiriathaim, Beth-gamul, and Beth-
 24meon, upon Keriyyoth and Bozrah, and all the citiesof the land of Moab, far and near.
 25Hewn off is the horn of Moab,
And her arm is broken, saith Jehovah.
 26Make ye her drunken, for she
Hath been insolent towards Jehovah.
Yeah, Moab hath clapped her hands,
And in turn shall she, too, be derided.
 27For didst thou hold Israel in derision? Hathshe then been detected in the company of thieves, thatthou shakest thy head so, every time thou speakest ofher?
 28Leave the cities and dwell in the crags,
Ye inhabitants of Moab;
And be like to the dove that nesteth
In the holes of the rocks of the precipice.
 29We have heard of the pride of Moab—
How very proud is she—
of her crafty and arrogant pride,
And the haughtiness of her heart.
 30Well I know her arrogance,
The falseness of her boasting,
And the falseness of her behaviour.
 31There shall therfore be wailing in Moab,
Yea, shrieks from all quarters of Moab,
And moans for the men of Kir-heres.
 32For thee, O vine of Sibmah,
Shall be weeping as men weep for Jazer.
Thy branches passed over the sea,
They reached as far as Jazer;
On thy summmer fruits and their vintage
Is the despoiler fallen.
 33Gladness and mirth are vanished
From Moab's garden-land;
No wine is trod in the presses,
The merry shout I have stilled,
And the shout that is raised is of battle.
 34Heshbon and Elealeh cry out,
And their voice doth reach unto Jahaz,
From Zoar to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyyah;
For the waters of Nimrim shall also be desolate.
 25I will cause, saith Jehovah, to vanish from Moab
Him that offereth in the high place,
And doth sacrifice to his god.
 36So my heart like a flute maketh moaning for Moab,
My heart maketh moan for the men of Kir-heres;
For the gain they had gotten is perished.
 37For every head is bald,
And every beard is clipped:
On every hand are gashes,
On every loin is sackcloth.
 38On Moab's roofs and squares
Is universal wailing;
For Moab I have shattered
Like a vessel that one despiseth.
 39How broken is Moab! howl ye.
How she turneth her back in shame!
Her neighbours shall all behold her
With horror and derision.
 40For thus saith Jehovah, Behold,
One like a vulture shall swoop,
And spread out his swings against Moab.
 41Keriyyoth is taken, the strongholds are seized.
That day shall the heart of the warriors of Moab
Be like to the heart of a woman in anguish.
 42As a nation, Moab shall perish
For his insolence towards Jehovah.
 43Trap, terror, and pit are before you,
All ye that dwell in Moab.
 44He that flies from the terror shall fall down the pit,
He that creeps from the pit shall be caught in the trap.
Yea, this I will bring upon Moab
In the year of her visitation.
 45In the shadow of Heshbon stand fugitives—
All their strength now gone;
For a fire is gone forth from Heshbon,
A flame from the house of Sihon,
Devouring the temples of Moab's head,
And the crown of the head of the sons of tumult.
 46Woe unto thee, O Moab!
The people of Chemosh is perished;
Thy sons are taken captive,
Thy daughters are led to captivity.
Yet Moab I will restore.
In the latter days, saith Jehovah.
Thus far is the judgment upon Moab.
Oracle on Ammon 
 48Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel:
1Alas for the ruin of Nebo!
Kiriathaim is taken,
Misgab is shamed and dismayed.
 2The renown of Moab is vanished,
In Heshbon they plotted her ruin:
"Come, let us blot out the nation;
Thou, Madmen, shalt be silenced,
The sword shall follow thee hard."
 3Hark! a shriek from Horonaim—
Havoc and fell destruction.
 4Moab is destroyed,
The shriek canbe heard far as Zoar,
 5They climb the ascent to Luhith,
Weeping the while as they go;
For the path that leads down to Horonaim
Is ringing with cries of destruction.
 6Fly, escape for your lives,
Though like bare desert shrub shall ye be.
 7Thou hast trusted in thy strongholds,
And therefore art thou taken:
Chemosh shall pass into exile,
His priests and his princes together.
 8Upon every city the spoiler shall come,
No city shall escape;
The valleys shall also perish,
And the table-land be destroyed,
In accord with the word of Jehovah.
 9Give ye wings unto Moab,
For fain would she fly away
From her cities that shall be desolate
And empty altogether.
 10Cursed be he that doeth
The work of Jehovah remissly;
And cursed be he that keepeth
His sword from (shedding) blood.
 11From his youth hath Moab been at ease,
On his lees he hath quitely rested—
Not emptied from vessel to vessel,
Nor ever to exile borne;
So his taste remaineth in him,
And his scent is all unchanged.
 12Therefore days, saith Jehovah are coming,
When tilters I will send;
And they shall tilt him over
And empty out his vessels,
And dash his jars in pieces.
 13And the hopes of Moab in Chemosh
Shall be utterly disappointed,
As Israel was disappointed
In Bethel, wherein she trusted.
 14How can ye claim to be heroes
And mighty men of war,
 15When the spoiler of Moab is come up against her,
And the flower of her youth is gone down to the slaughter?
Saith the King, whose name is Jehovah of Hosts.
 16The ruin of Moab is night at hand,
Her misery hasteth swiftly.
 17Bemoan her, all ye her neighbours,
All ye that know her name:
Say, "How is the strong staff broken,
The rod that was so fair!"
 18Come down from thy splendour and sit in the mire,
Thou daughter that dwellest in Dibon;
For the spoiler of Moab is come up against thee,
Thy fortress he hath destroyed.
 19Stand by the way and spy,
O thou that dwellest in Aroer;
Ask of the fugitive men
And the women that fless, "What hath chanced?"
 20"Moab is put to shame:
She is broken; howl ye and cry."
 21Tell it by the Arnon that Moab is laid waste. Judg-
ment is come upon the table-land — upon Holon,
 22Jahzah, and Mephaath, upon Dibon, Nebo, and Beth-
 23Dibalathaim, upon Kiriathaim, Beth-gamul, and Beth-
 24meon, upon Keriyyoth and Bozrah, and all the cities
of the land of Moab, far and near.
 25Hewn off is the horn of Moab,
And her arm is broken, saith Jehovah.
 26Make ye her drunken, for she
Hath been insolent towards Jehovah.
Yea, Moab hath clapped her hands,
And in turn shall she, too, be derided.
 27For didst thou not hold Israel in derision? Hathshe then been detected in the company of thieves, thatthou shakest thy head so, every time thou speakest ofher?
 28Leave the cities and dwell in the crags,
Ye inhabitants of Moab;
And be like to the dove that nesteth
In the holes of the rocks of the precipice.
 29We have heard of the pride of Moab—
How very proud is she—
Of her crafty and arrogant pride,
And the haughtiness of her heart.
 30Well I know her arrogance,
The falseness of her boasting,
And the falseness of her behaviour.
 31There shall therefore be wailing in Moab,
Yea, shrieks from all quarters of Moab,
And moans for the men of Kir-heres.
 32For thee, O vine of Sibmah,
Shall be weeping as men weep for Jazer.
Thy branches passed over the sea,
They reached as far as Jazer;
On thy summer fruits and their vintage
Is the despoiler fallen.
 33Gladness and mirth are vanished
From Moab's garden-land;
No wine is trod in the presses,
The merry shout I have stilled,
And the shout that is raised is of battle.
 34Heshbon and Elealeh cry out,
And their voice doth reach unto Jahaz,
From Zoar to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyyah;
For the waters of Nimrim shall also be desolate.
 25I will cause, saith Jehovah, to vanish from Moab
Him that offereth in the high place,
And doth sacrifice to his god.
 36So my heart like a flute maketh moaning for Moab,
My heart maketh moan for the men of Kir-heres;
For the gain they had gotten is perished.
 37For every head is bald,
And every beard is clipped:
On every hand are gashes,
On every loin is sackcloth.
 38On Moab's roofs and squares
Is universal wailing;
For Moab I have shattered
Like a vessel that one despiseth.
 39How broken is Moab! howl ye.
How she turneth her back in shame!
Her neighbours shall all behold her
With horror and derision.
 40For thus saith Jehovah, Behold,
One like a vulture shall swoop,
And spread out his wings against Moab.
 41Keriyyoth is take, the strongholds are seized.
That day shall the heart of the warriors of Moab
Be like to the heart of a woman in anguish.
 42As a nation, Moab shall perish
For his insolence towards Jehovah.
 43Trap, terror, and pit are before you,
All ye that dwell in Moab.
 44He that flies from the terror shall fall down the pit,
He that creeps from the pit shall be caught in the trap.
 45In the shadow of Heshbon stand fugitives—
All their strength now gone;
For a fire is gone forth from Heshbon,
A flame from the house of Sihon,
Devouring the temples of Moab's head,
And the crown of the head of the sons of tumult.
 46Woe unto thee, O Moab!
The people of Chemosh is perished;
Thy sons are taken captive,
Thy daughters are led to captivity.
Yet Moab I will restore
In the latter days, saith Jehovah.
Thus far is the judgment upon Moab.
Oracle on Ammon 
 49Thus saith Jehovah:
1Hath Israel no sons, no heirs?
Why then hath Milcom seized Gad,
And his people inhabit her cities?
 2Therefore days, saith Jehovah, are coming,
When over Rabbah of Ammon
I will bring the alarum of war.
A desolate mound shall she be,
And with fire shall her daughters be burned;
And Israel shall hold once more
The land from which she was driven.
 3Howl, ye children of Ammon,
Your capital is ruined;
And cry, ye daughters of Rabbah,
Gird you with sackcloth and wail,
And wander about in mourning;
For Milcom is gone into exile,
His priests and his princes together,
 4Why gloriest thou in thy valley,
Thou daughter that livest at ease;
And trustest in thy reserves,
Thinking no one shall ever assail thee.
 5Behold, I will bring on thee terror,
Saith the Lord Jehovah of Hosts,
From all that are round about thee;
Ye shall all be driven headlong,
And the wanderers none shall rally.
 6But afterwards, saith Jehovah,
The Ammonites I will restore.
Oracle on Edom
 7On Edom.
Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts:
Is wisdom no more in Teman?
Is the wit of the prudent perished,
Their wisdom vanished clean?
 8Turn, fly to retreats inaccessible,
Ye that dwell in Dedan;
For I bring upon Esau his doom,
The time of his visitation.
 9Gleaners are come upon thee,
Who will leave not a grape to glean;
Yea, thieves in the night are come,
Who will wreck to their heart's content.
 10For I have stripped Esau bare,
And his lurking-place uncovered,
So that hide himself he cannot.
Destroyed is he to a man
By the arm of his brethen and neighbours.
 11Leave thine orphans, and I will preserve them;
Let thy widows trust in Me.
 12For thus saith Jehovah: If those who did notdeserve to drink the cup must drink it nevertheless,how canst thou expect to go utterly unpunished?Nay, verily, thou shalt no escape, but drink it thou
 13shalt. For I have most solemnly sworn, saith Jehovah,that Bozrah shall be a horror, a scorn, and a curse,and all her cities shall be perpetual wastes.
 14Jehovah hath sent me tidings
Of an envoy despatched to the nations,
To bid them gather against her,
And rise up to do battle.
 15For small in the eyes of the nations,
Yea, scorned among men, will I make thee.
 16O how thou then wilt shudder!
The pride of thy heart hath beguiled thee,
Thou that hauntest the clefts of the crags,
That holdest the heights of the hills.
Though thou buildest thine eyrie as high as the eagle,
Even thence to the ground will I bring thee.
 17And Edom shall be a horror;
Yea, horror-struck, all that pass by her
Shall hiss at her many wounds.
 18As when Sodom was overthrown,
And Gomorrah and her neighbours,
No man shall dwell therein,
No mortal shall sojourn there.
 19Behold, as a lion comes up
To the pastures of sheep from the jungle of Jordan,
Even so will I chase them away, in a moment,
And visit with vengeance their choicest rams.
Who is like Me? who will challenge Me?
What shepherd is there that will face Me?
 20Therefore hear what Jehovah hath planned against Edom,
And purposed against the inhabitants of Teman:
The young shepherd lads shall be dragged away,
And their homestead assuredly smitten with horror.
 21At the sound of their fall the earth doth tremble,
And far as the Red Sea their cry shall be heard.
 22See! one like a vulture shall swoop,
And spread out his wings against Bozrah.
That day shall the heart of the warriors of Edom
Be like to the heart of a woman in anguish.
Oracle on Damascus
 23Hamath and Arpad are shamed,
For tidings of evil hath reached them;
They melt for very care,
They are restless, like the sea.
 24Damascus is all unstrung,
She betaketh herself to flight.
Trembling hath seized upon her,
Anguish hath taken hold of her,
And sorrow like that of a woman in travail.
 25How forlon is the famous city,
The city of wondrous charm!
 26In her squares shall her young men lie fallen;
Her warriors all shall be silenced
In that day, saith Jehovah of Hosts.
 27I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus,
And the palaces of Benhadad it shall devour.
Oracle on Certain Arabian Tribes
 28On Kedar and the kingdom of Hazor, whichNebuchadrezzar king of Babylon smote.Thus saith Jehovah:Arise, get ye up unto Kedar,
Despoil the sons of the East,
 29Their tents and their flocks shall be taken,
Their hangings and all their vessels;
(The foe) shall seize their camels,
And shout at them "Terrors encircle you."
 30Turn, fly to retreats inaccessible,
Ye that dwell in Hazor;
For Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon
Hath purposed and planned to destroy you.
 31"Arise and assail the nation
That liveth in ease and security,
Strangers to gates and bars,
And dwelling apart by themselves."
 32Their camels shall fall a prey,
And the throng of their herds shall be plundered;
And those whose temples are clipped
I will scatter to all the winds;
And I, saith Jehovah, will bring on them
Ruin from every side.
 33A haunt of jackals shall Hazor become,
A perpetual desolation:
No man shall dwell therein,
No mortal shall sojourn there.
Oracle on Elam
 34The message concerning Elam which Jeremiah theprophet received from Jehovah at the beginning ofthe reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah.
 35Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts:
I will break the bow of Elam,
Chief weapon of their might.
 36I will bring four winds upon them
From the four ends of the heavens,
And to all these winds will I scatter them.
No nation shall there be
Where the outcasts of Elam shall come not.
 37I will fill them with dismay
In the presence of their foes
And of those that seek their life.
And I will bring evil upon them,
My glowing indignation;
I will send the sword to pursue them,
Until I have consumed them.
 38I will set My throne in Elam,
And thence will I destroy
The king and the princes together.
But Elam I will restore
In the latter days, saith Jehovah.
Oracle on Babylon 
 50The message concerning Babylon and the land of the 1Chaldeans that Jehovah communicated to Jeremiah the prophet.
 2Tell ye the nations and publish it,
Publish it unreservedly,
That Babylon is taken,
Bel shamed, and Marduk dismayed.
Her images are shamed,
Her idol-blocks are dismayed;
 3For a folk from the north hath assailed her
That shall desolate her land,
So that none may dwell therein—
Man, beast, are fled and gone.
 4In those days, at the time, saith Jehovah,
The children of Israel shall come
With the children of Judah together;
They shall go on their way with weeping,
And seek Jehovah their God.
 5For Zion shall they ask,
With faces hitherward turned,
Saying, "Come, let us join Jehovah 
In a covenant everlasting,
That never shall be forgotten."
 6Lost sheep have My people been,
Their shepherds have led them astray,
They have turned them away on the mountains;
From mountain to hill they have wandered,
Forgetful of the fold.
 7All have devoured them that found them:
Their enemies said "We are guiltless"—
For they had offended Jehovah,
The Fold, where righteousness dwelleth,
Jehovah, the Hope of their fathers.
 8Flee ye from Babylon's midst,
Get ye out from the land of Chaldea,
Like he-goats before the flock.
 9For behold! I will rouse against Babylon
A swarm of northern nations,
That shall set their array against her,
Until they have overcome her.
They shall shoot like a skilful warrior,
Who doth not return empty.
 10Chaldea shall be despoiled,
All that spoil her shall have their fill.
 11Though ye rejoice and be glad,
O ye that plunder My heritage;
Though ye gambol like calves in the grass,
And neigh like stalwart horses;
 12Your mother shall deeply be shamed,
And abashed shall she be that bore you—
The hindermost of the nations,
A wilderness dry and desert,
 13An empty desolation,
Because of the wrath of Jehovah.
Horror-struck, all that pass by her
Shall hiss at her many wounds.
 14Set your array round Babylon,
All ye that bend the bow;
Shoot your arrows at her without stint,
She hath sinned against Jehovah.
 15Encirlce her with your war-cry,
Already she hath surrendered;
Her buttresses are fallen,
Her walls are torn down.
'Tis the vengeance of Jehovah:
Avenge yourselves upon her,
Do to her as she hath done.
 16Root out of Babylon him that soweth,
And him that wieldeth the sickle in harvest.
To escape the murderous sword
Shall each set his face to his people,
And each to his own land flee.
 17A scattered flock is Israel,
By lions driven away.
First, the king of Assyria devoured him, 
And now at the last his bones
Have been gnawed by the king of Babylon.
 18Therefore thus saith Jehovah of Hosts,
The God of Israel: Behold,
I will punish the king and the land of Babylon,
As I punished the king of Assyria.
 19But Israel I will bring back to his homestead,
To pasture on Carmel and Bashan;
On Ephraim's hills and in Gilead
He shall fare to his heart's content.
 20In those days, at that time, saith Jehovah,
Though Israel should be searched,
No guilt shall in her be found;
And no transgression in Judah
Shall any man discover:
For those whom I spare I will pardon.
 21Get ye up to the land of Marrati,
And the people that dwell in Pekod;
Slay and destroy them utterly,
And do all I command, saith Jehovah.
 22Hark! the alarum of war,
In Chaldea fell destrucion.
How is she hewn and shattered—
The Hammer of all the earth.
What a horror among the nations
Is Babylon become!
 24I sanred thee, and thou hast been taken,
O Babylon, unaware:
Thou art discovered and caught,
Because thou hast challenged Jehovah.
 25Jehovah has opened His armoury,
And brought forth His weapons of wrath;
For the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts,
Hath a work to do in Chaldea.
 26Assail her from every quarter,
Lay her granaries bare;
Pile her up like heaps of corn,
And utterly detroy her;
Let nothing of her be left.
 27Slay ye all her bullocks,
Down let them go to the slaughter.
Woe unto them: for their day is come,
The time of their visitation.
 28Hark! how they flee, they escape
Away from the land of Babylon
To Zion, to tell how Jehovah,
Our God, hath avenged His Temple.
 29Call against Babylon archers,
All those that bend the bow;
Camp round about against her,
Let none of them escape.
Requite her for all she hath done,
And deal with her as she dealt,
For her insolence towards Jehovah,
The Holy One of Israel.
 30In her squares shall her young men lie fallen,
Her warriors all shall be silenced,
In that day, saith Jehovah of Hosts.
 31See, Insolence, I will assail thee,
Saith the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts;
Because thy day is come,
The time of thy visitation.
 32Then shall Insolence stumble and fall,
And none shall lift her up;
I will kindle a fire in her forest,
Which shall all her thickets devour.
 33Thus saith Jehovah of Host:
The children of Israel are crushed,
And the children of Judah together;
Their captors hold them fast
And refuse to let them go.
 34But mighty is their Redeemer;
Jehovah of Hosts is His name.
He will surely defend their cause,
That He may give rest to the earth,
And disquiet the people of Babylon.
 35A sword upon the Chaldeans,
Upon all the people of Babylon,
Her princess and her wise men!
 36A sword upon her diviners!
And then shall their folly be manifest.
A sword upon her warriors! 
And then how dismayed shall they be!
 37A sword on her horses and chariots,
And on all the strange folk in her midst!
And they shall become as women.
A sword upon her treasures!
And plundered shall they be.
 38A sword upon her waters! 
And dried up shall they be!
For she is a land of images,
And with hideous (idols) they make themselves mad.
 39So wild cats and wolves shall dwell there,
And there shall ostriches dwell;
She shall not be re-peopled for ever,
Or dwelt in through all generations.
 40As when Sodom was overthrown,
Gomorrah and her neighbours,
No man shall dwell therein,
No mortal shall sojourn there.
 41See! a pople doth come from the north:
A great nation and many kings
From the ends of the earth bestir them
 42Bow they wield and javelin—
Cruel and pitiless they,
With a voice like the roar of the sea,
And they upon horses come riding,
Arrayed, like one man, for the battle,
Against thee, O daughter of Babylon.
 43The rumour of them hath come
To the ears of the king of Babylon,
And he is all unstrung;
Anguish hath seized upon him
And pangs as of woman in travail.
 44Behold, as a lion comes up
To the pastures of sheep from the jungle of Jordan,
Even so will I chase them away in a moment,
And visit with vengeance their choicest rams.
Wh is like Me? Who will challenge Me?
What shepherd is there that will face Me?
 45Therefore hear what Jehovah hath planned against  Babylon,
And purposed against those that dwell in Chaldea:
The young shepherd lads shall be dragged away,
And their homestead assuredly stricken with horror.
 46At the shout, " She is taken," the earth doth tremble,
And over the world their cry shall be heard. 
 51Thus saith Jehovah:
1Behold, I will raise against Babylon
And those that dwell in Chaldea
The spirit of a destroyer.
 2I will send upon Babylon winnowers
Who shall winnow and empty her land :
Yea, woe shall beset her about
In the day of her disaster.
 3Let the archer bend his bow,
Stand erect in his coat of mail;
Not one of her young men spare,
But destroy her whole host utterly.
 4Let them fall down slain in the land of Chaldea,
And stabbed upon her streets.
 5cFor their land is full of guilt
 dAgainst the Holy One of Israel;
 aBut Israel and Judah were not forsaken
 bBy their God, Jehovah of Hosts.
 6Fly from the midst of Babylon,
Save every man his life,
Lest her guilt bring destruction upon you.
'Tis Jehovah's day of revenge,
With a recompense He is requiting her.
 7A golden cup is Babylon,
That made the whole earth drunken:
The nations drank of her wine,
And therefore are they gone mad.
 8On a sudden she falls, she is shattered,
Raise ye your wail over her;
Take balsam for her pain,
Peradventure she may be healed.
 9We strove for Babylon's healing,
But past all healing was she;
And so we now will leave her,
And each to his own land go;
For her judgement reacheth to heaven,
It mounts to the very clouds.
 10Jehovah hath shown that the right was ours:
Come, let us tell in Zion
What Jehovah our God hath done.
 11Polish the arrows,
Furbish the shields;
For Jehovah hath stirred up
The spirit of Media's king.
He hath planned for the ruin of Babylon;
For such is Jehovah's vengeance,
The vengeance for His Temple.
 12Hoist ye the flag for the march
Against the walls of Babylon;
Strengthen the watch, set watchmen, 
And get the ambush ready:
For Jehovah hath planned and accomplished
His treats on the people of Babylon.
 13Thou that art rich in treasure,
And dwellest by many waters,
Thine end is come, thy web is spun.
 14Jehovah of Hosts hath most solemnly sworn:
" I will fill thee with men who will swarm like locusts
And lift up against thee a shout of triumph.
 15He created the earth by His power,
He established the world by His wisdom,
He stretched out the heavens by His skill.
 16When He uttereth His voice,
The waters roar in the heavens,
And He causeth vapours to rise
From the uttermost ends of the earth.
Lightings He made for the rain,
And the wind He brings out if His storehouses.
 17How foolish is man with his knowledge!
The goldsmith is shamed by his image;
His idols are a delusion,
And breath in them is none.
 18They are an empty mockery,
In the hour of their trial they shall perish.
 19Not such is the Portion of Jacob,
His God is the Framer of all things;
Jehovah of Hosts is His name.
 20My hammer of war hast thou been,
With thee I have shattered the nations.
With thee have I kingdoms destroyed,
 21With thee horse and rider I shattered,
And chariot and charioteer;
 22With thee man and woman I shattered,
With thee old and young have I shattered,
With thee youth and maid have I shattered,
 23With thee flock and shepherd I shattered,
With thee team and ploughman I shattered,
With thee lord and viceroy I shattered.
 24And Babylon I will requite,
And the people of all Chaldea, 
Before your eyes, saith Jehovah,
For the wrong they have wrought upon Zion,
 25Behold, I will assail thee,
Saith Jehovah, thou mount of destruction,
That destroyest all the earth;
I will stretch out My hand against thee,
And make thee a burning mountain.
 26No corner-stones shalt thou furnish,
And no foundation stones;
But thou, saith Jehovah, shalt be
A perpetual desolation.
 27Raise a banner upon the earth,
Blow the trumpet among the nations;
Prepare the nations against her,
Summon against her the kingdoms
Of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz.
Muster your troops against her, 
And bring up horses like locusts.
 28Prepare the nations against her,
King, lords, and viceroys of Media,
And all the land that he ruleth.
 29The earth is in tremor and anguish,
For Jehovah's design against Babylon standeth—
To make the land of Babylon
An uninhabited waste.
 30The warriors of Babylon cease fight,
They stay within their fastnesses;
Their strength is all dried up,
They are become like women.
Her dwelling-places are burned,
Her bars are shattered to pieces.
 31Courier runs to meet courier,
And messenger to meet messenger,
To tell the king of Babylon
That on all sides his city is taken.
 32The ferries have been seized,
The defences areburned with fire,
And the men of war are confounded.
 33For thus saith Jehovah of Hosts,
The God of Israel:
The daughter of Babylon is now
Like a threshing-floor, when it is trodden;
But yet a little while—
And for her shall the harvest-time come.
 34Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon,
Hath done me violent wrong:
He hath left me an empty vessel,
He hath swallowed me up like a monster;
He hath filled his maw with my dainties,
And then hath cast me out.
 35Let her that inhabiteth Zion declare,
"The wrong done to me and my flesh be on Babylon!"
Let Jerusalem say, "My blood
Be on them that dwell in Chaldea!"
 36Thus therefore saith Jehovah:
See! I will defend thy cause,
And I will take vengeance for thee;
Her sea I will dry up,
And her fountain I will wither.
 37Babylon shall become a ruin,
A place that jackals haunt,
A place of horror and hissing,
A place where no man dwelleth.
 38They roar like young lions together,
They growl like lions' whelps;
 39I will give them the banquet they crave for,
And make them drunk, that they swoon,
And sleep their eternal sleep,
To awake nevermore, saith Jehovah.
 40I will bring them down to the slaughter,
Like the lambs or rams with goats.
 41How is Sheshach seized and taken,
That was famous all over the world!
With what horror all the nations
Are smitten at Babylon's fate!
 42The sea came up upon Babylon,
'Neath the roar of her billows she sank.
 43Her cities were turned to a waste,
A dry and desert land:
In then shall no man dwell,
No mortal shall ever pass through them.
 44I will punish Bel in Babylon,
And make him disgorge what he swallowed.
No more shall the nations stream to him;
The wall of Babylon is fallen.
 45Forth from her midst, My people,
Save every man his life
From the glowing wrath of Jehovah.
 46See that ye faint not nor fear
At the rumours ye hear in the land,
When one year one rumour cometh,
And in the next another,
And tyrant after tyrant
Doeth violence in the earth.
 47See therefore, the days are coming,
When I will punish the idols of Babylon,
And put her whole land to shame,
And all shall fall slain in the midst of her.
 48The heavens shall rejoice over Babylon,
The earth, and all therein;
For spoilers shall come from the north
And assail her, saith Jehovah.
 49Yes, Babylon must fall
For Israel's sons that are slain,
As for Babylon are fallen
The slain of all the earth.
 50Ye that the sword have escaped,
Depart ye, stand not still:
Remember Jehovah afar,
And bethink ye of Jerusalem.
 51"We are shamed, we have heard a reproach,
And confusion hath covered our faces;
For strangers are entered in
To the Holy House of Jehovah."
 52See therefore, the days are coming
When her images I will punish,
And all through her land shall the wounded groan.
 53Though Babylon mounted to heaven,
And there in the heights built her fortress,
Yet from me should despoilers come
And assail her, saith Jehovah.
 54Hark! 'tis a shriek from Babylon,
Fell destruction in Chaldea,
 55For Jehovah despoileth Babylon,
He stilleth her mighty voice.
They shall roar like many waters,
And utter their clamorous din;
 56For the spoiler is come upon Babylon;
Her mighty men are taken,
Their bows are broken in pieces:
For Jehovah is a God of requitals,
And He will repay without fail.
 57Her princes I will make drunken,
Her wise men and her governors,
Her viceroys and her warriors;
They shall sleep their eternal sleep,
To awake nevermore, saith the King,
Whose name is Jehovah of Hosts.
 58Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts:
Babylon's broad wall shall be razed to the ground,
And her towering gates in the fire shall be burned:
Thus endeth the toil of the peoples in nothing,
The labour of nations is doomed to the flames.
Jeremiah's Message to Babylon, Symbolic of her Doom
 59The instructions given by Jeremiah the prophet to Seraiah, the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, whoacted as quester-master, when he accompaniedZedekiah the king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth 60Year of his reign. Now Jeremiah had recorded on a scroll 61all the misery that was to come upon Babylon; andhe said to Seraiah, "When you arrive at Babylon, see 62that you read all these words, and say: 'Thine, OJehovah, are these words; it is Thou that hast decreedthe destruction of this place — that never again shall itbe a home for man or beast, but that it shall remain a 63desolation for ever.' When you have finished readingthis scroll, tie a stone to it and throw it into the middle 64of the Euphrates, with the words: 'Thus shall Babylonsink, to rise no more, because of all the misery that Ishall bring upon her.'"
Here end the words of Jeremiah.
The Capture of Jerusalem and the Exile of the People 
 52Zedekiah, who was twenty-one years of age when he1came to the throne, reigned for eleven years in Jerusalem.His mother's name was Hamutal, a daughter of 2Jeremiah of Libnah. His actions were offensive to 3Jehovah was so angry with Jerusalem and Judah thatHe cast them out of His sight; and Zedekiah revoltedagainst the king of Babylon.
 4On the tenth day of the tenth month of the ninthyear of his reign Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon,came with all his forces to storm Jerusalem. Theypitched their camp against it, and surrounded it with 5a siege-wall; so the city was undersiege till the eleventh 6year of king Zedekiah. In the ninth day of the fourthmonth — the famine in the city being so severe that 7there was no bread for the people of the land — abreach was made in the city, and all the soldiers tookto flight, leaving the city during the night by way of thegate between the two walls by the royal garden—the city being surrounded by the Chaldeans — and they 8made for the Jordan valley. But the Chaldean armypursued the king and overtook him in the steppes of Jericho, all his own army having left him and scattered. 9They seized the king and brought him to the king of Babylon who was at Riblah in the district of Hamath; 10and he pronounced judgment upon him. At Riblahthe king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah beforehis eyes, and all the princes of Judah did he also slay; 11he then put out Zedekiah's eyes, and having loaded himwith chains, he carried him to Babylon, where he kepthim in the House of Discipline till the day of his death.
 12On the tenth day of the fifth month of the nineteenthyear of king Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon,Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard, one of the ministers of the king of Babylon, entered Jerusalem; 13and he proceeded to burn the Temple, the palace, and 14indeed every house in Jerusalem. All the walls thatencircled Jerusalem were demolished by the Chaldeanforces that were under the commander of the guard. 15The rest of the people left in the city, and the deserterswho had gone over the king of Babylon, and thosethat were left of the artificers, were carried into exile by 16Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard. Some ofthe poorest of the country people were left by Nebuzar-adan, the commander of the guard, to act as vine-dressers and ploughmen. 
 17The bronze pillars of the Temple, and the stands,and the bronze sea that was in the Temple, were brokenin pieces by the Chaldeans, and all the bronze of them 18was taken to Babylon. They also took the pots andthe shovels and the snuffers and the basons and thepans and all the bronze vessels used in the (Temple) 19service. The goblets and the snuff-dishes (for thelamps) and the basons and the pots and the lamp-stands and the pans and the libation bowls — whateverwas of gold or silver respectively — were removed by the 20commander of the guard: — the pillars, two; the seaone; and the bronze bulls that supported the sea,twelve; and the stands which King Solomon hadmade for the Temple, ten; — vessels the mass of whose 21bronze was beyond weight. Each of the pillars wastwenty-seven feet in height, eighteen feet in circum-ference, three inches in thickness, and hollow within. 22It was surmounted by a bronze capital, seven feet and ahalf in height, round which ran network and pome-granates of bronze throughout; the (network and) 23pomogranate adorment of both pillars was alike. Onthe network round about there were a hundred pome-granates in all, of which ninety-six were visible.
 24The commander of the guard also took Seraiah thechief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the 25three keepers of the threshold. He took also from thecity a eunuch who had charge of the soldiers, and sevenof the King's Privy Councillors who were found inthe city, and the secretary of the commander-in-chief,who kept the army register, and sixty of the people of 26the land whom he found within the city. Havingseized them, Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guard,brought them to Riblah to the king of Babylon; 27and the king of Babylon put them to death at Riblahin the district of Hamath. Thus was Judah carriedfrom her own land into exile.
 28These are the people whom Nebuchadrezzar carriedinto exile; in the seventeenth year (of his reign) 29three thousand and twenty-three Jews; in the eight-eenth year of Nebuchadrezzar, eight hundred and 30thirty-two persons from Jerusalem; in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadrezzar Nebuzaradan thecommander of the guard carried seven hundred andforty-five Jews into exile: — in all, four thousandsix hundred.
A Gleam of Light in the Darkness of Exile
 31In the thirty seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin,king of Judah, in the twenty-fifth day of the twelfthmonth, Evil-merodach, in the year of his accession tothe throne of Babylon, restored Jehoiachin, king of 32Judah, to favour, liberated him from prison, engagedhim in friendly intercourse, and gave him precedenceover the (other) kings who were (detained) with him 33in Babylon. He also changed his prison dress, and he 34dined at the royal table to the very end of his life. Aperpetual allowance, which was disbursed daily, wasassigned him by the king of Babylon, and he continuedto enjoy it all his life up to the day that he died.