1 Jeremiah, son of Hilkiah, spoke to the people of Israel. He was a priest. He lived at Anathoth, a town in the land that God gave to the tribe of Benjamin.
2 God spoke to him when Josiah, son of Amon, had been king of Judah for 13 years.
3 God continued to speak to him all the time that Josiah’s son, Jehoiakim, was king. And he went on speaking to Jeremiah for the 11 years and 5 months, that Zedekiah was king. Zedekiah was a son of King Josiah. After this, enemies took the people from Jerusalem away to a far country. God chooses Jeremiah.
4 God spoke to me.
5 ‘I knew you even before I made your body inside your mother’s body. I chose you before you were born. I decided that you must be a prophet to all the countries in the world’, he said.
6 ‘Great and powerful LORD’, I said. ‘I do not know how to speak. I am only a child.’
7 The LORD said to me, ‘Do not say, “I am only a child.” You must go to everyone that I send you to. You must say whatever I tell you to say.
8 You need not be afraid of them, because I am with you. I will save you’, he said.
9 Then the LORD touched my mouth with his hand. ‘Now I have put my words into your mouth’, he said.
10 ‘Look, I give you authority over countries and kingdoms. You can pull them down or break them up to destroy them. You can build them up and make them safe.’ The LORD shows Jeremiah two pictures.
11 The LORD spoke to me. ‘What do you see, Jeremiah?’ he said. 12 ‘Yes, that is correct’, he said. ‘I am watching my words. And I will cause them to happen.’ 13 The LORD spoke to me again. ‘What do you see?’ he said. ‘I see a boiling pot. It is in the north and it is pouring this way’, I answered.
14 ‘People from the north will pour out. And they will kill all the people who live in this country’, the LORD said.
15 ‘I will bring all the nations who live in the north’, he said. ‘Their kings will come and they will sit in the gates of Jerusalem. They will rule there. They will be round its walls. They will be round all the towns of Judah.
16 I will be the judge of my people, because they have turned away from me. They have done very wrong things. They have given gifts to false gods. They have worshipped things that they have made with their own hands.
17 You must get ready! Stand up. And say whatever I tell you. Do not be afraid of them. If you are afraid of them, I will make you afraid in front of them!
18 Today I have made you as strong as a city with great walls. You will be like a tree that someone has made out of iron. You will be like a metal wall to stand against the whole nation. You will stand against the kings of Judah and their officers. You will stand against the priests and the people of the country.
19 They will fight against you. But they will not win, because I am with you. I will save you’, says the LORD.
1 God spoke to me again.
2 ‘Speak to the people in Jerusalem’, he said. 3 Israel belonged to me. It was special. 4 ‘Listen to what the LORD says, you sons of Jacob, 5 This is the LORD’s message. 6 They did not ask the LORD for help. 7 I, the LORD, brought you to a good country, 8 The priests did not ask “Where is the LORD?” 9 ‘So I must be your judge’, says the LORD. 10 Go to the people who live in the east and the west. 11 Other nations have not changed their gods. 12 You skies, be very surprised. 13 ‘My people have sinned twice. 14 Israel’s people are not slaves, born to be servants. 15 The enemies attacked them like lions. 16 The men from Memphis and Tahpanhes have removed all the hair from your heads. 17 You have caused this to happen. 18 The water of the River Shihor in Egypt is not better to drink than yours is. 19 The very bad things that you have done will punish you. 20 ‘You stopped working for me a long time ago. 21 But I had planted you like a young vine. 22 You may wash yourselves with clean water, 23 You say that you are not dirty. 24 You are like a wild female horse 25 Do not run for so long that you become tired. 26 A man may take things that are not his. 27 They say to a piece of wood, “You are my father.” 28 I tell them to ask the gods that they made for themselves. 29 ‘You must not judge me. 30 ‘I punished your people. 31 ‘Think about my message, you people who are alive today’, says the LORD. 32 A young woman does not forget her pretty things. 33 You are so clever. You can always find love! 34 Your clothes have blood on them. 35 But still you say, “I have not done anything that is wrong. 36 You look at nations who live near to you. 37 You will become slaves. 1 ‘A man may divorce his wife. 2 ‘Look at the tops of the hills. 3 That is why I have not sent any rain to you. 4 But you say to me, “You have been my friend, who has loved me all my life.
5 Surely you cannot be angry with me! 6 The LORD spoke to me while Josiah was king. ‘Look at what Israel’s people have done’, he said. ‘They have not been faithful to me. They have worshipped false gods under every big tree and on every high hill. They have been like a wife who is not faithful to her husband.
7 I thought that they would come back to me. But they did not return when it was over. Israel’s sister, Judah, saw what Israel did.
8 I sent Israel away, like a wife after her husband has divorced her. I sent her away because she had loved so many other gods. But Judah’s people, who had not been faithful, were not afraid. Judah’s people also went out and they found other lovers.
9 Israel’s people were not sorry that they had not been faithful to me. So they worshipped gods that they made from wood and stone. They made the country like a dirty place because they did very many bad things.
10 Judah saw this, but Judah was not faithful. Judah’s people did not really return to me. They only made it seem that they had returned to me’, says the LORD.
11 And the LORD said to me, ‘Israel’s people have not been faithful to me. So Israel’s backsliding is not as bad as the things that Judah’s people have done.
12 Go. Turn to the north, and say, 13 But you must believe that you have done many wrong things. 14 ‘Return to me, you people who are backsliding’, says the LORD. ‘I am your husband. I will bring some of you to Zion. I will choose one from a town and two from a family.
15 Then I will give shepherds to you that I can trust. They will lead you and they will teach you good things.
16 After some time, the number of your people will grow. Then you will think in a new way’, says the LORD. ‘You will not talk or even think about the ark of the LORD. You will forget all about it, and you will not make another one.
17 Then they will call Jerusalem “The Throne of the LORD”. At that time, people from all countries will come to Jerusalem. They will all give honour to the name of the LORD. They will not do the wrong things that they want any more.
18 Then the people from Israel and the people from Judah will join together in Jerusalem. They will come from a country in the north. They will come to this country that I gave to your ancestors. I gave it to you and to your ancestors to keep.
19 I myself said, 20 But you have been like a woman who has left her husband to go to another man. 21 I can hear a noise on the high places. 22 Return to me, you backsliding children. 23 You hope for help from the other side of the hills and the mountains. 24 Since we were young, 25 We are ashamed. 1 ‘If you want to return, then return to me’, the LORD says. 2 And if you make a true, good and fair promise to me, 3 This is what the LORD says to the people in Judah, and in Jerusalem. 4 Give all of yourselves to the LORD. 5 ‘Shout to the people in Judah. Tell this to the people in Jerusalem. 6 Tell everyone to go to Zion! 7 A lion was hiding in the hills. 8 So put on special clothes to show that you are sad. 9 ‘The king and his officers will not be happy on that day’, 10 ‘Oh, great and powerful LORD’, I said. ‘You have not spoken what is true to this people and to Jerusalem. You said, “You will have peace.” But now our enemies will attack us!’
11 ‘A hot wind from the empty mountains will blow towards my people’, the LORD will tell them at that time. ‘But it will not make them clean. It will not blow away the wrong things that they have done.’ The LORD will tell them this.
12 ‘I will send a wind that is too strong for that. Now I will tell you how I will judge them.’
13 Look! He is coming like the clouds. 14 Jerusalem, wash away your bad thoughts. 15 A voice is calling out from Dan. 16 ‘Tell this to all the nations, 2
Israel’s people have turned away from the LORD.
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