1

1 These are God's messages to Jeremiah the priest (the son of Hilkiah) who lived in the town of Anathoth in the land of Benjamin.

2 The first of these messages came to him in the thirteenth year of the reign of Amon's son Josiah, king of Judah.

3 Others came during the reign of Josiah's son Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and at various other times until July of the eleventh year of the reign of Josiah's son Zedekiah, king of Judah, when Jerusalem was captured and the people were taken away as slaves.

4 The Lord said to me,

5 "I knew you before you were formed within your mother's womb; before you were born I sanctified you and appointed you as my spokesman to the world."

6 "O Lord God," I said, "I can't do that! I'm far too young! I'm only a youth!"

7 "Don't say that," he replied, "for you will go wherever I send you and speak whatever I tell you to.

8 And don't be afraid of the people, for I, the Lord, will be with you and see you through."

9 Then he touched my mouth and said, "See, I have put my words in your mouth!

10 Today your work begins, to warn the nations and the kingdoms of the world. In accord with my words spoken through your mouth I will tear down some and destroy them, and plant others, nurture them, and make them strong and great."

11 Then the Lord said to me, "Look, Jeremiah! What do you see?" And I replied, "I see a whip made from the branch of an almond tree."

12 And the Lord replied, "That's right, and it means that I will surely carry out my threats of punishment."

13 Then the Lord asked me, "What do you see now?" And I replied, "I see a pot of boiling water, tipping southward, spilling over Judah."

14 "Yes," he said, "for terror from the north will boil out upon all the people of this land.

15 I am calling the armies of the kingdoms of the north to come to Jerusalem and set their thrones at the gates of the city and all along its walls, and in all the other cities of Judah.

16 This is the way I will punish my people for deserting me and for worshiping other gods--yes, idols they themselves have made!

17 Get up and dress and go out and tell them whatever I tell you to say. Don't be afraid of them, or else I will make a fool of you in front of them.

18 For see, today I have made you impervious to their attacks. They cannot harm you. You are strong like a fortified city that cannot be captured, like an iron pillar and heavy gates of brass. All the kings of Judah, its officers, priests, and people will not be able to prevail against you.

19 They will try, but they will fail. For I am with you," says the Lord. "I will deliver you."

2

1 Again the Lord spoke to me and said:

2 "Go and shout this in Jerusalem's streets: The Lord says, 'I remember how eager you were to please me as a young bride long ago, how you loved me and followed me even through the barren deserts.

3 In those days Israel was a holy people, the first of my children. All who harmed them were counted deeply guilty, and great evil fell on anyone who touched them.'

4 "O Israel," says the Lord, "why did your fathers desert me? What sin did they find in me that turned them away and changed them into fools who worship idols?

5

6 They ignore the fact that it was I, the Lord, who brought them safely out of Egypt and led them through the barren wilderness, a land of deserts and rocks, of drought and death, where no one lives or even travels.

7 And I brought them into a fruitful land, to eat of its bounty and goodness, but they made it into a land of sin and corruption and turned my inheritance into an evil thing.

8 Even their priests cared nothing for the Lord, and their judges ignored me; their rulers turned against me, and their prophets worshiped Baal and wasted their time on nonsense.

9 "But I will not give you up--I will plead for you to return to me and will keep on pleading; yes, even with your children's children in the years to come!

10 "Look around you and see if you can find another nation anywhere that has traded in its old gods for new ones--even though their gods are nothing.

11 Send to the west to the island of Cyprus; send to the east to the deserts of Kedar. See if anyone there has ever heard so strange a thing as this. And yet my people have given up their glorious God for silly idols!

12 The heavens are shocked at such a thing and shrink back in horror and dismay.

13 For my people have done two evil things: They have forsaken me, the Fountain of Life-giving Water; and they have built for themselves broken cisterns that can't hold water!

14 "Why has Israel become a nation of slaves? Why is she captured and led far away?

15 "I see great armies marching on Jerusalem with mighty shouts to destroy her and leave her cities in ruins, burned and desolate.

16 I see the armies of Egypt rising against her, marching from their cities of Memphis and Tahpanhes to utterly destroy Israel's glory and power.

17 And you have brought this on yourselves by rebelling against the Lord your God when he wanted to lead you and show you the way!

18 "What have you gained by your alliances with Egypt and with Assyria?

19 Your own wickedness will punish you. You will see what an evil, bitter thing it is to rebel against the Lord your God, fearlessly forsaking him," says the Lord Almighty.

20 "Long ago you shook off my yoke and broke away from my ties. Defiant, you would not obey me. On every hill and under every tree you've bowed low before idols.

21 "How could this happen? How could this be? For when I planted you, I chose my seed so carefully--the very best. Why have you become this degenerate race of evil men?

22 No amount of soap or lye can make you clean. You are stained with guilt that cannot ever be washed away. I see it always before me, the Lord God says.

23 You say it isn't so, that you haven't worshiped idols? How can you say a thing like that? Go and look in any valley in the land! Face the awful sins that you have done, O restless female camel, seeking for a male!

24 You are a wild donkey, sniffing the wind at mating time. (Who can restrain your lust?) Any jack wanting you need not search, for you come running to him!

25 Why don't you turn from all this weary running after other gods? But you say, 'Don't waste your breath. I've fallen in love with these strangers and I can't stop loving them now!'

26 "Like a thief, the only shame that Israel knows is getting caught. Kings, princes, priests, and prophets--all are alike in this.

27 They call a carved-up wooden post their father, and for their mother they have an idol chiseled out from stone. Yet in time of trouble they cry to me to save them!

28 Why don't you call on these gods you have made? When danger comes, let them go out and save you if they can! For you have as many gods as there are cities in Judah.

29 Don't come to me--you are all rebels, says the Lord.

30 I have punished your children, but it did them no good; they still will not obey. And you yourselves have killed my prophets as a lion kills its prey.

31 "O my people, listen to the words of God: Have I been unjust to Israel? Have I been to them a land of darkness and of evil? Why then do my people say, 'At last we are free from God; we won't have anything to do with him again!'

32 How can you disown your God like that? Can a girl forget her jewels? What bride will seek to hide her wedding dress? Yet for years on end my people have forgotten me--the most precious of their treasures.

33 "How you plot and scheme to win your lovers. The most experienced harlot could learn a lot from you!

34 Your clothing is stained with the blood of the innocent and the poor. Brazenly you murder without a cause.

35 And yet you say, 'I haven't done a thing to anger God. I'm sure he isn't angry!' I will punish you severely because you say, "I haven't sinned!"

36 "First here, then there, you flit about, going from one ally to another for their help; but it's all no good--your new friends in Egypt will forsake you as Assyria did before.

37 You will be left in despair and cover your face with your hands, for the Lord has rejected the ones that you trust. You will not succeed despite their aid.

3

1 "There is a law that if a man divorces a woman who then remarries, he is not to take her back again, for she has become corrupted. But though you have left me and married many lovers, yet I have invited you to come to me again," the Lord says.

2 "Is there a single spot in all the land where you haven't been defiled by your adulteries--your worshiping these other gods? You sit like a prostitute beside the road waiting for a client! You sit alone like a Bedouin in the desert. You have polluted the land with your vile prostitution.

3 That is why even the springtime rains have failed. For you are a prostitute and completely unashamed.

4 And yet you say to me, 'O Father, you have always been my Friend;

5 surely you won't be angry about such a little thing! Surely you will just forget it?' So you talk and keep right on doing all the evil that you can.

6 This message from the Lord came to me during the reign of King Josiah: "Have you seen what Israel does? Like a wanton wife who gives herself to other men at every chance, so Israel has worshiped other gods on every hill, beneath every shady tree.

7 I thought that someday she would return to me and once again be mine; but she didn't come back. And her faithless sister Judah saw the continued rebellion of Israel.

8 Yet she paid no attention, even though she saw that I divorced faithless Israel. But now Judah too has left me and given herself to prostitution, for she has gone to other gods to worship them.

9 She treated it all so lightly--to her it was nothing at all that she should worship idols made of wood and stone. And so the land was greatly polluted and defiled.

10 Then, afterwards, this faithless one "returned" to me, but her 'sorrow' was only faked" the Lord God says.

11 "In fact, faithless Israel is less guilty than treacherous Judah!

12 "Therefore, go and say to Israel, 'O Israel, my sinful people, come home to me again, for I am merciful; I will not be forever angry with you.

13 Only acknowledge your guilt; admit that you rebelled against the Lord your God and committed adultery against him by worshiping idols under every tree; confess that you refused to follow me.'

14 O sinful children, come home, for I am your Master, and I will bring you again to the land of Israel--one from here and two from there, wherever you are scattered.

15 And I will give you leaders after my own heart, who will guide you with wisdom and understanding.

16 "Then, when your land is once more filled with people," says the Lord, you will no longer wish for 'the good old days of long ago' when you possessed the Ark of God's covenant. Those days will not be missed or even thought about, and the Ark will not be reconstructed, for the Lord himself will be among you.

17 The whole city of Jerusalem will be known as the throne of the Lord; all nations will come to him there and no longer stubbornly follow their evil desires.

18 At that time the people of Judah and of Israel will return together from their exile in the north, to the land I gave their fathers as an inheritance forever.

19 And I thought how wonderful it would be for you to be here among my children. I planned to give you part of this beautiful land, the finest in the world. I looked forward to your calling me 'Father' and thought that you would never turn away from me again.

20 But you have betrayed me; you have gone off and given yourself to a host of foreign gods; you have been like a faithless wife who leaves her husband."

21 I hear a voice high upon the windswept mountains, crying, crying. It is the sons of Israel who have turned their backs on God and wandered far away.

22 "O my rebellious children, come back to me again and I will heal you from your sins." And they reply, "Yes, we will come, for you are the Lord our God.

23 We are weary of worshiping idols on the hills and of having orgies on the mountains. It is all a farce. Only in the Lord our God can Israel ever find her help and her salvation.

24 From our childhood we have seen everything our fathers had--flocks and herds and sons and daughters--squandered on priests and idols.

25 We lie in shame and in dishonor, for we and our fathers have sinned from childhood against the Lord our God; we have not obeyed him."

4

1 "O Israel, if you will truly return to me and absolutely discard your idols,

2 and if you will swear by me alone, the living God, and begin to live good, honest, clean lives, then you will be a testimony to the nations of the world, and they will come to me and glorify my name."

3 The Lord is saying to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, "Plow up the hardness of your hearts; otherwise the good seed will be wasted among the thorns.

4 Cleanse your minds and hearts, not just your bodies, or else my anger will burn you to a crisp because of all your sins. And no one will be able to put the fire out.

5 "Shout to Jerusalem and to all Judea, telling them to sound the alarm throughout the land. 'Run for your lives! Flee to the fortified cities!'

6 Send a signal from Jerusalem: 'Flee now, don't delay!' For I the Lord am bringing vast destruction on you from the north."

7 A lion--a destroyer of nations--stalks from his lair; and he is headed for your land. Your cities will lie in ruin without inhabitant.

8 Put on clothes of mourning and weep with broken hearts, for the fierce anger of the Lord has not stopped yet.

9 "In that day," says the Lord, "the king and the princes will tremble in fear; and the priests and the prophets will be stricken with horror."

10 (Then I said, "But Lord, the people have been deceived by what you said, for you promised great blessings on Jerusalem. Yet the sword is even now poised to strike them dead!")

11 At that time he will send a burning wind from the desert upon them--not in little gusts but in a roaring blast--and he will pronounce their doom.

12

13 The enemy shall roll down upon us like a storm wind; his chariots are like a whirlwind; his steeds are swifter than eagles. Woe, woe upon us, for we are doomed.

14 O Jerusalem, cleanse your hearts while there is time. You can yet be saved by casting out your evil thoughts.

15 From Dan and from Mount Ephraim your doom has been announced.

16 Warn the other nations that the enemy is coming from a distant land, and they shout against Jerusalem and the cities of Judah.

17 They surround Jerusalem like shepherds moving in on some wild animal! For my people have rebelled against me, says the Lord.

18 Your ways have brought this down upon you; it is a bitter dose of your own medicine, striking deep within your hearts.

19 My heart, my heart--I writhe in pain; my heart pounds within me. I cannot be still because I have heard, O my soul, the blast of the enemies' trumpets and the enemies' battle cries.

20 Wave upon wave of destruction rolls over the land, until it lies in utter ruin; suddenly, in a moment, every house is crushed.

21 How long must this go on? How long must I see war and death surrounding me?

22 "Until my people leave their foolishness, for they refuse to listen to me; they are dull, retarded children who have no understanding. They are smart enough at doing wrong, but for doing right they have no talent, none at all."

23 I looked down upon their land, and as far as I could see in all directions everything was ruins. And all the heavens were dark.

24 I looked at the mountains and saw that they trembled and shook.

25 I looked, and mankind was gone, and the birds of the heavens had fled.

26 The fertile valleys were wilderness, and all the cities were broken down before the presence of the Lord, crushed by his fierce anger.

27 The Lord's decree of desolation covers all the land. "Yet," he says, "there will be a little remnant of my people left.

28 The earth shall mourn, the heavens shall be draped with black, because of my decree against my people; I have made up my mind and will not change it."

29 All the cities flee in terror at the noise of marching armies coming near. The people hide in the bushes and flee to the mountains. All the cities are abandoned--all have fled in terror.

30 Why do you put on your most beautiful clothing and jewelry and brighten your eyes with mascara? It will do you no good! Your allies despise you and will kill you.

31 I have heard great crying like that of a woman giving birth to her first child; it is the cry of my people gasping for breath, pleading for help, prostrate before their murderers.

5

1 "Run up and down through every street in all Jerusalem; search high and low and see if you can find even one person who is fair and honest! Search every square, and if you find just one, I'll not destroy the city!

2 Even under oath, they all lie."

3 O Lord, you are looking for faithfulness. You have tried to get them to be honest, for you have punished them, but they won't change! You have destroyed them, but they refuse to turn from their sins. They are determined, with faces hard as rock, not to repent.

4 Then I said, "But what can we expect from the poor and ignorant? They don't know the ways of God. How can they obey him?"

5 I will go now to their leaders, the men of importance, and speak to them, for they know the ways of the Lord and the judgment that follows sin. But they too had utterly rejected their God.

6 So I will send upon them the wild fury of the "lion from the forest"; the "desert wolves" shall pounce upon them, and a "leopard" shall lurk around their cities so that all who go out shall be torn apart. For their sins are very many; their rebellion against me is great.

7 "How can I pardon you? For even your children have turned away and worship gods that are not gods at all. I fed my people until they were fully satisfied, and their thanks was to commit adultery wholesale and to gang up at the city's brothels.

8 They are well-fed, lusty stallions, each neighing for his neighbor's mate.

9 Shall I not punish them for this? Shall I not send my vengeance on such a nation as this?

10 Go down the rows of the vineyards and destroy them! But leave a scattered few to live. Strip the branches from each vine, for they are not the Lord's.

11 "For the people of Israel and Judah are full of treachery against me," says the Lord.

12 They have lied and said, "He won't bother us! No evil will come upon us! There will be neither famine nor war!

13 God's prophets," they say, "are windbags full of words with no divine authority. Their claims of doom will fall upon themselves, not us!"

14 Therefore, this is what the Lord God of Hosts says to his prophets: "Because of talk like this, I'll take your words and prophecies and turn them into raging fire and burn up these people like kindling wood.

15 See, I will bring a distant nation against you, O Israel," says the Lord. "It is a mighty nation, an ancient nation whose language you don't understand.

16 Their weapons are deadly; the men are all mighty.

17 And they shall eat your harvest and your children's bread, your flocks of sheep and herds of cattle, yes, and your grapes and figs; and they shall sack your walled cities that you think are safe.

18 "But I will not completely blot you out." So says the Lord.

19 "And when your people ask, 'Why is it that the Lord is doing this to us?' then you shall say, 'You rejected him and gave yourselves to other gods while in your land; now you must be slaves to foreigners in their lands.'

20 "Make this announcement to Judah and to Israel:

21 'Listen, O foolish, senseless people--you with the eyes that do not see and the ears that do not listen--

22 have you no respect at all for me?' the Lord God asks. 'How can it be that you don't even tremble in my presence? I set the shorelines of the world by perpetual decrees, so that the oceans, though they toss and roar, can never pass those bounds. Isn't such a God to be feared and worshiped?'

23 "But my people have rebellious hearts; they have turned against me and gone off into idolatry.

24 Though I am the one who gives them rain each year in spring and fall and sends the harvesttimes, yet they have no respect or fear for me.

25 And so I have taken away these wondrous blessings from them. This sin has robbed them of all of these good things.

26 "Among my people are wicked men who lurk for victims like a hunter hiding in a blind. They set their traps for men.

27 Like a coop full of chickens their homes are full of evil plots. And the result? Now they are great and rich,

28 they are well fed and well groomed, and there is no limit to their wicked deeds. They refuse justice to orphans and the rights of the poor.

29 Should I sit back and act as though nothing is going on?" the Lord God asks. "Shouldn't I punish a nation such as this?

30 "A horrible thing has happened in this land--

31 the priests are ruled by false prophets, and my people like it so! But your doom is certain.

6

1 "Run, people of Benjamin, run for your lives! Flee from Jerusalem! Sound the alarm in Tekoa; send up a smoke signal at Beth-haccherem; warn everyone that a powerful army is on the way from the north, coming to destroy this nation!

2 Helpless as a girl, you are beautiful and delicate--and doomed.

3 Evil shepherds shall surround you. They shall set up camp around the city and divide your pastures for their flocks.

4 See them prepare for battle. At noon it has begun. All afternoon it rages until the evening shadows fall.

5 'Come,' they say. 'Let us attack by night and destroy her palaces!' "

6 For the Lord Almighty has said to them, "Cut down her trees for battering rams; smash down the walls of Jerusalem. This is the city to be punished, for she is vile through and through.

7 She spouts evil like a fountain! Her streets echo with the sounds of violence; her sickness and wounds are ever before me.

8 "This is your last warning, O Jerusalem. If you don't listen, I will empty the land.

9 Disaster on disaster shall befall you. Even the few who remain in Israel shall be gleaned again," the Lord Almighty has said; "for as a grape-gatherer checks each vine to pick what he has missed, so the remnant of my people shall be destroyed again."

10 But who will listen when I warn them? Their ears are closed, and they refuse to hear. The word of God has angered them; they don't want it at all.

11 For all this I am full of the wrath of God against them. I am weary of holding it in. "I will pour it out over Jerusalem, even upon the children playing in the streets, upon the gatherings of young men, and on husbands and wives and grandparents.

12 Their enemies shall live in their homes and take their fields and wives. For I will punish the people of this land," the Lord has said.

13 "They are swindlers and liars, from the least of them right to the top! Yes, even my prophets and priests!

14 You can't heal a wound by saying it's not there! Yet the priests and prophets give assurances of peace when all is war.

15 Were my people ashamed when they worshiped idols? No, not at all--they didn't even blush. Therefore they shall lie among the slain. They shall die beneath my anger."

16 Yet the Lord pleads with you still: "Ask where the good road is, the godly paths you used to walk in, in the days of long ago. Travel there, and you will find rest for your souls. But you reply, 'No, that is not the road we want!'

17 I set watchmen over you who warned you: 'Listen for the sound of the trumpet! It will let you know when trouble comes.' But you said, 'No! We won't pay any attention!'

18 "This, then, is my decree against my people: (Listen to it, distant lands; listen to it, O my people in Jerusalem;

19 listen to it, all the earth!) I will bring evil upon this people; it will be the fruit of their own sin because they will not listen to me. They reject my law.

20 There is no use now in burning sweet incense from Sheba before me! Keep your expensive perfumes! I cannot accept your offerings; they have no sweet fragrance for me.

21 I will make an obstacle course of the pathway of my people; fathers and sons shall be frustrated; neighbors and friends shall collapse together."

22 The Lord God says, "See the armies marching from the north--a great nation is rising against you.

23 They are a cruel, merciless people, fully armed, mounted for war. The noise of their army is like a roaring sea."

24 We have heard the fame of their armies, and we are weak with fright. Fright and pain have gripped us like that of women in travail.

25 Don't go out to the fields! Don't travel the roads! For the enemy is everywhere, ready to kill; we are terrorized at every turn.

26 O Jerusalem, pride of my people, put on mourning clothes and sit in ashes; weep bitterly as for an only son. For suddenly the destroying armies will be upon you.

27 "Jeremiah, I have made you an assayer of metals that you may test this my people and determine their value. Listen to what they are saying and watch what they are doing.

28 Are they not the worst of rebels, full of evil talk against the Lord? They are insolent as brass, hard and cruel as iron.

29 The bellows blow fiercely; the refining fire grows hotter, but it can never cleanse them, for there is no pureness in them to bring out. Why continue the process longer? All is dross. No matter how hot the fire, they continue in their wicked ways.

30 I must label them 'Impure, Rejected Silver,' and I have discarded them."

7

1 Then the Lord said to Jeremiah:

2 "Go over to the entrance of the Temple of the Lord and give this message to the people: 'O Judah, listen to this message from God. Listen to it, all of you who worship here.' "

3 The Lord, the God of Israel says: "Even yet, if you quit your evil ways, I will let you stay in your own land.

4 But don't be fooled by those who lie to you and say that since the Temple of the Lord is here, God will never let Jerusalem be destroyed.

5 You may remain under these conditions only: If you stop your wicked thoughts and deeds and are fair to others;

6 if you stop exploiting orphans, widows, and foreigners, and stop your murdering; if you stop worshiping idols as you do now to your hurt,

7 then, and only then, will I let you stay in this land that I gave to your fathers to keep forever.

8 "You think that because the Temple is here, you will never suffer? Don't fool yourselves!

9 Do you really think that you can steal, murder, commit adultery, lie, and worship Baal and all of those new gods of yours,

10 and then come here and stand before me in my Temple and chant, 'We are saved!'--only to go right back to all these evil things again?

11 Is my Temple but a den of robbers in your eyes? For I see all the evil going on in there.

12 "Go to Shiloh, the city I first honored with my name, and see what I did to her because of all the wickedness of my people Israel.

13 And now," says the Lord, "I will do the same thing here because of all this evil you have done. Again and again I spoke to you about it, rising up early and calling, but you refused to hear or answer.

14 Yes, I will destroy this Temple, as I did in Shiloh--this Temple called by my name, which you trust for help, and this place I gave to you and to your fathers.

15 And I will send you into exile, just as I did your brothers, the people of Ephraim.

16 "Pray no more for these people, Jeremiah. Neither weep for them nor pray nor beg that I should help them, for I will not listen.

17 Don't you see what they are doing throughout the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

18 No wonder my anger is great! Watch how the children gather wood and the fathers build fires, and the women knead dough and make cakes to offer to The Queen of Heaven and to their other idol-gods!

19 Am I the one that they are hurting?" asks the Lord. "Most of all they hurt themselves, to their own shame."

20 So the Lord God says, "I will pour out my anger, yes, my fury on this place--people, animals, trees, and plants will be consumed by the unquenchable fire of my anger."

21 The Lord, the God of Israel says, "Away with your offerings and sacrifices!

22 It wasn't offerings and sacrifices I wanted from your fathers when I led them out of Egypt. That was not the point of my command.

23 But what I told them was: Obey me, and I will be your God and you shall be my people; only do as I say, and all shall be well!

24 "But they wouldn't listen; they kept on doing whatever they wanted to, following their own stubborn, evil thoughts. They went backward instead of forward.

25 Ever since the day your fathers left Egypt until now, I have kept on sending them my prophets, day after day.

26 But they wouldn't listen to them or even try to hear. They are hard and stubborn and rebellious--worse even than their fathers were.

27 "Tell them everything that I will do to them, but don't expect them to listen. Cry out your warnings, but don't expect them to respond.

28 Say to them: 'This is the nation that refuses to obey the Lord its God and refuses to be taught. She continues to live a lie.

29 'O Jerusalem, shave your head in shame and weep alone upon the mountains; for the Lord has rejected and forsaken this people of his wrath.'

30 For the people of Judah have sinned before my very eyes," says the Lord. "They have set up their idols right in my own Temple, polluting it.

31 They have built the altar called Topheth in the Valley of Ben-hinnom, and there they burn to death their little sons and daughters as sacrifices to their gods--a deed so horrible I've never even thought of it, let alone commanded it to be done.

32 The time is coming," says the Lord, "when that valley's name will be changed from Topheth, or the Valley of Ben-hinnom, to the Valley of Slaughter; for there will be so many slain to bury that there won't be room enough for all the graves, and they will dump the bodies in that valley.

33 "The bodies of my people shall be food for the birds and animals, and no one shall be left to scare them away.

34 I will end the happy singing and laughter and the joyous voices of the bridegrooms and brides in the streets of Jerusalem and in the cities of Judah. For the land shall lie in desolation.

8

1 "Then," says the Lord, "the enemy shall break open the graves of the kings of Judah and of the princes, and the graves of the priests, prophets, and people,

2 and dig out their bones and spread them out on the ground before the sun and moon and stars--the gods of my people!--whom they have loved and worshiped. Their bones shall not be gathered up again nor buried but shall be scattered like dung upon the ground.

3 And those of this evil nation who are still left alive shall long to die rather than live where I will scatter them," says the Lord Almighty.

4 "Once again give them this message from the Lord: 'When a person falls, he jumps up again; when he is on the wrong road and discovers his mistake, he goes back to the fork where he made the wrong turn.

5 But these people keep on along their evil path, even though I warn them.

6 I listen to their conversation and what do I hear? Is anyone sorry for sin? Does anyone say, "What a terrible thing I have done?" No, all are rushing pell-mell down the path of sin as swiftly as a horse rushing to the battle!

7 The stork knows the time of her migration, as does the turtledove, the crane, and the swallow. They all return at God's appointed time each year; but not my people! They don't accept the laws of God.

8 'How can you say, "We understand his laws," when your teachers have twisted them up to mean a thing I never said?

9 These wise teachers of yours will be shamed by exile for this sin, for they have rejected the word of the Lord. Are they then so wise?

10 I will give their wives and their farms to others; for all of them, great and small, prophet and priest, have one purpose in mind--to get what isn't theirs.

11 They give useless medicine for my people's grievous wounds, for they assure them all is well when that isn't so at all!

12 Are they ashamed because they worship idols? No, not in the least; they don't even know how to blush! That is why I will see to it that they lie among the fallen. I will visit them with death.

13 Their figs and grapes will disappear, their fruit trees will die, and all the good things I prepared for them will soon be gone.' "

14 Then the people will say, "Why should we wait here to die? Come, let us go to the walled cities and perish there. For the Lord our God has decreed our doom and given us a cup of poison to drink because of all our sins.

15 We expected peace, but no peace came; we looked for health, but there was only terror."

16 The noise of war resounds from the northern border. The whole land trembles at the approach of the terrible army, for the enemy is coming and is devouring the land and everything in it--the cities and people alike.

17 "For I will send these enemy troops among you like poisonous snakes that you cannot charm. No matter what you do, they will bite you and you shall die."

18 My grief is beyond healing; my heart is broken.

19 Listen to the weeping of my people all across the land. "Where is the Lord?" they ask. "Has God deserted us?" "Oh, why have they angered me with their carved idols and strange evil rites?" the Lord replies.

20 "The harvest is finished; the summer is over, and we are not saved."

21 I weep for the hurt of my people; I stand amazed, silent, dumb with grief.

22 Is there no medicine in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why doesn't God do something? Why doesn't he help?

9

1 Oh, that my eyes were a fountain of tears; I would weep forever; I would sob day and night for the slain of my people!

2 Oh, that I could go away and forget them and live in some wayside shack in the desert, for they are all adulterous, treacherous men.

3 "They bend their tongues like bows to shoot their arrows of untruth. They care nothing for right and go from bad to worse; they care nothing for me," says the Lord.

4 "Beware of your neighbor! Beware of your brother! All take advantage of one another and spread their slanderous lies.

5 With practiced tongues they fool and defraud each other; they wear themselves out with all their sinning.

6 "They pile evil upon evil, lie upon lie, and utterly refuse to come to me," says the Lord.

7 Therefore, the Lord Almighty says this: "See, I will melt them in a crucible of affliction. I will refine them and test them like metal. What else can I do with them?

8 For their tongues aim lies like poisoned spears. They speak cleverly to their neighbors while planning to kill them.

9 Should not I punish them for such things as this?" asks the Lord. "Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?"

10 Sobbing and weeping, I point to their mountains and pastures, for now they are desolate, without a living soul. Gone is the lowing of cattle, gone the birds and wild animals. All have fled.

11 "And I will turn Jerusalem into heaps of ruined houses where only jackals have their dens. The cities of Judah shall be ghost towns, with no one living in them."

12 Who is wise enough to understand all this? Where is the Lord's messenger to explain it? Why is the land a wilderness so that no one dares even to travel through?

13 "Because," the Lord replies, "my people have forsaken my commandments and not obeyed my laws.

14 Instead, they have done whatever they pleased and worshiped the idols of Baal, as their fathers told them to."

15 Therefore, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: "Look! I will feed them with bitterness and give them poison to drink.

16 I will scatter them around the world, to be strangers in distant lands; and even there the sword of destruction shall chase them until I have utterly destroyed them."

17 The Lord Almighty says: "Send for the mourners! Quick! Begin your crying! Let the tears flow from your eyes.

18

19 Hear Jerusalem weeping in despair. 'We are ruined! Disaster has befallen us! We must leave our land and homes!' "

20 Listen to the words of God, O women who wail. Teach your daughters to wail and your neighbors too.

21 For death has crept in through your windows into your homes. He has killed off the flower of your youth. Children no longer play in the streets; the young men gather no more in the squares.

22 "Tell them this," says the Lord: 'Bodies shall be scattered across the fields like manure, like sheaves after the mower, and no one will bury them.' "

23 The Lord says: "Let not the wise man bask in his wisdom, nor the mighty man in his might, nor the rich man in his riches.

24 Let them boast in this alone: That they truly know me, and understand that I am the Lord of justice and of righteousness whose love is steadfast; and that I love to be this way.

25 "A time is coming," says the Lord, "when I will punish all those who are circumcised in body but not in spirit--

26 the Egyptians, Edomites, Ammonites, Moabites, Arabs, and yes, even you people of Judah. For all these pagan nations also circumcise themselves. Unless you circumcise your hearts by loving me, your circumcision is only a heathen rite like theirs, and nothing more."

10

1 Hear the word of the Lord, O Israel:

2 "Don't act like the people who make horoscopes and try to read their fate and future in the stars!

3 Don't be frightened by predictions such as theirs, for it is all a pack of lies. Their ways are futile and foolish. They cut down a tree and carve an idol;

4 they decorate it with gold and silver and fasten it securely in place with hammer and nails so that it won't fall over.

5 And there stands their god like a helpless scarecrow in a garden! It cannot speak, and it must be carried, for it cannot walk. Don't be afraid of such a god, for it can neither harm nor help nor do you any good."

6 O Lord, there is no other god like you. For you are great, and your name is full of power.

7 Who would not fear you, O King of nations? (And that title belongs to you alone!) Among all the wise men of the earth and in all the kingdoms of the world there isn't anyone like you.

8 The wisest of men who worship idols are altogether stupid and foolish.

9 They bring beaten sheets of silver from Tarshish and gold from Uphaz and give them to skillful goldsmiths who make their idols; then they clothe these gods in royal purple robes that expert tailors make.

10 But the Lord is the only true God, the living God, the everlasting King. The whole earth shall tremble at his anger; the world shall hide before his displeasure.

11 Say this to those who worship other gods: "Your so-called gods, who have not made the heavens and earth, shall vanish from the earth."

12 But our God formed the earth by his power and wisdom, and by his intelligence he hung the stars in space and stretched out the heavens.

13 It is his voice that echoes in the thunder of the storm clouds. He causes mist to rise upon the earth; he sends the lightning and brings the rain, and from his treasuries he brings the wind.

14 But foolish men without knowledge of God bow before their idols. It is a shameful business that these men are in, for what they make are frauds, gods without life or power in them.

15 All are worthless, silly; they will be crushed when their makers perish.

16 But the God of Jacob is not like these foolish idols. He is the Creator of all, and Israel is his chosen nation. The Lord Almighty is his name.

17 Pack your bags, he says. Get ready now to leave; the siege will soon begin.

18 "For suddenly I'll fling you from this land and pour great troubles down; at last you shall feel my wrath."

19 Desperate is my wound. My grief is great. My sickness is incurable, but I must bear it.

20 My home is gone; my children have been taken away, and I will never see them again. There is no one left to help me rebuild my home.

21 The shepherds of my people have lost their senses; they no longer follow God nor ask his will. Therefore they perish, and their flocks are scattered.

22 Listen! Hear the terrible sound of great armies coming from the north. The cities of Judah shall become dens of jackals.

23 O Lord, I know it is not within the power of man to map his life and plan his course--

24 so you correct me, Lord; but please be gentle. Don't do it in your anger, for I would die.

25 Pour out your fury on the nations who don't obey the Lord, for they have destroyed Israel and made a wasteland of this entire country.

11

1 Then the Lord spoke to Jeremiah once again and said:

2 "Remind the men of Judah and all the people of Jerusalem that I made a contract with their fathers--and

3 cursed is the man who does not heed it!

4 For I told them at the time I brought them out of slavery in Egypt that if they would obey me and do whatever I commanded them, then they and all their children would be mine and I would be their God.

5 And now, Israel, obey me," says the Lord, "so that I can do for you the wonderful things I swore I would if you obeyed. I want to give you a land that 'flows with milk and honey,' as it is today." Then I replied, "So be it, Lord!"

6 Then the Lord said: "Broadcast this message in Jerusalem's streets--go from city to city throughout the land and say, Remember this agreement that your fathers made with God, and do all the things they promised him they would.

7 For I solemnly said to your fathers when I brought them out of Egypt--and have kept on saying it over and over again until this day: 'Obey my every command!'

8 But your fathers didn't do it. They wouldn't even listen. Each followed his own stubborn will and his proud heart. Because they refused to obey, I did to them all the evils stated in the contract."

9 Again the Lord spoke to me and said: "I have discovered a conspiracy against me among the men of Judah and Jerusalem.

10 They have returned to the sins of their fathers, refusing to listen to me and worshiping idols. The agreement I made with their fathers is broken and canceled."

11 Therefore, the Lord says, "I am going to bring calamity down upon them, and they shall not escape. Though they cry for mercy, I will not listen to their pleas.

12 Then they will pray to their idols and burn incense before them, but that cannot save them from their time of anguish and despair.

13 O my people, you have as many gods as there are cities, and your altars of shame (your altars to burn incense to Baal) are along every street in Jerusalem.

14 "Therefore, Jeremiah, pray no longer for this people, neither weep nor plead for them; for I will not listen to them when they are finally desperate enough to beg me for help.

15 What right do my beloved people have to come any more to my Temple? For you have been unfaithful and worshiped other gods. Can promises and sacrifices now avert your doom and give you life and joy again?"

16 The Lord used to call you his green olive tree, beautiful to see and full of good fruit; but now he has sent the fury of your enemies to burn you up and leave you broken and charred.

17 It is because of the wickedness of Israel and Judah in offering incense to Baal that the Lord Almighty who planted the tree has ordered it destroyed.

18 Then the Lord told me all about their plans and showed me their evil plots.

19 I had been as unsuspecting as a lamb or ox on the way to slaughter. I didn't know that they were planning to kill me! "Let's destroy this man and all his messages," they said. "Let's kill him so that his name will be forever forgotten."

20 O Lord Almighty, you are just. See the hearts and motives of these men. Repay them for all that they have planned! I look to you for justice.

21 And the Lord replied, "The men of the city of Anathoth shall be punished for planning to kill you. They will tell you not to prophesy in God's name on pain of death.

22 And so their young men shall die in battle; their boys and girls shall starve.

23 Not one of these plotters of Anathoth shall survive, for I will bring a great disaster upon them. Their time has come."

12

1 O Lord, you always give me justice when I bring a case before you to decide. Now let me bring you this complaint: Why are the wicked so prosperous? Why are evil men so happy?

2 You plant them. They take root and their business grows. Their profits multiply, and they are rich. They say, "Thank God!" But in their hearts they give no credit to you.

3 But as for me--Lord, you know my heart--you know how much it longs for you. (And I am poor, O Lord!) Lord, drag them off like helpless sheep to the slaughter. Judge them, O God!

4 How long must this land of yours put up with all their goings on? Even the grass of the field groans and weeps over their wicked deeds! The wild animals and birds have moved away, leaving the land deserted. Yet the people say, "God won't bring judgment on us. We're perfectly safe!"

5 The Lord replied to me: "If racing with mere men--these men of Anathoth--has wearied you, how will you race against horses, against the king, his court and all his evil priests? If you stumble and fall on open ground, what will you do in Jordan's jungles?

6 Even your own brothers, your own family, have turned against you. They have plotted to call for a mob to lynch you. Don't trust them, no matter how pleasantly they speak. Don't believe them."

7 Then the Lord said: "I have abandoned my people, my inheritance; I have surrendered my dearest ones to their enemies.

8 My people have roared at me like a lion of the forest, so I have treated them as though I hated them.

9 My people have fallen. I will bring upon them swarms of vultures and wild animals to pick the flesh from their corpses.

10 "Many foreign rulers have ravaged my vineyard, trampling down the vines, and turning all its beauty into barren wilderness.

11 They have made it desolate; I hear its mournful cry. The whole land is desolate and no one cares.

12 Destroying armies plunder the land; the sword of the Lord devours from one end of the nation to the other; nothing shall escape.

13 My people have sown wheat but reaped thorns; they have worked hard, but it does them no good. They shall harvest a crop of shame, for the fierce anger of the Lord is upon them."

14 And now the Lord says this to the evil nations, the nations surrounding the land God gave his people Israel: "See, I will force you from your land just as Judah will be forced from hers;

15 but afterwards I will return and have compassion on all of you and will bring you home to your own land again, each man to his inheritance.

16 And if these heathen nations quickly learn my people's ways and claim me as their God instead of Baal (whom they taught my people to worship), then they shall be strong among my people.

17 But any nation refusing to obey me will be expelled again and finished," says the Lord.

13

1 The Lord said to me, "Go and buy a linen loincloth and wear it, but don't wash it--don't put it in water at all."

2 So I bought the loincloth and put it on.

3 Then the Lord's message came to me again. This time he said,

4 "Take the loincloth out to the Euphrates River and hide it in a hole in the rocks."

5 So I did; I hid it as the Lord had told me to.

6 Then, a long time afterwards, the Lord said: "Go out to the river again and get the loincloth."

7 And I did; I dug it out of the hole where I had hidden it. But now it was mildewed and falling apart. It was utterly useless!

8 Then the Lord said: "This illustrates the way that I will rot the pride of Judah and Jerusalem.

9

10 This evil nation refuses to listen to me and follows its own evil desires, and worships idols; therefore, it shall become as this loincloth--good for nothing.

11 Even as a loincloth clings to a man's loins, so I made Judah and Israel to cling to me," says the Lord. "They were my people, an honor to my name. But then they turned away.

12 "Tell them this: 'The Lord God of Israel says, "All your wine jugs will be full of wine.' And they will reply, 'Of course, you don't need to tell us how prosperous we will be!'

13 Then tell them: ' "That's not what I mean. I mean that I will fill everyone living in this land with helpless bewilderment--from the king sitting on David's throne, and the priests and the prophets right on down to all the people.

14 And I will smash fathers and sons against each other," says the Lord. "I will not let pity nor mercy spare them from utter destruction.' "

15 Oh, that you were not so proud and stubborn! Then you would listen to the Lord, for he has spoken.

16 Give glory to the Lord your God before it is too late, before he causes deep, impenetrable darkness to fall upon you so that you stumble and fall upon the dark mountains; then, when you look for light, you will find only terrible darkness.

17 Do you still refuse to listen? Then in loneliness my breaking heart shall mourn because of your pride. My eyes will overflow with tears because the Lord's flock shall be carried away as slaves.

18 Say to the king and queen-mother, "Come down from your thrones and sit in the dust, for your glorious crowns are removed from your heads. They are no longer yours."

19 The cities of the Negeb to the south of Jerusalem have closed their gates against the enemy. They must defend themselves, for Jerusalem cannot help; and all Judah shall be taken away as slaves.

20 See the armies marching from the north! Where is your flock, Jerusalem, your beautiful flock he gave you to take care of?

21 How will you feel when he sets your allies over you as your rulers? You will writhe in pain like a woman having a child.

22 And if you ask yourself, "Why is all this happening to me?" it is because of the grossness of your sins; that is why you have been raped and destroyed by the invading army.

23 Can the Ethiopian change the color of his skin? or a leopard take away his spots? Nor can you who are so used to doing evil now start being good.

24 "Because you have put me out of your mind and put your trust in false gods, I will scatter you as chaff is scattered by the fierce winds off the desert.

25 This then is your allotment, that which is due you, which I have measured out especially for you.

26 I myself will expose you to utter shame.

27 I am keenly aware of your apostasy, your faithlessness to me, and your abominable idol worship in the fields and on the hills. Woe upon you, O Jerusalem! How long before you will be pure?"

14

1 This message came to Jeremiah from the Lord, explaining why he was holding back the rain:

2 "Judah mourns; business has ground to a halt; all the people prostrate themselves to the earth, and a great cry rises from Jerusalem.

3 The nobles send servants for water from the wells, but the wells are dry. The servants return, baffled and desperate, and cover their heads in grief.

4 The ground is parched and cracked for lack of rain; the farmers are afraid.

5 The deer deserts her fawn because there is no grass.

6 The wild donkeys stand upon the bare hills panting like thirsty jackals. They strain their eyes looking for grass to eat, but there is none to be found."

7 O Lord, we have sinned against you grievously, yet help us for the sake of your own reputation!

8 O Hope of Israel, our Savior in times of trouble, why are you as a stranger to us, as one passing through the land who is merely stopping for the night?

9 Are you also baffled? Are you helpless to save us? O Lord, you are right here among us, and we carry your name; we are known as your people. O Lord, don't desert us now!

10 But the Lord replies: "You have loved to wander far from me and have not tried to follow in my paths. Now I will no longer accept you as my people; now I will remember all the evil you have done and punish your sins."

11 The Lord told me again: "Don't ask me any more to bless this people. Don't pray for them any more.

12 When they fast, I will not pay any attention; when they present their offerings and sacrifices to me, I will not accept them. What I will give them in return is war and famine and disease."

13 Then I said, "O Lord God, their prophets are telling them that all is well--that no war or famine will come. They tell the people you will surely send them peace, that you will bless them."

14 Then the Lord said: "The prophets are telling lies in my name. I didn't send them or tell them to speak or give them any message. They prophesy of visions and revelations they have never seen nor heard; they speak foolishness concocted out of their own lying hearts.

15 Therefore, the Lord says, I will punish these lying prophets who have spoken in my name though I did not send them, who say no war shall come nor famine. By war and famine they themselves shall die!

16 And the people to whom they prophesy--their bodies shall be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem, victims of famine and war; there shall be no one to bury them. Husbands, wives, sons, and daughters--all will be gone. For I will pour out terrible punishment upon them for their sins.

17 "Therefore, tell them this: 'Night and day my eyes shall overflow with tears; I cannot stop my crying, for my people have been run through with a sword and lie mortally wounded on the ground.

18 If I go out in the fields, there lie the bodies of those the sword has killed; and if I walk in the streets, there lie those dead from starvation and disease. And yet the prophets and priests alike have made it their business to travel through the whole country, reassuring everyone that all is well, speaking of things they know nothing about.' "

19 "O Lord," the people will cry, "have you completely rejected Judah? Do you abhor Jerusalem? Even after punishment, will there be no peace? We thought, 'Now at last he will heal us and bind our wounds.' But no peace has come, and there is only trouble and terror everywhere.

20 O Lord, we confess our wickedness, and that of our fathers too.

21 Do not hate us, Lord, for the sake of your own name. Do not disgrace yourself and the throne of your glory by forsaking your promise to bless us!

22 What heathen god can give us rain? Who but you alone, O Lord our God, can do such things as this? Therefore we will wait for you to help us."

15

1 Then the Lord said to me, "Even if Moses and Samuel stood before me pleading for these people, even then I wouldn't help them--away with them! Get them out of my sight!

2 And if they say to you, 'But where can we go?' tell them the Lord says: 'Those who are destined for death, to death; those who must die by the sword, to the sword; those doomed to starvation, to famine; and those for captivity, to captivity.'

3 I will appoint over them four kinds of destroyers," says the Lord: "the sword to kill, the dogs to tear, and the vultures and wild animals to finish up what's left.

4 Because of the wicked things Manasseh, son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, did in Jerusalem, I will punish you so severely that your fate will horrify the peoples of the world.

5 "Who will feel sorry for you, Jerusalem? Who will weep for you? Who will even bother to ask how you are?

6 You have forsaken me and turned your backs upon me. Therefore, I will clench my fists against you to destroy you. I am tired of always giving you another chance.

7 I will sift you at the gates of your cities and take from you all that you hold dear, and I will destroy my own people because they refuse to turn back to me from all their evil ways.

8 There shall be countless widows; at noontime I will bring death to the young men and sorrow to their mothers. I will cause anguish and terror to fall upon them suddenly.

9 The mother of seven sickens and faints, for all her sons are dead. Her sun is gone down while it is yet day. She sits childless now, disgraced, for all her children have been killed."

10 Then Jeremiah said, "What sadness is mine, my mother; oh, that I had died at birth. For I am hated everywhere I go. I am neither a creditor soon to foreclose nor a debtor refusing to pay--yet they all curse me.

11 Well, let them curse! Lord, you know how I have pled with you on their behalf--how I have begged you to spare these enemies of mine."

12 "Can a man break bars of northern iron or bronze?

13 This people's stubborn will can't be broken either. So, because of all your sins against me, I will deliver your wealth and treasures as loot to the enemy.

14 I will have your enemies take you as slaves to a land where you have never been before, for my anger burns like fire, and it shall consume you."

15 Then Jeremiah replied, "Lord, you know it is for your sake that I am suffering. They are persecuting me because I have proclaimed your word to them. Don't let them kill me! Rescue me from their clutches, and give them what they deserve!

16 Your words are what sustain me; they are food to my hungry soul. They bring joy to my sorrowing heart and delight me. How proud I am to bear your name, O Lord.

17 I have not joined the people in their merry feasts. I sit alone beneath the hand of God. I burst with indignation at their sins.

18 Yet you have failed me in my time of need! You have let them keep right on with all their persecutions. Will they never stop hurting me? Your help is as uncertain as a seasonal mountain brook--sometimes a flood, sometimes as dry as a bone."

19 The Lord replied: "Stop this foolishness and talk some sense! Only if you return to trusting me will I let you continue as my spokesman. You are to influence them, not let them influence you!

20 They will fight against you like a besieging army against a high city wall. But they will not conquer you, for I am with you to protect and deliver you," says the Lord.

21 "Yes, I will certainly deliver you from these wicked men and rescue you from their ruthless hands."

16

1 On yet another occasion God spoke to me, and said:

2 "You must not marry and have children here.

3 For the children born in this city and their mothers and fathers

4 shall die from terrible diseases. No one shall mourn for them or bury them, but their bodies shall lie on the ground to rot and fertilize the soil. They shall die from war and famine, and their bodies shall be picked apart by vultures and wild animals.

5 Do not mourn or weep for them, for I have removed my protection and my peace from them--taken away my loving-kindness and my mercies.

6 Both great and small shall die in this land, unburied and unmourned, and their friends shall not cut themselves nor shave their heads as signs of sorrow (as is their heathen custom).

7 No one shall comfort the mourners with a meal nor send them a cup of wine expressing grief for their parents' death.

8 "As a sign to them of these sad days ahead, don't you join them any more in their feasts and parties--don't even eat a meal with them."

9 For the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: "In your own lifetime, before your very eyes, I will end all laughter in this land--the happy songs, the marriage feasts, the songs of bridegrooms and of brides.

10 "And when you tell the people all these things and they ask, 'Why has the Lord decreed such terrible things against us? What have we done to merit such treatment? What is our sin against the Lord our God?'

11 tell them the Lord's reply is this: 'Because your fathers forsook me.' They worshiped other gods and served them; they did not keep my laws,

12 and you have been worse than your fathers were! You follow evil to your hearts' content and refuse to listen to me.

13 Therefore, I will throw you out of this land and chase you into a foreign land where neither you nor your fathers have been before, and there you can go ahead and worship your idols all you like--and I will grant you no favors!

14 "But there will come a glorious day," says the Lord, "when the whole topic of conversation will be that God is bringing his people home from a nation in the north, and from many other lands where he had scattered them.

15 You will look back no longer to the time when I rescued you from your slavery in Egypt. That mighty miracle will scarcely be mentioned any more. Yes, I will bring you back again," says the Lord, "to this same land I gave your fathers.

16 "Now I am sending for many fishermen to fish you from the deeps where you are hiding from my wrath. I am sending for hunters to chase you down like deer in the forests or mountain goats on inaccessible crags. Wherever you run to escape my judgment, I will find you and punish you.

17 For I am closely watching you, and I see every sin. You cannot hope to hide from me.

18 "And I will punish you doubly for all your sins because you have defiled my land with your detestable idols and filled it up with all your evil deeds."

19 O Lord, my Strength and Fortress, my Refuge in the day of trouble, nations from around the world will come to you saying, "Our fathers have been foolish, for they have worshiped worthless idols!

20 Can men make God? The gods they made are not real gods at all."

21 "And when they come in that spirit, I will show them my power and might and make them understand at last that I alone am God.

17

1 "My people sin as though commanded to, as though their evil were laws chiseled with an iron pen or diamond point upon their stony hearts or on the corners of their altars.

2 Their youths do not forget to sin, worshiping idols beneath each tree, high in the mountains or in the open country down below.

3 And so I will give all your treasures to your enemies as the price that you must pay for all your sins.

4 And the wonderful heritage I reserved for you will slip out of your hand, and I will send you away as slaves to your enemies in distant lands. For you have kindled a fire of my anger that shall burn forever."

5 The Lord says: "Cursed is the man who puts his trust in mortal man and turns his heart away from God.

6 He is like a stunted shrub in the desert, with no hope for the future; he lives on the salt-encrusted plains in the barren wilderness; good times pass him by forever.

7 "But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and has made the Lord his hope and confidence.

8 He is like a tree planted along a riverbank, with its roots reaching deep into the water--a tree not bothered by the heat nor worried by long months of drought. Its leaves stay green, and it goes right on producing all its luscious fruit.

9 "The heart is the most deceitful thing there is and desperately wicked. No one can really know how bad it is!

10 Only the Lord knows! He searches all hearts and examines deepest motives so he can give to each person his right reward, according to his deeds--how he has lived.

11 "Like a bird that fills her nest with young she has not hatched and which will soon desert her and fly away, so is the man who gets his wealth by unjust means. Sooner or later he will lose his riches and at the end of his life become a poor old fool."

12 But our refuge is your throne, eternal, high and glorious.

13 O Lord, the Hope of Israel, all who turn away from you shall be disgraced and shamed; they are registered for earth and not for glory, for they have forsaken the Lord, the Fountain of living waters.

14 Lord, you alone can heal me, you alone can save, and my praises are for you alone.

15 Men scoff at me and say, "What is this word of the Lord you keep talking about? If these threats of yours are really from God, why don't they come true?"

16 Lord, I don't want the people crushed by terrible calamity. The plan is yours, not mine. It is your message I've given them, not my own. I don't want them doomed!

17 Lord, don't desert me now! You alone are my hope.

18 Bring confusion and trouble on all who persecute me, but give me peace. Yes, bring double destruction upon them!

19 Then the Lord said to me, "Go and stand in the gates of Jerusalem, first at the gate where the king goes out, and then at each of the other gates,

20 and say to all the people: 'Hear the word of the Lord, kings of Judah and all the people of this nation, and all you citizens of Jerusalem.

21 The Lord says: Take warning and live; do no unnecessary work on the Sabbath day, but make it a holy day. I gave this commandment to your fathers,

22

23 but they didn't listen or obey. They stubbornly refused to pay attention and be taught.

24 'But if you obey me,' says the Lord, 'and refuse to work on the Sabbath day and keep it separate, special and holy,

25 then this nation shall continue forever. There shall always be descendants of David sitting on the throne here in Jerusalem; there shall always be kings and princes riding in pomp and splendor among the people, and this city shall remain forever.

26 And from all around Jerusalem and from the cities of Judah and Benjamin, from the Negeb and from the lowlands west of Judah, the people shall come with their burnt offerings and grain offerings and incense, bringing their sacrifices to praise the Lord in his Temple.

27 'But if you will not listen to me, if you refuse to keep the Sabbath holy, if on the Sabbath you bring in loads of merchandise through these gates of Jerusalem, just as on other days, then I will set fire to these gates. The fire shall spread to the palaces and utterly destroy them, and no one shall be able to put out the raging flames.' "

18

1 Here is another message to Jeremiah from the Lord:

2 "Go down to the shop where clay pots and jars are made, and I will talk to you there."

3 I did as he told me and found the potter working at his wheel.

4 But the jar that he was forming didn't turn out as he wished, so he kneaded it into a lump and started again.

5 Then the Lord said:

6 "O Israel, can't I do to you as this potter has done to his clay? As the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand.

7 Whenever I announce that a certain nation or kingdom is to be taken up and destroyed,

8 then if that nation renounces its evil ways, I will not destroy it as I had planned.

9 And if I announce that I will make a certain nation strong and great,

10 but then that nation changes its mind, turns to evil, and refuses to obey me, then I, too, will change my mind and not bless that nation as I had said I would.

11 "Therefore, go and warn all Judah and Jerusalem, saying: 'Hear the word of the Lord. I am planning evil against you now instead of good; turn back from your evil paths and do what is right.' "

12 But they replied, "Don't waste your breath. We have no intention whatever of doing what God says. We will continue to live as we want to, free from any restraint, full of stubbornness and wickedness!"

13 Then the Lord said: "Even among the heathen, no one has ever heard of such a thing! My people have done something too horrible to understand.

14 The snow never melts high up in the Lebanon mountains. The cold, flowing streams from the crags of Mount Hermon never run dry.

15 These can be counted on. But not my people! For they have deserted me and turned to foolish idols. They have turned away from the ancient highways of good and walk the muddy paths of sin.

16 Therefore, their land shall become desolate, so that all who pass by will gasp and shake their heads in amazement at its utter desolation.

17 I will scatter my people before their enemies as the east wind scatters dust; and in all their trouble I will turn my back on them and refuse to notice their distress."

18 Then the people said, "Come, let's get rid of Jeremiah. We have our own priests and wise men and prophets--we don't need his advice. Let's silence him that he may speak no more against us, nor bother us again."

19 O Lord, help me! See what they are planning to do to me!

20 Should they repay evil for good? They have set a trap to kill me, yet I spoke well of them to you and tried to defend them from your anger.

21 Now, Lord, let their children starve to death and let the sword pour out their blood! Let their wives be widows and be bereft of all their children! Let their men die in epidemics and their youths die in battle!

22 Let screaming be heard from their homes as troops of soldiers come suddenly upon them, for they have dug a pit for me to fall in, and they have hidden traps along my path.

23 Lord, you know all their murderous plots against me. Don't forgive them, don't blot out their sin, but let them perish before you; deal with them in your anger.

19

1 The Lord said, "Buy a clay jar and take it out into the valley of Ben-hinnom by the east gate of the city.

2 Take some of the elders of the people and some of the older priests with you, and speak to them whatever words I give you."

3 Then the Lord spoke to them and said: "Listen to the word of the Lord, kings of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem! The Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says, 'I will bring terrible evil upon this place, so terrible that the ears of those who hear it will prickle.

4 For Israel has forsaken me and turned this valley into a place of shame and wickedness. The people burn incense to idols--idols that neither this generation nor their forefathers nor the kings of Judah have worshiped before--and they have filled this place with the blood of innocent children.

5 They have built high altars to Baal, and there they burn their sons in sacrifice--a thing I never commanded them nor even thought of!

6 'The day is coming, says the Lord, when this valley shall no longer be called Topheth or Ben-hinnom Valley, but The Valley of Slaughter.

7 For I will upset the battle plans of Judah and Jerusalem, and I will let invading armies kill you here and leave your dead bodies for vultures and wild animals to feed upon.

8 And I will wipe Jerusalem off the earth, so that everyone going by will gasp with astonishment at all that I have done to her.

9 I will see to it that your enemies lay siege to the city until all food is gone and those trapped inside begin to eat their own children and friends.'

10 "And now, Jeremiah, as these men watch, smash the jar you brought with you,

11 and say to them, 'This is the message to you from the Lord Almighty: "As this jar lies shattered, so I will shatter the people of Jerusalem; and as this jar cannot be mended, neither can they. The slaughter shall be so great that there won't be room enough for decent burial anywhere, and their bodies shall be heaped in this valley.

12 And as it will be in this valley, so it will be in Jerusalem. For I will fill Jerusalem with dead bodies too.

13 And I will defile all the homes in Jerusalem, including the palace of the kings of Judah--wherever incense has been burned upon the roofs to your stargods, and libations poured out to them.' "

14 As Jeremiah returned from Topheth where he had delivered this message, he stopped in front of the Temple of the Lord and said to all the people,

15 "The Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: 'I will bring upon this city and her surrounding towns all the evil I have promised because you have stubbornly refused to listen to the Lord.' "

20

1 Now when Pashhur (son of Immer), the priest in charge of the Temple of the Lord, heard what Jeremiah was saying,

2 he arrested Jeremiah and had him whipped and put in the stocks at Benjamin Gate near the Temple.

3 He left him there all night. The next day when Pashhur finally released him, Jeremiah said, "Pashhur, the Lord has changed your name. He says from now on to call you 'The Man Who Lives in Terror.'

4 For the Lord will send terror on you and all your friends, and you will see them die by the swords of their enemies. 'I will hand over Judah to the king of Babylon,' says the Lord, 'and he shall take away these people as slaves to Babylon and kill them.

5 And I will let your enemies loot Jerusalem. All the famed treasures of the city, with the precious jewels and gold and silver of your kings, shall be carried off to Babylon.

6 And as for you, Pashhur, you and all your family and household shall become slaves in Babylon and die there--you and those to whom you lied when you prophesied that everything would be all right.' "

7 O Lord, you deceived me when you promised me your help. I have to give them your messages because you are stronger than I am, but now I am the laughingstock of the city, mocked by all.

8 You have never once let me speak a word of kindness to them; always it is disaster and horror and destruction. No wonder they scoff and mock and make my name a household joke.

9 And I can't quit! For if I say I'll never again mention the Lord--never more speak in his name--then his word in my heart is like fire that burns in my bones, and I can't hold it in any longer.

10 Yet on every side I hear their whispered threats and am afraid. "We will report," they say. Even those who were my friends are watching me, waiting for a fatal slip. "He will trap himself," they say, "and then we will get our revenge on him."

11 But the Lord stands beside me like a great warrior, and before him, the Mighty, Terrible One, they shall stumble. They cannot defeat me; they shall be shamed and thoroughly humiliated, and they shall have a stigma upon them forever.

12 O Lord Almighty, who knows those who are righteous and examines the deepest thoughts of hearts and minds, let me see your vengeance on them. For I have committed my cause to you.

13 Therefore, I will sing out in thanks to the Lord! Praise him! For he has delivered me, poor and needy, from my oppressors.

14 Yet, cursed be the day that I was born!

15 Cursed be the man who brought my father the news that a son was born.

16 Let that messenger be destroyed like the cities of old which God overthrew without mercy. Terrify him all day long with battle shouts

17 because he did not kill me at my birth! Oh, that I had died within my mother's womb, that it had been my grave!

18 Why was I ever born? For my life has been but trouble and sorrow and shame.

21

1 Then King Zedekiah sent Pashhur (son of Malchiah) and Zephaniah the priest (son of Maaseiah) to Jeremiah and begged, "Ask the Lord to help us, for Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, has declared war on us!

2 Perhaps the Lord will be gracious to us and do a mighty miracle as in olden times and force Nebuchadnezzar to withdraw his forces."

3 Jeremiah replied, "Go back to King Zedekiah and tell him

4 the Lord God of Israel says, 'I will make all your weapons useless against the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans besieging you. In fact, I will bring your enemies right into the heart of this city,

5 and I myself will fight against you, for I am very angry.

6 And I will send a terrible plague on this city, and both men and animals shall die.

7 And finally I will deliver King Zedekiah himself and all the remnant left in the city into the hands of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, to slaughter them without pity or mercy.'

8 "Tell these people, 'The Lord says: "Take your choice of life or death!

9 Stay here in Jerusalem and die--slaughtered by your enemies, killed by starvation and disease--or go out and surrender to the Chaldean army and live.

10 For I have set my face against this city; I will be its enemy and not its friend," says the Lord. It shall be captured by the king of Babylon and he shall reduce it to ashes.'

11 "And to the king of Judah, the Lord says:

12 'I am ready to judge you because of all the evil you are doing. Quick! Give justice to these you judge! Begin doing what is right before my burning fury flashes out upon you like a fire no man can quench.

13 I will fight against this city of Jerusalem, that boasts, "We are safe; no one can touch us here!"

14 And I myself will destroy you for your sinfulness, says the Lord. I will light a fire in the forests that will burn up everything in its path.' "

22

1 Then the Lord said to me: "Go over and speak directly to the king of Judah and say,

2 'Listen to this message from God, O king of Judah, sitting on David's throne; and let your servants and your people listen too.

3 'The Lord says: "Be fair-minded. Do what is right! Help those in need of justice! Quit your evil deeds! Protect the rights of aliens and immigrants, orphans and widows; stop murdering the innocent!

4 If you put an end to all these terrible deeds you are doing, then I will deliver this nation and once more give kings to sit on David's throne, and there shall be prosperity for all.

5 But if you refuse to pay attention to this warning, I swear by my own name," says the Lord, "that this palace shall become a shambles.' "

6 For this is the Lord's message concerning the palace: "You are as beloved to me as fruitful Gilead and the green forests of Lebanon; but I will destroy you and leave you deserted and uninhabited.

7 I will call for a wrecking crew to bring out its tools to dismantle you. They will tear out all of your fine cedar beams and throw them on the fire.

8 Men from many nations will pass by the ruins of this city and say to one another, 'Why did the Lord do it? Why did he destroy such a great city?'

9 And the answer will be, 'Because the people living here forgot the Lord their God and violated his agreement with them, for they worshiped idols.'

10 Don't weep for the dead! Instead weep for the captives led away! For they will never return to see their native land again.

11 For the Lord says this about Jehoahaz who succeeded his father King Josiah and was taken away as a captive:

12 "He shall die in a distant land and never again see his own country.

13 "And woe to you, King Jehoiakim, for you are building your great palace with forced labor. By not paying wages you are building injustice into its walls and oppression into its doorframes and ceilings.

14 You say, 'I will build a magnificent palace with huge rooms and many windows, paneled throughout with fragrant cedar and painted a lovely red.'

15 But a beautiful palace does not make a great king! Why did your father Josiah reign so long? Because he was just and fair in all his dealings. That is why God blessed him.

16 He saw to it that justice and help were given the poor and the needy and all went well for him. This is how a man lives close to God.

17 But you! You are full of selfish greed and all dishonesty! You murder the innocent, oppress the poor, and reign with ruthlessness.'

18 Therefore this is God's decree of punishment against King Jehoiakim, who succeeded his father Josiah on the throne: "His family will not weep for him when he dies. His subjects will not even care that he is dead.

19 He shall be buried like a dead donkey--dragged out of Jerusalem and thrown on the garbage dump beyond the gate!

20 Weep, for your allies are gone. Search for them in Lebanon; shout for them at Bashan; seek them at the fording points of Jordan. See, they are all destroyed. Not one is left to help you!

21 When you were prosperous I warned you, but you replied, 'Don't bother me.' Since childhood you have been that way--you just won't listen!

22 And now all your allies have disappeared with a puff of wind; all your friends are taken off as slaves. Surely at last you will see your wickedness and be ashamed.

23 It's very nice to live graciously in a beautiful palace among the cedars of Lebanon, but soon you will cry and groan in anguish--anguish as of a woman in labor.

24 "And as for you, Coniah, son of Jehoiakim king of Judah--even if you were the signet ring on my right hand, I would pull you off

25 and give you to those who seek to kill you, of whom you are so desperately afraid--to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and his mighty army.

26 I will throw you and your mother out of this country, and you shall die in a foreign land.

27 You will never again return to the land of your desire.

28 This man Coniah is like a discarded, broken dish. He and his children will be exiled to distant lands.

29 "O earth, earth, earth! Hear the word of the Lord!

30 The Lord says: 'Record this man Coniah as childless, for none of his children shall ever sit upon the throne of David or rule in Judah. His life will amount to nothing.' "

23

1 The Lord declares: "I will send disaster upon the leaders of my people--the shepherds of my sheep--for they have destroyed and scattered the very ones they were to care for.

2 Instead of leading my flock to safety, you have deserted them and driven them to destruction. And now I will pour out judgment upon you for the evil you have done to them.

3 And I will gather together the remnant of my flock from wherever I have sent them and bring them back into their own fold, and they shall be fruitful and increase.

4 And I will appoint responsible shepherds to care for them, and they shall not need to be afraid again; all of them shall be accounted for continually.

5 "For the time is coming," says the Lord, "when I will place a righteous Branch upon King David's throne.

6 He shall be a King who shall rule with wisdom and justice and cause righteousness to prevail everywhere throughout the earth. And this is his name: The Lord Our Righteousness. At that time Judah will be saved and Israel will live in peace.

7 "In that day people will no longer say when taking an oath, 'As the Lord lives who rescued the people of Israel from the land of Egypt,'

8 but they will say, 'As the Lord lives who brought the Jews back to their own land of Israel from the countries to which he had exiled them.'

9 My heart is broken for the false prophets, full of deceit. I awake with fear and stagger as a drunkard does from wine because of the awful fate awaiting them, for God has decreed holy words of judgment against them.

10 For the land is full of adultery, and the curse of God is on it. The land itself is mourning--the pastures are dried up--for the prophets do evil, and their power is used wrongly.

11 "The priests are like the prophets, all ungodly, wicked men. I have seen their despicable acts right here in my own Temple," says the Lord.

12 "Therefore, their paths will be dark and slippery; they will be chased down dark and treacherous trails and fall. For I will bring evil upon them and see to it, when their time has come, that they pay their penalty in full for all their sins.

13 "I knew the prophets of Samaria were unbelievably evil, for they prophesied by Baal and led my people Israel into sin;

14 but the prophets of Jerusalem are even worse! The things they do are horrible; they commit adultery and love dishonesty. They encourage and compliment those who are doing evil instead of turning them back from their sins. These prophets are as thoroughly depraved as the men of Sodom and Gomorrah were."

15 Therefore the Lord Almighty says: "I will feed them with bitterness and give them poison to drink. For it is because of them that wickedness fills this land.

16 This is my warning to my people," says the Lord Almighty. "Don't listen to these false prophets when they prophesy to you, filling you with futile hopes. They are making up everything they say. They do not speak for me!

17 They keep saying to these rebels who despise me, 'Don't worry! All is well!'; and to those who live the way they want to, 'The Lord has said you shall have peace!'

18 "But can you name even one of these prophets who lives close enough to God to hear what he is saying? Has even one of them cared enough to listen?

19 See, the Lord is sending a furious whirlwind to sweep away these wicked men.

20 The terrible anger of the Lord will not abate until it has carried out the full penalty he decrees against them. Later, when Jerusalem has fallen, you will see what I mean.

21 "I have not sent these prophets, yet they claim to speak for me; I gave them no message, yet they say their words are mine.

22 If they were mine, they would try to turn my people from their evil ways.

23 Am I a God who is only in one place and cannot see what they are doing?

24 Can anyone hide from me? Am I not everywhere in all of heaven and earth?

25 'Listen to the dream I had from God last night,' " they say. And then they proceed to lie in my name.

26 How long will this continue? If they are 'prophets,' they are prophets of deceit, inventing everything they say.

27 By telling these false dreams they are trying to get my people to forget me in the same way as their fathers did, who turned away to the idols of Baal.

28 Let these false prophets tell their dreams and let my true messengers faithfully proclaim my every word. There is a difference between chaff and wheat!

29 Does not my word burn like fire?" asks the Lord. "Is it not like a mighty hammer that smashed the rock to pieces?

30 So I stand against these 'prophets' who get their messages from each other--these smooth-tongued 'prophets' who say, 'This message is from God!'

31

32 Their made-up dreams are flagrant lies that lead my people into sin. I did not send them, and they have no message at all for my people," says the Lord.

33 "When one of the people or one of their 'prophets' or priests asks you, 'Well, Jeremiah, what is the sad news from the Lord today?' you shall reply, 'What sad news? You are the sad news, for the Lord has cast you away!'

34 And as for the false prophets and priests and people who joke about 'today's sad news from God,' I will punish them and their families for saying this.

35 You can ask each other, 'What is God's message? What is he saying?'

36 But stop using this term, 'God's sad news.' For what is sad is you and your lying. You are twisting my words and inventing 'messages from God' that I didn't speak.

37 You may respectfully ask Jeremiah, 'What is the Lord's message? What has he said to you?'

38 But if you ask him about 'today's sad news from God,' when I have warned you not to mock like that,

39 then I, the Lord God, will unburden myself of the burden you are to me. I will cast you out of my presence, you and this city I gave to you and your fathers.

40 And I will bring reproach upon you and your name shall be infamous through the ages."

24

1 After Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had captured and enslaved Jeconiah (son of Jehoiakim), king of Judah, and exiled him to Babylon along with the princes of Judah and the skilled tradesmen--the carpenters and blacksmiths--the Lord gave me this vision.

2 I saw two baskets of figs placed in front of the Temple in Jerusalem. In one basket there were fresh, just-ripened figs, but in the other the figs were spoiled and moldy--too rotten to eat.

3 Then the Lord said to me, "What do you see, Jeremiah?" I replied, "Figs, some very good and some very bad."

4 Then the Lord said: "The good figs represent the exiles sent to Babylon. I have done it for their good.

5

6 I will see that they are well treated, and I will bring them back here again. I will help them and not hurt them; I will plant them and not pull them up.

7 I will give them hearts that respond to me. They shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with great joy.

8 "But the rotten figs represent Zedekiah, king of Judah, his officials, and all the others of Jerusalem left here in this land; those too who live in Egypt. I will treat them like spoiled figs, too bad to use.

9 I will make them repulsive to every nation of the earth, and they shall be mocked and taunted and cursed wherever I compel them to go.

10 And I will send massacre and famine and disease among them until they are destroyed from the land of Israel, which I gave to them and to their fathers."

25

1 This message for all the people of Judah came from the Lord to Jeremiah during the fourth year of the reign of King Jehoiakim of Judah (son of Josiah). This was the year Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, began his reign.

2 "For the past twenty-three years," Jeremiah said, "from the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah (son of Amon) king of Judah, until now, God has been sending me his messages. I have faithfully passed them on to you, but you haven't listened.

3

4 Again and again down through the years, God has sent you his prophets, but you have refused to hear.

5 Each time the message was this: 'Turn from the evil road you are traveling and from the evil things you are doing. Only then can you continue to live here in this land which the Lord gave to you and to your ancestors forever.

6 Don't anger me by worshiping idols; but if you are true to me, then I'll not harm you.

7 But you won't listen; you have gone ahead and made me furious with your idols. So you have brought upon yourselves all the evil that has come your way.'

8 And now the Lord God says, "Because you have not listened to me,

9 I will gather together all the armies of the north under Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon (I have appointed him as my deputy), and I will bring them all against this land and its people and against the other nations near you, and I will utterly destroy you and make you a byword of contempt forever.

10 I will take away your joy, your gladness, and your wedding feasts; your businesses shall fail, and all your homes shall lie in silent darkness.

11 This entire land shall become a desolate wasteland; all the world will be shocked at the disaster that befalls you. Israel and her neighboring lands shall serve the king of Babylon for seventy years.

12 "Then, after these years of slavery are ended, I will punish the king of Babylon and his people for their sins; I will make the land of Chaldea an everlasting waste.

13 I will bring upon them all the terrors I have promised in this book--all the penalties announced by Jeremiah against the nations.

14 For many nations and great kings shall enslave the Chaldeans, just as they enslaved my people; I will punish them in proportion to their treatment of my people."

15 For the Lord God said to me: "Take from my hand this wine cup filled to the brim with my fury, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink from it.

16 They shall drink from it and reel, crazed by the death blows I rain upon them."

17 So I took the cup of fury from the Lord and made all the nations drink from it--every nation God had sent me to;

18 I went to Jerusalem and to the cities of Judah, and their kings and princes drank of the cup so that from that day until this they have been desolate, hated and cursed, just as they are today.

19 I went to Egypt, and Pharaoh, his servants, the princes, and the people--they too drank from that terrible cup,

20 along with all the foreign population living in his land. So did all the kings of the land of Uz and the kings of the Philistine cities: Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and what remains of Ashdod,

21 and I visited the nations of Edom, Moab, and Ammon;

22 and all the kings of Tyre and Sidon, and the kings of the regions across the sea;

23 Dedan, Tema, and Buz, and the other heathen there;

24 and all the kings of Arabia and of the nomadic tribes of the desert;

25 and all the kings of Zimri, Elam, and Media;

26 and all the kings of the northern countries, far and near, one after the other; and all the kingdoms of the world. And finally, the king of Babylon himself drank from this cup of God's wrath.

27 "Tell them, 'The Lord of heaven's armies, the God of Israel, says, "Drink from this cup of my wrath until you are drunk and vomit and fall to rise no more, for I am sending terrible wars upon you.'

28 And if they refuse to accept the cup, tell them, 'The Lord of heaven's armies says you must drink it! You cannot escape!

29 I have begun to punish my own people, so should you go free? No, you shall not evade punishment. I will call for war against all the peoples of the earth.'

30 "Therefore prophesy against them. Tell them the Lord will shout against his own from his holy temple in heaven and against all those living on the earth. He will shout as the harvesters do who tread the juice from the grapes.

31 That cry of judgment will reach the farthest ends of the earth, for the Lord has a case against all the nations--all mankind. He will slaughter all the wicked.

32 'See,' declares the Lord Almighty, 'the punishment shall go from nation to nation--a great whirlwind of wrath shall rise against the farthest corners of the earth.'

33 On that day those the Lord has slain shall fill the earth from one end to the other. No one shall mourn for them nor gather up the bodies to bury them; they shall fertilize the earth."

34 Weep and moan, O evil shepherds; let the leaders of mankind beat their heads upon the stones, for their time has come to be slaughtered and scattered; they shall fall like fragile women.

35 And you will find no place to hide, no way to escape.

36 Listen to the frantic cries of the shepherds and to the leaders shouting in despair, for the Lord has spoiled their pastures.

37 People now living undisturbed will be cut down by the fierceness of the anger of the Lord.

38 He has left his lair like a lion seeking prey; their land has been laid waste by warring armies--because of the fierce anger of the Lord.

26

1 This message came to Jeremiah from the Lord during the first year of the reign of Jehoiakim (son of Josiah), king of Judah:

2 "Stand out in front of the Temple of the Lord and make an announcement to all the people who have come there to worship from many parts of Judah. Give them the entire message; don't leave out one word of all I have for them to hear.

3 For perhaps they will listen and turn from their evil ways, and then I can withhold all the punishment I am ready to pour out upon them because of their evil deeds.

4 Tell them the Lord says: 'If you will not listen to me and obey the laws I have given you,

5 and if you will not listen to my servants, the prophets--for I sent them again and again to warn you, but you would not listen to them--

6 then I will destroy this Temple as I destroyed the Tabernacle at Shiloh, and I will make Jerusalem a curse word in every nation of the earth.' "

7 When Jeremiah had finished his message, saying everything the Lord had told him to, the priests and false prophets and all the people in the Temple mobbed him, shouting, "Kill him! Kill him!

8

9 What right do you have to say the Lord will destroy this Temple like the one at Shiloh?" they yelled. "What do you mean--Jerusalem destroyed and not one survivor?"

10 When the high officials of Judah heard what was going on, they rushed over from the palace and sat down at the door of the Temple to hold court.

11 Then the priests and the false prophets presented their accusations to the officials and the people. "This man should die!" they said. "You have heard with your own ears what a traitor he is, for he has prophesied against this city."

12 Then Jeremiah spoke in his defense. "The Lord sent me," he said, "to prophesy against this Temple and this city. He gave me every word of all that I have spoken.

13 But if you stop your sinning and begin obeying the Lord your God, he will cancel all the punishment he has announced against you.

14 As for me, I am helpless and in your power--do with me as you think best.

15 But there is one thing sure, if you kill me, you will be killing an innocent man, and the responsibility will lie upon you and upon this city and upon every person living in it; for it is absolutely true that the Lord sent me to speak every word that you have heard from me."

16 Then the officials and people said to the priests and false prophets, "This man does not deserve the death sentence, for he has spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God."

17 Then some of the wise old men stood and spoke to all the people standing around and said:

18 "The decision is right; for back in the days when Micah the Morasthite prophesied in the days of King Hezekiah of Judah, he told the people that God said: 'This hill shall be plowed like an open field and this city of Jerusalem razed into heaps of stone, and a forest shall grow at the top where the great Temple now stands!'

19 But did King Hezekiah and the people kill him for saying this? No, they turned from their wickedness and worshiped the Lord and begged the Lord to have mercy upon them; and the Lord held back the terrible punishment he had pronounced against them. If we kill Jeremiah for giving us the messages of God, who knows what God will do to us!"

20 Another true prophet of the Lord, Uriah (son of Shemaiah) from Kiriathjearim, was also denouncing the city and the nation at the same time as Jeremiah was.

21 But when King Jehoiakim and the army officers and officials heard what he was saying, the king sent to kill him. Uriah heard about it and fled to Egypt.

22 Then King Jehoiakim sent Elnathan (son of Achbor) to Egypt along with several other men to capture Uriah.

23 They took him prisoner and brought him back to King Jehoiakim, who butchered him with a sword and had him buried in an unmarked grave.

24 But Ahikam (son of Shaphan), the royal secretary, stood with Jeremiah and persuaded the court not to turn him over to the mob to kill him.

27

1 This message came to Jeremiah from the Lord at the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim (son of Josiah), king of Judah:

2 "Make a yoke and fasten it on your neck with leather thongs as you would strap a yoke on a plow-ox.

3 Then send messages to the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon, through their ambassadors in Jerusalem,

4 saying, 'Tell your masters that the Lord, the God of Israel, sends you this message:

5 ' "By my great power I have made the earth and all mankind and every animal; and I give these things of mine to anyone I want to.

6 So now I have given all your countries to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, who is my deputy. And I have handed over to him all your cattle for his use.

7 All the nations shall serve him and his son and his grandson until his time is up, and then many nations and great kings shall conquer Babylon and make him their slave.

8 Submit to him and serve him--put your neck under Babylon's yoke! I will punish any nation refusing to be his slave; I will send war, famine, and disease upon that nation until he has conquered it.

9 ' "Do not listen to your false prophets, fortune-tellers, dreamers, mediums, and magicians who say the king of Babylon will not enslave you.

10 For they are all liars, and if you follow their advice and refuse to submit to the king of Babylon, I will drive you out of your land and send you far away to perish.

11 But the people of any nation submitting to the king of Babylon will be permitted to stay in their own country and farm the land as usual.' "

12 Jeremiah repeated all these prophecies to Zedekiah, king of Judah. "If you want to live, submit to the king of Babylon," he said.

13 "Why do you insist on dying--you and your people? Why should you choose war and famine and disease, which the Lord has promised to every nation that will not submit to Babylon's king?

14 Don't listen to the false prophets who keep telling you the king of Babylon will not conquer you, for they are liars.

15 'I have not sent them,' says the Lord, 'and they are telling you lies in my name. If you insist on heeding them, I must drive you from this land to die--you and all these "prophets" too.' "

16 I spoke again and again to the priests and all the people and told them: "The Lord says, 'Don't listen to your prophets who are telling you that soon the gold dishes taken from the Temple will be returned from Babylon. It is all a lie.

17 Don't listen to them. Surrender to the king of Babylon and live, for otherwise this whole city will be destroyed.

18 If they are really God's prophets, then let them pray to the Lord Almighty that the gold dishes still here in the Temple, left from before; and that those in the palace of the king of Judah and in the palaces in Jerusalem will not be carried away with you to Babylon!'

19 "For the Lord Almighty says, 'The pillars of bronze standing before the Temple, the great bronze basin in the Temple court, the metal stands, and all the other ceremonial articles left here

20 by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, when he exiled all the important people of Judah and Jerusalem to Babylon, along with Jeconiah (son of Jehoiakim), king of Judah,

21

22 will all yet be carried away to Babylon and will stay there until I send for them. Then I will bring them all back to Jerusalem again.' "

28

1 On a December day in that same year--the fourth year of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah--Hananiah (son of Azzur), a false prophet from Gibeon, addressed me publicly in the Temple while all the priests and people listened. He said:

2 "The Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, declares: 'I have removed the yoke of the king of Babylon from your necks.

3 Within two years I will bring back all the Temple treasures that Nebuchadnezzar carried off to Babylon,

4 and I will bring back King Jeconiah, son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the other captives exiled to Babylon,' says the Lord. 'I will surely remove the yoke put on your necks by the king of Babylon.' "

5 Then Jeremiah said to Hananiah, in front of all the priests and people,

6 "Amen! May your prophecies come true! I hope the Lord will do everything you say and bring back from Babylon the treasures of this Temple, with all our loved ones.

7 But listen now to the solemn words I speak to you in the presence of all these people.

8 The ancient prophets who preceded you and me spoke against many nations, always warning of war, famine, and plague.

9 So a prophet who foretells peace has the burden of proof on him to prove that God has really sent him. Only when his message comes true can it be known that he really is from God."

10 Then Hananiah, the false prophet, took the yoke off Jeremiah's neck and broke it.

11 And Hananiah said again to the crowd that had gathered, "The Lord has promised that within two years he will release all the nations now in slavery to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon." At that point Jeremiah walked out.

12 Soon afterwards the Lord gave this message to Jeremiah:

13 "Go and tell Hananiah that the Lord says, 'You have broken a wooden yoke, but these people have yokes of iron on their necks.'

14 The Lord, the God of Israel, says: 'I have put a yoke of iron on the necks of all these nations, forcing them into slavery to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. And nothing will change this decree, for I have even given him all your flocks and herds.' "

15 Then Jeremiah said to Hananiah, the false prophet, "Listen, Hananiah, the Lord has not sent you, and the people are believing your lies.

16 Therefore the Lord says you must die. This very year your life will end because you have rebelled against the Lord."

17 And sure enough, two months later Hananiah died.

29

1 After Jeconiah the king, the queen-mother, the court officials, the tribal officers, and craftsmen had been deported to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar,

2 Jeremiah wrote them a letter from Jerusalem, addressing it to the Jewish elders, priests, prophets, and to all the people.

3 He sent the letter with Elasah (son of Shaphan) and Gemariah (son of Hilkiah) when they went to Babylon as King Zedekiah's ambassadors to Nebuchadnezzar. And this is what the letter said:

4 The Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, sends this message to all the captives he has exiled to Babylon from Jerusalem:

5 "Build homes and plan to stay; plant vineyards, for you will be there many years.

6 Marry and have children, and then find mates for them and have many grandchildren. Multiply! Don't dwindle away!

7 And work for the peace and prosperity of Babylon. Pray for her, for if Babylon has peace, so will you."

8 The Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: "Don't let the false prophets and mediums who are there among you fool you. Don't listen to the dreams that they invent,

9 for they prophesy lies in my name. I have not sent them," says the Lord.

10 "The truth is this: You will be in Babylon for seventy years. But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised and bring you home again.

11 For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord. "They are plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

12 In those days when you pray, I will listen.

13 You will find me when you seek me, if you look for me in earnest.

14 "Yes," says the Lord, "I will be found by you, and I will end your slavery and restore your fortunes; I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and bring you back home again to your own land.

15 "But now, because you accept the false prophets among you and say the Lord has sent them,

16 I will send war, famine, and plague upon the people left here in Jerusalem--on your relatives who were not exiled to Babylon, and on the king who sits on David's throne--and make them like rotting figs, too bad to eat.

17

18 And I will scatter them around the world. And in every nation where I place them they will be cursed and hissed and mocked,

19 for they refuse to listen to me though I spoke to them again and again through my prophets."

20 Therefore listen to the word of God, all you Jewish captives over there in Babylon.

21 The Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says this about your false prophets, Ahab (son of Kolaiah) and Zedekiah (son of Maaseiah), who are declaring lies to you in my name: "Look, I am turning them over to Nebuchadnezzar to execute publicly.

22 Their fate shall become proverbial of all evil, so that whenever anyone wants to curse someone he will say, 'The Lord make you like Zedekiah and Ahab whom the king of Babylon burned alive!'

23 For these men have done a terrible thing among my people. They have committed adultery with their neighbors' wives and have lied in my name. I know, for I have seen everything they do," says the Lord.

24 And say this to Shemaiah the dreamer:

25 "The Lord, the God of Israel, says: 'You have written a letter to Zephaniah (son of Maaseiah) the priest, and sent copies to all the other priests and to everyone in Jerusalem.

26 And in this letter you have said to Zephaniah, "The Lord has appointed you to replace Jehoiada as priest in Jerusalem. And it is your responsibility to arrest any madman who claims to be a prophet and to put him in the stocks and collar.

27 Why haven't you done something about this false prophet Jeremiah of Anathoth?

28 For he has written to us here in Babylon saying that our captivity will be long; that we should build permanent homes and plan to stay many years; that we should plant fruit trees, for we will be here to eat the fruit from them for a long time to come.' "

29 Zephaniah took the letter over to Jeremiah and read it to him!

30 Then the Lord gave this message to Jeremiah:

31 "Send an open letter to all the exiles in Babylon and tell them this: 'The Lord says that because Shemaiah the Nehelamite has "prophesied" to you when I didn't send him and has fooled you into believing his lies,

32 I will punish him and his family. None of his descendants shall see the good I have waiting for my people, for he has taught you to rebel against the Lord.' "

30

1 This is another of the Lord's messages to Jeremiah:

2 "The Lord God of Israel says, 'Write down for the record all that I have said to you.

3 For the time is coming when I will restore the fortunes of my people, Israel and Judah, and I will bring them home to this land that I gave to their fathers; they shall possess it and live here again.'

4 "And write this also concerning Israel and Judah:

5 'Where shall we find peace?' they cry. There is only fear and trembling.

6 Do men give birth? Then why do they stand there, ashen-faced, hands pressed against their sides like women in labor?

7 "Alas, in all history when has there ever been a time of terror such as in that coming day? It is a time of trouble for my people--for Jacob--such as they have never known before. Yet God will rescue them!

8 For on that day," says the Lord Almighty, "I will break the yoke from their necks and snap their chains, and foreigners shall no longer be their masters!

9 For they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their King, whom I will raise up for them," says the Lord.

10 "So don't be afraid, O Jacob my servant; don't be dismayed, O Israel; for I will bring you home again from distant lands, and your children from their exile. They shall have rest and quiet in their own land, and no one shall make them afraid.

11 For I am with you and I will save you," says the Lord. "Even if I utterly destroy the nations where I scatter you, I will not exterminate you; I will punish you, yes--you will not go unpunished.

12 "For your sin is an incurable bruise, a terrible wound.

13 There is no one to help you or to bind up your wound, and no medicine does any good.

14 All your lovers have left you and don't care anything about you any more; for I have wounded you cruelly, as though I were your enemy; mercilessly, as though I were an implacable foe; for your sins are so many, your guilt is so great.

15 "Why do you protest your punishment? Your sin is so scandalous that your sorrow should never end! It is because your guilt is great that I have had to punish you so much.

16 "But in that coming day, all who are destroying you shall be destroyed, and all your enemies shall be slaves. Those who rob you shall be robbed; and those attacking you shall be attacked.

17 I will give you back your health again and heal your wounds. Now you are called 'The Outcast' and 'Jerusalem, the Place Nobody Wants.'

18 "But," says the Lord, "when I bring you home again from your captivity and restore your fortunes, Jerusalem will be rebuilt upon her ruins; the palace will be reconstructed as it was before.

19 The cities will be filled with joy and great thanksgiving, and I will multiply my people and make of them a great and honored nation.

20 Their children shall prosper as in David's reign; their nations shall be established before me, and I will punish anyone who hurts them.

21 They will have their own ruler again. He will not be a foreigner. And I will invite him to be a priest at my altars, and he shall approach me, for who would dare to come unless invited.

22 And you shall be my people, and I will be your God."

23 Suddenly the devastating whirlwind of the Lord roars with fury; it shall burst upon the heads of the wicked.

24 The Lord will not call off the fierceness of his wrath until it has finished all the terrible destruction he has planned. Later on you will understand what I am telling you.

31

1 "At that time," says the Lord, "all the families of Israel shall recognize me as the Lord; they shall act like my people.

2 I will care for them as I did those who escaped from Egypt, to whom I showed my mercies in the wilderness, when Israel sought for rest."

3 For long ago the Lord had said to Israel: "I have loved you, O my people, with an everlasting love; with loving-kindness I have drawn you to me.

4 I will rebuild your nation, O virgin of Israel. You will again be happy and dance merrily with the timbrels.

5 Again you will plant your vineyards upon the mountains of Samaria and eat from your own gardens there.

6 "The day shall come when watchmen on the hills of Ephraim will call out and say, 'Arise, and let us go up to Zion to the Lord our God.' "

7 For the Lord says, "Sing with joy for all that I will do for Israel, the greatest of the nations! Shout out with praise and joy: 'The Lord has saved his people, the remnant of Israel.'

8 For I will bring them from the north and from earth's farthest ends, not forgetting their blind and lame, young mothers with their little ones, those ready to give birth. It will be a great company who comes.

9 Tears of joy shall stream down their faces, and I will lead them home with great care. They shall walk beside the quiet streams and not stumble. For I am a Father to Israel, and Ephraim is my oldest child."

10 Listen to this message from the Lord, you nations of the world, and publish it abroad: "The Lord who scattered his people will gather them back together again and watch over them as a shepherd does his flock.

11 He will save Israel from those who are too strong for them!

12 They shall come home and sing songs of joy upon the hills of Zion and shall be radiant over the goodness of the Lord--the good crops, the wheat, the wine, and the oil, and the healthy flocks and herds. Their life shall be like a watered garden, and all their sorrows shall be gone.

13 The young girls will dance for joy, and menfolk--old and young--will take their part in all the fun; for I will turn their mourning into joy, and I will comfort them and make them rejoice, for their captivity with all its sorrows will be behind them.

14 I will feast the priests with the abundance of offerings brought to them at the Temple; I will satisfy my people with my bounty, says the Lord."

15 The Lord spoke to me again, saying: "In Ramah there is bitter weeping--Rachel weeping for her children and cannot be comforted, for they are gone."

16 But the Lord says: "Don't cry any longer, for I have heard your prayers and you will see them again; they will come back to you from the distant land of the enemy.

17 There is hope for your future," says the Lord, "and your children will come again to their own land.

18 "I have heard Ephraim's groans: 'You have punished me greatly; but I needed it all, as a calf must be trained for the yoke. Turn me again to you and restore me, for you alone are the Lord, my God.

19 I turned away from God, but I was sorry afterwards. I kicked myself for my stupidity. I was thoroughly ashamed of all I did in younger days.' "

20 And the Lord replies: "Ephraim is still my son, my darling child. I had to punish him, but I still love him. I long for him and surely will have mercy on him.

21 "As you travel into exile, set up road signs pointing back to Israel. Mark your pathway well. For you shall return again, O virgin Israel, to your cities here.

22 How long will you vacillate, O wayward daughter? For the Lord will cause something new and different to happen--Israel will search for God."

23 The Lord, the God of Israel, says: "When I bring them back again, they shall say in Judah and her cities, 'The Lord bless you, O center of righteousness, O holy hill!'

24 And city dwellers and farmers and shepherds alike shall live together in peace and happiness.

25 For I have given rest to the weary and joy to all the sorrowing."

26 (Then Jeremiah wakened. "Such sleep is very sweet!" he said.)

27 The Lord says: "The time will come when I will greatly increase the population and multiply the number of cattle here in Israel.

28 In the past I painstakingly destroyed the nation, but now I will carefully build it up.

29 The people shall no longer quote this proverb--'Children pay for their fathers' sins.'

30 For everyone shall die for his own sins--the person eating sour grapes is the one whose teeth are set on edge.

31 "The day will come," says the Lord, "when I will make a new contract with the people of Israel and Judah.

32 It won't be like the one I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt--a contract they broke, forcing me to reject them," says the Lord.

33 "But this is the new contract I will make with them: I will inscribe my laws upon their hearts, so that they shall want to honor me; then they shall truly be my people and I will be their God.

34 At that time it will no longer be necessary to admonish one another to know the Lord. For everyone, both great and small, shall really know me then," says the Lord, "and I will forgive and forget their sins.

35 The Lord who gives us sunlight in the daytime and the moon and stars to light the night, and who stirs the sea to make the roaring waves--his name is Lord Almighty--says this:

36 "I am as likely to reject my people Israel as I am to do away with these laws of nature!

37 Not until the heavens can be measured and the foundations of the earth explored, will I consider casting them away forever for their sins!

38 "For the time is coming," says the Lord, "when all Jerusalem shall be rebuilt for the Lord, from the Tower of Hananel at the northeast corner,

39 to the Corner Gate at the northwest; and from the Hill of Gareb at the southwest, across to Goah on the southeast.

40 And the entire city, including the graveyard and ash dump in the valley, and all the fields out to the brook of Kidron, and from there to the Horse Gate on the east side of the city, all shall be holy to the Lord; it shall never again be captured or destroyed."

32

1 The following message came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah (which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign).

2 At this time Jeremiah was imprisoned in the dungeon beneath the palace, while the Babylonian army was besieging Jerusalem.

3 King Zedekiah had put him there for continuing to prophesy that the city would be conquered by the king of Babylon,

4 and that King Zedekiah would be caught and taken as a prisoner before the king of Babylon for trial and sentencing.

5 "He shall take you to Babylon and imprison you there for many years until you die. Why fight the facts? You can't win! Surrender now!" Jeremiah had told him again and again.

6 Then this message from the Lord came to Jeremiah:

7 "Your cousin Hanamel (son of Shallum) will soon arrive to ask you to buy the farm he owns in Anathoth, for by law you have a chance to buy before it is offered to anyone else."

8 So Hanamel came, as the Lord had said he would, and visited me in the prison. "Buy my field in Anathoth, in the land of Benjamin," he said, "for the law gives you the first right to purchase it." Then I knew for sure that the message I had heard was really from the Lord.

9 So I bought the field, paying Hanamel seventeen pieces of silver.

10 I signed and sealed the deed of purchase before witnesses, weighed out the silver, and paid him.

11 Then I took the sealed deed containing the terms and conditions and also the unsealed copy,

12 and publicly, in the presence of my cousin Hanamel and the witnesses who had signed the deed, and as the prison guards watched, I handed the papers to Baruch (son of Neriah, who was the son of Mahseiah).

13 And I said to him as they all listened:

14 "The Lord, God of Israel, says: 'Take both this sealed deed and the copy and put them into a pottery jar to preserve them for a long time.'

15 For the Lord, God of Israel, says, 'In the future these papers will be valuable. Someday people will again own property here in this country and will be buying and selling houses and vineyards and fields.' "

16 Then after I had given the papers to Baruch I prayed:

17 "O Lord God! You have made the heavens and earth by your great power; nothing is too hard for you!

18 You are loving and kind to thousands, yet children suffer for their fathers' sins; you are the great and mighty God, the Lord Almighty.

19 You have all wisdom and do great and mighty miracles; for your eyes are open to all the ways of men, and you reward everyone according to his life and deeds.

20 You have done incredible things in the land of Egypt--things still remembered to this day. And you have continued to do great miracles in Israel and all around the world. You have made your name very great, as it is today.

21 "You brought Israel out of Egypt with mighty miracles and great power and terror.

22 You gave Israel this land that you promised their fathers long ago--a wonderful land that 'flows with milk and honey.'

23 Our fathers came and conquered it and lived in it, but they refused to obey you or to follow your laws; they have hardly done one thing you told them to. That is why you have sent all this terrible evil upon them.

24 See how the siege mounds have been built against the city walls, and the Babylonians shall conquer the city by sword, famine, and disease. Everything has happened just as you said--as you determined it should!

25 And yet you say to buy the field--paying good money for it before these witnesses--even though the city will belong to our enemies."

26 Then this message came to Jeremiah:

27 "I am the Lord, the God of all mankind; is there anything too hard for me?

28 Yes, I will give this city to the Babylonians and to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon; he shall conquer it.

29 And the Babylonians outside the walls shall come in and set fire to the city and burn down all these houses, where the roofs have been used to offer incense to Baal and to pour out libations to other gods, causing my fury to rise!

30 For Israel and Judah have done nothing but wrong since their earliest days; they have infuriated me with all their evil deeds.

31 From the time this city was built until now it has done nothing but anger me; so I am determined to be rid of it.

32 "The sins of Israel and Judah--the sins of the people, of their kings, officers, priests and prophets--stir me up.

33 They have turned their backs upon me and refused to return; day after day, year after year, I taught them right from wrong, but they would not listen or obey.

34 They have even defiled my own Temple by worshiping their abominable idols there.

35 And they have built high altars to Baal in the Valley of Hinnom. There they have burnt their children as sacrifices to Molech--something I never commanded and cannot imagine suggesting. What an incredible evil, causing Judah to sin so greatly!

36 "Now therefore the Lord God of Israel says concerning this city that it will fall to the king of Babylon through warfare, famine, and disease,

37 but I will bring my people back again from all the countries where in my fury I will scatter them. I will bring them back to this very city and make them live in peace and safety.

38 And they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

39 And I will give them one heart and mind to worship me forever, for their own good and for the good of all their descendants.

40 "And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, promising never again to desert them but only to do them good. I will put a desire into their hearts to worship me, and they shall never leave me.

41 I will rejoice to do them good and will replant them in this land with great joy.

42 Just as I have sent all these terrors and evils upon them, so will I do all the good I have promised them.

43 "Fields will again be bought and sold in this land now ravaged by the Babylonians, where men and animals alike have disappeared.

44 Yes, fields shall once again be bought and sold--deeds signed and sealed and witnessed--in the country of Benjamin and here in Jerusalem, in the cities of Judah and in the hill country, in the Philistine plain and in the Negeb too, for some day I will restore prosperity to them."

33

1 While Jeremiah was still in jail, the Lord sent him this second message:

2 "The Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth--Jehovah is his name--says this:

3 'Ask me and I will tell you some remarkable secrets about what is going to happen here.

4 For though you have torn down the houses of this city, and the king's palace too, for materials to strengthen the walls against the siege weapons of the enemy,

5 yet the Babylonians will enter, and the men of this city are already as good as dead, for I have determined to destroy them in my furious anger. I have abandoned them because of all their wickedness, and I will not pity them when they cry for help.'

6 "Nevertheless the time will come when I will heal Jerusalem's damage and give her prosperity and peace.

7 I will rebuild the cities of both Judah and Israel and restore their fortunes.

8 And I will cleanse away all their sins against me and pardon them.

9 Then this city will be an honor to me, and it will give me joy and be a source of praise and glory to me before all the nations of the earth! The people of the world will see the good I do for my people and will tremble with awe!

10 "The Lord declares that the happy voices of bridegrooms and of brides and the joyous song of those bringing thanksgiving offerings to the Lord will be heard again in this doomed land. The people will sing: 'Praise the Lord! For he is good and his mercy endures forever!' For I will make this land happier and more prosperous than it has ever been before.

11

12 This land--though every man and animal and city is doomed--will once more see shepherds leading sheep and lambs.

13 Once again their flocks will prosper in the mountain villages and in the cities east of the Philistine plain, in all the cities of the Negeb, in the land of Benjamin, in the vicinity of Jerusalem, and in all the cities of Judah.

14 Yes, the day will come," says the Lord, "when I will do for Israel and Judah all the good I promised them.

15 "At that time I will bring to the throne the true Son of David, and he shall rule justly.

16 In that day the people of Judah and Jerusalem shall live in safety and their motto will be, 'The Lord is our righteousness!'

17 For the Lord declares that from then on, David shall forever have an heir sitting on the throne of Israel.

18 And there shall always be Levites to offer burnt offerings and meal offerings and sacrifices to the Lord."

19 Then this message came to Jeremiah from the Lord:

20 "If you can break my covenant with the day and with the night so that day and night don't come on their usual schedule,

21 only then will my covenant with David, my servant, be broken so that he shall not have a son to reign upon his throne; and my covenant with the Levite priests, my ministers, is noncancelable.

22 And as the stars cannot be counted nor the sand upon the seashores measured, so the descendants of David my servant and the line of the Levites who minister to me will be multiplied."

23 The Lord spoke to Jeremiah again and said:

24 "Have you heard what people are saying?--that the Lord chose Judah and Israel and then abandoned them! They are sneering and saying that Israel isn't worthy to be counted as a nation.

25 But this is the Lord's reply: 'I would no more reject my people than I would change my laws of night and day, of earth and sky.

26 I will never abandon the Jews, or David my servant, or change the plan that his child will someday rule these descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Instead I will restore their prosperity and have mercy on them.' "

34

1 This is the message that came to Jeremiah from the Lord when Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and all his armies from all the kingdoms he ruled, came and fought against Jerusalem and the cities of Judah:

2 "Go tell Zedekiah, king of Judah, that the Lord says this: 'I will give this city to the king of Babylon and he shall burn it.

3 You shall not escape; you shall be captured and taken before the king of Babylon; he shall pronounce sentence against you and you shall be exiled to Babylon.

4 But listen to this, O Zedekiah, king of Judah: God says you won't be killed in war and carnage

5 but that you will die quietly among your people, and they will burn incense in your memory, just as they did for your fathers. They will weep for you and say, "Alas, our king is dead!" This I have decreed, says the Lord.' "

6 So Jeremiah delivered the message to King Zedekiah.

7 At this time the Babylonian army was besieging Jerusalem, Lachish, and Azekah--the only walled cities of Judah still standing.

8 This is the message that came to Jeremiah from the Lord after King Zedekiah of Judah had freed all the slaves in Jerusalem--

9 (for King Zedekiah had ordered everyone to free his Hebrew slaves, both men and women. He had said that no Jew should be the master of another Jew for all were brothers.

10 The princes and all the people had obeyed the king's command and freed their slaves, but the action was only temporary.

11 They changed their minds and made their servants slaves again.

12 That is why the Lord gave the following message to Jerusalem.)

13 The Lord, the God of Israel, says: "I made a covenant with your fathers long ago when I brought them from their slavery in Egypt.

14 I told them that every Hebrew slave must be freed after serving six years. But this was not done.

15 Recently you began doing what was right, as I commanded you, and freed your slaves. You had solemnly promised me in my Temple that you would do it.

16 But now you refuse and have defiled my name by shrugging off your oath and have made them slaves again.

17 "Therefore," says the Lord, "because you will not listen to me and release them, I will release you to the power of death by war and famine and disease. And I will scatter you over all the world as exiles.

18 Because you have refused the terms of our contract, I will cut you apart just as you cut apart the calf when you walked between its halves to solemnize your vows.

19 Yes, I will butcher you, whether you are princes, court officials, priests, or people--for you have broken your oath.

20 I will give you to your enemies, and they shall kill you. I will feed your dead bodies to the vultures and wild animals.

21 And I will surrender Zedekiah, king of Judah, and his officials to the army of the king of Babylon, though he has departed from the city for a little while.

22 I will summon the Babylonian armies back again, and they will fight against it and capture this city and burn it. And I will see to it that the cities of Judah are completely destroyed and left desolate without a living soul."

35

1 This is the message the Lord gave Jeremiah when Jehoiakim (son of Josiah) was the king of Judah:

2 "Go to the settlement where the families of the Rechabites live and invite them to the Temple. Take them into one of the inner rooms and offer them a drink of wine."

3 So I went over to see Jaazaniah (son of Jeremiah, who was the son of Habazziniah) and brought him and all his brothers and sons--representing all the Rechab families--

4 to the Temple, into the room assigned for the use of the sons of Hanan the prophet (the son of Igdaliah). This room was located next to the one used by the palace official, directly above the room of Maaseiah (son of Shallum), who was the temple doorman.

5 I set cups and jugs of wine before them and invited them to have a drink,

6 but they refused. "No," they said. "We don't drink, for Jonadab our father (son of Rechab) commanded that none of us should ever drink, neither we nor our children forever.

7 He also told us not to build houses or plant crops or vineyards and not to own farms, but always to live in tents; and that if we obeyed, we would live long, good lives in our own land.

8 And we have obeyed him in all these things. We have never had a drink of wine since then, nor have our wives or our sons or daughters either.

9 We haven't built houses or owned farms or planted crops.

10 We have lived in tents and have fully obeyed everything that Jonadab our father commanded us.

11 But when Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, arrived in this country, we were afraid and decided to move to Jerusalem. That's why we are here."

12 Then the Lord gave this message to Jeremiah:

13 "The Lord, the God of Israel, says: 'Go and say to Judah and Jerusalem, Won't you learn a lesson from the families of Rechab?

14 They don't drink because their father told them not to. But I have spoken to you again and again, and you won't listen or obey.

15 I have sent you prophet after prophet to tell you to turn back from your wicked ways and to stop worshiping other gods, and that if you obeyed, then I would let you live in peace here in the land I gave to you and your fathers. But you wouldn't listen or obey.

16 The families of Rechab have obeyed their father completely, but you have refused to listen to me.'

17 Therefore, the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: "Because you refuse to listen or answer when I call, I will send upon Judah and Jerusalem all the evil I have ever threatened.' "

18 Then Jeremiah turned to the Rechabites and said: "The Lord, the God of Israel, says that because you have obeyed your father in every respect, he shall always have descendants who will worship me."

19

36

1 In the fourth year of the reign of King Jehoiakim of Judah (son of Josiah) the Lord gave this message to Jeremiah:

2 "Get a scroll and write down all my messages against Israel, Judah, and the other nations. Begin with the first message back in the days of Josiah, and write down every one of them.

3 Perhaps when the people of Judah see in writing all the terrible things I will do to them, they will repent. And then I can forgive them."

4 So Jeremiah sent for Baruch (son of Neriah), and as Jeremiah dictated, Baruch wrote down all the prophecies.

5 When all was finished, Jeremiah said to Baruch, "Since I am a prisoner here,

6 you read the scroll in the Temple on the next day of fasting, for on that day people will be there from all over Judah.

7 Perhaps even yet they will turn from their evil ways and ask the Lord to forgive them before it is too late, even though these curses of God have been pronounced upon them."

8 Baruch did as Jeremiah told him to and read all these messages to the people at the Temple.

9 This occurred on the day of fasting held in December of the fifth year of the reign of King Jehoiakim (son of Josiah). People came from all over Judah to attend the services at the Temple that day.

10 Baruch went to the office of Gemariah the Scribe (son of Shaphan) to read the scroll. (This room was just off the upper assembly hall of the Temple, near the door of the New Gate.)

11 When Micaiah (son of Gemariah, son of Shaphan) heard the messages from God,

12 he went down to the palace to the conference room where the administrative officials were meeting. Elishama (the scribe) was there, as well as Delaiah (son of Shamaiah), Elnathan (son of Achbor), Gemariah (son of Shaphan), Zedekiah (son of Hananiah), and all the others with similar responsibilities.

13 When Micaiah told them about the messages Baruch was reading to the people,

14 the officials sent Jehudi (son of Nethaniah, son of Shelemiah, son of Cushi) to ask Baruch to come and read the messages to them too, and Baruch did.

15

16 By the time he finished they were badly frightened. "We must tell the king," they said.

17 "But first, tell us how you got these messages. Did Jeremiah himself dictate them to you?"

18 So Baruch explained that Jeremiah had dictated them to him word by word, and he had written them down in ink upon the scroll.

19 "You and Jeremiah both hide," the officials said to Baruch. "Don't tell a soul where you are!"

20 Then the officials hid the scroll in the room of Elishama the scribe and went to tell the king.

21 The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll. Jehudi brought it from Elishama the scribe and read it to the king as all his officials stood by.

22 The king was in a winterized part of the palace at the time, sitting in front of a fireplace, for it was December and cold.

23 And whenever Jehudi finished reading three or four columns, the king would take his knife, slit off the section, and throw it into the fire, until the whole scroll was destroyed.

24 And no one protested except Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah. They pled with the king not to burn the scroll, but he wouldn't listen to them. Not another of the king's officials showed any signs of fear or anger at what he had done.

25

26 Then the king commanded Jerahmeel (a member of the royal family) and Seraiah (son of Azriel) and Shelemiah (son of Abdeel) to arrest Baruch and Jeremiah. But the Lord hid them!

27 After the king had burned the scroll, the Lord said to Jeremiah:

28 "Get another scroll and write everything again just as you did before,

29 and say this to the king: 'The Lord says, You burned the scroll because it said the king of Babylon would destroy this country and everything in it.

30 And now the Lord adds this concerning you, Jehoiakim, king of Judah: He shall have no one to sit upon the throne of David. His dead body shall be thrown out to the hot sun and frosty nights,

31 and I will punish him and his family and his officials because of their sins. I will pour out upon them all the evil I promised--upon them and upon all the people of Judah and Jerusalem, for they wouldn't listen to my warnings.' "

32 Then Jeremiah took another scroll and dictated again to Baruch all he had written before, only this time the Lord added a lot more!

37

1 Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, did not appoint Coniah (King Jehoiakim's son) to be the new king of Judah. Instead he chose Zedekiah (son of Josiah).

2 But neither King Zedekiah nor his officials nor the people who were left in the land listened to what the Lord said through Jeremiah.

3 Nevertheless, King Zedekiah sent Jehucal (son of Shelemiah) and Zephaniah the priest (son of Maaseiah) to ask Jeremiah to pray for them.

4 (Jeremiah had not been imprisoned yet, so he could come and go as he pleased.)

5 When the army of Pharaoh Hophra of Egypt appeared at the southern border of Judah to relieve the besieged city of Jerusalem, the Babylonian army withdrew from Jerusalem to fight the Egyptians.

6 Then the Lord sent this message to Jeremiah:

7 "The Lord, the God of Israel, says: 'Tell the king of Judah, who sent you to ask me what is going to happen, that Pharaoh's army, though it came here to help you, is about to return in flight to Egypt! The Babylonians shall defeat them and send them scurrying home.

8 These Babylonians shall capture this city and burn it to the ground.

9 Don't fool yourselves that the Babylonians are gone for good. They aren't!

10 Even if you destroyed the entire Babylonian army until there was only a handful of survivors and they lay wounded in their tents, yet they would stagger out and defeat you and put this city to the torch!' "

11 When the Babylonian army set out from Jerusalem to engage Pharaoh's army in battle,

12 Jeremiah started to leave the city to go to the land of Benjamin, to see the property he had bought.

13 But as he was walking through the Benjamin Gate, a sentry arrested him as a traitor, claiming he was defecting to the Babylonians. The guard making the arrest was Irijah (son of Shelemiah, grandson of Hananiah).

14 "That's not true," Jeremiah said. "I have no intention whatever of doing any such thing!" But Irijah wouldn't listen; he took Jeremiah before the city officials.

15 They were incensed with Jeremiah and had him flogged and put into the dungeon under the house of Jonathan the scribe, which had been converted into a prison.

16 Jeremiah was kept there for several days,

17 but eventually King Zedekiah sent for him to come to the palace secretly. The king asked him if there was any recent message from the Lord. "Yes," said Jeremiah, "there is! You shall be defeated by the king of Babylon!"

18 Then Jeremiah broached the subject of his imprisonment. "What have I ever done to deserve this?" he asked the king. "What crime have I committed? Tell me what I have done against you or your officials or the people?

19 Where are those prophets now who told you that the king of Babylon would not come?

20 Listen, O my lord the king: I beg you, don't send me back to that dungeon, for I'll die there."

21 Then King Zedekiah commanded that Jeremiah not be returned to the dungeon but be placed in the palace prison instead, and that he be given a small loaf of fresh bread every day as long as there was any left in the city. So Jeremiah was kept in the palace prison.

38

1 But when Shephatiah (son of Mattan) and Gedaliah (son of Pashhur) and Jucal (son of Shelemiah) and Pashhur (son of Malchiah) heard what Jeremiah had been telling the people--

2 that everyone remaining in Jerusalem would die by sword, starvation, or disease, but anyone surrendering to the Babylonians would live,

3 and that the city of Jerusalem would surely be captured by the king of Babylon--

4 they went to the king and said: "Sir, this fellow must die. That kind of talk will undermine the morale of the few soldiers we have left, and of all the people too. This man is a traitor."

5 So King Zedekiah agreed. "All right," he said. "Do as you like--I can't stop you."

6 They took Jeremiah from his cell and lowered him by ropes into an empty cistern in the prison yard. (It belonged to Malchiah, a member of the royal family.) There was no water in it, but there was a thick layer of mire at the bottom, and Jeremiah sank down into it.

7 When Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, an important palace official, heard that Jeremiah was in the cistern,

8 he rushed out to the Gate of Benjamin where the king was holding court.

9 "My lord the king," he said, "these men have done a very evil thing in putting Jeremiah into the cistern. He will die of hunger, for almost all the bread in the city is gone."

10 Then the king commanded Ebed-melech to take thirty men with him and pull Jeremiah out before he died.

11 So Ebed-melech took thirty men and went to a palace depot for discarded supplies where used clothing was kept. There he found some old rags and discarded garments which he took to the cistern and lowered to Jeremiah on a rope.

12 Ebed-melech called down to Jeremiah, "Use these rags under your armpits to protect you from the ropes." Then, when Jeremiah was ready,

13 they pulled him out and returned him to the palace prison, where he remained.

14 One day King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah to meet him at the side entrance of the Temple. "I want to ask you something," the king said, "and don't try to hide the truth."

15 Jeremiah said, "If I tell you the truth, you will kill me. And you won't listen to me anyway."

16 So King Zedekiah swore before Almighty God his Creator that he would not kill Jeremiah or give him to the men who were after his life.

17 Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, "The Almighty Lord, the God of Israel, says: 'If you will surrender to Babylon, you and your family shall live and the city will not be burned.

18 If you refuse to surrender, this city shall be set afire by the Babylonian army and you will not escape.' "

19 "But I am afraid to surrender," the king said, "for the Babylonians will hand me over to the Jews who have defected to them, and who knows what they will do to me?"

20 Jeremiah replied, "You won't get into their hands if only you will obey the Lord; your life will be spared, and all will go well for you.

21 But if you refuse to surrender, the Lord has said

22 that all the women left in your palace will be brought out and given to the officers of the Babylonian army; and these women will taunt you with bitterness. 'Fine friends you have,' they'll say, 'those Egyptians. They have betrayed you and left you to your fate!'

23 All your wives and children will be led out to the Babylonians, and you will not escape. You will be seized by the king of Babylon, and this city will be burned."

24 Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, "On pain of death, don't tell anyone you told me this!

25 And if my officials hear that I talked with you and they threaten you with death unless you tell them what we discussed,

26 just say that you begged me not to send you back to the dungeon in Jonathan's house, for you would die there."

27 And sure enough, it wasn't long before all the city officials came to Jeremiah and asked him why the king had called for him. So he said what the king had told him to, and they left without finding out the truth, for the conversation had not been overheard by anyone.

28 And Jeremiah remained confined to the prison yard until the day Jerusalem was captured.

39

1 It was in January of the ninth year of the reign of King Zedekiah of Judah that King Nebuchadnezzar and all his army came against Jerusalem again and besieged it.

2 Two years later, in the month of July, they breached the wall, and the city fell,

3 and all the officers of the Babylonian army came in and sat in triumph at the middle gate. Nergal-sharezer was there, Samgar-nebo, Sarsechim, Nergal-sharezer the king's chief assistant, and many others.

4 When King Zedekiah and his soldiers realized that the city was lost, they fled during the night, going out through the gate between the two walls back of the palace garden and across the fields toward the Jordan valley.

5 But the Babylonians chased the king and caught him on the plains of Jericho and brought him to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon who was at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, where he pronounced judgment upon him.

6 The king of Babylon made Zedekiah watch as they killed his children and all the nobles of Judah.

7 Then he gouged out Zedekiah's eyes and bound him in chains to send him away to Babylon as a slave.

8 Meanwhile the army burned Jerusalem, including the palace, and tore down the walls of the city.

9 Then Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, and his men sent the remnant of the population and all those who had defected to him to Babylon.

10 But throughout the land of Judah he left a few people, the very poor, and gave them fields and vineyards.

11 Meanwhile King Nebuchadnezzar had told Nebuzaradan to find Jeremiah.

12 "See that he isn't hurt," he said. "Look after him well and give him anything he wants."

13 So Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, and Nebushazban, the chief of the eunuchs, and Nergal-sharezer, the king's advisor, and all the officials took steps to do as the king had commanded.

14 They sent soldiers to bring Jeremiah out of the prison, and put him into the care of Gedaliah (son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan), to take him back to his home. And Jeremiah lived there among his people who were left in the land.

15 The Lord gave the following message to Jeremiah before the Babylonians arrived, while he was still in prison:

16 "Send this word to Ebed-melech the Ethiopian: 'The Lord, the God of Israel, says: I will do to this city everything I threatened; I will destroy it before your eyes,

17 but I will deliver you. You shall not be killed by those you fear so much.

18 As a reward for trusting me, I will preserve your life and keep you safe.' "

40

1 Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, took Jeremiah to Ramah along with all the exiled people of Jerusalem and Judah who were being sent to Babylon, but then released him.

2 The captain called for Jeremiah and said, "The Lord your God has brought this disaster on this land,

3 just as he said he would. For these people have sinned against the Lord. That is why it happened.

4 Now I am going to take off your chains and let you go. If you want to come with me to Babylon, fine; I will see that you are well cared for. But if you don't want to come, don't. The world is before you--go where you like.

5 If you decide to stay, then return to Gedaliah, who has been appointed as governor of Judah by the king of Babylon, and stay with the remnant he rules. But it's up to you; go where you like." Then Nebuzaradan gave Jeremiah some food and money and let him go.

6 So Jeremiah returned to Gedaliah and lived in Judah with the people left in the land.

7 Now when the leaders of the Jewish guerrilla bands in the countryside heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah as governor over the poor of the land who were left behind, and had not exiled everyone to Babylon,

8 they came to see Gedaliah at Mizpah, where his headquarters were. These are the names of the leaders who came: Ishmael (son of Nethaniah), Johanan and Jonathan (sons of Kareah), Seraiah (son of Tanhumeth), the sons of Ephai (the Netophathite), Jezaniah (son of a Maacathite), and their men.

9 And Gedaliah assured them that it would be safe to surrender to the Babylonians. "Stay here and serve the king of Babylon," he said, "and all will go well for you.

10 As for me, I will stay at Mizpah and intercede for you with the Babylonians who will come here to oversee my administration. Settle in any city you wish and live off the land. Harvest the grapes and summer fruits and olives and store them away."

11 When the Jews in Moab and among the Ammonites and in Edom and the other nearby countries heard that a few people were still left in Judah, and that the king of Babylon had not taken them all away, and that Gedaliah was the governor,

12 they all began to return to Judah from the many places to which they had fled. They stopped at Mizpah to discuss their plans with Gedaliah and then went out to the deserted farms and gathered a great harvest of wine grapes and other crops.

13 But soon afterwards Johanan (son of Kareah) and the other guerrilla leaders came to Mizpah to warn Gedaliah

14 that Baalis, king of the Ammonites, had sent Ishmael (son of Nethaniah) to assassinate him. But Gedaliah wouldn't believe them.

15 Then Johanan had a private conference with Gedaliah. Johanan volunteered to kill Ishmael secretly. "Why should we let him come and murder you?" Johanan asked. "What will happen then to the Jews who have returned? Why should this remnant be scattered and lost?"

16 But Gedaliah said, "I forbid you to do any such thing, for you are lying about Ishmael."

41

1 But in October, Ishmael (son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama), who was a member of the royal family and one of the king's top officials, arrived in Mizpah, accompanied by ten men. Gedaliah invited them to dinner.

2 While they were eating, Ishmael and the ten men in league with him suddenly jumped up, pulled out their swords, and killed Gedaliah.

3 Then they went out and slaughtered all the Jewish officials and Babylonian soldiers who were in Mizpah with Gedaliah.

4 The next day, before the outside world knew what had happened,

5 eighty men approached Mizpah from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria, to worship at the Temple of the Lord. They had shaved off their beards, torn their clothes, and cut themselves, and were bringing offerings and incense.

6 Ishmael went out from the city to meet them, crying as he went. When he faced them he said, "Oh, come and see what has happened to Gedaliah!"

7 Then, when they were all inside the city, Ishmael and his men killed all but ten of them and threw their bodies into a cistern.

8 The ten had talked Ishmael into letting them go by promising to bring him their treasures of wheat, barley, oil, and honey they had hidden away.

9 The cistern where Ishmael dumped the bodies of the men he murdered was the large one constructed by King Asa when he fortified Mizpah to protect himself against Baasha, king of Israel.

10 Ishmael made captives of the king's daughters and of the people who had been left under Gedaliah's care in Mizpah by Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard. Soon after, he took them with him when he headed toward the country of the Ammonites.

11 But when Johanan (son of Kareah) and the rest of the guerrilla leaders heard what Ishmael had done,

12 they took all their men and set out to stop him. They caught up with him at the pool near Gibeon.

13 The people with Ishmael shouted for joy when they saw Johanan and his men and ran to meet them.

14

15 Meanwhile Ishmael escaped with eight of his men into the land of the Ammonites.

16 Then Johanan and his men went to the village of Geruth Chimham, near Bethlehem, taking with them all those they had rescued--soldiers, women, children, and eunuchs, to prepare to leave for Egypt.

17

18 For they were afraid of what the Babylonians would do when the news reached them that Ishmael had killed Gedaliah the governor, for he had been chosen and appointed by the Babylonian emperor.

42

1 Then Johanan and the army captains and all the people, great and small, came to Jeremiah

2 and said, "Please pray for us to the Lord your God, for as you know so well, we are only a tiny remnant of what we were before.

3 Beg the Lord your God to show us what to do and where to go."

4 "All right," Jeremiah replied. "I will ask him and I will tell you what he says. I will hide nothing from you."

5 Then they said to Jeremiah, "May the curse of God be on us if we refuse to obey whatever he says we should do!

6 Whether we like it or not, we will obey the Lord our God, to whom we send you with our plea. For if we obey him, everything will turn out well for us."

7 Ten days later the Lord gave his reply to Jeremiah.

8 So he called for Johanan and the captains of his forces, and for all the people, great and small,

9 and said to them: "You sent me to the Lord, the God of Israel, with your request, and this is his reply:

10 'Stay here in this land. If you do, I will bless you, and no one will harm you. For I am sorry for all the punishment I have had to give to you.

11 Don't fear the king of Babylon any more, for I am with you to save you and to deliver you from his hand.

12 And I will be merciful to you by making him kind so that he will not kill you or make slaves of you but will let you stay here in your land.'

13 "But if you refuse to obey the Lord and say, 'We will not stay here,'--and insist on going to Egypt where you think you will be free from war and hunger and alarms,

14

15 then this is what the Lord replies, O remnant of Judah: 'The Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: If you insist on going to Egypt,

16 the war and famine you fear will follow close behind you, and you will perish there.

17 That is the fate awaiting every one of you who insists on going to live in Egypt. Yes, you will die from sword, famine, and disease. None of you will escape from the evil I will bring upon you there.'

18 "For the Lord, the God of Israel, says: 'Just as my anger and fury were poured out upon the people of Jerusalem, so it will be poured out on you when you enter Egypt. You will be received with disgust and with hatred--you will be cursed and reviled. And you will never again see your own land.'

19 For the Lord has said: 'O remnant of Judah, do not go to Egypt!' " Jeremiah concluded: "Never forget the warning I have given you today.

20 If you go, it will be at the cost of your lives. For you were deceitful when you sent me to pray for you and said, 'Just tell us what God says and we will do it!'

21 And today I have told you exactly what he said, but you will not obey any more now than you did the other times.

22 Therefore know for a certainty that you will die by sword, famine, and disease in Egypt, where you insist on going."

43

1 When Jeremiah had finished giving this message from God to all the people,

2 Azariah (son of Hoshaiah) and Johanan (son of Kareah) and all the other proud men, said to Jeremiah, "You lie! The Lord our God hasn't told you to tell us not to go to Egypt!

3 Baruch (son of Neriah) has plotted against us and told you to say this so that we will stay here and be killed by the Babylonians or carried off to Babylon as slaves."

4 So Johanan and all the guerrilla leaders and all the people refused to obey the Lord and stay in Judah.

5 All of them, including all those who had returned from the nearby countries where they had fled, now started off for Egypt with Johanan and the other captains in command.

6 In the crowd were men, women and children, the king's daughters, and all those whom Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, had left with Gedaliah. They even forced Jeremiah and Baruch to go with them too.

7 And so they arrived in Egypt at the city of Tahpanhes, for they would not obey the Lord.

8 Then at Tahpanhes, the Lord spoke to Jeremiah again and said:

9 "Call together the men of Judah and, as they watch you, bury large rocks between the pavement stones at the entrance of Pharaoh's palace here in Tahpanhes,

10 and tell the men of Judah this: 'The Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I will surely bring Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, here to Egypt, for he is my servant. I will set his throne upon these stones that I have hidden. He shall spread his royal canopy over them.

11 And when he comes, he shall destroy the land of Egypt, killing all those I want killed and capturing those I want captured, and many shall die of plague.

12 He will set fire to the temples of the gods of Egypt and burn the idols and carry off the people as his captives. And he shall plunder the land of Egypt as a shepherd picks fleas from his cloak! And he himself shall leave unharmed.

13 And he shall break down the obelisks standing in the city of Heliopolis and burn down the temples of the gods of Egypt.' "

44

1 This is the message God gave to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews who were living in the north of Egypt in the cities of Migdol, Tahpanhes, and Memphis, and throughout southern Egypt as well:

2 "The Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: 'You saw what I did to Jerusalem and to all the cities of Judah.

3 Because of all their wickedness they lie in heaps and ashes, without a living soul. For my anger rose high against them for worshiping other gods--"gods" that neither they nor you nor any of your fathers have ever known.

4 'I sent my servants, the prophets, to protest over and over again and to plead with them not to do this horrible thing I hate,

5 but they wouldn't listen and wouldn't turn back from their wicked ways; they have kept right on with their sacrifices to these "gods."

6 And so my fury and anger boiled over and fell as fire upon the cities of Judah and into the streets of Jerusalem, and there is desolation until this day.'

7 "And now the Lord, the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, asks you: 'Why are you destroying yourselves? For not one of you shall live--not a man, woman or child among you who has come here from Judah, not even the babies in arms.

8 For you are rousing my anger with the idols you have made and worshiped here in Egypt, burning incense to them, and causing me to destroy you completely and to make you a curse and a stench in the nostrils of all the nations of the earth.

9 Have you forgotten the sins of your fathers, the sins of the kings and queens of Judah, your own sins, and the sins of your wives in Judah and Jerusalem?

10 And even until this very hour there has been no apology; no one has wanted to return to me or follow the laws I gave you and your fathers before you.'

11 "Therefore the Lord, the God of Israel, says: 'There is fury in my face and I will destroy every one of you!

12 I will take this remnant of Judah that insisted on coming here to Egypt, and I will consume them. They shall fall here in Egypt, killed by famine and sword; all shall die, from the least important to the greatest. They shall be despised and loathed, cursed and hated.

13 I will punish them in Egypt just as I punished them in Jerusalem, by sword, famine, and disease.

14 Not one of them shall escape from my wrath except those who repent of their coming and escape from the others by returning again to their own land.' "

15 Then all the women present and all the men who knew that their wives had burned incense to idols (it was a great crowd of all the Jews in southern Egypt) answered Jeremiah:

16 "We will not listen to your false 'Messages from God'!

17 We will do whatever we want to. We will burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and sacrifice to her just as much as we like--just as we and our fathers before us, and our kings and princes have always done in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; for in those days we had plenty to eat, and we were well off and happy!

18 But ever since we quit burning incense to the Queen of Heaven and stopped worshiping her, we have been in great trouble and have been destroyed by sword and famine."

19 "And," the women added, "do you suppose that we were worshiping the Queen of Heaven and pouring out our libations to her and making cakes for her with her image on them, without our husbands knowing it and helping us? Of course not!"

20 Then Jeremiah said to all of them, men and women alike, who had given him that answer:

21 "Do you think the Lord didn't know that you and your fathers, your kings and princes, and all the people were burning incense to idols in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

22 It was because he could no longer bear all the evil things you were doing that he made your land desolate, an incredible ruin, cursed, without an inhabitant, as it is today.

23 The very reason all these terrible things have befallen you is because you have burned incense and sinned against the Lord and refused to obey him."

24 Then Jeremiah said to them all, including the women: "Listen to the word of the Lord, all you citizens of Judah who are here in Egypt!

25 The Lord, the God of Israel, says: 'Both you and your wives have said that you will never give up your devotion and sacrifices to the Queen of Heaven, and you have proved it by your actions. Then go ahead and carry out your promises and vows to her!'

26 But listen to the word of the Lord, all you Jews who are living in the land of Egypt: 'I have sworn by my great name,' says the Lord, 'that it will do you no good to seek my help and blessing any more, saying, "O Lord our God, help us!"

27 For I will watch over you, but not for good! I will see to it that evil befalls you, and you shall be destroyed by war and famine until all of you are dead.

28 'Only those who return to Judah (it will be but a tiny remnant) shall escape my wrath, but all who refuse to go back--who insist on living in Egypt--shall find out who tells the truth, I or they!

29 And this is the proof I give you that all I have threatened will happen to you and that I will punish you here:

30 I will turn Pharaoh Hophra, king of Egypt, over to those who seek his life, just as I turned Zedekiah, king of Judah, over to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.' "

45

1 This is the message Jeremiah gave to Baruch in the fourth year of the reign of King Jehoiakim (son of Josiah), after Baruch had written down all God's messages as Jeremiah was dictating them to him:

2 "O Baruch, the Lord God of Israel says this to you:

3 'You have said, "Woe is me! Don't I have troubles enough already? And now the Lord has added more! I am weary of my own sighing and I find no rest.'

4 But tell Baruch this, 'The Lord says: "I will destroy this nation that I built; I will wipe out what I established.

5 Are you seeking great things for yourself? Don't do it! For though I will bring great evil upon all these people, I will protect you wherever you go, as your reward.' "

46

1 Here are the messages given to Jeremiah concerning foreign nations: The Egyptians

2 This message was given against Egypt at the occasion of the battle of Carchemish when Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt, and his army were defeated beside the Euphrates River by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, in the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim (son of Josiah), king of Judah:

3 "Buckle on your armor, you Egyptians and advance to battle!

4 Harness the horses and prepare to mount them--don your helmets, sharpen your spears, put on your armor.

5 But look! The Egyptian army flees in terror; the mightiest of its soldiers run without a backward glance. Yes, terror shall surround them on every side," says the Lord.

6 "The swift will not escape, nor the mightiest of warriors. In the north, by the river Euphrates, they have stumbled and fallen.

7 "What is this mighty army, rising like the Nile at flood time, overflowing all the land?

8 It is the Egyptian army, boasting that it will cover the earth like a flood, destroying every foe.

9 Then come, O horses and chariots and mighty soldiers of Egypt! Come, all of you from Cush and Put and Lud who handle the shield and bend the bow!

10 For this is the day of the Lord, the Lord Almighty, a day of vengeance upon his enemies. The sword shall devour until it is sated, yes, drunk with your blood, for the Lord, the Lord Almighty will receive a sacrifice today in the north country beside the river Euphrates!

11 Go up to Gilead for medicine, O virgin daughter of Egypt! Yet there is no cure for your wounds. Though you have used many medicines, there is no healing for you.

12 The nations have heard of your shame. The earth is filled with your cry of despair and defeat; your mightiest soldiers will stumble across each other and fall together."

13 Then God gave Jeremiah this message concerning the coming of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, to attack Egypt:

14 "Shout it out in Egypt; publish it in the cities of Migdol, Memphis, and Tahpanhes! Mobilize for battle, for the sword of destruction shall devour all around you.

15 Why has Apis, your bull god, fled in terror? Because the Lord knocked him down before your enemies.

16 Vast multitudes fall in heaps. (Then the remnant of the Jews will say, 'Come, let us return again to Judah where we were born and get away from all this slaughter here!')

17 "Rename Pharaoh Hophra and call him 'The Man with No Power But with Plenty of Noise!'

18 "As I live," says the King, the Lord of Hosts, "one is coming against Egypt who is as tall as Mount Tabor or Mount Carmel by the sea!

19 Pack up; get ready to leave for exile, you citizens of Egypt, for the city of Memphis shall be utterly destroyed and left without a soul alive.

20 Egypt is sleek as a heifer, but a gadfly sends her running--a gadfly from the north!

21 Even her famed mercenaries have become like frightened calves. They turn and run, for it is the day of great calamity for Egypt, a time of great punishment.

22 Silent as a serpent gliding away, Egypt flees; the invading army marches in. The numberless soldiers cut down your people like woodsmen who clear a forest of its trees.

23

24 Egypt is as helpless as a girl before these men from the north."

25 The Lord, the God of Israel, says: "I will punish Amon, god of Thebes, and all the other gods of Egypt. I will punish Pharaoh too, and all who trust in him.

26 I will deliver them into the hands of those who want them killed--into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and his army. But afterwards the land shall recover from the ravages of war.

27 "But don't you be afraid, O my people who return to your own land, don't be dismayed; for I will save you from far away and bring your children from a distant land. Yes, Israel shall return and be at rest, and nothing shall make her afraid.

28 Fear not, O Jacob, my servant," says the Lord, "for I am with you. I will destroy all the nations to which I have exiled you, but I will not destroy you. I will punish you, but only enough to correct you."

47

1 The Philistines This is God's message to Jeremiah concerning the Philistines of Gaza, before the city was captured by the Egyptian army:

2 "The Lord says: 'A flood is coming from the north to overflow the land of the Philistines; it will destroy their cities and everything in them. Strong men will scream in terror, and all the land will weep.

3 Hear the clattering hoofs and rumbling wheels as the chariots go rushing by; fathers flee without a backward glance at their helpless children,

4 for the time has come when all the Philistines and their allies from Tyre and Sidon will be destroyed. For the Lord is destroying the Philistines, those colonists from Caphtor.

5 The cities of Gaza and Ashkelon will be razed to the ground and lie in ruins. O descendants of the Anakim, how you will lament and mourn!

6 'O sword of the Lord, when will you be at rest again? Go back into your scabbard; rest and be still!

7 But how can it be still when the Lord has sent it on an errand? For the city of Ashkelon and those living along the sea must be destroyed.' "

48

1 The Moabites This is the message of the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, against Moab: "Woe to the city of Nebo, for it shall lie in ruins. The city of Kiriathaim and its forts are overwhelmed and captured.

2 No one will ever brag about Moab any more, for there is a plot against her life. In Heshbon plans have been completed to destroy her. 'Come,' they say, 'we will cut her off from being a nation.' In Madmen all is silent.

3 And then the roar of battle will surge against Horonaim,

4 for all Moab is being destroyed. Her crying will be heard as far away as Zoar.

5 Her refugees will climb the hills of Luhith, weeping bitterly, while cries of terror rise from the city below.

6 Flee for your lives; hide in the wilderness!

7 For you trusted in your wealth and skill; therefore, you shall perish. Your god Chemosh, with his priests and princes, shall be taken away to distant lands!

8 "All the villages and cities, whether they be on the plateaus or in the valleys, shall be destroyed, for the Lord has said it.

9 Oh, for wings for Moab that she could fly away, for her cities shall be left without a living soul.

10 Cursed be those withholding their swords from your blood, refusing to do the work that God has given them!

11 "From her earliest history Moab has lived there undisturbed from all invasions. She is like wine that has not been poured from flask to flask and is fragrant and smooth. But now she shall have the pouring out of exile!

12 The time is coming soon," the Lord has said, "when he will send troublemakers to spill her out from jar to jar and then shatter the jars!

13 Then at last Moab shall be ashamed of her idol Chemosh, as Israel was of her calf-idol at Bethel.

14 "Do you remember that boast of yours: 'We are heroes, mighty men of war'?

15 But now Moab is to be destroyed; her destroyer is on the way; her choicest youth are doomed to slaughter," says the King, the Lord Almighty.

16 "Calamity is coming fast to Moab.

17 "O friends of Moab, weep for her and cry! See how the strong, the beautiful is shattered!

18 Come down from your glory and sit in the dust, O people of Dibon, for those destroying Moab shall shatter Dibon too, and tear down all her towers.

19 Those in Aroer stand anxiously beside the road to watch, and shout to those who flee from Moab, 'What has happened there?'

20 "And they reply, 'Moab lies in ruins; weep and wail. Tell it by the banks of the Arnon, that Moab is destroyed.'

21 "All the cities of the tableland lie in ruins too, for God's judgment has been poured out upon them all--on Holon and Jahzah and Mephaath,

22 and Dibon and Nebo and Beth-diblathaim,

23 and Kiriathaim and Beth-gamul and Beth-meon,

24 and Kerioth and Bozrah--and all the cities of the land of Moab, far and near.

25 "The strength of Moab is ended--her horns are cut off; her arms are broken.

26 Let her stagger and fall like a drunkard, for she has rebelled against the Lord. Moab shall wallow in her vomit, scorned by all.

27 For you scorned Israel and robbed her and were happy at her fall.

28 "O people of Moab, flee from your cities and live in the caves like doves that nest in the clefts of the rocks.

29 We have all heard of the pride of Moab, for it is very great. We know your loftiness, your arrogance, and your haughty heart.

30 I know her insolence," the Lord has said, "but her boasts are false--her helplessness is great.

31 Yes, I wail for Moab, my heart is broken for the men of Kir-heres.

32 "O men of Sibmah, rich in vineyards, I weep for you even more than for Jazer. For the destroyer has cut off your spreading tendrils and harvested your grapes and summer fruits. He has plucked you bare!

33 Joy and gladness are gone from fruitful Moab. The presses yield no wine; no one treads the grapes with shouts of joy. There is shouting, yes, but not the shouting of joy.

34 Instead the awful cries of terror and pain rise from all over the land--from Heshbon clear across to Elealeh and to Jahaz; from Zoar to Horonaim and to Eglath-shelishiyah. The pastures of Nimrim are deserted now."

35 For the Lord says: "I have put a stop to Moab's worshiping false gods and burning incense to idols.

36 Sad sings my heart for Moab and Kir-heres, for all their wealth has disappeared.

37 They shave their heads and beards in anguish; they slash their hands and put on clothes of sackcloth.

38 Crying and sorrow will be in every Moabite home and on the streets; for I have smashed and shattered Moab like an old, unwanted bottle.

39 How it is broken! Hear the wails! See the shame of Moab! For she is a sign of horror and of scoffing to her neighbors now.

40 "A vulture circles ominously above the land of Moab," says the Lord.

41 "Her cities are fallen; her strongholds are seized. The hearts of her mightiest warriors fail with fear like women in the pains of giving birth.

42 Moab shall no longer be a nation, for she has boasted against the Lord.

43 Fear and traps and treachery shall be your lot, O Moab," says the Lord.

44 "He who flees shall fall in a trap, and he who escapes from the trap shall run into a snare. I will see to it that you do not get away, for the time of your judgment has come.

45 They flee to Heshbon, unable to go farther. But a fire comes from Heshbon--Sihon's ancestral home--and devours the land from end to end with all its rebellious people.

46 "Woe to you, O Moab; the people of the god Chemosh are destroyed, and your sons and daughters are taken away as slaves.

47 But in the latter days," says the Lord, "I will reestablish Moab." (Here the prophecy concerning Moab ends.)

49

1 The Ammonites "What is this you are doing? Why are you living in the cities of the Jews? Aren't there Jews enough to fill them up? Didn't they inherit them from me? Why then have you, who worship Milcom, taken over Gad and all its cities?

2 I will punish you for this," the Lord declares, "by destroying your city of Rabbah. It shall become a desolate heap, and the neighboring towns shall be burned. Then Israel shall come and take back her land from you again. She shall dispossess those who dispossessed her," says the Lord.

3 "Cry out, O Heshbon, for Ai is destroyed! Weep, daughter of Rabbah! Put on garments of mourning; weep and wail, hiding in the hedges, for your god Milcom shall be exiled along with his princes and priests.

4 You are proud of your fertile valleys, but they will soon be ruined. O wicked daughter, you trusted in your wealth and thought no one could ever harm you.

5 But see, I will bring terror upon you," says the Lord, the Lord Almighty. "For all your neighbors shall drive you from your land and none shall help your exiles as they flee.

6 But afterward I will restore the fortunes of the Ammonites," says the Lord. The Edomites

7 The Lord says: "Where are all your wise men of days gone by? Is there not one left in all of Teman?

8 Flee to the remotest parts of the desert, O people of Dedan; for when I punish Edom, I will punish you!

9 Those who gather grapes leave a few for the poor, and even thieves don't take everything,

10 but I will strip bare the land of Esau, and there will be no place to hide. Her children, her brothers, her neighbors--all will be destroyed--and she herself will perish too.

11 (But I will preserve your fatherless children who remain, and let your widows depend upon me.)"

12 The Lord says to Edom: "If the innocent must suffer, how much more must you! You shall not go unpunished! You must drink this cup of judgment!

13 For I have sworn by my own name," says the Lord, "that Bozrah shall become heaps of ruins, cursed and mocked; and her cities shall be eternal wastes."

14 I have heard this message from the Lord: "I have sent a messenger to call the nations to form a coalition against Edom and destroy her.

15 I will make her weak among the nations and despised by all," says the Lord.

16 "You have been fooled by your fame and your pride, living there in the mountains of Petra, in the clefts of the rocks. But though you live among the peaks with the eagles, I will bring you down," says the Lord.

17 "The fate of Edom will be horrible; all who go by will be appalled and gasp at the sight.

18 Your cities will become as silent as Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring towns," says the Lord. "No one will live there anymore.

19 I will send against them one who will come like a lion from the wilds of Jordan stalking the sheep in the fold. Suddenly Edom shall be destroyed, and I will appoint over the Edomites the person of my choice. For who is like me, and who can call me to account? What shepherd can defy me?"

20 Take note: The Lord will certainly do this to Edom and also the people of Teman--even little children will be dragged away as slaves! It will be a shocking thing to see.

21 The earth shakes with the noise of Edom's fall; the cry of the people is heard as far away as the Red Sea.

22 The one who will come will fly as swift as a vulture and will spread his wings against Bozrah. Then the courage of the mightiest warriors will disappear like that of women in labor. Damascus

23 "The cities of Hamath and Arpad are stricken with fear, for they have heard the news of their doom. Their hearts are troubled like a wild sea in a raging storm.

24 Damascus has become feeble, and all her people turn to flee. Fear, anguish, and sorrow have gripped her as they do women in labor.

25 O famous city, city of joy, how you are forsaken now!

26 Your young men lie dead in the streets; your entire army shall be destroyed in one day," says the Lord Almighty.

27 "And I will start a fire at the edge of Damascus that shall burn up the palaces of Benhadad." Kedar and Hazor

28 This prophecy is about Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor that are going to be destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, for the Lord will send him to destroy them:

29 "Their flocks and their tents will be captured," says the Lord, "with all their household goods. Their camels will be taken away, and all around will be the shouts of panic, 'We are surrounded and doomed!'

30 Flee for your lives," says the Lord. "Go deep into the deserts, O people of Hazor, for Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, has plotted against you and is preparing to destroy you.

31 "Go," said the Lord to King Nebuchadnezzar. "Attack those wealthy Bedouin tribes living alone in the desert without a care in the world, boasting that they are self-sufficient--that they need neither walls nor gates.

32 Their camels and cattle shall all be yours, and I will scatter these heathen to the winds. From all directions I will bring calamity upon them.

33 "Hazor shall be a home for wild animals of the desert. No one shall ever live there again. It shall be desolate forever." Elam

34 God's message against Elam came to Jeremiah in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah:

35 "The Lord says: 'I will destroy the army of Elam,

36 and I will scatter the people of Elam to the four winds; they shall be exiled to countries throughout the world.

37 My fierce anger will bring great evil upon Elam,' says the Lord, 'and I will cause her enemies to wipe her out.

38 And I will set my throne in Elam,' says the Lord. 'I will destroy her king and princes.

39 But in the latter days I will bring the people back,' says the Lord."

50

1 Babylon This is the message from the Lord against Babylon and the Chaldeans, spoken by Jeremiah the prophet:

2 "Tell all the world that Babylon will be destroyed; her god Marduk will be utterly disgraced!

3 For a nation shall come down upon her from the north with such destruction that no one shall live in her again; all shall be gone--both men and animals shall flee.

4 "Then the people of Israel and Judah shall join together, weeping and seeking the Lord their God.

5 They shall ask the way to Zion and start back home again. 'Come,' they will say, 'let us be united to the Lord with an eternal pledge that will never be broken again.'

6 "My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds led them astray and then turned them loose in the mountains. They lost their way and didn't remember how to get back to the fold.

7 All who found them devoured them and said, 'We are permitted to attack them freely, for they have sinned against the Lord, the God of justice, the hope of their fathers.'

8 "But now, flee from Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans; lead my people home again.

9 For see, I am raising up an army of great nations from the north, and I will bring them against Babylon to attack her, and she shall be destroyed. The enemies' arrows go straight to the mark; they do not miss!

10 And Babylon shall be sacked until everyone is sated with loot," says the Lord.

11 "Though you were glad, O Chaldeans, plunderers of my people, and are fat as cows that feed in lush pastures, and neigh like stallions,

12 yet your mother shall be overwhelmed with shame, for you shall become the least of the nations--a wilderness, a dry and desert land.

13 Because of the anger of the Lord, Babylon shall become deserted wasteland, and all who pass by shall be appalled and shall mock at her for all her wounds.

14 "Yes, prepare to fight with Babylon, all you nations round about; let the archers shoot at her; spare no arrows, for she has sinned against the Lord.

15 Shout against her from every side. Look! She surrenders! Her walls have fallen. The Lord has taken vengeance. Do to her as she has done!

16 Let the farmhands all depart. Let them rush back to their own lands as the enemies advance.

17 "The Israelites are like sheep the lions chase. First the king of Assyria ate them up; then Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, crunched their bones."

18 Therefore the Lord, the God of Israel, says: "Now I will punish the king of Babylon and his land as I punished the king of Assyria.

19 And I will bring Israel home again to her own land, to feed in the fields of Carmel and Bashan and to be happy once more on Mount Ephraim and Mount Gilead.

20 In those days," says the Lord, "no sin shall be found in Israel or in Judah, for I will pardon the remnant I preserve.

21 "Go up, O my warriors, against the land of Merathaim and against the people of Pekod. Yes, march against Babylon, the land of rebels, a land that I will judge! Annihilate them, as I have commanded you.

22 Let there be the shout of battle in the land, a shout of great destruction.

23 Babylon, the mightiest hammer in all the earth, lies broken and shattered. Babylon is desolate among the nations!

24 O Babylon, I have set a trap for you and you are caught, for you have fought against the Lord.

25 "The Lord has opened his armory and brought out weapons to explode his wrath upon his enemies. The terror that befalls Babylon will be the work of the Lord God.

26 Yes, come against her from distant lands; break open her granaries; knock down her walls and houses into heaps of ruins and utterly destroy her; let nothing be left.

27 Not even her cattle--woe to them too! Kill them all! For the time has come for Babylon to be devastated.

28 "But my people will flee; they will escape back to their own country to tell how the Lord their God has broken forth in fury upon those who destroyed his Temple.

29 "Send out a call for archers to come to Babylon; surround the city so that none can escape. Do to her as she has done to others, for she has haughtily defied the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.

30 Her young men will fall in the streets and die; her warriors will all be killed.

31 For see, I am against you, O people so proud; and now your day of reckoning has come.

32 Land of pride, you will stumble and fall, and no one will raise you up; for the Lord will light a fire in the cities of Babylon that will burn everything around them."

33 "The Lord says: The people of Israel and Judah have been wronged. Their captors hold them and refuse to let them go.

34 But their Redeemer is strong. His name is the Lord Almighty. He will plead for them and see that they are freed to live again in quietness in Israel. "As for the people of Babylon--there is no rest for them!

35 The sword of destruction shall smite the Chaldeans," says the Lord. "It shall smite the people of Babylon--her princes and wise men too.

36 All her wise counselors shall become fools! Panic shall seize her mightiest warriors!

37 War shall devour her horses and chariots, and her allies from other lands shall become as weak as women. Her treasures shall all be robbed;

38 even her water supply will fail. And why? Because the whole land is full of images, and the people are madly in love with their idols.

39 "Therefore this city of Babylon shall become inhabited by ostriches and jackals; it shall be a home for the wild animals of the desert. Never again shall it be lived in by human beings; it shall lie desolate forever.

40 The Lord declares that he will destroy Babylon just as he destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring towns. No one has lived in them since, and no one will live again in Babylon.

41 "See them coming! A great army from the north! It is accompanied by many kings called by God from many lands.

42 They are fully armed for slaughter; they are cruel and show no mercy; their battle cry roars like the surf against the shoreline. O Babylon, they ride against you fully ready for the battle."

43 When the king of Babylon received the dispatch, his hands fell helpless at his sides; pangs of terror gripped him like the pangs of a woman in labor.

44 "I will send against them an invader who will come upon them suddenly, like a lion from the jungles of Jordan that leaps upon the grazing sheep. I will put her defenders to flight and appoint over them whomsoever I please. For who is like me? What ruler can oppose my will? Who can call me to account?"

45 Listen to the plan of the Lord against Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans. For even little children shall be dragged away as slaves; oh, the horror; oh, the terror.

46 The whole earth shall shake at Babylon's fall, and her cry of despair shall be heard around the world.

51

1 The Lord says: "I will stir up a destroyer against Babylon, against that whole land of the Chaldeans, and destroy it.

2 Winnowers shall come and winnow her and blow her away; they shall come from every side to rise against her in her day of trouble.

3 The arrows of the enemy shall strike down the bowmen of Babylon and pierce her warriors in their coats of mail. No one shall be spared; both young and old alike shall be destroyed.

4 They shall fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans, slashed to death in her streets.

5 For the Lord Almighty has not forsaken Israel and Judah. He is still their God, but the land of the Chaldeans is filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel."

6 Flee from Babylon! Save yourselves! Don't get trapped! If you stay, you will be destroyed when God takes his vengeance on all of Babylon's sins.

7 Babylon has been as a gold cup in the Lord's hands, a cup from which he made the whole earth drink and go mad.

8 But now, suddenly Babylon too has fallen. Weep for her; give her medicine; perhaps she can yet be healed.

9 We would help her if we could, but nothing can save her now. Let her go. Abandon her and return to your own land, for God is judging her from heaven.

10 The Lord has vindicated us. Come, let us declare in Jerusalem all the Lord our God has done.

11 Sharpen the arrows! Lift up the shields! For the Lord has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes to march on Babylon and destroy her. This is his vengeance on those who wronged his people and desecrated his Temple.

12 Prepare your defenses, Babylon! Set many watchmen on your walls; send out an ambush, for the Lord will do all he has said he would concerning Babylon.

13 O wealthy port, great center of commerce, your end has come; the thread of your life is cut.

14 The Lord Almighty has taken this vow and sworn to it in his own name: "Your cities shall be filled with enemies, like fields filled with locusts in a plague, and they shall lift to the skies their mighty shouts of victory."

15 God made the earth by his power and wisdom. He stretched out the heavens by his understanding.

16 When he speaks there is thunder in the heavens, and he causes the vapors to rise around the world; he brings the lightning with the rain and the winds from his treasuries.

17 Compared to him, all men are stupid beasts. They have no wisdom--none at all! The silversmith is dulled by the images he makes, for in making them he lies; for he calls them gods when there is not a breath of life in them at all!

18 Idols are nothing! They are lies! And the time is coming when God will come and see, and shall destroy them all.

19 But the God of Israel is no idol! For he made everything there is, and Israel is his nation; the Lord Almighty is his name.

20 "Cyrus is God's battleaxe and sword. I will use you," says the Lord, "to break nations in pieces and to destroy many kingdoms.

21 With you I will crush armies, destroying the horse and his rider, the chariot and the charioteer--

22 yes, and the civilians too, both old and young, young men and maidens,

23 shepherds and flocks, farmers and oxen, captains and rulers;

24 before your eyes I will repay Babylon and all the Chaldeans for all the evil they have done to my people," says the Lord.

25 "For see, I am against you, O mighty mountain, Babylon, destroyer of the earth! I will lift my hand against you, roll you down from your heights, and leave you, a burnt-out mountain.

26 You shall be desolate forever; even your stones shall never be used for building again. You shall be completely wiped out."

27 Signal many nations to mobilize for war on Babylon. Sound the battle cry; bring out the armies of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz. Appoint a leader; bring a multitude of horses!

28 Bring against her the armies of the kings of the Medes and their generals, and the armies of all the countries they rule.

29 Babylon trembles and writhes in pain, for all that the Lord has planned against her stands unchanged. Babylon will be left desolate without a living soul.

30 Her mightiest soldiers no longer fight; they stay in their barracks. Their courage is gone; they have become as women. The invaders have burned the houses and broken down the city gates.

31 Messengers from every side come running to the king to tell him all is lost!

32 All the escape routes are blocked; the fortifications are burning, and the army is in panic.

33 "For the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Babylon is like the wheat upon a threshing floor; in just a little while the flailing will begin."

34 The Jews in Babylon say, "Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, has eaten and crushed us and emptied out our strength; he has swallowed us like a great monster and filled his belly with our riches; he has cast us out of our own country.

35 May Babylon be repaid for all she did to us! May she be paid in full for all our blood she spilled!"

36 And the Lord replies: "I will be your lawyer; I will plead your case; I will avenge you. I will dry up her river, her water supply,

37 and Babylon shall become a heap of ruins, haunted by jackals, a land horrible to see, incredible, without a living soul.

38 In their drunken feasts, the men of Babylon roar like lions.

39 And while they lie inflamed with all their wine, I will prepare a different kind of feast for them and make them drink until they fall unconscious to the floor, to sleep forever, never to waken again," says the Lord.

40 "I will bring them like lambs to the slaughter, like rams and goats.

41 "How Babylon is fallen--great Babylon, lauded by all the earth! The world can scarcely believe its eyes at Babylon's fall!

42 The sea has risen upon Babylon; she is covered by its waves.

43 Her cities lie in ruins--she is a dry wilderness where no one lives nor even travelers pass by.

44 And I will punish Bel, the god of Babylon, and pull from his mouth what he has taken. The nations shall no longer come and worship him; the wall of Babylon has fallen.

45 "O my people, flee from Babylon; save yourselves from the fierce anger of the Lord.

46 But don't panic when you hear the first rumor of approaching forces. For rumors will keep coming year by year. Then there will be a time of civil war as the governors of Babylon fight against each other.

47 For the time is surely coming when I will punish this great city and all her idols; her dead shall lie in the streets.

48 Heaven and earth shall rejoice, for out of the north shall come destroying armies against Babylon," says the Lord.

49 "Just as Babylon killed the people of Israel, so must she be killed.

50 Go, you who escaped the sword! Don't stand and watch--flee while you can! Remember the Lord and return to Jerusalem far away!"

51 "We are ashamed because the Temple of the Lord has been defiled by foreigners from Babylon."

52 "Yes," says the Lord. "But the time is coming for the destruction of the idols of Babylon. All through the land will be heard the groans of the wounded.

53 Though Babylon be as powerful as heaven, though she increase her strength immeasurably, she shall die," says the Lord.

54 "Listen! Hear the cry of great destruction out of Babylon, the land the Chaldeans rule!

55 For the Lord is destroying Babylon; her mighty voice is stilled as the waves roar in upon her.

56 Destroying armies come and slay her mighty men; all her weapons break in her hands, for the Lord God gives just punishment and is giving Babylon all her due.

57 I will make drunk her princes, wise men, rulers, captains, warriors. They shall sleep and not wake up again!" So says the King, the Lord Almighty.

58 "For the wide walls of Babylon shall be leveled to the ground, and her high gates shall be burned; the builders from many lands have worked in vain--their work shall be destroyed by fire!"

59 During the fourth year of Zedekiah's reign, this message came to Jeremiah to give to Seraiah (son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah), concerning Seraiah's capture and exile to Babylon along with Zedekiah, king of Judah. (Seraiah was quartermaster of Zedekiah's army.)

60 Jeremiah wrote on a scroll all the terrible things God had scheduled against Babylon--all the words written above--

61 and gave the scroll to Seraiah and said to him, "When you get to Babylon, read what I have written

62 and say, 'Lord, you have said that you will destroy Babylon so that not a living creature will remain, and it will be abandoned forever.'

63 Then, when you have finished reading the scroll, tie a rock to it, and throw it into the Euphrates River,

64 and say, 'So shall Babylon sink, never more to rise, because of the evil I am bringing upon her.' " (This ends Jeremiah's messages.)

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1 (Events told about in chapter 39.) Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hamutal (daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah).

2 But he was a wicked king, just as Jehoiakim had been.

3 Things became so bad at last that the Lord, in his anger, saw to it that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon until he and the people of Israel were ejected from the Lord's presence in Jerusalem and Judah, and were taken away as captives to Babylon.

4 In the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came with all his army against Jerusalem and built forts around it,

5 and laid siege to the city for two years.

6 Then finally, on the ninth day of the fourth month, when the famine in the city was very serious, with the last of the food entirely gone,

7 the people in the city tore a hole in the city wall and all the soldiers fled from the city during the night, going out by the gate between the two walls near the king's gardens (for the city was surrounded by the Chaldeans), and made a dash for it across the fields, toward Arabah.

8 But the Chaldean soldiers chased them and caught King Zedekiah in some fields near Jericho--for all his army was scattered from him.

9 They brought him to the king of Babylon who was staying in the city of Riblah in the kingdom of Hamath, and there judgment was passed upon him.

10 He made Zedekiah watch while his sons and all the princes of Judah were killed before his eyes.

11 Then his eyes were gouged out, and he was taken in chains to Babylon and put in prison for the rest of his life.

12 On the tenth day of the fifth month during the nineteenth year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, arrived in Jerusalem,

13 and burned the Temple and the palace and all the larger homes,

14 and set the Chaldean army to work tearing down the walls of the city.

15 Then he took to Babylon, as captives, some of the poorest of the people--along with those who survived the city's destruction, and those who had deserted Zedekiah and had come over to the Babylonian army, and the tradesmen who were left.

16 But he left some of the poorest people to care for the crops as vinedressers and plowmen.

17 The Babylonians dismantled the two large bronze pillars that stood at the entrance of the Temple, and the bronze laver and bronze bulls on which it stood, and carted them off to Babylon.

18 And he took along all the bronze pots and kettles, the ash shovels used at the altar, the snuffers, spoons, bowls, and all the other items used in the Temple.

19 He also took the firepans, the solid gold and silver candlesticks, and the cups and bowls.

20 The weight of the two enormous pillars, the laver, and twelve bulls was tremendous. They had no way of estimating it. (They had been made in the days of King Solomon.)

21 For the pillars were each 27 feet high and 18 feet in circumference, hollow, with 3-inch walls.

22 The top 7 1/2 feet of each column had bronze carvings, a network of bronze pomegranates.

23 There were 96 pomegranates on the sides, and on the network round about there were a hundred more.

24 The captain of the guard took along with him as his prisoners: Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah his assistant, the three chief Temple guards,

25 one of the commanding officers of the army, seven of the king's special counselors discovered in the city, the secretary of the general-in-chief of the Jewish army (who was in charge of recruitment), and sixty other men of importance found hiding.

26 He took them to the king of Babylon at Riblah,

27 where the king killed them all. So it was that Judah's exile was accomplished.

28 The number of captives taken to Babylon in the seventh year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign was 3,023.

29 Then, eleven years later, he took 832 more;

30 five years after that he sent Nebuzaradan, his captain of the guard, and took 745--a total of 4,600 captives in all.

31 On February 25 of the thirty-seventh year of the imprisonment in Babylon of Jehoiachin, king of Judah, Evil-merodach, who became king of Babylon that year, was kind to King Jehoiachin and brought him out of prison.

32 He spoke pleasantly to him and gave him preference over all the other kings in Babylon;

33 he gave him new clothes and fed him from the king's kitchen as long as he lived.

34 And he was given a regular allowance to cover his daily needs until the day of his death.