Fred Miller's Revised King James' Version JEREMIAH CHAPTERS:  [1]  [2]  [3]  [4]  [5]  [6]  [7]  [8]  [9]  [10]  [11]  [12]  [13]  [14]  [15]  [16]  [17]  [18]  [19]  [20]  [21]  [22]  [23]  [24]  [25]  [26]  [27]  [28]  [29]  [30]  [31]  [32]  [33]  [34]  [35]  [36]  [37]  [38]  [39]  [40]  [41]  [42]  [43]  [44]  [45]  [46]  [47]  [48]  [49]  [50]  [51]  [52] BACK   TOP  BOOK TITLES Jeremiah 1: 1The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin: 2To whom the word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. 3It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, to the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah king of Judah, to the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month. 4Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 5Before I formed you in the belly I knew you; and before you came out of the womb I sanctified you, and I ordained you a prophet to the nations. 6Then I said, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child. 7But the LORD said to me, Do not say, I am a child: for you shall go to all whom I shall send you and whatever I command you you shall speak. 8Do not be afraid of their faces: for I am with you to deliver you, says the LORD. 9Then the LORD put forth his hand and touched my mouth. And the LORD said to me, Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. 10See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out and to pull down and to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant. 11Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying, Jeremiah, what do you see? And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree. 12Then the LORD said to me, You have seen well: for I will speed my word to perform it. 13And the word of the LORD came to me the second time, saying, What do you see? And I said, I see a seething pot; and its face is toward the north. 14Then the LORD said to me, Out of the north an evil shall break forth on all the inhabitants of the land. 15For, lo, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, says the LORD; and they shall come and they shall set every one his throne at the entering of the gates of Jerusalem and against all its walls round about and against all the cities of Judah. 16And I will utter my judgments against those who have forsaken me touching all their wickedness and they have burned incense to other gods and worshiped the works of their own hands. 17You therefore gird up your loins and arise and declare to them everything that I command you: do not be dismayed at their faces, lest I confound you before them. 18For, behold, I have made you this day a defensed city and an iron pillar and brazen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against its princes, against its priests and against the people of the land. 19And they shall fight against you; but they shall not prevail against you; for I am with you, says the LORD, to deliver you. BACK   TOP  BOOK TITLES Chapter 2 1Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus says the LORD; I remember you, the kindness of your youth, the love of your espousals, when you went after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown. 3Israel was holiness to the LORD, and the first fruits of his increase: all who devour him shall offend; evil shall come on them, says the LORD. 4Hear the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob and all the families of the house of Israel: 5Thus says the LORD, What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me and have walked after vanity and are become vain? 6Neither did they say, Where is the LORD who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought and of the shadow of death, through a land that no man passed through and where no man dwelled? 7And I brought you into a plentiful country, to eat its fruit and its goodness; but when you entered, you defiled my land and made my heritage an abomination. 8The priests did not say, Where is the LORD? and those who handle the law did not know me: the pastors also transgressed against me and the prophets prophesied by Baal and walked after things that do not profit. 9Therefore I will yet plead with you, says the LORD and with your children's children I will plead. 10For pass over the isles of Chittim and see; and send to Kedar and consider diligently, and see if there is such a thing. 11Has a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit. 12Be astonished, O heavens, at this and be horribly afraid, be very desolate, says the LORD. 13For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewn out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water. 14Is Israel a servant? is he a home born slave? why is he spoiled? 15The young lions roared on him, and shouted and they made his land waste: his cities are burned without inhabitant. 16Also the children of Noph and Tahapanes have broken the crown of your head. 17Have you not procured this to yourself, in that you have forsaken the LORD your God, when he led you by the way? 18And now what have you to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Sihor? or what have you to do in the way of Assyria, to drink the waters of the river? 19Your own wickedness shall correct you and your backslidings shall reprove you: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that you have forsaken the LORD your God and that my fear is not in you, says the Lord GOD of hosts. 20For long ago I broke your yoke, and burst your bands; and you said, I will not transgress; when on every high hill and under every green tree you wander, playing the harlot. 21Yet I planted you a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then are you turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine to me? 22For though you wash with nitre and take much soap, yet your iniquity is marked before me, says the Lord GOD. 23How can you say, I am not polluted, I have not gone after Baalim? see your way in the valley, know what you have done: you are a swift dromedary traversing her ways; 24A wild ass used to the wilderness, who snuffs up the wind at her pleasure; in her occasion who can turn her away? all those who seek her will not weary themselves; in her month they shall find her. 25Withhold your foot from being unshod and your throat from thirst: but you said, There is no hope: no; for I have loved strangers and I will go after them. 26As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their princes and their priests and their prophets, 27Saying to a stock, You are my father; and to a stone, You have brought me forth: for they have turned their back to me and not their face: but in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise and save us. 28But where are your gods which you have made? let them arise, if they can save you in the time of your trouble: for according to the number of your cities are your gods, O Judah. 29Why will you plead with me? you all have transgressed against me, says the LORD. 30 I have struck your children in vain; they received no correction: your own sword has devoured your prophets like a destroying lion. 31O generation, see the word of the LORD. Have I been a wilderness to Israel? a land of darkness? why do my people say, We are lords; we will come no more to you? 32Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? yet my people have forgotten me days without number. 33Why do you trim your way to seek love? therefore you have also taught the wicked ones your ways. 34Also in your skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents: I have not found it by secret search, but on all these. 35Yet you say, Because I am innocent, surely his anger shall turn from me. Behold, I will plead with you, because you say, I have not sinned. 36Why do you gad about so much to change your way? you also shall be ashamed of Egypt, as you were ashamed of Assyria. 37Yes, you shall go forth from him and your hands on your head: for the LORD has rejected your confidences and you shall not prosper in them. BACK   TOP  BOOK TITLES Chapter 3 1They say, If a man puts away his wife and she goes from him and becomes another man's, shall he return to her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? but you have played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, says the LORD. 2Lift up your eyes to the high places and see where you have not been lain with. You sat in the ways for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness; and you have polluted the land with your whoredoms and with your wickedness. 3Therefore the showers have been withheld and there has been no latter rain; and you had a whore's forehead, you refused to be ashamed. 4Will you not from this time cry to me, My father, you are the guide of my youth? 5Will he reserve his anger for ever? will he keep it to the end? Behold, you have spoken and done evil things as you could. 6The LORD also said to me in the days of Josiah the king, have you seen that which backsliding Israel has done? she went up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and played the harlot there. 7And I said, after she had done all these things, Return to me. But she did not return. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it. 8And I saw, when for all the causes how backsliding Israel had committed adultery I had put her away and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but went and played the harlot also. 9And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and with stocks. 10And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not returned to me with her whole heart, but feignedly, says the LORD. 11And the LORD said to me, The backsliding Israel has justified herself more than treacherous Judah. 12Go and proclaim these words toward the north and say, Return, you backsliding Israel, says the LORD; and I will not cause my anger to fall on you: for I am merciful, says the LORD, and I will not keep anger for ever. 13Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against the LORD your God and have scattered your ways to the strangers under every green tree and you have not obeyed my voice, says the LORD. 14Turn, O backsliding children, says the LORD; for I am married to you: and I will take you one of a city and two of a family and I will bring you to Zion: 15And I will give you pastors according to my heart, who shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. 16And it shall come to pass, when you are multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, says the LORD, they shall not say any more, The ark of the covenant of the LORD: neither shall it come to mind: nor shall they remember it; nor shall they visit it; nor shall that be done any more. 17At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered to it in the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart. 18In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance to your fathers. 19But I said, How shall I put you among the children and give you a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations? and I said, You shall call me, My father; and shall not turn away from me. 20Surely as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, so have you dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, says the LORD. 21A voice was heard on the high places, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel: for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten the LORD their God. 22Return, you backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come to you; for you are the LORD our God. 23Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains: truly in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel. 24For shame has devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth; their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. 25We lie down in our shame and our confusion covers us: for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God. BACK   TOP  BOOK TITLES Chapter 4 1If you will return, O Israel, says the LORD, return to me: and if you will put away your abominations out of my sight, then you shall not remove. 2And you shall swear, The LORD lives, in truth, in judgment and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him and in him they shall glory. 3For thus says the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns. 4Circumcise yourselves to the LORD and take away the foreskins of your heart, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn so that no one can quench it, because of the evil of your doings. 5Declare in Judah and publish in Jerusalem; and say, Blow the trumpet in the land: cry, gather together and say, Assemble yourselves and let us go into the defensed cities. 6Set up the standard toward Zion: retire, do not wait: for I will bring evil from the north and a great destruction. 7The lion comes up from his thicket and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way; he is gone forth from his place to make your land desolate; and your cities shall be laid waste, without an inhabitant. 8Because of this gird yourself with sackcloth, lament and howl: for the fierce anger of the LORD is not turned back from us. 9And it shall come to pass at that day, says the LORD, that the heart of the king shall perish and the heart of the princes; and the priests shall be astonished and the prophets shall wonder. 10Then I said, Ah, Lord GOD! surely you have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, you shall have peace; whereas the sword reaches to the soul. 11At that time it shall be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A dry wind of the high places in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not to fan, nor to cleanse, 12Even a full wind from those places shall come to me: now I will also give sentence against them. 13Behold, he shall come up as clouds and his chariots shall be as a whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us! for we are spoiled. 14O Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved. How long shall your vain thoughts lodge within you? 15For a voice declares from Dan and publishes affliction from mount Ephraim. 16Make mention to the nations; behold, publish upon Jerusalem, that watchers [Nazarenes] are coming from a far country and will give out their voice upon the cities of Judah. 17As keepers of a field, are they upon her round about; because she has been rebellious against me, says the LORD. 18Your way and your doings have procured these things to you; this is your wickedness, because it is bitter, because it reaches to your heart. 19My inward parts, my inward parts! I am pained at my very heart; my heart makes a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace O my soul, because you have heard the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. 20Destruction on destruction is cried; for the whole land is spoiled: my tents are spoiled suddenly, and my curtains in a moment. 21How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet? 22For my people are foolish, they have not known me; they are sottish children and they have no understanding: they are wise to do evil, but they have no knowledge to do good. 23I beheld the earth and, lo, it was without form and void; and the heavens and they had no light. 24I beheld the mountains and, lo, they trembled and all the hills moved lightly. 25I beheld and, lo, there was no man and all the birds of the heavens had fled. 26I beheld and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness and all its cities were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by his fierce anger. 27For thus has the LORD said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet I will not make a full end. 28The earth shall mourn for this and the heavens above shall be black: because I have spoken it, I have purposed it and will not repent, neither I will turn back from it. 29The whole city shall flee for the noise of the horsemen and bowmen; they shall go into thickets and climb up on the rocks: every city shall be forsaken and no man dwell there. 30And when you are spoiled, what will you do? Though you clothe yourself with crimson, though you deck yourself with ornaments of gold, though you render your face with painting, you shall make yourself fair in vain; your lovers will despise you, they will seek your life. 31For I have heard a voice like a woman in travail, and the anguish like her who brings forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, who bewails herself, who spreads her hands, saying, Woe is me now! for my soul is wearied because of murderers. BACK   TOP  BOOK TITLES Chapter 5 1Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem and see now and know and seek in its broad places, if you can find a man, if there is any who executes judgment, who seeks the truth; and I will pardon it. 2And though they say, The LORD lives; surely they swear falsely. 3O LORD, are not your eyes on the truth? you have struck them, but they have not grieved; you have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return. 4Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish: for they do not know the way of the LORD, nor the judgment of their God. 5I will go to the great men and will speak to them; for they have known the way of the LORD, and the judgment of their God: but these have altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bonds. 6Therefore a lion out of the forest shall kill them, and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them, a leopard shall watch over their cities: every one who goes out there shall be torn in pieces: because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased. 7How shall I pardon you for this? your children have forsaken me and sworn by those who are no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots' houses. 8They were as fed horses in the morning: every one neighed after his neighbor's wife. 9Shall I not visit you for these things? says the LORD: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? 10Go up on her walls and destroy; but do not make a full end: take away her battlements; for they are not the LORD'S. 11For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, says the LORD. 12They have lied to the LORD and said, It is not he; nor shall evil come on us; nor shall we see sword nor famine: 13And the prophets shall become wind and the word is not in them: thus shall it be done to them. 14Therefore thus says the LORD God of hosts, Because you speak this word, behold, I will make my words fire in your mouth and this people wood and it shall devour them. 15Lo, I will bring a nation on you from far, O house of Israel, says the LORD: it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know, neither do you understand what they say. 16Their quiver is as an open sepulcher, they are all mighty men. 17And they shall eat up your harvest and your bread, which your sons and your daughters should eat: they shall eat up your flocks and your herds: they shall eat up your vines and your fig trees: they shall impoverish your fenced cities in which you trusted with the sword. 18But in those days, says the LORD, I will not make a full end with you. 19And it shall come to pass, when you shall say, Why does the LORD our God do all these things to us? then you shall answer them, Like you have forsaken me and served strange gods in your land, so shall you serve strangers in a land that is not yours. 20Declare this in the house of Jacob and publish it in Judah, saying, 21Hear this now, O foolish people and without understanding; who have eyes and do not see; who have ears and do not hear: 22Do you not fear me? says the LORD: will you not tremble at my presence, which has placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though its waves toss themselves, yet they can not prevail; though they roar, yet they can not pass over it? 23But this people has a revolting and a rebellious heart; they have revolted and gone. 24Neither do they say in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God, who gives both the former and the latter rain, in its season: he reserves to us the appointed weeks of the harvest. 25Your iniquities have turned away these things and your sins have withheld good things from you. 26For wicked men are found among my people: they lay in wait, they set a trap as he who sets snares; they catch men. 27 Their houses full of deceit are like a cage full of birds, therefore they are become great and grown rich. 28They are grown fat, they shine: yes, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they do not judge the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and they do not judge the right of the needy. 29Shall I not visit you for these things? says the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? 30A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land; 31The prophets prophesy falsely and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will you do in the end of it? BACK   TOP  BOOK TITLES Chapter 6 1O you children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem and blow the trumpet in Tekoa and set up a sign of fire in Bethhaccerem: for evil appears out of the north and great destruction. 2I have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate woman. 3The shepherds with their flocks shall come to her; they shall pitch their tents against her round about; they shall feed every one in his place. 4Prepare war against her; arise and let us go up at noon. Woe to us! for the day goes away, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out. 5Arise and let us go by night and let us destroy her palaces. 6For thus has the LORD of hosts said, Hew down trees and cast a mount against Jerusalem: this is the city to be visited; she has oppression wholly in the midst of her. 7As a fountain casts out her waters, so she casts out her wickedness: violence and spoil is heard in her; before me continually is grief and wounds. 8Be instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from you; lest I make you desolate, a land not inhabited. 9Thus says the LORD of hosts, They shall throughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine: Turn back your hand into the baskets as a grape gatherer. 10To whom shall I speak and give warning, that they may hear? behold, their ear is uncircumcised and they cannot listen behold, the word of the LORD is a reproach to them; they have no delight in it. 11Therefore I am full of the fury of the LORD; I am weary with holding in: I will pour it out on the children abroad and on the assembly of young men together: for even the husband with the wife shall be taken, the aged with him who is full of days. 12And their houses shall be turned to others, with their fields and wives together: for I will stretch out my hand on the inhabitants of the land, says the LORD. 13For from the least of them even to the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even to the priest every one deals falsely. 14They have also healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace. 15Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? no, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among those who fall: at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, says the LORD. 16Thus says the LORD, Stand in the ways and see and ask for the old paths, where the good way is and walk there and you shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk there. 17Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Listen to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not listen. 18Therefore hear, you nations and know, O congregation, what is among them. 19Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil on this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not listened to my words, nor to my law, but rejected it. 20To what purpose does there come to me incense from Sheba and the sweet cane from a far country? your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet to me. 21Therefore thus says the LORD, Behold, I will lay stumbling blocks before this people and the fathers and the sons together shall fall on them; the neighbor and his friend shall perish. 22Thus says the LORD, Behold, a people comes from the north country and a great nation shall be raised from the sides of the earth. 23They shall lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel and have no mercy; their voice roars like the sea; and they ride on horses, set in array as men of war against you, O daughter of Zion. 24We have heard its fame: our hands grow feeble: anguish has taken hold of us, and pain, as of a woman in travail. 25Do not go out into the field, nor walk by the way; because of the sword of the enemy, fear is on every side. 26O daughter of my people, gird yourself with sackcloth and wallow yourself in ashes: make a mourning and most bitter lamentation, as for an only son: for the spoiler shall suddenly come on us. 27I have set you for a tower and a fortress among my people, that you may know and try their way. 28They are all grievous revolters, walking with slanders: they are brass and iron; they are all corrupters. 29The bellows are burned, the lead is consumed by the fire; the founder melts in vain: for the wicked are not plucked away. 30Men shall call them reprobate silver, because the LORD has rejected them. BACK   TOP  BOOK TITLES Chapter 7 1The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, 2Stand in the gate of the LORD'S house and proclaim this word there and say, Hear the word of the LORD, all you of Judah who enter in at these gates to worship the LORD. 3Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings and I will cause you to dwell in this place. 4Do not trust in lying words, saying, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, are these. 5For if you throughly amend your ways and your doings; if you throughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbor; 6If you do not oppress the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt: 7Then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever. 8Behold, you trust in lying words, that cannot profit. 9Will you steal, murder and commit adultery and swear falsely and burn incense to Baal and walk after other gods whom you have not known; 10And come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations? 11Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, says the LORD. 12But go now to my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel. 13And now, because you have done all these works, says the LORD and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you would not hear; and I called you, but you did not answer; 14Therefore I will do to this house, which is called by my name, in which you trust and to the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh. 15And I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brothers, even the whole seed of Ephraim. 16Therefore do not pray for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, nor make intercession to me: for I will not hear you. 17Do you not see what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18The children gather wood and the fathers kindle the fire and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings to other gods, so that they may provoke me to anger. 19Do they provoke me to anger? says the LORD: do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces? 20Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; Behold, my anger and my fury shall be poured out on this place, on man and on beast and on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched. 21Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Put your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat flesh. 22For I did not speak to your fathers concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices, nor demand them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt: 23But this thing I commanded them, saying, Obey my voice and I will be your God and you shall be my people: and walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, so that it may be well to you. 24But they did not listen, nor incline their ear, but walked in the counsel and the imagination of their evil heart and went backward and not forward. 25Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt to this day I have even sent to you all my servants the prophets, rising up daily, early and sending them: 26Yet they did not listen to me, nor incline their ear, but hardened their neck: they did worse than their fathers. 27Therefore you shall speak all these words to them; but they will not listen to you: you shall also call to them; but they will not answer you. 28But you shall say to them, This is a nation that does not obey the voice of the LORD their God, nor receives correction: truth is perished and is cut off from their mouth. 29Cut off your hair, O Jerusalem and cast it away and take up a lamentation on high places; for the LORD has rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath. 30For the children of Judah have done evil in my sight, says the LORD: they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to pollute it. 31And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I did not command them, neither did it come into my mind. 32Therefore, behold, the days come, says the LORD, that it shall not be called Tophet any more, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter: for they shall bury in Tophet, till there is no place. 33And the carcases of this people shall be meat for the fowls of the heaven and for the beasts of the earth; and no one shall fray them away. 34Then I will stop the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem, for the land shall be desolate. BACK   TOP  BOOK TITLES Chapter 8 1At that time, says the LORD, they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah and the bones of his princes and the bones of the priests and the bones of the prophets and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves: 2And they shall spread them before the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven, whom they have loved and whom they have served and after whom they have walked and whom they have sought and whom they have worshiped: they shall not be gathered, nor be buried; they shall be for dung on the face of the earth. 3And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue of those who remain of this evil family, which remain in all the places where I have driven them, says the LORD of hosts. 4Moreover you shall say to them, Thus says the LORD; Shall they fall and not arise? shall he turn away and not return? 5Why then are the people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold deceit fast, they refuse to return. 6I listened and heard, but they did not speak right: no man repented of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? every one turned to his course, as the horse rushes into the battle. 7Yes, the stork in the heaven knows her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people do not know the judgment of the LORD. 8How do you say, We are wise and the law of the LORD is with us? Lo, he certainly made it in vain; the pen of the scribes is in vain. 9The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken: lo, they have rejected the word of the LORD; and what wisdom is in them? 10Therefore I will give their wives to others, and their fields to those who shall inherit them: for every one from the least even to the greatest is given to covetousness, from the prophet even to the priest every one deals falsely. 11For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace. 12Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? no, they were not ashamed at all, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among those who fall: in the time of their visitation they shall be cast down, says the LORD. 13I will surely consume them, says the LORD: there shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree and the leaf shall fade; and the things that I have given them shall pass away from them. 14Why do we sit still? assemble yourselves and let us enter into the defensed cities, and let us be silent there: for the LORD our God has put us to silence and given us water of gall to drink, because we have sinned against the LORD. 15We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of health and behold trouble! 16The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan: the whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones; for they are come and have devoured the land and all that is in it; the city and those who dwell there. 17For, behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which will not be charmed and they shall bite you, says the LORD. 18When I would comfort myself against sorrow, my heart is faint in me. 19Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people because of those who dwell in a far country: Is not the LORD in Zion? is not her king in her? Why have they provoked me to anger with their graven images, and with strange vanities? 20The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved. 21For the hurt of the daughter of my people I am hurt; I mourn; astonishment has taken hold on me. 22Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then has the health of the daughter of my people not recovered? BACK   TOP  BOOK TITLES Chapter 9 1Oh that my head were waters and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! 2Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place for wayfaring men; that I might leave my people and go from them! for they are all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men. 3And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies: but they are not valiant for the truth on the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil and they do not know me, says the LORD. 4Every one take heed of his neighbor and do not trust in any brother: for every brother will utterly supplant and every neighbor will walk with slanders. 5And every one will deceive his neighbor and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies, and weary themselves to commit iniquity. 6Your habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, says the LORD. 7Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, Behold, I will melt them and try them; for how shall I do for the daughter of my people? 8Their tongue is as an arrow shot out; it speaks deceit: one speaks peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth, but in heart he lays wait. 9Shall I not visit them for these things? says the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? 10I will take up a weeping and wailing for the mountains , and for the habitations of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up, so that none can pass through them; neither can men hear the voice of the cattle; both the fowl of the heavens and the beast have fled; they are gone. 11And I will make Jerusalem heaps, and a den of dragons; and I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant. 12Who is the wise man, who may understand this? and who is he to whom the mouth of the LORD has spoken, that he may declare it, why does the land perish and burn up like a wilderness, so that none passes through? 13And the LORD says, Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked in it; 14But have walked after the imagination of their own heart and after Baalim, which their fathers taught them: 15Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood and give them water of gall to drink. 16I will scatter them also among the heathen, whom neither they nor their fathers have known: and I will send a sword after them, till I have consumed them. 17Thus says the LORD of hosts, Consider and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for cunning women, that they may come: 18And let them hurry and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears and our eyelids gush out with waters. 19For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we spoiled! we are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because our dwellings have cast us out. 20Yet hear the word of the LORD, O you women and let your ear receive the word of his mouth and teach your daughters wailing and every one teach her neighbor lamentation. 21For death is come up into our windows, and is entered into our palaces, to cut off the children from without, and the young men from the streets. 22Speak, Thus says the LORD, Even the carcases of men shall fall as dung on the open field and as the handful after the harvestman and no one shall gather them. 23Thus says the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: 24But let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who exercises loving kindness, judgment and righteousness in the earth: for in these things I delight, says the LORD. 25Behold, the days come, says the LORD, that I will punish all them which are circumcised with the uncircumcised; 26Egypt and Judah and Edom and the children of Ammon and Moab and all who are in the utmost corners, who dwell in the wilderness: for all these nations are uncircumcised and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart. BACK   TOP  BOOK TITLES Chapter 10 1Hear the word which the LORD speaks to you, O house of Israel: 2Thus says the LORD, Do not learn the way of the heathen and do not be dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. 3For the customs of the people are vain: for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the ax. 4They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, so that it does not move. 5They are upright as the palm tree, but do not speak: they must be carried, because they cannot go. Do not be afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, also neither is it in them to do good. 6Forasmuch as there is no one like to you, O LORD; you are great and your name is great in might. 7Who would not fear you, O King of nations? for to you it pertains: forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations and in all their kingdoms, there is no one like you. 8But they are altogether brutish and foolish: the tree trunk is a doctrine of vanities. 9Silver spread into plates is brought from Carthage and gold from Uphaz, the work of the workman and of the hands of the founder: blue and purple is their clothing: they are all the work of cunning men. 10But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God and an everlasting king: the earth shall tremble at his wrath and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation. 11Thus shall you say to them, The gods who have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth and from under these heavens. 12He has made the earth by his power, he has established the world by his wisdom and has stretched out the heavens by his discretion. 13When he utters his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; he makes lightnings with rain and brings forth the wind out of his treasures. 14Every man is brutish in his knowledge: every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood and there is no breath in them. 15They are vanity, and the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish. 16The portion of Jacob is not like them: for he is the former of all things; and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: The LORD of hosts is his name. 17Gather up your wares out of the land, O inhabitant of the fortress. 18For thus says the LORD, Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land at once and will distress them, that they may find it so. 19Woe is me for my hurt! my wound is grievous: but I said, Truly this is a grief and I must bear it. 20My tabernacle is spoiled and all my cords are broken: my children are gone away from me and they are not: there is no one to stretch out my tent and to set up my curtains any more. 21For the pastors are become brutish and have not sought the LORD: therefore they shall not prosper and all their flocks shall be scattered. 22Behold, the noise of the bruit is come and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah desolate, and a den of dragons. 23O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man who walks to direct his steps. 24O LORD, correct me, but with judgment; not in your anger, lest you bring me to nothing. 25Pour out your fury on the heathen who do not know you, and on the families that do not call on your name: for they have eaten up Jacob and devoured him and consumed him and have made his habitation desolate. BACK   TOP  BOOK TITLES Chapter 11 1The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, 2Hear the words of this covenant and speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem; 3And say to them, Thus says the LORD God of Israel; Cursed is the man who does not obey the words of this covenant, 4Which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, Obey my voice, according to all which I command you and do them: so shall you be my people and I will be your God: 5That I may perform the oath which I have sworn to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day. Then I answered and said, So be it, O LORD. 6Then the LORD said to me, Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, Hear the words of this covenant and do them. 7For I earnestly protested to your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even to this day, rising early and protesting, saying, Obey my voice. 8Yet they did not obey, nor incline their ear, but every one walked in the imagination of their evil heart: therefore I will bring on them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do; but they did not do them. 9And the LORD said to me, A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 10They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to hear my words; and they went after other gods to serve them: the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant which I made with their fathers. 11Therefore thus says the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil on them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they cry to me, I will not listen to them. 12Then the cities of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem shall go and cry to the gods to whom they offer incense: but they shall not save them at all in the time of their trouble. 13For according to the number of your cities were your gods, O Judah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem have you set up altars to that shameful thing, even altars to burn incense to Baal. 14Therefore do not pray for this people, neither lift up a cry or prayer for them: for I will not hear them in the time that they cry to me for their trouble. 15What has my beloved to do in my house, seeing she has wrought lewdness with many and the holy flesh is passed from you? when you do evil, then you rejoice. 16The LORD called your name, A green olive tree, fair, and of goodly fruit: he has kindled fire in it with the noise of a great tumult and its branches are broken. 17For the LORD of hosts, who planted you, has pronounced evil against you, because of the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done against themselves to provoke me to anger in offering incense to Baal. 18And the LORD has given me knowledge of it and I know it: then you showed me their doings. 19But I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter; and I did not know that they had devised devices against me, saying, Let us destroy the tree with its fruit and let us cut him off from the land of the living, so that his name may be remembered no more. 20But, O LORD of hosts, who judges righteously, who tries the reins and the heart, let me see your vengeance on them: for I have revealed my cause to you . 21Therefore thus says the LORD of the men of Anathoth, who seek your life, saying, Prophesy not in the name of the LORD, so that you do not die by our hand: 22Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, Behold, I will punish them: the young men shall die by the sword; their sons and their daughters shall die by famine: 23And there shall be no remnant of them: for I will bring evil on the men of Anathoth, even the year of their visitation. BACK   TOP  BOOK TITLES Chapter 12 1You are righteous , O LORD, when I plead with you: yet let me talk with you of your judgments: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? why are they all happy who deal very treacherously? 2You have planted them, yes, they have taken root: they grow, yes, they bring forth fruit: you are near in their mouth, but far from their reins. 3But you, O LORD, know me: you have seen me and tried my heart toward you: pull them out like sheep for the slaughter and prepare them for the day of slaughter. 4How long shall the land mourn and the herbs of every field wither, for the wickedness of those who dwell there? the beasts are consumed and the birds; because they said, He shall not see our last end. 5If you have run with the footmen and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses? and if in the land of peace, in which you trusted, they wearied you, then how will you do in the swelling of Jordan? 6For even your brothers and the house of your father, even they have dealt treacherously with you; yes, they have called a multitude after you: do not believe them, though they speak fair words to you. 7I have forsaken my house, I have left my heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies. 8My heritage is to me as a lion in the forest; it cries out against me: therefore I have hated it. 9My heritage is to me as a speckled bird, the birds round about are against her; come, assemble all the beasts of the field, come to devour. 10Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness. 11They have made it desolate, and being desolate it makes me mourn; the whole land is made desolate, because no man lays it to heart. 12The spoilers are come on all high places through the wilderness: for the sword of the LORD shall devour from the one end of the land even to the other end of the land: no flesh shall have peace. 13They have sown wheat, but shall reap thorns: they have put themselves to pain, but shall not profit: and they shall be ashamed of your revenues because of the fierce anger of the LORD. 14Thus says the LORD against all my evil neighbors, who touch the inheritance which I have caused my people Israel to inherit; Behold, I will pluck them out of their land and pluck out the house of Judah from among them. 15And it shall come to pass, after that I have plucked them out I will return and have compassion on them and will bring them again, every man to his heritage and every man to his land. 16And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, The LORD lives; as they taught my people to swear by Baal; then they shall be built in the midst of my people. 17But if they will not obey, I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation, says the LORD. BACK   TOP  BOOK TITLES Chapter 13 1Thus says the LORD to me, Go and get a linen girdle and put it on your loins and do not put it in water. 2So I got a girdle according to the word of the LORD and put it on my loins. 3And the word of the LORD came to me the second time, saying, 4Take the girdle that you have got, which is on your loins and rise, go to Euphrates and hide it there in a hole in a rock. 5So I went and hid it by Euphrates, as the LORD commanded me. 6And it came to pass after many days, that the LORD said to me, Arise, go to Euphrates and take the girdle from there, which I commanded you to hide there. 7Then I went to Euphrates and dug and took the girdle from the place where I hid it: and, behold, the girdle was marred, it was not profitable for anything. 8Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 9Thus says the LORD, After this manner I will mar the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. 10This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who walk in the imagination of their heart and walk after other gods, to serve them and to worship them, shall be even as this girdle, which is not good for anything. 11For as the girdle cleaves to the loins of a man, so have I caused the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to cleave to me, says the LORD; so that they might be a people to me and for a name, and for a praise and for a glory: but they would not hear. 12Therefore you shall speak to them this word; Thus says the LORD God of Israel, Every bottle shall be filled with wine: and they shall say to you, Do we not certainly know that every bottle shall be filled with wine? 13Then you shall say to them, Thus says the LORD, Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land, even the kings who sit on David's throne and the priests, and the prophets and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with drunkenness. 14And I will dash them against one another, even the fathers and the sons together, says the LORD: I will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, but I will destroy them. 15Hear and give ear; do not be proud: for the LORD has spoken. 16Give glory to the LORD your God, before he causes darkness and before your feet stumble on the dark mountains and, when you look for light, he will turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness. 17And if you will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride; and my eye shall weep sore and run down with tears, because the LORD'S flock is carried away captive. 18Say to the king and to the queen, Humble yourselves, sit down: for your principalities shall come down, even the crown of your glory. 19The cities of the south shall be shut up and no one shall open them: Judah shall be carried away captive all of it, it shall wholly be carried away captive. 20Lift up your eyes and behold those who come from the north. Where is the flock that was given to you, your beautiful flock? 21What will you say when he shall punish you? for you have taught them to be captains, but as chief over you: shall sorrows not take you, as a woman in travail? 22And if you say in your heart, Why do these things come on me? Because of greatness of your iniquity your skirts are uncovered, and your heels made bare. 23Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may you also do good, who are accustomed to do evil. 24Therefore I will scatter them as the stubble that passes away by the wind of the wilderness. 25This is your lot, the portion of your measures from me, says the LORD; because you have forgotten me and trusted in falsehood. 26Therefore I will uncover your skirts on your face, so that your shame may appear. 27I have seen your adulteries and your neighings, the lewdness of your whoredom, and your abominations on the hills in the fields. Woe to you, O Jerusalem! will you not be made clean? when shall it once be? BACK   TOP  BOOK TITLES Chapter 14 1The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the dearth. 2Judah mourns and its gates languish; they are black to the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up. 3And their nobles have sent their little ones to the waters: they came to the pits, and found no water; they returned with their vessels empty; they were ashamed and confounded and covered their heads. 4Because the ground is parched, for there was no rain in the earth, the plowmen were ashamed, they covered their heads. 5Yes, the hind also calved in the field and forsook it, because there was no grass. 6And the wild asses stood in the high places, they snuffed up the wind like dragons; their eyes failed, because there was no grass. 7O LORD, though our iniquities testify against us, do it for your name's sake: for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against you. 8O the hope of Israel, our savior in time of trouble, why should you be as a stranger in the land and as a wayfaring man who turns aside to tarry for a night? 9Why should you be as a man astonished, as a mighty man who cannot save? yet you, O LORD, are in the midst of us and we are called by your name; do not leave us. 10Thus says the LORD to this people, Thus have they loved to wander, they have not refrained their feet, therefore the LORD does not accept them; he will now remember their iniquity and visit their sins. 11Then the LORD said to me, Do not pray for this people for their good. 12When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and an oblation, I will not accept them: but I will consume them by the sword and by the famine and by the pestilence. 13Then I said, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, the prophets say to them, you shall not see the sword, neither shall you have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place. 14Then the LORD said to me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I did not send them, neither have I commanded them, neither did I speak to them: they prophesy to you a false vision and divination and a thing of nothing and the deceit of their heart. 15Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name and I did not send them, yet they say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land; By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed. 16And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and they shall have no one to bury them, neither them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters: for I will pour their wickedness on them. 17Therefore you shall say this word to them; Let my eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease: for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach, with a very grievous blow. 18If I go out into the field, then behold the slain with the sword! and if I enter into the city, then behold those who are sick with famine! yes, both the prophet and the priest go about into a land that they do not know. 19Have you utterly rejected Judah? has your soul loathed Zion? why have you struck us and there is no healing for us? we looked for peace, and there is no good; and for the time of healing and behold trouble! 20We acknowledge, O LORD, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers: for we have sinned against you. 21Do not abhor us, for your name's sake, do not disgrace the throne of your glory: remember, do not break your covenant with us. 22Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles who can cause rain? or can the heavens give showers? are not you he, O LORD our God? therefore we will wait on you: for you have made all these things. BACK   TOP  BOOK TITLES Chapter 15 1Then the LORD said to me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could not be toward this people: cast them out of my sight and let them go forth. 2And it shall come to pass, if they say to you, Where shall we go? then you shall tell them, Thus says the LORD; Such as are for death, to death; and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for the famine, to the famine; and such as are for the captivity, to the captivity. 3And I will appoint over them four kinds, says the LORD: the sword to kill and the dogs to tear and the fowls of the heaven and the beasts of the earth, to devour and destroy. 4And I will cause them to be removed into all kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem. 5For who shall have pity on you, O Jerusalem? or who shall bemoan you? or who shall go aside to ask how you do? 6You have forsaken me, says the LORD, you are gone backward: therefore I will stretch out my hand against you and destroy you; I am weary with repenting. 7And I will fan them with a fan in the gates of the land; I will bereave them of children, I will destroy my people, since they do not return from their ways. 8Their widows are increased by me above the sand of the seas: I have brought on them a spoiler and terrors on the city against the mother of the young men at noonday: I have caused him to fall on it suddenly,. 9She who has borne seven languishes: she has given up the ghost; her sun went down while it was yet day: she has been ashamed and confounded: and I will deliver the residue of them to the sword before their enemies, says the LORD. 10Woe is me, my mother, that you have borne me, a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have neither lent on usury, nor men have lent to me on usury; yet every one of them curses me. 11The LORD said, Verily it shall be well with your remnant; verily I will cause the enemy to entreat you well in the time of evil and in the time of affliction. 12Shall iron break the northern iron and the steel? 13Your substance and your treasures I will give to the spoil without price and that for all your sins, even in all your borders. 14And I will make you to pass with your enemies into a land which you do not know: for a fire is kindled in my anger, which shall burn on you. 15O LORD, you know: remember me and visit me and revenge me of my persecutors; do not take me away in your longsuffering: know that for your sake I have suffered rebuke. 16Your words were found and I ate them; and your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart: for I am called by your name, O LORD God of hosts. 17I did not sit in the assembly of the mockers, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of your hand: for you have filled me with indignation. 18Why is my pain perpetual and my wound incurable, which refuses to be healed? will you be altogether to me as a liar, and as waters that fail? 19Therefore thus says the LORD, If you repent, then I will bring you again, and you shall stand before me: and if you take out the precious from the vile, you shall be as my mouth: let them return to you; but do not return to them. 20And I will make you a fenced brazen wall for this people: and they shall fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you: for I am with you to save you and to deliver you, says the LORD. 21And I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked and I will redeem you out of the hand of the terrible. BACK   TOP  BOOK TITLES Chapter 16 1The word of the LORD came also to me, saying, 2You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place. 3For thus says the LORD concerning the sons and concerning the daughters who are born in this place and concerning their mothers who bore them and concerning their fathers whom they were born to in this land; 4They shall die grievous deaths; they shall not be lamented; neither shall they be buried; but they shall be as dung on the face of the earth: and they shall be consumed by the sword and by famine; and their carcases shall be meat for the fowls of heaven and for the beasts of the earth. 5For thus says the LORD, Do not enter into the house of mourning, neither go to lament nor bemoan them: for I have taken away my peace from this people, says the LORD, even loving kindness and mercies. 6Both the great and the small shall die in this land: they shall not be buried, neither shall men lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them: 7Neither shall men tear themselves for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead; neither shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother. 8You also shall not go into the house of feasting, to sit with them to eat and to drink. 9For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will cause to cease out of this place in your eyes and in your days, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride. 10And it shall come to pass, when you shall show this people all these words and they shall say to you, Why has the LORD pronounced all this great evil against us? or what is our iniquity? or what is our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God? 11Then you shall say to them, Because your fathers have forsaken me, says the LORD and have walked after other gods, and have served them and have worshiped them and have forsaken me and have not kept my law; 12And you have done worse than your fathers; for, behold, you walk every one after the imagination of his evil heart, so that they may not listen to me: 13Therefore I will cast you out of this land into a land that you do not know, neither you nor your fathers; where I will not show you favor and there you shall serve other gods day and night; . 14Therefore, behold, the days come, says the LORD, that it shall not be said any more, The LORD lives, who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; 15But, The LORD lives, who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave to their fathers. 16Behold, I will send for many fishers, says the LORD and they shall fish for them; and after I will send for many hunters and they shall hunt for them from every mountain and from every hill and out of the holes of the rocks. 17For my eyes are on all their ways: they are not hidden from my face, nor is their iniquity hidden from my eyes. 18But first I will doubly recompense their iniquity and their sin; because they have defiled my land, they have filled my inheritance with the carcases of their detestable and abominable things. 19O LORD, my strength and my fortress and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come to you from the ends of the earth and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity and things in which there is no profit. 20Shall a man make gods to himself and they are no gods? 21Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know my hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is The LORD. BACK   TOP  BOOK TITLES Chapter 17 1The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond: it is graven on the table of their heart and on the horns of your altars; 2While their children remember their altars and their groves by the green trees on the high hills. 3O my mountain in the field, I will give your substance and all your treasures to the spoil, and your high places for sin, throughout all your borders. 4And you, even yourself, shall discontinue from your heritage that I gave you; and I will cause you to serve your enemies in the land which you do not know: for you have kindled a fire in my anger, which shall burn for ever. 5Thus says the LORD; Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his arm and whose heart departs from the LORD. 6For he shall be like the heath in the desert and shall not see when good comes; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in uninhabited and salt land. 7Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD and whose hope is the LORD. 8For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters and that spreads out her roots by the river and shall not see when heat comes, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be full of care in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit. 9The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked: who can know it? 10I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings. 11As the partridge sits on eggs, and does not hatch them; so he who gets riches, but not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days and shall be a fool at his end. 12A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary. 13O LORD, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you shall be ashamed, and those who depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters. 14Heal me, O LORD and I shall be healed; save me and I shall be saved: for you are my praise. 15Behold, they say to me, Where is the word of the LORD? let it come now. 16As for me, I have not hurried from being a pastor to follow you: neither have I desired the woeful day; you know: that which came out of my lips was right before you. 17Do not be a terror to me: you are my hope in the day of evil. 18Let them be confounded who persecute me, but let me not be confounded: let them be dismayed, but let me not be dismayed: bring on them the day of evil, and destroy them with double destruction. 19Thus said the LORD to me; Go and stand in the gate of the children of the people, where the kings of Judah come in and by which they go out and in all the gates of Jerusalem; 20And say to them, Hear the word of the LORD, you kings of Judah and all Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who enter in by these gates: 21Thus says the LORD; Take heed to yourselves and bear no burden on the sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem; 22Neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the sabbath day, nor do any work, but hallow the sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers. 23But they did not obey, neither inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, nor receive instruction. 24And it shall come to pass, if you diligently listen to me, says the LORD, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the sabbath day, but hallow the sabbath day, to do no work in it; 25Then there shall enter into the gates of this city kings and princes sitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their princes, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: and this city shall remain for ever. 26And they shall come from the cities of Judah, and from the places about Jerusalem and from the land of Benjamin and from the plain and from the mountains and from the south, bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices and meat offerings and incense and bringing sacrifices of praise, to the house of the LORD. 27But if you will not listen to me to hallow the sabbath day and not bear a burden, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day; then I will kindle a fire in its gates and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem and it shall not be quenched. BACK   TOP  BOOK TITLES Chapter 18 1The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, 2Arise and go down to the potter's house and there I will cause you to hear my words. 3Then I went down to the potter's house and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. 4And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. 5Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 6O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter? says the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. 7At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and to pull down and to destroy it; 8If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do to them. 9And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; 10If it does evil in my sight, so that it does not obey my voice, then I will repent of the good, with which I said I would benefit them. 11Now therefore go, speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus says the LORD; Behold, I frame evil against you and devise a device against you: return now every one from his evil way and make your ways and your doings good. 12And they said, There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart. 13Therefore thus says the LORD; Ask now among the heathen, who has heard such things: the virgin of Israel has done a very horrible thing. 14Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon which comes from the rock of the field? or shall the cold flowing waters that come from another place be forsaken? 15Because my people have forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity and they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in paths, in a way not cast up; 16To make their land desolate, and a perpetual hissing; every one who passes there shall be astonished and wag his head. 17I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will show them the back and not the face, in the day of their calamity. 18Then they said, Come and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come and let us strike him with the tongue and let us not give heed to any of his words. 19Give heed to me, O LORD and listen to the voice of those who contend with me. 20Shall evil be recompensed for good? for they have dug a pit for my soul. Remember that I stood before you to speak good for them, and to turn away your wrath from them. 21Therefore deliver up their children to the famine and pour out their blood by the force of the sword; and let their wives be bereaved of their children and be widows; and let their men be put to death; let their young men be slain by the sword in battle. 22Let a cry be heard from their houses, when you shall bring a troop suddenly on them: for they have dug a pit to take me and hidden snares for my feet. 23Yet, LORD, you know all their counsel against me to kill me: do not forgive their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from your sight, but let them be overthrown before you; deal thus with them in the time of your anger. BACK   TOP  BOOK TITLES Chapter 19 1Thus says the LORD, Go and get a potter's earthen bottle and take of the ancients of the people and of the ancients of the priests; 2And go out to the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the east gate and proclaim there the words that I shall tell you, 3And say, Hear the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring evil on this place, the which who ever hears, his ears shall tingle. 4Because they have forsaken me and have estranged this place and have burned incense in it to other gods, whom neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Judah and have filled this place with the blood of innocents; 5They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not commanded, nor spoke it, neither did it come into my mind: 6Therefore, behold, the days come, says the LORD, that this place shall no more be called Tophet, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of slaughter. 7And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place; and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hands of those who seek their lives: and I will give their carcases to be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth. 8And I will make this city desolate and a hissing; every one who passes by shall be astonished and hiss because of all its plagues. 9And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend in the siege and straitness, with which their enemies and those who seek their lives, shall straiten them. 10Then you shall break the bottle in the sight of the men who go with you, 11And shall say to them, Thus says the LORD of hosts; Even so I will break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter's vessel, that cannot be made whole again: and they shall bury them in Tophet, till there is no place to bury. 12Thus I will do to this place and to its inhabitants, says the LORD and even make this city as Tophet: 13And the houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah, shall be defiled as the place of Tophet, because of all the houses on whose roofs they have burned incense to all the host of heaven and have poured out drink offerings to other gods. 14Then Jeremiah came from Tophet, where the LORD had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of the LORD'S house; and said to all the people, 15Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring on this city and on all her towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they have hardened their necks, that they might not hear my words. BACK   TOP  BOOK TITLES Chapter 20 1Now Pashur the son of Immer the priest, who was also chief governor in the house of the LORD, heard that Jeremiah prophesied these things. 2Then Pashur struck Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the high gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the LORD. 3And it came to pass on the next morning, that Pashur brought Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then Jeremiah said to him, The LORD has not called your name Pashur, but Magormissabib. 4For thus says the LORD, Behold, I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends: and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies and your eyes shall behold it: and I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon and he shall carry them into Babylon captive and shall kill them with the sword. 5Moreover I will deliver all the strength of this city and all its labors and all its precious things and all the treasures of the kings of Judah I will give into the hand of their enemies, which shall spoil them and take them and carry them to Babylon. 6And you, Pashur and all who dwell in your house shall go into captivity: and you shall come to Babylon and there you shall die and shall be buried there, you and all your friends, to whom you have prophesied lies. 7O LORD, you have deceived me and I was deceived: you are stronger than I and have prevailed: I am in derision daily, every one mocks me. 8For since I spoke, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil; because the word of the LORD was made a reproach to me and a derision, daily. 9Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in my heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay. 10For I heard the defaming of many, fear on every side. Report, say they, and we will report it. All my familiars watched for my halting, saying, Perhaps he will be enticed and we shall prevail against him and we shall take our revenge on him. 11But the LORD is with me as a mighty terrible one: therefore my persecutors shall stumble and they shall not prevail: they shall be greatly ashamed; for they shall not prosper: their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten. 12But, O LORD of hosts, who tries the righteous, and sees the reins and the heart, let me see your vengeance on them: for I have opened my cause to you. 13Sing to the LORD, praise you the LORD: for he has delivered the soul of the poor from the hand of evildoers. 14Cursed be the day in which I was born: let not the day in which my mother bore me be blessed. 15Cursed is the man who brought tidings to my father, saying, A man child is born to you; making him very glad. 16And let that man be as the cities which the LORD overthrew and did not repent: and let him hear the cry in the morning and the shouting at noontide; 17Because he did not kill me from the womb; or that my mother might have been my grave and her womb to always be great with me. 18Why did I come forth out of the womb to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame? BACK   TOP  BOOK TITLES Chapter 21 1The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, when king Zedekiah sent Pashur the son of Melchiah and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest to him, saying, 2Enquire, I pray you, of the LORD for us; for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon makes war against us; if so be that the LORD will deal with us according to all his wondrous works, that he may go up from us. 3Then Jeremiah said to them, Thus shall you say to Zedekiah: 4Thus says the LORD God of Israel; Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, with which you fight against the king of Babylon and against the Chaldeans, who besiege you out side the walls and I will assemble them into the midst of this city. 5And I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger and in fury and in great wrath. 6And I will strike the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast: they shall die of a great pestilence. 7And afterward, says the LORD, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah and his servants and the people and such as are left in this city from the pestilence, from the sword and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life: and he shall strike them with the edge of the sword; he shall not spare them, neither have pity, nor have mercy. 8And you shall say to this people, Thus says the LORD; Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death. 9He who abides in this city shall die by the sword and by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he who goes out and falls to the Chaldeans who besiege you, he shall live and his life shall be to him for a prey. 10For I have set my face against this city for evil and not for good, says the LORD: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon and he shall burn it with fire. 11And touching the house of the king of Judah, say, Hear the word of the LORD; 12O house of David, thus says the LORD; Execute judgment in the morning and deliver him who is spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor, lest my fury go out like fire and burn so that no one can quench it, because of the evil of your doings. 13Behold, I am against you, O inhabitant of the valley, and rock of the plain, says the LORD; who says, Who shall come down against us? or who shall enter into our habitations? 14But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, says the LORD: and I will kindle a fire in its forest and it shall devour all things round about it. BACK   TOP  BOOK TITLES Chapter 22 1Thus says the LORD; Go down to the house of the king of Judah and speak this word there, 2And say, Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, who sits on the throne of David, you, and your servants and your people who enter in by these gates: 3Thus says the LORD; Execute judgment and righteousness and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place. 4For if you do this thing indeed, then there shall enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, he and his servants, and his people. 5But if you will not hear these words, I swear by myself, says the LORD, that this house shall become a desolation. 6For thus says the LORD to the king of Judah's house; You are Gilead to me, and the head of Lebanon: yet surely I will make you a wilderness, and cities which will not be inhabited. 7And I will prepare destroyers against you, every one with his weapons: and they shall cut down your choice cedars and cast them into the fire. 8And many nations shall pass by this city and they shall say every man to his neighbor, Why has the LORD done thus to this great city? 9Then they shall answer, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God and worshiped other gods and served them. 10Do not weep for the dead, neither bemoan him: but weep sore for him who goes away: for he shall not return any more, nor see his native country. 11For thus says the LORD touching Shallum the son of Josiah king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, who went forth out of this place; He shall not return there any more: 12But he shall die in the place where they have led him captive and shall see this land no more. 13Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness and his chambers by wrong; who uses his neighbor's service without wages, and does not give him for his work; 14Who says, I will build a wide house and large chambers, and he cuts out windows; and it is cieled with cedar and painted with vermilion. 15Shall you reign, because you close yourself in cedar? did not your father eat and drink and do judgment and justice, and then it was well with him? 16He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well with him: was not this to know me? says the LORD. 17But your eyes and your heart are only for your covetousness and for shedding innocent blood and for oppression and to do violence 18Therefore thus says the LORD concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah; They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! they shall not lament for him, saying, Ah lord! or, Ah his glory! 19He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem. see also Jer 36:30 20Go up to Lebanon and cry; and lift up your voice in Bashan and cry from the passages: for all your lovers are destroyed. 21I spoke to you in your prosperity; but you said, I will not hear. This has been your manner from your youth, that you did not obey my voice. 22The wind shall eat up all your pastors and your lovers shall go into captivity: surely then you shall be ashamed and confounded for all your wickedness. 23O inhabitant of Lebanon, who makes your nest in the cedars, how gracious shall you be when pangs come on you, the pain as of a woman in travail! 24As I live, says the LORD, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet on my right hand, yet I would pluck you there; 25And I will give you into the hand of those who seek your life and into the hand of those whose face you fear, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of the Chaldeans. 26And I will cast you out and your mother who bore you, into another country, where you were not born; and there you shall die. 27But to the land where they desire to return, they shall not return there . 28Is this man Coniah a despised broken idol? is he a vessel in which is no pleasure? why are they cast out, he and his seed and are cast into a land which they did not know? 29O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD. 30Thus says the LORD, Write this man childless, a man who shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting on the throne of David and ruling any more in Judah. BACK   TOP  BOOK TITLES Chapter 23 1Woe to the pastors who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says the LORD. 2Therefore thus says the LORD God of Israel against the pastors who feed my people; you have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not visited them: behold, I will visit on you the evil of your doings, says the LORD. 3And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries where I have driven them and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase. 4And I will set up shepherds over those who shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, says the LORD. 5Behold, the days come, says the LORD, that I will raise to David a righteous Branch and a King shall reign and prosper and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. 6In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name by which he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. 7Therefore, behold, the days come, says the LORD, that they shall no more say, The LORD lives, who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; 8But, The LORD lives, who brought up and who led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country and from all countries where I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land. 9My heart within me is broken because of the prophets; all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man and like a man whom wine has overcome, because of the LORD and because of the words of his holiness. 10For the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the land mourns; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up and their course is evil and their force is not right. 11For both prophet and priest are profane; yes, in my house I have found their wickedness, says the LORD. 12Therefore their way shall be to them as slippery ways in the darkness: they shall be driven on and fall there: for I will bring evil on them, even the year of their visitation, says the LORD. 13And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied in Baal and caused my people Israel to err. 14I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem a horrible thing: they commit adultery and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, so that no one returns from his wickedness: they are all of them to me as Sodom, and its inhabitants as Gomorrah. 15Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets; Behold, I will feed them with wormwood and make them drink the water of gall: for from the prophets of Jerusalem profaneness has gone forth into all the land. 16Thus says the LORD of hosts, Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD. 17They still say to those who despise me, The LORD has said, you shall have peace; and they say to every one who walks after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come on you. 18For who has stood in the counsel of the LORD and has perceived and heard his word? who has marked his word and heard it? 19Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD is gone out in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously on the head of the wicked. 20The anger of the LORD shall not return, until he has executed and till he has performed the thoughts of his heart: in the latter days you shall consider it perfectly. 21I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. 22But if they had stood in my counsel and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their doings. 23Am I a God at hand, says the LORD and not a God afar off? 24Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? says the LORD. Do I not fill heaven and earth? says the LORD. 25I have heard what the prophets said, who prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed. 26How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies? yes, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart; 27Who think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbor, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal. 28The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream; and he who has my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? says the LORD. 29Is my word not like a fire? says the LORD; and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? 30Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, says the LORD, who steal my words every one from his neighbor. 31Behold, I am against the prophets, says the LORD, who use their tongues and say, He says. 32Behold, I am against those who prophesy false dreams, says the LORD and tell them and cause my people to err by their lies and by their lightness; yet I did not send them, nor command them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, says the LORD. 33And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask you, saying, What is the burden of the LORD? then you shall say to them, What burden? I will even forsake you, says the LORD. 34And as for the prophet and the priest and the people, who shall say, The burden of the LORD, I will even punish that man and his house. 35Thus shall you say every one to his neighbor and every one to his brother, What has the LORD answered? and, What has the LORD spoken? 36And the burden of the LORD you shall mention no more: for every man's word shall be his burden; for you have perverted the words of the living God, of the LORD of hosts our God. 37Thus shall you say to the prophet, What has the LORD answered you? and, What has the LORD spoken? 38But since you say, The burden of the LORD; therefore thus says the LORD; Because you say this word, The burden of the LORD and I have sent to you, saying, you shall not say, The burden of the LORD; 39Therefore, behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you and I will forsake you and the city that I gave to you and your fathers, and I will cast you out of my presence: 40And I will bring an everlasting reproach on you and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten. BACK   TOP  BOOK TITLES Chapter 24 1The LORD showed me, (after that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah and the princes of Judah, with the carpenters and smiths, from Jerusalem and had brought them to Babylon) and behold, two baskets of figs were set before the temple of the LORD. 2One basket had very good figs, even like the first ripe figs: and the other basket had very bad figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad. 3Then the LORD said to me, What do you see, Jeremiah? And I said, Figs; the good figs, very good; and the evil, very evil, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil. 4Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 5Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel; Like these good figs, so I will acknowledge those who are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good. 6For I will set my eyes on them for good, and I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them and not pull them down; and I will plant them and not pluck them up. 7And I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be my people and I will be their God: for they shall return to me with their whole heart. 8And as the evil figs, which cannot be eaten, they are so evil; surely thus says the LORD, So I will give Zedekiah the king of Judah and his princes and the residue of Jerusalem, who remain in this land and those who dwell in the land of Egypt: 9And I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for their hurt, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places where I shall drive them. 10And I will send the sword, the famine and the pestilence, among them, till they are consumed from off the land that I gave to them and to their fathers. BACK   TOP  BOOK TITLES Chapter 25 1The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, that was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; 2The same Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, 3From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, even to this day, that is the twenty third year, the word of the LORD has come to me, and I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking; but you have not listened. 4And the LORD has sent to you all his servants the prophets, rising early and sending them; but you have not listened, nor inclined your ear to hear. 5They said, Turn again now every one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings and dwell in the land that the LORD has given to you and to your fathers for ever and ever: 6And do not go after other gods to serve them and to worship them and do not provoke me to anger with the works of your hands; and I will not hurt you. 7Yet you have not listened to me, says the LORD; that you might provoke me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt. 8Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts; Because you have not heard my words, 9Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, says the LORD and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant and will bring them against this land and against its inhabitants and against all these nations round about and will utterly destroy them and make them an astonishment and a hissing and perpetual desolations. 10Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the candle. 11And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon for seventy years. 12And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation and the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity and will make it perpetual desolations, says the LORD. 13And I will bring on that land all my words which I have pronounced against it, even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations. 14For many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of them also: and I will recompense them according to their deeds and according to the works of their own hands. 15For thus says the LORD God of Israel to me; Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand and cause all the nations, to whom I send you, to drink it. 16And they shall drink and be moved and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them. 17Then I took the cup at the LORD'S hand and made all the nations, to whom the LORD had sent me to drink: 18Even, Jerusalem and the cities of Judah and its kings and its princes, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing and a curse; as it is this day; 19Pharaoh king of Egypt and his servants and his princes, and all his people; 20And all the mingled people and all the kings of the land of Uz and all the kings of the land of the Philistines and Ashkelon and Azzah and Ekron and the remnant of Ashdod, 21Edom and Moab and the children of Ammon, 22And all the kings of Tyre and all the kings of Sidon and the kings of the isles which are beyond the sea, 23Dedan and Tema and Buz and all who are in the farthest corners, 24And all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the mingled people who dwell in the desert, 25And all the kings of Zimri and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes, 26And all the kings of the north, far and near, with one another, and all the kingdoms of the world, which are on the face of the earth: and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them. 27Therefore you shall say to them, Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Drink and be drunk and spue and fall and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you. 28And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, Thus says the LORD of hosts; you shall certainly drink. 29For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name and should you be utterly unpunished? you shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword on all the inhabitants of the earth, says the LORD of hosts. 30Therefore prophesy all these words against them and say to them, The LORD shall roar from on high and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he shall mightily roar on his habitation; he shall give a shout, against all the inhabitants of the earth like those who tread the grapes. 31A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the LORD has a controversy with the nations, he will plead with all flesh; he will give those who are wicked to the sword, says the LORD. 32Thus says the LORD of hosts, Behold, evil shall go out from nation to nation and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth. 33And the slain of the LORD shall be at that day from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung on the ground. 34Howl, you shepherds, and cry; and wallow yourselves in the ashes, you principal ones of the flock: for the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions are accomplished; and you shall fall like a pleasant vessel. 35And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the principal ones of the flock to escape. 36A voice of the cry of the shepherds and a howling of the principal ones of the flock, shall be heard: for the LORD has spoiled their pasture. 37And the peaceable habitations are cut down because of the fierce anger of the LORD. 38He has forsaken his cover, as the lion: for their land is desolate because of the fierceness of the oppressor and because of his fierce anger. BACK   TOP  BOOK TITLES Chapter 26 1In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah this word came from the LORD, saying, 2Thus says the LORD; Stand in the court of the LORD'S house and speak to all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in the LORD'S house, diminish not a word of all the words that I command you to speak to them;: 3Perhaps they will listen and turn every man from his evil way, so that I may repent of the evil, which I purpose to do to them because of the evil of their doings. 4And you shall say to them, Thus says the LORD; If you will not listen to me, to walk in my law, which I have set before you, 5To listen to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I sent to you, both rising up early and sending them, but you have not listened; 6Then I will make this house like Shiloh and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth. 7So the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the LORD. 8Now it came to pass, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that the LORD had commanded him to speak to all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people took him, saying, You shall surely die. 9Why have you prophesied in the name of the LORD, saying, This house shall be like Shiloh and this city shall be desolate without an inhabitant? And all the people were gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the LORD. 10When the princes of Judah heard these things, then they came up from the king's house to the house of the LORD and sat down in the entry of the new gate of the LORD'S house. 11Then the priests and the prophets spoke to the princes and to all the people, saying, This man is worthy to die; for he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your ears. 12Then Jeremiah spoke to all the princes and to all the people, saying, The LORD sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that you have heard. 13Therefore now amend your ways and your doings and obey the voice of the LORD your God; and the LORD will repent of the evil that he has pronounced against you. 14As for me, behold, I am in your hand: do with me as it seems good and fitting to you. 15But know for certain, that if you put me to death, you shall surely bring innocent blood on yourselves and on this city and on its inhabitants: for of a truth the LORD has sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears. 16Then the princes and all the people said to the priests and to the prophets; This man is not worthy to die: for he has spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God. 17Then certain of the elders of the land rose up and spoke to all the assembly of the people, saying, 18Micah the Morasthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah and spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus says the LORD of hosts; Zion shall be plowed like a field and Jerusalem shall become heaps and the mountain of the house like the high places of a forest. 19Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him to death at all? did he not fear the LORD and sought the LORD and the LORD repented of the evil which he had pronounced against them? Thus might we procure great evil against our souls. 20And there was also a man who prophesied in the name of the LORD, Urijah the son of Shemaiah of Kirjathjearim, who prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah: 21And when Jehoiakim the king, with all his mighty men and all the princes, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death: but when Urijah heard it, he was afraid and fled and went into Egypt; 22And Jehoiakim the king sent men into Egypt, namely, Elnathan the son of Achbor and certain men with him into Egypt. 23And they fetched Urijah out of Egypt and brought him to Jehoiakim the king; who killed him with the sword and cast his dead body into the graves of the common people. 24But the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, that they should not give him into the hand of the people to put him to death. BACK   TOP  BOOK TITLES Chapter 27 1In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, 2Thus the LORD said to me; Make bonds and yokes and put them on your neck, 3And send them to the king of Edom and to the king of Moab and to the king of the Ammonites and to the king of Tyre and to the king of Sidon, by the hand of the messengers which come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah; 4And command them to say to their masters, Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Thus shall you say to your masters; 5I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are on the ground and have given it to whom it seemed fitting to me by my great power and by my outstretched arm. 6And now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field I have given him also to serve him. 7And all nations shall serve him, and his son and his son's son, until the time of his land comes: and then many nations and great kings shall serve themselves on him. 8And it shall come to pass, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon and who will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish that nation, with the sword and with the famine and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand, says the LORD. 9Therefore do not listen to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreamers, nor to your enchanters, nor to your sorcerers, who speak to you, saying, you shall not serve the king of Babylon: 10For they prophesy a lie to you, to remove you far from your land; and that I should drive you out and you should perish. 11But the nations who bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, those I will let remain still in their own land, says the LORD; and they shall till it and dwell in it. 12I spoke also to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words, saying, Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him and his people and live. 13Why will you die, you and your people, by the sword, by the famine and by the pestilence, as the LORD has spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon? 14Therefore do not listen to the words of the prophets who speak to you, saying, you shall not serve the king of Babylon: for they prophesy a lie to you. 15For I have not sent them, says the LORD, yet they prophesy a lie in my name; that I might drive you out and that you might perish, you and the prophets who prophesy to you. 16Also I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying, Thus says the LORD; Do not listen to the words of your prophets who prophesy to you, saying, Behold, the vessels of the LORD'S house shall now shortly be brought again from Babylon: for they prophesy a lie to you. 17Do not listen to them; serve the king of Babylon and live: why should this city be laid waste? 18But if they are prophets and if the word of the LORD is with them, let them now make intercession to the LORD of hosts, that the vessels which are left in the house of the LORD and in the house of the king of Judah and at Jerusalem, do not go to Babylon. 19For thus says the LORD of hosts concerning the pillars and concerning the sea and concerning the bases and concerning the residue of the vessels that remain in this city, 20Which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take, when he carried Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon; 21Yes, thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that remain in the house of the LORD, and in the house of the king of Judah and of Jerusalem; 22They shall be carried to Babylon and there shall they be until the day that I visit them, says the LORD; then I will bring them up and restore them to this place. BACK   TOP  BOOK TITLES Chapter 28 1And it came to pass the same year, in the fourth year, and in the fifth month, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, that Hananiah the son of Azur the prophet, who was from Gibeon, spoke to me in the house of the LORD, in the presence of the priests and of all the people, saying, 2Thus speaks the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. 3Within two full years I will bring again all the vessels of the LORD'S house into this place, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place, and carried them to Babylon: 4And I will bring again to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, with all the captives of Judah, who went into Babylon, says the LORD: for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon. 5Then the prophet Jeremiah said to the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests and in the presence of all the people who stood in the house of the LORD, 6Even the prophet Jeremiah said, Amen: the LORD do so: the LORD perform your words which you have prophesied, to bring again from Babylon the vessels of the LORD'S house into this place and all that has been carried away captive. 7But hear now this word that I speak in your ears and in the ears of all the people; 8The prophets who have been before me and before you of old prophesied both against many countries and against great kingdoms, of war and of evil and of pestilence. 9The prophet who prophesies of peace, when the word of the prophet shall come to pass, then shall the prophet be known, that the LORD has truly sent him. 10Then Hananiah the prophet took the yoke off of the prophet Jeremiah's neck and broke it. 11And Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people, saying, Thus says the LORD; Even so I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all nations within the space of two full years. And the prophet Jeremiah went his way. 12Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, after that Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke off of the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, saying, 13Go and tell Hananiah, saying, Thus says the LORD; You have broken the yokes of wood; but you shall make for them yokes of iron. 14For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; I have put a yoke of iron on the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they shall serve him: and I have given him the beasts of the field also. 15Then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah the prophet, Hear now, Hananiah; The LORD has not sent you; but you make this people to trust in a lie. 16Therefore thus says the LORD; Behold, I will cast you off of the face of the earth: this year you shall die, because you have taught rebellion against the LORD. 17So Hananiah the prophet died the same year in the seventh month. BACK   TOP  BOOK TITLES Chapter 29 1Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the residue of the elders who were carried away captives and to the priests and to the prophets and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon; 2(After Jeconiah the king and the queen and the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, and the carpenters and the smiths, were deported from Jerusalem;) 3By the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, (whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon) saying, 4Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all who are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon; 5Build houses and dwell in them; and plant gardens and eat the fruit of them; 6Take wives and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters; so that you may be increased there and not diminished. 7And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captives and pray to the LORD for it: for in its peace you shall have peace. 8For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Do not let your prophets and your diviners, who are in the midst of you, deceive you, neither listen to your dreams which are caused to be dreamed. 9For they prophesy falsely to you in my name: I have not sent them, says the LORD. 10For thus says the LORD, That after seventy years are accomplished at Babylon I will visit you and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place. 11For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end. 12Then you shall call on me and you shall go and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13And you shall seek me and find me, when you shall search for me with all your heart. 14And I will be found of you, says the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place where I caused you to be carried away from captive. 15Because you have said, The LORD has raised us up prophets in Babylon; 16Know that thus says the LORD of the king who sits on the throne of David and of all the people who dwell in this city, and of your brothers who are not gone out with you into captivity; 17Thus says the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will send on them the sword, the famine and the pestilence and will make them like vile figs, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil. 18And I will persecute them with the sword, with the famine and with the pestilence and will deliver them to be removed to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse and an astonishment and a hissing and a reproach, among all the nations where I have driven them: 19Because they have not listened to my words, says the LORD, which I sent to them by my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them; but you would not hear, says the LORD. 2021Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, of Ahab the son of Kolaiah and of Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who prophesy a lie to you in my name; Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and he shall kill them before your eyes; 22And a curse shall be taken up from them by all the captivity of Judah who are in Babylon, saying, The LORD make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire; 23Because they have committed villainy in Israel and have committed adultery with their neighbors' wives and have spoken lying words in my name, which I have not commanded them; even I know and am a witness, says the LORD. BACK   TOP  BOOK TITLES Chapter 30 1The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, 2Thus speaks the LORD God of Israel, saying, Write all the words that I have spoken to you in a book. 3For, lo, the days come, says the LORD, that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, says the LORD: and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers and they shall possess it. 4And these are the words that the LORD spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah. 5For thus says the LORD; We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear and not of peace. 6Ask now and see whether a man travails with child? why do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail and all faces are turned into paleness? 7Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it. 8For it shall come to pass in that day, says the LORD of hosts, that I will break his yoke off of your neck and will burst your bonds and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him: 9But they shall serve the LORD their God and David their king, whom I will raise up to them. 10Therefore do not fear, O my servant Jacob, says the LORD; nor be dismayed, O Israel: for, lo, I will save you from afar and your seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return and shall be in rest and be quiet and none shall make him afraid. 11For I am with you, says the LORD, to save you: even if I make a full end of all nations where I have scattered you, yet I will not make a full end of you: but I will correct you in measure and will not leave you altogether unpunished. 12For thus says the LORD, your bruise is incurable, and your wound is grievous. 13There is no one to plead your cause, that you may be bound up: you have no healing medicines. 14All your lovers have forgotten you; they do not seek you; for I have wounded you with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the multitude of your iniquity; because your sins were increased. 15Why do you cry for your affliction? your sorrow is incurable for the multitude of your iniquity: because your sins were increased, I have done these things to you. 16Therefore all those who devour you shall be devoured; and all your adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity; and those who spoil you shall be a spoil and all who prey on you I will give for a prey. 17For I will restore health to you and I will heal you of your wounds, says the LORD; because they called you an outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeks after. 18Thus says the LORD; Behold, I will bring again the captivity of Jacob's tents and have mercy on his dwelling places; and the city shall be built on her own heap and the palace shall remain after their manner. 19And out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of those who make merry: and I will multiply them and they shall not be few; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small. 20Their children also shall be as before and their congregation shall be established before me and I will punish all who oppress them. 21And their nobles shall be of themselves and their governor shall proceed from the midst of them; and I will cause him to draw near and he shall approach to me: for who is this who engaged his heart to approach to me? says the LORD. 22And you shall be my people and I will be your God. 23Behold, the whirlwind of the LORD goes forth with fury, a continuing whirlwind: it shall fall with pain on the head of the wicked. 24The fierce anger of the LORD shall not return, until he has done it, and until he has performed the intents of his heart: in the latter days you shall consider it. BACK   TOP  BOOK TITLES Chapter 31 1At the same time, says the LORD, I will be the God of all the families of Israel and they shall be my people. 2Thus says the LORD, The people which were left from the sword found grace in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest. 3The LORD has appeared of old to me, saying, Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love: therefore I have drawn you with loving kindness. 4Again I will build you and you shall be built, O virgin of Israel: you shall again be adorned with your tablets and shall go forth in the dances of those who make merry. 5You shall yet plant vines on the mountains of Samaria: the planters shall plant and shall eat them as common things. 6For there shall be a day, that the watchmen [Nazarenes] on Mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise and let us go up to Zion to the LORD our God. 7For thus says the LORD; Sing with gladness for Jacob and shout among the chief of the nations: Publish! praise! and say, O LORD, save your people, the remnant of Israel. 8Behold, I will bring them from the north country and gather them from the coasts of the earth, and the blind and the lame with them, the woman with child and her who travails with child together: a great company shall return there. 9They shall come with weeping and I will lead them with supplications: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, in which they shall not stumble: for I am a father to Israel and Ephraim is my firstborn. 10Hear the word of the LORD, O you nations and declare it in the isles far off and say, He who scattered Israel will gather him and keep him, as a shepherd does his flock. 11For the LORD has redeemed Jacob and ransomed him from the hand of him who was stronger than he. 12Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion and shall flow together to the goodness of the LORD, for wheat and for wine and for oil and for the young of the flock and of the herd: and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all. 13Then the virgin shall rejoice in the dance, both young men and old together: for I will turn their mourning into joy and will comfort them and make them rejoice from their sorrow. 14And I will satisfy the soul of the priests with fatness and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, says the LORD. 15Thus says the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rachel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not. 16Thus says the LORD; Refrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears: for your work shall be rewarded, says the LORD; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy. 17And the LORD says, there is hope in your future, that your children shall come again to their own border. 18I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus; You have chastised me and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: turn me and I shall be turned; for you are the LORD my God. 19Surely after I was turned, I repented; and after I was instructed, I struck on my thigh: I was ashamed, yes, even confounded, because I bore the reproach of my youth. 20Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant child? for since I spoke against him, I earnestly remember him still: therefore my inward parts are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy on him, says the LORD. 21Set up monuments, make high heaps: set your heart toward the highway, even the way which you went: turn again, O virgin of Israel, turn again to these your cities. 22How long will you go about, O backsliding daughter? for the LORD has created a new thing in the earth, A woman shall compass a man. 23Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; As yet they shall use this speech in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I shall bring again their captivity; The LORD bless you, O habitation of justice, and mountain of holiness. 24And husbandmen and those who go out with flocks shall dwell there in Judah itself and in all its cities together. 25For I have satiated the weary soul and I have replenished every sorrowful soul. 26On this I awoke and beheld; and my sleep was sweet to me. 27Behold, the days come, says the LORD, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and with the seed of beast. 28And it shall come to pass, that even as I have watched over them, to pluck up and to break down and to throw down and to destroy and to afflict; so I will watch over them, to build and to plant, says the LORD. 29In those days they shall not say any more: The fathers have eaten a sour grape and the children's teeth are set on edge. 30But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge. 31Behold, the days come, says the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: 32Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which covenant they broke, although I was a husband to them, says the LORD: 33But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts; and will be their God and they shall be my people. 34And they shall not teach every man his neighbor and every man his brother any more, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more. 35Thus says the LORD, who gives the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, who divides the sea when its waves roar; The LORD of hosts is his name: 36If those ordinances depart from before me, says the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever. 37Thus says the LORD; If heaven above can be measured and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, says the LORD. 38Behold, the days come, says the LORD, that the city shall be built to the LORD from the tower of Hananeel to the gate of the corner. 39And the measuring line shall yet go forth opposite it on the hill Gareb and shall go round about to Goath. 40And the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes and all the fields to the brook of Kidron, to the corner of the horse gate toward the east, shall be holy to the LORD; it shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down any more for ever. BACK   TOP  BOOK TITLES Chapter 32 1The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. 2For then the king of Babylon's army besieged Jerusalem: and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the prison, which was in the king of Judah's house. 3For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, Why do you prophesy and say, Thus says the LORD, Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon and he shall take it; 4And Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans, but shall surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon and shall speak with him mouth to mouth and his eyes shall behold his eyes; 5And he shall lead Zedekiah to Babylon and there shall he be until I visit him, says the LORD: though you fight with the Chaldeans, you shall not prosper. 6And Jeremiah said, The word of the LORD came to me, saying, 7Behold, Hanameel the son of Shallum your uncle shall come to you, saying, Buy my field that is in Anathoth: for the right of redemption is yours to buy it. 8So Hanameel my uncle's son came to me in the court of the prison according to the word of the LORD and said to me, Buy my field, I pray you, that is in Anathoth, which is in the country of Benjamin: for the right of inheritance is yours and the redemption is yours; buy it for yourself. Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD. 9And I bought the field from Hanameel my uncle's son, who was in Anathoth and weighed him the money, even seventeen shekels of silver. 10And I subscribed the evidence and sealed it and took witnesses and weighed him the money in the balances. 11So I took the evidence of the purchase, both that which was sealed according to the law and custom, and that which was open: 12And I gave the evidence of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, in the sight of Hanameel my uncle's son and in the presence of the witnesses who subscribed the book of the purchase, before all the Jews who sat in the court of the prison. 13And I charged Baruch before them, saying, 14Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Take these evidences, this evidence of the purchase, both which is sealed and this evidence which is open; and put them in an earthen vessel, that they may continue many days. 15For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land. 16Now when I had delivered the evidence of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to the LORD, saying, 17Ah Lord GOD! behold, you have made the heaven and the earth by your great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for you: 18You show loving kindness to thousands and recompense the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them: the Great, the Mighty God, the LORD of hosts, is his name, 19Great in counsel and mighty in work: for your eyes are open on all the ways of the sons of men: to give every one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings: 20Who has set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, even to this day and in Israel and among other men; and have made you a name, as at this day; 21And have brought forth your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and with wonders and with a strong hand and with a stretched out arm and with great terror; 22And have given them this land, which you swore to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey; 23And they came in and possessed it; but they did not obey your voice, nor walk in your law; they have done nothing of all that you commanded them to do: therefore you have caused all this evil to come on them: 24Behold the mounts, they are come to the city to take it; and the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans, who fight against it, because of the sword and of the famine and of the pestilence: and what you have spoken has come to pass; and, behold, you see it. 25And you have said to me, O Lord GOD, Buy the field for money and take witnesses; for the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans. 26Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying, 27Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me? 28Therefore thus says the LORD; Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and he shall take it: 29And the Chaldeans, who fight against this city, shall come and set this city on fire and burn it with the houses, on whose roofs they have offered incense to Baal, and poured out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke me to anger. 30For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have done only evil before me from their youth: for the children of Israel have only provoked me to anger with the work of their hands, says the LORD. 31For this city has been to me as and a provocation of my anger of my fury from the day that they built it even to this day; that I should remove it from before my face, 32Because of all the evil of the children of Israel and of the children of Judah, which they have done to provoke me to anger, they, their kings, their princes, their priests and their prophets and the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 33And they have turned their back to me and not their face: though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not listened to receive instruction. 34But they set their abominations in the house, which is called by my name, to defile it. 35And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to Molech; which I did not command them, neither did it come into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin. 36And now therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning this city, of which you say, It shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword and by the famine, and by the pestilence; 37Behold, I will gather them out of all countries, where I have driven them in my anger and in my fury and in great wrath; and I will bring them again to this place and I will cause them to dwell safely: 38And they shall be my people and I will be their God: 39And I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them and of their children after them: 40And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, so that they shall not depart from me. 41Yes, I will rejoice over them to do them good and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul. 42For thus says the LORD; Just as I have brought all this great evil on this people, so I will bring on them all the good that I have promised them. 43And fields shall be bought in this land, of which you say, It is desolate without man or beast; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans. 44Men shall buy fields for money and subscribe evidences and seal them and take witnesses in the land of Benjamin and in the places about Jerusalem and in the cities of Judah and in the cities of the mountains and in the cities of the valley and in the cities of the south: for I will cause their captivity to return, says the LORD. BACK   TOP  BOOK TITLES Chapter 33 1Moreover the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the second time, while he was still shut up in the court of the prison, saying, 2Thus says the LORD its maker, the LORD who formed it, to establish it; the LORD is his name; 3Call to me and I will answer you and show great and mighty things, which you do not know. 4For thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, which are thrown down by the mounts and by the sword; 5They come to fight with the Chaldeans, but it is to fill them with the dead bodies of men, whom I have slain in my anger and in my fury and for all whose wickedness I have hid my face from this city. 6Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them and will reveal to them the abundance of peace and truth. 7And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return and will build them, as at the first. 8And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, by which they have sinned against me; and I will pardon all their iniquities, by which they have sinned and by which they have transgressed against me. 9And it shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and an honor before all the nations of the earth, who shall hear all the good that I will do to them: and they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and for all the prosperity that I will procure to it. 10Thus says the LORD; Again there shall be heard in this place (which you say shall be desolate without man and without beast, even in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, that are desolate, without man and without inhabitant and without beast) 11The voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who shall say, Praise the LORD of hosts: for the LORD is good; for his mercy endures for ever: and of those who shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the LORD. For I will cause the captivity of the land to return, as at the first, says the LORD. 12Thus says the LORD of hosts; Again in this place, which is desolate without man and without beast, and in all its cities, shall be a habitation of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down. 13In the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the vale and in the cities of the south and in the land of Benjamin and in the places about Jerusalem and in the cities of Judah, the flocks shall pass again under the hands of him who calls them, says the LORD. 14Behold, the days come, says the LORD, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah. 15In those days and at that time, I will cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up to David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land. 16In those days shall Judah be saved and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name with which she shall be called, The LORD our righteousness. 17For thus says the LORD; David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel; 18Neither shall the priests the Levites lack a man before me to offer burnt offerings and to kindle meat offerings and to do sacrifice continually. 19And the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying, 20Thus says the LORD; If you can break my covenant of the day and my covenant of the night and that there should not be day and night in their season; 21Then also my covenant may be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign on his throne; and with the Levites the priests, my ministers. 22As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured: so I will multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Levites who minister to me. 23Moreover the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying, 24Do not consider what these people have spoken, saying, The two families which the LORD has chosen, he has even cast them off? thus they have despised my people, that they should not be a nation any more before them. 25Thus says the LORD; If my covenant is not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth; 26Then I will cast away the seed of Jacob and David my servant, so that I will not take any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return and have mercy on them. BACK   TOP  BOOK TITLES Chapter 34 1The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and all his army and all the kingdoms of the earth of his dominion and all the people, fought against Jerusalem and against all its cities, saying, 2Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel; Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah and tell him, Thus says the LORD; Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon and he shall burn it with fire: 3And you shall not escape out of his hand, but shall surely be taken and delivered into his hand; and your eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon and he shall speak with you mouth to mouth and you shall go to Babylon. 4Yet hear the word of the LORD, O Zedekiah king of Judah; Thus says the LORD of you, You shall not die by the sword: 5But you shall die in peace: and with the burnings of your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so shall they burn odors for you; and they will lament you, saying, Ah lord! for I have pronounced the word, says the LORD. 6Then Jeremiah the prophet spoke all these words to Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem, 7When the king of Babylon's army fought against Jerusalem and against all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish and against Azekah: for these defensed cities remained of the cities of Judah. 8This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, after that the king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people who were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty to them; 9That every man should let his manservant and every man his maidservant, being a Hebrew or a Hebrewess, go free; that none should serve himself by them, even of a Jew his brother. 10Now when all the princes and all the people, who had entered into the covenant, heard that every one should let his manservant and every one his maidservant, go free, that no one should serve themselves by them any more, then they obeyed and let them go. 11But afterward they turned, and caused the servants and the handmaids, whom they had let go free, to return and brought them into subjection for servants and for handmaids. 12Therefore the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, 13Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel; I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondmen, saying, 14At the end of seven years you will let go every man his brother a Hebrew, which has been sold to you; and when he has served you six years, you shall let him go free from you: but your fathers did not listen to me, nor inclined their ear. 15And you were now turned, and had done right in my sight, in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbor; and you had made a covenant before me in the house which is called by my name: 16But you turned and polluted my name and caused every man his servant and every man his handmaid, whom you had set at liberty at their pleasure, to return and brought them into subjection, to be servants and handmaids to you. 17Therefore thus says the LORD; you have not listened to me, in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother and every man to his neighbor: behold, I proclaim a liberty for you, says the LORD, to the sword, to the pestilence and to the famine; and I will make you to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth. 18And I will give the men who have transgressed my covenant, who have not performed the words of the covenant which they made before me, when they cut the calf in two and passed between its parts, 19The princes of Judah and the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs and the priests and all the people of the land, who passed between the parts of the calf; 20I will even give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life: and their dead bodies shall be for meat to the fowls of the heaven and to the beasts of the earth. 21And I will give Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their lives and into the hand of the king of Babylon's army, who are gone up from you. 22Behold, I will command, says the LORD and cause them to return to this city; and they shall fight against it and take it, and burn it with fire: and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without an inhabitant. BACK   TOP  BOOK TITLES Chapter 35 1The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, saying, 2Go to the house of the Rechabites and speak to them and bring them into the house of the LORD, into one of the chambers and give them wine to drink. 3Then I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habaziniah and his brothers and all his sons, and the whole house of the Rechabites; 4And I brought them into the house of the LORD, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan, the son of Igdaliah, a man of God, who was by the chamber of the princes, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the keeper of the door: 5And I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites pots full of wine and cups and I said to them, Drink wine. 6But they said, We will drink no wine: for Jonadab the son of Rechab our father commanded us, saying, you shall drink no wine, neither you, nor your sons for ever: 7Neither shall you build a house, nor sow seed, nor plant a vineyard, nor own any of them: but all your days you shall dwell in tents; that you may live many days in the land where you are strangers. 8Thus we have obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab our father in all that he has charged us, to drink no wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, nor our daughters; 9Nor to build houses for us to dwell in: neither have we vineyards, nor fields, nor seed: 10But we have dwelled in tents and have obeyed and done according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us. 11But it came to pass, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up into the land, that we said, Come and let us go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chaldeans and for fear of the army of the Syrians: so we dwell at Jerusalem. 12Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying, 13Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Go and tell the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Will you not receive instruction to listen to my words? says the LORD. 14The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, which he commanded his sons not to drink wine, are performed; for to this day they drink none, but obey their father's commandment: but I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking; but you did not listen to me. 15I have also sent to you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, Return now every man from his evil way and amend your doings and do not go after other gods to serve them and you shall dwell in the land which I have given to you and to your fathers: but you have not inclined your ear, nor listened to me. 16Because the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have performed the commandment of their father, which he commanded them; but this people has not listened to me: 17Therefore thus says the LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring on Judah and on all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the evil that I have pronounced against them: because I have spoken to them, but they have not heard; and I have called to them, but they have not answered. 18And Jeremiah said to the house of the Rechabites, Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Because you have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father and kept all his precepts, and have done according to all that he has commanded you: 19Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not lack a man to stand before me for ever. BACK   TOP  BOOK TITLES Chapter 36 1And it came to pass in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, that this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, 2Take a roll of a book and write in it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel and against Judah and against all the nations, from the day I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah, even to this day. 3It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to do to them; that they may return every man from his evil way; so that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin. 4Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah: and Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the LORD, which he had spoken to him, on a roll of a book. 5And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, I am shut up; I cannot go into the house of the LORD: 6Therefore go and read in the roll, which you have written from my mouth, the words of the LORD in the ears of the people in the LORD'S house on the fasting day: and also you shall read them in the ears of all Judah who come out of their cities. 7It may be they will present their supplication before the LORD and will return every one from his evil way: for great is the anger and the fury that the LORD has pronounced against this people. 8And Baruch the son of Neriah did according to all which Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading in the book the words of the LORD in the LORD'S house. 9And it came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, in the ninth month, that they proclaimed a fast before the LORD to all the people in Jerusalem and to all the people who came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem. 10Then Baruch read in the book the words of Jeremiah, in the ears of all the people in the house of the LORD, in the chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the scribe, in the higher court, at the entry of the new gate of the LORD'S house. 11When Michaiah the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, had heard out of the book all the words of the LORD, 12Then he went down into the king's house, into the scribe's chamber: and, lo, all the princes sat there, even Elishama the scribe and Delaiah the son of Shemaiah and Elnathan the son of Achbor and Gemariah the son of Shaphan and Zedekiah the son of Hananiah and all the princes. 13Then Michaiah declared to them all the words that he had heard, when Baruch read the book in the ears of the people. 14Therefore all the princes sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, to Baruch, saying, Take in your hand the roll in which you have read in the ears of the people and come. So Baruch the son of Neriah took the roll in his hand and came to them. 15And they said to him, Sit down now and read it in our ears. So Baruch read it in their ears. 16Now it came to pass, when they had heard all the words, they were afraid both one and the other and said to Baruch, We will surely tell the king of all these words. 17And they asked Baruch, saying, Tell us now, How you wrote all these words at his mouth? 18Then Baruch answered them, He pronounced all these words to me with his mouth and I wrote them with ink in the book. 19Then the princes said to Baruch, Go, hide yourself, you and Jeremiah; and let no man know where you are. 20And they went in to the king into the court, but they laid up the roll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe and told all the words in the ears of the king. 21So the king sent Jehudi to fetch the roll: and he took it out of Elishama the scribe's chamber. And Jehudi read it in the ears of the king and in the ears of all the princes which stood beside the king. 22Now the king sat in the winterhouse in the ninth month: and there was a fire on the hearth burning before him. 23And it came to pass, that when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, he cut it with the penknife and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until all the roll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth. 24Yet they were not afraid, nor tore their garments, neither the king, nor any of his servants who heard all these words. 25But Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah had made intercession to the king that he would not burn the roll: but he would not hear them. 26But the king commanded Jerahmeel the son of the king and Seraiah the son of Azriel and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to take Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet: but the LORD hid them. 27Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, after the king had burned the roll, and the words which Baruch wrote at the mouth of Jeremiah, saying, 28Take another roll again, and write in it all the former words that were in the first roll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah has burned. 29And you shall say to Jehoiakim king of Judah, Thus says the LORD; You have burned this roll, saying, Why have you written in it, saying, The king of Babylon shall certainly come and destroy this land and shall cause man and beast to cease from there? 30Therefore thus says the LORD of Jehoiakim king of Judah; He shall have none to sit on the throne of David: and his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat and in the night to the frost. 31And I will punish him and his seed and his servants for their iniquity; and I will bring on them and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem and on the men of Judah, all the evil that I have pronounced against them; but they did not listen. 32Then Jeremiah took another roll and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah; who wrote in it from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire: and there were added besides to them many like words. BACK   TOP  BOOK TITLES Chapter 37 1And king Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah. 2But neither he, nor his servants, nor the people of the land, listened to the words of the LORD, which he spoke by the prophet Jeremiah. 3And Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, Pray now to the LORD our God for us. 4Now Jeremiah came in and went out among the people: for they had not put him into prison yet. 5Then Pharaoh's army came out of Egypt: and when the Chaldeans who besieged Jerusalem heard news of them, they departed from Jerusalem. 6Then the word of the LORD came to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, 7Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel; Thus shall you say to the king of Judah, Who sent you to me to enquire of me? Behold, Pharaoh's army, which comes to help you, shall return to Egypt into their own land. 8And the Chaldeans shall come again and fight against this city and take it and burn it with fire. 9Thus says the LORD; Do not deceive yourselves, saying, The Chaldeans shall surely depart from us: for they shall not depart. 10For even if you had struck the whole army of the Chaldeans who fight against you and there remained only wounded men among them, yet they would rise up every man in his tent and burn this city with fire. 11And it came to pass, that when the army of the Chaldeans was broken up from Jerusalem for fear of Pharaoh's army, 12Then Jeremiah went out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin, to separate himself there in the midst of the people. 13And when he was in the gate of Benjamin, a captain of the ward was there, whose name was Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah; and he took Jeremiah the prophet, saying, You are falling away to the Chaldeans. 14Then Jeremiah said, It is false; I am not falling away to the Chaldeans. But he did not listen to him: so Irijah took Jeremiah and brought him to the princes. 15Therefore the princes were angry with Jeremiah and struck him and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe: for they had made that the prison. 16When Jeremiah was entered into the dungeon and into the cabins and Jeremiah had remained there many days; 17Then Zedekiah the king sent and took him out: and the king asked him secretly in his house and said, Is there any word from the LORD? And Jeremiah said, There is: for, he said, you shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon. 18Moreover Jeremiah said to king Zedekiah, What have I offended against you, or against your servants, or against this people, that you have put me in prison? 19Where are your prophets now which prophesied to you, saying, The king of Babylon shall not come against you, nor against this land? 20Therefore hear now, I pray you, O my lord the king: let my supplication, I pray you, be accepted before you; that you do not cause me to return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there. 21Then Zedekiah the king commanded that they should commit Jeremiah into the court of the prison and that they should give him a daily piece of bread out of the bakers' street, until all the bread in the city was spent. Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison. BACK   TOP  BOOK TITLES Chapter 38 1Then Shephatiah the son of Mattan and Gedaliah the son of Pashur and Jucal the son of Shelemiah and Pashur the son of Malchiah, heard the words that Jeremiah had spoken to all the people, saying, 2Thus says the LORD, He who remains in this city shall die by the sword, by the famine and by the pestilence: but he who goes forth to the Chaldeans shall live; for he shall have his life for a prey and shall live. 3Thus says the LORD, This city shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon's army, who shall take it. 4Therefore the princes said to the king, We beseech you, let this man be put to death: for thus he weakens the hands of the men of war who remain in this city and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words to them: for this man seeks not the welfare of this people, but their hurt. 5Then Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he is in your hand: for the king is not he who can do any thing against you. 6Then they took Jeremiah and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah the son of the king, who was in the court of the prison: and they let down Jeremiah with cords. And there was mire but no water in the dungeon: so Jeremiah sunk in the mire. 7Now when Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, one of the eunuchs who was in the king's house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon; the king was then sitting in the gate of Benjamin; 8Ebedmelech went out of the king's house and spoke to the king, saying, 9My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon; and he is like to die for hunger in the place where he is: for there is no more bread in the city. 10Then the king commanded Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, saying, Take thirty men with you from here and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon, before he dies. 11So Ebedmelech took the men with him and went into the house of the king under the treasury and took old cast clouts and old rotten rags from there and let them down by cords into the dungeon to Jeremiah. 12And Ebedmelech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, Put these old cast clouts and rotten rags under your armpits under the cords now. And Jeremiah did so. 13So they drew up Jeremiah with cords and took him up out of the dungeon: and Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison. 14Then Zedekiah the king sent and took Jeremiah the prophet to him into the third entry that is in the house of the LORD: and the king said to Jeremiah, I will ask you a thing; hide nothing from me. 15Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, If I declare it to you, will you not surely put me to death? and if I give you counsel, you will not listen to me. 16So Zedekiah the king swore secretly to Jeremiah, saying, As the LORD lives, who made us this soul, I will not put you to death, nor will I give you into the hand of these men who seek your life. 17Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, Thus says the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel; If you will assuredly go out to the king of Babylon's princes, then your soul shall live and this city shall not be burned with fire; and you shall live and your house: 18But if you will not go out to the king of Babylon's princes, then this city shall be given into the hand of the Chaldeans and they shall burn it with fire and you shall not escape out of their hand. 19And Zedekiah the king said to Jeremiah, I am afraid of the Jews who have fallen to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand and they mock me. 20But Jeremiah said, They shall not deliver you. I beg you, Obey the voice of the LORD, which I speak to you: so that it will be well with you and your soul shall live. 21But if you refuse to go out, this is the word that the LORD has shown me: 22And, behold, all the women who are left in the king of Judah's house shall be brought out to the king of Babylon's princes and those women shall complain, your friends have influenced and have prevailed against you: your feet are sunk in the mire, and they are turned away back. 23So they shall bring out all your wives and your children to the Chaldeans: and you shall not escape out of their hand, but shall be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon: and you shall cause this city to be burned with fire. 24Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, Let no man know of these words and you shall not die. 25But if the princes hear that I have talked with you and they come to you and say to you, Declare to us now what you have said to the king, also what the king said to you, hide it not from us and we will not put you to death; 26Then you shall say to them, I presented my supplication before the king, that he would not cause me to return to Jonathan's house, to die there. 27Then all the princes came to Jeremiah and asked him: and he told them according to all these words that the king had commanded. So they stopped speaking with him; for the matter was not perceived. 28So Jeremiah abode in the court of the prison until the day that Jerusalem was taken: and he was there when Jerusalem was taken. BACK   TOP  BOOK TITLES Chapter 39 1In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and they besieged it. 2And in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, the city was broken up. 3And all the princes of the king of Babylon came in and sat in the middle gate, even Nergalsharezer, Samgarnebo, Sarsechim, Rabsaris, Nergalsharezer, Rabmag, with all the residue of the princes of the king of Babylon. 4And it came to pass, that when Zedekiah the king of Judah and all the men of war saw them, that then they fled and went out of the city by night, by the way of the king's garden, by the gate between the two walls: and he went out the way of the plain. 5But the Chaldeans' army pursued after them and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho: and when they had taken him, they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he gave judgment on him. 6Then the king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah before his eyes: also the king of Babylon killed all the nobles of Judah. 7Moreover he put out Zedekiah's eyes and bound him with chains, to carry him to Babylon. 8And the Chaldeans burned the king's house and the houses of the people, with fire and broke down the walls of Jerusalem. 9Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive the remnant of the people who remained in the city into Babylon and those who fell away, who fell to him, with the rest of the people who remained. 10But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left of the poor of the people, who had nothing, in the land of Judah and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time. 11Now Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon gave a charge concerning Jeremiah to Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, saying, 12Take him and look well to him and do him no harm; but do to him even as he shall say to you. 13So Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard sent and Nebushasban, Rabsaris and Nergalsharezer, Rabmag and all the king of Babylon's princes; 14Even they sent and took Jeremiah out of the court of the prison and committed him to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan, that he should carry him home: so he dwelled among the people. 15Now the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, while he was shut up in the court of the prison, saying, 16Go and speak to Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, saying, Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring my words on this city for evil and not for good; and they shall be accomplished in that day before you. 17But I will deliver you in that day, says the LORD: and you shall not be given into the hand of the men of whom you are afraid. 18For I will surely deliver you and you shall not fall by the sword, but your life shall be for a prey to you: because you have put your trust in me, says the LORD. BACK   TOP  BOOK TITLES Chapter 40 1The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, after Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had let him go from Ramah, when he had taken him being bound in chains among all who were carried away captive of Jerusalem and Judah, who were carried away captive to Babylon. 2And the captain of the guard took Jeremiah and said to him, The LORD your God has pronounced this evil on this place. 3Now the LORD has brought it and done according as he has said: because you have sinned against the LORD and have not obeyed his voice, therefore this thing is come on you. 4And now, behold, I loose you this day from the chains which were on your hand. If it seems good to you to come with me into Babylon, come; and I will look well to you: but if it seems ill to you to come with me into Babylon, forbear: behold, all the land is before you: where it seems good and convenient for you to go, go there. 5Now while he had not yet gone back, he said, Go back also to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has made governor over the cities of Judah and dwell with him among the people: or go where ever it seems convenient to you to go. So the captain of the guard gave him supplies and a reward and let him go. 6Then Jeremiah went to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah; and dwelled with him among the people who were left in the land. 7Now when all the captains of the forces who were in the fields, even they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam governor in the land and had committed to him men and women and children and of the poor of the land, of those who were not carried away captive to Babylon; 8Then they came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth and the sons of Ephai the Netophathite and Jezaniah the son of a Maachathite, they and their men. 9And Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan swore to them and to their men, saying, Do not fear to serve the Chaldeans: dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon and it shall be well with you. 10As for me, behold, I will dwell at Mizpah to serve the Chaldeans, who will come to us: but you, gather wine and summer fruits and oil and put them in your vessels and dwell in your cities that you have taken. 11Likewise when all the Jews who were in Moab and among the Ammonites and in Edom and who were in all the countries, heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant of Judah and that he had set over them Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan; 12Even all the Jews returned out of all places where they were driven and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah, to Mizpah and gathered very much wine and summer fruits. 13Moreover Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces who were in the fields, came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, 14And said to him, Do you certainly know that Baalis the king of the Ammonites has sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to kill you? But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam did not believe them. 15Then Johanan the son of Kareah spoke to Gedaliah in Mizpah secretly, saying, Let me go, I pray you and I will kill Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and no man shall know it: why should he kill you, that all the Jews who are gathered to you should be scattered and the remnant in Judah perish? 16But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam said to Johanan the son of Kareah, You shall not do this thing: for you speak falsely of Ishmael. BACK   TOP  BOOK TITLES Chapter 41 1Now it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah the son of Elishama, of the royal seed and the princes of the king, even ten men with him, came to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah; and there they ate bread together in Mizpah. 2Then Ishmael the son of Nethaniah arose and the ten men who were with him and struck Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan with the sword and killed him, whom the king of Babylon had made governor over the land. 3Ishmael also killed all the Jews who were with him, even with Gedaliah, at Mizpah and the Chaldeans who were found there, and the men of war. 4And it came to pass the second day after he had killed Gedaliah and no man knew it, 5That certain came there from Shechem, from Shiloh and from Samaria, even eighty men, having their beards shaved and their clothes torn and having cut themselves, with offerings and incense in their hand, to bring them to the house of the LORD. 6And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah went out from Mizpah to meet them, weeping all along as he went: and it came to pass, as he met them, he said to them, Come to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. 7And it was so, when they came into the midst of the city, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah killed them, and he and the men who were with him cast them into the midst of the pit,. 8But ten men were found among those who said to Ishmael, Do not kill us: for we have treasures in the field, of wheat and of barley and of oil and of honey. So he forbore and did not kill them among their brothers. 9Now the pit in which Ishmael had cast all the dead bodies of the men, whom he had killed because of Gedaliah, was that which Asa the king had made for fear of Baasha king of Israel: and Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with those who were killed. 10Then Ishmael carried away captive all the residue of the people who were in Mizpah, even the king's daughters and all the people who remained in Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had committed to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam: and Ishmael the son of Nethaniah carried them away captive and departed to go over to the Ammonites. 11But when Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces who were with him, heard of all the evil that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had done, 12Then they took all the men, and went to fight with Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and found him by the great waters that are in Gibeon. 13Now it came to pass, that when all the people who were with Ishmael saw Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces who were with him, then they were glad. 14So all the people who Ishmael had carried away captive from Mizpah cast about and returned, and went to Johanan the son of Kareah. 15But Ishmael the son of Nethaniah escaped from Johanan with eight men and went to the Ammonites. 16Then Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains took of the forces who were with him, all the remnant of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, from Mizpah, after he had killed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, even mighty men of war and the women and the children and the eunuchs, whom he had brought again from Gibeon: 17And they departed and dwelled in the habitation of Chimham, which is by Bethlehem, to go to enter into Egypt, 18Because of the Chaldeans: for they were afraid of them, because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had killed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon made governor in the land. BACK   TOP  BOOK TITLES Chapter 42 1Then all the captains of the forces and Johanan the son of Kareah and Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah and all the people from the least even to the greatest came near, 2And said to Jeremiah the prophet, We beseech you, let, our supplication be accepted before you and pray for us to the LORD your God, even for all this remnant; (for we, as your eyes behold us, are left a few of many:) 3That the LORD your God may show us the way in which we should walk and the thing that we should do. 4Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, I have heard you; behold, I will pray to the LORD your God according to your words; and it shall come to pass, that whatever thing the LORD shall answer you, I will declare it to you; I will keep nothing back from you. 5Then they said to Jeremiah, The LORD is a true and faithful witness between us, if we do not even according to all things which the LORD your God shall send to us from you. 6Whether it is good, or whether it is evil, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God, to whom we send you; that it may be well with us, when we obey the voice of the LORD our God. 7And it came to pass after ten days, that the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah. 8Then he called Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces which were with him and all the people from the least even to the greatest, 9And said to them, Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your supplication before him; 10If you will still abide in this land, then I will build you and not pull you down and I will plant you and not pluck you up: for I repent of the evil that I have done to you. 11Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom you are afraid; do not be afraid of him, says the LORD: for I am with you to save you and to deliver you from his hand. 12And I will show mercies to you, that he may have mercy on you, and cause you to return to your own land. 13But if you say, We will not dwell in this land, neither obey the voice of the LORD your God, 14Saying, No; but we will go into the land of Egypt, where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor have hunger of bread; and we will dwell there: 15And now therefore hear the word of the LORD, you remnant of Judah; Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; If you wholly set your faces to enter into Egypt, and go to sojourn there; 16Then it shall come to pass, that the sword, which you feared, shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt and the famine, of which you were afraid, shall follow close after you there in Egypt; and there you shall die. 17So shall it be with all the men who set their faces to go into Egypt to sojourn there; they shall die by the sword, by the famine and by the pestilence: and none of them shall remain or escape from the evil that I will bring on them. 18For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; As my anger and my fury has been poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem; so shall my fury be poured out on you, when you shall enter into Egypt: and you shall be a curse and an astonishment and a swearing and a reproach; and you shall not see this place any more. 19The LORD has said concerning you, O you remnant of Judah; Do not go into Egypt: Know certainly that I have admonished you this day. 20For you dissembled in your hearts, when you sent me to the LORD your God, saying, Pray for us to the LORD our God; and according to all that the LORD our God shall say, so declare to us and we will do it. 21And now I have this day declared it to you; but you have not obeyed the voice of the LORD your God, nor any thing for which he has sent me to you. 22Now therefore know certainly that you shall die by the sword, by the famine and by the pestilence, in the place where you desire to go to sojourn. BACK   TOP  BOOK TITLES Chapter 43 1And it came to pass, that when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking to all the people all the words of the LORD their God, for which the LORD their God had sent him to them, even all these words, 2Then Azariah the son of Hoshaiah spoke and Johanan the son of Kareah and all the proud men, saying to Jeremiah, You speak falsely: the LORD our God has not sent you to say, Do not go into Egypt to sojourn there: 3But Baruch the son of Neriah influences you against us, to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they might put us to death and carry us away as captives into Babylon. 4So Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces and all the people, did not obey the voice of the LORD, to dwell in the land of Judah. 5But Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces, took all the remnant of Judah, who were returned from all nations, where they had been driven, to dwell in the land of Judah; 6Even men, and women and children and the king's daughters and every person who Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan and Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch the son of Neriah. 7So they came into the land of Egypt: because they did not obey the voice of the LORD: thus they came to Tahpanhes. 8Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying, 9Take great stones in your hand and hide them in the clay in the brick kiln, which is at the entry of Pharaoh's house in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah; 10And say to them, Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will set his throne on these stones that I have hidden; and he shall spread his royal pavilion over them. 11And when he comes, he shall strike the land of Egypt, and deliver such as are for death to death; and such as are for captivity to captivity; and such as are for the sword to the sword. 12And I will kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt; and he shall burn them and carry them away captives: and he shall array himself with the land of Egypt, as a shepherd puts on his garment; and he shall go forth from there in peace. 13He shall also break the images of Bethshemesh, that are in the land of Egypt; and he shall burn the houses of the gods of the Egyptians with fire . BACK   TOP  BOOK TITLES Chapter 44 1The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews who dwell in the land of Egypt, who dwell at Migdol and at Tahpanhes and at Noph and in the country of Pathros, saying, 2Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; you have seen all the evil that I have brought on Jerusalem and on all the cities of Judah; and, behold, this day they are a desolation and no man dwells there, 3Because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke me to anger, in that they went to burn incense, and to serve other gods, whom they did not know, neither you nor they, nor your fathers knew them. 4However I sent to you all my servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, Oh, do not do this abominable thing that I hate. 5But they did not listen, nor incline their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense to other gods. 6Therefore my fury and my anger was poured out and was kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they are wasted and desolate, as at this day. 7Therefore now thus says the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel; Why do you commit this great evil against your souls, to cut off from you man and woman, child and suckling, out of Judah, to leave no one to remain; 8In that you provoke me to wrath with the works of your hands, burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt, where you are gone to dwell, that you might cut yourselves off and that you might be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth? 9Have you forgotten the wickedness of your fathers and the wickedness of the kings of Judah, and the wickedness of their wives and your own wickedness and the wickedness of your wives, which they have committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 10They are not humbled even to this day, neither have they feared, nor walked in my law, nor in my statutes, that I set before you and before your fathers. 11Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will set my face against you for evil and to cut off all Judah. 12And I will take the remnant of Judah, that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, and they shall all be consumed, and fall in the land of Egypt; they shall even be consumed by the sword and by the famine: they shall die, from the least even to the greatest, by the sword and by the famine: and they shall be a curse, and an astonishment and a swearing and a reproach. 13For I will punish those who dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by the famine and by the pestilence: 14So that none of the remnant of Judah, who are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall escape or remain, that they should return into the land of Judah, to which they have a desire to return to dwell there: for no one shall return but such as shall escape. 15Then all the men who knew that their wives had burned incense to other gods and all the women who stood by, a great multitude, even all the people who dwelled in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying, 16As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD, we will not listen to you. 17But we will certainly do what ever thing goes out of our own mouth, to burn incense to the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: for then we had plenty of supplies and were well and saw no evil. 18But since we left off burning incense to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked all things and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine. 19And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, did we made cakes for her to worship her and pour out drink offerings to her without our men? 20Then Jeremiah said to all the people, to the men and to the women and to all the people who had given him that answer, saying, 21Did the LORD not remember the incense that you burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your fathers, your kings and your princes and the people of the land and did it not come into his mind? 22So that the LORD could no longer bear, because of the evil of your doings, and because of the abominations which you have committed; therefore your land is a desolation and an astonishment and a curse, without an inhabitant, as at this day. 23Because you have burned incense and because you have sinned against the LORD and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD, nor walked in his law, nor in his statutes, nor in his testimonies; therefore this evil has happened to you, as at this day. 24Moreover Jeremiah said to all the people and to all the women, Hear the word of the LORD, all Judah who are in the land of Egypt: 25Thus speaks the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying; you and your wives have both spoken with your mouths and fulfilled with your hand, saying, We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings to her: you will surely accomplish your vows and surely perform your vows. 26Therefore hear you the word of the LORD, all Judah who dwell in the land of Egypt; Behold, I have sworn by my great name, says the LORD, that my name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, The Lord GOD lives. 27Behold, I will watch over them for evil and not for good: and all the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine, until there is an end of them. 28Yet a small number who escape the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah and all the remnant of Judah, who are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there shall know whose words shall stand, mine, or theirs. 29And this shall be a sign to you, says the LORD, that I will punish you in this place, so that you may know that my words shall surely stand against you for evil: 30Thus says the LORD; Behold, I will give Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies and into the hand of those who seek his life; as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, his enemy and who sought his life. BACK   TOP  BOOK TITLES Chapter 45 1The word that Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Baruch the son of Neriah, when he had written these words in a book at the mouth of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, saying, 2Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, to you, O Baruch; 3You said, Woe is me now! for the LORD has added grief to my sorrow; I fainted in my sighing and I find no rest. 4Thus shall you say to him, The LORD says thus; Behold, that which I have built I will break down and that which I have planted I will pluck up, even this whole land. 5And do you seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them: for, behold, I will bring evil on all flesh, says the LORD: but I will give your life to you for a prey in all places where you go. BACK   TOP  BOOK TITLES Chapter 46 1The word of the LORD which came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Gentiles; 2Against Egypt, against the army of Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt, who was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, who Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon struck in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah. 3Order the buckler and shield and draw near to battle. 4Harness the horses; and get up, you horsemen and stand forth with your helmets; Polish the spears, and put on the armors. 5Why have I seen them dismayed and turned away back? and their mighty ones are beaten down and have fled quickly and do not look back: for fear was round about, says the LORD. 6Let not the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape; they shall stumble, and fall toward the north by the river Euphrates. 7Who is this who comes up as a flood, whose waters are moved as the rivers? 8Egypt rises up like a flood and its waters are moved like the rivers; and he says, I will go up, and will cover the earth; I will destroy the city and its inhabitants. 9Come up, you horses; and rage, you chariots; and let the mighty men come forth; the Ethiopians and the Libyans, who handle the shield; and the Lydians, who handle and bend the bow. 10For this is the day of the Lord GOD of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries: and the sword shall devour and it shall be sated and made drunk with their blood: for the Lord GOD of hosts has a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates. 11Go up into Gilead and take balm, O virgin, the daughter of Egypt: in vain shall you use many medicines; for you shall not be cured. 12The nations have heard of your shame and your cry has filled the land: for the mighty man has stumbled against the mighty, and they are both fallen together. 13The word that the LORD spoke to Jeremiah the prophet, how Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon should come and strike the land of Egypt. 14Declare in Egypt and publish in Migdol and publish in Noph and in Tahpanhes: say, Stand fast and prepare; for the sword shall devour round about you. 15Why are your valiant men swept away? they did not stand, because the LORD drove them. 16He made many to fall, yes, one fell on another: and they said, Arise and let us go again to our own people, and to the land of our nativity, from the oppressing sword. 17They cried there, Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise; he has passed the appointed. time 18As I live, says the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts, Surely as Tabor is among the mountains and as Carmel by the sea, so shall he come. 19O you daughter dwelling in Egypt, furnish yourself to go into captivity: for Noph shall be waste and desolate without an inhabitant. 20Egypt is like a very fair heifer, but destruction comes; it comes out of the north. 21Also her hired men are in the midst of her like fatted bullocks; for they also are turned back, and have fled away together: they did not stand, because the day of their calamity came on them, and the time of their visitation. 22The voice of it shall go like a serpent; for they shall march with an army and come against her with axes, as hewers of wood. 23They shall cut down her forest, says the LORD, though it cannot be searched; because they are more than the grasshoppers and are innumerable. 24The daughter of Egypt shall be confounded; she shall be delivered into the hand of the people of the north. 25The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says; Behold, I will punish the multitude of No and Pharaoh and Egypt, with their gods and their kings; even Pharaoh and all those who trust in him: 26And I will deliver them into the hand of those who seek their lives and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of his servants: and afterward it shall be inhabited, as in the days of old, says the LORD. 27But do not fear, O my servant Jacob and do not be dismayed, O Israel: for, behold, I will save you from afar off and your seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return and be in rest and at ease and no one shall make him afraid. 28Do not fear, O Jacob my servant, says the LORD: for I am with you; for I will make a full end of all the nations where I have driven you: but I will not make a full end of you, but I will correct you in measure; yet I will not leave you wholly unpunished. BACK   TOP  BOOK TITLES Chapter 47 1The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Philistines, before Pharaoh struck Gaza. 2Thus says the LORD; Behold, waters rise up out of the north and shall be an overflowing flood and shall overflow the land and all that is in it; the city and those who dwell in it: then the men shall cry and all the inhabitants of the land shall howl. 3At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his strong horses, at the rushing of his chariots, and at the rumbling of his wheels, the fathers shall not look back to their children for feebleness of hands; 4Because of the day that comes to spoil all the Philistines, and to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every helper who remains: for the LORD will spoil the Philistines, the remnant of the country of Caphtor. 5Baldness is come on Gaza; Ashkelon is cut off with the remnant of their valley: how long will you cut yourself? 6O you sword of the LORD, how long will it be before you are quiet? put up yourself into your scabbard, rest and be still. 7How can it be quiet, seeing the LORD has given it a charge against Ashkelon and against the sea shore? he has appointed it there. BACK   TOP  BOOK TITLES Chapter 48 1Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, against Moab; Woe to Nebo! for it is spoiled: Kiriathaim is confounded and taken: Misgab is confounded and dismayed. 2There shall be no more praise of Moab: in Heshbon they have devised evil against it; come and let us cut it off from being a nation. Also you shall be cut down, O Mademen; the sword shall pursue you. 3A voice of crying shall be from Horonaim, spoiling and great destruction. 4Moab is destroyed; her little ones have caused a cry to be heard. 5For in the going up of Luhith continual weeping shall go up; for in the going down of Horonaim the enemies have heard a cry of destruction. 6Flee, save your lives and be like the heath in the wilderness. 7For because you have trusted in your works and in your treasures, you shall also be taken: and Chemosh shall go forth into captivity with his priests and his princes together. 8And the spoiler shall come on every city and no city shall escape: the valley also shall perish and the plain shall be destroyed, as the LORD has spoken. 9Give wings to Moab, that it may flee and get away: for its cities shall be desolate, without any to dwell in them. 10Cursed is he who does the work of the LORD deceitfully and cursed is he who keeps back his sword from blood. 11Moab has been at ease from his youth and he has settled on his lees and has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither has he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remained in him and his scent is not changed. 12Therefore, behold, the days come, says the LORD, that I will send wanderers to him, who shall cause him to wander and shall empty his vessels and break their bottles. 13And Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel their confidence. 14How do you say, We are mighty and strong men for the war? 15Moab is spoiled and gone up out of her cities and his chosen young men are gone down to the slaughter, says the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts. 16The calamity of Moab is near to come and his affliction hurries fast. 17All you who are about him, bemoan him; and all you who know his name, say, How is the strong staff and the beautiful rod broken! 18You daughter who inhabits Dibon, come down from your glory and sit in thirst; for the spoiler of Moab shall come on you, and he shall destroy your strong holds. 19O inhabitant of Aroer, stand by the way and spy; ask him who flees, and her who escapes, and say, What is done? 20Moab is confounded; for it is broken down: howl and cry; tell it in Arnon, that Moab is spoiled, 21And judgment is come on the plain country; on Holon and on Jahazah and on Mephaath, 22And on Dibon and on Nebo and on Bethdiblathaim, 23And on Kiriathaim and on Bethgamul and on Bethmeon, 24And on Kerioth and on Bozrah, and on all the cities of the land of Moab, far or near. 25The horn of Moab is cut off and his arm is broken, says the LORD. 26Make him drunk: for he magnified himself against the LORD: Moab shall also wallow in his vomit and he also shall be in derision. 27For was not Israel a derision to you? was he found among thieves? for since you spoke of him, you skipped for joy. 28O you who dwell in Moab, leave the cities and dwell in the rock and be like the dove who makes her nest in the sides of the hole's mouth. 29We have heard the pride of Moab, (he is exceeding proud) his loftiness and his arrogance and his pride and the haughtiness of his heart. 30I know his wrath, says the LORD; but it shall not be so; his lies shall not so effect it. 31Therefore I will howl for Moab and I will cry out for all Moab; my heart shall mourn for the men of Kirheres. 32O vine of Sibmah, I will weep for you with the weeping of Jazer: your plants are gone over the sea, they reach even to the sea of Jazer: the spoiler is fallen on your summer fruits and on your vintage. 33And joy and gladness is taken from the plentiful field and from the land of Moab; and I have caused wine to fail from the winepresses: no one shall tread with shouting; their shouting shall be no shouting. 34From the cry of Heshbon even to Elealeh, and even to Jahaz, they have uttered their voice, from Zoar even to Horonaim, as a heifer of three years old: for the waters also of Nimrim shall be desolate. 35Moreover I will cause to cease in Moab, says the LORD, him who offers in the high places and him who burns incense to his gods. 36Therefore my heart shall sound for Moab like pipes and my heart shall sound like pipes for the men of Kirheres: because the riches that he has gotten are perished. 37For every head shall be bald and every beard clipped: on all the hands shall be cuttings and sackcloth on the loins. 38There shall be lamentation generally on all the housetops of Moab and in its streets: for I have broken Moab like a vessel in which is no pleasure, says the LORD. 39They shall howl, saying, How is it broken down! how has Moab turned the back with shame! so shall Moab be a derision and a dismaying to all them about him. 40For thus says the LORD; Behold, he shall fly as an eagle and shall spread his wings over Moab. 41Kerioth is taken and the strong holds are surprised and the mighty men's hearts in Moab at that day shall be as the heart of a woman in her pangs. 42And Moab shall be destroyed from being a people, because he has magnified himself against the LORD. 43Fear and the pit and the snare, shall be on you, O inhabitant of Moab, says the LORD. 44He who flees from the fear shall fall into the pit; and he who gets up out of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for I will bring on it, even on Moab, the year of their visitation, says the LORD. 45Those who fled stood under the shadow of Heshbon because of the force: but a fire shall come forth out of Heshbon and a flame from the midst of Sihon and shall devour the corner of Moab and the crown of the head of the tumultuous ones. 46Woe be to you, O Moab! the people of Chemosh perishes: for your sons are taken captives and your daughters captives. 47Yet I will bring again the captivity of Moab in the latter days, says the LORD. Thus far is the judgment of Moab. BACK   TOP  BOOK TITLES Chapter 49 1Concerning the Ammonites, thus says the LORD; Has Israel no sons? has he no heir? why then does their king inherit Gad and his people dwell in his cities? 2Therefore, behold, the days come, says the LORD, that I will cause an alarm of war to be heard in Rabbah of the Ammonites; and it shall be a desolate heap and her daughters shall be burned with fire: then shall Israel be heir to those who were his heirs, says the LORD. 3Howl, O Heshbon, for Ai is spoiled: cry, you daughters of Rabbah, gird with sackcloth; lament and run to and fro by the hedges; for their king shall go into captivity, and his priests and his princes together. 4Why do you glory in the valleys, your flowing valley, O backsliding daughter? who trusted in her treasures, saying, Who shall come to me? 5Behold, I will bring a fear on you, says the Lord GOD of hosts, from all those who are about you; and you shall be driven out, every man right out; and no one shall gather up him who wanders. 6And afterward I will bring again the captivity of the children of Ammon, says the LORD. 7Concerning Edom, thus says the LORD of hosts; Is wisdom no more in Teman? is counsel perished from the prudent? is their wisdom vanished? 8Flee, turn back, dwell deep, O inhabitants of Dedan; for I will bring the calamity of Esau on him, the time that I will visit him. 9If grape gatherers come to you, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? if thieves by night, they would destroy till they have enough. 10But I have made Esau bare, I have uncovered his secret places and he shall not be able to hide himself: his seed is spoiled and his brothers and his neighbors and he is not. 11Leave your fatherless children, I will preserve them alive; and let your widows trust in me. 12For thus says the LORD; Behold, those whose judgment was not to drink of the cup have assuredly drunk; and are you he who shall altogether go unpunished? you shall not go unpunished, but you shall surely drink of it. 13For I have sworn by myself, says the LORD, that Bozrah shall become a desolation, a reproach, a waste and a curse; and all its cities shall be perpetual wastes. 14I have heard a rumor from the LORD and an ambassador is sent to the heathen, saying, Gather together and come against her and rise up to the battle. 15For, lo, I will make you small among the heathen, and despised among men. 16Your terribleness has deceived you, and the pride of your heart, O you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, who holds the height of the hill: though you should make your nest as high as the eagle, I will bring you down from there, says the LORD. 17Also Edom shall be a desolation: every one who goes by it shall be astonished and shall hiss at all its plagues. 18As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbor cities, says the LORD, no man shall abide there, neither shall a son of man dwell in it. 19Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan against the habitation of the strong: but I will suddenly make him run away from her: and who is a chosen man, who I may appoint over her? for who is like me? and who will appoint me the time? and who is that shepherd who will stand before me? 20Therefore hear the counsel of the LORD, that he has taken against Edom; and his purposes, that he has purposed against the inhabitants of Teman: Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out: surely he shall make their habitations desolate with them. 21The earth is moved at the noise of their fall, at the cry its noise was heard in the Red Sea. 22Behold, he shall come up and fly as the eagle and spread his wings over Bozrah: and at that day shall the heart of the mighty men of Edom be as the heart of a woman in her pangs. 23Concerning Damascus. Hamath is confounded and Arpad: for they have heard evil tidings: they are fainthearted; there is sorrow on the sea; it cannot be quiet. 24Damascus has grown feeble, and turns herself to flee and fear has seized on her: anguish and sorrows have taken her, as a woman in travail. 25How is the city of praise not left, the city of my joy! 26Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets and all the men of war shall be cut off in that day, says the LORD of hosts. 27And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus and it shall consume the palaces of Benhadad. 28Concerning Kedar and concerning the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon shall strike, thus says the LORD; Arise, go up to Kedar and spoil the men of the east. 29Their tents and their flocks shall they take away: they shall take to themselves their curtains, and all their vessels and their camels; and they shall cry to them, Fear is on every side. 30Flee, get far off, dwell deep, O you inhabitants of Hazor, says the LORD; for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has taken counsel against you and has conceived a purpose against you. 31Arise, get up to the wealthy nation, that dwells without care, says the LORD, which has neither gates nor bars, which dwells alone. 32And their camels shall be a booty and the multitude of their cattle a spoil: and I will scatter into all winds those who are in the utmost corners; and I will bring their calamity from all sides of it, says the LORD. 33And Hazor shall be a dwelling for dragons, and a desolation for ever: no man shall abide there, nor any son of man dwell in it. 34The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet against Elam in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying, 35Thus says the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the chief of their might. 36And on Elam I will bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven and will scatter them toward all those winds; and there shall be no nation where the outcasts of Elam shall not come. 37For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies and before those who seek their life: and I will bring evil on them, even my fierce anger, says the LORD; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them: 38And I will set my throne in Elam and will destroy from there the king and the princes, says the LORD. 39But it shall come to pass in the latter days, that I will bring again the captivity of Elam, says the LORD. BACK   TOP  BOOK TITLES Chapter 50 1The word that the LORD spoke against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet. 2Declare you among the nations and publish and set up a standard; publish, and do not conceal: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces. 3For out of the north there comes up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate and no one shall dwell there: they shall remove, they shall depart, both man and beast. 4In those days and in that time, says the LORD, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping: they shall go and seek the LORD their God. 5They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces toward there, saying, Come and let us join ourselves to the LORD in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten. 6My people have been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their resting place. 7All who found them have devoured them: and their adversaries said, We do not offend, because they have sinned against the LORD, the habitation of justice, even the LORD, the hope of their fathers. 8Remove out of the midst of Babylon and go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans and be as the he goats before the flocks. 9For, lo, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the north country: and they shall set themselves in array against her; from there she shall be taken: their arrows shall be as of a mighty expert man; none shall return in vain. 10And Chaldea shall be a spoil: all who spoil her shall be satisfied, says the LORD. 11Because you were glad, because you rejoiced, O you destroyers of my heritage, because you are grown fat as the heifer at grass and bellow as bulls; 12Your mother shall be sore confounded; she who bore you shall be ashamed: behold, the hindmost of the nations shall be a wilderness, a dry land and a desert. 13Because of the wrath of the LORD it shall not be inhabited, but it shall be wholly desolate: every one who goes by Babylon shall be astonished and hiss at all her plagues. 14Put yourselves in array against Babylon round about: all you who bend the bow, shoot at her, spare no arrows: for she has sinned against the LORD. 15Shout against her round about: she has given her hand: her foundations are fallen, her walls are thrown down: for it is the vengeance of the LORD: take vengeance on her; as she has done, do to her. 16Cut off the sower from Babylon and him who handles the sickle in the time of harvest: for fear of the oppressing sword they shall turn every one to his people and they shall flee every one to his own land. 17Israel is scattered sheep; the lions have driven him away: first the king of Assyria has devoured him; and last this Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has broken his bones. 18Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria. 19And I will bring Israel again to his habitation and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan and his soul shall be satisfied on mount Ephraim and Gilead. 20In those days and in that time, says the LORD, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah and they shall not be found: for I will pardon those whom I reserve. 21Go up against the land of Merathaim, even against it and against the inhabitants of Pekod: waste and utterly destroy after them, says the LORD and do according to all that I have commanded you. 22A sound of battle is in the land and of great destruction. 23How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken! how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations! 24I have laid a snare for you and you are also taken, O Babylon and you were not aware: you are found and also caught, because you have striven against the LORD. 25The LORD has opened his armory and has brought out the weapons of his indignation: for this is the work of the Lord GOD of hosts in the land of the Chaldeans. 26Come against her from the uttermost border, open her storehouses: cast her up as heaps and destroy her utterly: let nothing of her be left. 27Kill all her bullocks; let them go down to the slaughter: woe to them! for their day is come, the time of their visitation. 28The voice of those who flee and escape out of the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of the LORD our God, the vengeance of his temple. 29Call together the archers against Babylon: all you who bend the bow, camp against it round about; let none of it escape: recompense her according to her work; according to all that she has done, do to her: for she has been proud against the LORD, against the Holy One of Israel. 30Therefore shall her young men fall in the streets and all her men of war shall be cut off in that day, says the LORD. 31Behold, I am against you, O you most proud, says the Lord GOD of hosts: for your day is come, the time that I will visit you. 32And the most proud shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise him up: and I will kindle a fire in his cities and it shall devour all round about him. 33Thus says the LORD of hosts; The children of Israel and the children of Judah were oppressed together: and all who took them captives held them fast; they refused to let them go. 34Their Redeemer is strong; the LORD of hosts is his name: he shall throughly plead their cause, so that he may give rest to the land and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon. 35A sword is on the Chaldeans, says the LORD and on the inhabitants of Babylon and on her princes and on her wise men. 36A sword is on the liars; and they shall dote: a sword is on her mighty men; and they shall be dismayed. 37A sword is on their horses and on their chariots and on all the mingled people who are in the midst of her; and they shall become as women: a sword is on her treasures; and they shall be robbed. 38A drought is on her waters; and they shall be dried up: for it is the land of graven images and they are mad on their idols. 39Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts of the islands shall dwell there and the owls shall dwell there: and it shall be no more inhabited for ever; neither shall it be dwelled in from generation to generation. 40As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and its neighbor cities, says the LORD; so shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell there. 41Behold, a people shall come from the north and a great nation and many kings shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth. 42They shall hold the bow and the lance: they are cruel and will not show mercy: their voice shall roar like the sea and they shall ride on horses, every one put in array, like a man to the battle, against you, O daughter of Babylon. 43The king of Babylon has heard the report of them, and his hands have grown feeble: anguish took hold of him, and pangs as of a woman in travail. 44Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan to the habitation of the strong: but I will make them suddenly run away from her: and who is a chosen man, that I may appoint over her? for who is like me? and who will appoint me the time? and who is that shepherd who will stand before me? 45Therefore hear you the counsel of the LORD, that he has taken against Babylon; and his purposes, that he has purposed against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out: surely he shall make their habitation desolate with them. 46At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth is moved and the cry is heard among the nations. BACK   TOP  BOOK TITLES Chapter 51 1Thus says the LORD; Behold, I will raise up against Babylon and against those who dwell in the midst of those who rise up against me, a destroying wind; 2And will send to Babylon fanners, who shall fan her and shall empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about. 3Let the archer bend his bow against him who bends and against him who lifts himself up in his armor: and spare not her young men; destroy utterly all her host. 4Thus the slain shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans and those who are thrust through in her streets. 5For neither Israel nor Judah has been forsaken of his God, of the LORD of hosts; though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel. 6Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: do not be cut off in her iniquity; for this is the time of the LORD'S vengeance; he will render to her a recompense. 7Babylon has been a golden cup in the LORD'S hand, who made all the earth drunk: the nations have drunk of her wine; therefore the nations are mad. 8Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed. 9We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go every one into his own country: for her judgment reaches to heaven and is lifted up even to the skies. 10The LORD has brought out our righteousness: come and let us declare in Zion the work of the LORD our God. 11Make bright the arrows; gather the shields: the LORD has raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes: for his device is against Babylon, to destroy it; because it is the vengeance of the LORD, the vengeance of his temple. 12Set up the standard on the walls of Babylon, make the watch strong, set up the watchmen, prepare the ambushes: for the LORD has both devised and done that which he spoke against the inhabitants of Babylon. 13O you who dwell on many waters, abundant in treasures, your end is come, and the measure of your covetousness. 14The LORD of hosts has sworn by himself, saying, Surely I will fill you with men, as with caterpillars; and they shall lift up a shout against you. 15He has made the earth by his power, he has established the world by his wisdom and has stretched out the heaven by his understanding. 16When he utters his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens; and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth: he makes lightnings with rain and brings forth the wind out of his treasures. 17Every man is brutish by his knowledge; every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood and there is no breath in them. 18They are vanity, the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish. 19The portion of Jacob is not like them; for he is the former of all things: and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: the LORD of hosts is his name. 20You are my battle ax and weapons of war: for with you I will break in pieces the nations and with you I will destroy kingdoms; 21And with you I will break in pieces the horse and his rider; and with you I will break in pieces the chariot and his rider; 22With you also I will break in pieces man and woman; and with you I will break in pieces old and young; and with you I will break in pieces the young man and the maid; 23I will also break in pieces with you the shepherd and his flock; and with you I will break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen; and with you I will break in pieces captains and rulers. 24And I will render to Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea in your sight, all their evil that they have done in Zion, says the LORD. 25Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain, who destroys all the earth, says the LORD: and I will stretch out my hand on you and roll you down from the rocks and will make you a burnt mountain. 26And they shall not take a stone from you for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but you shall be desolate forever, says the LORD. 27Set up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, prepare the nations against her, call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni and Ashchenaz; appoint a captain against her; cause the horses to come up as the rough caterpillar. 28Prepare against her the nations with the kings of the Medes, its captains and all its rulers and all the land of his dominion. 29And the land shall tremble and sorrow: for every purpose of the LORD shall be performed against Babylon, to make the land of Babylon a desolation without an inhabitant. 30The mighty men of Babylon have forborne fighting, they have remained in their holds: their might has failed; they became as women: they have burned her dwelling places; her bars are broken. 31One post shall run to meet another and one messenger to meet another, to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken at one end, 32And that the passages are stopped and they have burned the reeds with fire and the men of war are afraid. 33For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor, it is time to thresh her: yet a little while and the time of her harvest shall come. 34Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me, he has crushed me, he has made me an empty vessel, he has swallowed me up like a dragon, he has filled his belly with my delicates, he has cast me out. 35The inhabitant of Zion shall say the violence done to me and to my flesh is on Babylon; and Jerusalem shall say, my blood on the inhabitants of Chaldea. 36Therefore thus says the LORD; Behold, I will plead your cause and take vengeance for you; and I will dry up her sea and make her springs dry. 37And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwelling place for dragons, an astonishment and a hissing, without an inhabitant. 38They shall roar together like lions: they shall yell as lions' whelps. 39In their heat I will make their feasts and I will make them drunk, that they may rejoice and sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake, says the LORD. 40I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with he goats. 41How is Sheshach taken! and how is the praise of the whole earth surprised! how is Babylon become an astonishment among the nations! 42The sea is come up on Babylon: she is covered with its multitude of waves. 43Her cities are a desolation, a dry land and a wilderness, a land in which no man dwells, neither does any son of man pass by there. 44And I will punish Bel in Babylon and I will bring out of his mouth that which he has swallowed up: and the nations shall not flow together any more to him: yes, the wall of Babylon shall fall. 45My people, get out of the midst of her and deliver every man his soul from the fierce anger of the LORD. 46And lest your heart faint and you fear for the rumor that shall be heard in the land; a rumor shall come both in one year and after that in another year shall come a rumor and violence in the land, ruler against ruler. 47Therefore, behold, the days come, that I will do judgment on the graven images of Babylon: and her whole land shall be confounded and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her. 48Then the heaven and the earth and all that is in them, shall sing for Babylon: for the spoilers shall come to her from the north, says the LORD. 49As Babylon has caused the slain of Israel to fall, so the slain of all the earth shall fall at Babylon. 50You who have escaped the sword, go away, do not stand still: remember the LORD afar off and let Jerusalem come into your mind. 51We are confounded, because we have heard reproach: shame has covered our faces: for strangers are come into the sanctuaries of the LORD'S house. 52Therefore, behold, the days come, says the LORD, that I will do judgment on her graven images: and through all her land the wounded shall groan. 53Though Babylon should mount up to heaven and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me spoilers shall come to her, says the LORD. 54A sound of a cry comes from Babylon and great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans: 55Because the LORD has spoiled Babylon and destroyed out of her the great voice; when her waves roar like great waters, a noise of their voice is uttered: 56Because the spoiler is come on her, even on Babylon and her mighty men are taken, every one of their bows is broken: for the LORD God of recompenses shall surely requite. 57And I will make her princes drunk and her wise men, her captains and her rulers and her mighty men: and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake, says the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts. 58Thus says the LORD of hosts; The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and the people shall labor in vain and the folk in the fire and they shall be weary. 59The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah into Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. And this Seraiah was a quiet prince. 60So Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that would come on Babylon, even all these words that are written against Babylon. 61And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When you come to Babylon and shall see and shall read all these words; 62Then you shall say, O LORD, you have spoken against this place, to cut it off, that no one shall remain in it, neither man nor beast, but that it shall be desolate for ever. 63And it shall be, when you have made an end of reading this book, that you shall bind a stone to it and cast it into the midst of Euphrates: 64And you shall say, Thus shall Babylon sink and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring on her: and they shall be weary. Thus far are the words of Jeremiah. BACK   TOP  BOOK TITLES Chapter 52 1Zedekiah was twenty one years old when he began to reign and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 2And he did that which was evil in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. 3For through the anger of the LORD it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon, till he had cast them out from his presence. 4And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against Jerusalem, he and all his army and pitched against it and built forts against it round about. 5So the city was besieged to the eleventh year of king Zedekiah. 6And in the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the famine was sore in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land. 7Then the city was broken up and all the men of war fled and went out of the city by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king's garden; (now the Chaldeans were by the city round about:) and they went by the way of the plain. 8But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him. 9Then they took the king and carried him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath; where he gave judgment on him. 10And the king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes: he killed also all the princes of Judah in Riblah. 11Then he put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him in chains and carried him to Babylon and put him in prison till the day of his death. 12Now in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan captain of the guard who served the king of Babylon, came into Jerusalem, 13And burned the house of the LORD and, he burned with fire the king's house; and all the houses of Jerusalem and all the houses of the great men: 14And all the army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain of the guard, broke down all the walls of Jerusalem round about. 15Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive certain of the poor of the people and the residue of the people who remained in the city and those who fell away, who fell to the king of Babylon and the rest of the multitude. 16But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left certain of the poor of the land for vinedressers and for husbandmen. 17Also the pillars of brass which were in the house of the LORD and the bases and the brazen sea which were in the house of the LORD, the Chaldeans broke and carried all their brass to Babylon. 18They took away the caldrons also and the shovels and the snuffers and the bowls and the spoons and all the vessels of brass with which they ministered. 19And the barons and the firepans and the bowls and the caldrons and the candlesticks and the spoons, and the cups; that which was of gold in gold and that which was of silver in silver, the captain of the guard took away. 20The two pillars, one sea and twelve brazen bulls which were under the bases, which king Solomon had made in the house of the LORD: the brass of all these vessels was without weight. 21And concerning the pillars, the height of one pillar was eighteen cubits; and a fillet of twelve cubits surrounded it; and its thickness was four fingers: it was hollow. 22And a chapiter of brass was on it; and the height of one chapiter was five cubits, with network and pomegranates on the chapiters round about, all of brass. The second pillar also and the pomegranates were like to these. 23And there were ninety six pomegranates on a side; and all the pomegranates on the network were a hundred round about. 24And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the door: 25He also took out of the city a eunuch, who had charge of the men of war; and seven men of those who were near the king's person, which were found in the city; and the principal scribe of the host, who mustered the people of the land; and sixty men of the people of the land, who were found in the midst of the city. 26So Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah. 27And the king of Babylon struck them and put them to death in Riblah in the land of Hamath. Thus Judah was carried away captive out of his own land. 28These are the people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive: in the seventh year three thousand twenty three Jews: 29In the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar he carried away captive from Jerusalem eight hundred thirty two persons: 30In the twenty third year of Nebuchadnezzar Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the Jews seven hundred forty five persons: all the persons were four thousand six hundred. 31And it came to pass in the thirty seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, in the twenty fifth day of the month, that Evilmerodach king of Babylon in the first year of his reign lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah and brought him out of prison, 32And spoke kindly to him and set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon, 33And changed his prison garments: and he continually ate bread before him all the days of his life. 34And for his diet, there was a continual diet given to him from the king of Babylon, every day a portion until the day of his death, all the days of his life. 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