Thus said the LORD: Go down to the house of the king of 22 Judah, and speak there this word, 2and say: Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, that sittest upon the throne of David, thou, and thy servants, and thy people that enter in by these gates. 3Thus saith the LORD- Execute ye justice and righteous- ness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor; and do no wrong, do stranger, the no violence, to fatherless, nor the the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place. 4For if ye do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by1 JEREMIAH the gates of Urn house kings Hitting upon the throne of David, riding in! chariots and on horses, he, and his • servants, and his people. 6But if ye will not hear these words, I swear! by Myself, saith the LOUD, that this; house shall become a desolation. I 6For thus saith the LOUD concerning the house of the king of Judah * « Thou art Gilead unto Me, The head of Lebanon; i Yet surely I will make the** a wilderness, I Cities which are not inhabited. i 7And I will prepare destroy er*> against; thee, i Every one with his weapons; | And they shall cut down thy choice. cedars, " j And cast them into the fire. j 8And many nations shall pass by; this city, and they shall say every man f to his neighbour: * Wherefore hath | the LORD done thus unto this great ' city?' »9Then they shall answer* 'Because they forsook the covenant of the LORD their God, and worshipped other gods, and served them/ 10\Veep ye not for the dead, Neither bemoan him; But weep sore for ham that goeth away, For he shall return no more, Nor see his native country. "For thus saith the LORD touching Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, and who went forth out of this place: He shall not return thither any more; "but in the place whither they have led him captive, there shall he die, and he shall see this land no more.
And liirf chambers ]>y injustice; That UM'th his neighbour's service without wagob, And givoth him not his hire; "That saith: '1 will build me a wide l3Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, And spacious chambers', And cuiteth him out window*,, And it. ifc ceiled with cedar, and painted with vermilion. 15Shalt thou reign, because thou strivcbt to excel in cedar? Did not thy father eat and drink, and do justice and righteous- ness?
Then it was well with him. If'He judged the cause of the poor and needy; Then it was well. Is not this to know Me? saith the LORD.
17But thine eyes and thy heart Are not but for thy covetousnebs, And for shedding innocent blood, And for oppression, and for violence, to do it.
ISTherefore thus saith the LORD con- cerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: They shall not lament for him. 'Ah my brother!' or: 'Ah sister!' They shall not lament for him: '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.
20Go up to Lebanon, and cry, And lift up thy voice in Bashan; And cry from Abarim, For ail thy lovers are destroyed, 21I spoke unto thee in thy prosper- But thou saidst; 'I will not hear.* This hath been thy manner from thy youth, 20 JEREMIAH That thou hearkenedst not to My voice. 22The -wind shall feed upon all thy shepherds, And thy lovers shall go into cap- tivity; Surelv then shalt thou be ashamed and confounded For all thy wickedness. "K) inhabitant of Lebanon, That art nestled in the cedars, How gracious bhalt thou be when pangs come upon thee, The pain as of a woman in travail! S4As I live, saith the LORD, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah wore the signet upon My right hand, yet would I pluck thee thence; toand I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life, and into the hand of them of whom thou art afraid, even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans. ^And I will cast thee out, and thy mother that bore thee, into another country, where ye were not born; and there shall ye die. 27But to the land whereunto they long to return, thither shall they not return. 2SIs this man Coniah a despised, broken image? Is he a vessel wherein is no pleasure? Wherefore are they cast out, he and his seed, And are cast into the land which they know not? 290 land, land, land, Hear the word of, the LORD. 30Thus saith the LORD: Write ye this man childless, A man that shall not prosper in his days; For no man of his seed shall pros- per, Sitting upon the throne of David, And ruling any more in Judah.
OQ Woe unto the shepherds that *^ destroy and scatter The sheep of My pasture! saith the LORD.
therefore thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, against the shepherds that feed My people: Ye have scat- tered My flock, and driven them away, and have not taken care of them; behold, I will visit upon you ^the evil of your doings, saith the LORD. 3And I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all the countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them back to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and multiply. 4And I will set up shepherds over them, who shall feed them; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be lacking, saith the LORD. 5Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, That I will raise unto David a righteous shoot, And he shall reign as king and prosper, And shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 6In his days Judah shall be saved, And Israel shall dwell safely; And this is his name whereby he shall be called, The LORD is our righteousness. 7Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that they shall no nore say: 'As the LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt7; 8but: 'As the LORD liveth, that brought up and ihat led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and rom all the countries whither I had driven them'; and they shall dwell n their own land.
JEREMIAH Concerning the prophets.
My heart within me is broken, I All my bones shake; I I am like a drunken man, And like a man whom wine hath!
overcome; Because of the LORD, ' And because of His holy wonK. 10For the land is full of adulterers; For because of swearing the hind; mourneth, The pastures of the wilderness are dried up; And their course is evil. And their force is not right ' uFor both prophet and priest arej ungodly; Yea, in My house have I found their wickedness, ' Saith the LORD. j 12 Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery places in thej darkness, They shall be thrust, and fall therein; For I will bring evil upon them, Even the year of their visitation, Saith the LORD.
"And I have seen unseemliness in the prophets of Samaria: They prophesied by Baal, And caused My people Israel to err. 14But in the prophets of Jerusalem I have sqen. a horrible thing: They commit adultery, and walk in lies, And they strengthen the hands of evil-doers, That none doth return from his wickedness; They are all of them become unto Me as Sodom, And the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.
16Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets: Behold, I will feed them with worm- wood, And make thorn drink the witter of ff*ll; For from the prophets of Jerusalem Ls ungodliness gone forth into all the lurid.
lf'Thus saith the LORD of hosts: Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you, They leati you unto vanity; They speak a vision of their own heart, And not out of the mouth of the LORD. l7They say continually unto them that despise Me: 'The LORD hath said: Ye shall have peace'; And unto every one that walketh in the stubbornness of his own heart they say: 'No evil shall come upon you7; l8For who hath stood in the council of the LORD, That he should perceive and hear His word? Who hath attended to His word, and heard it?
"Behold, a storm of the LORD is gone forth in fury, Yea, a whirling storm; It shall whirl upon the head of the wicked. 20The anger of the LORD shall not return, Until He have executed, and till He have performed the purposes of His heart; In the end of days ye shall consider it perfectly. al have not sent these prophets, yet they ran; I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.
JEREMIAH aButiflheyhavestoodinMyeomicMl, Then let them cau.se My people to hear My words, And turn them from their evil way, '^Behold, I am against them that prophesy lying dreams, saith the LOUD, and do tell them, and cause My people to err by their lies, and by Arid from the evil of their doings, | their wantonness; yet I sent them notr nor commanded them; neither can I a God near at hand, saith they profit this people at all, saith the* LORD.
the LORD, And not a God afar off? JJ4Can any hide himself in secret places That i*shall not see him? saith the LORD.
Do not I fill heaven and earth? Saith the LORD. ^I have heard what the prophets have said, That prophesy lies in My name, saying: 'I have dreamed, I have dreamed.' ^How long shall this be? Is it in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies, And the prophets of the deceit of MArid when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask thee, saying: 'What is the burden of the LORD?' then shalt thou say unto them: 'What burden! I will cast you off, saith the LORD.' 34And as for the prophet, and the priest, and the people, that shall say: 'The burden of the LORD', I will even punish that man and his house. 35Thus shall ye say every one to his neighbour, and every one to his brother: 'What hath the LORD answered?' and: ' What hath the LORD spoken?' 36And the burden of the LORD shall ye mention no more; their own heart? | for every man's own word shall be 27That think to cause My people to; his burden; and would ye pervert the forget My name By their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, As their fathers forgot My name for Baal. 2SThe prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; And he that hath My word, let him speak My word faithfully What hatlfthe straw to do with the wheat?
Saith the LORD. 2!*Is not My word like as fire? Saith the LORD; And like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?
^Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that steal Vly words every one from his neigh- >our. 31Behold, I am against the >rophets, saith the LORD, that use , heir tongues and say: 'He saith/ words of the living God, of the LORD of hosts our God? 37Thus shalt thou say to the prophet: 'What hath the LORD answered thee?' and: 'What hath the LORD spoken?7 38But if ye say: 'The burden of the LORD'; there- fore thus saith the LORD: Because ye say this word: 'The burden of the LORD', and I have sent unto you, say- ing: 'Ye shall not say: The burden of the LORD'; 39therefore, behold, I will utterly tear you out, and I will cast you off, and the city that I gave unto you and to your fathers, away from My presence; 40and I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.
The LORD showed me, and be- hold two baskets of figs set before the temple of the LORD; after JEREMIAH that Nebuchadrezzar king of Baby- lon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiukirn, king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the craftsmen and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon. 2One basket had very good figs, like the figs that are first-ripe; and the other basket had very bad figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad. 3Then said the LORD unto me: 'What seest thou, Jereiniah?7 And I said: 'Figs; the good figs, very good; and the bad, very bad, that cannot be eaten, they are so bad.7 *And the word of the LORD came unto me, say- ing: 6'Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel: Like these good figsT so will I regard the captives of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans, for good. 6And I will set Mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them back 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 unto Me "with their whole heart. *And as the bad figs, which cannot be eaten, tKfcy are so bad; surely thus saith the LORD: So will I make Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, that remain in this land, and them that dwell in the land of Egypt; 9I will even make them a horror among all the kingdoms of the earth for evil; a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places whither I shall drive them. 10And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pes- tilence, among them, till they be con- sumed from off the land that I gave unto them and to their fathers/ j O X The word that came to Jeremiah I concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Johoiakim the son of Josiali, king of Judah, that was the first year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; 2which Jeremiah the prophet spoke unto all the peoplo of Judah, and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying: 3Froin the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even unto this day, these three and twenty years, the word of the LORD hath come unto me, and I have spoken unto you, speaking betimes J and often; but ye have not heark- ened. 4And the LORD bath sent unto you all His servants the prophets, ending them betimes and often — but ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear — ''saying: 'Return ye now every one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that the LORD hath given unto you and to your fathers, for ever and ever; 6and go not after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, and provoke Me not with the work of your hands; and I will do you no hurt.' *Yet ye have not hearkened unto Me, saith the LORD; that ye might provoke Me with the work of your hands to your own hurt. ^Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts: Because ye have not heard My words, 9behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the LORD, and I will send unto Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about; and I will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and a and perpetual desolations.
JEREMIAH 10Moreover I will cause to cease from among 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 lamp. uAnd this whole land shall be a desolation, and a waste; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years 12And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make it per- petual desolations. 13And I will bring upon that land all My words which I have pronounced against it, even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah hath prophesied against all the nations. 14For many nations and great kings shall make bondmen of them also; and I will recompense them according to their deeds, and accord- ing to the work of their own hands.
15For thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, unto me: Take this cup of the wine of fury at My hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it. 16And they shall drink, and reel to and fro, and be like madmen, because of the sword that I will send among them. — 17Then took I the cup at the LORD'S hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom the LORD had sent me* 18 Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the prin- ces thereof, to make them an appal- ment, 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 Gaza, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod; 21Edom, and Moab, and the children of Am- mon; 22and all the kings of Tyre, and all the kings of Zidon, and the kings of the isle which is beyond the sea; 23Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all that have the corners of their hair polled; ^and all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mingled peo- ple that dwell in the wilderness; 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, one with another; and all the kingdoms of the world, which are upon the face of the earth. — And the king of aSheshach shall drink after them. 27And thou shalt say unto them: Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Drink ye, and be drunken, and spew, 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 thy hand to drink, then shait thou say unto them: Thus saith the LORD of hosts: Ye shall surely drink 29For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the • city whereupon My name is called, and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished; for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the LORD of hosts.
30Therefore prophesy,thou against them all these words, and say unto them: The LORD doth roar from on high.
And utter His voice from His holy habitation; He doth mightily roar because of His fold; He giveth a shout, as they that tread the grapes, Against all the inhabitants of the earth.
81A noise is come even to the end of the earth; * According to ancient tradition, a cypher for Babel.
JEREMIAH For the LORD hath a controversy with the nations, He doth plead with all flesh; As for the wicked, He hath given them to the sword, Saith the LORD.
32Thus saith the LORD of hosts. Behold, evil shall go forth From nation to nation, And a great storm shall be raised up From the uttermost parts of the earth.
33 And the slain of the LORD shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth; they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the face of the ground. ^Wail, ye shepherds, and cry; And wallow yourselves in the dust, ye leaders of the flock; For the days of your slaughter are fully come, And I will break you in pieces, And ye shall fall like a precious vessel. 35And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, Nor the leaders of the flock to escape.
36Hark! the cry of the shepherds, And the wailing of the leaders of the flock!
For the LORD despoileth their pas- ture. 37And the peaceable folds are brought to silence Because of the fierce anger of the LORD. 38He hath forsaken His covert, as the lion; For their land i& become a waste Because of the fierceness of the oppressing sword, And because of His fierce anger.
In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, came this word from the LORD, saying: 2'Thus saith the LORD: Stand in the court of the LORD'S house, and speak unto all the cities of Judah, which come to wor- ship in the LORD'S house, all the words that I command thee to speak unto them; diminish not a word. 3it may be they will hearken, and turn every man from his evil way; that I may repent Me of the evil, which I purpose to do unto them because of the evil of their doings. 4And thou shalt say unto them: Thus saith the LORD,. If ye will not hearken to Me, to walk in My law, which I have set before you, *to hearken to the words of My servants the prophets, whom I send unto you, even sending them betimes and often, but ye have not hearkened; Hhen will I make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to aU 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 com- manded him to speak unto all the people, that the priests and the proph- ets and all the people laid hold on him, saying: 'Thou shalt surely die. 9Why hast thou 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.
iaWhen the princes of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king's house unto the house, of the LORD; and they sat in the entry of the new gate of the LORD'S house. "Then spoke the priests and the prophets JEREMIAH unto the princes and to all the people saying. 'This man is worthy 01 death, for he hath prophesied against this city, as ye have heard with your ears.' 12Then spoke Jeremiah unto all the princes and to all the people saying: 'The LORD sent me to proph- esy against this house and against this city all the words that ye have heard 13Theref ore now amend your ways anc your doings, and hearken to the voice of the LOED your God; and the LORD will repent Him of the evil that He hath pronounced against you. 14But as for me, behold, I am in your hand, do with me as is good and right in your eyes. 150nly know ye for certain that, if ye put me to death, ye will bring innocent blood upon yourselves, anc upon this city, and upon the inhab- itants thereof, for of a truth the LORD hath sent me unto you to speak all these words in your ears.'
16Then said the princes and all the people unto the priests and to the prophets: 'This man is not worthy of death; for he hath spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God.'
17Then rose up certain of the elders of the land, and spoke to all the assembly of the people, saying. 18'Micah the Morashtite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah; and he spoke to all the people of Judah, saying: Thus saith the LORD of hosts: Zion shall be plowed as a field, And Jerusalem shall become heaps, And the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest. 19Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him at all to death? did he not fear the LORD, and entreat the favour of the LORD, and the LORD repented Him of the evil which He had pronounced against them? Thus might we procure great 'evil against our own souls.'
20And there was also a man that prophesied in the name of the LORD, Uriah the son of Shemaiah of Kinath- jearim; and he 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 Uriah heard it, he was afraid, and fled, and went into Egypt, 22and Jehoiakim the king sent men into Egypt, Elnathan the son of Achbor, and certain men with him, into Egypt; 23and they fetched forth Uriah out of Egypt, and brought him unto Jehoiakim the king; who slew him with the sword, and cast his dead body into the graves of the children of the people. ^Never- theless 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.
In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, came this word unto Jeremiah from the LORD, saying. 2'Thus saith the LORD to me. Make thee bands and bars, and put them upon thy neck; 3and send them to the king of Edom, and to the king of Moab, and to the king of the children of Ammon, and to the king of Tyre, and to the king of Zidon, by the hand of the messengers that come to Jeru- salem unto Zedekiah king of Judah; 4and give them a charge unto their masters, saying: Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel Thus shall ye say unto your masters 5I_have made the 'earth, the man and the beast that are upon the face of the earth, by My great power and Dy My outstretched arm, and I give t unto whom it seemeth right unto JEREMIAH JEREMIAH Me. 6And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnez- zar the king of Babylon, My servant; and the beasts of the field also have I given him to serve him. 7And all the nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son's son, until the time of his own land come; and then many nations and great kings shall make him their bondman 8And it shall come to pass, that the nation and ihe kingdom which will not serve the same Nebu- chadnezzar king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I visit, saith the LORD, with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have con- sumed them by his hand. °But as for you, hearken ye not to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreams, nor to your soothsayers, nor to your sorcerers, that speak unto you, saying: Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon; l°for they prophesy a lie unto you, to remove you far from your land; and that I should drive you out and ye should perish. nBut the nation that shall bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him, that nation will I let remain in their own land, saith the LORD; and they shall till it, and dwell therein.'
12And I spoke 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 ye die, thou and thy people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as the LORD hath spoken concerning the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon? 14And hearken not unto the words of the prophets that speak unto you, saying: Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon, for they prophesy a lie unto you. 16For I have not sent them, saith the LORD, and they prophesy falsely in My name; that I might drive you out, and that ye might perish, ye, and the prophets that prophesy unto you.'
16Also I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying: 'Thus saith the LORD: Hearken not to the words of your prophets that prophesy unto you, saying: Behold, the vessels of the LORD'S house shaH now shortly be brought back from Babylon; for they prophesy a lie unto you. "Heark- en not unto them; serve the king of Babylon, and live; wherefore should this city become desolate? 18But if they be prophets, and if the word of the LORD be 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, go not to Babylon. 19For thus saith the LORD of hosts concern- ing the pillars, and concerning the sea, and concerning the bases, and concerning the residue of the vessels that remain in this city, 20which Nebu- chadnezzar king of Babylon took not, when he carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem; ^yea, thus saith 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 at Jerusalem. ^They shall be car- ried to Babylon, and there shall they be, until the day that I remember them, saith the LORD, and bring them up, and restore them to this place.' OQ And it came to pass the 'same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year, in the fifth month,