^64:1O let the heavens be broken open and come down, so that the mountains may be shaking before you, ^64:2As when fire puts the brushwood in flames, or as when water is boiling from the heat of the fire: to make your name feared by your haters, so that the nations may be shaking before you; ^64:3While you do acts of power for which we are not looking, and which have not come to the ears of men in the past. ^64:4The ear has not had news of, or the eye seen, ... any God but you, working for the man who is waiting for him. ^64:5Will you not have mercy on him who takes pleasure in doing righteousness, even on those who keep in mind your ways? Truly you were angry, and we went on doing evil, and sinning against you in the past. ^64:6For we have all become like an unclean person, and all our good acts are like a dirty robe: and we have all become old like a dead leaf, and our sins, like the wind, take us away. ^64:7And there is no one who makes prayer to your name, or who is moved to keep true to you: for your face is veiled from us, and you have given us into the power of our sins. ^64:8But now, O Lord, you are our father; we are the earth, and you are our maker; and we are all the work of your hand. ^64:9Be not very angry, O Lord, and do not keep our sins in mind for ever: give ear to our prayer, for we are all your people. ^64:10Your holy towns have become a waste, Zion has become a waste, Jerusalem is a mass of broken walls. ^64:11Our holy and beautiful house, where our fathers gave praise to you, is burned with fire; and all the things of our desire have come to destruction. ^64:12In view of all this, will you still do nothing, O Lord? will you keep quiet, and go on increasing our punishment?

^65:1I have been ready to give an answer to those who did not make prayer to me; I have been offering myself to those who were not searching for me; I said, Here am I, here am I, to a nation which gave no respect to my name. ^65:2All day my hands have been stretched out to an uncontrolled people, who go in an evil way, after the purposes of their hearts; ^65:3A people who make me angry every day, making offerings in gardens, and burning perfumes on bricks. ^65:4Who are seated in the resting-places of the dead, and by night are in the secret places; who take pig's flesh for food, and have the liquid of disgusting things in their vessels. ^65:5Who say, Keep away, do not come near me, for fear that I make you holy: these are a smoke in my nose, a fire burning all day. ^65:6See, it is recorded before me, says the Lord: I will not keep back my hand, till I have sent punishment, ^65:7For their sins and the sins of their fathers, who were burning perfumes on the mountains, and saying evil things against me on the hills: so I will take the measure of their sins, and will send the punishment for them into their breast. ^65:8This is the word of the Lord: As the new wine is seen in the grapes, and they say, Do not send destruction on it, for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my servants, in order that I may not put an end to them all. ^65:9And I will take a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah one who will have my mountains for a heritage: and the people I have taken to be mine will have it for themselves, and my servants will have their resting-place there. ^65:10And Sharon will be a grass-land for the flocks, and the valley of Achor a resting-place for the herds: for my people whose hearts have been turned back to me. ^65:11But as for you who have given up the Lord, who have no care for my holy mountain, who get ready a table for Chance, and make offerings of mixed wine to Fate; ^65:12Your fate will be the sword, and you will all go down to death: because when my voice came to you, you made no answer; you did not give ear to my word; but you did what was evil in my eyes, desiring what was not pleasing to me. ^65:13For this cause says the Lord God, My servants will have food, but you will be in need of food: my servants will have drink, but you will be dry: my servants will have joy, but you will be shamed: ^65:14My servants will make songs in the joy of their hearts, but you will be crying for sorrow, and making sounds of grief from a broken spirit. ^65:15And your name will become a curse to my people, and the Lord God will put you to death, and give his servants another name: ^65:16So that he who is requesting a blessing will make use of the name of the true God, and he who takes an oath will do so by the true God; because the past troubles are gone out of mind, and because they are covered from my eyes. ^65:17For see, I am making a new heaven and a new earth: and the past things will be gone completely out of mind. ^65:18But men will be glad and have joy for ever in what I am making; for I am making Jerusalem a delight, and her people a joy. ^65:19And I will be glad over Jerusalem, and have joy in my people: and the voice of weeping will no longer be sounding in her, or the voice of grief. ^65:20No longer will there be there a child whose days are cut short, or an old man whose days have not come to their full measure: for the young man at his death will be a hundred years old, and he whose life is shorter than a hundred years will seem as one cursed. ^65:21And they will be building houses and living in them; planting vine-gardens and getting the fruit of them. ^65:22They will no longer be building for the use of others, or planting for others to have the fruit: for the days of my people will be like the days of a tree, and my loved ones will have joy in full measure in the work of their hands. ^65:23Their work will not be for nothing, and they will not give birth to children for destruction; for they are a seed to whom the Lord has given his blessing, and their offspring will be with them. ^65:24And before they make their request I will give an answer, and while they are still making prayer to me, I will give ear. ^65:25The wolf and the lamb will take their food together, and the lion will make a meal of grass like the ox: but dust will be the snake's food. There will be no cause of pain or destruction in all my holy mountain, says the Lord.

^66:1The Lord says, Heaven is the seat of my power, and earth is the resting-place for my feet: what sort of house will you make for me, and what place will be my resting-place? ^66:2For all these things my hand has made, and they are mine, says the Lord; but to this man only will I give attention, to him who is poor and broken in spirit, fearing my word. ^66:3He who puts an ox to death puts a man to death; he who makes an offering of a lamb puts a dog to death; he who makes a meal offering makes an offering of pig's blood; he who makes an offering of perfumes for a sign gives worship to an image: as they have gone after their desires, and their soul takes pleasure in their disgusting things; ^66:4So I will go after trouble for them, and will send on them what they are fearing: because no one made answer to my voice, or gave ear to my word; but they did what was evil in my eyes, going after that in which I took no pleasure. ^66:5Give ear to the word of the Lord, you who are in fear at his word: your countrymen, hating you, and driving you out because of my name, have said, Let the Lord's glory be made clear, so that we may see your joy; but they will be put to shame. ^66:6There is a noise of war from the town, a sound from the Temple, the voice of the Lord giving punishment to his haters. ^66:7Before her pains came, she gave birth; before her pains, she gave birth to a man-child. ^66:8When has such a story come to men's ears? who has seen such things? will a land come to birth in one day? will a nation be given birth in a minute? For when Zion's pains came on her, she gave birth to her children straight away. ^66:9Will I by whom the birth was started, not make it complete? says the Lord. Will I who make children come to birth, let them be kept back? says your God. ^66:10Have joy with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all you her lovers: take part in her joy, all you who are sorrowing for her: ^66:11So that you may take of the comfort flowing from her breasts, and be delighted with the full measure of her glory. ^66:12For the Lord says, See, I will make her peace like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream, and she will take her children in her arms, gently caring for them on her knees. ^66:13As to one who is comforted by his mother, so will I give you comfort: and you will be comforted in Jerusalem. ^66:14And you will see it and your heart will be glad, and your bones will get new strength, like young grass: and the hand of the Lord will be seen at work for his servants, and his wrath against his haters. ^66:15For the Lord is coming with fire, and his war-carriages will be like the storm-wind; to give punishment in the heat of his wrath, and his passion is like flames of fire. ^66:16For with fire and sword will the Lord come, judging all the earth, and his sword will be on all flesh: and great numbers will be put to death by him. ^66:17As for those who keep themselves separate, and make themselves clean in the gardens, going after one in the middle, taking pig's flesh for food, and other disgusting things, such as the mouse: their works and their thoughts will come to an end together, says the Lord. ^66:18And I am coming to get together all nations and tongues: and they will come and will see my glory. ^66:19And I will put a sign among them, and I will send those who are still living to the nations, to Tarshish, Put, and Lud, Meshech and Rosh, Tubal and Javan, to the sea-lands far away, who have not had word of me, or seen my glory; and they will give the knowledge of my glory to the nations. ^66:20And they will take your countrymen out of all the nations for an offering to the Lord, on horses, and in carriages, and in carts, and on asses, and on camels, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the Lord, as the children of Israel take their offering in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord. ^66:21And some of them will I take for priests and Levites, says the Lord. ^66:22For as the new heaven and the new earth which I will make will be for ever before me, says the Lord, so will your seed and your name be for ever. ^66:23And it will be, that from new moon to new moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh will come to give worship before me, says the Lord. ^66:24And they will go out to see the dead bodies of the men who have done evil against me: for their worm will ever be living, and their fire will never be put out, and they will be a thing of fear to all flesh.

Jeremiah

^1:1The words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin: ^1:2To 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 rule. ^1:3And it came again in the days of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, up to the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah; till Jerusalem was taken away in the fifth month. ^1:4Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ^1:5Before you were formed in the body of your mother I had knowledge of you, and before your birth I made you holy; I have given you the work of being a prophet to the nations. ^1:6Then said I, O Lord God! see, I have no power of words, for I am a child. ^1:7But the Lord said to me, Do not say, I am a child: for wherever I send you, you are to go, and whatever I give you orders to say, you are to say. ^1:8Have no fear because of them: for I am with you, to keep you safe, says the Lord. ^1:9Then the Lord put out his hand, touching my mouth; and the Lord said to me, See, I have put my words in your mouth: ^1:10See, this day I have put you over the nations and over the kingdoms, for uprooting and smashing down, for destruction and overturning, for building up and planting. ^1:11Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Jeremiah, what do you see? And I said, I see a branch of an almond-tree. ^1:12Then the Lord said to me, You have seen well: for I keep watch over my word to give effect to it. ^1:13And the word of the Lord came to me a second time, saying, What do you see? And I said, I see a boiling pot, and its face is from the north. ^1:14Then the Lord said to me, Out of the north evil will come, bursting out on all the people of the land. ^1:15For see, I will send for all the families of the kingdoms of the north, says the Lord; and they will come, everyone placing his high seat at the way into Jerusalem, and against its walls on every side, and against all the towns of Judah. ^1:16And I will give my decision against them on account of all their evil-doing; because they have given me up, burning perfumes to other gods and worshipping the works of their hands. ^1:17So make yourself ready, and go and say to them everything I give you orders to say: do not be overcome by fear of them, or I will send fear on you before them. ^1:18For see, this day have I made you a walled town, and an iron pillar, and walls of brass, against all the land, against the kings of Judah, against its captains, against its priests, and against the people of the land. ^1:19They will be fighting against you, but they will not overcome you: for I am with you, says the Lord, to give you salvation.

^2:1And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ^2:2Go and say in the ears of Jerusalem, The Lord says, I still keep the memory of your kind heart when you were young, and your love when you became my bride; how you went after me in the waste of sand, in an unplanted land. ^2:3Israel was holy to the Lord, the first-fruits of his increase: all who made attacks on him were judged as wrongdoers, evil came on them, says the Lord. ^2:4Give ear to the words of the Lord, O sons of Jacob and all the families of Israel: ^2:5These are the words of the Lord: What evil have your fathers seen in me that they have gone far from me, and, walking after what is false, have become false? ^2:6And they never said, Where is the Lord, who took us up out of the land of Egypt; who was our guide through the waste of sand, through an unplanted land full of deep holes, through a dry land of deep shade, which no one went through and where no man was living? ^2:7And I took you into a fertile land, where you were living on its fruit and its wealth; but when you came in, you made my land unclean, and made my heritage a disgusting thing. ^2:8The priests did not say, Where is the Lord? and those who were expert in the law had no knowledge of me: and the rulers did evil against me, and the prophets became prophets of the Baal, going after things without value. ^2:9For this reason, I will again put forward my cause against you, says the Lord, even against you and against your children's children. ^2:10For go over to the sea-lands of Kittim and see; send to Kedar and give deep thought to it; and see if there has ever been such a thing. ^2:11Has any nation ever made a change in their gods, though they are no gods? but my people have given up their glory in exchange for what is of no profit. ^2:12Be full of wonder, O heavens, at this; be overcome with fear, be completely waste, says the Lord. ^2:13For my people have done two evils; they have given up me, the fountain of living waters, and have made for themselves water-holes, cut out from the rock, broken water-holes, of no use for storing water. ^2:14Is Israel a servant? has he been a house-servant from birth? why has he been made waste? ^2:15The young lions have made an outcry against him with a loud voice: they have made his land waste; his towns are burned up, with no one living in them. ^2:16Even the children of Noph and Tahpanhes have put shame on you. ^2:17Has not this come on you because you have given up the Lord your God, who was your guide by the way? ^2:18And now, what have you to do on the way to Egypt, to get your drink from the waters of the Nile? or what have you to do on the way to Assyria, to get your drink from the waters of the River? ^2:19The evil you yourselves have done will be your punishment, your errors will be your judge: be certain then, and see that it is an evil and a bitter thing to give up the Lord your God, and no longer to be moved by fear of me, says the Lord, the Lord of armies. ^2:20For in the past, your yoke was broken by your hands and your cords parted; and you said, I will not be your servant; for on every high hill and under every branching tree, your behaviour was like that of a loose woman ^2:21But when you were planted by me, you were a noble vine, in every way a true seed: how then have you been changed into the branching plant of a strange vine? ^2:22For even if you are washed with soda and take much soap, still your evil-doing is marked before me, says the Lord God. ^2:23How are you able to say, I am not unclean, I have not gone after the Baals? see your way in the valley, be clear about what you have done: you are a quick-footed camel twisting her way in and out; ^2:24An untrained ass, used to the waste land, breathing up the wind in her desire; at her time, who is able to send her away? all those who are looking for her will have no need to make themselves tired; in her month they will get her. ^2:25Do not let your foot be without shoes, or your throat dry from need of water: but you said, There is no hope: no, for I have been a lover of strange gods, and after them I will go. ^2:26As the thief is shamed when he is taken, so is Israel shamed; they, their kings and their rulers, their priests and their prophets; ^2:27Who say to a tree, You are my father; and to a stone, You have given me life: for their backs have been turned to me, not their faces: but in the time of their trouble they will say, Up! and be our saviour. ^2:28But where are the gods you have made for yourselves? let them come, if they are able to give you salvation in the time of your trouble: for the number of your gods is as the number of your towns, O Judah. ^2:29Why will you put forward your cause against me? You have all done evil against me, says the Lord. ^2:30I gave your children blows to no purpose; they got no good from training: your sword has been the destruction of your prophets, like a death-giving lion. ^2:31O generation, see the word of the Lord. Have I been a waste land to Israel? or a land of dark night? why do my people say, We have got loose, we will not come to you again? ^2:32Is it possible for a virgin to put out of her memory her ornaments, or a bride her robes? but my people have put me out of their memories for unnumbered days. ^2:33With what care are your ways ordered when you are looking for love! so ... your ways. ^2:34And in the skirts of your robe may be seen the life-blood of those who have done no wrong: ... ^2:35And still you said, I have done no wrong; truly, his wrath is turned away from me. See, I will take up the cause against you, because you say, I have done no wrong. ^2:36Why do you go about so much for the purpose of changing your way? you will be shamed on account of Egypt, as you were shamed on account of Assyria. ^2:37Truly, you will go out from him with your hands on your head: for the Lord has given up those in whom you have put your faith, and they will be of no help to you.

^3:1They say, If a man puts away his wife and she goes from him and becomes another man's, will he go back to her again? will not that land have been made unclean? but though you have been acting like a loose woman with a number of lovers, will you now come back to me? says the Lord. ^3:2Let your eyes be lifted up to the open hilltops, and see; where have you not been taken by your lovers? You have been seated waiting for them by the wayside like an Arabian in the waste land; you have made the land unclean with your loose ways and your evil-doing. ^3:3So the showers have been kept back, and there has been no spring rain; still your brow is the brow of a loose woman, you will not let yourself be shamed. ^3:4Will you not, from this time, make your prayer to me, crying, My father, you are the friend of my early years? ^3:5Will he be angry for ever? will he keep his wrath to the end? These things you have said, and have done evil and have had your way. ^3:6And the Lord said to me in the days of Josiah the king, Have you seen what Israel, turning away from me, has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every branching tree, acting like a loose woman there. ^3:7And I said, After she has done all these things she will come back to me; but she did not. And her false sister Judah saw it. ^3:8And though she saw that, because Israel, turning away from me, had been untrue to me, I had put her away and given her a statement in writing ending the relation between us, still Judah, her false sister, had no fear, but went and did the same. ^3:9So that through all her loose behaviour the land became unclean, and she was untrue, giving herself to stones and trees. ^3:10But for all this, her false sister Judah has not come back to me with all her heart, but with deceit, says the Lord. ^3:11And the Lord said to me, Israel in her turning away is seen to be more upright than false Judah. ^3:12Go, and give out these words to the north, and say, Come back, O Israel, though you have been turned away from me, says the Lord; my face will not be against you in wrath: for I am full of mercy, says the Lord, I will not be angry for ever. ^3:13Only be conscious of your sin, the evil you have done against the Lord your God; you have gone with strange men under every branching tree, giving no attention to my voice, says the Lord. ^3:14Come back, O children who are turned away, says the Lord; for I am a husband to you, and I will take you, one from a town and two from a family, and will make you come to Zion; ^3:15And I will give you keepers, pleasing to my heart, who will give you your food with knowledge and wisdom. ^3:16And it will come about, when your numbers are increased in the land, in those days, says the Lord, that they will no longer say, The ark of the agreement of the Lord: it will not come into their minds, they will not have any memory of it, or be conscious of the loss of it, and it will not be made again. ^3:17At that time Jerusalem will be named the seat of the Lord's kingdom; and all the nations will come together to it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem: and no longer will their steps be guided by the purposes of their evil hearts. ^3:18In those days the family of Judah will go with the family of Israel, and they will come together out of the land of the north into the land which I gave for a heritage to your fathers. ^3:19But I said, How am I to put you among the children, and give you a desired land, a heritage of glory among the armies of the nations? and I said, You are to say to me, My father; and not be turned away from me. ^3:20Truly, as a wife is false to her husband, so have you been false to me, O Israel, says the Lord. ^3:21A voice is sounding on the open hilltops, the weeping and the prayers of the children of Israel; because their way is twisted, they have not kept the Lord their God in mind. ^3:22Come back, you children who have been turned away, and I will take away your desire for wandering. See, we have come to you, for you are the Lord our God. ^3:23Truly, the hills, and the noise of an army on the mountains, are a false hope: truly, in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel. ^3:24But the Baal has taken all the work of our fathers from our earliest days; their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. ^3:25Let us be stretched on the earth in our downfall, covering ourselves with our shame: for we have been sinners against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, from our earliest years even till this day: and we have not given ear to the voice of the Lord our God.

^4:1If you will come back, O Israel, says the Lord, you will come back to me: and if you will put away your disgusting ways, you will not be sent away from before me. ^4:2And you will take your oath, By the living Lord, in good faith and wisdom and righteousness; and the nations will make use of you as a blessing, and in you will they take a pride. ^4:3For this is what the Lord says to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem: Get your unworked land ploughed up, do not put in your seeds among thorns. ^4:4Undergo a circumcision of the heart, you men of Judah and people of Jerusalem: or my wrath may come out like fire, burning so that no one is able to put it out, because of the evil of your doings. ^4:5Say openly in Judah, give it out in Jerusalem, and say, Let the horn be sounded in the land: crying out in a loud voice, Come together, and let us go into the walled towns. ^4:6Put up a flag for a sign to Zion: go in flight so that you may be safe, waiting no longer: for I will send evil from the north, and a great destruction. ^4:7A lion has gone up from his secret place in the woods, and one who makes waste the nations is on his way; he has gone out from his place, to make your land unpeopled, so that your towns will be made waste, with no man living in them. ^4:8For this put on haircloth, with weeping and loud crying: for the burning wrath of the Lord is not turned back from us. ^4:9And it will come about in that day, says the Lord, that the heart of the king will be dead in him, and the hearts of the rulers; and the priests will be overcome with fear, and the prophets with wonder. ^4:10Then said I, Ah, Lord God! your words were not true when you said to this people and to Jerusalem, You will have peace; when the sword has come even to the soul. ^4:11At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A burning wind from the open hilltops in the waste land is blowing on the daughter of my people, not for separating or cleaning the grain; ^4:12A full wind will come for me: and now I will give my decision against them. ^4:13See, he will come up like the clouds, and his war-carriages like the storm-wind: his horses are quicker than eagles. Sorrow is ours, for destruction has come on us. ^4:14O Jerusalem, make your heart clean from evil, so that you may have salvation. How long are evil purposes to have a resting-place in you? ^4:15For a voice is sounding from Dan, giving out evil from the hills of Ephraim: ^4:16Make this come to the minds of the nations, make a statement openly against Jerusalem, that attackers are coming from a far country and their voices will be loud against the towns of Judah. ^4:17Like keepers of a field they are against her on every side; because she has been fighting against me, says the Lord. ^4:18Your ways and your doings have made these things come on you; this is your sin; truly it is bitter, going deep into your heart. ^4:19My soul, my soul! I am pained to my inmost heart; my heart is troubled in me; I am not able to be quiet, because the sound of the horn, the note of war, has come to my ears. ^4:20News is given of destruction on destruction; all the land is made waste: suddenly my tents, straight away my curtains, are made waste. ^4:21How long will I go on seeing the flag and hearing the sound of the war-horn? ^4:22For my people are foolish, they have no knowledge of me; they are evil-minded children, without sense, all of them: they are wise in evil-doing, but have no knowledge of doing good. ^4:23Looking at the earth, I saw that it was waste and without form; and to the heavens, that they had no light. ^4:24Looking at the mountains, I saw them shaking, and all the hills were moved about. ^4:25Looking, I saw that there was no man, and all the birds of heaven had gone in flight. ^4:26Looking, I saw that the fertile field was a waste, and all its towns were broken down before the Lord and before his burning wrath. ^4:27For this is what the Lord has said: All the land will become a waste; I will make destruction complete. ^4:28The earth will be weeping for this, and the heavens on high will be black: because I have said it, and I will not go back from it; it is my purpose, and it will not be changed. ^4:29All the land is in flight because of the noise of the horsemen and the bowmen; they have taken cover in the woodland and up on the rocks: every town has been given up, not a man is living in them. ^4:30And you, when you are made waste, what will you do? Though you are clothed in red, though you make yourself beautiful with ornaments of gold, though you make your eyes wide with paint, it is for nothing that you make yourself fair; your lovers have no more desire for you, they have designs on your life. ^4:31A voice has come to my ears like the voice of a woman in birth-pains, the pain of one giving birth to her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, fighting for breath, stretching out her hands, saying, Now sorrow is mine! for my strength is gone from me before the takers of life.

^5:1Go quickly through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and get knowledge, and make a search in her wide places if there is a man, if there is one in her who is upright, who keeps faith; and she will have my forgiveness. ^5:2And though they say, By the living Lord; truly their oaths are false. ^5:3O Lord, do not your eyes see good faith? you have given them punishment, but they were not troubled; you have sent destruction on them, but they did not take your teaching to heart: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they would not come back. ^5:4Then I said, But these are the poor: they are foolish, for they have no knowledge of the way of the Lord or of the behaviour desired by their God. ^5:5I will go to the great men and have talk with them; for they have knowledge of the way of the Lord and of the behaviour desired by their God. But as for these, their one purpose is a broken yoke and burst bands. ^5:6And so a lion from the woods will put them to death, a wolf of the waste land will make them waste, a leopard will keep watch on their towns, and everyone who goes out from them will be food for the beasts; because of the great number of their sins and the increase of their wrongdoing. ^5:7How is it possible for you to have my forgiveness for this? your children have given me up, taking their oaths by those who are no gods: when I had given them food in full measure, they were false to their wives, taking their pleasure in the houses of loose women. ^5:8They were full of desire, like horses after a meal of grain: everyone went after his neighbour's wife. ^5:9Am I not to give punishment for these things? says the Lord: will not my soul take payment from such a nation as this? ^5:10Go up against her vines and make waste; let the destruction be complete: take away her branches, for they are not the Lord's. ^5:11For the people of Israel and the people of Judah have been very false to me, says the Lord. ^5:12They would have nothing to do with the Lord, saying, He will do nothing, and no evil will come to us; we will not see the sword or be short of food: ^5:13And the prophets will become wind, and the word is not in them; so it will be done to them. ^5:14For this reason the Lord, the God of armies, has said: Because you have said this, I will make my words in your mouth a fire, and this people wood, and they will be burned up by it. ^5:15See, I will send you a nation from far away, O people of Israel, says the Lord; a strong nation and an old nation, a nation whose language is strange to you, so that you may not get the sense of their words. ^5:16Their arrows give certain death, they are all men of war. ^5:17They will take all the produce of your fields, which would have been food for your sons and your daughters: they will take your flocks and your herds: they will take all your vines and your fig-trees: and with the sword they will make waste your walled towns in which you put your faith. ^5:18But even in those days, says the Lord, I will not let your destruction be complete. ^5:19And it will come about, when you say, Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us? that you will say to them, As you gave me up, making yourselves servants to strange gods in your land, so will you be servants to strange men in a land which is not yours. ^5:20Say this openly in Jacob and give it out in Judah, saying, ^5:21Give ear now to this, O foolish people without sense; who have eyes but see nothing, and ears without the power of hearing: ^5:22Have you no fear of me? says the Lord; will you not be shaking with fear before me, who have put the sand as a limit for the sea, by an eternal order, so that it may not go past it? and though it is ever in motion, it is not able to have its way; though the sound of its waves is loud, they are not able to go past it. ^5:23But the heart of this people is uncontrolled and turned away from me; they are broken loose and gone. ^5:24And they do not say in their hearts, Now let us give worship to our God, who gives the rain, the winter and the spring rain, at the right time; who keeps for us the ordered weeks of the grain-cutting. ^5:25Through your evil-doing these things have been turned away, and your sins have kept back good from you. ^5:26For there are sinners among my people: they keep watch, like men watching for birds; they put a net and take men in it. ^5:27As the fowl-house is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: for this reason they have become great and have got wealth. ^5:28They have become fat and strong: they have gone far in works of evil: they give no support to the cause of the child without a father, so that they may do well; they do not see that the poor man gets his rights. ^5:29Am I not to give punishment for these things? says the Lord: will not my soul take payment from such a nation as this? ^5:30A thing of wonder and fear has come about in the land; ^5:31The prophets give false words and the priests give decisions by their direction; and my people are glad to have it so: and what will you do in the end?

^6:1Go in flight out of Jerusalem, so that you may be safe, you children of Benjamin, and let the horn be sounded in Tekoa, and the flag be lifted up on Beth-haccherem: for evil is looking out from the north, and a great destruction. ^6:2The fair and delicate one, the daughter of Zion, will be cut off by my hand. ^6:3Keepers of sheep with their flocks will come to her; they will put up their tents round her; everyone will get food in his place. ^6:4Make war ready against her; up! let us go up when the sun is high. Sorrow is ours! for the day is turned and the shades of evening are stretched out. ^6:5Up! let us go up by night, and send destruction on her great houses. ^6:6For this is what the Lord of armies has said: Let trees be cut down and an earthwork be placed against Jerusalem: sorrow on the false town! inside her there is nothing but cruel ways. ^6:7As the spring keeps its waters cold, so she keeps her evil in her: the sound of cruel and violent behaviour is in her; before me at all times are disease and wounds. ^6:8Undergo teaching, O Jerusalem, or my soul will be turned away from you, and I will make you a waste, an unpeopled land. ^6:9This is what the Lord of armies has said: Everything will be taken from the rest of Israel as the last grapes are taken from the vine; let your hand be turned to the small branches, like one pulling off grapes. ^6:10To whom am I to give word, witnessing so that they may take note? see, their ears are stopped, and they are not able to give attention: see, the word of the Lord has been a cause of shame to them, they have no delight in it. ^6:11For this reason I am full of the wrath of the Lord, I am tired of keeping it in: may it be let loose on the children in the street, and on the band of the young men together: for even the husband with his wife will be taken, the old man with him who is full of days. ^6:12And their houses will be handed over to others, their fields and their wives together: for my hand will be stretched out against the people of the land, says the Lord. ^6:13For from the least of them even to the greatest, everyone is given up to getting money; from the prophet even to the priest, everyone is working deceit. ^6:14And they have made little of the wounds of my people, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace. ^6:15Let them be put to shame because they have done disgusting things. They had no shame, they were not able to become red with shame: so they will come down with those who are falling: when my punishment comes on them, they will be made low, says the Lord. ^6:16This is what the Lord has said: Take your place looking out on the ways; make search for the old roads, saying, Where is the good way? and go in it that you may have rest for your souls. But they said, We will not go in it. ^6:17And I put watchmen over you, saying, Give attention to the sound of the horn; but they said, We will not give attention. ^6:18So then, give ear, you nations, and ... ^6:19Give ear, O earth: see, I will make evil come on this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not given attention to my words, and they would have nothing to do with my law. ^6:20To what purpose does sweet perfume come to me from Sheba, and spices from a far country? your burned offerings give me no pleasure, your offerings of beasts are not pleasing to me. ^6:21For this reason the Lord has said, See, I will put stones in the way of this people: and the fathers and the sons together will go falling over them; the neighbour and his friend will come to destruction. ^6:22The Lord has said, See, a people is coming from the north country, a great nation will be put in motion from the inmost parts of the earth. ^6:23Bows and spears are in their hands; they are cruel and have no mercy; their voice is like the thunder of the sea, and they go on horses; everyone in his place like men going to the fight, against you, O daughter of Zion. ^6:24The news of it has come to our ears; our hands have become feeble: trouble has come on us and pain, like the pain of a woman in childbirth. ^6:25Go not out into the field or by the way; for there is the sword of the attacker, and fear on every side. ^6:26O daughter of my people, put on haircloth, rolling yourself in the dust: give yourself to sorrow, as for an only son, with most bitter cries of grief; for he who makes waste will come on us suddenly. ^6:27I have made you a tester among my people, so that you may have knowledge of their way and put it to the test. ^6:28All of them are turned away, going about with false stories; they are brass and iron: they are all workers of deceit. ^6:29The blower is blowing strongly, the lead is burned away in the fire: they go on heating the metal to no purpose, for the evil-doers are not taken away. ^6:30They will be named waste silver, because the Lord has given them up.

^7:1The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, ^7:2Take your place in the doorway of the Lord's house, and give out this word there, and say, Give ear to the word of the Lord, all you of Judah who come inside these doors to give worship to the Lord. ^7:3The Lord of armies, the God of Israel, says, Let your ways and your doings be changed for the better and I will let you go on living in this place. ^7:4Put no faith in false words, saying, The Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, are these. ^7:5For if your ways and your doings are truly changed for the better; if you truly give right decisions between a man and his neighbour; ^7:6If you are not cruel to the man from a strange country, and to the child without a father, and to the widow, and do not put the upright to death in this place, or go after other gods, causing damage to yourselves: ^7:7Then I will let you go on living in this place, in the land which I gave to your fathers in the past and for ever. ^7:8See, you put your faith in false words which are of no profit. ^7:9Will you take the goods of others, put men to death, and be untrue to your wives, and take false oaths, and have perfumes burned to the Baal, and go after other gods which are strange to you; ^7:10And come and take your place before me in this house, which is named by my name, and say, We have been made safe; so that you may do all these disgusting things? ^7:11Has this house, which is named by my name, become a hole of thieves to you? Truly I, even I, have seen it, says the Lord. ^7:12But go now to my place which was in Shiloh, where I put my name at first, and see what I did to it because of the evil-doing of my people Israel. ^7:13And now, because you have done all these works, says the Lord, and I sent my word to you, getting up early and sending, but you did not give ear; and my voice came to you, but you gave no answer: ^7:14For this reason I will do to the house which is named by my name, and in which you have put your faith, and to the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh. ^7:15And I will send you away from before my face, as I have sent away all your brothers, even all the seed of Ephraim. ^7:16And as for you (Jeremiah), make no prayers for this people, send up no cry or prayer for them, make no request for them to me: for I will not give ear. ^7:17Do you not see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? ^7:18The children go for wood, the fathers get the fire burning, the women are working the paste to make cakes for the queen of heaven, and drink offerings are drained out to other gods, moving me to wrath. ^7:19Are they moving me to wrath? says the Lord; are they not moving themselves to their shame? ^7:20So this is what the Lord God has said: See, my wrath and my passion will be let loose on this place, on man and beast, and on the trees of the field, and on the produce of the earth; it will be burning and will not be put out. ^7:21These are the words of the Lord of armies, the God of Israel: Put your burned offerings with your offerings of beasts, and take flesh for your food. ^7:22For I said nothing to your fathers, and gave them no orders, on the day when I took them out of Egypt, about burned offerings or offerings of beasts: ^7:23But this was the order I gave them, saying, Give ear to my voice, and I will be your God, and you will be my people: go in all the way ordered by me, so that all may be well for you. ^7:24But they took no note and did not give ear, but were guided by the thoughts and the pride of their evil hearts, going back and not forward. ^7:25From the day when your fathers came out of Egypt till this day, I have sent my servants the prophets to you, getting up early every day and sending them: ^7:26But still they took no note and would not give ear, but they made their necks stiff, doing worse than their fathers. ^7:27And you are to say all these words to them, but they will not give ear to you: you will send out your voice to them, but they will give no answer. ^7:28And you are to say to them, This is the nation which has not given ear to the voice of their God, or taken his teaching to heart: good faith is dead and is cut off from their mouths. ^7:29Let your hair be cut off, O Jerusalem, and let it go, and let a song of grief go up on the open hilltops; for the Lord is turned away from the generation of his wrath and has given them up. ^7:30For the children of Judah have done what is evil in my eyes, says the Lord: they have put their disgusting images in the house which is named by my name, making it unclean. ^7:31And they have put up the high place of Topheth in the valley of the son of Hinnom, burning their sons and their daughters there in the fire; a thing which was not ordered by me and never came into my mind. ^7:32For this cause, the days are coming, says the Lord, when it will no longer be named Topheth, or, The valley of the son of Hinnom, but, The valley of Death: for they will put the dead into the earth in Topheth till there is no more room. ^7:33And the bodies of this people will be food for the birds of heaven and for the beasts of the earth; and there will be no one to send them away. ^7:34And in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, I will put an end to the laughing voices, the voice of joy and the voice of the newly-married man and the voice of the bride: for the land will become a waste.

^8:1At that time, says the Lord, they will take the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his rulers, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the people of Jerusalem out of their resting-places: ^8:2And they will put them out before the sun and the moon and all the stars of heaven, whose lovers and servants they have been, after whom they have gone, to whom they have made prayers, and to whom they have given worship: they will not be put together or placed in the earth; they will be waste on the face of the earth. ^8:3And death will be desired more than life by the rest of this evil family who are still living in all the places where I have sent them away, says the Lord of armies. ^8:4Further, you are to say to them, This is what the Lord has said: Will those who are falling not be lifted up again? will he who has gone away not come back? ^8:5Why do these people of Jerusalem go back, for ever turning away? they will not give up their deceit, they will not come back. ^8:6I took note and gave ear, but no one said what is right: no man had regret for his evil-doing, saying, What have I done? everyone goes off on his way like a horse rushing to the fight. ^8:7Truly, the stork in the heavens is conscious of her fixed times; the dove and the swallow and the crane keep to the times of their coming; but my people have no knowledge of the law of the Lord. ^8:8How is it that you say, We are wise and the law of the Lord is with us? But see, the false pen of the scribes has made it false. ^8:9The wise men are shamed, they are overcome with fear and taken: see, they have given up the word of the Lord; and what use is their wisdom to them? ^8:10So I will give their wives to others, and their fields to those who will take them for themselves: for everyone, from the least to the greatest, is given up to getting money; from the priest even to the prophet, everyone is false. ^8:11And they have made little of the wounds of the daughter of Zion, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace. ^8:12Let them be put to shame because they have done disgusting things. They had no shame, they were not able to become red with shame: so they will come down with those who are falling: in the time of their punishment they will be made low, says the Lord. ^8:13I will put an end to them completely, says the Lord: there are no grapes on the vine and no figs on the fig-tree, and the leaf is dry. ^8:14Why are we seated doing nothing? come together, and let us go to the walled towns, and let destruction overtake us there, for the Lord our God has sent destruction on us, and given us bitter water for our drink, because we have done evil against the Lord. ^8:15We were looking for peace, but no good came; and for a time of well-being, but there is only a great fear. ^8:16The loud breathing of the horses comes to our ears from Dan: at the sound of the outcry of his war-horses, all the land is shaking with fear; for they have come, and have made a meal of the land and everything in it; the town and the people living in it. ^8:17See, I will send snakes and poison-snakes among you, against which the wonder-worker has no power; and they will give you wounds which may not be made well, says the Lord. ^8:18Sorrow has come on me! my heart in me is feeble. ^8:19The voice of the cry of the daughter of my people comes from a far land: Is the Lord not in Zion? is not her King in her? Why have they made me angry with their images and their strange gods which are no gods? ^8:20The grain-cutting is past, the summer is ended, and no salvation has come to us. ^8:21For the destruction of the daughter of my people I am broken: I am dressed in the clothing of grief; fear has taken me in its grip. ^8:22Is there no life-giving oil in Gilead? is there no expert in medical arts? why then have my people not been made well?

^9:1If only my head was a stream of waters and my eyes fountains of weeping, so that I might go on weeping day and night for the dead of the daughter of my people! ^9:2If only I had in the waste land a night's resting-place for travellers, so that I might go away, far from my people! for they are all untrue, a band of false men. ^9:3Their tongues are bent like a bow to send out false words: they have become strong in the land, but not for good faith: they go on from evil to evil, and they have no knowledge of me, says the Lord. ^9:4Let everyone keep watch on his neighbour, and put no faith in any brother: for every brother will certainly be tricking his brother, and every neighbour will go about saying evil. ^9:5Everyone will make sport of his neighbour with deceit, not saying what is true: their tongues have been trained to say false words; they are twisted, hating to come back. ^9:6There is wrong on wrong, deceit on deceit; they have given up the knowledge of me, says the Lord. ^9:7So the Lord of armies has said, See, I will make them soft in the fire and put them to the test; this I will do because of their evil-doing. ^9:8His tongue is an arrow causing death; the words of his mouth are deceit: he says words of peace to his neighbour, but in his heart he is waiting secretly for him. ^9:9Am I not to send punishment for these things? says the Lord: will not my soul take payment from such a nation as this? ^9:10Give yourselves to weeping, crying out in sorrow for the mountains; and for the fields of the waste land send up a song of grief, because they are burned up, so that no one goes through; there is no sound of cattle; the bird of the heavens and the beast are in flight and are gone. ^9:11And I will make Jerusalem a mass of broken stones, the living-place of jackals; and I will make the towns of Judah a waste, with no man living there. ^9:12Who is the wise man able to see this? who is he to whom the word of the Lord has come, so that he may make it clear? why is the land given to destruction and burned up like a waste place, so that no one goes through? ^9:13And the Lord said, Because they have given up my law which I put before them, giving no attention to my voice and not being guided by it; ^9:14But they have been walking in the pride of their hearts, going after the Baals, as their fathers gave them teaching. ^9:15So the Lord of armies, the God of Israel, has said, I will give them, even this people, bitter plants for food and bitter water for drink. ^9:16And I will send them wandering among the nations, among people strange to them and to their fathers: and I will send the sword after them till I have put an end to them. ^9:17This is what the Lord of armies has said: Take thought and send for the weeping women, so that they may come; and send for the wise women, so that they may come: ^9:18Let them quickly make cries of sorrow for us, so that drops may be flowing from our eyes till they are streaming with water. ^9:19For a sound of weeping goes up from Zion, a cry, How has destruction come on us? we are overcome with shame because we have gone away from our land; he has sent us out from our house. ^9:20But even now, give ear to the word of the Lord, O you women; let your ears be open to the word of his mouth, training your daughters to give cries of sorrow, everyone teaching her neighbour a song of grief. ^9:21For death has come up into our windows, forcing its way into our great houses; cutting off the children in the streets and the young men in the wide places. ^9:22The bodies of men will be falling like waste on the open fields, and like grain dropped by the grain-cutter, and no one will take them up. ^9:23This is the word of the Lord: Let not the wise man take pride in his wisdom, or the strong man in his strength, or the man of wealth in his wealth: ^9:24But if any man has pride, let it be in this, that he has the wisdom to have knowledge of me, that I am the Lord, working mercy, giving true decisions, and doing righteousness in the earth: for in these things I have delight, says the Lord. ^9:25See, the day is coming, says the Lord, when I will send punishment on all those who have circumcision in the flesh; ^9:26On Egypt and on Judah and on Edom and on the children of Ammon and on Moab and on all who have the ends of their hair cut, who are living in the waste land: for all these nations and all the people of Israel are without circumcision in their hearts.

^10:1Give ear to the word which the Lord says to you, O people of Israel: ^10:2This is what the Lord has said: Do not go in the way of the nations; have no fear of the signs of heaven, for the nations go in fear of them. ^10:3For that which is feared by the people is foolish: it is the work of the hands of the workman; for a tree is cut down by him out of the woods with his axe. ^10:4They make it beautiful with silver and gold; they make it strong with nails and hammers, so that it may not be moved. ^10:5It is like a pillar in a garden of plants, and has no voice: it has to be lifted, for it has no power of walking. Have no fear of it; for it has no power of doing evil and it is not able to do any good. ^10:6There is no one like you, O Lord; you are great and your name is great in power. ^10:7Who would not have fear of you, O King of the nations? for it is your right: for among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is no one like you. ^10:8But they are together like beasts and foolish: the teaching of false gods is wood. ^10:9Silver hammered into plates is sent from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the expert workman and of the hands of the gold-worker; blue and purple is their clothing, all the work of expert men. ^10:10But the Lord is the true God; he is the living God and an eternal king: when he is angry, the earth is shaking with fear, and the nations give way before his wrath. ^10:11This is what you are to say to them: The gods who have not made the heavens and the earth will be cut off from the earth and from under the heavens. ^10:12He has made the earth by his power, he has made the world strong in its place by his wisdom, and by his wise design the heavens have been stretched out. ^10:13At the sound of his voice there is a massing of waters in the heavens, and he makes the mists go up from the ends of the earth; he makes the thunder-flames for the rain, and sends out the wind from his store-houses. ^10:14Then every man becomes like a beast without knowledge; every gold-worker is put to shame by the image he has made: for his metal image is deceit, and there is no breath in them. ^10:15They are nothing, a work of error: in the time of their punishment, destruction will overtake them. ^10:16The heritage of Jacob is not like these; for the maker of all things is his heritage: the Lord of armies is his name. ^10:17Get your goods together and go out of the land, O you who are shut up in the walled town. ^10:18For the Lord has said, I will send the people in flight like a stone from the land at this time, troubling them so that they will be conscious of it. ^10:19Sorrow is mine for I am wounded! my wound may not be made well; and I said, Cruel is my disease, I may not be free from it. ^10:20My tent is pulled down and all my cords are broken: my children have gone from me, and they are not: no longer is there anyone to give help in stretching out my tent and hanging up my curtains. ^10:21For the keepers of the sheep have become like beasts, not looking to the Lord for directions: so they have not done wisely and all their flocks have been put to flight. ^10:22News is going about, see, it is coming, a great shaking is coming from the north country, so that the towns of Judah may be made waste and become the living-place of jackals. ^10:23O Lord, I am conscious that a man's way is not in himself: man has no power of guiding his steps. ^10:24O Lord, put me right, but with wise purpose; not in your wrath, or you will make me small. ^10:25Let your wrath be let loose on the nations which have no knowledge of you, and on the families who give no worship to your name: for they have made a meal of Jacob, truly they have made a meal of him and put an end to him and made his fields a waste.

^11:1The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, ^11:2Give ear to the words of this agreement, and say to the men of Judah and to the people of Jerusalem, ^11:3The Lord, the God of Israel, has said, Let that man be cursed who does not give ear to the words of this agreement, ^11:4To the order which I gave your fathers on the day when I took them out of the land of Egypt, out of the oven of iron, saying, Give ear to my voice, and do all the orders I have given you: so you will be my people, and I will be your God: ^11:5So that I may give effect to the oath which I made to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey as at this day. And I said in answer, So be it, O Lord. ^11:6And the Lord said to me, Give out these words in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, Give ear to the words of this agreement and do them. ^11:7For I gave certain witness to your fathers on the day when I took them up out of the land of Egypt, and even to this day, getting up early and witnessing and saying, Give ear to my voice. ^11:8But they gave no attention and did not give ear, but they went on, every man in the pride of his evil heart: so I sent on them all the curses in this agreement, which I gave them orders to keep, but they did not. ^11:9And the Lord said to me, There is an evil design at work among the men of Judah and the people of Jerusalem. ^11:10They are turned back to the sins of their fathers, who would not give ear to my words; they have gone after other gods and become their servants: the people of Israel and the people of Judah have not kept the agreement which I made with their fathers. ^11:11So the Lord has said, I will send evil on them, which they will not be able to get away from; and they will send up a cry for help to me, but I will not give ear to them. ^11:12Then the towns of Judah and the people of Jerusalem will go crying for help to the gods to whom they have been burning perfumes: but they will give them no salvation in the time of their trouble. ^11:13For the number of your gods is as the number of your towns, O Judah; and for every street in Jerusalem you have put up altars to the Baal for burning perfumes to the Baal. ^11:14And as for you, make no prayers for this people, send up no cry or prayer for them: for I will not give ear to their cry in the time of their trouble. ^11:15About Judah. What have you to do in my house? is it your thought that oaths and holy flesh will get you out of your trouble? will you make yourself safe in this way? ^11:16You had been named by the Lord, A branching olive-tree, fair with beautiful fruit: with the noise of a great rushing he has put it on fire and its branches are broken. ^11:17For the Lord of armies, by whom you were planted, has given his decision for evil against you, because of the evil which the people of Israel and the people of Judah have done, In moving me to wrath by offering perfumes to the Baal. ^11:18And the Lord gave me knowledge of it and I saw it: then you made clear to me their doings. ^11:19But I was like a gentle lamb taken to be put to death; I had no thought that they were designing evil against me, saying, Come and let us make trouble his food, cutting him off from the land of the living, so that there may be no more memory of his name. ^11:20But, O Lord of armies, judging in righteousness, testing the thoughts and the heart, let me see your punishment come on them: for I have put my cause before you. ^11:21So this is what the Lord of armies has said about the men of Anathoth who have made designs against your life, saying, You are not to be a prophet in the name of the Lord, or death will overtake you by our hands: ^11:22So the Lord of armies has said, See, I will send punishment on them: the young men will be put to the sword; their sons and their daughters will come to death through need of food: ^11:23Not one of them will keep his life, for I will send evil on the men of Anathoth in the year of their punishment.

^12:1You are in the right, O Lord, when I put my cause before you: still let me take up with you the question of your decisions: why does the evil-doer do well? why are the workers of deceit living in comfort? ^12:2They have been planted by you, they have taken root; they go on and give fruit: you are near in their mouths but far from their thoughts. ^12:3But you, O Lord, have knowledge of me; you see me, searching and testing how my heart is with you: let them be pulled out like sheep to be put to death, make them ready for the day of death. ^12:4How long will the land have grief, and the plants of all the land be dry? because of the sins of the people living in it, destruction has overtaken the beasts and the birds; because they said, God does not see our ways. ^12:5If running with the fighting-men has made you tired, how will you be able to keep up with horses? and if in a land of peace you go in flight, what will become of you in the thick growth of Jordan? ^12:6For even your brothers, your father's family, even they have been untrue to you, crying loudly after you: have no faith in them, though they say fair words to you. ^12:7I have given up my house, I have let my heritage go; I have given the loved one of my soul into the hands of her haters. ^12:8My heritage has become like a lion in the woodland to me; her voice has been loud against me; so I have hate for her. ^12:9My heritage is like a brightly coloured bird to me; the cruel birds are attacking her on every side: go, get together all the beasts of the field, make them come for destruction. ^12:10The keepers of sheep have been the destruction of my vine-garden, crushing my heritage under their feet; they have made my fair heritage an unplanted waste; ^12:11They have made it waste; it is weeping to me, being wasted; all the land is made waste, because no man takes it to heart. ^12:12Those who make waste have come on all the open hilltops in the waste land; for the sword of the Lord sends destruction from one end of the land to the other end of the land: no flesh has peace. ^12:13Though good grain was planted, they have got in thorns: they have given themselves pain without profit: they will be shamed on account of their produce, because of the burning wrath of the Lord. ^12:14This is what the Lord has said against all my evil neighbours, who put their hands on the heritage which I gave my people Israel: See, I will have them uprooted from their land, uprooting the people of Judah from among them. ^12:15And it will come about that, after they have been uprooted, I will again have pity on them; and I will take them back, every man to his heritage and every man to his land. ^12:16And it will be that, if they give their minds to learning the ways of my people, using my name in their oaths, By the living Lord; as they have been teaching my people to take oaths by the Baal; then their place will be made certain among my people. ^12:17But if they will not give ear, then I will have that nation uprooted, and given to destruction, says the Lord.

^13:1This is what the Lord said to me: Go and get yourself a linen band and put it round you and do not put it in water. ^13:2So, as the Lord said, I got a band for a price and put it round my body. ^13:3And the word of the Lord came to me a second time, saying, ^13:4Take the band which you got for a price, which is round your body, and go to Parah and put it in a secret place there in a hole of the rock. ^13:5So I went and put it in a secret place by Parah, as the Lord had said to me. ^13:6Then after a long time, the Lord said to me, Up! go to Parah and get the band which I gave you orders to put there. ^13:7So I went to Parah and, uncovering the hole, took the band from the place where I had put it away: and the band was damaged and of no use for anything. ^13:8Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ^13:9The Lord has said, In this way I will do damage to the pride of Judah and to the great pride of Jerusalem. ^13:10These evil people who say they will not give ear to my words, who go on in the pride of their hearts and have become servants and worshippers of other gods, will become like this band which is of no use for anything. ^13:11For as a band goes tightly round a man's body, so I made all the people of Israel and all the people of Judah tightly united to me; so that they might be a people for me and a name and a praise and a glory: but they would not give ear. ^13:12So you are to say this word to them: This is the word of the Lord, the God of Israel: Every skin bottle will be full of wine; and they will say to you, Is it not quite clear to us that every skin bottle will be full of wine? ^13:13Then you are to say to them, The Lord has said, I will make all the people of this land, even the kings seated on David's seat, and the priests and the prophets and all the people of Jerusalem, overcome with strong drink. ^13:14I will have them smashed against one another, fathers and sons together, says the Lord: I will have no pity or mercy, I will have no feeling for them to keep me from giving them to destruction. ^13:15Give ear and let your ears be open; be not lifted up: for these are the words of the Lord. ^13:16Give glory to the Lord your God, before he makes it dark, and before your feet are slipping on the dark mountains, and, while you are looking for a light, he makes it into deep dark, into black night. ^13:17But if you do not give ear to it, my soul will be weeping in secret for your pride; my eye will be weeping bitterly, streaming with water, because the Lord's flock has been taken away as prisoners. ^13:18Say to the king and to the queen-mother, Make yourselves low, be seated on the earth: for the crown of your glory has come down from your heads. ^13:19The towns of the south are shut up, and there is no one to make them open: Judah is taken away as prisoners; all Judah is taken away as prisoners. ^13:20Let your eyes be lifted up (O Jerusalem), and see those who are coming from the north. Where is the flock which was given to you, your beautiful flock? ^13:21What will you say when he puts over you those whom you yourself have made your friends? will not pains take you like a woman in childbirth? ^13:22And if you say in your heart, Why have these things come on me? because of the number of your sins, your skirts have been uncovered and violent punishment overtakes you. ^13:23Is it possible for the skin of the Ethiopian to be changed, or the markings on the leopard? Then it might be possible for you to do good, who have been trained to do evil. ^13:24So I will send them in all directions, as dry grass is taken away by the wind of the waste land. ^13:25This is your fate, the part measured out to you by me, says the Lord, because you have put me out of your memory and put your faith in what is false. ^13:26So I will have your skirts uncovered before your face, in order that your shame may be seen. ^13:27I have seen your disgusting acts, even your false behaviour and your cries of desire and your loose ways on the hills in the field. Unhappy are you, O Jerusalem, you have no desire to be made clean; how long will you be in turning back to me?

^14:1The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah when there was no water. ^14:2Judah is weeping and its doors are dark with sorrow, and people are seated on the earth clothed in black; and the cry of Jerusalem has gone up. ^14:3Their great men have sent their servants for water: they come to the holes and there is no water to be seen; they come back with nothing in their vessels; they are overcome with shame and fear, covering their heads. ^14:4Those who do work on the land are in fear, for there has been no rain on the land, and the farmers are shamed, covering their heads. ^14:5And the roe, giving birth in the field, lets her young one be uncared for, because there is no grass. ^14:6And the asses of the field on the open hilltops are opening their mouths wide like jackals to get air; their eyes are hollow because there is no grass. ^14:7Though our sins give witness against us, do something, O Lord, for the honour of your name: for again and again we have been turned away from you, we have done evil against you. ^14:8O you hope of Israel, its saviour in time of trouble, why are you like one who is strange in the land, and like a traveller putting up his tent for a night? ^14:9Why are you like a man surprised, like a man of war who is not able to give help? but you, O Lord, are with us, and we are named by your name; do not go away from us. ^14:10This is what the Lord has said about this people: Even so they have been glad to go from the right way; they have not kept their feet from wandering, so the Lord has no pleasure in them; now he will keep their wrongdoing in mind and send punishment for their sins. ^14:11And the Lord said to me, Make no prayer for this people for their good. ^14:12When they go without food, I will not give ear to their cry; when they give burned offerings and meal offerings, I will not take pleasure in them: but I will put an end to them by the sword and by need of food and by disease. ^14:13Then I said, Ah, Lord God! see, the prophets say to them, You will not see the sword or be short of food; but I will give you certain peace in this place. ^14:14Then the Lord said to me, The prophets say false words in my name, and I gave them no orders, and I said nothing to them: what they say to you is a false vision and wonder-working words without substance, the deceit of their hearts. ^14:15So this is what the Lord has said about the prophets who make use of my name, though I sent them not, and say, The sword and need of food will not be in this land: the sword and need of food will put an end to those prophets. ^14:16And the people to whom they are prophets will be pushed out dead into the streets of Jerusalem, because there is no food, and because of the sword; and they will have no one to put their bodies into the earth, them or their wives or their sons or their daughters: for I will let loose their evil-doing on them. ^14:17And you are to say this word to them, Let my eyes be streaming with water night and day, and let it not be stopped; for the virgin daughter of my people is wounded with a great wound, with a very bitter blow. ^14:18If I go out into the open country, there are those put to death by the sword! and if I go into the town, there are those who are diseased from need of food! for the prophet and the priest go about in the land and have no knowledge. ^14:19Have you completely given up Judah? is your soul turned in disgust from Zion? why have you given us blows from which there is no one to make us well? we were looking for peace, but no good came; and for a time of well-being, but there was only a great fear. ^14:20We are conscious, O Lord, of our sin and of the wrongdoing of our fathers: we have done evil against you. ^14:21Do not be turned from us in disgust, because of your name; do not put shame on the seat of your glory: keep us in mind, let not your agreement with us be broken. ^14:22Are any of the false gods of the nations able to make rain come? are the heavens able to give showers? are you not he, O Lord our God? so we will go on waiting for you, for you have done all these things.

^15:1Then the Lord said to me, Even if Moses and Samuel came before me, I would have no desire for this people: send them away from before me, and let them go. ^15:2And it will be, when they say to you, Where are we to go? then you are to say to them, The Lord has said, Such as are for death, to death; and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are to be in need of food, to need of food; and such as are to be taken away prisoners, to be taken away. ^15:3And I will put over them four divisions, says the Lord: the sword causing death, dogs pulling the dead bodies about, and the birds of heaven, and the beasts of the earth to take their bodies for food and put an end to them. ^15:4And I will make them a cause of fear to all the kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, and what he did in Jerusalem. ^15:5For who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem? and who will have sorrow for you? or who will go out of his way to see how you are? ^15:6You have given me up, says the Lord, you have gone back: so my hand is stretched out against you for your destruction; I am tired of changing my purpose. ^15:7And I have sent a cleaning wind on them in the public places of the land; I have taken their children from them; I have given my people to destruction; they have not been turned from their ways. ^15:8I have let their widows be increased in number more than the sand of the seas: I have sent against them, against the mother and the young men, one who makes waste in the heat of the day, causing pain and fears to come on her suddenly. ^15:9The mother of seven is without strength; her spirit is gone from her, her sun has gone down while it is still day: she has been shamed and overcome: and the rest of them I will give up to the sword before their haters, says the Lord. ^15:10Sorrow is mine, my mother, because you have given birth to me, a cause of fighting and argument in all the earth! I have not made men my creditors and I am not in debt to any, but every one of them is cursing me. ^15:11... ^15:12Is it possible for iron to be broken; even iron from the north, and brass? ^15:13I will give your wealth and your stores to your attackers, without a price, because of all your sins, even in every part of your land. ^15:14They will go away with your haters into a land which is strange to you: for my wrath is on fire with a flame which will be burning on you. ^15:15O Lord, you have knowledge: keep me in mind and come to my help, and give their right reward to those who are attacking me; take me not away, for you are slow to be angry: see how I have undergone shame because of you from all those who make little of your word; ^15:16But to me your word is a joy, making my heart glad; for I am named by your name, O Lord God of armies. ^15:17I did not take my seat among the band of those who are glad, and I had no joy; I kept by myself because of your hand; for you have made me full of wrath. ^15:18Why is my pain unending and my wound without hope of being made well? Sorrow is mine, for you are to me as a stream offering false hope and as waters which are not certain. ^15:19For this cause the Lord has said, If you will come back, then I will again let you take your place before me; and if you give out what is of value and not that which has no value, you will be as my mouth: let them come back to you, but do not go back to them. ^15:20And I will make you a strong wall of brass to this people; they will be fighting against you, but they will not overcome you: for I am with you to keep you safe, says the Lord. ^15:21I will keep you safe from the hands of the evil-doers, and I will give you salvation from the hands of the cruel ones.

^16:1Then again the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ^16:2You are not to take a wife for yourself or have sons or daughters in this place. ^16:3For this is what the Lord has said about the sons and daughters who come to birth in this place, and about their mothers who have given them birth, and about their fathers who have given life to them in this land: ^16:4Death from evil diseases will overtake them; there will be no weeping for them and their bodies will not be put to rest; they will be like waste on the face of the earth: the sword and need of food will put an end to them; their dead bodies will be meat for the birds of heaven and for the beasts of the earth. ^16:5For this is what the Lord has said: Do not go into the house of sorrow, do not go to make weeping or songs of grief for them: for I have taken away my peace from this people, says the Lord, even mercy and pity. ^16:6Death will overtake great as well as small in the land: their bodies will not be put in a resting-place, and no one will be weeping for them or wounding themselves or cutting off their hair for them: ^16:7No one will make a feast for them in sorrow, to give them comfort for the dead, or put to their lips the cup of comfort on account of their father or their mother. ^16:8And you are not to go into the house of feasting, or be seated with them to take food or drink. ^16:9For the Lord of armies, the God of Israel, has said, See, before your eyes and in your days I will put an end in this place to the laughing voices and the voice of joy; to the voice of the newly-married man and the voice of the bride. ^16:10And it will be, that when you say all these words to the people, then they will say to you, Why has the Lord done all this evil against us? what is our wrongdoing and what is our sin which we have done against the Lord our God? ^16:11Then you will say to them, Because your fathers have given me up, says the Lord, and have gone after other gods and become their servants and their worshippers, and have given me up and have not kept my law; ^16:12And you have done worse evil than your fathers; for see, every one of you is guided by the pride of his evil heart, so as not to give ear to me: ^16:13For this reason I will send you away out of this land into a land which is strange to you, to you and to your fathers; there you will be the servants of other gods day and night, and you will have no mercy from me. ^16:14For this cause, see, the days are coming, says the Lord, when it will no longer be said, By the living Lord, who took the children of Israel up out of the land of Egypt. ^16:15But, By the living Lord, who took the children of Israel up out of the land of the north, and from all the countries where he had sent them: and I will take them back again to their land which I gave to their fathers. ^16:16See, I will send for great numbers of fishermen, says the Lord, and they will take them like fish in a net; and after that, I will send for numbers of bowmen, and they will go after them, driving them from every mountain and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks. ^16:17For my eyes are on all their ways: there is no cover for them from my face, and their evil-doing is not kept secret from my eyes. ^16:18And I will give them the reward of their evil-doing and their sin twice over; because they have made my land unclean, and have made my heritage full of the bodies of their unholy and disgusting things. ^16:19O Lord, my strength and my strong tower, my safe place in the day of trouble, the nations will come to you from the ends of the earth, and say, The heritage of our fathers is nothing but deceit, even false things in which there is no profit. ^16:20Will a man make for himself gods which are no gods? ^16:21For this reason, truly, I will make them see, this once I will give them knowledge of my hand and my power; and they will be certain that my name is the Lord.