57:1The righteous perish, and no one lays it to heart. Merciful men are taken away, and no one considers that the righteous is taken away from the evil. 57:2He enters into peace. They rest in their beds, each one who walks in his uprightness. 57:3“But draw near here, you sons of a sorceress, you offspring of adulterers and prostitutes. 57:4Whom do you mock? Against whom do you make a wide mouth, and stick out your tongue? Aren’t you children of disobedience, and offspring of falsehood, 57:5you who inflame yourselves among the oaks, under every green tree; who kill the children in the valleys, under the clefts of the rocks? 57:6Among the smooth stones of the valley is your portion; they, they are your lot. You have even poured a drink offering to them. You have offered an offering. Shall I be appeased for these things? 57:7On a high and lofty mountain you have set your bed. You also went up there to offer sacrifice. 57:8You have set up your memorial behind the doors and the posts; for you have exposed yourself to someone besides me, and have gone up; you have enlarged your bed, and made you a covenant with them. You loved what you saw on their bed. 57:9You went to the king with oil, and increased your perfumes, and sent your ambassadors far off, and degraded yourself even to Sheol. 57:10You were wearied with the length of your ways; yet you didn’t say, ‘It is in vain.’ You found a reviving of your strength; therefore you weren’t faint. 57:11“Whom have you dreaded and feared, so that you lie, and have not remembered me, nor laid it to your heart? Haven’t I held my peace for a long time, and you don’t fear me? 57:12I will declare your righteousness; and as for your works, they will not benefit you. 57:13When you cry, let those whom you have gathered deliver you; but the wind will take them. a breath will carry them all away: but he who takes refuge in me will possess the land, and will inherit my holy mountain.” 57:14He will say, “Build up, build up, prepare the way! Remove the stumbling-block out of the way of my people.” 57:15For thus says the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also who is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite. 57:16For I will not contend forever, neither will I be always angry; for the spirit would faint before me, and the souls whom I have made. 57:17I was angry because of the iniquity of his covetousness, and struck him; I hid myself and was angry; and he went on backsliding in the way of his heart. 57:18I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comforts to him and to his mourners. 57:19I create the fruit of the lips: Peace, peace, to him who is far off and to him who is near,” says Yahweh; “and I will heal them.” 57:20But the wicked are like the troubled sea; for it can’t rest, and its waters cast up mire and mud. 57:21“There is no peace”, says my God, “for the wicked.”
58:1“Cry aloud, don’t spare. Lift up your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their disobedience, and to the house of Jacob their sins. 58:2Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways. As a nation that did righteousness, and didn’t forsake the ordinance of their God, they ask of me righteous judgments. They delight to draw near to God. 58:3‘Why have we fasted,’ say they, ‘and you don’t see? Why have we afflicted our soul, and you don’t notice?’ “Behold, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, and oppress all your laborers. 58:4Behold, you fast for strife and contention, and to strike with the fist of wickedness. You don’t fast today so as to make your voice to be heard on high. 58:5Is this the fast that I have chosen? A day for a man to humble his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under himself? Will you call this a fast, and an acceptable day to Yahweh? 58:6“Isn’t this the fast that I have chosen: to release the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? 58:7Isn’t it to distribute your bread to the hungry, and that you bring the poor who are cast out to your house? When you see the naked, that you cover him; and that you not hide yourself from your own flesh? 58:8Then your light will break out as the morning, and your healing will appear quickly; then your righteousness shall go before you; and Yahweh’s glory will be your rear guard. 58:9Then you will call, and Yahweh will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’ “If you take away from among you the yoke, finger pointing, and speaking wickedly; 58:10and if you pour out your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul: then your light will rise in darkness, and your obscurity will be as the noonday; 58:11and Yahweh will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in dry places, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters don’t fail. 58:12Those who shall be of you shall build the old waste places; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; and you shall be called Repairer of the Breach, Restorer of Paths with Dwellings. 58:13“If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, and the holy of Yahweh honorable; and shall honor it, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words: 58:14then you shall delight yourself in Yahweh; and I will make you to ride on the high places of the earth; and I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father:” for Yahweh’s mouth has spoken it.
59:1Behold, Yahweh’s hand is not shortened, that it can’t save; nor his ear dull, that it can’t hear. 59:2But your iniquities have separated you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. 59:3For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity. Your lips have spoken lies. Your tongue mutters wickedness. 59:4No one sues in righteousness, and no one pleads in truth. They trust in vanity, and speak lies. They conceive mischief, and give birth to iniquity. 59:5They hatch adders’ eggs, and weave the spider’s web. He who eats of their eggs dies; and that which is crushed breaks out into a viper. 59:6Their webs won’t become garments. They won’t cover themselves with their works. Their works are works of iniquity, and acts of violence are in their hands. 59:7Their feet run to evil, and they hurry to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity. desolation and destruction are in their paths. 59:8They don’t know the way of peace; and there is no justice in their ways. They have made crooked paths for themselves; whoever goes in them doesn’t know peace. 59:9Therefore is justice far from us, and righteousness doesn’t overtake us. We look for light, but see darkness; for brightness, but we walk in obscurity. 59:10We grope for the wall like the blind. Yes, we grope as those who have no eyes. We stumble at noon as if it were twilight. Among those who are strong, we are like dead men. 59:11We all roar like bears, and moan bitterly like doves. We look for justice, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us. 59:12For our transgressions are multiplied before you, and our sins testify against us; for our transgressions are with us, and as for our iniquities, we know them: 59:13transgressing and denying Yahweh, and turning away from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. 59:14Justice is turned away backward, and righteousness stands far away; for truth has fallen in the street, and uprightness can’t enter. 59:15Yes, truth is lacking; and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. Yahweh saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice. 59:16He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor. Therefore his own arm brought salvation to him; and his righteousness sustained him. 59:17He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head. He put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a mantle. 59:18According to their deeds, he will repay as appropriate, wrath to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies; he will repay the islands their due. 59:19So shall they fear Yahweh’s name from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun; for he will come as a rushing stream, which Yahweh’s breath drives. 59:20“A Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those who turn from disobedience in Jacob,” says Yahweh. 59:21“As for me, this is my covenant with them,” says Yahweh. “My Spirit who is on you, and my words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, nor out of the mouth of your offspring, nor out of the mouth of your offspring’s offspring,” says Yahweh, “from henceforth and forever.”
60:1“Arise, shine; for your light has come, and Yahweh’s glory has risen on you. 60:2For, behold, darkness will cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but Yahweh will arise on you, and his glory shall be seen on you. 60:3Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. 60:4“Lift up your eyes all around, and see: they all gather themselves together. They come to you. Your sons will come from far away, and your daughters will be carried in arms. 60:5Then you shall see and be radiant, and your heart will thrill and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea will be turned to you. The wealth of the nations will come to you. 60:6A multitude of camels will cover you, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah. All from Sheba will come. They will bring gold and frankincense, and will proclaim the praises of Yahweh. 60:7All the flocks of Kedar will be gathered together to you. The rams of Nebaioth will serve you. They will be accepted as offerings on my altar; and I will beautify my glorious house. 60:8“Who are these who fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows? 60:9Surely the islands will wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring your sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, for the name of Yahweh your God, and for the Holy One of Israel, because he has glorified you. 60:10“Foreigners will build up your walls, and their kings will serve you: for in my wrath I struck you, but in my favor I have had mercy on you. 60:11Your gates also shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that men may bring to you the wealth of the nations, and their kings led captive. 60:12For that nation and kingdom that will not serve you shall perish; yes, those nations shall be utterly wasted. 60:13“The glory of Lebanon shall come to you, the cypress tree, the pine, and the box tree together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I will make the place of my feet glorious. 60:14The sons of those who afflicted you will come bowing to you; and all those who despised you will bow themselves down at the soles of your feet. They will call you Yahweh’s City, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel. 60:15“Whereas you have been forsaken and hated, so that no one passed through you, I will make you an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations. 60:16You will also drink the milk of the nations, and will nurse from royal breasts. Then you will know that I, Yahweh, am your Savior, your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. 60:17For brass I will bring gold; for iron I will bring silver; for wood, brass, and for stones, iron. I will also make peace your governor, and righteousness your ruler. 60:18Violence shall no more be heard in your land, nor desolation or destruction within your borders; but you will call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise. 60:19The sun will be no more your light by day; nor will the brightness of the moon give light to you, but Yahweh will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. 60:20Your sun will not go down any more, nor will your moon withdraw itself; for Yahweh will be your everlasting light, and the days of your mourning will end. 60:21Then your people will all be righteous. They will inherit the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified. 60:22The little one will become a thousand, and the small one a strong nation. I, Yahweh, will do this quickly in its time.”
61:1The Lord Yahweh’s Spirit is on me; because Yahweh has anointed me to preach good news to the humble. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to those who are bound; 61:2to proclaim the year of Yahweh’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; 61:3to provide for those who mourn in Zion, to give to them a garland for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of Yahweh, that he may be glorified. 61:4They will rebuild the old ruins. They will raise up the places long devastated. They will repair the ruined cities, that have been devastated for many generations. 61:5Strangers will stand and feed your flocks, and foreigners will work your fields and your vineyards. 61:6But you will be called Yahweh’s priests. Men will call you the servants of our God. You will eat the wealth of the nations, and you will boast in their glory. 61:7Instead of your shame you will have double. Instead of dishonor, they will rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land, they will possess double. Everlasting joy will be to them. 61:8“For I, Yahweh, love justice. I hate robbery and iniquity. I will give them their reward in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. 61:9Their offspring will be known among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples. All who see them will acknowledge them, that they are the offspring which Yahweh has blessed.” 61:10I will greatly rejoice in Yahweh! My soul will be joyful in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation. He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. 61:11For as the earth produces its bud, and as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring up; so the Lord Yahweh will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.
62:1For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until her righteousness shines out like the dawn, and her salvation like a burning lamp. 62:2The nations will see your righteousness, and all kings your glory, and you will be called by a new name, which Yahweh‘s mouth will name. 62:3You will also be a crown of beauty in Yahweh‘s hand, and a royal diadem in your God‘s hand. 62:4You will not be called Forsaken any more; nor will your land be called Desolate any more: but you will be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah; for Yahweh delights in you, and your land will be married. 62:5For as a young man marries a virgin, so your sons will marry you. As a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so your God will rejoice over you. 62:6I have set watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem. They will never be silent day nor night. You who call on Yahweh, take no rest, 62:7and give him no rest, until he establishes, and until he makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth. 62:8Yahweh has sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength, “Surely I will no more give your grain to be food for your enemies; and foreigners will not drink your new wine, for which you have labored; 62:9but those who have harvested it will eat it, and praise Yahweh; and those who have gathered it will drink it in the courts of my sanctuary.” 62:10Go through, go through the gates! Prepare the way of the people! Build up, build up the highway! Gather out the stones! Lift up a banner for the peoples. 62:11Behold, Yahweh has proclaimed to the end of the earth, “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your salvation comes. Behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.’” 62:12They will call them The holy people, Yahweh’s redeemed. You will be called Sought out, A city not forsaken.
63:1Who is this who comes from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? Who this who is glorious in his clothing, marching in the greatness of his strength? “It is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.” 63:2Why is your clothing red, and your garments like him who treads in the wine vat? 63:3“I have trodden the wine press alone; and of the peoples, no one was with me: Yes, I trod them in my anger, and trampled them in my wrath. Their lifeblood is sprinkled on my garments, and I have stained all my clothing. 63:4For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and the year of my redeemed has come. 63:5I looked, and there was no one to help; and I wondered that there was no one to uphold: therefore my own arm brought salvation to me; and my own wrath upheld me. 63:6I trod down the peoples in my anger, and made them drunk in my wrath, and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.” 63:7I will tell of the loving kindnesses of Yahweh and the praises of Yahweh, according to all that Yahweh has given to us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which he has given to them according to his mercies, and according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses. 63:8For he said, “Surely, they are my people, children who will not deal falsely;” so he became their Savior. 63:9In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them. In his love and in his pity he redeemed them. He bore them, and carried them all the days of old. 63:10But they rebelled, and grieved his holy Spirit. Therefore he turned and became their enemy, and he himself fought against them. 63:11Then he remembered the days of old, Moses and his people, saying, “Where is he who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of his flock? Where is he who put his Holy Spirit among them?” 63:12Who caused his glorious arm to be at Moses’ right hand? Who divided the waters before them, to make himself an everlasting name? 63:13Who led them through the depths, like a horse in the wilderness, so that they didn’t stumble? 63:14As the livestock that go down into the valley, Yahweh’s Spirit caused them to rest. So you led your people, to make yourself a glorious name. 63:15Look down from heaven, and see from the habitation of your holiness and of your glory. Where are your zeal and your mighty acts? The yearning of your heart and your compassion is restrained toward me. 63:16For you are our Father, though Abraham doesn’t know us, and Israel does not acknowledge us. You, Yahweh, are our Father. Our Redeemer from everlasting is your name. 63:17O Yahweh, why do you make us wander from your ways, and harden our heart from your fear? Return for your servants’ sake, the tribes of your inheritance. 63:18Your holy people possessed it but a little while. Our adversaries have trodden down your sanctuary. 63:19We have become like those over whom you never ruled, like those who were not called by your name.
64:1Oh that you would tear the heavens, that you would come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence. 64:2As when fire kindles the brushwood, and the fire causes the water to boil; Make your name known to your adversaries, that the nations may tremble at your presence! 64:3When you did awesome things which we didn’t look for, you came down, and the mountains quaked at your presence. 64:4For from of old men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, nor has the eye seen a God besides you, who works for him who waits for him. 64:5You meet him who rejoices and does righteousness, those who remember you in your ways. Behold, you were angry, and we sinned. We have been in sin for a long time. Shall we be saved? 64:6For we have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteousness is like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. 64:7There is no one who calls on your name, who stirs himself up to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have consumed us by means of our iniquities. 64:8But now, Yahweh, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you our potter. We all are the work of your hand. 64:9Don’t be furious, Yahweh, and don’t remember iniquity forever. Look and see, we beg you, we are all your people. 64:10Your holy cities have become a wilderness. Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. 64:11Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised you, is burned with fire; and all our pleasant places are laid waste. 64:12Will you hold yourself back for these things, Yahweh? Will you keep silent, and punish us very severely?
65:1“I am inquired of by those who didn’t ask. I am found by those who didn’t seek me. I said, ‘See me, see me,’ to a nation that was not called by my name. 65:2I have spread out my hands all day to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, after their own thoughts; 65:3a people who provoke me to my face continually, sacrificing in gardens, and burning incense on bricks; 65:4who sit among the graves, and spend nights in secret places; who eat pig’s meat, and broth of abominable things is in their vessels; 65:5who say, ‘Stay by yourself, don’t come near to me, for I am holier than you.’ These are smoke in my nose, a fire that burns all day. 65:6“Behold, it is written before me: I will not keep silence, but will repay, yes, I will repay into their bosom, 65:7your own iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together”, says Yahweh, “who have burned incense on the mountains, and blasphemed me on the hills. Therefore I will first measure their work into their bosom.” 65:8Yahweh says, “As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one says, ‘Don’t destroy it, for a blessing is in it:’ so will I do for my servants’ sake, that I may not destroy them all. 65:9I will bring offspring out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains. My chosen will inherit it, and my servants will dwell there. 65:10Sharon will be a fold of flocks, and the valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down in, for my people who have sought me. 65:11“But you who forsake Yahweh, who forget my holy mountain, who prepare a table for Fortune, and who fill up mixed wine to Destiny; 65:12I will destine you to the sword, and you will all bow down to the slaughter; because when I called, you didn’t answer. When I spoke, you didn’t listen; but you did that which was evil in my eyes, and chose that in which I didn’t delight.” 65:13Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh, “Behold, my servants will eat, but you will be hungry; behold, my servants will drink, but you will be thirsty. Behold, my servants will rejoice, but you will be disappointed; 65:14Behold, my servants will sing for joy of heart, but you will cry for sorrow of heart, and will wail for anguish of spirit. 65:15You will leave your name for a curse to my chosen; and the Lord Yahweh will kill you. He will call his servants by another name, 65:16so that he who blesses himself in the earth will bless himself in the God of truth; and he who swears in the earth will swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hidden from my eyes. 65:17“For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things will not be remembered, nor come into mind. 65:18But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for, behold, I create Jerusalem to be a delight, and her people a joy. 65:19I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and delight in my people; and the voice of weeping and the voice of crying will be heard in her no more. 65:20“No more will there be an infant who only lives a few days, nor an old man who has not filled his days; for the child will die one hundred years old, and the sinner being one hundred years old will be accursed. 65:21They will build houses, and inhabit them. They will plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. 65:22They will not build, and another inhabit. They will not plant, and another eat: for the days of my people will be like the days of a tree, and my chosen will long enjoy the work of their hands. 65:23They will not labor in vain, nor give birth for calamity; for they are the offspring of Yahweh’s blessed, and their descendants with them. 65:24It will happen that, before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. 65:25The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. Dust will be the serpent’s food. They will not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain,” says Yahweh.
66:1Yahweh says, “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build to me? Where will I rest? 66:2For my hand has made all these things, and so all these things came to be,” says Yahweh: “but to this man will I look, even to he who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at my word. 66:3He who kills an ox is as he who kills a man; he who sacrifices a lamb, as he who breaks a dog’s neck; he who offers an offering, as he who offers pig’s blood; he who burns frankincense, as he who blesses an idol. Yes, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations: 66:4I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears on them; because when I called, no one answered; when I spoke, they didn’t listen; but they did that which was evil in my eyes, and chose that in which I didn’t delight.” 66:5Hear Yahweh’s word, you who tremble at his word: “Your brothers who hate you, who cast you out for my name’s sake, have said, ‘Let Yahweh be glorified, that we may see your joy;’ but it is those who shall be disappointed. 66:6A voice of tumult from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of Yahweh that repays his enemies what they deserve. 66:7“Before she travailed, she gave birth. Before her pain came, she delivered a son. 66:8Who has heard of such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall a land be born in one day? Shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion travailed, she gave birth to her children. 66:9Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to be delivered?” says Yahweh. “Shall I who cause to give birth shut the womb?” says your God. 66:10“Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all you who love her. Rejoice for joy with her, all you who mourn over her; 66:11that you may nurse and be satisfied at the comforting breasts; that you may drink deeply, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory.” 66:12For Yahweh says, “Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream; and you will nurse. You will be carried on her side, and will be dandled on her knees. 66:13As one whom his mother comforts, so will I comfort you. You will be comforted in Jerusalem.” 66:14You will see it, and your heart shall rejoice, and your bones will flourish like the tender grass. Yahweh’s hand will be known among his servants; and he will have indignation against his enemies. 66:15For, behold, Yahweh will come with fire, and his chariots will be like the whirlwind; to render his anger with fierceness, and his rebuke with flames of fire. 66:16For Yahweh will execute judgment by fire and by his sword on all flesh; and those slain by Yahweh will be many. 66:17“Those who sanctify themselves and purify themselves to go to the gardens, behind one in the middle, eating pig’s meat, abominable things, and the mouse, they shall come to an end together,” says Yahweh. 66:18“For I know their works and their thoughts. The time comes that I will gather all nations and languages, and they will come, and will see my glory. 66:19“I will set a sign among them, and I will send those who escape of them to the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to far-away islands, who have not heard my fame, nor have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the nations. 66:20They shall bring all your brothers out of all the nations for an offering to Yahweh, on horses, in chariots, in litters, on mules, and on camels, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says Yahweh, as the children of Israel bring their offering in a clean vessel into Yahweh’s house. 66:21Of them I will also select priests and Levites,” says Yahweh. 66:22“For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me,” says Yahweh, “so your offspring and your name shall remain. 66:23It shall happen that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, all flesh will come to worship before me,” says Yahweh. 66:24“They will go out, and look at the dead bodies of the men who have transgressed against me; for their worm will not die, nor will their fire be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind.”
Jeremiah
1:1The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, one of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin. 1:2Yahweh’s word came to him in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. 1:3It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, to the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, to the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month. 1:4Now Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 1:5“Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I sanctified you. I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.” 1:6Then I said, “Ah, Lord Yahweh! Behold, I don’t know how to speak; for I am a child.” 1:7But Yahweh said to me, “Don’t say, ‘I am a child;’ for you must go to whomever I send you, and you must say whatever I command you. 1:8Don’t be afraid because of them, for I am with you to rescue you,” says Yahweh. 1:9Then Yahweh stretched out his hand, and touched my mouth. Then Yahweh said to me, “Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. 1:10Behold, I have today set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to uproot and to tear down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.” 1:11Moreover Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, “Jeremiah, what do you see?” I said, “I see a branch of an almond tree.” 1:12Then Yahweh said to me, “You have seen well; for I watch over my word to perform it.” 1:13Yahweh’s word came to me the second time, saying, “What do you see?” I said, “I see a boiling cauldron; and it is tipping away from the north.” 1:14Then Yahweh said to me, “Out of the north, evil will break out on all the inhabitants of the land. 1:15For, behold, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north,” says Yahweh. “They will come, and they will each set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all its walls all around, and against all the cities of Judah. 1:16I will utter my judgments against them concerning all their wickedness, in that they have forsaken me, and have burned incense to other gods, and worshiped the works of their own hands. 1:17“You therefore put your belt on your waist, arise, and say to them all that I command you. Don’t be dismayed at them, lest I dismay you before them. 1:18For, behold, I have made you today a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against its princes, against its priests, and against the people of the land. 1:19They will fight against you, but they will not prevail against you; for I am with you”, says Yahweh, “to rescue you.”
2:1Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 2:2“Go, and proclaim in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Yahweh says, “I remember for you the kindness of your youth, the love of your weddings; how you went after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown. 2:3Israel was holiness to Yahweh, the first fruits of his increase. All who devour him will be held guilty. Evil will come on them,”’ says Yahweh.” 2:4Hear Yahweh’s word, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel! 2:5Yahweh says, “What unrighteousness have your fathers found in me, that they have gone far from me, and have walked after worthless vanity, and have become worthless? 2:6They didn’t say, ‘Where is Yahweh who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought and of the shadow of death, through a land that no one passed through, and where no man lived?’ 2:7I brought you into a plentiful land, to eat its fruit and its goodness; but when you entered, you defiled my land, and made my heritage an abomination. 2:8The priests didn’t say, ‘Where is Yahweh?’ and those who handle the law didn’t know me. The rulers also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and followed things that do not profit. 2:9“Therefore I will yet contend with you,” says Yahweh, “and I will contend with your children’s children. 2:10For pass over to the islands of Kittim, and see; and send to Kedar, and consider diligently; and see if there has been such a thing. 2:11Has a nation changed its gods, which really are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit. 2:12“Be astonished, you heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid. Be very desolate,” says Yahweh. 2:13“For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the spring of living waters, and cut them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water. 2:14Is Israel a slave? Is he born into slavery? Why has he become a captive? 2:15The young lions have roared at him, and yelled. They have made his land waste. His cities are burned up, without inhabitant. 2:16The children also of Memphis and Tahpanhes have broken the crown of your head. 2:17“Haven’t you brought this on yourself, in that you have forsaken Yahweh your God, when he led you by the way? 2:18Now what do you gain by going to Egypt, to drink the waters of the Shihor? Or why do you to go on the way to Assyria, to drink the waters of the River? 2:19“Your own wickedness will correct you, and your backsliding will rebuke you. Know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing, that you have forsaken Yahweh your God, and that my fear is not in you,” says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies. 2:20“For long ago I broke off your yoke, and burst your bonds. You said, ‘I will not serve;’ for on every high hill and under every green tree you bowed yourself, playing the prostitute. 2:21Yet I had planted you a noble vine, a pure and faithful seed. How then have you turned into the degenerate branches of a foreign vine to me? 2:22For though you wash yourself with lye, and use much soap, yet your iniquity is marked before me,” says the Lord Yahweh. 2:23“How can you say, ‘I am not defiled. I have not gone after the Baals’? See your way in the valley. Know what you have done. You are a swift dromedary traversing her ways; 2:24a wild donkey used to the wilderness, that sniffs the wind in her craving. When she is in heat, who can turn her away? All those who seek her will not weary themselves. In her month, they will find her. 2:25“Keep your feet from being bare, and your throat from thirst. But you said, ‘It is in vain. No, for I have loved strangers, and I will go after them.’ 2:26As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets; 2:27who tell wood, ‘You are my father;’ and a stone, ‘You have given birth to me:’ for they have turned their back to me, and not their face; but in the time of their trouble they will say, ‘Arise, and save us.’ 2:28“But where are your gods that you have made for yourselves? Let them arise, if they can save you in the time of your trouble: for you have as many gods as you have towns, O Judah. 2:29“Why will you contend with me? You all have transgressed against me,” says Yahweh. 2:30“I have struck your children in vain. They received no correction. Your own sword has devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion. 2:31Generation, consider Yahweh’s word. Have I been a wilderness to Israel? Or a land of thick darkness? Why do my people say, ‘We have broken loose. We will come to you no more?’ 2:32“Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet my people have forgotten me for days without number. 2:33How well you prepare your way to seek love! Therefore you have even taught the wicked women your ways. 2:34Also the blood of the souls of the innocent poor is found in your skirts. You did not find them breaking in; but it is because of all these things. 2:35“Yet you said, ‘I am innocent. Surely his anger has turned away from me.’ “Behold, I will judge you, because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’ 2:36Why do you go about so much to change your ways? You will be ashamed of Egypt also, as you were ashamed of Assyria. 2:37You will also leave that place with your hands on your head; for Yahweh has rejected those in whom you trust, and you won’t prosper with them.
3:1“They say, ‘If a man puts away his wife, and she goes from him, and becomes another man’s, should he return to her again?’ Wouldn’t that land be greatly polluted? But you have played the prostitute with many lovers; yet return again to me,” says Yahweh. 3:2“Lift up your eyes to the bare heights, and see! Where have you not been lain with? You have sat waiting for them by the road, as an Arabian in the wilderness. You have polluted the land with your prostitution and with your wickedness. 3:3Therefore the showers have been withheld and there has been no latter rain; yet you have had a prostitute’s forehead and you refused to be ashamed. 3:4Will you not from this time cry to me, ‘My Father, you are the guide of my youth?’ 3:5“‘Will he retain his anger forever? Will he keep it to the end?’ Behold, you have spoken and have done evil things, and have had your way.” 3:6Moreover, Yahweh said to me in the days of Josiah the king, “Have you seen that which backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and has played the prostitute there. 3:7I said after she had done all these things, ‘She will return to me;’ but she didn’t return; and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. 3:8I saw when, for this very cause, that backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a bill of divorce, yet treacherous Judah, her sister, had no fear; but she also went and played the prostitute. 3:9Because she took her prostitution lightly, the land was polluted, and she committed adultery with stones and with wood. 3:10Yet for all this her treacherous sister, Judah, has not returned to me with her whole heart, but only in pretense,” says Yahweh. 3:11Yahweh said to me, “Backsliding Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. 3:12Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, ‘Return, you backsliding Israel,’ says Yahweh; ‘I will not look in anger on you; for I am merciful,’ says Yahweh. ‘I will not keep anger forever. 3:13Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against Yahweh your God, and have scattered your ways to the strangers under every green tree, and you have not obeyed my voice,’ says Yahweh.” 3:14“Return, backsliding children,” says Yahweh; “for I am a husband to you. I will take one of you from a city, and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion. 3:15I will give you shepherds according to my heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. 3:16It will come to pass, when you are multiplied and increased in the land, in those days,” says Yahweh, “they will no longer say, ‘the ark of Yahweh’s covenant!’ It will not come to mind. They won’t remember it. They won’t miss it, nor will another be made. 3:17At that time they will call Jerusalem ‘Yahweh’s Throne;’ and all the nations will be gathered to it, to Yahweh’s name, to Jerusalem. They will no longer walk after the stubbornness of their evil heart. 3:18In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together out of the land of the north to the land that I gave for an inheritance to your fathers. 3:19“But I said, ‘How I desire to put you among the children, and give you a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the armies of the nations!’ and I said, ‘You shall call me “My Father”, and shall not turn away from following me.’ 3:20“Surely as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, so you have dealt treacherously with me, house of Israel,” says Yahweh. 3:21A voice is heard on the bare heights, the weeping and the petitions of the children of Israel; because they have perverted their way, they have forgotten Yahweh their God. 3:22Return, you backsliding children, and I will heal your backsliding. “Behold, we have come to you; for you are Yahweh our God. 3:23Truly in vain is help from the hills, the tumult on the mountains. Truly the salvation of Israel is in Yahweh our God. 3:24But the shameful thing has devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. 3:25Let us lie down in our shame, and let our confusion cover us; for we have sinned against Yahweh our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day. We have not obeyed Yahweh our God’s voice.”
4:1“If you will return, Israel,” says Yahweh, “if you will return to me, and if you will put away your abominations out of my sight; then you will not be removed; 4:2and you will swear, ‘As Yahweh lives,’ in truth, in justice, and in righteousness. The nations will bless themselves in him, and they will glory in him.” 4:3For Yahweh says to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, “Break up your fallow ground, and don’t sow among thorns. 4:4Circumcise yourselves to Yahweh, and take away the foreskins of your heart, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go out like fire, and burn so that no one can quench it, because of the evil of your doings. 4:5Declare in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem; and say, ‘Blow the trumpet in the land!’ Cry aloud and say, ‘Assemble yourselves! Let us go into the fortified cities!’ 4:6Set up a standard toward Zion. Flee for safety! Don’t wait; for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction.” 4:7A lion has gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations. He is on his way. He has gone out from his place, to make your land desolate, that your cities be laid waste, without inhabitant. 4:8For this, clothe yourself with sackcloth, lament and wail; for the fierce anger of Yahweh hasn’t turned back from us. 4:9“It will happen at that day,” says Yahweh, “that the heart of the king will perish, along with the heart of the princes. The priests will be astonished, and the prophets will wonder.” 4:10Then I said, “Ah, Lord Yahweh! Surely you have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘You will have peace;’ whereas the sword reaches to the heart.” 4:11At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A hot wind from the bare heights in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not to winnow, nor to cleanse; 4:12a full wind from these will come for me. Now I will also utter judgments against them.” 4:13Behold, he will come up as clouds, and his chariots will be as the whirlwind. His horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us! For we are ruined. 4:14Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved. How long will your evil thoughts lodge within you? 4:15For a voice declares from Dan, and publishes evil from the hills of Ephraim: 4:16“Tell the nations; behold, publish against Jerusalem, ‘Watchers come from a far country, and raise their voice against the cities of Judah. 4:17As keepers of a field, they are against her all around, because she has been rebellious against me,’” says Yahweh. 4:18“Your way and your doings have brought these things to you. This is your wickedness; for it is bitter, for it reaches to your heart.” 4:19My anguish, my anguish! I am pained at my very heart! My heart trembles within me. I can’t hold my peace, because you have heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. 4:20Destruction on destruction is decreed, for the whole land is laid waste. Suddenly my tents are destroyed, and my curtains gone in a moment. 4:21How long will I see the standard and hear the sound of the trumpet? 4:22“For my people are foolish. They don’t know me. They are foolish children, and they have no understanding. They are skillful in doing evil, but they don’t know how to do good.” 4:23I saw the earth, and, behold, it was waste and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. 4:24I saw the mountains, and behold, they trembled, and all the hills moved back and forth. 4:25I saw, and behold, there was no man, and all the birds of the sky had fled. 4:26I saw, and behold, the fruitful field was a wilderness, and all its cities were broken down at the presence of Yahweh, before his fierce anger. 4:27For Yahweh says, “The whole land will be a desolation; yet will I not make a full end. 4:28For this the earth will mourn, and the heavens above be black; because I have spoken it. I have planned it, and I have not repented, neither will I turn back from it.” 4:29Every city flees for the noise of the horsemen and archers. They go into the thickets, and climb up on the rocks. Every city is forsaken, and not a man dwells therein. 4:30You, when you are made desolate, what will you do? Though you clothe yourself with scarlet, though you deck yourself with ornaments of gold, though you enlarge your eyes with makeup, you make yourself beautiful in vain. Your lovers despise you. They seek your life. 4:31For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, the anguish as of her who gives birth to her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, who gasps for breath, who spreads her hands, saying, “Woe is me now! For my soul faints before the murderers.”
5:1“Run back and forth through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in its wide places, if you can find a man, if there is anyone who does justly, who seeks truth, then I will pardon her. 5:2Though they say, ‘As Yahweh lives,’ surely they swear falsely.” 5:3O Yahweh, don’t your eyes look on truth? You have stricken them, but they were not grieved. You have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than a rock. They have refused to return. 5:4Then I said, “Surely these are poor. They are foolish; for they don’t know the way of Yahweh, nor the law of their God. 5:5I will go to the great men, and will speak to them; for they know the way of Yahweh, and the law of their God.” But these with one accord have broken the yoke, and burst the bonds. 5:6Therefore a lion out of the forest will kill them, a wolf of the evenings will destroy them, a leopard will watch against their cities. Everyone who goes out there will be torn in pieces, because their transgressions are many, and their backsliding has increased. 5:7“How can I pardon you? Your children have forsaken me, and sworn by what are no gods. When I had fed them to the full, they committed adultery, and assembled themselves in troops at the prostitutes’ houses. 5:8They were as fed horses roaming at large. Everyone neighed after his neighbor’s wife. 5:9Shouldn’t I punish them for these things?” says Yahweh. “Shouldn’t my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? 5:10“Go up on her walls, and destroy; but don’t make a full end. Take away her branches, for they are not Yahweh’s. 5:11For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me,” says Yahweh. 5:12They have denied Yahweh, and said, “It is not he. Evil will won’t come on us. We won’t see sword or famine. 5:13The prophets will become wind, and the word is not in them. Thus it will be done to them.” 5:14Therefore Yahweh, the God of Armies says, “Because you speak this word, behold, I will make my words in your mouth fire, and this people wood, and it will devour them. 5:15Behold, I will bring a nation on you from far away, house of Israel,” says Yahweh. “It is a mighty nation. It is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you don’t know and don’t understand what they say. 5:16Their quiver is an open tomb. They are all mighty men. 5:17They will eat up your harvest and your bread, which your sons and your daughters should eat. They will eat up your flocks and your herds. They will eat up your vines and your fig trees. They will beat down your fortified cities in which you trust with the sword. 5:18“But even in those days,” says Yahweh, “I will not make a full end of you. 5:19It will happen, when you say, ‘Why has Yahweh our God done all these things to us?’ Then you shall say to them, ‘Just as you have forsaken me, and served foreign gods in your land, so you will serve strangers in a land that is not yours.’ 5:20“Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying, 5:21‘Hear this now, foolish people without understanding; who have eyes, and don’t see; who have ears, and don’t hear: 5:22Don’t you fear me?’ says Yahweh ‘Won’t you tremble at my presence, who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea, by a perpetual decree, that it can’t pass it? Though its waves toss themselves, yet they can’t prevail. Though they roar, they still can’t pass over it.’ 5:23“But this people has a revolting and a rebellious heart. They have revolted and gone. 5:24They don’t say in their heart, ‘Let us now fear Yahweh our God, who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season; who preserves to us the appointed weeks of the harvest.’ 5:25“Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withheld good from you. 5:26For among my people are found wicked men. They watch, as fowlers lie in wait. They set a trap. They catch men. 5:27As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit. Therefore they have become great, and grew rich. 5:28They have grown fat. They shine; yes, they excel in deeds of wickedness. They don’t plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they may prosper; and they don’t judge the right of the needy. 5:29“Shouldn’t I punish for these things?” says Yahweh. “Shouldn’t my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? 5:30“An astonishing and horrible thing has happened in the land. 5:31The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority; and my people love to have it so. What will you do in the end of it?
6:1“Flee for safety, you children of Benjamin, out of the middle of Jerusalem! Blow the trumpet in Tekoa and raise up a signal on Beth Haccherem, for evil looks out from the north with a great destruction. 6:2I will cut off the beautiful and delicate one, the daughter of Zion. 6:3Shepherds with their flocks will come to her. They will pitch their tents against her all around. They will feed everyone in his place.” 6:4“Prepare war against her! Arise, and let us go up at noon. Woe to us! For the day declines, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out. 6:5Arise, and let us go up by night, and let us destroy her palaces.” 6:6For Yahweh of Armies said, “Cut down trees, and cast up a mound against Jerusalem. This is the city to be visited. She is wholly oppression within herself. 6:7As a well produces its waters, so she produces her wickedness. Violence and destruction is heard in her. Sickness and wounds are continually before me. 6:8Be instructed, Jerusalem, lest my soul be alienated from you; lest I make you a desolation, an uninhabited land.” 6:9Yahweh of Armies says, “They will thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel like a vine. Turn again your hand as a grape gatherer into the baskets.” 6:10To whom should I speak and testify, that they may hear? Behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they can’t listen. Behold, Yahweh’s word has become a reproach to them. They have no delight in it. 6:11Therefore I am full of Yahweh’s wrath. I am weary with holding it in. “Pour it out on the children in the street, and on the assembly of young men together; for even the husband with the wife will be taken, the aged with him who is full of days. 6:12Their houses will be turned to others, their fields and their wives together; for I will stretch out my hand on the inhabitants of the land, says Yahweh.” 6:13“For from their least even to their greatest, everyone is given to covetousness. From the prophet even to the priest, everyone deals falsely. 6:14They have healed also the hurt of my people superficially, saying, ‘Peace, peace!’ when there is no peace. 6:15Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush. Therefore they will fall among those who fall. When I visit them, they will be cast down,” says Yahweh. 6:16Yahweh says, “Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, ‘Where is the good way?’ and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ 6:17I set watchmen over you, saying, ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’ But they said, ‘We will not listen!’ 6:18Therefore hear, you nations, and know, congregation, what is among them. 6:19Hear, earth! Behold, I will bring evil on this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not listened to my words; and as for my law, they have rejected it. 6:20To what purpose does frankincense from Sheba come to me, and the sweet cane from a far country? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, and your sacrifices are not pleasing to me.” 6:21Therefore Yahweh says, “Behold, I will lay stumbling blocks before this people. The fathers and the sons together will stumble against them. The neighbor and his friend will perish.” 6:22Yahweh says, “Behold, a people comes from the north country. A great nation will be stirred up from the uttermost parts of the earth. 6:23They take hold of bow and spear. They are cruel, and have no mercy. Their voice roars like the sea, and they ride on horses, everyone set in array, as a man to the battle, against you, daughter of Zion.” 6:24We have heard its report. Our hands become feeble. Anguish has taken hold of us, and pains as of a woman in labor. 6:25Don’t go out into the field, nor walk by the way; for the sword of the enemy and terror are on every side. 6:26Daughter of my people, clothe yourself with sackcloth, and wallow in ashes! Mourn, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation, for the destroyer will suddenly come on us. 6:27“I have made you a tester of metals and a fortress among my people, that you may know and try their way. 6:28They are all grievous rebels, going around to slander. They are brass and iron. All of them deal corruptly. 6:29The bellows blow fiercely. The lead is consumed in the fire. In vain they go on refining, for the wicked are not plucked away. 6:30Men will call them rejected silver, because Yahweh has rejected them.”
7:1The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying, 7:2“Stand in the gate of Yahweh’s house, and proclaim this word there, and say, ‘Hear Yahweh’s word, all you of Judah, who enter in at these gates to worship Yahweh.’” 7:3Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel says, “Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. 7:4Don’t trust in lying words, saying, ‘Yahweh’s temple, Yahweh’s temple, Yahweh’s temple, are these.’ 7:5For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughly execute justice between a man and his neighbor; 7:6if you don’t oppress the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, and don’t shed innocent blood in this place, and don’t walk after other gods to your own hurt; 7:7then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, from of old even forever more. 7:8Behold, you trust in lying words that can’t profit. 7:9Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods that you have not known, 7:10then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, ‘We are delivered;’ that you may do all these abominations? 7:11Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it,” says Yahweh. 7:12“But go now to my place which was in Shiloh, where I caused my name to dwell at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel. 7:13Now, because you have done all these works,” says Yahweh, “and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you didn’t hear; and I called you, but you didn’t answer; 7:14therefore I will do to the house which is called by my name, in which you trust, and to the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shiloh. 7:15I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brothers, even the whole offspring of Ephraim. 7:16“Therefore don’t pray for this people. Don’t lift up a cry or prayer for them or make intercession to me; for I will not hear you. 7:17Don’t you see what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 7:18The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead the dough, to make cakes to the queen of the sky, and to pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke me to anger. 7:19Do they provoke me to anger?” says Yahweh. “Don’t they provoke themselves, to the confusion of their own faces?” 7:20Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Behold, my anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place, on man, on animal, on the trees of the field, and on the fruit of the ground; and it will burn and will not be quenched.” 7:21Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel says: “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat meat. 7:22For I didn’t speak to your fathers or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices; 7:23but this thing I commanded them, saying, ‘Listen to my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people; and walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.’ 7:24But they didn’t listen or turn their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward. 7:25Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have sent to you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them. 7:26Yet they didn’t listen to me or incline their ear, but made their neck stiff. They did worse than their fathers. 7:27“You shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you. You shall also call to them, but they will not answer you. 7:28You shall tell them, ‘This is the nation that has not listened to Yahweh their God’s voice, nor received instruction. Truth has perished, and is cut off from their mouth.’ 7:29Cut off your hair, and throw it away, and take up a lamentation on the bare heights; for Yahweh has rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath. 7:30“For the children of Judah have done that which is evil in my sight,” says Yahweh. “They have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to defile it. 7:31They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I didn’t command, nor did it come into my mind. 7:32Therefore behold, the days come”, says Yahweh, “that it will no more be called ‘Topheth’ or ‘The valley of the son of Hinnom’, but ‘The valley of Slaughter’; for they will bury in Topheth until there is no place to bury. 7:33The dead bodies of this people will be food for the birds of the sky, and for the animals of the earth. No one will frighten them away. 7:34Then I will cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride; for the land will become a waste.”
8:1“At that time,” says Yahweh, “they will bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of his princes, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves. 8:2They will spread them before the sun, the moon, and all the army of the sky, which they have loved, which they have served, after which they have walked, which they have sought, and which they have worshiped. They will not be gathered or be buried. They will be for dung on the surface of the earth. 8:3Death will be chosen rather than life by all the residue that remain of this evil family, that remain in all the places where I have driven them,” says Yahweh of Armies. 8:4“Moreover you shall tell them, ‘Yahweh says: “‘Do men fall, and not rise up again? Does one turn away, and not return? 8:5Why then have the people of Jerusalem fallen back by a perpetual backsliding? They cling to deceit. They refuse to return. 8:6I listened and heard, but they didn’t say what is right. No one repents of his wickedness, saying, “What have I done?” Everyone turns to his course, as a horse that rushes headlong in the battle. 8:7Yes, the stork in the sky knows her appointed times. The turtledove, the swallow, and the crane observe the time of their coming; but my people don’t know Yahweh’s law. 8:8“‘How do you say, “We are wise, and Yahweh’s law is with us?” But, behold, the false pen of the scribes has worked falsely. 8:9The wise men are disappointed. They are dismayed and trapped. Behold, they have rejected Yahweh’s word. What kind of wisdom is in them? 8:10Therefore will I give their wives to others, and their fields to those who will possess them. For everyone from the least even to the greatest is given to covetousness; from the prophet even to the priest everyone deals falsely. 8:11They have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, “Peace, peace,” when there is no peace. 8:12Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed. They couldn’t blush. Therefore they will fall among those who fall. In the time of their visitation they will be cast down, says Yahweh. 8:13“‘I will utterly consume them, says Yahweh. No grapes will be on the vine, no figs on the fig tree, and the leaf will fade. The things that I have given them will pass away from them.’” 8:14“Why do we sit still? Assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the fortified cities, and let us be silent there; for Yahweh our God has put us to silence, and given us water of gall to drink, because we have sinned against Yahweh. 8:15We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of healing, and behold, dismay! 8:16The snorting of his horses is heard from Dan. The whole land trembles at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones; for they have come, and have devoured the land and all that is in it; the city and those who dwell therein.” 8:17“For, behold, I will send serpents, adders among you, which will not be charmed; and they will bite you,” says Yahweh. 8:18Oh that I could comfort myself against sorrow! My heart is faint within me. 8:19Behold, the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people from a land that is very far off: “Isn’t Yahweh in Zion? Isn’t her King in her?” “Why have they provoked me to anger with their engraved images, and with foreign idols?” 8:20“The harvest is past. The summer has ended, and we are not saved.” 8:21For the hurt of the daughter of my people, I am hurt. I mourn. Dismay has taken hold of me. 8:22Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then isn’t the health of the daughter of my people recovered?
9:1Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a spring of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! 9:2Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! For they are all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men. 9:3“They bend their tongue, as their bow, for falsehood. They have grown strong in the land, but not for truth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they don’t know me,” says Yahweh. 9:4“Everyone beware of his neighbor, and don’t trust in any brother; for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbor will go around with slanders. 9:5Everyone will deceive their neighbors, and will not speak the truth. They have taught their tongue to speak lies. They weary themselves commiting iniquity. 9:6Your habitation is in the middle of deceit. Through deceit, they refuse to know me,” says Yahweh. 9:7Therefore Yahweh of Armies says, “Behold, I will melt them and test them; for how should I deal with the daughter of my people? 9:8Their tongue is a deadly arrow. It speaks deceit. One speaks peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth, but in his heart, he waits to ambush him. 9:9Shouldn’t I punish them for these things?” says Yahweh. “Shouldn’t my soul be avenged on a nation such as this? 9:10I will weep and wail for the mountains, and lament for the pastures of the wilderness, because they are burned up, so that no one passes through; Men can’t hear the voice of the livestock. Both the birds of the sky and the animals have fled. They are gone. 9:11“I will make Jerusalem heaps, a dwelling place of jackals. I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.” 9:12Who is wise enough to understand this? Who is he to whom the mouth of Yahweh has spoken, that he may declare it? Why has the land perished and burned up like a wilderness, so that no one passes through? 9:13Yahweh says, “Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked therein, 9:14but have walked after the stubbornness of their own heart, and after the Baals, which their fathers taught them.” 9:15Therefore Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says, “Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink. 9:16I will scatter them also among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them.” 9:17Yahweh of Armies says, “Consider, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for the skillful women, that they may come. 9:18Let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters. 9:19For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, ‘How we are ruined! We are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because they have cast down our dwellings.’” 9:20Yet hear Yahweh’s word, you women. Let your ear receive the word of his mouth. Teach your daughters wailing, and everyone her neighbor lamentation. 9:21For death has come up into our windows. It has entered into our palaces to cut off the children from outside, and the young men from the streets. 9:22Speak, “Yahweh says, “‘The dead bodies of men will fall as dung on the open field, and as the handful after the harvester; and no one will gather them.’” 9:23Yahweh says, “Don’t let the wise man glory in his wisdom. Don’t let the mighty man glory in his might. Don’t let the rich man glory in his riches. 9:24But let him who glories glory in this, that he has understanding, and knows me, that I am Yahweh who exercises loving kindness, justice, and righteousness, in the earth; for I delight in these things,” says Yahweh. 9:25“Behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that I will punish all those who are circumcised only in their flesh: 9:26Egypt, Judah, Edom, the children of Ammon, Moab, and all who have the corners of their hair cut off, who dwell in the wilderness; for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart.”