1 {1:1} The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the
priests that [were] in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin:
{1:2} To whom the word of the LORD came in the days of
Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, in the thirteenth year
of his reign. {1:3} It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the
son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the end of the eleventh
year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the
carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month. {1:4}
Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, {1:5}
Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before
thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, [and] I
ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. {1:6} Then said I,
Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I [am] a child.
{1:7} But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I [am] a child:
for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever
I command thee thou shalt speak. {1:8} Be not afraid of
their faces: for I [am] with thee to deliver thee, saith the
LORD. {1:9} Then the LORD put forth his hand, and
touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I
have put my words in thy mouth. {1:10} See, I have this
day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root
out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to
build, and to plant.
{1:11} Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me,
saying, Jeremiah, what seest thou? And I said, I see a rod of
an almond tree. {1:12} Then said the LORD unto me, Thou
hast well seen: for I will hasten my word to perform it.
{1:13} And the word of the LORD came unto me the
second time, saying, What seest thou? And I said, I see a
seething cauldron; and the face thereof [is] toward the north.
{1:14} Then the LORD said unto me, Out of the north an
evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land.
{1:15} For, lo, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of
the north, saith the LORD; and they shall come, and they
shall set every one his throne at the entering of the gates of
Jerusalem, and against all the walls thereof round about, and
against all the cities of Judah. {1:16} And I will utter my
judgments against them touching all their wickedness, who
have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods,
and worshipped the works of their own hands.
{1:17} Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and
speak unto them all that I command thee: be not dismayed
at their faces, lest I confound thee before them. {1:18} For,
behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an
iron pillar, and brasen walls against the whole land, against
the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the
priests thereof, and against the people of the land. {1:19}
And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail
against thee; for I [am] with thee, saith the LORD, to
deliver thee.
2 {2:1} Moreover the word of the LORD came to me,
saying, {2:2} Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying,
Thus saith the LORD; I remember thee, the kindness of thy
youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after
me in the wilderness, in a land [that was] not sown. {2:3}
Israel [was] holiness unto the LORD, [and] the firstfruits of
his increase: all that devour him shall offend; evil shall
come upon them, saith the LORD. {2:4} Hear ye the word
of the LORD, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the
house of Israel:
{2:5} Thus saith the LORD, What iniquity have your
fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and
have walked after vanity, and are become vain? {2:6}
Neither said they, Where [is] the LORD that brought us up
out of the land of Egypt, that led us through the wilderness,
through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of
drought, and of the shadow of death, through a land that no
man passed through, and where no man dwelt? {2:7} And I
brought you into a plentiful country, to eat the fruit thereof
and the goodness thereof; but when ye entered, ye defiled
my land, and made mine heritage an abomination. {2:8}
The priests said not, Where [is] the LORD? and they that
handle the law knew me not: the pastors also transgressed
against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and
walked after [things that] do not profit.
{2:9} Wherefore I will yet plead with you, saith the
LORD, and with your children’s children will I plead.
{2:10} For pass over the isles of Chittim, and see; and send
unto Kedar, and consider diligently, and see if there be such
a thing. {2:11} Hath a nation changed [their] gods, which
[are] yet no gods? but my people have changed their glory
for [that which] doth not profit. {2:12} Be astonished, O ye
heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate,
saith the LORD. {2:13} For my people have committed two
evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters,
[and] hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can
hold no water.
{2:14} [Is] Israel a servant? [is] he a homeborn [slave?]
why is he spoiled? {2:15} The young lions roared upon
him, [and] yelled, and they made his land waste: his cities
are burned without inhabitant. {2:16} Also the children of
Noph and Tahapanes have broken the crown of thy head.
{2:17} Hast thou not procured this unto thyself, in that thou
hast forsaken the LORD thy God, when he led thee by the
way? {2:18} And now what hast thou to do in the way of
Egypt, to drink the waters of Sihor? or what hast thou to do
in the way of Assyria, to drink the waters of the river?
{2:19} Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy
backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that
[it is] an evil [thing] and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the
LORD thy God, and that my fear [is] not in thee, saith the
Lord GOD of hosts.
{2:20} For of old time I have broken thy yoke, [and] burst
thy bands; and thou saidst, I will not transgress; when upon
every high hill and under every green tree thou wanderest,
playing the harlot. {2:21} Yet I had planted thee a noble
vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the
degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me? {2:22} For
though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much sope,
[yet] thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord
GOD. {2:23} How canst thou say, I am not polluted, I have
not gone after Baalim? see thy way in the valley, know what
thou hast done: [thou art] a swift dromedary traversing her
ways; {2:24} A wild ass used to the wilderness, [that]
snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure; in her occasion who
can turn her away? all they that seek her will not weary
themselves; in her month they shall find her. {2:25}
Withhold thy foot from being unshod, and thy throat from
thirst: but thou saidst, There is no hope: no; for I have loved
strangers, and after them will I go. {2:26} As 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, {2:27} Saying to a stock, Thou [art] my
father; and to a stone, Thou hast brought me forth: for they
have turned [their] back unto me, and not [their] face: but in
the time of their trouble they will say, Arise, and save us.
{2:28} But where [are] thy gods that thou hast made thee?
let them arise, if they can save thee in the time of thy
trouble: for [according to] the number of thy cities are thy
gods, O Judah. {2:29} Wherefore will ye plead with me? ye
all have transgressed against me, saith the LORD. {2:30} In
vain have I smitten your children; they received no
correction: your own sword hath devoured your prophets,
like a destroying lion.
{2:31} O generation, see ye the word of the LORD. Have
I been a wilderness unto Israel? a land of darkness?
wherefore say my people, We are lords; we will come no
more unto thee? {2:32} Can a maid forget her ornaments,
[or] a bride her attire? yet my people have forgotten me
days without number. {2:33} Why trimmest thou thy way to
seek love? therefore hast thou also taught the wicked ones
thy ways. {2:34} Also in thy skirts is found the blood of the
souls of the poor innocents: I have not found it by secret
search, but upon all these. {2:35} Yet thou sayest, Because I
am innocent, surely his anger shall turn from me. Behold, I
will plead with thee, because thou sayest, I have not sinned.
{2:36} Why gaddest thou about so much to change thy
way? thou also shalt be ashamed of Egypt, as thou wast
ashamed of Assyria. {2:37} Yea, thou shalt go forth from
him, and thine hands upon thine head: for the LORD hath
rejected thy confidences, and thou shalt not prosper in them.
3 {3:1} They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go
from him, and become another man’s, shall he return unto
her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? but thou
hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to
me, saith the LORD. {3:2} Lift up thine eyes unto the high
places, and see where thou hast not been lien with. In the
ways hast thou sat for them, as the Arabian in the
wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with thy
whoredoms and with thy wickedness. {3:3} Therefore the
showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter
rain; and thou hadst a whore’s forehead, thou refusedst to be
ashamed. {3:4} Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me,
My father, thou art the guide of my youth? {3:5} Will he
reserve [his anger] for ever? will he keep [it] to the end?
Behold, thou hast spoken and done evil things as thou
couldest.
{3:6} The LORD said also unto me in the days of Josiah
the king, Hast thou seen [that] which backsliding Israel hath
done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and under
every green tree, and there hath played the harlot. {3:7}
And I said after she had done all these [things,] Turn thou
unto me. But she returned not. And her treacherous sister
Judah saw [it.] {3:8} And I saw, when for all the causes
whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her
away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous
sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also.
{3:9} And it came to pass through the lightness of her
whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed
adultery with stones and with stocks. {3:10} And yet for all
this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me
with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the LORD. {3:11}
And the LORD said unto me, The backsliding Israel hath
justified herself more than treacherous Judah.
{3:12} Go and proclaim these words toward the north,
and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the LORD;
[and] I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I
[am] merciful, saith the LORD, [and] I will not keep [anger]
for ever. {3:13} Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou
hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast
scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree,
and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD. {3:14}
Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am
married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two
of a family, and I will bring you to Zion: {3:15} And I will
give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed
you with knowledge and understanding. {3:16} And it shall
come to pass, when ye be multiplied and increased in the
land, in those days, saith the LORD, they shall say no more,
The ark of the covenant of the LORD: neither shall it come
to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall they
visit [it;] neither shall [that] be done any more. {3:17} At
that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD;
and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of
the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more
after the imagination of their evil heart. {3:18} In those
days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel,
and they shall come together out of the land of the north to
the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your
fathers. {3:19} But I said, How shall I put thee among the
children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of
the hosts of nations? and I said, Thou shalt call me, My
father; and shalt not turn away from me.
{3:20} Surely [as] a wife treacherously departeth from her
husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house
of Israel, saith the LORD. {3:21} A voice was heard upon
the high places, weeping [and] supplications of the children
of Israel: for they have perverted their way, [and] they have
forgotten the LORD their God. {3:22} Return, ye
backsliding children, [and] I will heal your backslidings.
Behold, we come unto thee; for thou [art] the LORD our
God. {3:23} Truly in vain [is salvation hoped for] from the
hills, [and from] the multitude of mountains: truly in the
LORD our God [is] the salvation of Israel. {3:24} For
shame hath devoured the labour of our fathers from our
youth; their flocks and their herds, their sons and their
daughters. {3:25} We lie down in our shame, and our
confusion covereth us: for we have sinned against the
LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even
unto this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD
our God.
4 {4:1} If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the LORD, return
unto me: and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out
of my sight, then shalt thou not remove. {4:2} And thou
shalt swear, The LORD liveth, in truth, in judgment, and in
righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him,
and in him shall they glory.
{4:3} For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and
Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not
among thorns. {4:4} Circumcise yourselves to the LORD,
and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah
and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like
fire, and burn that none can quench [it,] because of the evil
of your doings. {4:5} Declare ye in Judah, and publish in
Jerusalem; and say, Blow ye the trumpet in the land: cry,
gather together, and say, Assemble yourselves, and let us go
into the defenced cities. {4:6} Set up the standard toward
Zion: retire, stay not: for I will bring evil from the north,
and a great destruction. {4:7} The lion is come up from his
thicket, and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way; he is
gone forth from his place to make thy land desolate; [and]
thy cities shall be laid waste, without an inhabitant. {4:8}
For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and howl: for the
fierce anger of the LORD is not turned back from us. {4:9}
And it shall come to pass at that day, saith the LORD, [that]
the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the
princes; and the priests shall be astonished, and the prophets
shall wonder. {4:10} Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! surely
thou hast greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem,
saying, Ye shall have peace; whereas the sword reacheth
unto the soul. {4:11} At that time shall it be said to this
people and to Jerusalem, A dry wind of the high places in
the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not to fan,
nor to cleanse, {4:12} [Even ]a full wind from those [places]
shall come unto me: now also will I give sentence against
them. {4:13} Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his
chariots [shall be] as a whirlwind: his horses are swifter
than eagles. Woe unto us! for we are spoiled. {4:14} O
Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou
mayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge
within thee? {4:15} For a voice declareth from Dan, and
publisheth affliction from mount Ephraim. {4:16} Make ye
mention to the nations; behold, publish against Jerusalem,
[that] watchers come from a far country, and give out their
voice against the cities of Judah. {4:17} As keepers of a
field, are they against her round about; because she hath
been rebellious against me, saith the LORD. {4:18} Thy
way and thy doings have procured these [things] unto thee;
this [is] thy wickedness, because it is bitter, because it
reacheth unto thine heart.
{4:19} My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! O the walls
of my heart! My heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my
peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the
trumpet, the alarm of war. {4:20} Destruction upon
destruction is cried; for the whole land is spoiled: suddenly
are my tents spoiled, [and] my curtains in a moment. {4:21}
How long shall I see the standard, [and] hear the sound of
the trumpet? {4:22} For my people [is] foolish, they have
not known me; they [are] sottish children, and they have
none understanding: they [are] wise to do evil, but to do
good they have no knowledge. {4:23} I beheld the earth,
and, lo, [it was] without form, and void; and the heavens,
and they [had] no light. {4:24} I beheld the mountains, and,
lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. {4:25} I
beheld, and, lo, [there was] no man, and all the birds of the
heavens were fled. {4:26} I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful
place [was] a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were
broken down at the presence of the LORD, [and] by his
fierce anger. {4:27} For thus hath the LORD said, The
whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end.
{4:28} For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens
above be black: because I have spoken [it,] I have purposed
[it,] and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it.
{4:29} The whole city shall flee for the noise of the
horsemen and bowmen; they shall go into thickets, and
climb up upon the rocks: every city [shall be] forsaken, and
not a man dwell therein. {4:30} And [when] thou [art]
spoiled, what wilt thou do? Though thou clothest thyself
with crimson, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of
gold, though thou rentest thy face with painting, in vain
shalt thou make thyself fair; [thy] lovers will despise thee,
they will seek thy life. {4:31} For I have heard a voice as of
a woman in travail, [and] the anguish as of her that bringeth
forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, [that]
bewaileth herself, [that] spreadeth her hands, [saying,] Woe
[is] me now! for my soul is wearied because of murderers.
5 {5:1} Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem,
and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places
thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be [any] that executeth
judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it. {5:2}
And though they say, The LORD liveth; surely they swear
falsely. {5:3} O LORD, [are] not thine eyes upon the truth?
thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast
consumed them, [but] they have refused to receive
correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock;
they have refused to return. {5:4} Therefore I said, Surely
these [are] poor; they are foolish: for they know not the way
of the LORD, [nor] the judgment of their God. {5:5} I will
get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for
they have known the way of the LORD, [and] the judgment
of their God: but these have altogether broken the yoke,
[and] burst the bonds. {5:6} Wherefore a lion out of the
forest shall slay them, [and] a wolf of the evenings shall
spoil them, a leopard shall watch over their cities: every one
that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces: because their
transgressions are many, [and] their backslidings are
increased.
{5:7} How shall I pardon thee for this? thy children have
forsaken me, and sworn by [them that are] no gods: when I
had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and
assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses.
{5:8} They were [as] fed horses in the morning: every one
neighed after his neighbour’s wife. {5:9} Shall I not visit
for these [things?] saith the LORD: and shall not my soul be
avenged on such a nation as this?
{5:10} Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy; but make
not a full end: take away her battlements; for they [are] not
the LORD’S. {5:11} For the house of Israel and the house
of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, saith the
LORD. {5:12} They have belied the LORD, and said, [It is]
not he; neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see
sword nor famine: {5:13} And the prophets shall become
wind, and the word [is] not in them: thus shall it be done
unto them. {5:14} Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of
hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my
words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall
devour them. {5:15} Lo, I will bring a nation upon you
from far, O house of Israel, saith the LORD: it [is] a mighty
nation, it [is] an ancient nation, a nation whose language
thou knowest not, neither understandest what they say.
{5:16} Their quiver [is] as an open sepulchre, they [are] all
mighty men. {5:17} And they shall eat up thine harvest, and
thy bread, [which] thy sons and thy daughters should eat:
they shall eat up thy flocks and thine herds: they shall eat up
thy vines and thy fig trees: they shall impoverish thy fenced
cities, wherein thou trustedst, with the sword. {5:18}
Nevertheless in those days, saith the LORD, I will not make
a full end with you.
{5:19} And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say,
Wherefore doeth the LORD our God all these [things] unto
us? then shalt thou answer them, Like as ye have forsaken
me, and served strange gods in your land, so shall ye 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 now this, O foolish people, and without understanding;
which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear
not: {5:22} Fear ye not me? saith the LORD: will ye not
tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand [for]
the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot
pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet
can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass
over it? {5:23} But this people hath a revolting and a
rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone. {5:24} Neither
say they in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God,
that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in his season:
he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest.
{5:25} Your iniquities have turned away these [things,]
and your sins have withholden good [things] from you.
{5:26} For among my people are found wicked [men:] they
lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch
men. {5:27} As a cage is full of birds, so [are] their houses
full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen
rich. {5:28} They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they
overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause,
the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of
the needy do they not judge. {5:29} Shall I not visit for
these [things?] saith the LORD: shall not my soul be
avenged on such a nation as this?
{5:30} A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the
land; {5:31} The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests
bear rule by their means; and my people love [to have it] so:
and what will ye do in the end thereof?
6 {6:1} O ye children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee
out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in
Tekoa, and set up a sign of fire in Beth-haccerem: for evil
appeareth out of the north, and great destruction. {6:2} I
have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate
[woman.] {6:3} The shepherds with their flocks shall come
unto her; they shall pitch [their] tents against her round
about; they shall feed every one in his place. {6:4} Prepare
ye war against her; arise, and let us go up at noon. Woe unto
us! for the day goeth away, for the shadows of the evening
are stretched out. {6:5} Arise, and let us go by night, and let
us destroy her palaces.
{6:6} For thus hath the LORD of hosts said, Hew ye
down trees, and cast a mount against Jerusalem: this [is] the
city to be visited; she [is] wholly oppression in the midst of
her. {6:7} As a fountain casteth out her waters, so she
casteth out her wickedness: violence and spoil is heard in
her; before me continually is grief and wounds. {6:8} Be
thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from thee;
lest I make thee desolate, a land not inhabited.
{6:9} Thus saith the LORD of hosts, They shall throughly
glean the remnant of Israel as a vine: turn back thine hand
as a grapegatherer into the baskets. {6:10} To whom shall I
speak, and give warning, that they may hear? behold, their
ear [is] uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the
word of the LORD is unto them a reproach; they have no
delight in it. {6:11} Therefore I am full of the fury of the
LORD; I am weary with holding in: I will pour it out upon
the children abroad, and upon the assembly of young men
together: for even the husband with the wife shall be taken,
the aged with [him that is] full of days. {6:12} And their
houses shall be turned unto others, [with their] fields and
wives together: for I will stretch out my hand upon the
inhabitants of the land, saith the LORD. {6:13} For from
the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one
[is] given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto
the priest every one dealeth falsely. {6:14} They have
healed also the hurt [of the daughter] of my people slightly,
saying, Peace, peace; when [there is] no peace. {6:15} Were
they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay,
they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush:
therefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time
[that] I visit them they shall be cast down, saith the LORD.
{6:16} Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see,
and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk
therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said,
We will not walk [therein.] {6:17} Also I set watchmen
over you, [saying,] Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But
they said, We will not hearken.
{6:18} Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O
congregation, what [is] among them. {6:19} Hear, O earth:
behold, I will bring evil upon this people, [even] the fruit of
their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my
words, nor to my law, but rejected it. {6:20} To what
purpose cometh there to me incense from Sheba, and the
sweet cane from a far country? your burnt offerings [are]
not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet unto me. {6:21}
Therefore thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will lay
stumblingblocks before this people, and the fathers and the
sons together shall fall upon them; the neighbour and his
friend shall perish. {6:22} Thus saith the LORD, Behold, a
people cometh from the north country, and a great nation
shall be raised from the sides of the earth. {6:23} They shall
lay hold on bow and spear; they [are] cruel, and have no
mercy; their voice roareth like the sea; and they ride upon
horses, set in array as men for war against thee, O daughter
of Zion. {6:24} We have heard the fame thereof: our hands
wax feeble: anguish hath taken hold of us, [and] pain, as of
a woman in travail. {6:25} Go not forth into the field, nor
walk by the way; for the sword of the enemy [and] fear [is]
on every side.
{6:26} O daughter of my people, gird [thee] with
sackcloth, and wallow thyself in ashes: make thee
mourning, [as for] an only son, most bitter lamentation: for
the spoiler shall suddenly come upon us. {6:27} I have set
thee [for] a tower [and] a fortress among my people, that
thou mayest know and try their way. {6:28} They [are] all
grievous revolters, walking with slanders: [they are] brass
and iron; they [are] all corrupters. {6:29} The bellows are
burned, the lead is consumed of the fire; the founder melteth
in vain: for the wicked are not plucked away. {6:30}
Reprobate silver shall [men] call them, because the LORD
hath rejected them.
7 7:1} The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD,
saying, {7:2} Stand in the gate of the LORD’S house, and
proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the
LORD, all [ye of] Judah, that enter in at these gates to
worship the LORD. {7:3} Thus saith the LORD of hosts,
the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I
will cause you to dwell in this place. {7:4} Trust ye not in
lying words, saying, The temple of the LORD, The temple
of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, [are] these. {7:5}
For if ye throughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye
throughly execute judgment between a man and his
neighbour; {7:6} [If] ye oppress not the stranger, the
fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in
this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt: {7:7}
Then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that
I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever.
{7:8} Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit.
{7:9} Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and
swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after
other gods whom ye know not; {7:10} And come and stand
before me in this house, which is called by my name, and
say, We are delivered to do all these abominations? {7:11}
Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of
robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen [it,] saith the
LORD. {7:12} But go ye now unto my place which [was] in
Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what I did
to it for the wickedness of my people Israel. {7:13} And
now, because ye have done all these works, saith the
LORD, and I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking,
but ye heard not; and I called you, but ye answered not;
{7:14} Therefore will I do unto [this] house, which is called
by my name, wherein ye trust, and unto the place which I
gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh.
{7:15} And I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast
out all your brethren, [even] the whole seed of Ephraim.
{7:16} Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift
up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me:
for I will not hear thee.
{7:17} Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah
and in the streets of Jerusalem? {7:18} The children gather
wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead
[their] dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to
pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may
provoke me to anger. {7:19} Do they provoke me to anger?
saith the LORD: [do they] not [provoke] themselves to the
confusion of their own faces? {7:20} Therefore thus saith
the Lord GOD; Behold, mine anger and my fury shall be
poured out upon this place, upon man, and upon beast, and
upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of the ground;
and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched.
{7:21} Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel;
Put your burnt offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat flesh.
{7:22} For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded
them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt,
concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices: {7:23} But this
thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will
be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all
the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well
unto you. {7:24} But they hearkened not, nor inclined their
ear, but walked in the counsels [and] in the imagination of
their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.
{7:25} Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the
land of Egypt unto this day I have even sent unto you all my
servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending
[them:] {7:26} Yet they hearkened not unto me, nor
inclined their ear, but hardened their neck: they did worse
than their fathers. {7:27} Therefore thou shalt speak all
these words unto them; but they will not hearken to thee:
thou shalt also call unto them; but they will not answer thee.
{7:28} But thou shalt say unto them, This [is] a nation that
obeyeth not the voice of the LORD their God, nor receiveth
correction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth.
{7:29} Cut off thine hair, [O Jerusalem,] and cast [it]
away, and take up a lamentation on high places; for the
LORD hath rejected and forsaken the generation of his
wrath. {7:30} For the children of Judah have done evil in
my sight, saith the LORD: they have set their abominations
in the house which is called by my name, to pollute it.
{7:31} And they have built the high places of Tophet,
which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their
sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded
[them] not, neither came it into my heart.
{7:32} Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD,
that it shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the
son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter: for they shall
bury in Tophet, till there be no place. {7:33} And the
carcases of this people shall be meat for the fowls of the
heaven, and for the beasts of the earth; and none shall fray
[them] away. {7:34} Then will I 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 shall be
desolate.
8 {8:1} At that time, saith the LORD, they shall bring out
the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his
princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the
prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out
of their graves: {8:2} And they shall spread them before the
sun, and the moon, and all the host of heaven, whom they
have loved, and whom they have served, and after whom
they have walked, and whom they have sought, and whom
they have worshipped: they shall not be gathered, nor be
buried; they shall be for dung upon the face of the earth.
{8:3} And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the
residue of them that remain of this evil family, which
remain in all the places whither I have driven them, saith
the LORD of hosts.
{8:4} Moreover thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the
LORD; Shall they fall, and not arise? shall he turn away,
and not return? {8:5} Why [then] is this people of
Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they
hold fast deceit, they refuse to return. {8:6} I hearkened and
heard, [but] they spake not aright: no man repented him of
his wickedness, saying, What have I done? every one turned
to his course, as the horse rusheth into the battle. {8:7} Yea,
the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and
the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of
their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the
LORD. {8:8} How do ye say, We [are] wise, and the law of
the LORD [is] with us? Lo, certainly in vain made he [it;]
the pen of the scribes [is] in vain. {8:9} The wise [men] are
ashamed, they are dismayed and taken: lo, they have
rejected the word of the LORD; and what wisdom [is] in
them? {8:10} Therefore will I give their wives unto others,
[and] their fields to them that shall inherit [them:] for every
one from the least even unto the greatest is given to
covetousness, from the prophet even unto the priest every
one dealeth falsely. {8:11} For they have healed the hurt of
the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace;
when [there is] no peace. {8:12} Were they ashamed when
they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all
ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore shall they fall
among them that fall: in the time of their visitation they
shall be cast down, saith the LORD.
{8:13} I will surely consume them, saith the LORD:
[there shall be] no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig
tree, and the leaf shall fade; and [the things that] I have
given them shall pass away from them. {8:14} Why do we
sit still? assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the
defenced cities, and let us be silent there: for the LORD our
God hath put us to silence, and given us water of gall to
drink, because we have sinned against the LORD. {8:15}
We looked for peace, but no good [came; and] for a time of
health, and behold trouble! {8:16} The snorting of his
horses was heard from Dan: the whole land trembled at the
sound of the neighing of his strong ones; for they are come,
and have devoured the land, and all that is in it; the city, and
those that dwell therein. {8:17} For, behold, I will send
serpents, cockatrices, among you, which [will] not [be]
charmed, and they shall bite you, saith the LORD.
{8:18} [When] I would comfort myself against sorrow,
my heart [is] faint in me. {8:19} Behold the voice of the cry
of the daughter of my people because of them that dwell in
a far country: [Is] not the LORD in Zion? [is] not her king
in her? Why have they provoked me to anger with their
graven images, [and] with strange vanities? {8:20} The
harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.
{8:21} For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt;
I am black; astonishment hath taken hold on me. {8:22} [Is
there] no balm in Gilead; [is there] no physician there? why
then is not the health of the daughter of my people
recovered?
9 {9:1} Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a
fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the
slain of the daughter of my people! {9:2} Oh that I had in
the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; that I
might leave my people, and go from them! for they [be] all
adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men. {9:3} And they
bend their tongues [like] their bow [for] lies: but they are
not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed
from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the LORD.
{9:4} Take ye heed every one of his neighbour, and trust ye
not in any brother: for every brother will utterly supplant,
and every neighbour will walk with slanders. {9:5} And
they will deceive every one his neighbour, and will not
speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies,
[and] weary themselves to commit iniquity. {9:6} Thine
habitation [is] in the midst of deceit; through deceit they
refuse to know me, saith the LORD. {9:7} Therefore thus
saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, I will melt them, and try
them; for how shall I do for the daughter of my people?
{9:8} Their tongue [is as] an arrow shot out; it speaketh
deceit: [one] speaketh peaceably to his neighbour with his
mouth, but in heart he layeth his wait.
{9:9} Shall I not visit them for these [things?] saith the
LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as
this? {9:10} For the mountains will I take up a weeping and
wailing, and for the habitations of the wilderness a
lamentation, because they are burned up, so that none can
pass through [them;] neither can [men] hear the voice of the
cattle; both the fowl of the heavens and the beast are fled;
they are gone. {9:11} And I will make Jerusalem heaps,
[and] a den of dragons; and I will make the cities of Judah
desolate, without an inhabitant.
{9:12} Who [is] the wise man, that may understand this?
and [who is he] to whom the mouth of the LORD hath
spoken, that he may declare it, for what the land perisheth
[and] is burned up like a wilderness, that none passeth
through? {9:13} And the LORD saith, Because they have
forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not
obeyed my voice, neither walked therein; {9:14} But have
walked after the imagination of their own heart, and after
Baalim, which their fathers taught them: {9:15} Therefore
thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I
will feed them, [even] this people, with wormwood, and
give them water of gall to drink. {9:16} I will scatter them
also among the heathen, whom neither they nor their fathers
have known: and I will send a sword after them, till I have
consumed them.
{9:17} Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Consider ye, and
call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send
for cunning [women,] that they may come: {9:18} And let
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. {9:19} For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion,
How are we spoiled! we are greatly confounded, because
we have forsaken the land, because our dwellings have cast
[us] out. {9:20} Yet hear the word of the LORD, O ye
women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth, and
teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbour
lamentation. {9:21} For death is come up into our windows,
[and] is entered into our palaces, to cut off the children from
without, [and] the young men from the streets. {9:22}
Speak, Thus saith the LORD, Even the carcases of men
shall fall as dung upon the open field, and as the handful
after the harvestman, and none shall gather [them.]
{9:23} Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise [man]
glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty [man] glory in
his might, let not the rich [man] glory in his riches: {9:24}
But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth
and knoweth me, that I [am] the LORD which exercise
lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth:
for in these [things] I delight, saith the LORD.
{9:25} Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will
punish all [them which are] circumcised with the
uncircumcised; {9:26} Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and
the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all [that are] in the
utmost corners, that dwell in the wilderness: for all [these]
nations [are] uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel [are]
uncircumcised in the heart.
10 {10:1} Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto
you, O house of Israel: {10:2} Thus saith the LORD, Learn
not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs
of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. {10:3} For
the customs of the people [are] vain: for [one] cutteth a tree
out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman,
with the axe. {10:4} They deck it with silver and with gold;
they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.
{10:5} They [are] upright as the palm tree, but speak not:
they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not
afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also [is it] in
them to do good. {10:6} Forasmuch as [there is] none like
unto thee, O LORD; thou [art] great, and thy name is great
in might. {10:7} Who would not fear thee, O King of
nations? for to thee doth it appertain: forasmuch as among
all the wise [men] of the nations, and in all their kingdoms,
[there is] none like unto thee. {10:8} But they are altogether
brutish and foolish: the stock [is] a doctrine of vanities.
{10:9} Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish,
and gold from Uphaz, the work of the workman, and of the
hands of the founder: blue and purple is their clothing: they
[are] all the work of cunning [men.] {10:10} But the LORD
[is] the true God, he [is] the living God, and an everlasting
king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations
shall not be able to abide his indignation. {10:11} Thus
shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the
heavens and the earth, [even] they shall perish from the
earth, and from under these heavens. {10:12} He hath made
the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his
wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his
discretion. {10:13} When he uttereth his voice, [there is] a
multitude of waters in the heavens, and he causeth the
vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh
lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his
treasures. {10:14} Every man is brutish in [his] knowledge:
every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his
molten image is falsehood, and [there is] no breath in them.
{10:15} They [are] vanity, [and] the work of errors: in the
time of their visitation they shall perish. {10:16} The
portion of Jacob [is] not like them: for he [is] the former of
all [things;] and Israel [is] the rod of his inheritance: The
LORD of hosts [is] his name.
{10:17} Gather up thy wares out of the land, O inhabitant
of the fortress. {10:18} For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I
will sling out the inhabitants of the land at this once, and
will distress them, that they may find [it] so.
{10:19} Woe is me for my hurt! my wound is grievous:
but I said, Truly this [is] a grief, and I must bear it. {10:20}
My tabernacle is spoiled, and all my cords are broken: my
children are gone forth of me, and they [are] not: [there is]
none to stretch forth my tent any more, and to set up my
curtains. {10:21} For the pastors are become brutish, and
have not sought the LORD: therefore they shall not prosper,
and all their flocks shall be scattered. {10:22} Behold, the
noise of the bruit is come, and a great commotion out of the
north country, to make the cities of Judah desolate, [and] a
den of dragons.
{10:23} O LORD, I know that the way of man [is] not in
himself: [it is] not in man that walketh to direct his steps.
{10:24} O LORD, correct me, but with judgment; not in
thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing. {10:25} Pour out
thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not, and upon the
families that call not on thy name: for they have eaten up
Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him, and have
made his habitation desolate.
11 {11:1} The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD,
saying, {11:2} Hear ye the words of this covenant, and
speak unto the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of
Jerusalem; {11:3} And say thou unto them, Thus saith the
LORD God of Israel; Cursed [be] the man that obeyeth not
the words of this covenant, {11:4} Which I commanded
your fathers in the day [that] I brought them forth out of the
land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, Obey my
voice, and do them, according to all which I command you:
so shall ye be my people, and I will be your God: {11:5}
That I may perform the oath which I have sworn unto your
fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as
[it is] this day. Then answered I, and said, So be it, O
LORD. {11:6} Then the LORD said unto me, Proclaim all
these words in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of
Jerusalem, saying, Hear ye the words of this covenant, and
do them. {11:7} For I earnestly protested unto your fathers
in the day [that] I brought them up out of the land of Egypt,
[even] unto this day, rising early and protesting, saying,
Obey my voice. {11:8} Yet they obeyed not, nor inclined
their ear, but walked every one in the imagination of their
evil heart: therefore I will bring upon them all the words of
this covenant, which I commanded [them] to do; but they
did [them] not. {11:9} And the LORD said unto me, A
conspiracy is found among the men of Judah, and among
the inhabitants of Jerusalem. {11:10} They are turned back
to the iniquities of their forefathers, which refused to hear
my words; and they went after other gods to serve them: the
house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my
covenant which I made with their fathers.
{11:11} Therefore thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will
bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to
escape; and though they shall cry unto me, I will not
hearken unto them. {11:12} Then shall the cities of Judah
and inhabitants of Jerusalem go, and cry unto the gods unto
whom they offer incense: but they shall not save them at all
in the time of their trouble. {11:13} For [according to] the
number of thy cities were thy gods, O Judah; and [according
to] the number of the streets of Jerusalem have ye set up
altars to [that] shameful thing, [even] altars to burn incense
unto Baal. {11:14} Therefore pray not thou for this people,
neither lift up a cry or prayer for them: for I will not hear
[them] in the time that they cry unto me for their trouble.
{11:15} What hath my beloved to do in mine house,
[seeing] she hath wrought lewdness with many, and the holy
flesh is passed from thee? when thou doest evil, then thou
rejoicest. {11:16} The LORD called thy name, A green
olive tree, fair, [and] of goodly fruit: with the noise of a
great tumult he hath kindled fire upon it, and the branches
of it are broken. {11:17} For the LORD of hosts, that
planted thee, hath pronounced evil against thee, for the evil
of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they
have done against themselves to provoke me to anger in
offering incense unto Baal.
{11:18} And the LORD hath given me knowledge [of it,]
and I know [it:] then thou shewedst me their doings.
{11:19} But I [was] like a lamb [or] an ox [that] is brought
to the slaughter; and I knew not that they had devised
devices against me, [saying,] Let us destroy the tree with the
fruit thereof, and let us cut him off from the land of the
living, that his name may be no more remembered. {11:20}
But, O LORD of hosts, that judgest righteously, that triest
the reins and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them:
for unto thee have I revealed my cause. {11:21} Therefore
thus saith the LORD of the men of Anathoth, that seek thy
life, saying, Prophesy not in the name of the LORD, that
thou die not by our hand: {11:22} Therefore thus saith the
LORD of hosts, Behold, I will punish them: the young men
shall die by the sword; their sons and their daughters shall
die by famine: {11:23} And there shall be no remnant of
them: for I will bring evil upon the men of Anathoth, [even]
the year of their visitation.
12 {12:1} Righteous [art] thou, O LORD, when I plead
with thee: yet let me talk with thee of [thy] judgments:
Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? [wherefore]
are all they happy that deal very treacherously? {12:2}
Thou hast planted them, yea, they have taken root: they
grow, yea, they bring forth fruit: thou [art] near in their
mouth, and far from their reins. {12:3} But thou, O LORD,
knowest me: thou hast seen me, and tried mine heart toward
thee: pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare
them for the day of slaughter. {12:4} How long shall the
land mourn, and the herbs of every field wither, for the
wickedness of them that dwell therein? the beasts are
consumed, and the birds; because they said, He shall not see
our last end. {12:5} If thou hast run with the footmen, and
they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with
horses? and [if] in the land of peace, [wherein] thou
trustedst, [they wearied thee,] then how wilt thou do in the
swelling of Jordan? {12:6} For even thy brethren, and the
house of thy father, even they have dealt treacherously with
thee; yea, they have called a multitude after thee: believe
them not, though they speak fair words unto thee.
{12:7} I have forsaken mine house, I have left mine
heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the
hand of her enemies. {12:8} Mine heritage is unto me as a
lion in the forest; it crieth out against me: therefore have I
hated it. {12:9} Mine heritage [is] unto me [as] a speckled
bird, the birds round about [are] against her; come ye,
assemble all the beasts of the field, come to devour. {12:10}
Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they have
trodden my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant
portion a desolate wilderness. {12:11} They have made it
desolate, [and being] desolate it mourneth unto me; the
whole land is made desolate, because no man layeth [it] to
heart. {12:12} The spoilers are come upon all high places
through the wilderness: for the sword of the LORD shall
devour from the [one] end of the land even to the [other]
end of the land: no flesh shall have peace. {12:13} They
have sown wheat, but shall reap thorns: they have put
themselves to pain, [but] shall not profit: and they shall be
ashamed of your revenues because of the fierce anger of the
LORD.
{12:14} Thus saith the LORD against all mine evil
neighbours, that touch the inheritance which I have caused
my people Israel to inherit; Behold, I will pluck them out of
their land, and pluck out the house of Judah from among
them. {12:15} And it shall come to pass, after that I have
plucked them out I will return, and have compassion on
them, and will bring them again, every man to his heritage,
and every man to his land. {12:16} And it shall come to
pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to
swear by my name, The LORD liveth; as they taught my
people to swear by Baal; then shall they be built in the midst
of my people. {12:17} But if they will not obey, I will
utterly pluck up and destroy that nation, saith the LORD.
13 {13:1} Thus saith the LORD unto me, Go and get thee
a linen girdle, and put it upon thy loins, and put it not in
water. {13:2} So I got a girdle according to the word of the
LORD, and put [it] on my loins. {13:3} And the word of the
LORD came unto me the second time, saying, {13:4} Take
the girdle that thou hast got, which [is] upon thy loins, and
arise, go to Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole of the rock.
{13:5} So I went, and hid it by Euphrates, as the LORD
commanded me. {13:6} And it came to pass after many
days, that the LORD said unto me, Arise, go to Euphrates,
and take the girdle from thence, which I commanded thee to
hide there. {13:7} Then I went to Euphrates, and digged,
and took the girdle from the place where I had hid it: and,
behold, the girdle was marred, it was profitable for nothing.
{13:8} Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
{13:9} Thus saith the LORD, After this manner will I mar
the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem.
{13:10} This evil people, which refuse to hear my words,
which walk in the imagination of their heart, and walk after
other gods, to serve them, and to worship them, shall even
be as this girdle, which is good for nothing. {13:11} For as
the girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man, so have I caused to
cleave unto me the whole house of Israel and the whole
house of Judah, saith the LORD; that they might be unto me
for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a
glory: but they would not hear.
{13:12} Therefore thou shalt speak unto them this word;
Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Every bottle shall be
filled with wine: and they shall say unto thee, Do we not
certainly know that every bottle shall be filled with wine?
{13:13} Then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the
LORD, Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land,
even the kings that sit upon David’s throne, and the priests,
and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with
drunkenness. {13:14} And I will dash them one against
another, even the fathers and the sons together, saith the
LORD: I will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, but
destroy them.
{13:15} Hear ye, and give ear; be not proud: for the
LORD hath spoken. {13:16} Give glory to the LORD your
God, before he cause darkness, and before your feet stumble
upon the dark mountains, and, while ye look for light, he
turn it into the shadow of death, [and] make [it] gross
darkness. {13:17} But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall
weep in secret places for [your] pride; and mine eye shall
weep sore, and run down with tears, because the LORD’S
flock is carried away captive. {13:18} Say unto the king and
to the queen, Humble yourselves, sit down: for your
principalities shall come down, [even] the crown of your
glory. {13:19} The cities of the south shall be shut up, and
none shall open [them:] Judah shall be carried away captive
all of it, it shall be wholly carried away captive. {13:20}
Lift up your eyes, and behold them that come from the
north: where [is] the flock [that] was given thee, thy
beautiful flock? {13:21} What wilt thou say when he shall
punish thee? for thou hast taught them [to be] captains,
[and] as chief over thee: shall not sorrows take thee, as a
woman in travail?
{13:22} And if thou say in thine heart, Wherefore come
these things upon me? For the greatness of thine iniquity are
thy skirts discovered, [and] thy heels made bare. {13:23}
Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?
[then] may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.
{13:24} Therefore will I scatter them as the stubble that
passeth away by the wind of the wilderness. {13:25} This
[is] thy lot, the portion of thy measures from me, saith the
LORD; because thou hast forgotten me, and trusted in
falsehood. {13:26} Therefore will I discover thy skirts upon
thy face, that thy shame may appear. {13:27} I have seen
thine adulteries, and thy neighings, the lewdness of thy
whoredom, [and] thine abominations on the hills in the
fields. Woe unto thee, O Jerusalem! wilt thou not be made
clean? when [shall it] once [be?]
14 {14:1} The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah
concerning the dearth. {14:2} Judah mourneth, and the
gates thereof languish; they are black unto the ground; and
the cry of Jerusalem is gone up. {14:3} And their nobles
have sent their little ones to the waters: they came to the
pits, [and] found no water; they returned with their vessels
empty; they were ashamed and confounded, and covered
their heads. {14:4} Because the ground is chapt, for there
was no rain in the earth, the plowmen were ashamed, they
covered their heads. {14:5} Yea, the hind also calved in the
field, and forsook [it,] because there was no grass. {14:6}
And the wild asses did stand in the high places, they snuffed
up the wind like dragons; their eyes did fail, because [there
was] no grass.
{14:7} O LORD, though our iniquities testify against us,
do thou [it] for thy name’s sake: for our backslidings are
many; we have sinned against thee. {14:8} O the hope of
Israel, the saviour thereof in time of trouble, why shouldest
thou be as a stranger in the land, and as a wayfaring man
[that] turneth aside to tarry for a night? {14:9} Why
shouldest thou be as a man astonied, as a mighty man [that]
cannot save? yet thou, O LORD, [art] in the midst of us, and
we are called by thy name; leave us not.
{14:10} Thus saith the LORD unto this people, Thus have
they loved to wander, they have not refrained their feet,
therefore the LORD doth not accept them; he will now
remember their iniquity, and visit their sins. {14:11} Then
said the LORD unto me, Pray not for this people for [their]
good. {14:12} When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and
when they offer burnt offering and an oblation, I will not
accept them: but I will consume them by the sword, and by
the famine, and by the pestilence.
{14:13} Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, the prophets
say unto them, Ye shall not see the sword, neither shall ye
have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place.
{14:14} Then the LORD said unto me, The prophets
prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I
commanded them, neither spake unto them: they prophesy
unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of
nought, and the deceit of their heart. {14:15} Therefore thus
saith the LORD concerning the prophets that prophesy in
my name, and I sent them not, yet they say, Sword and
famine shall not be in this land; By sword and famine shall
those prophets be consumed. {14:16} And the people to
whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of
Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and they
shall have none to bury them, them, their wives, nor their
sons, nor their daughters: for I will pour their wickedness
upon them.
{14:17} Therefore thou shalt say this word unto them; Let
mine eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them
not cease: for the virgin daughter of my people is broken
with a great breach, with a very grievous blow. {14:18} If I
go forth into the field, then behold the slain with the sword!
and if I enter into the city, then behold them that are sick
with famine! yea, both the prophet and the priest go about
into a land that they know not. {14:19} Hast thou utterly
rejected Judah? hath thy soul lothed Zion? why hast thou
smitten us, and [there is] no healing for us? we looked for
peace, and [there is] no good; and for the time of healing,
and behold trouble! {14:20} We acknowledge, O LORD,
our wickedness, [and] the iniquity of our fathers: for we
have sinned against thee. {14:21} Do not abhor [us,] for thy
name’s sake, do not disgrace the throne of thy glory:
remember, break not thy covenant with us. {14:22} Are
there [any] among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause
rain? or can the heavens give showers? [art] not thou he, O
LORD our God? therefore we will wait upon thee: for thou
hast made all these [things.]
15 {15:1} Then said the LORD unto me, Though Moses and
Samuel stood before me, [yet] my mind [could] not [be]
toward this people: cast [them] out of my sight, and let them
go forth. {15:2} And it shall come to pass, if they say unto
thee, Whither shall we go forth? then thou shalt tell them,
Thus saith the LORD; Such as [are] for death, to death; and
such as [are] for the sword, to the sword; and such as [are]
for the famine, to the famine; and such as [are] for the
captivity, to the captivity. {15:3} And I will appoint over
them four kinds, saith the LORD: the sword to slay, and the
dogs to tear, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of
the earth, to devour and destroy. {15:4} And I will cause
them to be removed into all kingdoms of the earth, because
of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah king of Judah, for [that]
which he did in Jerusalem. {15:5} For who shall have pity
upon thee, O Jerusalem? or who shall bemoan thee? or who
shall go aside to ask how thou doest? {15:6} Thou hast
forsaken me, saith the LORD, thou art gone backward:
therefore will I stretch out my hand against thee, and
destroy thee; I am weary with repenting. {15:7} And I will
fan them with a fan in the gates of the land; I will bereave
[them] of children, I will destroy my people, [since] they
return not from their ways. {15:8} Their widows are
increased to me above the sand of the seas: I have brought
upon them against the mother of the young men a spoiler at
noonday: I have caused [him] to fall upon it suddenly, and
terrors upon the city. {15:9} She that hath borne seven
languisheth: she hath given up the ghost; her sun is gone
down while [it was] yet day: she hath been ashamed and
confounded: and the residue of them will I deliver to the
sword before their enemies, saith the LORD.
{15:10} Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a
man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I
have neither lent on usury, nor men have lent to me on
usury; [yet] every one of them doth curse me. {15:11} The
LORD said, Verily it shall be well with thy remnant; verily
I will cause the enemy to entreat thee [well] in the time of
evil and in the time of affliction. {15:12} Shall iron break
the northern iron and the steel? {15:13} Thy substance and
thy treasures will I give to the spoil without price, and [that]
for all thy sins, even in all thy borders. {15:14} And I will
make [thee] to pass with thine enemies into a land [which]
thou knowest not: for a fire is kindled in mine anger,
[which] shall burn upon you.
{15:15} O LORD, thou knowest: remember me, and visit
me, and revenge me of my persecutors; take me not away in
thy longsuffering: know that for thy sake I have suffered
rebuke. {15:16} Thy words were found, and I did eat them;
and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine
heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts.
{15:17} I sat not in the assembly of the mockers, nor
rejoiced; I sat alone because of thy hand: for thou hast filled
me with indignation. {15:18} Why is my pain perpetual,
and my wound incurable, [which] refuseth to be healed?
wilt thou be altogether unto me as a liar, [and as] waters
[that] fail?
{15:19} Therefore thus saith the LORD, If thou return,
then will I bring thee again, [and] thou shalt stand before
me: and if thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou
shalt be as my mouth: let them return unto thee; but return
not thou unto them. {15:20} And I will make thee unto this
people a fenced brasen wall: and they shall fight against
thee, but they shall not prevail against thee: for I [am] with
thee to save thee and to deliver thee, saith the LORD.
{15:21} And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the
wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the
terrible.
16 {16:1} The word of the LORD came also unto me, say-
ing, {16:2} Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou
have sons or daughters in this place. {16:3} For thus saith
the LORD concerning the sons and concerning the
daughters that are born in this place, and concerning their
mothers that bare them, and concerning their fathers that
begat them in this land; {16:4} They shall die of grievous
deaths; they shall not be lamented; neither shall they be
buried; [but] they shall be as dung upon the face of the
earth: and they shall be consumed by the sword, and by
famine; and their carcases shall be meat for the fowls of
heaven, and for the beasts of the earth. {16:5} For thus saith
the LORD, Enter not into the house of mourning, neither go
to lament nor bemoan them: for I have taken away my
peace from this people, saith the LORD, [even]
lovingkindness and mercies. {16:6} Both the great and the
small shall die in this land: they shall not be buried, neither
shall [men] lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make
themselves bald for them: {16:7} Neither shall [men] tear
[themselves] for them in mourning, to comfort them for the
dead; neither shall [men] give them the cup of consolation
to drink for their father or for their mother. {16:8} Thou
shalt not also go into the house of feasting, to sit with them
to eat and to drink. {16:9} For thus saith the LORD of
hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will cause to cease out of
this place in your eyes, and in your days, the voice of mirth,
and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and
the voice of the bride.
{16:10} And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt shew
this people all these words, and they shall say unto thee,
Wherefore hath the LORD pronounced all this great evil
against us? or what [is] our iniquity? or what [is] our sin
that we have committed against the LORD our God?
{16:11} Then shalt thou say unto them, Because your
fathers have forsaken me, saith the LORD, and have walked
after other gods, and have served them, and have
worshipped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept
my law; {16:12} And ye have done worse than your fathers;
for, behold, ye walk every one after the imagination of his
evil heart, that they may not hearken unto me: {16:13}
Therefore will I cast you out of this land into a land that ye
know not, [neither] ye nor your fathers; and there shall ye
serve other gods day and night; where I will not shew you
favour.
{16:14} Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the
LORD, that it shall no more be said, The LORD liveth, that
brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;
{16:15} But, The LORD liveth, that brought up the children
of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands
whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into
their land that I gave unto their fathers.
{16:16} Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the
LORD, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for
many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every
mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the
rocks. {16:17} For mine eyes [are] upon all their ways: they
are not hid from my face, neither is their iniquity hid from
mine eyes. {16:18} And first I will recompense their
iniquity and their sin double; because they have defiled my
land, they have filled mine inheritance with the carcases of
their detestable and abominable things. {16:19} O LORD,
my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of
affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends
of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited
lies, vanity, and [things] wherein [there is] no profit.
{16:20} Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they [are]
no gods? {16:21} Therefore, behold, I will this once cause
them to know, I will cause them to know mine hand and my
might; and they shall know that my name [is] The LORD.
17 {17:1} The sin of Judah [is] written with a pen of iron,
[and] with the point of a diamond: [it is] graven upon the
table of their heart, and upon the horns of your altars;
{17:2} Whilst their children remember their altars and their
groves by the green trees upon the high hills. {17:3} O my
mountain in the field, I will give thy substance [and] all thy
treasures to the spoil, [and] thy high places for sin,
throughout all thy borders. {17:4} And thou, even thyself,
shalt discontinue from thine heritage that I gave thee; and I
will cause thee to serve thine enemies in the land which
thou knowest not: for ye have kindled a fire in mine anger,
[which] shall burn for ever.
{17:5} Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that
trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart
departeth from the LORD. {17:6} For he shall be like the
heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but
shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, [in] a salt
land and not inhabited. {17:7} Blessed [is] the man that
trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. {17:8}
For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and [that]
spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when
heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be
careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from
yielding fruit.
{17:9} The heart [is] deceitful above all [things,] and
desperately wicked: who can know it? {17:10} I the LORD
search the heart, [I[ try the reins, even to give every man
according to his ways, [and] according to the fruit of his
doings. {17:11} As the partridge sitteth [on eggs,] and
hatcheth [them] not; [so] he that getteth riches, and not by
right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his
end shall be a fool.
{17:12} A glorious high throne from the beginning [is]
the place of our sanctuary. {17:13} O LORD, the hope of
Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, [and] they that
depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they
have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters.
{17:14} Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me,
and I shall be saved: for thou [art] my praise.
{17:15} Behold, they say unto me, Where [is] the word of
the LORD? let it come now. {17:16} As for me, I have not
hastened from [being] a pastor to follow thee: neither have I
desired the woeful day; thou knowest: that which came out
of my lips was [right] before thee. {17:17} Be not a terror
unto me: thou [art] my hope in the day of evil. {17:18} Let
them be confounded that persecute me, but let not me be
confounded: let them be dismayed, but let not me be
dismayed: bring upon them the day of evil, and destroy
them with double destruction.
{17:19} Thus said the LORD unto me; Go and stand in
the gate of the children of the people, whereby the kings of
Judah come in, and by the which they go out, and in all the
gates of Jerusalem; {17:20} And say unto them, Hear ye the
word of the LORD, ye kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all
the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that enter in by these gates:
{17:21} Thus saith the LORD; Take heed to yourselves,
and bear no burden on the sabbath day, nor bring [it] in by
the gates of Jerusalem; {17:22} Neither carry forth a burden
out of your houses on the sabbath day, neither do ye any
work, but hallow ye the sabbath day, as I commanded your
fathers. {17:23} But they obeyed not, neither inclined their
ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, nor
receive instruction. {17:24} And it shall come to pass, if ye
diligently hearken unto me, saith the LORD, to bring in no
burden through the gates of this city on the sabbath day, but
hallow the sabbath day, to do no work therein; {17:25}
Then shall there enter into the gates of this city kings and
princes sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots
and on horses, they, and their princes, the men of Judah, and
the inhabitants of Jerusalem: and this city shall remain for
ever. {17:26} And they shall come from the cities of Judah,
and from the places about Jerusalem, and from the land of
Benjamin, and from the plain, and from the mountains, and
from the south, bringing burnt offerings, and sacrifices, and
meat offerings, and incense, and bringing sacrifices of
praise, unto the house of the LORD. {17:27} But if ye will
not hearken unto me to hallow the sabbath day, and not to
bear a burden, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on
the sabbath day; then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof,
and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not
be quenched.
18 {18:1} The word which came to Jeremiah from the
LORD, saying, {18:2} Arise, and go down to the potter’s
house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. {18:3}
Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he
wrought a work on the wheels. {18:4} And the vessel that
he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he
made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter
to make [it.] {18:5} Then the word of the LORD came to
me, saying, {18:6} O house of Israel, cannot I do with you
as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay [is] in
the potter’s hand, so [are] ye in mine hand, O house of
Israel. {18:7} [At what] instant I shall speak concerning a
nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull
down, and to destroy [it;] {18:8} If that nation, against
whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent
of the evil that I thought to do unto them. {18:9} And [at
what] instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and
concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant [it;] {18:10} If
it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will
repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them.
{18:11} Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah,
and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the
LORD; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a
device against you: return ye now every one from his evil
way, and make your ways and your doings good. {18:12}
And they said, There is no hope: but we will walk after our
own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of
his evil heart. {18:13} Therefore thus saith the LORD; Ask
ye now among the heathen, who hath heard such things: the
virgin of Israel hath done a very horrible thing. {18:14}
Will [a man] leave the snow of Lebanon [which cometh]
from the rock of the field? [or] shall the cold flowing waters
that come from another place be forsaken? {18:15} Because
my people hath forgotten me, they have burned incense to
vanity, and they have caused them to stumble in their ways
[from] the ancient paths, to walk in paths, [in] a way not
cast up; {18:16} To make their land desolate, [and] a
perpetual hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be
astonished, and wag his head. {18:17} I will scatter them as
with an east wind before the enemy; I will shew them the
back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.
{18:18} Then said they, Come, and let us devise devices
against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the
priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the
prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let
us not give heed to any of his words. {18:19} Give heed to
me, O LORD, and hearken to the voice of them that contend
with me. {18:20} Shall evil be recompensed for good? for
they have digged a pit for my soul. Remember that I stood
before thee to speak good for them, [and] to turn away thy
wrath from them. {18:21} Therefore deliver up their
children to the famine, and pour out their [blood] by the
force of the sword; and let their wives be bereaved of their
children, and [be] widows; and let their men be put to death;
[let] their young men [be] slain by the sword in battle.
{18:22} Let a cry be heard from their houses, when thou
shalt bring a troop suddenly upon them: for they have
digged a pit to take me, and hid snares for my feet. {18:23}
Yet, LORD, thou knowest all their counsel against me to
slay [me:] forgive not their iniquity, neither blot out their
sin from thy sight, but let them be overthrown before thee;
deal [thus] with them in the time of thine anger.
19 {19:1} Thus saith the LORD, Go and get a potter’s
earthen bottle, and [take] of the ancients of the people, and
of the ancients of the priests; {19:2} And go forth unto the
valley of the son of Hinnom, which [is] by the entry of the
east gate, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell thee,
{19:3} And say, Hear ye the word of the LORD, O kings of
Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem; Thus saith the LORD
of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring evil upon
this place, the which whosoever heareth, his ears shall
tingle. {19:4} Because they have forsaken me, and have
estranged this place, and have burned incense in it unto
other gods, whom neither they nor their fathers have known,
nor the kings of Judah, and have filled this place with the
blood of innocents; {19:5} They have built also the high
places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire [for] burnt
offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake [it,]
neither came [it] into my mind: {19:6} Therefore, behold,
the days come, saith the LORD, that this place shall no
more be called Tophet, nor The valley of the son of
Hinnom, but The valley of slaughter. {19:7} And I will
make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place;
and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their
enemies, and by the hands of them that seek their lives: and
their carcases will I give to be meat for the fowls of the
heaven, and for the beasts of the earth. {19:8} And I will
make this city desolate, and an hissing; every one that
passeth thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all
the plagues thereof. {19:9} And I will cause them to eat the
flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they
shall eat every one the flesh of his friend in the siege and
straitness, wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their
lives, shall straiten them. {19:10} Then shalt thou break the
bottle in the sight of the men that go with thee, {19:11} And
shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Even so
will I break this people and this city, as [one] breaketh a
potter’s vessel, that cannot be made whole again: and they
shall bury [them] in Tophet, till [there be] no place to bury.
{19:12} Thus will I do unto this place, saith the LORD, and
to the inhabitants thereof, and [even] make this city as
Tophet: {19:13} And the houses of Jerusalem, and the
houses of the kings of Judah, shall be defiled as the place of
Tophet, because of all the houses upon whose roofs they
have burned incense unto all the host of heaven, and have
poured out drink offerings unto other gods. {19:14} Then
came Jeremiah from Tophet, whither the LORD had sent
him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of the LORD’S
house; and said to all the people, {19:15} Thus saith the
LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring upon
this city and upon all her towns all the evil that I have
pronounced against it, because they have hardened their
necks, that they might not hear my words.
20 {20:1} Now Pashur the son of Immer the priest, who
[was] also chief governor in the house of the LORD, heard
that Jeremiah prophesied these things. {20:2} Then Pashur
smote Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that
[were] in the high gate of Benjamin, which [was] by the
house of the LORD. {20:3} And it came to pass on the
morrow, that Pashur brought forth Jeremiah out of the
stocks. Then said Jeremiah unto him, The LORD hath not
called thy name Pashur, but Magor-missabib. {20:4} For
thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will make thee a terror to
thyself, and to all thy friends: and they shall fall by the
sword of their enemies, and thine eyes shall behold [it:] and
I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon,
and he shall carry them captive into Babylon, and shall slay
them with the sword. {20:5} Moreover I will deliver all the
strength of this city, and all the labours thereof, and all the
precious things thereof, and all the treasures of the kings of
Judah will I give into the hand of their enemies, which shall
spoil them, and take them, and carry them to Babylon.
{20:6} And thou, Pashur, and all that dwell in thine house
shall go into captivity: and thou shalt come to Babylon, and
there thou shalt die, and shalt be buried there, thou, and all
thy friends, to whom thou hast prophesied lies.
{20:7} O LORD, thou hast deceived me, and I was
deceived: thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am
in derision daily, every one mocketh me. {20:8} For since I
spake, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil; because the
word of the LORD was made a reproach unto me, and a
derision, daily. {20:9} Then I said, I will not make mention
of him, nor speak any more in his name. But [his word] was
in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I
was weary with forbearing, and I could not [stay.]
{20:10} For I heard the defaming of many, fear on every
side. Report, [say they,] and we will report it. All my
familiars watched for my halting, [saying,] Peradventure he
will be enticed, and we shall prevail against him, and we
shall take our revenge on him. {20:11} But the LORD [is]
with me as a mighty terrible one: therefore my persecutors
shall stumble, and they shall not prevail: they shall be
greatly ashamed; for they shall not prosper: [their]
everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten. {20:12} But,
O LORD of hosts, that triest the righteous, [and] seest the
reins and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them: for
unto thee have I opened my cause. {20:13} Sing unto the
LORD, praise ye the LORD: for he hath delivered the soul
of the poor from the hand of evildoers.
{20:14} Cursed [be] the day wherein I was born: let not
the day wherein my mother bare me be blessed. {20:15}
Cursed [be] the man who brought tidings to my father,
saying, A man child is born unto thee; making him very
glad. {20:16} And let that man be as the cities which the
LORD overthrew, and repented not: and let him hear the
cry in the morning, and the shouting at noontide; {20:17}
Because he slew me not from the womb; or that my mother
might have been my grave, and her womb [to be] always
great [with me.] {20:18} Wherefore came I forth out of the
womb to see labour and sorrow, that my days should be
consumed with shame?
21 {21:1} The word which came unto Jeremiah from the
LORD, when king Zedekiah sent unto him Pashur the son
of Melchiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest,
saying, {21:2} Enquire, I pray thee, of the LORD for us; for
Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon maketh war against us; if
so be that the LORD will deal with us according to all his
wondrous works, that he may go up from us. {21:3} Then
said Jeremiah unto them, Thus shall ye say to Zedekiah:
{21:4} Thus saith the LORD God of Israel; Behold, I will
turn back the weapons of war that [are] in your hands,
wherewith ye fight [against] the king of Babylon, and
against the Chaldeans, which besiege you without the walls,
and I will assemble them into the midst of this city. {21:5}
And I myself will fight against you with an outstretched
hand and with a strong arm, even in anger, and in fury, and
in great wrath. {21:6} And I will smite the inhabitants of
this city, both man and beast: they shall die of a great
pestilence. {21:7} And afterward, saith the LORD, I will
deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the
people, and such as are left in this city from the pestilence,
from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of
Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their
enemies, and into the hand of those that seek their life: and
he shall smite them with the edge of the sword; he shall not
spare them, neither have pity, nor have mercy.
{21:8} And unto this people thou shalt say, Thus saith the
LORD; Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the
way of death. {21:9} He that abideth in this city shall die by
the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he
that goeth out, and falleth to the Chaldeans that besiege you,
he shall live, and his life shall be unto him for a prey.
{21:10} For I have set my face against this city for evil, and
not for good, saith the LORD: it shall be given into the hand
of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.
{21:11} And touching the house of the king of Judah, say,
Hear ye the word of the LORD; {21:12} O house of David,
thus saith the LORD; Execute judgment in the morning, and
deliver [him that is] spoiled out of the hand of the
oppressor, lest my fury go out like fire, and burn that none
can quench [it,] because of the evil of your doings. {21:13}
Behold, I [am] against thee, O inhabitant of the valley, [and]
rock of the plain, saith the LORD; which say, Who shall
come down against us? or who shall enter into our
habitations? {21:14} But I will punish you according to the
fruit of your doings, saith the LORD: and I will kindle a fire
in the forest thereof, and it shall devour all things round
about it.
22 {22:1} Thus saith the LORD; Go down to the house of
the king of Judah, and speak there this word, {22:2} And say,
Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, that sittest
upon the throne of David, thou, and thy servants, and thy
people that enter in by these gates: {22:3} Thus saith the
LORD; Execute ye judgment and righteousness, and deliver
the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no
wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the
widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place. {22:4}
For if ye do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the
gates of this house kings sitting upon the throne of David,
riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and
his people. {22:5} But if ye will not hear these words, I
swear by myself, saith the LORD, that this house shall
become a desolation. {22:6} For thus saith the LORD unto
the king’s house of Judah; Thou [art] Gilead unto me, [and]
the head of Lebanon: [yet] surely I will make thee a
wilderness, [and] cities [which] are not inhabited. {22:7}
And I will prepare destroyers against thee, every one with
his weapons: and they shall cut down thy choice cedars, and
cast [them] into the fire. {22:8} And many nations shall
pass by this city, and they shall say every man to his
neighbour, Wherefore hath the LORD done thus unto this
great city? {22:9} Then they shall answer, Because they
have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God, and
worshipped other gods, and served them.
{22:10} Weep ye not for the dead, neither bemoan him:
[but] weep sore for him that goeth away: for he shall return
no more, nor see his native country. {22:11} For thus saith
the LORD touching Shallum the son of Josiah king of
Judah, which reigned instead of Josiah his father, which
went forth out of this place; He shall not return thither any
more: {22:12} But he shall die in the place whither they
have led him captive, and shall see this land no more.
{22:13} Woe unto him that buildeth his house by
unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; [that] useth
his neighbour’s service without wages, and giveth him not
for his work; {22:14} That saith, I will build me a wide
house and large chambers, and cutteth him out windows;
and [it is] cieled with cedar, and painted with vermilion.
{22:15} Shalt thou reign, because thou closest [thyself] in
cedar? did not thy father eat and drink, and do judgment and
justice, [and] then [it was] well with him? {22:16} He
judged the cause of the poor and needy; then [it was] well
[with him: was] not this to know me? saith the LORD.
{22:17} But thine eyes and thine heart [are] not but for thy
covetousness, and for to shed innocent blood, and for
oppression, and for violence, to do [it.] {22:18} Therefore
thus saith the LORD concerning Jehoiakim the son of
Josiah king of Judah; They shall not lament for him,
[saying,] Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! they shall not lament
for him, [saying,] Ah lord! or, Ah his glory! {22:19} He
shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast
forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.
{22:20} Go up to Lebanon, and cry; and lift up thy voice
in Bashan, and cry from the passages: for all thy lovers are
destroyed. {22:21} I spake unto thee in thy prosperity; [but]
thou saidst, I will not hear. This [hath been] thy manner
from thy youth, that thou obeyedst not my voice. {22:22}
The wind shall eat up all thy pastors, and thy lovers shall go
into captivity: surely then shalt thou be ashamed and
confounded for all thy wickedness. {22:23} O inhabitant of
Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the cedars, how gracious
shalt thou be when pangs come upon thee, the pain as of a
woman in travail! {22:24} [As] I live, saith the LORD,
though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the
signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck thee thence;
{22:25} And I will give thee into the hand of them that seek
thy life, and into the hand [of them] whose face thou fearest,
even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and
into the hand of the Chaldeans. {22:26} And I will cast thee
out, and thy mother that bare thee, into another country,
where ye were not born; and there shall ye die. {22:27} But
to the land whereunto they desire to return, thither shall they
not return. {22:28} [Is] this man Coniah a despised broken
idol? [is he] a vessel wherein [is] no pleasure? wherefore
are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land
which they know not? {22:29} O earth, earth, earth, hear
the word of the LORD. {22:30} Thus saith the LORD,
Write ye this man childless, a man [that] shall not prosper in
his days: for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon
the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah.
23 {23:1} Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter
the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD. {23:2} Therefore
thus saith the LORD God of Israel against the pastors that
feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven
them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit
upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD. {23:3}
And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all
countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them
again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase.
{23:4} And I will set up shepherds over them which shall
feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed,
neither shall they be lacking, saith the LORD.
{23:5} Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will
raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign
and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the
earth. {23:6} In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel
shall dwell safely: and this [is] his name whereby he shall
be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. {23:7}
Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that they
shall no more say, The LORD liveth, which brought up the
children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; {23:8} But, The
LORD liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of
the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all
countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in
their own land.
{23:9} Mine heart within me is broken because of the
prophets; all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and
like a man whom wine hath overcome, because of the
LORD, and because of the words of his holiness. {23:10}
For the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the
land mourneth; the pleasant places of the wilderness are
dried up, and their course is evil, and their force [is] not
right. {23:11} For both prophet and priest are profane; yea,
in my house have I found their wickedness, saith the LORD.
{23:12} Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery
[ways] in the darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall
therein: for I will bring evil upon them, [even] the year of
their visitation, saith the LORD. {23:13} And I have seen
folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied in Baal,
and caused my people Israel to err. {23:14} I have seen also
in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit
adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of
evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they
are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants
thereof as Gomorrah. {23:15} Therefore thus saith the
LORD of hosts concerning the prophets; Behold, I will feed
them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of
gall: for from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone
forth into all the land. {23:16} Thus saith the LORD of
hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that
prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision
of their own heart, [and] not out of the mouth of the LORD.
{23:17} They say still unto them that despise me, The
LORD hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto
every one that walketh after the imagination of his own
heart, No evil shall come upon you. {23:18} For who hath
stood in the counsel of the LORD, and hath perceived and
heard his word? who hath marked his word, and heard [it?]
{23:19} Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD is gone forth in
fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously
upon the head of the wicked. {23:20} The anger of the
LORD shall not return, until he have executed, and till he
have performed the thoughts of his heart: in the latter days
ye shall consider it perfectly. {23:21} I have not sent these
prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they
prophesied. {23:22} But if they had stood in my counsel,
and had caused my people to hear my words, then they
should have turned them from their evil way, and from the
evil of their doings. {23:23} [Am] I a God at hand, saith the
LORD, and not a God afar off? {23:24} Can any hide
himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the
LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.
{23:25} I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy
lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed.
{23:26} How long shall [this] be in the heart of the prophets
that prophesy lies? yea, [they are] prophets of the deceit of
their own heart; {23:27} Which think to cause my people to
forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man
to his neighbour, as their fathers have forgotten my name
for Baal. {23:28} The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell
a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word
faithfully. What [is] the chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD.
{23:29} [Is] not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD;
and like a hammer [that] breaketh the rock in pieces?
{23:30} Therefore, behold, I [am] against the prophets,
saith the LORD, that steal my words every one from his
neighbour. {23:31} Behold, I [am] against the prophets,
saith the LORD, that use their tongues, and say, He saith.
{23:32} Behold, I [am] against them that prophesy false
dreams, saith the LORD, and do tell them, and cause my
people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent
them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not
profit this people at all, saith the LORD.
{23:33} And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest,
shall ask thee, saying, What [is] the burden of the LORD?
thou shalt then say unto them, What burden? I will even
forsake you, saith the LORD. {23:34} And [as for] the
prophet, and the priest, and the people, that shall say, The
burden of the LORD, I will even punish that man and his
house. {23:35} Thus shall ye say every one to his
neighbour, and every one to his brother, What hath the
LORD answered? and, What hath the LORD spoken?
{23:36} And the burden of the LORD shall ye mention no
more: for every man’s word shall be his burden; for ye have
perverted the words of the living God, of the LORD of hosts
our God. {23:37} Thus shalt thou say to the prophet, What
hath the LORD answered thee? and, What hath the LORD
spoken? {23:38} But since ye say, The burden of the
LORD; therefore thus saith the LORD; Because ye say this
word, The burden of the LORD, and I have sent unto you,
saying, Ye shall not say, The burden of the LORD; {23:39}
Therefore, behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you, and I
will forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your
fathers, [and cast you] out of my presence: {23:40} And I
will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual
shame, which shall not be forgotten.
24 {24:1} The LORD shewed me, and, behold, two baskets
of figs [were] set before the temple of the LORD, after that
Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive
Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, and the
princes of Judah, with the carpenters and smiths, from
Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon. {24:2} One
basket [had] very good figs, [even] like the figs [that are]
first ripe: and the other basket [had] very naughty figs,
which could not be eaten, they were so bad. {24:3} Then
said the LORD unto me, What seest thou, Jeremiah? And I
said, Figs; the good figs, very good; and the evil, very evil,
that cannot be eaten, they are so evil.
{24:4} Again the word of the LORD came unto me,
saying, {24:5} Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel;
Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that are
carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this
place into the land of the Chaldeans for [their] good. {24:6}
For I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will
bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not
pull [them] down; and I will plant them, and not pluck
[them] up. {24:7} And I will give them an heart to know
me, that I [am] the LORD: and they shall be my people, and
I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their
whole heart.
{24:8} And as the evil figs, which cannot be eaten, they
are so evil; surely thus saith the LORD, So will I give
Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the residue
of Jerusalem, that remain in this land, and them that dwell
in the land of Egypt: {24:9} And I will deliver them to be
removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for [their] hurt,
[to be] a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all
places whither I shall drive them. {24:10} And I will send
the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, till
they be consumed from off the land that I gave unto them
and to their fathers.
25 {25:1} The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all
the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son
of Josiah king of Judah, that [was] the first year of
Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; {25:2} The which
Jeremiah the prophet spake unto all the people of Judah, and
to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, {25:3} From the
thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah,
even unto this day, that [is] the three and twentieth year, the
word of the LORD hath come unto me, and I have spoken
unto you, rising early and speaking; but ye have not
hearkened. {25:4} And the LORD hath sent unto you all his
servants the prophets, rising early and sending [them;] but
ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear. {25:5}
They said, Turn ye again now every one from his evil way,
and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that
the LORD hath given unto you and to your fathers for ever
and ever: {25:6} And go not after other gods to serve them,
and to worship them, and provoke me not to anger with the
works of your hands; and I will do you no hurt. {25:7} Yet
ye have not hearkened unto me, saith the LORD; that ye
might provoke me to anger with the works of your hands to
your own hurt.
{25:8} Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Because
ye have not heard my words, {25:9} Behold, I will send and
take all the families of the north, saith the LORD, and
Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will
bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants
thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will
utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and
an hissing, and perpetual desolations. {25:10} Moreover I
will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of
gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the
bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the
candle. {25:11} And this whole land shall be a desolation,
[and] an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the
king of Babylon seventy years.
{25:12} And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are
accomplished, [that] I will punish the king of Babylon, and
that nation, saith the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land
of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations.
{25:13} And I will bring upon that land all my words which
I have pronounced against it, [even] all that is written in
this book, which Jeremiah hath prophesied against all the
nations. {25:14} For many nations and great kings shall
serve themselves of them also: and I will recompense them
according to their deeds, and according to the works of their
own hands.
{25:15} For thus saith the LORD God of Israel unto me;
Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the
nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it. {25:16} And they
shall drink, and be moved, and be mad, because of the
sword that I will send among them. {25:17} Then took I the
cup at the LORD’S hand, and made all the nations to drink,
unto whom the LORD had sent me: {25:18} [To wit,]
Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof,
and the princes thereof, to make them a desolation, an
astonishment, an hissing, and a curse; as [it is] this day;
{25:19} Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, and his
princes, and all his people; {25:20} And all the mingled
people, and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings
of the land of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Azzah, and
Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod, {25:21} Edom, and
Moab, and the children of Ammon, {25:22} And all the
kings of Tyrus, and all the kings of Zidon, and the kings of
the isles which are beyond the sea, {25:23} Dedan, and
Tema, and Buz, and all [that are] in the utmost corners,
{25:24} And all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the
mingled people that dwell in the desert, {25:25} And all the
kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings
of the Medes, {25:26} And all the kings of the north, far
and near, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the
world, which [are] upon the face of the earth: and the king
of Sheshach shall drink after them. {25:27} Therefore thou
shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God
of Israel; Drink ye, and be drunken, and spew, and fall, and
rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among
you. {25:28} And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at
thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus
saith the LORD of hosts; Ye shall certainly drink. {25:29}
For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by
my name, and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not
be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the
inhabitants of the earth, saith the LORD of hosts. {25:30}
Therefore prophesy thou against them all these words, and
say unto them, The LORD shall roar from on high, and utter
his voice from his holy habitation; he shall mightily roar
upon his habitation; he shall give a shout, as they that tread
[the grapes,] against all the inhabitants of the earth. {25:31}
A noise shall come [even] to the ends of the earth; for the
LORD hath a controversy with the nations, he will plead
with all flesh; he will give them [that are] wicked to the
sword, saith the LORD. {25:32} Thus saith the LORD of
hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and
a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the
earth. {25:33} And the slain of the LORD shall be at that
day from [one] end of the earth even unto the [other] end of
the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor
buried; they shall be dung upon the ground.
{25:34} Howl, ye shepherds, and cry; and wallow
yourselves [in the ashes,] ye principal of the flock: for the
days of your slaughter and of your dispersions are
accomplished; and ye shall fall like a pleasant vessel.
{25:35} And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor
the principal of the flock to escape. {25:36} A voice of the
cry of the shepherds, and an howling of the principal of the
flock, [shall be heard:] for the LORD hath spoiled their
pasture. {25:37} And the peaceable habitations are cut
down because of the fierce anger of the LORD. {25:38} He
hath forsaken his covert, as the lion: for their land is
desolate because of the fierceness of the oppressor, and
because of his fierce anger.
26 {26:1} In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the
son of Josiah king of Judah came this word from the LORD,
saying, {26:2} Thus saith the LORD; Stand in the court of
the LORD’S house, and speak unto all the cities of Judah,
which come to worship in the LORD’S house, all the words
that I command thee to speak unto them; diminish not a
word: {26:3} If so be they will hearken, and turn every man
from his evil way, that I may repent me of the evil, which I
purpose to do unto them because of the evil of their doings.
{26:4} And thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD;
If ye will not hearken to me, to walk in my law, which I
have set before you, {26:5} To hearken to the words of my
servants the prophets, whom I sent unto you, both rising up
early, and sending [them,] but ye have not hearkened;
{26:6} Then will I make this house like Shiloh, and will
make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth. {26:7}
So the priests and the prophets and all the people heard
Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the LORD.
{26:8} Now it came to pass, when Jeremiah had made an
end of speaking all that the LORD had commanded [him] to
speak unto all the people, that the priests and the prophets
and all the people took him, saying, Thou shalt surely die.
{26:9} Why hast thou prophesied in the name of the LORD,
saying, This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be
desolate without an inhabitant? And all the people were
gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the LORD.
{26:10} When the princes of Judah heard these things,
then they came up from the king’s house unto the house of
the LORD, and sat down in the entry of the new gate of the
LORD’S [house.] {26:11} Then spake the priests and the
prophets unto the princes and to all the people, saying, This
man [is] worthy to die; for he hath prophesied against this
city, as ye have heard with your ears.
{26:12} Then spake Jeremiah unto all the princes and to
all the people, saying, The LORD sent me to prophesy
against this house and against this city all the words that ye
have heard. {26:13} Therefore now amend your ways and
your doings, and obey the voice of the LORD your God;
and the LORD will repent him of the evil that he hath
pronounced against you. {26:14} As for me, behold, I [am]
in your hand: do with me as seemeth good and meet unto
you. {26:15} But know ye for certain, that if ye put me to
death, ye shall surely bring innocent blood upon yourselves,
and upon this city, and upon the inhabitants thereof: for of a
truth the LORD hath sent me unto you to speak all these
words in your ears.
{26:16} Then said the princes and all the people unto the
priests and to the prophets; This man [is] not worthy to die:
for he hath spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God.
{26:17} Then rose up certain of the elders of the land, and
spake to all the assembly of the people, saying, {26:18}
Micah the Morasthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah
king of Judah, and spake to all the people of Judah, saying,
Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Zion shall be plowed [like] a
field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain
of the house as the high places of a forest. {26:19} Did
Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him at all to
death? did he not fear the LORD, and besought the LORD,
and the LORD repented him of the evil which he had
pronounced against them? Thus might we procure great evil
against our souls. {26:20} And there was also a man that
prophesied in the name of the LORD, Urijah the son of
Shemaiah of Kirjath-jearim, who prophesied against this
city and against this land according to all the words of
Jeremiah: {26:21} And when Jehoiakim the king, with all
his mighty men, and all the princes, heard his words, the
king sought to put him to death: but when Urijah heard it,
he was afraid, and fled, and went into Egypt; {26:22} And
Jehoiakim the king sent men into Egypt, [namely,] Elnathan
the son of Achbor, and [certain] men with him into Egypt.
{26:23} And they fetched forth Urijah out of Egypt, and
brought him unto Jehoiakim the king; who slew him with
the sword, and cast his dead body into the graves of the
common people. {26:24} Nevertheless the hand of Ahikam
the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, that they should not
give him into the hand of the people to put him to death.
27 {27:1} In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the
son of Josiah king of Judah came this word unto Jeremiah
from the LORD, saying, {27:2} Thus saith the LORD to me;
Make thee bonds and yokes, and put them upon thy neck,
{27:3} And send them to the king of Edom, and to the king
of Moab, and to the king of the Ammonites, and to the king
of Tyrus, and to the king of Zidon, by the hand of the
messengers which come to Jerusalem unto Zedekiah king
of Judah; {27:4} And command them to say unto their
masters, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel;
Thus shall ye say unto your masters; {27:5} I have made the
earth, the man and the beast that [are] upon the ground, by
my great power and by my outstretched arm, and have
given it unto whom it seemed meet unto me. {27:6} And
now have I given all these lands into the hand of
Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the
beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him.
{27:7} And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his
son’s son, until the very time of his land come: and then
many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of him.
{27:8} And it shall come to pass, [that] the nation and
kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar the
king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the
yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith
the LORD, with the sword, and with the famine, and with
the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand.
{27:9} Therefore hearken not ye to your prophets, nor to
your diviners, nor to your dreamers, nor to your enchanters,
nor to your sorcerers, which speak unto you, saying, Ye
shall not serve the king of Babylon: {27:10} For they
prophesy a lie unto you, to remove you far from your land;
and that I should drive you out, and ye should perish.
{27:11} But the nations that bring their neck under the yoke
of the king of Babylon, and serve him, those will I let
remain still in their own land, saith the LORD; and they
shall till it, and dwell therein.
{27:12} I spake also to Zedekiah king of Judah according
to all these words, saying, Bring your necks under the yoke
of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and
live. {27:13} Why will ye die, thou and thy people, by the
sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as the LORD
hath spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of
Babylon? {27:14} Therefore hearken not unto the words of
the prophets that speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve
the king of Babylon: for they prophesy a lie unto you.
{27:15} For I have not sent them, saith the LORD, yet they
prophesy a lie in my name; that I might drive you out, and
that ye might perish, ye, and the prophets that prophesy unto
you. {27:16} Also I spake to the priests and to all this
people, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Hearken not to the
words of your prophets that prophesy unto you, saying,
Behold, the vessels of the LORD’S house shall now shortly
be brought again from Babylon: for they prophesy a lie unto
you. {27:17} Hearken not unto them; serve the king of
Babylon, and live: wherefore should this city be laid waste?
{27:18} But if they [be] prophets, and if the word of the
LORD be with them, let them now make intercession to the
LORD of hosts, that the vessels which are left in the house
of the LORD, and [in] the house of the king of Judah, and at
Jerusalem, go not to Babylon.
{27:19} For thus saith the LORD of hosts concerning the
pillars, and concerning the sea, and concerning the bases,
and concerning the residue of the vessels that remain in this
city, {27:20} Which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took
not, when he carried away captive Jeconiah the son of
Jehoiakim king of Judah from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all
the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem; {27:21} Yea, thus saith
the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the
vessels that remain [in] the house of the LORD, and [in] the
house of the king of Judah and of Jerusalem; {27:22} They
shall be carried to Babylon, and there shall they be until the
day that I visit them, saith the LORD; then will I bring them
up, and restore them to this place.
28 {28:1} And it came to pass the same year, in the
beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the
fourth year, [and] in the fifth month, [that] Hananiah the son
of Azur the prophet, which [was] of Gibeon, spake unto me
in the house of the LORD, in the presence of the priests and
of all the people, saying, {28:2} Thus speaketh the LORD
of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, I have broken the yoke
of the king of Babylon. {28:3} Within two full years will I
bring again into this place all the vessels of the LORD’S
house, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away
from this place, and carried them to Babylon: {28:4} And I
will bring again to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim
king of Judah, with all the captives of Judah, that went into
Babylon, saith the LORD: for I will break the yoke of the
king of Babylon.
{28:5} Then the prophet Jeremiah said unto the prophet
Hananiah in the presence of the priests, and in the presence
of all the people that stood in the house of the LORD,
{28:6} Even the prophet Jeremiah said, Amen: the LORD
do so: the LORD perform thy words which thou hast
prophesied, to bring again the vessels of the LORD’S
house, and all that is carried away captive, from Babylon
into this place. {28:7} Nevertheless hear thou now this
word that I speak in thine ears, and in the ears of all the
people; {28:8} The prophets that have been before me and
before thee of old prophesied both against many countries,
and against great kingdoms, of war, and of evil, and of
pestilence. {28:9} The prophet which prophesieth of peace,
when the word of the prophet shall come to pass, [then]
shall the prophet be known, that the LORD hath truly sent
him.
{28:10} Then Hananiah the prophet took the yoke from
off the prophet Jeremiah’s neck, and brake it. {28:11} And
Hananiah spake in the presence of all the people, saying,
Thus saith the LORD; Even so will I break the yoke of
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all
nations within the space of two full years. And the prophet
Jeremiah went his way.
{28:12} Then the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah
[the prophet,] after that Hananiah the prophet had broken
the yoke from off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, saying,
{28:13} Go and tell Hananiah, saying, Thus saith the
LORD; Thou hast broken the yokes of wood; but thou shalt
make for them yokes of iron. {28:14} For thus saith the
LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; I have put a yoke of iron
upon the neck of all these nations, that they may serve
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they shall serve him:
and I have given him the beasts of the field also.
{28:15} Then said the prophet Jeremiah unto Hananiah
the prophet, Hear now, Hananiah; The LORD hath not sent
thee; but thou makest this people to trust in a lie. {28:16}
Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will cast thee
from off the face of the earth: this year thou shalt die,
because thou hast taught rebellion against the LORD.
{28:17} So Hananiah the prophet died the same year in the
seventh month.
29 {29:1} Now these [are] the words of the letter that
Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem unto the residue
of the elders which were carried away captives, and to the
priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people whom
Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem
to Babylon; {29:2} (After that Jeconiah the king, and the
queen, and the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem,
and the carpenters, and the smiths, were departed from
Jerusalem;) {29:3} By the hand of Elasah the son of
Shaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, (whom
Zedekiah king of Judah sent unto Babylon to
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon) saying, {29:4} Thus
saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that are
carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried
away from Jerusalem unto Babylon; {29:5} Build ye
houses, and dwell [in them;] and plant gardens, and eat the
fruit of them; {29:6} Take ye wives, and beget sons and
daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your
daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and
daughters; that ye may be increased there, and not
diminished. {29:7} And seek the peace of the city whither I
have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto
the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.
{29:8} For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of
Israel; Let not your prophets and your diviners, that [be] in
the midst of you, deceive you, neither hearken to your
dreams which ye cause to be dreamed. {29:9} For they
prophesy falsely unto you in my name: I have not sent them,
saith the LORD.
{29:10} For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years
be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform
my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this
place. {29:11} For I know the thoughts that I think toward
you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to
give you an expected end. {29:12} Then shall ye call upon
me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken
unto you. {29:13} And ye shall seek me, and find [me,]
when ye shall search for me with all your heart. {29:14}
And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn
away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the
nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you,
saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place
whence I caused you to be carried away captive.
{29:15} Because ye have said, The LORD hath raised us
up prophets in Babylon; {29:16} [Know] that thus saith the
LORD of the king that sitteth upon the throne of David, and
of all the people that dwelleth in this city, [and] of your
brethren that are not gone forth with you into captivity;
{29:17} Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will send
upon them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and
will make them like vile figs, that cannot be eaten, they are
so evil. {29:18} And I will persecute them with the sword,
with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will deliver
them to be removed to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a
curse, and an astonishment, and an hissing, and a reproach,
among all the nations whither I have driven them: {29:19}
Because they have not hearkened to my words, saith the
LORD, which I sent unto them by my servants the prophets,
rising up early and sending [them;] but ye would not hear,
saith the LORD.
{29:20} Hear ye therefore the word of the LORD, all ye
of the captivity, whom I have sent from Jerusalem to
Babylon: {29:21} Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of
Israel, of Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and of Zedekiah the son
of Maaseiah, which prophesy a lie unto you in my name;
Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar
king of Babylon; and he shall slay them before your eyes;
{29:22} And of them shall be taken up a curse by all the
captivity of Judah which [are] in Babylon, saying, The
LORD make thee like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the
king of Babylon roasted in the fire; {29:23} Because they
have committed villany in Israel, and have committed
adultery with their neighbours’ wives, and have spoken
lying words in my name, which I have not commanded
them; even I know, and [am] a witness, saith the LORD.
{29:24} [Thus] shalt thou also speak to Shemaiah the
Nehelamite, saying, {29:25} Thus speaketh the LORD of
hosts, the God of Israel, saying, Because thou hast sent
letters in thy name unto all the people that [are] at
Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest,
and to all the priests, saying, {29:26} The LORD hath made
thee priest in the stead of Jehoiada the priest, that ye should
be officers in the house of the LORD, for every man [that
is] mad, and maketh himself a prophet, that thou shouldest
put him in prison, and in the stocks. {29:27} Now therefore
why hast thou not reproved Jeremiah of Anathoth, which
maketh himself a prophet to you? {29:28} For therefore he
sent unto us [in] Babylon, saying, This [captivity is] long:
build ye houses, and dwell [in them;] and plant gardens, and
eat the fruit of them. {29:29} And Zephaniah the priest read
this letter in the ears of Jeremiah the prophet.
{29:30} Then came the word of the LORD unto Jeremiah,
saying, {29:31} Send to all them of the captivity, saying,
Thus saith the LORD concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite;
Because that Shemaiah hath prophesied unto you, and I sent
him not, and he caused you to trust in a lie: {29:32}
Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will punish
Shemaiah the Nehelamite, and his seed: he shall not have a
man to dwell among this people; neither shall he behold the
good that I will do for my people, saith the LORD; because
he hath taught rebellion against the LORD.
30 {30:1} The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD,
saying, {30:2} Thus speaketh the LORD God of Israel,
saying, Write thee all the words that I have spoken unto thee
in a book. {30:3} For, lo, the days come, saith the LORD,
that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and
Judah, saith the LORD: and I will cause them to return to
the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.
{30:4} And these [are] the words that the LORD spake
concerning Israel and concerning Judah. {30:5} For thus
saith the LORD; We have heard a voice of trembling, of
fear, and not of peace. {30:6} Ask ye now, and see whether
a man doth travail with child? wherefore do I see every man
with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all
faces are turned into paleness? {30:7} Alas! for that day [is]
great, so that none [is] like it: it [is] even the time of Jacob’s
trouble; but he shall be saved out of it. {30:8} For it shall
come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, [that] I
will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy
bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him:
{30:9} But they shall serve the LORD their God, and David
their king, whom I will raise up unto them.
{30:10} Therefore fear thou not, O my servant Jacob,
saith the LORD; neither be dismayed, O Israel: for, lo, I will
save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their
captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest, and be
quiet, and none shall make [him] afraid. {30:11} For I [am]
with thee, saith the LORD, to save thee: though I make a
full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will
I not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in
measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.
{30:12} For thus saith the LORD, Thy bruise [is] incurable,
[and] thy wound [is] grievous. {30:13} [There is] none to
plead thy cause, that thou mayest be bound up: thou hast no
healing medicines. {30:14} All thy lovers have forgotten
thee; they seek thee not; for I have wounded thee with the
wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one,
for the multitude of thine iniquity; [because] thy sins were
increased. {30:15} Why criest thou for thine affliction? thy
sorrow [is] incurable for the multitude of thine iniquity:
[because] thy sins were increased, I have done these things
unto thee. {30:16} Therefore all they that devour thee shall
be devoured; and all thine adversaries, every one of them,
shall go into captivity; and they that spoil thee shall be a
spoil, and all that prey upon thee will I give for a prey.
{30:17} For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal
thee of thy wounds, saith the LORD; because they called
thee an Outcast, [saying,] This [is] Zion, whom no man
seeketh after.
{30:18} Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will bring again
the captivity of Jacob’s tents, and have mercy on his
dwellingplaces; and the city shall be builded upon her own
heap, and the palace shall remain after the manner thereof.
{30:19} And out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the
voice of them that make merry: and I will multiply them,
and they shall not be few; I will also glorify them, and they
shall not be small. {30:20} Their children also shall be as
aforetime, and their congregation shall be established before
me, and I will punish all that oppress them. {30:21} And
their nobles shall be of themselves, and their governor shall
proceed from the midst of them; and I will cause him to
draw near, and he shall approach unto me: for who [is] this
that engaged his heart to approach unto me? saith the
LORD. {30:22} And ye shall be my people, and I will be
your God. {30:23} Behold, the whirlwind of the LORD
goeth forth with fury, a continuing whirlwind: it shall fall
with pain upon the head of the wicked. {30:24} The fierce
anger of the LORD shall not return, until he have done [it,]
and until he have performed the intents of his heart: in the
latter days ye shall consider it.
31 {31:1} At the same time, saith the LORD, will I be
the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my
people. {31:2} Thus saith the LORD, The people [which
were] left of the sword found grace in the wilderness; [even]
Israel, when I went to cause him to rest. {31:3} The LORD
hath appeared of old unto me, [saying,] Yea, I have loved
thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness
have I drawn thee. {31:4} Again I will build thee, and thou
shalt be built, O virgin of Israel: thou shalt again be adorned
with thy tabrets, and shalt go forth in the dances of them
that make merry. {31:5} Thou shalt yet plant vines upon the
mountains of Samaria: the planters shall plant, and shall eat
[them] as common things. {31:6} For there shall be a day,
[that] the watchmen upon the mount Ephraim shall cry,
Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion unto the LORD our God.
{31:7} For thus saith the LORD; Sing with gladness for
Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations: publish ye,
praise ye, and say, O LORD, save thy people, the remnant
of Israel. {31:8} Behold, I will bring them from the north
country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth, [and]
with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and
her that travaileth with child together: a great company shall
return thither. {31:9} They shall come with weeping, and
with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to
walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they
shall not stumble: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim
[is] my firstborn.
{31:10} Hear the word of the LORD, O ye nations, and
declare [it] in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered
Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd [doth]
his flock. {31:11} For the LORD hath redeemed Jacob, and
ransomed him from the hand of [him that was] stronger than
he. {31:12} Therefore they shall come and sing in the
height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of
the LORD, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the
young of the flock and of the herd: and their soul shall be as
a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all.
{31:13} Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both
young men and old together: for I will turn their mourning
into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice
from their sorrow. {31:14} And I will satiate the soul of the
priests with fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with
my goodness, saith the LORD.
{31:15} Thus saith the LORD; A voice was heard in
Ramah, lamentation, [and] bitter weeping; Rahel weeping
for her children refused to be comforted for her children,
because they [were] not. {31:16} Thus saith the LORD;
Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears:
for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the LORD; and they
shall come again from the land of the enemy. {31:17} And
there is hope in thine end, saith the LORD, that thy children
shall come again to their own border.
{31:18} I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself
[thus;] Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a
bullock unaccustomed [to the yoke:] turn thou me, and I
shall be turned; for thou [art] the LORD my God. {31:19}
Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I
was instructed, I smote upon [my] thigh: I was ashamed,
yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of
my youth. {31:20} [Is] Ephraim my dear son? [is he] a
pleasant child? for since I spake against him, I do earnestly
remember him still: therefore my bowels are troubled for
him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the LORD.
{31:21} Set thee up waymarks, make thee high heaps: set
thine heart toward the highway, [even] the way [which]
thou wentest: turn again, O virgin of Israel, turn again to
these thy cities.
{31:22} How long wilt thou go about, O thou backsliding
daughter? for the LORD hath created a new thing in the
earth, A woman shall compass a man. {31:23} Thus saith
the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; As yet they shall use
this speech in the land of Judah and in the cities thereof,
when I shall bring again their captivity; The LORD bless
thee, O habitation of justice, [and] mountain of holiness.
{31:24} And there shall dwell in Judah itself, and in all the
cities thereof together, husbandmen, and they [that] go forth
with flocks. {31:25} For I have satiated the weary soul, and
I have replenished every sorrowful soul. {31:26} Upon this
I awaked, and beheld; and my sleep was sweet unto me.
{31:27} Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I
will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the
seed of man, and with the seed of beast. {31:28} And it
shall come to pass, [that] like as I have watched over them,
to pluck up, and to break down, and to throw down, and to
destroy, and to afflict; so will I watch over them, to build,
and to plant, saith the LORD. {31:29} In those days they
shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and
the children’s teeth are set on edge. {31:30} But every one
shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour
grape, his teeth shall be set on edge.
{31:31} Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I
will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with
the house of Judah: {31:32} Not according to the covenant
that I made with their fathers in the day [that] I took them
by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which
my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto
them, saith the LORD: {31:33} But this [shall be] the
covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After
those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their
inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their
God, and they shall be my people. {31:34} And they shall
teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his
brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know
me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith
the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will
remember their sin no more.
{31:35} Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a
light by day, [and] the ordinances of the moon and of the
stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the
waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts [is] his name:
{31:36} If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the
LORD, [then] the seed of Israel also shall cease from being
a nation before me for ever. {31:37} Thus saith the LORD;
If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of
the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the
seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the LORD.
{31:38} Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that the
city shall be built to the LORD from the tower of Hananeel
unto the gate of the corner. {31:39} And the measuring line
shall yet go forth over against it upon the hill Gareb, and
shall compass about to Goath. {31:40} And the whole
valley of the dead bodies, and of the ashes, and all the fields
unto the brook of Kidron, unto the corner of the horse gate
toward the east, [shall be] holy unto the LORD; it shall not
be plucked up, nor thrown down any more for ever.
32 {32:1} The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD
in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which [was] the
eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar. {32:2} For then the
king of Babylon’s army besieged Jerusalem: and Jeremiah
the prophet was shut up in the court of the prison, which
[was] in the king of Judah’s house. {32:3} For Zedekiah
king of Judah had shut him up, saying, Wherefore dost thou
prophesy, and say, Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will
give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he
shall take it; {32:4} And Zedekiah king of Judah shall not
escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans, but shall surely be
delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall
speak with him mouth to mouth, and his eyes shall behold
his eyes; {32:5} And he shall lead Zedekiah to Babylon,
and there shall he be until I visit him, saith the LORD:
though ye fight with the Chaldeans, ye shall not prosper?
{32:6} And Jeremiah said, The word of the LORD came
unto me, saying, {32:7} Behold, Hanameel the son of
Shallum thine uncle shall come unto thee, saying, Buy thee
my field that [is] in Anathoth: for the right of redemption
[is] thine to buy [it.] {32:8} So Hanameel mine uncle’s son
came to me in the court of the prison according to the word
of the LORD, and said unto me, Buy my field, I pray thee,
that [is] in Anathoth, which [is] in the country of Benjamin:
for the right of inheritance [is] thine, and the redemption [is]
thine; buy [it] for thyself. Then I knew that this [was] the
word of the LORD. {32:9} And I bought the field of
Hanameel my uncle’s son, that [was] in Anathoth, and
weighed him the money, [even] seventeen shekels of silver.
{32:10} And I subscribed the evidence, and sealed [it,] and
took witnesses, and weighed [him] the money in the
balances. {32:11} So I took the evidence of the purchase,
[both] that which was sealed [according] to the law and
custom, and that which was open: {32:12} And I gave the
evidence of the purchase unto Baruch the son of Neriah, the
son of Maaseiah, in the sight of Hanameel mine uncle’s
[son,] and in the presence of the witnesses that subscribed
the book of the purchase, before all the Jews that sat in the
court of the prison.
{32:13} And I charged Baruch before them, saying,
{32:14} Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel;
Take these evidences, this evidence of the purchase, both
which is sealed, and this evidence which is open; and put
them in an earthen vessel, that they may continue many
days. {32:15} For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of
Israel; Houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed
again in this land.
{32:16} Now when I had delivered the evidence of the
purchase unto Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed unto the
LORD, saying, {32:17} Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast
made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and
stretched out arm, [and] there is nothing too hard for thee:
{32:18} Thou shewest lovingkindness unto thousands, and
recompensest the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of
their children after them: the Great, the Mighty God, the
LORD of hosts, [is] his name, {32:19} Great in counsel,
and mighty in work: for thine eyes [are] open upon all the
ways of the sons of men: to give every one according to his
ways, and according to the fruit of his doings: {32:20}
Which hast set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt,
[even] unto this day, and in Israel, and among [other] men;
and hast made thee a name, as at this day; {32:21} And hast
brought forth thy people Israel out of the land of Egypt with
signs, and with wonders, and with a strong hand, and with a
stretched out arm, and with great terror; {32:22} And hast
given them this land, which thou didst swear to their fathers
to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey; {32:23}
And they came in, and possessed it; but they obeyed not thy
voice, neither walked in thy law; they have done nothing of
all that thou commandedst them to do: therefore thou hast
caused all this evil to come upon them: {32:24} Behold the
mounts, they are come unto the city to take it; and the city is
given into the hand of the Chaldeans, that fight against it,
because of the sword, and of the famine, and of the
pestilence: and what thou hast spoken is come to pass; and,
behold, thou seest [it. ]{32:25} And thou hast said unto me,
O Lord GOD, Buy thee the field for money, and take
witnesses; for the city is given into the hand of the
Chaldeans.
{32:26} Then came the word of the LORD unto Jeremiah,
saying, {32:27} Behold, I [am] the LORD, the God of all
flesh: is there any thing too hard for me? {32:28} Therefore
thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will give this city into the
hand of the Chaldeans, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar
king of Babylon, and he shall take it: {32:29} And the
Chaldeans, that fight against this city, shall come and set
fire on this city, and burn it with the houses, upon whose
roofs they have offered incense unto Baal, and poured out
drink offerings unto other gods, to provoke me to anger.
{32:30} For the children of Israel and the children of Judah
have only done evil before me from their youth: for the
children of Israel have only provoked me to anger with the
work of their hands, saith the LORD. {32:31} For this city
hath been to me [as] a provocation of mine anger and of my
fury from the day that they built it even unto this day; that I
should remove it from before my face, {32:32} Because of
all the evil of the children of Israel and of the children of
Judah, which they have done to provoke me to anger, they,
their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets,
and the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
{32:33} And they have turned unto me the back, and not the
face: though I taught them, rising up early and teaching
[them,] yet they have not hearkened to receive instruction.
{32:34} But they set their abominations in the house, which
is called by my name, to defile it. {32:35} And they built
the high places of Baal, which [are] in the valley of the son
of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass
through [the fire] unto Molech; which I commanded them
not, neither came it into my mind, that they should do this
abomination, to cause Judah to sin.
{32:36} And now therefore thus saith the LORD, the God
of Israel, concerning this city, whereof ye say, It shall be
delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword,
and by the famine, and by the pestilence; {32:37} Behold, I
will gather them out of all countries, whither I have driven
them in mine anger, and in my fury, and in great wrath; and
I will bring them again unto this place, and I will cause
them to dwell safely: {32:38} And they shall be my people,
and I will be their God: {32:39} And I will give them one
heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the
good of them, and of their children after them: {32:40} And
I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will
not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my
fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me.
{32:41} Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and
I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart
and with my whole soul. {32:42} For thus saith the LORD;
Like as I have brought all this great evil upon this people, so
will I bring upon them all the good that I have promised
them. {32:43} And fields shall be bought in this land,
whereof ye say, [It is] desolate without man or beast; it is
given into the hand of the Chaldeans. {32:44} Men shall
buy fields for money, and subscribe evidences, and seal
[them,] and take witnesses in the land of Benjamin, and in
the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, and in
the cities of the mountains, and in the cities of the valley,
and in the cities of the south: for I will cause their captivity
to return, saith the LORD.
33 {33:1} Moreover the word of the LORD came unto
Jeremiah the second time, while he was yet shut up in the
court of the prison, saying, {33:2} Thus saith the LORD the
maker thereof, the LORD that formed it, to establish it; the
LORD [is] his name; {33:3} Call unto me, and I will
answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which
thou knowest not. {33:4} For thus saith the LORD, the God
of Israel, concerning the houses of this city, and concerning
the houses of the kings of Judah, which are thrown down by
the mounts, and by the sword; {33:5} They come to fight
with the Chaldeans, but [it is] fill them with the dead bodies
of men, whom I have slain in mine anger and in my fury,
and for all whose wickedness I have hid my face from this
city. {33:6} Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I
will cure them, and will reveal unto them the abundance of
peace and truth. {33:7} And I will cause the captivity of
Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build
them, as at the first. {33:8} And I will cleanse them from all
their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me; and I
will pardon all their iniquities, whereby they have sinned,
and whereby they have transgressed against me.
{33:9} And it shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and
an honour before all the nations of the earth, which shall
hear all the good that I do unto them: and they shall fear and
tremble for all the goodness and for all the prosperity that I
procure unto it. {33:10} Thus saith the LORD; Again there
shall be heard in this place, which ye say [shall be] desolate
without man and without beast, [even] in the cities of Judah,
and in the streets of Jerusalem, that are desolate, without
man, and without inhabitant, and without beast, {33:11}
The voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the
bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of them
that shall say, Praise the LORD of hosts: for the LORD [is]
good; for his mercy [endureth] for ever: [and] of them that
shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the
LORD. For I will cause to return the captivity of the land, as
at the first, saith the LORD. {33:12} Thus saith the LORD
of hosts; Again in this place, which is desolate without man
and without beast, and in all the cities thereof, shall be an
habitation of shepherds causing [their] flocks to lie down.
{33:13} In the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the
vale, and in the cities of the south, and in the land of
Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the
cities of Judah, shall the flocks pass again under the hands
of him that telleth [them,] saith the LORD. {33:14} Behold,
the days come, saith the LORD, that I will perform that
good thing which I have promised unto the house of Israel
and to the house of Judah.
{33:15} In those days, and at that time, will I cause the
Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and he
shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land.
{33:16} In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem
shall dwell safely: and this [is the name] wherewith she
shall be called, The LORD our righteousness.
{33:17} For thus saith the LORD; David shall never want
a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel; {33:18}
Neither shall the priests the Levites want a man before me
to offer burnt offerings, and to kindle meat offerings, and to
do sacrifice continually.
{33:19} And the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah,
saying, {33:20} Thus saith the LORD; If ye can break my
covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that
there should not be day and night in their season; {33:21}
[Then] may also my covenant be broken with David my
servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his
throne; and with the Levites the priests, my ministers.
{33:22} As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither
the sand of the sea measured: so will I multiply the seed of
David my servant, and the Levites that minister unto me.
{33:23} Moreover the word of the LORD came to
Jeremiah, saying, {33:24} Considerest thou not what this
people have spoken, saying, The two families which the
LORD hath chosen, he hath even cast them off? thus they
have despised my people, that they should be no more a
nation before them. {33:25} Thus saith the LORD; If my
covenant be not with day and night, [and if] I have not
appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth; {33:26} Then
will I cast away the seed of Jacob, and David my servant, so
that I will not take [any] of his seed [to be] rulers over the
seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their
captivity to return, and have mercy on them.
34 {34:1} The word which came unto Jeremiah from the
LORD, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and all his
army, and all the kingdoms of the earth of his dominion,
and all the people, fought against Jerusalem, and against all
the cities thereof, saying, {34:2} Thus saith the LORD, the
God of Israel; Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah, and
tell him, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will give this city
into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it
with fire: {34:3} And thou shalt not escape out of his hand,
but shalt surely be taken, and delivered into his hand; and
thine eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and
he shall speak with thee mouth to mouth, and thou shalt go
to Babylon. {34:4} Yet hear the word of the LORD, O
Zedekiah king of Judah; Thus saith the LORD of thee, Thou
shalt not die by the sword: {34:5} [But] thou shalt die in
peace: and with the burnings of thy fathers, the former kings
which were before thee, so shall they burn [odours] for thee;
and they will lament thee, [saying,] Ah lord! for I have
pronounced the word, saith the LORD. {34:6} Then
Jeremiah the prophet spake all these words unto Zedekiah
king of Judah in Jerusalem, {34:7} When the king of
Babylon’s army fought against Jerusalem, and against all
the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish, and
against Azekah: for these defenced cities remained of the
cities of Judah.
{34:8} [This is] the word that came unto Jeremiah from
the LORD, after that the king Zedekiah had made a
covenant with all the people which [were] at Jerusalem, to
proclaim liberty unto them; {34:9} That every man should
let his manservant, and every man his maidservant, [being]
an Hebrew or an Hebrewess, go free; that none should serve
himself of them, [to wit,] of a Jew his brother. {34:10} Now
when all the princes, and all the people, which had entered
into the covenant, heard that every one should let his
manservant, and every one his maidservant, go free, that
none should serve themselves of them any more, then they
obeyed, and let [them] go. {34:11} But afterward they
turned, and caused the servants and the handmaids, whom
they had let go free, to return, and brought them into
subjection for servants and for handmaids.
{34:12} Therefore the word of the LORD came to
Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, {34:13} Thus saith the
LORD, the God of Israel; I made a covenant with your
fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of
Egypt, out of the house of bondmen, saying, {34:14} At the
end of seven years let ye go every man his brother an
Hebrew, which hath been sold unto thee; and when he hath
served thee six years, thou shalt let him go free from thee:
but your fathers hearkened not unto me, neither inclined
their ear. {34:15} And ye were now turned, and had done
right in my sight, in proclaiming liberty every man to his
neighbour; and ye had made a covenant before me in the
Page 467 Jeremiah
house which is called by my name: {34:16} But ye turned
and polluted my name, and caused every man his servant,
and every man his handmaid, whom ye had set at liberty at
their pleasure, to return, and brought them into subjection,
to be unto you for servants and for handmaids. {34:17}
Therefore thus saith the LORD; Ye have not hearkened unto
me, in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother, and
every man to his neighbour: behold, I proclaim a liberty for
you, saith the LORD, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to
the famine; and I will make you to be removed into all the
kingdoms of the earth. {34:18} And I will give the men that
have transgressed my covenant, which have not performed
the words of the covenant which they had made before me,
when they cut the calf in twain, and passed between the
parts thereof, {34:19} The princes of Judah, and the princes
of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, and the priests, and all the people
of the land, which passed between the parts of the calf;
{34:20} I will even give them into the hand of their
enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life: and
their dead bodies shall be for meat unto the fowls of the
heaven, and to the beasts of the earth. {34:21} And
Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes will I give into the
hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek
their life, and into the hand of the king of Babylon’s army,
which are gone up from you. {34:22} Behold, I will
command, saith the LORD, and cause them to return to this
city; and they shall fight against it, and take it, and burn it
with fire: and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation
without an inhabitant.
35 {35:1} The word which came unto Jeremiah from the
LORD in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of
Judah, saying, {35:2} Go unto the house of the Rechabites,
and speak unto them, and bring them into the house of the
LORD, into one of the chambers, and give them wine to
drink. {35:3} Then I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, the
son of Habaziniah, and his brethren, and all his sons, and
the whole house of the Rechabites; {35:4} And I brought
them into the house of the LORD, into the chamber of the
sons of Hanan, the son of Igdaliah, a man of God, which
[was] by the chamber of the princes, which [was] above the
chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the keeper of the
door: {35:5} And I set before the sons of the house of the
Rechabites pots full of wine, and cups, and I said unto them,
Drink ye wine. {35:6} But they said, We will drink no
wine: for Jonadab the son of Rechab our father commanded
us, saying, Ye shall drink no wine, [neither] ye, nor your
sons for ever: {35:7} Neither shall ye build house, nor sow
seed, nor plant vineyard, nor have [any:] but all your days
ye shall dwell in tents; that ye may live many days in the
land where ye [be] strangers. {35:8} Thus have we obeyed
the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab our father in all that
he hath charged us, to drink no wine all our days, we, our
wives, our sons, nor our daughters; {35:9} Nor to build
houses for us to dwell in: neither have we vineyard, nor
field, nor seed: {35:10} But we have dwelt in tents, and
have obeyed, and done according to all that Jonadab our
father commanded us. {35:11} But it came to pass, when
Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came up into the land, that
we said, Come, and let us go to Jerusalem for fear of the
army of the Chaldeans, and for fear of the army of the
Syrians: so we dwell at Jerusalem.
{35:12} Then came the word of the LORD unto Jeremiah,
saying, {35:13} Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of
Israel; Go and tell the men of Judah and the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, Will ye not receive instruction to hearken to my
words? saith the LORD. {35:14} The words of Jonadab the
son of Rechab, that he commanded his sons not to drink
wine, are performed; for unto this day they drink none, but
obey their father’s commandment: notwithstanding I have
spoken unto you, rising early and speaking; but ye
hearkened not unto me. {35:15} I have sent also unto you
all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending
[them,] saying, Return ye now every man from his evil way,
and amend your doings, and go not after other gods to serve
them, and ye shall dwell in the land which I have given to
you and to your fathers: but ye have not inclined your ear,
nor hearkened unto me. {35:16} Because the sons of
Jonadab the son of Rechab have performed the
commandment of their father, which he commanded them;
but this people hath not hearkened unto me: {35:17}
Therefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, the God of
Israel; Behold, I will bring upon Judah and upon all the
inhabitants of Jerusalem all the evil that I have pronounced
against them: because I have spoken unto them, but they
have not heard; and I have called unto them, but they have
not answered.
{35:18} And Jeremiah said unto the house of the
Rechabites, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of
Israel; Because ye have obeyed the commandment of
Jonadab your father, and kept all his precepts, and done
according unto all that he hath commanded you: {35:19}
Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel;
Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand
before me for ever.
36 {36:1} And it came to pass in the fourth year of
Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, [that] this word
came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, {36:2} Take
thee a roll of a book, and write therein all the words that I
have spoken unto thee against Israel, and against Judah, and
against all the nations, from the day I spake unto thee, from
the days of Josiah, even into this day. {36:3} It may be that
the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to
do unto them; that they may return every man from his evil
way; that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin. {36:4}
Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah: and Baruch
wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the
LORD, which he had spoken unto him, upon a roll of a
book. {36:5} And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, I
[am] shut up; I cannot go into the house of the LORD:
{36:6} Therefore go thou, and read in the roll, which thou
hast written from my mouth, the words of the LORD in the
ears of the people in the LORD’S house upon the fasting
day: and also thou shalt read them in the ears of all Judah
that come out of their cities. {36:7} It may be they will
present their supplication before the LORD, and will return
every one from his evil way: for great [is] the anger and the
fury that the LORD hath pronounced against this people.
{36:8} And Baruch the son of Neriah did according to all
that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading in the
book the words of the LORD in the LORD’S house. {36:9}
And it came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of
Josiah king of Judah, in the ninth month, [that] they
proclaimed a fast before the LORD to all the people in
Jerusalem, and to all the people that came from the cities of
Judah unto Jerusalem. {36:10} Then read Baruch in the
book the words of Jeremiah in the house of the LORD, in
the chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the scribe, in
the higher court, at the entry of the new gate of the LORD’S
house, in the ears of all the people.
{36:11} When Michaiah the son of Gemariah, the son of
Shaphan, had heard out of the book all the words of the
LORD, {36:12} Then he went down into the king’s house,
into the scribe’s chamber: and, lo, all the princes sat there,
[even] Elishama the scribe, and Delaiah the son of
Shemaiah, and Elnathan the son of Achbor, and Gemariah
the son of Shaphan, and Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and
all the princes. {36:13} Then Michaiah declared unto them
all the words that he had heard, when Baruch read the book
in the ears of the people. {36:14} Therefore all the princes
sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the
son of Cushi, unto Baruch, saying, Take in thine hand the
roll wherein thou hast read in the ears of the people, and
come. So Baruch the son of Neriah took the roll in his hand,
and came unto them. {36:15} And they said unto him, Sit
down now, and read it in our ears. So Baruch read [it] in
their ears. {36:16} Now it came to pass, when they had
heard all the words, they were afraid both one and other,
and said unto Baruch, We will surely tell the king of all
these words. {36:17} And they asked Baruch, saying, Tell
us now, How didst thou write all these words at his mouth?
{36:18} Then Baruch answered them, He pronounced all
these words unto me with his mouth, and I wrote [them]
with ink in the book. {36:19} Then said the princes unto
Baruch, Go, hide thee, thou and Jeremiah; and let no man
know where ye be.
{36:20} And they went in to the king into the court, but
they laid up the roll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe,
and told all the words in the ears of the king. {36:21} So the
king sent Jehudi to fetch the roll: and he took it out of
Elishama the scribe’s chamber. And Jehudi read it in the
ears of the king, and in the ears of all the princes which
stood beside the king. {36:22} Now the king sat in the
winterhouse in the ninth month: and [there was a fire] on
the hearth burning before him. {36:23} And it came to pass,
[that] when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, he cut it
with the penknife, and cast [it] into the fire that [was] on the
hearth, until all the roll was consumed in the fire that [was]
on the hearth. {36:24} Yet they were not afraid, nor rent
their garments, [neither] the king, nor any of his servants
that heard all these words. {36:25} Nevertheless Elnathan
and Delaiah and Gemariah had made intercession to the
king that he would not burn the roll: but he would not hear
them. {36:26} But the king commanded Jerahmeel the son
of Hammelech, and Seraiah the son of Azriel, and
Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to take Baruch the scribe
and Jeremiah the prophet: but the LORD hid them.
{36:27} Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah,
after that the king had burned the roll, and the words which
Baruch wrote at the mouth of Jeremiah, saying, {36:28}
Take thee again another roll, and write in it all the former
words that were in the first roll, which Jehoiakim the king
of Judah hath burned. {36:29} And thou shalt say to
Jehoiakim the king of Judah, Thus saith the LORD; Thou
hast burned this roll, saying, Why hast thou written therein,
saying, The king of Babylon shall certainly come and
destroy this land, and shall cause to cease from thence man
and beast? {36:30} Therefore thus saith the LORD of
Jehoiakim king of Judah; He shall have none to sit upon the
throne of David: and his dead body shall be cast out in the
day to the heat, and in the night to the frost. {36:31} And I
will punish him and his seed and his servants for their
iniquity; and I will bring upon them, and upon the inhab-
itants of Jerusalem, and upon the men of Judah, all the
evil that I have pronounced against them; but they
hearkened not.
{36:32} Then took Jeremiah another roll, and gave it to
Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah; who wrote therein
from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book which
Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire: and there
were added besides unto them many like words.
37 {37:1} And king Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned
instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom
Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of
Judah. {37:2} But neither he, nor his servants, nor the
people of the land, did hearken unto the words of the
LORD, which he spake by the prophet Jeremiah. {37:3}
And Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah
and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest to the prophet
Jeremiah, saying, Pray now unto the LORD our God for us.
{37:4} Now Jeremiah came in and went out among the
people: for they had not put him into prison. {37:5} Then
Pharaoh’s army was come forth out of Egypt: and when the
Chaldeans that besieged Jerusalem heard tidings of them,
they departed from Jerusalem.
{37:6} Then came the word of the LORD unto the
prophet Jeremiah, saying, {37:7} Thus saith the LORD, the
God of Israel; Thus shall ye say to the king of Judah, that
sent you unto me to enquire of me; Behold, Pharaoh’s army,
which is come forth to help you, shall return to Egypt into
their own land. {37:8} And the Chaldeans shall come again,
and fight against this city, and take it, and burn it with fire.
{37:9} Thus saith the LORD; Deceive not yourselves,
saying, The Chaldeans shall surely depart from us: for they
shall not depart. {37:10} For though ye had smitten the
whole army of the Chaldeans that fight against you, and
there remained [but] wounded men among them, [yet]
should they rise up every man in his tent, and burn this city
with fire.
{37:11} And it came to pass, that when the army of the
Chaldeans was broken up from Jerusalem for fear of
Pharaoh’s army, {37:12} Then Jeremiah went forth out of
Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin, to separate
himself thence in the midst of the people. {37:13} And
when he was in the gate of Benjamin, a captain of the ward
[was] there, whose name [was] Irijah, the son of Shelemiah,
the son of Hananiah; and he took Jeremiah the prophet,
saying, Thou fallest away to the Chaldeans. {37:14} Then
said Jeremiah, [It is] false; I fall not away to the Chaldeans.
But he hearkened not to him: so Irijah took Jeremiah, and
brought him to the princes. {37:15} Wherefore the princes
were wroth with Jeremiah, and smote him, and put him in
prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe: for they had
made that the prison.
{37:16} When Jeremiah was entered into the dungeon,
and into the cabins, and Jeremiah had remained there many
days; {37:17} Then Zedekiah the king sent, and took him
out: and the king asked him secretly in his house, and said,
Is there [any] word from the LORD? And Jeremiah said,
There is: for, said he, thou shalt be delivered into the hand
of the king of Babylon. {37:18} Moreover Jeremiah said
unto king Zedekiah, What have I offended against thee, or
against thy servants, or against this people, that ye have put
me in prison? {37:19} Where [are] now your prophets
which prophesied unto you, saying, The king of Babylon
shall not come against you, nor against this land? {37:20}
Therefore hear now, I pray thee, O my lord the king: let my
supplication, I pray thee, be accepted before thee; that thou
cause me not to return to the house of Jonathan the scribe,
lest I die there. {37:21} Then Zedekiah the king
commanded that they should commit Jeremiah into the
court of the prison, and that they should give him daily a
piece of bread out of the bakers street, until all the bread in
the city were spent. Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of
the prison.
38 {38:1} Then Shephatiah the son of Mattan, and Gedali-
ah the son of Pashur, and Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and
Pashur the son of Malchiah, heard the words that Jeremiah
had spoken unto all the people, saying, {38:2} Thus saith
the LORD, He that remaineth in this city shall die by the
sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that
goeth forth to the Chaldeans shall live; for he shall have his
life for a prey, and shall live. {38:3} Thus saith the LORD,
This city shall surely be given into the hand of the king of
Babylon’s army, which shall take it. {38:4} Therefore the
princes said unto the king, We beseech thee, let this man be
put to death: for thus he weakeneth the hands of the men of
war that remain in this city, and the hands of all the people,
in speaking such words unto them: for this man seeketh not
the welfare of this people, but the hurt. {38:5} Then
Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he is in your hand: for the
king [is] not [he that] can do [any] thing against you. {38:6}
Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of
Malchiah the son of Hammelech, that [was] in the court of
the prison: and they let down Jeremiah with cords. And in
the dungeon [there was] no water, but mire: so Jeremiah
sunk in the mire.
{38:7} Now when Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, one of the
eunuchs which was in the king’s house, heard that they had
put Jeremiah in the dungeon; the king then sitting in the
gate of Benjamin; {38:8} Ebed-melech went forth out of the
king’s house, and spake to the king, saying, {38:9} My lord
the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done
to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the
dungeon; and he is like to die for hunger in the place where
he is: for [there is] no more bread in the city. {38:10} Then
the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying,
Take from hence thirty men with thee, and take up Jeremiah
the prophet out of the dungeon, before he die. {38:11} So
Ebed- melech took the men with him, and went into the
house of the king under the treasury, and took thence old
cast clouts and old rotten rags, and let them down by cords
into the dungeon to Jeremiah. {38:12} And Ebed-melech
the Ethiopian said unto Jeremiah, Put now [these] old cast
clouts and rotten rags under thine armholes under the cords.
And Jeremiah did so. {38:13} So they drew up Jeremiah
with cords, and took him up out of the dungeon: and
Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison.
{38:14} Then Zedekiah the king sent, and took Jeremiah
the prophet unto him into the third entry that [is] in the
house of the LORD: and the king said unto Jeremiah, I will
ask thee a thing; hide nothing from me. {38:15} Then
Jeremiah said unto Zedekiah, If I declare [it] unto thee, wilt
thou not surely put me to death? and if I give thee counsel,
wilt thou not hearken unto me? {38:16} So Zedekiah the
king sware secretly unto Jeremiah, saying, [As] the LORD
liveth, that made us this soul, I will not put thee to death,
neither will I give thee into the hand of these men that seek
thy life. {38:17} Then said Jeremiah unto Zedekiah, Thus
saith the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel; If thou
wilt assuredly go forth unto the king of Babylon’s princes,
then thy soul shall live, and this city shall not be burned
with fire; and thou shalt live, and thine house: {38:18} But
if thou wilt not go forth to the king of Babylon’s princes,
then shall this city be given into the hand of the Chaldeans,
and they shall burn it with fire, and thou shalt not escape out
of their hand. {38:19} And Zedekiah the king said unto
Jeremiah, I am afraid of the Jews that are fallen to the
Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand, and they
mock me. {38:20} But Jeremiah said, They shall not deliver
[thee.] Obey, I beseech thee, the voice of the LORD, which
I speak unto thee: so it shall be well unto thee, and thy soul
shall live. {38:21} But if thou refuse to go forth, this [is] the
word that the LORD hath shewed me: {38:22} And, behold,
all the women that are left in the king of Judah’s house
[shall be] brought forth to the king of Babylon’s princes,
and those [women] shall say, Thy friends have set thee on,
and have prevailed against thee: thy feet are sunk in the
mire, [and] they are turned away back. {38:23} So they
shall bring out all thy wives and thy children to the
Chaldeans: and thou shalt not escape out of their hand, but
shalt be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon: and thou
shalt cause this city to be burned with fire.
{38:24} Then said Zedekiah unto Jeremiah, Let no man
know of these words, and thou shalt not die. {38:25} But if
the princes hear that I have talked with thee, and they come
unto thee, and say unto thee, Declare unto us now what thou
hast said unto the king, hide it not from us, and we will not
put thee to death; also what the king said unto thee: {38:26}
Then thou shalt say unto them, I presented my supplication
before the king, that he would not cause me to return to
Jonathan’s house, to die there. {38:27} Then came all the
princes unto Jeremiah, and asked him: and he told them
according to all these words that the king had commanded.
So they left off speaking with him; for the matter was not
perceived. {38:28} So Jeremiah abode in the court of the
prison until the day that Jerusalem was taken: and he was
[there] when Jerusalem was taken.
39 {39:1} In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in
the tenth month, came Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and
all his army against Jerusalem, and they besieged it. {39:2}
[And] in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month,
the ninth [day] of the month, the city was broken up. {39:3}
And all the princes of the king of Babylon came in, and sat
in the middle gate, [even] Nergal-sharezer, Samgar-nebo,
Sarsechim, Rab- saris, Nergal-sharezer, Rabmag, with all
the residue of the princes of the king of Babylon.
{39:4} And it came to pass, [that] when Zedekiah the king
of Judah saw them, and all the men of war, then they fled,
and went forth out of the city by night, by the way of the
king’s garden, by the gate betwixt the two walls: and he
went out the way of the plain. {39:5} But the Chaldeans’
army pursued after them, and overtook Zedekiah in the
plains of Jericho: and when they had taken him, they
brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to
Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he gave judgment upon
him. {39:6} Then the king of Babylon slew the sons of
Zedekiah in Riblah before his eyes: also the king of
Babylon slew all the nobles of Judah. {39:7} Moreover he
put out Zedekiah’s eyes, and bound him with chains, to
carry him to Babylon.
{39:8} And the Chaldeans burned the king’s house, and
the houses of the people, with fire, and brake down the
walls of Jerusalem. {39:9} Then Nebuzar-adan the captain
of the guard carried away captive into Babylon the remnant
of the people that remained in the city, and those that fell
away, that fell to him, with the rest of the people that
remained. {39:10} But Nebuzar-adan the captain of the
guard left of the poor of the people, which had nothing, in
the land of Judah, and gave them vineyards and fields at the
same time.
{39:11} Now Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon gave
charge concerning Jeremiah to Nebuzar-adan the captain of
the guard, saying, {39:12} Take him, and look well to him,
and do him no harm; but do unto him even as he shall say
unto thee. {39:13} So Nebuzar-adan the captain of the
Jeremiah Page 470
guard sent, and Nebushasban, Rab-saris, and Nergalsharezer,
Rabmag, and all the king of Babylon’s princes;
{39:14} Even they sent, and took Jeremiah out of the court
of the prison, and committed him unto Gedaliah the son of
Ahikam the son of Shaphan, that he should carry him home:
so he dwelt among the people.
{39:15} Now the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah,
while he was shut up in the court of the prison, saying,
{39:16} Go and speak to Ebed-melech the Ethiopian,
saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel;
Behold, I will bring my words upon this city for evil, and
not for good; and they shall be [accomplished] in that day
before thee. {39:17} But I will deliver thee in that day, saith
the LORD: and thou shalt not be given into the hand of the
men of whom thou [art] afraid. {39:18} For I will surely
deliver thee, and thou shalt not fall by the sword, but thy life
shall be for a prey unto thee: because thou hast put thy trust
in me, saith the LORD.
40 {40:1} The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD,
after that Nebuzar-adan the captain of the guard had let him
go from Ramah, when he had taken him being bound in
chains among all that were carried away captive of
Jerusalem and Judah, which were carried away captive unto
Babylon. {40:2} And the captain of the guard took
Jeremiah, and said unto him, The LORD thy God hath
pronounced this evil upon this place. {40:3} Now the
LORD hath brought [it,] and done according as he hath
said: because ye have sinned against the LORD, and have
not obeyed his voice, therefore this thing is come upon you.
{40:4} And now, behold, I loose thee this day from the
chains which [were] upon thine hand. If it seem good unto
thee to come with me into Babylon, come; and I will look
well unto thee: but if it seem ill unto thee to come with me
into Babylon, forbear: behold, all the land [is] before thee:
whither it seemeth good and convenient for thee to go,
thither go. {40:5} Now while he was not yet gone back, [he
said,] Go back also to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son
of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon hath made governor
over the cities of Judah, and dwell with him among the
people: or go wheresoever it seemeth convenient unto thee
to go. So the captain of the guard gave him victuals and a
reward, and let him go. {40:6} Then went Jeremiah unto
Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah; and dwelt with him
among the people that were left in the land.
{40:7} Now when all the captains of the forces which
[were] in the fields, [even] they and their men, heard that
the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam
governor in the land, and had committed unto him men, and
women, and children, and of the poor of the land, of them
that were not carried away captive to Babylon; {40:8} Then
they came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, even Ishmael the son of
Nethaniah, and Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah,
and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth, and the sons of Ephai
the Netophathite, and Jezaniah the son of a Maachathite,
they and their men. {40:9} And Gedaliah the son of Ahikam
the son of Shaphan sware unto them and to their men,
saying, Fear not to serve the Chaldeans: dwell in the land,
and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.
{40:10} As for me, behold, I will dwell at Mizpah to serve
the Chaldeans, which will come unto us: but ye, gather ye
wine, and summer fruits, and oil, and put [them] in your
vessels, and dwell in your cities that ye have taken. {40:11}
Likewise when all the Jews that [were] in Moab, and among
the Ammonites, and in Edom, and that [were] in all the
countries, heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant
of Judah, and that he had set over them Gedaliah the son of
Ahikam the son of Shaphan; {40:12} Even all the Jews
returned out of all places whither they were driven, and
came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah, unto Mizpah, and
gathered wine and summer fruits very much.
{40:13} Moreover Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the
captains of the forces that [were] in the fields, came to
Gedaliah to Mizpah, {40:14} And said unto him, Dost thou
certainly know that Baalis the king of the Ammonites hath
sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to slay thee? But
Gedaliah the son of Ahikam believed them not. {40:15}
Then Johanan the son of Kareah spake to Gedaliah in
Mizpah secretly, saying, Let me go, I pray thee, and I will
slay Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and no man shall know
[it:] wherefore should he slay thee, that all the Jews which
are gathered unto thee should be scattered, and the remnant
in Judah perish? {40:16} But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam
said unto Johanan the son of Kareah, Thou shalt not do this
thing: for thou speakest falsely of Ishmael.
41 {41:1} Now it came to pass in the seventh month, [that]
Ishmael the son of Nethaniah the son of Elishama, of the
seed royal, and the princes of the king, even ten men with
him, came unto Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah; and
there they did eat bread together in Mizpah. {41:2} Then
arose Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and the ten men that
were with him, and smote Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the
son of Shaphan with the sword, and slew him, whom the
king of Babylon had made governor over the land. {41:3}
Ishmael also slew all the Jews that were with him, [even]
with Gedaliah, at Mizpah, and the Chaldeans that were
found there, [and] the men of war. {41:4} And it came to
pass the second day after he had slain Gedaliah, and no man
knew [it, ]{41:5} That there came certain from Shechem,
from Shiloh, and from Samaria, [even] fourscore men,
having their beards shaven, and their clothes rent, and
having cut themselves, with offerings and incense in their
hand, to bring [them] to the house of the LORD. {41:6}
And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah went forth from Mizpah
to meet them, weeping all along as he went: and it came to
pass, as he met them, he said unto them, Come to Gedaliah
the son of Ahikam. {41:7} And it was [so,] when they came
into the midst of the city, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah
slew them, [and cast them] into the midst of the pit, he, and
the men that [were] with him. {41:8} But ten men were
found among them that said unto Ishmael, Slay us not: for
we have treasures in the field, of wheat, and of barley, and
of oil, and of honey. So he forbare, and slew them not
among their brethren. {41:9} Now the pit wherein Ishmael
had cast all the dead bodies of the men, whom he had slain
because of Gedaliah, [was] it which Asa the king had made
for fear of Baasha king of Israel: [and] Ishmael the son of
Nethaniah filled it with [them that were] slain. {41:10}
Then Ishmael carried away captive all the residue of the
people that [were] in Mizpah, [even] the king’s daughters,
and all the people that remained in Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan
the captain of the guard had committed to Gedaliah the
son of Ahikam: and Ishmael the son of Nethaniah carried
them away captive, and departed to go over to the
Ammonites.
{41:11} But when Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the
captains of the forces that [were] with him, heard of all the
evil that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had done, {41:12}
Then they took all the men, and went to fight with Ishmael
the son of Nethaniah, and found him by the great waters that
[are] in Gibeon. {41:13} Now it came to pass, [that] when
all the people which [were] with Ishmael saw Johanan the
son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that [were]
with him, then they were glad. {41:14} So all the people
that Ishmael had carried away captive from Mizpah cast
about and returned, and went unto Johanan the son of
Kareah. {41:15} But Ishmael the son of Nethaniah escaped
from Johanan with eight men, and went to the Ammonites.
{41:16} Then took Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the
captains of the forces that [were] with him, all the remnant
of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael the son
of Nethaniah, from Mizpah, after [that] he had slain
Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, [even] mighty men of war, and
the women, and the children, and the eunuchs, whom he had
brought again from Gibeon: {41:17} And they departed,
and dwelt in the habitation of Chimham, which is by
Bethlehem, to go to enter into Egypt, {41:18} Because of
the Chaldeans: for they were afraid of them, because
Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had slain Gedaliah the son of
Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon made governor in the
land.
42 {42:1} Then all the captains of the forces, and Johanan
the son of Kareah, and Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all
the people from the least even unto the greatest, came near,
{42:2} And said unto Jeremiah the prophet, Let, we beseech
thee, our supplication be accepted before thee, and pray for
us unto the LORD thy God, [even] for all this remnant; (for
we are left [but] a few of many, as thine eyes do behold us:)
{42:3} That the LORD thy God may shew us the way
wherein we may walk, and the thing that we may do. {42:4}
Then Jeremiah the prophet said unto them, I have heard
[you;] behold, I will pray unto the LORD your God
according to your words; and it shall come to pass, [that]
whatsoever thing the LORD shall answer you, I will declare
[it] unto you; I will keep nothing back from you. {42:5}
Then they said to Jeremiah, The LORD be a true and
faithful witness between us, if we do not even according to
all things for the which the LORD thy God shall send thee
to us. {42:6} Whether [it be] good, or whether [it be] evil,
we will obey the voice of the LORD our God, to whom we
send thee; that it may be well with us, when we obey the
voice of the LORD our God.
{42:7} And it came to pass after ten days, that the word of
the LORD came unto Jeremiah. {42:8} Then called he
Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces
which [were] with him, and all the people from the least
even to the greatest, {42:9} And said unto them, Thus saith
the LORD, the God of Israel, unto whom ye sent me to
present your supplication before him; {42:10} If ye will still
abide in this land, then will I build you, and not pull [you]
down, and I will plant you, and not pluck [you] up: for I
repent me of the evil that I have done unto you. {42:11} Be
not afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom ye are afraid; be
not afraid of him, saith the LORD: for I [am] with you to
save you, and to deliver you from his hand. {42:12} And I
will shew mercies unto you, that he may have mercy upon
you, and cause you to return to your own land.
{42:13} But if ye say, We will not dwell in this land,
neither obey the voice of the LORD your God, {42:14}
Saying, No; but we will go into the land of Egypt, where we
shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor have
hunger of bread; and there will we dwell: {42:15} And now
therefore hear the word of the LORD, ye remnant of Judah;
Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; If ye
wholly set your faces to enter into Egypt, and go to sojourn
there; {42:16} Then it shall come to pass, [that] the sword,
which ye feared, shall overtake you there in the land of
Egypt, and the famine, whereof ye were afraid, shall follow
close after you there in Egypt; and there ye shall die.
{42:17} So shall it be with all the men that set their faces to
go into Egypt to sojourn there; they shall die by the sword,
by the famine, and by the pestilence: and none of them shall
remain or escape from the evil that I will bring upon them.
{42:18} For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of
Israel; As mine anger and my fury hath been poured forth
upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem; so shall my fury be
poured forth upon you, when ye shall enter into Egypt: and
ye shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse,
and a reproach; and ye shall see this place no more.
{42:19} The LORD hath said concerning you, O ye
remnant of Judah; Go ye not into Egypt: know certainly that
I have admonished you this day. {42:20} For ye dissembled
in your hearts, when ye sent me unto the LORD your God,
saying, Pray for us unto the LORD our God; and according
unto all that the LORD our God shall say, so declare unto
us, and we will do [it. ]{42:21} And [now] I have this day
declared [it] to you; but ye have not obeyed the voice of the
LORD your God, nor any [thing] for the which he hath sent
me unto you. {42:22} Now therefore know certainly that ye
shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence,
in the place whither ye desire to go [and] to sojourn.
43 {43:1} And it came to pass, [that] when Jeremiah had
made an end of speaking unto all the people all the words of
the LORD their God, for which the LORD their God had
sent him to them, [even] all these words, {43:2} Then spake
Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of
Kareah, and all the proud men, saying unto Jeremiah, Thou
speakest falsely: the LORD our God hath not sent thee to
say, Go not into Egypt to sojourn there: {43:3} But Baruch
the son of Neriah setteth thee on against us, for to deliver us
into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they might put us to
death, and carry us away captives into Babylon. {43:4} So
Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the
forces, and all the people, obeyed not the voice of the
LORD, to dwell in the land of Judah. {43:5} But Johanan
the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, took all
the remnant of Judah, that were returned from all nations,
whither they had been driven, to dwell in the land of Judah;
{43:6} [Even] men, and women, and children, and the
king’s daughters, and every person that Nebuzar-adan the
captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah the son of
Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Jeremiah the prophet, and
Baruch the son of Neriah. {43:7} So they came into the land
of Egypt: for they obeyed not the voice of the LORD: thus
came they [even] to Tahpanhes.
{43:8} Then came the word of the LORD unto Jeremiah
in Tahpanhes, saying, {43:9} Take great stones in thine
hand, and hide them in the clay in the brickkiln, which [is]
at the entry of Pharaoh’s house in Tahpanhes, in the sight
of the men of Judah; {43:10} And say unto them, Thus saith
the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will send
and take Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant,
and will set his throne upon these stones that I have hid; and
he shall spread his royal pavilion over them. {43:11} And
when he cometh, he shall smite the land of Egypt, [and
deliver] such [as are] for death to death; and such [as are]
for captivity to captivity; and such [as are] for the sword to
the sword. {43:12} And I will kindle a fire in the houses of
the gods of Egypt; and he shall burn them, and carry them
away captives: and he shall array himself with the land of
Egypt, as a shepherd putteth on his garment; and he shall go
forth from thence in peace. {43:13} He shall break also the
images of Beth-shemesh, that [is] in the land of Egypt; and
the houses of the gods of the Egyptians shall he burn with
fire.
44 {44:1} The word that came to Jeremiah concerning
all the Jews which dwell in the land of Egypt, which dwell at
Migdol, and at Tahpanhes, and at Noph, and in the country
of Pathros, saying, {44:2} Thus saith the LORD of hosts,
the God of Israel; Ye have seen all the evil that I have
brought upon Jerusalem, and upon all the cities of Judah;
and, behold, this day they [are] a desolation, and no man
dwelleth therein, {44:3} Because of their wickedness which
they have committed to provoke me to anger, in that they
went to burn incense, [and] to serve other gods, whom they
knew not, [neither] they, ye, nor your fathers. {44:4}
Howbeit I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, rising
early and sending [them,] saying, Oh, do not this
abominable thing that I hate. {44:5} But they hearkened
not, nor inclined their ear to turn from their wickedness, to
burn no incense unto other gods. {44:6} Wherefore my fury
and mine anger was poured forth, and was kindled in the
cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they are
wasted [and] desolate, as at this day. {44:7} Therefore now
thus saith the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel;
Wherefore commit ye [this] great evil against your souls,
to cut off from you man and woman, child and suckling, out
of Judah, to leave you none to remain; {44:8} In that ye
provoke me unto wrath with the works of your hands,
burning incense unto other gods in the land of Egypt,
whither ye be gone to dwell, that ye might cut yourselves
off, and that ye might be a curse and a reproach among all
the nations of the earth? {44:9} Have ye forgotten the
wickedness of your fathers, and the wickedness of the kings
of Judah, and the wickedness of their wives, and your own
wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives, which they
have committed in the land of Judah, and in the streets of
Jerusalem? {44:10} They are not humbled [even] unto this
day, neither have they feared, nor walked in my law, nor in
my statutes, that I set before you and before your fathers.
{44:11} Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God
of Israel; Behold, I will set my face against you for evil, and
to cut off all Judah. {44:12} And I will take the remnant of
Judah, that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt
to sojourn there, and they shall all be consumed, [and] fall
in the land of Egypt; they shall [even] be consumed by the
sword and by the famine: they shall die, from the least even
unto the greatest, by the sword [and] by the famine: and
they shall be an execration, [and] an astonishment, and a
curse, and a reproach. {44:13} For I will punish them that
dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by
the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: {44:14} So
that none of the remnant of Judah, which are gone into the
land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall escape or remain, that
they should return into the land of Judah, to the which they
have a desire to return to dwell there: for none shall return
but such as shall escape.
{44:15} Then all the men which knew that their wives had
burned incense unto other gods, and all the women that
stood by, a great multitude, even all the people that dwelt in
the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying,
{44:16} [As for] the word that thou hast spoken unto us in
the name of the LORD, we will not hearken unto thee.
{44:17} But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth
forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen
of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we
have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes,
in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for
[then] had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no
evil. {44:18} But since we left off to burn incense to the
queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her,
we have wanted all [things,] and have been consumed by
the sword and by the famine. {44:19} And when we burned
incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out drink
offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to worship her,
and pour out drink offerings unto her, without our men?
{44:20} Then Jeremiah said unto all the people, to the
men, and to the women, and to all the people which had
given him [that] answer, saying, {44:21} The incense that
ye burned in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of
Jerusalem, ye, and your fathers, your kings, and your
princes, and the people of the land, did not the LORD
remember them, and came it [not] into his mind? {44:22}
So that the LORD could no longer bear, because of the evil
of your doings, [and] because of the abominations which ye
have committed; therefore is your land a desolation, and an
astonishment, and a curse, without an inhabitant, as at this
day. {44:23} Because ye have burned incense, and because
ye have sinned against the LORD, and have not obeyed the
voice of the LORD, nor walked in his law, nor in his
statutes, nor in his testimonies; therefore this evil is
happened unto you, as at this day. {44:24} Moreover
Jeremiah said unto all the people, and to all the women,
Hear the word of the LORD, all Judah that [are] in the land
of Egypt: {44:25} Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God
of Israel, saying; Ye and your wives have both spoken with
your mouths, and fulfilled with your hand, saying, We will
surely perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn
incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink
offerings unto her: ye will surely accomplish your vows,
and surely perform your vows. {44:26} Therefore hear ye
the word of the LORD, all Judah that dwell in the land of
Egypt; Behold, I have sworn by my great name, saith the
LORD, that my name shall no more be named in the mouth
of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, The
Lord GOD liveth. {44:27} Behold, I will watch over them
for evil, and not for good: and all the men of Judah that are
in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by
the famine, until there be an end of them. {44:28} Yet a
small number that escape the sword shall return out of the
land of Egypt into the land of Judah, and all the remnant of
Judah, that are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there,
shall know whose words shall stand, mine, or theirs.
{44:29} And this [shall be] a sign unto you, saith the
LORD, that I will punish you in this place, that ye may
know that my words shall surely stand against you for evil:
{44:30} Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will give Pharaohhophra
king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies, and into
the hand of them that seek his life; as I gave Zedekiah king
of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon,
his enemy, and that sought his life.
45 {45:1} The word that Jeremiah the prophet spake unto
Baruch the son of Neriah, when he had written these words
in a book at the mouth of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of
Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, saying, {45:2}
Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, unto thee, O
Baruch; {45:3} Thou didst say, Woe is me now! for the
LORD hath added grief to my sorrow; I fainted in my
sighing, and I find no rest.
{45:4} Thus shalt thou say unto him, The LORD saith
thus; Behold, [that] which I have built will I break down,
and that which I have planted I will pluck up, even this
whole land. {45:5} And seekest thou great things for
thyself? seek [them] not: for, behold, I will bring evil upon
all flesh, saith the LORD: but thy life will I give unto thee
for a prey in all places whither thou goest.
46 {46:1} The word of the LORD which came to Jeremiah
the prophet against the Gentiles; {46:2} Against Egypt,
against the army of Pharaoh-necho king of Egypt, which
was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which
Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon smote in the fourth year of
Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah. {46:3} Order ye
the buckler and shield, and draw near to battle. {46:4}
Harness the horses; and get up, ye horsemen, and stand
forth with [your] helmets; furbish the spears, [and] put on
the brigandines. {46:5} Wherefore have I seen them
dismayed [and] turned away back? and their mighty ones
are beaten down, and are fled apace, and look not back:
[for] fear [was] round about, saith the LORD. {46:6} Let
not the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape; they
shall stumble, and fall toward the north by the river
Euphrates. {46:7} Who [is] this [that] cometh up as a flood,
whose waters are moved as the rivers? {46:8} Egypt riseth
up like a flood, and [his] waters are moved like the rivers;
and he saith, I will go up, [and] will cover the earth; I will
destroy the city and the inhabitants thereof. {46:9} Come
up, ye horses; and rage, ye chariots; and let the mighty men
come forth; the Ethiopians and the Libyans, that handle the
shield; and the Lydians, that handle [and] bend the bow.
{46:10} For this [is] the day of the Lord GOD of hosts, a
day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his
adversaries: and the sword shall devour, and it shall be
satiate and made drunk with their blood: for the Lord GOD
of hosts hath a sacrifice in the north country by the river
Euphrates. {46:11} Go up into Gilead, and take balm, O
virgin, the daughter of Egypt: in vain shalt thou use many
medicines; [for] thou shalt not be cured. {46:12} The
nations have heard of thy shame, and thy cry hath filled the
land: for the mighty man hath stumbled against the mighty,
[and] they are fallen both together.
{46:13} The word that the LORD spake to Jeremiah the
prophet, how Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon should come
[and] smite the land of Egypt. {46:14} Declare ye in Egypt,
and publish in Migdol, and publish in Noph and in
Tahpanhes: say ye, Stand fast, and prepare thee; for the
sword shall devour round about thee. {46:15} Why are thy
valiant [men] swept away? they stood not, because the
LORD did drive them. {46:16} He made many to fall, yea,
one fell upon another: and they said, Arise, and let us go
again to our own people, and to the land of our nativity,
from the oppressing sword. {46:17} They did cry there,
Pharaoh king of Egypt [is but] a noise; he hath passed the
time appointed. {46:18} [As] I live, saith the King, whose
name [is] the LORD of hosts, Surely as Tabor [is] among
the mountains, and as Carmel by the sea, [so] shall he come.
{46:19} O thou daughter dwelling in Egypt, furnish thyself
to go into captivity: for Noph shall be waste and desolate
without an inhabitant. {46:20} Egypt [is like] a very fair
heifer, [but] destruction cometh; it cometh out of the north.
{46:21} Also her hired men [are] in the midst of her like
fatted bullocks; for they also are turned back, [and] are fled
away together: they did not stand, because the day of their
calamity was come upon them, [and] the time of their
visitation. {46:22} The voice thereof shall go like a serpent;
for they shall march with an army, and come against her
with axes, as hewers of wood. {46:23} They shall cut down
her forest, saith the LORD, though it cannot be searched;
because they are more than the grasshoppers, and [are]
innumerable. {46:24} The daughter of Egypt shall be
confounded; she shall be delivered into the hand of the
people of the north. {46:25} The LORD of hosts, the God
of Israel, saith; Behold, I will punish the multitude of No,
and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with their gods, and their kings;
even Pharaoh, and [all] them that trust in him: {46:26} And
I will deliver them into the hand of those that seek their
lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon,
and into the hand of his servants: and afterward it shall be
inhabited, as in the days of old, saith the LORD.
{46:27} But fear not thou, O my servant Jacob, and be not
dismayed, O Israel: for, behold, I will save thee from afar
off, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob
shall return, and be in rest and at ease, and none shall make
[him] afraid. {46:28} Fear thou not, O Jacob my servant,
saith the LORD: for I [am] with thee; for I will make a full
end of all the nations whither I have driven thee: but I will
not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure; yet
will I not leave thee wholly unpunished.
47 {47:1} The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the
prophet against the Philistines, before that Pharaoh smote
Gaza. {47:2} Thus saith the LORD; Behold, waters rise up
out of the north, and shall be an overflowing flood, and
shall overflow the land, and all that is therein; the city, and
them that dwell therein: then the men shall cry, and all the
inhabitants of the land shall howl. {47:3} At the noise of the
stamping of the hoofs of his strong [horses,] at the rushing
of his chariots, [and at] the rumbling of his wheels, the
fathers shall not look back to [their] children for feebleness
of hands; {47:4} Because of the day that cometh to spoil all
the Philistines, [and] to cut off from Tyrus and Zidon every
helper that remaineth: for the LORD will spoil the
Philistines, the remnant of the country of Caphtor. {47:5}
Baldness is come upon Gaza; Ashkelon is cut off [with] the
remnant of their valley: how long wilt thou cut thyself?
{47:6} O thou sword of the LORD, how long [will it be] ere
thou be quiet? put up thyself into thy scabbard, rest, and be
still. {47:7} How can it be quiet, seeing the LORD hath
given it a charge against Ashkelon, and against the sea
shore? there hath he appointed it.
48 {48:1} Against Moab thus saith the LORD of hosts,
the God of Israel; Woe unto Nebo! for it is spoiled: Kiriathaim
is confounded [and] taken: Misgab is confounded and
dismayed. {48:2} [There shall be] no more praise of Moab:
in Heshbon they have devised evil against it; come, and let
us cut it off from [being] a nation. Also thou shalt be cut
down, O Madmen; the sword shall pursue thee. {48:3} A
voice of crying [shall be] from Horonaim, spoiling and great
destruction. {48:4} Moab is destroyed; her little ones have
caused a cry to be heard. {48:5} For in the going up of
Luhith continual weeping shall go up; for in the going down
of Horonaim the enemies have heard a cry of destruction.
{48:6} Flee, save your lives, and be like the heath in the
wilderness.
{48:7} For because thou hast trusted in thy works and in
thy treasures, thou shalt also be taken: and Chemosh shall
go forth into captivity [with] his priests and his princes
together. {48:8} And the spoiler shall come upon every city,
and no city shall escape: the valley also shall perish, and the
plain shall be destroyed, as the LORD hath spoken. {48:9}
Give wings unto Moab, that it may flee and get away: for
the cities thereof shall be desolate, without any to dwell
therein. {48:10} Cursed [be] he that doeth the work of the
LORD deceitfully, and cursed [be] he that keepeth back his
sword from blood.
{48:11} Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and he
hath settled on his lees, and hath not been emptied from
vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity:
therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent is not
changed. {48:12} Therefore, behold, the days come, saith
the LORD, that I will send unto him wanderers, that shall
cause him to wander, and shall empty his vessels, and break
their bottles. {48:13} And Moab shall be ashamed of
Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel
their confidence.
{48:14} How say ye, We [are] mighty and strong men for
the war? {48:15} Moab is spoiled, and gone up [out of] her
cities, and his chosen young men are gone down to the
slaughter, saith the King, whose name [is] the LORD of
hosts. {48:16} The calamity of Moab [is] near to come, and
his affliction hasteth fast. {48:17} All ye that are about him,
bemoan him; and all ye that know his name, say, How is the
strong staff broken, [and] the beautiful rod! {48:18} Thou
daughter that dost inhabit Dibon, come down from [thy]
glory, and sit in thirst; for the spoiler of Moab shall come
upon thee, [and] he shall destroy thy strong holds. {48:19}
O inhabitant of Aroer, stand by the way, and espy; ask him
that fleeth, and her that escapeth, [and] say, What is done?
{48:20} Moab is confounded; for it is broken down: howl
and cry; and tell ye it in Arnon, that Moab is spoiled,
{48:21} And judgment is come upon the plain country;
upon Holon, and upon Jahazah, and upon Mephaath,
{48:22} And upon Dibon, and upon Nebo, and upon Beth-
diblathaim, {48:23} And upon Kiriathaim, and upon Bethga-
mul, and upon Beth-meon, {48:24} And upon Kerioth,
and upon Bozrah, and upon all the cities of the land of
Moab, far or near. {48:25} The horn of Moab is cut off, and
his arm is broken, saith the LORD.
{48:26} Make ye him drunken: for he magnified [himself]
against the LORD: Moab also shall wallow in his vomit,
and he also shall be in derision. {48:27} For was not Israel a
derision unto thee? was he found among thieves? for since
thou spakest of him, thou skippedst for joy. {48:28} O ye
that dwell in Moab, leave the cities, and dwell in the rock,
and be like the dove [that] maketh her nest in the sides of
the hole’s mouth. {48:29} We have heard the pride of
Moab, (he is exceeding proud) his loftiness, and his
arrogancy, and his pride, and the haughtiness of his heart.
{48:30} I know his wrath, saith the LORD; but [it shall] not
[be] so; his lies shall not so effect [it.] {48:31} Therefore
will I howl for Moab, and I will cry out for all Moab; [mine
heart] shall mourn for the men of Kir- heres. {48:32} O
vine of Sibmah, I will weep for thee with the weeping of
Jazer: thy plants are gone over the sea, they reach [even] to
the sea of Jazer: the spoiler is fallen upon thy summer fruits
and upon thy vintage. {48:33} And joy and gladness is
taken from the plentiful field, and from the land of Moab;
and I have caused wine to fail from the winepresses: none
shall tread with shouting; [their] shouting [shall be] no
shouting. {48:34} From the cry of Heshbon [even] unto
Elealeh, [and even] unto Jahaz, have they uttered their
voice, from Zoar [even] unto Horonaim, [as] an heifer of
three years old: for the waters also of Nimrim shall be
desolate. {48:35} Moreover I will cause to cease in Moab,
saith the LORD, him that offereth in the high places, and
him that burneth incense to his gods. {48:36} Therefore
mine heart shall sound for Moab like pipes, and mine heart
shall sound like pipes for the men of Kir-heres: because the
riches [that] he hath gotten are perished. {48:37} For every
head [shall be] bald, and every beard clipped: upon all the
hands [shall be] cuttings, and upon the loins sackcloth.
{48:38} [There shall be] lamentation generally upon all the
housetops of Moab, and in the streets thereof: for I have
broken Moab like a vessel wherein [is] no pleasure, saith
the LORD. {48:39} They shall howl, [saying,] How is it
broken down! how hath Moab turned the back with shame!
so shall Moab be a derision and a dismaying to all them
about him. {48:40} For thus saith the LORD; Behold, he
shall fly as an eagle, and shall spread his wings over Moab.
{48:41} Kerioth is taken, and the strong holds are surprised,
and the mighty men’s hearts in Moab at that day shall be as
the heart of a woman in her pangs. {48:42} And Moab shall
be destroyed from [being] a people, because he hath
magnified [himself] against the LORD. {48:43} Fear, and
the pit, and the snare, [shall be] upon thee, O inhabitant of
Moab, saith the LORD. {48:44} He that fleeth from the fear
shall fall into the pit; and he that getteth up out of the pit
shall be taken in the snare: for I will bring upon it, [even]
upon Moab, the year of their visitation, saith the LORD.
{48:45} They that fled stood under the shadow of Heshbon
because of the force: but a fire shall come forth out of
Heshbon, and a flame from the midst of Sihon, and shall
devour the corner of Moab, and the crown of the head of the
tumultuous ones. {48:46} Woe be unto thee, O Moab! the
people of Chemosh perisheth: for thy sons are taken
captives, and thy daughters captives. {48:47} Yet will I
bring again the captivity of Moab in the latter days, saith
the LORD. Thus far [is] the judgment of Moab.
49 {49:1} Concerning the Ammonites, thus saith the LORD;
Hath Israel no sons? hath he no heir? why [then] doth their
king inherit Gad, and his people dwell in his cities? {49:2}
Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I
will cause an alarm of war to be heard in Rabbah of the
Ammonites; and it shall be a desolate heap, and her
daughters shall be burned with fire: then shall Israel be heir
unto them that were his heirs, saith the LORD. {49:3}
Howl, O Heshbon, for Ai is spoiled: cry, ye daughters of
Rabbah, gird you with sackcloth; lament, and run to and fro
by the hedges; for their king shall go into captivity, [and]
his priests and his princes together. {49:4} Wherefore
gloriest thou in the valleys, thy flowing valley, O
backsliding daughter? that trusted in her treasures, [saying,]
Who shall come unto me? {49:5} Behold, I will bring a fear
upon thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts, from all those that
be about thee; and ye shall be driven out every man right
forth; and none shall gather up him that wandereth. {49:6}
And afterward I will bring again the captivity of the
children of Ammon, saith the LORD.
{49:7} Concerning Edom, thus saith the LORD of hosts;
[Is] wisdom no more in Teman? is counsel perished from
the prudent? is their wisdom vanished? {49:8} Flee ye, turn
back, dwell deep, O inhabitants of Dedan; for I will bring
the calamity of Esau upon him, the time [that] I will visit
him. {49:9} If grapegatherers come to thee, would they not
leave [some] gleaning grapes? if thieves by night, they will
destroy till they have enough. {49:10} But I have made
Esau bare, I have uncovered his secret places, and he shall
not be able to hide himself: his seed is spoiled, and his
brethren, and his neighbours, and he is not. {49:11} Leave
thy fatherless children, I will preserve [them] alive; and let
thy widows trust in me. {49:12} For thus saith the LORD;
Behold, they whose judgment [was] not to drink of the cup
have assuredly drunken; and [art] thou he [that] shall
altogether go unpunished? thou shalt not go unpunished, but
thou shalt surely drink [of it.] {49:13} For I have sworn by
myself, saith the LORD, that Bozrah shall become a
desolation, a reproach, a waste, and a curse; and all the
cities thereof shall be perpetual wastes. {49:14} I have
heard a rumour from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent
unto the heathen, [saying,] Gather ye together, and come
against her, and rise up to the battle. {49:15} For, lo, I will
make thee small among the heathen, [and] despised among
men. {49:16} Thy terribleness hath deceived thee, [and] the
pride of thine heart, O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the
rock, that holdest the height of the hill: though thou
shouldest make thy nest as high as the eagle, I will bring
thee down from thence, saith the LORD. {49:17} Also
Edom shall be a desolation: every one that goeth by it shall
be astonished, and shall hiss at all the plagues thereof.
{49:18} As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and
the neighbour [cities] thereof, saith the LORD, no man shall
abide there, neither shall a son of man dwell in it. {49:19}
Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of
Jordan against the habitation of the strong: but I will
suddenly make him run away from her: and who [is] a
chosen [man, that] I may appoint over her? for who [is] like
me? and who will appoint me the time? and who [is] that
shepherd that will stand before me? {49:20} Therefore hear
the counsel of the LORD, that he hath taken against Edom;
and his purposes, that he hath purposed against the
inhabitants of Teman: Surely the least of the flock shall
draw them out: surely he shall make their habitations
desolate with them. {49:21} The earth is moved at the noise
of their fall, at the cry the noise thereof was heard in the
Red sea. {49:22} Behold, he shall come up and fly as the
eagle, and spread his wings over Bozrah: and at that day
shall the heart of the mighty men of Edom be as the heart of
a woman in her pangs.
{49:23} Concerning Damascus. Hamath is confounded,
and Arpad: for they have heard evil tidings: they are
fainthearted; [there is] sorrow on the sea; it cannot be quiet.
{49:24} Damascus is waxed feeble, [and] turneth herself to
flee, and fear hath seized on [her:] anguish and sorrows
have taken her, as a woman in travail. {49:25} How is the
city of praise not left, the city of my joy! {49:26} Therefore
her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of
war shall be cut off in that day, saith the LORD of hosts.
{49:27} And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus,
and it shall consume the palaces of Ben-hadad.
{49:28} Concerning Kedar, and concerning the kingdoms
of Hazor, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon shall
smite, thus saith the LORD; Arise ye, go up to Kedar, and
spoil the men of the east. {49:29} Their tents and their
flocks shall they take away: they shall take to themselves
their curtains, and all their vessels, and their camels; and
they shall cry unto them, Fear [is] on every side.
{49:30} Flee, get you far off, dwell deep, O ye inhabitants
of Hazor, saith the LORD; for Nebuchadrezzar king of
Babylon hath taken counsel against you, and hath conceived
a purpose against you. {49:31} Arise, get you up unto the
wealthy nation, that dwelleth without care, saith the LORD,
which have neither gates nor bars, [which] dwell alone.
{49:32} And their camels shall be a booty, and the
multitude of their cattle a spoil: and I will scatter into all
winds them [that are] in the utmost corners; and I will bring
their calamity from all sides thereof, saith the LORD.
{49:33} And Hazor shall be a dwelling for dragons, [and] a
desolation for ever: there shall no man abide there, nor
[any] son of man dwell in it.
{49:34} The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the
prophet against Elam in the beginning of the reign of
Zedekiah king of Judah, saying, {49:35} Thus saith the
LORD of hosts; Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the
chief of their might. {49:36} And upon Elam will I bring
the four winds from the four quarters of heaven, and will
scatter them toward all those winds; and there shall be no
nation whither the outcasts of Elam shall not come. {49:37}
For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies,
and before them that seek their life: and I will bring evil
upon them [even] my fierce anger, saith the LORD; and I
will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them:
{49:38} And I will set my throne in Elam, and will destroy
from thence the king and the princes, saith the LORD.
{49:39} But it shall come to pass in the latter days, [that] I
will bring again the captivity of Elam, saith the LORD.
50 {50:1} The word that the LORD spake against Babylon
[and] against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the
prophet. {50:2} Declare ye among the nations, and publish,
and set up a standard; publish, [and] conceal not: say,
Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in
pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are broken in
pieces. {50:3} For out of the north there cometh up a nation
against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none
shall dwell therein: they shall remove, they shall depart,
both man and beast.
{50:4} In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD,
the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of
Judah together, going and weeping: they shall go, and seek
the LORD their God. {50:5} They shall ask the way to Zion
with their faces thitherward, [saying,] Come, and let us join
ourselves to the LORD in a perpetual covenant [that] shall
not be forgotten. {50:6} My people hath been lost sheep:
their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have
turned them away [on] the mountains: they have gone from
mountain to hill, they have forgotten their restingplace.
{50:7} All that found them have devoured them: and their
adversaries said, We offend not, because they have sinned
against the LORD, the habitation of justice, even the
LORD, the hope of their fathers. {50:8} Remove out of the
midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the
Chaldeans, and be as the he goats before the flocks.
{50:9} For, lo, I will raise and cause to come up against
Babylon an assembly of great nations from the north
country: and they shall set themselves in array against her;
from thence she shall be taken: their arrows [shall be] as of
a mighty expert man; none shall return in vain. {50:10} And
Chaldea shall be a spoil: all that spoil her shall be satisfied,
saith the LORD. {50:11} Because ye were glad, because ye
rejoiced, O ye destroyers of mine heritage, because ye are
grown fat as the heifer at grass, and bellow as bulls;
{50:12} Your mother shall be sore confounded; she that
bare you shall be ashamed: behold, the hindermost of the
nations [shall be] a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.
{50:13} Because of the wrath of the LORD it shall not be
inhabited, but it shall be wholly desolate: every one that
goeth by Babylon shall be astonished, and hiss at all her
plagues. {50:14} Put yourselves in array against Babylon
round about: all ye that bend the bow, shoot at her, spare no
arrows: for she hath sinned against the LORD. {50:15}
Shout against her round about: she hath given her hand: her
foundations are fallen, her walls are thrown down: for it [is]
the vengeance of the LORD: take vengeance upon her; as
she hath done, do unto her. {50:16} Cut off the sower from
Babylon, and him that handleth the sickle in the time of
harvest: for fear of the oppressing sword they shall turn
every one to his people, and they shall flee every one to his
own land.
{50:17} Israel [is] a scattered sheep; the lions have driven
[him] away: first the king of Assyria hath devoured him;
and last this Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath broken
his bones. {50:18} Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts,
the God of Israel; Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon
and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria.
{50:19} And I will bring Israel again to his habitation, and
he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be
satisfied upon mount Ephraim and Gilead. {50:20} In those
days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the iniquity of Israel
shall be sought for, and [there shall be] none; and the sins of
Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon them
whom I reserve.
{50:21} Go up against the land of Merathaim, [even]
against it, and against the inhabitants of Pekod: waste and
utterly destroy after them, saith the LORD, and do
according to all that I have commanded thee. {50:22} A
sound of battle [is] in the land, and of great destruction.
{50:23} How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder
and broken! how is Babylon become a desolation among the
nations! {50:24} I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art
also taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not aware: thou art
found, and also caught, because thou hast striven against the
LORD. {50:25} The LORD hath opened his armoury, and
hath brought forth the weapons of his indignation: for this
[is] the work of the Lord GOD of hosts in the land of the
Chaldeans. {50:26} Come against her from the utmost
border, open her storehouses: cast her up as heaps, and
destroy her utterly: let nothing of her be left. {50:27} Slay
all her bullocks; let them go down to the slaughter: woe
unto them! for their day is come, the time of their visitation.
{50:28} The voice of them that flee and escape out of the
land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of the
LORD our God, the vengeance of his temple. {50:29} Call
together the archers against Babylon: all ye that bend the
bow, camp against it round about; let none thereof escape:
recompense her according to her work; according to all that
she hath done, do unto her: for she hath been proud against
the LORD, against the Holy One of Israel. {50:30}
Therefore shall her young men fall in the streets, and all her
men of war shall be cut off in that day, saith the LORD.
{50:31} Behold, I [am] against thee, [O thou] most proud,
saith the Lord GOD of hosts: for thy day is come, the time
[that] I will visit thee. {50:32} And the most proud shall
stumble and fall, and none shall raise him up: and I will
kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all round about
him.
{50:33} Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The children of
Israel and the children of Judah [were] oppressed together:
and all that took them captives held them fast; they refused
to let them go. {50:34} Their Redeemer [is] strong; the
LORD of hosts [is] his name: he shall throughly plead their
cause, that he may give rest to the land, and disquiet the
inhabitants of Babylon.
{50:35} A sword [is] upon the Chaldeans, saith the
LORD, and upon the inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her
princes, and upon her wise [men.] {50:36} A sword [is]
upon the liars; and they shall dote: a sword [is] upon her
mighty men; and they shall be dismayed. {50:37} A sword
[is] upon their horses, and upon their chariots, and upon all
the mingled people that [are] in the midst of her; and they
shall become as women: a sword [is] upon her treasures;
and they shall be robbed. {50:38} A drought [is] upon her
waters; and they shall be dried up: for it [is] the land of
graven images, and they are mad upon [their] idols. {50:39}
Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts
of the islands shall dwell [there,] and the owls shall dwell
therein: and it shall be no more inhabited for ever; neither
shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation. {50:40}
As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour
[cities] thereof, saith the LORD; [so] shall no man abide
there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein. {50:41}
Behold, a people shall come from the north, and a great
nation, and many kings shall be raised up from the coasts of
the earth. {50:42} They shall hold the bow and the lance:
they [are] cruel, and will not shew mercy: their voice shall
roar like the sea, and they shall ride upon horses, [every
one] put in array, like a man to the battle, against thee, O
daughter of Babylon. {50:43} The king of Babylon hath
heard the report of them, and his hands waxed feeble:
anguish took hold of him, [and] pangs as of a woman in
travail. {50:44} Behold, he shall come up like a lion from
the swelling of Jordan unto the habitation of the strong: but
I will make them suddenly run away from her: and who [is]
a chosen [man, that] I may appoint over her? for who [is]
like me? and who will appoint me the time? and who [is]
that shepherd that will stand before me? {50:45} Therefore
hear ye the counsel of the LORD, that he hath taken against
Babylon; and his purposes, that he hath purposed against the
land of the Chaldeans: Surely the least of the flock shall
draw them out: surely he shall make [their] habitation
desolate with them. {50:46} At the noise of the taking of
Babylon the earth is moved, and the cry is heard among the
nations.
51 {51:1} Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will raise up
against Babylon, and against them that dwell in the midst of
them that rise up against me, a destroying wind; {51:2} And
will send unto Babylon fanners, that shall fan her, and shall
empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be
against her round about. {51:3} Against [him that] bendeth
let the archer bend his bow, and against [him that] lifteth
himself up in his brigandine: and spare ye not her young
men; destroy ye utterly all her host. {51:4} Thus the slain
shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans, and [they that are]
thrust through in her streets. {51:5} For Israel [hath] not
[been] forsaken, nor Judah of his God, of the LORD of
hosts; though their land was filled with sin against the Holy
One of Israel. {51:6} Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and
deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for
this [is] the time of the LORD’S vengeance; he will render
unto her a recompence. {51:7} Babylon [hath been] a
golden cup in the LORD’S hand, that made all the earth
drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore
the nations are mad. {51:8} Babylon is suddenly fallen and
destroyed: howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so she
may be healed. {51:9} We would have healed Babylon, but
she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go every one into
his own country: for her judgment reacheth unto heaven,
and is lifted up [even] to the skies. {51:10} The LORD hath
brought forth our righteousness: come, and let us declare in
Zion the work of the LORD our God. {51:11} Make bright
the arrows; gather the shields: the LORD hath raised up the
spirit of the kings of the Medes: for his device [is] against
Babylon, to destroy it; because it [is] the vengeance of the
LORD, the vengeance of his temple. {51:12} Set up the
standard upon the walls of Babylon, make the watch strong,
set up the watchmen, prepare the ambushes: for the LORD
hath both devised and done that which he spake against the
inhabitants of Babylon. {51:13} O thou that dwellest upon
many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, [and]
the measure of thy covetousness. {51:14} The LORD of
hosts hath sworn by himself, [saying,] Surely I will fill thee
with men, as with caterpillers; and they shall lift up a shout
against thee. {51:15} He hath made the earth by his power,
he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath
stretched out the heaven by his understanding. {51:16}
When he uttereth [his] voice, [there is] a multitude of waters
in the heavens; and he causeth the vapors to ascend from the
ends of the earth: he maketh lightnings with rain, and
bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures. {51:17} Every
man is brutish by [his] knowledge; every founder is
confounded by the graven image: for his molten image [is]
falsehood, and [there is] no breath in them. {51:18} They
[are] vanity, the work of errors: in the time of their
visitation they shall perish. {51:19} The portion of Jacob
[is] not like them; for he [is] the former of all things: and
[Israel is] the rod of his inheritance: the LORD of hosts is
his name. {51:20} Thou [art] my battle axe [and] weapons
of war: for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and
with thee will I destroy kingdoms; {51:21} And with thee
will I break in pieces the horse and his rider; and with thee
will I break in pieces the chariot and his rider; {51:22} With
thee also will I break in pieces man and woman; and with
thee will I break in pieces old and young; and with thee will
I break in pieces the young man and the maid; {51:23} I
will also break in pieces with thee the shepherd and his
flock; and with thee will I break in pieces the husbandman
and his yoke of oxen; and with thee will I break in pieces
captains and rulers. {51:24} And I will render unto Babylon
and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they
have done in Zion in your sight, saith the LORD. {51:25}
Behold, I [am] against thee, O destroying mountain, saith
the LORD, which destroyest all the earth: and I will stretch
out mine hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks,
and will make thee a burnt mountain. {51:26} And they
shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for
foundations; but thou shalt be desolate for ever, saith the
LORD. {51:27} Set ye up a standard in the land, blow the
trumpet among the nations, prepare the nations against her,
call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and
Ashchenaz; appoint a captain against her; cause the horses
to come up as the rough caterpillers. {51:28} Prepare
against her the nations with the kings of the Medes, the
captains thereof, and all the rulers thereof, and all the land
of his dominion. {51:29} And the land shall tremble and
sorrow: for every purpose of the LORD shall be performed
against Babylon, to make the land of Babylon a desolation
without an inhabitant. {51:30} The mighty men of Babylon
have forborn to fight, they have remained in [their] holds:
their might hath failed; they became as women: they have
burned her dwellingplaces; her bars are broken. {51:31}
One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to
meet another, to shew the king of Babylon that his city is
taken at [one] end, {51:32} And that the passages are
stopped, and the reeds they have burned with fire, and the
men of war are affrighted. {51:33} For thus saith the LORD
of hosts, the God of Israel; The daughter of Babylon [is]
like a threshingfloor, [it is] time to thresh her: yet a little
while, and the time of her harvest shall come. {51:34}
Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon hath devoured me, he
hath crushed me, he hath made me an empty vessel, he hath
swallowed me up like a dragon, he hath filled his belly with
my delicates, he hath cast me out. {51:35} The violence
done to me and to my flesh [be] upon Babylon, shall the
inhabitant of Zion say; and my blood upon the inhabitants
of Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say. {51:36} Therefore thus
saith the LORD; Behold, I will plead thy cause, and take
vengeance for thee; and I will dry up her sea, and make her
springs dry. {51:37} And Babylon shall become heaps, a
dwelling place for dragons, an astonishment, and an hissing,
without an inhabitant. {51:38} They shall roar together like
lions: they shall yell as lions’ whelps. {51:39} In their heat I
will make their feasts, and I will make them drunken, that
they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake,
saith the LORD. {51:40} I will bring them down like lambs
to the slaughter, like rams with he goats. {51:41} How is
Sheshach taken! and how is the praise of the whole earth
surprised! how is Babylon become an astonishment among
the nations! {51:42} The sea is come up upon Babylon: she
is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof. {51:43}
Her cities are a desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness, a
land wherein no man dwelleth, neither doth [any] son of
man pass thereby. {51:44} And I will punish Bel in
Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which
he hath swallowed up: and the nations shall not flow
together any more unto him: yea, the wall of Babylon shall
fall. {51:45} My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and
deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of the
LORD. {51:46} And lest your heart faint, and ye fear for
the rumour that shall be heard in the land; a rumour shall
both come [one] year, and after that in [another] year [shall
come] a rumour, and violence in the land, ruler against
ruler. {51:47} Therefore, behold, the days come, that I will
do judgment upon the graven images of Babylon: and her
whole land shall be confounded, and all her slain shall fall
in the midst of her. {51:48} Then the heaven and the earth,
and all that [is] therein, shall sing for Babylon: for the
spoilers shall come unto her from the north, saith the
LORD. {51:49} As Babylon [hath caused] the slain of
Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all the
earth. {51:50} Ye that have escaped the sword, go away,
stand not still: remember the LORD afar off, and let
Jerusalem come into your mind. {51:51} We are
confounded, because we have heard reproach: shame hath
covered our faces: for strangers are come into the
sanctuaries of the LORD’S house. {51:52} Wherefore,
behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will do
judgment upon her graven images: and through all her land
the wounded shall groan. {51:53} Though Babylon should
mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify the
height of her strength, [yet] from me shall spoilers come
unto her, saith the LORD. {51:54} A sound of a cry
[cometh] from Babylon, and great destruction from the land
of the Chaldeans: {51:55} Because the LORD hath spoiled
Babylon, and destroyed out of her the great voice; when her
waves do roar like great waters, a noise of their voice is
uttered: {51:56} Because the spoiler is come upon her,
[even] upon Babylon, and her mighty men are taken, every
one of their bows is broken: for the LORD God of
recompences shall surely requite. {51:57} And I will make
drunk her princes, and her wise [men,] her captains, and her
rulers, and her mighty men: and they shall sleep a perpetual
sleep, and not wake, saith the King, whose name [is] the
LORD of hosts. {51:58} Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The
broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken, and her high
gates shall be burned with fire; and the people shall labour
in vain, and the folk in the fire, and they shall be weary.
{51:59} The word which Jeremiah the prophet
commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah,
when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah into Babylon
in the fourth year of his reign. And [this] Seraiah was a
quiet prince. {51:60} So Jeremiah wrote in a book all the
evil that should come upon Babylon, [even] all these words
that are written against Babylon. {51:61} And Jeremiah said
to Seraiah, When thou comest to Babylon, and shalt see,
and shalt read all these words; {51:62} Then shalt thou say,
O LORD, thou hast spoken against this place, to cut it off,
that none shall remain in it, neither man nor beast, but that it
shall be desolate for ever. {51:63} And it shall be, when
thou hast made an end of reading this book, [that] thou shalt
bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of Euphrates:
{51:64} And thou shalt say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and
shall not rise from the evil that I will bring upon her: and
they shall be weary. Thus far [are] the words of Jeremiah.
52 {52:1} Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when
he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusa-
lem. And his mother’s name [was] Hamutal the daughter
of Jeremiah of Libnah. {52:2} And he did [that which was]
evil in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that
Jehoiakim had done. {52:3} For through the anger of the
LORD it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, till he had
cast them out from his presence, that Zedekiah rebelled
against the king of Babylon.
{52:4} And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign,
in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, [that]
Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army,
against Jerusalem, and pitched against it, and built forts
against it round about. {52:5} So the city was besieged unto
the eleventh year of king Zedekiah. {52:6} And in the
fourth month, in the ninth [day] of the month, the famine
was sore in the city, so that there was no bread for the
people of the land. {52:7} Then the city was broken up, and
all the men of war fled, and went forth out of the city by
night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which
[was] by the king’s garden; (now the Chaldeans [were] by
the city round about:) and they went by the way of the plain.
{52:8} But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the
king, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho; and all
his army was scattered from him. {52:9} Then they took the
king, and carried him up unto the king of Babylon to Riblah
in the land of Hamath; where he gave judgment upon him.
{52:10} And the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah
before his eyes: he slew also all the princes of Judah in
Riblah. {52:11} Then he put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and
the king of Babylon bound him in chains, and carried him to
Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death.
{52:12} Now in the fifth month, in the tenth [day] of the
month, which [was] the nineteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar
king of Babylon, came Nebuzar-adan, captain of the guard,
[which] served the king of Babylon, into Jerusalem,
{52:13} And burned the house of the LORD, and the king’s
house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, and all the houses of
the great [men,] burned he with fire: {52:14} And all the
army of the Chaldeans, that [were] with the captain of the
guard, brake down all the walls of Jerusalem round about.
{52:15} Then Nebuzar-adan the captain of the guard carried
away captive [certain] of the poor of the people, and the
residue of the people that remained in the city, and those
that fell away, that fell to the king of Babylon, and the rest
of the multitude. {52:16} But Nebuzar-adan the captain of
the guard left [certain] of the poor of the land for
vinedressers and for husbandmen. {52:17} Also the pillars
of brass that [were] in the house of the LORD, and the
bases, and the brasen sea that [was] in the house of the
LORD, the Chaldeans brake, and carried all the brass of
them to Babylon. {52:18} The caldrons also, and the
shovels, and the snuffers, and the bowls, and the spoons,
and all the vessels of brass wherewith they ministered, took
they away. {52:19} And the basins, and the firepans, and
the bowls, and the caldrons, and the candlesticks, and the
spoons, and the cups; [that] which [was] of gold [in] gold,
and [that] which [was] of silver [in] silver, took the captain
of the guard away. {52:20} The two pillars, one sea, and
twelve brasen bulls that [were] under the bases, which king
Solomon had made in the house of the LORD: the brass of
all these vessels was without weight. {52:21} And
[concerning] the pillars, the height of one pillar [was]
eighteen cubits; and a fillet of twelve cubits did compass it;
and the thickness thereof [was] four fingers: [it was] hollow.
{52:22} And a chapiter of brass [was] upon it; and the
height of one chapiter [was] five cubits, with network and
pomegranates upon the chapiters round about, all of brass.
The second pillar also and the pomegranates [were] like
unto these. {52:23} And there were ninety and six
pomegranates on a side; [and] all the pomegranates upon
the network [were] an hundred round about.
{52:24} And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the
chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three
keepers of the door: {52:25} He took also out of the city an
eunuch, which had the charge of the men of war; and seven
men of them that were near the king’s person, which were
found in the city; and the principal scribe of the host, who
mustered the people of the land; and threescore men of the
people of the land, that were found in the midst of the city.
{52:26} So Nebuzar-adan the captain of the guard took
them, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah.
{52:27} And the king of Babylon smote them, and put them
to death in Riblah in the land of Hamath. Thus Judah was
carried away captive out of his own land. {52:28} This is
the people whom Nebuchadrezzar carried away captive: in
the seventh year three thousand Jews and three and twenty:
{52:29} In the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar he carried
away captive from Jerusalem eight hundred thirty and two
persons: {52:30} In the three and twentieth year of
Nebuchadrezzar Nebuzar- adan the captain of the guard
carried away captive of the Jews seven hundred forty and
five persons: all the persons [were] four thousand and six
hundred.
{52:31} And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth
year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the
twelfth month, in the five and twentieth [day] of the month,
[that] Evil-merodach king of Babylon in the [first] year of
his reign lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah, and
brought him forth out of prison, {52:32} And spake kindly
unto him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings
that [were] with him in Babylon, {52:33} And changed his
prison garments: and he did continually eat bread before
him all the days of his life. {52:34} And [for] his diet, there
was a continual diet given him of the king of Babylon,
every day a portion until the day of his death, all the days of
his life.