THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JEREMIAH.
1 The words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah,—of the priests who were in Anathoth, in the land of Benjamin:
2 unto whom came the word of Yahweh, in the days of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah,—in the thirteenth year of his reign;
3 it came also in the days of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah son of Josiah king of Judah,—as far as the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month.
4 So then the word of Yahweh came unto me saying:
5 Before I formed thee at thy birth I took knowledge of thee, And before thy nativity I hallowed thee,—A prophet to the nations I appointed thee.
6 Then said I—Ah! My Lord Yahweh! Lo! I know not how to speak,—For a child am I!
7 Then said Yahweh unto me, Do not say, A child am I,—For against whomsoever I send thee shalt thou go, And whatsoever I command thee shalt thou speak:
8 Be not afraid of their faces,—For with thee am I to deliver thee, Declareth Yahweh.
9 Then Yahweh put forth his hand, and touched my mouth,—and Yahweh said unto me, Lo! I have put my words in thy mouth.
10 See! I have set thee in charge this day over the nations and over the kingdoms, To uproot and to break down and to destroy and to tear in pieces,—To build and to plant.
11 Moreover the Word of Yahweh came unto me saying, What canst thou see, Jeremiah? And I said, A twig of an almond-tree can I see.
12 Then said Yahweh unto me—Thou hast rightly seen,—for keeping watch am I over my word to perform it.
13 And the word of Yahweh came unto me a second time saying, What canst thou see? And I said, A boiling caldron can I see, with the front thereof on the North.
14 Then said Yahweh unto me,—Out of the North shall break forth calamity, against all the inhabitants of the land.
15 For behold me! calling for all the families of the kingdoms of the North, Declareth Yahweh,—and they shall come and set every one his throne at the opening of the gates of Jerusalem and against all her walls round about, and against all the cities of Judah!
16 Then will I pronounce my judgments against them, concerning all their wickedness,—in that they have forsaken me and have burned incense unto other gods, and have bowed down to the works of their own hands.
17 Thou therefore shalt gird thy loins, and arise and speak unto them, all that I command thee,—be not dismayed because of them, lest I dismay thee before their face.
18 I therefore—lo! I have set thee to-day as a fortified city and as a pillar of iron and as walls of bronze over all the land,—against the kings of Judah, against her princes, against her priests and against the people of the land.
19 And they will fight against thee but shall not prevail against thee,—for with thee am I, Declareth Yahweh, to deliver thee.
2 And the word of Yahweh came unto me saying;
2 Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem saying—Thus saith Yahweh, I remember in thy behalf the lovingkindness of thy youthful days, The love of thy bridal estate,—Thy coming out after me Through the desert, Through a land not sown:
3 Holiness was Israel unto Yahweh, The first-fruit of his increase,—All that devoured it were held guilty, Calamity used to come upon them,—Declareth Yahweh.
4 Hear ye the word of Yahweh, O house of Jacob, And all the families of the house of Israel.
5 Thus saith Yahweh,—What did your fathers find in me by way of perversity, that they removed far from me,—and went after vanity and became vain?
6 Neither said they, Where is Yahweh, Who brought us up out of the land of Egypt,—Who led us Through the desert, Through a land of wastes and clefts, Through a land of parched places and of death-shade, Through a land Along which no man had passed And in which no son of earth dwelt?
7 Then brought I you into a country of garden land, to eat the fruit thereof and the goodness thereof,—and yet when ye entered then defiled ye my land, and mine inheritance ye made an abomination.
8 The priests said not, Where is Yahweh? And they who handled the law did not acknowledge me, And the shepherds transgressed against me,—And the prophets prophesied by Baal, And so after things that could not profit did they walk.
9 Therefore yet further will I plead with you, Declareth Yahweh, Yea with your children’s children will I plead.
10 For—pass through the coastlands of the West and see, And unto Kedar send ye and consider diligently,—And see—whether there hath been the like of this!
11 Hath a nation changed gods, although they were No-gods? Yet my people have changed my glory for that which could not profit!
12 Be amazed, O ye heavens, at this,—And shudder, be dried up utterly, Urgeth Yahweh.
13 For two wicked things have my people committed,—Me have they forsaken, a fountain of living water, To hew out for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.
14 Was Israel a servant? Born in the house was he? Wherefore hath he become a prey?
15 Against him have been roaring wild lions, They have uttered their voice,—and have made his land a desolation, His cities have been burned so as to have no inhabitant.
16 Even the sons of Noph and Tahpanhes have been crushing the crown of the head.
17 Is not this what thou wast certain to do for thyself,—in that thou didst forsake Yahweh thy God, when he was leading thee by the way?
18 Now therefore what hast thou to do with the way to Egypt, to drink the waters of Shihor? Or what hast thou to do with the way to Assyria, to drink the waters of the River [Euphrates]?
19 Let thy wickedness correct thee And thine apostacies rebuke thee, Know therefore and see That it is a wicked thing and a bitter, that thou shouldest have forsaken Yahweh thy God,—And that the dread of me should not have pertained to thee, Declareth My Lord, Yahweh of hosts.
20 For in age-past time I brake thy yoke, I tare off thy fetters, And thou saidst, I will not transgress,—Nevertheless on every high hill and under every green tree wast thou lying down as an unchaste woman.
21 Yet I planted thee a precious vine, a wholly true seed,—How then didst thou change thyself towards me, into the degenerate plantings of the alien vine?
22 For though thou wash thee with nitre And take thee much soap Yet is thine iniquity inscribed before me, Declareth My Lord Yahweh.
23 How canst thou say, I have not defiled myself, After the Baalim have I not gone? See thy way in the valley, Own what thou hast done,—A nimble young she-camel crossing her own ways;
24 A wild ass taught of the desert, In the desire of her soul she snuffeth the wind, In her occasion who can turn her back? None who seek her will weary themselves, In her month they shall find her!
25 Withhold thy foot from being unshod, And thy throat from thirst! But thou saidst, Hopeless! No! for I love foreigners and after them will I go.
26 As the shame of a thief when he is found So hath been put to shame the house of Israel,—They, their kings, their princes, and their priests and their prophets:
27 Saying to a tree, My father art thou! And to a stone, Thou didst give us birth, For they have turned unto me the back and not the face,—But in the time of their calamity they will say, Arise and save us!
28 Where then are thy gods which thou hast made for thyself? Let them arise, if they can save thee in the time of thy calamity,—For according to the number of thy cities have become thy gods, O Judah.
29 Wherefore should ye plead against me, All of you have transgressed against me, Declareth Yahweh.
30 In vain have I smitten your children, Correction have they not accepted,—Your sword hath devoured your prophets as a lion that destroyeth.
31 O generation, see ye the word of Yahweh, A desert became I unto Israel? Or a land of thick darkness? Wherefore have my people said, We have roved about, We will not come in any more unto thee?
32 Can a virgin forget her ornaments,—A bride her girdle? Yet my people have forgotten me days without number.
33 How thou dost make winsome thy way to seek love! Therefore even unto wicked women hast thou taught thy ways.
34 Even in thy skirts is there found, The blood of the lives of the helpless innocents,—Not in the act of breaking in didst thou find them, yet [the blood is] on all these.
35 Although thou saidst, Because I am innocent surely hath his anger turned back from me,—Behold me! entering into judgment with thee because thou sayest, I have not sinned!
36 How vigorously thou goest about changing thy way! Even of Egypt shalt thou be ashamed, just as thou wast ashamed of Assyria:
37 Even from this one shalt thou go forth, with thy hands upon thy head,—For Yahweh hath rejected those in whom thou confidest, and thou shalt not prosper with them.
3 He hath said, If a man send away his wife and she go from him and become another man’s will he return unto her again? would not that land be utterly defiled? And thou hast been unchaste with many neighbours and yet [thinkest] to return unto me! Declareth Yahweh.
2 Lift up thine eyes unto the bare heights and see—where thou hast not been unchastely embraced! beside the ways hast thou sat to them, like the Arabian in the desert,—and hast defiled the land with thine unchastities and with thy wickedness.
3 Therefore have been withholden the showers, And the latter rain hath not come,—Yet the forehead of an unchaste woman hast thou, Thou hast refused to be ashamed.
4 Hast thou not from this time cried unto me, My father! the friend of my youth art thou?
5 Will he maintain [his anger] to times age-abiding? Will he keep it perpetually? Lo! thou hast spoken [thus] but hast done wicked things and had thy way!
6 And Yahweh said unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen what apostate Israel did? She used to go upon every high mountain and beneath every green tree, and commit unchastity there.
7 And I said after she had been doing all these things Unto me shall thou return? and she returned not,—and her treacherous sister Judah saw it!
8 Though she saw that for all this apostate Israel having committed adultery I had sent her away, and had given a scroll of divorcement unto her yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but she also went and committed unchastity.
9 Yea though it had come to pass that through the levity of her unchastity she had defiled the land,—and committed adultery with Stone and with Tree
10 yet, in spite of all this her treacherous sister Judah returned not unto me with all her heart,—but falsely, Declareth Yahweh.
11 Then said Yahweh unto me,—Apostate Israel hath justified herself,—more than treacherous Judah.
12 Go and proclaim these words towards the North and say—Return! thou apostate Israel, Urgeth Yahweh, I will not lower my face against you,—for full of lovingkindness I am, Declareth Yahweh, I will not maintain [mine anger] unto times age-abiding.
13 Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that against Yahweh thy God hast thou transgressed,—and hast gone hither and thither unto foreigners under every green tree, and unto my voice ye have not hearkened, Declareth Yahweh.
14 Return, ye apostate sons, Urgeth Yahweh, for I am become your husband,—therefore will I take you, one of a city and two of a family, and will bring you to Zion;
15 and will give you shepherds according to mine own heart,—who will feed you with knowledge and discretion.
16 And it shall come to pass when ye shall be multiplied and become fruitful in the land in those days, Declareth Yahweh, They shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of Yahweh, Neither shall it come up on the heart, Neither shall they remember it, Neither shall they miss it, Neither shall it be made any more.
17 At that time shall they call Jerusalem The throne of Yahweh, and there shall be gathered unto her all the nations—to the Name of Yahweh, to Jerusalem; and they shall walk no more after the stubbornness of their own wicked heart.
18 In those days shall the house of Judah go unto the house of Israel,—that they may enter together out of the land of the North, upon the land which I gave as an inheritance unto your fathers.
19 Though I myself had said,—How can I put thee among the sons, And give thee a land to be coveted, An inheritance of beauty of the hosts of nations? Yet I said, My father shalt thou call me, And away from me shalt thou not turn.
20 But indeed [as] a wife goeth treacherously from her husband so have ye acted treacherously with me, O house of Israel, Declareth Yahweh.
21 A voice on the bare heights is heard, The weeping of the supplications of the sons of Israel,—Because they have perverted their way, Have forgotten Yahweh their God.
22 Return, ye apostate sons, I will heal your apostacies! Behold us! we have come unto thee, For thou art Yahweh our God.
23 Surely to falsehood pertain the hills, The noisy throng on the mountains,—Surely in Yahweh our God is the salvation of Israel!
24 But the Shameful thing hath devoured the labour of our fathers from our youth: Their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.
25 We must lie down in our shame And our reproach be our covering, For against Yahweh our God have we sinned, We and our fathers, from our youth even until this day,—Neither have we hearkened unto the voice of Yahweh our God.
4 If thou wilt return O Israel Declareth Yahweh, Unto me mayst thou return,—And if thou wilt remove thine abominations from before me Then shalt thou not become a wanderer.
2 If thou wilt swear, By the life of Yahweh! in faithfulness, in justice and in righteousness Then shall the nations bless themselves in him And in him shall they glory.
3 For thus saith Yahweh Unto the men of Judah and unto Jerusalem, Till ye the untilled ground,—And do not sow among thorns.
4 Circumcise yourselves unto Yahweh So shall ye remove the impurity of your heart, ye men of Judah and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem,—Lest mine indignation go forth as fire and burn and there be none to quench it, Because of the wickedness of your doings.
5 Declare ye in Judah And in Jerusalem let it be heard, And say, Blow ye a horn in the land,—Cry with full voice And say, Gather yourselves together And let us enter the defenced cities.
6 Lift up an ensign—Zion-ward, Bring into safety, do not tarry,—For calamity am I bringing in from the North, Even a great destruction:
7 There hath come up a lion out of his thicket, Yea a destroyer of nations—hath set forward, hath come forth out of his place,—To make thy land a desolation, Thy cities shall fall in ruins so as to have no inhabitant.
8 On this account gird you with sackcloth, lament and howl,—Because the glow of the anger of Yahweh hath not turned from us.
9 And it shall come to pass in that day, Declareth Yahweh, That the courage of the king shall fail And the courage of the princes,—And the priests shall be astonished, And the prophets shall be amazed.
10 Then said I,—Ah! My Lord Yahweh! Surely thou hast suffered this people and Jerusalem to be beguiled saying, Peace shall ye have,—whereas the sword shall reach unto the soul.
11 At that time shall it be said of this people and of Jerusalem,—The sharp wind of the bare heights in the desert cometh towards the daughter of my people,—not to winnow nor to cleanse.
12 A wind too strong for these cometh in for me. Now will I also pronounce sentences upon them:
13 Lo! like clouds shall he come up, Even as a storm-wind his chariots, Swifter than eagles his horses,—Woe to us for we are laid waste!
14 Wash from wickedness thy heart, O Jerusalem, That thou mayest be saved,—How long shall lodge within thee thy wicked devices?
15 For a voice declareth from Dan,—And publisheth trouble from the hill country of Ephraim.
16 Put ye in mind the nations, Lo! publish ye against Jerusalem, Blockaders are coming in from a land afar off,—And have uttered against the cities of Judah their voice:
17 As the keepers of a field have they come against her round about,—For against me hath she rebelled, Declareth Yahweh.
18 Thine own way And thine own doings Have done these things unto thee,—This thy wickedness Surely it is bitter, Surely it hath reached unto thy heart.
19 My bowels! My bowels! I am pained in the walls of my heart, My heart beateth aloud to me, I cannot be still! For the sound of a horn hast thou heard, O my soul, The loud shout of war!
20 Breach upon breach they cry, For ruined is all the land,—Suddenly are ruined my tents, In a moment my curtains!
21 How long shall I keep on seeing a standard,—continue to hear the sound of a horn?
22 Surely perverse is my people, Me have they not known, Foolish sons they are, Yea without understanding they are: Wise they are to commit wickedness, But how to do well they know not!
23 I beheld The earth, and lo! it was waste and wild,—The heavens also and their light was not:
24 I beheld The mountains, and lo! they were trembling,—And all the hills had been violently moved:
25 I beheld And lo! there was no human being,—Yea all the birds of the heavens had fled:
26 I beheld And lo! the garden-land was a desert,—And all its cities had been broken down, Because of Yahweh, Because of the glow of his anger!
27 For thus saith Yahweh, A desolation shall all the land become,—Nevertheless a full end will I not make.
28 For this cause shall the land mourn, and the heavens above be overcast: Because I have spoken, have purposed, and have not repented nor will I turn back therefrom.
29 At the noise of horseman and archer The whole city is in flight, They have entered dark thickets, Yea unto the crags have they gone up,—Every city is forsaken, There remaineth not in them a man!
30 And when thou art laid waste what wilt thou do? Though thou clothe thyself with crimson, Though thou deck thyself with ornaments of gold, Though thou enlarge with antimony thine eyes In vain shalt thou make thyself fair,—Paramours have rejected thee, Thy life will they seek!
31 For a voice as of a woman in pangs have I heard, Anguish as of her that is bearing her firstborn. The voice of the daughter of Zion! She gaspeth for breath, She spreadeth forth her palms,—Surely woe to me! For my soul fainteth before murderers.
5 Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem And see, I pray you, and know and seek out in the broad places thereof, Whether ye can find a man, Whether there is one Doing justice, Demanding fidelity,—That I may pardon her.
2 Even though they say By the life of Yahweh Yet in fact falsely do they swear.
3 O Yahweh! thine own eyes are they not directed to fidelity? Thou hast smitten them Yet have they not grieved, Thou hast consumed them—They have refused to receive correction,—They have made their faces bolder than a cliff, They have refused to return.
4 And I said,—Only poor people are they,—They act foolishly, For they know not the way of Yahweh, the justice of their God!
5 I will betake me unto the great men and will speak with them! For they know the way of Yahweh, the justice of their God! Yea but they with one accord have broken the yoke, torn off the bands.
6 For this cause hath the lion out of the forest smitten them, The wolf of the waste plains preyeth upon them, The leopard is keeping watch over their cities, Every one that goeth out from thence is torn in pieces,—For they have multiplied their transgressions, Numerous are their apostacies.
7 How for this can I pardon thee? Thine own sons have forsaken me, And have sworn by No-gods,—When I had fed them to the full Then committed they adultery, And the house of the unchaste woman they used to throng:
8 Lusty, well-fed horses had they become, Every man unto his neighbour’s wife would neigh!
9 For these things shall I not punish? Demandeth Yahweh: Yea on a nation such as this must not my soul avenge herself?
10 Scale ye her walls and destroy, But a full end do not make,—Remove her tendrils, For not to Yahweh do they belong!
11 For very treacherously have the house of Israel and the house of Judah dealt with me, Declareth Yahweh.
12 They have acted deceptively against Yahweh, And have said, Not He! Neither shall there come upon us calamity, Nor sword nor famine shall we see;
13 But the prophets shall prove to be wind, And there is no one speaking in them,—Thus shall it be done to themselves!
14 Therefore Thus saith Yahweh, God of hosts, Because ye have spoken this word,—Behold me! making my words in thy mouth to be fire, And this people—wood, So shall it devour them.
15 Behold me! bringing upon you a nation from afar, O house of Israel, Declareth Yahweh,—A nation invincible it is, A nation from age-past times hath it been, A nation whose tongue thou shalt not know, Neither shalt thou understand what it speaketh:
16 Its quiver is like an open sepulchre,—They all are heroes:
17 Then shall it eat thy harvest and thy bread which thy sons and thy daughters should eat,—It shall eat thy flock and thy herd, It shall eat thy vine and thy fig-tree,—It shall destroy thy defenced cities, wherein thou art trusting, with the sword.
18 Yet even in those days Declareth Yahweh, Will I not make of you a full end.
19 And it shall come to pass when ye shall say, For what cause hath Yahweh our God done to us all these things? Then shalt thou say unto them,—As ye forsook me and served the gods of the foreigner in your own land So shall ye serve aliens in a land not your own.
20 Tell ye this throughout the house of Jacob,—And let it be heard throughout Judah saying:
21 Hear this, I pray you, ye people—foolish and without heart,—Eyes have they and see not, Ears have they and hear not!
22 Even for me will ye have no reverence? Enquireth Yahweh, And because of me will ye not be pained? In that though I placed the sand as a bound to the sea, A decree age-abiding, and it should not pass beyond it,—When they would toss themselves Then should they not prevail, When the waves thereof would roar Then should they not pass beyond it
23 Yet this people hath an obstinate and rebellious heart,—They have turned aside and gone their way;
24 Neither have they said in their heart,—Let us, we pray you, revere Yahweh our God, Who giveth rain, even the early and the latter, in its season,—The appointed weeks of harvest he reserveth for us.
25 Your iniquities have thrust away these things, Yea your sins have withholden that which is good from you.
26 For there have been found among my people lawless men,—One lieth in wait as with the stooping of fowlers, They have set a trap, they capture men:
27 As a cage is full of birds So are their houses full of unrighteous gain,—For this cause have they become great and waxen rich:
28 They have waxed fat, they shine, Yea they have overpassed the records of wickedness. The right have they not determined, The right of the fatherless that they might prosper,—Yea justice to the helpless have they not decreed.
29 Upon these things shall I not bring punishment? Demandeth Yahweh. Or on a nation such as this shall not my soul avenge herself?
30 An astounding and horrible thing hath been brought to pass in the land:
31 The prophets have prophesied falsely, And the priests tread down by their means, And my people love it so,—What then can ye do as to her latter end?
6 Take your goods into safety, ye sons of Benjamin, out of the midst of Jerusalem, And in Tekoa blow ye a horn, And on Beth-haccherem raise a fire-signal,—For calamity hath looked out from the North, Even a great destruction.
2 To a comely and delicate woman have I likened the daughter of Zion:
3 Against her shall come shepherds with their flocks; They have pitched against her their tents round about, They tend their flocks every one near at hand.
4 Hallow ye against her a war, Arise! and let us go up in broad noon. Woe to us for the day hath turned, for the shadows of evening stretch along.
5 Arise! and let us go up in the night, And let us destroy her palaces.
6 For Thus saith Yahweh of hosts, Cut ye down timber, And cast up against Jerusalem a mound,—That is the city to be punished! There is nothing but oppression in her midst;
7 Like the casting forth by a well of its waters, So hath she cast forth her wickedness,—Violence and destruction are heard in her, Before my face continually are suffering and smiting.
8 Receive thou correction, O Jerusalem, Lest my soul be torn from thee,—Lest I make thee A desolation, A land not habitable.
9 Thus saith Yahweh of hosts, They shall thoroughly glean as a vine the remnant of Israel,—Turn back thy hand as a grape gatherer over the tendrils.
10 Unto whom can I speak—and bear witness, that they may hear? Lo! uncircumcised is their ear that they cannot attend,—Lo! the word of Yahweh hath become to them a reproach, they take no delight therein.
11 So then with the indignation of Yahweh am I full, I am too weary to hold it in, [I am constrained] to pour it out, upon the boy in the street, and upon the circle of young men together,—For even husband with wife will be captured, The elder with him who is full of days;
12 And their houses shall be turned over to others, Fields and wives together,—For I will stretch out my hand against the inhabitants of the land, Declareth Yahweh.
13 For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them Every one graspeth with greed,—And from the prophet even unto the priest Every one dealeth falsely;
14 And so they have healed the grievous wound of my people slightly, Saying Peace, peace, when there was no peace,
15 Were they led to turn pale because an abominable thing they had done! Nay! they did not at all turn pale, Nay! they did not so much as know how to exhibit shame, Therefore shall they fall among them who are falling, In the time when I punish them shall they be overthrown, Saith Yahweh.
16 Thus saith Yahweh—Stand ye at the ways—and see And ask for the paths of age-past times, Where is the good way? And walk therein, And ye shall find rest to your souls. But they said, We will not walk [therein]!
17 Therefore will I raise up over you watchmen, Give ye heed to the sound of a horn,—But they said, We will not give heed!
18 Therefore hear, O ye nations,—And take knowledge, O assembly, Of that which befalleth them:
19 Hear thou—O earth, Lo! I am bringing in Calamity against this people, the fruit of their own devices,—For unto my words have they not given heed, And as for my law they have rejected it.
20 What then is it to me that—Frankincense from Shebah come in, or Sweet cane from a land afar off? Your own ascending-offerings are not acceptable, Nor are your sacrifices pleasing to me.
21 Wherefore Thus saith Yahweh, Behold me! laying before this people stumblingblocks,—And fathers and sons together shall stumble against them, The neighbour and his friend shall perish.
22 Thus saith Yahweh, Lo! a people coming in from the land of the North,—Yea a great nation shall be stirred up out of the remote parts of the earth:
23 Bow and javelin shall they grasp, Cruel is he! So they will not have compassion, Their voice like the sea will roar, And on horses will they ride,—Arrayed each one like a man for battle, Against thee, O daughter of Zion!
24 We have heard the report thereof, Relaxed are our hands,—Anguish hath taken hold on us, Pangs as on her that is giving birth.
25 Do not go out into the field, And in the road do not walk,—Because a sword hath the foe,—Terror round about!
26 O daughter of my people, Gird thee with sackcloth and roll thyself in ashes,—The mourning for an only son make thou for thyself, Most bitter lamentation! For suddenly shall the destroyer come upon us.
27 An assayer have I set thee amongst my people of gold-ore,—That thou mayest note and try their way:
28 They all are rebels of rebels, Slander-walkers, [They are] bronze and iron! As for them all corrupters they are!
29 Scorched are the bellows, By fire is lead [wont to be] consumed,—In vain hath he gone on refining, For the wicked have not been drawn out:
30 Rejected silver are they called, For Yahweh hath rejected them.
7 The word that came unto Jeremiah, from Yahweh, saying:—
2 Stand thou in the gate of the house of Yahweh, and thou shalt proclaim there this word,—and shalt say—Hear ye the word of Yahweh, all Judah, ye who are entering in at these gates, to bow down unto Yahweh:
3 Thus saith Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings,—That I may cause you to dwell in this place.
4 Do not on your part trust in false words saying,—The temple of Yahweh, The temple of Yahweh, The temple of Yahweh they are!
5 But if ye shall thoroughly amend your ways and your doings,—Shall thoroughly execute justice between a man and his neighbour;
6 The sojourner, the fatherless and the widow shall not oppress, And innocent blood shall not shed in this place,—And after other gods shall not walk to your own hurt
7 Then will I cause you to dwell In this place, In the land which I gave to your fathers,—From one age even unto another.
8 Lo! ye on your part are trusting in false words,—To no profit!
9 Are ye to steal, commit murder and commit adultery, and swear falsely and burn incense unto Baal,—and walk after other gods whom ye have not known;
10 And will ye then come in and stand before me in this house whereon my Name hath been called, and say,—We have set ourselves free,—for the purpose of committing all these abominations?
11 A den of robbers hath this house on which my Name hath been called become in your own eyes? I also—lo! I have seen it, Declareth Yahweh.
12 For go, I pray you, unto my place which was in Shiloh, Where I made my Name to dwell at first,—And see what I did to it, because of the wickedness of my people Israel!
13 Now therefore—Because ye have done all these deeds, Declareth Yahweh,—And though I spake unto you, betimes speaking, Yet ye hearkened not, And though I cried unto you Yet ye answered not
14 Therefore will I do to the house, Whereon my Name hath been called, Wherein ye are trusting, Even to the place which I gave to you and to your fathers,—Just as I did unto Shiloh;
15 And will cast you out from before me,—Just as I have cast out All your brethren, All the seed of Ephraim.
16 Thou therefore—Do not pray for this people Neither lift up for them cry or prayer Neither intercede with me,—For I am not going to hear thee.
17 Dost thou not see what they are doing In the cities of Judah,—and In the streets of Jerusalem?
18 The children gather wood and The fathers kindle the fire, and The women knead dough,—To make sacrificial cakes to the queen of the heavens, And to pour out drink-offerings to other gods, Provoking me to anger!
19 Is it me they are provoking? Enquireth Yahweh,—Is it not themselves—unto the shame of their own faces?
20 Wherefore Thus saith My Lord Yahweh—Lo! mine anger and mine indignation are about to be poured out upon this place, On man and on beast, and On the tree of the field and On the fruit of the ground,—And it shall burn and shall not be quenched.
21 Thus saith Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel,—Your ascending-offerings add ye unto your peace-offerings and eat ye flesh.
22 For I bade not your fathers Neither commanded I them, In the day I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt,—Concerning the matter of ascending-offering and peace-offering;
23 But this thing I commanded them—saying, Hearken ye unto my voice, So will I become unto you—a God, And ye shall become unto me—a people,—Ye shall therefore walk in all the way that I may command you, To the end it may be well with you;
24 Yet they hearkened not Neither inclined their ear, But walked In the counsels—In the stubbornness of their own wicked heart; And went backward and not forward.
25 Ever since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt, until this day Have I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, Daily betimes sending them;
26 Yet they hearkened not unto me, Neither inclined their ear,—But stiffened their neck, They did more wickedly than their fathers.
27 Therefore shalt thou speak unto them all these words, Though they do not hearken unto thee,—And thou shalt cry aloud unto them Though they do not answer thee;—
28 But thou shalt say unto them,—This is the nation that hearkened not unto the voice of Yahweh its God, Neither accepted they correction,—Perished is fidelity, And is cut off out of their mouth.
29 Cut thou off thy crown of hair, [O Jerusalem], and cast it away, And lift thou up on the bare heights a dirge,—For Yahweh hath rejected and cast out the generation with which he was wroth.
30 For the sons of Judah have done that which was wicked in mine eyes, Declareth Yahweh,—They have set their abominations in the house whereon my Name hath been called, to defile it;
31 And they have built the high places of Topheth which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, To burn up their sons and their daughters in the fire,—Which I commanded not, Neither came it up on my heart.
32 Therefore lo! days are coming, Declareth Yahweh, When it shall not be called any more—The Topheth nor The valley of Ben-hinnom, but The valley of Slaughter,—And they shall bury in Topheth for want of place;
33 And the dead bodies of this people shall become food, For the bird of the heavens and For the beast of the earth,—And there shall be none to drive them away.
34 So will I cause to cease From the cities of Judah and From the streets of Jerusalem, The voice of joy and the voice of gladness, The voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride,—For a desolation shall the land become.
8 At that time Declareth Yahweh Shall they bring forth The bones of the kings of Judah and The bones of his princes and The bones of the priest, and The bones of the prophets and The bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem Out of their graves,
2 And shall spread them out—To the sun and To the moon and To all the host of the heavens Whom they have loved And whom they have served And after whom they have walked, And whom they have sought, And to whom they have bowed themselves down,—They shall not be gathered, Neither shall they be buried, As heaps of dung on the face of the ground shall they be.
3 Then shall death be chosen rather than life by all the remnant of them that remain, of this wicked family,—in all the places whither I have driven them, Declareth Yahweh of hosts.
4 Therefore shalt thou say unto them—Thus saith Yahweh, Will men fall and not arise? Will one turn away and not come back?
5 Wherefore hath this people of Jerusalem apostatised with an enduring apostacy,—Taken fast hold of deceit, Refused to come back?
6 I hearkened and heard—Not aright did they speak,—Not a man repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done! They have every one turned to their course again, Like a horse sweeping on through the battle.
7 Even the stork in the heavens knoweth her appointed times, And the turtle and the swallow and the crane observe the season for coming; But my people know not the just sentence of Yahweh.
8 How can ye say, Wise are we, And the law of Yahweh is with us? But indeed lo! falsely hath dealt the false pen of the scribes!
9 Ashamed are the wise, dismayed, and captured! Lo! the word of Yahweh have they rejected, And what wisdom have they?
10 Therefore will I give—Their wives to others, Their fields to such as shall take possession of them, For from the least even unto the greatest Every one is wholly given to extortion: From the prophet even unto the priest Every one dealeth falsely.
11 And so they have healed the grievous wound of the daughter of my people slightly,—Saying, Peace! peace! when there was no peace!
12 Were they led to turn pale because an abominable thing they had done? Nay! they did not at all turn pale, Nay! they did not so much as know how to exhibit shame! Therefore shall they fall among them who are falling, In the time when they are punished shall they be overthrown, Saith Yahweh:
13 I will surely remove them, Declareth Yahweh: There shall be no grapes on the vine Nor figs on the fig-tree, Even the leaf hath faded, Though I have given them [these things] they shall pass away from them.
14 Why are we sitting still? Gather yourselves together and let us enter the defenced cities And let us be silent there,—For Yahweh our God hath put us to silence And made us drink poisoned water, Because we have sinned against Yahweh.
15 A waiting For prosperity but no welfare,—For a time of healing but lo! terror.
16 From Dan was heard the snorting of his horses, At the sound of the neighing of his chargers the whole land trembled,—Yea they came in and did eat up The land and the fulness thereof, The city and them who were dwelling therein.
17 For behold me! sending among you serpents—vipers which there is no charming,—And they shall fatally bite you, Declareth Yahweh.
18 When I would have cheered myself against sorrow Against me mine own heart sickened:—
19 Lo! the voice of the cry for help of the daughter of my people from a land far away, Is Yahweh not in Zion? Is her King not within her? Why have they provoked me with their carved images, with their foreign vanities?
20 The harvest is passed, The fruit-gathering is ended; And we are not saved!
21 For the grievous injury of the daughter of my people I am grievously injured,—I am enshrouded in gloom, Horror hath seized me:—
22 Balsam is there none in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why hath not appeared the healing of the daughter of my people?
9 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!
2 Oh that I had in the wilderness a wayfarers’ lodge, That I might leave my people, and go from them,—For they all are Adulterers, An assemblage of traitors;
3 Who have prepared their tongue as their bow of falsehood, And not by faithfulness have they become mighty in the land,—For from wickedness unto wickedness have they gone forth, But me have they not known, Declareth Yahweh.
4 Every one of his neighbour beware ye, And in no brother may ye trust,—For every brother supplanteth! And every neighbour as a tale-bearer goeth about;
5 Yea every one of his neighbour maketh a dupe, And truth they do not speak,—They have taught their tongue to speak falsehood, In acting perversely they have wearied themselves.
6 Thy dwelling is in the midst of deceit,—Through deceit have they rejected the knowledge of me, Declareth Yahweh.
7 Therefore thus saith Yahweh of hosts, Behold me! melting them so will I try them,—For how else should I do because of the wickedness of the daughter of my people?
8 A pointed arrow is their tongue, Deceit hath it spoken,—With his mouth peace unto his neighbour doth one speak, But within himself he layeth his ambush.
9 For these things shall I not bring punishment on them? Demandeth Yahweh,—On a nation such as this must not my soul avenge herself?
10 Over the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing And over the oases of the desert a dirge, For they have been burned so that no man passeth through, Neither have men heard the lowing of cattle,—Both the bird of the heavens and the beast have fled, have gone their way:
11 Thus will I give up Jerusalem To heaps, A habitation for jackals,—And the cities of Judah will I give up to desolation without inhabitant.
12 Who is the man that is wise, That he may discern this? And unto whom hath the mouth of Yahweh spoken, That he may declare it? For what cause Hath the land perished, Hath it been burned as a wilderness, that no man passeth through?
13 Then said Yahweh,—Because they have forsaken my law, which I set before them,—And have not hearkened to my voice neither walked therein;
14 But have gone their way, After the stubbornness of their own heart,—And after the Baals which their fathers taught them
15 Therefore Thus saith Yahweh of hosts, The God of Israel, Behold me! Feeding them even this people with wormwood,—And I will cause them to drink poisoned water;
16 And will scatter them among the nations, which neither they nor their fathers have known,—And will send after them the sword, until I have consumed them.
17 Thus saith Yahweh of hosts, Consider ye diligently and call for the wailing women that they may come,—And unto the wise women send ye that they may come;
18 Yea let them make haste, and lift up over us a wailing,—That our eyes may run down with tears, And our eyelashes stream down with water;—
19 Yea a voice of wailing hath been heard out of Zion, How are we ruined! We have turned very pale For we have left the land, For they have cast down our habitations.
20 For hear, O ye women, the word of Yahweh, And let your ear take in the word of his mouth,—And teach your daughters a wail, Yea each woman—her neighbour a dirge:—
21 That death Hath come up through our windows, Hath entered our palaces,—Cutting off The boy from the street, The young men from the broadways.
22 Speak thou, Thus declareth Yahweh, So shall fall the dead bodies of men, Like dung heaps on the face of the field,—And like swaths after the harvestman With none to gather.
23 Thus saith Yahweh, 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;
24 But in this let the glorying one glory—In having intelligence and in knowing me, That I am Yahweh, Executing lovingkindness, justice and righteousness in the earth,—That in these things I delight, Declareth Yahweh.
25 Lo! days are coming, Declareth Yahweh,—When I will bring punishment upon every one circumcised With him that is uncircumcised:
26 Upon Egypt and upon Judah And upon Edom and upon the sons of Ammon And upon Moab, And upon all the clipped beards, The dwellers in the desert,—For all the nations are uncircumcised, And all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart.
10 Hear ye the word which Yahweh hath spoken unto you, O house of Israel:—
2 Thus saith Yahweh—Unto the way of the nations become not ye accustomed, Nor at the signs of the heavens be ye dismayed,—Because the nations are dismayed at them.
3 For as for the prescribed customs of the peoples vanity they are,—For a tree out of the forest one cutteth down, Work for the hands of a skilled workman with the axe:
4 With silver and with gold he decketh it,—With nails and with hammers they fasten them that it may not totter.
5 Mere palm-trunks turned they are and cannot speak, They must needs be carried for they cannot take a step,—Be not afraid of them for they cannot do harm, And even to do good is not in their power.
6 None there is like unto thee, O Yahweh,—Great art thou And great is thy Name for might.
7 Who would not revere thee, O King of nations? For thee doth it beseem; Forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations And throughout all their royal estate None there is like unto thee.
8 But at once do they become brutish and stupid,—An example of utmost vanity is a tree!
9 Silver spread into plates from Tarshish is brought And gold from Uphaz, Work for the craftsman and for the hands of the smith,—Blue and purple is their clothing, Work for the skilled are they all.
10 But Yahweh is God in truth, He is a God that liveth And a King of times age-abiding,—At his anger quaketh the earth, And nations cannot endure his wrath.
11 Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that made not the heavens And the earth Shall perish out of the earth And from under these heavens!
12 He that made the earth by his power, That established the world by his wisdom,—And by his understanding stretched out the heavens
13 At the voice that he uttered there was a tumult of waters in the heavens, And he caused vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth,—The lightnings for rain he made, And brought forth wind out of his treasuries.
14 Every son of earth hath become too brutish to discern, Every goldsmith hath been put to shame by a graven image,—For a falsehood is his molten image Seeing there is no breath in them.
15 Vanity they are, the handiwork of mockeries,—In the time of their visitation shall they perish.
16 Not like these is the portion of Jacob For the fashioner of all things is he, And Israel is his inherited sceptre,—Yahweh of hosts is his name.
17 Fold up from the ground thy travelling carpet,—O inhabitress of the fortress;
18 For thus saith Yahweh, Behold me! slinging out the inhabitants of the land at this throw,—And I will distress them that they may discover it.
19 Woe to me! for my grievous injury, Severe is my wound,—But I said, Verily this is an affliction and I must bear it:
20 My tent is laid waste, And all my tent-cords are broken,—My children are gone forth from me and they are not. There is none To stretch out any more my tent, Or to set up my curtains.
21 For the shepherds have become brutish, And Yahweh have they not sought,—For this cause have they not prospered, And all their flock is scattered.
22 The noise of a rumour! lo it hath come! Even a great commotion out of the land of the North,—To make the cities of Judah A desolation, A den of jackals.
23 I know, O Yahweh, That not to a son of earth pertaineth his own path,—Not to the man who walketh also to direct his own steps.
24 Chastise me, O Yahweh, But yet in measure,—Not in thine anger, lest thou make me few.
25 Pour out thy wrath—Upon the nations that know thee not, and Upon the families that upon thy Name have not called,—For they have devoured Jacob, Yea they have devoured him and consumed him, And his habitation have they made desolate.
11 The word that came unto Jeremiah from Yahweh saying:
2 Hear ye the words of this covenant,—and speak ye unto the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
3 and say thou unto them, Thus saith Yahweh, God of Israel,—Accursed is the man who will not hear the words of this covenant;
4 which I commanded your fathers—in the day when I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the smelting-pot of iron—saying, Hearken unto my voice and do them, According to all that I may command you,—So shall ye become my people, And I will become your God:
5 That the oath may be established which I sware to your fathers To give them a land flowing with milk and honey as at this day. Then answered I and said, Amen, O Yahweh!
6 And Yahweh said unto me,—Proclaim thou all these words throughout the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem saying,—Hear ye the words of this covenant, and do them,
7 For I solemnly took your fathers to witness in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt—even until this day, betimes taking them to witness saying,—Hearken ye unto my voice.
8 Howbeit they hearkened not neither inclined their ear, but walked severally in the stubbornness of their wicked heart,—so then I brought upon them all the words of this covenant which I commanded them to do but they did them not.
9 Yahweh therefore said unto me,—There is found a conspiracy among the men of Judah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem:
10 They have turned back unto the iniquities of their first fathers who refused to hear my words, yea they themselves have walked after other gods to serve them,—the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant which I solemnised with their fathers.
11 Therefore Thus saith Yahweh, Behold me! bringing upon them calamity which they shall not be able to escape,—and though they make outcry unto me yet will I not hearken unto them.
12 Then shall the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem go and make outcry unto the gods to whom they have been burning incense,—but they will not at all save them in the time of their calamity;
13 for according to the number of thy cities have become thy gods O Judah,—and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem have ye set up altars to the Shameful thing, altars for burning incense to Baal.
14 Thou therefore do not pray for this people, Neither lift thou up for them cry or prayer,—For I am not going to hear in the time that they cry unto me concerning their calamity.
15 Why hath the beloved in mine own house done an abomination? Shall vows and holy flesh take away from thee thy wickednesses, or shalt thou by these escape?
16 A green olive-tree fair with goodly fruit did Yahweh call thy name,—with the noise of a great tumult hath he kindled fire upon it, and the branches thereof shall be broken.
17 But Yahweh of hosts who planted thee hath pronounced against thee calamity,—on account of the wickedness of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah which they have wrought for themselves, provoking me to anger by burning incense to Baal.
18 Now when Yahweh let me know and I did know then didst thou shew me their doings.
19 But I was as a gentle lamb that is to be led to the slaughter,—and I knew not that against me they had devised devices [saying]—Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, Yea let us cut him off out of the land of the living, And his name shall be remembered no more!
20 But, O Yahweh of hosts, Who judgest righteously, Who triest affections and intellect,—Let me see thine avenging upon them, For unto thee have I revealed my cause.
21 Therefore Thus saith Yahweh, Concerning the men of Anathoth, who are seeking thy life saying,—Thou shalt not prophesy in the name of Yahweh, So shalt thou not die by our hand:—
22 Therefore Thus saith Yahweh of hosts,—Behold me! bringing punishment upon them, The young men shall die by the sword, Their sons and their daughters shall die by famine;
23 And remnant shall they have none,—For I will bring calamity against the men of Anathoth in the year of their visitation.
12 Righteous art thou, O Yahweh, when I present my pleading unto thee,—Yet concerning the things that are right let me speak with thee,—Wherefore hath the way of the lawless prospered? [Wherefore] have all utter traitors been at ease?
2 Thou didst plant them, yea they took root, They have gone on, yea they have borne fruit,—Near art thou in their mouth, But far off from their affections.
3 But thou, O Yahweh, knowest me, Wilt thou observe me and try my heart towards thee? Drag them away as sheep for slaughter, And hallow them for the day when they are to be slain.
4 How long shall the land mourn, And the herbage of the whole field wither? For the wickedness of them that dwell therein beast and bird have perished, For say they, He will not see our latter end!
5 If with the footmen thou hast run and they have wearied thee How then wilt thou hotly contend with horses? Though in a safe land thou art confident Yet how wilt thou deal with the proud banks of the Jordan?
6 For even thy brethren and the house of thy father Even they have betrayed thee, Even they have cried after thee with full voice,—Do not trust in them, though they speak unto thee fair words.
7 I have forsaken mine own house, I have given up mine inheritance,—I have delivered the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies:
8 Mine inheritance hath become to me as a lion in a jungle,—She hath given forth against me her voice, For this cause have I hated her.
9 Is it a variegated bird of prey that mine inheritance is to me? The birds of prey are round about against her! Go ye, assemble all the beasts of the field, bring them to devour.
10 Many shepherds have laid waste my vineyard, They have trampled down my portion,—They have turned my coveted portion into a desert of desolation:
11 It hath been made a desolation, It hath mourned unto me as desolate,—All the land hath become a desolation, For no man layeth it to heart.
12 On all the bare heights in the wilderness have come despoilers, For the sword of Yahweh hath devoured from one end of the land unto the other,—There is peace for no flesh!
13 They sowed wheat but thorns have they reaped, They have put themselves to pain, they shall not be profited,—Yea turn ye pale at your produce, Because of the glow of the anger of Yahweh.
14 Thus saith Yahweh Concerning all my wicked neighbours, who have been touching the inheritance which I gave as an inheritance unto my people Israel,—Behold me! uprooting them from off their own soil, Whereas the house of Judah will I uproot out of their midst.
15 And it shall come to pass after I have uprooted them I will again have compassion upon them,—and will bring them back—Every man—to his own inheritance and Every man—to his own land.
16 And it shall come to pass—If they will diligently learn the ways of my people—To swear by my Name [saying], By the life of Yahweh, As they taught my people to swear by Baal Then shall they be built in the midst of my people.
17 But if they will not hearken Then will I Uproot that nation, Uproot that I may destroy,—Declareth Yahweh.
13 Thus said Yahweh unto me,—Go and buy for thyself a linen girdle, and put upon thy loins,—but in water shalt thou not place it.
2 So I bought a girdle according to the word of Yahweh,—and put upon my loins.
3 Then came the word of Yahweh unto me a second time saying:
4 Take the girdle which thou hast bought, which is upon thy loins,—and arise, go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole of the cliff.
5 So I went, and hid it by the Euphrates, as Yahweh had commanded me.
6 And it came to pass at the end of many days,—that Yahweh said unto me,—Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take from thence the girdle, which I commanded thee to hide there.
7 So I went to the Euphrates, and digged and took the girdle out of the place where I had hidden it,—and lo! the girdle was spoiled, it was good for nothing.
8 Then came the word of Yahweh unto me saying:
9 Thus saith Yahweh,—After this manner will I spoil the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem.
10 This wicked people who are refusing to hear my words, who are walking in the stubbornness of their heart, and have gone after other gods, to serve them and to bow down to them yea let them be like this girdle, which is good for nothing.
11 For as a girdle cleaveth unto the loins of a man so caused I to cleave unto me—the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, Declareth Yahweh, to become mine—For a people, and For a name and For a praise and For an adorning,—but they hearkened not.
12 Therefore shalt thou say unto them this word—Thus saith Yahweh, God of Israel, Every jar is to be filled with wine; and they will say unto thee, Do we not know well that every jar is to be filled with wine?
13 Then shalt thou say unto them—Thus saith Yahweh—Behold me! filling all the inhabitants of this land—Even the kings that are sitting for David upon his throne and the priests and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem—with drunkenness;
14 and I will dash them every man against his brother, even the fathers and the sons together, Declareth Yahweh,—I will not pity Neither will I spare Neither will I have compassion that I should not destroy them.
15 Hear ye and give ear, be not haughty,—For Yahweh hath spoken.
16 Give ye to Yahweh your God—glory, Before he cause darkness, and Before your feet stumble upon the twilight mountains; Lest when ye wait for light He turn it into the shadow of death, And change it for thick darkness.
17 But if ye will not hear it In secret places shall my soul weep Because of the pride,—And mine eye shall flow over and run down with tears, Because captive hath been taken the flock of Yahweh.
18 Say thou to the king and to the queen-mother, Abase yourselves—Sit down,—For descended have your Head-tires, your Crown of adornment.
19 The cities of the South are shut And there is none to open,—Judah hath been carried away captive, She hath altogether been carried away captive in full number.
20 Lift up your eyes and see Them who are coming in from the North,—Where is The flock that was given thee, Thy beautiful flock?
21 What wilt thou say when he shall bring punishment upon thee, Since thou thyself hast accustomed them to be over thee as friends in chief? Shall not pangs seize thee, as of a woman in childbirth?
22 But if thou say in thy heart, Wherefore have these things befallen me? For the greatness of thine iniquity have Thy skirts been turned aside, Thy heels suffered violence!
23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin, Or the leopard his spots? Even ye may be able to do right, Who are accustomed to do wrong.
24 Therefore have I scattered them As broken straw passing away by the wind of the desert.
25 This is thy lot, Thy measured portion from me, Declareth Yahweh; For that thou didst forget me, And confide in falsehood:
26 Therefore even I myself have drawn away thy skirts over thy face, And thy shame hath been seen.
27 Thine adulteries and thy neighings, thine unchaste wickedness Upon the hills in the field I have seen thine abominations! Woe to thee, O Jerusalem, Wilt thou not become pure? After how long yet?
14 So much of the word of Yahweh as came unto Jeremiah, concerning the matter of the drought:—
2 Judah mourneth, And the gates thereof pine They lie in gloom on the ground,—And the outcry of Jerusalem hath ascended;
3 And their nobles have sent their menials to the waters,—They have been to the pits, They have found no water, They have returned their vessels empty, They are pale and ashamed and have covered their heads.
4 Because the ground is cracked, For there hath been no rain in the land The plowmen are pale, They have covered their heads.
5 For even the hind of the field hath calved and forsaken, Because there is no young herbage;
6 Yea wild asses stand still on the bare heights, They pant for air like jackals,—Dimmed are their eyes Because there is no grass.
7 Though our iniquities have testified against us O Yahweh, effectually work thou for the sake of thy Name,—For our apostacies have abounded, Against thee have we sinned.
8 Thou Hope of Israel, His Saviour in the time of distress,—Wherefore shouldst thou be as a sojourner in the land? Or as a wayfarer who hath turned aside to lodge for the night?
9 Wherefore shouldst thou be as a man astounded, As a mighty man who cannot save? Yet thou art in our midst—O Yahweh, And thy Name on us hath been called, Do not abandon us!
10 Thus saith Yahweh To this people, In this way have they loved to wander, Their feet have they not restrained,—Yahweh therefore hath not accepted them, Now will he call to mind their iniquity,—That he may punish their sins.
11 And Yahweh said unto me,—Do not pray for this people for blessing;
12 Though they fast I am not going to hearken unto their loud cry, and Though they offer ascending-sacrifice and meal-offering I am not going to accept them,—For with sword and with famine and with pestilence am I about to consume them.
13 Then said I, Ah, My Lord Yahweh! Lo! the prophets are saying to them—Ye shall not see the sword And famine shall ye not have,—For prosperity in truth will I give you, in this place.
14 So then Yahweh said unto me, Falsehood are the prophets prophesying in my name, I have not sent them Neither have I commanded them, Neither have I spoken unto them,—A vision of falsehood and A divination of worthlessness and A fraud of their own hearts They are prophesying unto you.
15 Therefore Thus saith Yahweh concerning the prophets who are prophesying in my Name though I sent them not, and yet they have been saying, Neither sword nor famine shall there be in this land,—By sword or by famine shall those prophets be consumed;
16 And the people to whom they have been prophesying shall be getting cast out into the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword, and of there being none to give burial unto them, them, their wives nor their sons nor their daughters,—So will I pour out upon them their own wickedness.
17 Therefore shalt thou say unto them this word, Let mine eyes run down with tears night and day And let them not rest,—For with a grievous injury hath been injured the virgin, the daughter of my people, With a wound severe indeed!
18 If I have gone out into the field Then lo! the slain of the sword! And if I have entered the city Then lo! the diseases of famine! For both prophet and priest have trafficked against the land unnoticed.
19 Hast thou utterly rejected Judah? Zion itself hath thy soul loathed? Why hast thou smitten us so that there is for us no healing? A waiting For prosperity, but no welfare, and For a time of healing but lo! terror!
20 We acknowledge, O Yahweh, Our own lawlessness, The iniquity of our fathers,—For we have sinned against thee.
21 Do not despise—for the sake of thy Name, Do not treat with contempt—the throne of thy glory,—Remember!—do not break thy covenant with us.
22 Are there among the vanities of the nations senders of rain? Or can the heavens themselves give myriad drops? Art not thou he, O Yahweh our God? Therefore will we wait for thee, For thou hast made all these.
15 Then said Yahweh unto me, Though Moses and Samuel should stand before me My soul could not be toward this people,—Send them away from before me And let them go forth.
2 And it shall come to pass when they say unto thee, Whither shall we go? Then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith Yahweh—Such as are for death to death, and Such as are for the sword to the sword, and Such as are for famine to the famine, and Such as are for captivity to captivity.
3 And I will set in charge over them—four species, Declareth Yahweh—The sword to slay, and The dogs to trail along,—and The bird of the heavens and The beast of the earth to devour and to destroy.
4 And I will make them a terror, to all the kingdoms of the earth,—On account of Manasseh son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, For what he did in Jerusalem.
5 For who shall have pity upon thee, O Jerusalem? And who shall lament for thee? And who shall turn aside to ask for thy welfare?
6 Thou hast abandoned me, Declareth Yahweh, Backward thou wilt go,—Therefore have I stretched forth my hand against thee and laid thee waste,—I am weary of having compassion.
7 Therefore have I winnowed them with a winnowing shovel in the gates of the land,—I have bereaved—I have destroyed my people, From their own ways have they not returned.
8 Their widows have become multiplied to me beyond the sand of the seas, I have brought against them—upon the mother of young men—the spoiler in the broad noon,—I have let fall upon her suddenly excitement and terrors.
9 Languisheth! she who had given birth to seven, She hath breathed out her life, Her sun hath gone in while yet it was day, She hath turned pale and hath turned red,—And the remnant of them to the sword will I deliver before their enemies, Declareth Yahweh.
10 Woe to me! my mother That thou didst bear me, A man of litigation and a man of contention to all the land,—I have not lent on interest Nor have they lent on interest to me, Every one hath treated me with contempt.
11 Said Yahweh,—Verily I will loose thee for good! Verily I will intercede for thee In the time of calamity and In the time of distress with the enemy!
12 Shall iron crush the iron from the North and the bronze?
13 Thy substance and thy treasures—for a prey will I give without price,—Even for all thy sins and in all thy bounds:
14 Therefore will I make thee pass with thine enemies into a land thou knowest not,—For a fire hath been kindled in mine anger, Upon you shall it burn.
15 Thou knowest—O Yahweh, Remember me and visit me and avenge me upon my persecutors, Do not of thy longsuffering take me away,—Know—I have borne for thy sake reproach.
16 Thy words were found and I did eat them, Then became thy words unto me the joy and gladness of my heart,—For thy Name hath been called upon me, O Yahweh, God of hosts!
17 I sat not in the circle of mockers Nor became I uproarious,—Because of thy hand by myself did I sit, For with indignation hadst thou filled me.
18 Wherefore hath my pain become perpetual? And my wound incurable? Refuseth to be healed? Wilt thou indeed be to me [As a brook] that disappointeth, Waters that cannot be trusted?
19 Wherefore Thus saith Yahweh—If thou wouldst return I will cause thee to return, Before me shalt thou stand, Yea if thou wilt bring out the precious from among the vile As mine own mouth shalt thou be,—Let them return unto thee, But thou shalt not return unto them;
20 So will I make thee to this people a wall of bronze fortified, When they fight against thee they shall not prevail against thee,—For with thee am I to save thee and to deliver thee, Declareth Yahweh;
21 Thus will I deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked,—And redeem thee out of the grasp of the tyrants.
16 And the word of Yahweh came unto me saying:
2 Thou shall not take to thee a wife,—Neither shalt thou have sons or daughters, in this place.
3 For Thus saith Yahweh Concerning the sons and concerning the daughters that are being born in this place,—and concerning their mothers who do bear them, and concerning their fathers who do beget them in this land
4 Of deaths from diseases shall they die, They shall not be lamented Neither shall they be buried, As heaps of dung on the face of the ground shall they serve,—Yea by sword and by famine shall they be consumed, And their dead bodies shall become food—To the bird of the heavens and To the beast of the earth.
5 For Thus saith Yahweh—Do not thou enter into the house of crying, Neither do thou go to lament, nor do thou bemoan for them,—For I have withdrawn my blessing from this people, Declareth Yahweh. Both lovingkindness and compassion.
6 So shall great and small die in this land, They shall not be buried,—Neither shall men lament for them Nor cut themselves, Nor make themselves bald for them;
7 Neither shall they break bread to them in mourning To console one over his dead,—Nor cause them to drink the cup of consolation, Over one’s father Or over one’s mother;
8 And the house of banqueting shall thou not enter To sit with them, To eat and to drink.
9 For Thus saith Yahweh of hosts God of Israel,—Behold me! causing to cease out of this place Before your eyes And in your days, The voice of joy and the voice of gladness, The voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride,
10 And it shall be when thou shalt declare to this people, all these words,—and they shall say unto thee—For what reason hath Yahweh pronounced against us all this great calamity? Or what is our iniquity or what our sin, which we have sinned against Yahweh our God?
11 Then shalt thou say unto them,—For that your fathers forsook me, Declareth Yahweh, And walked after other gods, and served them and bowed down to them,—Whereas me they forsook And my law kept they not;
12 And ye have done more wickedly than your fathers,—for look at you! walking every man after the stubbornness of his wicked heart, so as not to hearken unto me
13 Therefore will I hurl you forth from off this land, unto a land which ye have not known, ye nor your fathers,—and ye can serve there other gods day and night, in that I will grant you no favour.
14 Therefore lo! days are coming Declareth Yahweh, When it shall be said no more, By the life of Yahweh, who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt; but——
15 By the life of Yahweh, who hath brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of the North, and out of all the lands whither he had driven them,—So will I bring them back upon their own soil, which I gave to their fathers.
16 Behold me! sending for many fishers, Declareth Yahweh, And they shall catch them,—and thereafter will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from off every mountain and from off every hill, and out of the clefts of the crags.
17 For mine own eyes are upon all their ways, they have not been hid from my face,—neither hath their iniquity been concealed from being straight before mine eyes.
18 Thus will I recompense first twofold their iniquity and their sin, because of their profaning my land,—with the carcase of their disgusting and detestable things have they filled mine inheritance.
19 O Yahweh, my strength and my refuge and my place to fly to in the day of distress,—Unto thee shall nations come in out of the ends of the earth, that they may say—Surely! Falsehood did our fathers inherit, Vanity, among whom is none that can profit:
20 Shall a son of earth make for himself gods Seeing that they are no-gods?
21 Therefore behold me! causing them to know, by this stroke, I will cause them to know my hand and my might,—That they may know that my name is Yahweh!
17 The sin of Judah is written With a stylus of iron, With the point of a diamond: It is engraved Upon the tablet of their heart, And upon the horns of your altars;
2 So long as their sons remember their altars, and their Sacred Stems By the green tree,—Upon the high hills.
3 O my mountain in the field! Thy substance, all thy treasures for a prey will I give: Thy high places for sin within all thy bounds.
4 So shalt thou, even of thyself, suffer to rest the inheritance which I gave thee, Seeing that I will cause thee to serve thine enemies, in the land which thou knowest not; For a fire have ye kindled in mine anger, Unto times age-abiding shall it burn.
5 Thus saith Yahweh—Accursed is the man—Who trusteth in a son of earth, And hath made flesh his arm,—And whose heart from Yahweh turneth aside:
6 Therefore shall he become as a shrub in the waste plain, Neither shall he perceive when good cometh,—But shall inhabit Parched places in a wilderness, A land of salt that cannot be dwelt in.
7 Blessed is the man Who trusteth in Yahweh, To whom Yahweh is his ground of confidence;
8 For he shall become like a tree planted by waters And by a stream shall he send out his roots, Neither shall he perceive when heat cometh, But his leaf shall continue green; Even in a year of dearth shall he not be anxious, Neither shall he cease from bearing fruit.
9 Deceitful is the heart above all things And dangerously wayward,—Who can know it?
10 I—Yahweh Searching the heart, Testing the affections; And giving to every man According to his way, According to the fruit of his doings.
11 [As] a partridge gathereth eggs she did not lay, [So] is he that maketh riches but not with justice,—In the midst of his days shall he leave them, And in his latter end prove to have been base.
12 A throne of glory exalted from the beginning hath been the place of our sanctuary.
13 Thou hope of Israel Yahweh, All who forsake thee shall turn pale,—Yea all who depart from me in the ground shall be written, For they have forsaken a fountain of living water, even Yahweh.
14 Heal thou me, O Yahweh, that I may be healed, Save me that I may be saved,—For my praise thou art!
15 Lo! they are saying unto me,—Where is the word of Yahweh? Pray thee let it come to pass!
16 But as for me I have neither forced myself away from tending the flock after thee Nor yet for the woful day have I longed—thou knowest,—That which came out of my lips before thy face was uttered.
17 Do not thou become to me a terror,—My refuge art thou in the day of calamity.
18 Let my persecutors turn pale but let not me turn pale, Let them be terrified but let not me be terrified,—Bring thou upon them a day of calamity, And with a double fracture destroy them.
19 Thus said Yahweh unto me—Go and stand in the gate of the sons of the people, through which the kings of Judah enter in, and through which they come out,—also in all the gates of Jerusalem.
20 Then shalt thou say unto them—Hear ye the word of Yahweh, Ye kings of Judah and all Judah, And all ye inhabitants of Jerusalem,—who enter in through these gates:
21 Thus saith Yahweh, Take heed unto your souls,—And do not bear any burden on the sabbath day, Nor bring it in through the gates of Jerusalem,—
22 Neither shall ye take forth any burden out of your houses on the sabbath day, Nor any manner of work shall ye do,—But ye shall hallow the sabbath day, As I commanded your fathers.
23 Howbeit they hearkened not, neither inclined their ear,—but stiffened their neck, that they might not hearken, neither receive correction.
24 And it shall come to pass,—If ye will indeed hearken unto me, Declareth Yahweh, To bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the sabbath day,—But to hallow the sabbath day, by not doing thereon any manner of work
25 Then shall enter in through the gates of this city Kings and princes Sitting on the throne of David, Riding in chariots and on horses, They and their princes, The men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, And this city shall remain unto times age-abiding.
26 And they shall come in—Out of the cities of Judah and Out of the places round about Jerusalem and Out of the land of Benjamin and Out of the lowlands and out of the hill country and Out of the South, Bringing in ascending-offering and peace-offering and meal-offering and frankincense,—Even they who bring in a thankoffering into the house of Yahweh.
27 But if ye will not hearken unto me—To hallow the sabbath day, And to bear no burden and bring in through the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day Then will I kindle a fire within her gates And it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem And shall not be quenched.
18 The word that came unto Jeremiah from Yahweh saying:
2 Arise and go down to the house of the potter,—and there will I cause thee to hear my words.
3 So I went down to the house of the potter,—and there he was! making a piece of work on the wheels.
4 Then was marred the vessel that he was making, while yet it was clay in the hand of the potter,—so he turned and made of it another vessel, as seemed right in the eyes of the potter to make it.
5 Then came the word of Yahweh unto me, saying:
6 Like this potter can I not deal with you, O house of Israel? Demandeth Yahweh: Lo! as clay in the hand of the potter So are ye in my hand O house of Israel.
7 The moment I speak, concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom,—to pull up and to break down and to destroy;
8 and that nation return from its wickedness against whom I have spoken then will I repent concerning the calamity which I had devised to bring upon it.
9 And the moment I speak, concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom,—to build and to plant;
10 and it commit wickedness in mine eyes, in not hearkening unto my voice then will I repent concerning the good wherewith I had said I would do it good.
11 Now therefore, I pray thee, speak unto the men of Judah and concerning the inhabitants of Jerusalem saying, Thus saith Yahweh,—Lo! I am fashioning against you calamity, and devising against you a device,—Return, I pray you, every man from his wicked way, And amend your ways and your doings.
12 And since they will say, Hopeless! For after our own devices will we walk, And every one the stubbornness of his own wicked heart will we do!
13 Therefore Thus saith Yahweh, Ask, I pray you, among the nations,—Who hath heard such things as these? A very horrible thing hath the virgin Israel done!
14 Shall the snow of Lebanon fail from the rock of the field? Or shall waters from afar deep overflowing be dried up?
15 Yet my people have forgotten me, Unto vanity have they been burning incense; And it hath caused them to stumble In their ways, The roads of age-past times, To walk in by-paths—A way not cast up.
16 To make their land a desolation, The hissings of age-abiding times,—Every one that passeth by her shall be astonished and wag his head.
17 Like an east wind will I scatter them before the enemy,—The back and not the face will I let them see in the day of their distress.
18 Then said they,—Come ye and let us devise against Jeremiah devices, 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 ear to any of his words!
19 Give thou ear, O Yahweh, unto me,—And hearken unto the voice of mine accusers.
20 Shall evil be recompensed for good? For they have digged a pit for my life,—Remember how I stood before thee To speak in their behalf what was good! To turn back thine indignation from them.
21 Therefore give thou up their sons to the famine And deliver them into the hands of the sword, And let their wives become childless and widows, And let their men be slain by death, Their young men be smitten by the sword in battle.
22 Let there be heard a cry out of their houses, When thou shalt bring in upon them a troop suddenly,—Because they digged a pit to capture me, And snares did they hide for my feet.
23 But thou O Yahweh knowest all their counsels against me to put me to death, Put thou no propitiatory-covering over their iniquity, And their sin from before thee do not thou blot out,—But let them be overthrown before thee, In the time of thine anger deal thou effectively with them.
19 Thus said Yahweh, Go and buy a potter’s earthen bottle,—and [take] of the elders of the people, and of the elders of the priests;
2 Then shalt thou go forth into the valley of Ben-hinnom, which is at the opening of the gate of potsherds; and proclaim there the words which I shall speak unto thee;
3 and shalt say,—Hear ye the word of Yahweh, O kings of Judah And inhabitants of Jerusalem,—Thus saith Yahweh of hosts—God of Israel, Behold me! bringing in calamity upon this place, which shall cause the ears of every one that heareth it to tingle:
4 Because they have forsaken me, And have treated this as a foreign place, And have burned incense therein to other gods, which neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah have known; And have filled this place with the blood of innocents;
5 And have built the high places of Baal for burning up their sons in the fire as ascending-sacrifices to Baal,—Which I commanded not Nor spake, Neither came it up on my heart
6 Therefore lo! days coming Declareth Yahweh, When this place shall be called no longer The Topheth or The Valley of Ben-hinnom,—but—The Valley of Slaughter;
7 And I will pour out 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 hand of them who seek their life,—And I will give their dead bodies for food, to the bird of the heavens and to the beast of the earth;
8 And I will make this city a desolation and a hissing,—every one that passeth by it shall be astonished and hiss over all her wounds;
9 And I will suffer them to eat the flesh of their sons, and the flesh of their daughters, yea every one—the flesh of his friend will they eat,—in the siege and in the straitness, wherewith their enemies and they who seek their lives will straiten them.
10 Then shalt thou break the bottle, before the eyes of the men who are walking with thee;
11 and shalt say unto them—Thus saith Yahweh of hosts—Thus and thus will I break this people and this city, As one breaketh the vessel of a potter, which cannot be made whole any more,—And in Topheth shall they bury, for want of place to bury.
12 Thus will I do to this place, Declareth Yahweh, And to the inhabitants thereof,—Even making this city like Topheth:
13 Yea the houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah shall like the place of Topheth be places defiled,—even all the houses upon whose roofs they burned incense to all the host of the heavens, and poured out drink-offerings to other gods.
14 Then entered Jeremiah out of Topheth, whither Yahweh had sent him to prophesy,—and stood in the court of the house of Yahweh, and said unto all the people:
15 Thus saith Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, Behold me! bringing in against this city and upon all the cities thereof, The whole calamity which I have pronounced against her,—Because they stiffened their neck, that they might not hear my words.
20 And when Pashhur son of Immer the priest, who also was deputy-overseer in the house of Yahweh, heard that Jeremiah had prophesied these things
2 then Pashhur smote Jeremiah the prophet,—and put him in the stocks that were in the upper gate of Benjamin, which was in the house of Yahweh.
3 And it came to pass on the morrow, when Pashhur brought forth Jeremiah out of the stocks—that Jeremiah said unto him—Not Pashhur hath Yahweh called thy name, But Mâgôr-miṣṣaviv [“Terror-round-about”].
4 For Thus saith Yahweh—Behold me! making thee a [mâgôr, i.e. a] terror to thyself and to all who love thee, and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, thine own eyes also beholding. And all Judah will I deliver into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will carry them captive to Babylon and smite them with the sword.
5 And I will deliver up—All the wealth of this city, and All her labour and All her precious things,—And all the treasures of the kings of Judah will I deliver up into the hands of their enemies, and they will make of them a prey and take them, and carry them into Babylon.
6 And thou, Pashhur, and all who are dwelling in thy house shall go into captivity,—Yea into Babylon shalt thou enter And there shalt thou die And there shalt thou be buried, Thou and all who love thee, to whom thou hast prophesied falsely.
7 Thou didst persuade me, O Yahweh, and I was persuaded, Thou didst lay firm hold on me and didst prevail,—I am become a mockery all the day, Every one is laughing at me.
8 For as often as I speak I make outcry, Violence and wasting I proclaim,—Yea the word of Yahweh hath become to me a reproach and derision all the day.
9 Therefore I say—I will not mention him Neither will I speak any more in his name, But then it becometh in my heart as a fire that burneth, Shut up in my bones,—And I am weary of restraint and cannot refrain.
10 Because I have heard the whispering of many—“A terror round about!” Tell ye [say they] that we may tell of him, All the men I am wont to salute do watch for my halting,—Peradventure he will be persuaded and we shall prevail over him, and take our vengeance upon him.
11 But Yahweh is with me as a mighty one striking terror, For this cause shall my persecutors stumble and not prevail,—They have turned very pale For they have not prospered, Confusion age-abiding it shall not be forgotten!
12 But, O Yahweh of hosts—Testing the righteous, Beholding the affections and the heart,—Let me see thine avenging upon them, For unto thee have I laid bare my cause.
13 Sing ye to Yahweh! Praise ye Yahweh! For he hath delivered the soul of the needy out of the hand of evildoers.
14 Accursed be the day on which I was born,—The day when my mother bare me let it not be blessed!
15 Accursed be the man who carried tidings to my father saying, There is born to thee a man-child! Making him very glad:
16 Yea let that man be—as the cities which Yahweh overthrew and repented not,—And let him hear An outcry in the morning, and A war-shout at broad noon!
17 Because I was not slain from the womb,—Nor did my mother become my grave, Nor was her womb great for ever!
18 Wherefore was it—That from the womb I came forth, to see labour and pain; and That in shame should my days be consumed!
21 The word which came unto Jeremiah from Yahweh,—when King Zedekiah sent unto him Pashhur son of Malchiah, and Zephaniah son of Maaseiah the priest, saying:
2 Enquire for us, I pray thee, of Yahweh, in that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon maketh war against us,—Peradventure Yahweh will deal with us according to all his wonders, so that he go up from us.
3 Then said Jeremiah unto them,—Thus shall ye say unto Zedekiah:
4 Thus saith Yahweh, God of Israel—Behold me! turning back the weapons of war that are in your hand, wherewith ye are fighting the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans, who are besieging you outside the wall,—and I will gather them into the midst of this city.
5 And I myself will fight against you, with a hand outstretched and with an arm of strength,—and with anger and with wrath and with great indignation;
6 and I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast,—of a great pestilence shall they die.
7 And after that Declareth Yahweh—Will I deliver Zedekiah king of Judah and his servants and the people—even 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, even into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them who are seeking their life,—and he will smite them with the edge of the sword, he will not have pity on them nor will he spare nor will he have compassion.
8 And unto this people shalt thou say, Thus saith Yahweh,—Behold me! setting before you the way of life and the way of death:
9 He that remaineth in this city shall die—by the sword or by the famine or by the pestilence,—Whereas he that goeth forth and falleth unto the Chaldeans who are besieging you—then shall he live, and his life shall become to him a spoil;
10 For I have set my face against this city for calamity and not for blessing, Declareth Yahweh,—Into the hand of the king of Babylon shall it be given up and he will burn it with fire.
11 Now as to the house of the king of Judah—hear ye the word of Yahweh:—
12 O house of David! Thus saith Yahweh, Administer justice betimes, And deliver the robbed out of the hand of the oppressor,—Lest mine indignation come forth like fire And burn and there be none to quench it, Because of the wickedness of your doings.
13 Behold me! against thee, O thou dweller in the vale, on the level rock, Declareth Yahweh,—Ye who are saying, Who shall come down upon us? Who shall enter our habitations?
14 Yet will I bring punishment upon you according to the fruit of your doings, Declareth Yahweh,—and will kindle a fire in her forest, and it shall devour all things round about her.
22 Thus said Yahweh, Go thou down to the house of king of Judah, and speak thou there this word,
2 and say—Hear thou the word of Yahweh, O king of Judah, who sittest upon the throne of David,—thou and thy servants and thy people who enter in at these gates
3 Thus saith Yahweh,—Execute ye justice and righteousness, And deliver the robbed out of the hand of the oppressor,—But the sojourner, the fatherless and the widow do not oppress neither commit violence, And the blood of the innocent do not ye shed in this place.
4 For if ye indeed do this thing then shall there enter into the gates of this house—kings sitting for David upon his throne riding in chariots and on horses, he and his servants and his people.
5 But if ye will not hear these words By myself have I sworn Declareth Yahweh—That a ruin shall this house become.
6 For Thus saith Yahweh Concerning the house of the king of Judah,—Though thou wast Gilead to me The summit of Lebanon Yet surely I will make thee, A wilderness, Cities not habitable;
7 And I will hallow against thee Destroyers, Every man with his weapons,—And they shall cut down of the choicest of thy cedars, and cast upon the fire.
8 Then shall many nations pass by this city,—and shall say every man to his neighbour, For what cause hath Yahweh done thus unto this great city?
9 And they shall say, Because they forsook the covenant of Yahweh their God,—And bowed down to other gods And served them.
10 Do not ye lament for him that is dead Neither bemoan ye him, But weep ye—weep on—for him that is going away, For he shall not return any more Nor see the land of his birth.
11 For Thus saith Yahweh—Touching Shallum son of Josiah king of Judah That reigneth instead of Josiah his father, Who hath gone forth out of this place, He shall not return thither any more;
12 For in the place whither they have taken him captive There shall he die,—And this land shall he see no more.
13 Alas! for him who buildeth His house without righteousness, And his roof-chambers without justice,—Of his neighbour taketh service for nought, And recompense for his work giveth him not.
14 Who saith—I will build me a roomy house, with spacious roof-chambers,—So he cutteth him open its windows, And it is covered in with cedar And he painteth it with vermilion.
15 Shalt thou reign because thou art eager to excel in cedar? Thy father did he not eat and drink and do justice and righteousness, And then it was well with him?
16 [Did he not] plead the cause of the oppressed and the needy And then it was well? Was not that to know me? Demandeth Yahweh.
17 Verily thou hast neither eyes nor heart save for thy plundering and for thy shedding of innocent blood and for oppression and for crushing to do them!
18 Therefore—Thus saith Yahweh, Touching Jehoiakim son of Josiah King of Judah They shall not cry in lament for him Alas my brother! or Alas sister! They shall not cry in lament for him Alas lord! or Alas! his renown!
19 With the burial of an ass shall he be buried,—Dragged along and cast forth, beyond the gates of Jerusalem.
20 Ascend the Lebanon and make outcry, And in Bashan put forth thy voice,—And make outcry from Abarim, For all thy lovers are torn in pieces.
21 I spake unto thee in thy carelessness,—Thou saidst, I will not hearken! This hath been thy way from thy youth, That thou hast not hearkened to my voice.
22 All thy shepherds the wind shall feed, And thy lovers into captivity shall depart,—Surely then shalt thou turn pale and be confounded, by reason of all thy wickedness.
23 O inhabitress of Lebanon that makest thy nest in the cedars,—How hast thou bemoaned thyself Now that pangs have overtaken thee, Anguish as of her that giveth birth.
24 As I live Declareth Yahweh,—Even though Coniah son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet-ring upon my right hand yet from thence would I pull thee off;
25 and I would give thee into the hand of them who seek thy life and into the hand of them from the face of whom thou dost shrink in fear,—even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of the Chaldeans;
26 and I will hurl thee out and thy mother who bare thee, upon another land where ye were not born,—and there shall ye die.
27 But unto the land whither they shall be lifting up their souls to return thither shall they not return.
28 An earthen vessel to be despised, thrown about is this man Coniah? Or an instrument in which is no pleasure? Wherefore are they to be cast out, he and his seed, and to be thrown forth upon a land which they have not known?
29 O land, land, land! Hear thou the word of Yahweh!
30 Thus saith Yahweh,—Register ye this man childless, A man who shall not prosper in his days,—For there shall prosper of his seed No man sitting upon the throne of David, Or ruling any more over Judah.
23 Alas for the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture, Declareth Yahweh.
2 Therefore Thus saith Yahweh, God of Israel, Concerning the shepherds who are tending my people,—Ye have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and have not visited them,—Behold me! visiting upon you the wickedness of your doings, Declareth Yahweh.
3 I myself therefore will gather the remnant of my flock, out of all the lands whither I have driven them,—And will bring them back unto their own fold And they shall be fruitful and multiply;
4 And I will raise up over them shepherds who will tend them,—So shall they not be afraid any more nor be dismayed nor be missing, Declareth Yahweh.
5 Lo! days are coming, Declareth Yahweh, when I will raise up to David A righteous Bud And he shall reign as king and prosper, And shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.
6 In his days Shall Judah be saved, And Israel abide securely,—And this is his name whereby he shall be called, Yahweh our Righteousness.
7 Therefore lo! days are coming, Declareth Yahweh, When it shall not be said any more, As Yahweh liveth who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt;
8 but—As Yahweh liveth who hath brought up and who hath brought in the seed of the house of Israel out of the land of the North, and out of all the lands whither I have driven them,—And they shall remain upon their own soil.
9 As for the prophets—Broken is my heart within me, Trembled have all my bones, I have become as a drunken man, And as a strong man whom wine hath overcome,—Because of Yahweh And because of his holy words.
10 For with adulterers is the land filled, Yea because of cursing doth the land mourn, Dried up are the oases of the desert,—And their oppression hath become wicked, And their might is not right.
11 For both prophet and priest are profane,—Even in my house have I found their wickedness, Declareth Yahweh.
12 Therefore shall their way become to them like slippery places in darkness, They shall be driven on and shall fall therein,—For I will bring in upon them calamity—The year of their visitation, Declareth Yahweh.
13 Even among the prophets of Samaria had I seen a foolish thing,—They prophesied by Baal, And led astray my people Israel.
14 But among the prophets of Jerusalem have I seen a horrible thing,—Committing adultery And walking in falsehood And so strengthening the hands of doers of wickedness, not to return any man from his wickedness: They have all of them become to me as Sodom, And her inhabitants as Gomorrah.
15 Therefore Thus saith Yahweh of hosts Concerning the prophets,—Behold me! Feeding them with wormwood, And I will cause them to drink poisoned water,—For from the prophets of Jerusalem hath there gone forth profanity unto all the land.
16 Thus saith Yahweh of hosts,—Do not hearken unto the words of the prophets who are prophesying unto you, They are filling you with vain hopes,—The vision of their own hearts do they speak, Not from the mouth of Yahweh!
17 They keep on saying to them who despise me, Yahweh hath spoken [saying] Prosperity shall ye have! And to every one who is going on in the stubbornness of his own heart have they said, There shall come on you no calamity;
18 For who hath stood in the council of Yahweh, that he should see and hear his word? Who hath given ear to his word and heard it?
19 Lo! the tempest of Yahweh! Indignation hath come forth, Even a tempest whirling along: On the head of the lawless shall it hurl itself down.
20 The anger of Yahweh wilt not return, Until he hath executed nor Until he hath established The purposes of his heart,—In the afterpart of the days shall ye understand it perfectly.
21 I sent not the prophets yet they ran, I spake not unto them yet they prophesied.
22 But if they had stood in my council Then might they have announced my words unto my people, And have turned them from their wicked way and from the wickedness of their doings.
23 Am I a God at hand, Demandeth Yahweh, And not a God afar off?
24 Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? Demandeth Yahweh,—The heavens and the earth do I not fill? Demandeth Yahweh.
25 I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy in my name falsely saying,—I have dreamed! I have dreamed!
26 How long shall it be in the heart of the prophets [To be] prophets of falsehood,—And prophets of the deceit of their own heart?
27 Who lay a plot to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they relate every man to his neighbour,—Just as their fathers forgat my name for Baal.
28 The prophet with whom is a dream Let him relate it as a dream, And he with whom is my word Let him speak my word as truth,—What is the chaff to the wheat? Demandeth Yahweh:
29 Is not my word like this, Like fire? Demandeth Yahweh,—And like a hammer that breaketh in pieces a cliff?
30 Therefore! behold me! against the prophets, Declareth Yahweh,—who steal my words every man from his neighbour:
31 Behold me! against the prophets, Declareth Yahweh, who presume with their tongue and declare, He declareth:
32 Behold me! against such as prophesy the dreams of falsehood, Declareth Yahweh, who have related them and led astray my people, with their falsehoods and with their recklessness,—whereas I had not sent them, nor commanded them, so that they could be of no profit to this people, Declareth Yahweh.
33 But when this people or a prophet or a priest shall ask thee saying What is the oracle of Yahweh? Then shalt thou say unto them, Ye yourselves are the oracle, Therefore will I reject you, Declareth Yahweh;
34 But the prophet or the priest or the people who shall say—The oracle of Yahweh I will bring punishment upon that man and upon his house.
35 Thus shall ye say—every man unto his neighbour and every man unto his brother,—What hath Yahweh answered? or What hath Yahweh spoken?
36 but the oracle of Yahweh shall ye not mention any more,—for every man’s oracle shall be his own word, because ye have perverted the words of a Living God, Yahweh of hosts, our God.
37 Thus shalt thou say unto the prophet,—What hath Yahweh answered thee? or What hath Yahweh spoken?
38 But since ye keep on saying The Oracle of Yahweh, therefore Thus saith Yahweh, Because ye have said this word, The oracle of Yahweh, whereas I had sent unto you saying, Ye shall not say, The oracle of Yahweh
39 therefore behold me! I will lift you up,—and carry you away and the city which I gave to you and to your fathers from before my face;
40 and will give unto you reproach age-abiding,—and disgrace age-abiding, which shall not be forgotten.
24 Yahweh shewed me, and lo! two baskets of figs, which had been set before the temple of Yahweh,—after that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim king of Judah and the princes of Judah and the carpenters and the smiths out of Jerusalem, and had brought them into Babylon:—
2 the one basket was of very good figs, like the first-ripe figs; and the other basket was of very bad figs, which could not be eaten for badness.
3 Then said Yahweh unto me,—What canst thou see, Jeremiah? And I said, Figs: the good figs very good; and the bad very bad, which cannot be eaten for badness.
4 Then came the word of Yahweh unto me, saying:
5 Thus saith Yahweh God of Israel, Like these good figs so will I regard them of Judah who are carried into captivity whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for good.
6 Therefore will I set mine eye upon them for good, and will bring them back upon this land,—and will build them up and not pull them down, and will plant them and not root them up;
7 and will give them a heart to know me that I am Yahweh, So shall they become my people, And I will become their God; for they will return unto me with all their heart.
8 And like the bad figs which cannot be eaten for badness Surely thus saith Yahweh—so will I deliver up Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes and the remnant of Jerusalem that remain in this land, and them who are dwelling in the land of Egypt;
9 yea I will deliver them up as a terror of calamity, to all the kingdoms of the earth,—as a reproach and as a byword as a mockery and as a contempt, in every place whither I will drive them;
10 and I will send among them, sword, famine and pestilence,—until they are consumed from off the soil which I gave to them and to their fathers.
25 The word which came upon Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah,—the same was the first year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon;
2 which [word] Jeremiah the prophet spake concerning all the people of Judah, and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem saying:—
3 From the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah even until this day the which is the twenty-third year hath the word of Yahweh come unto me; and I have spoken unto you, betimes speaking, yet have ye not hearkened.
4 And Yahweh sent unto you all his servants the prophets, betimes sending, though ye hearkened not, neither inclined ye your ear to hear:
5 saying,—Return, I pray you, every one from his wicked way and from the wickedness of your doings, So shall ye remain on the soil which Yahweh hath given to you and to your fathers,—even from age to age;
6 But do not go away after other gods to serve them and to bow down to them,—So shall ye not provoke me to anger with the work of your hands, and I will not bring calamity upon you;
7 Howbeit ye hearkened not unto me, Declareth Yahweh,—that ye might provoke me to anger with the work of your hands unto your own hurt.
8 Therefore Thus saith Yahweh of hosts,—Because ye have not heard my words
9 Behold me! sending and fetching all the families of the North, Declareth Yahweh, and Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, my servant, And I will bring them in against this land and against its inhabitants, and against all these nations round about,—And I will devote them to destruction, and make them an astonishment and a hissing, and age-abiding desolations.
10 And I will banish from among them—The voice of joy and the voice of gladness, The voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride,—The sound of the millstones, and the light of the lamp:
11 So shall all this land become a desolation, an astonishment, And these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
12 And it shall come to pass—When the seventy years are fulfilled I will visit upon the king of Babylon and upon that nation, Declareth Yahweh, their iniquity, and upon the land of the Chaldeans,—and I will turn it into age-abiding desolations.
13 So will I bring upon that land, All my words which I have spoken against it,—Even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah hath prophesied against all the nations.
14 For many nations and great kings have used even them as slaves, So will I recompense to them—According to their deed and According to the work of their own hands.
15 For thus said Yahweh God of Israel unto me, Take this cup of indignation wine out of my hand,—and cause all the nations unto whom I am sending thee to drink it:
16 Yea they shall drink and reel to and fro and act as madmen, because of the sword which I am sending between them.
17 So I took the cup out of the hand of Yahweh,—and caused all the nations unto whom Yahweh had sent me to drink:
18 [to wit, said he]—Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, and her kings, her princes,—making them a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing and a contempt, as at this day;
19 Pharaoh king of Egypt and his servants and his princes, and all his people;
20 And all the Bedawin, and all the kings of the land of Uz,—and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, even Ashkelon and Gaza and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod;
21 Edom and Moab and the sons of Ammon;
22 And all the kings of Tyre, and all the kings of Zidon,—and the kings of the Coastland, that is beyond the sea;
23 Dedan and Tema and Buz, and all the clipt-beards;
24 And all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the Bedawin who dwell in the desert;
25 And all the kings of Zimri and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes;
26 And all the kings of the North, the near and the far, every man with his brother, and all the kingdoms of the earth which are on the face of the ground; And the king of Sheshach shall drink after them.
27 Therefore shalt thou say unto them—Thus saith Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel—Drink ye and be drunken and vomit, and fall and rise not,—because of the sword which I am sending between you.
28 And it shall be when they shall refuse to take the cup at thy hand to drink then shalt thou say unto them—Thus saith Yahweh of hosts, Ye shall certainly drink;
29 For lo! with the city on which my Name hath been called am I making a beginning of sending calamity, And shall ye be held guiltless? Ye shall not be held guiltless: For a sword am I proclaiming against all the inhabitants of the earth, Declareth Yahweh of hosts.
30 Thou therefore shalt prophesy against them all these words,—and shalt say unto them—Yahweh from on high will roar, Yea from his holy habitation will utter his voice, He will roar mightily over his home, With a shout as of them who tread the winepress will he answer unto all the inhabitants of the earth.
31 There hath come in a tumult as far as the end of the earth, For a controversy hath Yahweh with the nations, Himself hath entered into judgment with all flesh,—As for the lawless he hath delivered them to the sword, Declareth Yahweh.
32 Thus saith Yahweh of hosts, Lo! calamity! going forth from nation to nation,—And a great tempest shall be stirred up out of the remote parts of the earth.
33 Then shall the slain of Yahweh in that day be from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth,—They shall not be lamented nor gathered together nor buried, As dung on the face of the ground shall they serve.
34 Howl, ye shepherds, and make outcry And roll in the dust, ye illustrious of the flock, Because your days for being slaughtered are fulfilled,—Therefore will I break you in pieces, and ye shall fall like a precious vessel!
35 Then shall place of refuge vanish from the shepherds, And escape from the illustrious of the flock.
36 The voice of the outcry of the shepherds! Yea the howling of the illustrious of the flock!—Because Yahweh is laying waste the grounds where they fed.
37 Then shall be silenced the prosperous pastures,—Because of the fierceness of the anger of Yahweh.
38 He hath left as a lion his covert, For their land hath become a horror, Because of the fierceness of oppression and Because of the fierceness of his anger.
26 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah came this word from Yahweh saying:
2 Thus saith Yahweh,—Stand thou in the court of the house of Yahweh, and speak unto all the cities of Judah who are entering in to bow down in the house of Yahweh, all the words which I have commanded thee to speak unto them,—do not thou keep back a word:
3 Peradventure they will hear and return every man from his wicked way,—and I shall repent as to the calamity which I am devising to execute upon them because of the wickedness of their doings:
4 Therefore shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith Yahweh,—If ye will not hearken unto me, To walk in my law which I have set before you;
5 To hearken unto the words of my servants the prophets, whom I am sending unto you, even betimes sending, though ye have not hearkened
6 Then I will make this house like Shiloh,—And this city will I make a contempt to all the nations of the earth.
7 So the priests and the prophets and all the people, heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of Yahweh.
8 And it came to pass when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that Yahweh had commanded [him] to speak unto all the people that the priests and the prophets and all the people laid hold of him, saying—Thou shalt surely die!
9 Why hast thou prophesied in the name of Yahweh, saying, Like Shiloh shall this house become, And this city shall be desolate without inhabitant? And all the people were gathered together unto Jeremiah in the house of Yahweh.
10 When the princes of Judah heard these things then came they up out of the house of the king [unto] the house of Yahweh,—and took their seats in the opening of the new gate of Yahweh.
11 Then spake the priests and the prophets unto the princes, and unto all the people, saying,—Worthy of death is this man, because he hath prophesied against this city, as ye have heard with your own ears.
12 Then spake Jeremiah unto all the princes and unto all the people saying,—Yahweh sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city, all the words that ye have heard.
13 Now therefore amend your ways and your doings, and hearken unto the voice of Yahweh your God,—that Yahweh may repent him, as to the calamity which he hath spoken concerning you.
14 But I behold me! in your hand,—do with me as may be good and right in your eyes;
15 Only ye must know that If ye do put me to death verily innocent blood are ye laying upon yourselves, and against this city and against her inhabitants,—for of a truth did Yahweh send me unto you, to speak in your ears all these words.
16 Then said the princes and all the people, unto the priests and unto the prophets,—There is nothing in this man worthy of death, for in the name of Yahweh our God hath he spoken unto us.
17 Then rose up men from among the elders of the land, and spake unto all the convocation of the people saying:
18 Micah the Morashtite was prophesying in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah,—and he spake unto all the people of Judah saying, Thus saith Yahweh of hosts—Zion as a field shall be plowed And Jerusalem into heaps of ruins shall be turned, And the mountain of the house [be] like mounds in a jungle.
19 Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him to death? Did he not revere Yahweh and appease the face of Yahweh? And did not Yahweh repent him as to the calamity which he had spoken against them? We therefore are doing a great wickedness against our own lives!
20 There was however a man prophesying in the name of Yahweh, Urijah son of Shemaiah, of Keriath-jearim,—who prophesied against this city and against this land, according to all the words of Jeremiah.
21 And when King Jehoiakim and all his mighty men and all the princes heard his words then the king sought to put him to death,—but Urijah heard, and feared and fled and entered Egypt.
22 Then did King Jehoiakim send men to Egypt,—even Elnathan son of Achbor and certain men with him into Egypt,
23 and they brought forth Urijah out of Egypt and took him in unto King Jehoiakim, who smote him with the sword,—and cast out his dead body among the graves of the sons of the people.
24 Howbeit the hand of Ahikam son of Shaphan turned out to be with Jeremiah,—so as not to give him up into the hand of the people to put him to death.
27 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah came this word unto Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying:
2 Thus said Yahweh unto me, Make thee bonds and bars, and put them upon thine own neck.
3 Then shalt thou send them unto the king of Edom and unto the king of Moab and unto the king of the sons of Ammon, and unto the king of Tyre and unto the king of Zidon,—by the hand of messengers coming into Jerusalem, unto Zedekiah king of Judah.
4 And thou shall give them charge unto their lords saying,—Thus saith Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, Thus shall ye say unto your lords:—
5 I made The earth—The man and the beast that are on the face of the earth—By my great power, And by mine outstretched arm,—And gave it to whomsoever was right in mine own eyes.
6 Now therefore I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon my servant,—Moreover also the wild beast of the field have I given him to serve him.
7 Therefore shall all the nations serve him and his son and his son’s son,—until the time even of his own land itself arrive, when many nations and great kings shall use him as a slave.
8 And it shall come to pass that the nation or kingdom which will not serve him even Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and that will not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon,—with sword and with famine and with pestilence will I bring punishment upon that nation, Declareth Yahweh, until I have consumed them by his hand.
9 Ye therefore do not ye hearken unto your prophets nor unto your diviners nor unto your dreams, nor unto your users of hidden arts nor unto your mutterers of incantations,—in that they are speaking unto you saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon;
10 for falsehood are they prophesying unto you,—that ye may be far removed from off your own soil, and I drive you out and ye be destroyed.
11 But the nation that shall bring its neck into the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him I will let them remain in quietness upon their own soil, Declareth Yahweh, and they shall till it and dwell therein.
12 Also unto Zedekiah king of Judah spake I, according to all these words saying,—Bring your necks into the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him and his people and live!
13 Wherefore should ye die, thou and thy people, by sword, by famine and by pestilence,—as Yahweh hath spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?
14 Do not then hearken unto the words of the prophets who are speaking unto you, saying—Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon,—for falsehood are they prophesying unto you.
15 For I have not sent them, Declareth Yahweh, but they are prophesying in my name falsely,—to the end I may drive you out and ye be destroyed, ye and the prophets who are prophesying unto you.
16 Also unto the priests and unto all this people spake I saying, Thus saith Yahweh, Do not hearken unto the words of your prophets who are prophesying unto you saying, Lo! the vessels of the house of Yahweh are to be brought back out of Babylon now quickly; for falsehood are they prophesying unto you.
17 Do not hearken unto them, serve the king of Babylon and live! wherefore should this city become a desolation?
18 But if prophets they are, and if the word of Yahweh is with them let them intercede, I pray you, with Yahweh of hosts, that the vessels which are left remaining in the house of Yahweh and the house of the king of Judah and in Jerusalem come not into Babylon.
19 For Thus saith Yahweh of hosts—Concerning the pillars, and concerning the sea and concerning the stands,—and concerning the residue of the vessels that remain in this city
20 which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took not when he carried away captive Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim king of Judah from Jerusalem to Babylon,—with all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem
21 Yea—Thus saith Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel—Concerning the vessels that are left [in] the house of Yahweh and the house of the king of Judah and Jerusalem
22 Into Babylon shall they be taken And there shall they remain Until the day that I visit them, Declareth Yahweh, When I will bring them up and restore them unto this place.
28 And it came to pass in that year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year, in the fifth month that Hananiah son of Azzur the prophet who was of Gibeon spake unto me in the house of Yahweh, before the eyes of the priests and all the people saying:
2 Thus speaketh Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, saying,—I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon:
3 within the space of two years I am bringing back into this place, all the vessels of the house of Yahweh,—which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon hath taken away from this place, and carried into Babylon.
4 Jeconiah also son of Jehoiakim king of Judah with all the captives of Judah who have entered Babylon am I bringing back into this place, Declareth Yahweh,—for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.
5 Then said Jeremiah the prophet, unto Hananiah the prophet, in the presence of the priests and in the presence of all the people who were standing in the house of Yahweh
6 then said Jeremiah the prophet,—Amen! So may Yahweh do! Yahweh establish thy words which thou hast prophesied by bringing back the vessels of the house of Yahweh and all them of the captivity from Babylon unto this place.
7 Nevertheless hear thou, I pray thee, this word, which I am speaking in thine ears,—and in the ears of all the people:
8 The prophets who were before me and before thee from age-past times when they prophesied against many lands and concerning great kingdoms, of war and of calamity and of pestilence
9 the prophet who prophesied of peace when the word of the prophet was fulfilled then was known the prophet, whom Yahweh had sent in truth.
10 Then Hananiah the prophet took the yoke from off the neck of Jeremiah the prophet,—and brake it.
11 And Hananiah spake before the eyes of all the people saying, Thus saith Yahweh,—In like manner will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon within the space of two years, from off the neck of all the nations. And Jeremiah the prophet went his way.
12 Then came the word of Yahweh unto Jeremiah after that Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke from off the neck of Jeremiah the prophet saying:
13 Go and speak unto Hananiah saying—Thus saith Yahweh, Yokes of wood thou hast broken,—But thou shalt make in their stead yokes of iron!
14 For Thus saith Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel,—A yoke of iron have I put upon the neck of all these nations to serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and they shall serve him! Moreover also the wild beast of the field have I given to him.
15 Then said Jeremiah the prophet unto Hananiah the prophet,—Hear, I pray thee, Hananiah: Yahweh hath not sent thee, Thou therefore hast caused this people to trust in falsehood!
16 Therefore Thus saith Yahweh, Behold me! driving thee away from off the face of the ground,—This year art thou to die, Because revolt hast thou spoken against Yahweh.
17 So Hananiah the prophet died the same year, in the seventh month.
29 Now these are the words of the letter which Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem,—unto the residue of the elders of the captivity and unto the priests and unto the prophets and unto all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon;
2 after that Jeconiah the king and the queen-mother and the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem and the craftsmen and the smiths had gone forth from Jerusalem;—
3 by the hand of Elasah son of Shaphan and Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent unto Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon saying:—
4 Thus saith Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, Unto all the captivity whom I have suffered to be carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon:
5 Build ye houses and dwell [in them],—And plant ye gardens and eat the fruit thereof;
6 Take ye wives and beget sons and daughters, And take wives for your sons and your daughters give ye to husbands, That they may bear sons and daughters,—And so become ye many there and do not become few;
7 And seek the welfare of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray for her unto Yahweh,—For in her welfare shall ye have welfare.
8 For thus saith Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, Let not your prophets that are in your midst nor your diviners beguile you,—Neither hearken ye unto your dreams which ye are dreaming;
9 For falsely are they prophesying unto you in my name,—I have not sent them, Declareth Yahweh.
10 For thus saith Yahweh,—That as soon as there are fulfilled to Babylon seventy years I will visit you,—and establish for you my good word, by causing you to return unto this place.
11 For I know the plans which I am planning for you, Declareth Yahweh,—Plans of welfare and not of calamity, To give you a future and a hope.
12 So shall ye call upon me,—And go and pray unto me,—And I will hearken unto you;
13 So shall ye seek me and find, For ye will enquire after me with all your heart;
14 And I will be found of you, Declareth Yahweh, And will turn back your captivity And will gather you out of all the nations and out of all the places whither I have driven you, Declareth Yahweh, And will bring you back into the place whence I had caused you to be carried away captive:
15 Because ye have said,—Yahweh hath raised us up prophets in Babylon.
16 For Thus saith Yahweh Against the king who is sitting on the throne of David, and Against all the people who are remaining in this city,—your brethren who have not gone forth with you into captivity:
17 Thus saith Yahweh of hosts, Behold me! sending upon them sword, famine and pestilence,—So will I make them like the horrid figs that cannot be eaten for badness;
18 Therefore will I pursue them with sword, with famine and with pestilence,—And will make them a terror to all the kingdoms of the earth, A curse and an astonishment and a hissing and a reproach, among all the nations whither I have driven them:
19 Because they hearkened not unto my words, Declareth Yahweh,—which I sent unto them by my servants the prophets, betimes sending them, yet hearkened they not, Declareth Yahweh.
20 Ye therefore hear ye the word of Yahweh, all ye of the captivity whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon:
21 Thus saith Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, Concerning Ahab son of Kolaiah and concerning Zedekiah son of Maaseiah who are prophesying to you in my name a falsehood, Behold me! delivering them into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and he will smite them before your eyes:
22 So shall there be taken up—from them—a curse by all of the captivity of Judah who are in Babylon saying,—Yahweh make thee like Zedekiah and like Ahab, Whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire!
23 Because they have committed vileness in Israel And have committed adultery with the wives of their neighbours, And have spoken as a word in my name a falsehood which I commanded them not,—And I am one who knoweth—and a witness, Declareth Yahweh.
24 Also unto Shemaiah the Nehelamite shalt thou speak saying:
25 Thus speaketh Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, saying,—Because thou hast sent in thine own name letters unto all the people who are in Jerusalem, and unto Zephaniah son of Maaseiah the priest, and unto all the priests saying:
26 Yahweh hath made thee priest instead of Jehoiada the priest, that ye should be deputies in the house of Yahweh, to any man who is raving and prophesying, so shalt thou put him into the stocks and into the pillory:
27 Now therefore why hast thou not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth, who is prophesying unto you?
28 For on this account hath he sent unto us in Babylon saying,—’Tis long! Build ye houses and dwell [in them], And plant gardens and eat the fruit thereof.
29 And Zephaniah the priest hath read this letter in the ears of Jeremiah the prophet
30 Therefore hath the word of Yahweh come unto Jeremiah saying:
31 Send thou unto all them of the captivity saying, Thus saith Yahweh Concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite,—Because Shemaiah hath prophesied to you when I had not sent him, And hath caused you to trust in falsehood
32 Therefore Thus saith Yahweh,—Behold me! bringing punishment upon Shemaiah the Nehelamite and upon his seed, He shall have no man to dwell in the midst of this people, Nor shall he see the good that I am about to do for my people, Declareth Yahweh; Because revolt hath he spoken against Yahweh.
30 The word which came unto Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying:—
2 Thus speaketh Yahweh, God of Israel, saying,—Write thee all the words which I have spoken unto thee in a scroll;
3 For lo! days are coming, Declareth Yahweh, when I will turn the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, Saith Yahweh,—and will bring them back into the land which I gave to their fathers that they might possess it.
4 Now these are the words which Yahweh hath spoken against Israel and against Judah:
5 Yea thus saith Yahweh, A voice of trembling have we heard, Dread and not welfare!
6 Ask, I pray you, and see, whether a male travaileth with child! Why have I seen Every man with his hands upon his loins like a woman in travail, and Every face turned into ghastliness?
7 Alas! for great is that day so that none is like it,—Yea a time of anguish it is for Jacob, But out of it shall he be saved.
8 And it shall come to pass in that day, Declareth Yahweh of hosts, That I will break his yoke from off thy neck, And thy bonds will I tear off,—And foreigners shall use him as a slave no more;
9 But they shall serve Yahweh their God,—and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them.
10 Thou therefore do not fear, O my Servant Jacob, Urgeth Yahweh, Neither be thou dismayed, O Israel, For behold me! saving thee from afar And thy seed out of the land of their captivity,—Then shall Jacob return and rest and be quiet And there shall be none to make him afraid;
11 For with thee am I, Declareth Yahweh, To save thee,—Though I make an end of all the nations whither I have scattered thee Yet will I not of thee make an end, But will chastise thee in measure, not holding thee guiltless!
12 For thus saith Yahweh—Incurable is thine injury,—Grievous is thy wound:
13 There is none to plead thy cause for binding thee up,—Healing bandages hast thou none:
14 All thy lovers have forgotten thee, Thyself do they not seek,—For With the wounding of an enemy have I wounded thee, With the correction of one who is cruel, Because of the abounding of thine iniquity, [Because] numerous have been thy sins.
15 Why shouldst thou make outcry over thine injury, Incurable is thy pain? Because of the abounding of thine iniquity, [Because] numerous have been thy sins Have I done these things unto thee.
16 Therefore all who devour thee shall be devoured, And all thine adversaries—all of them into captivity shall depart,—So shall they who plundered thee be plundered, And all who preyed upon thee will I deliver up as a prey.
17 For I will put a bandage upon thee And from thy wounds will I heal thee, Declareth Yahweh,—Because An outcast they called thee, ’Tis Zion! who hath none to ask for her welfare
18 Thus saith Yahweh—Behold me! bringing back the captivity of the tents of Jacob, And on his habitations will I have compassion,—So shall the city be built upon her own mound, And the citadel upon its own site shall remain:
19 So shall there proceed from them Thanksgiving and The sound of them who make merry,—And I will multiply them and they shall not become few, And will make them honourable and they shall not be despised:
20 And his sons shall come to be as aforetime, And his assembly before me shall continue,—And I will bring punishment on all his oppressors;
21 And his illustrious one shall spring from himself And his ruler from his own midst shall proceed, And I will bring him near and he shall approach unto me,—For who is there that hath pledged his own heart to approach unto me? Demandeth Yahweh:
22 So shall ye become my people; And I will become your God.
23 Lo! the tempest of Yahweh! Indignation hath come forth, A tempest rolling itself upward,—Upon the head of the lawless ones shall it hurl itself down!
24 The fierceness of the anger of Yahweh will not turn back, Until he hath executed nor Until he hath established The purposes of his heart,—In the afterpart of the days shall ye understand it.
31 At that time Declareth Yahweh, I will become a God to all the families of Israel; And they shall become my people.
2 Thus saith Yahweh,—There hath found favour in the desert a people escaped from the sword,—I must go to cause him, even Israel, to rest.
3 From afar Yahweh hath appeared unto me. Yea with an age-abiding love have I loved thee, For this cause have I prolonged to thee lovingkindness.
4 Again will I build thee and thou shalt be built, thou virgin Israel,—Again shalt thou deck thyself with thy timbrels, And go forth in the dance of them that make merry:
5 Again shalt thou plant vineyards in the mountains of Samaria,—The planters have planted and have laid open [the vineyards].
6 For it is a day the watchmen have proclaimed throughout the hill country of Ephraim,—Arise ye and let us go up to Zion, unto Yahweh our God.
7 For thus saith Yahweh—Shout ye for Jacob with gladness, Make shrill thy voice as the head of the nations,—Publish ye, praise ye and say, Save thou, O Yahweh, thy people, the remnant of Israel.
8 Behold me! bringing them in out of the land of the North And I will gather them out of the remote parts of the earth, Among them the blind and the lame, The woman with child and she that giveth birth together,—A great convocation shall return hither:
9 With weeping shall they come in And with supplications will I lead them, I will bring them unto rivers of waters, By a smooth way wherein they shall not stumble,—For I have become to Israel a father, And as for Ephraim my firstborn is he!
10 Hear ye the word of Yahweh, O ye nations, And declare ye in the Coastlands afar off,—And say—He that scattereth Israel will gather him, And watch over him as a shepherd his flock;
11 For Yahweh hath ransomed Jacob,—And redeemed him from the hand of one stronger than he.
12 Then shall they come in and shall shout in triumph on the height of Zion, And shall stream unto the goodness of Yahweh, To the wheat and to the new wine and to the oil, and to the young of the flocks and of the herds,—So shall their soul become like a garden well watered, And they shall not again languish any more.
13 Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, And young men and elders [rejoice] together,—And I will turn their mourning into gladness and will comfort them, And will make them rejoice from their sorrow;
14 Then will I satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, And my people with my goodness shall be satisfied, Declareth Yahweh.
15 Thus saith Yahweh—A voice in Ramah is heard, Wailing, bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children,—She refuseth to be comforted for her children, For they are not!
16 Thus saith Yahweh—Restrain thy voice from weeping, And thine eyes from tears,—For there is a reward for thy labour, Declareth Yahweh, So they shall return from the land of the enemy:
17 Yea there is hope for thy future, Declareth Yahweh,—And thy sons shall return to their own boundary.
18 I have heard Ephraim bemoaning himself, Thou hast chastised me and I have been chastised, Like a bullock not broken in, Suffer me to return that I may return, For thou art Yahweh my God.
19 Surely after my return I was filled with regret, And after I came to know myself I smote upon the thigh,—I turned pale and was even confounded, For I had borne the reproach of my youthful days.
20 Was Ephraim a very precious son to me? Was he a most delightful child? For as often as I have spoken against him I have remembered him again! For this cause have my affections been deeply moved for him, I must have compassion upon him, Declareth Yahweh.
21 Erect thee waymarks, Set thee up finger-posts, Apply thy heart to The highway—The road by which thou didst depart,—Return, O virgin of Israel, Return unto these thy cities.
22 How long wilt thou turn hither and thither, O apostate daughter? For Yahweh hath created a new thing in the earth, A female defendeth a strong man!
23 Thus saith Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, Again shall they say this word in the land of Judah and in the cities thereof, when I cause their captivity to return, Yahweh bless thee, Thou home of righteousness! Thou mountain of holiness!
24 Then shall there dwell throughout Judah itself and all the cities thereof together,—Husbandmen who shall move about with a flock;
25 For I have satiated the weary soul,—And every languishing soul have I filled.
26 Upon this I awoke and considered,—And my sleep had been sweet to me!
27 Lo! days are coming, Declareth Yahweh—That I will sow The house of Israel and The house of Judah, With the seed of men and With the seed of beasts;
28 And it shall come to pass that—Just as I watched over them to root up and to break down and to tear out and to destroy and to break in pieces So will I watch over them to build and to plant, Declareth Yahweh.
29 In those days shall they say no more, Fathers did eat sour grapes,—And children’s teeth are blunted!
30 But every one for his own iniquity shall die,—Any human being who eateth the sour grapes his own teeth shall be blunted.
31 Lo! days are coming, Declareth Yahweh,—When I will solemnise—With the house of Israel and With the house of Judah, A new covenant:
32 Not like the covenant which I solemnised with their fathers, In the day when I grasped their hand, to bring them forth out of the land of Egypt,—In that they brake my covenant Though I had become a husband unto them, Declareth Yahweh.
33 For this is the covenant which I will solemnise with the house of Israel after those days, Declareth Yahweh, I will put my law within them, Yea on their heart will I write it,—So will I become their God, And they shall become my people.
34 Then shall they no longer teach Every man his neighbour and Every man his brother saying, Know ye Yahweh,—For they all shall know me, From the least of them Even unto the greatest of them, Declareth Yahweh, For I will forgive their iniquity, And their sin will I remember no more.
35 Thus saith Yahweh—Who hath given the sun for a light by day, The ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night,—Who excited the sea and the waves thereof roared Yahweh of hosts is his name:—
36 If these ordinances depart from before me Declareth Yahweh,—The seed of Israel also may cease from being a nation before me all the days.
37 Thus saith Yahweh—If the heavens above can be measured, Or the foundations of the earth beneath be searched out I also may reject all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, Declareth Yahweh.
38 Lo! days are coming, Declareth Yahweh, That the city shall be built for Yahweh, From the tower of Hananeel [As far as] the gate of the corner;
39 Then shall go forth again the measuring-line straight forward, Over the hill Gareb, And it shall go round to Goah;
40 And all the vale of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields as far as the Kidron torrent-bed as far as the horse-gate corner on the east, Shall be holy unto Yahweh,—It shall not be rooted up nor thrown down any more, unto times age-abiding.
32 The word which came unto Jeremiah from Yahweh, in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah,—the same was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar;
2 and then the forces of the king of Babylon were besieging Jerusalem,—and Jeremiah the prophet had been shut up in the guard-court, which was in the house of the king of Judah;
3 whom Zedekiah king of Judah had shut up saying,—Why art thou prophesying saying,—Thus saith Yahweh, Behold me! giving up this city into the hand of the king of Babylon and he shall capture it;
4 and Zedekiah king of Judah shall not be delivered out of the hand of the Chaldeans,—for he shall be wholly given up into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak—the mouth of the one to the mouth of the other, and the eyes of the one into the eyes of the other shall look;
5 and into Babylon shall he lead Zedekiah and there shall he remain, until I visit him, Declareth Yahweh,—though ye fight with the Chaldeans ye shall not prosper?
6 And Jeremiah said,—The word of Yahweh came unto me saying:
7 Lo! Hanameel son of Shallum thine uncle hath come unto thee saying,—Buy thee my field that is in Anathoth, for thine is the right of redemption to buy it.
8 So Hanameel son of mine uncle came unto me according to the word of Yahweh into the guard-court, and said unto me, Buy, I pray thee, my field that is in Anathoth which is in the land of Benjamin, for thine is the right of inheritance and thine the redemption—buy it for thyself. So I knew that the word of Yahweh it was.
9 And I bought the field from Hanameel son of mine uncle that was in Anathoth,—and weighed him the silver, seventeen shekels was the silver;
10 and I wrote in the scroll and sealed it, and took in attestation witnesses,—and weighed the silver in the balances.
11 Then took I the scroll of purchase, both that which was sealed—the title and the conditions—and that which was open;
12 and gave the scroll of purchase unto Baruch son of Neriah son of Mahseiah, in the sight of Hanameel mine uncle[’s son], and in the sight of the witnesses who subscribed the scroll of purchase,—in the sight of all the Jews who were sitting in the guard-court.
13 Then charged I Baruch in their sight saying:
14 Thus saith Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, Take thou these scrolls, this scroll of purchase, even that which is sealed, and this scroll that is open, and put them in an earthen vessel,—that they may remain many days.
15 For Thus saith Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel: Again shall houses and fields and vineyards be bought in this land.
16 Then prayed I unto Yahweh,—after I had delivered the scroll of purchase unto Baruch son of Neriah, saying:—
17 Alas! My Lord Yahweh! Lo! thou thyself didst make the heavens and the earth, by thy great might and by thine outstretched arm,—There is nothing too wonderful for thee:
18 Executing lovingkindness unto thousands, But recompensing the iniquity of fathers into the bosom of their children after them, Thou God the great, the mighty, Yahweh of hosts is his name:
19 Great in counsel and mighty in deed,—Whose eyes are open on all the ways of the sons of men, to give unto every one According to his ways and According to the fruit of his doings:
20 Who didst set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, unto this day, and in Israel and among mankind,—And didst make for thyself a name as at this day;
21 And didst bring forth thy people Israel out of the land of Egypt, With signs and with wonders and With a strong hand and With an outstretched arm, and With great terror;
22 And didst give unto them this land which thou hadst sworn to their fathers to give unto them,—a land flowing with milk and honey;
23 And they came in and took possession of it But hearkened not unto thy voice Nor in thy law did they walk, Nought of what thou hadst commanded them to do did they do,—And so thou hast caused to befall them all this calamity.
24 Lo! the earthworks! they have entered the city to capture it, And the city hath been given into the hand of the Chaldeans who are fighting against it, because of the sword and the famine and the pestilence,—And so what thou didst speak hath come to pass, And there thou art, looking on!
25 Yet thou thyself saidst unto me, O My Lord Yahweh, Buy thee the field for silver And take in attestation witnesses,—Whereas the city hath been given into the hand of the Chaldeans!
26 Then came the word of Yahweh unto Jeremiah saying:—
27 Lo! I am Yahweh, God of all flesh,—For me is any thing too wonderful?
28 Therefore Thus saith Yahweh,—Behold me! giving this city into the hand of the Chaldeans and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and he shall capture it;
29 And the Chaldeans who are fighting against this city Shall enter, and Shall set this city on fire and Shall consume it,—With the houses on whose roofs they burned incense to Baal and poured out drink-offerings to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger;
30 For the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah have been nothing but doers of wickedness in my sight from the days of their youth,—For the sons of Israel have been doing nothing but provoke me to anger by the workmanship of their hands, Declareth Yahweh;
31 For According to mine anger and According to mine indignation hath been to me this city, from the day when they built it even unto this day,—that I should pull it down from before my face:
32 because of all the wickedness of the sons of Israel and the sons 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:
33 Thus have they turned unto me the back and not the face,—Though I instructed them, betimes instructing them, Yet have they not been hearkening to receive correction;
34 But have set their abominations in the house on which my name hath been called, to defile it;
35 And have built the high places of Baal which are in the valley of Ben-hinnom To cause their sons and their daughters to pass through unto Molech, Which I commanded them not Neither came it up on my heart, That they should do this horrible thing,—Causing Judah to sin!
36 Now therefore because of this—Thus saith Yahweh, God of Israel,—Concerning this city whereof ye are saying, It hath been delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, by sword and by famine and by pestilence:
37 Behold me! gathering them out of all the lands whither I have driven them—In mine anger and In mine indignation and In great vexation,—And I will cause them to return into this place, And will make them dwell securely;
38 And they shall become my people,—And I will become their God;
39 And I will give them one heart and one way, That they may revere me all the days,—For the good of them and of their children after them;
40 And I will solemnise to them an age-abiding covenant, That I will not turn away from following them, to do them good,—But the reverence of myself will I put in their heart, so that they shall not turn away from me.
41 And I will rejoice over them to do them good,—And will plant them in this land in truth, with all my heart and with all my soul.
42 For Thus saith Yahweh, Like as I have brought upon this people all this great calamity So am I bringing upon them all the good that I am speaking concerning them.
43 Therefore shall fields be bought in this land,—whereof ye are saying, It is a desolation Without man or beast, It hath been given into the hand of the Chaldeans:
44 Fields—for silver shall men buy, And write in scrolls And seal them And take in attestation witnesses, In the land of Benjamin and In the places round about Jerusalem and In the cities of Judah and In the cities of the hill country, and In the cities of the lowland and In the cities of the South,—For I will cause them of their captivity to return, Declareth Yahweh.
33 And the word of Yahweh came unto Jeremiah the second time, when he was yet imprisoned in the guard-court saying:
2 Thus saith Yahweh who doeth it,—Yahweh who fashioneth it to establish it, Yahweh is his name:
3 Call unto me that I may answer thee,—and tell thee things great and inaccessible which thou hast not known.
4 For Thus saith Yahweh, God of Israel, Concerning the houses of this city, and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah,—which are thrown down against the earthworks and against the sword:
5 In entering to fight with the Chaldeans it is to fill them with the dead bodies of men, whom I have smitten in mine anger and in mine indignation,—and because of whom I have hidden my face from this city,—by reason of all their wickedness.
6 Behold me! laying upon her a bandage of healing so will I heal them,—And will reveal to them abundance of prosperity and truth;
7 And I will bring back Them of the captivity of Judah, and Them of the captivity of Israel,—And I will build them as at the first;
8 And I will purify them from all their iniquity wherewith they have sinned against me,—And I will grant pardon for all their iniquities,Wherewith they have sinned against me, and Wherewith they have transgressed against me;
9 So shall she become to me—A name of joy, A praise and An adorning, To all the nations of the earth,—Who will hear all the good which I am doing them, And will dread and be deeply moved over all the good and over all the prosperity which I am causing her.
10 Thus saith Yahweh—Again shall be heard in this place, as to which ye are saying, Deserted it is, without man or beast, In the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, Which are desolate without man or inhabitant or beast
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 who are saying, Praise ye Yahweh of hosts For good is Yahweh, For age-abiding is his lovingkindness, [The voice] of them who are bringing a thank-offering into the house of Yahweh,—For I will bring back the captives of the land as at the first, Saith Yahweh.
12 Thus saith Yahweh of hosts, Again shall there be in this place—Which is deserted without man or even beast—And all the cities thereof,—The home of shepherds, causing flocks to lie down.
13 In the cities of the hill country, In the cities of the lowland and In the cities of the South, and In the land of Benjamin and In the places round about Jerusalem and In the cities of Judah Again shall the flock pass over the hands of the numberer, Saith Yahweh.
14 Lo! days are coming, Declareth Yahweh,—when I will establish my good word, which I have spoken—As to the house of Israel And concerning the house of Judah:
15 In those days and at that time will I cause to bud unto David A Bud of righteousness,—And he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land:
16 In those days Judah shall be saved, and Jerusalem abide securely,—And this is that which shall be proclaimed to her—Yahweh our righteousness!
17 For Thus saith Yahweh,—There shall not be wanting to David—A man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel;
18 Nor to the priests the Levites shall there be wanting—A man before me, To offer an ascending-sacrifice or To make a perfume with a gift or To offer a [peace-] offering all the days!
19 And the word of Yahweh came unto Jeremiah saying:
20 Thus saith Yahweh, If ye can break, My covenant of the day and My covenant of the night, That there be not day and night in their season
21 My covenant also may be broken With David my servant, That he shall not have a son to reign upon his throne,—And with the Levites the priests, mine attendants:
22 As the host of the heavens cannot be recorded, Nor the sand of the sea be measured So will I multiply, The seed of David my servant, And the Levites who attend upon me.
23 And the word of Yahweh came unto Jeremiah saying:
24 Hast thou not observed what this people have spoken saying, The two families which Yahweh did choose he hath even cast them off? And so my people they despise, as though they could not again become a nation in their sight!
25 Thus saith Yahweh, If my covenant of day and night, the ordinances of the heavens and the earth I did not appoint
26 The seed of Jacob also and of David my servant might I cast off so as not to take of his seed as rulers unto the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,—For I will bring back them of their captivity and will have compassion upon them.
34 The word which came unto Jeremiah from Yahweh,—when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his force and all the kingdoms of the earth the dominion of his hand and all the peoples were fighting against Jerusalem and against all her cities saying:
2 Thus saith Yahweh God of Israel, Go and speak unto Zedekiah king of Judah,—and say unto him—Thus saith Yahweh, Behold me! giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire;
3 And thou shalt not escape out of his hand, For thou shalt be taken, And into his hand shalt thou be delivered,—And thine own eyes into the eyes of the king of Babylon shall look And his mouth with thy mouth shall speak And Babylon shalt thou enter.
4 Nevertheless hear the word of Yahweh, O Zedekiah king of Judah,—Thus saith Yahweh Concerning thee, Thou shalt not die by the sword;
5 In peace shalt thou die And with the burnings made for thy fathers the former kings who were before thee so shall they make a burning unto thee, And with an Alas lord! shall they lament thee,—Because of the word I have spoken, Declareth Yahweh.
6 Then spake Jeremiah the prophet unto Zedekiah king of Judah all these words in Jerusalem;
7 when the force of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem, and against all the cities of Judah that were left,—against Lachish and against Azekah, for they remained among the cities of Judah as fortified cities.
8 The word which came unto Jeremiah from Yahweh,—after that King Zedekiah had solemnised a covenant with all the people who were in Jerusalem, proclaiming unto them liberty:
9 that every man should let his servant and every man his handmaid being a Hebrew or a Hebrewess go free,—so that no man should use them as slaves to wit a Jew his brother;
10 so then they hearkened—even all the princes and all the people who had entered into the covenant, that every man should let his servant and every man his handmaid go free, so as not to use them as slaves any longer,—yea they hearkened and let them go,
11 howbeit they turned after that and brought back the servants and the handmaids whom they had let go free, and brought them into subjection as servants and as handmaids
12 So then the word of Yahweh came unto Jeremiah from Yahweh saying:
13 Thus saith Yahweh, God of Israel,—I myself solemnised a covenant with your fathers, in the day when I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slaves saying:
14 At the end of seven years shall ye let go every man his brother being a Hebrew who shall sell himself unto thee and serve thee six years, then shalt thou let him go free from thee. Howbeit your fathers hearkened not unto me neither inclined their ear.
15 And though ye just now turned and did that which was right in mine eyes, by proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbour,—and solemnised a covenant before me, in the house on which my Name hath been called
16 yet have ye turned and profaned my Name, and brought back every man his servant and every man his handmaid, whom ye had let go free at their own desire,—and have brought them into subjection to become your servants and handmaids.
17 Therefore—Thus saith Yahweh, Ye have not hearkened unto me, in proclaiming liberty, every man to his brother and every man to his neighbour: Behold me! proclaiming to you a liberty Declareth Yahweh, unto the sword, unto the pestilence and unto the famine, so will I make you a terror to all the kingdoms of the earth;
18 and will give the men who are transgressing my covenant in that they have not confirmed the words of the covenant, which they solemnised before me, when they cut the calf in twain, and passed between the parts thereof;
19 even the princes of Judah and the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs and the priests, and all the people of the land,—who passed between the parts of the calf
20 yea I will give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them who are seeking their life,—and their dead bodies shall become food for the birds of the heavens and for the beasts of the earth.
21 Zedekiah king of Judah also with his princes will I give into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them who are seeking their life,—even into the hand of the force of the king of Babylon, who are going up from you.
22 Behold me! giving command, Declareth Yahweh, and I will bring them back unto this city and they will fight against it and capture it and consume it with fire,—and the cities of Judah will I make too desolate to have an inhabitant.
35 The word which came unto Jeremiah from Yahweh,—in the days of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah saying:
2 Go unto the house of the Rechabites, and speak with them, and bring them into the house of Yahweh, into one of the chambers,—and give them wine to drink.
3 So I took Jaazaniah son of Jeremiah son of Habazziniah, and his brethren and all his sons,—and all the house of the Rechabites;
4 and brought them into the house of Yahweh, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan son of Igdaliah, a man of God,—which was beside the chamber of the princes, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah son of Shallum, keeper of the porch;
5 and I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites bowls full of wine and cups,—and said unto them, Drink ye wine.
6 Then said they,—We will not drink wine,—for Jonadab son of Rechab our father laid command upon us saying, Ye shall not drink wine, ye nor your sons unto times age-abiding;
7 nor house shall ye build nor seed shall ye sow nor vineyard shall ye plant, neither shall ye have them,—but in tents shall ye dwell all your days, that ye may live many days on the face of the soil where ye are sojourning.
8 So we have hearkened unto the voice of Jonadab son of Rechab our father, in all that he commanded us,—not to drink wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons nor our daughters;
9 and not to build houses for us to dwell in,—and so vineyard or field or seed have we none;
10 but we have dwelt in tents,—and have hearkened and done, according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us.
11 And so it came to pass when Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came up into the land that we said,—Let us even enter Jerusalem, because of the force of the Chaldeans and because of the force of the Syrians: So have we dwelt in Jerusalem.
12 Then came the word of Yahweh unto Jeremiah saying:
13 Thus saith Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, Go and say to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem,—Will ye not receive correction by hearkening unto my words? Demandeth Yahweh:
14 Confirmed are the words of Jonadab son of Rechab—which he commanded his sons that they should not drink wine, and they have not drunk until this day, for they have hearkened unto the command of their father. But I have spoken unto you, betimes speaking, and ye have not hearkened unto me.
15 And I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, betimes sending, saying, Return, I pray you—every man from his wicked way And amend your doings And do not go after other gods to serve them, So shall ye remain on the soil which I gave to you and to your fathers,—but ye have not inclined your ear, nor hearkened unto me.
16 Because the sons of Jonadab son of Rechab have confirmed the commandment of their father which he commanded them,—whereas this people have not hearkened unto me
17 Therefore Thus saith Yahweh, God of hosts, God of Israel, Behold me! bringing in against Judah and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, all the calamity which I have spoken concerning them,—Because I spake unto them and they did not hearken, And I called to them and they did not answer.
18 But to the house of the Rechabites said Jeremiah: Thus saith Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, Because ye have hearkened unto the commandment of Jonadab your father, and have kept all his commandments, and done according to all that he commanded you
19 Therefore Thus saith Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel,—Jonadab son of Rechab shall not want one to stand before me all the days!
36 And it came to pass in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, that this word came unto Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying:
2 Take thee a scroll, and write therein all the words which I have spoken unto thee concerning Israel and concerning Judah and concerning all the nations,—from the day I began to speak unto thee, from the days of Josiah, even until this day:
3 Peradventure the house of Judah will hearken unto all the calamity which I am devising to execute against them,—to the end they may return every man from his wicked way, whereupon I will forgive their iniquity and their sin.
4 So Jeremiah called Baruch son of Neriah,—and Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of Yahweh which he had spoken unto him upon a scroll.
5 Then did Jeremiah command Baruch saying,—I am hindered, I cannot enter the house of Yahweh;
6 Thou therefore shalt enter and read in the roll which thou hast written from my mouth the words of Yahweh in the ears of the people in the house of Yahweh on the day of a fast,—moreover also in the ears of all Judah who are coming in out of their cities shalt thou read them:
7 Peradventure their supplication will fall prostrate before Yahweh, and they return every man from his wicked way,—For great are the anger and the indignation which Yahweh hath spoken against this people.
8 So then Baruch son of Neriah did according to all which Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading in the book the words of Yahweh in the house of Yahweh.
9 And it came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah in the ninth month, that all the people of Jerusalem, and all the people who were coming in out of the cities of Judah into Jerusalem had proclaimed a fast before Yahweh;
10 Baruch therefore read in the book the words of Jeremiah in the house of Yahweh,—in the chamber of Gemariah son of Shaphan—the scribe in the upper court at the opening of the new gate of the house of Yahweh, in the ears of all the people.
11 When Micaiah son of Gemariah son of Shaphan heard all the words of Yahweh out of the book
12 then went he down unto the house of the king up to the chamber of the scribe, and lo! there all the princes sitting,—Elishama the scribe and Delaiah son of Shemaiah and Elnathan son of Achbor and Gemariah son of Shaphan and Zedekiah son of Hananiah and all the princes.
13 So Micaiah told them all the words which he heard,—when Baruch read in the book in the ears of the people.
14 All the princes therefore sent unto Baruch, Jehudi son of Nethaniah son of Shelemiah son of Cushi saying, The roll wherein thou didst read in the ears of the people take it in thy hand and come. So Baruch son of Neriah took the roll in his hand, and came in unto them.
15 Then said they unto him, Sit down, we pray thee, and read it in our ears. So Baruch read it in their ears.
16 And it came to pass when they heard all the words that they turned with fear one to another,—and said unto Baruch, We must surely tell the king all these words!
17 Then unto Baruch put they questions saying,—Tell us, we pray thee, How didst thou write all these words at his mouth?
18 So Baruch said unto them, With his own mouth used he to proclaim unto me all these words,—and I kept on writing in the book with ink.
19 Then said the princes unto Baruch, Go hide thee, thou and Jeremiah, and let no man know where ye are!
20 Then went they in unto the king into the court, but the roll had they put in charge, in the chamber of Elishama the scribe,—so they declared in the ears of the king all the words.
21 The king therefore sent Jehudi to fetch the roll, and he fetched it out of the chamber of Elishama the scribe,—and Jehudi read it in the ears of the king, and in the ears of all the princes who were standing near the king.
22 Now the king was sitting in the winter house in the ninth month,—with the fire-stove before him burning.
23 So then it came to pass when Jehudi had read three or four columns that he cut it up into fragments with a scribe’s knife, and cast them into the fire that was in the stove,—until all the roll was consumed on the fire that was on the stove.
24 Yet were they not in dread, neither rent they their garments,—the king nor any of his servants that were hearing all these words.
25 Nevertheless Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah interceded with the king, not to burn the roll,—but he hearkened not unto them.
26 Then did the king command Jerahmeel son of the king and Seraiah son of Azriel and Shelemiah son of Abdeel, to fetch Baruch the scribe, and Jeremiah the prophet,—but Yahweh had hid them.
27 Then came the word of Yahweh unto Jeremiah,—after the king had burned the roll, and the words which Baruch had written from the mouth of Jeremiah saying:
28 Again take thee another roll, and write thereon all the former words which were on the first roll, which Jehoiakim king of Judah hath burned.
29 But unto Jehoiakim king of Judah shalt thou say, Thus saith Yahweh,—Thou hast burned this roll saying, Why hast thou written thereon—saying, The king of Babylon shall certainly come and lay waste this land, and cause to cease therefrom man and beast?
30 Therefore Thus saith Yahweh Concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah,—He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David,—And his dead body shall be cast out—to the heat by day and to the frost by night;
31 And I will visit upon him and upon his seed and upon his servants the punishment of their iniquity,—and will bring upon them and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem and against the men of Judah all the calamity which I have spoken against them but they have not hearkened.
32 So Jeremiah took another roll and gave it unto Baruch son of Neriah, the scribe, who wrote thereon from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book, which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire,—and further were added thereunto many words like unto them.
37 And Zedekiah son of Josiah reigned as king instead of Coniah son of Jehoiakim whom Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah.
2 But neither he nor his servants, nor the people of the land had hearkened unto the words of Yahweh, which he had spoken through Jeremiah the prophet.
3 And King Zedekiah sent Jehucal son of Shelemiah and Zephaniah son of Maaseiah the priest unto Jeremiah the prophet saying,—Pray thou, I beseech thee, in our behalf, unto Yahweh our God.
4 Now Jeremiah was coming in and going out in the midst of the people, for they had not put him into prison.
5 And the force of Pharaoh had come forth out of Egypt,—and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard the tidings of them they went up from Jerusalem.
6 Then came the word of Yahweh unto Jeremiah the prophet, saying:
7 Thus saith Yahweh, God of Israel, Thus shall ye say unto the king of Judah, who sent you unto me to enquire of me,—Lo! the force of Pharaoh which is coming out to you to help is about to return to its own land, to Egypt;
8 Then will the Chaldeans come back, and fight against this city,—and capture it and burn it with fire.
9 Thus saith Yahweh,—Let not your own souls deceive you saying, The Chaldeans will surely depart from us! For they will not depart;
10 For though ye had smitten all the force of the Chaldeans who are fighting with you and there had remained of them only desperately wounded men yet every man in his tent should have arisen and burnt this city with fire.
11 Now it came to pass when the army of the Chaldeans had gone up from Jerusalem,—because of the force of Pharaoh
12 then went forth Jeremiah out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin,—to receive a portion from thence in the midst of the people.
13 And so it came to pass he being in the gate of Benjamin and there being there a ward-master whose name was Irijah son of Shelemiah son of Hananiah that he seized Jeremiah the prophet saying, Unto the Chaldeans art thou falling away!
14 Then said Jeremiah, False! I am not falling away unto the Chaldeans! Howbeit he hearkened not unto him,—so Irijah seized Jeremiah, and brought him in unto the princes.
15 Then were the princes wroth against Jeremiah and smote him,—and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe, for that had they made the prison.
16 When Jeremiah had entered into the dungeon-house and into the cells, and Jeremiah had remained there many days
17 then sent King Zedekiah—and fetched him, and the king asked him in his own house secretly and said,—Is there a word from Yahweh? And Jeremiah said,—There is, for (said he) Into the hand of the king of Babylon shalt thou be delivered!
18 And Jeremiah said unto King Zedekiah,—What sin have I committed against thee or against thy servants or against this people, that ye have delivered me up into prison?
19 Where then are your prophets, who prophesied unto you saying,—The king of Babylon shall not come against you nor against this land?
20 Now therefore, hear, I beseech thee, O my lord the king,—Let my supplication, I pray thee, fall prostrate before thee, and do not cause me to return unto the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there!
21 Then King Zedekiah gave command and they committed Jeremiah into the guard-court, and [said] that there should be given him a cake of bread daily out of the bakers’ street, until all the bread out of the city should be spent. So Jeremiah remained in the guard-court.
38 And when Shephatiah son of Mattan and Gedaliah son of Pashhur and Jucal son of Shelemiah and Pashhur son of Malchiah, heard the words which Jeremiah was speaking unto all the people saying:
2 Thus saith Yahweh, He that remaineth in this city shall die, by sword, by famine or by pestilence,—whereas he that goeth forth unto the Chaldeans shall live, so shall he have his life for a spoil and shall live.
3 Thus saith Yahweh,—This city shall surely be given into the hand of the force of the king of Babylon, and he shall capture it
4 Then said the princes unto the king,—Let this man, we pray thee, be put to death, for in this way is he weakening the hands of the men of war who are left in this city and the hands of all the people, by speaking unto them such words as these; for this man is not seeking prosperity for this people but misfortune.
5 Then said King Zedekiah,—Lo! he is in your hand; for the king is not one who is able to do anything against you.
6 Then took they Jeremiah and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah son of the king which was in the guard-court, and they let Jeremiah down with ropes,—now in the dungeon was no water, only mire, so Jeremiah sank in the mire.
7 When Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, one of the eunuchs, he being in the house of the king, heard that they had delivered Jeremiah into the dungeon,—the king being seated in the gate of Benjamin
8 then went forth Ebed-melech out of the house of the king, and spake unto the king saying:
9 My lord, O King! wickedly have these men done all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom indeed they have cast into the dungeon,—since he would have died where he was because of the famine, for there is no bread any longer in the city.
10 Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian saying,—Take with thee from hence thirty men, and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon before he die.
11 So Ebed-melech took the men with him, and went into the house of the king under the treasury, and took thence pieces of cast-off clothes, and old rags,—and let them down unto Jeremiah in the dungeon with the ropes.
12 Then said Ebed-melech the Ethiopian unto Jeremiah,—Put, I pray thee, the pieces of cast-off clothes and the old rags under thine arm-joints, under the ropes. And Jeremiah did so.
13 Then drew they Jeremiah with the ropes, and lifted him up out of the dungeon,—and Jeremiah remained in the guard-court.
14 Then King Zedekiah sent and fetched Jeremiah the prophet unto him, in the third entrance, which is in the house of Yahweh,—and the king said unto Jeremiah—I am going to ask thee a thing, do not hide anything from me.
15 Then said Jeremiah unto Zedekiah, When I tell thee wilt thou not surely put me to death? And when I counsel thee thou wilt not hearken unto me.
16 So King Zedekiah sware unto Jeremiah secretly saying,—By the life of Yahweh who made for us this soul I will in no wise put thee to death, Neither will I deliver thee into the hand of these men who are seeking thy life.
17 Then said Jeremiah unto Zedekiah—Thus saith Yahweh, God of hosts, God of Israel—If thou wilt indeed go forth unto the princes of the king of Babylon then shall thine own soul live, and this city shall not be burned with fire,—but thou shalt live, thou and thy house.
18 But if thou wilt not go forth unto the princes of the king of Babylon then shall this city be delivered into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire, and thou shalt not escape out of their hand.
19 Then said King Zedekiah unto Jeremiah: I am afraid of the Jews who have fallen away unto the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand and they maltreat me.
20 But Jeremiah said, They shall not deliver!—Hearken, I pray thee, unto the voice of Yahweh in what I am speaking unto thee, that it may be well with thee and thy soul live.
21 But if thou art refusing to go forth this is the thing which Yahweh hath shewed me:—
22 behold then all the women that are left in the house of the king of Judah brought forth unto the princes of the king of Babylon,—and those very women saying, The men thou wast wont to salute have goaded thee on and prevailed upon thee,—Thy foot having sunk in the mire they have turned away back.
23 Yea [thou shalt behold] all thy wives and thy children brought forth unto the Chaldeans, and thou shalt not escape out of their hand,—but by the hand of the king of Babylon shalt thou be taken, and this city shall be burned with fire.
24 Then said Zedekiah unto Jeremiah—Do not let any man know of these words and thou shalt not die.
25 But when the princes hear that I have spoken with thee and they come in unto thee and say unto thee—Do tell us, we pray thee, what thou didst speak unto the king, do not hide it from us, so will we not put thee to death,—and what spake the king unto thee?
26 Then shalt thou say unto them,—I was causing my supplication to fall prostrate before the king,—that he would not cause me to return to the house of Jonathan to die there.
27 Then came in all the princes unto Jeremiah and asked him, and he told them according to all these words which the king had commanded,—so they turned in silence from him, for the matter had not been reported.
28 So Jeremiah remained in the guard-court, until the day when Jerusalem was captured; thus it fell out when Jerusalem was captured.
39 In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month came Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and all his force against Jerusalem, and they besieged it.
2 In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, on the ninth of the month was the city broken into.
3 Then came in all the princes of the king of Babylon, and sat in the middle gate,—Nergal-sharezer, Samgar-nebo, Sarsechim, chief eunuch, Nergal-sharezer, chief soothsayer, and all the residue of the princes of the king of Babylon.
4 And it came to pass as soon as Zedekiah king of Judah and all the men of war saw them that they fled and went forth by night out of the city by way of the king’s garden, through the gate between the two walls,—and he went forth by way of the waste plain.
5 But the force of the Chaldeans pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in the waste plains of Jericho, and when they had taken him they brought him up unto Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath,—and pronounced upon him sentences of judgment.
6 And the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah before his eyes,—and all the nobles of Judah did the king of Babylon slay;
7 and the eyes of Zedekiah did he put out, and bound him with fetters of bronze to bring him into Babylon.
8 And the house of the king and the houses of the people did the Chaldeans burn with fire,—and the walls of Jerusalem brake they down;
9 and the remnant of the people who were left in the city and the disheartened who fell away unto him, and the remnant of the people who were left did Nebuzaradan chief of the royal executioners take captive to Babylon.
10 But of the poor people who had nothing did Nebuzaradan chief of the royal executioners leave remaining in the land of Judah, and gave them vineyards and ploughed fields on the same day.
11 Then Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon gave command concerning Jeremiah,—through Nebuzaradan chief of the royal executioners saying:
12 Take him and thine eyes set thou upon him, and do not unto him any harmful thing,—but just as he shall speak unto thee so shalt thou do with him.
13 So Nebuzaradan chief of the royal executioners sent, also Nebushazban chief of the eunuchs, and Nergal-sharezer chief of the magi, and all the chiefs of the king of Babylon;
14 yea they sent and fetched Jeremiah out of the guard-court and delivered him unto Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan, to bring him forth into a home,—so he dwelt in the midst of the people.
15 Now unto Jeremiah had come the word of Yahweh, while he was yet shut up in the guard-court saying:
16 Go! and speak to Ebed-melech the Ethiopian saying,—Thus saith Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, Behold me! bringing about my words against this city for calamity—and not for blessing,—and they shall come to pass before thee in that day.
17 But I will deliver thee in that day, Declareth Yahweh,—and thou shalt not be given up into the hand of the men from the face of whom thou mightest shrink with fear.
18 For I will surely deliver thee, and by the sword shalt thou not fall,—but thou shalt have thine own life as a spoil, Because thou hast trusted in me, Declareth Yahweh.
40 The thing that happened unto Jeremiah from Yahweh, after Nebuzaradan chief of the royal executioners had let him go from Ramah,—when he had taken him, he having been bound in fetters in the midst of all the captive-host of Jerusalem and Judah, who were being carried away captive to Babylon.
2 So then the chief of the royal executioners took Jeremiah,—and said unto him, Yahweh thy God had threatened this calamity against this place;
3 and so Yahweh hath brought it about and done it just as he threatened,—for ye have sinned against Yahweh and have not hearkened unto his voice, and so this thing hath befallen you.
4 Now therefore lo! I have loosed thee to-day from the fetters which were upon thy hand: If it be good in thine eyes to come with me into Babylon come and I will set mine eyes upon thee, but if evil in thine eyes to come with me into Babylon forbear,—see! all the land is before thee, whither it may be good and right in thine eyes to go thither go!
5 And ere yet he could make reply—Go thou back then unto Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan whom the king of Babylon hath set in charge over the cities of Judah and dwell thou with him in the midst of the people, or whithersoever it may be right in thine eyes to go go! So the chief of the royal executioners gave him an allowance and a present and let him go.
6 Then came Jeremiah unto Gedaliah son of Ahikam to Mizpah, and dwelt with him in the midst of the people who were left in the land.
7 Now when all the captains of the forces which were in the field—they and their men heard that the king of Babylon had set Gedaliah son of Ahikam in charge over the land,—and that he had committed to him men and women and children, and the poor of the land of those who had not been carried away captive to Babylon
8 then came they in unto Gedaliah in Mizpah,—both Ishmael son of Nethaniah and Johanan and Jonathan sons of Kareah and Seraiah son of Tanhumeth and the sons of Ephai the Netophathite and Jezaniah son of the Maachathite, they and their men.
9 Then Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan sware unto them, and to their men saying, Do not be afraid of serving the Chaldeans,—dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon that it may be well with you.
10 But as for me behold me! remaining in Mizpah, to stand before the Chaldeans who may come unto us. Ye however gather ye wine and summer fruits and oil and put [them] in your vessels, and dwell in your cities which ye have seized.
11 Likewise also all the Jews who were in Moab and among the sons of Ammon and in Edom and who were in any of the lands when they heard that the king of Babylon had granted a remnant to Judah, and that he had set in charge over them Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan
12 yea then returned all the Jews out of all the places whither they had been driven, and came into the land of Judah unto Gedaliah in Mizpah,—and gathered wine and summer fruits in great abundance.
13 But Johanan son of Kareah and all the princes of the forces which were in the field came unto Gedaliah in Mizpah,
14 and said unto him—Dost thou at all know that Baalis king of the sons of Ammon hath sent Ishmael son of Nethaniah, to smite thee to death? But Gedaliah son of Ahikam believed them not.
15 Then Johanan son of Kareah spake unto Gedaliah secretly in Mizpah saying,—Let me go, I pray thee, and smite Ishmael son of Nethaniah, and not a man shall know it,—wherefore should he smite thee to death and all Judah who have gathered themselves unto thee be dispersed, and the remnant of Judah perish?
16 Then said Gedaliah son of Ahikam unto Johanan son of Kareah, Thou mayest not do this thing,—for falsely art thou speaking against Ishmael.
41 And it came to pass in the seventh month that Ishmael son of Nethaniah son of Elishama of the seed royal and chiefs of the king and ten men with him, came in unto Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah,—and they did there eat bread together in Mizpah.
2 Then arose Ishmael son of Nethaniah—and the ten men who were with him and they smote Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan—with the sword and slew him whom the king of Babylon had set in charge over the land.
3 And Ishmael smote all the Jews who were with him even with Gedaliah in Mizpah, and the Chaldeans who were found there, the men of war.
4 And it came to pass on the second day after he had slain Gedaliah, not a man knowing it
5 that men came in from Shechem from Shiloh and from Samaria—eighty men, with beards shaven and clothes rent who also had cut themselves, with a meal-offering and frankincense in their hand, to bring them into the house of Yahweh.
6 Then went forth Ishmael son of Nethaniah to meet them out of Mizpah, weeping all along as he went,—and it came to pass when he fell in with them that he said unto them, Come ye in unto Gedaliah son of Ahikam.
7 And so it was when they had come into the midst of the city that Ishmael son of Nethaniah slew them [and cast them] into the midst of a pit, he and the men who were with him.
8 But ten men were found among them who said unto Ishmael—Do not put us to death, for we have secret treasures in the field, wheat and barley and oil and honey. So he forbare and put them not to death in the midst of their brethren.
9 Now the pit whereinto Ishmael cast all the dead bodies of the men whom he had smitten was a large pit which King Asa had made for fear of Baasha king of Israel,—the same did Ishmael son of Nethaniah fill with the slain.
10 Then did Ishmael take captive all the remnant of the people that was in Mizpah—the daughters of the king and all the people that were left remaining in Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan chief of the royal executioners had committed unto Gedaliah son of Ahikam,—yea Ishmael son of Nethaniah took them captive, and departed to pass over unto the sons of Ammon.
11 But when Johanan son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces who were with him heard of all the wickedness which Ishmael son of Nethaniah had done
12 then took they all the men and went their way to fight with Ishmael son of Nethaniah,—and found him near the many waters which were in Gibeon.
13 And it came to pass when all the people who were with Ishmael saw Johanan son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces who were with him then were they glad.
14 So all the people whom Ishmael had carried away captive out of Mizpah compassed about, and returned and went their way unto Johanan son of Kareah.
15 But Ishmael son of Nethaniah escaped with eight men, from the face of Johanan,—and departed unto the sons of Ammon.
16 Then did Johanan son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces who were with him take all the remnant of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael son of Nethaniah out of Mizpah, after he had smitten Gedaliah son of Ahikam,—mighty men, men of war, and women and children and eunuchs, whom he had recovered out of Gibeon;
17 and they departed and dwelt in the khan of Chimham, which is near Bethlehem,—that they might go to enter Egypt;
18 because of the Chaldeans, for they were afraid of them,—because Ishmael son of Nethaniah had smitten Gedaliah son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had set in charge over the land.
42 Then drew near all the captains of the forces, and Johanan son of Kareah and Jezaniah son of Hoshaiah,—and all the people from the least even unto the greatest;
2 and said unto Jeremiah the prophet—Let our supplication, we beseech thee, fall prostrate before thee, and pray thou in our behalf unto Yahweh thy God, in behalf of all this remnant,—for we are left a few out of many, just as thine own eyes do behold us:
3 that Yahweh thy God may tell us the way wherein we should walk,—and the thing that we should do.
4 And Jeremiah the prophet said unto them, I have heard; behold me! praying unto Yahweh your God according to your words,—and it shall come to pass that the whole thing that Yahweh shall answer you I will tell you, I will keep back from you nothing.
5 They therefore said unto Jeremiah, Yahweh be against us, as a witness true and faithful,—if according to all the word which Yahweh thy God shall send thee unto us so we do not perform:
6 whether for good or for ill, unto the voice of Yahweh our God for which we are sending thee unto him will we hearken,—to the end it may be well with us, because we will hearken unto the voice of Yahweh our God.
7 And it came to pass at the end of ten days that the word of Yahweh came unto Jeremiah.
8 Then called he for Johanan son of Kareah, and for all the princes of the forces who were with him,—and for all the people from the least even unto the greatest;
9 and said unto them, Thus saith Yahweh, God of Israel,—unto whom ye sent me, to cause your supplication to fall prostrate before him:—
10 If ye will indeed abide in this land then will I build you up and not pull [you] down, and plant you and not uproot [you],—for I have compassion as touching the calamity which I have caused you.
11 Do not fear the face of the king of Babylon, of whose face ye are afraid,—do not fear him, Urgeth Yahweh, for with you am I to save you and to deliver you out of his hand:
12 that I may grant you compassions and he may have compassion upon you,—and suffer you to return unto your own soil.
13 But since ye are saying,—We will not dwell in this land,—nor hearken unto the voice of Yahweh your God:
14 saying,—No! for into the land of Egypt will we go, where we shall not see war, nor the sound of a horn shall we hear,—nor for bread shall we be famished,—there then will we dwell
15 Now therefore for this cause hear ye the word of Yahweh, O remnant of Judah,—Thus saith Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel,—If ye do indeed set your faces to enter Egypt and do enter to sojourn there
16 then shall it come to pass that the sword which ye are fearing shall there overtake you in the land of Egypt,—and the famine which ye are dreading shall there lay fast hold of you in Egypt and there shall ye die.
17 So shall it be with all the men who have set their faces to enter Egypt to sojourn there, they shall die by sword, by famine or by pestilence,—and they shall have neither survival nor escape, from the face of the calamity which I am about to bring in upon them.
18 For—Thus saith Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel,—Just as mine anger and mine indignation have been poured out upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem so shall mine indignation be poured out upon you when ye enter into Egypt,—thus shall ye become a curse and an astonishment and a contempt and a reproach, and ye shall no more see this place.
19 Yahweh hath spoken concerning you, O ye remnant of Judah, Do not enter into Egypt: Know certainly that I have taken you to witness to-day.
20 For ye have deceived yourselves at the cost of your lives, for ye yourselves sent me unto Yahweh your God saying,—Pray thou in our behalf unto Yahweh our God,—and according to all that Yahweh our God shall say so tell us and we will do it.
21 Therefore have I told you to-day,—and yet ye have not hearkened unto the voice of Yahweh your God, even in any thing for which he hath sent me unto you.
22 Now therefore know ye certainly, that by sword, by famine or by pestilence shall ye die,—in the place whither ye have desired to go to sojourn.
43 And it came to pass when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking unto all the people all the words of Yahweh their God, with which Yahweh their God had sent him unto them,—even all these words
2 then spake Azariah son of Hoshaiah and Johanan son of Kareah, and all the proud men,—saying unto Jeremiah—Falsely art thou speaking, Yahweh our God hath not sent thee to say, Ye shall not enter Egypt to sojourn there;
3 but Baruch son of Neriah is goading thee on against us,—that he may deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans to put us to death, or take us away captive to Babylon.
4 So Johanan son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces and all the people hearkened not unto the voice of Yahweh,—by remaining in the land of Judah;
5 but Johanan son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces took all the remnant of Judah, who had returned out of all the nations whither they had been driven to sojourn in the land of Judah:
6 both the men and the women and the children and the daughters of the king, and every soul that Nebuzaradan chief of the royal executioners had left with Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan,—and Jeremiah the prophet, and Baruch son of Neriah;
7 and entered the land of Egypt, for they hearkened not unto the voice of Yahweh,—yea entered as far as Tahpanhes.
8 Then came the word of Yahweh unto Jeremiah, in Tahpanhes saying:
9 Take in thy hand great stones and hide them in the mortar that is in the brickyard which is at the entrance of the house of Pharaoh in Tahpanhes,—before the eyes of the men of Judah.
10 Then shalt thou say unto them—Thus saith Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel—Behold me! sending and fetching Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon my servant, and I will set his throne over these stones which I have hid,—and he shall spread his canopy over them.
11 And when he entereth then will he smite the land of Egypt [and deliver] Him who is for death to death and Him who is for captivity to captivity, and Him who is for the sword to the sword.
12 So will I kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt, and he shall burn them and carry them away captive,—and shall wrap the land of Egypt about him just as a shepherd wrappeth about him his garment, and shall go forth from thence in peace;
13 And he shall break in pieces the pillars of Beth-shemesh, which is in the land of Egypt,—And the houses of the gods of Egypt shall he burn with fire.
44 The word which came to Jeremiah, against all the Jews who were dwelling in the land of Egypt,—who were dwelling in Migdol and in Tahpanhes and in Noph, and in the land of Pathros saying:
2 Thus saith Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, Ye yourselves saw all the calamity which I brought in upon Jerusalem, and upon all the cities of Judah,—and there they are a desolation this day, and there is not in them an inhabitant:
3 because of their wickedness which they committed provoking me to anger, by going to burn incense, to serve other gods,—whom they had not known, they, ye nor your fathers;
4 yet I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, betimes sending them, saying,—Do not, I pray you, commit this abominable thing which I hate!
5 but they hearkened not neither inclined their ear, by turning from their wickedness,—so as not to burn incense to other gods.
6 Therefore were mine indignation and mine anger poured out, and a fire was kindled in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem,—and they became waste and desolate as at this day.
7 Now therefore Thus saith Yahweh, God of hosts, God of Israel—Wherefore are ye committing a great wickedness against your own lives, that ye should cut off from you man and woman, child and suckling out of the midst of Judah,—so that there should not be left you a remnant:
8 in that ye provoke me to anger by the works of your own hands, burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt, which ye have been entering to sojourn,—that ye should cut [them] off from you, and that ye should become a contempt and a reproach among all the nations of the earth?
9 Have ye forgotten the wicked ways of your fathers and the wicked ways of the kings of Judah and the wicked ways of his wives, and your own wicked ways, and the wicked ways of your own wives,—which they committed in the land of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem?
10 They have not been crushed, unto this day; neither have they been afraid neither have they walked in my law and in my statutes, which I set before you and before your fathers.
11 Therefore Thus saith Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, Behold me! setting my face against you for calamity,—even to cut off all Judah;
12 and I will take the remnant of Judah who did set their faces to enter the land of Egypt, to sojourn there, and they shall all be consumed, in the land of Egypt shall they fall by the sword, by famine shall they be consumed, from the least even unto the greatest, by sword and by famine shall they die,—so shall they become a curse and an astonishment, and a contempt and a reproach;
13 and I will bring punishment upon them who are dwelling in the land of Egypt, just as I brought punishment upon Jerusalem,—by sword, by famine and by pestilence;
14 and there shall be neither escape nor survival unto the remnant of Judah, who have been entering to sojourn there into the land of Egypt,—that they should return to the land of Judah, even when they are lifting up their soul to return to dwell there, for none shall return saving fugitives.
15 Then all the men who knew that their wives were burning incense to other gods, and all the women standing by a great convocation,—with all the people who were dwelling in the land of Egypt in Pathros, made answer unto Jeremiah saying:
16 As touching the word which thou hast spoken unto us in the name of Yahweh we are not going to hearken unto thee;
17 but we will certainly do the whole thing that hath gone forth out of our own mouth by burning incense to the queen of the heavens and pouring out to her drink-offerings, just as we and our fathers and our kings and our princes did, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem,—then were we filled with bread and became prosperous, and calamity saw we none;
18 whereas from the very time we ceased burning incense to the queen of the heavens and pouring out to her drink-offerings we have lacked everything,—and by sword and by famine have we been consumed.
19 And though we are burning incense to the queen of the heavens and pouring out to her drink-offerings is it without our men that we have made to her sacrificial cakes as images of her and poured out to her drink-offerings?
20 Then spake Jeremiah unto all the people,—against the men and against the women and against all the people who had been making any answer unto him saying:
21 Was it not the very incense which 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 was it not those very things that Yahweh did remember, and that came up on his heart;
22 so that Yahweh could no longer forbear because of the wickedness of your doings, because of the abominations which ye committed,—and your land became a desolation and an astonishment and a contempt without inhabitant—as at this day?
23 Because that ye burned incense and that ye sinned against Yahweh and hearkened not unto the voice of Yahweh, and in his law and in his statutes and in his testimonies did not walk for this cause did this calamity befall you—as at this day.
24 And Jeremiah said unto all the people, and unto all the women,—Hear ye the word of Yahweh, all Judah who are in the land of Egypt,—
25 Thus saith Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, saying, Ye and your wives have both spoken with your mouth and with your hands have ye fulfilled saying, We will certainly perform our vows which we have vowed to burn incense to the queen of the heavens, and to pour out to her drink-offerings: the women will certainly confirm your vows, and certainly perform your vows.
26 Therefore hear ye the word of Yahweh, all Judah who are dwelling in the land of Egypt,—Behold me! I have sworn by my great Name, Saith Yahweh, That my Name shall no more be invoked by the mouth of any man of Judah saying—By the life of My Lord Yahweh in all the land of Egypt.
27 Behold me! watching over them for calamity and not for blessing,—so shall all the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt be consumed by sword and by famine until there be an end of them.
28 Yet the fugitives of the sword shall certainly return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah, men easily counted,—that all the remnant of Judah who are entering Egypt to sojourn there may know whose word shall stand, mine or theirs!
29 And this to you shall be the sign, Declareth Yahweh, that I am about to bring punishment upon you in this place,—that ye may know that my words shall certainly stand against you for calamity:
30 Thus saith Yahweh, Behold me! delivering up Pharaoh-hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies, yea into the hand of them who are seeking his life,—just as I delivered Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon his enemy and one seeking his life.
45 The word which Jeremiah the prophet spake unto Baruch son of Neriah,—when he had written these words upon a book from the mouth of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah saying—
2 Thus saith Yahweh, God of Israel, Unto thee, O Baruch,—
3 Thou didst say, Surely woe to me! For Yahweh hath added sorrow unto my pain,—I am weary with my moaning, And rest have I not found!
4 Thus shalt thou say unto him, Thus saith Yahweh,—Lo, what I had built I am pulling down, And what I had planted I am rooting up,—And that is all the land:
5 Wouldst thou then seek to secure for thyself great things? Do not seek! For behold me! bringing in calamity upon all flesh, Declareth Yahweh, Nevertheless I will give thee thine own life as a spoil, in all places whithersoever thou goest.
46 So much of the word of Yahweh as came unto Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations.
2 Of Egypt Concerning the force 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 son of Josiah king of Judah:—
3 Prepare ye buckler and shield, And draw near to battle:
4 Harness the horses, and mount ye horsemen, Stand forth in helmets,—Polish the lances, put on the coats of mail.
5 Why have I seen it? They panic-struck are drawing back, Yea their heroes are crushed, Yea they have fled and not turned,—Terror round about! Declareth Yahweh.
6 Let not the swift flee, Nor let the hero escape,—Northward beside the river Euphrates have they stumbled and fallen.
7 Who is it that is like the Nile when it riseth, Like rivers when his waters are tossed?
8 Egypt was like the Nile when it riseth, And like rivers when the waters are tossed: So he said—I will rise, I will cover the earth, I will destroy the city and the dwellers therein.
9 Mount the horses, And drive the chariots madly on, So let the heroes go forth,—Ethiopians and Libyans that grasp the buckler, And Lydians that grasp—that tread—the bow.
10 But that day belongeth to My Lord, Yahweh of hosts—A day of avenging to avenge him of his adversaries, When the sword shall devour and be filled, and be sated with their blood,—For a sacrifice hath My Lord, Yahweh of hosts, In the land of the North Towards the river Euphrates.
11 Go up to Gilead and fetch balsam, O virgin daughter of Egypt! In vain hast thou multiplied remedies, Healing there is none for thee.
12 The nations have heard of thy disgrace, And thine outcry hath filled the earth,—For hero against hero have they stumbled, Together have fallen the twain!
13 The word which Yahweh spake unto Jeremiah the prophet,—as to the coming of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon to smite the land of Egypt:—
14 Tell ye it in Egypt And let it be heard in Migdol, Yea let it be heard in Noph and in Tahpanhes,—Say ye—Stand thou forth and prepare thyself, For a sword hath devoured round about thee.
15 Wherefore have thy valiant ones been laid prostrate? He hath made no stand, because Yahweh hath driven him back:
16 Hath made many a one to be stumbling, Yea fallen is every one against his neighbour, So they have said—Arise and let us return to our own people And unto the land of our birth, From the face of the sword of the oppressor.
17 Proclaim ye a name,—Pharaoh king of Egypt—a Sound! He hath overstepped the time appointed!
18 As I live saith the King, Yahweh of hosts is his name: Though Like Tabor among mountains, Like Carmel Into the sea shall he go!
19 Baggage for captivity prepare thee, O inhabitress, daughter of Egypt; For Noph shall become a desolation, And be burned without inhabitant.
20 A calf of great beauty is Egypt: The gad-fly out of the North cometh—cometh.
21 Even her hirelings in her midst are like fatted calves, For even they have turned—have fled at once! have made no stand! For their day of doom hath come upon them, The time of their visitation.
22 Her noise like a serpent departeth,—For with a force they advance, And with axes have they come against her, like them who fell trees:
23 They have cut down her forest, Declareth Yahweh, Surely he cannot be searched out,—For they have outnumbered locusts, and cannot be counted.
24 Put to shame is the daughter of Egypt,—She hath been delivered into the hand of the people of the North.
25 Saith Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel,—Behold me! bringing punishment—against Amon of No, and upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt, and upon her gods and upon her kings,—Even upon Pharaoh and upon all that trust in him;
26 And I will deliver them—Into the hand of them who are seeking their life, Even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon And into the hand of his servants,—And after that shall it be inhabited as in the days of old, Declareth Yahweh.
27 Thou therefore do not fear, O my Servant Jacob, Nor be dismayed, O Israel, For behold me! Saving thee from afar, And thy seed from the land of their captivity,—So shall Jacob return and be quiet and shall rest, With none to occasion alarm.
28 Thou do not fear, O my Servant Jacob, Urgeth Yahweh, For with thee am I: Though I make an end of all the nations whither I have driven thee Yet of thee will I not make an end, But will correct thee in measure And not hold thee guiltless!
47 So much of the word of Yahweh as came unto Jeremiah the prophet Against the Philistines,—before Pharaoh smote Gaza:
2 Thus saith Yahweh—Lo! waters rising from the North And they shall become a torrent overflowing, Which shall overflow The land and the fulness thereof, The city and the dwellers therein,—Then shall men make outcry, And all the inhabitants of the land howl.
3 Because of the sound of the tramping of the hoofs of his chargers, Because of the rushing of his chariots, the rumbling of his wheels Fathers shall not turn to children, Because of the unnerving of their hands;
4 On account of the day that cometh to lay waste all the Philistines, To cut off from Tyre and Zidon every escaped one that could have helped,—For Yahweh is laying waste the Philistines, The remnant of the Coastland of Caphtor.
5 Baldness hath come upon Gaza, Silenced is Ashkelon, the remnant of their vale,—How long wilt thou cut thyself?
6 Ah! thou sword of Yahweh, How long wilt thou not be quiet? Withdraw into thy scabbard, Rest thyself and be still.
7 How can it be quiet, when Yahweh hath given it a charge,—against Ashkelon and against the shore of the sea? There hath he appointed it!
48 Of Moab—Thus saith Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel,—Alas for Nebo, for it is laid waste, Put to shame—captured is Kiriathaim: Put to shame is Misgab and dismayed.
2 No more is the praise of Moab, In Heshbon have they devised against her calamity, Come and let us cut her off from being a nation,—Even thou Madmen also shalt be silenced, After thee shall march the sword.
3 A voice of outcry from Horonaim,—Wasting and great destruction!
4 Moab is broken: Her little ones have caused to be heard an outcry.
5 For the ascent of Luhith with weeping one ascendeth—with weeping,—For in the descent of Horonaim the distress of the outcry of destruction have they heard:
6 Flee, deliver your own lives,—Then shall the women be as a shrub in the desert.
7 For seeing thou hast trusted in thy works and in thy treasures Thou too shalt be captured,—Then shall Chemosh go forth into captivity, His priests and his princes together.
8 And the spoiler shall enter into every city And not a city shall escape, Then shall perish the vale, Then be destroyed the table-land,—As Yahweh hath said.
9 Give wing to Moab, For she must fly away; And her cities To desolation shall be turned, With no inhabitant therein.
10 Accursed be he that doeth the business of Yahweh carelessly; And accursed be he that withholdeth his sword from blood!
11 Moab hath been at ease from his youth And settled is he upon his lees, And hath not been poured out from vessel to vessel, Nor into captivity hath gone,—For this cause hath his flavour stood still within him, And his scent is unchanged.
12 Therefore lo! days are coming, Declareth Yahweh, When I will send to him tilters and they shall tilt him,—And his vessels shall they empty, And their jars shall they dash in pieces.
13 Then shall Moab be ashamed of Chemosh,—Just as the sons of Israel were ashamed of Bethel their confidence.
14 How can ye say, Heroes are we? and Men of might for the war?
15 Spoiled is Moab And her cities hath he ascended, And the choice of his young men have gone down to the slaughter,—Declareth The King, Yahweh of hosts is his Name.
16 Near is the doom of Moab to come,—And his calamity hasteth greatly.
17 Lament ye for him—All that are round about him, and All that know his name,—Say, How is broken—The staff of strength! The rod of beauty!
18 Come down from glory and sit in thirst, O inhabitress, daughter of Dibon; For the spoiler of Moab hath come up against thee, He hath laid in ruins thy strongholds.
19 Near the way take thy stand and keep outlook, O inhabitress of Aroer: Ask—Him that fleeth and Her that hath escaped, Say, What hath happened?
20 Confounded is Moab! For it is broken down! Howl and make outcry,—Tell ye in Arnon That Moab is spoiled;
21 And judgment hath come Upon the country of the table-land,—Upon Holon and Upon Jazer and Upon Mephaath;
22 and Upon Dibon and Upon Nebo, and Upon Beth-diblathaim;
23 and Upon Kiriathaim and Upon Beth-gamul and Upon Beth-meon;
24 and Upon Kerioth and Upon Bozrah,—Yea upon all the cities of the land of Moab, far and near.
25 Cut off is the horn of Moab, Yea his arm is broken,—Declareth Yahweh.
26 Make ye him drunken, Because against Yahweh hath he magnified himself; So shall Moab stagger into his own vomit, And shall become a derision even he!
27 And was it not a derision that Israel became to thee? And was it not among thieves he was found? For as often as thou didst speak of him thou didst wag the head!
28 Leave ye the cities and dwell in the cliff, Ye inhabitants of Moab; And become ye as a dove, that maketh her nest in the further-side of the fissure’s mouth.
29 We have heard the arrogance of Moab—proud exceedingly: His loftiness and his arrogance and his majesty and his elevation of heart!
30 I know—Declareth Yahweh, His passion—that ’tis Unjust! His boastings, that Untrue have they made [them]!
31 For this cause over Moab will I howl, And for all Moab will I make outcry,—For the men of Kir-heres must one moan!
32 Beyond the weeping of Jazer will I weep for thee, O vine of Sibmah, Thy tendrils have gone over the sea, Unto the sea of Jazer have they reached, Upon thy summer fruits And upon thy vintage the spoiler hath fallen.
33 So shall be withdrawn gladness and exultation—From the fruitful field and From the land of Moab,—And wine from the vats have I caused to fail, They shall not tread with shouting, The shouting shall be no shouting!
34 From the outcry of Heshbon, Even unto Elealeh, Even unto Jahaz have they given forth their voice, From Zoar even unto Horonaim the third Eglath,—For even the waters of Nimrim to utter desolation have been turned:
35 Then will I cause to cease from Moab, Declareth Yahweh,—Him that offereth at a high-place, and Him that burneth incense to his gods.
36 For this cause my heart for Moab like flutes shall make plaintive sounds, Yea my heart for the men of Kir-heres like flutes shall make plaintive sounds, Because the abundance he hath gotten is lost!
37 For every head is baldness, And every beard clipped: Upon all hands are gashes, And upon the loins sackcloth!
38 Upon all the housetops of Moab And in her broadways it is all lamentation,—For I have broken Moab—Like a vessel wherein is no pleasure, Declareth Yahweh.
39 How it is broken down! They have howled, How hath Moab turned the back for shame,—So shall Moab become a derision and a terror to all round about him.
40 For thus saith Yahweh, Lo! as an eagle shall one dart along,—And shall spread out his wings towards Moab.
41 Captured is Kerioth, And the fortresses are seized,—Then shall the heart of the heroes of Moab become in that day As the heart of a woman in her pains.
42 Then shall Moab be destroyed from being a people,—Because against Yahweh hath he magnified himself.
43 Terror and pit and snare are upon thee, O inhabitant of Moab, Declareth Yahweh:
44 He that fleeth from the face of the terror Shall fall into the pit, And he that getteth up out of the pit Shall be captured by the snare,—For I will bring against her—against Moab, The year of their visitation, Declareth Yahweh.
45 In the shadow of Heshbon stand strengthless the fugitives,—For a fire hath gone forth out of Heshbon And shall flame out of the midst of Sihon, And shall devour the beard of Moab, And the crown of the head of the proudly tumultuous.
46 Woe to thee, Moab! Lost are the people of Chemosh,—For thy sons have been taken into captivity, And thy daughters into captivity.
47 Yet will I bring back the captivity of Moab In the afterpart of the days, Declareth Yahweh. Thus far is the sentence of Moab.
49 Of the sons of Ammon—Thus saith Yahweh: Hath Israel no sons? Hath he no heir? Why hath Malkam taken possession of Gad, Or have his people in the cities thereof made their dwelling?
2 Therefore lo! days are coming, Declareth Yahweh, When I will cause to be heard against Rabbah of the sons of Ammon an alarm of war, So shall she become a mound of desolation, And her villages with fire shall blaze,—Then shall Israel inherit them who inherited him, Saith Yahweh.
3 Howl, O Heshbon, for Ai is spoiled, Make outcry, ye daughters of Rabbah, Gird you with sackcloth, Lament ye and run to and fro among the fences,—For Malkam into captivity shall go, His priests and his princes together.
4 Why shouldst thou glory in the vales, The flowing of thy vale, O apostate daughter? She who is trusting in her treasures, [saying], Who shall invade me?
5 Behold me! bringing upon thee terror, Declareth My Lord, Yahweh of hosts, From all who are round about thee,—And ye shall be driven out every man before it, And there shall be none to bring home the wanderer;
6 But afterwards will I bring back the captivity of the sons of Ammon, Declareth Yahweh.
7 Of Edom—Thus saith Yahweh of hosts, Is there no longer wisdom in Teman? Hath counsel perished from the discerning? Is their wisdom corrupt?
8 Flee ye, turn, go down deep to dwell, O inhabitant of Dedan,—For the doom of Esau have I brought in upon him, The time of his visitation.
9 If grape-gatherers came to thee Would they not leave gleanings? If thieves in the night Would they not have taken away what sufficed them?
10 But I have stripped Esau bare, I have uncovered his secret places, And to conceal himself shall he not be able! Spoiled are his seed and his brethren and his neighbours and he is not.
11 Leave thy fatherless children I will preserve them alive,—And thy widows In me let them trust.
12 For thus saith Yahweh—Lo! they who had not been adjudged to drink the cup shall surely drink, And art thou the one to go unpunished? Thou shalt not go unpunished, but shalt surely drink.
13 For by myself have I sworn, Declareth Yahweh, That Bozrah shall become an astonishment, a reproach and a desolation, and a contempt,—And all her cities shall become age-abiding desolations.
14 A report have I heard from Yahweh, Yea an envoy throughout the nations hath been sent,—Gather yourselves together and come against her, And arise to the battle.
15 For lo! Small have I made thee among the nations,—Despised among men!
16 Thy monstrous thing hath deceived thee, The insolence of thy heart, O thou that inhabitest the hidden recesses of the cliff, That holdest fast the height of the hill,—Though thou set high as an eagle thy nest From thence will I bring thee down, Declareth Yahweh;
17 So shall Edom become an astonishment,—Every one passing by her will be astonished and hiss over all her plagues:
18 Like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and her neighbours, Saith Yahweh,—There shall not dwell there—a man, Nor sojourn therein—any son of the earth-born.
19 Lo! like a lion will he come up from the majesty of the Jordan unto the pasture perennial, But I will wink—I will make him run away therefrom, Who then shall be the Chosen One whom over it I may set in charge? For who shall be like unto me? And who shall appoint me a time? And who is the Shepherd that shall stand before me?
20 Wherefore hear ye The counsel of Yahweh which he hath counselled against Edom, And his devices which he hath devised against the inhabitants of Teman,—Surely the little ones of the flock shall drag them away, Surely he will cause their fold to be astounded over them.
21 At the noise of their fall hath trembled the earth At the outcry, in the Red Sea was heard its noise.
22 Lo! as an eagle he shall mount and dart, and spread his wings over Bozrah,—So shall the heart of the heroes of Edom in that day become as the heart of a woman in her pain.
23 Of Damascus Turned pale have Hamath and Arpad, For a calamitous report have they heard—they tremble,—In the sea is anxiety, it cannot rest.
24 Enfeebled is Damascus, She hath turned to flee But terror hath seized her,—Anguish and pangs have seized her as a woman in childbirth.
25 Alas! is she not forsaken—The city so praised! The citadel I rejoiced in!
26 Therefore shall her young men fall in her broadways,—And all her men of war shall be silent in that day, Declareth Yahweh of hosts;
27 Then will I kindle a fire in the walls of Damascus,—And it shall devour the palaces of Ben-hadad.
28 Of Kedar And of the kingdoms of Hazor Which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon smote—Thus saith Yahweh,—Arise ye, go up against Kedar. So shall they spoil the sons of the East:
29 Their tents and their flocks shall they take, And their curtains and all their baggage and their camels shall they carry off for themselves,—And shall cry out unto them, Terror round about!
30 Flee, remove far away, go deep to dwell, Ye inhabitants of Hazor, Urgeth Yahweh; For Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon—Hath counselled against you a counsel, And devised against you a device.
31 Arise ye, go up against a nation at ease—dwelling securely, Commandeth Yahweh,—Having neither doors nor bars, Alone do they dwell:
32 So shall their camels become a prey And the throng of their cattle a spoil, Then will I scatter them to every wind even the clipt-beards,—And from all sides of him will I bring in their doom, Declareth Yahweh.
33 So shall Hazor become A habitation of jackals, An astonishment unto times age-abiding: There shall not dwell there—a man, Nor sojourn therein—a son of the earth-born.
34 So much of the word of Yahweh as came unto Jeremiah the prophet Against Elam,—in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah saying:—
35 Thus saith Yahweh of hosts,—Behold me! breaking the bow of Elam,—The beginning of their might;
36 Then will I bring in against Elam four winds from the four quarters of the heavens, And will scatter them to all these winds,—And there shall be no nation whither the outcasts of Elam shall not come;
37 And I will cause Elam to be dismayed Before their enemies, Even before them who are seeking their life, So will I bring upon them calamity, Even the glow of mine anger, Declareth Yahweh,—And will send after them the sword, until I have made an end of them;
38 And I will set my throne in Elam,—And will destroy from thence king and princes, Declareth Yahweh;
39 But it shall come to pass In the afterpart of the days That I will bring back the captivity of Elam, Declareth Yahweh.
50 The word which Yahweh spake Against Babylon, Against the land of the Chaldeans, through Jeremiah the prophet:
2 Tell ye among the nations And let it be heard And lift ye up a standard, Let it be heard, do not conceal: Say ye—Captured is Babylon, Confounded is Bel, Broken in pieces is Merodach, Confounded are her images, Broken down her manufactured gods;
3 For there hath come up against her—a nation out of the North, The same shall make her land an astonishment, And there shall be none to dwell therein,—Both man and beast have removed—have gone!
4 In those days and at that time Declareth Yahweh, Shall the sons of Israel come in, They and the sons of Judah together: Weeping as they travel so shall they journey on, And Yahweh their God shall they seek;
5 To Zion shall they ask the way, Hitherward their faces! Come and let us join ourselves unto Yahweh, In a covenant age-abiding which shall not be forgotten.
6 Wandering sheep have my people been, Their own shepherds led them astray, On the mountains they seduced them, From mountain to hill have they gone, They have forgotten their couching-place.
7 All who found them devoured them, And their adversaries said—We shall not be guilty,—Because they have sinned Against Yahweh, the pasturage of righteousness, Yea the hope of their fathers—Yahweh.
8 Remove ye out of the midst of Babylon, And out of the land of the Chaldeans come ye forth,—And become ye like he-goats before the flock;
9 For lo! I am rousing and bringing up against Babylon a gathered host of great nations out of the land of the North, And they shall array themselves against her, From thence shall she be captured,—His arrows are as of a hero making childless, None shall return empty.
10 So shall the Chaldeans become a spoil,—All her spoilers shall be satisfied, Declareth Yahweh;
11 Because they used to be glad, Because they used to be uproarious When plundering mine inheritance,—Because they used to caper about as a heifer at grass, And bellow like bulls.
12 Your mother hath turned very pale, She that bare you hath turned red,—Lo! the last of nations is—A desert, A parched land and A waste plain.
13 Because of the vexation of Yahweh she shall not be inhabited, But shall become a complete desolation,—Every one passing by Babylon shall be astonished and hiss over all her plagues.
14 Set yourselves in array against Babylon round about, All ye who tread the bow, Shoot at her, do not spare so much as an arrow,—For against Yahweh hath she sinned.
15 Raise a shout against her round about, She hath stretched forth her hand, Fallen are her buttresses, Torn down are her walls,—Because the avenging of Yahweh it is Take ye vengeance upon her, As she hath done do ye unto her.
16 Cut ye off the sower from Babylon, And him that graspeth the sickle in the time of harvest. From the face of the sword of the oppressor Each to his own people will they turn, and Each to his own land will they flee.
17 A sheep all alone is Israel, Lions have driven him away,—At the first the king of Assyria devoured him, And here at the last Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath broken his bones!
18 Therefore Thus saith Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, Behold me! bringing punishment against the king of Babylon and against his land,—Just as I brought punishment against the king of Assyria.
19 So will I bring back Israel unto his own pasture, And he shall feed upon Carmel and Bashan; And in the hill country of Ephraim and Gilead shall his soul be satisfied.
20 In those days and in that time Declareth Yahweh, The iniquity of Israel shall be sought and there shall be none, And the sins of Judah and they shall not be found; For I will grant pardon to them whom I suffer to remain.
21 Against the land of Merathaim go thou up against her, And against the inhabitants of Pekod,—Lay waste and devote to destruction after them, Declareth Yahweh, And do according to all which I have commanded thee.
22 The sound of battle is in the earth,—And a great destruction.
23 How is cut and broken the hammer of all the earth! How hath Babylon become an astonishment among the nations!
24 I laid a snare for thee, yea and thou wast captured, O Babylon, when thou wast not aware,—Thou wast found out, yea and taken, For with Yahweh hadst thou contended.
25 Yahweh opened his armoury, and brought out his weapons of indignation,—For a work it is pertaining to My Lord, Yahweh of hosts, in the land of the Chaldeans.
26 Come ye against her from farthest parts, Throw open her granaries, Cast her up as heaps and devote her to destruction,—Do not let her have a remnant.
27 Cut up all her bullocks, Let them go down to the slaughter,—Alas for them! For their day hath come, Their time for punishment.
28 The voice Of them who are in flight and Of such as are escaping out of the land of Babylon,—To tell in Zion, The avenging of Yahweh our God, The avenging of his temple.
29 Publish against Babylon, ye chiefs of all who tread the bow—Encamp against her round about, Let there be none to escape, Recompense to her according to her work, According to all which she did do ye to her,—For Against Yahweh hath she acted presumptuously Against the Holy One of Israel.
30 Therefore shall her young men fall in her broadways,—And all her men of war be silenced in that day, Declareth Yahweh.
31 Behold me! against thee, most insolent one, Declareth My Lord, Yahweh of hosts; For thy day hath come, Thy time for punishment;
32 So shall the most insolent one stumble and fall, And he shall have none to lift him up,—And I will kindle a fire in his cities which shall devour all who are round about him.
33 Thus saith Yahweh of hosts—Oppressed were the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah together,—And all who took them captive Held them fast, Refused to let them go:—
34 Their Redeemer can hold fast, Yahweh of hosts is his name, He will thoroughly plead their plea,—That he may quiet the earth, And disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.
35 A sword is over the Chaldeans, Declareth Yahweh,—And against the inhabitants of Babylon, And against her princes And against her wise men:
36 A sword is against the praters And they shall be shewn to be foolish, A sword is against her heroes And they shall be dismayed:
37 A sword is against his horses and against his chariots and against all the rabble that are in her midst And they shall become women,—A sword is against her treasures And they shall be made a prey:
38 A drought is against her waters And they shall be dried up,—For a land of images it is, And with their shocking things they act as men who are mad:
39 Therefore shall the criers dwell with the howlers, Yea ostriches shall dwell therein,—So shall it be dwelt in no more for ever, Neither shall it be inhabited unto generation after generation.
40 Like the divine overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and her neighbours Declareth Yahweh,—There shall not dwell there—a man, Nor sojourn therein—a son of the earth-born.
41 Lo! a people coming in from the North,—Yea a great nation and many kings shall be roused up out of the remote parts of the earth:
42 Bow and javelin shall they grasp, Cruel are they and will not have compassion, Their voice like the sea will roar, And on horses will they ride,—Set in array as one man for battle, Against thee, O daughter of Babylon!
43 The king of Babylon hath heard the report of them And unnerved are his hands,—Anguish hath seized him, Writhing pain as a woman in child-birth.
44 Lo! as a lion shall he come up from the majesty of the Jordan Unto the pasture perennial, But I will wink—I will make them run away therefrom, Who then shall be the Chosen One whom against it I may set in charge? For who shall be like unto me? And who shall appoint me a time? And who is the Shepherd that shall stand before me?
45 Therefore hear ye The counsel of Yahweh which he hath counselled against Babylon, And his devices which he hath devised against the land of the Chaldeans,—Surely the little ones of the flock shall drag them away, Surely he will cause the pasture to be astounded over them.
46 At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth trembled,—And the outcry among the nations was heard.
51 Thus saith Yahweh—Behold me! stirring up against Babylon, And against the inhabitants of the centre of them who rise up against me,—A wind that destroyeth;
2 And I will send to Babylon winnowers, And they shall winnow her, And shall empty her land,—For they are against her round about in the day of calamity.
3 Let not the archer tread his bow, Nor lift himself up in his coat of mail,—And do not spare her young men, Devote to destruction all her host.
4 So shall they fall wounded in the land of Chaldea,—Yea thrust through in her streets,
5 For Israel and Judah have not been widowed Of their God, Of Yahweh of hosts,—But their land hath been filled with punishment for guilt from the Holy One of Israel.
6 Flee out of the midst of Babylon And deliver ye every man his own life, Be not cut off in her punishment,—For it is Yahweh’s time of avenging, A recompense is he repaying unto her.
7 A cup of gold was Babylon in the hand of Yahweh, Making drunk all the earth,—Of her wine have the nations drunk, For this cause have the nations been acting as men who are mad.
8 Suddenly hath Babylon fallen and been broken,—Howl ye over her, Fetch balsam for her pain, Peradventure she shall be healed!
9 We would have healed Babylon but she is not healed, Leave her and let us go every one to his own land,—For her judgment reacheth unto the heavens And mounteth as far as the skies.
10 Yahweh hath brought forth our righteousnesses,—Come and let us relate in Zion the work of Yahweh our God.
11 Polish the arrows, Lay hold of the shields,—Yahweh hath roused the spirit of the kings of the Medes, For against Babylon his purpose is to destroy her,—For it is The avenging of Yahweh, The avenging of his temple.
12 Against the walls of Babylon Lift ye up a standard, Strengthen ye the watch, Station the watchmen, Make ready the ambuscades,—For Yahweh hath both planned and also performed that which he had spoken against the inhabitants of Babylon.
13 O thou who dwellest upon many waters, Who aboundest in treasures,—Come hath thine end! The measure of thine unrighteous gain!
14 Yahweh of hosts hath sworn by his own soul: Surely I have filled thee with men as with locusts, And they have answered against thee with a shout.
15 He that Made the earth in his might, Established the world in his wisdom,—And in his understanding stretched out the heavens
16 By the voice that he uttered there was a tumult of waters in the heavens, And he caused vapours to ascend from the end of the earth,—Lightnings for the rain made he, And brought forth wind out of his treasures.
17 Every son of earth had become too brutish to know,—Every goldsmith hath been put to shame by a graven image,—For a falsehood is his molten image Seeing there is no breath in them:
18 Vanity they are, A handiwork of mockeries,—In the time of their visitation shall they perish.
19 Not like these is the portion of Jacob For the fashioner of all things is he! And the portion of his inheritance,—Yahweh of hosts is his name.
20 A war-club art thou for me, Weapons of war; Therefore will I Beat down with thee—nations, and Destroy with thee—kingdoms;
21 and Beat down with thee—the horse and his rider,—and Beat down with thee—the chariot and its rider;
22 and Beat down with thee—man and woman, and Beat down with thee—elder and youth, and Beat down with thee—young man and virgin;
23 and Beat down with thee—the shepherd and his flock, and Beat down with thee—the plowman and his yoke;—and Beat down with thee—governors and deputies:
24 So will I recompense to Babylon And to all the inhabitants of Chaldea All their wickedness which they have committed against Zion before your eyes,—Declareth Yahweh.
25 Behold me! against thee, O destroying mountain, Declareth Yahweh, That destroyest all the earth,—Therefore will I stretch out my hand over thee And roll thee down from the crags, And make of thee a burning mountain:
26 So shall they not fetch from thee A stone for a corner nor A stone for a foundation,—For desolations age-abiding shalt thou become, Declareth Yahweh.
27 Set ye up an ensign in the earth, Blow ye a horn among the nations, Hallow against her—nations, Summon against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni and Ashkenaz,—Set in charge against her a marshal, Bring up cavalry like hairy locusts:
28 Hallow against her—nations, With the kings of Media, With her governors and all her deputies,—And with all the land of his dominion:
29 Then did the land tremble and was in pain,—For the plans of Yahweh had been established against Babylon, To make the land of Babylon an astonishment without inhabitant.
30 The heroes of Babylon have ceased to fight, They have remained in the strongholds, Parched is their might, They have become women,—They have set fire to her habitations, Broken are her bars!
31 Runner to meet runner shall they run, And teller to meet teller,—To tell the king of Babylon, That captured is his city at the end!
32 and The fords have been seized, and The reeds have they burned with fire; and The men of war are dismayed!
33 For thus saith Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing-floor at the time of treading her: Yet a little and the time of harvest shall overtake her.
34 Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon—Hath devoured me, Hath vexed me, Hath set me down as an empty vessel, He hath swallowed me like a sea-monster, He hath filled his belly with my dainties,—He hath driven me away!
35 The violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon! Shall the inhabitress of Zion say,—Yea my blood be upon the inhabitant of Chaldea! Shall Jerusalem say.
36 Therefore Thus saith Yahweh, Behold me! pleading thy cause, So then I will execute the avenging of thee; And will dry up her sea, And make dry her spring:
37 Thus shall Babylon become—Heaps, A habitation of jackals, An astonishment and A hissing, Without inhabitant.
38 Together like wild lions shall they roar,—They have growled like lions’ whelps.
39 When they are heated I will spread their banquets And let them drink that they may become uproarious, So shall they sleep an age-abiding sleep and not wake,—Declareth Yahweh.
40 I will bring them down As fat lambs to slaughter,—As rams with he-goats.
41 How hath Sheshach been captured! How hath the praise of all the earth been seized! How hath Babylon become an astonishment among the nations!
42 The sea hath gone up over Babylon,—With the multitude of its rolling waves is she covered.
43 Her cities have become an astonishment, A land parched up and a waste plain,—A land wherein shall no man dwell, Nor pass through them a son of the earth-born!
44 So will I bring punishment upon Bel in Babylon And will bring forth what he hath swallowed out of his mouth, And the nations shall stream unto him no more,—Even the wall of Babylon hath fallen!
45 Come ye forth out of her midst, O my people, And deliver ye every man his own life,—Because of the glow of the anger of Yahweh.
46 And let not your heart be timid nor be ye afraid, Because of the report that is reported in the earth When there shall come in one year the report And after that in another year the report, With violence in the earth, and ruler upon ruler.
47 Therefore lo! days coming when I will bring punishment upon the images of Babylon, And all her land shall turn pale,—Yea all her wounded shall fall in her midst.
48 Then shall shout over Babylon—heavens and earth and all who are therein,—For out of the North shall come to her the spoilers, Declareth Yahweh.
49 Not only hath Babylon caused the fall of the slain of Israel,—By Babylon also have fallen the slain of all the earth.
50 Ye that have escaped the sword, depart, do not stand still,—Remember from afar Yahweh, Let Jerusalem come up on your heart:—
51 We have turned pale for we have heard a reproach, Confusion hath covered our faces,—For aliens have entered upon the hallowed places of the house of Yahweh!
52 Therefore lo! days are coming, Declareth Yahweh, When I will bring punishment upon her images; And throughout all her land shall the pierced one groan.
53 Though Babylon should mount the heavens, And though she should fortify her strong high-place From me should come spoilers unto her, Declareth Yahweh.
54 A voice of outcry from Babylon! And a great crash from the land of the Chaldeans!
55 For Yahweh is spoiling Babylon And will destroy out of her the loud voice,—Though their waves have roared like many waters, Been uttered the loud boast of their voice.
56 For there hath come upon her—upon Babylon—a spoiler, And captured are their heroes And broken are their bows,—For a God of recompenses is Yahweh, He will surely repay.
57 Then will I make drunk—Her princes and her wise men, Her governors and her deputies and her heroes, And they shall sleep an age-abiding sleep and not wake,—Declareth the King, Yahweh of hosts is his name.
58 Thus saith Yahweh of hosts—The broad walls of Babylon shall be laid utterly bare, And her lofty gates with fire shall be burned,—And peoples shall labour for emptiness And populations for the fire shall weary themselves.
59 The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah son of Neriah son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah king of Judah into Babylon, in the fourth year of his reign,—now Seraiah was travelling-marshal.
60 So Jeremiah wrote all the calamity which was to come unto Babylon in one scroll; even all these words which have been written against Babylon.
61 Then said Jeremiah unto Seraiah,—When thou comest into Babylon then shalt thou look out and read all these words;
62 and thou shalt say—O Yahweh! thou thyself hast spoken against this place to cut it off, That there be in it no inhabitant Neither man nor beast,—But desolations age-abiding shall it become!
63 And it shall be when thou hast made an end of reading this scroll that thou shalt bind thereunto a stone, and cast it in the midst of the Euphrates.
64 Then shalt thou say,—In like manner shall Babylon sink and not rise Because of the calamity which I am about to bring thereupon: So shall they perish. Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.
52 Twenty-one years old was Zedekiah when he began to reign, and eleven years reigned he in Jerusalem,—and his mother’s name was Hamutal, daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
2 And he did that which was wicked in the eyes of Yahweh,—according to all that Jehoiakim had done.
3 For it was because the anger of Yahweh had come against Jerusalem and Judah until he had cast them out from his presence that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.
4 And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign in the tenth month on the tenth of the month that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his force against Jerusalem, and encamped against it,—and he built against it a siege-wall round about.
5 And the city came into the siege,—until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.
6 In the fourth month on the ninth of the month, when the famine had become severe in the city,—and there had come to be no bread for the people of the land
7 then was the city broken up, and all the men of war beginning to flee went forth out of the city by night by way of the gate between the two walls which was by the garden of the king (the Chaldeans being near the city round about),—and they went the way towards the Waste Plain.
8 And the force of the Chaldeans pursued the king, and overtook Zedekiah in the Waste Plains of Jericho,—and all his force was scattered from him.
9 So they seized the king, and brought him up unto the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath,—and he pronounced upon him sentences of judgment.
10 And the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes,—moreover also all the princes of Judah slew he in Riblah;
11 and the eyes of Zedekiah put he out,—and bound him with fetters of bronze and the king of Babylon took him to Babylon, and put him in prison—until the day of his death.
12 And in the fifth month on the tenth of the month, the same was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came Nebuzaradan chief of the royal executioners,—who stood before the king of Babylon into Jerusalem;
13 and he burned the house of Yahweh and the house of the king,—yea all the houses of Jerusalem, even every great man’s house burned he with fire;
14 and all the walls of Jerusalem round about did all the force of the Chaldeans who were with the chief of the royal executioners break down.
15 And some of the poor of the people and the residue of the people who were left in the city and the disheartened who had fallen away unto the king of Babylon and the residue of the multitude did Nebuzaradan chief of the royal executioners carry away captive.
16 But others of the poor of the land did Nebuzaradan chief of the royal executioners leave, for vinedressers and for husbandmen.
17 And the pillars of bronze that pertained to the house of Yahweh and the stands and the sea of bronze which was in the house of Yahweh did the Chaldeans break in pieces,—and they carried away all the bronze of them to Babylon;
18 and the caldrons and the shovels and the snuffers and the dashing bowls, and the spoons, even all the utensils of bronze wherewith ministration used to be made did they take away;
19 and the basins and the censers and the dashing bowls and the caldrons and the lamps and the spoons and the cups which were of gold in gold, and which were of silver in silver did the chief of the royal executioners take away.
20 As for the two pillars, the one sea and the twelve oxen of bronze which were under the stands which King Solomon had made for the house of Yahweh without weight was the bronze of all these things.
21 Now as for the pillars eighteen cubits was the height of each pillar, and a line of twelve cubits compassed it about,—and the thickness thereof was four fingers’ breadth—hollow;
22 and there was a capital upon it of bronze and the height of each capital was five cubits, with lattice-work and pomegranates upon the capital round about—the whole was of bronze,—and like these were the second pillar and the pomegranates.
23 And the pomegranates were ninety-six on a side,—all the pomegranates were a hundred upon the lattice-work round about.
24 And the chief of the royal executioners took away Seraiah the first priest, and Zephaniah the second priest,—and the three keepers of the entrance-hall;
25 and out of the city took he one eunuch who was in charge over the men of war and seven men of them who used to watch the face of the king, who were found in the city, and the scribe of the prince of the host, who used to muster the people of the land,—and sixty men of the people of the land, who were found in the midst of the city.
26 And when Nebuzaradan chief of the royal executioners had taken them, and brought them unto the king of Babylon at Riblah
27 then did the king of Babylon smite them and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath,—thus carried he Judah captive away from off their own soil.
28 This is the people, whom Nebuchadrezzar carried away captive,—In the seventh year—of them of Judah three thousand and twenty-three;
29 In the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar—out of Jerusalem eight hundred and thirty-two souls;
30 In the three-and-twentieth year of Nebuchadrezzar Nebuzaradan chief of the royal executioners took away captive, of them of Judah seven hundred and forty-five souls: All the souls were four thousand and six hundred.
31 And it came to pass in the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah in the twelfth month on the twenty-fifth of the month that Evil-merodach king of Babylon in the year he began to reign lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah, and brought him forth out of prison;
32 and spake with him comfortable words,—and set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon;
33 so he changed his prison garments,—and used to eat bread before his face continually all the days of his life.
34 And his allowance was a continual allowance given him from the king of Babylon, the portion of the day upon its own day until the day of his death,—all the days of his life.