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These are the messages of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah. Jeremiah belonged to the family of priests who lived in the town of Anathoth.[a] That town is in the land that belongs to the tribe of Benjamin. The Lord began to speak to Jeremiah in the 13th year[b] that Josiah, son of Amon, was king of the nation of Judah. He continued to speak to Jeremiah during the time that Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, was king of Judah and during the eleven years and five months that Zedekiah, also a son of Josiah, was king of Judah. In the fifth month of Zedekiah’s eleventh year as king, the people who lived in Jerusalem were taken away into exile.

God Calls Jeremiah

The Lord’s message came to me:

“Before I made you in your mother’s womb,
    I knew you.
Before you were born,
    I chose you for a special work.
    I chose you to be a prophet to the nations.”

Then I said, “But, Lord God, I don’t know how to speak. I am only a boy.”

But the Lord said to me,

“Don’t say, ‘I am only a boy.’
    You must go everywhere I send you
    and say everything I tell you to say.
Don’t be afraid of anyone.
    I am with you, and I will protect you.”
This message is from the Lord.

Then the Lord reached out with his hand and touched my mouth. He said to me,

“Jeremiah, I am putting my words in your mouth.
10 Today I have put you in charge of nations and kingdoms.
    You will pull up and tear down.
You will destroy and overthrow.
    You will build up and plant.”

Two Visions

11 The Lord’s message came to me: “Jeremiah, what do you see?”

I answered, “I see a stick made from almond wood.”

12 The Lord said to me, “You have seen very well, and I am watching[c] to make sure that my message to you comes true.”

13 The Lord’s message came to me again: “Jeremiah, what do you see?”

I answered, “I see a pot of boiling water. That pot is tipping over from the north.”

14 The Lord said to me, “Something terrible will come from the north.
    It will happen to all the people who live in this country.
15 In a short time I will call all the people in the northern kingdoms.”
    This is what the Lord said.

“The kings of those countries will come
    and set up their thrones near the gates of Jerusalem.
They will attack the city walls of Jerusalem.
    They will attack all the cities in Judah.
16 And I will announce judgment against my people,
    because they are evil and have turned away from me.
They offered sacrifices to other gods
    and worshiped idols they made with their own hands.

17 “As for you, Jeremiah, get ready.
    Stand up and speak to the people.
Tell them everything that I tell you to say.
    Don’t be afraid of the people.
If you are afraid of them,
    I will give you good reason to be afraid of them.
18 As for me, today I will make you like a strong city,
    an iron column, a bronze wall.
You will be able to stand against everyone in the land,
    against the kings of the land of Judah,
    the leaders of Judah, the priests of Judah,
    and against the people of the land of Judah.
19 All those people will fight against you,
    but they will not defeat you,
because I am with you,
    and I will save you.”
This message is from the Lord.

Judah Was Not Faithful

The Lord’s message came to me: “Jeremiah, go and speak to the people of Jerusalem. Tell them that this is what the Lord says:

“‘At the time you were a young nation, you were faithful to me.
    You followed me like a young bride.
You followed me through the desert,
    through a land that had never been used for farmland.
The people of Israel were a holy gift to the Lord.
    They were the first fruit he gathered.
Any people who tried to hurt them were judged guilty.
    Bad things happened to those wicked people.’”
This message is from the Lord.

Family of Jacob, hear the Lord’s message.
    Tribes of Israel, listen.

This is what the Lord says:
“Do you think that I was not fair to your ancestors?
    Is that why they turned away from me?
Your ancestors worshiped worthless idols,
    and they became worthless themselves.
Your ancestors did not say,
    ‘The Lord brought us out of Egypt.
He led us through the desert,
    through a dry and rocky land.
He led us through a dark and dangerous land.
    No one lives there;
    people don’t even travel through that land.
But the Lord led us through that land.
    So where is he now?’

“I brought you into a good land,
    a land filled with many good things.
I did this so that you could eat the fruit and crops that grow there.
    But you only made my land ‘dirty.’
I gave that land to you,
    but you made it a bad place.

“The priests did not ask,
    ‘Where is the Lord?’
The people who know the law did not want to know me.
    The leaders of the people of Israel turned against me.
The prophets spoke[d] in the name of the false god Baal.
    They worshiped worthless idols.”

The Lord says, “So now I will accuse you again,
    and I will also accuse your grandchildren.
10 Go across the sea to the Islands of Kittim.[e]
    Send someone to the land of Kedar.
Look very carefully.
    See if anyone has ever done anything like this.
11 Has any nation ever stopped worshiping their old gods
    so that they could worship new gods?
    No! And their gods are not really gods at all!
But my people stopped worshiping their glorious God
    and started worshiping idols that are worth nothing.

12 “Skies, be shocked at what happened!
    Shake with great fear!”
    This message is from the Lord.
13 “My people have done two evil things.
    They turned away from me,
    and they dug their own water cisterns.[f]
I am the source of living water;
    those cisterns are broken and cannot hold water.

14 “Israel is not a slave, is he?
    He was not born a slave, was he?
    Then why did the enemy carry him away as a captive?
15 Like a lion the enemy has roared at Israel.
    They have destroyed your[g] land.
Your cities have been burned,
    and no one is left in them.
16 People from Memphis and Tahpanhes[h]
    have smashed the top of your head.
17 This trouble is your own fault.
    The Lord your God was leading you the right way,[i]
    but you turned away from him.
18 People of Judah, think about this:
    How did it help you to go to Egypt and drink from the Nile River?
    How did it help you to go to Assyria and drink from the Euphrates River?
19 You have done wrong,
    and that will only bring punishment to you.
Trouble will come to you,
    and it will teach you a lesson.
Think about it and understand how bad it is to turn away from the Lord your God.
    It is wrong not to fear and respect me.”
    This message is from Lord God All-Powerful.
20 “Judah, long ago you broke free from me,
    like an ox that breaks its yoke and the ropes that held it.
    You said to me, ‘I will not serve you!’
On every high hill and under every green tree,
    you acted like a prostitute.[j]
21 Judah, I planted you like a special vine.
    You were all from good seed.
How did you turn into a different vine
    that grows bad fruit?
22 Even if you wash yourself with lye,
    even if you use much soap,
I can still see your guilt.”
    This message is from the Lord God.
23 “Judah, how can you say to me,
    ‘I am not guilty because I have not worshiped the Baal idols’?
Think about what you did in the valley.
    Think about what you have done.
You are like a fast she-camel
    that runs from place to place.
24 You are like a wild donkey that lives in the desert.
    At mating time, she sniffs the wind.
    No one can control her when she is in heat.
At mating time, every male that wants her will get her.
    She is easy to find.
25 Judah, stop chasing after idols!
    Stop wanting those other gods.
But you say, ‘It is no use! I cannot stop!
    I love those other gods.
    I can’t stop chasing them.’

26 “A thief is ashamed
    when people catch him stealing.
The people of Israel should be ashamed too
    and so should their kings and leaders, priests and prophets.
27 They say to pieces of wood,
    ‘You are my father.’
They say to a rock,
    ‘You gave birth to me.’
All these people will be ashamed.
    They don’t look to me for help.
    They have turned their backs to me.
But when the people of Judah get into trouble, they say to me,
    ‘Come and save us!’
28 But where are the idols you made for yourselves?
    Let’s see if they come and save you when you are in trouble!
People of Judah, you have as many idols
    as you have cities!

29 “Why do you argue with me?
    You have all turned against me.”
    This message was from the Lord.
30 “I punished you people of Judah,
    but it did not help.
You did not come back
    when you were punished.
With your swords you killed the prophets who came to you.
    Like a dangerous lion, you killed the prophets.”
31 People of this generation,
    pay attention to the Lord’s message!

“Have I been like a desert to the people of Israel?
    Have I been like a dark and dangerous land to them?
My people say, ‘We are free to go our own way.
    We will not come back to you!’
    Why do they say these things?
32 A young woman does not forget her jewelry.
    A bride does not forget to wear her wedding dress.
But my people have forgotten me
    too many times to count.

33 “Judah, you have become so good at finding lovers.
    Even the worst women could learn some evil ways from you.
34 You have blood on your hands!
    It is the blood of poor, innocent people.
You did not catch them breaking into your house.
    You killed them for no reason!
35 But still, you say, ‘I am innocent.
    God is not angry with me.’
So I will also judge you guilty of lying, because you say,
    ‘I have done nothing wrong.’
36 You go from one place to another looking for help,
    always changing your mind.
But Egypt will also disappoint you,
    just as Assyria did.
37 So you will eventually leave Egypt too,
    and you will hide your face in shame.
You trusted these countries,
    but the Lord rejected them,
    so they cannot help you win.

“If a man divorces his wife and she goes and marries someone else,
    the first husband cannot take her back.
    If he did,[k] it would make the land unclean.
Judah, you and all your false gods are like a prostitute with many lovers!
    So why do you think you can come back to me?”
    This message is from the Lord.
“Look up to the bare hilltops, Judah.
    Is there any place where you have not had sex with your lovers?
You sat by the road waiting for lovers,
    like an Arab in the desert.
You made the land ‘dirty’
    with all the evil sins you did
    when you were unfaithful to me.
You sinned, so the rain has not come.
    There has not been any springtime rains.
But still you refuse to be ashamed.
    The look on your face is like that of a prostitute who refuses to be ashamed.
But didn’t you just call me ‘Father’?
    Didn’t you say, ‘You have been my friend since I was a child’?
You also said, ‘God will not always be angry with me.
    His anger will not continue forever.’

“Judah, you say that,
    but you do as much evil as you can.”

The Two Bad Sisters: Israel and Judah

The Lord spoke to me during the time King Josiah was ruling the nation of Judah. He said, “Jeremiah, you saw the bad things Israel[l] did! You saw how she was unfaithful to me. She was unfaithful to me with every idol on every hill and under every green tree. I said to myself, ‘Israel will come back to me after she has finished doing these evil things.’ But she did not come back to me. And Israel’s unfaithful sister, Judah, saw what she did. Israel was unfaithful, and she knew why I sent her away. Israel knew that I divorced her because she committed the sin of adultery. But that did not make her unfaithful sister afraid. Judah was not afraid. She also went out and acted like a prostitute. Judah did not care that she was acting like a prostitute. So she made her country ‘dirty.’ She committed the sin of adultery by worshiping idols made out of stone and wood. 10 Israel’s unfaithful sister did not come back to me with her whole heart. She only pretended that she came back to me.” This message is from the Lord.

11 The Lord said to me, “Israel was not faithful to me, but she had a better excuse than unfaithful Judah. 12 Jeremiah, look toward the north and speak this message:

“‘Come back, you faithless people of Israel.’
    This message is from the Lord.
‘I will stop frowning at you.
    I am full of mercy.’
    The Lord says, ‘I will not be angry with you forever.
13 But you must recognize your sin.
    You turned against the Lord your God.
    That is your sin.
You worshiped the idols of other nations.
    You worshiped them under every green tree.
You did not obey me.’”
    This message is from the Lord.

14 The Lord says, “You people are unfaithful, but come back to me because I am your master. I will take one person from every city and two people from every family and bring you to Zion. 15 Then I will give you new rulers who will be faithful to me. They will lead you with knowledge and understanding. 16 In those days there will be many of you in the land.” This message is from the Lord.

“At that time people will never again say, ‘I remember the days when we had the Box of the Lord’s Agreement.’ They will not even think about the Holy Box anymore. They will not even remember or miss it. They will never make another Holy Box. 17 At that time the city of Jerusalem will be called the ‘Lord’s Throne.’ All nations will come together in the city of Jerusalem to give honor to the name of the Lord. They will not follow their stubborn, evil hearts anymore. 18 In those days the family of Judah will join the family of Israel. They will come together from a land in the north to the land I gave to their ancestors.”

19-20 This message is from the Lord:

“I want to treat you like my own children.
    I want to give you a pleasant land,
    a land more beautiful than any other nation.
I thought you would call me ‘Father.’
    I thought you would always follow me.
But you have been unfaithful to me, family of Israel!
    You have been like an unfaithful wife who leaves her husband.
21 You can hear crying on the bare hills.
    The people of Israel are crying and praying for mercy.
They became very evil.
    They forgot the Lord their God.

22 “People of Israel, you are unfaithful to me, but come back to me.
    Come back and I will forgive[m] you for being unfaithful.

“Just say, ‘Yes, we will come back,
    because you are the Lord our God.
23 It was foolish to worship idols on the hills.
    All the loud parties on the mountains were wrong.
Surely the salvation of Israel
    comes from the Lord our God.
24 That terrible false god Baal has eaten everything our fathers owned.
    This has happened since we were children.
That terrible false god took our fathers’ sheep and cattle
    and their sons and daughters.
25 Let us lie down in our shame.
    Let our shame cover us like a blanket.
We have sinned against the Lord our God.
    We and our fathers have sinned.
We have not obeyed the Lord our God
    from the time we were children.’”

This message is from the Lord.
“Israel, if you want to come back,
    then come back to me.
Throw away your idols.
    Don’t wander farther away from me.
If you do these things, you will be able to use my name to make a promise.
    You will be able to say, ‘As the Lord lives.’
    You will be able to use these words in a truthful, honest, and right way.
If you do these things, the nations will be blessed by the Lord.
    They will brag about what the Lord has done.”

This is what the Lord says to the people of Judah and to Jerusalem:

“Your fields have not been plowed.
    Plow those fields!
    Don’t plant seeds among the thorns.
Become the Lord’s people.
    Change your hearts.[n]
Men of Judah and people of Jerusalem, if you don’t change,
    then I will become very angry.
My anger will spread fast like a fire,
    and it will burn you up.
No one will be able to put out that fire
    because of the evil you have done.”

Disaster From the North

“Give this message to the people of Judah:

Tell everyone in the city of Jerusalem:
    ‘Blow the trumpet all over the country.’
Shout out loud and say,
    ‘Come together!
    Let us all escape to the strong cities for protection.’
Raise the signal flag toward Zion.
    Run for your lives! Don’t wait!
Do this because I am bringing disaster from the north.[o]
    I am bringing terrible destruction.”
A lion has come out of his cave.
    A destroyer of nations has begun to march.
He has left his home to destroy your land.
    Your towns will be destroyed.
    There will be no one left to live in them.
The Lord is angry with us,
    so put on sackcloth and cry out loud!
The Lord says, “When this happens,
    the king and his officers will lose their courage.
The priests will be filled with fear,
    and the prophets will be shocked.”

10 Then I, Jeremiah, said, “Lord God, you have tricked the people of Judah and Jerusalem. You said to them, ‘You will have peace.’ But now the sword is pointing at their throats!”

11 At that time this message will be given
    to the people of Judah and Jerusalem:
“A hot wind blows from the bare hills.
    It comes from the desert to my people.
It is not like the gentle wind that is used
    to separate the grain from the chaff.
12 It is a stronger wind than that,
    and it comes from me.
Now I will announce my judgment
    against the people of Judah.”
13 Look! The enemy rises up like a cloud.
    His chariots look like a windstorm.
    His horses are faster than eagles.
It will be very bad for us!
    We are ruined!

14 People of Jerusalem,
    wash the evil from your hearts.
Make your hearts pure so that you can be saved.
    Don’t continue making evil plans.
15 Listen! The voice of a messenger
    from the land of Dan[p] is speaking.
Someone is bringing bad news
    from the hill country of Ephraim[q]:
16 “Report it to this nation.[r]
    Spread the news to the people in Jerusalem.
Enemies are coming from a faraway country.
    They are shouting words of war against the cities of Judah.
17 The enemy has surrounded Jerusalem
    like men guarding a field.
Judah, you turned against me,
    so the enemy is coming against you.”
This message is from the Lord.

18 “The way you lived and the things you did
    brought this trouble to you.
It is your evil that made your life so hard.
    Your evil life brought the pain that hurts deep in your heart.”

Jeremiah’s Cry

19 My sadness and worry is making my stomach hurt.
    I am bent over in pain.
I am so afraid.
    My heart is pounding inside me.
I cannot keep quiet, because I have heard the trumpet blow.
    The trumpet is calling the army to war.
20 Disaster follows disaster.
    The whole country is destroyed.
Suddenly my tents are destroyed.
    My curtains are torn down!
21 How long must I see the war flags?
    How long must I hear the war trumpets?

22 The Lord said, “My people are foolish.
    They don’t know me.
They are stupid children.
    They don’t understand.
They are skillful at doing evil,
    but they don’t know how to do good.”

Disaster Is Coming

23 I looked at the earth.
    It was empty; there was nothing on it.
I looked at the sky,
    and its light was gone.[s]
24 I looked at the mountains,
    and they were shaking.
    All the hills were trembling.
25 I looked, but there were no people.
    All the birds of the sky had flown away.
26 I looked, and the good land had become a desert.
    All the cities in that land were destroyed
    by the Lord and his great anger.

27 This is what the Lord says:
“The whole country will be ruined,
    but I will not completely destroy the land.
28 So the people in the land will cry for the dead.
    The sky will grow dark.
I have spoken and will not change.
    I have made a decision, and I will not change my mind.”

29 The people of Judah will hear the sound
    of the horse soldiers and the archers,
    and the people will run away!
Some of them will hide in caves;[t]
    some will hide in the bushes;
    some will climb up into the rocks.
All the cities of Judah will be empty.
    No one will live in them.

30 Judah, you have been destroyed.
    So what are you doing now?
Why are you putting on your best red dress?
    Why are you putting on your gold jewelry?
Why are you putting on your eye makeup?
    You make yourself beautiful,
    but it is a waste of time.
Your lovers hate you.
    They are trying to kill you.
31 I hear a cry like a woman in labor,
    a scream like a woman giving birth to her first baby.
    It is the cry of daughter Zion.[u]
She is lifting her hands in prayer, saying,
    “Oh! I am about to faint!
    Murderers are all around me!”

Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 1:1 priests … of Anathoth These priests probably belonged to the family of the priest Abiathar. Abiathar was a high priest in Jerusalem during the time David was king. He was sent away to Anathoth by King Solomon. See 1 Kings 2:26.
  2. Jeremiah 1:2 the 13th year That is, 627 B.C.
  3. Jeremiah 1:12 watching This is a wordplay. Shaqed is the Hebrew word for “almond wood,” and shoqed means “watching.”
  4. Jeremiah 2:8 spoke Or “prophesied.”
  5. Jeremiah 2:10 Islands of Kittim The name means the Island of Cyprus. But the name was often used for the other islands and coastlands of the Mediterranean Sea.
  6. Jeremiah 2:13 they dug … cisterns That is, they made false gods.
  7. Jeremiah 2:15 your Hebrew, “his,” referring to “Israel,” which here means his people, as in verse 16.
  8. Jeremiah 2:16 Memphis and Tahpanhes Two cities in Egypt.
  9. Jeremiah 2:17 was leading … way This is not in the ancient Greek version.
  10. Jeremiah 2:20 On every … prostitute This means the people worshiped their false gods in these places.
  11. Jeremiah 3:1 If he did It was against the Law of Moses for a man to marry a woman he had divorced if that woman had become another man’s wife. See Deut. 24:1-4.
  12. Jeremiah 3:6 Israel Here, the name Israel means the northern kingdom of Israel. Israel was destroyed by the Assyrians about 100 years before Jeremiah’s time.
  13. Jeremiah 3:22 forgive Literally, “heal.”
  14. Jeremiah 4:4 Change your hearts Literally, “Be circumcised to the Lord. Cut away the foreskin of your hearts.” See “circumcise, circumcision” in the Word List. Jeremiah is saying that real circumcision must be from inside a person’s heart (mind).
  15. Jeremiah 4:6 north The Babylonian army came from this direction to attack Judah. Armies from countries north and east of Israel often came this way to attack Judah and Israel.
  16. Jeremiah 4:15 land of Dan The people from the tribe of Dan lived near the border in the northern part of Israel. They would be the first to be attacked by an enemy from the north.
  17. Jeremiah 4:15 hill country of Ephraim This was the central part of the land that had been the northern kingdom of Israel.
  18. Jeremiah 4:16 “Report … nation The Hebrew text here is hard to understand.
  19. Jeremiah 4:23 the earth … gone Jeremiah is comparing his country to the time before people were put on the earth. See Gen. 1:1.
  20. Jeremiah 4:29 hide in caves This is from the ancient Greek version.
  21. Jeremiah 4:31 daughter Zion Another name for Jerusalem. See “Zion” in the Word List.

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