1 The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests that were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin: ² to whom the word of Jehovah came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. ³ It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, unto the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, unto the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month.

⁴ Now the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, ⁵ Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee, and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee; I have appointed thee a prophet unto the nations. ⁶ Then said I, Ah, Lord Jehovah! behold, I know not how to speak; for I am a child. ⁷ But Jehovah said unto me, Say not, I am a child; for ^[a]to whomsoever I shall send thee thou shalt go, and whatsoever I shall command thee thou shalt speak. ⁸ Be not afraid because of them; for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith Jehovah. ⁹ Then Jehovah put forth his hand, and touched my mouth; and Jehovah said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth: ¹⁰ see, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.

¹¹ Moreover the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what seest thou? And I said, I see a rod of ^[b]an almond-tree. ¹² Then said Jehovah unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I ^[c]watch over my word to perform it.

¹³ And the word of Jehovah came unto me the second time, saying, What seest thou? And I said, I see a boiling caldron; and the face thereof is from the north. ¹⁴ Then Jehovah said unto me, Out of the north evil ^[d]shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land. ¹⁵ For, lo, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, saith Jehovah; and they shall come, and they shall set every one his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all the walls thereof round about, and against all the cities of Judah. ¹⁶ And I will ^[e]utter my judgments against them touching all their wickedness, in that they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands. ¹⁷ Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee: be not dismayed at them, lest I dismay thee before them. ¹⁸ For, behold, I have made thee this day a fortified city, and an iron pillar, and brazen walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land. ¹⁹ And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee: for I am with thee, saith Jehovah, to deliver thee.

2 And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, ² Go, and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith Jehovah, I remember ^[f]for thee the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals; how thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown. ³ Israel was holiness unto Jehovah, the first-fruits of his increase: all that devour him shall be held guilty; evil shall come upon them, saith Jehovah.

⁴ Hear ye the word of Jehovah, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel: ⁵ Thus saith Jehovah, What unrighteousness have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain? ⁶ Neither said they, Where is Jehovah that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, that led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought and of ^[g]the shadow of death, through a land that none passed through, and where no man dwelt? ⁷ And I brought you into a plentiful land, to eat the fruit thereof and the goodness thereof; but when ye entered, ye defiled my land, and made my heritage an abomination. ⁸ The priests said not, Where is Jehovah? and they that handle the law knew me not: the ^[h]rulers also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit.

⁹ Wherefore I will yet contend with you, saith Jehovah, and with your children’s children will I contend. ¹⁰ For pass over to the isles of Kittim, and see; and send unto Kedar, and consider diligently; and see if there hath been such a thing. ¹¹ Hath a nation changed its gods, which yet are no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit. ¹² Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith Jehovah. ¹³ For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.

¹⁴ Is Israel a servant? is he a home-born slave? why is he become a prey? ¹⁵ The young lions have roared upon him, and ^[i]yelled; and they have made his land waste: his cities are burned up, without inhabitant. ¹⁶ The children also of Memphis and Tahpanhes have ^[j]broken the crown of thy head. ¹⁷ Hast thou not procured this unto thyself, in that thou hast forsaken Jehovah thy God, when he led thee by the way? ¹⁸ And now what hast thou to do in the way to Egypt, to drink the waters of the ^[k]Shihor? or what hast thou to do in the way to Assyria, to drink the waters of ^[l]the River? ¹⁹ Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and a bitter, that thou hast forsaken Jehovah thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts.

²⁰ For of old time ^[m]I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bonds; and thou saidst, I will not ^[n]serve; for upon every high hill and under every green tree thou didst bow thyself, playing the harlot. ²¹ Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate branches of a foreign vine unto me? ²² For though thou wash thee with lye, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord Jehovah. ²³ How canst thou say, I am not defiled, I have not gone after the Baalim? see thy way in the valley, know what thou hast done: thou art a swift ^[o]dromedary traversing her ways; ²⁴ a wild ass used to the wilderness, that snuffeth up the wind in her desire; in her occasion who can turn her away? all they that seek her will not weary themselves; in her month they shall find her. ²⁵ Withhold thy foot from being unshod, and thy throat from thirst. But thou saidst, It is in vain; no, for I have loved strangers, and after them will I go.

²⁶ As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets; ²⁷ who say to a stock, Thou art my father; and to a stone, Thou hast ^[p]brought ^[q]me forth: for they have turned their back unto me, and not their face; but in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise, and save us. ²⁸ But where are thy gods that thou hast made thee? let them arise, if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble: for according to the number of thy cities are thy gods, O Judah.

²⁹ Wherefore will ye contend with me? ye all have transgressed against me, saith Jehovah. ³⁰ In vain have I smitten your children; they received no ^[r]correction: your own sword hath devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion. ³¹ O generation, see ye the word of Jehovah. Have I been a wilderness unto Israel? or a land of ^[s]thick darkness? wherefore say my people, We are broken loose; we will come no more unto thee? ³² Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? yet my people have forgotten me days without number. ³³ How trimmest thou thy way to seek love! therefore even the wicked women hast thou taught thy ways. ³⁴ Also in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the innocent poor: ^[t]thou didst not find them breaking in; but it is because of all these things. ³⁵ Yet thou saidst, I am innocent; surely his anger is turned away from me. Behold, I will enter into judgment with thee, because thou sayest, I have not sinned. ³⁶ Why gaddest thou about so much to change thy way? thou shalt be ashamed of Egypt also, as thou wast ashamed of Assyria. ³⁷ From thence also shalt thou go forth, with thy hands upon thy head: for Jehovah hath rejected those in whom thou trustest, and thou shalt not prosper with them.

3 ^[u]They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man’s, will he return unto her again? will not that land be greatly polluted? But thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; ^[v]yet return again to me, saith Jehovah. ² Lift up thine eyes unto the bare heights, and see; where hast thou not been lain with? By the ways hast thou sat for them, as an Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness. ³ Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain; yet thou hadst a harlot’s forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed. ⁴ Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My Father, thou art the ^[w]guide of my youth? ⁵ Will he retain his anger for ever? will he keep it to the end? Behold, thou ^[x]hast spoken and hast done evil things, and hast ^[y]had thy way.

⁶ Moreover Jehovah said unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot. ^7 [z]And I said after she had done all these things, ^[aa]She will return unto me; but she returned not: and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. ⁸ And I saw, when, for this very cause that backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a bill of divorcement, yet treacherous Judah her sister feared not; but she also went and played the harlot. ⁹ And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that the land was polluted, and she committed adultery with stones and with stocks. ¹⁰ And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not returned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith Jehovah.

¹¹ And Jehovah said unto me, Backsliding Israel hath showed herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. ¹² Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith Jehovah; I will not ^[ab]look in anger upon you; for I am merciful, saith Jehovah, I will not keep anger for ever. ¹³ Only ^[ac]acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against Jehovah thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith Jehovah. ¹⁴ Return, O backsliding children, saith Jehovah; for I am a husband unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion. ¹⁵ And I will give you shepherds according to my heart, who shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. ¹⁶ And it shall come to pass, when ye are multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, saith Jehovah, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of Jehovah; neither shall it come to mind; neither shall they remember it; neither shall they ^[ad]miss it; neither ^[ae]shall it be made any more. ¹⁷ At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of Jehovah; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of Jehovah, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the stubbornness of their evil heart. ¹⁸ In those days the house of Judah shall walk ^[af]with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I gave for an inheritance unto your fathers.

¹⁹ But I said, How ^[ag]I will put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land, ^[ah]a goodly heritage of the hosts of the nations! and I said, ^[ai]Ye shall call me My Father, and shall not turn away from following me. ²⁰ Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith Jehovah. ²¹ A voice is heard upon the bare heights, the weeping and the supplications of the children of Israel; because they have perverted their way, they have forgotten Jehovah their God. ²² Return, ye backsliding children, I will heal your backslidings.

Behold, we are come unto thee; for thou art Jehovah our God. ²³ Truly in vain is the help that is looked for from the hills, the ^[aj]tumult on the mountains: truly in Jehovah our God is the salvation of Israel. ²⁴ But the ^[ak]shameful thing hath devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. ²⁵ Let us lie down in our shame, and let our confusion cover us; for we have sinned against Jehovah our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day; and we have not obeyed the voice of Jehovah our God.

4 If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith Jehovah, if thou wilt return unto me, and ^[al]if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight; then shalt thou not be removed; ² and thou shalt swear, As Jehovah liveth, in truth, in justice, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory. ³ For thus saith Jehovah to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.

⁴ Circumcise yourselves to Jehovah, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn so that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.

⁵ Declare ye in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem; and say, Blow ye the trumpet in the land: cry aloud and say, Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the fortified cities. ⁶ Set up a standard toward Zion: flee for safety, stay not; for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction. ⁷ A lion is gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations; he is on his way, he is gone forth from his place, to make thy land desolate, that thy cities be laid waste, without inhabitant. ⁸ For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and wail; for the fierce anger of Jehovah is not turned back from us. ⁹ And it shall come to pass at that day, saith Jehovah, that the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes; and the priests shall be astonished, and the prophets shall wonder.

¹⁰ Then said I, Ah, Lord Jehovah! surely thou hast greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall have peace; whereas the sword reacheth unto the life.

¹¹ At that time shall it be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A hot wind from the bare heights in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not to winnow, nor to cleanse; ^12 [am]a full wind from these shall come for me: now will I also utter judgments against them. ¹³ Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots shall be as the whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe unto us! for we are ruined. ¹⁴ O Jerusalem, wash thy heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thine evil thoughts lodge within thee? ¹⁵ For ^[an]a voice declareth from Dan, and publisheth evil from the hills of Ephraim. ¹⁶ Make ye mention to the nations; behold, publish against Jerusalem, that watchers come from a far country, and give out their voice against the cities of Judah. ¹⁷ As keepers of a field are they against her round about, because she hath been rebellious against me, saith Jehovah. ¹⁸ Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee; this is thy wickedness; ^[ao]for it is bitter, ^[ap]for it reacheth unto thy heart.

¹⁹ My anguish, my anguish! ^[aq]I am pained at ^[ar]my very heart; my heart is disquieted in me; I cannot hold my peace; because ^[as]thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. ²⁰ Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is laid waste: suddenly are my tents destroyed, and my curtains in a moment. ²¹ How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet? ²² For my people are foolish, they know me not; they are sottish children, and they have no understanding; they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.

²³ I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was waste and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. ²⁴ I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills ^[at]moved to and fro. ²⁵ I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. ²⁶ I beheld, and, lo, ^[au]the fruitful field was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of Jehovah, and before his fierce anger. ²⁷ For thus saith Jehovah, The whole land shall be a desolation; yet will I not make a full end. ²⁸ For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black; because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and I have not repented, neither will I turn back from it. ²⁹ Every city fleeth for the noise of the horsemen and bowmen; they go into the thickets, and climb up upon the rocks: every city is forsaken, and not a man dwelleth therein. ³⁰ And thou, when thou art made desolate, what wilt thou do? Though thou clothest thyself with scarlet, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, though thou ^[av]enlargest thine eyes with paint, in vain dost thou make thyself fair; thy lovers despise thee, they seek thy life. ³¹ For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, that gaspeth for breath, that spreadeth her hands, saying, Woe is me now! for my soul fainteth before the murderers.

5 Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that doeth justly, that seeketh ^[aw]truth; and I will pardon her. ² And though they say, As Jehovah liveth; surely they swear falsely. ³ O Jehovah, ^[ax]do not thine eyes look upon ^[ay]truth? thou hast stricken them, but they were not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive ^[az]correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.

⁴ Then I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish; for they know not the way of Jehovah, nor the law of their God: ⁵ I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they know the way of Jehovah, and the law of their God. But these with one accord have broken the yoke, and burst the bonds. ⁶ Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, a wolf of the ^[ba]evenings shall destroy them, a leopard shall watch against their cities; every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces; because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased.

⁷ How can I pardon thee? thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods. When I had ^[bb]fed them to the full, they committed adultery, and assembled themselves in troops at the harlots’ houses; ⁸ they were as fed horses roaming at large; every one neighed after his neighbor’s wife. ⁹ Shall I not visit for these things? saith Jehovah; and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

¹⁰ Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end: take away her branches; for they are not Jehovah’s. ¹¹ For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, saith Jehovah. ¹² They have denied Jehovah, and said, It is not he; neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor famine: ¹³ and the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them: thus shall it be done unto them.

¹⁴ Wherefore thus saith Jehovah, the God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them. ¹⁵ Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, saith Jehovah: it is ^[bc]a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou knowest not, neither understandest what they say. ¹⁶ Their quiver is an open sepulchre, they are all mighty men. ¹⁷ And they shall eat up thy harvest, and thy bread, which thy sons and thy daughters should eat; they shall eat up thy flocks and thy herds; they shall eat up thy vines and thy fig-trees; they shall ^[bd]beat down thy fortified cities, wherein thou trustest, with the sword. ¹⁸ But even in those days, saith Jehovah, I will not make a full end with you.

¹⁹ And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Wherefore hath Jehovah our God done all these things unto us? then shalt thou say unto them, Like as ye have forsaken me, and served foreign gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours.

²⁰ Declare ye this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying, ²¹ Hear now this, O foolish people, and without ^[be]understanding; that have eyes, and see not; that have ears, and hear not: ²² Fear ye not me? saith Jehovah: will ye not tremble at my presence, who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea, ^[bf]by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it? and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it. ²³ But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone. ²⁴ Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear Jehovah our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in its season; that preserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest. ²⁵ Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good from you. ²⁶ For among my people are found wicked men: they watch, as fowlers lie in wait; they set a trap, they catch men. ²⁷ As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxed rich. ²⁸ They are waxed fat, they shine: yea, they overpass in deeds of wickedness; they plead not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they may prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge. ²⁹ Shall I not visit for these things? saith Jehovah; shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

^30 [bg]A wonderful and horrible thing is come to pass in the land: ³¹ the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule ^[bh]by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?

6 Flee for safety, ye children of Benjamin, out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and raise up a signal on Beth-haccherem; for evil looketh forth from the north, and a great destruction. ² The comely and delicate one, the daughter of Zion, will I cut off. ³ Shepherds with their flocks shall come unto her; they shall pitch their tents against her round about; they shall feed every one in his place. ^4 [bi]Prepare ye war against her; arise, and let us go up at noon. Woe unto us! for the day declineth, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out. ⁵ Arise, and let us go up by night, and let us destroy her palaces. ⁶ For thus hath Jehovah of hosts said, Hew ye down ^[bj]trees, and cast up a mound against Jerusalem: this is the city to be visited; she is wholly oppression in the midst of her. ⁷ As a well ^[bk]casteth forth its waters, so she ^[bl]casteth forth her wickedness: violence and destruction is heard in her; before me continually is sickness and wounds. ⁸ Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul be alienated from thee; lest I make thee a desolation, a land not inhabited.

⁹ Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, They shall thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine: turn again thy hand as a grape-gatherer ^[bm]into the baskets. ¹⁰ To whom shall I speak and testify, that they may hear? behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of Jehovah is become unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it. ¹¹ Therefore I am full of the wrath of Jehovah; I am weary with holding in: pour it out upon the children in the street, and upon the assembly of young men together; for even the husband with the wife shall be taken, the aged with him that is full of days. ¹² And their houses shall be turned unto others, their fields and their wives together; for I will stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants of the land, saith Jehovah. ¹³ For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely. ¹⁴ They have healed also the ^[bn]hurt of ^[bo]my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace. ^15 [bp]Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall; at the time that I visit them they shall ^[bq]be cast down, saith Jehovah.

¹⁶ Thus saith Jehovah, Stand ye in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way; and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls: but they said, We will not walk therein. ¹⁷ And I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet; but they said, We will not hearken. ¹⁸ Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them. ¹⁹ Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words; and as for my law, they have rejected it. ²⁰ To what purpose cometh there to me frankincense from Sheba, and the sweet ^[br]cane from a far country? your burnt-offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices pleasing unto me. ²¹ Therefore thus saith Jehovah, Behold, I will lay stumbling-blocks before this people; and the fathers and the sons together shall stumble against them; the neighbor and his friend shall perish. ²² Thus saith Jehovah, Behold, a people cometh from the north country; and a great nation shall be stirred up from the uttermost parts of the earth.

²³ They lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel, and have no mercy; their voice roareth like the sea, and they ride upon horses, every one set in array, as a man to the battle, against thee, O daughter of Zion. ²⁴ We have heard the report thereof; our hands wax feeble: anguish hath taken hold of us, and pangs as of a woman in travail. ²⁵ Go not forth into the field, nor walk by the way; for the sword of the enemy, and terror, are on every side. ²⁶ O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth, and wallow thyself in ashes: make thee mourning, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation; for the destroyer shall suddenly come upon us.

²⁷ I have made thee a ^[bs]trier and a fortress among my people; that thou mayest know and try their way. ²⁸ They are all grievous revolters, going about with slanders; they are brass and iron: they all of them deal corruptly. ²⁹ The bellows ^[bt]blow fiercely; the lead is consumed of the fire: in vain do they go on refining; for the wicked are not plucked away. ³⁰ Refuse silver shall men call them, because Jehovah hath rejected them.

11 The word that came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying, ² Hear ye the words of this covenant, and speak unto the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem; ³ and say thou unto them, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel: Cursed be the man that heareth not the words of this covenant, ⁴ which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the iron furnace, saying, Obey my voice, and do them, according to all which I command you: so shall ye be my people, and I will be your God; ⁵ that I may establish the oath which I sware unto your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as at this day. Then answered I, and said, Amen, O Jehovah.

⁶ And Jehovah said unto me, Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, Hear ye the words of this covenant, and do them. ⁷ For I earnestly protested unto your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even unto this day, rising early and protesting, saying, Obey my voice. ⁸ Yet they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear, but walked every one in the stubbornness of their evil heart: therefore I brought upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did them not.

⁹ And Jehovah said unto me, A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ¹⁰ They are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to hear my words; and they are gone after other gods to serve them: the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant which I made with their fathers. ¹¹ Therefore thus saith Jehovah, Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and they shall cry unto me, but I will not hearken unto them. ¹² Then shall the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem go and cry unto the gods unto which they offer incense: but they will not save them at all in the time of their ^[a]trouble. ¹³ For according to the number of thy cities are thy gods, O Judah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem have ye set up altars to the ^[b]shameful thing, even altars to burn incense unto Baal.

¹⁴ Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them; for I will not hear them in the time that they cry unto me because of their ^[c]trouble. ¹⁵ What hath my beloved to do in my house, seeing she hath wrought lewdness ^[d]with many, and the holy flesh is passed from thee? ^[e]when thou doest evil, then thou rejoicest. ¹⁶ Jehovah called thy name, A green olive-tree, fair with goodly fruit: with the noise of a great tumult he hath kindled fire upon it, and the branches of it are broken. ¹⁷ For Jehovah of hosts, who planted thee, hath pronounced evil against thee, because of the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have wrought for themselves in provoking me to anger by offering incense unto Baal.

¹⁸ And Jehovah gave me knowledge of it, and I knew it: then thou showedst me their doings. ¹⁹ But I was like a gentle lamb that is led to the slaughter; and I knew not that they had devised devices against me, saying, Let us destroy the tree with the ^[f]fruit thereof, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered. ²⁰ But, O Jehovah of hosts, who judgest righteously, who triest the ^[g]heart and the mind, I shall see thy vengeance on them; for unto thee have I revealed my cause. ²¹ Therefore thus saith Jehovah concerning the men of Anathoth, that seek thy life, saying, Thou shalt not prophesy in the name of Jehovah, that thou die not by our hand; ²² therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts, Behold, I will ^[h]punish them: the young men shall die by the sword; their sons and their daughters shall die by famine; ²³ and there shall be no remnant unto them: for I will bring evil upon the men of Anathoth, ^[i]even the year of their visitation.

12 Righteous art thou, O Jehovah, when I contend with thee; yet would I ^[j]reason the cause with thee: wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are all they at ease that deal very treacherously? ² Thou hast planted them, yea, they have taken root; they grow, yea, they bring forth fruit: thou art near in their mouth, and far from their ^[k]heart. ³ But thou, O Jehovah, knowest me; thou seest me, and triest my heart toward thee: pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and ^[l]prepare them for the day of slaughter. ⁴ How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of the whole country wither? for the wickedness of them that dwell therein, the beasts are consumed, and the birds; because they said, He shall not see our latter end.

⁵ If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? and though in a land of peace thou art secure, yet how wilt thou do in the ^[m]pride of the Jordan? ⁶ For even thy brethren, and the house of thy father, even they have dealt treacherously with thee; even they have cried aloud after thee: believe them not, though they speak ^[n]fair words unto thee.

⁷ I have forsaken my house, I have cast off my heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies. ⁸ My heritage is become unto me as a lion in the forest: she hath uttered her voice against me; therefore I have hated her. ⁹ Is my heritage unto me as a speckled bird of prey? are the birds of prey against her round about? go ye, assemble all the beasts of the field, bring them to devour. ¹⁰ Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness. ¹¹ They have made it a desolation; it mourneth unto me, being desolate; the whole land is made desolate, because no man layeth it to heart. ¹² Destroyers are come upon all the bare heights in the wilderness; for the sword of Jehovah devoureth from the one end of the land even to the other end of the land: no flesh hath peace. ¹³ They have sown wheat, and have reaped thorns; they have put themselves to pain, and profit nothing: and ^[o]ye shall be ashamed of your fruits, because of the fierce anger of Jehovah.

¹⁴ Thus saith Jehovah against all mine evil neighbors, that touch the inheritance which I have caused my people Israel to inherit: Behold, I will pluck them up from off their land, and will pluck up the house of Judah from among them. ¹⁵ And it shall come to pass, after that I have plucked them up, I will return and have compassion on them; and I will bring them again, every man to his heritage, and every man to his land. ¹⁶ And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, As Jehovah liveth; even as they taught my people to swear by Baal; then shall they be built up in the midst of my people. ¹⁷ But if they will not hear, then will I pluck up that nation, plucking up and destroying it, saith Jehovah.