Yirmeyahu
1:1The words of Yirmeyahu the
son of Chilkiyah, of the kohanim who were in `Anatot in the land of Binyamin:
1:2to whom the word of the LORD
came in the days of Yoshiyahu the son of Amon, king of Yehudah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.
1:3It came also in the days of
Yehoiakim the son of Yoshiyahu, king of Yehudah, to the end of the eleventh year of Tzidkiyahu, the son of Yoshiyahu,
king of Yehudah, to the carrying away of Yerushalayim captive in the fifth month.
1:4Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
1:5Before I formed you in
the belly I knew you, and before you came forth out of the womb I sanctified you; I have appointed you a prophet to
the nations. 1:6Then said
I, Ah, Lord G-d! behold, I don't know how to speak; for I am a child. 1:7But the LORD said to me, Don't say, I am a child; for to
whoever I shall send you, you shall go, and whatever I shall command you, you shall speak.
1:8Don't be afraid because of them; for I am
with you to deliver you, says the LORD. 1:9Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth; and the LORD said to me, Behold, I have put my
words in your mouth: 1:10behold, I have this day set you 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. 1:11Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying, Yirmeyahu, what see you? I said, I see a rod of an almond
tree. 1:12Then said the
LORD to me, You have well seen: for I watch over my word to perform it. 1:13The word of the LORD came to me the second time, saying,
What see you? I said, I see a boiling caldron; and the face of it is from the north.
1:14Then the LORD said to me, Out of the north
evil shall break forth on all the inhabitants of the land.
1:15For, behold, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north,
says the LORD; and they shall come, and they shall set everyone his throne at the entrance of the gates of
Yerushalayim, and against all the walls of it round about, and against all the cities of Yehudah.
1:16I will utter my judgments
against them touching all their wickedness, in that they have forsaken me, and have burned incense to other gods,
and worshiped the works of their own hands. 1:17You therefore gird up your loins, and arise, and speak to them all that I command you: don't be dismayed at
them, lest I dismay you before them. 1:18For, behold, I have made you this day a fortified city, and an iron pillar, and brazen walls, against the
whole land, against the kings of Yehudah, against the princes of it, against the kohanim of it,
and against the people of the land. 1:19They shall fight against you; but they shall not prevail against you: for I am with you, says the LORD, to
deliver you.
2:1The word of the LORD came
to me, saying, 2:2Go, and
cry in the ears of Yerushalayim, saying, Thus says the LORD, I remember for you the kindness of your youth, the love
of your weddings; how you went after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown.
2:3Yisra'el was holiness to the LORD,
the first fruits of his increase: all who devour him shall be held guilty; evil shall come on them, says the LORD.
2:4Hear you the word of
the LORD, O house of Ya`akov, and all the families of the house of Yisra'el: 2:5thus says the LORD, What unrighteousness have your fathers
found in me, that they have gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain?
2:6Neither said they, Where is
the LORD who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts
and of pits, through a land of drought and of the shadow of death, through a land that none passed through, and
where no man lived? 2:7I
brought you into a plentiful land, to eat the fruit of it and the goodness of it; but when you entered, you defiled
my land, and made my heritage an abomination. 2:8The kohanim didn't say, Where is the LORD? and those who handle the law didn't know me:
the rulers also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Ba`al, and walked after things that do not
profit. 2:9Therefore I
will yet contend with you, says the LORD, and with your children's children will I contend.
2:10For pass over to the isles of Kittiyim, and
see; and send to Kedar, and consider diligently; and see if there has been such a thing.
2:11Has a nation changed its gods, which
yet are no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit.
2:12Be astonished, you heavens, at this, and be
horribly afraid, be you very desolate, says the LORD.
2:13For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the spring of
living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.
2:14Is Yisra'el a servant? is he a home-born
slave? why is he become a prey? 2:15The young lions have roared on him, and yelled; and they have made his land waste: his cities are burned
up, without inhabitant. 2:16The children also of Mof and Tachpanches have broken the crown of your head.
2:17Haven't you procured this to yourself, in
that you have forsaken the LORD your G-d, when he led you by the way? 2:18Now what have you to do in the way to Egypt, to drink the
waters of the Shichor? or what have you to do in the way to Ashshur, to drink the waters of the River?
2:19Your own wickedness shall
correct you, and your backsliding shall reprove you: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and a bitter,
that you have forsaken the LORD your G-d, and that my fear is not in you, says the Lord, the LORD of Hosts.
2:20For of old time I have
broken your yoke, and burst your bonds; and you said, I will not serve; for on every high hill and under every green
tree you did bow yourself, playing the prostitute. 2:21Yet I had planted you a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then are you turned into the degenerate
branches of a foreign vine to me? 2:22For though you wash yourself with lye, and use much soap, yet your iniquity is marked before me, says the
Lord G-d. 2:23How can
you say, I am not defiled, I have not gone after the Ba`alim? see your way in the valley, know what you have done:
you are a swift dromedary traversing her ways;
2:24a wild donkey used to the wilderness, that snuffs up the wind in her desire; in
her occasion who can turn her away? all those who seek her will not weary themselves; in her month they shall find
her. 2:25Withhold your
foot from being unshod, and your throat from thirst: but you said, It is in vain; no, for I have loved strangers,
and after them will I go. 2:26As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Yisra'el ashamed; they, their kings, their
princes, and their kohanim, and their prophets; 2:27who tell a stock, You are my father; and to a stone, You
have brought me forth: for they have turned their back to me, and not their face; but in the time of their trouble
they will say, Arise, and save us. 2:28But where are your gods that you have made you? let them arise, if they can save you in the time of your
trouble: for according to the number of your cities are your gods, Yehudah. 2:29Why will you contend with me? you all have transgressed
against me, says the LORD. 2:30In vain have I struck your children; they received no correction: your own sword has devoured your
prophets, like a destroying lion. 2:31Generation, see the word of the LORD. Have I been a wilderness to Yisra'el? or a land of thick darkness?
why say my people, We are broken loose; we will come no more to you? 2:32Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire?
yet my people have forgotten me days without number.
2:33How trimmest you your way to seek love! therefore even the wicked women have you
taught your ways. 2:34Also
in your skirts is found the blood of the souls of the innocent poor: you did not find them breaking in; but it is
because of all these things. 2:35Yet you said, I am innocent; surely his anger is turned away from me. Behold, I will enter into judgment
with you, because you say, I have not sinned. 2:36Why go you about so much to change your way? you shall be ashamed of Egypt also, as you were ashamed of
Ashshur. 2:37From there
also shall you go forth, with your hands on your head: for the LORD has rejected those in whom you trust, and you
shall not prosper with them.
3:1They say, If a man put
away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man's, will he return to her again? Won't that land be
greatly polluted? But you have played the prostitute with many lovers; yet return again to me, says the LORD.
3:2Lift up your eyes to the bare
heights, and see; where have you not been lain with? By the ways have you sat for them, as an `Aravian in the
wilderness; and you have polluted the land with your prostitution and with your wickedness.
3:3Therefore the showers have been withheld,
and there has been no latter rain; yet you have a prostitute's forehead, you refused to be ashamed.
3:4Will you not from this time
cry to me, My Father, you are the guide of my youth? 3:5Will he retain his anger forever? will he keep it to the end? Behold, you have spoken and have done
evil things, and have had your way. 3:6Moreover the LORD said to me in the days of Yoshiyahu the king, Have you seen that which backsliding
Yisra'el has done? she is gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and there has played the
prostitute. 3:7I said
after she had done all these things, She will return to me; but she didn't return: and her treacherous sister
Yehudah saw it. 3:8I saw,
when, for this very cause that backsliding Yisra'el had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a bill
of divorce, yet treacherous Yehudah, her sister, didn't fear; but she also went and played the prostitute.
3:9It happened through the
lightness of her prostitution, that the land was polluted, and she committed adultery with stones and with stocks.
3:10Yet for all this her
treacherous sister Yehudah has not returned to me with her whole heart, but only in pretense, says the LORD.
3:11The LORD said to me,
Backsliding Yisra'el has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Yehudah.
3:12Go, and proclaim these words toward the
north, and say, Return, you backsliding Yisra'el, says the LORD; I will not look in anger on you; for I am merciful,
says the LORD, I will not keep anger forever.
3:13Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against the LORD your
G-d, and have scattered your ways to the strangers under every green tree, and you have not obeyed my voice, says
the LORD. 3:14Return,
backsliding children, says the LORD; for I am a husband to you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a
family, and I will bring you to Tziyon: 3:15and I will give you shepherds according to my heart, who shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.
3:16It shall come to
pass, when you are multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, says the LORD, they shall say no more, The
ark of the covenant of the LORD; neither shall it come to mind; neither shall they remember it; neither shall they
miss it; neither shall it be made any more. 3:17At that time they shall call Yerushalayim the throne of the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered to
it, to the name of the LORD, to Yerushalayim: neither shall they walk any more after the stubbornness of their evil
heart. 3:18In those days
the house of Yehudah shall walk with the house of Yisra'el, and they shall come together out of the land of the
north to the land that I gave for an inheritance to your fathers. 3:19But I said, How I will put you among the children, and give
you a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of the nations! and I said, You shall call me My Father, and
shall not turn away from following me. 3:20Surely as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, so have you dealt treacherously with me, house of
Yisra'el, says the LORD. 3:21A voice is heard on the bare heights, the weeping and the petitions of the children of Yisra'el;
because they have perverted their way, they have forgotten the LORD their G-d.
3:22Return, you backsliding children, I will
heal your backsliding. Behold, we are come to you; for you are the LORD our G-d.
3:23Truly in vain is the help that is looked
for from the hills, the tumult on the mountains: truly in the LORD our G-d is the salvation of Yisra'el.
3:24But the shameful thing has
devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.
3:25Let us lie down in
our shame, and let our confusion cover us; for we have sinned against the LORD our G-d, we and our fathers, from our
youth even to this day; and we have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our G-d.
4:1If you will return,
Yisra'el, says the LORD, if you will return to me, and if you will put away your abominations out of my sight; then
you shall not be removed; 4:2and you shall swear, As the LORD lives, in truth, in justice, and in righteousness; and the nations shall
bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory. 4:3For thus says the LORD to the men of Yehudah and to Yerushalayim, Break up your fallow ground, and don't
sow among thorns. 4:4Circumcise
yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, you men of Yehudah and inhabitants of
Yerushalayim; lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn so that none can quench it, because of the evil of your
doings. 4:5Declare you in
Yehudah, and publish in Yerushalayim; and say, Blow you the shofar in the land: cry aloud and say,
Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the fortified cities.
4:6Set up a standard toward Tziyon: flee for safety, don't stay; for I will
bring evil from the north, and a great destruction. 4:7A 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 your land desolate, that your cities be laid waste, without inhabitant.
4:8For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and
wail; for the fierce anger of the LORD hasn't turned back from us. 4:9It shall happen at that day, says the LORD, that the heart
of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes; and the kohanim shall be astonished, and
the prophets shall wonder. 4:10Then said I, Ah, Lord G-d! surely you have greatly deceived this people and Yerushalayim, saying, You shall
have shalom; whereas the sword reaches to the life. 4:11At that time shall it be said to this people and to Yerushalayim, A hot wind from the bare heights in the
wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not to winnow, nor to cleanse; 4:12a full wind from these shall come for me: now will I also
utter judgments against them. 4:13Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots shall be as the whirlwind: his horses are
swifter than eagles. Woe to us! for we are ruined. 4:14Yerushalayim, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved. How long shall your evil thoughts
lodge within you? 4:15For
a voice declares from Dan, and publishes evil from the hills of Efrayim: 4:16make you mention to the nations; behold, publish against
Yerushalayim, that watchers come from a far country, and give out their voice against the cities of Yehudah.
4:17As keepers of a
field are they against her round about, because she has been rebellious against me, says the LORD.
4:18Your way and your doings
have procured these things to you; this is your wickedness; for it is bitter, for it reaches to your heart.
4:19My anguish, my anguish! I
am pained at my very heart; my heart is disquieted in me; I can't hold my shalom; because you have heard, O my soul,
the sound of the shofar, the alarm of war.
4:20Destruction on destruction is cried; for the whole land is laid waste:
suddenly are my tents destroyed, and my curtains in a moment. 4:21How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of
the shofar? 4:22For my people are foolish, they don't know me; they are foolish children, and they have no understanding;
they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge. 4:23I saw the earth, and, behold, it was waste and void; and
the heavens, and they had no light. 4:24I saw the mountains, and, behold, they trembled, and all the hills moved back and forth.
4:25I saw, and, behold, there
was no man, and all the birds of the sky were fled. 4:26I saw, and, behold, the fruitful field was a wilderness, and all the cities of it were broken down at the
presence of the LORD, and before his fierce anger.
4:27For thus says the LORD, The whole land shall be a desolation; yet will I
not make a full end. 4:28For 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. 4:29Every city flees for the noise of the horsemen and archers;
they go into the thickets, and climb up on the rocks: every city is forsaken, and not a man dwells therein.
4:30You, when you are made
desolate, what will you do? Though you clothe yourself with scarlet, though you deck you with ornaments of gold,
though you enlarge your eyes with paint, in vain do you make yourself beautiful; your lovers despise you,
they seek your life. 4:31For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, the anguish as of her who brings forth her first child,
the voice of the daughter of Tziyon, who gasps for breath, who spreads her hands, saying, Woe is me now! for
my soul faints before the murderers.
5:1Run you back and forth
through the streets of Yerushalayim, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places of it, if you can find a
man, if there are any who does justly, who seeks truth; and I will pardon her.
5:2Though they say, As the LORD lives; surely
they swear falsely. 5:3O
LORD, don't your eyes look on truth? you have stricken them, but they were not grieved; you have consumed them, but
they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.
5:4Then I said, Surely
these are poor; they are foolish; for they don't know the way of the LORD, nor the law of their G-d:
5:5I will get me to the great
men, and will speak to them; for they know the way of the LORD, and the law of their G-d. But these with one accord
have broken the yoke, and burst the bonds. 5:6Therefore a lion out of the forest shall kill them, a wolf of the evenings shall destroy them, a leopard
shall watch against their cities; everyone who goes out there shall be torn in pieces; because their transgressions
are many, and their backsliding is increased. 5:7How can I pardon you? your children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods: when I had fed
them to the full, they committed adultery, and assembled themselves in troops at the prostitutes' houses.
5:8They were as fed horses
roaming at large; everyone neighed after his neighbor's wife.
5:9Shall I not visit for these things? says the LORD; and shall not my soul be
avenged on such a nation as this? 5:10Go up on her walls, and destroy; but don't make a full end: take away her branches; for they are not the
LORD's. 5:11For the
house of Yisra'el and the house of Yehudah have dealt very treacherously against me, says the LORD.
5:12They have denied the LORD,
and said, It is not he; neither shall evil come on us; neither shall we see sword nor famine:
5:13and the prophets shall
become wind, and the word is not in them: thus shall it be done to them. 5:14Therefore thus says the LORD, the G-d Tzva'ot,,
Because you speak this word, behold, I will make my words in your mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall
devour them. 5:15Behold,
I will bring a nation on you from far, house of Yisra'el, says the LORD: it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient
nation, a nation whose language you don't know, neither understand what they say.
5:16Their quiver is an open tomb, they are all
mighty men. 5:17They
shall eat up your harvest, and your bread, which your sons and your daughters should eat; they shall eat up
your flocks and your herds; they shall eat up your vines and your fig trees; they shall beat down your fortified
cities, in which you trust, with the sword. 5:18But even in those days, says the LORD, I will not make a full end with you.
5:19It shall happen, when you shall say, Why
has the LORD our G-d done all these things to us? then shall you say to them, Like as you have forsaken me, and
served foreign gods in your land, so shall you serve strangers in a land that is not yours.
5:20Declare you this in the house of Ya`akov,
and publish it in Yehudah, saying, 5:21Hear now this, foolish people, and without understanding; who have eyes, and don't see; who have ears, and
don't hear: 5:22Don't
you fear me? says the LORD: won't you tremble at my presence, who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea, by
a perpetual decree, that it can't pass it? and though the waves of it toss themselves, yet they can't prevail;
though they roar, yet they can't pass over it. 5:23But this people has a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone.
5:24Neither say they in their heart, Let us now
fear the LORD our G-d, who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season; who preserves to us the
appointed weeks of the harvest. 5:25Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withheld good from you.
5:26For among my people are
found wicked men: they watch, as fowlers lie in wait; they set a trap, they catch men.
5:27As a cage is full of birds, so are their
houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and grew rich. 5:28They are grew fat, they shine: yes, they overpass in deeds
of wickedness; they don't plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they may prosper; and the right of the
needy they don't judge. 5:29Shall I not visit for these things? says the LORD; shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
5:30A wonderful and
horrible thing is happen in the land: 5:31the prophets prophesy falsely, and the kohanim bear rule by their means; and my people
love to have it so: and what will you do in the end of it?
6:1Flee for safety, you
children of Binyamin, out of the midst of Yerushalayim, and blow the shofar in Tekoa, and raise
up a signal on Beit-Hakkerem; for evil looks forth from the north, and a great destruction.
6:2The comely and delicate one, the daughter of
Tziyon, will I cut off. 6:3Shepherds with their flocks shall come to her; they shall pitch their tents against her round about; they
shall feed everyone in his place. 6:4Prepare you war against her; arise, and let us go up at noon. Woe to us! for the day declines, for the
shadows of the evening are stretched out. 6:5Arise, and let us go up by night, and let us destroy her palaces. 6:6For thus has the LORD of Hosts said, Hew you down trees, and
cast up a mound against Yerushalayim: this is the city to be visited; she is wholly oppression in the midst of her.
6:7As a well casts forth
its waters, so she casts forth her wickedness: violence and destruction is heard in her; before me continually is
sickness and wounds. 6:8Be
instructed, Yerushalayim, lest my soul be alienated from you; lest I make you a desolation, a land not inhabited.
6:9Thus says the LORD of
Hosts, They shall thoroughly glean the remnant of Yisra'el as a vine: turn again your hand as a grape-gatherer into
the baskets. 6:10To whom
shall I speak and testify, that they may hear? behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they can't listen: behold,
the word of the LORD is become to them a reproach; they have no delight in it.
6:11Therefore I am full of the wrath of the
LORD; I am weary with holding in: pour it out on the children in the street, and on the assembly of young men
together; for even the husband with the wife shall be taken, the aged with him who is full of days.
6:12Their houses shall be
turned to others, their fields and their wives together; for I will stretch out my hand on the inhabitants of the
land, says the LORD. 6:13For from the least of them even to the greatest of them everyone is given to covetousness; and from the
prophet even to the kohen everyone deals falsely. 6:14They have healed also the hurt of my people slightly,
saying, Shalom, shalom; when there is no shalom. 6:15Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could
they blush: therefore they shall fall among those who fall; at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down,
says the LORD. 6:16Thus
says the LORD, Stand you in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way; and walk therein,
and you shall find rest for your souls: but they said, We will not walk therein.
6:17I set watchmen over you, saying,
Listen to the sound of the shofar; but they said, We will not listen.
6:18Therefore hear, you nations, and know,
congregation, what is among them. 6:19Hear, earth: behold, I will bring evil on this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have
not listened to my words; and as for my law, they have rejected it. 6:20To what purpose comes there to me frankincense from Sheva,
and the sweet cane from a far country? your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices pleasing to me.
6:21Therefore thus says
the LORD, 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. 6:22Thus says the LORD, Behold, a people comes from the north
country; and a great nation shall be stirred up from the uttermost parts of the earth.
6:23They lay hold on bow and spear; they are
cruel, and have no mercy; their voice roars like the sea, and they ride on horses, everyone set in array, as a man
to the battle, against you, daughter of Tziyon. 6:24We have heard the report of it; our hands wax feeble: anguish has taken hold of us, and pangs as of
a woman in travail. 6:25Don't
go forth into the field, nor walk by the way; for the sword of the enemy, and terror, are on every side.
6:26Daughter of my
people, gird you with sackcloth, and wallow yourself in ashes: make you mourning, as for an only son, most bitter
lamentation; for the destroyer shall suddenly come on us.
6:27I have made you a tester of metals and a fortress among my people;
that you may know and try their way. 6:28They are all grievous rebels, going about with slanders; they are brass and iron: they all of them deal
corruptly. 6:29The
bellows blow fiercely; the lead is consumed of the fire: in vain do they go on refining; for the wicked are not
plucked away. 6:30Refuse
silver shall men them, because the LORD has rejected them.
7:1The word that came to
Yirmeyahu from the LORD, saying, 7:2Stand in the gate of the LORD's house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the LORD,
all you of Yehudah, who enter in at these gates to worship the LORD. 7:3Thus says the LORD of Hosts, the G-d of Yisra'el, Amend your
ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. 7:4Don't you trust in lying words, saying, The temple of the
LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, are these. 7:5For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings; if
you thoroughly execute justice between a man and his neighbor; 7:6if you don't oppress the foreigner, the fatherless, and the
widow, and don't shed innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your own hurt:
7:7then will I cause you to
dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, from of old even forevermore.
7:8Behold, you trust in lying words, that can't
profit. 7:9Will you
steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense to Ba`al, and walk after other gods that you
have not known, 7:10and
come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered; that you may do all
these abominations? 7:11Is
this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it, says
the LORD. 7:12But go you
now to my place which was in Shiloh, where I caused my name to dwell at the first, and see what I did to it for the
wickedness of my people Yisra'el. 7:13Now, because you have done all these works, says the LORD, and I spoke to you, rising up early and
speaking, but you didn't hear; and I called you, but you didn't answer: 7:14therefore will I do to the house which is called by my
name, in which you trust, and to the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shiloh.
7:15I will cast you out of my
sight, as I have cast out all your brothers, even the whole seed of Efrayim. 7:16Therefore don't you pray for this people, neither lift up a
cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me; for I will not hear you.
7:17Don't you see what they do in the cities of
Yehudah and in the streets of Yerushalayim? 7:18The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead the dough, to make cakes to
the queen of the sky, and to pour out drink-offerings to other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.
7:19Do they provoke me to
anger? says the LORD; do they not provoke themselves, to the confusion of their own faces?
7:20Therefore thus says the
Lord G-d: Behold, my anger and my wrath shall be poured out on this place, on man, and on animal, and on the trees
of the field, and on the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched.
7:21Thus says the LORD of Hosts, the G-d of
Yisra'el: Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat you flesh. 7:22For I didn't speak to your fathers, nor command them in the
day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices:
7:23but this thing I commanded them, saying,
Listen to my voice, and I will be your G-d, and you shall be my people; and walk you in all the way that I command
you, that it may be well with you. 7:24But they didn't listen nor turn their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in the
stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward. 7:25Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land
of Egypt to this day, I have sent to you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them:
7:26yet they didn't
listen to me, nor inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff: they did worse than their fathers.
7:27You shall speak all these
words to them; but they will not listen to you: you shall also call to them; but they will not answer you.
7:28You shall tell them, This
is the nation that has not listened to the voice of the LORD their G-d, nor received instruction: truth is perished,
and is cut off from their mouth. 7:29Cut off your hair, Yerushalayim, and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on the bare heights;
for the LORD has rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath. 7:30For the children of Yehudah have done that which is evil in
my sight, says the LORD: they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to defile it.
7:31They have built the
high places of Tofet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the
fire; which I didn't command, neither came it into my mind.
7:32Therefore, behold, the days come, says the LORD, that it shall no more be
called Tofet, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of Slaughter: for they shall bury in Tofet, until
there be no place to bury. 7:33The dead bodies of this people shall be food for the birds of the sky, and for the animals of the earth;
and none shall frighten them away. 7:34Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Yehudah, and from the streets of Yerushalayim, the voice of
mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride; for the land shall become a
waste.
8:1At that time, says the
LORD, they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Yehudah, and the bones of his princes, and the bones of the
kohanim, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Yerushalayim, out of
their graves; 8:2and they
shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the host of the sky, which they have loved, and which they
have served, and after which they have walked, and which they have sought, and which they have worshiped: they shall
not be gathered, nor be buried, they shall be for dung on the surface of the earth.
8:3Death shall be chosen rather than life by
all the residue that remain of this evil family, that remain in all the places where I have driven them, says the
LORD of Hosts. 8:4Moreover
you shall tell them, Thus says the LORD: Shall men fall, and not rise up again? Shall one turn away, and not return?
8:5Why then is this
people of Yerushalayim slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return.
8:6I listened and heard, but
they didn't speak aright: no man repents him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? everyone turns to his
course, as a horse that rushes headlong in the battle.
8:7Yes, the khasidah in the sky knows her appointed times; and
the turtle-dove and the swallow and the crane observe the time of their coming; but my people don't know the LORD's
law. 8:8How do you say,
We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us? But, behold, the false pen of the scribes has worked falsely.
8:9The wise men are
disappointed, they are dismayed and taken: behold, they have rejected the word of the LORD; and what manner of
wisdom is in them? 8:10Therefore
will I give their wives to others, and their fields to those who shall possess them: for everyone from the least
even to the greatest is given to covetousness; from the prophet even to the kohen every one deals
falsely. 8:11They have
healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Shalom, shalom; when there is no shalom.
8:12Were they ashamed when they
had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore shall they fall
among those who fall; in the time of their visitation they shall be cast down, says the LORD.
8:13I will utterly consume
them, says the LORD: there shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; and
the things that I have given them shall pass away from them. 8:14Why do we sit still? assemble yourselves, and let us enter
into the fortified cities, and let us be silent there; for the LORD our G-d has put us to silence, and given us
water of gall to drink, because we have sinned against the LORD. 8:15We looked for shalom, but no good came; and for a
time of healing, and, behold, dismay! 8:16The snorting of his horses is heard from Dan: at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones the whole
land trembles; for they are come, and have devoured the land and all that is in it; the city and those who dwell
therein. 8:17For,
behold, I will send serpents, adders, among you, which will not be charmed; and they shall bite you, says the LORD.
8:18Oh that I could
comfort myself against sorrow! my heart is faint within me.
8:19Behold, the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people from a land that
is very far off: isn't the LORD in Tziyon? Isn't her King in her? Why have they provoked me to anger with their
engraved images, and with foreign vanities? 8:20The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved. 8:21For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt: I
mourn; dismay has taken hold on me. 8:22Is there no balm in Gil`ad? is there no physician there? why then isn't the health of the daughter of my
people recovered?
9:1Oh that my head were
waters, and my eyes a spring of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!
9:2Oh that I had in the
wilderness a lodging-place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! for they are all
adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men. 9:3They bend their tongue, as it were their bow, for falsehood; and they are grown strong in the land,
but not for truth: for they proceed from evil to evil, and they don't know me, says the LORD.
9:4Take you heed everyone of his neighbor, and
don't you trust in any brother; for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbor will go about with
slanders. 9:5They will
deceive everyone his neighbor, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies; they weary
themselves to commit iniquity. 9:6Your habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, says the LORD.
9:7Therefore thus says the LORD
of Hosts, Behold, I will melt them, and try them; for how else should I do, because of the daughter of my
people? 9:8Their tongue
is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceit: one speaks peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth, but in his heart he lays
wait for him. 9:9Shall I
not visit them for these things? says the LORD; shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
9:10For the mountains will I
take up a weeping and wailing, and for the pastures of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up, so
that none passes through; neither can men hear the voice of the cattle; both the birds of the sky and the animals
are fled, they are gone. 9:11I will make Yerushalayim heaps, a dwelling-place of jackals; and I will make the cities of Yehudah a
desolation, without inhabitant. 9:12Who is the wise man, that may understand this? and who is he to whom the mouth of the LORD has
spoken, that he may declare it? why is the land perished and burned up like a wilderness, so that none passes
through? 9:13The LORD
says, Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked
therein, 9:14but have
walked after the stubbornness of their own heart, and after the Ba`alim, which their fathers taught them;
9:15therefore thus says the
LORD of Hosts, the G-d of Yisra'el, Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water
of gall to drink. 9:16I
will scatter them also among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the sword
after them, until I have consumed them. 9:17Thus says the LORD of Hosts, Consider you, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send
for the skillful women, that they may come: 9:18and let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our
eyelids gush out with waters. 9:19For a voice of wailing is heard out of Tziyon, How are we ruined! we are greatly confounded, because we
have forsaken the land, because they have cast down our dwellings. 9:20Yet hear the word of the LORD, you women, and let your ear
receive the word of his mouth; and teach your daughters wailing, and everyone her neighbor lamentation.
9:21For death is come up into
our windows, it is entered into our palaces; to cut off the children from outside, and the young men from the
streets. 9:22Speak, Thus
says the LORD, The dead bodies of men shall fall as dung on the open field, and as the handful after the harvester;
and none shall gather them. 9:23Thus says the LORD, Don't let the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his
might, don't let the rich man glory in his riches; 9:24but let him who glories glory in this, that he has understanding, and knows me, that I am the LORD who
exercises loving kindness, justice, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, says the LORD.
9:25Behold, the days
come, says the LORD, that I will punish all those who are circumcised in their uncircumcision:
9:26Egypt, and Yehudah, and
Edom, and the children of `Ammon, and Mo'av, and all that have the corners of their hair cut off, who dwell
in the wilderness; for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Yisra'el are uncircumcised in heart.
10:1Hear the word which the
LORD speaks to you, house of Yisra'el! 10:2Thus says the LORD, "Don't learn the way of the nations, and don't be dismayed at the signs of the sky; for
the nations are dismayed at them. 10:3For the customs of the peoples are vanity; for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of
the workman with the axe. 10:4They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it not move.
10:5They are like a palm
tree, of turned work, and don't speak: they must be carried, because they can't go. Don't be afraid of them; for
they can't do evil, neither is it in them to do good."
10:6There is none like you, LORD; you are great, and your name is great in might.
10:7Who should not fear
you, King of the nations? for to you does it appertain; because among all the wise men of the nations, and in all
their royal estate, there is none like you. 10:8But they are together brutish and foolish: the instruction of idols! it is but a stock.
10:9There is silver beaten into
plates, which is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Ufaz, the work of the artificer and of the hands of the
goldsmith; blue and purple for their clothing; they are all the work of skillful men.
10:10But the LORD is the true G-d; he is the
living G-d, and an everlasting King: at his wrath the earth trembles, and the nations are not able to abide his
indignation. 10:11Thus
shall you say to them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, these shall perish from the earth, and
from under the heavens. 10:12He has made the earth by his power, he has established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding
has he stretched out the heavens: 10:13when he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he causes the vapors to ascend
from the ends of the earth; he makes lightnings for the rain, and brings forth the wind out of his treasuries.
10:14Every man is
become brutish and is without knowledge; every goldsmith is disappointed by his engraved image; for his
molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.
10:15They are vanity, a work of delusion: in the time of their visitation they
shall perish. 10:16The
portion of Ya`akov is not like these; for he is the former of all things; and Yisra'el is the tribe of his
inheritance: the LORD of Hosts is his name. 10:17Gather up your wares out of the land, you who abide in the siege. 10:18For thus says the LORD, Behold, I will sling out the
inhabitants of the land at this time, and will distress them, that they may feel it.
10:19Woe is me because of my hurt! my wound is
grievous: but I said, Truly this is my grief, and I must bear it. 10:20My tent is destroyed, and all my cords are broken: my
children are gone forth from me, and they are no more: there is none to spread my tent any more, and to set up my
curtains. 10:21For the
shepherds are become brutish, and have not inquired of the LORD: therefore they have not prospered, and all their
flocks are scattered. 10:22The voice of news, behold, it comes, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of
Yehudah a desolation, a dwelling-place of jackals.
10:23LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man who walks
to direct his steps. 10:24LORD, correct me, but in measure: not in your anger, lest you bring me to nothing.
10:25Pour out your wrath on the nations that
don't know you, and on the families that don't call on your name: for they have devoured Ya`akov, yes, they have
devoured him and consumed him, and have laid waste his habitation.
11:1The word that came to
Yirmeyahu from the LORD, saying, 11:2Hear you the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Yehudah, and to the inhabitants of
Yerushalayim; 11:3and
say you to them, Thus says the LORD, the G-d of Yisra'el: Cursed be the man who doesn't hear the words of this
covenant, 11:4which 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 you be my people, and I will be
your G-d; 11:5that I may
establish the oath which I swore to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as at this day.
Then answered I, and said, Amein, LORD. 11:6The LORD said to me, Proclaim all these words in the cities of Yehudah, and in the streets of Yerushalayim,
saying, Hear you the words of this covenant, and do them.
11:7For I earnestly protested to your fathers in the day that I brought them up
out of the land of Egypt, even to this day, rising early and protesting, saying, Obey my voice.
11:8Yet they didn't obey, nor
turn their ear, but walked everyone in the stubbornness of their evil heart: therefore I brought on them all the
words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they didn't do them.
11:9The LORD said to me, A conspiracy is found
among the men of Yehudah, and among the inhabitants of Yerushalayim. 11:10They 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 Yisra'el
and the house of Yehudah have broken my covenant which I made with their fathers.
11:11Therefore thus says the LORD, Behold, I
will bring evil on them, which they shall not be able to escape; and they shall cry to me, but I will not listen to
them. 11:12Then shall
the cities of Yehudah and the inhabitants of Yerushalayim go and cry to the gods to which they offer incense: but
they will not save them at all in the time of their trouble. 11:13For according to the number of your cities are your gods,
Yehudah; and according to the number of the streets of Yerushalayim have you set up altars to the shameful thing,
even altars to burn incense to Ba`al. 11:14Therefore don't you pray for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them; for I will not hear them
in the time that they cry to me because of their trouble.
11:15What has my beloved to do in my house, seeing she has worked lewdness
with many, and the holy flesh is passed from you? when you do evil, then you rejoice.
11:16The LORD called your name, A green olive
tree, beautiful with goodly fruit: with the noise of a great tumult he has kindled fire on it, and the branches of
it are broken. 11:17For
the LORD of Hosts, who planted you, has pronounced evil against you, because of the evil of the house of Yisra'el
and of the house of Yehudah, which they have worked for themselves in provoking me to anger by offering incense to
Ba`al. 11:18The LORD
gave me knowledge of it, and I knew it: then you shown me their doings. 11:19But I was like a gentle lamb that is led to the slaughter;
and I didn't know that they had devised devices against me, saying, Let us destroy the tree with the fruit of
it, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered.
11:20But, the LORD of Hosts,
who judge righteously, who try the heart and the mind, I shall see your vengeance on them; for to you have I
revealed my cause. 11:21Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the men of `Anatot, who seek your life, saying, You shall not
prophesy in the name of the LORD, that you not die by our hand; 11:22therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, Behold, I will
punish them: the young men shall die by the sword; their sons and their daughters shall die by famine;
11:23and there shall be no
remnant to them: for I will bring evil on the men of `Anatot, even the year of their visitation.
12:1Righteous are you, LORD,
when I contend with you; yet would I reason the cause with you: why does the way of the wicked prosper? why are all
they at ease who deal very treacherously? 12:2You have planted them, yes, they have taken root; they grow, yes, they bring forth fruit: you are near in
their mouth, and far from their heart. 12:3But you, LORD, know me; you see me, and try my heart toward you: pull them out like sheep for the
slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter.
12:4How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of the whole country wither? for
the wickedness of those who dwell therein, the animals are consumed, and the birds; because they said, He shall not
see our latter end. 12:5If
you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses? and though in a land
of shalom you are secure, yet how will you do in the pride of the Yarden? 12:6For even your brothers, and the house of your father, even
they have dealt treacherously with you; even they have cried aloud after you: don't believe them, though they speak
beautiful words to you. 12:7I 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. 12:8My heritage is become to me as a lion in the forest: she has uttered her voice against me; therefore I have
hated her. 12:9Is my
heritage to me as a speckled bird of prey? are the birds of prey against her round about? go you, assemble all the
animals of the field, bring them to devour. 12:10Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have made my
pleasant portion a desolate wilderness. 12:11They have made it a desolation; it mourns to me, being desolate; the whole land is made desolate, because
no man lays it to heart. 12:12Destroyers are come on all the bare heights in the wilderness; for the sword of the LORD devours from the
one end of the land even to the other end of the land: no flesh has shalom. 12:13They have sown wheat, and have reaped thorns; they have
put themselves to pain, and profit nothing: and you shall be ashamed of your fruits, because of the fierce anger of
the LORD. 12:14Thus
says the LORD against all my evil neighbors, who touch the inheritance which I have caused my people Yisra'el to
inherit: behold, I will pluck them up from off their land, and will pluck up the house of Yehudah from among them.
12:15It shall happen,
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. 12:16It shall happen, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, As the LORD
lives; even as they taught my people to swear by Ba`al; then shall they be built up in the midst of my people.
12:17But if they will
not hear, then will I pluck up that nation, plucking up and destroying it, says the LORD.
13:1Thus says the LORD to
me, Go, and buy you a linen belt, and put it on your loins, and don't put it in water.
13:2So I bought a belt according to the word of
the LORD, and put it on my loins. 13:3The word of the LORD came to me the second time, saying, 13:4Take the belt that you have bought, which is on your loins,
and arise, go to the Perat, and hide it there in a cleft of the rock. 13:5So I went, and hid it by the Perat, as the LORD commanded
me. 13:6It happened
after many days, that the LORD said to me, Arise, go to the Perat, and take the belt from there, which I commanded
you to hide there. 13:7Then
I went to the Perat, and dug, and took the belt from the place where I had hid it; and, behold, the belt was marred,
it was profitable for nothing. 13:8Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
13:9Thus says the LORD, After this manner will I mar the pride of Yehudah, and the
great pride of Yerushalayim. 13:10This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who walk in the stubbornness of their heart, and are gone
after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this belt, which is profitable for nothing.
13:11For as the belt
cleaves to the loins of a man, so have I caused to cleave to me the whole house of Yisra'el and the whole house of
Yehudah, says the LORD; that they may be to me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory: but
they would not hear. 13:12Therefore you shall speak to them this word: Thus says the LORD, the G-d of Yisra'el, Every bottle shall be
filled with wine: and they shall tell you, Do we not certainly know that every bottle shall be filled with wine?
13:13Then shall you
tell them, Thus says the LORD, Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land, even the kings who sit on
David's throne, and the kohanim, and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Yerushalayim, with
drunkenness. 13:14I
will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together, says the LORD: I will not pity, nor
spare, nor have compassion, that I should not destroy them.
13:15Hear you, and give ear; don't be proud; for the LORD has spoken.
13:16Give glory to the LORD
your G-d, before he cause darkness, and before your feet stumble on the dark mountains, and, while you look for
light, he turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness. 13:17But if you will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret
for your pride; and my eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears, because the LORD's flock is taken
captive. 13:18Say you
to the king and to the queen-mother, Humble yourselves, sit down; for your headdresses are come down, even the crown
of your glory. 13:19The
cities of the South are shut up, and there is none to open them: Yehudah is carried away captive, all of it; it is
wholly carried away captive. 13:20Lift up your eyes, and see those who come from the north: where is the flock that was given you, your
beautiful flock? 13:21What
will you say, when he shall set over you as head those whom you have yourself taught to be friends to you? shall not
sorrows take hold of you, as of a woman in travail?
13:22If you say in your heart, Why are these things come on me? for the greatness of
your iniquity are your skirts uncovered, and your heels suffer violence. 13:23Can the Kushite change his skin, or the leopard his spots?
then may you also do good, who are accustomed to do evil.
13:24Therefore will I scatter them, as the stubble that passes away, by the
wind of the wilderness. 13:25This is your lot, the portion measured to you from me, says the LORD; because you have forgotten me, and
trusted in falsehood. 13:26Therefore will I also uncover your skirts on your face, and your shame shall appear.
13:27I have seen your
abominations, even your adulteries, and your neighing, the lewdness of your prostitution, on the hills in the field.
Woe to you, Yerushalayim! you will not be made clean; how long shall it yet be?
14:1The word of the LORD
that came to Yirmeyahu concerning the drought. 14:2Yehudah mourns, and the gates of it languish, they sit in black on the ground; and the cry of Yerushalayim
is gone up. 14:3Their
nobles send their little ones to the waters: they come to the cisterns, and find no water; they return with their
vessels empty; they are disappointed and confounded, and cover their heads. 14:4Because of the ground which is cracked, because no rain has
been in the land, the plowmen are disappointed, they cover their heads. 14:5Yes, the hind also in the field calves, and forsakes her
young, because there is no grass. 14:6The wild donkeys stand on the bare heights, they pant for air like jackals; their eyes fail, because there
is no herbage. 14:7Though
our iniquities testify against us, work you for your name's sake, LORD; for our backslidings are many; we have
sinned against you. 14:8You
hope of Yisra'el, the Savior of it in the time of trouble, why should you be as a foreigner in the land, and as a
wayfaring man who turns aside to stay for a night? 14:9Why should you be like a scared man, as a mighty man who can't save? yet you, LORD, are in the midst of us,
and we are called by your name; don't leave us. 14:10Thus says the LORD to this people, Even so have they loved to wander; they have not refrained their feet:
therefore the LORD does not accept them; now will he remember their iniquity, and visit their sins.
14:11The LORD said to me,
Don't pray for this people for their good. 14:12When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and meal-offering, I will not
accept them; but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence.
14:13Then said I, Ah, Lord
G-d! behold, the prophets tell them, You shall not see the sword, neither shall you have famine; but I will give you
assured shalom in this place. 14:14Then the LORD said to me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name; I didn't send them, neither have I
commanded them, neither spoke I to them: they prophesy to you a lying vision, and divination, and a thing of
nothing, and the deceit of their own heart. 14:15Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name, and I didn't send them, yet
they say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land: By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed.
14:16The people to whom they
prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Yerushalayim because of the famine and the sword; and they shall have
none to bury them-them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters: for I will pour their wickedness on them.
14:17You shall say this
word to them, Let my eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease; for the virgin daughter of my
people is broken with a great breach, with a very grievous wound. 14:18If I go forth into the field, then, behold, the slain with
the sword! and if I enter into the city, then, behold, those who are sick with famine! for both the prophet and the
kohen go about in the land, and have no knowledge. 14:19Have you utterly rejected Yehudah? has your soul loathed
Tziyon? why have you struck us, and there is no healing for us? We looked for shalom, but no good came; and for a
time of healing, and, behold, dismay! 14:20We acknowledge, LORD, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers; for we have sinned against you.
14:21Do not abhor us,
for your name's sake; do not disgrace the throne of your glory: remember, don't break your covenant with us.
14:22Are there any among the
vanities of the nations that can cause rain? or can the sky give showers? Aren't you he, the LORD our G-d? therefore
we will wait for you; for you have made all these things.
15:1Then said the LORD to
me, Though Moshe and Shemu'el stood before me, yet my mind would not be toward this people: cast them out of my
sight, and let them go forth. 15:2It shall happen, when they tell you, Where shall we go forth? then you shall tell them, Thus says the LORD:
Such as are for death, to death; and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for the famine, to the
famine; and such as are for captivity, to captivity.
15:3I will appoint over them four kinds, says the LORD: the sword to kill, and the
dogs to tear, and the birds of the sky, and the animals of the earth, to devour and to destroy.
15:4I will cause them to be
tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth, because of Menashsheh, the son of Chizkiyahu, king of
Yehudah, for that which he did in Yerushalayim. 15:5For who will have pity on you, Yerushalayim? or who will bemoan you? or who will turn aside to ask of your
welfare? 15:6You have
rejected me, says the LORD, you are gone backward: therefore have I stretched out my hand against you, and destroyed
you; I am weary with repenting. 15:7I have winnowed them with a fan in the gates of the land; I have bereaved them of children, I have
destroyed my people; they didn't return from their ways.
15:8Their widows are increased to me above the sand of the seas; I have brought
on them against the mother of the young men a destroyer at noonday: I have caused anguish and terrors to fall on her
suddenly. 15:9She who
has borne seven languishes; she has given up the spirit; her sun is gone down while it was yet day; she has been
disappointed and confounded: and the residue of them will I deliver to the sword before their enemies, says the
LORD. 15:10Woe is me,
my mother, that you have borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have not lent,
neither have men lent to me; yet everyone of them does curse me. 15:11The LORD said, Most assuredly I will strengthen you for
good; most assuredly I will cause the enemy to make supplication to you in the time of evil and in the time of
affliction. 15:12Can
one break iron, even iron from the north, and brass?
15:13Your substance and your treasures will I give for a spoil without price, and
that for all your sins, even in all your borders. 15:14I will make them to pass with your enemies into a land which you don't know; for a fire is kindled
in my anger, which shall burn on you. 15:15LORD, you know; remember me, and visit me, and avenge me of my persecutors; don't take me away in your
longsuffering: know that for your sake I have suffered reproach. 15:16Your words were found, and I ate them; and your words were
to me a joy and the rejoicing of my heart: for I am called by your name, the LORD, G-d Tzva'ot.
15:17I didn't sit in the
assembly of those who make merry, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of your hand; for you have filled me with
indignation. 15:18Why
is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuses to be healed? will you indeed be to me as a deceitful
brook, as waters that fail? 15:19Therefore thus says the LORD, If you return, then will I bring you again, that you may stand before me; and
if you take forth the precious from the vil
