# verses

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And some of your sons that shall come from you, which you shall beget, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.


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Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, Good is the word of the LORD which you have spoken. He said moreover, For there shall be peace and truth in my days.


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Speak kindly to Jerusalem, and cry out to her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she has received from the LORD'S hand double for all her sins.


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The voice of him that cries out in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.


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Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:


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And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD has spoken it.


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The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the beauty thereof is as the flower of the field:


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The grass withers, the flower fades: because the spirit of the LORD blows upon it: surely the people is grass.


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O Zion, that brings good tidings, go up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that brings good tidings, lift up your voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say to the cities of Judah, Behold your God!


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Behold, the Lord GOD will come with a strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.


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He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.


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Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and measured out heaven with his fingers, and held the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?


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With whom did he take counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and made known to him the way of understanding?


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Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he takes up the isles as a very little thing.


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All nations before him are as nothing; and they are accounted by him as less than nothing, and vanity.


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The workman melts a sculptured image, and the goldsmith spreads it over with gold, and casts silver chains.


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He that is so impoverished that he has no offering chooses a tree that will not rot; he seeks for himself a skilful workman to prepare a sculptured image that shall not be moved.


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Have you not known? have you not heard? has it not been told you from the beginning? have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?


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It is he that sits upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in:


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Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown: yea, their stump shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble.


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Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who has created these things, that brings out their host by number: he calls them all by names by the greatness of his might, because he is strong in power; not one fails.


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Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, My way is hid from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over by my God?


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Have you not known? have you not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, faints not, neither is weary? There is no searching of his understanding.


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But those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.


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Keep silence before me, O islands; and let the people renew their strength: let them come near; then let them speak: let us come near together to judgment.


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Who raised up the righteous man from the east, called him to his footsteps, gave him the nations before him, and made him rule over kings? he gave them as the dust to his sword, and as driven stubble to his bow.


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Who has performed and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he.


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So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, and he that smooths with the hammer encouraged him that struck the anvil, saying, It is ready for the soldering: and he fastened it with nails, that it should not be moved.


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You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called you from the chief men thereof, and said to you, You are my servant; I have chosen you, and not cast you away.


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Fear not; for I am with you: be not dismayed; for I am your God: I will strengthen you; yea, I will help you; yea, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness.


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Behold, all those who were incensed against you shall be ashamed and perplexed: they shall be as nothing; and those who strive with you shall perish.


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You shall seek them, and shall not find them, even those who contended with you: those who war against you shall be as nothing, and be no more.


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Fear not, you worm Jacob, and you men of Israel; I will help you, says the LORD, and your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.


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Behold, I will make you to be a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: you shall thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shall make the hills like chaff.


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You shall toss them up, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them: and you shall rejoice in the LORD, and shall glory in the Holy One of Israel.


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When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue fails for thirst, I the LORD will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them.


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I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.


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I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the acacia tree, and the myrtle, and the olive; I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree together:


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That they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the LORD has done this, and the Holy One of Israel has created it.


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Let them bring them forth, and show us what shall happen: let them show the former things, what they are, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare to us things to come.


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Show the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that you are gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together.


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I have raised up one from the north, and he shall come: from the rising of the sun shall he call upon my name: and he shall come upon princes as one walks upon mortar, and as the potter treads clay.


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Who has declared from the beginning, that we may know? and beforehand, that we may say, He is righteous? yea, there is none that shows us, yea, there is none that declares, yea, there is none that hears your words.


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The first shall say to Zion, Behold, behold them: and I will give to Jerusalem one that brings good tidings.


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For I beheld, and there was no man; even among them, and there was no counselor, that, when I asked of them, could answer a word.


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Behold my servant, whom I uphold; my elect, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.


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A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment leading to truth.


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He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he has set judgment in the earth: and the islands shall wait for his law.


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Thus says God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread out the earth, and that which comes out of it; he that gives breath to the people upon it, and spirit to those who walk therein:


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I the LORD have called you in righteousness, and will hold your hand, and will keep you, and give you for a covenant of the people, for a light to the Gentiles;


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To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and those who sit in darkness out of the prison house.


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I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to sculptured images.


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Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them.


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Sing to the LORD a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth, you that go down to the sea, and all that is therein; the isles, and the inhabitants thereof.


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Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar inhabits: let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains.


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The LORD shall go forth like a mighty man, he shall stir up jealousy like a man of war: he shall cry, yea, roar; he shall prevail against his enemies.


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I have for a long time held my peace; I have been still, and restrained myself: now will I cry like a woman in birth labor; I will destroy and devour at once.


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I will make waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their vegetation; and I will make the rivers islands, and I will dry up the pools.


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And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do for them, and not forsake them.


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They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed, that trust in sculptured images, that say to the molten images, You are our gods.


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Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I sent? who is blind like he that is perfect, and blind like the LORD'S servant?


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The LORD is well pleased for his righteousness' sake; he will magnify the law, and make it honorable.


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But this is a people robbed and plundered; they are all of them snared in pits, and they are hid in prison houses: they are a prey, and none delivers; a spoil, and none says, Restore.


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Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? did not the LORD, he against whom we have sinned? for they would not walk in his ways, neither were they obedient to his law.


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Therefore he has poured upon him the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle: and it has set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; and it burned him, yet he did not take it to heart.


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But now thus says the LORD who created you, O Jacob, and he who formed you, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed you, I have called you by your name; you are mine.


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When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you: when you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon you.


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For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior: I gave Egypt for your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for you.


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Since you were precious in my sight, you have been honorable, and I have loved you: therefore will I give men for you, and people for your life.


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Fear not: for I am with you: I will bring your children from the east, and gather you from the west;


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I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Do not keep back: bring my sons from afar, and my daughters from the ends of the earth;


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Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.


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Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled: who among them can declare this, and show us former things? let them bring forward their witnesses, that they may be justified: or let them hear, and say, It is truth.


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You are my witnesses, says the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that you may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be any after me.


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I have declared, and have saved, and I have made known, when there was no strange god among you: therefore you are my witnesses, says the LORD, that I am God.


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Yea, before the day was, I am he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall hinder it?


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Thus says the LORD, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and have brought low all their nobles, and the Chaldeans, whose cry is in the ships.


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Who brings out the chariot and horse, the army and their power; they shall lie down together, they shall not rise: they are extinguished, they are quenched like flax.


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Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring up; shall you not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.


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The beast of the field shall honor me, the dragons and the owls: because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen.


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You have not brought me the lambs and kids for your burnt offerings; neither have you honored me with your sacrifices. I have not burdened you to serve with an offering, nor wearied you with incense.


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You have bought me no sweet cane with money, neither have you filled me with the fat of your sacrifices: but you have burdened me with your sins, you have wearied me with your iniquities.


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I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and will not remember your sins.


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Therefore I have profaned the princes of the sanctuary, and have given Jacob to the curse and Israel to reproaches.


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Thus says the LORD who made you, and formed you from the womb, who will help you; Fear not, O Jacob, my servant; and you, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.


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For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon your children, and my blessing upon your offspring:


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One shall say, I am the LORD'S; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall commit himself in writing to the LORD, and name himself by the name of Israel.


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Thus says the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no God.


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And who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it, and set it in order for me, since I appointed the ancient people? and the things that are coming, and shall come, let them show them.


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Fear not, neither be afraid: have I not told you from that time, and have declared it? you are even my witnesses. Is there a God besides me? yea, there is no God; I know not any.


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Those who make a sculptured image are all of them vanity; and their delightful things shall not profit; and they are their own witnesses; they do not see, nor know; that they may be ashamed.


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Behold, all his companions shall be ashamed: and the workmen, they are men: let them all be gathered together, let them stand up; yet they shall fear, and they shall be ashamed together.


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The blacksmith with the tongs both works in the coals, and fashions it with hammers, and works it with the strength of his arms: yea, he is hungry, and his strength fails: he drinks no water, and is faint.


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The carpenter stretches out his ruler; he marks it out with a line; he fits it with chisels, and he marks it out with the compass, and makes it like the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man; that it may remain in the house.


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He cuts down cedars, and takes the cypress and the oak, which he cultivates for himself among the trees of the forest: he plants an ash, and the rain nourishes it.


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Then shall it be something for a man to burn: for he will take some of it, and warm himself; yea, he kindles it, and bakes bread; yea, he makes a god, and worships it; he makes it a sculptured image, and bows down to it.


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He burns part of it in the fire; with part of it he eats flesh; he roasts meat, and is satisfied: yea, he warms himself, and says, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire:


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And the rest of it he makes into a god, even his sculptured image: he bows down to it, and worships it, and prays to it, and says, Deliver me; for you are my god.


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They have not known nor understood: for he has shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand.


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And none considers in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals of it; I have roasted flesh, and eaten it: and shall I make the rest of it an abomination? shall I fall down to the trunk of a tree?


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He feeds on ashes: a deceived heart has turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?


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Remember these, O Jacob and Israel; for you are my servant: I have formed you; you are my servant: O Israel, you shall not be forgotten by me.


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I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, your transgressions, and, as a cloud, your sins: return to me; for I have redeemed you.


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Sing, O you heavens; for the LORD has done it: shout, you lower parts of the earth: break forth into singing, you mountains, O forest, and every tree in it: for the LORD has redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel.


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Thus says the LORD, your redeemer, and he who formed you from the womb, I am the LORD who makes all things; who stretches out the heavens alone; who spreads abroad the earth by myself;


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Who frustrates the signs of the liars, and makes diviners madmen; who turns wise men backward, and makes their knowledge foolish;


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Who confirms the word of his servant, and performs the counsel of his messengers; who says to Jerusalem, You shall be inhabited; and to the cities of Judah, You shall be built, and I will raise up the decayed places thereof:


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Who says of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, You shall be built; and to the temple, Your foundation shall be laid.


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Thus says the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut;


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I will go before you, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in pieces the bars of iron:


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And I will give you the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that I, the LORD, who call you by your name, am the God of Israel.


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For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel my elect, I have even called you by your name: I have named you, though you have not known me.


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I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God besides me: I clothed you, though you have not known me:


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That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none besides me. I am the LORD, and there is none other.


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I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create adversity: I the LORD do all these things.


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Drop down, you heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up with it; I the LORD have created it.


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Woe to him that strives with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashions it, What are you making? or your work, He has no hands?


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Woe to him that says to his father, What do you beget? or to the woman, What have you brought forth?


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Thus says the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, Ask me about things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands give me a command.


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I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded.


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I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways: he shall build my city, and he shall let go my captives, not for price nor reward, says the LORD of hosts.


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Thus says the LORD, The labor of Egypt, and merchandise of Ethiopia and of the Sabeans, men of great stature, shall come over to you, and they shall be yours: they shall come after you; in chains they shall come over, and they shall bow down to you, they shall make supplication to you, saying, Surely God is in you; and there is none other, there is no God.


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They shall be ashamed, and also perplexed, all of them: they shall go in confusion together that are makers of idols.


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But Israel shall be saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation: you shall not be ashamed nor disappointed for all eternity.


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For thus says the LORD who created the heavens; God himself who formed the earth and made it; he has established it, he did not create it in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none other.


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I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth: I did not say to the children of Jacob, Seek me in vain: I the LORD speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.


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Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, you that are escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge who set up the wood of their sculptured image, and pray to a god that cannot save.


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Tell it, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who has declared this from ancient time? who has told it from that time? have not I the LORD? and there is no other God besides me; a just God and a Savior; there is none besides me.


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I have sworn by myself, the word has gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.


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Surely, shall one say, in the LORD have I righteousness and strength: even to him shall men come; and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed.


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Bel bows down, Nebo stoops, their idols were upon the beasts, and upon the cattle: the things you carried were heavily loaded; they are a burden to the weary beast.


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They stoop, they bow down together; they could not deliver the burden, but themselves are gone into captivity.


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Listen to me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been borne by me from the belly, who have been carried from the womb:


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And even to your old age I am he; and even to gray hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.


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They lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in the balance, and hire a goldsmith; and he makes it a god: they fall down, yea, they worship.


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They bear him upon the shoulder, they carry him, and set him in his place, and he stands; from his place shall he not move: yea, one shall cry out to him, yet he cannot answer, nor save him out of his trouble.


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Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none other; I am God, and there is none like me,


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Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:


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Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executes my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it.


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I bring near my righteousness; it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not delay: and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory.


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Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground: there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for you shall no longer be called tender and delicate.


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Take the millstones, and grind meal: uncover your locks of hair, bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers.


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Your nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, your shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet you as a man.


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Sit silently, and go into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for you shall no longer be called, The lady of kingdoms.


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I was angry with my people, I have polluted my inheritance, and given them into your hand: you showed them no mercy; upon the elderly have you very heavily laid your yoke.


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And you said, I shall be a lady for ever: so that you did not take these things to heart, neither did you remember the latter end of it.


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Therefore now hear this, you who are given to pleasures, who dwell without care, who say in your heart, I am, and none other besides me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children:


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But these two things shall come to you in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood: they shall come upon you in their perfection for the multitude of your sorceries, and for the great abundance of your enchantments.


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For you have trusted in your wickedness: you have said, None sees me. Your wisdom and your knowledge, it has perverted you; and you have said in your heart, I am, and none other besides me.


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Therefore shall evil come upon you; you shall not know from where it arises: and mischief shall fall upon you; you shall not be able to put it off: and desolation shall come upon you suddenly, which you shall not know.


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Stand now with your enchantments, and with the multitude of your sorceries, in which you have labored from your youth; perhaps you shall be able to profit, perhaps you may prevail.


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You are wearied in the multitude of your counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly predictors, stand up, and save you from these things that shall come upon you.


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Behold, they shall be like stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it.


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Thus shall they be to you with whom you have labored, even your merchants, from your youth: they shall wander every one to his own district; none shall save you.


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Hear this, O house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel, and have come forth out of the waters of Judah, who swear by the name of the LORD, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness.


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For they call themselves people of the holy city, and rely on the God of Israel; The LORD of hosts is his name.


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I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they went forth out of my mouth, and I made them known; I did them suddenly, and they came to pass.


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I have even from the beginning declared it to you; before it came to pass I made it known to you: so that you would not say, My idol has done them, and my sculptured image, and my molten image, has commanded them.


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You have heard, see all this; and will you not declare it? I have shown you new things from this time, even hidden things, and you did not know them.


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They are created now, and not from the beginning; even before the day when you did not hear them; so that you would not say, Behold, I knew them.


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Yea, you did not hear; yea, you did not know; yea, from the time that your ear was not opened: for I knew that you would deal very treacherously, and were called a transgressor from the womb.


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For my name's sake will I defer my anger, and for my praise will I restrain for you, so that I do not cut you off.


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For my own sake, even for my own sake, will I do it: for how could my name be polluted? and I will not give my glory to another.


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My hand also has laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand has spanned the heavens: when I call to them, they stand up together.


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All of you, assemble yourselves, and hear; who among them has declared these things? The LORD has loved him: he will accomplish his purpose concerning Babylon, and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans.


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I, even I, have spoken; yea, I have called him: I have brought him, and he shall make his way prosperous.


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Come near to me, and hear this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord GOD, and his Spirit, have sent me.


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Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD your God who teaches you to profit, who leads you by the way that you should go.


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O that you had obeyed the words of my commandments! then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea:


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Your children also would have been like the sand, and the offspring of your body like the pebbles thereof; his name would not have been cut off nor destroyed from before me.


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Go out from Babylon, flee from the Chaldeans, with a voice of singing declare ye, tell this, proclaim it even to the end of the earth; say, The LORD has redeemed his servant Jacob.


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And they thirsted not when he led them through the deserts: he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them: he split the rock also, and the waters gushed out.


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Listen, O isles, to me; and obey my words, you people, from afar; The LORD has called me from the womb; from the body of my mother has he made mention of my name.


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And he has made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand has he hid me, and made me a polished arrow; in his quiver has he hid me;


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Then I said, I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing, and in vain: yet surely my judgment is with the LORD, and my work with my God.


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And now, says the LORD who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and my God shall be my strength.


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And he said, It is a light thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give you for a light to the Gentiles, that you may be my salvation to the end of the earth.


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Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom man despises, to him whom the nation abhors, to a servant of rulers, Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the LORD who is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose you.


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Thus says the LORD, In an acceptable time have I heard you, and in a day of salvation have I helped you: and I will preserve you, and give you for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause the desolate inheritances to be inhabited;


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That you may say to the prisoners, Go out; to those who are in darkness, Show yourselves. They shall feed in the pathways, and their pastures shall be in all high places.


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They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun strike them: for he that has mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them.


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Behold, these shall come from afar: and, lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim.


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Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the LORD has comforted his people, and will have mercy on his afflicted.


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Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget you.


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Your children shall make haste; your destroyers and those who made you a waste shall go out from you.


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Lift up your eyes round about, and behold: all these gather themselves together, and come to you. As I live, says the LORD, you shall surely clothe yourselves with them all, as with an ornament, and bind them on you, as a bride does.


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For your waste and your desolate places, and the land of your destruction, shall even now be too narrow because of the inhabitants, and those who swallowed you up shall be far away.


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The children which you shall have, after you have lost the others, shall say again in your ears, The place is too small for me: give room for me that I may dwell.


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Then shall you say in your heart, Who has begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and wandering to and fro? and who has brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where were they?


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Thus says the Lord GOD, Behold, I will lift up my hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people: and they shall bring your sons in their arms, and your daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders.


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And kings shall be your nursing fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers: they shall bow down to you with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of your feet; and you shall know that I am the LORD: for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me.


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But thus says the LORD, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contends with you, and I will save your children.


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And I will feed those who oppress you with their own flesh; and they shall be drunk with their own blood, as with sweet wine: and all flesh shall know that I the LORD am your Savior and your Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.


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Thus says the LORD, Where is the bill of your mother's divorce, whom I have put away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have you sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away.


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Why, when I came, was there no man? when I called, was there none to answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? or have I no power to deliver? Behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness: their fish stink, because there is no water, and die of thirst.


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The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary: he wakens me morning by morning, he wakens my ear to hear as the learned.


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I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to those who plucked off the hair: I did not hide my face from shame and spitting.


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For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be disappointed: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.


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He is near who justifies me; who will contend with me? let us stand together: who is my adversary? let him come near to me.


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Behold, the Lord GOD will help me; who is he that shall condemn me? lo, they all shall grow old like a garment; the moth shall eat them up.


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Who is among you that fears the LORD, that obeys the voice of his servant, that walks in darkness, and has no light? let him trust in the name of the LORD, and rely upon his God.


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Behold, all you who kindle a fire, who surround yourselves with sparks: walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that you have kindled. This shall you have from my hand; you shall lie down in sorrow.


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Listen to me, you who follow after righteousness, you who seek the LORD: look to the rock from which you are hewn, and to the hole of the pit from which you are dug.


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Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah that bore you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him.


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For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.


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Listen to me, my people; and give ear to me, O my nation: for a law shall proceed from me, and I will establish my judgment as a light to the people.


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My righteousness is near; my salvation has gone forth, and my arms shall judge the people; the islands shall wait for me, and on my arm shall they trust.


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Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall grow old like a garment, and those who dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished.


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Listen to me, you that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; do not fear the reproach of men, neither be afraid of their reviling.


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For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool: but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation.


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Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Are you not the one that has cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon?


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Are you not the arm which has dried the sea, the waters of the great deep; that has made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over?


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Therefore the redeemed of the LORD shall return, and come with singing to Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.


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I, even I, am he who comforts you: who are you, that you should be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made like grass;


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And forget the LORD your maker, who has stretched out the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and have feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor?


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The captive exile hastens that he may be loosed, and that he should not die in the pit, nor that his bread should fail.


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And I have put my words in your mouth, and I have covered you in the shadow of my hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say to Zion, You are my people.


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Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which have drunk at the hand of the LORD the cup of his fury; you have drunk the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out.


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There is none to guide her among all the sons whom she has brought forth; neither is there any that takes her by the hand of all the sons that she has brought up.


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These two things have come upon you; who shall be sorry for you? desolation, and destruction, and the famine, and the sword: by whom shall I comfort you?


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Your sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, like a wild bull in a net: they are full of the fury of the LORD, the rebuke of your God.


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Thus says your Lord the LORD, and your God who pleads the cause of his people, Behold, I have taken out of your hand the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup of my fury; you shall no more drink it again:


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But I will put it into the hand of those who afflict you; who have said to your soul, Bow down, that we may go over: and you have laid down your body like the ground, and like the street, to those who went over.


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Awake, awake; put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into you the uncircumcised and the unclean.


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Shake yourself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose yourself from the bonds of your neck, O captive daughter of Zion.


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For thus says the LORD, You have sold yourselves for nothing; and you shall be redeemed without money.


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For thus says the Lord GOD, My people went down in times past into Egypt to sojourn there; and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.


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Now therefore, what have I here, says the LORD, that my people are taken away for nothing? those who rule over them make them to howl, says the LORD; and my name continually every day is blasphemed.


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Therefore my people shall know my name: therefore they shall know in that day that I am he who speaks: behold, it is I.


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How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good tidings, who announces peace; who brings good tidings of good, who announces salvation; who says to Zion, Your God reigns!


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Your watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the LORD shall bring back Zion.


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Break forth into joy, sing together, you waste places of Jerusalem: for the LORD has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem.


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The LORD has made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.


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Depart, depart, go ye out from there, touch no unclean thing; go out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the LORD.


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For you shall not go out with haste, nor go in flight: for the LORD will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.


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Just as many were astonished at you; his appearance was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men:


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So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.


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For he shall grow up before him like a tender plant, and like a root out of a dry ground: he has no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.


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He is despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.


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Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.


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But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.


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All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.


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He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opens not his mouth.


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He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.


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And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.


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Yet it was the will of the LORD to bruise him; he has put him to grief: when you shall make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, he shall prolong his days, and the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.


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He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.


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Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he has poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.


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Sing, O barren, you who did not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, you who did not labor in childbirth: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, says the LORD.


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Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your habitations: spare not, lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes;


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For you shall break forth on the right hand and on the left; and your descendents shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.


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Fear not, for you shall not be ashamed; neither be perplexed, for you shall not be put to shame: for you shall forget the shame of your youth, and shall not remember the reproach of your widowhood any more.


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For your Maker is your husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and your Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called.


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For the LORD has called you like a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when you were refused, says your God.


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In a little wrath I hid my face from you for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on you, says the LORD your Redeemer.


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For this is as the waters of Noah to me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke you.


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For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from you, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, says the LORD who has mercy on you.


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O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay your stones with fair colors, and lay your foundations with sapphires.


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And I will make your windows of agates, and your gates of carbuncles, and all your borders of pleasant stones.


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In righteousness shall you be established: you shall be far from oppression; for you shall not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near you.


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Behold, they shall surely assemble together, but not by me: whoever shall assemble together against you shall fall for your sake.


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Behold, I have created the blacksmith that blows the coals in the fire, and that brings forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the plunderer to destroy.


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No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is from me, says the LORD.


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Ho, every one who thirsts, come ye to the waters, and he who has no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.


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Why do you spend money for that which is not bread? and your labor for that which does not satisfy? listen diligently to me, and eat that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.


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Incline your ear, and come to me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.


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Behold, you shall call a nation that you know not, and nations that knew you not shall run to you because of the LORD your God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for he has glorified you.


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Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return to the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.


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For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.


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For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and does not return there, but waters the earth, and makes it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:


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So shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth: it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.


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For you shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.


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Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.


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Thus says the LORD, Keep justice, and do righteousness: for my salvation is soon to come, and my righteousness to be revealed.


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Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who lays hold on it; who keeps the sabbath from polluting it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil.


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Neither let the son of the foreigner that has joined himself to the LORD, speak, saying, The LORD has completely separated me from his people: neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree.


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For thus says the LORD to the eunuchs who keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant;


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Even to them will I give in my house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off.


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Also the sons of the foreigner who join themselves to the LORD, to serve him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be his servants, every one who keeps the sabbath from polluting it, and takes hold of my covenant;


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Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all people.


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The Lord GOD which gathers the outcasts of Israel says, Yet will I gather others to him, besides those that are gathered to him.


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His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.


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Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his place.


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Come, they say, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and tomorrow shall be like this day, and much more abundant.


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The righteous perishes, and no man takes it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come.


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Against whom do you make sport? against whom do you make a wide mouth, and stick out the tongue? are you not children of transgression, the offspring of falsehood,


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Enflaming yourselves with idols under every green tree, slaying the children in the valleys under the openings in the rocks?


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Among the smooth stones of the stream is your portion; they, they are your lot: even to them have you poured a drink offering, you have offered a food offering. Should I receive comfort in these things?


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Behind the doors also and the posts have you set up your remembrance: for you have uncovered yourself to another than me, and have gone up; you have enlarged your bed, and made a covenant with them; you loved their bed where you saw it.


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And you went to the king with ointment, and increased your perfumes, and sent your messengers far off, and debased yourself even unto hell.


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You are wearied with the length of your way; yet you did not say, There is no hope: you have found life for your hand; therefore you were not grieved.


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And of whom have you been afraid or feared, that you have lied, and have not remembered me, nor taken it to heart? have I not held my peace even from of old, and you do not fear me?


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When you cry, let your crowds deliver you; but the wind shall carry them all away; vanity shall take them: but he who puts his trust in me shall possess the land, and shall inherit my holy mountain;


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And shall say, Build up, build up, prepare the way, take the stumbling block out of the way of my people.


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For thus says the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also who is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.


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For I will not contend for ever, neither will I always be angry: for the spirit would fail before me, and the souls which I have made.


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For the iniquity of his covetousness was I angry, and struck him: I hid myself, and was angry, and he went on stubbornly in the way of his heart.


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I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will lead him also, and again comfort him and his mourners.


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I create the fruit of the lips; Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, says the LORD; and I will heal him.


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Cry aloud, spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.


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Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, like a nation that did righteousness, and did not forsake the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God.


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Why have we fasted, they say, and you do not see it? why have we afflicted our soul, and you take no knowledge of it? Behold, in the day of your fast you indulge your desires, and oppress all your laborers.


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Behold, you fast for strife and debate, and to strike with the fist of wickedness: you shall not fast as you do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high.


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Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head like a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? will you call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD?


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Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke?


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Is it not to distribute your bread to the hungry, and that you bring the poor who are cast out to your house? when you see the naked, that you cover him; and that you do not hide yourself from your own flesh?


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Then shall your light break forth like the morning, and your health shall spring up speedily: and your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.


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Then you shall call, and the LORD shall answer; you shall cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If you take away from the midst of you the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity;


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And if you draw out your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall your light rise in obscurity, and your darkness be as the noonday:


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And the LORD shall guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and make fat your bones: and you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters never fail.


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And those who shall be of you shall build the old waste places: you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; and you shall be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.


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If you turn away your foot from the sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honorable; and shall honor him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words:


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Then shall you delight yourself in the LORD; and I will cause you to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father: for the mouth of the LORD has spoken it.


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Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor is his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:


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But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.


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For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue has muttered perverseness.


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None calls for justice, nor does any plead for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.


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They hatch serpent's eggs, and weave the spider's web: he that eats of their eggs dies, and that which is crushed breaks out into a viper.


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Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works: their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands.


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Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths.


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The way of peace they know not; and there is no justice in their goings: they have made for themselves crooked paths: whoever goes in them shall not know peace.


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Therefore is judgment far from us, neither does justice overtake us: we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness.


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We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the night; we are in desolate places like dead men.


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We all roar like bears, and mourn bitterly like doves: we look for judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us.


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For our transgressions are multiplied before you, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them;


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In transgressing and lying against the LORD, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.


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And justice is turned away backward, and righteousness stands afar off: for truth has fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.


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Yea, truth fails; and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey: and the LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice.


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And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation to him; and his righteousness, it sustained him.


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For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was covered with zeal like a cloak.


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According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompense.


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So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.


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And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob, says the LORD.


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As for me, this is my covenant with them, says the LORD; My spirit that is upon you, and my words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, nor out of the mouth of your children, nor out of the mouth of your children’s children, says the LORD, from this time on and for ever.


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For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon you, and his glory shall be seen upon you.


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Lift up your eyes round about, and see: they all gather themselves together, they come to you: your sons shall come from afar, and your daughters shall be nursed at your side.


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Then you shall see, and gather together, and your heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, the strength of the Gentiles shall come to you.


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The multitude of camels shall cover your land, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all they from Sheba shall come: they shall bring gold and incense; and they shall show forth the praises of the LORD.


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All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together to you, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister to you: they shall come up with acceptance on my altar, and I will glorify the house of my glory.


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Surely the lands beyond the sea shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring your sons from afar, their silver and their gold with them, to the name of the LORD your God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he has glorified you.


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And the sons of strangers shall build up your walls, and their kings shall minister to you: for in my anger I struck you, but in my favor have I had mercy on you.


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Therefore your gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that men may bring to you the strength of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought.


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For the nation and kingdom that will not serve you shall perish; yea, those nations shall be completely ruined.


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The glory of Lebanon shall come to you, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I will make the place of my feet glorious.


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The sons also of those who afflicted you shall come and humble themselves before you; and all those who despised you shall bow themselves down at the soles of your feet; and they shall call you, The city of the LORD, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel.


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Though you have been forsaken and hated, so that no man passed through you, I will make you an eternal excellence, a joy of many generations.


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You shall also suck the milk of the Gentiles, and shall suck the breast of kings: and you shall know that I the LORD am your Savior and your Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.


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For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron: I will also make your officers peace, and your taskmasters righteousness.


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Violence shall no more be heard in your land, devastation nor destruction within your borders; but you shall call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise.


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The sun shall be no more your light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light to you: but the LORD shall be to you an everlasting light, and your God your glory.


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Your sun shall no more go down; neither shall your moon withdraw itself: for the LORD shall be your everlasting light, and the days of your mourning shall be ended.


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Your people also shall all be righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.


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A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I the LORD will hasten it in its time.


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The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD has anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;


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To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;


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To appoint for those who mourn in Zion, to give to them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.


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And they shall build the old waste places, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the desolate cities, the desolations of many generations.


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And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers.


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But you shall be named the Priests of the LORD: men shall call you the Ministers of our God: you shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall you boast yourselves.


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For your shame you shall have double; and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess double: everlasting joy shall be theirs.


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For I the LORD love justice, I hate robbery as a burnt offering; and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.


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And their descendents shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the people which the LORD has blessed.


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I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.


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For as the earth brings forth her bud, and as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring up; so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.


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For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof goes forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burns.


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And the Gentiles shall see your righteousness, and all kings your glory: and you shall be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD shall name.


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You shall also be a crown of glory in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.


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You shall no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall your land any more be termed Desolate: but you shall be called Hephzi-bah, and your land Beulah: for the LORD delights in you, and your land shall be married.


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For as a young man marries a virgin, so shall your sons marry you: and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.


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I have set watchmen upon your walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: you who make mention of the LORD, keep not silence,


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The LORD has sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength, Surely I will no more give your grain to be food for your enemies; and the sons of the stranger shall not drink your wine, for which you have labored:


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But those who have gathered it shall eat it, and praise the LORD; and those who have brought it together shall drink it in the courts of my holiness.


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Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; build up, build up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people.


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Behold, the LORD has proclaimed to the end of the earth, Say to the daughter of Zion, Behold, your salvation comes; behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.


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And they shall call them, The holy people, The redeemed of the LORD: and you shall be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken.


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Who is this coming from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? one who is glorious in his apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength? I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.


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I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in my anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment.


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And I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold: therefore my own arm brought salvation to me; and my fury, it upheld me.


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And I will tread down the people in my anger, and make them drunk in my fury, and I will bring down their strength to the earth.


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I will mention the loving kindnesses of the LORD, and the praises of the LORD, according to all that the LORD has bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel which he has bestowed on them according to his mercies, and according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses.


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In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bore them, and carried them all the days of old.


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But they rebelled, and grieved his holy Spirit: therefore he turned to be their enemy, and he fought against them.


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Then he remembered the days of old, Moses, and his people, saying, Where is he that brought them up out of the sea with the shepherd of his flock? where is he that put his holy Spirit within him?


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That led them by the right hand of Moses with his glorious arm, dividing the water before them, to make himself an everlasting name?


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As a beast goes down into the valley, the Spirit of the LORD caused him to rest: so did you lead your people, to make yourself a glorious name.


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Look down from heaven, and behold from the habitation of your holiness and of your glory: where is your zeal and your strength, the pleading of your sympathy and of your mercies toward me? are they restrained?


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Doubtless you are our father, though Abraham is ignorant of us, and Israel does not acknowledge us: you, O LORD, are our father, our redeemer; your name is from everlasting.


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O LORD, why have you caused us to err from your ways, and hardened our heart from your fear? Return for your servants' sake, the tribes of your inheritance.


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The people of your holiness have possessed it but a little while: our adversaries have trodden down your sanctuary.


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Oh that you would burst the heavens, that you would come down, that the mountains might flow down at your presence,


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As when the melting fire burns, the fire causes the waters to boil, to make your name known to your adversaries, that the nations may tremble at your presence!


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When you did awesome things which we did not expect, you came down, the mountains flowed down at your presence.


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For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither has the eye seen, O God, except you, what he has prepared for him that waits for him.


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You meet him that rejoices and works righteousness, those that remember you in your ways: behold, you are angry; for we have sinned: in faithfulness is continuance, and in it we shall be saved.


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But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; and we all fade like a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.


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And there is none that calls upon your name, that stirs himself up to take hold of you: for you have hid your face from us, and have consumed us, because of our iniquities.


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But now, O LORD, you are our father; we are the clay, and you our potter; and we all are the work of your hand.


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Be not greatly angry, O LORD, neither remember iniquity for ever: behold, see, we plead with you, we are all your people.


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Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised you, is burned up with fire: and all our pleasant things are laid waste.


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Will you restrain yourself at these things, O LORD? will you hold your peace, and afflict us greatly?


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I am sought by those who did not ask for me; I am found by those who did not seek me: I said, Behold me, behold me, to a nation that was not called by my name.


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I have spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, after their own thoughts;


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A people that provoke me to anger continually to my face; that sacrifice in gardens, and burn incense upon altars of brick;


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Who remain among the graves, and lodge among the monuments, who eat swine's flesh, and broth of abominable things is in their vessels;


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Who say, Stand back, do not come near me; for I am holier than you are. These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burns all the day.


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Behold, it is written before me: I will not keep silence, but will recompense, even recompense into their bosom,


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Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, says the LORD, which have burned incense upon the mountains, and blasphemed me upon the hills: therefore will I measure their former work into their bosom.


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Thus says the LORD, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one says, Do not destroy it; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my servants' sakes, that I may not destroy them all.


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And I will bring forth a people out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains: and my elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.


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And Sharon shall be a fold for flocks, and the valley of Achor a place for the herds to lie down in, for my people who have sought me.


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But you are those who forsake the LORD, who forget my holy mountain, who prepare a table for their idols, and who furnish the drink offering for their number.


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Therefore will I number you for the sword, and you shall all bow down to the slaughter: because when I called, you did not answer; when I spoke, you did not hear; but did evil before my eyes, and chose that in which I did not delight.


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Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, Behold, my servants shall eat, but you shall be hungry: behold, my servants shall drink, but you shall be thirsty: behold, my servants shall rejoice, but you shall be ashamed:


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Behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but you shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for distress of spirit.


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And you shall leave your name as a curse to my chosen: for the Lord GOD shall slay you, and call his servants by another name:


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So that he who blesses himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth; and he that swears in the earth shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hid from my eyes.


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For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.


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But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.


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And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying.


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There shall be no more from there an infant that lives a few days, nor an old man that has not filled his days: for the child shall die a hundred years old; but the sinner being a hundred years old shall be accursed.


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They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and my elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.


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They shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the children of the blessed of the LORD, and their offspring with them.


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And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.


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The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, says the LORD.


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Thus says the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that you would build for me? and where is the place of my rest?


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For all those things has my hand made, and all those things have been, says the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembles at my word.


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He that kills an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrifices a lamb, as if he cut off a dog's neck; he that offers an offering, as if he offered swine's blood; he that burns incense, as if he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations.


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I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spoke, they did not hear: but they did evil before my eyes, and chose that in which I did not delight.


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Hear the word of the LORD, you who tremble at his word; Your brethren who hated you, who cast you out for my name's sake, said, Let the LORD be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed.


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A voice of noise from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of the LORD who repays recompense to his enemies.


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Before she labored in birth, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child.


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Who has heard such a thing? who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion labored in birth, she brought forth her children.


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Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? says the LORD: shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb? says your God.


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Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all you who love her: rejoice for joy with her, all you who mourn for her:


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That you may feed, and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that you may drink deeply, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory.


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For thus says the LORD, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream: then shall you suck, you shall be carried upon her sides, and be dandled upon her knees.


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And when you see this, your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like an herb: and the hand of the LORD shall be known toward his servants, and his indignation toward his enemies.


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For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.


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For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.


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Those who sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, says the LORD.


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For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come to pass that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.


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And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those of them who escape to the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal, and Javan, to the lands afar off, beyond the sea, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles.


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And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the LORD out of all nations upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon swift beasts, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the LORD, as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the LORD.


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For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, says the LORD, so shall your descendents and your name remain.


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And it shall come to pass that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, says the LORD.


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And they shall go out, and look upon the carcasses of the men who have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring to all flesh.


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The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests that were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin:


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To whom the word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.


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It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah king of Judah, until the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month.


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Before I formed you in the belly I knew you; and before you came forth out of the womb I sanctified you, and I ordained you a prophet to the nations.


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But the LORD said to me, Say not, I am a child: for you shall go to all that I shall send you to, and whatever I command you you shall speak.


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Then 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.


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See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.


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Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying, Jeremiah, what do you see? And I said, I see a branch of an almond tree.


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And the word of the LORD came to me the second time, saying, What do you see? And I said, I see a boiling pot; and the face thereof is toward the north.


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Then the LORD said to me, Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land.


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For, lo, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, says the LORD; 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.


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And I will declare my judgments against them concerning all their wickedness, who have forsaken me, and have burned incense to other gods, and worshiped the works of their own hands.


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You therefore gird up your loins, and arise, and speak to them all that I command you: be not dismayed at their faces, so that I do not confound you before them.


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For, behold, I have made you this day a fortified city, and an iron pillar, and brass 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.


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And they shall fight against you; but they shall not prevail against you; for I am with you, says the LORD, to deliver you.


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Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus says the LORD; I remember you, the kindness of your youth, your bridal love, when you went after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown.


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Israel was holiness unto the LORD, and the first fruits of his increase: all that devour him shall be guilty; evil shall come upon them, says the LORD.


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Thus says the LORD, What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they have gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and have become vain?


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Neither did they say, 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 no man passed through, and where no man dwelt?


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And I brought you into a plentiful country, to eat the fruit thereof and the goodness thereof; but when you entered, you defiled my land, and made my heritage an abomination.


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The priests did not say, Where is the LORD? and those who handle the law did not know me: the shepherds also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit.


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For pass over the isles of Chittim, and see; and send to Kedar, and consider diligently, and see if there be such a thing.


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Has a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit.


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For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and dug out for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.


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The young lions roared upon him, and yelled, and they made his land waste: his cities are burned without inhabitant.


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Have you not brought this on yourself, in that you have forsaken the LORD your God, when he led you in the way?


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And now what have you to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Sihor? or what have you to do in the way of Assyria, to drink the waters of the river?


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Your own wickedness shall correct you, and your backsliding shall reprove you: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that you have forsaken the LORD your God, and that my fear is not in you, says the Lord GOD of hosts.


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For since long ago I have broken your yoke, and burst your bonds; and you said, I will not transgress; when upon every high hill and under every green tree you wander, playing the harlot.


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Yet I had planted you a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then are you turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine to me?


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For though you wash yourself with soda, and take much soap, yet your iniquity is manifest before me, says the Lord GOD.


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How can you say, I am not polluted, I have not gone after Baalim? see your way in the valley, know what you have done: you are a swift camel zigzagging in her ways;


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A wild donkey used to the wilderness, that sniffs up the wind at her pleasure; in her mating season who can turn her away? all those who seek her will not weary themselves; in her month they shall find her.


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Withhold your foot from being unshod, and your throat from thirst: but you said, There is no hope: no; for I have loved strangers, and after them will I go.


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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,


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Saying to a tree trunk, 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.


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But where are your gods that you have made for yourselves? 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, O Judah.


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In vain have I stricken your children; they received no correction: your own sword has devoured your prophets like a destroying lion.


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O generation, see the word of the LORD. Have I been a wilderness to Israel? a land of darkness? why do my people say, We are lords; we will come no more unto you?


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Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? yet my people have forgotten me days without number.


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Also in your skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents: I have not found it by deep searching, but upon all these.


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Yet you say, Because I am innocent, surely his anger shall turn from me. Behold, I will plead with you, because you say, I have not sinned.


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Why do you gad about so much to change your way? you also shall be ashamed of Egypt, as you were ashamed of Assyria.


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Yea, you shall go out from him, and your hands upon your head: for the LORD has rejected your confidences, and you shall not prosper in them.


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They say, If a man puts away his wife, and she goes from him and becomes another man's, shall he return to her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? but you have played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, says the LORD.


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Lift up your eyes to the high places, and see where you have not been lain with. In the ways have you sat for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness; and you have polluted the land with your whoredoms and with your wickedness.


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Therefore the showers have been withheld, and there has been no latter rain; and you had a whore's forehead, you refused to be ashamed.


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Will he reserve his anger for ever? will he keep it to the end? Behold, you have spoken and done evil things as you were able.


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The LORD said also to me in the days of Josiah the king, Have you seen that which backsliding Israel has done? she has gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there has played the harlot.


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And I said after she had done all these things, Turn to me. But she returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it.


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And I saw, when for all the causes by which backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also.


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And it came to pass, because she went lightly about her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with tree trunks.


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And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not turned to me with her whole heart, but deceitfully, says the LORD.


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Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, you backsliding Israel, says the LORD; and I will not cause my anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, says the LORD, and I will not have anger for ever.


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Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against the LORD your God, and have spread your ways among the strangers under every green tree, and you have not obeyed my voice, says the LORD.


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Turn, O backsliding children, says the LORD; for I am married to you: and I will take you, one from a city, and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion:


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And I will give you shepherds according to my heart, who shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.


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And it 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 visit it; neither shall that be done any more.


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At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart.


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In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance to your fathers.


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But I said, How shall I put you among the children, and give you a pleasant land, an attractive heritage among the multitudes of nations? and I said, You shall call me, My father; and shall not turn away from me.


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Surely as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, so have you dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, says the LORD.


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A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel: for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten the LORD their God.


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Return, you backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto you; for you are the LORD our God.


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Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains: truly in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel.


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For shame has devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth; their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.


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We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covers us: for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even until this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.


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If you will return, O Israel, says the LORD, return to me: and if you will put away your abominations out of my sight, then shall you not be removed.


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And you shall swear, The LORD lives, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory.


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For thus says the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.


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Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: so that my fury does not come forth like fire, and burn so that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.


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Declare ye in Judah, and make it known in Jerusalem; and say, Blow ye the trumpet in the land: cry, gather together, and say, Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the fortified cities.


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Set up the standard toward Zion: flee, do not delay: for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction.


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The lion has come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way; he has gone forth from his place to make your land desolate; and your cities shall be laid waste, without an inhabitant.


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For this clothe yourself with sackcloth, lament and howl: for the fierce anger of the LORD is not turned back from us.


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And it shall come to pass in that day, says the LORD, that the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes; and the priests shall be astonished, and the prophets shall wonder.


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Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! surely you have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, You shall have peace; though the sword reaches unto the soul.


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At that time shall it be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A dry wind of the high places in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not to fan, nor to cleanse,


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Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots shall be as a whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe unto us! for we are laid waste.


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O Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved. How long shall your vain thoughts reside within you?


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Make mention to the nations; behold, announce against Jerusalem, that watchers come from a far country, and speak out their voice against the cities of Judah.


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As keepers of a field, are they against her round about; because she has been rebellious against me, says the LORD.


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Your way and your doings have brought about these things for you; this is your wickedness, because it is bitter, because it reaches unto your heart.


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My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart makes a sound in me; I cannot hold my peace, because you have heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.


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Destruction upon destruction is announced; for the whole land is laid waste: suddenly are my tents ruined, and my curtains in a moment.


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For my people are foolish, they have not known me; they are stupid children, and they have no understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.


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I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by his fierce anger.


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For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black: because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it.


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The whole city shall flee at the noise of the horsemen and bowmen; they shall go into thickets, and climb up upon the rocks: every city shall be forsaken, and not a man shall dwell therein.


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And when you are laid waste, what will you do? Though you clothe yourself with crimson, though you deck yourself with ornaments of gold, though you tear your face with painting, in vain shall you make yourself fair; your lovers will despise you, they will seek your life.


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For I have heard a voice as of a woman in birth labor, and the anguish as of her that brings forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, that bewails herself, that spreads her hands, saying, Woe is me now! for my soul is wearied because of murderers.


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Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if you can find a man, if there be any who executes justice, who seeks the truth; and I will pardon it.


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O LORD, are not your eyes upon the truth? you have struck them, but they have 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.


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Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish: for they know not the way of the LORD, nor the judgment of their God.


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I will go to the great men, and will speak to them; for they have known the way of the LORD, and the judgment of their God: but these have altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.


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Therefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings shall plunder them, a leopard shall watch over their cities: every one that goes out from there shall be torn in pieces: because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased.


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How shall I pardon you for this? your children have forsaken me, and sworn by those who are no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and crowded into the harlots' houses.


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Shall I not visit them for these things? says the LORD: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?


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Go up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end: take away her fortifications; for they are not the LORD'S.


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For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, says the LORD.


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They have denied the LORD, and said, It is not he; neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor famine:


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Therefore thus says the LORD God of hosts, Because you speak this word, behold, I will make my words in your mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.


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Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from afar, O house of Israel, says the LORD: it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you know not, neither understand what they say.


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And they 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 impoverish your fortified cities, in which you trusted, with the sword.


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And it shall come to pass, when you shall say, Why does the LORD our God do all these things to us? then shall you answer them, Just as you have forsaken me, and served strange gods in your land, so shall you serve strangers in a land that is not yours.


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Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not:


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Do you not fear me? says the LORD: will you not tremble at my presence, who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it?


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Neither do they say in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God, who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season: he reserves for us the appointed weeks of the harvest.


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For among my people are found wicked men: they lie in wait, as he that sets snares; they set a trap, they catch men.


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As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they have become great, and grown rich.


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They have become fat, they glisten: yea, they exceed the deeds of the wicked: they do not judge the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge.


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Shall I not visit them for these things? says the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?


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The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will you do at the end of it?


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O ye children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a fire signal in Beth-haccerem: for evil appears out of the north, and great destruction.


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The shepherds with their flocks shall come to her; they shall pitch their tents against her round about; they shall feed every one in his place.


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Prepare war against her; arise, and let us go up at noon. Woe to us! for the day departs, for the shadows of the evening lengthen.


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For thus has the LORD of hosts said, Cut down trees, and build a siege mound against Jerusalem: this is the city to be visited; she is given over to oppression in the midst of her.


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As a fountain pours out her waters, so she pours out her wickedness: violence and destruction is heard in her; before me continually is grief and wounds.


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Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, so that my soul does not depart from you; so that I do not make you desolate, a land not inhabited.


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Thus says the LORD of hosts, They shall thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel like a vine: put your hand again into the baskets like a grape gatherer.


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To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot listen: behold, the word of the LORD is to them a reproach; they have no delight in it.


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Therefore I am full of the fury of the LORD; I am weary with holding it in: I will pour it out upon the children outdoors, 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.


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And their houses shall be given to others, with their fields and wives together: for I will stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants of the land, says the LORD.


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For from the least of them even to the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even to the priest every one deals falsely.


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They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.


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Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? no, 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 thrown down, says the LORD.


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Thus says the LORD, Stand in the ways, and look, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it, and you shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk in it.


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Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Listen to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not listen.


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Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not listened to my words, nor to my law, but rejected it.


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For what purpose does incense come to me from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country? your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet to me.


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Therefore thus says the LORD, Behold, I will lay stumbling blocks before this people, and the fathers and the sons together shall fall upon them; the neighbor and his friend shall perish.


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Thus says the LORD, Behold, a people comes from the north country, and a great nation shall be raised from the ends of the earth.


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They shall lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel, and have no mercy; their voice roars like the sea; and they ride upon horses, set in formation as men for war against you, O daughter of Zion.


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We have heard the fame thereof: our hands grow feeble: anguish has taken hold of us, and pain, as of a woman in birth labor.


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Do not go out into the field, nor walk in the way; for the sword of the enemy and fear are on every side.


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O daughter of my people, clothe yourself with sackcloth, and roll in ashes: make mourning, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation: for the plunderer shall suddenly come upon us.


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They are all flagrant rebels, walking with slanders: they are brass and iron; they are all corrupters.


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The bellows are burned, the lead is consumed by the fire; the refiner melts in vain: for the wicked are not plucked away.


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Stand in the gate of the LORD'S house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the LORD, all you of Judah, that enter in at these gates to worship the LORD.


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Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Mend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.


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Do not trust in lying words, saying, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, are these.


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For if you thoroughly mend your ways and your doings; if you thoroughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbor;


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If you oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt:


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Then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever.


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Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you know not;


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And come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?


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Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, says the LORD.


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But go now to my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.


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And now, because you have done all these works, says the LORD, and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you did not hear; and I called you, but you did not answer;


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Therefore will I do to this 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 have done to Shiloh.


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And I will put you out of my sight, as I have put out all your kindred, even the whole people of Ephraim.


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Therefore do not pray for this people, neither lift up a cry nor a prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear you.


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The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.


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Do they provoke me to anger? says the LORD: do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces?


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Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; Behold, my anger and my fury shall be poured out upon this place, upon man, and upon beast, and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched.


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Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Put your burnt offerings with your sacrifices, and eat flesh.


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For I did not 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:


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But this thing I commanded them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.


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But they did not listen, or turn their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.


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Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt until this day I have even sent to you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them:


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Yet they did not listen to me, or turn their ear, but hardened their neck: they did worse than their fathers.


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Therefore you 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.


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But you shall say to them, This is a nation that does not obey the voice of the LORD their God, nor receive correction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth.


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Cut off your hair, O Jerusalem, and throw it away, and take up a lamentation on high places; for the LORD has rejected and forsaken the generation of his anger.


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For the children of Judah have done evil in my sight, says the LORD: they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to pollute it.


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And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I did not command them, neither did it come into my heart.


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Therefore, behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, that it shall no longer be called Tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter: for they shall bury in Tophet, till there be no place.


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And the carcasses of this people shall be food for the birds of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth; and none shall frighten them away.


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Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of cheerfulness, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride: for the land shall be desolate.


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At that time, says the LORD, they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of its princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves:


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And they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the host of heaven, whom they have loved, and whom they have served, and after whom they have walked, and whom they have sought, and whom they have worshiped: they shall not be gathered, nor be buried; they shall be as dung upon the face of the earth.


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And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the remnant of those who remain of this evil family, who remain in all the places to which I have driven them, says the LORD of hosts.


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Moreover you shall say to them, Thus says the LORD; Shall they fall, and not arise? shall he turn away, and not return?


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Why then has this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold firmly to deceit, they refuse to return.


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I listened and heard, but they did not speak rightly: no man repented of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? every one turned to his way, as the horse rushes into the battle.


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Yea, the stork in the heaven knows her appointed times; and the turtledove and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people do not know the judgment of the LORD.


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How can you say, We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us? Lo, certainly in vain he made it; the pen of the scribes is in vain.


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The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken: lo, they have rejected the word of the LORD; and what wisdom is in them?


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Therefore will I give their wives to others, and their fields to those who shall inherit them: for every one from the least even to the greatest is given to covetousness; from the prophet even to the priest every one deals falsely.


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For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.


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Were 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 thrown down, says the LORD.


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I will surely 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.


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Why do we sit still? assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the fortified cities, and let us be silent there: for the LORD our God has put us to silence, and given us bitter water to drink, because we have sinned against the LORD.


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The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan: the whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones; for they have come, and have devoured the land, and all that is in it; the city, and those that dwell therein.


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For, behold, I will send serpents, vipers, among you, which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you, says the LORD.


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Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people because of those who dwell in a far country: Is not the LORD in Zion? is not her king in her? Why have they provoked me to anger with their sculptured images, and with strange vanities?


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Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?


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Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!


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Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place for traveling men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! for they are all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men.


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And they bend their tongues like their bow to speak lies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know me, says the LORD.


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Beware every one of his neighbor, and do not trust in any brother: for every brother will completely drive you away, and every neighbor will walk with slanders.


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And they will deceive every one his neighbor, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies, and weary themselves to commit iniquity.


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Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, Behold, I will melt them, and test them; for what shall I do for the daughter of my people?


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Their tongue is like an arrow shot out; it speaks deceit: one speaks peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth, but in heart he lies in wait.


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For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the habitations of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up, so that none can pass through them; neither can men hear the voice of the cattle; both the birds of the heavens and the beast have fled; they are gone.


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And I will make Jerusalem heaps of ruins, and a den of dragons; and I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant.


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Who is the wise man, who may understand this? and who is he to whom the mouth of the LORD has spoken, that he may declare it, for what cause the land perishes and is burned up like a wilderness, that none passes through?


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And the LORD says, Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked therein;


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But have walked according to the imagination of their own heart, and after Baalim, which their fathers taught them:


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Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them bitter water to drink.


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I will scatter them also among the heathen, whom neither they nor their fathers have known: and I will send a sword after them, till I have consumed them.


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Thus says the LORD of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for skilful women, that they may come:


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And let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters.


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For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How we are laid waste! we are greatly astonished, because we have forsaken the land, because our dwellings have cast us out.


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Yet hear the word of the LORD, O you women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth, and teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbor lamentation.


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For death has come up into our windows, and has entered into our palaces, to cut off the children from outside, and the young men from the streets.


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Speak, Thus says the LORD, Even the carcasses of men shall fall like dung upon the open field, and like the handful of grain after the reaper, and none shall gather them.


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Thus says the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches:


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But let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who exercises loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth: for in these things I delight, says the LORD.


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Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, that I will punish all those who are circumcised with the uncircumcised;


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Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all who are in the farthest corners, who dwell in the wilderness: for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart.


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Thus says the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.


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For the customs of the people are vain: for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.


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They decorate it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, so that it does not move.


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They are upright like the palm tree, but do not speak: they must be carried, because they cannot walk. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good.


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Who would not fear you, O King of nations? for to you it belongs: seeing that among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like you.


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Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the craftsman, and of the hands of the goldsmith: blue and purple is their clothing: they are all the work of skilful men.


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But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his anger the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to endure his indignation.


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Thus shall you say to them, The gods who have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens.


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He has made the earth by his power, he has established the world by his wisdom, and has stretched out the heavens by his discretion.


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When he speaks forth his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; he makes lightnings with rain, and brings forth the wind out of his treasures.


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Every man is stupid in his knowledge: every metal worker is put to shame by the sculptured image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.


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The portion of Jacob is not like them: for he is the former of all things; and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: The LORD of hosts is his name.


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For thus says the LORD, Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land at this time, and will distress them, that they may find it so.


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My tabernacle is laid waste, and all my cords are broken: my children have gone away from me, and they are not: there is no one to stretch forth my tent any more, and to set up my curtains.


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For the shepherds have become stupid, and have not sought the LORD: therefore they shall not prosper, and all their flocks shall be scattered.


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Behold, the sound of the rumor has come, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah desolate, and a den of dragons.


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O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.


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Pour out your fury upon the heathen who do not know you, and upon the families that do not call on your name: for they have eaten up Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him, and have made his habitation desolate.


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Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem;


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And say to them, Thus says the LORD God of Israel; Cursed be the man who does not obey the words of this covenant,


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Which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, Obey my voice, and do them, according to all which I command you: so shall you be my people, and I will be your God:


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That I may perform the oath which I have sworn to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day. Then I answered, and said, So be it, O LORD.


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Then the LORD said to 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.


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For I earnestly protested to your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even until this day, rising early and protesting, saying, Obey my voice.


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Yet they did not obey, or turn their ear, but walked every one in the imagination of their evil heart: therefore I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do; but they did not do them.


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And the LORD said to me, A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.


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They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to hear my words; and they went after other gods to serve them: the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant which I made with their fathers.


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Therefore thus says the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry to me, I will not listen to them.


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Then shall the cities of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem go, and cry to the gods unto whom they offer incense: but they shall not save them at all in the time of their trouble.


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For according to the number of your cities were your gods, O Judah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem have you set up altars to that shameful thing, even altars to burn incense unto Baal.


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Therefore do not pray for this people, neither lift up a cry or prayer for them: for I will not hear them in the time that they cry unto me concerning their trouble.


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What has my beloved to do in my house, seeing she has committed lewdness with many, and the holy flesh has passed from you? when you do evil, then you rejoice.


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The LORD called your name, A green olive tree, fair, and of attractive fruit: with the noise of a great tumult he has kindled fire upon it, and the branches of it are broken.


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For the LORD of hosts, who planted you, has pronounced evil against you, for the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done against themselves to provoke me to anger in offering incense unto Baal.


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But I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter; and I did not know that they had devised plans against me, saying, Let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered.


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But, O LORD of hosts, who judges righteously, who examines the thoughts and the heart, let me see your vengeance on them: for unto you have I revealed my cause.


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Therefore thus says the LORD of the men of Anathoth, that seek your life, saying, Do not prophesy in the name of the LORD, so that you do not die by our hand:


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Therefore 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:


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And there shall be no remnant of them: for I will bring evil upon the men of Anathoth, even the year of their visitation.


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Righteous are you, O LORD, when I plead with you: yet let me talk with you of your judgments: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? why are all those happy who deal very treacherously?


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You have planted them, yea, they have taken root: they grow, yea, they bring forth fruit: you are near in their mouth, and far from their thoughts.


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But you, O LORD, know me: you have seen me, and tried my heart toward you: pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter.


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How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of every field wither, for the wickedness of those who dwell therein? the animals are consumed, and the birds; because they said, He shall not see our later days.


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If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses? and if in the land of peace, in which you trusted, they wearied you, then how will you do in the swelling of the Jordan?


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For even your brothers, and the house of your father, even they have dealt treacherously with you; yea, they have called a multitude after you: do not believe them, though they speak fair words to you.


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I have forsaken my house, I have left my heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies.


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My heritage is to me like a speckled bird, the birds round about are against her; come ye, assemble all the beasts of the field, come to devour.


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Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.


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They have made it desolate, and being desolate it mourns unto me; the whole land is made desolate, because no man takes it to heart.


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The destroyers have come upon all high places through the wilderness: for the sword of the LORD shall devour from the one end of the land even to the other end of the land: no flesh shall have peace.


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They have sown wheat, but shall reap thorns: they have put themselves to pain, but shall not profit: and they shall be ashamed of your revenues because of the fierce anger of the LORD.


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Thus says the LORD against all my evil neighbors, who touch the inheritance which I have caused my people Israel to inherit; Behold, I will pluck them out of their land, and pluck out the house of Judah from among them.


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And it shall come to pass, after I have plucked them out I will return, and have compassion on them, and will bring them back, every man to his heritage, and every man to his land.


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And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, The LORD lives; as they taught my people to swear by Baal; then shall they be built in the midst of my people.


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Thus says the LORD to me, Go and get a linen waistband, and put it upon your loins, and do not put it in water.


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Take the waistband that you have gotten, which is upon your loins, and arise, go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole of the rock.


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And it came to pass after many days that the LORD said to me, Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take the waistband from there, which I commanded you to hide there.


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Then I went to the Euphrates, and dug, and took the waistband from the place where I had hid it: and, behold, the waistband was spoiled, it was good for nothing.


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Thus says the LORD, In this manner will I spoil the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem.


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This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who walk in the imagination of their heart, and walk after other gods, to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be like this waistband, which is good for nothing.


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For as the waistband clings to the loins of a man, so have I caused to cling to me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, says the LORD; that they might be unto me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory: but they would not hear.


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Therefore you shall speak to them this word; Thus says the LORD God of Israel, Every bottle shall be filled with wine: and they shall say to you, Do we not certainly know that every bottle shall be filled with wine?


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Then shall you say to them, Thus says the LORD, Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land, even the kings that sit upon David's throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with drunkenness.


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And I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together, says the LORD: I will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, but destroy them.


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Give glory to the LORD your God, before he causes darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and, while you look for light, he turns it into the shadow of death, and makes it thick darkness.


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But if you will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride; and my eye shall weep bitterly, and run down with tears, because the LORD'S flock is taken away captive.


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Say to the king and to the queen, Humble yourselves, sit down: for your royal authority shall come down, even the crown of your glory.


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The cities of the south shall be shut up, and none shall open them: Judah shall be taken away captive all of it, it shall be wholly taken away captive.


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Lift up your eyes, and behold those who come from the north: where is the flock that was given you, your beautiful flock?


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What will you say when he shall punish you? for you have taught them to be captains, and as chief over you: shall not sorrows take you, as a woman in birth labor?


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And if you say in your heart, Why do these things come upon me? For the greatness of your iniquity are your skirts uncovered, and your heels made bare.


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Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may you also do good, who are accustomed to do evil.


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This is your lot, the portion you are measured out by me, says the LORD; because you have forgotten me, and trusted in falsehood.


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I have seen your adulteries, and your neighings, the lewdness of your whoredom, and your abominations on the hills in the fields. Woe to you, O Jerusalem! will you not be made clean? when shall it finally be?


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Judah mourns, and the gates thereof droop; the people are black down to the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem has gone up.


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And their nobles have sent their little ones to the waters: they came to the pits, and found no water; they returned with their vessels empty; they were ashamed and disappointed, and covered their heads.


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Because the ground is cracked, for there was no rain in the earth, the plowmen were ashamed, they covered their heads.


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And the wild donkeys stood in the high places, they sniffed up the wind like dragons; their eyes did fail, because there was no grass.


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O LORD, though our iniquities testify against us, do thou it for your name's sake: for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against you.


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O the hope of Israel, the savior thereof in time of trouble, why should you be like a stranger in the land, and like a traveling man who turns aside to stay for a night?


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Why should you be like a man astonished, like a mighty man who cannot save? yet you, O LORD, are in the midst of us, and we are called by your name; do not leave us.


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Thus says the LORD to this people, Thus have they loved to wander, they have not restrained their feet, therefore the LORD does not accept them; he will now remember their iniquity, and visit their sins.


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When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and a food offering, I will not accept them: but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence.


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Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, the prophets say to them, You shall not see the sword, neither shall you have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place.


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Then the LORD said to me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I did not send them, neither have I commanded them, neither did I speak to them: they prophesy to you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nothing, and the deceit of their heart.


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Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name, and I did not send them, yet they say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land; By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed.


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And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and they shall have none to bury them, them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters: for I will pour their wickedness upon them.


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Therefore you 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 wound, with a very destructive blow.


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If I go out 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! yea, both the prophet and the priest go about into a land that they do not know.


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Have you completely rejected Judah? has your soul loathed Zion? why have you stricken us, and there is no healing for us? we looked for peace, and there is no good; and for the time of healing, and behold trouble!


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We acknowledge, O LORD, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers: for we have sinned against you.


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Do not abhor us, for your name's sake, do not disgrace the throne of your glory: remember, break not your covenant with us.


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Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain? or can the heavens give showers? are you not he, O LORD our God? therefore we will wait for you: for you have made all these things.


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Then said the LORD to me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could not be toward this people: cast them out of my sight, and let them go away.


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And it shall come to pass, if they say to you, Where shall we go away to? then you shall tell them, Thus says the LORD; Those that are for death, to death; and those that are for the sword, to the sword; and those that are for the famine, to the famine; and those that are for the captivity, to the captivity.


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And I will appoint over them four things, says the LORD: the sword to slay, and the dogs to tear, and the birds of the heaven, and the beasts of the earth, to devour and destroy.


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And I will cause them to be removed into all kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem.


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For who shall have pity upon you, O Jerusalem? or who shall bemoan you? or who shall go aside to ask how you are?


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You have forsaken me, says the LORD, you have gone backward: therefore will I stretch out my hand against you, and destroy you; I am weary with repenting.


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And I will fan them with a fan in the gates of the land; I will bereave them of children, I will destroy my people, since they do not return from their ways.


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Their widows are multiplied to me more than the sand of the seas: I have brought upon them against the mother of the young men a plunderer at noonday: I have caused him to fall upon it suddenly, and terrors upon the city.


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She that has borne seven grows feeble: she has given up the ghost; her sun is gone down while it was yet day: she has been ashamed and perplexed: and the remainder of them will I deliver to the sword before their enemies, says the LORD.


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Woe is me, my mother, that you have borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have neither lent at interest, nor have men lent to me at interest; yet every one of them curses me.


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The LORD said, Truly it shall be well with your remnant; truly I will cause the enemy to treat you well in the time of evil and in the time of affliction.


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Your possessions and your treasures will I give as plunder without price, and that for all your sins, even in all your land.


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And I will make you to pass with your enemies into a land which you do not know: for a fire is kindled in my anger, which shall burn upon you.


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O LORD, you know: remember me, and visit me, and avenge me on my persecutors; take me not away in your longsuffering: know that for your sake I have suffered rebuke.


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Your words were found, and I did eat them; and your word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart: for I am called by your name, O LORD God of hosts.


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I did not sit in the assembly of the mockers, nor rejoice; I sat alone because of your hand: for you have filled me with indignation.


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Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuses to be healed? will you be altogether to me as a liar, and as waters that fail?


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Therefore thus says the LORD, If you return, then will I bring you back, and you shall stand before me: and if you take away the precious from the vile, you shall be as my mouth: let them return to you; but do not return to them.


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And I will make you to this people a fortified brass wall: and they shall fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you: for I am with you to save you and to deliver you, says the LORD.


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And I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem you out of the hand of the terrible.


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For thus says the LORD concerning the sons and concerning the daughters that are born in this place, and concerning their mothers that bore them, and concerning their fathers that begot them in this land;


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They shall die terrible deaths; they shall not be lamented; neither shall they be buried; but they shall be as dung upon the face of the earth: and they shall be consumed by the sword, and by famine; and their carcasses shall be food for the birds of heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.


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For thus says the LORD, Do not enter into the house of mourning, neither go to lament nor bemoan them: for I have taken away my peace from this people, says the LORD, even loving kindness and mercies.


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Both the great and the small shall die in this land: they shall not be buried, neither shall men lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them:


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Neither shall men tear themselves for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead; neither shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother.


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For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will cause to cease out of this place in your eyes, and in your days, the voice of cheerfulness, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride.


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And it shall come to pass, when you shall tell this people all these words, and they shall say to you, Why has the LORD pronounced all this great evil against us? or what is our iniquity? or what is our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?


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Then shall you say to them, Because your fathers have forsaken me, says the LORD, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshiped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law;


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And you have done worse than your fathers; for, behold, you walk every one after the imagination of his evil heart, that they may not listen to me:


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Therefore will I cast you out of this land into a land that you know not, neither you nor your fathers; and there shall you serve other gods day and night; where I will not show you favor.


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Therefore, behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, that it shall no more be said, The LORD lives, who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;


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But, The LORD lives, who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands to which he had driven them: and I will bring them back into their land that I gave to their fathers.


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Behold, I will send for many fishermen, says the LORD, and they shall fish them; and afterwards will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.


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For my eyes are upon all their ways: they are not hid from my face, neither is their iniquity hid from my eyes.


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And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double; because they have defiled my land, they have filled my inheritance with the carcasses of their detestable and abominable things.


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O LORD, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come to you from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things in which there is no profit.


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Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know my hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is The LORD.


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The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond: it is engraved upon the tablet of their heart, and upon the horns of your altars;


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O my mountain in the field, I will give your possessions and all your treasures to the plunder, and your high places for sin, throughout all your land.


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And you, even yourself, shall cease from your heritage that I gave you; and I will cause you to serve your enemies in the land which you do not know: for you have kindled a fire in my anger, which shall burn for ever.


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Thus says the LORD; Cursed be the man who trusts in man, and makes flesh his arm, and whose heart departs from the LORD.


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For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good comes; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.


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For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, and that spreads out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat comes, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be anxious in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.


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I the LORD search the heart, I examine the thoughts, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.


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As the partridge sits on eggs, and does not hatch them; so he that gets riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool.


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O LORD, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you shall be ashamed, and those who depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters.


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As for me, I have not hurried away from being a shepherd to follow you: neither have I desired the woeful day; you know: that which came out of my lips was right before you.


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Let them be put to shame who persecute me, but let me not be put to shame: let them be dismayed, but let me not be dismayed: bring upon them the day of evil, and destroy them with double destruction.


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Thus said the LORD to me; Go and stand in the gate of the children of the people, by which the kings of Judah come in, and by which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem;


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And say to them, Hear ye the word of the LORD, you kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that enter in by these gates:


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Thus says the LORD; Be careful, and bear no burden on the sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem;


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Neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the sabbath day, neither do any work, but hallow the sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers.


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But they did not obey, neither turned their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, nor receive instruction.


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And it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey my words, says the LORD, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the sabbath day, but hallow the sabbath day, to do no work on it;


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Then shall there enter into the gates of this city kings and princes sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their princes, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: and this city shall remain for ever.


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And they shall come from the cities of Judah, and from the places around Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the plain, and from the mountains, and from the south, bringing burnt offerings, and sacrifices, and food offerings, and incense, and bringing sacrifices of praise, unto the house of the LORD.


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But if you will not listen to me to hallow the sabbath day, and not to bear a burden, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day; then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.


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And the vessel that he made of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter: so he made it again into another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.


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O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter does? says the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.


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At what time I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it;


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If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turns from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do to them.


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And at what time I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it;


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If it does evil in my sight, so that it does not obey my voice, then I will repent of the good with which I said I would benefit them.


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Now therefore go, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus says the LORD; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a purpose against you: return now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good.


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And they said, There is no hope: but we will walk according to our own purposes, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart.


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Therefore thus says the LORD; Ask now among the heathen, who has heard such things: the virgin of Israel has done a very horrible thing.


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Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon which comes from the rock of the field? or shall the cold flowing waters that come from another place be forsaken?


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Because my people have forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in paths in a way not built up;


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To make their land desolate, and a perpetual hissing; every one that passes by it shall be astonished, and wag his head.


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I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will show them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.


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Then they said, Come, and let us devise plans against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.


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Shall evil be recompensed for good? for they have dug a pit for my soul. Remember that I stood before you to speak good for them, and to turn away your anger from them.


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Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and pour out their blood by the force of the sword; and let their wives be bereaved of their children, and be widows; and let their men be put to death; let their young men be slain by the sword in battle.


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Let a cry be heard from their houses, when you shall bring a troop suddenly upon them: for they have dug a pit to take me, and hid snares for my feet.


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Yet, LORD, you know all their counsel against me to slay me: do not forgive their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from your sight, but let them be overthrown before you; deal thus with them in the time of your anger.


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Thus says the LORD, Go and get a potter's earthen bottle, and take some of the ancients of the people, and some of the ancients of the priests;


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And go out to the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the east gate, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell you,


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And say, Hear the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem; Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, which whoever hears, his ears shall tingle.


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Because they have forsaken me, and have made this place strange, and have burned incense in it to other gods, whom neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Judah, and have filled this place with the blood of innocents;


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They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I did not command, nor speak it, neither did it come into my mind:


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Therefore, behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, that this place shall no longer be called Tophet, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of slaughter.


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And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place; and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hands of those who seek their lives: and their carcasses will I give to be food for the birds of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.


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And I will make this city desolate, and a hissing; every one that passes by it shall be astonished and hiss because of all the plagues thereof.


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And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend in the siege and distress with which their enemies, and those who seek their lives, shall distress them.


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And shall say to them, Thus says the LORD of hosts; Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter's vessel, that cannot be made whole again: and they shall bury them in Tophet, till there be no place to bury.


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Thus will I do to this place, says the LORD, and to the inhabitants thereof, and even make this city like Tophet:


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And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, shall be defiled like the place of Tophet, because of all the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense unto all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink offerings unto other gods.


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Then came Jeremiah from Tophet, to which the LORD had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of the LORD'S house; and said to all the people,


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Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all her towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they have hardened their necks, that they might not hear my words.


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Now Pashur the son of Immer the priest, who was also chief governor in the house of the LORD, heard that Jeremiah prophesied these things.


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Then Pashur struck Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the high gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the LORD.


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And it came to pass on the morrow, that Pashur brought forth Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then said Jeremiah to him, The LORD has not called your name Pashur, but Magor-missabib.


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For thus says the LORD, Behold, I will make you a terror to yourself, and to all your friends: and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and your eyes shall behold it: and I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take them captive into Babylon, and shall slay them with the sword.


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Moreover I will deliver all the strength of this city, and all the labors thereof, and all the precious things thereof, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah will I give into the hand of their enemies, who shall plunder them, and take them, and carry them to Babylon.


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And you, Pashur, and all who dwell in your house shall go into captivity: and you shall come to Babylon, and there you shall die, and shall be buried there, you, and all your friends, to whom you have prophesied lies.


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O LORD, you have deceived me, and I was deceived: you are stronger than I, and have prevailed: I am in derision daily, every one mocks me.


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For since I spoke, I cried out, I cried violence and plunder; because the word of the LORD was made a reproach to me, and a derision, daily.


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Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with holding back, and I could not restrain myself.


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For I heard the defaming of many, fear on every side. Report, say they, and we will report it. All my companions watched for my downfall, saying, Perhaps he will be enticed, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him.


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But the LORD is with me as a mighty one to be feared: therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail: they shall be greatly ashamed; for they shall not prosper: their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten.


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But, O LORD of hosts, who examines the righteous, and sees the thoughts and the heart, let me see your vengeance on them: for unto you have I opened my cause.


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Sing unto the LORD, praise ye the LORD: for he has delivered the soul of the poor from the hand of evildoers.


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Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father, saying, A man child is born to you; making him very glad.


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And let that man be like the cities which the LORD overthrew, and repented not: and let him hear the cry in the morning, and the shouting at noontide;


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Because he did not kill me from the womb; or that my mother might have been my grave, and her womb have been always large with me.


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Why did I come forth out of the womb to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?


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The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, when king Zedekiah sent to him Pashur the son of Melchiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, saying,


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Inquire, I pray you, of the LORD for us; for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon makes war against us; perhaps the LORD will deal with us according to all his wondrous works, that he may go away from us.


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Thus says the LORD God of Israel; Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, with which you fight against the king of Babylon, and against the Chaldeans, who besiege you outside the walls, and I will assemble them into the midst of this city.


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And I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger, and in fury, and in great wrath.


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And I will strike the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast: they shall die of a great pestilence.


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And afterward, says the LORD, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, and those that are left in this city from the pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life: and he shall strike them down with the edge of the sword; he shall not spare them, neither have pity, nor have mercy.


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And to this people you shall say, Thus says the LORD; Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death.


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He who remains in this city shall die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he who goes out, and surrenders to the Chaldeans who besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be to him for a possession.


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For I have set my face against this city for evil, and not for good, says the LORD: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.


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O house of David, thus says the LORD; Execute justice in the morning, and deliver him who is plundered out of the hand of the oppressor, so that my fury does not go forth like fire, and burn so that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.


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Behold, I am against you, O inhabitant of the valley, and rock of the plain, says the LORD; who say, Who shall come down against us? or who shall enter into our habitations?


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But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, says the LORD: and I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof, and it shall devour all things round about it.


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And say, Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, who sit upon the throne of David, you, and your servants, and your people who enter in by these gates:


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Thus says the LORD; Execute justice and righteousness, and deliver him who is plundered out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place.


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For if you do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their servants, and their people.


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But if you will not hear these words, I swear by myself, says the LORD, that this house shall become a desolation.


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For thus says the LORD to the king's house of Judah; You are Gilead to me, and the head of Lebanon: yet surely I will make you a wilderness, and cities which are not inhabited.


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And I will prepare destroyers against you, every one with his weapons: and they shall cut down your choice cedars, and throw them into the fire.


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And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say every man to his neighbor, Why has the LORD done thus unto this great city?


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Then they shall answer, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God, and worshiped other gods, and served them.


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Do not weep for the dead, neither bemoan him: but weep bitterly for him who goes away: for he shall return no more, nor see his native country.


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For thus says the LORD concerning Shallum the son of Josiah king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, who went forth out of this place; He shall not return there any more:


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Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; who makes use of his neighbor’s service without wages, and does not give him anything for his work;


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Who says, I will build for myself a wide house and large chambers, and cuts out for himself windows; and it is covered with cedar, and painted with vermilion.


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Shall you reign, because you enclose yourself in cedar? did not your father eat and drink, and do justice and righteousness, and then it was well with him?


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He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well with him: was not this to know me? says the LORD.


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But your eyes and your heart are only for your covetousness, and to shed innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it.


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Therefore thus says the LORD concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah; They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! they shall not lament for him, saying, Ah lord! or, Ah his glory!


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He shall be buried with the burial of a donkey, dragged and thrown out beyond the gates of Jerusalem.


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Go up to Lebanon, and cry; and lift up your voice in Bashan, and cry from the passes: for all your lovers are destroyed.


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I spoke to you in your prosperity; but you said, I will not hear. This has been your manner from your youth, that you did not obey my voice.


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The wind shall eat up all your shepherds, and your lovers shall go into captivity: surely then shall you be ashamed and astonished for all your wickedness.


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O inhabitant of Lebanon, who make your nest in the cedars, how gracious shall you be when pangs come upon you, the pain as of a woman in birth labor!


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As I live, says the LORD, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck you from there;


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And I will give you into the hand of those who seek your life, and into the hand of those whose face you fear, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.


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And I will cast you out, and your mother that bore you, into another country, where you were not born; and there shall you die.


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Is this man Coniah a despised broken idol? is he a vessel in which is no pleasure? why are they cast out, he and his children, and are cast into a land which they do not know?


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Thus says the LORD, Write this man as childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his descendents shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah.


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Therefore thus says the LORD God of Israel against the shepherds that feed my people; You have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, says the LORD.


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And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries to which I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase.


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And I will set up shepherds over them who shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, says the LORD.


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Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, that I will raise for David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.


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In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name by which he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.


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Therefore, behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, that they shall no more say, The LORD lives, who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;


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But, The LORD lives, who brought up and who led the people of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries to which I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land.


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My heart within me is broken because of the prophets; all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine has overcome, because of the LORD, and because of the words of his holiness.


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For the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the land mourns; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil, and their power is not used rightly.


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For both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, says the LORD.


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Therefore their way shall be unto them as slippery ways in the darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall therein: for I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation, says the LORD.


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And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied by Baal, and caused my people Israel to err.


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I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem a horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, so that none returns from his wickedness: they are all of them to me like Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof like Gomorrah.


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Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets; Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink bitter water: for from the prophets of Jerusalem has profaneness gone out into all the land.


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Thus says the LORD of hosts, Do not listen to the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD.


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They still say to those who despise me, The LORD has said, You shall have peace; and they say to every one who walks according to the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you.


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For who has stood in the counsel of the LORD, and has perceived and heard his word? who has marked his word, and heard it?


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Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD has gone forth in fury, even a terrible whirlwind: it shall fall heavily upon the head of the wicked.


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The anger of the LORD shall not return, until he has executed, and till he has performed the thoughts of his heart: in the latter days you shall understand it fully.


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But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they would have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.


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Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? says the LORD. Do I not fill heaven and earth? says the LORD.


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I have heard what the prophets said, who prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed.


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How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart;


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Who think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbor, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal.


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The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream; and he who has my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? says the LORD.


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Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, says the LORD, who steal my words every one from his neighbor.


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Behold, I am against those who prophesy false dreams, says the LORD, and tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their shallowness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, says the LORD.


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And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask you, saying, What is the burden of the LORD? you shall then say to them, What burden? I will even forsake you, says the LORD.


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And as for the prophet, and the priest, and the people, who shall say, The burden of the LORD, I will even punish that man and his house.


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Thus shall you say every one to his neighbor, and every one to his brother, What has the LORD answered? and, What has the LORD spoken?


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And the burden of the LORD shall you mention no more: for every man's word shall be his burden; for you have perverted the words of the living God, of the LORD of hosts our God.


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But since you say, The burden of the LORD; therefore thus says the LORD; Because you say this word, The burden of the LORD, and I have sent unto you, saying, you shall not say, The burden of the LORD;


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Therefore, behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you, and I will forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, and cast you out of my presence:


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And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.


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The LORD showed me, and, behold, two baskets of figs were set before the temple of the LORD, after Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the carpenters and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon.


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One basket had very good figs, even like the figs that are first ripe: and the other basket had very evil figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad.


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Then said the LORD to me, What do you see, Jeremiah? And I said, Figs; the good figs, very good; and the evil, very evil, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil.


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Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel; Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge those who are taken away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good.


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For I will set my eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up.


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And I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return to me with their whole heart.


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And like the evil figs, which cannot be eaten, they are so evil; surely thus says the LORD, So will I give Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the remainder of Jerusalem, that remain in this land, and those who dwell in the land of Egypt:


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And I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for their hurt, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places to which I shall drive them.


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And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, till they be consumed off of the land that I gave unto them and to their fathers.


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The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, that was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon;


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Which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah, and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying,


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From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, even until this day, that is the twenty third year, the word of the LORD has come unto me, and I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking; but you have not listened.


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And the LORD has sent unto you all his servants the prophets, rising early and sending them; but you have not listened, nor turned your ear to hear.


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They said, Turn back now every one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that the LORD has given unto you and to your fathers for ever and ever:


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And do not go after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, and do not provoke me to anger with the works of your hands; and I will do you no hurt.


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Yet you have not listened to me, says the LORD; that you might provoke me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt.


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Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, says the LORD, and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will completely destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and a hissing, and perpetual desolations.


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Moreover I will take from them the voice of cheerfulness, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle.


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And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.


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And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, says the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations.


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And I will bring upon that land all my words which I have pronounced against it, even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations.


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For many nations and great kings shall be served by them also: and I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the works of their own hands.


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For thus says the LORD God of Israel to me; Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations to whom I send you to drink it.


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Then I took the cup at the LORD'S hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom the LORD had sent me:


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That is, Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse; as it is this day;


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And all the mixed people, and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Azzah, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod,


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And all the kings of Tyre, and all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the lands which are beyond the sea,


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And all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the world, which are upon the face of the earth: and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them.


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Therefore you shall say to them, Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Drink, and be drunken, and vomit, and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you.


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And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at your hand to drink, then shall you say to them, Thus says the LORD of hosts; You shall certainly drink.


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For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name, and should you be completely unpunished? you shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, says the LORD of hosts.


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Therefore prophesy against them all these words, and say to them, The LORD shall roar from on high, and speak forth his voice from his holy habitation; he shall mightily roar upon his habitation; he shall give a shout, as those who tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth.


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A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the LORD has a controversy with the nations, he will plead with all flesh; he will give those who are wicked to the sword, says the LORD.


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Thus says the LORD of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the farthest parts of the earth.


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And the slain of the LORD shall be at that day from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground.


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Howl, you shepherds, and cry; and roll yourselves in the ashes, you chief of the flock: for the days of your slaughter and of your scattering are accomplished; and you shall fall like a pleasant vessel.


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A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and a howling of the chief of the flock, shall be heard: for the LORD has laid waste their pasture.


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He has forsaken his shelter, like the lion: for their land is desolate because of the fierceness of the oppressor, and because of his fierce anger.


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In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah came this word from the LORD, saying,


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Thus says the LORD; Stand in the court of the LORD'S house, and speak to all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in the LORD'S house, all the words that I command you to speak to them; do not keep back a word:


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Perhaps they will listen, and every man will turn from his evil way, that I may repent of the evil which I purpose to do to them because of the evil of their doings.


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And you shall say to them, Thus says the LORD; If you will not listen to me, to walk in my law, which I have set before you,


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To listen to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I sent to you, both rising up early, and sending them, but you have not listened;


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Then will I make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.


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So the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the LORD.


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Now it came to pass, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that the LORD had commanded him to speak to all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people took him, saying, You shall surely die.


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Why have you prophesied in the name of the LORD, saying, This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate without an inhabitant? And all the people were gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the LORD.


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When the princes of Judah heard these things, then they came up from the king's house unto the house of the LORD, and sat down in the entry of the new gate of the LORD'S house.


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Then spoke the priests and the prophets to the princes and to all the people, saying, This man is worthy to die; for he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your ears.


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Then spoke Jeremiah to all the princes and to all the people, saying, The LORD sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that you have heard.


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Therefore now mend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the LORD your God; and the LORD will repent of the evil that he has pronounced against you.


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But know for certain that if you put me to death, you shall surely bring innocent blood upon yourselves, and upon this city, and upon the inhabitants thereof: for of a truth the LORD has sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears.


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Then said the princes and all the people to the priests and to the prophets; This man is not worthy to die: for he has spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God.


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Then rose up certain of the elders of the land, and spoke to all the assembly of the people, saying,


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Micah the Morasthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus says the LORD of hosts; Zion shall be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house like the high places of a forest.


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Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him at all to death? did he not fear the LORD, and pleaded with the LORD, and the LORD repented of the evil which he had pronounced against them? Thus might we bring about great evil against our souls.


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And there was also a man that prophesied in the name of the LORD, Urijah the son of Shemaiah of Kirjath-jearim, who prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah:


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And when Jehoiakim the king, with all his mighty men, and all the princes, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death: but when Urijah heard it, he was afraid, and fled, and went into Egypt;


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And Jehoiakim the king sent men into Egypt, namely, Elnathan the son of Achbor, and certain men with him into Egypt.


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And they fetched forth Urijah out of Egypt, and brought him to Jehoiakim the king; who slew him with the sword, and threw his dead body into the graves of the common people.


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Nevertheless the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, that they should not give him into the hand of the people to put him to death.


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In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah came this word to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,


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And send them to the king of Edom, and to the king of Moab, and to the king of the Ammonites, and to the king of Tyre, and to the king of Sidon, by the hand of the messengers which come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah;


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And command them to say to their masters, Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Thus shall you say to your masters;


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I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the ground, by my great power and by my outstretched arm, and have given it to whom it seemed proper to me.


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And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him.


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And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son's son, until the very time of his land comes: and then many nations and great kings shall be served by him.


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And it shall come to pass, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, says the LORD, with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand.


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Therefore do not listen to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreamers, nor to your enchanters, nor to your sorcerers, who speak to you, saying, You shall not serve the king of Babylon:


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For they prophesy a lie to you, to remove you far from your land; and that I should drive you out, and you should perish.


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But the nations that bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him, those will I let remain still in their own land, says the LORD; and they shall till it, and dwell therein.


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I spoke also to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words, saying, Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live.


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Why will you die, you and your people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as the LORD has spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?


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Therefore do not listen to the words of the prophets that speak to you, saying, You shall not serve the king of Babylon: for they prophesy a lie to you.


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For I have not sent them, says the LORD, yet they prophesy a lie in my name; that I might drive you out, and that you might perish, you, and the prophets that prophesy to you.


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Also I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying, Thus says the LORD; Do not listen to the words of your prophets that prophesy to you, saying, Behold, the vessels of the LORD'S house shall now shortly be brought back from Babylon: for they prophesy a lie to you.


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But if they be prophets, and if the word of the LORD be with them, let them now make intercession to the LORD of hosts, that the vessels which are left in the house of the LORD, and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, do not go to Babylon.


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For thus says the LORD of hosts concerning the pillars, and concerning the sea, and concerning the bases, and concerning the rest of the vessels that remain in this city,


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Which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take, when he took away Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah captive from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem;


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Yea, thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that remain in the house of the LORD, and in the house of the king of Judah and of Jerusalem;


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They shall be carried to Babylon, and there shall they be until the day that I visit them, says the LORD; then will I bring them up, and restore them to this place.


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And it came to pass the same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year, and in the fifth month, that Hananiah the son of Azur the prophet, who was from Gibeon, spoke to me in the house of the LORD, in the presence of the priests and of all the people, saying,


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Thus speaks the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.


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Within two full years will I bring back into this place all the vessels of the LORD'S house, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place, and carried them to Babylon:


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And I will bring back to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, with all the captives of Judah, that went into Babylon, says the LORD: for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.


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Then the prophet Jeremiah said to the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests, and in the presence of all the people that stood in the house of the LORD,


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Even the prophet Jeremiah said, Amen: the LORD do so: the LORD perform your words which you have prophesied, to bring back the vessels of the LORD'S house, and all that is carried away captive, from Babylon into this place.


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The prophets that have been before me and before you of old prophesied both against many countries, and against great kingdoms, of war, and of evil, and of pestilence.


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The prophet which prophesies of peace, when the word of the prophet shall come to pass, then shall the prophet be known, that the LORD has truly sent him.


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And Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people, saying, Thus says the LORD; Even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all nations within the period of two full years. And the prophet Jeremiah went his way.


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Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, after Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke off from the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, saying,


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Go and tell Hananiah, saying, Thus says the LORD; You have broken the yokes of wood; but you shall make instead of them yokes of iron.


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For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; I have put a yoke of iron upon the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they shall serve him: and I have given him the beasts of the field also.


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Then said the prophet Jeremiah to Hananiah the prophet, Hear now, Hananiah; The LORD has not sent you; but you make this people to trust in a lie.


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Therefore thus says the LORD; Behold, I will remove you off of the face of the earth: this year you shall die, because you have taught rebellion against the LORD.


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Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the remainder of the elders which were taken away captives, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon;


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(After Jeconiah the king, and the queen, and the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, and the carpenters, and the smiths, had departed from Jerusalem;)


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By the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, (whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon) saying,


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Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all who are taken away captives, whom I have caused to be taken away from Jerusalem to Babylon;


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Take wives, and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; that you may be increased there, and not diminished.


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And seek the peace of the city to which I have caused you to be taken away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall you have peace.


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For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Let not your prophets and your diviners, that be in the midst of you, deceive you, neither listen to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed.


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For thus says the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.


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For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.


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And I will be found by you, says the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places to which I have driven you, says the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place from which I caused you to be taken away captive.


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Know that thus says the LORD concerning the king who sits upon the throne of David, and concerning all the people who dwell in this city, and concerning your kindred who have not gone forth with you into captivity;


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Thus says the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will send upon them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil.


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And I will pursue them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will deliver them to be removed to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, and an astonishment, and a hissing, and a reproach, among all the nations to which I have driven them:


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Because they have not listened to my words, says the LORD, which I sent to them by my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them; but you would not hear, says the LORD.


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Hear therefore the word of the LORD, all you of the captivity, whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon:


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Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, of Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and of Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who prophesy a lie to you in my name; Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and he shall slay them before your eyes;


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And of them shall be taken up a curse by all the captivity of Judah which are in Babylon, saying, The LORD make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire;


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Because they have committed villainy in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbors' wives, and have spoken lying words in my name, which I have not commanded them; even I know, and am a witness, says the LORD.


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Thus speaks the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, Because you have sent letters in your name to all the people that are at Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, and to all the priests, saying,


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The LORD has made you priest in the place of Jehoiada the priest, that you should be officers in the house of the LORD, for every man that is mad, and makes himself a prophet, that you should put him in prison, and in the stocks.


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For therefore he sent to us in Babylon, saying, This captivity is long: build houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them.


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Send to all those of the captivity, saying, Thus says the LORD concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite; Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, and I did not send him, and he caused you to trust in a lie:


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Therefore thus says the LORD; Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite, and his descendents: he shall not have a man to dwell among this people; neither shall he behold the good that I will do for my people, says the LORD; because he has taught rebellion against the LORD.


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Thus speaks the LORD God of Israel, saying, Write all the words that I have spoken to you in a book.


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For, lo, the days are coming, says the LORD, that I will bring back the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, says the LORD: and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.


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Ask now, and see whether a man labors in giving birth? why do I see every man with his hands on his loins, like a woman in birth labor, and all faces are turned to paleness?


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Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.


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For it shall come to pass in that day, says the LORD of hosts, that I will break his yoke off from your neck, and will burst your bonds, and strangers shall no more be served by him:


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Therefore fear not, O my servant Jacob, says the LORD; neither be dismayed, O Israel: for, lo, I will save you from afar, and your descendents from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be at rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid.


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For I am with you, says the LORD, to save you: though I make a full end of all nations to which I have scattered you, yet will I not make a full end of you: but I will correct you in moderation, and will not leave you altogether unpunished.


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All your lovers have forgotten you; they do not seek you; for I have wounded you with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the multitude of your iniquity; because your sins were increased.


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Why do you cry for your affliction? your sorrow is incurable for the multitude of your iniquity: because your sins were increased, I have done these things to you.


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Therefore all those who devour you shall be devoured; and all your adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity; and those who plunder you shall be a plunder, and all who prey upon you will I give for a prey.


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For I will restore health to you, and I will heal you of your wounds, says the LORD; because they called you an Outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeks after.


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Thus says the LORD; Behold, I will bring back the captivity of Jacob's tents, and have mercy on his dwelling places; and the city shall be built upon her own mound, and the palace shall remain according to its usual manner.


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And out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of those who make merry: and I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small.


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Their children also shall be as formerly, and their congregation shall be established before me, and I will punish all who oppress them.


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And their nobles shall be from themselves, and their governor shall proceed from the midst of them; and I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach unto me: for who is this who pledged his heart to approach me? says the LORD.


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Behold, the whirlwind of the LORD goes forth with fury, an unrelenting whirlwind: it shall fall with pain upon the head of the wicked.


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The fierce anger of the LORD shall not return until he has done it, and until he has performed the intents of his heart: in the latter days you shall consider it.


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At the same time, says the LORD, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people.


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Thus says the LORD, The people who were left by the sword found grace in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest.


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The LORD has appeared of old to me, saying, Yea, I have loved you with an everlasting love: therefore with loving kindness have I drawn you.


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Again I will build you, and you shall be built, O virgin of Israel: you shall again be adorned with your tabrets, and shall go forth in the dances of those who make merry.


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You shall yet plant vines on the mountains of Samaria: the planters shall plant, and shall eat of them as common things.


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For there shall be a day that the watchmen upon the mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise, and let us go up to Zion unto the LORD our God.


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For thus says the LORD; Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations: declare ye, praise ye, and say, O LORD, save your people, the remnant of Israel.


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Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her that labors in childbirth together: a great company shall return from there.


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They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, in which they shall not stumble: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.


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Hear the word of the LORD, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd does his flock.


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Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall gather together to the goodness of the LORD, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the herd: and their soul shall be like a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all.


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Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men and old together: for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow.


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And I will satisfy the soul of the priests with fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, says the LORD.


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Thus says the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rachel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not.


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Thus says the LORD; Refrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears: for your work shall be rewarded, says the LORD; and they shall come back from the land of the enemy.


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And there is hope in your end, says the LORD, that your children shall come again to their own land.


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I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus; You have disciplined me, and I was disciplined, like a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: turn me, and I shall be turned; for you are the LORD my God.


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Surely after I was turned, I repented; and after I was instructed, I struck upon my thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even astonished, because I bore the reproach of my youth.


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Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant child? for since I spoke against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my heart is troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, says the LORD.


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Set up waymarks, make tall heaps: set your heart toward the highway, even the way which you went: turn again, O virgin of Israel, turn again to these your cities.


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How long will you go about, O you backsliding daughter? for the LORD has created a new thing in the earth, A woman shall surround a man.


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Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; As yet they shall use this speech in the land of Judah and in the cities thereof, when I shall bring back their captivity; The LORD bless you, O habitation of justice, and mountain of holiness.


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And there shall dwell in Judah itself, and in all the cities thereof together, farmers, and those who go forth with flocks.


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Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man, and with the seed of beast.


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And it shall come to pass that as I have watched over them to pluck up, and to break down, and to throw down, and to destroy, and to afflict; so will I watch over them to build, and to plant, says the LORD.


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In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge.


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But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man who eats the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge.


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Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:


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Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; my covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them, says the LORD:


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But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, says the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.


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And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.


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Thus says the LORD, who gives the sun for a light by day, and the orderly arrangement of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, who divides the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is his name:


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If those orderly arrangements depart from before me, says the LORD, then the children of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever.


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Thus says the LORD; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the children of Israel for all that they have done, says the LORD.


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Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, that the city shall be built to the LORD from the tower of Hananeel to the gate of the corner.


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And the measuring line shall yet go forth over by it upon the hill Gareb, and shall curve around to Goath.


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And the whole valley of the dead bodies, and of the ashes, and all the fields to the brook of Kidron, to the corner of the horse gate toward the east, shall be holy unto the LORD; it shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down any more for ever.


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The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar.


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For then the king of Babylon's army besieged Jerusalem: and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the prison, which was in the king of Judah's house.


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For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, Why do you prophesy, and say, Thus says the LORD, Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it;


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And Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans, but shall surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him mouth to mouth, and his eyes shall behold his eyes;


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And he shall lead Zedekiah to Babylon, and there shall he be until I visit him, says the LORD: though you fight with the Chaldeans, you shall not prosper.


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Behold, Hanameel the son of Shallum your uncle shall come to you, saying, Buy my field that is in Anathoth: for the right of redemption is yours to buy it.


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So Hanameel my uncle's son came to me in the court of the prison according to the word of the LORD, and said to me, Buy my field, I pray you, that is in Anathoth, which is in the country of Benjamin: for the right of inheritance is yours, and the redemption is yours; buy it for yourself. Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD.


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And I bought the field of Hanameel my uncle's son, that was in Anathoth, and weighed him the money, even seventeen shekels of silver.


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And I signed the deed, and sealed it, and took witnesses, and weighed him the money in the balances.


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So I took the deed of the purchase, both that which was sealed according to the law and custom, and that which was open:


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And I gave the deed of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, in the sight of Hanameel my uncle's son, and in the presence of the witnesses that signed the book of the purchase, before all the Jews that sat in the court of the prison.


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Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Take these deeds, this deed of the purchase which is sealed, and this deed which is open; and put them in an earthen vessel, that they may last many days.


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For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land.


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Now when I had delivered the deed of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to the LORD, saying,


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Ah Lord GOD! behold, you have made the heaven and the earth by your great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for you:


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You show loving kindness to thousands, and recompense the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them: the Great, the Mighty God, the LORD of hosts, is his name,


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Great in counsel, and mighty in work: for your eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men: to give every one according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings:


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Who have set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, even until this day, and in Israel, and among other men; and have made you a name, as at this day;


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And have brought forth your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs, and with wonders, and with a strong hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with great terror;


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And have given them this land, which you swore to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey;


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And they came in, and possessed it; but they did not obey your voice, or walk in your law; they have done nothing of all that you commanded them to do: therefore you have caused all this evil to come upon them:


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Behold the siege mounds, they have come to the city to take it; and the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans, that fight against it, because of the sword, and of the famine, and of the pestilence: and what you have spoken has come to pass; and, behold, you see it.


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And you have said to me, O Lord GOD, Buy the field for money, and take witnesses; for the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.


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Therefore thus says the LORD; Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall take it:


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And the Chaldeans, that fight against this city, shall come and set fire to this city, and burn it with the houses, upon whose roofs they have offered incense to Baal, and poured out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke me to anger.


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For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have only done evil before me from their youth: for the children of Israel have only provoked me to anger with the work of their hands, says the LORD.


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For this city has been to me as a provocation of my anger and of my fury from the day that they built it even until this day; that I should remove it from before my face,


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Because of all the evil of the children of Israel and of the children of Judah, which they have done to provoke me to anger, they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets, and the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.


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And they have turned to me the back, and not the face: though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not listened to receive instruction.


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And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to Molech; which I did not command them, neither did it come into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.


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And now therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning this city, of which you say, It shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence;


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Behold, I will gather them out of all countries, to which I have driven them in my anger, and in my fury, and in great wrath; and I will bring them again to this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely:


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And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever for their good, and their children after them:


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And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me.


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Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul.


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For thus says the LORD; As I have brought all this great evil upon this people, so will I bring upon them all the good that I have promised them.


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And fields shall be bought in this land, of which you say, It is desolate without man or beast; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.


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Men shall buy fields for money, and sign deeds, and seal them, and take witnesses in the land of Benjamin, and in the places around Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, and in the cities of the mountains, and in the cities of the valley, and in the cities of the south: for I will cause their captivity to return, says the LORD.


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Moreover the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the second time, while he was yet shut up in the court of the prison, saying,


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Thus says the LORD the maker thereof, the LORD that formed it, to establish it; the LORD is his name;


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For thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city, and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, which are thrown down by the siege mounds, and by the sword;


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They come to fight with the Chaldeans, but it is to fill them with the dead bodies of men, whom I have slain in my anger and in my fury, and for all their wickedness I have hid my face from this city.


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Behold, I will bring it health and healing, and I will heal them, and will reveal to them the abundance of peace and truth.


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And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them, as at the first.


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And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me; and I will pardon all their iniquities, whereby they have sinned, and whereby they have transgressed against me.


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And it shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and an honor before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good that I do to them: and they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and for all the prosperity that I bring about for it.


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Thus says the LORD; Again there shall be heard in this place, which you say shall be desolate without man and without beast, even in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, that are desolate, without man, and without inhabitant, and without beast,


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The voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who shall say, Praise the LORD of hosts: for the LORD is good; for his mercy endures for ever: and of those who shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the LORD. For I will cause the captivity of the land to return, as at the first, says the LORD.


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Thus says the LORD of hosts; Again in this place, which is desolate without man and without beast, and in all the cities thereof, shall be a habitation of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down.


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In the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the valley, and in the cities of the south, and in the land of Benjamin, and in the places around Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, shall the flocks pass again under the hands of him that counts them, says the LORD.


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Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah.


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In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up for David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land.


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In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name with which she shall be called, The LORD our righteousness.


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Neither shall the priests the Levites lack a man before me to offer burnt offerings, and to kindle food offerings, and to do sacrifice continually.


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Thus says the LORD; If you can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, so that there should not be day and night in their season;


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Then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne; and with the Levites the priests, my ministers.


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As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured: so will I multiply the descendents of David my servant, and the Levites that minister unto me.


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Do you not consider what this people have spoken, saying, The two families which the LORD has chosen, he has even cast them off? thus they have despised my people, that they should be no longer a nation before them.


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Thus says the LORD; If my covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the orderly arrangements of heaven and earth;


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Then will I cast away the children of Jacob, and David my servant, so that I will not take any of his descendents to be rulers over the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return, and have mercy on them.


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The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth of his dominion, and all the people, fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities thereof, saying,


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Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel; Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah, and tell him, Thus says the LORD; Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire:


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And you shall not escape out of his hand, but shall surely be taken, and delivered into his hand; and your eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with you mouth to mouth, and you shall go to Babylon.


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Yet hear the word of the LORD, O Zedekiah king of Judah; Thus says the LORD concerning you, You shall not die by the sword:


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But you shall die in peace: and with the burnings that were done for your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so shall they burn odors for you; and they will lament you, saying, Ah lord! for I have pronounced the word, says the LORD.


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When the king of Babylon's army fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish, and against Azekah: for these fortified cities remained of the cities of Judah.


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This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, after the king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people which were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty to them;


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That every man should let his manservant, and every man his maidservant, being a Hebrew or a Hebrewess, go free; that none should be served by them, that is, by a Jew his brother.


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Now when all the princes, and all the people, which had entered into the covenant, heard that every one should let his manservant, and every one his maidservant, go free, that none should be served by them any more, then they obeyed, and let them go.


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But afterward they turned, and caused the servants and the handmaids, whom they had let go free, to return, and brought them into subjection as servants and as handmaids.


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Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel; I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, saying,


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At the end of seven years let go every man his brother a Hebrew, who has been sold to you; and when he has served you six years, you shall let him go free from you: but your fathers did not listen to me, neither inclined their ear.


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And you had now turned, and had done right in my sight, in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbor; and you had made a covenant before me in the house which is called by my name:


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But you turned and polluted my name, and caused every man his servant, and every man his handmaid, whom you had set at liberty at their pleasure, to return, and brought them into subjection, to be to you servants and handmaids.


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Therefore thus says the LORD; You have not listened to me, in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother, and every man to his neighbor: behold, I proclaim a liberty for you, says the LORD, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.


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And I will give the men who have transgressed my covenant, who have not performed the words of the covenant which they had made before me, when they cut the calf in two, and passed between the parts thereof,


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The princes of Judah, and the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, and the priests, and all the people of the land, who passed between the parts of the calf;


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I will even give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life: and their dead bodies shall be for food for the birds of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.


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And Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes will I give into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life, and into the hand of the king of Babylon's army, which is gone up from you.


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Behold, I will command, says the LORD, and cause them to return to this city; and they shall fight against it, and take it, and burn it with fire: and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without an inhabitant.


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The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, saying,


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Go to the house of the Rechabites, and speak to them, and bring them into the house of the LORD, into one of the chambers, and give them wine to drink.


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Then I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habaziniah, and his brothers, and all his sons, and the whole house of the Rechabites;


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And I brought them into the house of the LORD, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan, the son of Igdaliah, a man of God, which was by the chamber of the princes, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the keeper of the door:


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And I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites pots full of wine, and cups, and I said to them, Drink wine.


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But they said, We will drink no wine: for Jonadab the son of Rechab our father commanded us, saying, You shall drink no wine, neither you, nor your sons for ever:


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Neither shall you build houses, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyards, nor have any: but all your days you shall dwell in tents; that you may live many days in the land where you are strangers.


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Thus have we obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab our father in all that he has instructed us, to drink no wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, and our daughters;


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But we have dwelt in tents, and have obeyed, and done according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us.


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But it came to pass, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up into the land, that we said, Come, and let us go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chaldeans, and for fear of the army of the Syrians: so we dwell at Jerusalem.


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Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Go and tell the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Will you not receive instruction to listen to my words? says the LORD.


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The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, that he commanded his sons not to drink wine, are performed; for to this day they drink none, but obey their father's commandment: nevertheless I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking; but you did not listen to me.


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I have sent also to you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, Return now every man from his evil way, and correct your doings, and do not go after other gods to serve them, and you shall dwell in the land which I have given to you and to your fathers: but you have not turned your ear, nor listened to me.


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Because the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have performed the commandment of their father which he commanded them; but this people has not listened to me:


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Therefore thus says the LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring upon Judah and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the evil that I have pronounced against them: because I have spoken to them, but they have not heard; and I have called to them, but they have not answered.


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And Jeremiah said to the house of the Rechabites, Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Because you have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, and kept all his precepts, and done according to all that he has commanded you:


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Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not lack a man to stand before me for ever.


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And it came to pass in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, that this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,


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Take a scroll of a book, and write in it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel, and against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah, even to this day.


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It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to do to them; that they may return every man from his evil way; that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.


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Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah: and Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the LORD which he had spoken to him, upon a scroll of a book.


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Therefore go, and read in the scroll, which you have written from my mouth, the words of the LORD in the ears of the people in the LORD'S house upon the fasting day: and also you shall read them in the ears of all Judah that come out of their cities.


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It may be they will present their supplication before the LORD, and will return every one from his evil way: for great is the anger and the fury that the LORD has pronounced against this people.


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And Baruch the son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading in the book the words of the LORD in the LORD'S house.


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And it came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, in the ninth month, that they proclaimed a fast before the LORD to all the people in Jerusalem, and to all the people that came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem.


text:
Then read Baruch in the book the words of Jeremiah in the house of the LORD, in the chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the scribe, in the higher court, at the entry of the new gate of the LORD'S house, in the ears of all the people.


text:
When Michaiah the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, had heard out of the book all the words of the LORD,


text:
Then he went down into the king's house, into the scribe's chamber: and, lo, all the princes sat there, even Elishama the scribe, and Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, and Elnathan the son of Achbor, and Gemariah the son of Shaphan, and Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the princes.


text:
Then Michaiah declared to them all the words that he had heard, when Baruch read the book in the ears of the people.


text:
Therefore all the princes sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, to Baruch, saying, Take in your hand the scroll in which you have read in the ears of the people, and come. So Baruch the son of Neriah took the scroll in his hand, and came to them.


text:
Now it came to pass, when they had heard all the words, they were afraid both one and another, and said to Baruch, We will surely tell the king of all these words.


text:
Then Baruch answered them, He pronounced all these words to me with his mouth, and I wrote them with ink in the book.


text:
Then said the princes to Baruch, Go, hide yourselves, you and Jeremiah; and let no man know where you are.


text:
And they went in to the king into the court, but they left the scroll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe, and told all the words in the ears of the king.


text:
So the king sent Jehudi to fetch the scroll: and he took it out of Elishama the scribe's chamber. And Jehudi read it in the ears of the king, and in the ears of all the princes which stood beside the king.


text:
Now the king sat in the winter house in the ninth month: and there was a fire on the hearth burning before him.


text:
And it came to pass, that when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, he cut it with the penknife, and threw it into the fire that was on the hearth, until all the scroll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth.


text:
Yet they were not afraid, nor tore their garments, neither the king, nor any of his servants that heard all these words.


text:
Nevertheless Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah had made intercession to the king that he would not burn the scroll: but he would not hear them.


text:
But the king commanded Jerahmeel the son of Hammelech, and Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to take Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet: but the LORD hid them.


text:
Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, after the king had burned the scroll, and the words which Baruch wrote at the mouth of Jeremiah, saying,


text:
Take again another scroll, and write in it all the former words that were in the first scroll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah has burned.


text:
And you shall say to Jehoiakim king of Judah, Thus says the LORD; You have burned this scroll, saying, Why have you written therein, saying, The king of Babylon shall certainly come and destroy this land, and shall cause to cease from there man and beast?


text:
Therefore thus says the LORD concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah; He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David: and his dead body shall be thrown out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost.


text:
And I will punish him and his descendents and his servants for their iniquity; and I will bring upon them, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and upon the men of Judah, all the evil that I have pronounced against them; but they did not listen.


text:
Then Jeremiah took another scroll, and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah; who wrote therein from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire: and there were added besides them many like words.


text:
And king Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah.


text:
But neither he, nor his servants, nor the people of the land, listened to the words of the LORD, which he spoke by the prophet Jeremiah.


text:
And Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, Pray now to the LORD our God for us.


text:
Then Pharaoh's army came forth out of Egypt: and when the Chaldeans that besieged Jerusalem heard tidings of them, they departed from Jerusalem.


text:
Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel; Thus shall you say to the king of Judah, who sent you to me to inquire of me; Behold, Pharaoh's army, which has come out to help you, shall return to Egypt into their own land.


text:
And the Chaldeans shall come again, and fight against this city, and take it, and burn it with fire.


text:
Thus says the LORD; Do not deceive yourselves, saying, The Chaldeans shall surely depart from us: for they shall not depart.


text:
For though you had stricken the whole army of the Chaldeans that fight against you, and there remained but wounded men among them, yet would they rise up every man in his tent, and burn this city with fire.


text:
And it came to pass, that when the army of the Chaldeans had gone away from Jerusalem for fear of Pharaoh's army,


text:
Then Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem to separate himself from there in the midst of the people and go into the land of Benjamin.


text:
And when he was in the gate of Benjamin, a captain of the guard was there, whose name was Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah; and he took Jeremiah the prophet, saying, You are deserting to the Chaldeans.


text:
Then said Jeremiah, It is false; I am not deserting to the Chaldeans. But he did not listen to him: so Irijah took Jeremiah, and brought him to the princes.


text:
Therefore the princes were angry with Jeremiah, and struck him, and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe: for they had made that the prison.


text:
When Jeremiah had entered into the dungeon, and into the cells, and Jeremiah had remained there many days;


text:
Then Zedekiah the king sent, and took him out: and the king asked him secretly in his house, and said, Is there any word from the LORD? And Jeremiah said, There is: for, said he, You shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.


text:
Moreover Jeremiah said to king Zedekiah, What have I offended against you, or against your servants, or against this people, that you have put me in prison?


text:
Where are now your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, The king of Babylon shall not come against you, nor against this land?


text:
Therefore hear now, I pray you, O my lord the king: let my supplication, I pray you, be accepted before you; that you do not cause me to return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there.


text:
Then Zedekiah the king commanded that they should commit Jeremiah into the court of the prison, and that they should give him daily a piece of bread out of the bakers' street, until all the bread in the city was spent. Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison.


text:
Then Shephatiah the son of Mattan, and Gedaliah the son of Pashur, and Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashur the son of Malchiah, heard the words that Jeremiah had spoken to all the people, saying,


text:
Thus says the LORD, He who remains in this city shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he who goes forth to the Chaldeans shall live; for he shall have his life for a possession, and shall live.


text:
Thus says the LORD, This city shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon's army, which shall take it.


text:
Therefore the princes said to the king, We plead with you, let this man be put to death: for thus he weakens the hands of the men of war that remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words to them: for this man seeks not the welfare of this people, but their hurt.


text:
Then Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he is in your hand: for the king is not he who can do anything against you.


text:
Then they took Jeremiah, and put him into the dungeon of Malchiah the son of Hammelech, that was in the court of the prison: and they let down Jeremiah with cords. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire: so Jeremiah sank in the mire.


text:
Now when Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, one of the eunuchs who was in the king's house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon; the king then sitting in the gate of Benjamin;


text:
My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have put into the dungeon; and he is likely to die for hunger in the place where he is: for there is no more bread in the city.


text:
Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, Take from here thirty men with you, and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon, before he dies.


text:
So Ebed-melech took the men with him, and went into the house of the king under the treasury, and took from there old rags and old decayed clothes, and let them down by cords into the dungeon to Jeremiah.


text:
And Ebed-melech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, Put now these old rags and decayed clothes under your armpits under the cords. And Jeremiah did so.


text:
So they drew up Jeremiah with cords, and took him up out of the dungeon: and Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison.


text:
Then Zedekiah the king sent, and took Jeremiah the prophet to him into the third entry that is in the house of the LORD: and the king said to Jeremiah, I will ask you a thing; hide nothing from me.


text:
Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, If I tell it to you, will you not surely put me to death? and if I give you counsel, will you fail to listen to me?


text:
So Zedekiah the king swore secretly to Jeremiah, saying, As the LORD lives, that made for us this soul, I will not put you to death, neither will I give you into the hand of these men that seek your life.


text:
Then said Jeremiah to Zedekiah, Thus says the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel; If you will assuredly go forth to the king of Babylon's princes, then your soul shall live, and this city shall not be burned with fire; and you shall live, and your house:


text:
But if you will not go forth to the king of Babylon's princes, then shall this city be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire, and you shall not escape out of their hand.


text:
And Zedekiah the king said to Jeremiah, I am afraid of the Jews who have deserted to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand, and they mock me.


text:
But Jeremiah said, They shall not deliver you. Obey, I plead with you, the voice of the LORD, which I speak to you: so it shall be well with you, and your soul shall live.


text:
And, behold, all the women that are left in the king of Judah's house shall be brought forth to the king of Babylon's princes, and those women shall say, Your friends have urged you on, and have prevailed against you: your feet are sunk in the mire, and they have turned away back.


text:
So they shall bring out all your wives and your children to the Chaldeans: and you shall not escape out of their hand, but shall be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon: and you shall cause this city to be burned with fire.


text:
But if the princes hear that I have talked with you, and they come to you, and say to you, Tell us now what you have said to the king, hide it not from us, and we will not put you to death; also what the king said to you:


text:
Then you shall say to them, I presented my supplication before the king, that he would not cause me to return to Jonathan's house, to die there.


text:
Then came all the princes to Jeremiah, and asked him: and he told them according to all these words that the king had commanded. So they left off speaking with him; for the matter was not perceived.


text:
So Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison until the day that Jerusalem was taken: and he was there when Jerusalem was taken.


text:
In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army against Jerusalem, and they besieged it.


text:
And in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, the city was broken into.


text:
And all the princes of the king of Babylon came in, and sat in the middle gate, even Nergal-sharezer, Samgar-nebo, Sarsechim, Rabsaris, Nergal-sharezer, Rab-mag, with all the rest of the princes of the king of Babylon.


text:
And it came to pass, that when Zedekiah the king of Judah saw them, and all the men of war, then they fled, and went forth out of the city by night, by the way of the king's garden, by the gate between the two walls: and he went out the way of the plain.


text:
But the Chaldeans' army pursued after them, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho: and when they had taken him, they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he gave judgment upon him.


text:
Then the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah before his eyes: also the king of Babylon slew all the nobles of Judah.


text:
And the Chaldeans burned the king's house, and the houses of the people, with fire, and broke down the walls of Jerusalem.


text:
Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took away captive into Babylon the remnant of the people that remained in the city, and those that fell away, that deserted to him, with the rest of the people that remained.


text:
But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left some of the poor of the people, who had nothing, in the land of Judah, and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time.


text:
Now Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon gave instruction concerning Jeremiah to Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, saying,


text:
So Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard sent, and Nebu-shasban, Rabsaris, and Nergal-sharezer, Rab-mag, and all the king of Babylon's princes;


text:
Even they sent, and took Jeremiah out of the court of the prison, and committed him to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan, that he should take him home: so he dwelt among the people.


text:
Go and speak to Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring my words upon this city for evil, and not for good; and they shall be accomplished in that day before you.


text:
But I will deliver you in that day, says the LORD: and you shall not be given into the hand of the men of whom you are afraid.


text:
For I will surely deliver you, and you shall not fall by the sword, but your life shall be for a possession to you: because you have put your trust in me, says the LORD.


text:
The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, after Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had let him go from Ramah, when he had taken him being bound in chains among all that were taken away captive of Jerusalem and Judah, which were taken away captive to Babylon.


text:
And the captain of the guard took Jeremiah, and said to him, The LORD your God has pronounced this evil upon this place.


text:
Now the LORD has brought it, and done according as he has said: because you have sinned against the LORD, and have not obeyed his voice, therefore this thing is come upon you.


text:
And now, behold, I loose you this day from the chains which were upon your hand. If it seems good to you to come with me into Babylon, come; and I will look well to you: but if it seems ill to you to come with me into Babylon, do not: behold, all the land is before you: where it seems good and convenient for you to go, go there.


text:
Now while he was not yet gone back, he said, Go back also to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has made governor over the cities of Judah, and dwell with him among the people: or go wherever it seems convenient to you to go. So the captain of the guard gave him provisions and a present, and let him go.


text:
Then went Jeremiah to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah; and dwelt with him among the people that were left in the land.


text:
Now when all the captains of the forces which were in the fields, even they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam governor in the land, and had committed to him men, and women, and children, and of the poor of the land, of those who were not taken away captive to Babylon;


text:
Then they came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth, and the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jezaniah the son of a Maachathite, they and their men.


text:
And Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan swore to them and to their men, saying, Do not fear to serve the Chaldeans: dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.


text:
As for me, behold, I will dwell at Mizpah to serve the Chaldeans, who will come to us: but you, gather wine, and summer fruits, and oil, and put them in your vessels, and dwell in your cities that you have taken.


text:
Likewise when all the Jews that were in Moab, and among the Ammonites, and in Edom, and that were in all the countries, heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant of Judah, and that he had set over them Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan;


text:
Even all the Jews returned out of all places to which they were driven, and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah, unto Mizpah, and gathered wine and summer fruits very much.


text:
Moreover Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were in the fields, came to Gedaliah to Mizpah,


text:
And said to him, Do you certainly know that Baalis the king of the Ammonites has sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to slay you? But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam did not believe them.


text:
Then Johanan the son of Kareah spoke to Gedaliah in Mizpah secretly, saying, Let me go, I pray you, and I will slay Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and no man shall know it: why should he slay you, that all the Jews which are gathered to you should be scattered, and the remnant in Judah perish?


text:
But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam said to Johanan the son of Kareah, You shall not do this thing: for you speak falsely of Ishmael.


text:
Now it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah the son of Elishama, of the royal family, and the princes of the king, even ten men with him, came to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah; and there they ate bread together in Mizpah.


text:
Then arose Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and the ten men that were with him, and struck down Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan with the sword, and slew him, whom the king of Babylon had made governor over the land.


text:
Ishmael also slew all the Jews that were with him, even with Gedaliah, at Mizpah, and the Chaldeans that were found there, and the men of war.


text:
That there came certain from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, even eighty men, having their beards shaven, and their clothes torn, and having cut themselves, with offerings and incense in their hand, to bring them to the house of the LORD.


text:
And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah went forth from Mizpah to meet them, weeping all along as he went: and it came to pass, as he met them, he said to them, Come to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam.


text:
And it was so, when they came into the midst of the city, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah slew them, and threw them into the midst of the pit, he, and the men that were with him.


text:
But ten men were found among them that said to Ishmael, Do not slay us: for we have treasures in the field, of wheat, and of barley, and of oil, and of honey. So he held back, and did not slay them among their brethren.


text:
Now the pit in which Ishmael had thrown all the dead bodies of the men whom he had slain because of Gedaliah, was the one which Asa the king had made for fear of Baasha king of Israel: and Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with those who were slain.


text:
Then Ishmael took away captive all the rest of the people that were in Mizpah, even the king's daughters, and all the people that remained in Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had committed to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam: and Ishmael the son of Nethaniah took them away captive, and departed to go over to the Ammonites.


text:
But when Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were with him, heard of all the evil that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had done,


text:
Then they took all the men, and went to fight with Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and found him by the great waters that are in Gibeon.


text:
Now it came to pass, that when all the people which were with Ishmael saw Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were with him, then they were glad.


text:
So all the people that Ishmael had taken away captive from Mizpah turned around and returned, and went to Johanan the son of Kareah.


text:
Then took Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were with him, all the remnant of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, from Mizpah, after he had slain Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, even mighty men of war, and the women, and the children, and the eunuchs, whom he had brought again from Gibeon:


text:
And they departed, and dwelt in the habitation of Chimham, which is by Bethlehem, to go to enter into Egypt,


text:
Because of the Chaldeans: for they were afraid of them, because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had slain Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon made governor in the land.


text:
Then all the captains of the forces, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least even to the greatest, came near,


text:
And said to Jeremiah the prophet, Let, we plead with you, our supplication be accepted before you, and pray for us unto the LORD your God, even for all this remnant; (for we are left but a few of many, as your eyes do behold us:)


text:
Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, I have heard you; behold, I will pray to the LORD your God according to your words; and it shall come to pass, that whatever thing the LORD shall answer you, I will declare it to you; I will keep nothing back from you.


text:
Then they said to Jeremiah, The LORD be a true and faithful witness between us, if we do not do even according to all things for which the LORD your God shall send you to us.


text:
Whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God, to whom we send you; that it may be well with us, when we obey the voice of the LORD our God.


text:
Then he called Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces which were with him, and all the people from the least even to the greatest,


text:
And said to them, Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your supplication before him;


text:
If you will yet remain in this land, then will I build you, and not pull you down, and I will plant you, and not pluck you up: for I repent of the evil that I have done to you.


text:
Be not afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom you are afraid; be not afraid of him, says the LORD: for I am with you to save you, and to deliver you from his hand.


text:
And I will show mercies to you, that he may have mercy upon you, and cause you to return to your own land.


text:
Saying, No; but we will go into the land of Egypt, where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor have hunger for bread; and there will we dwell:


text:
And now therefore hear the word of the LORD, you remnant of Judah; Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; If you wholly set your faces to enter into Egypt, and go to sojourn there;


text:
Then it shall come to pass, that the sword, which you feared, shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine, of which you were afraid, shall follow close after you there in Egypt; and there you shall die.


text:
So shall it be with all the men who set their faces to go into Egypt to sojourn there; they shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: and none of them shall remain or escape from the evil that I will bring upon them.


text:
For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; As my anger and my fury has been poured out upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem; so shall my fury be poured out upon you, when you shall enter into Egypt: and you shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach; and you shall see this place no more.


text:
The LORD has said concerning you, O you remnant of Judah; Do not go into Egypt: know certainly that I have admonished you this day.


text:
For you deceived in your hearts, when you sent me to the LORD your God, saying, Pray for us to the LORD our God; and according to all that the LORD our God shall say, so declare to us, and we will do it.


text:
And now I have this day declared it to you; but you have not obeyed the voice of the LORD your God, nor anything for which he has sent me to you.


text:
Now therefore know certainly that you shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, in the place to which you desire to go and to sojourn.


text:
And it came to pass, that when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking to all the people all the words of the LORD their God, for which the LORD their God had sent him to them, even all these words,


text:
Then spoke Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the proud men, saying to Jeremiah, You speak falsely: the LORD our God has not sent you to say, Do not go into Egypt to sojourn there:


text:
But Baruch the son of Neriah urges you on against us, to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they might put us to death, and take us away captives into Babylon.


text:
So Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, and all the people, did not obey the voice of the LORD, to dwell in the land of Judah.


text:
But Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces took all the remnant of Judah that had returned from all nations to which they had been driven, to dwell in the land of Judah;


text:
Even men, and women, and children, and the king's daughters, and every person that Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Jeremiah the prophet, and Baruch the son of Neriah.


text:
So they came into the land of Egypt: for they did not obey the voice of the LORD: thus came they even to Tahpanhes.


text:
Take large stones in your hand, and hide them in the clay in the brick kiln which is at the entry of Pharaoh's house in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah;


text:
And say to them, Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will set his throne upon these stones that I have hid; and he shall spread his royal pavilion over them.


text:
And when he comes, he shall strike the land of Egypt, and deliver those that are for death to death; and those that are for captivity to captivity; and those that are for the sword to the sword.


text:
And I will kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt; and he shall burn them, and carry them away captives: and he shall clothe himself with the land of Egypt, as a shepherd puts on his garment; and he shall go forth from there in peace.


text:
He shall break also the images of Beth-shemesh, that is in the land of Egypt; and the houses of the gods of the Egyptians shall he burn with fire.


text:
The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews which dwell in the land of Egypt, which dwell at Migdol, and at Tahpanhes, and at Noph, and in the country of Pathros, saying,


text:
Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; You have seen all the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, and upon all the cities of Judah; and, behold, this day they are a desolation, and no man dwells in them,


text:
Because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke me to anger, in that they went to burn incense, and to serve other gods, whom they knew not, neither they, you, nor your fathers.


text:
However I sent to you all my servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, Oh, do not do this abominable thing that I hate.


text:
But they did not listen nor incline their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense unto other gods.


text:
Therefore my fury and my anger was poured out, and was kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they are ruined and desolate, as at this day.


text:
Therefore now thus says the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel; Why do you commit this great evil against your souls, to cut off from you man and woman, child and suckling, out of Judah, to leave you none to remain;


text:
In that you provoke me to wrath with the works of your hands, burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt, to which you have gone to dwell, that you might cut yourselves off, and that you might be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth?


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Have you forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, and the wickedness of the kings of Judah, and the wickedness of their wives, and your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives, which they have committed in the land of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem?


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They are not humbled even to this day, neither have they feared, nor walked in my law, nor in my statutes, that I set before you and before your fathers.


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Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will set my face against you for evil, and to cut off all Judah.


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And I will take the remnant of Judah that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, and they shall all be consumed, and fall in the land of Egypt; they shall even be consumed by the sword and by the famine: they shall die, from the least even to the greatest, by the sword and by the famine: and they shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach.


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For I will punish those who dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence:


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So that none of the remnant of Judah, who are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall escape or remain, that they should return into the land of Judah, to which they have a desire to return to dwell there: for none shall return but those who shall escape.


text:
Then all the men who knew that their wives had burned incense to other gods, and all the women that stood by, a great multitude, even all the people that dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying,


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But we will certainly do whatever thing goes forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for then we had plenty of food, and were well, and saw no evil.


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But since we left off burning incense to the queen of heaven, and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine.


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And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out drink offerings to her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings to her, without our men?


text:
Then Jeremiah said to all the people, to the men, and to the women, and to all the people who had given him that answer, saying,


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The incense that you burned in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, you, and your fathers, your kings, and your princes, and the people of the land, did not the LORD remember them, and did it not come into his mind?


text:
So that the LORD could no longer bear it, because of the evil of your doings, and because of the abominations which you have committed; therefore is your land a desolation, and an astonishment, and a curse, without an inhabitant, as at this day.


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Because you have burned incense, and because you have sinned against the LORD, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD, nor walked in his law, nor in his statutes, nor in his testimonies; therefore this evil has happened to you, as at this day.


text:
Moreover Jeremiah said to all the people, and to all the women, Hear the word of the LORD, all Judah that are in the land of Egypt:


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Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying; You and your wives have both spoken with your mouths, and fulfilled with your hand, saying, We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings to her: you will surely accomplish your vows, and surely perform your vows.


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Therefore hear the word of the LORD, all Judah who dwell in the land of Egypt; Behold, I have sworn by my great name, says the LORD, that my name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, The Lord GOD lives.


text:
Behold, I will watch over them for evil, and not for good: and all the men of Judah that are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine, until there be an end of them.


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Yet a small number that escape the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah, and all the remnant of Judah that have gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall know whose words shall stand, mine, or theirs.


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And this shall be a sign to you, says the LORD, that I will punish you in this place, that you may know that my words shall surely stand against you for evil:


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Thus says the LORD; Behold, I will give Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of those who seek his life; as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, his enemy, and who sought his life.


text:
The word that Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Baruch the son of Neriah, when he had written these words in a book at the mouth of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, saying,


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You said, Woe is me now! for the LORD has added grief to my sorrow; I fainted in my sighing, and I find no rest.


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Thus shall you say to him, The LORD says thus; Behold, that which I have built will I break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up, even this whole land.


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And do you seek great things for yourself? seek them not: for, behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, says the LORD: but your life will I give to you for a possession in all places to which you go.


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Against Egypt, against the army of Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon struck in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah.


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Harness the horses; and mount, you horsemen, and take your places with your helmets; polish the spears, and put on the coats of mail.


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Why have I seen them dismayed and turned away back? and their mighty ones are beaten down, and have fled quickly, and look not back: for fear was round about, says the LORD.


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Let not the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape; they shall stumble, and fall toward the north by the river Euphrates.


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Egypt rises up like a flood, and his waters are moved like the rivers; and he says, I will go up, and will cover the earth; I will destroy the city and the inhabitants thereof.


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Come up, you horses; and rage, you chariots; and let the mighty men come forth; the Ethiopians and the Libyans, that handle the shield; and the Lydians, that handle and bend the bow.


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For this is the day of the Lord GOD of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge himself on his adversaries: and the sword shall devour, and it shall be filled and made drunk with their blood: for the Lord GOD of hosts has a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.


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Go up into Gilead, and take balm, O virgin, the daughter of Egypt: in vain shall you use many medicines; for you shall not be cured.


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The nations have heard of your shame, and your cry has filled the land: for the mighty man has stumbled against the mighty, and they are fallen both together.


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The word that the LORD spoke to Jeremiah the prophet, how Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon would come and strike the land of Egypt.


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Declare in Egypt, and announce in Migdol, and announce in Noph and in Tahpanhes: say, Stand fast, and prepare; for the sword shall devour round about you.


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He made many to fall, yea, one fell upon another: and they said, Arise, and let us go back to our own people, and to the land of our birth, from the oppressing sword.


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As I live, says the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts, Surely as Tabor is among the mountains, and as Carmel by the sea, so shall he come.


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O thou daughter dwelling in Egypt, prepare your baggage to go into captivity: for Noph shall be a ruin and desolate without an inhabitant.


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Also her hired men are in the midst of her like fatted bullocks; for they also are turned back, and have fled away together: they did not stand, because the day of their calamity had come upon them, and the time of their visitation.


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Her voice shall go like a serpent; for they shall march with an army, and come against her with axes, as cutters of wood.


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They shall cut down her forest, says the LORD, though it cannot be searched; because they are more than the grasshoppers, and are innumerable.


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The daughter of Egypt shall be put to shame; she shall be delivered into the hand of the people of the north.


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The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says; Behold, I will punish the multitude of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with their gods, and their kings; even Pharaoh, and all those who trust in him:


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And I will deliver them into the hand of those who seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants: and afterward it shall be inhabited, as in the days of old, says the LORD.


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But do not fear, O my servant Jacob, and be not dismayed, O Israel: for, behold, I will save you from afar off, and your descendents from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and be at rest and at ease, and none shall make him afraid.


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Fear not, O Jacob my servant, says the LORD: for I am with you; for I will make a full end of all the nations to which I have driven you: but I will not make a full end of you, but correct you in measure; yet will I not leave you wholly unpunished.


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The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Philistines, before Pharaoh struck Gaza.


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Thus says the LORD; Behold, waters rise up out of the north, and shall be an overflowing flood, and shall overflow the land, and all that is in it; the city, and those who dwell in it: then the men shall cry, and all the inhabitants of the land shall howl.


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At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his strong horses, at the rushing of his chariots, and at the rumbling of his wheels, the fathers shall not look back to their children for feebleness of hands;


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Because of the day that comes to lay waste all the Philistines, and to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every helper that remains: for the LORD will lay waste the Philistines, the remnant of the country of Caphtor.


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Baldness has come upon Gaza; Ashkelon is cut off with the remnant of their valley: how long will you cut yourself?


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O you sword of the LORD, how long will it be before you are quiet? put yourself up into your sheath, rest, and be still.


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How can it be quiet, seeing the LORD has given it a command against Ashkelon, and against the sea shore? there has he appointed it.


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Against Moab thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Woe to Nebo! for it is laid waste: Kiriathaim is astonished and taken: Misgab is astonished and dismayed.


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There shall be no more praise of Moab: in Heshbon they have devised evil against it; come, and let us cut it off from being a nation. Also you shall be cut down, O Madmen; the sword shall pursue you.


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For in the ascent of Luhith continual weeping shall go up; for in the descent of Horonaim the enemies have heard a cry of destruction.


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For because you have trusted in your works and in your treasures, you shall also be taken: and Chemosh shall go forth into captivity with his priests and his princes together.


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And the destroyer shall come upon every city, and no city shall escape: the valley also shall perish, and the plain shall be destroyed, as the LORD has spoken.


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Give wings to Moab, that it may flee and get away: for the cities thereof shall be desolate, without any to dwell therein.


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Cursed be he who does the work of the LORD deceitfully, and cursed be he who keeps back his sword from blood.


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Moab has been at ease from his youth, and he has settled on his lees, and has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither has he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent is not changed.


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Therefore, behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, that I will send to him wanderers, who shall cause him to wander, and shall empty his vessels, and break their bottles.


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And Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel their confidence.


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Moab is laid waste, and gone up out of her cities, and his chosen young men have gone down to the slaughter, says the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts.


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All you that are around him, bemoan him; and all you that know his name, say, How the strong staff is broken, and the beautiful rod!


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O daughter who inhabits Dibon, come down from your glory, and sit in thirst; for the destroyer of Moab shall come upon you, and he shall destroy your strongholds.


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O inhabitant of Aroer, stand by the way, and watch; ask him that flees, and her that escapes, and say, What is done?


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Moab is put to shame; for it is broken down: howl and cry; tell it in Arnon, that Moab is laid waste,


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Make him drunken: for he magnified himself against the LORD: Moab also shall wallow in his vomit, and he also shall be in derision.


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For was not Israel a derision to you? was he found among thieves? for since you spoke of him, you skipped for joy.


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O you who dwell in Moab, leave the cities, and dwell in the rock, and be like the dove that makes her nest in the sides of the mouth of the pit.


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We have heard the pride of Moab, (he is exceedingly proud) his loftiness, and his arrogance, and his pride, and the haughtiness of his heart.


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Therefore will I howl for Moab, and I will cry out for all Moab; my heart shall mourn for the men of Kir-heres.


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O vine of Sibmah, I will weep for you with the weeping of Jazer: your branches have gone over the sea, they reach even to the sea of Jazer: the destroyer has fallen upon your summer fruits and upon your vintage.


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And joy and gladness is taken from the fruitful field, and from the land of Moab; and I have caused wine to fail from the winepresses: none shall tread with shouting; their shouting shall be no shouting.


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From the cry of Heshbon even to Elealeh, and even to Jahaz, have they spoken their voice, from Zoar even to Horonaim, like a heifer three years old: for the waters also of Nimrim shall be desolate.


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Moreover I will cause to cease in Moab, says the LORD, he who offers in the high places, and he who burns incense to his gods.


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Therefore my heart shall mourn for Moab like pipes, and my heart shall mourn like pipes for the men of Kir-heres: because the riches that he has gotten have perished.


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For every head shall be bald, and every beard clipped: upon all the hands shall be cuts, and upon the loins sackcloth.


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There shall be lamentation generally upon all the housetops of Moab, and in the streets thereof: for I have broken Moab like a vessel that no one desires, says the LORD.


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They shall howl, saying, How it is broken down! how Moab has turned his back with shame! so shall Moab be a derision and a dismaying to all those around him.


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Kerioth is taken, and the strongholds are surprised, and the mighty men's hearts in Moab at that day shall be like the heart of a woman in her birth pangs.


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He who flees from the fear shall fall into the pit; and he who gets up out of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for I will bring upon it, even upon Moab, the year of their visitation, says the LORD.


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Those who fled stood under the shadow of Heshbon because of its strength: but a fire shall come forth out of Heshbon, and a flame from the midst of Sihon, and shall devour the corner of Moab, and the crown of the head of the tumultuous ones.


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Woe be unto you, O Moab! the people of Chemosh perish: for your sons are taken captives, and your daughters captives.


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Yet will I bring back the captivity of Moab in the latter days, says the LORD. Thus far is the judgment on Moab.


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Concerning the Ammonites, thus says the LORD; Has Israel no sons? has he no heir? why then does their king inherit Gad, and his people dwell in his cities?


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Therefore, behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, that I will cause an alarm of war to be heard in Rabbah of the Ammonites; and it shall be a desolate heap, and her daughters shall be burned with fire: then shall Israel be heir to those who were his heirs, says the LORD.


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Howl, O Heshbon, for Ai is laid waste: cry, you daughters of Rabbah, clothe yourselves with sackcloth; lament, and run to and fro by the hedges; for their king shall go into captivity, and his priests and his princes together.


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Why do you glory in the valleys, your flowing valley, O backsliding daughter? who trusted in her treasures, saying, Who shall come to me?


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Behold, I will bring terror upon you, says the Lord GOD of hosts, from all those that are around you; and you shall be driven out every man straight ahead; and none shall gather up him that wanders.


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Concerning Edom, thus says the LORD of hosts; Is wisdom no more in Teman? has counsel perished from the prudent? has their wisdom vanished?


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Flee, turn back, dwell in the depths, O inhabitants of Dedan; for I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him, the time that I will visit him.


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If grape gatherers come to you, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? if thieves by night, they will destroy till they have enough.


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But I have made Esau bare, I have uncovered his secret places, and he shall not be able to hide himself: his descendents are laid waste, and his brethren, and his neighbors, and he is not.


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For thus says the LORD; Behold, those who were not sentenced to drink of the cup have assuredly drunk; and are you he who shall altogether go unpunished? you shall not go unpunished, but you shall surely drink of it.


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For I have sworn by myself, says the LORD, that Bozrah shall become a desolation, a reproach, a waste, and a curse; and all the cities thereof shall be perpetual wastes.


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I have heard a rumor from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent to the heathen, saying, Gather together, and come against her, and rise up to the battle.


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Your dreadfulness has deceived you, and the pride of your heart, you who dwell in the openings in the rock, who hold the height of the hill: though you were to make your nest as high as the eagle, I will bring you down from there, says the LORD.


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Also Edom shall be a desolation: every one that goes by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss at all the plagues thereof.


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As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbor cities, says the LORD, no man shall remain there, neither shall a son of man dwell in it.


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Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of the Jordan against the habitation of the strong: but I will suddenly make him run away from her: and who is a chosen man that I may appoint over her? for who is like me? and who will choose for me the time? and who is that shepherd that will stand before me?


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Therefore hear the counsel of the LORD that he has taken against Edom; and his purposes that he has purposed against the inhabitants of Teman: Surely the least of the flock shall drag them out: surely he shall make their habitations desolate with them.


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The earth is moved at the noise of their fall; at their cry the noise thereof was heard in the Red sea.


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Behold, he shall come up and fly like the eagle, and spread his wings over Bozrah: and at that day shall the heart of the mighty men of Edom be as the heart of a woman in her birth pangs.


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Concerning Damascus. Hamath is perplexed, and Arpad: for they have heard evil tidings: they are fainthearted; there is sorrow on the sea; it cannot be quiet.


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Damascus has become feeble, and turns herself to flee, and fear has seized on her: anguish and sorrows have taken her, like a woman in birth labor.


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Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be cut off in that day, says the LORD of hosts.


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Concerning Kedar, and concerning the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon shall strike, thus says the LORD; Arise, go up to Kedar, and lay waste the men of the east.


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Their tents and their flocks shall they take away: they shall take for themselves their curtains, and all their vessels, and their camels; and they shall cry to them, Fear is on every side.


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Flee, depart far off, dwell in the depths, O you inhabitants of Hazor, says the LORD; for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has taken counsel against you, and has conceived a purpose against you.


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Arise, go up to the wealthy nation that dwells without care, says the LORD, which has neither gates nor bars, which dwells alone.


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And their camels shall be a booty, and the multitude of their cattle a spoil: and I will scatter into all winds those who are in the farthest corners; and I will bring their calamity from all sides thereof, says the LORD.


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And Hazor shall be a dwelling for dragons, and a desolation for ever: there shall no man remain there, nor any son of man dwell in it.


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The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet against Elam in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying,


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And upon Elam will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven, and will scatter them toward all those winds; and there shall be no nation to which the outcasts of Elam shall not come.


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For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies, and before those who seek their life: and I will bring evil upon them, even my fierce anger, says the LORD; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them:


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And I will set my throne in Elam, and will destroy from there the king and the princes, says the LORD.


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But it shall come to pass in the latter days, that I will bring back the captivity of Elam, says the LORD.


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The word that the LORD spoke against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet.


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Declare ye among the nations, and annuonce, and set up a standard; announce, and conceal not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is astonished, Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are put to shame, her images are broken in pieces.


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For out of the north there comes up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they shall go, they shall depart, both man and beast.


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In those days, and at that time, says the LORD, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping: they shall go, and seek the LORD their God.


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They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces towards it, saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to the LORD in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.


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My people have been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their resting place.


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All who found them have devoured them: and their adversaries said, We do not offend, because they have sinned against the LORD, the habitation of justice, even the LORD, the hope of their fathers.


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Go out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the he goats before the flocks.


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For, lo, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the north country: and they shall set themselves in formation against her; from there she shall be taken: their arrows shall be as of a mighty expert man; none shall return in vain.


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Because you were glad, because you rejoiced, O you destroyers of my heritage, because you have grown fat like the heifer eating grass, and bellow as bulls;


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Your mother shall be greatly astonished; she who bore you shall be ashamed: behold, the last of the nations shall be a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.


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Because of the wrath of the LORD it shall not be inhabited, but it shall be wholly desolate: every one who goes by Babylon shall be astonished, and hiss at all her plagues.


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Put yourselves in formation against Babylon round about: all you who bend the bow, shoot at her, spare no arrows: for she has sinned against the LORD.


text:
Shout against her round about: she has surrendered: her foundations have fallen, her walls are thrown down: for it is the vengeance of the LORD: take vengeance upon her; as she has done, do unto her.


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Cut off the sower from Babylon, and him that handles the sickle in the time of harvest: for fear of the oppressing sword they shall turn every one to his people, and they shall flee every one to his own land.


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Israel is a scattered sheep; the lions have driven him away: first the king of Assyria has devoured him; and last this Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has broken his bones.


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Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria.


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And I will bring Israel back to his habitation, and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied upon mount Ephraim and Gilead.


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In those days, and in that time, says the LORD, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon those whom I spare.


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Go up against the land of Merathaim, even against it, and against the inhabitants of Pekod: lay waste and utterly destroy after them, says the LORD, and do according to all that I have commanded you.


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How the hammer of the whole earth is cut in pieces and broken! how Babylon has become a desolation among the nations!


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I have laid a snare for you, and you are also taken, O Babylon, and you were not aware of it: you are found, and also caught, because you have striven against the LORD.


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The LORD has opened his armory, and has brought out the weapons of his indignation: for this is the work of the Lord GOD of hosts in the land of the Chaldeans.


text:
Come against her from the farthest border, open her storehouses: pile her up like heaps, and destroy her completely: let nothing of her be left.


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Slay all her bullocks; let them go down to the slaughter: woe to them! for their day has come, the time of their visitation.


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The voice of those who flee and escape out of the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of the LORD our God, vengeance for his temple.


text:
Call together the archers against Babylon: all you who bend the bow, camp against it round about; let none thereof escape: recompense her according to her work; according to all that she has done, do unto her: for she has been proud against the LORD, against the Holy One of Israel.


text:
Therefore shall her young men fall in the streets, and all her men of war shall be cut off in that day, says the LORD.


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Behold, I am against you, O you most proud, says the Lord GOD of hosts: for your day has come, the time that I will visit you.


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And the proudest shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise him up: and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all round about him.


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Thus says the LORD of hosts; The children of Israel and the children of Judah were oppressed together: and all who took them captives held them fast; they refused to let them go.


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Their Redeemer is strong; the LORD of hosts is his name: he shall thoroughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the land, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.


text:
A sword is upon the Chaldeans, says the LORD, and upon the inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her princes, and upon her wise men.


text:
A sword is upon the liars; and they shall be fools: a sword is upon her mighty men; and they shall be dismayed.


text:
A sword is upon their horses, and upon their chariots, and upon all the mixed people that are in the midst of her; and they shall become like women: a sword is upon her treasures; and they shall be robbed.


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A drought is upon her waters; and they shall be dried up: for it is the land of sculptured images, and they are mad over their idols.


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Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts of the islands shall dwell there, and the owls shall dwell therein: and it shall be no more inhabited for ever; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation.


text:
As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbor cities thereof, says the LORD; so shall no man remain there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein.


text:
Behold, a people shall come from the north, and a great nation, and many kings shall be raised up from the ends of the earth.


text:
They shall hold the bow and the lance: they are cruel, and will not show mercy: their voice shall roar like the sea, and they shall ride upon horses, every one put in formation, like a man to the battle, against you, O daughter of Babylon.


text:
The king of Babylon has heard the report of them, and his hands grew feeble: anguish took hold of him, and pangs as of a woman in birth labor.


text:
Behold, the king shall come up like a lion from the swelling of the Jordan to the habitation of the strong: but I will make them suddenly run away from her: and who is a chosen man, that I may appoint over her? for who is like me? and who will choose for me the time? and who is that shepherd that will stand before me?


text:
Therefore hear ye the counsel of the LORD that he has taken against Babylon; and his purposes that he has purposed against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely the least of the flock shall drag them out: surely he shall make their habitation desolate with them.


text:
Thus says the LORD; Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against those who dwell in the midst of those who rise up against me, a destroying wind;


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And will send to Babylon fanners, who shall fan her, and shall empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about.


text:
Against him that bends let the archer bend his bow, and against him that lifts himself up in his coat of mail: and do not spare her young men; destroy utterly all her host.


text:
Thus the slain shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans, and those who are thrust through in her streets.


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For Israel has not been forsaken, nor Judah by his God, by the LORD of hosts; though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel.


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Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for this is the time of the LORD'S vengeance; he will repay to her a recompense.


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Babylon has been a golden cup in the LORD'S hand, that made all the earth drunk: the nations have drunk of her wine; therefore the nations are mad.


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Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take balm for her pain, if perhaps she may be healed.


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We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go every one into his own country: for her judgment reaches to heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies.


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The LORD has brought forth our righteousness: come, and let us declare in Zion the work of the LORD our God.


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Make bright the arrows; gather the shields: the LORD has raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes: for his plan is against Babylon, to destroy it; because it is the vengeance of the LORD, vengeance for his temple.


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Set up the standard upon the walls of Babylon, make the watch strong, set up the watchmen, prepare the ambushes: for the LORD has both devised and done that which he spoke against the inhabitants of Babylon.


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O you who dwell upon many waters, abundant in treasures, your end has come, and the measure of your covetousness.


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The LORD of hosts has sworn by himself, saying, Surely I will fill you with men, as with caterpillers; and they shall lift up a shout against you.


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He has made the earth by his power, he has established the world by his wisdom, and has stretched out the heaven by his understanding.


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When he speaks forth his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens; and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth: he makes lightnings with rain, and brings forth the wind out of his treasures.


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Every man is stupid by his knowledge; every metal worker is put to shame by the sculptured image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.


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The portion of Jacob is not like them; for he is the former of all things: and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: the LORD of hosts is his name.


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You are my battle axe and weapons of war: for with you will I break in pieces the nations, and with you will I destroy kingdoms;


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And with you will I break in pieces the horse and his rider; and with you will I break in pieces the chariot and his rider;


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With you also will I break in pieces man and woman; and with you will I break in pieces old and young; and with you will I break in pieces the young man and the maiden;


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I will also break in pieces with you the shepherd and his flock; and with you will I break in pieces the farmer and his yoke of oxen; and with you will I break in pieces captains and rulers.


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And I will repay to Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight, says the LORD.


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Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain, says the LORD, which destroys all the earth: and I will stretch out my hand upon you, and roll you down from the rocks, and will make you a burnt mountain.


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And they shall not take from you a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but you shall be desolate for ever, says the LORD.


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Set up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, prepare the nations against her, call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz; appoint a captain against her; cause the horses to come up like the rough caterpillers.


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Prepare against her the nations with the kings of the Medes, the captains thereof, and all the rulers thereof, and all the land of his dominion.


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And the land shall tremble and sorrow: for every purpose of the LORD shall be performed against Babylon, to make the land of Babylon a desolation without an inhabitant.


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The mighty men of Babylon have failed to fight, they have remained in their strongholds: their might has failed; they became like women: they have burned her dwelling places; her bars are broken.


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One runner shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to tell the king of Babylon that his city is taken at one end,


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And that the passages are blocked, and the reeds they have burned with fire, and the men of war are frightened.


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For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor, it is time to thresh her: yet a little while, and the time of her harvest shall come.


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Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me, he has crushed me, he has made me an empty vessel, he has swallowed me up like a dragon, he has filled his belly with my delicacies, he has cast me out.


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The violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon, shall the inhabitant of Zion say; and my blood upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say.


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Therefore thus says the LORD; Behold, I will plead your cause, and take vengeance for you; and I will dry up her sea, and make her springs dry.


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And Babylon shall become heaps of ruins, a dwelling place for dragons, an astonishment, and a hissing, without an inhabitant.


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When they are inflamed I will make their feasts, and I will make them drunk, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, says the LORD.


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How Sheshach is taken! and how the praise of the whole earth is surprised! how Babylon has become an astonishment among the nations!


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Her cities are a desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness, a land in which no man dwells, neither does any son of man pass thereby.


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And I will punish Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he has swallowed up: and the nations shall not assemble any more to him: yea, the wall of Babylon shall fall.


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My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and deliver every man his soul from the fierce anger of the LORD.


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And so that your heart does not faint, and you fear for the rumor that shall be heard in the land; a rumor shall come one year, and after that in another year shall come a rumor, and violence in the land, ruler against ruler.


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Therefore, behold, the days are coming that I will execute judgment upon the sculptured images of Babylon: and her whole land shall be astonished, and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her.


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Then the heaven and the earth, and all that is therein, shall sing for Babylon: for the destroyers shall come to her from the north, says the LORD.


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As Babylon has caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all the earth.


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You who have escaped the sword, go away, do not stand still: remember the LORD afar off, and let Jerusalem come into your mind.


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We are brought into confusion, because we have heard reproach: shame has covered our faces: for strangers have come into the sanctuaries of the LORD'S house.


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Therefore, behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, that I will execute judgment upon her sculptured images: and through all her land the wounded shall groan.


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Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me shall destroyers come to her, says the LORD.


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Because the LORD has laid waste Babylon, and destroyed out of her the great voice; when her waves roar like great waters, a noise of their voice is uttered:


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Because the destroyer has come upon her, even upon Babylon, and her mighty men are taken, every one of their bows is broken: for the LORD God of recompenses shall surely repay.


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And I will make drunk her princes, and her wise men, her captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men: and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, says the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts.


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Thus says the LORD of hosts; The broad walls of Babylon shall be completely broken, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and the people shall labor in vain, and the community in the fire, and they shall be weary.


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The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah into Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. And this Seraiah was a quiet prince.


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So Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that would come upon Babylon, even all these words that are written against Babylon.


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And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When you come to Babylon, and shall see, and shall read all these words;


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Then shall you say, O LORD, you have spoken against this place, to cut it off, that none shall remain in it, neither man nor beast, but that it shall be desolate for ever.


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And it shall be, when you have made an end of reading this book, that you shall tie a stone to it, and throw it into the midst of Euphrates:


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And you shall say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring upon her: and they shall be weary. Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.


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Zedekiah was twenty one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.


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For through the anger of the LORD it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, till he had cast them out from his presence, that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.


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And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and encamped against it, and built forts against it round about.


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And in the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the famine was severe in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land.


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Then the city was broken into, and all the men of war fled, and went forth out of the city by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king's garden; (now the Chaldeans were by the city round about:) and they went by the way of the plain.


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But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him.


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Then they took the king, and took him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath; where he gave judgment upon him.


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And the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes: he slew also all the princes of Judah in Riblah.


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Then he put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him in chains, and took him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death.


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Now in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, who served the king of Babylon, into Jerusalem,


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And burned the house of the LORD, and the king's house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, and all the houses of the great men, he burned with fire:


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And all the army of the Chaldeans that were with the captain of the guard, broke down all the walls of Jerusalem round about.


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Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took away captive certain of the poor of the people, and the rest of the people that remained in the city, and those who fell away, who deserted to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude.


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But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left certain of the poor of the land as vinedressers and as farmers.


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Also the pillars of brass that were in the house of the LORD, and the bases, and the brass sea that was in the house of the LORD, the Chaldeans broke, and carried all the brass of them to Babylon.


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The caldrons also, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the bowls, and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass with which they ministered, they took away.


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And the basins, and the firepans, and the bowls, and the caldrons, and the candlesticks, and the spoons, and the cups; that which was of gold in gold, and that which was of silver in silver, took the captain of the guard away.


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The two pillars, one sea, and twelve brass bulls that were under the bases, which king Solomon had made in the house of the LORD: the brass of all these vessels was without weight.


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And concerning the pillars, the height of one pillar was eighteen cubits; and a fillet of twelve cubits surrounded it; and the thickness thereof was four fingers: it was hollow.


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And a capital of brass was upon it; and the height of one capital was five cubits, with a network and pomegranates upon the capitals round about, all of brass. The second pillar also and the pomegranates were like these.


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And there were ninety six pomegranates on a side; and all the pomegranates upon the network were a hundred round about.


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He took also out of the city a eunuch, who had the oversight of the men of war; and seven men of those who were near the king's person, who were found in the city; and the chief scribe of the army, who mustered the people of the land; and sixty men of the people of the land, who were found in the midst of the city.


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So Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah.


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And the king of Babylon struck them down, and put them to death in Riblah in the land of Hamath. Thus Judah was taken away captive out of his own land.


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This is the people whom Nebuchadnezzar took away captive: in the seventh year three thousand and twenty three Jews:


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In the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar he took away captive from Jerusalem eight hundred thirty two persons:


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In the twenty third year of Nebuchadnezzar Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took away captive of the Jews seven hundred forty five persons: all the persons were four thousand six hundred.


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And it came to pass in the thirty seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, in the twenty fifth day of the month, that Evil-merodach king of Babylon in the first year of his reign lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah, and brought him forth out of prison,


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And spoke kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon,


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And for his diet, there was a continual diet given him by the king of Babylon, every day a portion until the day of his death, all the days of his life.


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How the city sits solitary that was full of people! how she has become like a widow! She who was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how she has become one who pays tribute!


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She weeps bitterly in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks: among all her lovers she has none to comfort her: all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they have become her enemies.


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Judah has gone into captivity because of affliction, and because of great slavery: she dwells among the heathen, she finds no rest: all her persecutors overtook her in the narrow place.


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The ways of Zion mourn, because none come to the solemn feasts: all her gates are desolate: her priests sigh, her virgins are afflicted, and she is in bitterness.


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Her adversaries are the head, her enemies prosper; for the LORD has afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions: her children have gone into captivity before the enemy.


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And from the daughter of Zion all her beauty has departed: her princes have become like stags that find no pasture, and they have gone without strength before the pursuer.


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Jerusalem remembered in the days of her affliction and her miseries all her pleasant things that she had in the days of old, when her people fell into the hand of the enemy, and no one helped her: the adversaries saw her, and mocked at her sabbaths.


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Jerusalem has greatly sinned; therefore she is removed: all that honored her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness: yea, she sighs, and turns backward.


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Her filthiness is in her skirts; she does not remember her latter end; therefore she was brought down as if by a miracle: she had no comforter. O LORD, behold my affliction: for the enemy has magnified himself.


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The adversary has spread out his hand upon all her pleasant things: for she has seen that the heathen entered into her sanctuary, whom you commanded that they should not enter into your congregation.


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All her people sigh, they seek bread; they have given their pleasant things for food to relieve the soul: see, O LORD, and consider; for I have become vile.


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Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? behold, and see if there be any sorrow like my sorrow, which has been done to me, with which the LORD has afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger.


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From above has he sent fire into my bones, and it prevails against them: he has spread a net for my feet, he has turned me back: he has made me desolate and faint all the day.


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The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand: they are twisted, and come up upon my neck: he has made my strength to fall, the Lord has delivered me into their hands, from whom I am not able to rise up.


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The Lord has trodden under foot all my mighty men in the midst of me: he has called an assembly against me to crush my young men: the Lord has trodden the virgin, the daughter of Judah, as in a winepress.


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For these things I weep; my eye, my eye runs down with water, because the comforter that should relieve my soul is far from me: my children are desolate, because the enemy prevailed.


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Zion spreads out her hands, and there is none to comfort her: the LORD has commanded concerning Jacob, that his adversaries should be round about him: Jerusalem is like a menstruous woman among them.


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The LORD is righteous; for I have rebelled against his commandment: hear, I pray you, all people, and behold my sorrow: my virgins and my young men have gone into captivity.


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I called for my lovers, but they deceived me: my priests and my elders gave up the ghost in the city, while they sought their food to relieve their souls.


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Behold, O LORD; for I am in distress: my bowels are troubled; my heart is overturned within me; for I have greatly rebelled: abroad the sword bereaves, at home there is what seems like death.


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They have heard that I sigh: there is none to comfort me: all my enemies have heard of my trouble; they are glad that you have done it: you will bring the day that you have proclaimed, and they shall be like me.


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Let all their wickedness come before you, and do to them as you have done to me for all my transgressions: for my sighs are many, and my heart is faint.


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How the Lord has covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger, and thrown down from heaven to the earth the beauty of Israel, and not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger!


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The Lord has swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob, and has not pitied: he has thrown down in his wrath the strongholds of the daughter of Judah; he has brought them down to the ground: he has polluted the kingdom and the princes thereof.


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He has cut off in his fierce anger all the horn of Israel: he has withdrawn his right hand from before the enemy, and he burned against Jacob like a flaming fire, which devours round about.


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He has bent his bow like an enemy: he stood with his right hand like an adversary, and slew all that were pleasant to the eye in the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion: he poured out his fury like fire.


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The Lord was like an enemy: he has swallowed up Israel, he has swallowed up all her palaces: he has destroyed his strongholds, and has increased in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation.


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And he has violently taken away his tabernacle like a booth in a garden: he has destroyed his places of the assembly: the LORD has caused the solemn feasts and sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion, and has despised in the indignation of his anger the king and the priest.


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The Lord has cast off his altar, he has abhorred his sanctuary, he has given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces; they have made a noise in the house of the LORD, as in the day of a solemn feast.


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The LORD has purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion: he has stretched out a line, he has not withdrawn his hand from destroying: therefore he made the embankment and the wall to lament; they mourned together.


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Her gates are sunk into the ground; he has destroyed and broken her bars: her king and her princes are among the Gentiles: the law is no more; her prophets also find no vision from the LORD.


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The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground, and keep silence: they have thrown up dust upon their heads; they have clothed themselves with sackcloth: the virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.


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My eyes fail with tears, my bowels are troubled, my liver is poured upon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of my people; because the children and the sucklings swoon in the streets of the city.


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They said to their mothers, Where is grain and wine? when they swooned like the wounded in the streets of the city, when their soul was poured out into their mothers' bosom.


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What thing shall I take to testify for you? what thing shall I compare to you, O daughter of Jerusalem? what shall I equal to you, that I may comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion? for your broken place is great like the sea: who can heal you?


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Your prophets have seen vain and foolish things for you: and they have not revealed your iniquity, to turn away your captivity; but have seen for you false messages and causes of banishment.


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All that pass by clap their hands at you; they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, Is this the city that men call The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth?


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All your enemies have opened their mouth against you: they hiss and gnash the teeth: they say, We have swallowed her up: certainly this is the day that we looked for; we have found, we have seen it.


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The LORD has done that which he had devised; he has fulfilled his word that he had commanded in the days of old: he has thrown down, and has not pitied: and he has caused your enemy to rejoice over you, he has lifted up the horn of your adversaries.


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Their heart cried out unto the Lord, O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night: give yourself no rest; let not the apple of your eye cease.


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Arise, cry out in the night: in the beginning of the watches pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord: lift up your hands toward him for the life of your young children that faint for hunger at the head of every street.


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Behold, O LORD, and consider to whom you have done this. Shall the women eat the fruit of their body, and children carried in their arms? shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord?


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The young and the old lie on the ground in the streets: my virgins and my young men have fallen by the sword; you have slain them in the day of your anger; you have killed, and not pitied.


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You have summoned as in a solemn day my terrors round about, so that in the day of the LORD'S anger none escaped nor remained: those that I have swaddled and brought up has my enemy consumed.


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How the gold has become dim! how the most fine gold has changed! the stones of the sanctuary are poured out at the head of every street.


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The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how they are esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter!


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Even the sea monsters draw out the breast, they give suck to their young ones: the daughter of my people has become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness.


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The tongue of the sucking child clings to the roof of his mouth for thirst: the young children ask for bread, and no man breaks it to them.


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Those who fed delicately are desolate in the streets: those who were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills.


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For the punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom, that was overthrown as in a moment, and no hands remained on her.


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Her Nazarites were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk, they were more ruddy in body than rubies, their polishing was of sapphire:


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Their face is blacker than a coal; they are not known in the streets: their skin clings to their bones; it is withered, it has become like a stick.


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Those who are slain with the sword are better than those who are slain with hunger: for these pine away, stricken through for want of the fruits of the field.


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The hands of the tender-hearted women have boiled their own children: they were their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people.


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The LORD has accomplished his fury; he has poured out his fierce anger, and has kindled a fire in Zion, and it has devoured the foundations thereof.


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The kings of the earth, and all the inhabitants of the world, would not have believed that the adversary and the enemy would have entered into the gates of Jerusalem.


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For the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests, that have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her,


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They have wandered like blind men in the streets, they have polluted themselves with blood, so that men could not touch their garments.


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They cried out to them, Depart; it is unclean; depart, depart, do not touch: when they fled away and wandered, they said among the heathen, They shall no more sojourn there.


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The anger of the LORD has scattered them; he will no longer regard them: they did not respect the persons of the priests, they did not favor the elders.


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As for us, our eyes continually failed looking for our vain help: in our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save us.


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They hunt our steps, so that we cannot go in our streets: our end is near, our days are fulfilled; for our end has come.


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Our persecutors are swifter than the eagles of the heaven: they pursued us upon the mountains, they laid wait for us in the wilderness.


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The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the LORD, was taken in their pits, of whom we said, Under his shadow we shall live among the heathen.


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Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, who dwell in the land of Uz; the cup also shall pass through to you: you shall be drunken, and shall make yourself naked.


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The punishment of your iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Zion; he will no more take you away into captivity: he will visit your iniquity, O daughter of Edom; he will reveal your sins.


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Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.


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The word of the LORD came clearly to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of the LORD was there upon him.


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And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire returning in upon itself, and a brightness was around it, and out of the midst thereof as the color of amber, out of the midst of the fire.


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Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man.


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And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf's foot: and they sparkled like the color of burnished brass.


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And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and the four of them had their faces and their wings.


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Their wings were joined one to another; they did not turn when they went; they went every one straight forward.


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As for the likeness of their faces, they had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they had the face of an ox on the left side; they also had the face of an eagle.


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Thus were their faces: and their wings were stretched upward; two wings of every one were joined one to another, and two covered their bodies.


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And they went every one straight forward: where the spirit was to go, they went; and they did not turn when they went.


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As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps: it went up and down among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning.


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Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold one wheel upon the earth by each of the living creatures, with its four faces.


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The appearance of the wheels and their work was like the color of a beryl: and the four of them had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was like a wheel in the middle of a wheel.


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As for their rims, they were so high that they were awesome; and their rims were full of eyes round about them.


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And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them: and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up.


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Wherever the spirit was to go, they went, there was their spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up next to them: for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.


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When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up next to them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.


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And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creature was as the color of the awesome crystal, stretched forth over their heads above.


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And under the firmament were their wings straight, the one toward the other: every one had two, which covered on this side, and every one had two, which covered on that side, their bodies.


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And when they went, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the voice of speech, like the noise of a host: when they stood, they let down their wings.


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And there was a voice from the firmament that was over their heads, when they stood, and had let down their wings.


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And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it.


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And I saw as the color of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw what looked like the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about.


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As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spoke.


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And the spirit entered into me when he spoke to me, and set me upon my feet, so that I heard him that spoke to me.


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And he said to me, Son of man, I send you to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me: they and their fathers have transgressed against me, even until this very day.


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For they are impudent children and stiff hearted. I send you to them; and you shall say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD.


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And they, whether they will hear, or whether they will refuse, (for they are a rebellious house,) yet shall know that there has been a prophet among them.


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And you, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns be with you, and you dwell among scorpions: be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.


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And you shall speak my words to them, whether they will hear, or whether they will refuse: for they are most rebellious.


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But you, son of man, hear what I say to you; Be not rebellious like that rebellious house: open your mouth, and eat what I give you.


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And he spread it before me; and it was written within and without: and there was written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe.


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Moreover he said to me, Son of man, eat what you find; eat this roll, and go speak to the house of Israel.


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And he said to me, Son of man, cause your belly to eat, and fill your bowels with this roll that I give you. Then did I eat it; and it was in my mouth like honey for sweetness.


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For you are not sent to a people of a strange speech and of a hard language, but to the house of Israel;


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Not to many people of a strange speech and of a hard language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely, had I sent you to them, they would have listened to you.


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But the house of Israel will not listen to you; for they will not listen to me: for all the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted.


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Behold, I have made your face strong against their faces, and your forehead strong against their foreheads.


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As an adamant harder than flint have I made your forehead: fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.


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Moreover he said to me, Son of man, all my words that I shall speak to you receive in your heart, and hear with your ears.


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And depart, go to those of the captivity, to the children of your people, and speak to them, and tell them, Thus says the Lord GOD; whether they will hear, or whether they will refuse.


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Then the spirit took me up, and I heard behind me a voice of a great rushing, saying, Blessed be the glory of the LORD from his place.


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I heard also the noise of the wings of the living creatures that touched one another, and the noise of the wheels next to them, and a noise of a great rushing.


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So the spirit lifted me up, and took me away, and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; but the hand of the LORD was strong upon me.


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Then I came to those of the captivity at Tel-abib, that dwelt by the river of Chebar, and I sat where they sat, and remained there astonished among them seven days.


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Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.


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When I say to the wicked, You shall surely die; and you do not give him warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at your hand.


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Yet if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul.


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Again, When a righteous man turns from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die: because you have not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at your hand.


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Nevertheless if you warn the righteous man so that the righteous does not sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also you have delivered your soul.


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And the hand of the LORD was there upon me; and he said to me, Arise, go forth into the plain, and I will there talk with you.


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Then I arose, and went forth into the plain: and, behold, the glory of the LORD stood there, like the glory which I saw by the river of Chebar: and I fell on my face.


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Then the spirit entered into me, and set me upon my feet, and spoke with me, and said to me, Go, shut yourself within your house.


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But you, O son of man, behold, they shall put bands upon you, and shall bind you with them, and you shall not go out among them:


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And I will make your tongue cling to the roof of your mouth, so that you shall be dumb, and shall not be to them a reprover: for they are a rebellious house.


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But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD; He who hears, let him hear; and he who refuses, let him refuse: for they are a rebellious house.


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You also, son of man, take a tile, and lay it before you, and portray upon it the city, even Jerusalem:


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And lay siege against it, and build a fort against it, and build a mound against it; set the encampment also against it, and set battering rams against it round about.


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Moreover take to yourself an iron pan, and set it as a wall of iron between you and the city: and set your face against it, and it shall be besieged, and you shall lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel.


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Lie also upon your left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: according to the number of the days that you shall lie upon it you shall bear their iniquity.


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For I have laid upon you the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shall you bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.


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And when you have accomplished them, lie again on your right side, and you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed you each day for a year.


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Therefore you shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and your arm shall be uncovered, and you shall prophesy against it.


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And, behold, I will lay bands upon you, and you shall not turn yourself from one side to another, till you have ended the days of your siege.


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Take also for yourself wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and fitches, and put them in one vessel, and make yourself bread from them, according to the number of the days that you shall lie upon your side, three hundred and ninety days shall you eat of it.


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And your food which you shall eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day: from time to time shall you eat it.


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And you shall eat it as barley cakes, and you shall bake it with dung that comes out of man, in their sight.


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And the LORD said, Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles, where I will drive them.


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Then said I, Ah Lord GOD! behold, my soul has not been polluted: for from my youth up even till now have I not eaten of that which dies of itself, or is torn in pieces; neither came there abominable flesh into my mouth.


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Then he said to me, Lo, I have given you cow's dung for man's dung, and you shall prepare your bread with it.


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Moreover he said to me, Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with anxiety; and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment:


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That they may lack bread and water, and be astonished one with another, and consume away for their iniquity.


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And you, son of man, take a sharp knife, take a barber's razor, and cause it to pass upon your head and upon your beard: then take balances to weigh, and divide the hair.


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You shall burn with fire a third part in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled: and you shall take a third part, and strike around it with a knife: and a third part you shall scatter in the wind; and I will draw out a sword after them.


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Then take some of them again, and throw them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire; for from it shall a fire come forth into all the house of Israel.


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Thus says the Lord GOD; This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her.


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And she has changed my judgments into wickedness more than the nations, and my statutes more than the countries that are round about her: for they have refused my judgments and my statutes, they have not walked in them.


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Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; Because you multiplied iniquity more than the nations that are round about you, and have not walked in my statutes, neither have kept my judgments, neither have done according to the judgments of the nations that are round about you;


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Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, am against you, and will execute judgments in the midst of you in the sight of the nations.


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And I will do in you that which I have not done, and such as I will not do any more the like, because of all your abominations.


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Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons in the midst of you, and the sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments in you, and the whole remnant of you will I scatter into all the winds.


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For this reason, as I live, says the Lord GOD; Surely, because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your detestable things, and with all your abominations, I also will diminish you; neither shall my eye spare, neither will I have any pity.


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A third part of you shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of you: and a third part shall fall by the sword round about you; and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them.


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Thus shall my anger be accomplished, and I will cause my fury to rest upon them, and I will be comforted: and they shall know that I the LORD have spoken it in my zeal, when I have accomplished my fury in them.


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Moreover I will make you a waste, and a reproach among the nations that are round about you, in the sight of all that pass by.


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So it shall be a reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an astonishment to the nations that are round about you, when I shall execute judgments in you in anger and in fury and in furious rebukes. I the LORD have spoken it.


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When I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine, which shall be for their destruction, and which I will send to destroy you: and I will increase the famine upon you, and will break your staff of bread:


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So will I send upon you famine and evil beasts, and they shall bereave you; and pestilence and blood shall pass through you; and I will bring the sword upon you. I the LORD have spoken it.


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And say, You mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD; Thus says the Lord GOD to the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys; Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy your high places.


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And your altars shall be desolate, and your images shall be broken: and I will throw down your slain men before your idols.


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And I will lay the dead carcasses of the children of Israel before their idols; and I will scatter your bones round about your altars.


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In all your dwelling places the cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be desolate; that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, and your idols may be broken and cease, and your images may be cut down, and your works may be abolished.


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Yet will I leave a remnant, that you may have some that shall escape the sword among the nations, when you shall be scattered through the countries.


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And those who escape of you shall remember me among the nations to which they shall be taken captives, because I am broken hearted with their whorish heart, which has departed from me, and with their eyes, which go a whoring after their idols: and they shall loathe themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations.


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And they shall know that I am the LORD, and that I have not said in vain that I would do this evil to them.


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Thus says the Lord GOD; Strike with your hand, and stamp with your foot, and say, Alas for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel! for they shall fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.


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He that is far off shall die of the pestilence; and he that is near shall fall by the sword; and he that remains and is besieged shall die by the famine: thus will I accomplish my fury upon them.


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Then shall you know that I am the LORD, when their slain men shall be among their idols round about their altars, upon every high hill, in all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the place where they offered sweet savor to all their idols.


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So will I stretch out my hand upon them, and make the land desolate, yea, more desolate than the wilderness toward Diblath, in all their habitations: and they shall know that I am the LORD.


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Also, you son of man, thus says the Lord GOD to the land of Israel; An end, the end has come upon the four corners of the land.


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Now has the end come upon you, and I will send my anger upon you, and will judge you according to your ways, and will recompense upon you all your abominations.


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And my eye shall not spare you, neither will I have pity: but I will recompense your ways upon you, and your abominations shall be in the midst of you: and you shall know that I am the LORD.


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The morning has come to you, O you who dwell in the land: the time has come, the day of trouble is near, and not just the resounding of the mountains.


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Now will I shortly pour out my fury upon you, and accomplish my anger upon you: and I will judge you according to your ways, and will recompense you for all your abominations.


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And my eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: I will recompense you according to your ways and your abominations that are in the midst of you; and you shall know that I am the LORD who strikes.


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Behold the day, behold, it has come: the morning has gone forth; the rod has blossomed, pride has budded.


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Violence is risen up into a rod of wickedness: none of them shall remain, nor of their multitude, nor of any of theirs: neither shall there be wailing for them.


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The time has come, the day draws near: let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn: for wrath is upon all the multitude thereof.


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For the seller shall not return to that which is sold, even if they were yet alive: for the vision is concerning the whole multitude thereof, which shall not return; neither shall any strengthen himself in the iniquity of his life.


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They have blown the trumpet, even to make all ready; but none goes to the battle: for my wrath is upon all the multitude thereof.


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The sword is without, and the pestilence and the famine within: he that is in the field shall die with the sword; and he that is in the city, famine and pestilence shall devour him.


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But those who escape of them shall escape, and shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, every one for his iniquity.


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They shall also clothe themselves with sackcloth, and horror shall cover them; and shame shall be upon all faces, and baldness upon all their heads.


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They shall throw their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bodies: because these things are the stumbling block of their iniquity.


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As for the beauty of his ornament, he established it in majesty: but they made the images of their abominations and of their detestable things in it: therefore have I set it far from them.


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And I will give it into the hands of the strangers as a prey, and to the wicked of the earth as a spoil; and they shall pollute it.


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My face will I turn also from them, and they shall pollute my hidden place: for the robbers shall enter into it, and defile it.


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Therefore I will bring the worst of the heathen, and they shall possess their houses: I will also make the pomp of the strong to cease; and their holy places shall be defiled.


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Mischief shall come upon mischief, and rumor shall be upon rumor; then shall they seek a vision of the prophet; but the law shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the ancients.


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The king shall mourn, and the prince shall be clothed with desolation, and the hands of the people of the land shall be troubled: I will do to them according to their way, and according to what they deserve will I judge them; and they shall know that I am the LORD.


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And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord GOD fell there upon me.


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Then I beheld, and lo a likeness as the appearance of fire: from the appearance of his loins even downward, fire; and from his loins even upward, as the appearance of brightness, as the color of amber.


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And he put forth the form of a hand, and took me by a lock of my head; and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that looks toward the north; where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provokes to jealousy.


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And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to the vision that I saw in the plain.


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Then said he to me, Son of man, lift up your eyes now the way toward the north. So I lifted up my eyes the way toward the north, and behold northward at the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry.


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He said furthermore to me, Son of man, do you see what they do? even the great abominations that the house of Israel commits here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary? but turn yet again, and you shall see greater abominations.


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So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed upon the wall round about.


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And there stood before them seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel, and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, with every man his censer in his hand; and a thick cloud of incense went up.


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Then said he to me, Son of man, have you seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, The LORD does not see us; the LORD has forsaken the earth.


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Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the LORD'S house which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz.


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Then said he to me, Have you seen this, O son of man? turn yet again, and you shall see greater abominations than these.


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And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD'S house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty five men, with their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and they worshiped the sun toward the east.


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Then he said to me, Have you seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? for they have filled the land with violence, and have returned to provoke me to anger: and, lo, they put the branch to their nose.


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Therefore will I also deal in fury: my eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them.


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He cried out also in my ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause those who have charge over the city to draw near, even every man with his destroying weapon in his hand.


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And, behold, six men came from the way of the higher gate, which lies toward the north, and every man a slaughter weapon in his hand; and one man among them was clothed with linen, with a writer's inkhorn by his side: and they went in, and stood beside the brass altar.


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And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, on which he was, to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed with linen, who had the writer's inkhorn by his side;


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And the LORD said to him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that are done in the midst thereof.


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And to the others he said in my hearing, Go after him through the city, and strike down: let not your eye spare, neither have pity:


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Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but do not come near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house.


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And he said to them, Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain: go forth. And they went forth, and slew in the city.


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And it came to pass, while they were slaying them, and I was left, that I fell upon my face, and cried, and said, Ah Lord GOD! will you destroy all the remainder of Israel in your pouring out of your fury upon Jerusalem?


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Then said he to me, The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of perverseness: for they say, The LORD has forsaken the earth, and the LORD does not see.


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And as for me also, my eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity, but I will recompense their way upon their head.


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And, behold, the man clothed with linen, who had the inkhorn by his side, reported the matter, saying, I have done as you have commanded me.


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Then I looked, and behold, in the firmament that was above the head of the cherubims there appeared over them what looked like a sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne.


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And he spoke to the man clothed with linen, and said, Go in between the wheels, even under the cherub, and fill your hand with coals of fire from between the cherubims, and scatter them over the city. And he went in in my sight.


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Now the cherubims stood on the right side of the house when the man went in; and the cloud filled the inner court.


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Then the glory of the LORD went up from the cherub, and stood over the threshold of the house; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of the LORD'S glory.


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And the sound of the cherubims' wings was heard even to the outer court, like the voice of the Almighty God when he speaks.


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And it came to pass that when he had commanded the man clothed with linen, saying, Take fire from between the wheels, from between the cherubims; then he went in, and stood beside the wheels.


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And one cherub stretched forth his hand from between the cherubims to the fire that was between the cherubims, and took from it, and put it into the hands of him that was clothed with linen: who took it, and went out.


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And when I looked, behold the four wheels by the cherubims, one wheel by one cherub, and another wheel by another cherub: and the appearance of the wheels was like the color of a beryl stone.


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And as for their appearance, the four had one likeness, as if a wheel had been in the midst of a wheel.


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When they went, they went upon their four sides; they did not turn as they went, but to the place to which the head looked they followed it; they did not turn as they went.


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And their whole body, and their backs, and their hands, and their wings, and the wheels, were full of eyes round about, even the wheels that the four had.


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And every one had four faces: the first face was the face of a cherub, and the second face was the face of a man, and the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.


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And when the cherubims went, the wheels went by them: and when the cherubims lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth, the same wheels also did not turn from beside them.


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When they stood, these stood; and when they were lifted up, these lifted up themselves also: for the spirit of the living creatures was in them.


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And the cherubims lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight: when they went out, the wheels also were beside them, and every one stood at the door of the east gate of the LORD'S house; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.


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These are the living creatures that I saw under the God of Israel by the river of Chebar; and I knew that they were the cherubims.


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Every one had four faces apiece, and every one four wings; and the likeness of the hands of a man was under their wings.


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And the likeness of their faces was the same faces which I saw by the river of Chebar, their appearances and themselves: they went every one straight forward.


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Moreover the spirit lifted me up, and brought me to the east gate of the LORD'S house, which looks eastward: and behold at the door of the gate twenty five men; among whom I saw Jaazaniah the son of Azur, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people.


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Then said he to me, Son of man, these are the men that devise mischief, and give wicked counsel in this city:


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And the Spirit of the LORD fell upon me, and said to me, Speak; Thus says the LORD; Thus have you said, O house of Israel: for I know the things that come into your mind, every one of them.


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You have multiplied your slain in this city, and you have filled the streets thereof with the slain.


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Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; Your slain whom you have laid in the midst of it, they are the flesh, and this city is the caldron: but I will bring you forth out of the midst of it.


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And I will bring you out of the midst thereof, and deliver you into the hands of foreigners, and will execute judgments among you.


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You shall fall by the sword; I will judge you at the border of Israel; and you shall know that I am the LORD.


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This city shall not be your caldron, neither shall you be the flesh in the midst thereof; but I will judge you at the border of Israel:


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And you shall know that I am the LORD: for you have not walked in my statutes, neither executed my judgments, but have done according to the customs of the heathen that are round about you.


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And it came to pass, when I prophesied, that Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died. Then I fell down upon my face, and cried with a loud voice, and said, Ah Lord GOD! will you make a full end of the remnant of Israel?


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Son of man, your brethren, even your brethren, the men of your kindred, and all the house of Israel wholly, are they to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Depart far from the LORD: to us is this land given in possession.


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Therefore say, Thus says the Lord GOD; Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come.


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Therefore say, Thus says the Lord GOD; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.


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And they shall come to there, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof away from there.


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And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh:


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That they may walk in my statutes, and keep my ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.


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But as for those whose heart walks after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, I will recompense their way upon their own heads, says the Lord GOD.


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Then the cherubims lifted up their wings, and the wheels beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.


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And the glory of the LORD went up from the midst of the city, and stood upon the mountain which is on the east side of the city.


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Afterwards the spirit took me up, and brought me in a vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to those of the captivity. So the vision that I had seen went up from me.


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Son of man, you dwell in the midst of a rebellious house, who have eyes to see, and see not; they have ears to hear, and hear not: for they are a rebellious house.


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Therefore, son of man, prepare for yourself things for moving, and depart by day in their sight; and you shall depart from your place to another place in their sight: it may be they will consider, though they be a rebellious house.


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Then shall you bring forth your things by day in their sight, as things for moving: and you shall go forth at evening in their sight, as those who go forth into captivity.


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In their sight shall you carry them upon your shoulders, and carry them out in the twilight: you shall cover your face, so that you do not see the ground: for I have set you as a sign to the house of Israel.


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And I did so as I was commanded: I brought forth my things by day, as things for captivity, and in the evening I dug through the wall with my hand; I brought them out in the twilight, and I carried them upon my shoulder in their sight.


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Say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD; This burden concerns the prince in Jerusalem, and all the house of Israel that are among them.


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Say, I am your sign: as I have done, so shall it be done to them: they shall depart and go into captivity.


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And the prince that is among them shall carry upon his shoulder in the twilight, and shall go out: they shall dig through the wall to carry their things out thereby: he shall cover his face, so that he does not see the ground with his eyes.


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My net also will I spread upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare: and I will bring him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans; yet shall he not see it, though he shall die there.


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And I will scatter toward every wind all that are around him to help him, and all his troops; and I will draw out the sword after them.


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And they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall scatter them among the nations, and disperse them in the countries.


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But I will leave a few men of them from the sword, from the famine, and from the pestilence; that they may declare all their abominations among the heathen to which they come; and they shall know that I am the LORD.


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And say to the people of the land, Thus says the Lord GOD concerning the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the land of Israel; They shall eat their bread with anxiety, and drink their water with astonishment, so that her land may be desolate from all that is therein, because of the violence of all those who dwell therein.


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And the cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, and the land shall be desolate; and you shall know that I am the LORD.


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Son of man, what is that proverb that you have in the land of Israel, saying, The days are prolonged, and every vision fails?


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Tell them therefore, Thus says the Lord GOD; I will make this proverb to cease, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel; but say to them, The days are at hand, and the fulfillment of every vision.


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For I am the LORD: I will speak, and the word that I shall speak shall come to pass; it shall be no more prolonged: for in your days, O rebellious house, will I say the word, and will perform it, says the Lord GOD.


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Son of man, behold, those of the house of Israel say, The vision that he sees is for many days to come, and he prophesies of the times that are far off.


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Therefore say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD; There shall none of my words be prolonged any more, but the word which I have spoken shall be done, says the Lord GOD.


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Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say to those who prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear ye the word of the LORD;


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Thus says the Lord GOD; Woe to the foolish prophets that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!


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You have not gone up into the gaps, neither built up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the LORD.


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They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The LORD says: and the LORD has not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word.


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Have you not seen a vain vision, and have you not spoken a lying divination, in that you say, The LORD says it; although I have not spoken?


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Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; Because you have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, says the Lord GOD.


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And my hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies: they shall not be in the assembly of my people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and you shall know that I am the Lord GOD.


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Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace; and one built up a wall, and, lo, others daubed it with untempered mortar:


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Say to those who daub it with untempered mortar, that it shall fall: there shall be an overflowing rain shower; and you, O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall tear it.


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Lo, when the wall is fallen, shall it not be said to you, Where is the daubing with which you have daubed it?


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Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; I will even tear it with a stormy wind in my fury; and there shall be an overflowing shower in my anger, and great hailstones in my fury to consume it.


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So will I break down the wall that you have daubed with untempered mortar, and bring it down to the ground, so that the foundation thereof shall be uncovered, and it shall fall, and you shall be consumed in the midst thereof: and you shall know that I am the LORD.


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Thus will I accomplish my wrath upon the wall, and upon those who have daubed it with untempered mortar, and will say to you, The wall is no more, neither those who daubed it;


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That is, the prophets of Israel who prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and who see visions of peace for her, and there is no peace, says the Lord GOD.


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Likewise, you son of man, set your face against the daughters of your people, who prophesy out of their own heart; and prophesy against them,


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And say, Thus says the Lord GOD; Woe to the women that sew pillows to all sleeves, and make kerchiefs upon the head of every height to hunt souls! Will you hunt the souls of my people, and will you save the souls alive that come to you?


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And will you pollute me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to slay the souls that should not die, and to save the souls alive that should not live, by your lying to my people that hear your lies?


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Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against your pillows, with which you there hunt the souls to make them fly, and I will tear them from your arms, and will let the souls go, even the souls that you hunt to make them fly.


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Your kerchiefs also will I tear, and deliver my people out of your hand, and they shall be no more in your hand to be hunted; and you shall know that I am the LORD.


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Because with lies you have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life:


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Therefore you shall see no more vanity, nor divine divinations: for I will deliver my people out of your hand: and you shall know that I am the LORD.


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Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face: should I be inquired of at all by them?


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Therefore speak to them, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that sets up his idols in his heart, and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that comes according to the multitude of his idols;


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That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols.


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Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations.


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For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourns in Israel, who separates himself from me, and sets up his idols in his heart, and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to a prophet to inquire of him concerning me; I the LORD will answer him by myself:


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And I will set my face against that man, and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and you shall know that I am the LORD.


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And if the prophet be deceived when he has spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.


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And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity: the punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeks him;


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That the house of Israel may go no more astray from me, neither be polluted any more with all their transgressions; but that they may be my people, and I may be their God, says the Lord GOD.


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Son of man, when the land sins against me by trespassing greatly, then will I stretch out my hand upon it, and will break the staff of the bread thereof, and will send famine upon it, and will cut off man and beast from it:


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Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, says the Lord GOD.


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If I cause hurtful beasts to pass through the land, and they spoil it, so that it be desolate, that no man may pass through because of the beasts:


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Though these three men were in it, as I live, says the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters; they only shall be delivered, but the land shall be desolate.


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Or if I bring a sword upon that land, and say, Sword, go through the land; so that I cut off man and beast from it:


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Though these three men were in it, as I live, says the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only shall be delivered themselves.


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Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my fury upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast:


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Though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, says the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness.


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For thus says the Lord GOD; How much more when I send my four severe judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the hurtful beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast?


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Yet behold, therein shall be left a remnant that shall be brought forth, both sons and daughters: behold, they shall come forth to you, and you shall see their way and their doings: and you shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, even concerning all that I have brought upon it.


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And they shall comfort you, when you see their ways and their doings: and you shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, says the Lord GOD.


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Son of man, What is the vine tree more than any tree, or than a branch which is among the trees of the forest?


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Shall wood be taken from it to do any work? or will men take a peg from it to hang any vessel on it?


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Behold, it is thrown into the fire for fuel; the fire devours both ends of it, and the midst of it is burned. Is it fit for any work?


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Behold, when it was whole, it was fit for no work: how much less shall it still be fit for any work when the fire has devoured it, and it is burned?


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Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; Like the vine tree among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so will I give the inhabitants of Jerusalem.


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And I will set my face against them; they shall go out from one fire, and another fire shall devour them; and you shall know that I am the LORD, when I set my face against them.


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And say, Thus says the Lord GOD to Jerusalem; Your birth and your nativity is of the land of Canaan; your father was an Amorite, and your mother a Hittite.


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And as for your nativity, in the day you were born your navel was not cut, neither were you washed in water to soften you; you were not salted at all, nor swaddled at all.


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No eye pitied you, to do any of these to you, to have compassion upon you; but you were thrown out in the open field, to the loathing of your person, in the day that you were born.


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And when I passed by you, and saw you polluted in your own blood, I said to you when you were in your blood, Live; yea, I said to you when you were in your blood, Live.


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I have caused you to multiply like the plant of the field, and you have increased and become great, and you have acquired excellent ornaments: your breasts are fashioned, and your hair is grown, whereas you were naked and bare.


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Now when I passed by you, and looked upon you, behold, your time was the time of love; and I spread the edge of my mantle over you, and covered your nakedness: yea, I swore to you, and entered into a covenant with you, says the Lord GOD, and you became mine.


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Then I washed you with water; yea, I thoroughly washed away your blood from you, and I anointed you with oil.


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I clothed you also with embroidered work, and shod you with badgers' skin, and I wrapped you in fine linen, and I covered you with silk.


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And I put a jewel on your forehead, and earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown upon your head.


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Thus were you decked with gold and silver; and your raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and embroidered work; you ate fine flour, and honey, and oil: and you were exceedingly beautiful, and you prospered into a kingdom.


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And your renown went forth among the heathen for your beauty: for it was perfect through my comeliness which I had put upon you, says the Lord GOD.


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But you trusted in your own beauty, and played the harlot because of your renown, and poured out your fornications on every one that passed by; his it was.


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And of your garments you took, and decked your high places with various colors, and played the harlot on them: such things shall not come, neither shall it be so.


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You have also taken your fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself images of men, and committed whoredom with them,


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And took your embroidered garments, and covered them: and you have set my oil and my incense before them.


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My food also which I gave you, fine flour, and oil, and honey, with which I fed you, you have even set it before them for a sweet savor: and thus it was, says the Lord GOD.


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Moreover you have taken your sons and your daughters, whom you have borne to me, and these have you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Is this portion of your whoredoms a small matter,


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That you have slain my children, and delivered them to cause them to pass through the fire for them?


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And in all your abominations and your whoredoms you have not remembered the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, and were polluted in your blood.


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That you have also built for yourself a prominent place, and have made yourself a high place in every street.


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You have built your high place at the head of every way, and have made your beauty to be abhorred, and have opened your feet to every one that passed by, and multiplied your whoredoms.


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You have also committed fornication with the Egyptians your neighbors, of large flesh; and have increased your whoredoms, to provoke me to anger.


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Behold, therefore I have stretched out my hand over you, and have reduced your customary food, and delivered you to the will of those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who are ashamed of your lewd way.


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You have played the whore also with the Assyrians, because you were insatiable; yea, you have played the harlot with them, and yet could not be satisfied.


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You have moreover multiplied your fornication in the land of Canaan even to Chaldea; and yet you were not satisfied with this.


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How weak is your heart, says the Lord GOD, seeing you do all these things, the work of a domineering whorish woman;


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In that you build your prominent place at the head of every way, and make your high place in every street; and have not been like a harlot, in that you scorn wages;


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They give gifts to all whores: but you give your gifts to all your lovers, and hire them, that they may come to you on every side for your whoredom.


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And you are not like other women in your whoredoms, in that none follow after you to commit whoredoms: and in that you give a reward, and no reward is given to you, therefore you are different.


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Thus says the Lord GOD; Because your filthiness was poured out, and your nakedness uncovered through your whoredoms with your lovers, and with all the idols of your abominations, and by the shed blood of your children, which you gave to them;


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Behold, therefore I will gather all your lovers with whom you have taken pleasure, and all those whom you have loved, with all those whom you have hated; I will even gather them round about against you, and will uncover your nakedness to them, that they may see all your nakedness.


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And I will judge you, as women that break wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will give you blood in fury and jealousy.


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And I will also give you into their hand, and they shall throw down your prominent place, and shall break down your high places: they shall strip you also of your clothes, and shall take your fair jewels, and leave you naked and bare.


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They shall also bring up a company against you, and they shall stone you with stones, and thrust you through with their swords.


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And they shall burn your houses with fire, and execute judgments upon you in the sight of many women: and I will cause you to cease from playing the harlot, and you also shall give no hire any more.


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So will I make my fury toward you to rest, and my jealousy shall depart from you, and I will be quiet, and will no more be angry.


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Because you have not remembered the days of your youth, but have troubled me in all these things; behold, therefore I also will recompense your way upon your head, says the Lord GOD: and you shall not commit this lewdness above all your abominations.


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Behold, every one that uses proverbs shall use this proverb against you, saying, As is the mother, so is her daughter.


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You are your mother's daughter, that loathes her husband and her children; and you are the sister of your sisters, which loathed their husbands and their children: your mother was a Hittite, and your father an Amorite.


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And your elder sister is Samaria, she and her daughters who dwell at your left hand: and your younger sister, who dwells at your right hand, is Sodom and her daughters.


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Yet you have not walked according to their ways, nor done according to their abominations: but, as if that were a very little thing, you were corrupted more than they in all your ways.


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As I live, says the Lord GOD, Sodom your sister has not done, she nor her daughters, as you have done, you and your daughters.


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Behold, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom, pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.


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And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.


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Neither has Samaria committed half of your sins; but you have multiplied your abominations more than they, and have justified your sisters in all your abominations which you have done.


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You also, who have judged your sisters, bear your own shame for your sins that you have committed more abominable than they have: they are more righteous than you: yea, be perplexed also, and bear your shame, in that you have justified your sisters.


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When I shall bring back their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, then will I bring back the captivity of your captives in the midst of them:


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That you may bear your own shame, and may be brought into perplexity in all that you have done, in that you are a comfort to them.


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When your sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate, then you and your daughters shall return to your former estate.


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Before your wickedness was uncovered, as at the time of your reproach from the daughters of Syria, and all that are round about her, the daughters of the Philistines, which despise you round about.


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For thus says the Lord GOD; I will even deal with you as you have done, who have despised the oath in breaking the covenant.


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Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish for you an everlasting covenant.


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Then you shall remember your ways, and be ashamed, when you shall receive your sisters, your elder and your younger: and I will give them to you as daughters, but not by your covenant.


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That you may remember, and be astonished, and never open your mouth any more because of your shame, when I am pacified toward you for all that you have done, says the Lord GOD.


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And say, Thus says the Lord GOD; A great eagle with great wings, long winged, full of feathers, which had various colors, came to Lebanon, and took the highest branch of the cedar:


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He cut off the top of its young twigs, and carried it into a land of trade; he set it in a city of merchants.


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He took also of the seed of the land, and planted it in a fruitful field; he placed it by great waters, and set it as a willow tree.


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And it grew, and became a spreading vine of low stature, whose branches turned toward him, and the roots thereof were under him: so it became a vine, and brought forth branches, and shot forth foliage.


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There was also another great eagle with great wings and many feathers: and, behold, this vine bent her roots toward him, and shot forth her branches toward him, that he might water it by the furrows of her cultivated fields.


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It was planted in a good soil by great waters, that it might bring forth branches, and that it might bear fruit, that it might be a goodly vine.


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Tell them, Thus says the Lord GOD; Shall it prosper? shall he not pull up the roots thereof, and cut off the fruit thereof, so that it withers? it shall wither in all the leaves of her sprouting, even without great power or many people to pluck it up by the roots thereof.


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Yea, behold, being planted, shall it prosper? shall it not completely wither, when the east wind touches it? it shall wither in the furrows where it grew.


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Say now to the rebellious house, Do you not know what these things mean? tell them, Behold, the king of Babylon has come to Jerusalem, and has taken the king thereof, and the princes thereof, and led them with him to Babylon;


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And has taken of the king's offspring, and made a covenant with him, and has taken an oath of him: he has also taken the mighty of the land:


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That the kingdom might be lowly, that it might not lift itself up, but that by keeping of his covenant it might stand.


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But he rebelled against him in sending his ambassadors into Egypt, that they might give him horses and much people. Shall he prosper? shall he escape who does such things? or shall he break the covenant, and be delivered?


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As I live, says the Lord GOD, surely in the place where the king dwells that made him king, whose oath he despised, and whose covenant he broke, even with him in the midst of Babylon he shall die.


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Neither shall Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company help him in the war, by building up mounds, and building forts, to cut off many persons:


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Seeing he despised the oath by breaking the covenant, when, lo, he had given his hand, and has done all these things, he shall not escape.


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Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; As I live, surely my oath that he has despised, and my covenant that he has broken, even it will I recompense upon his own head.


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And I will spread my net upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare, and I will bring him to Babylon, and will contend with him there for his trespass that he has trespassed against me.


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And all his fugitives with all his bands of people shall fall by the sword, and those who remain shall be scattered toward all winds: and you shall know that I the LORD have spoken it.


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Thus says the Lord GOD; I will also take from the highest branch of the high cedar, and will establish it; I will cut off from the top of his young twigs a tender one, and will plant it upon a high mountain and eminent:


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In the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it: and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar: and under it shall dwell all birds of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell.


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And all the trees of the field shall know that I the LORD have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish: I the LORD have spoken and have done it.


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What do you mean that you use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge?


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Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sins, it shall die.


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And has not eaten upon the mountains, neither has lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, neither has defiled his neighbor’s wife, neither has come near to a menstruous woman,


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And has not oppressed any, but has returned to the debtor his pledge, has plundered none by violence, has given his bread to the hungry, and has covered the naked with a garment;


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He that has not given out at interest, neither has taken any unjust gain, that has withdrawn his hand from iniquity, has executed true judgment between man and man,


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Has walked in my statutes, and has kept my judgments, to deal truly; he is just, he shall surely live, says the Lord GOD.


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If he begets a son that is a robber, a shedder of blood, and that does anything like any one of these things,


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And that does not do any of those duties, but even has eaten upon the mountains, and defiled his neighbor’s wife,


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Has oppressed the poor and needy, has plundered by violence, has not returned the pledge, and has lifted up his eyes to the idols, has committed abomination,


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Has given out at interest, and has taken unjust gain: shall he then live? he shall not live: he has done all these abominations; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon him.


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Now, lo, if he begets a son that sees all his father's sins which he has done, and considers, and does not do likewise,


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That has not eaten upon the mountains, neither has lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, has not defiled his neighbor’s wife,


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Neither has oppressed any, has not withheld the pledge, neither has plundered by violence, but has given his bread to the hungry, and has covered the naked with a garment,


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That has taken away his hand from the poor, that has not received interest nor unjust gain, has executed my judgments, has walked in my statutes; he shall not die for the iniquity of his father, he shall surely live.


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As for his father, because he cruelly oppressed, plundered his brother by violence, and did that which is not good among his people, lo, even he shall die in his iniquity.


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Yet you say, Why? does not the son bear the iniquity of the father? When the son has done that which is lawful and right, and has kept all my statutes, and has done them, he shall surely live.


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The soul that sins, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.


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But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he has committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die.


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All his transgressions that he has committed, they shall not be mentioned to him: in his righteousness that he has done he shall live.


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Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? says the Lord GOD: and not that he should turn back from his ways, and live?


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But when the righteous turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, shall he live? All his righteousness that he has done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he has trespassed, and in his sin that he has sinned, in them shall he die.


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Yet you say, The way of the Lord is not just. Hear now, O house of Israel; Is not my way just? are not your ways unjust?


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When a righteous man turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and dies in his sins; for his iniquity that he has done shall he die.


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Again, when the wicked man turns away from his wickedness that he has committed, and does that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive.


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Because he considers, and turns away from all his transgressions that he has committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die.


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Yet says the house of Israel, The way of the Lord is not just. O house of Israel, are not my ways just? are not your ways unjust?


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Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, says the Lord GOD. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.


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Put away from you all your transgressions, by which you have transgressed; and make yourself a new heart and a new spirit: for why will you die, O house of Israel?


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For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dies, says the Lord GOD: therefore turn yourselves, and live.


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And say, What is your mother? A lioness: she lay down among lions, she nourished her cubs among young lions.


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And she brought up one of her cubs: it became a young lion, and it learned to catch the prey; it devoured men.


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The nations also heard of him; he was taken in their pit, and they brought him with chains to the land of Egypt.


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Now when she saw that she had waited, and her hope was lost, then she took another of her cubs, and made him a young lion.


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And he went up and down among the lions, he became a young lion, and learned to catch the prey, and devoured men.


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And he knew their desolate palaces, and he laid waste their cities; and the land was desolate, and the fullness thereof, by the noise of his roaring.


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Then the nations set out against him on every side from the provinces, and spread their net over him: he was taken in their pit.


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And they put him under guard in chains, and brought him to the king of Babylon: they brought him into strongholds, that his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel.


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Your mother is like a vine of your blood, planted by the waters: she was fruitful and full of branches because of many waters.


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And she had strong rods for the scepters of those who bore rule, and her stature was exalted among the thick branches, and she appeared in her height with the multitude of her branches.


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But she was plucked up in fury, she was thrown down to the ground, and the east wind dried up her fruit: her strong rods were broken and withered; the fire consumed them.


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And fire has gone out of a rod of her branches, which has devoured her fruit, so that she has no strong rod to be a scepter to rule. This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation.


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And it came to pass in the seventh year, in the fifth month, the tenth day of the month, that certain of the elders of Israel came to inquire of the LORD, and sat before me.


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Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD; Are you come to inquire of me? As I live, says the Lord GOD, I will not be inquired of by you.


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Will you judge them, son of man, will you judge them? cause them to know the abominations of their fathers:


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And say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD; In the day when I chose Israel, and lifted up my hand in an oath to the descendents of the house of Jacob, and made myself known to them in the land of Egypt, when I lifted up my hand to them, saying, I am the LORD your God;


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In the day that I lifted up my hand to them, to bring them forth from the land of Egypt into a land that I had seen for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands:


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Then said I to them, Put away every man the abominations of his eyes, and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.


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But they rebelled against me, and would not listen to me: they did not every man put away the abominations of their eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt: then I said, I will pour out my fury upon them, to carry out my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.


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But I acted for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen, among whom they were, in whose sight I made myself known to them, in bringing them forth out of the land of Egypt.


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And I gave them my statutes, and made known to them my judgments, which if a man does, he shall even live in them.


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Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD who sanctifies them.


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But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: they did not walk in my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which if a man does, he shall even live in them; and my sabbaths they greatly polluted: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness, to consume them.


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But I acted for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen, in whose sight I brought them out.


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Yet also I lifted up my hand to them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands;


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Because they despised my judgments, and walked not in my statutes, but polluted my sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols.


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Nevertheless my eye spared them from destroying them, neither did I make an end of them in the wilderness.


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But I said to their children in the wilderness, Do not walk in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols:


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And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that you may know that I am the LORD your God.


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Nevertheless the children rebelled against me: they did not walk in my statutes, neither kept my judgments to do them, which if a man does, he shall even live in them; they polluted my sabbaths: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them, to carry out my anger against them in the wilderness.


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Nevertheless I withdrew my hand, and acted for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted in the sight of the heathen, in whose sight I brought them forth.


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I lifted up my hand to them also in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the heathen, and disperse them through the countries;


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Because they had not executed my judgments, but had despised my statutes, and had polluted my sabbaths, and their eyes were after their fathers' idols.


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Therefore I gave them also statutes that were not good, and judgments by which they should not live;


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And I polluted them in their own gifts to their idols, in that they caused to pass through the fire all that opens the womb, that I might make them desolate, to the end that they might know that I am the LORD.


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Therefore, son of man, speak to the house of Israel, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD; Yet in this your fathers have blasphemed me, in that they have committed a trespass against me.


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For when I had brought them into the land, for which I lifted up my hand to give it to them, then they saw every high hill, and all the thick trees, and they offered there their sacrifices, and there they presented the provocation of their offering: there also they made their sweet savor, and poured out there their drink offerings.


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Then I said to them, What is the high place to which you go? And the name thereof is called Bamah to this day.


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Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD; Are you polluted according to the manner of your fathers? and do you commit whoredom according to their abominations?


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For when you offer your gifts, when you make your sons to pass through the fire, you pollute yourselves with all your idols, even to this day: and shall I be inquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live, says the Lord GOD, I will not be inquired of by you.


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And that which comes into your mind shall not happen at all, that you say, We will be like the heathen, like the families of the countries, to serve wood and stone.


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As I live, says the Lord GOD, surely with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out, will I rule over you:


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And I will bring you out from the people, and will gather you out of the countries in which you are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out.


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And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face.


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As I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, says the Lord GOD.


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And I will cleanse out from among you the rebels, and those who transgress against me: I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel: and you shall know that I am the LORD.


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As for you, O house of Israel, thus says the Lord GOD; Go, serve every one his idols, and henceforth also, if you will not listen to me: but pollute my holy name no more with your gifts, and with your idols.


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For in my holy mountain, in the mountain of the height of Israel, says the Lord GOD, there shall all the house of Israel, all of them in the land, serve me: there will I accept them, and there will I require your offerings, and the first fruits of your oblations, with all your holy things.


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I will accept you with your sweet savor, when I bring you out from the people, and gather you out of the countries in which you have been scattered; and I will be sanctified in you before the heathen.


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And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall bring you into the land of Israel, into the country for which I lifted up my hand to give it to your fathers.


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And there shall you remember your ways, and all your doings, in which you have been defiled; and you shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for all your evils that you have committed.


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And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I have dealt with you for my name's sake, not according to your wicked ways, nor according to your corrupt doings, O you house of Israel, says the Lord GOD.


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Son of man, set your face toward the south, and let your word drop toward the south, and prophesy against the forest of the south country;


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And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus says the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in you, and it shall devour every green tree in you, and every dry tree: the burning flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned in it.


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Son of man, set your face toward Jerusalem, and let your word drop toward the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel,


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And say to the land of Israel, Thus says the LORD; Behold, I am against you, and will draw forth my sword out of its sheath, and will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked.


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Seeing then that I will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked, therefore shall my sword go forth out of its sheath against all flesh from the south to the north:


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That all flesh may know that I the LORD have drawn forth my sword out of its sheath: it shall not return any more.


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Sigh therefore, you son of man, with the anguish of your loins; and with bitterness sigh before their eyes.


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And it shall be, when they say to you, Why do you sigh? that you shall answer, For the tidings; because it comes: and every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be feeble, and every spirit shall faint, and all knees shall be weak as water: behold, it comes, and shall be brought to pass, says the Lord GOD.


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Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus says the LORD; Say, A sword, a sword is sharpened, and also polished:


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It is sharpened to make a great slaughter; it is polished that it may glitter: should we then be glad? it despises the rod of my son, as it does every tree.


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And he has given it to be polished, that it may be handled: this sword is sharpened, and it is polished, to give it into the hand of the slayer.


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Cry and howl, son of man: for it shall be upon my people, it shall be upon all the princes of Israel: terrors because of the sword shall be upon my people: strike therefore upon your thigh.


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Because it is a trial, and what if the sword despises even the rod? it shall be no more, says the Lord GOD.


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You therefore, son of man, prophesy, and strike your hands together, and let the sword be repeated the third time, the sword of the slain: it is the sword of the great men that are slain, which enters into their private chambers.


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I have set the point of the sword against all their gates, that their heart may faint, and their ruins be multiplied: ah! it is made bright, it is wrapped up for the slaughter.


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Also, you son of man, appoint two ways, that the sword of the king of Babylon may come: both of them shall come forth out of one land: and choose a place, choose it at the head of the way to the city.


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Appoint a way, that the sword may come to Rabbath of the Ammonites, and to Judah in Jerusalem the defense.


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For the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination: he made his arrows bright, he consulted with images, he looked in the liver.


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At his right hand was the divination for Jerusalem, to appoint captains, to open the mouth in the slaughter, to lift up the voice with shouting, to appoint battering rams against the gates, to build up a mound, and to build a fort.


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And it shall be to them as a false divination in their sight, to those who have sworn oaths: but he will call to remembrance the iniquity, that they may be taken.


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Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; Because you have made your iniquity to be remembered, in that your transgressions are uncovered, so that in all your doings your sins do appear; because, I say, that you have come to remembrance, you shall be taken with the hand.


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Thus says the Lord GOD; Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: this shall not be the same: exalt him who is low, and abase him who is high.


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I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until he comes whose right it is; and I will give it to him.


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And you, son of man, prophesy and say, Thus says the Lord GOD concerning the Ammonites, and concerning their reproach; even say, The sword, the sword is drawn: for the slaughter it is polished, to consume because of the glittering:


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While they see vanity for you, while they divine a lie for you, to bring you upon the necks of those who are slain, of the wicked, whose day has come, when their iniquity shall have an end.


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Shall I cause it to return into its sheath? I will judge you in the place where you were created, in the land of your nativity.


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And I will pour out my indignation upon you, I will blow against you in the fire of my wrath, and deliver you into the hand of men like beasts, and skilful to destroy.


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You shall be for fuel to the fire; your blood shall be in the midst of the land; you shall be no more remembered: for I the LORD have spoken it.


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Now, you son of man, will you judge, will you judge the bloody city? yea, you shall show her all her abominations.


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Then say, Thus says the Lord GOD, The city sheds blood in the midst of it, that her time may come, and makes idols against herself to defile herself.


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You have become guilty in your blood that you have shed; and have defiled yourself in your idols which you have made; and you have caused your days of punishment to draw near, and have come even to your years: therefore have I made you a reproach to the heathen, and a mocking to all countries.


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Those that be near, and those that be far from you, shall mock you, who are infamous and much troubled.


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In you have they lightly regarded father and mother: in the midst of you have they dealt by oppression with the stranger: in you have they troubled the fatherless and the widow.


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In you are men who tell tales to shed blood: and in you they eat upon the mountains: in the midst of you they commit lewdness.


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In you have they uncovered their fathers' nakedness: in you have they humbled her that was set apart because of uncleanness.


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And one has committed abomination with his neighbor’s wife; and another has lewdly defiled his daughter in law; and another in you has humbled his sister, his father's daughter.


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In you have they taken bribes to shed blood; you have taken interest and unjust gain, and you have greedily gained from your neighbors by extortion, and have forgotten me, says the Lord GOD.


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Behold, therefore I have struck my hand at your dishonest gain which you have made, and at your blood which has been in the midst of you.


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Can your heart endure, or can your hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with you? I the LORD have spoken it, and will do it.


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And I will scatter you among the heathen, and disperse you in the countries, and will consume your filthiness out of you.


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And you shall receive your inheritance in yourself in the sight of the heathen, and you shall know that I am the LORD.


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Son of man, the house of Israel has to me become dross: all of them are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace; they are even the dross of silver.


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Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; Because you have all become dross, behold, therefore I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem.


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As they gather silver, and brass, and iron, and lead, and tin, into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire upon it, to melt it; so will I gather you in my anger and in my fury, and I will leave you there, and melt you.


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Yea, I will gather you, and blow upon you in the fire of my wrath, and you shall be melted in the midst thereof.


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As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall you be melted in the midst thereof; and you shall know that I the LORD have poured out my fury upon you.


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Son of man, say to her, You are the land that is not cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation.


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There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst of her, like a roaring lion devouring the prey; they have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made for her many widows in the midst of her.


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Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned my holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shown any difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.


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Her princes in the midst of her are like wolves devouring the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain.


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And her prophets have daubed them with untempered mortar, seeing vanity, and divining lies to them, saying, Thus says the Lord GOD, when the LORD has not spoken.


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The people of the land have used oppression, and committed robbery, and have troubled the poor and needy: yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully.


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And I sought for a man among them that would build up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land that I should not destroy it: but I found none.


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Therefore have I poured out my indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, says the Lord GOD.


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And they committed whoredoms in Egypt; they committed whoredoms in their youth: there were their breasts pressed, and there they bruised the nipples of their virginity.


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And the names of them were Aholah the elder, and Aholibah her sister: and they were mine, and they bore sons and daughters. Thus were their names; Samaria is Aholah, and Jerusalem Aholibah.


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And Aholah played the harlot when she was mine; and she doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbors,


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Which were clothed with blue, captains and rulers, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding upon horses.


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Thus she committed her whoredoms with them, with all those who were the chosen men of Assyria, and with all on whom she doted: with all their idols she defiled herself.


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Neither did she leave her whoredoms brought from Egypt: for in her youth they lay with her, and they bruised the breasts of her virginity, and poured their whoredom upon her.


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Therefore I have delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians, upon whom she doted.


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These uncovered her nakedness: they took her sons and her daughters, and slew her with the sword: and she became notorious among women; for they had executed judgment upon her.


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And when her sister Aholibah saw this, she was more corrupt in her inordinate love than she, and in her whoredoms more than her sister in her whoredoms.


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She doted upon the Assyrians her neighbors, captains and rulers clothed most gorgeously, horsemen riding upon horses, all of them desirable young men.


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And that she increased her whoredoms: for when she saw men portrayed upon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans portrayed with vermilion,


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Clothed with waistbands upon their loins, excelling in dyed attire upon their heads, all of them princes to look upon, after the manner of the Babylonians of Chaldea, the land of their nativity:


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And as soon as she saw them with her eyes, she doted upon them, and sent messengers to them into Chaldea.


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And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoredom, and she was polluted with them, and her mind was estranged from them.


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So she uncovered her whoredoms, and uncovered her nakedness: then my mind was estranged from her, as my mind was estranged from her sister.


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Yet she multiplied her whoredoms, in calling to remembrance the days of her youth, in which she had played the harlot in the land of Egypt.


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For she doted upon their lovers, whose flesh is like the flesh of donkeys, and whose outflow is like the outflow of horses.


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Thus you called to remembrance the lewdness of your youth, in bruising your nipples by the Egyptians for the paps of your youth.


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Therefore, O Aholibah, thus says the Lord GOD; Behold, I will raise up your lovers against you, from whom your mind is estranged, and I will bring them against you on every side;


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The Babylonians, and all the Chaldeans, Pekod, and Shoa, and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them: all of them desirable young men, captains and rulers, great lords and renowned, all of them riding upon horses.


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And they shall come against you with chariots, wagons, and wheels, and with an assembly of people, who shall set against you buckler and shield and helmet round about: and I will set judgment before them, and they shall judge you according to their judgments.


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And I will set my jealousy against you, and they shall deal furiously with you: they shall take away your nose and your ears; and your remnant shall fall by the sword: they shall take your sons and your daughters; and the rest of you shall be devoured by the fire.


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Thus will I make your lewdness to cease from you, and your whoredom brought from the land of Egypt: so that you shall not lift up your eyes to them, nor remember Egypt any more.


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For thus says the Lord GOD; Behold, I will deliver you into the hand of those whom you hate, into the hand of those from whom your mind is estranged:


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And they shall deal with you hatefully, and shall take away all your labor, and shall leave you naked and bare: and the nakedness of your whoredoms shall be uncovered, both your lewdness and your whoredoms.


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I will do these things to you, because you have gone a whoring after the heathen, and because you are polluted with their idols.


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Thus says the Lord GOD; You shall drink of your sister's deep and large cup: you shall be laughed to scorn and held in derision; it contains much.


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You shall be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, with the cup of astonishment and desolation, with the cup of your sister Samaria.


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You shall even drink it and suck it out, and you shall break the shards thereof, and pluck off your own breasts: for I have spoken it, says the Lord GOD.


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Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; Because you have forgotten me, and thrust me behind your back, therefore you must also bear your lewdness and your whoredoms.


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The LORD said moreover to me; Son of man, will you judge Aholah and Aholibah? yea, declare to them their abominations;


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That they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands, and with their idols have they committed adultery, and have also caused their sons, whom they bore to me, to pass for them through the fire, to devour them.


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Moreover this they have done to me: they have defiled my sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned my sabbaths.


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For when they had slain their children for their idols, then they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it; and, lo, thus have they done in the midst of my house.


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And furthermore, that you have sent for men to come from afar, to whom a messenger was sent; and, lo, they came: for whom you washed yourself, painted your eyes, and decked yourself with ornaments,


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And sat upon a stately bed, and a table prepared before it, upon which you have set my incense and my oil.


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And the sound of a multitude being at ease was with her: and with the men of the common sort were brought Sabeans from the wilderness, who put bracelets on their hands, and beautiful crowns on their heads.


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Then said I to her that was old in adulteries, Will they now commit whoredoms with her, and she with them?


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Yet they went in to her, as they go in to a woman who plays the harlot: so went they in to Aholah and to Aholibah, the lewd women.


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And the righteous men, they shall judge them according to the manner of adulteresses, and according to the manner of women that shed blood; because they are adulteresses, and blood is in their hands.


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For thus says the Lord GOD; I will bring up a company of people upon them, and will give them to be removed and plundered.


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And the company shall stone them with stones, and dispatch them with their swords; they shall slay their sons and their daughters, and burn up their houses with fire.


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Thus will I cause lewdness to cease out of the land, that all women may be taught not to do according to your lewdness.


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And they shall recompense your lewdness upon you, and you shall bear the sins of your idols: and you shall know that I am the Lord GOD.


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Again in the ninth year, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me, saying,


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Son of man, write the name of the day, even of this same day: the king of Babylon set himself against Jerusalem this same day.


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And speak a parable to the rebellious house, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD; Set down a pot, set it on the fire, and also pour water into it:


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Gather its pieces into it, even every good piece, the thigh, and the shoulder; fill it with the choice bones.


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Take the choice of the flock, and burn also the bones under it, and make it boil well, and let them boil the bones of it therein.


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Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; Woe to the bloody city, to the pot whose scum is in it, and whose scum has not gone out of it! bring it out piece by piece; let no lot be cast concerning it.


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For her blood is in the midst of her; she put it upon the top of a rock; she did not pour it upon the ground, to cover it with dust;


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That it might cause fury to come up to take vengeance; I have put her blood upon the top of a rock, that it should not be covered.


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Then place the pot empty upon the coals thereof, that the brass of it may be hot, and may burn, and that the filthiness of it may be molten in it, that the scum of it may be consumed.


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She has wearied herself with lies, and her great scum did not go forth out of her: her scum shall be in the fire.


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In your filthiness is lewdness: because I have cleansed you, and you were not cleansed, you shall not be cleansed from your filthiness any more, till I have caused my fury to rest upon you.


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I the LORD have spoken it: it shall come to pass, and I will do it; I will not go back, neither will I spare, neither will I repent; according to your ways, and according to your doings, shall they judge you, says the Lord GOD.


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Son of man, behold, I take away from you the desire of your eyes with a stroke: yet neither shall you mourn nor weep, neither shall your tears run down.


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Do not cry, make no mourning for the dead, bind the turban of your head upon you, and put your shoes on your feet, and do not cover your lips, and do not eat the bread from men.


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So I spoke to the people in the morning: and at evening my wife died; and I did in the morning as I was commanded.


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Speak to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD; Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the excellence of your strength, the desire of your eyes, and that which your soul pities; and your sons and your daughters whom you have left shall fall by the sword.


