# verses

text:
Then his people remembered the days of old, of Moses. Where is the one who led up them from the sea with the shepherds of his flock? Where is the one who puts his Holy Spirit inside him,


text:
who made his magnificent arm move at the right hand of Moses, who divided the waters before them, to make an everlasting name for himself,


text:
like cattle in the valley that goes down, the Spirit of Yahweh gave him rest, so you lead your people to make a magnificent name for yourself.


text:
Look from heaven, and see from the lofty residence of your holiness and glory. Where are your zeal and strength? Your compassion and mercy to me hold themselves back.


text:
For you are our father, although Abraham does not know us, and Israel does not acknowledge us. You, Yahweh are our father, Our Redeemer from of old is your name.


text:
Why do you make us wander, Yahweh? You harden our heart from your ways so that we do not fear you. Turn back for the sake of your servants, the tribes of your inheritance.


text:
Your holy people took possession for a little while; our adversaries have trampled down your sanctuary.


text:
as fire kindles brushwood, the fire causes water to boil, to make your name known to your adversaries, that the nations might tremble from your presence.


text:
When you did terrible deeds which we did not expect, you came down; the mountains quaked because of your presence.


text:
And since ancient times they have not heard, have not listened, no eye has seen a God except you; he acts for the one who waits for him.


text:
You meet with the one who rejoices, one who does righteousness. In your ways they remember you. Look! You were angry and we sinned against them in ancient times and we were saved.


text:
And we all have become like the unclean, and all our deeds of justice like a menstrual cloth, And we all wither like a leaf, and our iniquities take us away like the wind.


text:
And there is no one who calls on your name, who pulls himself up to keep hold of you, for you have hidden your face from us, and melted us into the hand of our iniquity.


text:
Yet now Yahweh, you are our father; we are the clay and you are our potter, and we all are the work of your hand.


text:
You must not be exceedingly angry, Yahweh, and you must not remember iniquity forever! Look! Behold, now! We all are your people!


text:
Our holy and beautiful temple, where our ancestors praised you has been burned by fire, and all our precious objects have become ruins.


text:
Will you control yourself because of these, Yahweh? Will you be silent? And will you oppress us exceedingly?


text:
“I let myself be sought by those who did not ask; I let myself be found by those who did not seek me. I said, ‘Here I am; here I am!’ to a nation that did not call on my name;


text:
I spread out my hands all day to a stubborn people, those who walk after their thoughts in the way that is not good,


text:
the people who provoke me to anger continually to my face, slaughtering for sacrifices in the garden, and making smoke offerings on bricks,


text:
who sit in graves and spend the night in secret places, who eat the flesh of swine with a fragment of impurity in their vessels,


text:
who say, “ Keep to yourself ! You must not come near me, for I am too holy for you!” These are a smoke in my nostrils, a fire burning all day.


text:
Look! It is written before me: I will not be silent, but I will repay; and I will repay in the fold of their garment


text:
your iniquities and the iniquities of your ancestors together, says Yahweh, because they made smoke offerings on the mountains and they taunted me on the hills, I will measure their punishment from the beginning into the fold of their garment.”


text:
Thus says Yahweh: “Just as the new wine is found in the cluster, and they say ‘You must not destroy it, for there is a blessing in it,’ so I will do for the sake of my servants by not destroying everyone.


text:
And I will bring descendant s out from Jacob, and a people from Judah to take possession of my mountain, and my chosen ones shall inherit it, and my servants shall settle there.


text:
And Sharon shall become a pasture for flocks, and the valley of Achor a resting place for herds for my people who have sought me.


text:
But you who forsake Yahweh, forgetting my holy mountain, who set a table for Fortune, and who pour out a jug of mixed wine for Destiny,


text:
and I will remit you to the sword, and all of you shall bow down to the slaughter, because I called, but you did not answer; I spoke, but you did not listen, but you did the evil in my eyes, and you chose that in which I do not delight.”


text:
Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Look! My servants shall eat but you, you shall be hungry. Look! My servants shall drink but you, you shall be thirsty. Look! My servants shall rejoice but you, you shall be ashamed.


text:
And you shall leave your name to my chosen ones as a curse, and the Lord Yahweh will kill you, and he will give his servants another name.


text:
Whoever blesses himself in the land shall bless himself by the God of trustworthiness, and the one who swears an oath in the land shall swear by the God of trustworthiness, because the former troubles are forgotten, and they are hidden from my eyes.


text:
For look! I am about to create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered, and they shall not come to mind.


text:
But rejoice and shout in exultation forever and ever over what I am about to create! For look! I am about to create Jerusalem as a source of rejoicing, and her people as a source of joy.


text:
And I will shout in exultation over Jerusalem, and I will rejoice over my people, and the sound of weeping shall no longer be heard in it, or the sound of a cry for help.


text:
There will no longer be a nursing infant who lives only a few days, or an old man who does not fill his days, for the boy will die a hundred years old, and the one who fails to reach a hundred years will be considered accursed.


text:
They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat. For the days of my people shall be like the days of a tree, and my chosen ones shall enjoy the work of their hands.


text:
They shall not labor for nothing, and they shall not give birth to horror, for they shall be offspring blessed by Yahweh, and their descendants with them.


text:
And this will happen: before they call, I myself will answer; while still they are speaking, I myself will hear.


text:
The wolf and the lamb shall feed like one, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox, but dust shall be the serpent’s food. They shall do no evil, and they shall not destroy on all my holy mountain,” says Yahweh.


text:
Thus says Yahweh: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is the footstool for my feet. Where is this house that you would build for me? And where is this resting place for me?


text:
And my hand has made all these things, and all these came to be,” declares Yahweh, “but I look to this one: to the humble and the contrite of spirit and the one frightened at my word.


text:
The one who slaughters a bull strikes a man; the one who slaughters a lamb for sacrifice breaks the neck of a dog. The one who offers an offering, the blood of swine; the one who offers frankincense blesses an idol. Indeed, they themselves have chosen their ways, and their soul delights in their abhorrence.


text:
Indeed, I myself I will choose their ill treatment, and I will bring them objects of their dread, because I called, and no one answered; I spoke and they did not listen, but they did the evil in my eyes, and they chose that in which I do not delight.”


text:
Hear the word of Yahweh, you who are frightened at his word: Your brothers who hate you, who exclude you for my name’s sake have said, “Let Yahweh be honored so that we may see your joy!” But they themselves shall be ashamed.


text:
A voice, an uproar from the city! A voice from the temple! The voice of Yahweh paying back his enemies!


text:
Who has heard anything like this? Who has seen anything like these things? Can a land be born in one day? Or can a nation be born in a moment? Yet when she was in labor, Zion indeed gave birth to her children.


text:
Shall I myself I break open and not deliver?” says Yahweh, “or I who delivers lock up the womb?” says your God.


text:
“Rejoice with Jerusalem and shout in exultation with her, all those who love her! Rejoice with her in joy, all those who mourn over her,


text:
so that you may suck and be satisfied from her consoling breast, so that you may drink deeply and refresh yourselves from her heavy breast.”


text:
For thus says Yahweh: “Look! I am about to spread prosperity out to her like a river, and the wealth of the nations like an overflowing stream, and you shall suck and be carried on the hip; and you shall you shall be played with on the knees.


text:
As a man whose mother comforts him, so I myself will comfort you, and you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.


text:
And you shall see and your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like the grass, and the hand of Yahweh shall make itself known to his servants, and he shall curse his enemies.


text:
For look! Yahweh will come in fire, and his chariots like the storm wind, to give back his anger in wrath, and his rebuke in flames of fire.


text:
For Yahweh enters into judgment on all flesh with fire and his sword, and those slain by Yahweh shall be many.


text:
Those who sanctify themselves and those who cleanse themselves to go into the gardens after the one in the middle, eating the flesh of swine and detestable things and rodents together shall come to an end!” declares Yahweh.


text:
“And I—their works and thoughts!— am about to come to gather all nations and tongues, and they shall come and see my glory.


text:
And I will set a sign among them, and I will send survivors from them to the nations: Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, who draw the bow; Tubal and Javan, the faraway coastlands that have not heard of my fame, and have not seen my glory. And they shall declare my glory among the nations,


text:
and bring all your countrymen from all the nations as an offering to Yahweh on horses and chariots and in litters and on mules and camels, to my holy mountain, Jerusalem,” says Yahweh, “just as the sons of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel to the house of Yahweh.


text:
“For just as the new heavens and earth that I am about to make shall stand before me,” declares Yahweh, “so shall your descendants and your name stand.


text:
And this shall happen: From new moon to new moon and from Sabbath to Sabbath all flesh shall come to bow in worship before me,” says Yahweh.


text:
“And they shall go out and look at the corpses of the people who have rebelled against me, for their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.”


text:
The words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, among the priests who were in Anathoth, in the land of Benjamin,


text:
to whom the word of Yahweh came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, the king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.


text:
It came also in the days of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, until the exile of Jerusalem in the fifth month.


text:
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you came out from the womb I consecrated you; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”


text:
But Yahweh said to me, “You must not say, ‘I am a youth,’ for to whomever I send you, you will go, and whatever I command you, you will speak.


text:
Then Yahweh stretched out his hand and he touched my mouth, and Yahweh said to me, “Look, I have put my words in your mouth.


text:
See, I appoint you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, and to destroy and to tear down, to build and to plant.”


text:
And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, “What are you seeing, Jeremiah?” And I said, “I am seeing a branch of an almond tree.”


text:
And the word of Yahweh came to me a second time, saying, “What are you seeing?” And I said, “I am seeing a boiling pot, and its face is from the face of the north.”


text:
Then Yahweh said to me, “From the north disaster will be unleashed on all the inhabitants of the land.


text:
For, look, I am calling to all the clans of the kingdoms of the north,” declares Yahweh, “and they will come and set each one his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all its surrounding walls, and against all the cities of Judah.


text:
And I will pass my judgments on them because of all their wickedness in that they have forsaken me, and they made sacrifices to other gods, and they bowed in worship to the works of their hands.


text:
But you, you must gird your loins, and stand, and speak to them all that I command you. Do not be afraid of them, or I will shatter you before them.


text:
Now look, I have made you today as a fortified city and as an iron pillar and a bronze wall against all the land, against the kings of Judah, against its princes, against its priests, and against the people of the land.


text:
And they will fight against you but they will not prevail against you, for I am with you,” declares Yahweh, “to deliver you.”


text:
“Go and proclaim in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Thus says Yahweh, “I remember concerning you the loyal love of your childhood, the love of your betrothal-time, your going after me in the desert, in the land not sown.


text:
Israel was holy to Yahweh, the first fruit of his produce. All those who ate it were held guilty; disaster came to them,” declares Yahweh.’ ”


text:
Thus says Yahweh: “What injustice did your ancestors find in me that they were far from me, and they went after the vanity, and they became vain?


text:
And they did not say, ‘Where is Yahweh, the one who brought us up from the land of Egypt, the one who led us in the desert, in a land of desert plains and gorges, in a land of dryness and deep darkness, in a land that no one passes through, and no human lives there?’


text:
And I brought you to the land of the orchard, to eat its fruit, and its good things. But you entered and defiled my land, and my inheritance you made a detestable thing.


text:
The priests did not say, ‘Where is Yahweh?’ and those who handle the law did not know me, and the shepherds have rebelled against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and they went after things which do not profit.


text:
Therefore I again bring a lawsuit against you,” declares Yahweh, “and with your children I bring a lawsuit.


text:
For go over to the coasts of Cyprus and look, and send to Kedar and consider very closely, and see if there has been a thing like this:


text:
Has a nation exchanged gods? And they are not gods! But my people have exchanged their glory for that which does not profit.


text:
“For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the source of living water, to hew out for themselves cisterns, cracked cisterns that can hold no water.


text:
The young lions have roared against him, they have raised their voices. And they have made his land as horror; his cities are destroyed, without an inhabitant.


text:
Did you not do this to yourself, by forsaking Yahweh, your God, at the time of your leading in the way?


text:
And now why do you go the way of Egypt to drink the waters of the Shihor? And why do you go the way of Assyria to drink the waters of the Euphrates?


text:
Your wickedness will chastise you, and your apostasies will reprove you. Therefore know and see that it is evil and bitter, your forsaking of Yahweh, your God, and fear of me is not in you,” declares the Lord, Yahweh of hosts.


text:
“For from long ago you have broken your yoke, you tore to pieces your bonds. And you said, ‘I will not serve!’ But on every high hill and under every leafy tree you were lying down as a prostitute.


text:
Yet I planted you as a choice vine, all of it a seed of trustworthiness. How then have you altered before me into something that is degenerate, the foreign vine?


text:
For if you wash with natron, and you use much soap, your guilt is sticking as a stain before me,” declares the Lord Yahweh.


text:
“How can you say, ‘I have not defiled myself, I have not gone after the Baals?’ Look at your way in the valley, know what you have done. You are a young she-camel, interweaving her ways.


text:
A wild ass accustomed to the desert, in the desire of her soul. She gasps for wind in her rutting time. Who can quell her lust? All those who seek her will not grow weary, in her month they will find her.


text:
Restrain your foot from being barefoot, and your throat from thirst. But you said, ‘ It is hopeless. No! For I have loved strangers, and after them I will go.’


text:
As the shame of a thief when he is caught in the act, so the house of Israel will be ashamed. They, their kings, their officials, and their priests, and their prophets.


text:
Those who say to the tree, ‘You are my father,’ and to the stone, ‘You gave birth to me.’ For they have turned their backs to me, and not their faces. But in the time of their trouble they say, ‘Arise and save us.’


text:
But where are your gods that you made for yourself? Let them arise if they can save you in the time of your trouble. For according to the number of your towns are your gods, O Judah.


text:
“For in vain I have struck your children. They accepted no discipline. Your sword devoured your prophets, like a ravening lion.


text:
O generation, you see the word of Yahweh. Have I been a desert to Israel? Or a land of great darkness? Why do my people say, ‘We roam about freely, we will not come again to you’?


text:
Can a young woman forget her ornaments? Or a bride her sashes? Yet my people have forgotten me days without number.


text:
How well you do on your way to seek love! Therefore even to the wicked woman you can teach your ways.


text:
Also on your skirts is found the blood of the life of the innocent, the poor. You did not find them in the act of breaking into a house. But in spite of all these things,


text:
yet you say, ‘But I am innocent, surely his anger has turned away from me.’ Look, I am entering into judgment with you because of your saying, ‘I have not sinned.’


text:
How you go about so much changing your way! Also by Egypt you will be put to shame, just as you were put to shame by Assyria.


text:
Also from there you will come out with your hands on your head, for Yahweh has rejected those in whom you trust, and you will not prosper through them.


text:
A saying: ‘Look, if a man divorces his wife, and she goes from him and she becomes another man’s wife, will he return to her again?’ Will not that land be greatly defiled? And you have prostituted yourself with many lovers, would you now return to me?” declares Yahweh.


text:
“Lift up your eyes at the barren heights, and see where you have not been ravished. Beside the roads you sat for them like an Arab in the desert, and you have defiled the land with your fornication and with your wickedness.


text:
Therefore rain showers have been withheld, and the spring rain has not come. Yet you have the forehead of a woman prostitute, you refuse to be ashamed.


text:
Will he be angry forever? Will he maintain it always ’? Look, you have spoken, but you have done all the evil that you could.”


text:
Then Yahweh said to me in the days of Josiah, the king, “Have you seen what apostate Israel has done? She has gone on every high hill and under every leafy tree and she has prostituted herself there.


text:
And I thought, ‘After her doing all these things to me she will return,’ but she did not return. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it.


text:
And I saw that for this very reason, that on account of apostate Israel committing adultery I divorced her and gave the letter of divorce to her. Yet her treacherous sister Judah was not afraid and she went and prostituted herself also.


text:
And it was because of the frivolity of her fornication that she defiled the land and committed adultery with the stone and with the tree.


text:
Yet even in all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me with all her heart, but only in pretense,” declares Yahweh.


text:
Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, ‘Return, apostate Israel,’ declares Yahweh. ‘I will not cause my anger to fall on you. For I am loyal,’ declares Yahweh. ‘I will not be angry forever.


text:
Only acknowledge your guilt, that against Yahweh your God you have rebelled, and have scattered your ways to the strangers under every leafy tree, and you have not obeyed my voice,’ declares Yahweh.”


text:
“Return, apostate children,” declares Yahweh. “For I am your master, and I will take you one from a city and two from a clan, and I will bring you to Zion.


text:
And it will be when you have multiplied and become fruitful in the land in those days,” declares Yahweh, “they will no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of Yahweh.’ And it will not come to mind, nor will they remember it, nor will they miss it, nor will it be made again.


text:
At that time they will call Jerusalem ‘The Throne of Yahweh,’ and all the nations will be gathered to it, to the name of Yahweh, to Jerusalem, and they will no longer go after the stubbornness of their evil heart.


text:
In those days the house of Judah will walk along with the house of Israel and they will come together from the land of the north to the land that I gave as an inheritance to your ancestors.


text:
Then I thought, ‘How I would set you among the children, and I would give you a land of desire, an inheritance of the glory of the hosts of nations.’ And I thought, ‘You would call me, “My father,” and you would not turn back from behind me.’


text:
However, as a wife departs treacherously from her lover, so you have dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel,” declares Yahweh.


text:
“A voice is heard on the barren heights, the weeping of the pleas for mercy of the children of Israel, because they have perverted their way, they have forgotten Yahweh their God.


text:
Return, O apostate children, I will heal your backsliding. ‘Look, we come to you, for you are Yahweh our God.


text:
Surely, an illusion comes from the hills, the turmoil on the mountains. Surely, in Yahweh our God is the salvation of Israel.


text:
But the shameful thing has devoured the labor of our ancestors from our youth, their flocks, and their cattle, their sons and their daughters.


text:
Let us lie down in our shame, and let our disgrace cover us. For against Yahweh our God we have sinned, we and our ancestors, from our youth and until this day. and we have not obeyed the voice of Yahweh our God.’


text:
If you return, O Israel,” declares Yahweh, “you return to me. And if you remove your abominations from my presence, and you do not wander,


text:
and you swear, ‘ As Yahweh lives,’ in truth, in justice, and in righteousness, then nations will be blessed by him, and in him they will boast.”


text:
For thus says Yahweh to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, “Break up for yourselves prepared virgin soil, and you must not sow among thornbushes.


text:
Circumcise yourselves to Yahweh, and remove the foreskins of your hearts, men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, lest my wrath goes forth like the fire and burns, and there is no one who extinguishes it, because of the evil of your deeds.”


text:
Declare in Judah and proclaim in Jerusalem and say, “Blow a horn through the land, call with a loud voice and say, ‘Be gathered and let us go into the fortified cities.’


text:
Lift up a signal toward Zion, bring yourselves to safety; you must not remain standing, for I am bringing evil from the north, and a great destruction.


text:
A lion has gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations has set out. He has gone out from his place to make your land as a horror, your cities will go to ruin without inhabitant.


text:
Because of this gird yourselves with sackcloth, lament and wail, for the burning anger of Yahweh has not turned back from us.


text:
And then on that day,” declares Yahweh, “the heart of the king and the heart of the officials will be destroyed, and the priests will be appalled, and the prophets will be astonished.”


text:
Then I said, “Ah, Lord Yahweh, surely you have utterly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘It will be peace for you,’ while the sword reaches up to the throat.”


text:
At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “ A hot wind from the barren heights in the desert, in the direction of the daughter of my people, not to winnow and not to cleanse,


text:
Look, he comes up like the clouds, and his chariots are like the whirlwind, his horses are swifter than eagles, woe to us, for we are devastated.


text:
Cleanse your heart from wickedness, O Jerusalem, so that you may be saved. How long will your thoughts of mischief dwell in your inner part?


text:
“Report to the nations, ‘Here they are!’ Proclaim against Jerusalem, ‘Besiegers are coming from a distant land, and they raise their voice against the cities of Judah.’


text:
Like watchers of a field they were against her from all around, because she has rebelled against me,” declares Yahweh.


text:
“You obtained this for yourself because of your way and your deeds. This is your doom, for it is bitter, yes, it has reached up to your heart.”


text:
My bowels, my bowels! I writhe! The walls of my heart! My heart is restless within me, I cannot keep silent, for I hear in my inner self the sound of a horn, the alarm of war.


text:
Destruction on destruction is proclaimed, for all of the land is devastated. Suddenly my tents are devastated, my tent curtains in a moment.


text:
“For my people are foolish, they have not known me. They are foolish children, and they do not have insight. They are skillful at doing evil, and they do not know how to do good.”


text:
I looked at the earth, and behold, it was wasteland and emptiness, and to the heavens, and they were without their light.


text:
I looked at the mountains, and behold, they were quaking, and all of the hills were jolted to and fro.


text:
I looked and behold, the fruitful land was a desert, and all of its cities were ruined before Yahweh, before the face of his burning anger.


text:
For thus says Yahweh, “All of the land will be a desolation, yet I will not make a complete desolation.


text:
Because of this the earth will mourn, and the heavens above will become dark. Because I have spoken, I have planned, and I have not relented, and I will not turn back from it.”


text:
From the sound of a horseman and an archer every town flees, they enter in the thickets and among the rocks they climb. Every town is forsaken, and there is no person who lives in them.


text:
And you, O devastated one, what do you do, that you put on crimson, that you adorn yourself with ornaments of gold, that you make your eyes look bigger with the eye make-up? In vain you beautify yourself. Your lovers reject you; they seek your life.


text:
For I heard a voice like an ill woman, anxiety like a woman who bears her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion. She is gasping for breath, she is spreading out her hands: “Woe is me, for I am becoming tired before killers.”


text:
“Roam about through the streets of Jerusalem, and look please, and take note, and search at its public squares, if you can find a person who does justice, who seeks honesty, so that I may forgive it.


text:
O Yahweh, do not your eyes look for honesty? You have struck them, but they felt no pain, you have destroyed them, they refused to take discipline. They have hardened their faces more than rock, they have refused to turn back.


text:
Then I said, “ They are just simple people, they are foolish, for they know not the way of Yahweh, the law of their God.


text:
Let me go to the great, and let me speak with them, for they know the way of Yahweh, the law of their God.” However, they together have broken the yoke, they have torn to pieces the bonds.


text:
Therefore a lion from the forest will kill them, A wolf from the desert plains will devastate them. A leopard is watching their cities, everyone who goes out from there will be torn, because their transgressions are many, their apostasies are numerous.


text:
“ How can I forgive you? Your children have forsaken me, and they have sworn by those who are not gods. But I fed them to the full, and they committed adultery, and flocked to the house of a prostitute.


text:
Because of these things shall I not punish?” declares Yahweh, “and on a nation who is like this, shall I not take revenge?


text:
Go up through her vineyards and destroy, but you must not make complete destruction. Remove her branches, for they are not to Yahweh.


text:
For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt utterly treacherously with me,” declares Yahweh.


text:
“They have denied Yahweh, and have said, ‘Not he, for evil will not come on us, we will see neither sword nor famine.


text:
Therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of hosts, “Because you have spoken this word, look, I am making my words in your mouth like a fire, and this people wood, and it will devour them.


text:
Look, I am about to bring on you a nation from afar, O house of Israel,” declares Yahweh. “It is an enduring nation, it is an ancient nation. A nation whose language you do not know, and you cannot understand what they speak.


text:
And they will eat your harvest and your food, they will eat your sons and your daughters, they will eat your flock and your herd, they will eat your vine and your fig tree, they will smash with the sword your fortified cities, in which you trust.


text:
And then, when you people say, ‘Why has Yahweh our God done all of these things to us?’ Then you will say to them, ‘As you have forsaken me and have served gods of a foreign land in your land, so will you serve strangers in a land that does not belong to you.’


text:
‘Hear this please, O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear.’


text:
Do you not revere me?” declares Yahweh, “Do you not tremble before me? For I have placed the sand as a boundary for the sea, as an everlasting limit, and it cannot pass over it, and they rise and fall loudly, but they cannot prevail, and its waves roar, but they cannot pass over it.


text:
And they do not say in their hearts, ‘Let us fear please Yahweh our God, the one who gives the autumn rain and the spring rain in its season, the set times of the harvest he keeps for us.’


text:
For wicked people are found among my people, they lie in wait like the hiding of fowlers, they set up a trap, they catch humans.


text:
Like a cage full of birds, so their houses are full of fraud. Therefore they have become great, and they have become rich.


text:
They have grown fat, they have grown sleek, also, their evil deeds have no limit. They do not judge with justice, the legal cause of the orphan, or allow it to succeed, and the legal case of the poor, they do not defend.


text:
The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority, and my people love it so much. But what will you do when the end comes?


text:
Flee for safety, O children of Benjamin, from the midst of Jerusalem. And in Tekoa blow a horn, and on Beth-haccherem lift up a signal, for evil looks down from the north, and a great destruction.


text:
Shepherds and their flocks will come against her, they will pitch their tents against her all around, they will pasture, each his portion.


text:
Sanctify war against her. Arise, and let us attack at noon. Woe to us, for the day turns, for the shadows of evening are lengthened.


text:
For thus says Yahweh of hosts, “Cut down trees and heap up a siege ramp against Jerusalem. This is the city that must be punished, its oppression is in its midst.


text:
As a water well keeps its water cool, so she keeps cool her wickedness. Violence and destruction are heard within her, sickness and wounds are continually before me.


text:
Be warned, O Jerusalem, lest I turn away from you in disgust, lest I make you a desolation, a land that is not inhabited.”


text:
Thus says Yahweh of hosts: “They will thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine, turn back your hand over the branches like a grape-gatherer.


text:
To whom shall I speak and admonish, that they may hear? Look, their ears are closed, and they are not able to listen attentively. Look, the word of Yahweh is to them an object of scorn, they do not delight in it.


text:
But I am full with the wrath of Yahweh, I struggle to hold it in. Pour it out on the children in the street, and on the assemblies of young men at the same time. For even husband with wife will get trapped, the old with him who is full of days.


text:
And their houses will be turned over to others, their fields and their wives together. For I will stretch out my hand against the inhabitants of the land,” declares Yahweh.


text:
“For from the smallest of them to the greatest of them, everyone makes profit for unlawful gain. And from the prophet to the priest, everyone practices deceit.


text:
And they have treated the wound of my people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ but there is no peace.


text:
Have they acted ashamed, for they have committed a detestable thing? Not at all, nor were they ashamed; they did not know to feel humiliated. Therefore they will fall among those who fall at the time I punish them, they will stumble,” says Yahweh.


text:
Thus says Yahweh: “Stand at the roads and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the way of the good is, and walk in it, and find rest for your inner selves. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’


text:
And I raised up watchmen over you: ‘Listen attentively to the sound of a horn.’ But they said, ‘We will not listen attentively.’


text:
Hear, O earth, look, I am about to bring disaster to this people, the fruit of their plans, because they have not listened attentively to my words, and my teaching, they have rejected it also.


text:
What is this to me? Frankincense comes from Sheba, and the precious spice reed from a distant land. Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, your sacrifices are not pleasing to me.”


text:
Therefore thus says Yahweh: “Look, I am about to put before this people stumbling blocks, and they will stumble against them, fathers and children together, neighbor and his friend will perish.”


text:
Thus says Yahweh: “Look, a people is coming from the land of the north, a great nation is woken up from the farthest part of the earth.


text:
The bow and the short sword they grasp are cruel, and they show no mercy. Their sound roars like the sea, and on horses they ride, drawn up like a man for battle against you, O daughter of Zion.”


text:
We have heard news of it, our hands grow slack, anxiety has grasped us, pain as a woman who gives birth.


text:
You must not go out into the field, and you must not walk on the road, for the enemy has a sword, terror is all around.


text:
O daughter of my people, gird yourself with sackcloth, and roll about in the ashes in mourning, a mourning ceremony as for an only child. Make for yourself wailing of bitterness, for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us.


text:
“I have made you an assayer among my people, a fortification, so that you may know and put to the test their ways.


text:
All of them are stubborn rebels, going about talking slander. They are bronze and iron, they are all behaving corruptly.


text:
The bellows are burned up, lead is consumed by fire. In vain he keeps on refining, but the wicked are not torn apart.


text:
“Stand in the gate of the house of Yahweh and proclaim there this word, and say, ‘Hear the word of Yahweh, all of Judah, those who enter through these gates to bow in worship to Yahweh.


text:
Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “Make your ways and your deeds good and let me dwell with you in this place.


text:
Do not trust in the deceitful words, saying, ‘The temple of Yahweh, the temple of Yahweh, they are the temple of Yahweh.’


text:
For if you truly make your ways and your deeds good, if you truly do justice between a man and his neighbor,


text:
you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow, you do not shed innocent blood in this place, and you do not go after other gods to your harm,


text:
then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your ancestors forever and ever.


text:
Will you steal? Will you murder? And will you commit adultery? And will you swear falsely? And will you make a smoke offering to the Baal? And will you go after other gods whom you have not known?


text:
And then you come and you stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and you say, ‘we are safe to go on doing all of these detestable things.’


text:
Has this house, which is called by my name, become a cave of robbers in your eyes? Look, I, even I, have seen it,” declares Yahweh.


text:
“For go now to my place that was in Shiloh, where I caused my name to dwell in the beginning, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel.


text:
And now, because of your doing all these things,” declares Yahweh, “and I have spoken to you over and over again, and you have not listened, and I called you, and you have not answered,


text:
therefore I will do to the house that is called by my name, in which you are trusting, and to the place that I gave to you and to your ancestors what I did to Shiloh.


text:
And I will cast you out of my sight just as I cast out all of your blood relatives, all of the offspring of Ephraim.” ’


text:
“And you, you must not pray for this people, and you must not lift up for them a cry of entreaty or a prayer, and you must not plead with me, for I will not hear you.


text:
The children are gathering wood, and the fathers are kindling the fire, and the women are kneading dough to make sacrificial cakes for the queen of heaven, and they pour out libations to other gods for the sake of provoking me to anger.


text:
Are they provoking me to anger? ” declares Yahweh, “ Is it not themselves they hurt, for the sake of the shame of their faces?”


text:
Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh, “Look, my anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place, on the humankind, and on the animal, and on the tree of the field, and on the fruit of the ground, and it will not be extinguished.”


text:
Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat the flesh.


text:
For I did not speak with your ancestors, nor did I command them in the day of bringing them out from the land of Egypt, concerning the matter of burnt offering and sacrifice.


text:
But I only commanded them this word, saying, ‘Obey my voice, and I will be to you God, and you will be to me people, and you must walk in all of the way that I command you, so that it goes well with you.’


text:
Yet they did not obey, and they did not incline their ear, but they walked in their own plans, in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and they became worse instead of better.


text:
From the day that your ancestors came out from the land of Egypt until this day I have sent to you all my servants the prophets, day after day, sending again and again.


text:
Yet they have not listened to me and they have not inclined their ear, but they have hardened their neck, they did more evil than their ancestors.


text:
So you shall speak to them all these words, but they will not listen to you, and you shall call to them, but they will not answer you.


text:
“And you shall say to them, ‘This is the nation that has not obeyed the voice of Yahweh their God, and they have not accepted discipline. The truth has perished, and it is cut off from their mouths.


text:
Shear your hair and throw it away, and lift up a lament on the barren heights, for Yahweh has rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.’


text:
For the people of Judah have done evil in my eyes,” declares Yahweh, “They have set their abominations in the house that is called by my name, to defile it.


text:
And they built the high place of Topheth, which is in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I have not commanded, and it did not come into my mind.


text:
Therefore look, days are about to come,” declares Yahweh, “and it will no longer be called Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of the Slaughter, and they will bury in Topheth until there is no more place.


text:
And the dead bodies of this people will be as food for the birds of the heavens, and for the animals of the earth, without anyone to scare them away.


text:
And I will cause to disappear from the towns of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the sound of jubilation, and the sound of joy, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, for the land will become a site of ruins.


text:
“At that time,” declares Yahweh, “they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of its officials, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Judah from their graves.


text:
And they shall spread them out before the sun, and before the moon, and before all the host of heaven, which they have loved, and which they have served, and which they have gone after, and which they have inquired about, and to which they have bowed in worship. They shall not be gathered, and they shall not be buried; they will be like dung on the surface of the ground.


text:
And death will be preferred to life by all the remaining of this evil clan in all the remaining places where I have driven them away,” declares Yahweh.


text:
“And you shall say to them, ‘Thus asks Yahweh: “Do men fall and not stand up? If one turns away does he not return?


text:
Why has this people, Jerusalem, turned away in enduring apostasy? They have kept hold of deceit, they have refused to return.


text:
I have listened attentively, and I have listened. They do not speak honestly, there is no man who regrets his wickedness, saying, ‘What have I done?’ All of them are turning to their ways of running, like a horse plunging into battle.


text:
Even the stork in heaven knows its appointed time, and the turtledove, and the swallow, and the song bird, they observe the time of their coming. But my people do not know the ordinance of Yahweh.


text:
How can you say, ‘We are wise and the law of Yahweh is with us’? Look, surely the lying stylus of the scribes has made it a lie.


text:
The wise will be put to shame, they will be dismayed, and they will get taken. Look, they have rejected the word of Yahweh, and what is wisdom to them?


text:
Therefore I will give their wives to others, their fields to conquerors, because from the smallest to the greatest, all of them make profit for unlawful gain, from prophet to priest, all of them practice deceit.


text:
And they have treated the wound of the daughter of my people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ but there is no peace.


text:
Were they ashamed, for they had committed a detestable thing? What’s worse, they were not ashamed at all, and they did not know to feel humiliated. Therefore they will fall among those who fall; at the time of their punishment they will stumble,” says Yahweh.


text:
“ I will take away their harvest,” declares Yahweh. “There are no grapes on the vine, and there are no figs on the fig tree, and the leaves wither, and what I gave to them passed over them.” ’ ”


text:
Why are we sitting? Gather, and let us go into the fortified cities, and let us perish there, for Yahweh our God has caused us to perish, and has provided drink for us, water of poison, because we have sinned against Yahweh.


text:
“From Dan is heard the snorting of their horses, from the sound of the neighing of their stallions all the land quakes, for they come and devour the land, and that which fills the city, and those who live in it.


text:
For look, I am letting loose among you snakes, adders for which there is no incantation, and they will bite you,” declares Yahweh.


text:
Look, the sound of the cry for help of the daughter of my people from a distant land, ‘Is Yahweh not in Zion? Is her king not in her?’ Why have they provoked me to anger with their images, with idols of a foreign land?”


text:
Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no healer there? Why, then, has the healing of the daughter of my people not been restored?


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


text:
Oh that I had in the desert a place of overnight lodging for travelers, that I may leave my people and go from them, for all of them are adulterers, a band of traitors.


text:
And they bend their tongue like their bow, for falsehood and not truth is superior in the land, for they go forth from evil to evil, and they do not know me,” declares Yahweh.


text:
“Let everyone be on your guard against his neighbor, and you must not trust in any brother, for everyone surely betrays, and every neighbor goes about with slander.


text:
And everyone deceives his neighbor, and they do not speak the truth, they have taught their tongues to speak lies, they are tired from going astray.


text:
Therefore, thus says Yahweh of hosts: “Look, I am about to refine them, and I will test them, for what else can I do, because of the presence of the daughter of my people?


text:
Their tongue is a murderous arrow, it speaks deceit. With his mouth he speaks peace with his neighbor, but in his inner parts he sets up his ambush.


text:
Because of these things shall I not punish them?” declares Yahweh, “On a nation that is like this shall I not take revenge?


text:
For the mountains I lift up weeping and wailing, and for the pastures of the desert a lament, because they are laid waste so that no man passes through. And the sounds of cattle are not heard, from the birds of heaven to the animals they have fled, they are gone.


text:
And I will make Jerusalem as heaps of ruins, a lair of jackals, and the towns of Judah I will make a desolation, without inhabitants.


text:
Who is the wise man that can understand this? And to whom has the mouth of Yahweh spoken, so that he may declare it? Why is the land destroyed? It is laid waste like the desert so that no one passes through.”


text:
And Yahweh said, “Because of their forsaking my law that I set before them, and they have not obeyed my voice, and have not walked in it,


text:
but they went after the stubbornness of their heart, and after the Baals, which their ancestors taught them.”


text:
Therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “Look, I am feeding this people wormwood, and providing drink for them, water of poison,


text:
and I will scatter them among the nations that they have not known, they and their ancestors, and I will send the sword after them until I bring them to an end.”


text:
Thus says Yahweh of hosts: “Consider closely, and call for the wailing women, so that they come, and for the skillful women, so that they come.


text:
And let them hasten, and let them lift up wailing over us, so that our eyes may melt with tears, and our eyelids may flow with water.


text:
For a sound of wailing is heard from Zion, ‘How we are devastated! We are very ashamed because we have left the land, because they have overthrown our dwelling places.’


text:
For hear, O women, the word of Yahweh, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth, and teach your daughters a lamentation, and each woman her neighbor a lament.


text:
For death has come into our windows, it has entered into our fortresses, to cut off the children from the streets, the young men from the public squares.


text:
Speak, ‘thus declares Yahweh: “The dead body of the human will fall like dung upon the surface of the field, and like cut grain behind the reaper, and there is no one who gathers.” ’ ”


text:
Thus says Yahweh, “ The wise man must not boast in his wisdom, and the warrior must not boast in his might, the wealthy man must not boast in his wealth.


text:
But only in this must the one who boasts boast, that he has insight, and that he knows me, that I am Yahweh, showing loyal love, justice, and righteousness on the earth, for in these things I delight,” declares Yahweh.


text:
“Look, days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “and I will call into account all those who are circumcised in the foreskin:


text:
Egypt, Judah, and Edom, and the Ammonites, and Moab, and all those who are trimmed to the side, those who live in the desert, for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised of heart.”


text:
Thus says Yahweh: “You must not learn the way of the nations, and you must not be dismayed by the signs of the heavens, for the nations are dismayed by them.


text:
For the statutes of the peoples are vanity, for it is a tree cut down from the forest, the work of the hands of a craftsman with the tool.


text:
He decorates it with silver and gold, they strengthen it with nails and hammers, so that it does not stagger.


text:
They are like scarecrows in a cucumber field, they cannot speak. Indeed, they must be carried, for they cannot march. You must not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil; furthermore, to do good is not in them.”


text:
Who would not revere you, O king of the nations? For you it is fitting. For among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like you.


text:
Silver beaten from Tarshish is brought, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the craftsman and the hands of the goldsmith. Blue and purple are their clothing, all of them are the work of skillful people.


text:
But Yahweh is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king. Because of his wrath the earth quakes, and the nations cannot endure his anger.


text:
“ Thus you shall say to them, ‘Gods who did not make the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from under these heavens.


text:
He is the maker of the earth by his power, who created the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding he stretched out heaven.


text:
When he utters his voice there is a noise of water in the heavens, and he causes the mist to rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain, and he causes the wind to go out from his storehouses.


text:
Everyone is stupid, without knowledge, every goldsmith is ashamed by his divine image, for his cast image is an illusion, and there is no breath in them.


text:
The portion of Jacob is not like these, for he is the creator of everything, and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance, Yahweh of hosts is his name.


text:
For thus says Yahweh, “Look, I am about to sling out the inhabitants of the land at this time, and I will bring distress to them, so that they may feel it.”


text:
Woe to me, because of my wound. My wound is incurable. But I said, “Surely this is my sickness, and I must bear it.”


text:
My tent is devastated, and all my tent cords are torn. My children have gone out from me, and they are not. There is no one who pitches my tent again, or one who puts up my tent curtains.


text:
For the shepherds have become stupid, they do not seek Yahweh. Therefore they do not have insight, and all of their flock are scattered.


text:
Listen, news: Look, it is coming, a great roar from the land of the north, to make the cities of Judah a desolation, a lair of jackals.


text:
I know, O Yahweh, that to the human is not his own way, nor to a person is the walking and the directing of his own step.


text:
Pour out your wrath on the nations that do not know you, and on the peoples that do not call on your name, for they have devoured Jacob, they have devoured and consumed him, and they have caused his settlement to be desolate.


text:
“Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the people of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem,


text:
and say to them, ‘Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: “The man is cursed who does not obey the words of this covenant,


text:
which I commanded your ancestors in the day of my bringing them from the land of Egypt, from the furnace of iron, saying, ‘Listen to my voice and do according to all that I command you, so will you be my people, and I will be your God.’


text:
in order to keep the oath that I swore to your ancestors, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day.” ’ ” Then I answered and said, “ Let it be so, O Yahweh.”


text:
And Yahweh said to me, “Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Hear the words of this covenant and do them,


text:
for I solemnly admonished your ancestors in the day of my leading them out from the land of Egypt and up to this day, admonishing persistently, saying, “Obey my voice.”


text:
But they did not obey and they did not incline their ear. Instead each one walked in the stubbornness of his evil heart. Therefore, I brought on them all the words of this covenant which I commanded them to do, and they did not do it.’ ”


text:
And Yahweh said to me, “A conspiracy is found among the people of Judah and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.


text:
They have turned back to the iniquities of their former ancestors, who refused to obey my words, and they have gone after other gods, to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant that I made with their ancestors.”


text:
Therefore thus says Yahweh, “I am about to bring on them disaster from which they will not be able to escape. Though they cry out to me, yet I will not listen to them.


text:
Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to whom they are making smoke offerings, but they will certainly not save them in the time of their trouble.


text:
For the number of your towns are your gods, O Judah, and the number of the streets of Jerusalem are the altars you have set up to the shameful things, to make smoke offerings to Baal.


text:
Therefore you must not pray for this people, and you must not lift up for them a cry of entreaty, or a prayer, for I will not listen in the time of their calling to me, in the time of their trouble.


text:
What rights has my beloved in my house when she has done many wicked things? Can the flesh of holiness pass over you? For you engage in your wickedness, then you exult.


text:
Yahweh called your name, ‘A leafy olive tree, beautiful with fine fruit.’ With the sound of a great storm he will set fire to it, and its branches will be good for nothing.


text:
And Yahweh of hosts, the one who planted you, has spoken evil against you, because of the evil of the house of Israel and the house of Judah, that they have done to themselves, to provoke me to anger by making smoke offerings to Baal.”


text:
And I was like a gentle ram-lamb that is brought to slaughter, and I did not know that they planned plans against me, saying, “Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, so that his name will no longer be remembered.”


text:
But O Yahweh of hosts, who judges in righteousness, who tests the inmost being, and the mind, let me see your retribution upon them, for to you I have revealed my legal case.


text:
Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning the people of Anathoth who seek your life, saying, “You shall not prophesy in the name of Yahweh or you will die by our hand.”


text:
Therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts: “Look, I am about to punish them. The young men will die by the sword. Their sons and their daughters will die by the famine.


text:
And a remnant will not be left for them, for I will bring disaster to the people of Anathoth, the year of their punishment.”


text:
You will be in the right, O Yahweh, when I complain to you. Even so, let me speak my claims with you. Why does the way of the wicked succeed? All those who deal treacherously with treachery are at ease.


text:
Not only do you plant them, they take root. They grow, but also they produce fruit. You are near in their mouths, but far from their inmost beings.


text:
But you, O Yahweh, you know me, you see me, and you test that my heart is with you. Tear them apart like sheep for the slaughtering, and set them apart for the day of slaughter.


text:
How long will the land mourn, and the vegetation of every field dry up, because of the wickedness of those who live in it? The animals and the birds are swept away, because they have said, “He does not see our future.”


text:
“If you run with foot soldiers and they have made you weary, then how will you compete with horses? If you have fallen in a peaceful land, then how will you do in the thickets of the Jordan?


text:
For even your relatives, and the house of your father, even they have dealt treacherously with you, even they call loudly after you. You must not trust in them, though they speak kindly to you.


text:
I have forsaken my house, I have abandoned my inheritance. I have given the beloved one of my heart into the hand of her enemies.


text:
My inheritance has become to me like a lion in the forest. She has lifted up against me her voice; therefore I hate her.


text:
The lair of the hyena is my inheritance to me, the birds of prey are all around her. Go, gather all of the animals of the field, bring them to come and devour.


text:
Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard, they have trampled down my plot of land. They have made my pleasant field like the desert of desolation.


text:
They have made it a desolation. Desolate, it mourns to me. All the land is made desolate, but there is no person taking it to heart.


text:
Upon all the barren heights in the desert destroyers have come, for the sword of Yahweh devours, from one end of the land to the other end of the land, there is no peace for all flesh.


text:
They have sown wheat and they have reaped thorns. They are exhausted, they do not profit. And they will be ashamed of your produce, because of the burning anger of Yahweh.”


text:
Thus says Yahweh concerning all of the evil neighbors who touch the inheritance that I gave as an inheritance to my people Israel: “Look, I am about to drive them out from their land, and the house of Judah I will drive out from among them.


text:
And then after my driving them out, I will once again have compassion on them, and I will bring them back, each one to his inheritance, and each one to his land.


text:
And then, if they diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, ‘ as Yahweh lives,’ even as they taught my people to swear by Baal, then they will live in the midst of my people.


text:
Thus Yahweh said to me: “Go and buy for yourself a loincloth of linen and put it on your loins, but you must not place it in water.”


text:
“Take the loincloth that you bought, that is on your loins, and stand up, go to the Euphrates and hide it there in the cleft of the rock.”


text:
And then, after a long time, then Yahweh said to me, “Stand up, go to the Euphrates and take from there the loincloth that I commanded you to hide there.”


text:
Then I went to the Euphrates and I dug, and I took the loincloth from the place where I had hidden it, and look, the loincloth was ruined; it was not good for anything.


text:
This evil people, who refuse to listen to my words, who go in the stubbornness of their hearts, and have gone after other gods, to serve them, and to bow in worship to them, let them be like this loincloth which is not good for anything.


text:
For as the loincloth clings to the loins of a person, so I caused to cling to me all the house of Israel and all the house of Judah,’ declares Yahweh, ‘to be for me a people, and a name, and a praise, and a glory, but they would not listen.’


text:
“Therefore, you shall say to them this word, ‘Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: “Every jar must be filled with wine.” ’ And they will say to you, ‘Do we not certainly know that every jar should be filled with wine?’


text:
Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says Yahweh: “Look, I am about to fill all the inhabitants of this land, and the kings who sit on David’s throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with drunkenness.


text:
And I will smash them, each one against his brother, and the fathers and the sons together,” declares Yahweh. “I will not have compassion, and I will not take pity, and I will not show compassion from destroying them.” ’ ”


text:
Give glory to Yahweh your God before he brings darkness, and before your feet stumble on the mountains at twilight. And you will hope for light, but he makes it as gloom, he makes it as thick darkness.


text:
But if you will not listen to it, my inner self will weep in secret places, because of the presence of your pride. And my eyes will weep bitterly, and they will melt in tears, because the flock of Yahweh has been taken captive.


text:
“Say to the king and to the queen mother, ‘ Take a lower seat, for your beautiful crown has come down from your head.’


text:
The towns of the Negev are shut up, and there is no one who opens them. All of Judah is deported; it is deported in completeness.


text:
Lift up your eyes and see those coming from the north. Where is the flock that was given to you, your magnificent flock?


text:
What will you say when he sets over you— and you have taught them—allies as head over you? Will not labor pains take hold of you, like a woman giving birth?


text:
And if you say in your heart, ‘Why have these things happened to me?’ Because of the greatness of your iniquity your skirts are uncovered; your heels have endured violence.


text:
Can a Cushite change his skin, or a leopard his spots? Then you also will be able to do good, who are accustomed to doing evil.


text:
This is your lot, the portion of your measure from me,” declares Yahweh, “because you have forgotten me, and you have trusted in the lie.


text:
Your adulteries, and your neighings, the shameful behavior of your fornications on the hills in the countryside, I have seen your abominations. Woe to you, O Jerusalem! How long will you continue to be unclean? ”


text:
“Judah mourns, and her gates languish, they are in mourning on the ground, and the cry of lament of Jerusalem goes up.


text:
And their nobles send their servants for water. They come to the pits, they find no water. They return with their vessels empty. They are ashamed, and they are confounded, and they cover their heads.


text:
Because of the ground, which is cracked because there was no rain on the ground. The farmers are ashamed, they cover their heads.


text:
And wild asses stand on the barren heights, they gasp for breath like the jackals. Their eyes fail because there is no vegetation.”


text:
Although our iniquities testify against us, O Yahweh, act for the sake of your name. Yes, our apostasies are many; we have sinned against you.


text:
You are the hope of Israel, its savior in time of distress. Why should you be like an alien in the land, or like a traveler who spreads out his tent to spend the night?


text:
Why should you be like a confused man, like a warrior who is not able to help? Yet you are in our midst, O Yahweh, and your name is called upon us. You must not leave us!


text:
Thus says Yahweh concerning this people: “They have loved so much to wander, they have not spared their feet. Therefore Yahweh is not favorable to them, now he will remember their iniquity and punish their sins.”


text:
Although they fast, I am not listening to their cry of entreaty. And although they present burnt offering and grain offering, I am not favorable to them. But by the sword, and by the famine, and by the plague, I am about to destroy them.”


text:
Then I said, “Ah, Lord Yahweh, look, the prophets are saying to them, ‘You will not see the sword, and famine will not be yours, but reliable peace I will give to you in this place.’ ”


text:
And Yahweh said to me, “The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I have not sent them, and I have not commanded them, and I have not spoken to them. They are prophesying to you a lying vision, and a divination, worthless, and the deceitfulness of their minds.”


text:
Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning the prophets who prophecy in my name though I have not sent them, yet they are saying, “Sword and famine will not be in this land.” “By the sword and by the famine those prophets will perish.


text:
And the people to whom they are prophesying will be cast out into the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword. And there will be no one who buries them, their wives, or their sons, or their daughters. And I will pour out on them their wickedness.


text:
“And you shall say to them this word, ‘Let my eyes melt with tears night and day, and let them not cease, for with a great wound the virgin daughter of my people is broken, with a very incurable wound.


text:
If I go out into the field, then look, those slain by the sword. And if I enter the city, then look, the sickness of the famine. For both prophet and priest wander around through the land, they do not know what is going on.’ ”


text:
Have you completely rejected Judah? Or has your soul loathed Zion? Why have you struck us so that there is no healing for us? We hope for peace, but there is no good, and for a time of healing, but look, there is terror.


text:
You must not spurn us for the sake of your name, you must not dishonor your glorious throne. Remember us ! You must not break your covenant with us.


text:
Are there any among the idols of the nation who cause rain to pour? Or can the heavens give showers? Is it not you, O Yahweh our God? Therefore, we hope in you, for you do all these things.


text:
Then Yahweh said to me, “ Even if Moses and Samuel stood before me, my heart would not be to this people. Send them away from my sight, and let them go out.


text:
And then if they say to you, ‘Where shall we go?’ Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says Yahweh, “ Those who are destined for the plague, to the plague, and those who are destined for the sword, to the sword, and those who are destined for the famine, to the famine, and those who are destined for the captivity, to the captivity.” ’


text:
“And I will summon over them four types of calamity,” declares Yahweh, “the sword to kill, and the dogs to drag away, and the birds of the air and the wild animals of the earth to devour and to destroy.


text:
And I will make them a terror to all of the kingdoms of the earth because of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, because of what he did in Jerusalem.


text:
“For who will have compassion on you, O Jerusalem, or who will show sympathy to you, or who will turn aside to ask about your welfare?


text:
You have forsaken me,” declares Yahweh. “You go backward, so I have stretched my hand against you, and I have destroyed you. I am tired of becoming remorseful.


text:
And I have winnowed them with a winnowing fork in the gates of the land. I am bereaved. I have destroyed my people. They did not turn back from their ways.


text:
Their widows will be more numerous before me than the sand of the seas. I have brought to them, against the mothers of young men, a destroyer at noon. I will suddenly drop on her anguish and horror.


text:
She who gave birth to seven has withered away. She gasps her breath. Her sun set while still day. She has been put to shame and disgraced. And the remainder of them I will give to the sword before their enemies,” declares Yahweh.


text:
Woe to me, O my mother, that you gave birth to me, a man of contention and quarreling to the whole land. I have not lent out and I have not borrowed. All of them are cursing me.


text:
Yahweh said, “ Surely I will set you free to be good for you, surely I will cause the enemy to intercede with you in a time of trouble, and in a time of distress.


text:
I will give your wealth and your treasures as plunder without price, even because of all your sins, and throughout all your territories.


text:
And I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you do not know, for a fire will kindle in my anger. Upon you it will be kindled.”


text:
You who know, O Yahweh, remember me, and attend to me, and take revenge for me against my persecutors in your forbearance. You must take me away. Know that I am carrying disgrace because of you.


text:
Your words were found and I ate them, and your words became to me as jubilation, even as the joy of my heart, for your name is called on me, O Yahweh God of hosts.


text:
I sat not in the assembly of jokers, nor did I exult. Because of the presence of your hand I sat alone, for you filled me with indignation.


text:
Why is my pain endless, and my wound incurable? It refuses to become healed. Truly you are to me like a deceitful brook, waters that are not trustworthy.


text:
Therefore thus says Yahweh, “If you turn back, then I will take you back. You will stand before me. And if you utter what is precious and not what is worthless, you will be as my mouth. They will turn back to you, and you will not turn back to them.


text:
And I will make you to this people a wall of fortified bronze, and they will fight against you, but they will not prevail over you, for I am with you, to save you, and to deliver you,” declares Yahweh.


text:
“And I will deliver you from the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem you from the hand of the tyrant.”


text:
“You shall not take for yourself a wife, there shall not be for you sons and daughters in this place.”


text:
For thus says Yahweh concerning the sons and concerning the daughters born in this place, and concerning their mothers who gave birth to them, and concerning their fathers who fathered them in this land:


text:
“They will die by diseases, they will not be mourned, and they will not be buried. They will be as dung on the face of the earth. And they will perish by the sword and they will perish by the famine. And their dead bodies will become food for the birds of the air, and for the wild animals of the earth.”


text:
For thus says Yahweh, “You must not enter the house of the funeral meal, and you must not go to lament, and you must not show sympathy for them, for I have taken away my peace from this people,” declares Yahweh, “the loyal love and the compassion.


text:
Both the great and small will die in this land. They will not be buried, and they will not mourn for them, and no one will cut himself with a blade, and no one will shave himself for them.


text:
And they will not break bread for the mourning ceremony for them, to comfort him because of the dead. And they will not give drink to them, the cup of desolation, for their fathers, or for their mothers.


text:
For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “Look, I am about to cause to disappear from this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of jubilation, and the voice of joy, and the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride.


text:
And then when you tell this people all these words and they ask you, ‘ Why has Yahweh pronounced against us all this great evil, and what is our iniquity, and what is our sin that we have sinned against Yahweh our God?’


text:
Then you shall say to them, ‘ Because your ancestors have forsaken me,’ declares Yahweh, ‘and they have gone after other gods, and they have served them, and they have bowed down in worship to them, and they have forsaken me, and they have not kept my laws.


text:
And you have behaved badly more than your ancestors, and look, you are going each one after the stubbornness of his evil heart, without listening to me.


text:
So I will throw you from this land to the land that you have not known, you or your ancestors, and there you will serve other gods day and night, for I will not show you favor.


text:
Therefore look, days are coming,’ declares Yahweh, ‘and it will no longer be said, “ As Yahweh lives, who led up the Israelites from the land of Egypt,”


text:
but only “ As Yahweh lives, who led up the Israelites from the land of the north, and from all the lands where he had driven them,” for I will bring them back to their ground that I gave to their ancestors.


text:
Look, I am sending for many fishermen,’ declares Yahweh, ‘and they will fish them out, and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and from the clefts of the cliffs.


text:
For my eyes are on all their ways, they are not hidden from before me, and their iniquity is not concealed from before my eyes.


text:
And I will first doubly repay their iniquity and their sin because of their profaning my land with the dead bodies of their abhorrences, and with their abominations they have filled up my inheritance.’ ”


text:
O Yahweh, my strength, and my stronghold, and my refuge in the day of distress, to you the nations will come from the ends of the earth, and they will say, “Our ancestors have inherited only lies, vanity, and there is no profit in them.


text:
“ Therefore look, I am about to let them know, this time I am going to let them know my power and my might, and they will know that my name is Yahweh.”


text:
“The sin of Judah is written with an iron stylus, with a point of diamond it is engraved on the tablet of their heart, and on the horns of their altars.


text:
As the remembering of their children, so is the remembering of their altars and their poles of Asherah worship beside the leafy trees on the high hills.


text:
O my mountain in the open country, I will give your wealth, all your treasures, for spoil, your high places, because of your sin, throughout all your territories.


text:
And you will let go your hand from your inheritance that I gave to you, and I will make you serve your enemies in the land that you do not know, for you kindled a fire in my anger, until eternity it will be kindled.”


text:
Thus says Yahweh, “Cursed is the person who trusts in humankind and makes flesh his strength, and turns aside his heart from Yahweh.


text:
And he will be like a juniper in the wilderness, and he will not see when good comes, and he will dwell in the parched places in the desert, in a land of salt flats, where no one lives.


text:
For he will be like a tree planted by water, and to the stream it sends its roots, and it will not fear when heat comes, and its leaves will be luxuriant, and in the year of drought it will not be anxious, and it will not cease from the bearing of fruit.


text:
I, Yahweh, examine the mind, I test the heart, and give to each one according to his way, according to the fruit of his deeds.


text:
Like a partridge that hatches eggs it did not lay is one who amasses wealth without justice. In the middle of his days it will leave him, and at his end he will prove to be a fool.”


text:
O Yahweh, the hope of Israel, all those who forsake you will be put to shame, and those who turn aside from you in the earth will be recorded, for they have forsaken the fountain of living water, Yahweh.


text:
But I, I have not run away from being a shepherd who follows you, and I have not desired the disastrous day. You, you know the pronouncement of my lips, it was before your face.


text:
Let my persecutors be put to shame, but as for me, do not let me be put to shame. Let them be dismayed, but as for me, do not let me be dismayed. Bring on them the day of disaster, and with double destruction, destroy them.


text:
Thus said Yahweh to me, “Go, and you must stand in the People’s Gate through which the kings of Judah enter, and through which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem.


text:
And you must say to them, ‘Hear the word of Yahweh, kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem who enter through these gates.


text:
Thus says Yahweh, “Be on your guard for the sake of yourselves, that you must not carry a burden on the day of the Sabbath, and you must not bring it through the gates of Jerusalem.


text:
And you must not carry a burden from your houses on the day of the Sabbath, and you must not do any work. But you must declare holy the day of Sabbath, just as I commanded your ancestors.


text:
Yet they did not listen, and they did not incline their ear, and they hardened their neck so as to not hear, nor to receive discipline.


text:
“And it will happen, if you carefully listen to me,” declares Yahweh, “to bring no burden through the gates of this city on the day of the Sabbath, but to declare holy the day of Sabbath, not to do on it any work,


text:
then kings and officials who sit on the throne of David will enter through the gates of this city riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their officials, the people of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and this city will be inhabited forever.


text:
And they will come from the towns of Judah, and from all around Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the Shephelah, and from the hill country, and from the Negev, bringing burnt offerings, and sacrifices, and grain offerings, and frankincense, and bringing thank offerings to the house of Yahweh.


text:
But if you do not listen to me, to declare holy the day of the Sabbath, and to not carry a burden and enter through the gates of Jerusalem on the day of the Sabbath, then I will kindle a fire in its gates, and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it will not be quenched.” ’ ”


text:
And the vessel that he was making with the clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter, so he made again another vessel, as it was right in the eyes of the potter to make.


text:
“Like this potter, am I not able to do to you, O house of Israel?” declares Yahweh. “Look, like the clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.


text:
One moment I speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom, to uproot, and to tear down, and to destroy it.


text:
But if that nation turns back from its evil that I have threatened against it, then I will relent concerning the disaster that I planned to do to it.


text:
But if it does evil in my sight, to not listen to my voice, then I will relent concerning the good that I said I would do to it.


text:
“So now then, say, please, to the people of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Thus says Yahweh, “Look, I am preparing evil against you, and I am planning a plan against you. Please turn back, each one from his evil way, and walk rightly in your ways and your deeds.” ’


text:
But they will say, ‘ It is hopeless, for we will go after our own plans, and each one of us will act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.’


text:
“Therefore thus says Yahweh, ‘Please ask among the nations, “Who has heard the like of this?” The virgin of Israel has done something very horrible.


text:
Does the snow of Lebanon leave from the crags of Sirion? Or are the cold waters flowing from distant mountains dried up?


text:
But my people have forgotten me. They make smoke offerings to the idols, and they caused them to stumble in their ways, the ancient ways, to go into bypaths, not one that is built up.


text:
To make their land a horror, an object of whistling for eternity. All who pass by it will be appalled, and he will shake his head.


text:
Like the wind from the east I will scatter them before the enemy. I will show them my back and not my face in the day of their disaster.’ ”


text:
Then they said, “Come and let us plan plans against Jeremiah, for instruction will not be lost from the priest, nor advice from the wise man, nor the word from the prophet. Come and let us bring charges against him, and let us not listen attentively to any of his words.”


text:
Should good be repaid in place of evil? Yet they have dug a pit for me. Remember my standing before you to speak good for them, to avert your wrath from them.


text:
Therefore give their children to the famine, and hand them over to the power of the sword, and let their wives be bereaved and widows, and let their men be killed by death, their young men struck dead by the sword in the battle.


text:
Let a cry for help be heard from their houses when you suddenly bring upon them the raiding band, for they have dug a pit to catch me, and they have fixed secretly a trap for my feet.


text:
But you, O Yahweh, you know all their plans of assassination against me. You must not make atonement for their iniquity, and you must not cause their sin to be blotted out from before you. But let them be overthrown before you. Deal with them in the time of your anger.


text:
Thus said Yahweh, “Go and buy a potter’s earthenware jar, and take some of the elders of the people, and some of the leaders of the priests,


text:
and go out to the Valley of Ben Hinnom, which is at the entrance of the Gate of the Potsherd, and proclaim there the words that I speak to you.


text:
And you shall say, ‘Hear the word of Yahweh, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: “Look, I am about to bring disaster upon this place so that everyone who hears it, his ears will ring.


text:
Because they have forsaken me, and they have defaced this place, and they have made smoke offerings in it to other gods whom they have not known, they, nor their ancestors, nor the kings of Judah, and they have filled up this place with the blood of the innocent,


text:
and they have built the high places of Baal, to burn their children in the fire, burnt offerings to Baal, which I commanded not, and I ordered not, and it did not come to my mind.


text:
“ Therefore look, days are about to come,” declares Yahweh, “when this place will no longer be called Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of the Slaughter.


text:
And I will lay waste the plans of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and I will bring them to ruin by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of those who seek their life, and I will give their dead bodies as food to the birds of heaven and to the animals of the earth.


text:
And I will make this city a horror, and an object of hissing, everyone who passes by it will be appalled, and will hiss because of all its wounds.


text:
And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons, and the flesh of their daughters, and each one will eat the flesh of his neighbor in the siege and in the distress which their enemies and those who seek their life inflict on them.” ’


text:
And you shall say to them, ‘Thus says Yahweh of hosts: “So I will break this people and this city as one breaks the vessel of the potter, so that it is not able to be repaired again. And in Topheth they will bury until there is no room to bury.


text:
Thus will I do to this place,” declares Yahweh, “and to its inhabitants, to make this city like Topheth.


text:
And the houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be unclean like the place of Topheth, all the houses where they made smoke offerings upon their roofs to all the host of heaven, and where they poured out libations to other gods.” ’ ”


text:
Then Jeremiah came from Topheth, where Yahweh had sent him to prophesy, and he stood in the courtyard of the house of Yahweh and said to all the people,


text:
“Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Look, I am about to bring to this city and upon all its towns all the disaster that I have pronounced against it, because they have hardened their neck to not hear my words.’ ”


text:
Now Pashhur, the son of Immer, the priest who was officer in charge in the temple of Yahweh, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things.


text:
Then Pashhur struck Jeremiah the prophet and put him in the stocks that were in the upper Gate of Benjamin, which was by the temple of Yahweh.


text:
And then on the next day, when Pashhur brought Jeremiah out from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, “Yahweh will not call your name Pashhur, but Terror From All Around.


text:
For thus says Yahweh, ‘Look, I am making you a terror to yourself and to all your friends, and they will fall by the sword of their enemies, and your eyes will be seeing it. And all Judah I will give into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will deport them to Babylon, and he will strike them with the sword.


text:
And I will give all the wealth of this city, and all its acquisitions, and all its precious items, and all of the treasures of the kings of Judah I will give into the hand of their enemies, and they will plunder them, and they will seize them, and they will bring them to Babylon.


text:
And you, Pashhur, and all those who live in your house will go into captivity, and you will go to Babylon, and there you will die, and there you will be buried, you, and all your friends to whom you have prophesied falsely. ’ ”


text:
You have persuaded me, O Yahweh, and I was persuaded. You have overpowered me, and you have prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all day long. Everyone is mocking me.


text:
For as often as I speak, I must cry out violence and destruction. I must shout, for the word of Yahweh has become for me a disgrace and derision all day long.


text:
But if I say, “I will not mention him and I will no longer speak in his name,” then it becomes in my heart like a fire burning, locked up in my bones, and I struggle to contain it, and I am not able.


text:
For I hear the rumor of many, “Terror is from all around, denounce him, yes, let us denounce him!” All my close friends are watchers of my stumbling, saying, “perhaps he can be persuaded, and we can prevail over him, and we can take our revenge on him.”


text:
But Yahweh is with me like a powerful warrior. Therefore my persecutors will stumble and will not prevail. They will be very ashamed, for they will not achieve success. Their everlasting insult will not be forgotten.


text:
Yet, O Yahweh of hosts, who tests the righteous, who sees the heart and the mind, let me see your retribution upon them, for to you I have revealed my legal case.


text:
Sing to Yahweh, praise Yahweh, for he has delivered the life of the poor from the hand of evildoers.


text:
Cursed be the day on which I was born, let not the day on which my mother gave birth to me be blessed.


text:
Cursed be the man who brought the news to my father, saying, “A child is born to you, a son!” and he made him very glad.


text:
And let that man be like the cities that Yahweh demolished without regret, and let him hear a cry for help in the morning, and an alarm at the time of noon.


text:
Because he did not kill me in the womb, so that my mother would have been for me my grave, and her womb would be pregnant forever.


text:
The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh when King Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur, the son of Malchiah, and Zephaniah, the son of Maaseiah, the priest, saying,


text:
“Please inquire of Yahweh on behalf of us, for Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon is fighting against us. Perhaps Yahweh will do with us according to all his miraculous acts, so that he may go up from against us.”


text:
‘Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: “Look, I am about to turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, with which you are fighting against them, the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans who are laying siege to you from outside the wall, and I will gather them into the center of this city.


text:
And I myself will fight against you with outstretched hand, and with strong arm, and in anger, and in fury, and in great wrath.


text:
And I will strike the inhabitants of this city, both humankind and animal; by a great plague they will die.


text:
And afterward,” declares Yahweh, “I will give Zedekiah, the king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, and those who remain in this city from the plague, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their lives, and he will strike them with the edge of the sword. He will not take pity on them, and he will not have compassion, nor will he show compassion.” ’


text:
“And to this people you shall say, ‘Thus says Yahweh, “Look, I am setting before you the way of life and the way of death.


text:
He who stays in this city will die by the sword, or by the famine, or by the plague. And he who goes out and goes over to the Chaldeans who are laying siege to you will live, and his life will be to him as booty.


text:
For I have set my face against this city for evil and not for good,” declares Yahweh. It will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire.” ’


text:
O house of David, thus says Yahweh, “Execute judgment in the morning, justice, and deliver the one who has been seized from the hand of the oppressor, lest my wrath goes forth like the fire and it burns, and there is no one who quenches it because of the evil of your deeds.


text:
Look, I am against you, O inhabitants of the valley, O rock of the plain,” declares Yahweh; “you who say, ‘Who can descend against us, or who can enter into our hiding place?’


text:
And I will punish you according to the fruit of your deeds,” declares Yahweh, “And I will kindle a fire in its forest, and it will devour all its surroundings.” ’ ”


text:
And you must say, ‘Hear the word of Yahweh, O king of Judah, who sits on the throne of David, you, and your servants, and your people who enter through these gates.


text:
Thus says Yahweh, “Act with justice and righteousness, and deliver the one who has been seized from the hand of the oppressor. And you must not oppress the immigrant, the orphan, and the widow. And you must not shed innocent blood in this place.


text:
And if you indeed obey this word, then kings who sit for David on his throne will enter through the gates of this house, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people.


text:
But if you do not obey these words, I swear by myself,” declares Yahweh, “that this house will become a site of ruins.” ’ ”


text:
For thus says Yahweh concerning the house of the king of Judah, “You are like Gilead to me, like the head of the Lebanon. Surely I will make you a desert, like cities that are not inhabited.


text:
And I will consecrate against you destroyers, everyone with his weapons, and they will cut down your choicest cedars, and cast them on the fire.


text:
And many nations will pass by this city and they will say each one to his neighbor, ‘ Why has Yahweh done in this manner to this great city?’


text:
Then they will answer, ‘Because they abandoned the covenant of Yahweh their God, and bowed down in worship to other gods, and served them.’ ”


text:
You must not weep for the dead person, and you must not show sympathy for him. Weep bitterly for the one who goes away, for he will not return, or see the land of his birth again.


text:
For thus says Yahweh concerning Shallum, the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, who reigned as king in place of Josiah his father, who went out from this place: “He will not return here again.


text:
But in the place where they have deported him, there he will die, and he will not see this land again.


text:
Woe to the one who builds his house without righteousness, and his upper rooms without justice. His fellow countryman, he works for nothing, and he does not give to him his wages.


text:
Who says ‘I will build for myself a spacious house with large upper rooms,’ and he cuts windows for it, and it is paneled with cedar, and he paints it with vermilion.


text:
Do you reign as king because you are competing in cedar? Did not your father eat and drink, and he did justice and righteousness, then it was well with him?


text:
He judged the legal cause of the needy and the poor, and then it was well. Is that not what it means to know me? ” declares Yahweh.


text:
“But there is nothing in your eyes and your heart except your unlawful gain, and on shedding the blood of the innocent, and on committing oppression and extortion.”


text:
Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, the king of Judah: “They will not lament for him, ‘Alas, my brother,’ or ‘Alas, sister.’ They will not lament for him, ‘Alas, lord,’ or ‘alas, his majesty.’


text:
He will be buried with the burial of a donkey. He will be dragged away and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem.


text:
Go up to Lebanon and cry out, and in Bashan lift up your voice, and cry out from Abarim, for all your lovers are shattered.


text:
I spoke to you in the times you were secure, and you said, ‘I will not listen!’ This was your way from your youth, for you have not obeyed my voice.


text:
All your shepherds will shepherd the wind, and your lovers will go into captivity. Yes, then you will be ashamed and humiliated because of all your wickedness.


text:
Inhabitants of Lebanon, nestled among the cedars, how you will groan when labor pains come to you, fear and pain as the woman who gives birth.


text:
“As I live,” declares Yahweh, “surely if Coniah, the son of Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, were the seal on my right hand, surely from there I would wrench you off.


text:
And I would give you into the hand of those who seek your life, and into the hand of those from whom you are frightened by their presence, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.


text:
And I will throw you and your mother who gave birth to you to another country where you were not born, and there you will die.


text:
Is this man Coniah a despised, shattered vessel? Or a vessel in which there is no delight? Why are he and his offspring thrown far, and cast away to the land that they do not know?”


text:
Thus says Yahweh: “Record this man as childless, a man who will not succeed in his days, for no man from his offspring will succeed him, sitting on the throne of David and ruling again in Judah.”


text:
Therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people, “You yourselves have scattered my flock, and you have driven them away, and you do not attend to them. Look, I will punish you for the evil of your deeds,” declares Yahweh.


text:
“Then I myself will gather together the remnant of my flock from all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their grazing place, and they will be fruitful, and they will become numerous.


text:
And I will raise up over them shepherds, and they will shepherd them, and they will no longer fear, and they will not be dismayed, and they will not be missing,” declares Yahweh.


text:
“Look, days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “when I will raise up for David a righteous branch, and he will reign as king, and he will achieve success, and he will do justice and righteousness in the land.


text:
In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell in safety, and this is his name by which he will be called: ‘Yahweh is our righteousness.’


text:
“ Therefore look, days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “when they will no longer say, ‘ As Yahweh lives, who led up the Israelites from the land of Egypt,’


text:
but ‘ As Yahweh lives, who led up, and who brought the offspring of the house of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where he had driven them.’ Then they will live in their land.”


text:
Concerning the prophets: My heart is broken in my midst. All my bones tremble. I have become like a drunken man, even like a man over whom wine has passed, because of Yahweh, and because of his holy words.


text:
For the land is full of adulterers; for the land mourns because of a curse. The pastures of the desert are dry, and their evil has been their way of running, and their power is not right.


text:
“For both prophet as well as priest are godless, even in my temple I have found their wickedness,” declares Yahweh.


text:
“ Therefore their way will be to them like the slippery places, they will be pushed in the darkness, and they will fall into it, for I will bring disaster on them in the year of their punishment,” declares Yahweh.


text:
“Now in the prophets of Samaria I saw a disgusting thing. They prophesied by Baal and they caused my people Israel to err.


text:
And in the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen something horrible. They commit adultery, and they walk in lies, and they make strong the hands of evildoers, so that they have not turned back each from his wickedness. All of them have become to me like Sodom, and its inhabitants like Gomorrah.”


text:
Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning the prophets, “Look, I am going to let them eat wormwood and I will give them water of poison to drink, for from the prophets of Jerusalem went out ungodliness to all the land.”


text:
Thus says Yahweh of hosts, “You must not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They are deluding you with visions of their mind, They do not speak from the mouth of Yahweh.


text:
They are continually saying to those who disregard the word of Yahweh, ‘Peace it will be to you,’ and to each one who walks in the stubbornness of his heart they say, ‘Calamity will not come upon you.’


text:
For who has stood in the council of Yahweh, that he has seen and heard his word? Who has listened attentively to his word and heard it?


text:
Look, the storm of Yahweh has gone forth in wrath, even a whirling tempest. It will whirl upon the head of the wicked.


text:
The anger of Yahweh will not turn back until his doing and until his keeping the plans of his mind. In latter days you will look closely at it with understanding.


text:
But if they had stood in my council, then they would have proclaimed my words to my people, and they would have caused them to turn from their evil way, and from the evil of their deeds.


text:
Or can a person hide himself in secret places and I cannot see him?” declares Yahweh. “ Do I not fill up the heaven and the earth?” declares Yahweh.


text:
“I have heard what the prophets who prophesy lies have said in my name, saying, ‘I have dreamed! I have dreamed!’


text:
How long will this be in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy lies, even the prophets of the deceitfulness of their hearts,


text:
who plan to make my people forget my name by their dreams that they tell each one to his neighbor, just as their ancestors forgot my name through Baal?


text:
The prophet who has with him a dream, let him tell the dream. But the prophet who has my word with him, let him speak my word faithfully. What is straw compared to wheat?” declares Yahweh.


text:
“ Is not my word like fire?” declares Yahweh, “and like a blacksmith’s hammer that breaks a rock into pieces?


text:
“ Therefore look, I am against the prophets,” declares Yahweh, “who steal my words each one from his neighbor.


text:
Look, I am against the prophets,” declares Yahweh, “who take their tongues and declare as prophets, ‘ Yahweh declares.’


text:
Look, I am against those who prophesy dreams of lies,” declares Yahweh, “and tell them, and they caused my people to err through their lies, and in their recklessness, when I myself have not sent them nor commanded them, so they profit not this people at all,” declares Yahweh.


text:
“Now when this people, or a prophet, or a priest, ask you, saying, ‘What is the burden of Yahweh?’ then you shall say to them, ‘ You are the burden, and I will forsake you,’ ” declares Yahweh.


text:
“And the prophet, and the priest, and the people who say, ‘The burden of Yahweh,’ I will punish that man and his house.


text:
Thus you shall say, each one to his neighbor and each one to his brother: ‘What has Yahweh answered?’ or, ‘What has Yahweh spoken?’


text:
But you shall not mention the burden of Yahweh, for the burden is to each one his word, and so you twist the words of the living God, Yahweh of hosts, our God.


text:
But if you say, ‘The burden of Yahweh,’ therefore thus says Yahweh, ‘because of your saying these words, “The burden of Yahweh,” then I will send to you, saying, “You shall not say, ‘The burden of Yahweh.’ ” ’


text:
Therefore look, here I am, and I will surely lift you up and forsake you and the city that I gave to you and to your ancestors from my presence,


text:
and I will bring upon you an everlasting disgrace and an everlasting shame that will not be forgotten.”


text:
Yahweh showed me, and look, there were two baskets of figs placed before the temple of Yahweh—after Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had deported Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, with the officials of Judah, and the craftsmen, and the smiths, from Jerusalem and had brought them to Babylon.


text:
The one basket had very good figs, like early figs, and the other basket had very bad figs that could not be eaten because of their bad quality.


text:
And Yahweh asked me, “What are you seeing, Jeremiah?” And I said, “Figs—the good figs, very good, and the bad figs, very bad, that cannot be eaten because of their bad quality.”


text:
“Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘Like these good figs, so I will regard as good the exiles of Judah whom I have sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans.


text:
For I will set my eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land. And I will build them and not annihilate them, and I will plant them and not uproot them.


text:
And I will give to them a heart to know me, that I am Yahweh, and they will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with the whole of their heart.


text:
But like the bad figs that cannot be eaten because of their bad quality—for thus says Yahweh—so I will treat Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his officials, and the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and those who live in the land of Egypt.


text:
And I will make them as a terror, an evil to all the kingdoms of the earth, as a disgrace and a proverb, as a taunt and a curse, in all the places where I will drive them.


text:
And I will send among them the sword, the famine, and the plague, until they perish from the land that I gave to them and their ancestors.’ ”


text:
The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, that was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon,


text:
which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying,


text:
“From the thirteenth year of Josiah, the son of Amon, the king of Judah, even up to this day, these twenty-three years the word of Yahweh has come to me, and I have spoken to you over and over again, but you have not listened.


text:
And though Yahweh has sent all his servants the prophets to you over and over again you have not listened, and you have not inclined your ear to hear,


text:
saying, ‘Turn back please, each one from his evil way, and from the evil of your deeds, and live on the land that Yahweh has given to you and to your ancestors from a long time back and until forever,


text:
and you must not go after other gods to serve them, and to bow in worship to them, and you must not provoke me to anger with the work of your hands, then I will not do something bad to you.’


text:
‘Yet you have not listened to me,’ declares Yahweh, ‘so that you have provoked me to anger with the work of your hands for your own harm.’


text:
look, I am going to send and take all the clans of the north,’ declares Yahweh, ‘and I will send to Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land, and against its inhabitants, and against all these nations all around, and I will destroy them, and I will make them a horror, and an object of hissing, and everlasting ruins.


text:
And I will exterminate from them the sound of jubilation, and the sound of joy, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the lamp.


text:
And all this land will become a site of ruins, a desolation, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.


text:
And then when the seventy years are fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation,’ declares Yahweh, ‘for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and I will make it an everlasting waste.


text:
And I will bring upon that land all my words that I have spoken against it, everything that is written in this scroll which Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations.


text:
For many nations and great kings will let them work, even them, and I will repay them according to their deeds, and according to the work of their hands.’ ”


text:
For thus said Yahweh, the God of Israel, to me, “Take this cup of the wine of wrath from my hand, and you must give it to all the nations to whom I am sending you to drink.


text:
And they will drink, and they will stagger, and they will act like madmen because of the presence of the sword that I am sending among them.”


text:
So I took the cup from the hand of Yahweh and I gave it to all the nations to whom Yahweh sent me to drink:


text:
Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, and its kings, and its officials, to make them a site of ruins, a horror, an object of hissing, and a curse, as it is this day;


text:
and all the other people; and all the kings of the land of Uz; and all the kings of the land of the Philistines— Ashkelon, and Gaza, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod;


text:
and all the kings of Tyre, and all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the coastland that is across the sea;


text:
and all the kings of the north, near and far, each one to his brother, and all the kingdoms of the world that are on the face of the earth; and the king of Sheshach, he will drink after them.


text:
“And you shall say to them, ‘Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “Drink and become drunk, and vomit, and fall, and you must not rise because of the presence of the sword that I am sending among you.” ’


text:
And it will happen, if they refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says Yahweh of hosts, “You must certainly drink!


text:
For look, on the city that is called by my name I am beginning to inflict harm, and you indeed, will you go unpunished? You will not go unpunished, for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth,” declares Yahweh of hosts.’


text:
And you yourself shall prophesy against them all these words, and you shall say to them: ‘Yahweh will roar from on high, and from his holy dwelling place he will give his voice. He will roar mightily against his settlement, a jubilant shout like those who tread grapes, he will answer against all the inhabitants of the earth.


text:
The rage of battle will resound to the end of the earth, for there is a lawsuit of Yahweh against the nations. He is entering into judgment with all wicked flesh, he will give them to the sword,’ declares Yahweh.”


text:
Thus says Yahweh of hosts, “Look, disaster is going out from nation to nation, and a great tempest is stirred up from the farthest parts of the earth.


text:
And the slain ones of Yahweh will be on that day from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth, and they will not be mourned, and they will not be gathered, and they will not be buried. They will become like dung on the surface of the ground.


text:
Wail, you shepherds, and cry out. And roll about in mourning in the dust, O leaders of the flock. For your days of slaughter and your dispersions have arrived, and you will fall like a vessel of desire.


text:
A sound, the cry of distress of the shepherds and the wailing of the leaders of the flock, for Yahweh is despoiling their pasture.


text:
He has left his den like a lion, for their land has become a horror, because of the anger of the oppressors, and because of his burning anger.”


text:
At the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, this word came from Yahweh, saying,


text:
“Thus says Yahweh: ‘Stand in the courtyard of the house of Yahweh, and you must speak to all the cities of Judah that come to bow in worship in the house of Yahweh all the words that I command you to speak to them. You must not omit a word.


text:
Perhaps they will listen and turn back each from his evil way, and I will relent of the disaster that I am planning to do to them because of their evil deeds.


text:
And you shall say to them, “Thus says Yahweh: ‘If you will not listen to me, to walk in my law that I have set before you,


text:
to listen to the words of my servants the prophets whom I have sent to you, over and over again, though you have not listened,


text:
then I will make this house like Shiloh, and this city I will make a curse for all the nations of the earth.’ ” ’ ”


text:
And the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the temple of Yahweh.


text:
And then as Jeremiah finished speaking all that Yahweh had commanded him to speak to all the people, then the priests and the prophets and all the people laid hold of him, saying, “You will die!


text:
Why have you prophesied in the name of Yahweh, saying, ‘This house will be like Shiloh, and this city will be in ruins, without inhabitant’?” And all the people gathered around Jeremiah in the temple of Yahweh.


text:
When the officials of Judah heard these things, they came up from the house of the king to the temple of Yahweh, and they sat in the entrance of the New Gate of Yahweh’s temple.


text:
Then the priests and the prophets said to the officials and to all the people, saying, “ This man deserves the death sentence, because he has prophesied against this city as that which you have heard with your ears.”


text:
Then Jeremiah said to all the officials and to all the people, saying, “Yahweh sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that you have heard.


text:
Now therefore amend your ways and your deeds, and obey the voice of Yahweh your God, and Yahweh will relent of the disaster that he has spoken over you.


text:
Only you must certainly know that if you put me to death, you will bring on yourselves innocent blood, and on this city and on its inhabitants, for truly Yahweh sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears.”


text:
Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and to the prophets, “ This man does not deserve a sentence of death, for in the name of Yahweh our God, he has spoken to us.”


text:
“Micah the Morashtite was prophesying in the days of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, and he said to all the people of Judah, saying: ‘Thus says Yahweh of hosts, “Zion will be plowed, and Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins, and the mountain of the temple as high places of wood.” ’


text:
Did Hezekiah, the king of Judah, and all Judah actually put him to death? Was he not in fear of Yahweh? And he entreated the face of Yahweh, and Yahweh relented of the disaster that he had spoken against them. But we are about to do great disaster to ourselves.”


text:
Indeed, there also was a man prophesying in the name of Yahweh, Uriah, the son of Shemaiah, from Kiriath-Jearim, and he prophesied against this city and against this land like all the words of Jeremiah.


text:
And when King Jehoiakim, and all his warriors, and all the officials heard his words, then the king sought to put him to death. But Uriah heard, and he was afraid, and he fled and went to Egypt.


text:
And they brought out Uriah from Egypt and they brought him to King Jehoiakim, and he struck him down with the sword, and he threw his dead body into the burial sites of the sons of the people.


text:
However, the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, so that he was not given into the hand of the people to put him to death.


text:
In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying —


text:
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 in the hand of the envoys who have come to Jerusalem, to Zedekiah, the king of Judah.


text:
And you must command them for their masters, saying, ‘Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, this you shall say to your masters:


text:
“I have made the earth with humankind and animals that are on the face of the earth by my great power and by my outstretched arm, and I give it to whomever is right in my eyes.


text:
And now I myself have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and also the animals of the field I have given to him to serve him.


text:
And all the nations will serve him, and his son, and his grandson, until the coming of the time of his own land. Then many nations and great kings will let him work.


text:
“But it will be that the nation or kingdom that will not serve him, Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and that will not put his neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish that nation with the sword, and with the famine, and with the plague,” declares Yahweh, “until I have destroyed it with my hand.


text:
And you, you must not listen to your prophets, and to your diviners, and to your dreamers, and to your interpreters of signs, and to your sorcerers who are saying, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon.’


text:
For they are prophesying to you a lie, so that you will be removed from your land, and I will drive you away, and you will perish.


text:
But the nation that will bring its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and will serve him, yet will I leave it on its land,” declares Yahweh, “and they will till it, and they will live in it.” ’ ”


text:
And I spoke words like these to Zedekiah, the king of Judah, saying, “Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live.


text:
Why should you die—you and your people—by the sword, by the famine, and by the plague, as Yahweh has spoken concerning the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?


text:
And you must not listen to the words of the prophets who are speaking to you, saying, ‘You must not serve the king of Babylon,’ for they are prophesying a lie to you.


text:
For I have not sent them,” declares Yahweh, “but they are prophesying in my name falsely, so that I will drive them away. And you will perish—you and the prophets who are prophesying to you.”


text:
Then I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying, “Thus says Yahweh, ‘You must not listen to the words of your prophets who are prophesying to you, saying, “Look, the vessels of the house of Yahweh are about to be quickly brought back from Babylon”, for they are prophesying a lie to you.


text:
And you must not listen to them; serve the king of Babylon and live. Why should this city become a site of ruins?


text:
But if they are prophets, and if there is with them the word of Yahweh, let them please plead with Yahweh of hosts, that the vessels that are left over in the temple of Yahweh, and the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem, must not go to Babylon.’


text:
For thus says Yahweh of hosts concerning the pillars, and concerning the sea, and concerning the stands, and concerning the rest of the vessels that are left in this city,


text:
which Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, did not take when he deported Jeconiah, the son of Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, along with all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem.


text:
For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that are left in the house of Yahweh, and in the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem:


text:
‘They will be brought to Babylon, and there they will stay until the day of my attending to them,’ declares Yahweh. ‘Then I will bring them up and restore them to this place.’ ”


text:
And it was in that same year, at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah, the king of Judah, in the fourth year, in the fifth month, that Hananiah, the son of Azzur, the prophet who was from Gibeon, said to me in the house of Yahweh before the eyes of the priests and all the people, saying,


text:
“Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, ‘I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.


text:
Within two years I will bring back to this place all the vessels of the house of Yahweh which Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon took away from this place and brought to Babylon.


text:
And Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, and all the exiles from Judah who went to Babylon, I will bring back to this place,’ declares Yahweh, ‘For I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.’ ”


text:
Then Jeremiah the prophet said to Hananiah the prophet before the eyes of the priests and before the eyes of all the people who were standing in the house of Yahweh,


text:
and Jeremiah the prophet said, “Amen! May Yahweh do so; may Yahweh fulfill your words that you have prophesied, to bring back the vessels of the house of Yahweh and all the exiles from Babylon to this place.


text:
Nevertheless listen please to this word that I am speaking in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people,


text:
The prophets who were before me and before you from ancient times prophesied against many countries and against great kingdoms of war, and of disaster, and of plague.


text:
The prophet who prophesies peace, at the coming of the word of the prophet, will become known as the prophet that Yahweh has truly sent.”


text:
Then Hananiah said before the eyes of all the people, saying, “Thus says Yahweh, ‘This is how I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, within two years, from the neck of all the nations.’ ” And Jeremiah the prophet went on his way.


text:
And the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah after Hananiah the prophet broke the yoke from the neck of Jeremiah the prophet, saying,


text:
“Go, and you must say to Hananiah, saying, ‘Thus says Yahweh, “You have broken yoke bars of wood, but you have made in place of them yoke bars of iron.”


text:
For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “I have put a yoke of iron on the neck of all these nations, to serve Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and they will serve him, and I have even given the animals of the open field to him.” ’ ”


text:
Then Jeremiah the prophet said to Hananiah the prophet, “Please listen, Hananiah, Yahweh has not sent you, and you have made this people trust in a lie.


text:
Therefore thus says Yahweh, ‘Look, I am going to send you from the face of the earth. This year you will die because you have spoken rebellion against Yahweh.’ ”


text:
And these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the remainder of the exiles, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had deported from Jerusalem to Babylon,


text:
after the going out of Jeconiah the king, and the queen mother, and the court officials, the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, and the artisans, and the smiths from Jerusalem,


text:
by the hand of Elasah, the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah, the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah, the king of Judah, sent to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, to Babylon, saying,


text:
“Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have deported from Jerusalem to Babylon,


text:
Take wives and father sons and daughters, and take for your sons wives, and give your daughters to men that they may bear sons and daughters, and multiply there, and you must not be few.


text:
And seek the prosperity of the city where I have deported you, and pray on behalf of it to Yahweh, for in its prosperity you will have prosperity.’


text:
For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Do not let your prophets who are in your midst, and your diviners, deceive you, and you must not listen to your dreams that you are causing them to dream.


text:
For thus says Yahweh, ‘ As soon as the time has passed, seventy years for Babylon, I will attend to you, and I will fulfill my good word to you, to bring you back to this place.


text:
For I know the plans that I am planning concerning you,’ declares Yahweh, ‘plans for prosperity and not for harm, to give to you a future and a hope.


text:
And I will let myself be found by you,’ declares Yahweh, ‘and I will restore your fortunes, and I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places to which I have driven you,’ declares Yahweh, ‘and I will bring you back to the place from which I deported you.’


text:
for thus says Yahweh concerning the king who sits on the throne of David and concerning all the people who live in this city, your fellow kinsmen who did not go with you into the exile—


text:
thus says Yahweh of hosts, ‘Look, I am going to send among them the sword, the famine, and the plague, and I will make them like rotten figs that cannot be eaten because of their bad quality.


text:
And I will pursue them with the sword, with the famine, and with the plague, and I will make them a terror to all the kingdoms of the earth, a curse, and a horror, and an object of hissing, and a disgrace among all the nations to which I have driven them,


text:
because they did not listen to my words,’ declares Yahweh, ‘when I sent to them my servants the prophets, sending over and over again, and they would not listen,’ declares Yahweh.


text:
Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab, the son of Kolaiah, and concerning Zedekiah, the son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying to you in my name a lie, ‘Look, I am going to give them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and he will strike them before your eyes.


text:
And a curse will be taken up because of them by all the exiles of Judah who are in Babylon, saying, “May Yahweh make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire,”


text:
because they have done a disgraceful thing in Israel, and they have committed adultery with the wives of their neighbors, and they have spoken words in my name, lies that I have not commanded them, and I am he who knows, and I am a witness,’ declares Yahweh.”


text:
“Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, ‘Because you yourself sent a letter in your name to all the people who are in Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah, the son of Maaseiah, the priest, and to all the priests, saying,


text:
“Yahweh made you priest instead of Jehoiada the priest, so that there are overseers in the house of Yahweh over any mad man who exhibits the behavior of a prophet, and you must put him into the stocks and into the neck iron,


text:
and so then why have you not rebuked Jeremiah the Anathothite who exhibits the behavior of a prophet for you?


text:
Because he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, ‘It will be a long time, build houses and live in them, and plant gardens and eat their fruit.’ ” ’ ”


text:
“Send to all the exiles, saying, ‘Thus says Yahweh concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: “Because Shemaiah prophesied to you, though I have not sent him, and he has made you trust in a lie,”


text:
therefore thus says Yahweh, “Look, I am going to punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his offspring. There will not be for him a man who lives in the midst of this people, and he will not see the good that I am going to do to my people,” declares Yahweh, “For he has spoken rebellion against Yahweh.” ’ ”


text:
“Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, saying, ‘Write for yourself all the words that I have spoken to you in a scroll.


text:
For look, days are coming,’ declares Yahweh, ‘when I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel and Judah,’ says Yahweh, ‘and I will bring them back to the land that I gave to their ancestors and they will take possession of it.’ ”


text:
Ask please and see whether a male can bear a child. Why do I see every strong man with his hands on his loins like a woman giving birth? And why are all their faces changed to paleness?


text:
Alas! For that day is great, there is none like it. And it is a time of distress for Jacob, yet from it he will be delivered.


text:
And it will happen on that day,’ declares Yahweh of hosts, ‘I will break his yoke from your neck and your bonds I will tear to pieces. And strangers will no longer let him work as a slave.


text:
But you must not fear, my servant Jacob,’ declares Yahweh, ‘and you must not be dismayed, Israel, for look, I am going to save you from far, and your offspring from the land of their captivity. And Jacob will return, and he will be at rest, and he will be at ease, and there will be no one who makes him afraid.


text:
For I am with you,’ declares Yahweh, ‘to save you. For I will make a complete destruction of all the nations to which I scattered you, but you I will not make a complete destruction. And I will chastise you to the measure, and I will not leave you entirely unpunished.’


text:
All your lovers have forgotten you, they do not care for you. I have struck you with the blow of an enemy, the punishment of the cruel, because of the greatness of your guilt, your sins are numerous.


text:
Why do you cry because of your wound? Your pain is incurable. Because of the greatness of your guilt—your sins are vast— I have done these things to you.


text:
Therefore all those who devour you will be devoured, and all your foes, all of them will go into captivity, and those who plunder you will be as plunder, and all those who plunder you I will make as plunder.


text:
For I will present healing to you, and I will heal you of your wounds,’ declares Yahweh. ‘Because they have called you an outcast, saying, “It is Zion, there is no one who cares for her.” ’


text:
Thus says Yahweh: ‘Look, I will restore the fortunes of the tents of Jacob, and I will have compassion on his dwellings, and the city will be rebuilt upon its mound, and the citadel fortress will stand on its rightful site.


text:
And thanksgiving and the sound of merrymakers will come out from them, and I will make them numerous, and they will not be few. And I will make them honored, and they will not be lowly.


text:
And their children will be as of old, and their community will be established before me. And I will punish all their oppressors.


text:
And their noble will be from them, and their ruler will come out from their midst. And I will bring him near and he will approach me. For who is he that would pledge his heart to approach me?’ declares Yahweh.


text:
Look, the storm of Yahweh! Wrath has gone forth, a whirling tempest. It will whirl upon the head of the wicked.


text:
The burning anger of Yahweh will not turn back until his doing, and until his accomplishing the plans of his mind. In the last of the days you will understand it.


text:
“At that time,” declares Yahweh, “I will be the God of all the clans of Israel, and they will be to me a people.”


text:
Thus says Yahweh: “ The people of the survivors of the sword found grace in the desert; Israel going to find their rest.”


text:
From afar Yahweh appeared to me, saying, “I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore I have drawn you with loyal love.


text:
I will again build you, and you will be built, O virgin Israel. You will again adorn yourself with your tambourines, and you will go forth in the dancing in a ring of the merrymakers.


text:
You will again plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria. The planters will plant, and they will enjoy it.


text:
For there will be a day when watchmen will call in the hill country of Ephraim, ‘Stand up, and let us go up to Zion, to Yahweh our God.’ ”


text:
For thus says Yahweh, “Sing for joy for Jacob with gladness, and shout out for the head of the nations. Proclaim, praise, and say, ‘Save, O Yahweh, your people, the remnant of Israel.’


text:
Look, I am going to bring them from the land of the north, and I will gather them from the remotest part of the earth. Among them the blind, and the lame, those who are pregnant, and those who give birth, together, a great assembly, they will return here.


text:
With weeping they will come, and with pleas for mercy I will bring them; I will let them walk by streams of water in a straight path. They will not stumble in it, for I have become to Israel a father, and Ephraim, he is my firstborn.”


text:
Hear the word of Yahweh, O nations, and declare in the coastlands from afar, and say, “The scatterer of Israel will gather him, and he will keep him as a shepherd his flock.


text:
For Yahweh has ransomed Jacob, and he has redeemed him from the hand of the person stronger than he.


text:
And they will come, and they will sing for joy on the height of Zion, and they will be radiant over the goodness of Yahweh, over the grain, and over the wine, and over the olive oil, and over the young ones of the flock, and over the cattle. And their life will become like a well-watered garden, and they will never languish again.”


text:
“Then the young woman will rejoice in the dancing in a ring, and the young men and the old men together. And I will turn their mourning to jubilation, and I will comfort them, and I will gladden them from their sorrow.


text:
And I will saturate the appetite of the priests with fatness, and my people will be satisfied with my goodness,” declares Yahweh.


text:
Thus says Yahweh, “A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation, the weeping of bitterness. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted because of her children, for they are no more.”


text:
Thus says Yahweh: “Restrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears, for there is a reward for your work,” declares Yahweh, “and they will return from the land of the enemy.


text:
And there is hope for your future,” declares Yahweh, “and your children will return to their territory.


text:
Indeed I heard Ephraim pitying themselves, ‘You disciplined me, and I was disciplined, like a calf that is not trained. Bring me back and let me return, for you are Yahweh my God.


text:
For after my turning back I repented, and after coming to understand I struck my thigh. I was ashamed and also humiliated, because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’


text:
Is Ephraim my dear son, or the child of my delight? For as often as I have earnestly spoken against him, I still remember him. Therefore my bowels are turbulent for him, surely I will have compassion on him,” declares Yahweh.


text:
“Set up for yourself road markers, make for yourself signposts, set your mind to the main road, the road by which you went. Return, O virgin of Israel, return to these your cities.


text:
How long will you waver, O unfaithful daughter? For Yahweh has created a new thing on the earth, a woman, she shelters a man.”


text:
Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “They will again say these words in the land of Judah and in its towns at my restoring their fortunes, ‘Yahweh bless you, O settlement of righteousness, O hill of holiness.’


text:
And Judah and all of its towns together will live in it, farmers and those who travel with the flocks.


text:
“Look, the days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “and I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of humankind, and with the seed of animals.


text:
And then as I have watched over them to pull up, and to tear down, and to annihilate, and to destroy, and to do evil, so I will watch over them to build and to plant,” declares Yahweh.


text:
“In those days they will say no longer, ‘ Parents have eaten unripe fruit, and the teeth of the children are set on edge.’


text:
But each will die because of his iniquity, everyone who eats the unripe fruit, their teeth will be set on edge.


text:
Look, the days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “and I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,


text:
not like the covenant that I made with their ancestors on the day of my grasping them by their hand, bringing them out from the land of Egypt, my covenant that they themselves broke, though I myself was a master over them,” declares Yahweh.


text:
“But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares Yahweh: “I will put my law in their inward parts and on their hearts I will write it, and I will be to them God, and they themselves will be to me people.


text:
And they will no longer teach each one his neighbor, or each one his brother, saying, ‘Know Yahweh,’ for all of them will know me, from their smallest and up to their greatest,” declares Yahweh, “for I will forgive their iniquity and their sin I will no longer remember.”


text:
Thus says Yahweh, who gives the sun for light by day, the regulations of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea and its waves roar—Yahweh of hosts is his name.


text:
“If these rules would cease from before me,” declares Yahweh, “also the offspring of Israel would cease from being a nation before me forever.”


text:
Thus says Yahweh, “If the heavens above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth below can be explored, also I will reject all the offspring of Israel because of all that they have done,” declares Yahweh.


text:
“Look, days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “and the city will be rebuilt for Yahweh, from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate.


text:
And the measuring line will still go out immediately in front of it to the hill of Gareb, and it will turn to Goah.


text:
And the whole of the valley of the corpses, and the ashes, and all the cultivated fields up to the wadi of Kidron, up to the corner of the Gate of the Horses toward the east will be holy to Yahweh. It will not be uprooted, and it will not be overthrown again forever.”


text:
The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh in the tenth year of Zedekiah the king of Judah, that was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar.


text:
Now at that time the army of the king of Babylon was laying siege to Jerusalem and Jeremiah the prophet was confined in the courtyard of the guard that was in the palace of the king of Judah,


text:
where Zedekiah, the king of Judah, had confined him, saying, “Why are you prophesying, saying, ‘Thus says Yahweh, “Look, I am going to give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will capture it,


text:
and Zedekiah, the king of Judah, will not escape from the hand of the Chaldeans, but surely he will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will speak face to face with him and he will see him eye to eye,


text:
and to Babylon he will bring Zedekiah, and there he will be until my attending to him,” declares Yahweh. “If you fight against the Chaldeans, you will not be successful” ’?”


text:
‘Look, Hanamel, the son of Shallum, your uncle, is going to come to you, saying, “Buy for yourself my field that is at Anathoth, for you have the right of redemption to buy it.” ’


text:
Then Hanamel, the son of my uncle, came to me, to the courtyard of the guard according to the word of Yahweh, and he said to me, ‘Please buy my field that is at Anathoth, that is in the land of Benjamin, for to you is the claim of possession, and to you the redemption; buy it for yourself.’ Then I knew that this was the word of Yahweh.


text:
And I bought the field from Hanamel, the son of my uncle, that was at Anathoth. And I weighed out to him the money, seventeen silver shekels.


text:
And I signed on the letter and sealed it, and I called witnesses as witness, and I weighed out the money on a set of scales.


text:
Then I took the deed of the purchase, the sealed copy containing the commandments and the rules, together with the one that was open.


text:
And I gave the deed of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the presence of Hanamel, the son of my uncle, and in the presence of the witnesses who signed the deed of the purchase, in the presence of the Judeans who were sitting in the courtyard of the guard.


text:
‘Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “Take these deeds, this deed of the purchase, the sealed one, and this opened deed, and you must put them in an earthenware jar so that they may be kept preserved many days.”


text:
For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: “Houses and fields and vineyards will again be bought in this land.” ’


text:
‘Ah Lord Yahweh! Look, you made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for you,


text:
showing loyal love to the thousands, and repaying the guilt of parents into the laps of their children after them. Powerful, great, mighty, his name is Yahweh of hosts,


text:
great in counsel and great in deed, whose eyes are opened to all the ways of the children of humankind, to give to each one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds,


text:
who accomplished signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, up to this day, and in Israel, and among humankind, and you have made for yourself a name, as it is this day.


text:
And you brought out your people Israel from the land of Egypt with signs, and with wonders, and with a strong hand, and with an arm stretched out, and with great terror.


text:
And you gave to them this land, which you swore to their ancestors to give to them, a land flowing with milk and honey.


text:
And they entered and took possession of it, but they did not listen to your voice, and they did not follow your law. They did nothing of all that you commanded to them to do, and you caused to happen to them all this disaster.


text:
Look, the siege ramps have come up to the city to capture it, and the city has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans who are fighting against it, because of the sword, the famine, and the plague, and what you spoke happened, and look, you are seeing it.


text:
Yet you have said to me, Lord Yahweh, “Buy for yourself the field with the money, and call witnesses as witness,” though the city has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans.’ ”


text:
Therefore thus says Yahweh: “Look, I am going to give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and he will capture it.


text:
And the Chaldeans, who are fighting against this city, will come and set this city on fire, and they will burn it, and the houses where they have made smoke offerings on their roofs to Baal, and where they have devoted libations to other gods, in order to provoke me to anger.


text:
For the people of Israel and the people of Judah were doing only evil in my eyes from their youth, for the people of Israel were only provoking me to anger by the work of their hands,” declares Yahweh.


text:
“For this city has been for me a cause of my anger and of my wrath from the day that they built it even until this day, so I will remove it from my sight,


text:
because of all the evil of the people of Israel and the people of Judah that they did to provoke me to anger—they, their kings, their officials, their priests, and their prophets, and the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.


text:
And they have turned to me their backs and not their faces, though I have taught them over and over again, but they were not listening to accept discipline.


text:
And they built the high places of Baal that are in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to present as offerings their sons and their daughters to Molech, which I had not commanded them, and it had not come to my mind to do this detestable thing in order to cause Judah to sin.”


text:
“So now therefore, thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, concerning this city, of which you are saying, ‘It will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, and by the famine, and by the plague’:


text:
Look, I am going to gather them from all the lands to which I driven them in my anger, and in my fury, and in great wrath, and I will bring them back to this place, and I will cause them to dwell in safety.


text:
And I will give to them one heart and one way, to revere me forever, for good to them, and to their children after them.


text:
And I will make with them an everlasting covenant that I will not turn away from them, my doing good to them, and my reverence I will put in their hearts so that they will not turn aside from me.


text:
And I will rejoice over them to do good to them, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness with all my heart, and with all my inner self.”


text:
“For thus says Yahweh, ‘Just as I have brought to this people all this great disaster, so I will bring upon them all the good that I promise to them.


text:
And the fields will be bought in this land of which you are saying, “It is a desolation, without humankind or animals. It has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans.”


text:
They will buy fields with money, and they will sign the deeds, and they will seal them, and they will call witnesses as witness in the land of Benjamin, and in the surroundings of Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, and in the cities of the hill country, and in the cities of the Shephelah, and in the cities of the Negev, for I will restore their fortunes,’ declares Yahweh.”


text:
And the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah a second time while he was still held back in the courtyard of the guard, saying,


text:
‘Call to me, and I will answer you, and I will tell you great things and inaccessible things that you have not known.’


text:
For thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, that were torn down to make a defense against the siege ramps and against the sword:


text:
‘ They are coming to fight against the Chaldeans, and to fill them with the corpses of the people whom I will strike in my anger and in my wrath, for whom I have hidden my face from this city because of all their wickedness.


text:
Look, I am going to bring healing and health to it, and I will heal them, and I will reveal to them abundance of peace and reliability.


text:
And I will restore the fortunes of Judah and the fortunes of Israel, and I will rebuild them as in the beginning.


text:
And I will cleanse them from all their guilt that they sinned against me, and I will forgive all their iniquities that they sinned against me, and that they rebelled against me.


text:
And it will be to me a name of jubilation, a praise, and a glory before all the nations of the earth, who will hear all the good that I will do for them, and they will fear, and they will tremble because of all the good, and because of all the prosperity that I will provide for it.’


text:
“Thus says Yahweh: ‘Again will be heard in this place, of which you are saying, “It is a waste, without people and without animals,” in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, without people and without inhabitants and without animals,


text:
the voice of jubilation, and the voice of joy, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voices of those who say, “Praise Yahweh of hosts, for Yahweh is good, for his loyal love is forever,” the voices of those who bring thank offerings to the house of Yahweh, for I will restore the fortunes of the land as in the beginning,’ says Yahweh.


text:
Thus says Yahweh of hosts: ‘Again there will be in this waste place, without people and animals, and in all its towns, pasture for shepherds allowing their flock to lie down.


text:
In the towns of the hill country, in the towns of the Shephelah, and in the towns of the Negev, and in the land of Benjamin, and in the surroundings of Jerusalem, and in the towns of Judah, flocks will again pass under the hands of the counter,’ says Yahweh.


text:
‘Look, days are coming,’ declares Yahweh, ‘and I will fulfill the good promise that I promised to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah.


text:
In those days and in that time I will make a branch of righteousness sprout for David, and he will execute justice and righteousness in the land.


text:
In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell safely, and this is what they shall call it: “Yahweh is our righteousness.” ’


text:
For thus says Yahweh: ‘A man who sits on the throne of the house of Israel will not be cut off for David.


text:
And for the priests, a man from the Levites who offers burnt offerings and who burns grain offerings and who brings sacrifices will not be cut off before me forever.’ ”


text:
“Thus says Yahweh: ‘If you could break my covenant with the day, and my covenant with the night, so that day and night would not come at their time,


text:
then my covenant could be broken with David my servant, from having a son who could rule on his throne, and with the Levites, the priests, my ministers.


text:
As the host of heaven cannot be counted, and the sand of the sea cannot be measured, so I will make numerous the offspring of David my servant and the Levites who minister to me.’ ”


text:
“Have you not seen how these people speak, saying, ‘The two clans whom Yahweh chose, he has also rejected them’? Thus they spurn my people from being a nation before them any longer.


text:
Thus says Yahweh: ‘If my covenant with day and with night, the regulations of heaven and earth, I had not established,


text:
then the offspring of Jacob and David my servant I would reject, from choosing rulers from his offspring over the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; for I will restore their fortunes and I will have compassion on them.’ ”


text:
The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, when Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and all his army, with all the kingdoms of the earth under the dominion of his hand, and all the peoples were fighting against Jerusalem and against all its cities, saying,


text:
“Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: ‘Go and say to Zedekiah the king of Judah, now you must say to him, “Thus says Yahweh: ‘Look, I am going to give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire.


text:
And you will not escape from his hand, but surely you will be captured, and into his hand you will be given, and you will see the king of Babylon eye to eye, and you will speak face to face with him, and to Babylon you will go.’


text:
However, hear the word of Yahweh, O Zedekiah, the king of Judah. Thus says Yahweh concerning you: ‘You will not die by the sword.


text:
In peace you will die, and as there was burning for your ancestors, the former kings who were before you, so they will burn for you, and they will lament for you, “Alas, lord!” For the word I have spoken,’ declares Yahweh.” ’ ”


text:
when the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and against all the cities of Judah that were left over—Lachish and Azekah, for these remained among the cities of Judah, the cities of fortification.


text:
The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh after king Zedekiah made a covenant with all the people who were in Jerusalem to proclaim release to them,


text:
to let go each one his male slave and each one his female slave, the Hebrew and the free Hebrew, so that no one among the Judeans should enslave his fellow countryman.


text:
And all the officials and all the people obeyed, who had entered into the covenant to let go each one his male slave and each one his female slave, not enslaving them again, and they obeyed and they let them go.


text:
But afterward they turned back and they brought back the male slaves and the female slaves whom they had let go free, and they subdued them as male slaves and female slaves.


text:
“Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: ‘I made a covenant with your ancestors on the day of my bringing them out from the land of Egypt, from the house of slaves, saying,


text:
“At the end of seven years you must let go each one his fellow countryman, the Hebrew who has been sold to you and who has served you six years, and you must let him go free from you.” But your ancestors did not listen to me, and they did not incline their ears.


text:
And you turned back recently and you did right in my eyes, to proclaim release each one to his neighbor, and you made a covenant before me in the house that is called by my name.


text:
But you turned back and you profaned my name when you brought back each one his male slave and each one his female slave, whom you had let go free according to their desire, and you subdued them to be to you as male slaves and as female slaves.’


text:
“ Therefore thus says Yahweh, ‘You have not listened to me to proclaim release each one to his fellow countryman and each one to his neighbor. Look, I am going to proclaim to you a release,’ declares Yahweh, ‘to the sword, to the plague, and to the famine, and I will make you a terror to all the kingdoms of the earth.


text:
And I will make the men who transgressed my covenant, who have not kept the words of the covenant that they made before me, like the calf which they cut in two and they passed between its parts—


text:
the officials of Judah, and the officials of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, and the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf—


text:
and I will give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of the seekers of their lives, and their dead bodies will become as food for the birds of the heavens and for the animals of the earth.


text:
And Zedekiah the king of Judah and his officials I will give into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of the seekers of their lives, and into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon, who retreated from you.


text:
Look, I am going to command,’ declares Yahweh, ‘and I will bring them back to this city, and they will fight against it, and they will capture it, and they will burn it with fire, and the towns of Judah I will make a desolation without an inhabitant.’ ”


text:
The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh in the days of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, saying,


text:
“Go to the house of the Rechabites, and speak with them, and bring them to the house of Yahweh into one of the chambers, and give them wine to drink.”


text:
So I took Jaazaniah, the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habazziniah, and his brothers, and all his sons, and the whole of the house of the Rechabites,


text:
and I brought them to the house of Yahweh, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan, the son of Igdaliah, the man of God, which was beside the chamber of the officials, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah, the son of Shallum, the keeper of the threshold.


text:
Then I set before the house of the Rechabites bowls full of wine and cups, and I said to them, “Drink wine.”


text:
But they answered, “We will not drink wine, for Jonadab, the son of Rechab, our ancestor, commanded us, saying, ‘You shall not drink wine, you or your children, forever.


text:
And you shall not build a house, and you shall not sow seed, and you shall not plant a vineyard, and it shall not be for you, but in tents you shall live all your days, so that you may live many days on the surface of the land where you are dwelling as aliens.’


text:
And we obeyed the voice of Jonadab, the son of Rechab, our ancestor, in all that he commanded us, not to drink wine all our days, ourselves, our wives, our sons, or our daughters,


text:
But we have lived in tents, and we have obeyed, and we have done all that Jehonadab, our ancestor, commanded us.


text:
But then at the coming up against the land of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, then we said, ‘Come and let us go to Jerusalem before the army of the Chaldeans, and before the army of the Arameans.’ That is why we are living in Jerusalem.”


text:
“Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Go and say to the people of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, “Can you not learn a lesson to listen to my words?” declares Yahweh.


text:
“The words of Jonadab, the son of Rechab, that he commanded his descendants to not drink, have been carried out, and they have not drunk until this day, for they have obeyed the command of their ancestor. But I have spoken to you over and over again, and you have not listened to me.


text:
And I have sent to you all my servants the prophets, I have sent them over and over again, saying, ‘Turn back please each one from his evil way, and amend your deeds, and you must not go after other gods to serve them, so that you may live on the land that I gave to you and to your ancestors.’ But you did not incline your ear and you did not listen to me.


text:
For the descendants of Jonadab, the son of Rechab, have carried out the command of their ancestor that he commanded them, but this people did not listen to me.”


text:
Therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of hosts, the God of Israel, “Look, I am going to bring to Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem every disaster that I have spoken against them, because I have spoken to them and they have not listened, and I have called to them and they have not answered.” ’ ”


text:
But to the house of the Rechabites Jeremiah said, “Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Because you have listened to the command of Jonadab your ancestor, and you have kept all his commands, and you have done all that he commanded you,’


text:
therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘A man will not be cut off for Jonadab, the son of Rechab, to stand before me always.’ ”


text:
And then in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying,


text:
“Take for yourself a scroll and you must write on it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel, and against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day that I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah, and until this day.


text:
Perhaps when the house of Judah hears all the disasters that I am planning to do to them, then they may turn back each one from his evil way, and I will forgive their guilt and their sin.”


text:
Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah, and Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of Yahweh that he had spoken to him on a scroll.


text:
And Jeremiah instructed Baruch, saying, “I am held back, I am not able to enter the temple of Yahweh.


text:
So you must go and you shall read aloud from the scroll that you have written from my mouth the words of Yahweh in the hearing of the people in the temple of Yahweh on a day of fast, and also you shall read aloud in the hearing of all those of Judah who came from their towns.


text:
Perhaps their plea will fall before Yahweh and each one will turn away from his evil way, for great is the anger and wrath that Yahweh pronounced against this people.”


text:
And Baruch the son of Neriah did all that Jeremiah the prophet instructed him, to read aloud from the scroll the words of Yahweh in the temple of Yahweh.


text:
And then in the fifth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, in the ninth month, all the people in Jerusalem and all the people who came from the towns of Judah to Jerusalem proclaimed a fast before Yahweh.


text:
Then Baruch read aloud from the scroll the words of Jeremiah in the temple of Yahweh, in the chamber of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, the secretary, in the upper courtyard at the entrance of the New Gate of the temple of Yahweh in the hearing of all the people.


text:
When Micaiah, the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, heard all the words of Yahweh from the scroll,


text:
he went down to the house of the king, to the chamber of the secretary, and look, all the officials were sitting there: Elishama the secretary, 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 other officials.


text:
And Micaiah told them all the words that he had heard at the reading aloud of Baruch from the scroll in the hearing of the people.


text:
Then all the officials sent Jehudi, the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, to Baruch, saying, “The scroll that you read aloud from in the hearing of the people, take it in your hand and come.” And Baruch the son of Neriah took the scroll in his hand and he came to them.


text:
And they said to him, “Sit please and read it aloud in our hearing.” So Baruch read aloud in their hearing.


text:
And then, the moment of their hearing all the words, they turned to one another in alarm and they said to Baruch, “We must certainly report all these words to the king!”


text:
Then they asked Baruch, saying, “Tell us please, how did you write all these words, from his mouth?”


text:
And Baruch said to them, “From his mouth. He dictated to me all these words and I was writing on the scroll with the ink.”


text:
Then the officials said to Baruch, “Go, hide yourself, you and Jeremiah, and let not a man know where you are.”


text:
And they went to the king, to the courtyard, and they put the scroll for safe-keeping in the chamber of Elishama the secretary, and they reported all the words in the hearing of the king.


text:
Then the king sent Jehudi to take the scroll, and he took it from the chamber of Elishama the secretary, and Jehudi read it aloud in the hearing of the king, and in the hearing of all the officials who stood next to the king.


text:
Now the king was sitting in the quarters of the winter in the ninth month, and a fire-pot was burning before him.


text:
And then, as Jehudi read three or four columns, he would cut it up in pieces with the knife of the scribe, and he would throw it into the fire that was in the fire-pot until the whole of the scroll was consumed in the fire that was in the fire-pot.


text:
And the king and any of his servants who heard all these words were not startled, and they did not tear their garments.


text:
And even when Elnathan, and Delaiah, and Gemariah urged the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them.


text:
And the king commanded Jerahmeel, the son of the king, and Seraiah, the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah, the son of Abdeel, to arrest Baruch the secretary and Jeremiah the prophet, but Yahweh hid them.


text:
And the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah after the king burned the scroll and the words that Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah, saying,


text:
“ Take again for yourself another scroll and write on it all the former words that were in the first scroll which Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, has burned.


text:
And concerning Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, you shall say, ‘Thus says Yahweh, “You have burned this scroll, saying, ‘Why have you written in it, saying, “The king of Babylon will certainly come and he will destroy this land, and he will cause to disappear from it humankind and animals”?’ ”


text:
Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, “There will not be for him one who sits on the throne of David. And his dead body will be thrown out to the heat in the day and to the frost in the night.


text:
And I will punish him, and his offspring, and his servants for their guilt, and I will bring on them, and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and on the people of Judah all the disaster with which I have threatened them, but they would not listen.” ’ ”


text:
Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Baruch the son of Neriah, the secretary, and he wrote on it from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, had burned in the fire, and furthermore was added to them many words like these.


text:
And king Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, whom Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, had made king, reigned as king in the land of Judah in place of Coniah, the son of Jehoiakim.


text:
But he and his servants and the people of the land did not listen to the words of Yahweh that he spoke by the hand of Jeremiah the prophet.


text:
And king Zedekiah sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, to Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “Please pray for us to Yahweh our God.”


text:
Now Jeremiah was coming and going out in the midst of the people and they had not put him in the house of imprisonment.


text:
And the army of Pharaoh had come out from Egypt, and the Chaldeans, who were laying siege to Jerusalem, heard their report and they withdrew from Jerusalem.


text:
“Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘This is what you shall say to the king of Judah, who sent you to me to inquire of me, “Look, the army of Pharaoh, which set out to help you, is going to return to his land Egypt.


text:
And the Chaldeans will return, and they will fight against this city, and they will capture it, and they will burn it with fire.” ’


text:
Thus says Yahweh: ‘You must not deceive yourselves, saying, “Surely the Chaldeans will go from us,” for they will not go.


text:
For even if you struck the whole army of the Chaldeans who are fighting against you, and only men pierced through remained among them, each one in his tent, they would rise up and they would burn this city with fire.’ ”


text:
And then, at the withdrawing of the army of the Chaldeans from Jerusalem before the army of Pharaoh,


text:
Jeremiah set out from Jerusalem to go to the land of Benjamin to receive a portion from there in the midst of the people.


text:
And when he was at the Gate of Benjamin, there was a sentry on duty whose name was Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah, and he seized Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “You are deserting to the Chaldeans!”


text:
And Jeremiah said, “ That is a lie! I am not deserting to the Chaldeans.” But he would not listen to him. So Irijah seized Jeremiah and brought him to the officials.


text:
And the officials were angry at Jeremiah and they struck him. And they put him in prison, in the house of Jonathan the secretary, for they had converted it to the prison.


text:
Then King Zedekiah sent and fetched him. And the king questioned him in secrecy in his house, and he said, “Is there a word from Yahweh?” And Jeremiah said, “There is.” And he said, “You will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon.”


text:
Then Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, “What did I do wrong to you, or to your servants, or to this people, that you have put me in prison?


text:
And where are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, ‘The king of Babylon will not come against you and against this land’?


text:
Now then, my lord the king, please let my plea fall before you. You must not send me back to the house of Jonathan the secretary, so that I will not die there.”


text:
So King Zedekiah commanded, and they handed Jeremiah over in the courtyard of the guard, and they gave to him a round loaf of bread from the street of the bakers every day until the finishing of all the bread from the city. And Jeremiah stayed in the courtyard of the guard.


text:
Now Shephatiah the son of Mattan, and Gedaliah the son of Pashhur, and Jehucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur the son of Malchiah heard the words that Jeremiah was saying to all the people, saying,


text:
“Thus says Yahweh, ‘The one who stays in this city will die by the sword, by the famine, and by the plague. But the one who goes out to the Chaldeans will live. And his life will be for him as booty, and he will live.’


text:
Thus says Yahweh, ‘Surely this city will be given into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon, and he will capture it.’ ”


text:
Then the officials said to the king, “Please, this man must be killed, because he is making slack the hands of the soldiers who are left in this city, and the hands of all the people, by speaking to them words like these, for this man is not seeking for welfare to this people, but only for harm.”


text:
And Zedekiah the king said, “Look, he is in your hand, for the king is not able to do a thing against you.”


text:
So they took Jeremiah and threw him into the pit of Malchiah, the son of the king, which was in the courtyard of the guard. And they let Jeremiah down by ropes. Now in the pit there was no water, but only mud, and Jeremiah sank in the mud.


text:
When Ebed-melech the Cushite, a eunuch who was in the house of the king, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the pit —now the king was sitting at the Gate of Benjamin—


text:
“My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, in that they have thrown him into the pit, and he will die there because of starvation, for there is no longer any bread in the city.”


text:
Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Cushite, saying, “Take with you these thirty men and pull Jeremiah the prophet up from the pit before he dies.”


text:
So Ebed-melech took the men with him and went to the palace of the king, to a place beneath the storehouse, and he took from there rags and worn-out clothes. And he let them down into the pit by ropes to Jeremiah.


text:
Then Ebed-melech the Cushite said to Jeremiah, “Please put the rags and worn-out clothes under the joints of your arms under the ropes,” and Jeremiah did so.


text:
And they pulled Jeremiah by the ropes and brought him up from the pit. And Jeremiah stayed in the courtyard of the guard.


text:
And Zedekiah the king sent and made someone bring Jeremiah the prophet to him, to the third entrance that was at the temple of Yahweh. And the king said to Jeremiah, “I am asking you something, you must not hide anything from me.”


text:
And Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “If I tell you, will you not surely kill me? Besides, if I advise you, you will not listen to me.


text:
So Zedekiah the king swore to Jeremiah in secret, saying, “ As Yahweh lives, who has made for us this life, I will not kill you and I will not give you into the hand of these men who are seeking your life.”


text:
Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “Thus says Yahweh, the God of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘If only you will go surrender to the officials of the king of Babylon, then you will live, and this city will not be burned with fire, and you will live, you and your house.


text:
But if you do not go surrender to the officials of the king of Babylon, then this city will be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they will burn it with fire, and you will not escape from their hand.’ ”


text:
And Zedekiah the king said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Judeans who have deserted to the Chaldeans, lest they give me into their hand and they abuse me.”


text:
And Jeremiah said, “They will not give you over. Please obey the voice of Yahweh with regard to what I am saying to you, and it will go well with you, and you will live.


text:
Now look, all the women who remain in the house of the king of Judah are being led out to the officials of the king of Babylon. And look, they are saying, ‘ Your trusted friends have misled you, and they have prevailed against you. Your feet are stuck in the mud, so they turned backward.’


text:
And all your wives and your children will be led out to the Chaldeans, and you will not escape from their hand, but by the hand of the king of Babylon you will be seized, and this city will burn with fire.”


text:
And if the officials hear that I have spoken with you, and they come to you and say to you, ‘Please tell us what you said to the king. You must not conceal it from us so that we will not kill you. And what did the king say to you?’


text:
Then you shall say to them, ‘I was presenting my plea before the king, to not cause me to return to the house of Jonathan to die there.’ ”


text:
And all the officials came to Jeremiah and questioned him, and he informed them like all these words that the king commanded. So they fell silent, for the conversation was not heard.


text:
And Jeremiah stayed in the courtyard of the guard until the day that Jerusalem was captured. And it happened that Jerusalem was captured.


text:
In the ninth year of Zedekiah, the king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and laid siege to it.


text:
In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, the city was taken by assault.


text:
And all the officials of the king of Babylon came and sat in the Middle Gate: Nergal-sharezer, Samgar-nebo, Sarsechim the chief officer, Nergal-sharezer the high official, with all the rest of the officials of the king of Babylon.


text:
And then when Zedekiah the king of Judah saw them, and all the soldiers with him, they fled and went out at night from the city by the way of the garden of the king through the gate between the walls. And they went out toward the Jordan Valley.


text:
But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after them and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. And they took him and brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath. And he pronounced sentence on him.


text:
And the king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah at Riblah before his eyes. The king of Babylon also slaughtered all the nobles of Judah.


text:
And the Chaldeans burned the palace of the king and the houses of the people with fire and broke down the walls of Jerusalem.


text:
Then the rest of the people who were left in the city, and those deserting who had deserted to him, and the rest of the people who remained, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, deported to Babylon.


text:
And some of the poor people, who had nothing, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, left in the land of Judah. And he gave them vineyards and fields on that day.


text:
And Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon commanded concerning Jeremiah through Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, saying,


text:
“Take him and set your eyes on him. And you must not do something bad to him, but only that which he speaks to you, so do with him.”


text:
So Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, sent word, along with Nebushazban the chief officer, and Nergal-sharezer the high official, and all the chief officers of the king of Babylon.


text:
And they sent and took Jeremiah from the courtyard of the guard and gave him to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, to take him to the house, so he stayed in the midst of the people.


text:
“Go and say to Ebed-melech the Cushite, saying, ‘Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: “Look, I am about to bring my words to pass against this city for evil and not for good. And they will be before you on that day.


text:
But I will rescue you on that day,” declares Yahweh, “and you will not be given into the hand of the men of whom you are frightened.


text:
For surely I will save you, and you will not fall by the sword. But your life will be for you as booty because you have trusted in me,” declares Yahweh.’ ”


text:
The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh after Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, had let him go from Ramah, where he had been taken bound in chains in the midst of all the exiles of Jerusalem and Judah who were being deported to Babylon.


text:
And the captain of the guard took Jeremiah and said to him, “Yahweh your God threatened this disaster to this place,


text:
and now he has brought it about, and Yahweh has done just as he threatened. Because you sinned against Yahweh and did not listen to his voice, so this thing has happened to you.


text:
And so then look, I have released you today from the chains that were on your hands. If it is good in your eyes to come with me to Babylon, then come, and I will take care of you. But if it is bad in your eyes to come with me to Babylon, then refrain. Look, the whole land is before you. To wherever it is good and right in your eyes to go, then go there.”


text:
While he still had not turned back, Nebuzaradan added, “Return to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has appointed in an official position over the towns of Judah, and stay with him in the midst of the people. Or to wherever it is right in your eyes to go, then go there.” Then the captain of the guard gave him an allowance of provisions and a present, and let him go.


text:
So Jeremiah went to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, at Mizpah and stayed with him in the midst of the people who were left in the land.


text:
When all the commanders of the armies who were in the open country and their men heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam in an official position in the land, and that he had put him in charge of men, and women, and little children, and of the poor of the land, of all those who had not been deported to Babylon,


text:
then they went to Gedaliah at Mizpah—Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan, and Jehonathan the son of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth, and the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jezaniah the son of the Maacathite, they and their men.


text:
And Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, swore to them and to their men, saying, “You must not be afraid of serving the Chaldeans. Stay in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well with you.


text:
As for me, look, I am staying at Mizpah to represent you before the Chaldeans who come to us. But you, gather wine and summer fruit and oil, and put them in your vessels, and live in your towns that you have seized.”


text:
And also all the Judeans who were in Moab, and among the Ammonites, and in Edom, and who were in all the lands, when they heard that the king of Babylon had given a remnant to Judah and that he had appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, in an official position over them,


text:
then all the Judeans returned from all the places to which they were scattered. And they came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah, and they gathered wine and summer fruit that yielded in great abundance.


text:
And Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the armies who were in the open country came to Gedaliah at Mizpah


text:
and said to him, “ Are you at all aware that Baalis, the king of the Ammonites, has sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, to kill you?” But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam would not believe them.


text:
Then Johanan the son of Kareah said to Gedaliah in secrecy at Mizpah, saying, “Please let me go and kill Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and nobody will know. Why should he kill you, so that all of Judah who are gathered to you will be scattered, and the remnant of Judah will perish?”


text:
But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam said to Johanan the son of Kareah, “You must not do this thing, for you are telling a lie about Ishmael.”


text:
And then in the seventh month Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, from the offspring of the kingship, and one of the chief officers of the king, came to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam at Mizpah, along with ten men. And they ate bread together there at Mizpah.


text:
And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah got up, along with the ten men who were with him, and they struck Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, with the sword and killed him whom the king of Babylon had appointed in an official position over the land.


text:
Then Ishmael killed all the Judeans who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah, along with the Chaldeans who were found there, the soldiers.


text:
then men came from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, eighty men with shaven beards and torn garments, who had cut themselves with blades, having grain offerings and frankincense in their hands to bring to the temple of Yahweh.


text:
And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah came out to meet them from Mizpah, weeping as he came. And then as he was meeting them, he said to them, “Come to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam.”


text:
And then, the moment of their coming to the middle of the city, then Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, along with the men who were with him, slaughtered them and threw them to the middle of the pit.


text:
But ten men were found among them, and they said to Ishmael, “You must not kill us, for we have hidden treasures in the field, wheat, and barley, and oil, and honey. So he refrained and he did not kill them in the midst of their fellow countrymen.


text:
Now the pit into which Ishmael threw all the corpses of the men whom he had killed along with Gedaliah was the same one that King Asa had made because of Baasha the king of Israel, who was against him. Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with the slain ones.


text:
Then Ishmael took captive all the rest of the people who were in Mizpah, the daughters of the king and all the people who were left at Mizpah, over whom Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, had appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. And Ishmael took them captive and set out to cross over to the Ammonites.


text:
When Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the armies who were with him, heard all the evil that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had done,


text:
then they took all the men and went to fight against Ishmael the son of Nethaniah. And they met him at the great pool that is in Gibeon.


text:
And then, the moment that all the people who were with Ishmael saw Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the armies who were with him, they were glad.


text:
So all the people whom Ishmael had taken captive from Mizpah turned around and returned and went to Johanan the son of Kareah.


text:
But Ishmael the son of Nethaniah escaped with eight men from Johanan, and they went to the Ammonites.


text:
Then Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the armies who were with him took from Mizpah all the rest of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, after he had killed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, strong men, soldiers, and women, and little children, and eunuchs whom he brought back from Gibeon.


text:
And they set out and stayed at the lodging place of Chimham that is near Bethlehem, intending to go to Egypt


text:
because of the Chaldeans. For they were afraid of them, because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had killed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had appointed in an official position over the land.


text:
Then all the commanders of the armies, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the smallest to the greatest, approached


text:
and said to Jeremiah the prophet, “May our plea please fall before you, and pray for us to Yahweh your God, for all this remnant, for we are left but a few of many, as your eyes are seeing us.


text:
And Jeremiah the prophet said to them, “I have heard. Look, I am going to pray to Yahweh your God according to your words, and then all the words that Yahweh answers you I will tell you; I will not withhold from you a word.”


text:
Then they said to Jeremiah, “May Yahweh be against us as a true and faithful witness if we do not do according to all the words that Yahweh sends you for us.


text:
Whether good or bad, we will listen to the voice of Yahweh our God, to whom we are sending you, so that it may go well with us when we listen to the voice of Yahweh our God.”


text:
And he summoned Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the commanders of the armies who were with him, and all the people from the smallest to the greatest,


text:
and said to them, “Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to cause your plea to fall before him:


text:
‘If only you will stay in this land, then I will build you and I will not tear you down, and I will plant you and I will not pluck you up, for I relent of the disaster that I have brought to you.


text:
You must not be afraid of the king of Babylon whom you are afraid of. You must not be afraid of him,’ declares Yahweh, ‘for I am with you to save you and to deliver you from his hand.


text:
And I will show you compassion, and he will have compassion on you and will restore you to your soil.


text:
But if you are saying, “We will not stay in this land,” so as to not listen to the voice of Yahweh your God,


text:
saying, “No, for we will go to the land of Egypt where we will not see war, and we will not hear the sound of a horn, and we will not be hungry for bread, and there we will stay,”


text:
then therefore hear the word of Yahweh, O remnant of Judah. Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: “ If you are determined to go to Egypt, and you go to dwell as aliens there,


text:
then it will be that the sword that you are in fear of will overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine that you are anxious of will pursue after you there into Egypt, and there you will die.


text:
So all the people who are determined to go to Egypt to dwell as aliens there will die by the sword, by the famine, and by the plague, and there will not be for them an escapee or a survivor from the disaster that I am bringing upon them.”


text:
For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: “As my anger and my wrath were poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so my wrath will pour out on you at your going to Egypt, and you will become a curse, and a horror, and a curse formula, and a disgrace, and you will no longer see this place.” ’


text:
Yahweh has spoken to you, O remnant of Judah, ‘You must not go to Egypt.’ You must certainly know that I have warned you today


text:
that you have made a fatal mistake, for you sent me to Yahweh your God, saying, ‘Pray for us to Yahweh our God, and all that Yahweh our God says, so tell us and we will do it.’


text:
So I have told you today, and you have not listened to the voice of Yahweh your God, or of anything that he sent me for you.


text:
Now then, certainly you must know that by the sword, by the famine, and by the plague you will die in the place where you desire to go, to dwell as aliens there.”


text:
And then, when Jeremiah had finished speaking to all the people all the words of Yahweh their God, for which Yahweh their God had sent him to them with all these words,


text:
Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the insolent men spoke, saying to Jeremiah, “You are telling a lie! Yahweh our God did not send you, saying, ‘You must not go to Egypt to dwell as aliens there.’


text:
But Baruch the son of Neriah is inciting you against us in order to give us into the hand of the Chaldeans, to kill us and to deport us to Babylon.”


text:
So Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the armies, and all the people did not listen to the voice of Yahweh to stay in the land of Judah.


text:
But Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the armies took all the remnant of Judah who had returned from all the nations to which they had been scattered to dwell as aliens in the land of Judah—


text:
the men, and the women, and the little children, and the daughters of the king, and everyone whom 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:
and they came into the land of Egypt, for they did not listen to the voice of Yahweh. And they came up to Tahpanhes.


text:
“Take in your hands large stones and bury them in the mortar in the clay floor that is at the entrance of the palace of Pharaoh in Tahpanhes before the eyes of the people of the Judeans,


text:
and say to them, ‘Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: “Look, I am going to send and take Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will set his throne above these stones that I have hidden. And he will spread out his canopy over them.


text:
And he will come and ravage the land of Egypt, and deliver those who are appointed for the plague, to the plague, and those who are appointed for the captivity, to the captivity, and those who are appointed for the sword, to the sword.


text:
Then he will kindle a fire in the temples of the gods of Egypt, and he will burn them and take them captive. And he will wrap up the land of Egypt just as the shepherd wraps up his cloak. And he will go forth from there in peace.


text:
And he will break the stone pillars of Heliopolis, which is in the land of Egypt. And he will burn the temples of the gods of Egypt with fire.” ’ ”


text:
The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Judeans who were living in the land of Egypt, who were living at Migdol, and Tahpanhes, and Memphis, and in the land of Pathros, saying,


text:
“Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen all the disaster that I have brought on Jerusalem, and on all the towns of Judah. And look, they are a site of ruins this day, and there is not in them an inhabitant,


text:
because of their wickedness that they committed to provoke me to anger by going to make smoke offerings, serving other gods whom they had not known, neither they, you, or your ancestors.


text:
And I sent to you all my servants the prophets, sending over and over again, saying, “Please, you must not do this detestable thing that I hate.”


text:
But they did not listen and they did not incline their ears to turn back from their wickedness, to not make smoke offerings to other gods.


text:
So my wrath and my anger were poured out and burned in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, and they became as a site of ruins, as a desolation, as they are this day.’


text:
So then, thus says Yahweh, the God of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Why are you doing great harm to yourselves, to cut off for yourselves man and woman, child and suckling, from the midst of Judah, to not leave over for yourselves a remnant,


text:
provoking me to anger with the works of your hands, to make smoke offerings to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have come to dwell as aliens, so as to cut off yourselves, and so that you are becoming as a curse, and as a disgrace among all the nations of the earth?


text:
Have you forgotten the wicked things of your ancestors, and the wicked things of the kings of Judah, and the wicked things of their wives, and your wicked things, and the wicked things of your wives, which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?


text:
They have not shown contrition up to this day, and they have not shown reverence, and they have not walked in my law and in my statutes that I set before you and before your ancestors.’


text:
Therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Look, I am determined to bring disaster on you, even to exterminate all Judah.


text:
And I will take away the remnant of Judah who are determined to come to the land of Egypt to dwell as aliens there, and everyone will perish. They will fall in the land of Egypt by the sword; they will perish by the famine, from the smallest to the greatest. By the sword and by the famine they will die and become as a curse, as a horror, and as a curse, and as a disgrace.


text:
So I will punish those who live in the land of Egypt just as I have punished Jerusalem, with the sword, with the famine, and with the plague.


text:
And there will not be a survivor or an escapee of the remnant of Judah, those who have come to dwell as an alien there in the land of Egypt, to return to the land of Judah where they are longing to return to dwell there, for they will not turn back, but only some survivors.’ ”


text:
Then all the men who knew that their wives were making smoke offerings to other gods, and all the women who stood by, a great assembly, and all the people who lived in the land of Egypt in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying,


text:
“ Concerning the word that you have spoken to us in the name of Yahweh, we are not going to listen to you!


text:
But certainly we will do everything that went out from our mouths, to make smoke offerings to the queen of heaven and to pour out to her libations just as we did, we, and our ancestors, our kings, and our officials, in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, for then we had enough to eat, and we were well-off, and we did not see disaster.


text:
But since we stopped making smoke offerings to the queen of heaven and pouring out libations to her, we have lacked everything, and by the sword and by the famine we have perished.


text:
And indeed, when we were making smoke offerings to the queen of heaven and pouring out to her libations, was it not with the consent of our husbands that we made for her sacrificial cakes marked with her image, and we poured out to her libations?”


text:
Then Jeremiah said to all the people, to the men and to the women, and to all the people who answered him a word, saying,


text:
“The offering that you made, smoke offerings in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, you, and your ancestors, your kings, and your officials, and the people of the land, did not Yahweh remember them, and did it not come to his mind?


text:
And Yahweh was no longer able to bear it, because of the evil of your deeds, because of the detestable things that you committed. Thus your land became as a site of ruins, and as a horror, and as a curse, without inhabitants, as it is this day.


text:
Because of the fact that you made smoke offerings, and that you sinned against Yahweh, and you did not listen to the voice of Yahweh, and you have not walked in his law, and in his statute, and in his legal provisions, therefore this disaster has happened to you, as it is this day.”


text:
Then Jeremiah said to all the people and to all the women, “Hear the word of Yahweh, all Judah who are in the land of Egypt.


text:
Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, ‘You and your wives have promised with your mouths and with your hands you have fulfilled, saying, “We certainly will carry out our vows that we vowed, to make smoke offerings to the queen of the heavens, and to pour out to her libations.” You must certainly keep your vows and you must certainly carry out your vows.’


text:
Therefore hear the word of Yahweh, all Judah, those who live in the land of Egypt: ‘Look, I hereby swear by my great name,’ says Yahweh, ‘surely my name will no longer be called in the mouth of any man of Judah, saying, “ as the Lord Yahweh lives,” in all the land of Egypt.


text:
Look, I am going to watch over them for harm and not for good, and all people of Judah who are in the land of Egypt will perish by the sword and by the famine until their perishing.


text:
And the survivors of the sword will return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah few in number. And all the remnant of Judah who have come to the land of Egypt to dwell as aliens there will know whose word will endure, from me or from them.


text:
And this will be to you the sign,’ declares Yahweh, ‘that I am going to punish you in this place, so that you may know that surely my words will endure against you for evil.’


text:
Thus says Yahweh: ‘Look, I am going to give Pharaoh Hophra, the king of Egypt, into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of those who seek his life, just as I gave Zedekiah the king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, his enemy and the one who sought his life.’ ”


text:
The word that Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Baruch, the son of Neriah, at his writing these words on a scroll from the mouth of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, saying,


text:
‘You said, “Woe please to me, for Yahweh has added sorrow to my pain. I am weary in my groaning and I do not find rest.” ’


text:
Thus you will say to him: ‘Thus says Yahweh, “Look, what I have built I am about to tear down, and what I have planted I am about to pluck up, it is all the land.


text:
And you, do you seek great things for yourself? Do not seek great things, for look, I am about to bring disaster upon all flesh,” declares Yahweh, “but to you I will give your life as booty in all the places where you may go.” ’ ”


text:
Concerning Egypt: Concerning the army of Pharaoh Neco, the king of Egypt, which was by the Euphrates River at Carchemish, which Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon defeated in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, the king of Judah.


text:
Harness the horses and mount the steeds! And take your stand with helmets! Polish the spears! Put on the body armor!


text:
Why do I see them terrified? They are turning back and their warriors are beaten down. And they have fled to a place of refuge and they do not turn back. Terror is from all around,” declares Yahweh.


text:
The swift cannot flee, and the warrior cannot escape. They have stumbled and they have fallen, by the bank of the Euphrates River.


text:
Egypt rises like the Nile, even like the rivers whose waters surge. And he says, “Let me rise, let me cover the earth, let me destroy cities, and the inhabitants in them.”


text:
Go up, O horses, and drive madly, O chariots, and let the warriors go forth; Cush and Put, who wield the small shield, and Lud, who wield and bend the bow.


text:
For that day is to the Lord Yahweh of hosts a day of retribution, to take revenge on his foes. And the sword will devour and be satisfied, and it will drink its fill of their blood, for a sacrifice is for the Lord Yahweh of hosts in the land of the north by the Euphrates River.


text:
Go up to Gilead and take balm, O virgin of the daughter of Egypt. In vain you make use of many medicines; there is no healing for you.


text:
The nations have heard your shame, and your cry of lament fills the earth. For warrior has stumbled against warrior, together they have fallen, the two of them.


text:
The word that Yahweh spoke to Jeremiah the prophet about the coming of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon to attack the land of Egypt:


text:
“Declare in Egypt, and proclaim in Migdol, and proclaim in Memphis and in Tahpanhes, say, ‘Take your stand and be prepared, for the sword will devour those all around you.’


text:
He multiplied the ones stumbling. Furthermore, each one fell to his neighbor, and said, ‘Stand up, and let us return to our people and to the land of our birth, because of the presence of the sword of the oppressor.’


text:
As I live,” declares the king, Yahweh of hosts is his name, “one will come like Tabor among the mountains and like Carmel by the sea.


text:
Pack your baggage for exile, O inhabitants of the daughter of Egypt, for Memphis will become as a horror, and it will be destroyed, without inhabitant.


text:
Even her mercenaries in her midst are like calves of fattening, for they also have turned away, they have fled together. They stand not, for the day of their calamity has come, the time of their punishment.


text:
Her sound is like a snake that glides away, for they march in force. And with axes they come to her like those who chop trees.


text:
They will cut down her forest,” declares Yahweh, “for it is impenetrable. Yes, they are more numerous than locusts, and they are without number.


text:
Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, said, “Look, I am going to punish Amon of Thebes, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, and her gods, and her kings, even Pharaoh and those who trust in him.


text:
And I will give them into the hand of the seekers of their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and into the hand of his troops. But afterward it will be inhabited, as in days of old,” declares Yahweh.


text:
“But as for you, my servant Jacob, you must not be afraid, and Israel, you must not be dismayed, for look, I am going to save you from far, and your offspring from the land of their captivity. And Jacob will return, and he will be quiet, and he will be at ease, and without one who makes him afraid.


text:
You must not be afraid, my servant Jacob,” declares Yahweh, “for I am with you. For I will make a complete destruction in all the nations where I scattered you, but you I will not make a complete destruction, though I will chastise you to the measure, and I will certainly not leave you unpunished.”


text:
The word of Yahweh that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the Philistines before Pharaoh attacked Gaza.


text:
Thus says Yahweh: “Look, waters are rising from the north, and they will become as a raging torrent, and they will overflow the land, and that which fills it, the city and those who live in it. And the people will cry out, and every inhabitant of the land will wail,


text:
from the sound of the stamping of the hoofs of his stallions, from the clattering of his chariots, the noise of their wheels. Fathers do not turn to their children because of the slackness of their hands.


text:
Because of the day that is coming to destroy all the Philistines, to cut off from Tyre and from Sidon every survivor who could help, for Yahweh is destroying the Philistines, the remnant of the coastland of Caphtor.


text:
Baldness has come upon Gaza, Ashkelon is destroyed. O remnant of their valley, how long will you cut yourself with a blade?


text:
Ah, sword of Yahweh, how long will you not be quiet? Gather to your sheath, keep quiet and stand still.


text:
How can you be quiet when Yahweh has given an order to it? Against Ashkelon and against the shore of the sea, there he has appointed it.”


text:
Concerning Moab, thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: “Woe to Nebo, for it is devastated. It is ashamed, Kiriathaim is captured. Misgab is ashamed, and it is filled with terror.


text:
The glory of Moab is no longer. In Heshbon they planned evil against her. Come and let us cut her off from being a nation. Also, Madmen, you will be silent. After you will go the sword.


text:
For the ascent of Luhith, in weeping they go weeping, For on the slope of Horonaim they have heard the distresses of the cry of distress of the destruction.


text:
For because of your trusting in your works and in your treasures, even you yourselves will be taken, and Chemosh will go out into the exile, his priests and his officials together.


text:
And the destroyer will come to every town, and a town will not escape. And the valley will be destroyed, and the plain will be destroyed, as Yahweh has spoken.


text:
Give salt for Moab, for certainly she will go to ruin, and her towns will become as a desolation, without an inhabitant in them.


text:
The one who does the work of Yahweh with slackness is cursed, and the one who keeps away blood from his sword is cursed.


text:
Moab has been at ease from his youth, and he has been quiet on his dregs, and he has not been poured out from vessel to vessel, and he has not gone into exile. Therefore his taste has remained unchanged, and his fragrance has not changed.


text:
Therefore look, days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “and I will send to him decanters, and they will decant him, and his vessels they will empty out, and their jars they will smash.


text:
Then Moab will be ashamed of Chemosh, just as the house of Israel were ashamed of Bethel, their trust.


text:
Moab is destroyed, and his towns have gone up, and the choice of his young men have gone down to the slaughtering,” declares the King, Yahweh of hosts is his name.


text:
Mourn for him, all his surroundings, and all those who knew his name. Say, ‘How the staff of might is broken, the staff of glory.’


text:
Come down from glory and sit on the parched ground, O inhabitant, daughter of Dibon, for the destroyer of Moab has come up against you, he has destroyed your fortifications.


text:
Stand by the road and watch, O inhabitant of Aroer. Ask the man who is fleeing and the woman who is escaping, say, ‘What has happened?’


text:
Moab is ashamed, for it is filled with terror. Wail and cry out, tell it by Arnon that Moab is devastated.


text:
“Make him drunk, because he magnified himself against Yahweh, and let Moab wallow in his vomit. And he also will become a laughingstock.


text:
Now was not Israel the laughingstock to you? Or was he found among thieves? For as often as you spoke over him you shook your head.


text:
Leave the towns and dwell on the rock, O inhabitants of Moab, and be like the dove, it nests on the sides of the mouth of a ravine.


text:
We have heard of the pride of Moab — he is very proud— his height, and his pride, and his arrogance, and the haughtiness of his heart.


text:
More than the weeping of Jazer I weep for you, O vine Sibmah. Your branches cross over the sea, up to the sea of Jazer they reach. Upon your summer fruit and upon your vintage the destroyer has fallen.


text:
And joy and rejoicing have been taken away from the fruitful land, even from the land of Moab. And the wine from the wine presses I have caused to disappear. He will not tread with exuberant shouts. Exuberant shouts will not be exuberant shouts.


text:
From the cry for help of Heshbon, up to Elealeh, up to Jahaz, they give their voice, from Zoar up to Horonaim, up to Eglath-shelishiyah, for even the waters of Nimrim have become as a desolation.


text:
And I will cause to disappear for Moab,” declares Yahweh, “ the one who presents a sacrifice at a high place, and the one who burns a smoke offering to his gods.


text:
Therefore my heart moans for Moab like the flute. It moans for the people of Kir-heres like the flute. Therefore the wealth they gained has perished.


text:
For on every head is baldness, and every beard is trimmed. On all the hands, slashes, and on the loins, sackcloth.


text:
On all the roofs of Moab, and in its public squares, there is wailing everywhere. For I have broken Moab like a vessel, there is no delight in it,” declares Yahweh.


text:
“How it is filled with terror! How they wail! How Moab has turned his back! He is disgraced! So Moab has become as a derision, and as a terror for all his surrounding peoples.”


text:
For thus says Yahweh, “Look, like an eagle he will swoop down, and he will spread out his wings against Moab.


text:
Kerioth will be taken, and the strongholds will be conquered, and the hearts of the warriors of Moab will be on that day like the heart of a woman who is in labor.


text:
“He who flees before the dread will fall into the pit, and the one who climbs up from the pit will be caught in the trapping net, for I will bring on Moab the year of their punishment,” declares Yahweh.


text:
“In the shadow of Heshbon fugitives stand without strength, for a fire has gone out from Heshbon, and a flame from Sihon. And it has eaten the forehead of Moab, and the skulls of the people of tumult.


text:
Woe to you, Moab! The people of Chemosh have perished. For your sons have been taken into captivity, and your daughters into captivity.


text:
Yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab in the last of the days,” declares Yahweh. Thus far is the judgment of Moab.


text:
Concerning the Ammonites: Thus says Yahweh, “Are there no sons for Israel? Or is there no heir for him? Why has Milcom taken possession of Gad, and his people dwelled in its towns?


text:
Therefore look, days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “and I will sound against Rabbah, the Ammonites, the alarm of the war, and it will become as a mound of desolation, and its daughters will burn in the fire. Then Israel will dispossess his dispossessors,” says Yahweh.


text:
“Wail, Heshbon, for Ai is devastated. Cry out, O daughters of Rabbah, put on sackcloth. Lament and run back and forth among the walls. For Milcom will go into exile, his priests and his officials together.


text:
Why do you boast in your valleys? Your valleys are ebbing. O unfaithful daughter, who trusted in her treasures, who said, ‘Who will come against me?’


text:
Look, I am going to bring dread on you,” declares Lord Yahweh of hosts, “from all your surrounding neighbors. And you will be scattered, each one before it, and there is no one who gathers the fugitives.


text:
Concerning Edom, thus says Yahweh of hosts: “Is there no longer wisdom in Teman? Has counsel become lost from those who understand? Is their wisdom rotting?


text:
Flee! Turn back! Get down low ! O inhabitants of Dedan. For I will bring upon him the disaster of Esau at the time when I will punish him.


text:
If grape-gatherers come to you, would they not leave gleanings? If thieves in the night, they destroy only enough for them.


text:
But I have stripped Esau bare. I have uncovered his hiding places, and he is not able to hide himself. His offspring are devastated, along with his brothers, and his neighbors, and he is no more.


text:
For thus says Yahweh, “Look, those who are not condemned to drink the cup must certainly drink it. And are you the one who will go entirely unpunished? You will not go unpunished, for you must certainly drink it.


text:
For I have sworn by myself,” declares Yahweh, “that Bozrah will become as a horror, as a disgrace, as a waste, and as a curse. And all her towns will be everlasting sites of ruins.”


text:
I have heard a message from Yahweh, and a messenger has been sent among the nations. “Gather and come against her, and rise for the battle.”


text:
Your terror has deceived you, the pride of your heart, O you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, you who seize the height of the hill. Though you make your nest high like the eagle, from there I will bring you down,” declares Yahweh.


text:
“And Edom will become as a horror, everyone who passes by it will be appalled, and will hiss because of all its blows.


text:
As the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors,” says Yahweh, “ no one will live there, and the son of humankind will not dwell as an alien in it.


text:
Look, like a lion he comes up from the thickets of the Jordan to a pastureland by a constantly flowing stream. So I will chase him away hurriedly from it. And whoever is chosen I will appoint over it. For who is like me, and who can summon me? And who is this, the shepherd who can stand before me?”


text:
Therefore hear the plan of Yahweh that he has planned against Edom, and his plans that he has planned against the inhabitants of Teman. Surely they will drag them away, the little ones of the flock. Surely he will cause to be desolated over them their grazing place.


text:
The earth will quake from the sound of their falling. A cry of distress! Their voice will be heard at the Red Sea.


text:
Look, like an eagle he will go up and he will swoop down, and he will spread out his wings against Bozrah. And the heart of the warriors of Edom will be in that day like the heart of a woman who is in labor.


text:
Concerning Damascus: “Hamath and Arpad are ashamed, for they have heard bad news; they melt. There is concern in the sea. It is not able to keep quiet.


text:
Damascus has grown slack. She has turned away to flee and panic. Anxiety has seized her, and labor pains have grasped her, like a woman in labor.


text:
Therefore her young men will fall in her public squares, and all the soldiers will perish in that day,” declares Yahweh of hosts.


text:
“And I will kindle a fire at the wall of Damascus, and it will devour the citadel fortresses of Ben-hadad.”


text:
Concerning Kedar and concerning the kingdoms of Hazor that Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon defeated. Thus says Yahweh: “Rise up, go up against Kedar and destroy the people of the east.


text:
They will take their tents, and their flocks, their tent curtains, and all their equipment, and their camels they will carry away for themselves, and they will call to them, ‘Terror is from all around.’


text:
Flee! Wander far away! Get down low ! O inhabitants of Hazor,” declares Yahweh. “For Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, has planned a plan against you. And he has schemed a scheme against you.


text:
Rise up, go up against a nation which is at ease, living securely,” declares Yahweh. “ There are no gates and there are no bars for them, they dwell alone.


text:
And their camels will become as plunder, and the multitude of their livestock as spoil. And I will scatter to every wind those who are trimmed to the side, and from every side I will bring their disaster,” declares Yahweh.


text:
“And Hazor will become as a lair of jackals, a waste forever; no one will live there, and no son of humankind will dwell as an alien in it.”


text:
The word of Yahweh that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah the king of Judah, saying,


text:
“Thus says Yahweh of hosts: ‘Look, I am going to break the bow of Elam, the first and best of their might.


text:
And I will bring to Elam four winds, from the four corners of heaven, and I will scatter them to all these winds, and there will not be a nation where the scattered people of Elam will not go.


text:
So I will shatter Elam before their enemies, and before the seekers of their life. And I will bring disaster upon them, my burning anger, ’ declares Yahweh. ‘And I will send after them the sword until I have destroyed them.


text:
And I will set my throne in Elam and I will destroy from there king and officials,’ declares Yahweh.


text:
The word that Yahweh spoke concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans, by the hand of Jeremiah the prophet:


text:
“Declare among the nations and proclaim, and lift up a banner. Proclaim, you must not conceal it. Say, ‘Babylon is captured, Bel is ashamed, Merodach is filled with terror, her idols are ashamed, her idols are filled with terror.


text:
For a nation will come up against her from the north. It will make her land as a horror, and an inhabitant will not be in her. From humans to animals they all will wander off. They will go away.


text:
In those days and in that time,’ ” declares Yahweh, “the people of Israel will come, they and the people of Judah together. Weeping as they go, they will go, and Yahweh their God they will seek.


text:
They will ask the way to Zion, turning their faces there. They will come and join themselves to Yahweh by an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.


text:
My people have become lost sheep, their shepherds have caused them to go astray. They led them away to the mountains. From mountain to hill they have gone, they have forgotten their resting place.


text:
All those who found them have devoured them. And their foes have said, ‘We are not guilty, because they have sinned against Yahweh, the true pasture, even Yahweh, the hope of their ancestors.’


text:
Flee from the midst of Babylon, and from the land of the Chaldeans. Go out and be like he-goats before the flock.


text:
For look, I am going to stir up, and I am going to bring against Babylon a contingent of great nations from the land of the north. And they will draw up a battle formation against her, from there she will be captured. Their arrows are like a warrior who has achieved success, he does not return without success.


text:
“Though you rejoice, though you exult, O plunderers of my inheritance, though you frisk about like a heifer on the grass, and you neigh like the powerful stallions,


text:
your mother will be very ashamed. She who gave birth to you will be humiliated. Look, she will be the least of the nations, a desert, dry land, and wilderness.


text:
Because of the anger of Yahweh she will not be inhabited, but she will be a wasteland, all of her. Everyone who passes by Babylon will be appalled and will hiss because of all her wounds.


text:
Draw up a battle formation at Babylon all around, all those who bend the bow, shoot at her. You must not spare arrows, for she has sinned against Yahweh.


text:
Raise a war cry against her on all sides. She has surrendered. Her towers have fallen, her walls are ruined. For this is the vengeance of Yahweh. Take revenge on her. As she has done to others, so do to her.


text:
Cut off the sower from Babylon, and the one who uses the sickle in the time of harvest. Because of the sword of the oppressor each one will turn to their people, and each one will flee to their land.


text:
Israel is a sheep scattered, lions drove them away. The first who devoured it was the king of Assyria, and now at the end Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, gnawed its bones.”


text:
Therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “Look, I am going to punish the king of Babylon and his land just as I punished the king of Assyria.


text:
And I will restore Israel to its pasture, and it will feed on Carmel, and in Bashan, and on the hills of Ephraim, and in Gilead its hunger will be satisfied.


text:
In those days and at that time,” declares Yahweh, “the guilt of Israel will be sought, but there is none, and the sins of Judah, but they will not be found, for I will forgive those I left behind.


text:
To the land of Merathaim, go up against her, and against the inhabitants of Pekod, massacre and destroy them,” declares Yahweh, “and do according to all that I have commanded you.


text:
How the blacksmith’s hammer of all the earth is cut down and broken! How Babylon has become as a horror among the nations!


text:
I laid a bird snare for you, and you were caught, O Babylon. But you yourself did not know. You were discovered and seized, because with Yahweh you measured yourself.


text:
Yahweh has opened his armory, and he has brought out the weapons of his wrath, for it is a word for my Lord Yahweh of hosts in the land of the Chaldeans.


text:
Come against her from the end, open her granaries. Pile her up like heaps and destroy her. Let there be no remnant for her.


text:
Massacre all her bulls, let them go down to the slaughtering. Woe to them, for their day has come, the time of their punishment.


text:
There is the sound of fugitives and survivors from the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of Yahweh our God, the vengeance for his temple.


text:
Summon archers against Babylon, all those who bend the bow. Encamp all around her, there must not be for her an escape. Take revenge on her according to her deeds. According to all that she has done, so do to her. For against Yahweh she has behaved insolently, against the Holy One of Israel.


text:
Therefore her young men will fall in her public squares, and all her soldiers will perish on that day,” declares Yahweh.


text:
“Look, I am against you, O arrogant one,” declares Lord Yahweh of hosts, “for your day has come, the time when I will punish you.


text:
And the arrogant one will stumble and fall, and there is no one who raises him up. And I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it will devour everything around him.”


text:
Thus says Yahweh of hosts: “The people of Israel are oppressed, and the people of Judah likewise, for all their captors have seized them, they refuse to let them go free.


text:
Their redeemer is strong, his name is Yahweh of hosts. Surely he will plead their case, in order to make peace for the earth, but to cause unrest to the inhabitants of Babylon.


text:
A sword against the Chaldeans,” declares Yahweh, “and against the inhabitants of Babylon, and against her officials, and against her wise men.


text:
A sword against the oracle priests, and they will become foolish. A sword against her warriors, and they will be filled with terror.


text:
A sword against his horses, and against his chariots, and against all the foreign troops who are in the midst of her, so that they may become as women. A sword against her treasures, so that they may be plundered.


text:
A drought will come against her waters, and they will dry up, for it is a land of images, and because of the frightful objects, they act like madmen.


text:
Therefore desert creatures will live there with jackals, and daughters of ostriches will inhabit her. And she will not be inhabited again forever, and she will not be dwelt in for all generations.


text:
As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors,” declares Yahweh, “no one will live there, and the son of humankind will not dwell as an alien in her.


text:
Look, a people is about to come from the north, and a great nation and many kings are woken up from the remotest part of the earth.


text:
They keep hold of bow and short sword. They are cruel and they have no mercy. Their sound is like the sea, it roars, and upon horses they ride. Drawn up for battle as a man for the battle, against you, O daughter of Babylon.


text:
The king of Babylon heard their report and his hands grew slack. Anxiety has seized him, fear and pain like the woman who gives birth.


text:
Look, like a lion he comes up from the thickets of the Jordan against a pastureland by a constantly flowing stream, so I will chase them away quickly from her, and I will appoint whoever is chosen over her. For who is like me, and who can summon me, and who is this shepherd who can stand before me?


text:
Therefore hear the plan of Yahweh that he has planned against Babylon, and his plans that he has planned against the land of the Chaldeans. Surely they will drag them away, the little ones of the flock. Surely he will cause their grazing place to be desolate over them.


text:
At the sound, ‘Babylon has been captured,’ the earth will quake, and a cry for help among the nations will be heard.”


text:
Thus says Yahweh: “Look, I am going to stir up against Babylon and against the inhabitants of Leb-qamai a destructive wind.


text:
And I will send winnowers to Babylon, and they will winnow her, and they will lay waste her land, for they will be against her from all sides on the day of disaster.


text:
Let not him who bends the bow shoot his bow, and let him not rise high in his body armor. And you must not spare her young men; destroy her whole army.


text:
For neither Israel nor Judah is a widower from their God, from Yahweh of hosts, though their land is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel.”


text:
Flee from the midst of Babylon and save each one his life. You must not perish because of her guilt. For this is the time of vengeance for Yahweh, he will repay her what is deserved.


text:
Babylon was a cup of gold in the hand of Yahweh, making drunk all the earth. The nations drank of her wine. Therefore the nations acted like madmen.


text:
Suddenly Babylon has fallen and she is shattered. Wail over her! Take balm for her wounds, perhaps she may be healed.


text:
We tried to heal Babylon, and she was not healed. Forsake her and let us go each one to his country, for her judgment has reached to the heavens, and it has been lifted up to the skies.


text:
Yahweh has brought forth our vindication. Come and let us make known in Zion the work of Yahweh our God.


text:
Sharpen the arrows, fill the quivers! Yahweh has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes. Because his plan concerning Babylon is to destroy it, for that is the vengeance of Yahweh, the vengeance for his temple.


text:
Against the walls of Babylon raise a banner; post a strong watch, post watchmen, prepare the ambushes, for Yahweh has both planned as well as performed what he has spoken concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.


text:
Yahweh of hosts has sworn by himself, “Surely I will fill you with troops like the creeping locusts, and they will sing over you a war cry.”


text:
He is the one who made the earth by his power, the one who created the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding he stretched out the heavens.


text:
At the giving of his voice there is a roar of waters in the heavens, and he causes the patches of mist to go up from the end of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain, and he brings out the wind from his storehouses.


text:
All humankind turns out to be stupid, without knowledge. Every goldsmith is put to shame by the divine image. For his cast image is a lie, and there is no breath in them.


text:
The portion of Jacob is not like these, for he is the creator of everything, and the tribe of his inheritance. Yahweh of hosts is his name.


text:
He says, “You are a war club for me, a weapon of battle, and I smash nations with you, and I destroy kingdoms with you.


text:
And I smash man and woman with you, and I smash the old man and the boy with you, and I smash the young man and the young woman with you.


text:
And I smash the shepherd and his flock with you, and I smash the farmer and his team with you, and I smash the governors and the officials with you.


text:
And I will repay Babylon, and all the inhabitants of Chaldea, all their wickedness that they have done in Zion before your eyes,” declares Yahweh.


text:
“Look, I am against you, O mountain of the destruction,” declares Yahweh, “the one that destroys the whole earth. And I will stretch out my hand against you, and I will roll you down from the cliffs, and I will make you as a mountain burned away.


text:
They will not take from you a stone for a corner, and a stone for a foundation, for you will be an everlasting desolation,” declares Yahweh.


text:
Raise a banner in the land; blow a horn among the nations; prepare for holy war against her; summon the nations against her, the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz; summon against her an official; bring up horses like bristling creeping locusts.


text:
Prepare the nations for holy war against her, the kings of the Medes, with their governors and all their officials, and every land of their dominion.


text:
And the land quakes and writhes, for the plans of Yahweh against Babylon stand, to make the land of Babylon as a horror, without inhabitant.


text:
The warriors of Babylon have ceased to fight, they remain in the strongholds, their power has dried up, they have become as women. Her dwelling places are set on fire, her bars are broken.


text:
one runner runs to meet another runner, and one messenger to meet another messenger, to tell the king of Babylon that his city has been captured, from end to end.


text:
And the fords have been seized, and the reed marshes have been burned with fire, and the soldiers are horrified.


text:
For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time it is trodden down, just a little while and the time of the harvest will come for her.”


text:
Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me and sucked me dry; he has made me an empty vessel; he has swallowed me like the sea monster; he has filled his belly with my delicacies; he has rinsed me.


text:
“ May the violence done to me and to my flesh be on Babylon,” the inhabitants of Zion will say; and “My blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea,” Jerusalem will say.


text:
Therefore thus says Yahweh, “Look, I am going to contend your case, and I will avenge your vengeance, and I will cause her sea to dry up, and I will cause her fountain to dry up.


text:
And Babylon will become as a heap of stones, a lair of jackals, an object of horror, and an object of hissing, without inhabitants.


text:
At their becoming hot I will set their banquets, and I will make them drunk, so that they will fall into a swoon, and they will sleep an everlasting sleep, and they will not wake up,” declares Yahweh.


text:
How Sheshach is captured, and the glory of all the earth is seized! How Babylon has become as an object of horror among the nations!


text:
Her cities have become as an object of horror, a dry land and a wilderness, a land in which no person lives, nor does a son of humankind pass through it.


text:
And I will punish Bel in Babylon, and I will wrench out from his mouth what he has swallowed. And the nations will not stream towards him any longer what’s worse, the wall of Babylon has fallen.


text:
Now so that you are not fainthearted, and you are afraid at the rumors that are heard in the land— and in the year the rumor comes, and in the year after it the rumor, and violence is in the land, with ruler against ruler—


text:
therefore look, days are coming, and I will punish the images of Babylon, and all her land will be put to shame, and all her slain ones will fall in the midst of her.


text:
Then the heaven and the earth and all that is in them will shout for joy over Babylon, for from the north the destroyers will come to it,” declares Yahweh.


text:
Babylon must fall not only because of the slain ones of Israel, but also because of Babylon the slain ones of all the earth have fallen.


text:
Survivors of the sword, go! You must not linger! Remember Yahweh from far away, and let Jerusalem come to your mind.


text:
We are ashamed, for we have heard taunts, disgrace covers our faces, for strangers have come to the holy places of the house of Yahweh.


text:
“ Therefore look, days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “and I will punish her images, and the fatally wounded will sigh through all her land.


text:
Though Babylon goes up to the heavens, and though she fortifies the high place of her strength, from me destroyers will come to her,” declares Yahweh.


text:
For Yahweh is devastating Babylon, and he obliterates her loud noise from her. Their waves roar like mighty waters, the roar of their voices resounds.


text:
For a destroyer is coming against her, against Babylon, and her warriors are captured. Their bows are broken; for Yahweh is a God of recompense, certainly he will repay.


text:
“And I will make drunk her officials, and her wise men, her governors, and her officials, and her warriors, and they will sleep an everlasting sleep, and they will not wake up,” declares the King, Yahweh of hosts is his name.


text:
Thus says Yahweh of hosts: “The broad walls of Babylon will be utterly demolished, and her high gates will burn with fire, and the peoples will labor for nothing, and the nations for fire, and they will grow weary.”


text:
The word that Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah, the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, at his going with Zedekiah, the king of Judah, to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. Now Seraiah was the quartermaster.


text:
And Jeremiah wrote all the disasters that would come on Babylon in one scroll, all these words that are written concerning Babylon.


text:
And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, “At your coming to Babylon, then you must see that you read aloud all these words.


text:
And you must say, ‘Yahweh, you yourself spoke against this place, to destroy it, so that there will not be in it anything living, from humankind to animals, for it will be an everlasting desolation.’


text:
And then when you finish reading aloud this scroll, you must tie a stone on it, and you must throw it into the middle of the Euphrates.


text:
And you must say, ‘Babylon will sink, and she will not rise, because of the face of the disasters that I am bringing on her, and they will grow weary.’ ” Thus far the words of Jeremiah.


text:
Zedekiah was twenty-one years old at his beginning to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And the name of his mother was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.


text:
For because of the anger of Yahweh this happened in Jerusalem and Judah until his casting them from his presence. And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.


text:
And then in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon came against Jerusalem, he and all his army. And they laid siege to it, and built siege works against it all around.


text:
In the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, the famine in the city became severe and there was no food for the people of the land.


text:
Then the city was breached, and all the soldiers fled and went out from the city by night by the way of the gate between the two walls that are at the garden of the king, though the Chaldeans were all around the city. And they went in the direction of the Jordan Valley.


text:
But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king and they overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was scattered from him.


text:
Then they captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he passed sentence on him.


text:
And the king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and he also slaughtered all the officials of Judah at Riblah.


text:
Then he made blind the eyes of Zedekiah, and they tied him up with bronze fetters, and the king of Babylon brought him to Babylon. And he put him in prison until the day of his death.


text:
Now in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, who stood before the king of Babylon, entered into Jerusalem.


text:
And he burned the temple of Yahweh, and the palace of the king, and all the houses of Jerusalem, even every great house he burned with fire.


text:
And all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard broke down all the walls of Jerusalem all around.


text:
And Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard deported some of the poor of the people, and the rest of the people who were left in the city, and the deserters who deserted to the king of Babylon, along with the rest of the craftsmen.


text:
But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left some of the poor of the land to serve as vinedressers and farmers.


text:
And the Chaldeans broke the pillars of bronze that were in the temple of Yahweh, and the kettle stands and the sea of bronze that were in the temple of Yahweh, and they carried all their bronze to Babylon.


text:
And they took with them the pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the sprinkling bowls, and the pans, and all the vessels of bronze which were used in temple service.


text:
And the captain of the guard took the bowls, and the firepans, and the sprinkling bowls, and the pots, and the lampstands, and the pans, and the libation bowls, those made of solid gold and those made of solid silver.


text:
The two pillars, the one sea, and the twelve bronze oxen that were under the kettle stands which King Solomon had made for the temple of Yahweh—there was not a weight for the bronze of all these vessels!


text:
Now the pillars, the height of one pillar was eighteen cubits, and a thread of twelve cubits surrounded it, and its thickness was four fingers, hollowed out.


text:
And a capital upon it was bronze and the height of the one capital was five cubits, and latticework and pomegranates were on the capital on all sides, all of bronze. And like these was the second pillar with pomegranates.


text:
And there were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides; all the pomegranates on the latticework on all sides were a hundred.


text:
Then the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and three keepers of the threshold.


text:
And from the city he took one high official who was chief officer over the soldiers, and seven men of the king’s advisors who were found in the city, and the secretary of the commander of the army who levied for military service the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the midst of the city.


text:
Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.


text:
And the king of Babylon struck them down and killed them at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah left from its land.


text:
This is the number of the people whom Nebuchadnezzar deported: in the seventh year, three thousand twenty-three Judeans;


text:
in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, deported seven hundred and forty-five Judean persons; there were four thousand six hundred persons in all.


text:
And then in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin, the king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth day of the month, Evil-merodach, the king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin, the king of Judah, and brought him out from prison.


text:
Then he spoke with him kindly and gave his seat above the seats of the kings who were with him in Babylon.


text:
So he changed the garments of his imprisonment and he ate food before him continually all the days of his life.


text:
And his allowance, a continual allowance was given to him by the king of Babylon on a daily basis all the days of his life up to the day of his death.


text:
How desolate the city sits that was full of people! She has become like a widow, once great among the nations! Like a woman of nobility in the provinces, she has become a forced laborer.


text:
She weeps bitterly in the night, her tears are on her cheeks; she has no comforter among all her lovers. All her friends have been unfaithful to her; they have become her enemies.


text:
Judah has gone into exile with misery and under hard servitude; she lives among the nations, she has not found a resting place; all her pursuers have overtaken her amidst her distress.


text:
The roads of Zion are mourning because no one comes to the festival. All her gates are desolate, her priests groan; her young women are worried, and she herself suffers bitterly.


text:
Her foes have become her master, her enemies are at ease; Yahweh has made her suffer because of the greatness of her transgressions. Her children have gone away, captive before the foe.


text:
All her majesty has gone away from the daughter of Zion; her princes have become like young stags that have not found pasture; they have gone away without strength, before the pursuer.


text:
Jerusalem remembers the days of her misery and wanderings, all her treasures that were from the days of long ago. When her people fell into the hand of the enemy, there was no one helping her; the enemies saw her, they mocked at her destruction.


text:
Jerusalem sinned grievously, thus she became an objection of derision; all those who honored her despise her because they have seen her nakedness. She herself groans and turns away.


text:
Her uncleanness was in her skirts; she did not remember her future, she has descended beyond understanding, there is no comforter for her. See, O Yahweh, my persecution! My enemy has been made great!


text:
The enemy has stretched out his hand over all her treasures; for she has seen the nations, they entered her sanctuary, those whom you commanded not to enter in your assembly.


text:
All her people groan, they are searching for bread. They give their treasures for food, to bring back life. See, O Yahweh, and look, how I am despised.


text:
Is it nothing to you, all who pass by? Look and see if there is sorrow like my sorrow, which was dealt to me, which Yahweh inflicted on the day of his wrath.


text:
From heaven he sent fire, into my bones he let it descend. He spread out a net for my feet; he turned me back, he gave me devastation, fainting all day.


text:
My rebellion was bound as a yoke, with his hand it was fastened together; it was put on my neck and caused my strength to fail. The Lord gave me into the hands of those whom I cannot withstand.


text:
The Lord has rejected all my mighty ones in my midst. He called an assembly against me, to crush my young men; like in a wine press, the Lord has trodden on the virgin daughter of Judah.


text:
For these things, I am weeping, my eyes flow with tears; because a comforter is far from me, one to restore my life. My sons are desolate because the enemy has prevailed.


text:
Zion stretches out her hands; there is no one to comfort her. Yahweh has commanded against Jacob, that those surrounding him should be his enemies; Jerusalem has become a defilement among them.


text:
Yahweh is righteous; I have rebelled against his word. Please hear, all the nations, And see my pain; My young women and young men went into captivity.


text:
I have called to my lovers, they themselves deceived me; my priests and elders perished in the city when they sought food for themselves to revive their life.


text:
See, O Yahweh, that I am in distress; my stomach is in torment, my heart has turned inside me because I have certainly rebelled. From outside a sword brings bereavement, inside the house it is like death.


text:
They hear that I was groaning; there is no comforter for me. All my enemies have heard my misery, they are pleased that you have done it. Bring that day that you have proclaimed, And let them be like me.


text:
Let all their evil come before you; and deal with them just as you have dealt with me because of all my crimes; for my groaning is much and my heart is faint.


text:
How, in his anger, the Lord has covered the daughter of Zion in a cloud! He has thrown down from heavens to earth the splendor of Israel, and he has not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger.


text:
The Lord has devoured; he has not shown mercy to all the dwellings of Jacob; he has broken down in his wrath the fortifications of the daughter of Judah; he has leveled to the ground, he has dishonored the kingdom and its commanders.


text:
He has cut down in fierce anger all the might of Israel; he has withdrawn his right hand from the faces of the enemy, and he has burned in Jacob like a flaming fire, it has consumed all around.


text:
He has bent his bow like an enemy; he has set his right hand like a foe, and he has slain all the treasures of the eye; in the tent of the daughter of Zion, he has poured out his anger like fire.


text:
The Lord has become like an enemy; he has destroyed Israel; he has destroyed all its citadel fortresses; he has ruined all its fortifications and multiplied lamentation and mourning in the daughter of Judah.


text:
He has broken down his dwelling place like the garden; he has ruined his appointed feasts; Yahweh has made them forget in Zion festival and Sabbath, and he has despised in his anger king and priest.


text:
The Lord has rejected his altar; he has rejected his sanctuary; he has delivered into the hands of the enemy the walls of its citadel fortresses. They have cried out in the house of Yahweh like a day of an appointed feast.


text:
Yahweh has planned to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion. He measured with a line; he has not restrained his hand from destroying; he caused rampart and wall to mourn; together they have languished away.


text:
Her gates have sunk into the earth; he has ruined and broken her bars, her kings and its princes are among the nations; there is no more law. Also, her prophets have not found a revelation from Yahweh.


text:
They sit on the ground, the elders of the daughter of Zion are silent. They cast dust on their head, they have put on sackcloth; the young women of Jerusalem have bowed their head down to the ground.


text:
My eyes have spent all their tears; my stomach is in torment, my heart is poured out on the earth because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, because child and babe faint in the public squares of a city.


text:
To their mothers they say, “Where is the bread and wine?” as they faint like the wounded in the public squares of a city, as their life is being poured out onto the bosom of their mothers.


text:
What can I say for you? What can I compare to you, O daughter of Jerusalem? To what can I liken you so that I can comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion? For your destruction is as vast as the sea; who can heal you?


text:
Your prophets had a vision for you, false and worthless; they have not exposed your sin, to restore your fortune; they have seen oracles for you, false and misleading.


text:
They clap hands over you, all who pass along the way; they hiss and they shake their head, at the daughter of Jerusalem. Is this the city of which it is said, “A perfection of beauty, a joy for all the earth?”


text:
They have opened their mouths against you, all your enemies. They hiss and gnash a tooth, and they say, “We have destroyed her ! Surely this is the day we have hoped for; we have found it, we have seen it !”


text:
Yahweh has done what he has planned; he has fulfilled his promise that he ordained from the days of old; he has demolished and not shown mercy; he has made an enemy rejoice over you, he has exalted the might of your foes.


text:
Their heart cried to the Lord, “O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears stream down like a river; day and night, do not give yourself relief, do not give your eyes rest.


text:
“Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the night watches; pour out your heart like water, before the face of the Lord. Lift to him your hands, for the life of your children, who faint in starvation, at the head of all streets.”


text:
See, Yahweh, and take note! With whom have you dealt thus? Should women eat their young children of tender care? Should priest and prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord?


text:
They lie in the soil of the streets, young and old; my young women and young men, they have fallen by the sword; you have slain on the day of your anger, you have slaughtered and not shown mercy.


text:
You have summoned my horror from all around, as if for a feast day; no one on the day of Yahweh’s anger is a fugitive and a survivor; whoever I have cared for and reared, my enemy has destroyed.


text:
How the gold has grown dim, the pure gold has changed. The stones of holiness are scattered at the head of every street.


text:
The precious sons of Zion weighed against fine gold, how they are thought of as earthen vessels of clay, the work of the potter’s hands.


text:
Even the jackal bears the beast and nurses their cubs; but the daughter of my people has become ruthless, like ostriches in the wilderness.


text:
The tongue of the nursling cleaves to its palate in thirst. Children beg for food, no one lays it out before them.


text:
The ones who eat delicacies, they are ruined in the streets; the ones nurtured in purple lie on piles of trash.


text:
The iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the sin of Sodom; it was overthrown in a moment and no hands were laid on her.


text:
Her princes were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk; their bodies were more ruddy than rubies, sapphire their appearance.


text:
Now their appearance is blacker than soot, they are not recognized in the streets; their skin has shriveled on their bones, it has become dry like wood.


text:
Happier were the victims of the sword than the victims of famine; they have pined away, very hungry for the crops of my field.


text:
The hands of compassionate women, have cooked their children; they became as something to eat in the destruction of the daughter of my people.


text:
Yahweh has completed his anger, he has poured out his fierce anger; he has kindled a fire in Zion, it consumed her foundations.


text:
The kings of the earth did not believe, and all the inhabitants of the world, that a foe and an enemy could enter into the gates of Jerusalem.


text:
Because of the sins of her prophets, the guilt of her priests, who shed blood in her midst, of righteous people.


text:
They wander blindly in the streets; they were defiled with the blood, their clothes could not be touched.


text:
“Go away! Defiled!” they shout to them. “Go away! Go away! Do not touch!” so they left, they left; it was said among the nations, “ They will no longer dwell with us.”


text:
The presence of Yahweh has scattered them, he will no longer watch over them; they did not honor the priests, they did not show mercy to elders.


text:
Still our eyes failed, looking for our help in vain; in our watchtower, we kept watch for a nation that could not save.


text:
They hunted our steps, from walking in our streets; our end has come near, our days are finished, our end has come.


text:
Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the heavens; they chased us on the mountains, they have set an ambush for us in the desert.


text:
The breath of our nostrils, the anointed one of Yahweh, was captured in their pits; of whom we said, “In his shadow we will live among the nations.”


text:
Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, you who dwell in the land of Uz; but to you also the cup will pass, you will become drunk and strip yourself bare.


text:
The punishment of your iniquity is completed, O daughter of Zion, your exile will not continue; but he will punish your iniquity, O daughter of Edom, he will reveal your sins.


text:
And it was in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, and I was in the midst of the exiles by the Kebar River. The heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.


text:
the word of Yahweh came clearly to Ezekiel the son of Buzi, the priest, in the land of the Chaldeans at the Kebar River, and the hand of Yahweh was on him there.


text:
And I looked, and look! A storm wind was coming from the north, a great cloud, and fire flashing back and forth, and brightness around and within it, and from its midst it was like the outward appearance of amber stone from the midst of the fire.


text:
And from its midst was the likeness of four living creatures, and this was their appearance: a human form,


text:
And their legs were straight legs, and the sole of their feet was like the sole of the foot of a calf, and they were sparkling like the outward appearance of polished bronze.


text:
And under their wings were human hands on their four sides. And their faces and their wings for the four of them were as follows:


text:
their wings were touching one another; each of them went straight forward, without turning right or left.


text:
The likeness of their faces was the face of a human in front, and the face of a lion on the right of each of them, and the face of an ox on the left of each of them, and the face of an eagle for each of them.


text:
So were their faces; their wings were spread out upward; each had two touching one another and two covering their bodies.


text:
And each went straight forward; wherever the spirit went they went, and they did not turn as they went.


text:
As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of torches. It was moving to and fro between the living creatures, and the fire was very bright and lightning was going out from the fire.


text:
And I saw the living creatures, and look! A wheel was on the earth beside each of the living creatures that had four faces.


text:
The appearance of the wheels and their construction was like the appearance of beryl, and they all looked alike, and their appearance and their construction was like a wheel within a wheel.


text:
And at the going of the living creatures, the wheels next to them also went, and when the creatures were lifted from the ground the wheels also rose.


text:
Wherever the spirit went they would go there, and the wheels rose, for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.


text:
At their going, they go, and at their standing, they stood, and at their being lifted up from on the earth, the wheels rose, for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.


text:
Now the likeness above the heads of the living creatures was an expanse like the outward appearance of awesome ice spread out above their heads upward.


text:
And under the expanse their wings were stretched out straight one toward the other; each had two wings covering them, and each had two wings covering their bodies.


text:
And I heard the sound of their wings like the sound of many waters, like the voice of Shaddai, and when they moved there was a sound of tumult like the sound of an army; when they stood still they lowered their wings.


text:
And there was a sound from above the expanse that was above their heads, and when they stood they lowered their wings.


text:
And from above the expanse that was above their heads there was the likeness of a throne, looking like a sapphire, and above the likeness of the throne was a likeness similar to the appearance of a human on it, but above it.


text:
And I saw something like the outward appearance of amber, something like the appearance of fire, with a covering around it, from the likeness of his loins and upward. And from the likeness of his loins and downward I saw something like the appearance of fire, and it was radiant all around.


text:
Like the appearance of a bow that is in the cloud on a rainy day, such was the radiance around it; thus was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of Yahweh. And I saw, and I fell on my face, and I heard a voice speaking.


text:
And the Spirit came into me as he was speaking to me, and it set me on my feet, and I heard the one speaking to me.


text:
And he said to me, “Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, to nations who are rebelling, who rebelled against me, they and their ancestors, they transgressed against me until this very day.


text:
And the children are impudent and stubborn, and so I am sending you to them, and you must say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh!’


text:
And they, whether they listen or whether they fail to listen, for they are a rebellious house, they will know that a prophet was in their midst.


text:
And you, son of man, you must not be afraid of them, and you must not be afraid of their words, because briers and thorns are with you, and you are sitting among scorpions. You must not be afraid of their words, and you must not be dismayed because of their looks, for they are a rebellious house.


text:
And you must speak my words to them whether they listen or whether they fail to listen, for they are rebellious.


text:
And you, son of man, hear what I am speaking to you: you must not be rebellious like the house of rebellion. Open your mouth and eat what I am giving to you.”


text:
And I looked, and look! There was a hand stretched out to me, and look! In it was a scroll with writing.


text:
And he rolled it out before me, and it was written on the front and back, and there were written on it laments and mourning and wailing.


text:
And he said to me, “Son of man, what you find, eat! Eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.”


text:
and he said to me, “Son of man, you must give your stomach this to eat, and you must fill your belly with this scroll that I am giving to you.” And I ate, and it became like sweet honey in my mouth.


text:
And he said to me, “Son of man, come! Go to the house of Israel, and you must speak to them with my words.


text:
For you are sent to the house of Israel, not to a people of obscure speech and of a difficult language,


text:
and not to many nations of obscure speech and a difficult language whose words you do not understand, for if I had sent you to them they would have listened to you.


text:
And the house of Israel, they are not willing to listen to you, for they are not willing to listen to me, for all of the house of Israel is hard of forehead, and they are hard of heart.


text:
But look, I have made your face hard against their faces and your forehead hard against their forehead.


text:
Like a diamond harder than flint I have made your forehead; you must not fear them, and you must not be dismayed on account of them, for they are a rebellious house.


text:
And he said to me, “Son of man, all of my words that I shall speak to you, receive into your heart and hear with your ears.


text:
And come, go to the exiles, to the children of your people, and you must speak to them, and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh!’ whether they listen or whether they fail to listen.”


text:
And the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me the sound of a great earthquake when the glory of Yahweh rose from its place.


text:
And it was the sound of the wings of the living creatures touching lightly one against the other, and the sound of the wheels beside them and the sound of a great earthquake.


text:
And the Spirit lifted me and took me, and I went in bitterness in the heat of my spirit, and the hand of Yahweh was strong on me.


text:
And I went to the exiles at Tel Abib, who were dwelling near the Kebar River, and I sat where they were dwelling. I sat there seven days in the midst of them, stunned.


text:
“Son of man, I have appointed you as a watchman for the house of Israel. When you hear a word from my mouth, then you must warn them from me.


text:
When I say to the wicked, ‘Surely you will die,’ and you do not warn him and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way so that he may live, that wicked person will die because of his guilt, and from your hand I will seek his blood.


text:
And you, if you do warn the wicked and he does not turn from his wickedness and from his wicked way, on account of his guilt he will die, and you yourself will have saved your life.


text:
And when the righteous turns from his righteousness and does injustice, and I place a stumbling block before him, he will die, for you did not warn him. Because of his sin he will die, and his righteousness that he did will not be remembered, and his blood I shall seek from your hand.


text:
And if you warn him, the righteous, not to sin, and the righteous does not sin, surely he will live, for he heeded a warning. And you will have saved your life.”


text:
And the hand of Yahweh was on me there, and he said to me, “Rise up, go out to the valley, and there I will speak with you.”


text:
And I rose up, and I went to the valley, and, look, there the glory of Yahweh was standing, like the glory that I saw near the Kebar River, and I fell on my face.


text:
And the Spirit came into me, and it made me stand on my feet, and he spoke with me and said to me, “Come, shut yourself inside your house,


text:
and you, son of man, look, they will place cords on you, and they will tie you up with them. Then you will not go out into the midst of them.


text:
And I will make your tongue cling to the roof of your mouth, and you will be silenced, and you will not be a reproving man for them, for they are a rebellious house.


text:
And when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you must say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “The one hearing him, let him hear, and the one failing to hear, let him fail,” ’ for they are a rebellious house.


text:
“Now, son of man, take for yourself a brick, and you must put it before you, and you must portray on it a city, Jerusalem.


text:
And you must build against it siege works, and you must build against it a bulwark, and you must heap against it a siege ramp, and you must set up against it camps and put against it a battering ram all around.


text:
And take for yourself a plate of iron, and you must place it as a wall of iron between you and the city, and you must set your face against it, and it must be under siege, and you must lay the siege against it; it is a sign for the house of Israel.


text:
And you, lie down on your left side, and you must put the guilt of the house of Israel on it. You will carry their guilt the number of days that you will lie on it.


text:
And I will give to you the years of their guilt according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days, and you must bear the guilt of the house of Israel.


text:
When you have completed these, then you must lie a second time on your right side; and you must bear the guilt of the house of Judah forty days, a day for each year, a day for each year I give it to you.


text:
And toward the siege of Jerusalem you must set your face and your bared arm; then you must prophesy against it.


text:
Now look! I will put on you cords, and you may not turn yourself from one side to your other side until you complete the days of your siege.


text:
“And you, take for yourself wheat and barley and beans and lentils and millet and spelt, and you must put them in one vessel, and you must make them for yourself into a food during the number of days that you are lying on your side; three hundred and ninety days you shall eat it.


text:
And your food that you will eat will be according to weight; twenty shekels for each day at fixed times you shall eat it.


text:
And as a bread-cake of barley you shall eat it, and with human excrement you shall bake it before their eyes.”


text:
And Yahweh said, “Thus shall the Israelites eat their unclean food among the nations where I will scatter them.”


text:
And I said, “Ah, Lord Yahweh! Look! I have not been defiling myself, and a dead body and mangled carcass I have not eaten from my childhood until now, and unclean meat has not come into my mouth!”


text:
And he said to me, “See I will give you cattle manure in the place of the feces of a human, and you may prepare your food on it.”


text:
And he said to me, “Son of man, look, I am going to break the supply of bread in Jerusalem, and they will eat bread by weight, anxiously, and rationed water, and they will drink with horror,


text:
so that they will lack food and water, and they will be appalled with one another, and they will waste away because of their guilt.


text:
“And you, son of man, take for yourself a sword, sharp as a barber’s razor. Take it for yourself, and you must cause it to pass over your head and over your beard, and you must take for yourself a set of scales for weighing, and you must divide them.


text:
A third you must burn with fire in the midst of the city at the completion of the days of the siege, and you must take a third, and you must strike it with the sword around it, and a third you must scatter to the wind, and I will draw a sword behind them.


text:
And from them again you shall take some, and you must throw them in the middle of the fire, and you must burn them with fire; from it a fire will go out to all of the house of Israel.


text:
Thus says the Lord Yahweh: This is Jerusalem in the midst of the nations where I have put her, and countries are around her.


text:
But she has rebelled against my regulations to the point of wickedness more than the nations, and my statutes more than the countries that are around her; for they rejected my regulations, and as for my statutes, they did not walk in them.


text:
Therefore, thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because of your commotion more than the nations that are around you—you did not walk in my statutes, and you did not do my regulations, and according to the regulations of the nations that are around you, you did not do.


text:
Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Look! I, even I, am against you, and I will execute judgment in the midst of you before the eyes of the nations,


text:
and I will do with you that which I have not done, and which I will not do again, because of all of your detestable things.


text:
Therefore parents will eat children in the midst of you, and children will eat their parents, and I will execute judgment in you, and I will scatter your entire remnant to every wind.


text:
Therefore as surely as I live, declares the Lord Yahweh, Surely because you have defiled my sanctuary with all of your vile idols and with all of your detestable things, now indeed I will reduce, and my eye will not take pity, and surely I will show no compassion.


text:
A third of you will die because of the plague, and because of the famine they will perish in the midst of you, and a third will fall through the sword around you, and a third I will scatter to every direction of the wind, and I will draw the sword behind them.


text:
And my anger will come to an end, and I will place my rage on them, and I will relent, and they will know that I, Yahweh, have spoken in my passion when I fully vent my rage against them.


text:
And I will make you into a desolate place and into a disgrace among the nations that surround you before the eyes of every one who passes by.


text:
And it will be an object of taunting and an object of mockery, a warning and a horror to the nations that are around you whenever I execute judgments against you in anger and in wrath and in furious punishments! I, Yahweh, have spoken!


text:
When I send my arrows of deadly famine against them, which will be as destruction that I will send in order to destroy you, I will increase famine against you, and I will break the supply of food for you.


text:
And I will send against you famine and fierce animals, and they will make you childless; and plague and blood will pass through you, and I will bring the sword upon you. I, Yahweh, I have spoken!”


text:
and you must say, ‘Mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord Yahweh, thus says the Lord Yahweh to the mountains and to the hills, to the ravines and to the valleys: “Look, I am bringing upon you the sword, and I will destroy your high places,


text:
and your altars will be desolate, and your incense altars will be broken, and I will throw down your slain ones before your idols,


text:
and I will place the corpses of the children of Israel before their idols, and I will scatter your bones around your altars.


text:
In all of your dwellings, the cities will be desolate and the high places will be ruined, so that your altars will be desolate and will suffer punishment. Your idols will be broken and will come to an end, and your incense altars will be cut down, and your works will be destroyed,


text:
But I will spare some, so there will be for you fugitives from the sword among the nations when you are scattered in the countries.


text:
And your fugitives will remember me among the nations to which they were taken captive, that I was shattered by their adulterous heart which departed from me, and by their adulterous eyes which went after their idols, and they will feel loathing for themselves, for the evil that they did, for all of their detestable things.


text:
Thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘Clap your hand and stamp with your foot, and say, “Alas, for all of the detestable things of the evil of the house of Israel, because of which they will fall with the sword, with the famine, and with the plague.


text:
The one who is far away will die by the plague, and the one who is near will fall by the sword, and the one who is being left behind and being spared will die by the famine, and I will complete my rage on them.


text:
And you will know that I am Yahweh when their slain ones are in the midst of their idols around their altars at every high hill, on the tops of all the mountains and under every green tree and under every leafy oak—the place at which they gave a pleasing scent for all of their idols.


text:
And I will stretch out my hand against them, and I will make the land a desolation and a wasteland from the desert to Riblah in all of their dwellings, and they will know that I am Yahweh.” ’ ”


text:
“And you, son of man, thus says the Lord Yahweh to the land of Israel: ‘ The end comes, the end on the four corners of the land.


text:
Now the end is on you, and I will send my anger on you, and I will judge you according to your ways, and I will bring on you all your detestable things.


text:
And my eye will not take pity on you, and I will not show compassion for your ways; on you I will bring your detestable things; they will be in the midst of you, and you will know that I am Yahweh.’


text:
Doom is coming against you, the dweller of the land; the time comes, the day is near, panic and not joy is on the mountains.


text:
Soon I will pour out my rage on you, and I will fully vent my anger on you, and I will judge you according to your ways, and I will bring on you all of your detestable things.


text:
And my eye will not take pity, and I will not show compassion. According to your ways I will deal with you, and your detestable things will be in the midst of you, and you will know that I am Yahweh who strikes.


text:
Violence has grown to become a staff of wickedness; none from them will remain, and none from their abundance nor from their wealth; and prominence will not be among them.


text:
The time has come, the day has arrived; let not the buyer rejoice, and let the seller not mourn, for anger is on all their multitude.


text:
For the seller will not return to the merchandise while they are still alive, for the vision is about all of its multitude; it will not change, and a man because of his guilt will not be able to hold onto his life.


text:
They shall blow on the trumpet and prepare everything, but there is no one going to the battle, for my anger is on all of their multitude.


text:
The sword is outside, and the plague and the famine are inside; the one who is in the field will die by the sword, and the one who is in the city, famine and plague will devour him.


text:
And if their survivors will escape, they will be on the mountains, like the doves of the valley, all of them groaning, each because of his guilt.


text:
And they will wear sackcloth, and horror will cover them, and on all of the faces will be shame, and baldness on all of their heads.


text:
Their silver they will discard on the streets, and filth will be their gold; their silver and their gold will not be able to rescue them on the day of the wrath of Yahweh. They will not satisfy their hunger and their stomachs they will not fill, for their guilt will be their stumbling block.


text:
“ ‘And the beauty of its ornament he made into a prideful thing and made with it their detestable things and their vile idols; therefore I will make it into an impure thing for them.


text:
And I will give it into the hand of strangers as plunder and to the wicked people of the earth as spoil, and they will defile it.


text:
And I will turn my face from them, and they will defile my treasured place, and violent ones will enter and defile it.


text:
And I will bring the worst of the nations, and they will take possession of their houses, and I will put to an end the pride of the mighty ones, and their sanctuaries will be defiled.


text:
Calamity upon calamity will come, and rumor will be upon rumor. And they will seek a vision from a prophet, but instruction will perish from the priest and counsel from the elders.


text:
The king will mourn, and the prince will be dressed with despair, and the hands of the people of the land will tremble. According to their way I will do to them, and according to their judgments I will judge them, and they will know that I am Yahweh.’ ”


text:
And then in the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month, I was sitting in my house, and the elders of Judah were sitting before me. And the hand of the Lord Yahweh fell on me there,


text:
and I saw, and look! A figure like the appearance of a man; from the appearance of his waist and below was fire, and from his waist and upward was like the appearance of brightness, like the outward appearance of amber.


text:
And he sent out the form of a hand, and he took me by a lock of hair of my head, and the Spirit lifted me between earth and heaven, and it brought me to Jerusalem in visions of God to the doorway of the inner gate that faced north, at which there was the seat of the image of jealousy, which was making jealous.


text:
And he said to me, “Son of man, lift up now your eyes toward the north.” And I lifted up my eyes toward the north, and, look, there was to the north of the gate of the altar this image of jealousy at the entrance.


text:
And he said to me, “Son of man, “ Do you see what they are doing—great detestable things that the house of Israel is committing here so as to drive me from my sanctuary, and yet you will see again greater detestable things.”


text:
And he said to me, “Son of man, dig now through the wall.” And I dug through the wall, and look! There was a doorway.


text:
And I came, and I saw, and look, all kinds of creatures and detestable beasts; and all of the idols of the house of Israel were carved on the wall all around.


text:
And seventy men from the elders of the house of Israel, and Jaazaniah, the son of Shaphan, was standing in the midst of them, and they were standing before them. Each one had his censer in his hand, and the fragrance of the cloud of the incense was going up.


text:
And he said to me, “Have you seen, son of man, what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each in the inner rooms of his idol, for they are saying, ‘Yahweh is not seeing us; Yahweh has abandoned the land.’ ”


text:
And he brought me to the doorway of the gate of the house of Yahweh that is toward the north, and look! There were the women sitting weeping for Tammuz.


text:
And he said to me, “Have you seen, son of man? Still you will see again greater detestable things than these.”


text:
And he brought me to the inner courtyard of the house of Yahweh, and look, at the doorway of the temple of Yahweh, between the portico and the altar, there were about twenty-five men with their backs to the temple of Yahweh and their faces toward the east, and they were bowing down toward the east before the sun.


text:
And he said to me, “Have you seen, son of man? Was it too small a thing for the house of Judah to do the detestable things that they did here? For they filled up the land with violence, and they provoked me to anger again, and look! They are putting the branch to their nose.


text:
And so I will act in rage, and my eye will not take pity, and I will not have compassion, and they will cry in my ear with a loud voice, and I will not hear them.”


text:
And he called in my ears with a loud voice, saying, “ They have come near, the punishers of the city, and each with his weapon of destruction in his hand.


text:
And look! Six men coming from the way of the upper gate that faced northward, and each with his weapon for shattering in his hand; and one man was in the midst of them, dressed in linen, and the writing case of the scribe was at his side. And they came and stood beside the bronze altar.


text:
And the glory of the God of Israel lifted itself up from upon the cherub that he was on and went to the threshold of the house, and he called to the man who was clothed in linen with a scribal writing case at his side.


text:
And Yahweh said to him, “Go through in the midst of the city, in the midst of Jerusalem, and you must place a mark on the foreheads of the men who are groaning and lamenting about all of the detestable things that are being done in the midst of her.”


text:
And to the others he said in my hearing, “Go through the city behind him and kill! Your eyes shall not take pity, and you shall not have compassion.


text:
You must kill totally old man, young man and young woman, and little children and women, but concerning every man with the mark on him you must not approach; and from my sanctuary you must begin.” And they began with the old men who were before the house.


text:
And he said to them, “Defile the house and fill the courtyards with the dead; go out! And they went out, and they killed in the city.


text:
And then as they were striking, and I was left behind, I fell on my face, and I cried out, and I said, “Ah, Lord Yahweh! “ Will you be destroying all of the remnant of Israel while you pour out your rage on Jerusalem?”


text:
And he said to me, “The guilt of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great, and the land is filled with bloodguilt, and the city is full of injustice. For they say Yahweh abandoned the land, and Yahweh does not see.


text:
And I, my eye will not take pity, and I will not have compassion; their way I will bring on their head.”


text:
And look! The man clothed in linen and with a writing case at his side was bringing back a word, saying, “I have done all that you commanded me.”


text:
And I looked, and look! On the expanse that was above the head of the cherubim something like a stone of sapphire, and like the appearance of the shape of a throne it appeared above them.


text:
And he spoke to the man clothed in linen and said, “Go in among the wheel area under the cherubim and fill the hollow of your hands with coals of fire from among the cherubim, and toss them on the city.” And he went right before my eyes.


text:
Now the cherubim were standing on the south of the temple when the man went, and the cloud filled the inner courtyard.


text:
And the glory of Yahweh rose up from on the cherub toward the threshold of the house, and the house was filled with the cloud, and the courtyard was filled with the brightness of the glory of Yahweh.


text:
And the sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard as far as the outer courtyard; it was like the voice of God Shaddai when he speaks.


text:
And then at his command to the man clothed in linen, saying, “Take fire from among the wheel area from among the cherubim,” he went and stood beside the wheel.


text:
Then the cherub stretched out his hand from among the cherubim toward the fire that was among the cherubim, and he lifted up and gave it into the hollow of the hand of the man clothed with linen, and he took it, and he went out.


text:
And I saw, and look, four wheels beside the cherubim, one wheel beside each cherub, and the appearance of the wheels was like the outward appearance of turquoise stone.


text:
Their appearance was the same for each of the four of them, as if the wheel was in the midst of a wheel.


text:
When they went to the four of their directions that they went, they did not change direction when they went, for the place to which the head turned, they went behind him; they did not change direction at their going.


text:
And their whole body, and their rims, and their spokes, and their wings, and the wheels were full of eyes all around— the wheels for the four of them.


text:
And each one had four faces; the face of the one was the face of a cherub, and the face of the second was the face of a human, and the face of the third was the face of a lion, and the fourth was the face of an eagle.


text:
And when the cherubim went, the wheels beside them went; and when the cherubim lifted their wings to rise up from the earth, the wheels also did not turn aside from beside them.


text:
When they stood, they stood, and at their rising, they rose with them, for the spirit of the living creatures was in them.


text:
And the cherubim lifted up their wings, and they rose from the earth before my eyes. At their going out, the wheels were beside them. And he stood at the doorway of the eastern gate of the temple of Yahweh, and the glory of the God of Israel was over them.


text:
This was the living creature that I saw under the God of Israel at the Kebar River, and I knew that they were cherubim.


text:
Each one had four faces, and there were four wings for each, and the likeness of human hands was under their wings.


text:
And the likeness of their faces, they were the faces that I saw at the Kebar River; thus was their appearance, and they each went straight ahead.


text:
And the Spirit lifted me up, and it brought me to the eastern gate, the one facing east, of the temple of Yahweh. And look, there were twenty-five men in the doorway of the gate, and I saw Jaazaniah the son of Azzur in the midst of them, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, the commanders of the people.


text:
And he said to me, “Son of man, these are the men who devise mischief, and who are offering bad counsel in this city,


text:
And the Spirit of Yahweh fell on me, and he said to me, “Say, ‘thus says Yahweh: “This is what you think, house of Israel, and I myself know them, the thoughts of your spirit.


text:
Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Your slain ones whom you put in its midst, they are the flesh, and it is the pot, and I will bring you out from its midst.


text:
“And I will bring you out from its midst, and I will give you into the hand of strangers, and I will execute judgments against you.


text:
By the sword you will fall at the border of Israel; I will judge you, and you will know that I am Yahweh.


text:
It will not be as a pot to you, and so you would be in the midst of it as flesh, for at the border of Israel I will judge you.


text:
And you will know that I am Yahweh, whose rules you did not follow, and whose regulations you did not do, but according to the regulations of the nations that are around you, you acted.” ’


text:
And it happened that as I was prophesying, Pelatiahu the son of Benaiahu died! And I fell on my face, and I cried with a loud voice, and I said, “Ah, Lord Yahweh, you are making a complete destruction of the remnant of Israel!”


text:
“Son of man, your brothers, your brothers, the men of your redemption, and all of the house of Israel, all of it, who said concerning the inhabitants of Jerusalem, ‘They are far from Yahweh, therefore to us this land was given as a possession.’


text:
Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Though I have removed them far away among the nations and though I have scattered them among the countries, yet I was a sanctuary to them for a little while in the countries to which they have gone.’ ”


text:
Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “And I will assemble you from the peoples, and I will gather you from the countries to which you were scattered among them, and I will give the land of Israel to you.


text:
And when they come there, then they will remove all of its vile idols and all of its detestable things from it.


text:
And I will give to them one heart, and a new spirit I will give in their inner parts. And I will remove their heart of stone from their body, and I will give to them a heart of flesh,


text:
so that they may walk in my statutes, and they will keep my regulations, and they will do them, and they will be to me a people, and I myself will be to them as God.


text:
But to the heart of their abominations and the detestable things their heart is going. I will bring their way on their head,” declares the Lord Yahweh.’ ”


text:
Then the cherubim lifted up their wings, and their wheels were beside them, and the glory of the God of Israel was over them.


text:
And the glory of Yahweh went up from the midst of the city, and it stood still on the mountain that is to the east of the city.


text:
And the Spirit lifted me up, and it brought me to Chaldea, to the exiles, in the vision by the spirit of God; and the vision that I had seen left me.


text:
“Son of man, you are dwelling in the midst of the house of rebellion who has eyes to see and they do not see; they have ears to hear, and they do not hear, for they are a house of rebellion.


text:
And you, son of man, prepare for yourself the baggage of an exile, and go into exile by day before their eyes. And you must go into exile from your place to another place before their eyes; perhaps they will see that they are a house of rebellion.


text:
And you must bring out your baggage like the baggage of an exile by day before their eyes, and you must go out in the evening before their eyes like those who go into exile.


text:
Before their eyes dig through for yourself, through the wall, and you must bring the baggage out through it.


text:
Before their eyes, on your shoulder, you must lift up the baggage in the dusk, and your face you must cover, so that you may not see the land, for I make you as a sign to the house of Israel.”


text:
And I did just as I was commanded; my baggage, like the baggage of an exile, I brought out by day, and in the evening I dug through for myself into the wall with my hand in the dusk; I brought the baggage on my shoulder; I carried it before their eyes.


text:
“Son of man, did not they, the house of Israel, the house of rebellion, say to you, ‘What are you doing?’


text:
Say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “This oracle is about the prince in Jerusalem and the entire house of Israel who are among them.” ’


text:
Say, ‘I am your sign, and just as I did, so will it be done to them in the exile; into captivity they will go.’


text:
And the prince who is in the midst of them, on his shoulder he will carry the baggage in the dusk, and he will go out; the wall will be dug through to bring him through it; and he will cover his face so that he will not see the land with his eye.


text:
And I will spread out my net on him, and he will be captured in my hunting snare, and I will bring him to Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans, but he will not see it, and there he will die.


text:
And all who are around him, his help and all of his troops I will scatter in every direction, and I will draw the sword behind them.


text:
And they will know that I am Yahweh when I scatter them among the nations and I scatter them in the countries.


text:
But I will spare from them a few men from the sword, from the famine and from the plague, so that they may tell of all their abominations among the nations to which they will go, and they will know that I am Yahweh.”


text:
“Son of man, you must eat your food with trembling, and your water with shuddering, and with anxiety you must drink.


text:
And you must say to the people of the land, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh to the inhabitants of Jerusalem about the land of Israel: “They will eat their food with anxiety and their water they will drink with horror, because their land will be desolate from its fullness because of all the violence of those who are dwelling in it.


text:
And the inhabited cites will be desolate, and the land will be a desolation, and you will know that I am Yahweh.” ’ ”


text:
“Son of man, what is this proverb you people have about the land of Israel, saying, ‘ The days are prolonged, and every vision has come to nothing.’


text:
Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “I will put an end to this proverb, and they will not quote it as a proverb again in Israel.” ’ But say to them, ‘The days are near, and also the word of every vision.’


text:
For there will not be any longer any false vision or flattering divination in the midst of the house of Israel.


text:
For I, Yahweh, I will speak what I will speak as a word, and it will be done. It will not prolong itself any longer, for in your days, house of rebellion, I will speak a word and I will fulfill it!” declares the Lord Yahweh.


text:
“Son of man, look! The house of Israel is saying, ‘The vision that he is seeing is for many days from now, and for distant times he is prophesying.’


text:
Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “None of my words will be prolonged any longer that I speak as a word, and it will be fulfilled!” ’ ” declares the Lord Yahweh.


text:
“Son of man, prophesy to the prophets of Israel who are prophesying, and you must say to those who are prophets out of their own imagination, ‘Hear the word of Yahweh!’


text:
Thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘Alas, for the foolish prophets who are going after their own spirit, and they did not see anything !


text:
You did not go up into the breaches and repair a wall for the house of Israel to stand firm in the battle on the day of Yahweh.


text:
They saw falseness and a lying divination, the ones saying, ‘Declaration of Yahweh!’ and Yahweh did not send them, and they wait for the confirmation of their word.


text:
Have you not seen a false vision and spoken a lying divination, and you said, ‘Declaration of Yahweh!’ but I myself did not speak.


text:
Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘Because of your speaking falseness and because you envisioned a lie, therefore, look! I am against you!” declares the Lord Yahweh.


text:
“And it will be my hand against the prophets who are seeing falseness and who are practicing lying divination. They will not be in the council of my people, and they will not be written down in the record book of the house of Israel, and into the land of Israel they will not come, and then you will know that I am the Lord Yahweh.


text:
Because, yes, because they led my people astray, saying ‘Peace!’ And there is not peace. And when anyone builds a flimsy wall, look, they coat it with whitewash.


text:
Say to those covering it with whitewash that it will fall; there will be a torrent of rain, and I will give stones of hail; they will fall! And a windstorm will burst forth!


text:
And look! When the wall falls, will it not be said to you, ‘Where is the whitewash with which you covered it?’


text:
Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘And so I will let burst forth a windstorm in my rage, and there will be a torrent of rain in my anger, and hailstones in my rage for complete destruction.


text:
And I will break down the wall that you covered with whitewash, and I will knock it to the ground, and its foundation will be revealed, and it will fall, and you will come to an end in the midst of it, and you will know that I am Yahweh!


text:
And I will fully vent my rage against the wall and against those covering it with whitewash, and I will say to you, “ The wall is no more, and the people covering it are no more,


text:
that is, the prophets of Israel, the ones prophesying concerning Jerusalem and the ones seeing visions of peace, and there is not peace!’ ” ” declares the Lord Yahweh.


text:
“And you, son of man, place your face toward the daughters of your people who prophesy from their imagination, and prophesy against them!


text:
And you must say, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Woe to those who sew magic charm bands on all the wrists of the hands of my people and those who make the veils that are on the head of people of every height, to ensnare people’s lives! Will you ensnare the lives of my people and keep yourselves alive?


text:
And you defiled me among my people for a handful of barley and for morsels of bread to kill persons who should not die and to keep alive persons who should not live by means of your lies to my people who are listening to your lies.” ’


text:
Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘Look! I am against your magic charm bands with which you are ensnaring persons as birds; I will tear them from your arms, and I will release the persons that you are ensnaring, treating persons as birds.


text:
And I will tear off your veils, and I will deliver my people from your hand, and they will not any longer be in your hand as prey, and you will know that I am Yahweh.


text:
Because you disheartened the heart of the righteous by deception, and I have not caused him pain, and strengthened the hands of the wicked so that he did not turn from his wicked way to save his life.


text:
Therefore falseness you will not see, and divination you will not practice any longer, and I will rescue my people from your hand, and you will know that I am Yahweh!’ ”


text:
“Son of man, these men took up their idols into their heart and they placed before themselves a stumbling block of their guilt. Should I really let myself be consulted by them?


text:
Therefore speak with them, and you must say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Every person from the house of Israel who brings up his idols into his heart and places before himself a stumbling block of his guilt and yet he comes to the prophet, I Yahweh, I will respond to him through this act with respect to the multitude of his idols,


text:
so that I may take hold of the house of Israel by their heart, those who are estranged from me, all of them, through their idols.’


text:
Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Return, and turn away from your idols and from all of your detestable things! Turn away your faces!” ’


text:
For each person from the house of Israel, and from the alien who dwells as an alien in Israel, who separates himself from following me and brings up his idols into his heart and places before himself a stumbling block of his guilt, and yet he comes to the prophet to consult him concerning me, I Yahweh will answer him myself.


text:
And I will set my face against that person, and I will make him to be a sign and make him into the subject of proverbs; and I will cut him off from the midst of my people, and you will know I am Yahweh.


text:
And the prophet, if he is deceived and he speaks a word, I Yahweh, I have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand against him, and I will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.


text:
so that the house of Israel will not go astray again from me, and they will not make themselves unclean again with all of their transgressions, and they will be for me a people, and I will be for them as God,” declares the Lord Yahweh.


text:
“Son of man, when a land sins against me by acting very unfaithfully, then I will stretch out my hand against it, and I will break for it the supply of food, and I will send against it famine, and I will cut it off, both human and animal.


text:
And if even the three of these men were in the midst of it—Noah, Daniel, and Job—they, through their righteousness, would save only themselves !” declares the Lord Yahweh.


text:
“If a fierce animal I should let cross through the land, and it should make it childless and it will be a desolation, so that there will not be one crossing over the land due to the presence of the animal,


text:
even if these three men were in the midst of it, as surely as I live,” declares the Lord Yahweh, “surely they will not save sons and daughters; they themselves alone, they will be saved, but the land will be a desolation.


text:
Or, if I bring a sword over that land, and I say, ‘Sword, let it cross over into the land!’ And I will cut off from it both human and animal.


text:
And if these three men were in the midst of it, as surely as I live,” declares the Lord Yahweh, “they will not save sons and daughters, but they alone will be saved.


text:
And if I were to send a plague to that land, and I pour out my rage on it with blood to cut it off, both human and animal,


text:
and if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in the midst of her, as surely as I live,” declares the Lord Yahweh, “surely not a son, surely not a daughter will they save by their righteousness; they would save themselves.”


text:
For thus says the Lord Yahweh: “How much more when I send my four punishments—the evil sword, and famine, and a fierce animal, and a plague—to Jerusalem to cut it off, both human and animal!


text:
But look! A remnant will be left over in it, sons and daughters who will be brought out. Look! They are coming out to you, and you will see their way, and with their deeds you will be consoled with respect to the evil that I brought over Jerusalem, all of it that I brought over it.


text:
And they will console you when you see their way and their deeds, and you will know that not for nothing I did all that I did in it,” declares the Lord Yahweh.


text:
“Son of man, how will the wood of the vine be better than any of the wood of the branch which is among the trees of the forest?


text:
Can wood be taken from it to make anything, or can they take a tent peg from it to hang on it any object?


text:
Look! It is given to the fire as fuel. The fire will consume two of its ends, and its middle will be charred. Is it useful for anything?


text:
Look! When it is in perfect condition, it will not be used for anything, how much less when the fire has consumed it and it is charred; and then can it be used again for anything?


text:
Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Just like the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest which I gave to the fire for fuel, so I have given the inhabitants of Jerusalem.


text:
And I will set my face against them. From the fire they may escape, but the fire will yet consume them, and they will know that I am Yahweh when I set my face against them.


text:
And I will make the land a desolation because they acted very unfaithfully !” declares the Lord Yahweh.


text:
and you must say, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth were from the land of the Canaanites, your father was an Amorite, and your mother was a Hittite.


text:
And as for your birth, on the day you were born your umbilical cord was not cut, and you were not thoroughly washed clean with water, and you were not thoroughly rubbed with salt, and you were not carefully wrapped in strips of cloth.


text:
No eye took pity on you to do to you one of these things to show compassion for you, and you were thrown into the open field in their despising of you on the day you were born.


text:
“ ‘And I passed by you, and I saw you kicking about in your blood, and I said to you in your blood, “Live!


text:
Grow up; I will make you like a plant of the field.” And you grew up, and you became tall and reached full womanhood. Your breasts were formed, and your hair had grown, but you were naked and bare.


text:
“ ‘And I passed by you, and I saw you, and look, your time of lovemaking had come, and so I spread out my hem over you, and I covered your nakedness, and I swore to you, and I entered into a covenant with you,’ declares the Lord Yahweh, ‘and you became mine.


text:
And I clothed you with beautiful finished cloth, and I put sandals on you of fine leather, and I bound you in fine linen, and I covered you with costly fabric.


text:
And I put an ornamental ring on your nose and earrings on your ears and a beautiful crown on your head.


text:
And you adorned yourself with gold and silver, and your clothing was fine linen and costly fabric and beautiful finished cloth; you ate finely milled flour and honey and olive oil, and you became exceedingly beautiful; you were fit to be a queen.


text:
And a name went out for you among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect because of my majesty that I bestowed on you,’ declares the Lord Yahweh.


text:
‘And you trusted in your beauty, and you prostituted on account of your name, and you poured out your fornication on every one passing by, saying, “Let it be his.”


text:
And you took from your clothes and you made for yourself colorful shrines, and you prostituted on them; this had not happened before, and it will not continue to happen.


text:
And you took your beautiful jewelry made from my gold and from my silver that I had given to you, and you made for yourself male images, and you prostituted with them.


text:
And you took the clothes of your beautiful finished cloth, and you covered them and my oil and my incense you set before them.


text:
And my bread that I gave to you, finely milled flour and oil and honey with which I fed you, then you set it before them as a pleasing odor, and so it was,’ declares the Lord Yahweh.


text:
‘And you took your sons and your daughters whom you had borne for me, and you sacrificed them to them to be eaten, as if your whorings were not enough.


text:
And in all of your detestable things and your fornication you did not remember the days of your childhood when you were naked and bare, when you were kicking about in your blood.


text:
‘And then you built for yourself a mound, and you made for yourself a high place in every public square.


text:
At the head of every street you built your high place and you disgraced your beauty and you spread your feet for every passerby, and you increased your whoring.


text:
And you prostituted with the Egyptians, your neighbors who were sexually aroused, and you increased your fornication to provoke me.


text:
And look! I stretched out my hand against you, and I reduced your portion, and I gave you into the desire of your haters, the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed because of your lewd conduct.


text:
And you prostituted with the Assyrians on account of your insatiable lust, and you prostituted with them, and still you were not satisfied.


text:
And you increased your fornication to the land of traders, to Chaldea, and even with this you were not satisfied.


text:
How hot with fever was your heart!’ declares the Lord Yahweh. ‘ When you did all of these actions of a headstrong female prostitute,


text:
when you built your mound at the head of every street and your high place you made on every street, yet you were not like a prostitute, as you were scorning your harlot’s wages.


text:
To all prostitutes they give a fee, but you, you gave your gifts to all of your lovers, and you bribed them to come to you from all around in your whorings!


text:
And it was the opposite with you from the other women in your whorings; no one solicited you as a prostitute. You gave a harlot’s wages, and a harlot’s wages were not given to you, and so it was just the opposite.


text:
Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because of the pouring out of your shame and because your nakedness was revealed in your whoring with your lovers, and on account of all of the idols of your detestable things, and according to the blood of your children whom you gave to them,


text:
therefore, look! I am gathering all of your lovers whom you were pleased about, and all of whom you loved in addition to all of whom you hated, and I will gather them against you from everywhere, and I will uncover your nakedness to them, and they will see all of your nakedness.


text:
And I will judge you with the judgment of women committing adultery and shedding blood, and I will give you the blood of rage and jealousy.


text:
And I will give you into their hand, and they will demolish your mound, and they will break down your high places, and they will strip you of your clothes, and they will take your beautiful jewelry, and they will leave you naked and bare.


text:
And they will bring up against you a crowd, and they will stone you with stones, and they will cut you to pieces with their swords.


text:
And they will burn your houses with fire, and they will execute against you judgments before many women, and I will stop you from prostitution, and also a harlot’s wages you will not give again.


text:
And I will satisfy my rage on you, and my jealousy will turn away from you, and I will be calm, and I will not be angry any longer.


text:
Because you did not remember the days of your childhood and you made me angry with all of these. And in turn I, look, I will return your way upon your head,’ declares the Lord Yahweh, ‘and did you not do wickedness in addition to all of your detestable things?


text:
Look! Everyone quoting a proverb against you, he will quote, saying, ‘Like her mother is her daughter!’


text:
You are a daughter of your mother who abhorred her husband and her children, and you are a sister of your sisters who abhorred their husbands and their children. Your mother was a Hittite, and your father was an Amorite.


text:
And your elder sister, she is Samaria, and her daughters, who are dwelling on your north, and your younger sister is the one dwelling on your south; she is Sodom and her daughters.


text:
And you have not only gone in their ways, but you also did according to their detestable things. In such a short time you behaved more corruptly than they in all of your ways.


text:
As surely as I live,’ declares the Lord Yahweh, ‘surely your sister Sodom and her daughters did not do as you and your daughters did.


text:
Look! This was the iniquity of Sodom, your sister: Pride, abundance of food, and prosperous ease was to her and to her daughters, and she did not sustain the needy and the poor.


text:
And they were proud, and they did a detestable thing before me, and I removed them because I saw it.


text:
And Samaria did not sin according to even half of your sins, and you caused your detestable things to increase more than they, and you made your sister righteous in comparison with all of your detestable things that you did.


text:
Also, you bear your disgrace, by which you furnished justification to your sisters through your sins by which you acted more abominably than they; they were more righteous than you, and also, you be ashamed and bear your disgrace through your making your sister righteous.


text:
And I will restore their fortune, the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters, and the fortunes of Samaria and her daughters, and even the fortunes of your captivity in the midst of them,


text:
in order that you may bear your disgrace and you may be put to shame because of all that you did at your consoling them.


text:
And as for your sisters, Sodom and her daughters, they will return to their former state, and Samaria and her daughters, they will return to their former state, and you and your daughters will return to your former state.


text:
before your evil was uncovered? It was like the time of the scorn of the daughters of Aram and all those around her, and of the daughters of the Philistines, those all around who are despising you.


text:
‘For thus says the Lord Yahweh: And I will do it to you according to what you have done, who despised the oath to break covenant.


text:
And I, I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish with you an everlasting covenant.


text:
And you will remember your ways, and you will be ashamed when you take your sisters, both the older and the younger, and I give them to you as daughters, but not on account of your covenant.


text:
in order that you will remember, and you will be ashamed, and you will not open your mouth again because of your disgrace when I forgive you for all that you have done!’ ” declares the Lord Yahweh.


text:
and you must say, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “ The great eagle with great wings and long feathers and full of variegated plumage came to Lebanon and he took the treetop of the cedar.


text:
He plucked the top of its new plant shoot, and he brought it to the land of Canaan and put it in a city of merchants,


text:
and he took from the seed of the land and placed it in fertile soil on many waters; like a willow he planted it.


text:
And it sprouted, and it became a vine spreading out, low of height, turning its branches to him, and its roots were under it, and it became a vine, and it made branches, and it sent out foliage.


text:
“ ‘ “And there was another great eagle, great of wings and with abundant plumage, and look! This vine stretched out its roots toward him and extended its branches to him to water it from the garden bed where it was planted.


text:
It was planted in a good field by many waters to produce branches and to bear fruit to become a beautiful vine.” ’


text:
Say, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Will it prosper? Will he not tear out its roots, and will he not make its fruit scaly, and it will wither, and all of the freshness of its vegetation will dry up? And to lift it from its roots will not require great strength or many people.


text:
And look! Though it is planted, will it prosper? When the east wind strikes it, will it not dry up completely? On the garden bed of its vegetation it will dry up!” ’ ”


text:
“Say now to the rebellious house of Israel, ‘Do you not know what these are?’ Say, ‘Look! The king of Babylon will come to Jerusalem, and he will take its king and its officials, and he will bring them to himself, to Babylon.


text:
And he took from the seed of the kingship, and he made with him a covenant, and he brought him under oath, and he took the rulers of the land,


text:
so that they would be a humble kingdom and not lift itself up to keep his covenant in order for it to stand.


text:
But he rebelled against him by sending his messengers to Egypt to give to him horses and a large army. Will he succeed? Will he escape doing these things, and can he break the covenant and escape?


text:
As I live,’ declares the Lord Yahweh, ‘ surely in the place of the king who made him king, who despised his oath and who broke his covenant with him—in the midst of Babylon he will die.


text:
And not with a great army and with a great crowd will Pharaoh work with him in the war, at the pouring out of a siege ramp and the building of siege works to destroy many lives.


text:
And he despised the oath to break covenant. And, look, he gave his hand in pledge, and yet he did all of these things. He will not escape.’


text:
Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘ As I live, surely my oath that he despised and my covenant that he broke I will return upon his head.


text:
And I will spread my net over him, and he will be caught in my hunting net, and I will bring him to Babylon, and I will enter into judgment with him there about his infidelity that he displayed against me.


text:
And all of his choice troops, among all of his troops, they will fall by the sword, and those who are remaining, they will be scattered to all the directions of the wind, and you will know that I, Yahweh, I have spoken.’


text:
Thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘And I will take, even I, from the treetop of the high cedar, and I will plant it, from the head of its new plant shoot I will pluck a tender one, and I will plant it, even I, on a high and lofty mountain.


text:
On the height of the mountain of Israel I will plant it, and it will carry branches, and it will bear fruit, and it will become a noble cedar, and all of the birds of all wings will dwell under it in the shade of its branches.


text:
And all of the trees of the field will know that I, Yahweh, I will bring low a high tree, and I will exalt a low, fresh tree, and I will make a dry tree flourish. I, Yahweh, I have spoken, and I will do it.’ ”


text:
“ What do you mean by quoting this proverb about the land of Israel, saying, ‘The fathers, they ate unripe fruit, and the teeth of the child became blunt.’


text:
As I live, declares the Lord Yahweh, it will surely not any longer be appropriate for you to quote this proverb in Israel!


text:
and on the mountains he does not eat and he does not lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, and the wife of his neighbor he does not defile and he does not approach a woman of menstruation,


text:
and he oppresses no one and he returns a pledge for his loan and he commits no robbery and he gives his bread to the hungry and he covers a naked person with a garment,


text:
and he does not charge interest and he takes no usury, and he holds back his hand from injustice and he executes a judgment of fairness between persons,


text:
and in my statutes he goes about and my regulations he keeps, performing faithfully — then he is righteous, and certainly he will live,” declares the Lord Yahweh.


text:
(though he did not do all of these things ), for the son also eats on the mountains and he defiles the wife of his neighbor.


text:
He oppresses the needy and the poor, and he commits robbery, and he does not return a pledge for a loan, and he lifts his eyes to the idols so he does a detestable thing.


text:
He charges interest and takes usury. Then, shall he live? He shall not live, for he did all of these detestable things. Surely he will die! His blood will be on him.


text:
“And look! He has a son, and he sees all of the sin of his father that he did, and he sees it, but he does not do it.


text:
On the mountains he does not eat, and he does not lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, and the wife of his neighbor he does not defile.


text:
And he oppresses no one; he requires no pledge for a loan, and he does not commit robbery; he gives his bread to the hungry, and he covers the naked person with a garment.


text:
He brings back his hand from iniquity; he does not take interest and usury; he does my regulations; he goes in my statutes. He will not die because of the guilt of his father; he will surely live!


text:
Because his father oppressed severely; he stole from his brother; that which is not good he did in the midst of his people, and look! He will die through his guilt.


text:
“Yet you say, ‘Why does the son not bear the guilt of the father?’ And since the son does justice and righteousness and he keeps all of my statutes and does them, he shall surely live!


text:
The person, the one sinning, will die. A son shall not bear the guilt of the father, and a father shall not bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be on him; the wickedness of the wicked shall be on him.


text:
But if the wicked returns from all of his sins that he has done and he keeps all of my statutes and he does justice and righteousness, he shall surely live; he shall not die!


text:
All of his transgressions that he committed will not be remembered against him. Through his righteousness that he has done he shall live.


text:
Have I delight by any means in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord Yahweh, and not at his turning from his way, so that he lives?


text:
And when the righteous turns from his righteousness, so that he does injustice, and does all of the detestable things that the wicked do, then will he live because of all of his righteousness that he did? Those things will not be remembered because of his infidelity that he displayed, and because of his sin that he committed. Through them he shall die.


text:
“Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair!’ Listen, now, house of Israel, is my way not fair? Is it not your ways that are not fair?


text:
When the righteous turns from his righteousness, and he does injustice, then he will die because of them; because of his injustice that he did he will die!


text:
And when the wicked turns from his wickedness that he did and he does justice and righteousness, he will preserve his life.


text:
And if he sees and he returns from all of his transgressions that he did, surely he will live; he will not die!


text:
And yet they, the house of Israel, say, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair!’ Are not my ways fair, house of Israel? Are not your ways unfair?


text:
“Therefore I will judge you, house of Israel, each one according to his ways,” declares the Lord Yahweh. “Repent and turn around from all of your transgression, and it will not be as a stumbling block of iniquity to you.


text:
Throw away from yourselves all of your transgressions that you committed, and make for yourselves a new heart and new spirit, and so why will you die, house of Israel?


text:
For I have no pleasure in the death of the dying,” declares the Lord Yahweh. “And so repent and live!”


text:
and you must say, ‘What a lioness was your mother among the lions. She lay down in the midst of young lions, and she reared her lion cubs.


text:
And she raised up one from her cubs; he became a fierce lion, and he learned to tear prey; he ate humans.


text:
And nations heard about him; in their pit he was caught, and they brought him with hooks to the land of Egypt.


text:
And she saw that she was waiting in vain; her hope was destroyed, and she took one from her cubs, and she made him a fierce lion.


text:
And he walked about in the midst of lions; he became a fierce lion, and he learned to tear prey; he ate humans.


text:
And he knew their widows, and he devastated their cities, and the land was appalled, and everyone in it at the sound of his roar.


text:
And nations set out against him from the surrounding provinces, and they spread their net over him, and he was caught in their pit.


text:
And they put him in a collar with hooks, and they brought him to the king of Babylon; they brought him into a prison, so that his voice would not be heard any longer on the mountains of Israel.


text:
Your mother was like the vine in your vineyard; planted fruitfully beside water, and it was full of branches from many waters.


text:
And she produced branches of strength to scepters of rulers; its height became tall between thick foliage, and it was seen because of its tallness among the abundance of its branches.


text:
But it was uprooted in rage; it was thrown to the earth, and the east wind dried up its fruit; they were stripped off, and its strong branch dried up; fire consumed it.


text:
And so fire has gone out from the stem of its branches; its fruit it has consumed, and there was not in it a strong branch, a scepter for ruling.’ ” This is a lament, and it will be used as a lament.


text:
And then in the seventh year, in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month, men from the elders of Israel came to consult Yahweh, and they sat before me.


text:
“Son of man, speak with the elders of Israel, and you must say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “ Are you coming to consult me? As I live, I will surely not allow myself to be consulted by you!” ’ declares the Lord Yahweh.


text:
Will you judge them? Will you judge them, son of man? Make known to them the detestable things of their ancestors.


text:
And you must say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “On the day of my choosing Israel I swore to the offspring of the house of Jacob, and I made myself known to them in the land of Egypt, and I swore to them, saying, ‘I am Yahweh your God.’


text:
On that day I swore to them to bring them out from the land of Egypt to the land that I had searched out for them, flowing with milk and honey—it is the most beautiful of all of the lands.


text:
Then I said to them, ‘ Let each one throw away the detestable things of his eyes, and you must not make yourselves unclean with the idols of Egypt! I am Yahweh your God.’


text:
But they rebelled against me, and they were not willing to listen to me; each one did not throw away the detestable things of their eyes; and they did not abandon the idols of Egypt, and I decided to pour out my rage on them, to fully vent my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.


text:
“But I acted for the sake of my name to keep it from being profaned before the eyes of the nations among whom they lived, where I made known to them before their eyes, to bring them out from the land of Egypt.


text:
and I gave my statutes to them, and my regulations I made known to them, which, if a person does them, then he will live by them.


text:
And also my Sabbaths I gave to them to be a sign between me and between them so they would know that I, Yahweh, am the one sanctifying them.


text:
“But in the desert the house of Israel rebelled against me; they did not walk in my statutes, and they rejected my regulations, which, if a person does them, he will live by them, and they greatly profaned my Sabbaths, and I decided to pour out my rage on them in the desert to destroy them,


text:
and I acted for the sake of my name, that it not be profaned before the eyes of the nations before whom I brought them out.


text:
And also I myself swore to them in the desert not to bring them into the land that I had given to them, flowing with milk and honey—it is the most beautiful of all of the lands—


text:
because they despised my judgments, and they did not walk in my statutes, and my Sabbaths they profaned, for their heart was going after their idols.


text:
But my eye took pity on them by not destroying them, and I did not completely destroy them in the desert.


text:
“And I said to their children in the desert, ‘You must not go in the statutes of your parents; you must not keep their regulations, and you must not make yourself unclean with their idols.


text:
And treat my Sabbaths as holy, and they will be a sign between me and between you that you may know that I, Yahweh, am your God.’


text:
But the children rebelled against me; they did not walk in my statutes, and they did not observe my regulations, which if a person does them, then he will live by them. My Sabbaths they desecrated, and I decided to pour out my rage on them, to finish my anger against them in the desert.


text:
But I withheld my hand, and I acted for the sake of my name not to be profaned before the eyes of the nations before whom I had brought them out before their eyes.


text:
What is more, I swore to them in the desert to scatter them among the nations and to disperse them in the lands,


text:
because they did not do my regulations, and my statutes they despised, and my Sabbaths they profaned, and their eyes were after the idols of their ancestors.


text:
And I defiled them through their gifts in sacrificing all of the first offspring of the womb, in order that I will cause them to be stunned, so that they will know that I am Yahweh.


text:
“Therefore speak to the house of Israel, son of man, and you must say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Again in this your ancestors blasphemed me at their display of infidelity toward me.” ’


text:
And I brought them to the land that I swore to give to them, and they saw every high hill and every leafy tree, and they offered their sacrifices, and they presented there the provocation of their offering, and they gave there their fragrant incense offering, and they poured out their libations there.


text:
And I said to them, ‘What is the high place to which you are going?’ And it is called Bamah until this day.


text:
Therefore thus say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “In the way of your ancestors will you defile yourself, and after their vile idols will you prostitute yourselves?


text:
And when you lift up your gifts, sacrificing your children through the fire, you are defiling yourself through all of your idols until today, and will I let myself be consulted by you, house of Israel?” ’ As I live,” declares the Lord Yahweh, “I will not let myself be consulted by you!


text:
And what you are planning, surely it will not be—that you are saying, ‘Let us be like the nations, like the clans of the lands, serving wood and stone !’


text:
“ As I live,” declares the Lord Yahweh, “ surely with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm and with rage pouring forth I will reign as king over you!


text:
And I will bring you from the peoples, and I will gather you from the countries to which you were scattered with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm and with rage poured out.


text:
Then I will bring you to the desert of the peoples, and I will execute justice on you there face to face.


text:
Just as I executed justice on your ancestors in the desert of the land of Egypt, likewise I will execute justice on you!” declares the Lord Yahweh.


text:
And I will purge the rebels from among you and the ones transgressing against me; I will bring them out from the land where they are living as aliens, but into the land of Israel they will not come, and then you will know that I am Yahweh.


text:
And you, house of Israel, thus says the Lord Yahweh: “ Let each one go serve his idols now and after, if you are not listening to me, but my holy name you will not profane any longer with your gifts and with your idols.


text:
“For on my holy mountain, on the mountain of the height of Israel,” declares the Lord Yahweh, “there all of the house of Israel will serve me, all of them, in the land. I will take pleasure in them, and there I will accept your contributions and the best of your portions with all of your holy objects.


text:
I will accept you as a fragrant incense offering when I bring you out from the peoples and I gather you from the lands to which you were scattered, and I will show myself holy among you before the eyes of the nations.


text:
And you will know that I am Yahweh when I bring you to the land of Israel, to the land that I swore to give to your ancestors.


text:
And you will remember there your ways, and all of your deeds by which you were made unclean, and you will feel a loathing for yourself for all of your evils that you have done.


text:
And you will know that I am Yahweh when I deal with you for the sake of my name and not according to your evil ways or according to your corrupted deeds, house of Israel,” declares the Lord Yahweh.


text:
“Son of man, set your face toward the way of the south, and preach to the south, and prophesy against the forest of the territory of the Negev.


text:
And you must say to the forest of the Negev, ‘Hear the word of Yahweh, thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Look! I am kindling against you a fire, and it will devour in you every fresh tree and every dry tree; the blaze of the flame will not be quenched, and all the surfaces from the south to the north will be scorched by it.


text:
“Son of man, set your face toward Jerusalem, and preach to the sanctuaries, and prophesy to the land of Israel.


text:
And you must say to the land of Israel, ‘Thus says Yahweh: “Look! I am against you, and I will draw out my sword from its sheath, and I will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked.


text:
Because I will cut off from you both righteous and wicked, therefore my sword will go out from its sheath to all creatures from south to north.


text:
And they will know, all creatures, that I, Yahweh, I will bring out my sword from its sheath; it will not return again!” ’


text:
And then when they say to you, ‘On account of what are you groaning?’ then you must say, ‘On account of the report, for it is coming, and every heart will be weak and all hands will hang limp and every spirit will be disheartened, and all knees will go like water.’ Look! It is coming, and it will happen!” declares the Lord Yahweh.


text:
“Son of man, prophesy, and you must say, ‘Thus says the Lord,’ say, ‘A sword, a sword is sharpened and is also polished.


text:
It is sharpened to slaughter a slaughter, polished to flash like lightning ! Or will we rejoice? A rod, my son, is despising every tree.


text:
And he gives it to be polished, to be seized by the hand. It is sharpened—a sword—and it is polished to give it into the hand of the killer.


text:
Cry and wail, son of man, for it is against my people; it is against all of the princes of Israel. They are thrown to the sword with my people; therefore strike your thigh.


text:
And you, son of man, prophesy and clap your hands. And the sword will strike twice; let it happen a third time. It is a sword of the dead, the sword of the great dead that is surrounding them,


text:
so that a heart melts, and the fallen multiply at all of their gates. I gave a sword for slaughter, and alas! It is made for flashing, it is grasped for slaughtering.


text:
“And you, son of man, mark out for yourself two roads for the coming of the sword of the king of Babylon; they must both go out from the same land. And hew out a signpost; hew it at the head of the road of the city.


text:
You must mark a road for the coming of the sword to Rabbah of the Ammonites and to Judah, in Jerusalem the fortified.


text:
For the king of Babylon stands at the fork of the road at the head of the two roads to practice divination. He shakes the arrows, he inquires with the teraphim, he examines the liver.


text:
In his right hand is the divination for Jerusalem, to put up battering rams, to open a mouth for slaughter, to raise the battle cry, to put up battering rams against gates, to build a siege ramp, to build siege works.


text:
And it will be to them like practicing divination falsely in their eyes; they have sworn oaths for themselves. But he will bring their guilt to remembrance so as to seize them.


text:
“Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘Because you have brought to remembrance your guilt by the uncovering of your transgressions, so that your sins in all of your deeds appear—because of your being remembered, you will be captured in the hand.’


text:
And as for you, profane one, wicked prince of Israel, whose day has come with the time of the punishment of the end,


text:
thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘Remove the turban and lift off the crown; things are no longer the same. Exalt the low and bring low the high.


text:
A ruin, a ruin, a ruin I will make it! Also this has not ever happened; it will remain until the coming of the one to whom the judgment belongs and I have given it to him.’


text:
And you, son of man, prophesy, and you must say, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh to the Ammonites and concerning their disgrace,’ and you must say, ‘A sword, a sword is drawn for slaughtering; it is polished for holding, for flashing like lightning,


text:
when seeing a false vision for you in vain, when practicing divination for you falsely, to give you on the neck of the profane ones of the wicked, whose day has come, the time of final punishment.


text:
Return it to its sheath in the place where you were created. In the land of your origin I will judge you!


text:
And I will pour out my anger on you; I will blow on you with the fire of my wrath, and I will give you into the hand of brutal men, skilled craftsmen of destruction.


text:
You will be as fuel for the fire; your blood will be in the midst of the earth. You will not be remembered, for I, Yahweh, I have spoken.’ ”


text:
“And you, son of man, will you judge? Will you judge the bloody city? Then you must make known to her all of her detestable things!


text:
And you must say, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “A city pouring out blood in the midst of her; its time has come, and it made idols for itself, becoming unclean.


text:
By your blood that you poured out you have become guilty, and by your idols that you made you have become unclean, and you have brought your days near, and your appointed years have come. Therefore I have made you a disgrace for the nations and a laughingstock to all of the countries.


text:
Look! The princes of Israel, each one according to his strength, they are in you for the shedding of blood.


text:
They have treated father and mother with contempt in you; they violated the alien with extortion; in the midst of you they mistreated the orphan and widow.


text:
Slanderous men are among you to shed blood, and they, among you, eat upon the mountains; they do wickedness in the midst of you.


text:
They uncover the nakedness of a father among you; they violate a woman unclean of menstruation among you.


text:
And a man does a detestable thing with the wife of his neighbor, and a man defiles his daughter-in-law in wickedness, and a man sexually violates among you his sister, the daughter of his father.


text:
They take a bribe among you in order to shed blood; and you take usury, and you make gain from your neighbors by extortion, and so you have forgotten me, declares the Lord Yahweh.


text:
And look! I strike my hand for your ill-gotten gain that you have made and at your blood that was in the midst of you.


text:
Can your heart endure, or can your hands be strong at the days in which I am dealing with you? I, Yahweh, I have spoken, and I will act!


text:
I will scatter you among the nations, and I will disperse you through the countries, and I will purge your uncleanness from you.


text:
And I will be profaned by you before the eyes of the nations, and you will know that I am Yahweh.” ’ ”


text:
“Son of man, the house of Israel has become as silver dross to me; all of them are as bronze and tin and iron and lead in the midst of a furnace, even as silver dross, silver dross they became!


text:
Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘Because all of you have become as silver dross, therefore look! I am gathering you to the midst of Jerusalem,


text:
like the gathering of silver and bronze and iron and lead and tin to the middle of a furnace to blow fire on it for melting. Thus I will gather in my anger and in my rage, and I will deposit you, and I will melt you.


text:
And I will gather you, and I will blow on you with the fire of my wrath, and so I will melt you in the midst of her.


text:
Thus you will be melted like the melting of silver in the midst of a furnace, and you will know that I, Yahweh, I have poured out my rage on you.’ ”


text:
“Son of man, say to her, ‘You are a land not cleansed; it is not rained upon in the day of indignation.’


text:
The conspiracy of its prophets in the midst of her is like a roaring lion that is tearing prey. They devour people, and they take wealth and treasure; they make its widows numerous in the midst of her.


text:
Its priests treat my law violently, and they profane my holy objects; they do not distinguish between a holy object and what is unholy, or between the clean and the unclean. They do not teach the difference, and they hide their eyes from my Sabbaths, and so I am profaned in the midst of them.


text:
Its officials are like wolves tearing prey in its midst, to pour out blood, to destroy people, to make dishonest gain.


text:
And for them its prophets plaster whitewash; they are seeing falseness and are practicing divination for them by lying, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh,’ and Yahweh has not spoken.


text:
They severely oppress the people of the land, and they committed robbery, and they mistreated the needy and the poor, and they oppressed the alien without justice.


text:
And so I sought for them somebody, one repairing the wall and standing in the breach before me on behalf of the land not to destroy it, but I did not find anyone,


text:
and so I poured out my indignation on them. With the fire of my wrath I destroyed them; I returned their way upon their head,” declares the Lord Yahweh.


text:
and they prostituted themselves in Egypt in their childhood; they were prostituting themselves there, and their breasts were fondled, and there they caressed the bosoms of their virginity.


text:
Now as for their names, the older was Oholah, and Oholibah was her sister. And they became mine, and they bore sons and daughters, and their names are Samaria for Oholah, and Jerusalem for Oholibah.


text:
And Oholah prostituted herself while she was still mine, and she lusted for her lovers, for Assyria who was nearby,


text:
clothed in blue cloth, governors and prefects, handsome young men and all of them horsemen, experts on horseback.


text:
And she bestowed her fornication on them, on the choice ones of the Assyrians, all of them, and with every one after which she lusted; with all of their idols she defiled herself.


text:
And her whorings from the time of Egypt she did not abandon, for they slept with her in her childhood, and they caressed the bosoms of her virginity, and they poured out their fornication on her.


text:
Therefore I gave her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians after whom she lusted.


text:
They uncovered her nakedness; they took her sons and her daughters, and they killed her with the sword. And she became a name for the women, and they executed judgments against her.


text:
“And though Oholibah her sister saw, yet in her lust she behaved more corruptly than her, and her whoring was more than the prostitution of her sister.


text:
She lusted after the Assyrians, governors and prefects, warriors clothed in perfection, expert horsemen, all of them handsome young men.


text:
And she increased her whorings, and she saw men carved on the wall, images of Chaldeans carved in red,


text:
belted with a belt at their waist with turbans on their heads, all of them giving the appearance of adjutants, the image of the Babylonians; Chaldea was the land of their birth.


text:
And so the Babylonians came to her for the bed of lovemaking; and they defiled her with their fornication, and she was defiled by them, and she turned from them.


text:
And she revealed her whorings, and she revealed her nakedness, and so I turned from her just as I turned from her sister.


text:
Yet she increased her whorings, recalling the days of her childhood when she was prostituted in the land of Egypt.


text:
And she lusted after her male lovers whose genitalia were the genitalia of male donkeys and their seminal emission was the seminal emission of horses.


text:
And you longed after the obscene conduct of your youth when your bosom was caressed by Egypt, fondling your young breasts.


text:
“Therefore, Oholibah, thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘Look! I am stirring up your lovers against you concerning whom you turned away, and I will bring them against you from all around:


text:
the Babylonians and all of the Chaldeans, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, all of the Assyrians along with them, handsome young men, governors and prefects, all of them adjutants and excellent horsemen.


text:
And they will come against you with an army chariot and wagon and with a crowd of peoples; they will set themselves against you from all around with large shield and small shield and helmet. And I will give before them judgment, and they will judge you with their judgments.


text:
And I will direct my zeal against you, and they will deal with you in anger; your nose and your ears they will remove, and those who are left, they will fall by the sword, and they will take your sons and your daughters, and your remnant will be consumed by fire.


text:
And I will put an end to your obscene conduct coming from you and your fornication from the land of Egypt, and you will not lift your eyes to them; and you will not remember Egypt again.’


text:
For thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘Look! I am giving you into the hand of those you hated, into the hand of those from whom you turned away.


text:
And they will deal with you in hatred, and they will take all of your acquisitions, and they will leave you naked and in bareness; and the nakedness of your fornication and your obscene conduct and your whorings will be exposed.


text:
These things are accomplished against you since you prostituted yourself after the nations, and on account of that, you defiled yourself by their idols.


text:
Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “You will drink the deep and wide cup of your sister; you will be as laughter and as scorn; the cup holds so much !


text:
You will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, for a cup of horror and desolation is the cup of your sister, Samaria.


text:
And you will drink it, and you will drain it, and its potsherds you will gnaw, and you will tear out your breasts, for I myself spoke,” declares the Lord Yahweh.


text:
Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Because you have forgotten me, and you threw me behind your back, now in turn you bear your obscene conduct and your whorings.”


text:
And Yahweh said to me, “Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah and declare their abominable deeds to them?


text:
For they committed adultery, and blood is on their hands, and they committed adultery with their idols, and even their children that they had borne for me—they sacrificed them as food!


text:
and when they slaughtered their children for their idols, they came to my sanctuary on that day to profane it. And look, this is what they did in my house !


text:
What is worse, they sent for men who come from a distant place, to whom a messenger was sent to them, and look! They came! Men for whom you bathed and painted your eyes, and you adorned yourself with an ornament.


text:
And you sat on a magnificent couch and a table prepared before her, and my incense and my olive oil you put on her.


text:
And a sound of a carefree crowd was with it, and in addition to these men, a crowd of drunken men was brought in from the desert, and they put bracelets on their arms and a crown of splendor on their heads.


text:
And I said to the one worn out with adulteries, ‘Now they will prostitute her concerning her fornication, even her.’


text:
And so they went to her like going to a female prostitute; and thus they went to Oholah and to Oholibah, the women of obscene conduct.


text:
But righteous men, they will judge them with the judgment of committing adultery, and with the judgment of shedding blood; for they were committing adultery, and blood was on their hands.”


text:
For thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Bring up against them an assembly, and make them as a thing of horror and as plunder.


text:
And an assembly must stone them with stones, and they must cut them down. With their swords they shall kill their sons and their daughters, and with fire they shall burn their houses.


text:
And I will cause obscene conduct to cease from the land, and all of the women will be warned, and they will not do according to your wickedness.


text:
And they will repay your obscene conduct upon you, and the guilt of your idols you will bear, and you will know that I am the Lord Yahweh.


text:
And the word of Yahweh came to me in the ninth year, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, saying,


text:
“Son of man, write for yourself the name of the day, this very day. The king of Babylon laid siege to Jerusalem on exactly this day!


text:
And deliver a proverb to the rebellious house, and you must say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Place the pot! Place it and also pour water into it.


text:
take the choicest of the flock, and also pile the bones under it; boil it vigorously; indeed, its bones boiled in the midst of it.” ’ ”


text:
Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Woe to the city of bloodguilt! A pot that has its rust in it; its rust did not go out from it. Bring it out piece by piece; one is as good as another.


text:
For her blood was in the midst of her; she put it on a bare rock; she did not pour it on the ground to cover it with dust.


text:
To stir up rage, to avenge myself through vengeance, I placed its blood on the barrenness of a rock, so that it may not be covered.”


text:
Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Woe to the city of bloodguilt! I, even I, will make the pile of wood great!


text:
Pile up the logs; kindle the fire; finish cooking the meat, and mix in the spices, and let the bones be burned.


text:
And make it stand empty upon its burning coals so that it may become hot, and its copper may become molten and be melted in the midst of it, so that its uncleanness and its rust be consumed.


text:
Through effort she has caused weariness; its thick rust went not out of it. Its rust! Into the fire with its rust!


text:
In your uncleanness is obscene conduct, because I cleansed you, but you were not clean from your uncleanness; you will not be clean again until I fully vent my rage on you.


text:
I, Yahweh, I have spoken. It is coming, and I did it; I will not disregard, and I will not take pity, and I will not reconsider. According to your ways and according to your deeds they will judge you!” declares the Lord Yahweh.


text:
“Son of man, look! I am taking from you what is pleasing to your eyes with a plague, but you shall not mourn, and you shall not weep, and your tears shall not run down.


text:
Sigh in silence for the dead; you shall not make a mourning ceremony. Bind your turban on you, and you must put your sandals on your feet. You must not cover your upper lip, and the bread of mourners you shall not eat.”


text:
And I spoke to the people in the morning, and my wife died in the evening, and I did in the morning just as I was commanded.


text:
And the people said to me, “Will you not make known to us what these things that you are doing mean for us?”


text:
“Say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Look! I will be profaning my sanctuary, the pride of your strength and the delight of your eyes and the object of your own affection; and your sons and your daughters whom you left behind will fall by the sword,


text:
and you shall do just as I did: You shall not cover your upper lip, and you shall not eat the bread of mourners.


text:
And your turban must be on your heads, and your sandals must be on your feet. You shall not mourn, and you shall not weep, but you shall waste away because of your iniquities, and you shall groan to one another.


text:
And Ezekiel will be to you as a sign; everything that he did you shall do; and when it comes you will know that I am the Lord Yahweh.


text:
“And you, son of man, will it not be that on the day when I take from them their stronghold, the joy of their glory, the delight of their eyes, and the longing of their inner self, their sons and daughters—


text:
On that day your mouth shall be opened at the arrival of the fugitive, and you shall speak, and you shall not be silent any longer, and you shall be to them as a sign, and they will know that I am Yahweh.”


text:
and you must say to the Ammonites, ‘Hear the word of the Lord Yahweh! Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Because of your saying, ‘Ah!’ to my sanctuary when it was profaned, and to the land of Israel when it was desolate, and to the house of Judah when they went into the exile,


text:
therefore look! I am giving you to the people of the East as a possession, and they will set up their encampments in you, and they will make in you their dwelling places; they themselves will eat your fruit and they themselves will drink your milk.


text:
And I will make Rabbah as a pasture of camels and the Ammonites as a haunt of flocks, and they will know that I am Yahweh.” ’ ”


text:
For thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Because of clapping your hand and stamping with your foot, and because you rejoiced in yourself with all of your malice over the land of Israel,


text:
therefore look! I stretched out my hand against you, and I will give you as plunder to the nations, and I will cut you off from the peoples, and I will destroy you from the countries, and I will wipe you out, and you will know that I am Yahweh.”


text:
Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Because of Moab and Seir saying, ‘The house of Judah is like all of the nations,’


text:
therefore, look! I am opening the side of Moab from the cities on its frontier, the glory of the land: Beth Jeshimoth, Baal Meon, and Kiriathaim.


text:
I will give it to the people of the East in addition to the Ammonites as a possession, so that the Ammonites will not be remembered among the nations.


text:
Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Because of the doings of Edom in avenging himself with vengeance for the house of Judah, and so they became very guilty and they avenged themselves on them,”


text:
therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: “so I will stretch out my hand against Edom and I will cut off from it both human and animal, and I will make it a ruin from Teman and Dedan; they will fall by the sword.


text:
And I will exact my vengeance on Edom by the hand of my people Israel, and they will do in Edom according to my anger and according to my rage, and they will know my vengeance,” declares the Lord Yahweh.


text:
Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Because of the acting of the Philistines in vengeance, so that they avenged themselves relentlessly with malice in themselves for destruction with everlasting hostility,


text:
therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘Look! I am stretching out my hand against the Philistines, and I will cut off the Kerethites, and I will destroy the remainder of the seacoast.


text:
And I will execute on them great vengeance with punishments of rage, and they will know that I am Yahweh when I exact my vengeance on them!”


text:
And it was in the eleventh year, on the first day of the month, the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,


text:
“Son of man, because Tyre said concerning Jerusalem, ‘Ah! The gates of the peoples are broken; it has swung open to me; I shall be filled, for it lies in ruins!’


text:
Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘Look! I am against you, Tyre, and I will bring up against you many nations like the stirring up of the sea stirring up its waves.


text:
And I will destroy the walls of Tyre, and they will demolish its towers, and I will scrape away its earthen dirt from it, and I will make it into a bare rock.


text:
It will become a place for spreading out dragnets in the midst of the sea; for I have spoken,’ declares the Lord Yahweh. ‘And it will become as plunder for the nations,


text:
and its daughters who are in the field with the sword, they will be killed; and they will know that I am Yahweh.’ ”


text:
For thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Look! I am bringing to Tyre Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, from the north, the king of kings, with horse and with chariot and with horsemen and his assembly and many people.


text:
Your daughters he will kill in the field with the sword, and he will place against you siege works, and he will build against you a siege ramp, and he will raise against you a shield,


text:
and the thrust of his battering ram he will direct against your walls, and your towers he will break down with his weapons.


text:
From the abundance of his horses he will cover you with their fine dust; at the sound of horseman and wheel and chariot your walls will shake, at his coming into your gates like the entrance of a city that is being broken through.


text:
With the hooves of his horses he will trample all of your streets. He will kill your people with the sword, and your strong stone pillars will tumble down to the earth.


text:
And they will plunder your wealth, and they will loot your merchandise, and they will break down your walls, and the houses of your delight they will break down, and your stones and your timbers and your earthen dirt they will cast into the midst of the water.


text:
And, I will put an end to the noise of your songs, and the sound of your lyres will not be heard any longer.


text:
And I will make you into a bare rock, a place for the spreading out of dragnets. You will not be built again, for I, Yahweh, I have spoken,” declares the Lord Yahweh.


text:
Thus says the Lord Yahweh to Tyre, “Will not the coastlands shake from the sound of your downfall, at the groaning of the wounded, at people being killed in the midst of you?


text:
And all the princes of the sea will go down from their thrones, and they will remove their robes, and their beautiful garments of finished cloth they will take off. With terror they will be clothed, and on the ground they will sit, and they will tremble continually, and they will be appalled over you.


text:
And they will raise a lament over you, and they will say to you, ‘How you have been lost who was inhabited from the seas; the city that was praised, that was strong. It is located on the sea, and its inhabitants imposed their terror on all of its inhabitants.


text:
Now the coastlands will tremble at the day of your downfall, and the islands that are in the sea will be horrified because of your departure.’ ”


text:
For thus says the Lord Yahweh: “When I make you a desolate city, like the cities that are not inhabited, when bringing up over you the deep, the great surging waters will cover you.


text:
And I will bring you down with those who are going down to the grave, an ancient people, and I will cause you to dwell in the world of the depths, in the ruins from of old with those who are going down to the grave, so that you will not be inhabited and have a place in the land of the living.


text:
Sudden terrors I will bring on you, and you shall no longer exist; and you will be sought, and you will not be found again forever,” declares the Lord Yahweh.


text:
And you must say to Tyre, the one who sits at the entrance of the sea as the merchant of the peoples to the many coastlands, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Tyre, you yourself said “I am perfect in beauty !”


text:
They built with pine trees from Senir all of your boards for you; they took cedars from Lebanon to make a sailing mast for you.


text:
They made your oars with oaks from Bashan; your deck they made with inlaid ivory, with cypress trees from the coastlands of Cyprus.


text:
Your sail was fine linen with colorful weaving from Egypt to serve as a banner for you; blue and purple cloth from the coastlands of Cyprus was your awning.


text:
The inhabitants of Sidon and Arvan were your rowers; your skilled men, O Tyre, were from your own people, and they were your seamen.


text:
The elders of Gebal and its skilled men were among you as the repairers of the seam of your boat; all of the ships of the sea and their mariners were among you to barter your wares.


text:
Persia and Lud and Put were among your soldiers; small shield and helmet hung among you and gave to you your adornment.


text:
The people of Arvan and Helech were on your walls all around, and Gammadites were in your towers. They hung their quivers on your walls all around; they perfected your beauty.


text:
“ ‘Tarshish was your trader; from the abundance of all of their wealth, with silver, iron, tin, and lead they exchanged for your merchandise.


text:
Javan, Tubal, and Meshech were your traders; in exchange for people and an object of bronze they gave you your wares.


text:
The people of Dedan were trading with you, many coastlands composed the region of your influence; they brought back horns of ivory and ebony as your payment.


text:
Edom was trading with you because of the abundance of your products, trading with malachite, purple wool yarn and colorful weaving, and fine white fabric and black corals and rubies; all these they exchange for your merchandise.


text:
Judah and the land of Israel were trading with you with wheat from Minnith and millet and honey and olive oil and balm; all these they gave for your wares.


text:
Damascus was trading with you because of the abundance of your products, because of the abundance of all of your wealth, trading with the wine of Helbon and white wool.


text:
Vedan and Javan from Uzal, they exchanged wrought iron, cinnamon, and reed spice for your merchandise; all this was for your wares.


text:
Arabia and all of the leaders of Kedar were your customers; with young rams and adult rams and goats they were trading with them with you.


text:
The traders of Sheba and Raamah were trading with you, with the finest of every spice and with every precious stone and gold; they exchanged all these for your merchandise.


text:
They were trading with you in finery, in mantles of blue cloth and colorful embroidered work and with rugs of variegated cloth in twisted cords and knotted tightly; these were among your merchandise.


text:
The ships of Tarshish were carrying for you your wares, and you were filled, and you became very heavy in the heart of the seas.


text:
Your wealth and your merchandise, your wares, your mariners, and your seamen, your shipwrights and the barterers of your wares and all of your soldiers who are in you, along with all of your crew who are in the midst of you, they will fall in the heart of the seas on the day of your downfall.


text:
And they will go down from their ships, all of those holding an oar, mariners, all of the seamen of the sea will stand on the land,


text:
and they will lament over you with their voice, and they will cry out bitterly, and they will throw dust on their heads, and they will roll in the dust.


text:
They will shave themselves bald for your sake, and they will dress themselves in sackcloth, and they will weep over you with a bitterness of soul and with bitter wailing.


text:
And they will raise over you with their wailing a lament, and they will chant a lament over you: ‘Who is like Tyre, like this destruction in the midst of the sea?’


text:
When your merchandise went out from the seas, you satisfied many peoples with the abundance of your wealth, and by your wares you made rich the kings of the world.


text:
Now you are broken by seas in the depths of waters; your wares and all of your crew in the midst of you have sunk.


text:
All of the inhabitants of the coastlands are appalled over you, and their kings shudder in horror; they distort their faces !


text:
The traders among the peoples hiss over you; you have become a horror, and you shall be no more forever !’ ”


text:
“Son of man, say to the leader of Tyre, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Because your heart was haughty, and you said, ‘I am a god; I sit in the seat of the gods, I sit in the heart of the seas!’ But you are a human, not a god, and you gave your heart to be like the heart of a god.


text:
By your wisdom and by your understanding you have gained for yourself wealth, and you have amassed gold and silver in your treasuries.


text:
By the abundance of your wisdom in your trading you have increased your wealth and your heart was proud in your wealth.” ’ ”


text:
therefore look! I am bringing strangers over you, the most ruthless of the peoples, and they will draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom, and they will defile your splendor.


text:
Will you indeed still say “I am a god!” before the face of your killers? And in fact you are a human and not a god in the hand of those who pierce you.


text:
You will die the death of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers, for I myself have spoken!” declares the Lord Yahweh.


text:
“Son of man, raise a lament over the king of Tyre, and you must say to him, ‘thus says the Lord Yahweh: “You were a perfect model of an example, full of wisdom and perfect of beauty.


text:
You were in Eden, the garden of God, and every precious stone was your adornment: carnelian, topaz and moonstone, turquoise, onyx and jasper, sapphire, malachite and emerald. And gold was the craftsmanship of your settings and your mountings in you; on the day when you were created they were prepared.


text:
You were an anointed guardian cherub, and I placed you on God’s holy mountain; you walked in the midst of stones of fire.


text:
You were blameless in your ways from the day when you were created, until wickedness was found in you.


text:
In the abundance of your trading, they filled the midst of you with violence, and you sinned; and I cast you as a profane thing from the mountain of God, and I expelled you, the guardian cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.


text:
Your heart was proud because of your beauty; you ruined your wisdom because of your splendor. I threw you on the ground before kings; I have exposed you for viewing.


text:
From the abundance of your iniquities in the dishonesty of your trading, I profaned your sanctuaries and I brought fire from your midst; it consumed you, and I have turned you to ashes on the earth before the eyes of everyone who sees you.


text:
All who know you among the peoples are appalled over you; you have become as horrors, and you shall cease to exist forever.” ’ ”


text:
and you must say, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Look! I am against you, Sidon, and I display my glory in the midst of you, and they will know that I am Yahweh when I execute my judgments, and I will show myself holy within it.


text:
And I will send into it a plague, and blood will be in its streets. And the dead will fall in the midst of her by the sword that is against it from all around; and they will know that I am Yahweh.


text:
And there will not be any longer a painful thorn and a sharp thornbush for the house of Israel from anywhere around them from those who are despising them, and they will know that I am the Lord Yahweh.” ’ ”


text:
Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “When I gather the house of Israel from the peoples to which they were scattered about in them, and I show myself holy in them before the eyes of the nations, then they will live on their soil, which I gave to my servant Jacob.


text:
And they will live on it in safety, and they will build houses, and they will plant vineyards, and they will live in safety when I execute my judgments on all those who despise them from all around them, and then they will know that I am Yahweh their God.”


text:
In the tenth year, in the tenth month, on the twelfth day of the month, the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,


text:
“Son of man, set your face against Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and prophesy against him and against Egypt, all of it.


text:
Speak, and you must say, ‘thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Look! I am against you, Pharaoh, king of Egypt, the great sea monster, the one lying down in the midst of his Nile streams, who says to me, “ It is my Nile, and I made it for myself.”


text:
And so I will put hooks in your jawbones, and I will make the fish of your Nile streams stick to your scales, and I will bring you up from the midst of your Nile streams, and all of the fish of your Nile streams which cling to your scales.


text:
And I will fling you to the desert, you and all the fish of your Nile streams. On the surface of the field you will fall; you will not be gathered, and you will not be assembled. To the animals of the field and to the birds of the heavens I will give you as food.


text:
And all of the inhabitants of Egypt will know that I am Yahweh, because of their being a staff of reed for the house of Israel.


text:
When they took hold of you with the hand, you snapped, and you split their every shoulder. And when they leaned on you, you broke, and you caused all of their loins to wobble.”


text:
Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Look! I am bringing on you a sword, and I will cut off from you human and animal.


text:
And the land of Egypt will become a desolation and ruins, and they will know that I am Yahweh because he said, ‘The Nile is mine ! And I, I made it !’


text:
Therefore look! I am against you and against your Nile streams, and I will make the land of Egypt into ruins, a pile of rubble, a desolation from Migdol to Syene and up to the boundary of Cush.


text:
A foot of a human will not pass over it, and a foot of an animal will not pass over it, and so it will not be inhabited for forty years.


text:
And I will make the land of Egypt a desolation in the midst of desolated countries, and its cities to be in the midst of ruined cities. They will be a desolation for forty years, and I will scatter Egypt among the nations, and I will disperse them among the countries.”


text:
For thus says the Lord Yahweh: “At the end of forty years I will gather Egypt from the peoples among whom they were scattered.


text:
And I will restore the fortunes of Egypt, and I will bring them back to the land of Pathros, to the land of their origin, and they will be a lowly kingdom there.


text:
Of all the kingdoms it will be the most lowly, and it will not exalt itself again over the nations, and I will make them small so as not to rule over the nations.


text:
And it will not be again for the house of Israel an object of trust, bringing to remembrance their guilt when they turned back to them, and they will know that I am the Lord Yahweh.”


text:
And then in the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,


text:
“Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, he made his army labor hard against Tyre. Every head was rubbed bare, and every shoulder was rubbed raw, but a wage was not paid for him and for his army from Tyre for the labor that he did against it.”


text:
Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Look! I am giving to Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon the land of Egypt, and he will carry its wealth away, and he will plunder its plunder, and he will loot its loot, and it will be a wage for his army.


text:
As his wages that he worked for, I will give to him the land of Egypt, because they worked for me,” declares the Lord Yahweh.


text:
“On that day I will cause power to grow up for the house of Israel, and for you I will give an opening of your mouth in the midst of them, and they will know that I am Yahweh.”


text:
For a day is near; indeed, a day is near for Yahweh. A day of cloud, a time of the nations it will be.


text:
And a sword will come in Egypt, and anguish will be in Cush, at the falling of the slain in Egypt. And they will take its wealth, and its foundation will be demolished.


text:
Cush and Put and Lud and all of Arabia and Kub and the people of the land of the treaty with them—by the sword they will fall.”


text:
Thus says Yahweh: “And the supporters of Egypt will fall, and the majesty of its strength will go down from Migdol to Syene; by the sword they will fall in it,” declares the Lord Yahweh.


text:
“And they will be desolate in the midst of desolate countries, and its cities will be in the midst of ruined cities.


text:
On that day messengers will go down from before me in the ships to terrify unsuspecting Cush, and anguish will be in them on the day of Egypt; for look, it is coming!”


text:
Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “And I will put an end to the crowds of Egypt by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon.


text:
He and his people with him, the most ruthless of nations, will be brought to destroy the land. And they will draw their swords against Egypt, and they will fill the land with the slain,


text:
and I will make the Nile streams dry land, and I will sell the land into the hand of bad people, and I will lay waste the land and its fullness by the hand of strangers. I, Yahweh, I have spoken.”


text:
Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “And I will destroy the idols, and I will put an end to the worthless idols from Memphis. And there will no longer be a prince from the land of Egypt, and I will put fear in the land of Egypt.


text:
And I will set fire in Egypt, certainly Sin will writhe, and No will be breached, and Memphis will face enemies daily.


text:
And at Tahpanhes the day will become dark when I break the yoke of Egypt, and in it the majesty of its strength will come to an end. A cloud will cover it, and its daughters will go into captivity.


text:
And then in the eleventh year, in the first month, on the seventh day of the month, the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,


text:
“Son of man, the arm of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, I have broken. And look, it has not been bound up for giving of a remedy, or for the placing of a splint to bind it up to make it strong to take hold of the sword.”


text:
Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Look! I am against Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and I will break his strong arm and the broken arm, and I will let the sword fall from his hand.


text:
And I will strengthen the arm of the king of Babylon, and I will give my sword into his hand, and I will break the arms of Pharaoh, and he will groan with the groaning of the mortally wounded before him.


text:
And I will strengthen the arm of the king of Babylon, and the arms of Pharaoh will fall. And they will know that I am Yahweh when I give my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will stretch it out to the land of Egypt.


text:
And I will scatter Egypt among the nations, and I will disperse them into the countries, and they will know that I am Yahweh.”


text:
And then in the eleventh year, in the third month, on the first day of the month, the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,


text:
“Son of man, say to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and to his crowd, ‘To whom are you like in your greatness?


text:
Look! Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon, with beautiful branches and a forest giving shade, and very high, and its treetop was between the clouds.


text:
Waters made it great, the deep made it grow high; its rivers were going all around its planting area, and its channels it sent out to all of the trees of the field.


text:
Therefore it became tall, with its height more than all of the trees of the field, and its branches became numerous, and its branches became long from its sending its shoots from abundant water.


text:
In its branches all the birds of the heaven made their nest, and under its branches all the animals of the field gave birth, and in its shadow all the many nations lived.


text:
And it was beautiful in its greatness, in the length of its branches, for its root was toward much water.


text:
Cedars in the garden of God could not be equal to it; fir trees could not resemble its branches, and plane trees were not even like its branches; any tree even in the garden of God could not resemble it in its beauty.


text:
I made it beautiful with the abundance of its branches, and all of the trees of Eden that were in the garden of God envied it.’ ”


text:
Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: “ Because it was tall in height and it set its treetop between thick clouds, and he took pride in his tallness,


text:
then I gave it into the hand of the leader of nations; he dealt thoroughly with it according to its wickedness. I drove it out.


text:
And strangers cut it off, the most ruthless of nations, and they abandoned it. On the mountains and in all of the valleys its branches fell, and its branches were broken in all the river channels of the land, and all the peoples of the world went out from its shadow, and they abandoned it.


text:
On its fallen trunk all the birds of the heaven now dwell, and all the animals of the field were on its branches.


text:
This occurred so that all of the trees with abundant water will not become tall, and they will not set their treetop between their thick foliage, and so that all of the trees that are abundantly watered will not stand up to them in their tallness, for all of them, they have been given over to death, to the world below in the midst of mortals, to the people going down to the grave.”


text:
Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “On the day of its going down to Sheol, I caused mourning; I covered over it with the deep, and I withheld its rivers, and many waters were restrained, and I brought gloom over it; Lebanon and all of the trees of the field, they had fainted because of it.


text:
From the sound of its downfall I caused nations to shake when I made it go down to Sheol, with the people going down to the grave, and so in the world below all of the trees of Eden, the choice and the best of Lebanon, all the well-watered trees were comforted!


text:
They also went down with it to Sheol to those who died by the sword, and its army who had lived in its shadow in the midst of nations.


text:
To whom could you be compared, whether in glory or in majesty among the trees of Eden? And yet you will be brought down with the trees of Eden to the world below; in the midst of the uncircumcised you will lie with those who died by the sword. That is Pharaoh and his entire crowd!” declares the Lord Yahweh.


text:
And then in the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, on the first day of the month, the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,


text:
“Son of man, raise a lament over Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and you must say to him, ‘ With a fierce, strong lion among nations you compared yourself, and you are like the sea monster in the seas, and you thrash about in your rivers, and you make water turbid with your feet, and you make your rivers muddy.


text:
Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Now I will spread my net over you in the assembly of many peoples, and I will bring you up in my dragnet.


text:
And I will throw you on the ground; on the surface of the open field I will hurl you, and I will cause every bird of the heaven to dwell on you, and I will satisfy the animals of all of the world from you.


text:
And I will water the land with your discharge from your blood on the mountains, and valleys will be filled from you.


text:
And I will cover you at extinguishing your heavens, and I will make dark their stars, and I will cover the sun with the cloud, and the moon will not give its light.


text:
All sources of light in the heavens, I will make them dark over you, and I will put darkness on your land,’ ” declares the Lord Yahweh.


text:
“And I will disturb the hearts of many peoples at my bringing about your captivity among the nations, to countries that you do not know.


text:
And I will cause many peoples to be awestruck over you, and their kings will shudder over you in horror, at my brandishing my sword before their faces, and they will tremble continually, each person for his life, on the day of your downfall.”


text:
By the swords of warriors I will cause to fall your hordes by the most ruthless of the nations, all of them, and they will devastate the majesty of Egypt, and all of its hordes will be destroyed.


text:
And I will destroy all her domestic livestock beside many waters. The feet of humans will not make them turbid again, and the hooves of domestic livestock will not make them turbid.


text:
Then I will make their waters settle, and their rivers as the olive oil I will let flow,” declares the Lord Yahweh.


text:
“Then I make the land of Egypt a desolation, so that the land will be stripped from its fullness when I strike all of those dwelling in it, and they will know that I am Yahweh.


text:
This is a lament, and they will chant it as a lament; the daughters of the nations will chant it as a lament over Egypt, and over all of its hordes they will chant it as a lament,” declares the Lord Yahweh.


text:
And then in the twelfth year, on the fifteenth day of the month, the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,


text:
“Son of man, mourn over the hordes of Egypt, and make her go down, and with her the daughters of mighty nations, down to the deep underworld with the people going down to the grave.


text:
In the midst of the people slain by the sword it is given they will fall to a sword; they carried her off and all of her hordes.


text:
The chiefs of the warriors will speak to him from the middle of Sheol; with his helpers they have gone down; the uncircumcised lie still, those slain by the sword.


text:
Assyria is there and all of its assembly; all around it are its graves, all of them killed, those fallen by the sword,


text:
who will be given its graves in the remote areas of the pit, and its assembly will be all around its grave, all of them killed, fallen by the sword, those who spread terror in the land of the living.


text:
Elam is there and all of its hordes, all around its grave, all of them dead who fell by the sword, those who went down uncircumcised to the depths of the underworld, those who spread their terror to the land of the living, and now they bear their disgrace with the people going down to the grave.


text:
In the midst of the slain they made a bed for her with all of her hordes all around its graves, all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword, for their terror was spread in the land of the living, and they now bear their disgrace with the people going down to the grave; in the midst of the slain it was placed.


text:
Meshech and Tubal are there and all of its hordes, all around him its graves, all of them uncircumcised and killed by the sword, for they gave their terror in the land of the living.


text:
And they do not lie with warriors fallen from long ago, who went down to Sheol with their weapons of war, and they placed their sword under their heads, and their shields were on their bones, for the terror of the warriors was in the land of the living.


text:
And you too in the midst of uncircumcised people will be broken, and you will lie with those slain by the sword.


text:
There is Edom, its kings and all of its leaders who are laid along with their might with those killed by the sword; they will lie with the uncircumcised and with the people going down to the grave.


text:
There are also the princes of the north, all of them, all of the Sidonians who have gone down, being ashamed to lie with the slain because of their terror that they caused from their might, and they lie uncircumcised with those killed by the sword, and they bear their disgrace along with the people going down to the grave.


text:
Pharaoh will see them, and he will be comforted over all of his hordes killed by the sword, Pharaoh and all of his army,” declares the Lord Yahweh.


text:
“For he spread my terror in the land of the living, and so he will be laid down in the midst of the uncircumcised with those killed by the sword: Pharaoh and all of his hordes,” declares the Lord Yahweh.


text:
“Son of man, speak to your people, and you must say to them, ‘A land, if I bring over it a sword and the people of the land take a man, one from their number, and they appoint him for them as a watchman,


text:
and anyone who listens hears the sound of the horn and he does not take warning and the sword comes and it takes him, his blood will be on his own head.


text:
For he heard the sound of the horn and he did not take warning; his blood will be on him. But if he took warning, he saved his life.


text:
And as for the watchman, if he sees the sword coming and he does not blow the horn, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and it takes their lives, he will be taken through his guilt, but his blood from the hand of the watchman I will seek.’


text:
“And you, son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; if you hear a word from my mouth, then you must warn them from me.


text:
When I say to the wicked, ‘Wicked one, you will certainly die,’ and you did not speak to warn the wicked from his way, he, the wicked, will die by his guilt, but his blood I will seek from your hand.


text:
But, you, if you warn the wicked from his way, to turn from it, and he does not turn from his way, he will die by his guilt, and you will have saved your life.


text:
“And you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, saying, ‘So you said, saying, “Indeed, our transgressions and our sins are on us, and because of them we are rotting, and how can we live?” ’


text:
Say to them, ‘ As I live,’ declares the Lord Yahweh, ‘ Surely I have no delight in the death of the wicked, except in the wicked returning from his way, and he lives. Turn back! Turn back from your ways, O evil ones, for why should you die, house of Israel?’


text:
“So you, son of man, say to your people that the righteousness of the righteous shall not save him in the day of his transgression, and the wickedness of the wicked will not cause him to stumble on the day of his returning from his wickedness; and the righteous will not be able to live by it on the day when he returns to his sin.


text:
When I say to the righteous, ‘Certainly he will live,’ and he trusted in his righteousness, and he turns and he does injustice, all of his righteousness will not be remembered, and because of his injustice that he did, because of it he will die.


text:
And when I say to the wicked, ‘Certainly you will die,’ but he returns from his sin and he does justice and righteousness—


text:
for example, the wicked returns a pledge for a loan, he restores stolen property, he goes in the statutes of life so as not to do injustice—certainly he will live; he will not die.


text:
All of his sins that he committed, they will not be remembered against him, and he did justice and righteousness; certainly he will live.


text:
And when the wicked turns from his wickedness, and he does justice and righteousness, because of it he will certainly live !


text:
Yet you said, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair!’ I will judge you, house of Israel, each person according to his ways.”


text:
And then it was in the twelfth year, in the tenth month, on the fifth day of the month of our exile, a survivor from Jerusalem came to me, saying, “The city was destroyed!”


text:
And the hand of Yahweh was on me on the evening before the coming of the survivor, and he opened my mouth before the survivor came to me in the morning, and my mouth was opened, and I was no longer dumb.


text:
“Son of man, the inhabitants of these ruins on the soil of Israel are saying, ‘Abraham was one man, and he took possession of the land, and we are many; the land has been given for us as a possession.’


text:
Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “You eat blood in your meat, and you raise your eyes to your idols and you pour out blood, and yet you want to take possession of the land?


text:
You rely on your sword, you do a detestable thing, and each man defiles the wife of his neighbor, and yet you want to take possession of the land?” ’


text:
“Thus you must say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “ As I live, surely whoever is in the ruins, by the sword they will fall, and whoever is on the surface of the open field, I will give him to the animals to eat him, and whoever is in the stronghold and in the cave, they will die by the plague.


text:
And I will make the land a desolation and a wasteland, and the pride of its strength will come to an end, and the mountains of Israel will be desolate with no one traveling through them.” ’


text:
And they will know that I am Yahweh when I make my land a desolation and a wasteland, because of all of their detestable things that they have done.


text:
“And you, son of man, your people, the ones talking together concerning you beside the walls and in the doorways of the houses, each one with his brother saying, ‘Please come and hear what is the word that is going out from Yahweh.’


text:
And they come to you as people do, and they sit before you, and my people hear your words, and they do not do them, for they are showing passion in their mouth, but their heart is going after ill-gotten gain.


text:
Now, look! You are to them like a sensual song, beautiful of voice and played well on an instrument, and they hear your words, but they are not doing them.


text:
So when it comes, look! It is coming! And then they will know that a prophet was in the midst of them.”


text:
“Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and you must say to them, to the shepherds, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Woe to the shepherds of Israel who were feeding themselves! Must not the shepherds feed the flock?


text:
The fat you eat, and you clothe yourself with the wool; the well-nourished animals you slaughter, but you do not feed the flock.


text:
The weak you have not strengthened, and the sick you have not healed, and with respect to the hurt you have not bound them up, and you have not brought back the scattered, and you have not sought the lost, but rather you ruled over them with force and with ruthlessness.


text:
And they were scattered without a shepherd, and they were as food for all the animals of the field when they were scattered.


text:
My flock went astray upon all of the mountains and on every high hill, and so upon all the surface of the world my flock were scattered, and there was no one seeking them, and there was no one searching for them.”


text:
“ As I live,” declares the Lord Yahweh, “ Surely because my flock have become as plunder, and my flock became as food to all the animals of the field, since there was not a shepherd, since my shepherds have not sought my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and they fed not my flock,’ ”


text:
‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Look! I am against the shepherds, and I will seek my flock from their hand, and I will put an end to them from shepherding flocks, and the shepherds will no longer feed themselves, and I will deliver my flocks from their mouth, so that they will not be as food for them.”


text:
just like the caring of a shepherd for his herd on the day when he is in the midst of his scattered flock. Thus I will look after my flock, and I will deliver them from all the places to which they were scattered on the day of storm and stress.


text:
And I will bring them out from the peoples, and I will gather them from the countries, and I will bring them to their soil, and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, in the valleys, and in all of the settlements of the land.


text:
I will feed them in good pasture, and their pasture will be on the mountains of the heights of Israel; there they will lie down in good pasture, and on lush pasture they will feed on the mountains of Israel.


text:
“I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the scattered, and I will bind up the one hurt, and I will strengthen the sick; and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed her with justice.”


text:
“ ‘And you, my flock, thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Look! I am judging between one sheep and another, between the rams and between the he-goats.


text:
Is it not enough for you that you feed on the good pasture? And still you must trample the remainder of your pasture with your feet, and clear water you drink, and the leftover water you must make muddy with your feet.


text:
And my flock must graze the pasture treaded upon by your feet, and must drink the mud puddle stirred up by your feet.”


text:
“ ‘Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh to them: “Look! I, even I will judge between fat sheep and between lean sheep,


text:
because with your flank and with your shoulder you shoved, and with your horns you pushed all of the sick animals until you scattered it to the outside.


text:
And so I will save my flock, and they will no longer be for plunder, and I will judge between one sheep and another.


text:
And I will set up over them one shepherd, and he will feed them; that is, my servant David. He will feed them, and he will be for them as a shepherd.


text:
And I, Yahweh, I will be for them as God, and my servant David will be a leader in the midst of them. I, Yahweh, I have spoken.


text:
And I will make them a covenant of peace, and I will put an end to wild animals from the land, and they will dwell in the desert safely, and they will sleep in the forest.


text:
And I will make them and the area all around my hill a blessing, and I will let the rain go down at its appointed time; they will be rains of blessing.


text:
And the tree of the field will give its fruit, and the land will give its produce, and they will be on their land safely, and they will know that I am Yahweh when I break their yoke, and I will deliver them from the hand of the ones enslaving them.


text:
And they will not be any longer plunder to the nations, and the animals of the land will not eat them, and they will dwell in safety, and there will not be anyone frightening them.


text:
And I will raise for them a garden plot of renown, and they will no longer be victims of famine in the land, and they will not bear any more the insult of the nations.


text:
And they will know that I, Yahweh their God, am with them and they are my people, the house of Israel,” declares the Lord Yahweh,


text:
“and you are my flock, the flock of my pasture. You are my people; I am your God,” declares the Lord Yahweh.’ ”


text:
and you must say to it, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Look! I am against you, mountain of Seir, and I will stretch out my hand against you, and I will make you a desolation and a wasteland.


text:
Your cities I will make ruins, and you will be a desolation, and then you will know that I am Yahweh,


text:
because there has been to you an ancient hostility, and you handed over the Israelites to the power of the sword at the time of their disaster, at the time of their final punishment.


text:
Therefore as I live,” declares the Lord Yahweh, “Certainly to blood guilt I will prepare you and blood will pursue; since you did not hate blood, it will pursue you.


text:
And I will make the mountain of Seir into a desolation and ruin, and I will cut off from it both he who is crossing over and he who is returning.


text:
And I will fill its mountains with its slain; your hills and your valleys and all of your watercourses, the slain by the sword will fall in them.


text:
An everlasting desolation I will make you, and your cities will not return, and you will know that I am Yahweh.


text:
I do this because of your saying, ‘The two nations and the two lands, they will be mine, and we will take possession of it,’ and yet Yahweh was there.


text:
Therefore, as I live,” declares the Lord Yahweh, “so I will deal with you according to your anger and according to your jealousy that you did, because of your hatred against them, and I will make myself known among them when I judge you.


text:
And you will know that I, Yahweh, I have heard all of your contemptible words that you said against the mountains of Israel, saying, ‘They will be desolate; they are given to us as food.’


text:
And you magnified yourself against me with your insolent speech, and you spoke voluminously against me with your words—I heard!


text:
Like your rejoicing over the inheritance of the house of Israel because it was desolate, I will do to you; you will be a desolation, mountain of Seir and all of Edom, indeed all of it; and they will know that I am Yahweh.’ ” ’


text:
“And you, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel; and so you must say, ‘Mountains of Israel, hear the word of Yahweh;


text:
thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Because the enemy said concerning you, ‘Ah, and the ancient high places will be to us as a possession!’ ” ’


text:
Therefore prophesy, and you must say, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “ Because indeed when you were desolate, then they crushed you from all around, so that you became a possession to the remainder of the nations, and you became a byword and object of slander for the people.”


text:
Therefore, mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord Yahweh; thus says the Lord Yahweh to the mountains and to the hills, to the river channels and to the valleys and to the ruins that are desolate and to the cities that are abandoned and that have become as plunder and as scorn for the remainder of the nations that are from all around.


text:
Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: “ Certainly in the fire of my passion I spoke against the rest of the nations and against all Edom, who made my land as a possession, because of its pastureland for plunder, for themselves in all of the joy of their whole heart and in their inner disdain.”


text:
Therefore prophesy against the land of Israel, and you must say to the mountains and to the hills, to the river channels and to the valleys, thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Look! I spoke in my passion and in my anger the insult of the peoples you have endured.”


text:
Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: “ I swear certainly that the nations that are all around you, they indeed will endure their disgrace.


text:
“ ‘ “But you, mountains of Israel, your branch you will shoot, and your fruit you will carry for my people Israel, for they are soon to come.


text:
And I will cause your population to increase for you, all of the house of Israel, all of it, and the towns will be inhabited, and the ruins will be built.


text:
And I will cause your population to increase for you, and domestic animals, even they will be numerous, and they will be fruitful, and I will cause you to be inhabited like your ancient times, and I will do good things more than in your former times, and you will know that I am Yahweh.


text:
And I will send over you my people Israel, and they will take possession of you, and you will be for them as an inheritance, and you will no longer bereave them of their children.”


text:
“ ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh, because they are saying to you, “You are an eater of humans, and you are one who makes childless your people.”


text:
Therefore humans you will not eat any longer, and your nation you will not make childless any longer,” declares the Lord Yahweh.


text:
“And I will not let you hear any longer the insult of the nations, and the disgrace of the peoples you will not bear any longer; you yourself will not cause your nation to stumble,” declares the Lord Yahweh.’ ”


text:
“Son of man, the house of Israel, they were dwelling on their soil, and they defiled it with their way and with their deeds; like the uncleanness of menstruation was their way before me.


text:
And I poured out my rage on them for the blood that they poured on the land and for their idols with which they defiled it.


text:
And I scattered them among the nations, and I dispersed them in the countries according to their way, and according to their deeds I judged them.


text:
And they came into the nations to which they went, and they profaned my holy name when they said to them, ‘These are the people of Yahweh, and from his land they went out.’


text:
And I was concerned for my holy name, which, the house of Israel defiled among the nations to which they went.


text:
“Therefore thus say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “ Not for your sake am I about to act, house of Israel, but for my holy name, which you defiled among the nations to which you went.


text:
And I will consecrate my great name, which was profaned among the nations and which you have profaned in the midst of them, and the nations will know that I am Yahweh!” ’ a declaration of the Lord Yahweh, when I show myself holy before their eyes.


text:
“ ‘And I will take you from the nations, and I will gather you from all of the lands, and I will bring you to your land.


text:
And I will sprinkle on you pure water, and you will be clean from all of your uncleanness, and I will cleanse you from all of your idols.


text:
And I will give a new heart to you, and a new spirit I will give into your inner parts, and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh, and I will give to you a heart of flesh.


text:
And I will give my spirit into your inner parts, and I will make it so that you will go in my rules, and my regulations you will remember, and you will do them.


text:
And you will dwell in the land that I gave to your ancestors, and you will be to me as a people, and I will be to you as God.


text:
And I will save you from all of your uncleanness, and I will call to the grain, and I will cause it to increase, and I will not bring famine upon you.


text:
And I will cause the fruit of the tree and the crop of the field to increase, so that you will not suffer again the disgrace of famine among the nations.


text:
And you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourself over your iniquities and over your detestable things.


text:
But not for your sake am I acting,” declares the Lord Yahweh. “Let it be known to you, be ashamed, and be put to shame because of your ways, house of Israel.


text:
“Thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘On the day when I cleanse you from all of your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the ruins will be rebuilt.


text:
And the land that was desolate will be cultivated in the very place that it was desolate before the eyes of all of the persons crossing over.


text:
And they will say, “ This desolate land has become like the garden of Eden, and the wasted and desolate and destroyed cities, now being refortified, are inhabited.”


text:
And the nations who are left all around, you will know that I, Yahweh, I built that which was destroyed; I planted the desolate land; I, Yahweh, I have spoken, and I will act.’


text:
“Thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘Again this time I will let myself be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do something for them; I will cause them to increase their population like a flock.


text:
Like the flock of the sanctuary, like the flock of Jerusalem at its festival, so the desolate cities will be filled with flocks of people; and they will know that I am Yahweh.’ ”


text:
The hand of Yahweh was upon me, and he brought me by the Spirit of Yahweh, and he let me rest in the midst of the valley, and it was full of bones.


text:
And he led me all around over them, and look, very many on the surface of the valley, and look, very dry.


text:
And he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and you must say to them, to the dry bones, ‘Hear the word of Yahweh!


text:
And I will lay on you sinews, and I will let flesh come upon you, and I will cover you over with skin, and I will put breath into you, and you will live, and you will know that I am Yahweh.” ’ ”


text:
And I prophesied just as I had been commanded, and there was a sound at my prophesying, and look! A rattling, and they came together— the bones! Bone to its bone!


text:
And I looked, and indeed, sinews were on them, and flesh went up, and skin covered over them upward, but breath was not in them.


text:
And he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and you must say to the breath, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh from the four winds, “Come, O spirit and breath, on these dead ones, so that they may live!” ’ ”


text:
And I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they became alive, and they stood on their feet, a very, very large group.


text:
And he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are all of the house of Israel; look! they are saying, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is destroyed; we are cut off as far as we are concerned.’


text:
Therefore prophesy, and you must say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Look! I am opening your graves, and I will bring you up from your graves, my people, and I will bring you to the land of Israel!


text:
And you will know that I am Yahweh when I open your graves when I bring you up from your graves, my people!


text:
And I will put my breath into you so that you may live, and I will cause you to rest on your soil, and you will know that I, Yahweh, I have spoken, and I will act!” ’ declares Yahweh.”


text:
“And you, son of man, take for yourself a piece of wood, and write on it, ‘For Judah and for the Israelites his associates,’ and take another piece of wood, and write on it, ‘For Joseph, the piece of wood of Ephraim and all of the house of Israel his associates.’


text:
And join them one to the other with respect to you as one piece of wood, so that they may become one in your hand.


text:
When your people say to you, saying, ‘Will you not inform us as to what these actions mean for you?’


text:
Then speak to them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Look! I am taking the piece of wood for Joseph that is in the hand of Ephraim and the tribes of Israel its associates, and I will put them on it, the piece of wood of Judah, and I will make them into one piece of wood, so that they be one in my hand.’ ”


text:
And speak to them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Look! I am taking the Israelites from among the nations to which they went, and I will gather them from everywhere, and I will bring them to their own soil.


text:
And I will make them into one nation in the land on the mountains of Israel, and they will all have one king as their king, and they will not again be two nations and will not again divide into two kingdoms again.


text:
And they will not defile themselves again with their idols and with vile idols and with all of their transgressions, and I will save them from all of their apostasy by which they sinned, and I will cleanse them and they will be for me as a people and I, I will be for them as God.


text:
“ ‘ “And my servant David will be king over them, and one shepherd will be for all of them, and in my regulations they will go, and my statutes they will observe, and they will do them.


text:
And they will dwell on the land that I gave to my servant, to Jacob, in which your ancestors dwelled, and they will dwell on it, they and their children and the children of their children forever, and my servant David will be a leader for them forever.


text:
And I will make with them a covenant of peace; an everlasting covenant it will be with them. And I will establish them, and I will cause them to increase, and I will put my sanctuary in the midst of them forever.


text:
And my tabernacle will be with them, and I will be for them as God, and they will be to me as a nation.


text:
And the nations will know that I, Yahweh, am consecrating Israel when my sanctuary is in the midst of them forever.” ’ ”


text:
“Son of man, set your face toward Gog of the land of Magog, the head leader of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him.


text:
And you must say, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Look! I am against you, Gog, the head leader of Meshach and Tubal,


text:
and I will turn you around, and I will place hooks in your cheeks, and I will bring you out and all of your horses and horsemen fully armed, all of them, a great crowd, holding a shield, and small shield, and holding swords, all of them.


text:
Gomer and all of its troops, Beth Togarmah, the remote areas of the north, and with all of its troops and many peoples with them.


text:
Be ready, and prepare yourselves, you and all of your assembly, the assembling around you, and you must be for them as a guard.


text:
After many days you will be mustered; in the last years you will come to a restored land from the sword, gathered from many peoples on the mountains of Israel which were as permanent ruins but from peoples it was brought out, and they will dwell in safety, all of them.


text:
And you will advance like a storm; you will come, and you will be like a cloud covering the land, and all of your troops and many nations along with you.”


text:
“ ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “ And then on that day, things will come up on your mind, and you will devise evil plans.


text:
And you will say, ‘I will go up against a land of open country; I will come to the people being at rest in safety, all of them dwelling without a wall and crossbars and without doors,


text:
to loot loot, and to plunder plunder, to assail inhabited ruins and a people gathered together from various peoples and who are acquiring livestock and goods and dwelling at the center of the world.


text:
Sheba and Dedan and traders of Tarshish and all its strong lions, they will ask you, ‘To loot loot are you coming? To plunder plunder have you summoned your assembly, to take away silver and gold, to take livestock and goods, to loot great amounts of loot?” ’


text:
“Therefore prophesy, son of man, and you must say to Gog, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Will you not realize on that day when my people Israel are dwelling in safety,


text:
and so you will come from your place, from the remote areas of the north, you and many people with you, horsemen all of them, a great crowd and a vast army,


text:
and you will advance against my people Israel like a cloud covering the land; it will be in the last days, and I will bring you against my land, so that the nations know me, when I show myself holy through you before their eyes, O Gog!” ’


text:
“Thus says the Lord Yahweh, ‘ Are you he of whom I spoke in former days by the hand of my servants the prophets of Israel who were prophesying in those days for years that I would bring you against them?


text:
And so then in that day, on the day of the coming of God against the land of Israel,’ declares the Lord Yahweh, ‘my rage will come up in my anger.


text:
And in my passion, in the fire of my wrath, I spoke that certainly on that day a great earthquake will be on the land of Israel.


text:
And the fish of the sea and the birds of the heaven and the animals of the field and all of the creeping things that creep on the earth and all of the humans who are on the surface of the earth will shake at my presence; and the mountains will be demolished, and the steep mountain sides will fall, and every wall on the earth will fall.


text:
And I will call against him in all of my mountains a sword,’ declares the Lord Yahweh, ‘ And the sword of each person will be against his brother.


text:
And I will execute justice with him with a plague and with blood and torrents of rain, and hailstones; fire and sulfur I will cause to fall on him and on his troops and on many peoples who are with him.


text:
And so I will exalt myself, and I will show myself holy, and I will make myself known before the eyes of many nations, and they will know that I am Yahweh.’ ”


text:
“And you, son of man, prophesy against Gog, and you must say, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Look! I am against you Gog, the head leader of Meshech and Tubal,


text:
and I will turn you around, and I will drag you along, and I will bring you up from the remote areas of the north, and I will bring you against the mountains of Israel,


text:
and I will strike your bow from your left hand, and your arrows from your right hand I will cause to fall.


text:
On the mountains of Israel you will fall, you and all of your troops, and the peoples who are with you, to birds of prey, birds of every wing, and animals of the field I will give you as food.


text:
“And I will send fire against Magog and among the people inhabiting the coastlands in safety, and they will know that I am Yahweh.


