# verses

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They shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom, but none shall be there, and all her princes shall be nothing.


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And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof: and it shall be an habitation of dragons, and a court for owls.


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The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island, and the satyr shall cry to his fellow; the screech owl also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest.


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There shall the great owl make her nest, and lay, and hatch, and gather under her shadow: there shall the vultures also be gathered, every one with her mate.


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Seek all of you out of the book of the LORD, and read: no one of these shall fail, none shall lack her mate: for my mouth it has commanded, and his spirit it has gathered them.


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And he has cast the lot for them, and his hand has divided it unto them by line: they shall possess it for ever, from generation to generation shall they dwell therein.


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The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.


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It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the LORD, and the excellency of our God.


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Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you.


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Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.


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And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes.


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And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the travelling men, though fools, shall not go astray therein.


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No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there:


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And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.


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Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the defenced cities of Judah, and took them.


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And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem unto king Hezekiah with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the launderer's field.


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Then came forth unto him Eliakim, Hilkiah's son, which was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, Asaph's son, the recorder.


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And Rabshakeh said unto them, Say all of you now to Hezekiah, Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this wherein you trust?


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I say, says you, (but they are but vain words) I have counsel and strength for war: now on whom do you trust, that you rebel against me?


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Lo, you trust in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in him.


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But if you say to me, We trust in the LORD our God: is it not he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, All of you shall worship before this altar?


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Now therefore give pledges, I pray you, to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you be able on your part to set riders upon them.


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And am I now come up without the LORD against this land to destroy it? the LORD said unto me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.


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Then said Eliakim and Shebna and Joah unto Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray you, unto your servants in the Syrian language; for we understand it: and speak not to us in the Jews' language, in the ears of the people that are on the wall.


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But Rabshakeh said, Has my master sent me to your master and to you to speak these words? has he not sent me to the men that sit upon the wall, that they may eat their own dung, and drink their own piss with you?


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Then Rabshakeh stood, and cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language, and said, Hear all of you the words of the great king, the king of Assyria.


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Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, The LORD will surely deliver us: this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.


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Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus says the king of Assyria, Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me: and eat all of you every one of his vine, and every one of his fig tree, and drink all of you every one the waters of his own cistern;


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Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards.


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Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, the LORD will deliver us. Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?


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Where are the gods of Hamath and Arphad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim? and have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?


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Who are they among all the gods of these lands, that have delivered their land out of my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?


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But they held their peace, and answered him not a word: for the king's commandment was, saying, Answer him not.


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Then came Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, that was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothes rent, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.


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And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests covered with sackcloth, unto Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz.


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And they said unto him, Thus says Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.


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It may be the LORD your God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master has sent to reproach the living God, and will reprove the words which the LORD your God has heard: wherefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.


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And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall all of you say unto your master, Thus says the LORD, Be not afraid of the words that you have heard, wherewith the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.


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Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumour, and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.


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And he heard say concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, He has come forth to make war with you. And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,


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Thus shall all of you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not your God, in whom you trust, deceive you, saying, Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.


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Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by destroying them utterly; and shall you be delivered?


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Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed, as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which were in Telassar?


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Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arphad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?


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And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up unto the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD.


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O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, that dwell between the cherubims, you are the God, even you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth: you have made heaven and earth.


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Incline yours ear, O LORD, and hear; open yours eyes, O LORD, and see: and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which has sent to reproach the living God.


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Now therefore, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you are the LORD, even you only.


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Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent unto Hezekiah, saying, Thus says the LORD God of Israel, Whereas you have prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria:


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This is the word which the LORD has spoken concerning him; The virgin, the daughter of Zion, has despised you, and laughed you to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at you.


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By your servants have you reproached the Lord, and have said, By the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon; and I will cut down the tall cedars thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into the height of his border, and the forest of his Carmel.


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I have dug, and drunk water; and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of the besieged places.


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Have you not heard long ago, how I have done it; and of ancient times, that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that you should be to lay waste defenced cities into ruinous heaps.


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Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded: they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the housetops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up.


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Because your rage against me, and your tumult, has come up into mine ears, therefore will I put my hook in your nose, and my bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way by which you came.


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And this shall be a sign unto you, All of you shall eat this year such as grows of itself; and the second year that which springs of the same: and in the third year sow all of you, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof.


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And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward:


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Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shields, nor cast a bank against it.


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Then the angel of the LORD went forth, and stroke in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.


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And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons stroke him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Armenia: and Esarhaddon his son reigned in his position.


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In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came unto him, and said unto him, Thus says the LORD, Set yours house in order: for you shall die, and not live.


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And said, Remember now, O LORD, I plead to you, how I have walked before you in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in your sight. And Hezekiah wept sore.


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Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus says the LORD, the God of David your father, I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears: behold, I will add unto your days fifteen years.


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And I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria: and I will defend this city.


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And this shall be a sign unto you from the LORD, that the LORD will do this thing that he has spoken;


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Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which is gone down in the sun dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down.


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I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave: I am deprived of the residue of my years.


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I said, I shall not see the LORD, even the LORD, in the land of the living: I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world.


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Mine age is departed, and is removed from me as a shepherd's tent: I have cut off like a weaver my life: he will cut me off with pining sickness: from day even to night will you make an end of me.


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I reckoned till morning, that, as a lion, so will he break all my bones: from day even to night will you make an end of me.


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Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter: I did mourn as a dove: mine eyes fail with looking upward: O LORD, I am oppressed; undertake for me.


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What shall I say? he has both spoken unto me, and himself has done it: I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my soul.


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O LORD, by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit: so will you recover me, and make me to live.


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Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but you have in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for you have cast all my sins behind your back.


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For the grave cannot praise you, death can not celebrate you: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for your truth.


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The living, the living, he shall praise you, as I do this day: the father to the children shall make known your truth.


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The LORD was ready to save me: therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the LORD.


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For Isaiah had said, Let them take a lump of figs, and lay it for a plaster upon the boil, and he shall recover.


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At that time Merodachbaladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah: for he had heard that he had been sick, and was recovered.


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And Hezekiah was glad of them, and showed them the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious ointment, and all the house of his armour, and all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah showed them not.


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Then came Isaiah the prophet unto king Hezekiah, and said unto him, What said these men? and from whence came they unto you? And Hezekiah said, They are come from a far country unto me, even from Babylon.


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Then said he, What have they seen in yours house? And Hezekiah answered, All that is in mine house have they seen: there is nothing among my treasures that I have not showed them.


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Behold, the days come, that all that is in yours house, and that which your fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon: nothing shall be left, says the LORD.


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


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Speak all of you comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she has received of the LORD's hand double for all her sins.


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and showed to him the way of understanding?


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


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


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He that is so impoverished that he has no oblation chooses a tree that will not rot; he seeks unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved.


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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You shall seek them, and shall not find them, even them that contended with you: they that war against you shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nothing.


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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I have long time held my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: now will I cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour at once.


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


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


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They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed, that trust in graven images, that say to the molten images, All of you are our gods.


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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Which brings forth the chariot and horse, the army and the power; they shall lie down together, they shall not rise: they are extinct, they are quenched as tow.


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


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


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You have not brought me the small cattle of your burnt offerings; neither have you honoured me with your sacrifices. I have not caused you to serve with an offering, nor wearied you with incense.


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


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


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


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


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


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One shall say, I am the LORD's; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the LORD, and surname himself by the name of Israel.


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


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


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


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They that make a graven image are all of them vanity; and their delectable things shall not profit; and they are their own witnesses; they see not, nor know; that they may be ashamed.


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


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


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


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He hews him down cedars, and takes the cypress and the oak, which he strengthens for himself among the trees of the forest: he plants an ash, and the rain does nourish it.


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Then shall it be for a man to burn: for he will take thereof, and warm himself; yea, he kindles it, and bakes bread; yea, he makes a god, and worships it; he makes it a graven image, and falls down thereto.


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


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And the residue thereof he makes a god, even his graven image: he falls down unto it, and worships it, and prays unto it, and says, Deliver me; for you are my god.


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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That frustrates the tokens of the liars, and makes diviners mad; that turns wise men backward, and makes their knowledge foolish;


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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But Israel shall be saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation: all of you shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end.


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


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I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth: I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek all of you me in vain: I the LORD speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.


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


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


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Look unto me, and be all of you saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.


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


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


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Bel bows down, Nebo stoops, their idols were upon the beasts, and upon the cattle: your carriages were heavy loaded; they are a burden to the weary beast.


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


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Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, which are borne by me from the belly, which are carried from the womb:


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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Sit you silent, and get you into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for you shall no more be called, The lady of kingdoms.


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


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


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Therefore hear now this, you that are given to pleasures, that dwell carelessly, that says in yours heart, I am, and none else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children:


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


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


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


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Stand now with yours enchantments, and with the multitude of your sorceries, wherein you have laboured from your youth; if so be you shall be able to profit, if so be you may prevail.


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


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


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


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


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


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


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I have even from the beginning declared it to you; before it came to pass I showed it you: lest you should say, Mine idol has done them, and my graven image, and my molten image, has commanded them.


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


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They are created now, and not from the beginning; even before the day when you heard them not; lest you should say, Behold, I knew them.


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


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


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


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


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All you, assemble yourselves, and hear; which among them has declared these things? The LORD has loved him: he will do his pleasure on Babylon, and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans.


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


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


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


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O that you had hearkened to my commandments! then had your peace been as a river, and your righteousness as the waves of the sea:


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Your seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring of your bowels like the gravel thereof; his name should not have been cut off nor destroyed from before me.


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


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


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Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, all of you people, from far; The LORD has called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother has he made mention of my name.


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


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


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


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


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


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


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That you may say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Show yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in all high places.


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


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


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


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


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


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For your waste and your desolate places, and the land of your destruction, shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, and they that swallowed you up shall be far away.


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The children which you shall have, after you have lost the other, shall say again in yours ears, The place is too strait for me: give place to me that I may dwell.


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Then shall you say in yours heart, Who has begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing back and forth? and who has brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where had they been?


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.


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


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


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


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


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


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Hearken to me, all of you that follow after righteousness, all of you that seek the LORD: look unto the rock whence all of you are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence all of you are dug.


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


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


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Hearken unto me, my people; and give ear unto me, O my nation: for a law shall proceed from me, and I will make my judgment to rest for a light of the people.


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My righteousness is near; my salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall judge the people; the isles shall wait upon me, and on mine arm shall they trust.


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


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Hearken unto me, all of you that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear all of you not the reproach of men, neither be all of you afraid of their revilings.


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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But I am the LORD your God, that divided the sea, whose waves roared: The LORD of hosts is his name.


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that brings good tidings, that publishes peace; that brings good tidings of good, that publishes salvation; that says unto Zion, Your God reigns!


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


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


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


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


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


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As many were astonished at you; his visage was so ruined more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men:


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


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


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


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Surely he has borne our sicknesses, and carried our pains: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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Sing, O barren, you that did not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, you that did not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, says the LORD.


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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Ho, every one that thirsts, come all of you to the waters, and he that has no money; come all of you, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.


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Wherefore do all of you spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfies not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat all of you that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


text:
Thus says the LORD, Keep all of you judgment, and do justice: for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed.


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


text:
Come all of you, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and tomorrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant.


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


text:
Against whom do all of you sport yourselves? against whom make all of you a wide mouth, and draw out the tongue? are all of you not children of transgression, a seed of falsehood.


text:
Enflaming yourselves with idols under every green tree, slaying the children in the valleys under the clefts of the rocks?


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


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


text:
And you went to the king with ointment, and did increase your perfumes, and did send your messengers far off, and did debase yourself even unto hell.


text:
You are wearied in the greatness of your way; yet said you not, There is no hope: you have found the life of yours hand; therefore you were not grieved.


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


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


text:
And shall say, Cast all of you up, cast all of you up, prepare the way, take up the stumbling block out of the way of my people.


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


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


text:
For the iniquity of his covetousness was I angry, and stroke him: I hid me, and was angry, and he went on perversely in the way of his heart.


text:
I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners.


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


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


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


text:
Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and you see not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and you take no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast all of you find pleasure, and exact all your labours.


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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And the LORD shall guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and make fat your bones: and you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.


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


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


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


text:
Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:


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


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


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


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


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


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


text:
The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their activities: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goes therein shall not know peace.


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


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


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


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


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


text:
And judgment is turned away backward, and justice stands far off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.


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


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


text:
For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak.


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


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


text:
And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, says the LORD.


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


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


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


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Then you shall see, and flow together, and yours heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto you, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto you.


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


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


text:
Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring your sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the LORD your God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he has glorified you.


text:
And the sons of strangers shall build up your walls, and their kings shall minister unto you: for in my wrath I stroke you, but in my favour have I had mercy on you.


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


text:
For the nation and kingdom that will not serve you shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted.


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


text:
The sons also of them that afflicted you shall come bending unto you; and all they that despised you shall bow themselves down at the soles of your feet; and they shall call you; The city of the LORD, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel.


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Whereas you has been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through you, I will make you an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations.


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


text:
And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations.


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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Who is this that comes from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save.


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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When you did terrible things which we looked not for, you came down, the mountains flowed down at your presence.


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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Will you refrain yourself for these things, O LORD? will you hold your peace, and afflict us very sore?


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I am sought of them that asked not for me; I am found of them that sought me not: I said, Behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not called by my name.


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I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walks in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts;


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A people that provokes me to anger continually to my face; that sacrifices in gardens, and burns incense upon altars of brick;


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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But all of you are they that forsake the LORD, that forget my holy mountain, that prepare a table for that troop, and that furnish the drink offering unto that number.


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Therefore will I number you to the sword, and all of you shall all bow down to the slaughter: because when I called, all of you did not answer; when I spoke, all of you did not hear; but did evil before mine eyes, and did choose that wherein I delighted not.


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


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Behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but all of you shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall wail for vexation of spirit.


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


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


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


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


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


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


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And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


text:
A voice of noise from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of the LORD that renders recompence to his enemies.


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


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


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


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That all of you may suck, and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that all of you may milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory.


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


text:
As one whom his mother comforts, so will I comfort you; and all of you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.


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


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


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


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


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For, lo, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, says the LORD; and they shall come, and they shall set every one his throne at the entering of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all the walls thereof round about, and against all the cities of Judah.


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


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


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For, behold, I have made you this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brazen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land.


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


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


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


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Hear all of you the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel:


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


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Neither said they, Where is the LORD that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, that led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought, and of the shadow of death, through a land that no man passed through, and where no man dwelt?


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


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The priests said not, Where is the LORD? and they that handle the law knew me not: the pastors also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit.


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


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


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Be astonished, O all of you heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be all of you very desolate, says the LORD.


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


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


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Have you not procured this unto yourself, in that you have forsaken the LORD your God, when he led you by the way?


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


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


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For of old time I have broken your yoke, and burst your bands; and you said, I will not transgress; when upon every high hill and under every green tree you wander, playing the harlot.


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


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For though you wash you with alkali, and take you much soap, yet yours iniquity is marked before me, says the Lord GOD.


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


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A wild ass used to the wilderness, that snuffs up the wind at her pleasure; in her occasion who can turn her away? all they that seek her will not weary themselves; in her month they shall find her.


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


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As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets.


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Saying to a stock, You are my father; and to a stone, You have brought me forth: for they have turned their back unto me, and not their face: but in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise, and save us.


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But where are your gods that you have made you? let them arise, if they can save you in the time of your trouble: for according to the number of your cities are your gods, O Judah.


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Wherefore will all of you plead with me? all of you all have transgressed against me, says the LORD.


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


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


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


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Also in your skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocent persons: I have not found it by secret search, but upon all these.


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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And it came to pass through the levity of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with stocks.


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


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And the LORD said unto me, The backsliding Israel has justified herself more than treacherous Judah.


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


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Only acknowledge yours iniquity, that you have transgressed against the LORD your God, and have scattered your ways to the strangers under every green tree, and all of you have not obeyed my voice, says the LORD.


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


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And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.


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And it shall come to pass, when all of you be multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, says the LORD, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of the LORD: neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit it; neither shall that be done any more.


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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If you will return, O Israel, says the LORD, return unto me: and if you will put away yours abominations out of my sight, then shall you not remove.


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


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


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Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, all of you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.


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Declare all of you in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem; and say, Blow all of you the trumpet in the land: cry, gather together, and say, Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the defenced cities.


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


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


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For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and wail: for the fierce anger of the LORD is not turned back from us.


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


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Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! surely you have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, All of you shall have peace; whereas the sword reachs unto the soul.


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


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


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


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


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


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Your way and your doings have procured these things unto you; this is your wickedness, because it is bitter, because it reachs unto yours heart.


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


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Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is spoiled: suddenly are my tents spoiled, and my curtains in a moment.


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For my people is foolish, they have not known me; they are foolish children, and they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.


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


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


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


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


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


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Run all of you back and forth through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if all of you can find a man, if there be any that executes judgment, that seeks the truth; and I will pardon it.


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O LORD, are not yours eyes upon the truth? you have stricken them, but they have not grieved; you have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.


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


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


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


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


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


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Go all of you up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end: take away her battlements; for they are not the LORD's.


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


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


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


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


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And they shall eat up yours harvest, and your bread, which your sons and your daughters should eat: they shall eat up your flocks and yours herds: they shall eat up your vines and your fig trees: they shall impoverish your fenced cities, wherein you trusted, with the sword.


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And it shall come to pass, when all of you shall say, Wherefore does the LORD our God all these things unto us? then shall you answer them, Like all of you have forsaken me, and served strange gods in your land, so shall all of you serve strangers in a land that is not your's.


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


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


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


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


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


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They are becoming fat, they shine: yea, they pass over the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge.


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


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


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O all of you children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a sign of fire in Bethhaccerem: for evil appears out of the north, and great destruction.


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


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Prepare all of you war against her; arise, and let us go up at noon. Woe unto us! for the day goes away, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out.


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For thus has the LORD of hosts said, Hew all of you down trees, and cast a mount against Jerusalem: this is the city to be visited; she is wholly oppression in the midst of her.


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


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Be you instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from you; lest I make you desolate, a land not inhabited.


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Thus says the LORD of hosts, They shall thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine: turn back yours hand as a grape-gatherer into the baskets.


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


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Therefore I am full of the fury of the LORD; I am weary with holding in: I will pour it out upon the children abroad, and upon the assembly of young men together: for even the husband with the wife shall be taken, the aged with him that is full of days.


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


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


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


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Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, says the LORD.


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


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


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


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To what purpose comes there to me incense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country? your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet unto me.


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


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


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


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


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Go not forth into the field, nor walk by the way; for the sword of the enemy and fear is on every side.


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


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They are all grievous apostates, walking with slanders: they are brass and iron; they are all corrupters.


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


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


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


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Trust all of you not in lying words, saying, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, are these.


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For if all of you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings; if all of you thoroughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbour;


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


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


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


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


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


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


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And now, because all of you have done all these works, says the LORD, and I spoke unto you, rising up early and speaking, but all of you heard not; and I called you, but all of you answered not;


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Therefore will I do unto this house, which is called by my name, wherein all of you trust, and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh.


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And I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim.


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


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


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


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


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


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For I spoke not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices:


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


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But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.


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


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Yet they hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear, but hardened their neck: they did worse than their fathers.


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Therefore you shall speak all these words unto them; but they will not hearken to you: you shall also call unto them; but they will not answer you.


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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Why then is this people of Jerusalem slides back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return.


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I hearkened and heard, but they spoke not aright: no man repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? every one turned to his course, as the horse rushes into the battle.


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


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


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


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


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


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Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore shall they fall among them that fall: in the time of their visitation they shall be cast down, says the LORD.


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I will surely consume them, says the LORD: there shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; and the things that I have given them shall pass away from them.


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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Take all of you heed every one of his neighbour, and trust all of you not in any brother: for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbour will walk with slanders.


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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For death has come up into our windows, and is entered into our palaces, to cut off the children from without, and the young men from the streets.


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


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


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


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Behold, the days come, says the LORD, that I will punish all them which are circumcised with the uncircumcised;


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


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


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


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


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They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must essentially be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.


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Who would not fear you, O King of nations? in order to you does it appertain: forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like unto you.


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


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


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Thus shall all of you say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens.


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


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


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Every man is brutish in his knowledge: every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.


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


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


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My tabernacle is spoiled, and all my cords are broken: my children are gone out of me, and they are not: there is none to stretch forth my tent any more, and to set up my curtains.


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


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


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


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


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


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And say you unto them, Thus says the LORD God of Israel; Cursed be the man that obeys not the words of this covenant,


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


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


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Then the LORD said unto me, Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, Hear all of you the words of this covenant, and do them.


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


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Yet they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear, but walked every one in the imagination of their evil heart: therefore I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do: but they did them not.


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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But, O LORD of hosts, that judge righteously, that try the reins and the heart, let me see your vengeance on them: for unto you have I revealed my cause.


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


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Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, Behold, I will punish them: the young men shall die by the sword; their sons and their daughters shall die by famine:


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


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Righteous are you, O LORD, when I plead with you: yet let me talk with you of your judgments: Wherefore does the way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously?


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


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


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How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of every field wither, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein? the beasts are consumed, and the birds; because they said, He shall not see our last end.


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


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


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


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Mine heritage is unto me as a lion in the forest; it cries out against me: therefore have I hated it.


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Mine heritage is unto me as a speckled bird, the birds round about are against her; come all of you, assemble all the beasts of the field, come to devour.


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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Thus says the LORD unto me, Go and get you a linen girdle, and put it upon your loins, and put it not in water.


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


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


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Then I went to Euphrates, and dug, and took the girdle from the place where I had hid it: and, behold, the girdle was ruined, it was profitable for nothing.


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


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


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


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


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


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


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Give glory to the LORD your God, before he cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and, while all of you look for light, he turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness.


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But if all of you will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride; and mine eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears, because the LORD's flock is carried away captive.


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


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


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


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


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


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


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This is your lot, the portion of your measures from me, says the LORD; because you have forgotten me, and trusted in falsehood.


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


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Judah mourns, and the gates thereof languish; they are black unto the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up.


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


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


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And the wild asses did stand in the high places, they snuffed up the wind like dragons; their eyes did fail, because there was no grass.


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


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O the hope of Israel, the saviour thereof in time of trouble, why should you be as a stranger in the land, and as a travelling man that turns aside to tarry for a night?


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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Therefore you shall say this word unto them; Let mine eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease: for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach, with a very grievous blow.


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If I go forth into the field, then behold the slain with the sword! and if I enter into the city, then behold them that are sick with famine! yea, both the prophet and the priest go about into a land that they know not.


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


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


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


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


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


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And it shall come to pass, if they say unto you, Where shall we go forth? then you shall tell them, Thus says the LORD; Such as are for death, to death; and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for the famine, to the famine; and such as are for the captivity, to the captivity.


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


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


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For who shall have pity upon you, O Jerusalem? or who shall lament for you? or who shall go aside to ask how you do?


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


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


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


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


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


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


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Your substance and your treasures will I give to the spoil without price, and that for all your sins, even in all your borders.


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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Whilst their children remember their altars and their groves by the green trees upon the high hills.


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O my mountain in the field, I will give your substance and all your treasures to the spoil, and your high places for sin, throughout all your borders.


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And you, even yourself, shall discontinue from yours heritage that I gave you; and I will cause you to serve yours enemies in the land which you know not: for all of you have kindled a fire in mine anger, which shall burn for ever.


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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Let them be confounded that persecute me, but let not me be confounded: let them be dismayed, but let not me be dismayed: bring upon them the day of evil, and destroy them with double destruction.


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


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


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Thus says the LORD; Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem;


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


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But they obeyed not, neither inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, nor receive instruction.


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And it shall come to pass, if all of you diligently hearken unto me, says the LORD, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the sabbath day, but hallow the sabbath day, to do no work therein;


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it;


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If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them.


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Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus says the LORD; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return all of you now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good.


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And they said, There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart.


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Therefore thus says the LORD; Ask all of you now among the heathen, who has heard such things: the virgin of Israel has done a very horrible thing.


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Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon which comes from the rock of the field? or shall the cold flowing waters that come from another place be forsaken?


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Because my people has forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in paths, in a road not properly built;


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To make their land desolate, and a perpetual hissing; every one that passes thereby shall be astonished, and shake his head.


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I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will show them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.


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Then said they, Come and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.


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Shall evil be recompensed for good? for they have dug a pit for my soul. Remember that I stood before you to speak good for them, and to turn away your wrath from them.


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Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and pour out their blood by the force of the sword; and let their wives be bereaved of their children, and be widows; and let their men be put to death; let their young men be slain by the sword in battle.


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Let a cry be heard from their houses, when you shall bring a troop suddenly upon them: for they have dug a pit to take me, and hid snares for my feet.


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Yet, LORD, you know all their counsel against me to slay me: forgive not their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from your sight, but let them be overthrown before you; deal thus with them in the time of yours anger.


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Thus says the LORD, Go and get a potter's earthen bottle, and take of the ancients of the people, and of the ancients of the priests;


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And go forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the east gate, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell you,


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And say, Hear all of you the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem; Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, the which whosoever hears, his ears shall tingle.


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Because they have forsaken me, and have cut off this place, and have burned incense in it unto other gods, whom neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Judah, and have filled this place with the blood of innocent persons;


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They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spoke it, neither came it into my mind:


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Therefore, behold, the days come, says the LORD, that this place shall no more be called Tophet, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of slaughter.


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And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place; and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hands of them that seek their lives: and their carcasses will I give to be food for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.


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And I will make this city desolate, and an hissing; every one that passes thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all the plagues thereof.


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And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend in the siege and strictness, wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their lives, shall straiten them.


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And shall say unto them, Thus says the LORD of hosts; Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter's vessel, that cannot be made whole again: and they shall bury them in Tophet, till there be no place to bury.


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Thus will I do unto this place, says the LORD, and to the inhabitants thereof, and even make this city as Tophet:


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And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, shall be defiled as the place of Tophet, because of all the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense unto all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink offerings unto other gods.


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Then came Jeremiah from Tophet, where the LORD had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of the LORD's house; and said to all the people,


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Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all her towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they have hardened their necks, that they might not hear my words.


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Now Pashur the son of Immer the priest, who was also chief governor in the house of the LORD, heard that Jeremiah prophesied these things.


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Then Pashur stroke Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the high gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the LORD.


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And it came to pass on the next day, that Pashur brought forth Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then said Jeremiah unto him, The LORD has not called your name Pashur, but Magormissabib.


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For thus says the LORD, Behold, I will make you a terror to yourself, and to all your friends: and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and yours eyes shall behold it: and I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive into Babylon, and shall slay them with the sword.


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Moreover I will deliver all the strength of this city, and all the labours thereof, and all the precious things thereof, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah will I give into the hand of their enemies, which shall spoil them, and take them, and carry them to Babylon.


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And you, Pashur, and all that dwell in yours house shall go into captivity: and you shall come to Babylon, and there you shall die, and shall be buried there, you, and all your friends, to whom you have prophesied lies.


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O LORD, you have deceived me, and I was deceived; you are stronger than I, and have prevailed: I am in derision daily, every one mocks me.


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For since I spoke, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil; because the word of the LORD was made a reproach unto me, and a derision, daily.


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Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.


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For I heard the defaming of many, fear on every side. Report, say they, and we will report it. All my familiars watched for my halting, saying, Possibly he will be enticed, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him.


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But the LORD is with me as a mighty terrible one: therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail: they shall be greatly ashamed; for they shall not prosper: their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten.


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But, O LORD of hosts, that try the righteous, and see the reins and the heart, let me see your vengeance on them: for unto you have I opened my cause.


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Sing unto the LORD, praise all of you the LORD: for he has delivered the soul of the poor from the hand of evildoers.


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Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father, saying, A male child is born unto you; making him very glad.


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And let that man be as the cities which the LORD overthrew, and repented not: and let him hear the cry in the morning, and the shouting at noontide;


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Because he slew me not from the womb; or that my mother might have been my grave, and her womb to be always great with me.


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Wherefore came I forth out of the womb to see labour and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?


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The word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, when king Zedekiah sent unto him Pashur the son of Melchiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, saying,


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Enquire, I pray you, of the LORD for us; for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon makes war against us; if so be that the LORD will deal with us according to all his wondrous works, that he may go up from us.


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Thus says the LORD God of Israel; Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, wherewith all of you fight against the king of Babylon, and against the Chaldeans, which besiege you without the walls, and I will assemble them into the midst of this city.


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


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And I will strike the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast: they shall die of a great pestilence.


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And afterward, says the LORD, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, and such as are left in this city from the pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those that seek their life: and he shall strike them with the edge of the sword; he shall not spare them, neither have pity, nor have mercy.


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And unto this people you shall say, Thus says the LORD; Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death.


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He that abides in this city shall die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goes out, and falls to the Chaldeans that besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be unto him for a prey.


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For I have set my face against this city for evil, and not for good, says the LORD: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.


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O house of David, thus says the LORD; Execute judgment in the morning, and deliver him that is spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor, lest my fury go out like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.


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Behold, I am against you, O inhabitant of the valley, and rock of the plain, says the LORD; which say, Who shall come down against us? or who shall enter into our habitations?


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But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, says the LORD: and I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof, and it shall devour all things round about it.


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And say, Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, that sit upon the throne of David, you, and your servants, and your people that enter in by these gates:


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Thus says the LORD; Execute all of you judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place.


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For if all of you do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people.


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But if all of you will not hear these words, I swear by myself, says the LORD, that this house shall become a desolation.


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For thus says the LORD unto the king's house of Judah; You are Gilead unto me, and the head of Lebanon: yet surely I will make you a wilderness, and cities which are not inhabited.


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And I will prepare destroyers against you, every one with his weapons: and they shall cut down your choice cedars, and cast them into the fire.


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And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say every man to his neighbour, Wherefore has the LORD done thus unto this great city?


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Then they shall answer, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God, and worshipped other gods, and served them.


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Weep all of you not for the dead, neither lament for him: but weep sore for him that goes away: for he shall return no more, nor see his native country.


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For thus says the LORD concerning Shallum the son of Josiah king of Judah, which reigned instead of Josiah his father, which went forth out of this place; He shall not return thither any more:


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Woe unto him that builds his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that uses his neighbour's service without wages, and gives him not for his work;


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That says, I will build me a wide house and large chambers, and cuts him out windows; and it is covered over with cedar, and painted with vermilion.


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Shall you reign, because you close yourself in cedar? did not your father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice, and then it was well with him?


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He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well with him: was not this to know me? says the LORD.


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But yours eyes and yours heart are not but for your covetousness, and in order to shed innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it.


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Therefore thus says the LORD concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah; They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! they shall not lament for him, saying, Ah lord! or, Ah his glory!


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Go up to Lebanon, and cry; and lift up your voice in Bashan, and cry from the passages: for all your lovers are destroyed.


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I spoke unto you in your prosperity; but you said, I will not hear. This has been your manner from your youth, that you obeyed not my voice.


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The wind shall eat up all your pastors, and your lovers shall go into captivity: surely then shall you be ashamed and confounded for all your wickedness.


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O inhabitant of Lebanon, that make your nest in the cedars, how gracious shall you be when pangs come upon you, the pain as of a woman in travail!


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As I live, says the LORD, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck you thence;


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And I will give you into the hand of them that seek your life, and into the hand of them whose face you fear, even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.


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And I will cast you out, and your mother that bare you, into another country, where all of you were not born; and there shall all of you die.


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Is this man Coniah a despised broken idol? is he a vessel wherein is no pleasure? wherefore are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land which they know not?


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Thus says the LORD, Write all of you this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah.


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Therefore thus says the LORD God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; All of you have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, says the LORD.


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And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries where I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase.


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And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, says the LORD.


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Behold, the days come, says the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.


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In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.


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Therefore, behold, the days come, says the LORD, that they shall no more say, The LORD lives, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;


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But, The LORD lives, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries where I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land.


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Mine heart within me is broken because of the prophets; all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine has overcome, because of the LORD, and because of the words of his holiness.


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For the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the land mourns; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil, and their force is not right.


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For both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, says the LORD.


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Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery ways in the darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall therein: for I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation, says the LORD.


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And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied in Baal, and caused my people Israel to go astray.


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I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none does return from his wickedness; they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.


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Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets; Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall: for from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land.


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Thus says the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD.


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They say still unto them that despise me, The LORD has said, All of you shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walks after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you.


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For who has stood in the counsel of the LORD, and has perceived and heard his word? who has marked his word, and heard it?


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Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD is gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked.


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The anger of the LORD shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the thoughts of his heart: in the latter days all of you shall consider it perfectly.


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But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.


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Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? says the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? says the LORD.


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I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed.


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How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart;


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Which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal.


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The prophet that has a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that has my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? says the LORD.


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Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, says the LORD, that steal my words every one from his neighbour.


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Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, says the LORD, and do tell them, and cause my people to go astray by their lies, and by their levity; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, says the LORD.


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And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask you, saying, What is the burden of the LORD? you shall then say unto them, What burden? I will even forsake you, says the LORD.


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And as for the prophet, and the priest, and the people, that shall say, The burden of the LORD, I will even punish that man and his house.


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Thus shall all of you say every one to his neighbour, and every one to his brother, What has the LORD answered? and, What has the LORD spoken?


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And the burden of the LORD shall all of you mention no more: for every man's word shall be his burden; for all of you have perverted the words of the living God, of the LORD of hosts our God.


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But since all of you say, The burden of the LORD; therefore thus says the LORD; Because all of you say this word, The burden of the LORD, and I have sent unto you, saying, All of you shall not say, The burden of the LORD;


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Therefore, behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you, and I will forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, and cast you out of my presence:


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And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.


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The LORD showed me, and, behold, two baskets of figs were set before the temple of the LORD, after that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the carpenters and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon.


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One basket had very good figs, even like the figs that are first ripe: and the other basket had very naughty figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad.


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Then said the LORD unto me, What see you, Jeremiah? And I said, Figs; the good figs, very good; and the evil, very evil, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil.


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Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel; Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good.


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For I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up.


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And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.


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And as the evil figs, which cannot be eaten, they are so evil; surely thus says the LORD, So will I give Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, that remain in this land, and them that dwell in the land of Egypt:


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And I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for their hurt, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places where I shall drive them.


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And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, till they be consumed from off the land that I gave unto them and to their fathers.


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


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The which Jeremiah the prophet spoke unto all the people of Judah, and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying,


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From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, even unto this day, that is the three and twentieth year, the word of the LORD has come unto me, and I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking; but all of you have not hearkened.


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And the LORD has sent unto you all his servants the prophets, rising early and sending them; but all of you have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear.


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They said, Turn all of you again now every one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that the LORD has given unto you and to your fathers for ever and ever:


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And go not after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, and provoke me not to anger with the works of your hands; and I will do you no hurt.


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Yet all of you have not hearkened unto me, says the LORD; that all of you might provoke me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt.


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Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, says the LORD, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations.


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Moreover I will take from them the voice of delight, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle.


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And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.


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And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, says the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations.


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And I will bring upon that land all my words which I have pronounced against it, even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations.


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For many nations and great kings shall make use of them also: and I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the works of their own hands.


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For thus says the LORD God of Israel unto me; Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send you, to drink it.


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Then took I the cup at the LORD's hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom the LORD had sent me:


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To know, Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, an hissing, and a curse; as it is this day;


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And all the mingled people, and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Azzah, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod,


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And all the kings of Tyrus, and all the kings of Zidon, and the kings of the isles which are beyond the sea,


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And all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the world, which are upon the face of the earth: and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them.


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Therefore you shall say unto them, Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Drink all of you, and be drunken, and spew, and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you.


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And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at yours hand to drink, then shall you say unto them, Thus says the LORD of hosts; All of you shall certainly drink.


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For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name, and should all of you be utterly unpunished? All of you shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, says the LORD of hosts.


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Therefore prophesy you against them all these words, and say unto them, The LORD shall roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he shall mightily roar upon his habitation; he shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth.


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A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the LORD has a controversy with the nations, he will plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the sword, says the LORD.


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Thus says the LORD of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth.


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And the slain of the LORD shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground.


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Wail, all of you shepherds, and cry; and wallow yourselves in the ashes, all of you principal of the flock: for the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions are accomplished; and all of you shall fall like a pleasant vessel.


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A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and an howling of the principal of the flock, shall be heard: for the LORD has spoiled their pasture.


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He has forsaken his covert, as the lion: for their land is desolate because of the fierceness of the oppressor, and because of his fierce anger.


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In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah came this word from the LORD, saying,


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Thus says the LORD; Stand in the court of the LORD's house, and speak unto all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in the LORD's house, all the words that I command you to speak unto them; diminish not a word:


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If so be they will hearken, and turn every man from his evil way, that I may repent me of the evil, which I purpose to do unto them because of the evil of their doings.


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And you shall say unto them, Thus says the LORD; If all of you will not hearken to me, to walk in my law, which I have set before you,


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To hearken to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I sent unto you, both rising up early, and sending them, but all of you have not hearkened;


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Then will I make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.


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So the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the LORD.


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Now it came to pass, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that the LORD had commanded him to speak unto all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people took him, saying, You shall surely die.


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Why have you prophesied in the name of the LORD, saying, This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate without an inhabitant? And all the people were gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the LORD.


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When the princes of Judah heard these things, then they came up from the king's house unto the house of the LORD, and sat down in the entry of the new gate of the LORD's house.


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Then spoke the priests and the prophets unto the princes and to all the people, saying, This man is worthy to die; for he has prophesied against this city, as all of you have heard with your ears.


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Then spoke Jeremiah unto all the princes and to all the people, saying, The LORD sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that all of you have heard.


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Therefore now amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the LORD your God; and the LORD will repent him of the evil that he has pronounced against you.


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But know all of you for certain, that if all of you put me to death, all of you shall surely bring innocent blood upon yourselves, and upon this city, and upon the inhabitants thereof: for truthfully the LORD has sent me unto you to speak all these words in your ears.


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Then said the princes and all the people unto the priests and to the prophets; This man is not worthy to die: for he has spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God.


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Then rose up certain of the elders of the land, and spoke to all the assembly of the people, saying,


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Micah the Morasthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus says the LORD of hosts; Zion shall be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.


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Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him at all to death? did he not fear the LORD, and besought the LORD, and the LORD repented him of the evil which he had pronounced against them? Thus might we procure great evil against our souls.


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And there was also a man that prophesied in the name of the LORD, Urijah the son of Shemaiah of Kirjathjearim, who prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah.


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And when Jehoiakim the king, with all his mighty men, and all the princes, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death: but when Urijah heard it, he was afraid, and fled, and went into Egypt;


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And Jehoiakim the king sent men into Egypt, namely, Elnathan the son of Achbor, and certain men with him into Egypt.


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And they fetched forth Urijah out of Egypt, and brought him unto Jehoiakim the king; who slew him with the sword, and cast his dead body into the graves of the common people.


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Nevertheless the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, that they should not give him into the hand of the people to put him to death.


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In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah came this word unto Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,


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And send them to the king of Edom, and to the king of Moab, and to the king of the Ammonites, and to the king of Tyrus, and to the king of Zidon, by the hand of the messengers which come to Jerusalem unto Zedekiah king of Judah;


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And command them to say unto their masters, Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Thus shall all of you say unto your masters;


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I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the ground, by my great power and by my outstretched arm, and have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto me.


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


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And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son's son, until the very time of his land come: and then many nations and great kings shall make use of him.


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And it shall come to pass, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, says the LORD, with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand.


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Therefore hearken not all of you to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreamers, nor to your enchanters, nor to your sorcerers, which speak unto you, saying, All of you shall not serve the king of Babylon:


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For they prophesy a lie unto you, to remove you far from your land; and that I should drive you out, and all of you should perish.


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But the nations that bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him, those will I let remain still in their own land, says the LORD; and they shall till it, and dwell therein.


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I spoke also to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words, saying, Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live.


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Why will all of you die, you and your people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as the LORD has spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?


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Therefore hearken not unto the words of the prophets that speak unto you, saying, All of you shall not serve the king of Babylon: for they prophesy a lie unto you.


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For I have not sent them, says the LORD, yet they prophesy a lie in my name; that I might drive you out, and that all of you might perish, all of you, and the prophets that prophesy unto you.


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Also I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying, Thus says the LORD; Hearken not to the words of your prophets that prophesy unto you, saying, Behold, the vessels of the LORD's house shall now shortly be brought again from Babylon: for they prophesy a lie unto you.


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Hearken not unto them; serve the king of Babylon, and live: wherefore should this city be laid waste?


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But if they be prophets, and if the word of the LORD be with them, let them now make intercession to the LORD of hosts, that the vessels which are left in the house of the LORD, and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, go not to Babylon.


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For thus says the LORD of hosts concerning the pillars, and concerning the sea, and concerning the bases, and concerning the residue of the vessels that remain in this city.


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Which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took not, when he carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem;


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Yea, thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that remain in the house of the LORD, and in the house of the king of Judah and of Jerusalem;


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They shall be carried to Babylon, and there shall they be until the day that I visit them, says the LORD; then will I bring them up, and restore them to this place.


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And it came to pass the same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year, and in the fifth month, that Hananiah the son of Azur the prophet, which was of Gibeon, spoke unto me in the house of the LORD, in the presence of the priests and of all the people, saying,


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Thus speaks the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.


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Within two full years will I bring again into this place all the vessels of the LORD's house, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place, and carried them to Babylon:


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And I will bring again to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, with all the captives of Judah, that went into Babylon, says the LORD: for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.


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Then the prophet Jeremiah said unto the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests, and in the presence of all the people that stood in the house of the LORD,


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Even the prophet Jeremiah said, Amen: the LORD do so: the LORD perform your words which you have prophesied, to bring again the vessels of the LORD's house, and all that is carried away captive, from Babylon into this place.


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The prophets that have been before me and before you of old prophesied both against many countries, and against great kingdoms, of war, and of evil, and of pestilence.


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The prophet which prophesies of peace, when the word of the prophet shall come to pass, then shall the prophet be known, that the LORD has truly sent him.


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And Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people, saying, Thus says the LORD; Even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all nations within the space of two full years. And the prophet Jeremiah went his way.


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Then the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah the prophet, after that Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke from off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, saying,


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Go and tell Hananiah, saying, Thus says the LORD; You have broken the yokes of wood; but you shall make for them yokes of iron.


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For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; I have put a yoke of iron upon the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they shall serve him: and I have given him the beasts of the field also.


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Then said the prophet Jeremiah unto Hananiah the prophet, Hear now, Hananiah; The LORD has not sent you; but you make this people to trust in a lie.


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Therefore thus says the LORD; Behold, I will cast you from off the face of the earth: this year you shall die, because you have taught rebellion against the LORD.


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Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem unto the residue of the elders which were carried away captives, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon;


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(After that Jeconiah the king, and the queen, and the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, and the carpenters, and the smiths, were departed from Jerusalem;)


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By the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, (whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent unto Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon) saying,


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Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon;


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Take all of you wives, and brought forth sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; that all of you may be increased there, and not diminished.


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And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall all of you have peace.


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For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Let not your prophets and your diviners, that be in the midst of you, deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams which all of you cause to be dreamed.


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For thus says the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.


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For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.


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Then shall all of you call upon me, and all of you shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.


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And I will be found of you, says the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places where I have driven you, says the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.


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Know that thus says the LORD of the king that sits upon the throne of David, and of all the people that dwells in this city, and of your brethren that are not gone forth with you into captivity;


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Thus says the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will send upon them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil.


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And I will persecute them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will deliver them to be removed to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, and an astonishment, and an hissing, and a reproach, among all the nations where I have driven them:


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Because they have not hearkened to my words, says the LORD, which I sent unto them by my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them; but all of you would not hear, says the LORD.


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Hear all of you therefore the word of the LORD, all you of the captivity, whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon:


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Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, of Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and of Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, which prophesy a lie unto you in my name; Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; and he shall slay them before your eyes;


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And of them shall be taken up a curse by all the captivity of Judah which are in Babylon, saying, The LORD make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire;


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Because they have committed villainy in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbours' wives, and have spoken lying words in my name, which I have not commanded them; even I know, and am a witness, says the LORD.


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Thus speaks the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, Because you have sent letters in your name unto all the people that are at Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, and to all the priests, saying,


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The LORD has made you priest in the position of Jehoiada the priest, that all of you should be officers in the house of the LORD, for every man that is mad, and makes himself a prophet, that you should put him in prison, and in the stocks.


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For therefore he sent unto us in Babylon, saying, This captivity is long: build all of you houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them.


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Send to all them of the captivity, saying, Thus says the LORD concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite; Because that Shemaiah has prophesied unto you, and I sent him not, and he caused you to trust in a lie:


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Therefore thus says the LORD; Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite, and his seed: he shall not have a man to dwell among this people; neither shall he behold the good that I will do for my people, says the LORD; because he has taught rebellion against the LORD.


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Thus speaks the LORD God of Israel, saying, Write you all the words that I have spoken unto you in a book.


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For, lo, the days come, says the LORD, that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, says the LORD: and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.


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Ask all of you now, and see whether a man does travail with child? wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness?


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Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be saved out of it.


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For it shall come to pass in that day, says the LORD of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off your neck, and will burst your bonds, and strangers shall no more make use of him:


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Therefore fear you not, O my servant Jacob, says the LORD; neither be dismayed, O Israel: for, lo, I will save you from far, and your seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid.


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For I am with you, says the LORD, to save you: though I make a full end of all nations where I have scattered you, yet I will not make a full end of you: but I will correct you in measure, and will not leave you altogether unpunished.


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All your lovers have forgotten you; they seek you not; for I have wounded you with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the multitude of yours iniquity; because your sins were increased.


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Why cry you for yours affliction? your sorrow is incurable for the multitude of yours iniquity: because your sins were increased, I have done these things unto you.


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Therefore all they that devour you shall be devoured; and all yours adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity; and they that spoil you shall be a spoil, and all that prey upon you will I give for a prey.


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For I will restore health unto you, and I will heal you of your wounds, says the LORD; because they called you an Outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeks after.


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Thus says the LORD; Behold, I will bring again the captivity of Jacob's tents, and have mercy on his dwelling places; and the city shall be built upon her own heap, and the palace shall remain after the manner thereof.


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And out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of them that make merry: and I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small.


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Their children also shall be as in old times, and their congregation shall be established before me, and I will punish all that oppress them.


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And their nobles shall be of themselves, and their governor shall proceed from the midst of them; and I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach unto me: for who is this that engaged his heart to approach unto me? says the LORD.


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Behold, the whirlwind of the LORD goes forth with fury, a continuing whirlwind: it shall fall with pain upon the head of the wicked.


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The fierce anger of the LORD shall not return, until he has done it, and until he have performed the intents of his heart: in the latter days all of you shall consider it.


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At the same time, says the LORD, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people.


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Thus says the LORD, The people which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest.


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The LORD has appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved you with an everlasting love: therefore with loving kindness have I drawn you.


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Again I will build you, and you shall be built, O virgin of Israel: you shall again be adorned with your timbrels, and shall go forth in the dances of them that make merry.


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You shall yet plant vines upon the mountains of Samaria: the planters shall plant, and shall eat them as common things.


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For there shall be a day, that the watchmen upon the mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise all of you, and let us go up to Zion unto the LORD our God.


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For thus says the LORD; Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations: publish all of you, praise all of you, and say, O LORD, save your people, the remnant of Israel.


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Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her that labors with child together: a great company shall return thither.


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They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.


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Hear the word of the LORD, O all of you nations, and declare it in the isles far off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd does his flock.


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Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the LORD, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the herd: and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all.


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Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men and old together: for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow.


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And I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, says the LORD.


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Thus says the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not.


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Thus says the LORD; Refrain your voice from weeping, and yours eyes from tears: for your work shall be rewarded, says the LORD; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy.


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And there is hope in yours end, says the LORD, that your children shall come again to their own border.


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I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus; You have chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock is not accustomed to the yoke: turn you me, and I shall be turned; for you are the LORD my God.


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Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I stroke upon my thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth.


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Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant child? for since I spoke against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my bowels are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, says the LORD.


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Set you up guideposts, make you high heaps: set yours heart toward the highway, even the way which you went: return, O virgin of Israel, return to these your cities.


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How long will you go about, O you backsliding daughter? for the LORD has created a new thing in the earth, A woman shall compass a man.


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Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; As yet they shall use this speech in the land of Judah and in the cities thereof, when I shall bring again their captivity; The LORD bless you, O habitation of justice, and mountain of holiness.


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And there shall dwell in Judah itself, and in all the cities thereof together, husbandmen, and they that go forth with flocks.


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Behold, the days come, says the LORD, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man, and with the seed of beast.


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And it shall come to pass, that like I have watched over them, to pluck up, and to break down, and to throw down, and to destroy, and to afflict; so will I watch over them, to build, and to plant, says the LORD.


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In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge.


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But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eats the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge.


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Behold, the days come, says the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:


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Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, says the LORD:


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But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, says the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.


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And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, says the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.


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Thus says the LORD, which gives the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divides the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is his name:


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If those ordinances depart from before me, says the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever.


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Thus says the LORD; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, says the LORD.


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Behold, the days come, says the LORD, that the city shall be built to the LORD from the tower of Hananeel unto the gate of the corner.


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And the measuring line shall yet go forth opposite to it upon the hill Gareb, and shall compass about to Goath.


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And the whole valley of the dead bodies, and of the ashes, and all the fields unto the brook of Kidron, unto the corner of the horse gate toward the east, shall be holy unto the LORD; it shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down any more for ever.


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The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar.


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For then the king of Babylon's army besieged Jerusalem: and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the prison, which was in the king of Judah's house.


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For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, Wherefore do you prophesy, and say, Thus says the LORD, Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it;


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And Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans, but shall surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him mouth to mouth, and his eyes shall behold his eyes;


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And he shall lead Zedekiah to Babylon, and there shall he be until I visit him, says the LORD: though all of you fight with the Chaldeans, all of you shall not prosper.


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Behold, Hanameel the son of Shallum yours uncle shall come unto you saying, Buy you my field that is in Anathoth: for the right of redemption is yours to buy it.


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So Hanameel mine uncle's son came to me in the court of the prison according to the word of the LORD, and said unto me, Buy my field, I pray you, that is in Anathoth, which is in the country of Benjamin: for the right of inheritance is yours, and the redemption is yours; buy it for yourself. Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD.


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And I bought the field of Hanameel my uncle's son, that was in Anathoth, and weighed him the money, even seventeen shekels of silver.


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And I subscribed the evidence, and sealed it, and took witnesses, and weighed him the money in the balances.


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So I took the evidence of the purchase, both that which was sealed according to the law and custom, and that which was open:


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And I gave the evidence of the purchase unto Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, in the sight of Hanameel mine uncle's son, and in the presence of the witnesses that subscribed the book of the purchase, before all the Jews that sat in the court of the prison.


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Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Take these evidences, this evidence of the purchase, both which is sealed, and this evidence which is open; and put them in an earthen vessel, that they may continue many days.


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For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land.


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Now when I had delivered the evidence of the purchase unto Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed unto the LORD, saying,


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Ah Lord GOD! behold, you have made the heaven and the earth by your great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for you:


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You show loving kindness unto thousands, and recompence the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them: the Great, the Mighty God, the LORD of hosts, is his name,


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Great in counsel, and mighty in work: for yours eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men: to give every one according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings:


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Which have set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, even unto this day, and in Israel, and among other men; and have made you a name, as at this day;


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And have brought forth your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs, and with wonders, and with a strong hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with great terror;


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And have given them this land, which you did swear to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey;


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And they came in, and possessed it; but they obeyed not your voice, neither walked in your law; they have done nothing of all that you commandedst them to do: therefore you have caused all this evil to come upon them:


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Behold the mounts, they are come unto the city to take it; and the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans, that fight against it, because of the sword, and of the famine, and of the pestilence: and what you have spoken has come to pass; and, behold, you see it.


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And you have said unto me, O Lord GOD, Buy you the field for money, and take witnesses; for the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.


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Therefore thus says the LORD; Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and he shall take it:


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And the Chaldeans, that fight against this city, shall come and set fire on this city, and burn it with the houses, upon whose roofs they have offered incense unto Baal, and poured out drink offerings unto other gods, to provoke me to anger.


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For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have only done evil before me from their youth: for the children of Israel have only provoked me to anger with the work of their hands, says the LORD.


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For this city has been to me as a provocation of mine anger and of my fury from the day that they built it even unto this day; that I should remove it from before my face,


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Because of all the evil of the children of Israel and of the children of Judah, which they have done to provoke me to anger, they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets, and the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.


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And they have turned unto me the back, and not the face: though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not hearkened to receive instruction.


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And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire unto Molech; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.


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And now therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning this city, whereof all of you say, It shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence;


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Behold, I will gather them out of all countries, where I have driven them in mine anger, and in my fury, and in great wrath; and I will bring them again unto this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely:


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And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them:


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And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me.


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Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul.


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For thus says the LORD; Like I have brought all this great evil upon this people, so will I bring upon them all the good that I have promised them.


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And fields shall be bought in this land, whereof all of you say, It is desolate without man or beast; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.


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Men shall buy fields for money, and subscribe evidences, and seal them, and take witnesses in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, and in the cities of the mountains, and in the cities of the valley, and in the cities of the south: for I will cause their captivity to return, says the LORD.


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Moreover the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah the second time, while he was yet shut up in the court of the prison, saying,


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Thus says the LORD the maker thereof, the LORD that formed it, to establish it; the LORD is his name;


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For thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city, and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, which are thrown down by the mounts, and by the sword;


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They come to fight with the Chaldeans, but it is to fill them with the dead bodies of men, whom I have slain in mine anger and in my fury, and for all whose wickedness I have hid my face from this city.


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Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them, and will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth.


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And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them, as at the first.


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And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me; and I will pardon all their iniquities, whereby they have sinned, and whereby they have transgressed against me.


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And it shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and an honour before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good that I do unto them: and they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and for all the prosperity that I procure unto it.


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Thus says the LORD; Again there shall be heard in this place, which all of you say shall be desolate without man and without beast, even in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, that are desolate, without man, and without inhabitant, and without beast,


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The voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that shall say, Praise the LORD of hosts: for the LORD is good; for his mercy endures for ever: and of them that shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the LORD. For I will cause to return the captivity of the land, as at the first, says the LORD.


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Thus says the LORD of hosts; Again in this place, which is desolate without man and without beast, and in all the cities thereof, shall be an habitation of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down.


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In the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the vale, and in the cities of the south, and in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, shall the flocks pass again under the hands of him that tells them, says the LORD.


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Behold, the days come, says the LORD, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised unto the house of Israel and to the house of Judah.


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In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land.


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In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The LORD our righteousness.


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Neither shall the priests the Levites lack a man before me to offer burnt offerings, and to kindle food offerings, and to do sacrifice continually.


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Thus says the LORD; If all of you can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season;


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Then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne; and with the Levites the priests, my ministers.


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As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured: so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Levites that minister unto me.


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Consider you not what this people have spoken, saying, The two families which the LORD has chosen, he has even cast them off? thus they have despised my people, that they should be no more a nation before them.


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Thus says the LORD; If my covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth;


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Then will I cast away the seed of Jacob and David my servant, so that I will not take any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return, and have mercy on them.


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The word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth of his dominion, and all the people, fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities thereof, saying,


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Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel; Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah, and tell him, Thus says the LORD; Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire:


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And you shall not escape out of his hand, but shall surely be taken, and delivered into his hand; and yours eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with you mouth to mouth, and you shall go to Babylon.


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Yet hear the word of the LORD, O Zedekiah king of Judah; Thus says the LORD of you, You shall not die by the sword:


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But you shall die in peace: and with the burnings of your fathers, the former kings which were before you, so shall they burn odours for you; and they will lament you, saying, Ah lord! for I have pronounced the word, says the LORD.


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When the king of Babylon's army fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish, and against Azekah: for these defenced cities remained of the cities of Judah.


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This is the word that came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, after that the king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people which were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty unto them;


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That every man should let his manservant, and every man his maidservant, being an Hebrew or an Hebrewess, go free; that none should serve himself of them, to know, of a Jew his brother.


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Now when all the princes, and all the people, which had entered into the covenant, heard that every one should let his manservant, and every one his maidservant, go free, that none should make use of them any more, then they obeyed, and let them go.


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But afterward they turned, and caused the servants and the handmaids, whom they had let go free, to return, and brought them into subjection for servants and for handmaids.


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Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel; I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondmen, saying,


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At the end of seven years let all of you go every man his brother an Hebrew, which has been sold unto you; and when he has served you six years, you shall let him go free from you: but your fathers hearkened not unto me, neither inclined their ear.


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And all of you were now turned, and had done right in my sight, in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbour; and all of you had made a covenant before me in the house which is called by my name:


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But all of you turned and polluted my name, and caused every man his servant, and every man his handmaid, whom he had set at liberty at their pleasure, to return, and brought them into subjection, to be unto you for servants and for handmaids.


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Therefore thus says the LORD; All of you have not hearkened unto me, in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother, and every man to his neighbour: behold, I proclaim a liberty for you, says the LORD, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.


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And I will give the men that have transgressed my covenant, which have not performed the words of the covenant which they had made before me, when they cut the calf in two, and passed between the parts thereof,


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The princes of Judah, and the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, and the priests, and all the people of the land, which passed between the parts of the calf;


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I will even give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life: and their dead bodies shall be for food unto the fowls of the heaven, and to the beasts of the earth.


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And Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes will I give into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life, and into the hand of the king of Babylon's army, which are gone up from you.


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Behold, I will command, says the LORD, and cause them to return to this city; and they shall fight against it, and take it, and burn it with fire: and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without an inhabitant.


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The word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, saying,


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Go unto the house of the Rechabites, and speak unto them, and bring them into the house of the LORD, into one of the chambers, and give them wine to drink.


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Then I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habaziniah, and his brethren, and all his sons, and the whole house of the Rechabites;


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And I brought them into the house of the LORD, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan, the son of Igdaliah, a man of God, which was by the chamber of the princes, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the keeper of the door:


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And I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites pots full of wine, and cups, and I said unto them, Drink all of you wine.


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But they said, We will drink no wine: for Jonadab the son of Rechab our father commanded us, saying, All of you shall drink no wine, neither all of you, nor your sons for ever:


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Neither shall all of you build house, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyard, nor have any: but all your days all of you shall dwell in tents; that all of you may live many days in the land where all of you be strangers.


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Thus have we obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab our father in all that he has charged us, to drink no wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, nor our daughters;


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But we have dwelt in tents, and have obeyed, and done according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us.


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But it came to pass, when Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came up into the land, that we said, Come, and let us go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chaldeans, and for fear of the army of the Syrians: so we dwell at Jerusalem.


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Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Go and tell the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Will all of you not receive instruction to hearken to my words? says the LORD.


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The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, that he commanded his sons not to drink wine, are performed; for unto this day they drink none, but obey their father's commandment: notwithstanding I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking; but all of you hearkened not unto me.


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I have sent also unto you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, Return all of you now every man from his evil way, and amend your doings, and go not after other gods to serve them, and all of you shall dwell in the land which I have given to you and to your fathers: but all of you have not inclined your ear, nor hearkened unto me.


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Because the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have performed the commandment of their father, which he commanded them; but this people has not hearkened unto me:


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Therefore thus says the LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring upon Judah and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the evil that I have pronounced against them: because I have spoken unto them, but they have not heard; and I have called unto them, but they have not answered.


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And Jeremiah said unto the house of the Rechabites, Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Because all of you have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, and kept all his precepts, and done according unto all that he has commanded you:


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Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not lack a man to stand before me for ever.


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And it came to pass in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, that this word came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,


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Take you a roll of a book, and write therein all the words that I have spoken unto you against Israel, and against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day I spoke unto you, from the days of Josiah, even unto this day.


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It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to do unto them; that they may return every man from his evil way; that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.


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Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah: and Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the LORD, which he had spoken unto him, upon a roll of a book.


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Therefore go you, and read in the roll, which you have written from my mouth, the words of the LORD in the ears of the people in the LORD's house upon the fasting day: and also you shall read them in the ears of all Judah that come out of their cities.


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It may be they will present their supplication before the LORD, and will return every one from his evil way: for great is the anger and the fury that the LORD has pronounced against this people.


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And Baruch the son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading in the book the words of the LORD in the LORD's house.


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And it came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, in the ninth month, that they proclaimed a fast before the LORD to all the people in Jerusalem, and to all the people that came from the cities of Judah unto Jerusalem.


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Then read Baruch in the book the words of Jeremiah in the house of the LORD, in the chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the scribe, in the higher court, at the entry of the new gate of the LORD's house, in the ears of all the people.


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When Michaiah the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, had heard out of the book all the words of the LORD,


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Then he went down into the king's house, into the scribe's chamber: and, lo, all the princes sat there, even Elishama the scribe, and Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, and Elnathan the son of Achbor, and Gemariah the son of Shaphan, and Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the princes.


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Then Michaiah declared unto them all the words that he had heard, when Baruch read the book in the ears of the people.


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Therefore all the princes sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, unto Baruch, saying, Take in yours hand the roll wherein you have read in the ears of the people, and come. So Baruch the son of Neriah took the roll in his hand, and came unto them.


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Now it came to pass, when they had heard all the words, they were afraid both one and the other, and said unto Baruch, We will surely tell the king of all these words.


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Then Baruch answered them, He pronounced all these words unto me with his mouth, and I wrote them with ink in the book.


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Then said the princes unto Baruch, Go, hide you, you and Jeremiah; and let no man know where all of you be.


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And they went in to the king into the court, but they laid up the roll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe, and told all the words in the ears of the king.


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So the king sent Jehudi to fetch the roll: and he took it out of Elishama the scribe's chamber. And Jehudi read it in the ears of the king, and in the ears of all the princes which stood beside the king.


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Now the king sat in the winter-house in the ninth month: and there was a fire on the hearth burning before him.


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And it came to pass, that when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, he cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until all the roll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth.


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Yet they were not afraid, nor rent their garments, neither the king, nor any of his servants that heard all these words.


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Nevertheless Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah had made intercession to the king that he would not burn the roll: but he would not hear them.


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But the king commanded Jerahmeel the son of Hammelech, and Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to take Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet: but the LORD hid them.


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Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, after that the king had burned the roll, and the words which Baruch wrote at the mouth of Jeremiah, saying,


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Take you again another roll, and write in it all the former words that were in the first roll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah has burned.


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And you shall say to Jehoiakim king of Judah, Thus says the LORD; You have burned this roll, saying, Why have you written therein, saying, The king of Babylon shall certainly come and destroy this land, and shall cause to cease from thence man and beast?


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Therefore thus says the LORD of Jehoiakim king of Judah; He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David: and his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost.


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And I will punish him and his seed and his servants for their iniquity; and I will bring upon them, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and upon the men of Judah, all the evil that I have pronounced against them; but they hearkened not.


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Then took Jeremiah another roll, and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah; who wrote therein from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire: and there were added besides unto them many like words.


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And king Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah.


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But neither he, nor his servants, nor the people of the land, did hearken unto the words of the LORD, which he spoke by the prophet Jeremiah.


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And Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, Pray now unto the LORD our God for us.


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Then Pharaoh's army was come forth out of Egypt: and when the Chaldeans that besieged Jerusalem heard tidings of them, they departed from Jerusalem.


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Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel; Thus shall all of you say to the king of Judah, that sent you unto me to enquire of me; Behold, Pharaoh's army, which has come forth to help you, shall return to Egypt into their own land.


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And the Chaldeans shall come again, and fight against this city, and take it, and burn it with fire.


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Thus says the LORD; Deceive not yourselves, saying, The Chaldeans shall surely depart from us: for they shall not depart.


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For though all of you had smitten the whole army of the Chaldeans that fight against you, and there remained but wounded men among them, yet should they rise up every man in his tent, and burn this city with fire.


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And it came to pass, that when the army of the Chaldeans was broken up from Jerusalem for fear of Pharaoh's army,


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Then Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin, to separate himself thence in the midst of the people.


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And when he was in the gate of Benjamin, a captain of the ward was there, whose name was Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah; and he took Jeremiah the prophet, saying, You fall away to the Chaldeans.


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Then said Jeremiah, It is false; I fall not away to the Chaldeans. But he hearkened not to him: so Irijah took Jeremiah, and brought him to the princes.


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Wherefore the princes were angry with Jeremiah, and stroke him, and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe: for they had made that the prison.


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When Jeremiah was entered into the dungeon, and into the cabins, and Jeremiah had remained there many days;


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Then Zedekiah the king sent, and took him out: and the king asked him secretly in his house, and said, Is there any word from the LORD? And Jeremiah said, There is: for, said he, you shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.


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Moreover Jeremiah said unto king Zedekiah, What have I offended against you, or against your servants, or against this people, that all of you have put me in prison?


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Where are now your prophets which prophesied unto you, saying, The king of Babylon shall not come against you, nor against this land?


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Therefore hear now, I pray you, O my lord the king: let my supplication, I pray you, be accepted before you; that you cause me not to return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there.


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Then Zedekiah the king commanded that they should commit Jeremiah into the court of the prison, and that they should give him daily a piece of bread out of the bakers' street, until all the bread in the city were spent. Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison.


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Then Shephatiah the son of Mattan, and Gedaliah the son of Pashur, and Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashur the son of Malchiah, heard the words that Jeremiah had spoken unto all the people, saying,


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Thus says the LORD, He that remains in this city shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goes forth to the Chaldeans shall live; for he shall have his life for a prey, and shall live.


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Thus says the LORD, This city shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon's army, which shall take it.


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Therefore the princes said unto the king, We plead to you, let this man be put to death: for thus he weakens the hands of the men of war that remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words unto them: for this man seeks not the welfare of this people, but the hurt.


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Then Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he is in your hand: for the king is not he that can do any thing against you.


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Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah the son of Hammelech, that was in the court of the prison: and they let down Jeremiah with cords. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire: so Jeremiah sunk in the mire.


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Now when Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, one of the eunuchs which was in the king's house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon; the king then sitting in the gate of Benjamin;


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My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon; and he is like to die for hunger in the place where he is: for there is no more bread in the city.


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Then the king commanded Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, saying, Take from behind thirty men with you, and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon, before he die.


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So Ebedmelech took the men with him, and went into the house of the king under the treasury, and took thence old cast clouts and old rotten rags, and let them down by cords into the dungeon to Jeremiah.


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And Ebedmelech the Ethiopian said unto Jeremiah, Put now these old cast clouts and rotten rags under yours armholes under the cords. And Jeremiah did so.


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So they drew up Jeremiah with cords, and took him up out of the dungeon: and Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison.


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Then Zedekiah the king sent, and took Jeremiah the prophet unto him into the third entry that is in the house of the LORD: and the king said unto Jeremiah, I will ask you a thing; hide nothing from me.


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Then Jeremiah said unto Zedekiah, If I declare it unto you, will you not surely put me to death? and if I give you counsel, will you not hearken unto me?


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So Zedekiah the king swore secretly unto Jeremiah, saying, As the LORD lives, that made us this soul, I will not put you to death, neither will I give you into the hand of these men that seek your life.


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Then said Jeremiah unto Zedekiah, Thus says the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel; If you will assuredly go forth unto the king of Babylon's princes, then your soul shall live, and this city shall not be burned with fire; and you shall live, and yours house:


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But if you will not go forth to the king of Babylon's princes, then shall this city be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire, and you shall not escape out of their hand.


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And Zedekiah the king said unto Jeremiah, I am afraid of the Jews that are fallen to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand, and they mock me.


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But Jeremiah said, They shall not deliver you. Obey, I plead to you, the voice of the LORD, which I speak unto you: so it shall be well unto you, and your soul shall live.


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And, behold, all the women that are left in the king of Judah's house shall be brought forth to the king of Babylon's princes, and those women shall say, Your friends have set you on, and have prevailed against you: your feet are sunk in the mire, and they are turned away back.


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So they shall bring out all your wives and your children to the Chaldeans: and you shall not escape out of their hand, but shall be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon: and you shall cause this city to be burned with fire.


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But if the princes hear that I have talked with you, and they come unto you, and say unto you, Declare unto us now what you have said unto the king, hide it not from us, and we will not put you to death; also what the king said unto you:


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Then you shall say unto them, I presented my supplication before the king, that he would not cause me to return to Jonathan's house, to die there.


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Then came all the princes unto Jeremiah, and asked him: and he told them according to all these words that the king had commanded. So they left off speaking with him; for the matter was not perceived.


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So Jeremiah abode in the court of the prison until the day that Jerusalem was taken: and he was there when Jerusalem was taken.


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In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, came Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and all his army against Jerusalem, and they besieged it.


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And in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, the city was broken up.


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And all the princes of the king of Babylon came in, and sat in the middle gate, even Nergalsharezer, Samgarnebo, Sarsechim, Rabsaris, Nergalsharezer, Rabmag, with all the residue of the princes of the king of Babylon.


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And it came to pass, that when Zedekiah the king of Judah saw them, and all the men of war, then they fled, and went forth out of the city by night, by the way of the king's garden, by the gate between the two walls: and he went out the way of the plain.


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But the Chaldeans' army pursued after them, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho: and when they had taken him, they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he gave judgment upon him.


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Then the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah before his eyes: also the king of Babylon slew all the nobles of Judah.


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And the Chaldeans burned the king's house, and the houses of the people, with fire, and brake down the walls of Jerusalem.


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Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive into Babylon the remnant of the people that remained in the city, and those that fell away, that fell to him, with the rest of the people that remained.


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But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left of the poor of the people, which had nothing, in the land of Judah, and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time.


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Now Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon gave charge concerning Jeremiah to Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, saying,


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So Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard sent, and Nebushasban, Rabsaris, and Nergalsharezer, Rabmag, and all the king of Babylon's princes;


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Even they sent, and took Jeremiah out of the court of the prison, and committed him unto Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan, that he should carry him home: so he dwelt among the people.


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Now the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah, while he was shut up in the court of the prison, saying,


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Go and speak to Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, saying, Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring my words upon this city for evil, and not for good; and they shall be accomplished in that day before you.


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But I will deliver you in that day, says the LORD: and you shall not be given into the hand of the men of whom you are afraid.


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For I will surely deliver you, and you shall not fall by the sword, but your life shall be for a prey unto you: because you have put your trust in me, says the LORD.


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The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, after that Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had let him go from Ramah, when he had taken him being bound in chains among all that were carried away captive of Jerusalem and Judah, which were carried away captive unto Babylon.


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And the captain of the guard took Jeremiah, and said unto him, The LORD your God has pronounced this evil upon this place.


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Now the LORD has brought it, and done according as he has said: because all of you have sinned against the LORD, and have not obeyed his voice, therefore this thing has come upon you.


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And now, behold, I loose you this day from the chains which were upon yours hand. If it seem good unto you to come with me into Babylon, come; and I will look well unto you: but if it seem ill unto you to come with me into Babylon, forbear: behold, all the land is before you: where it seems good and convenient for you to go, thither go.


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Now while he was not yet gone back, he said, Go back also to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has made governor over the cities of Judah, and dwell with him among the people: or go where ever it seems convenient unto you to go. So the captain of the guard gave him victuals and a reward, and let him go.


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Then went Jeremiah unto Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah; and dwelt with him among the people that were left in the land.


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Now when all the captains of the forces which were in the fields, even they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam governor in the land, and had committed unto him men, and women, and children, and of the poor of the land, of them that were not carried away captive to Babylon;


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Then they came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth, and the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jezaniah the son of a Maachathite, they and their men.


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And Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan swore unto them and to their men, saying, Fear not to serve the Chaldeans: dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.


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As for me, behold, I will dwell at Mizpah, to serve the Chaldeans, which will come unto us: but all of you, gather all of you wine, and summer fruits, and oil, and put them in your vessels, and dwell in your cities that all of you have taken.


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Likewise when all the Jews that were in Moab, and among the Ammonites, and in Edom, and that were in all the countries, heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant of Judah, and that he had set over them Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan;


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Even all the Jews returned out of all places where they were driven, and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah, unto Mizpah, and gathered wine and summer fruits very much.


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Moreover Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were in the fields, came to Gedaliah to Mizpah,


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And said unto him, Do you certainly know that Baalis the king of the Ammonites has sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to slay you? But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam believed them not.


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Then Johanan the son of Kareah spoke to Gedaliah in Mizpah secretly saying, Let me go, I pray you, and I will slay Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and no man shall know it: wherefore should he slay you, that all the Jews which are gathered unto you should be scattered, and the remnant in Judah perish?


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But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam said unto Johanan the son of Kareah, You shall not do this thing: for you speak falsely of Ishmael.


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Now it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah the son of Elishama, of the seed royal, and the princes of the king, even ten men with him, came unto Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah; and there they did eat bread together in Mizpah.


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Then arose Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and the ten men that were with him, and stroke Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan with the sword, and slew him, whom the king of Babylon had made governor over the land.


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Ishmael also slew all the Jews that were with him, even with Gedaliah, at Mizpah, and the Chaldeans that were found there, and the men of war.


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That there came certain from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, even fourscore men, having their beards shaven, and their clothes rent, and having cut themselves, with offerings and incense in their hand, to bring them to the house of the LORD.


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And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah went forth from Mizpah to meet them, weeping all along as he went: and it came to pass, as he met them, he said unto them, Come to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam.


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And it was so, when they came into the midst of the city, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah slew them, and cast them into the midst of the pit, he, and the men that were with him.


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But ten men were found among them that said unto Ishmael, Slay us not: for we have treasures in the field, of wheat, and of barley, and of oil, and of honey. So he ceased, and slew them not among their brethren.


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Now the pit wherein Ishmael had cast all the dead bodies of the men, whom he had slain because of Gedaliah, was it which Asa the king had made for fear of Baasha king of Israel: and Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with them that were slain.


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Then Ishmael carried away captive all the residue of the people that were in Mizpah, even the king's daughters, and all the people that remained in Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had committed to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam: and Ishmael the son of Nethaniah carried them away captive, and departed to go over to the Ammonites.


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But when Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were with him, heard of all the evil that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had done,


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Then they took all the men, and went to fight with Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and found him by the great waters that are in Gibeon.


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Now it came to pass, that when all the people which were with Ishmael saw Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were with him, then they were glad.


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So all the people that Ishmael had carried away captive from Mizpah cast about and returned, and went unto Johanan the son of Kareah.


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Then took Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were with him, all the remnant of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, from Mizpah, after that he had slain Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, even mighty men of war, and the women, and the children, and the eunuchs, whom he had brought again from Gibeon:


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And they departed, and dwelt in the habitation of Chimham, which is by Bethlehem, to go to enter into Egypt,


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Because of the Chaldeans: for they were afraid of them, because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had slain Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon made governor in the land.


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Then all the captains of the forces, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least even unto the greatest, came near,


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And said unto Jeremiah the prophet, Let, we plead to you, our supplication be accepted before you, and pray for us unto the LORD your God, even for all this remnant; (for we are left but a few of many, as yours eyes do behold us:)


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Then Jeremiah the prophet said unto them, I have heard you; behold, I will pray unto the LORD your God according to your words; and it shall come to pass, that whatsoever thing the LORD shall answer you, I will declare it unto you; I will keep nothing back from you.


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Then they said to Jeremiah, The LORD be a true and faithful witness between us, if we do not even according to all things for the which the LORD your God shall send you to us.


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Whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God, to whom we send you; that it may be well with us, when we obey the voice of the LORD our God.


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Then called he Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces which were with him, and all the people from the least even to the greatest,


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And said unto them, Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, unto whom all of you sent me to present your supplication before him;


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If all of you will still abide in this land, then will I build you, and not pull you down, and I will plant you, and not pluck you up: for I repent me of the evil that I have done unto you.


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Be not afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom all of you are afraid; be not afraid of him, says the LORD: for I am with you to save you, and to deliver you from his hand.


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And I will show mercies unto you, that he may have mercy upon you, and cause you to return to your own land.


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Saying, No; but we will go into the land of Egypt, where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor have hunger of bread; and there will we dwell:


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And now therefore hear the word of the LORD, all of you remnant of Judah; Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; If all of you wholly set your faces to enter into Egypt, and go to sojourn there;


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Then it shall come to pass, that the sword, which all of you feared, shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine, whereof all of you were afraid, shall follow close after you there in Egypt; and there all of you shall die.


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So shall it be with all the men that set their faces to go into Egypt to sojourn there; they shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: and none of them shall remain or escape from the evil that I will bring upon them.


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For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; As mine anger and my fury has been poured forth upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem; so shall my fury be poured forth upon you, when all of you shall enter into Egypt: and all of you shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach; and all of you shall see this place no more.


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The LORD has said concerning you, O all of you remnant of Judah; Go all of you not into Egypt: know certainly that I have admonished you this day.


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For all of you dissembled in your hearts, when all of you sent me unto the LORD your God, saying, Pray for us unto the LORD our God; and according unto all that the LORD our God shall say, so declare unto us, and we will do it.


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And now I have this day declared it to you; but all of you have not obeyed the voice of the LORD your God, nor any thing for the which he has sent me unto you.


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Now therefore know certainly that all of you shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, in the place where all of you desire to go and to sojourn.


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And it came to pass, that when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking unto all the people all the words of the LORD their God, for which the LORD their God had sent him to them, even all these words,


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Then spoke Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the proud men, saying unto Jeremiah, You speak falsely: the LORD our God has not sent you to say, Go not into Egypt to sojourn there:


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But Baruch the son of Neriah sets you on against us, in order to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they might put us to death, and carry us away captives into Babylon.


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So Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, and all the people, obeyed not the voice of the LORD, to dwell in the land of Judah.


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But Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, took all the remnant of Judah, that were returned from all nations, where they had been driven, to dwell in the land of Judah;


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Even men, and women, and children, and the king's daughters, and every person that Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Jeremiah the prophet, and Baruch the son of Neriah.


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So they came into the land of Egypt: for they obeyed not the voice of the LORD: thus came they even to Tahpanhes.


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Take great stones in yours hand, and hide them in the clay in the brick-kiln, which is at the entry of Pharaoh's house in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah;


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And say unto them, Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will set his throne upon these stones that I have hid; and he shall spread his royal pavilion over them.


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And when he comes, he shall strike the land of Egypt, and deliver such as are for death to death; and such as are for captivity to captivity; and such as are for the sword to the sword.


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And I will kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt; and he shall burn them, and carry them away captives: and he shall array himself with the land of Egypt, as a shepherd puts on his garment; and he shall go forth from thence in peace.


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He shall break also the images of Bethshemesh, that is in the land of Egypt; and the houses of the gods of the Egyptians shall he burn with fire.


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The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews which dwell in the land of Egypt, which dwell at Migdol, and at Tahpanhes, and at Noph, and in the country of Pathros, saying,


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Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; All of you have seen all the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, and upon all the cities of Judah; and, behold, this day they are a desolation, and no man dwells therein,


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Because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke me to anger, in that they went to burn incense, and to serve other gods, whom they knew not, neither they, all of you, nor your fathers.


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Nevertheless I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate.


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But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense unto other gods.


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Wherefore my fury and mine anger was poured forth, and was kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they are wasted and desolate, as at this day.


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Therefore now thus says the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel; Wherefore commit all of you this great evil against your souls, to cut off from you man and woman, child and nursing infant, out of Judah, to leave you none to remain;


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In that all of you provoke me unto wrath with the works of your hands, burning incense unto other gods in the land of Egypt, where all of you be gone to dwell, that all of you might cut yourselves off, and that all of you might be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth?


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Have all of you forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, and the wickedness of the kings of Judah, and the wickedness of their wives, and your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives, which they have committed in the land of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem?


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They are not humbled even unto this day, neither have they feared, nor walked in my law, nor in my statutes, that I set before you and before your fathers.


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Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will set my face against you for evil, and to cut off all Judah.


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And I will take the remnant of Judah, that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, and they shall all be consumed, and fall in the land of Egypt; they shall even be consumed by the sword and by the famine: they shall die, from the least even unto the greatest, by the sword and by the famine: and they shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach.


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For I will punish them that dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence:


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So that none of the remnant of Judah, which are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall escape or remain, that they should return into the land of Judah, to the which they have a desire to return to dwell there: for none shall return but such as shall escape.


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Then all the men which knew that their wives had burned incense unto other gods, and all the women that stood by, a great multitude, even all the people that dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying,


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But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goes forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil.


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But since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine.


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And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out drink offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings unto her, without our men?


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Then Jeremiah said unto all the people, to the men, and to the women, and to all the people which had given him that answer, saying,


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The incense that all of you burned in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, all of you, and your fathers, your kings, and your princes, and the people of the land, did not the LORD remember them, and came it not into his mind?


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So that the LORD could no longer bear, because of the evil of your doings, and because of the abominations which all of you have committed; therefore is your land a desolation, and an astonishment, and a curse, without an inhabitant, as at this day.


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Because all of you have burned incense, and because all of you have sinned against the LORD, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD, nor walked in his law, nor in his statutes, nor in his testimonies; therefore this evil is happened unto you, as at this day.


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Moreover Jeremiah said unto all the people, and to all the women, Hear the word of the LORD, all Judah that are in the land of Egypt:


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Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying; All of you and your wives have both spoken with your mouths, and fulfilled with your hand, saying, We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her: all of you will surely accomplish your vows, and surely perform your vows.


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Therefore hear all of you the word of the LORD, all Judah that dwell in the land of Egypt; Behold, I have sworn by my great name, says the LORD, that my name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, The Lord GOD lives.


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Behold, I will watch over them for evil, and not for good: and all the men of Judah that are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine, until there be an end of them.


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Yet a small number that escape the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah, and all the remnant of Judah, that are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall know whose words shall stand, mine, or their's.


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And this shall be a sign unto you, says the LORD, that I will punish you in this place, that all of you may know that my words shall surely stand against you for evil:


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Thus says the LORD; Behold, I will give Pharaohhophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of them that seek his life; as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, his enemy, and that sought his life.


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The word that Jeremiah the prophet spoke unto Baruch the son of Neriah, when he had written these words in a book at the mouth of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, saying,


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You did say, Woe is me now! for the LORD has added grief to my sorrow; I fainted in my sighing, and I find no rest.


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Thus shall you say unto him, The LORD says thus; Behold, that which I have built will I break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up, even this whole land.


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And seek you great things for yourself? seek them not: for, behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, says the LORD: but your life will I give unto you for a prey in all places where you go.


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Against Egypt, against the army of Pharaohnecho king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon stroke in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah.


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Harness the horses; and get up, all of you horsemen, and stand forth with your helmets; polish the spears, and put on the protective armor.


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Wherefore have I seen them dismayed and turned away back? and their mighty ones are beaten down, and are fled swiftly, and look not back: for fear was round about, says the LORD.


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Let not the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape; they shall stumble, and fall toward the north by the river Euphrates.


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Egypt rises up like a flood, and his waters are moved like the rivers; and he says, I will go up, and will cover the earth; I will destroy the city and the inhabitants thereof.


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Come up, all of you horses; and rage, all of you chariots; and let the mighty men come forth; the Ethiopians and the Libyans, that handle the shield; and the Lydians, that handle and bend the bow.


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For this is the day of the Lord GOD of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries: and the sword shall devour, and it shall be satiate and made drunk with their blood: for the Lord GOD of hosts has a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.


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Go up into Gilead, and take balm, O virgin, the daughter of Egypt: in vain shall you use many medicines; for you shall not be cured.


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The nations have heard of your shame, and your cry has filled the land: for the mighty man has stumbled against the mighty, and they are fallen both together.


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The word that the LORD spoke to Jeremiah the prophet, how Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon should come and strike the land of Egypt.


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Declare all of you in Egypt, and publish in Migdol, and publish in Noph and in Tahpanhes: say all of you, Stand fast, and prepare you; for the sword shall devour round about you.


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He made many to fall, yea, one fell upon another: and they said, Arise, and let us go again to our own people, and to the land of our nativity, from the oppressing sword.


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As I live, says the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts, Surely as Tabor is among the mountains, and as Carmel by the sea, so shall he comes.


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O you daughter dwelling in Egypt, furnish yourself to go into captivity: for Noph shall be waste and desolate without an inhabitant.


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Also her hired men are in the midst of her like fatted bullocks; for they also are turned back, and are fled away together: they did not stand, because the day of their calamity was come upon them, and the time of their visitation.


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The voice thereof shall go like a serpent; for they shall march with an army, and come against her with axes, as hewers of wood.


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They shall cut down her forest, says the LORD, though it cannot be searched; because they are more than the grasshoppers, and are innumerable.


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The daughter of Egypt shall be confounded; she shall be delivered into the hand of the people of the north.


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The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says; Behold, I will punish the multitude of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with their gods, and their kings; even Pharaoh, and all them that trust in him:


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And I will deliver them into the hand of those that seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants: and afterward it shall be inhabited, as in the days of old, says the LORD.


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But fear not you, O my servant Jacob, and be not dismayed, O Israel: for, behold, I will save you from far off, and your seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and be in rest and at ease, and none shall make him afraid.


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Fear you not, O Jacob my servant, says the LORD: for I am with you; for I will make a full end of all the nations where I have driven you: but I will not make a full end of you, but correct you in measure; yet will I not leave you wholly unpunished.


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The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Philistines, before that Pharaoh stroke Gaza.


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Thus says the LORD; Behold, waters rise up out of the north, and shall be an overflowing flood, and shall overflow the land, and all that is therein; the city, and them that dwell therein: then the men shall cry, and all the inhabitants of the land shall wail.


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At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his strong horses, at the rushing of his chariots, and at the rumbling of his wheels, the fathers shall not look back to their children for feebleness of hands;


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Because of the day that comes to spoil all the Philistines, and to cut off from Tyrus and Zidon every helper that remains: for the LORD will spoil the Philistines, the remnant of the country of Caphtor.


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Baldness has come upon Gaza; Ashkelon is cut off with the remnant of their valley: how long will you cut yourself?


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O you sword of the LORD, how long will it be before you be quiet? put up yourself into your scabbard, rest, and be still.


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How can it be quiet, seeing the LORD has given it a charge against Ashkelon, and against the sea shore? there has he appointed it.


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Against Moab thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Woe unto Nebo! for it is spoiled: Kiriathaim is confounded and taken: Misgab is confounded and dismayed.


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There shall be no more praise of Moab: in Heshbon they have devised evil against it; come, and let us cut it off from being a nation. Also you shall be cut down, O Madmen; the sword shall pursue you.


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For in the going up of Luhith continual weeping shall go up; for in the going down of Horonaim the enemies have heard a cry of destruction.


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For because you have trusted in your works and in your treasures, you shall also be taken: and Chemosh shall go forth into captivity with his priests and his princes together.


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And the spoiler shall come upon every city, and no city shall escape: the valley also shall perish, and the plain shall be destroyed, as the LORD has spoken.


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Give wings unto Moab, that it may flee and get away: for the cities thereof shall be desolate, without any to dwell therein.


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Cursed be he that does the work of the LORD deceitfully, and cursed be he that keeps back his sword from blood.


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Moab has been at ease from his youth, and he has settled on his sediments of wine, and has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither has he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent is not changed.


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Therefore, behold, the days come, says the LORD, that I will send unto him wanderers, that shall cause him to wander, and shall empty his vessels, and break their bottles.


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And Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel their confidence.


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Moab is spoiled, and gone up out of her cities, and his chosen young men are gone down to the slaughter, says the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts.


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All you that are about him, lament for him; and all you that know his name, say, How is the strong staff broken, and the beautiful rod!


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You daughter that do inhabit Dibon, come down from your glory, and sit in thirst; for the spoiler of Moab shall come upon you, and he shall destroy your strong holds.


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O inhabitant of Aroer, stand by the way, and monitor; ask him that flees, and her that escapes, and say, What is done?


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Moab is confounded; for it is broken down: wail and cry; tell all of you it in Arnon, that Moab is spoiled,


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Make all of you him drunken: for he magnified himself against the LORD: Moab also shall wallow in his vomit, and he also shall be in derision.


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For was not Israel a derision unto you? was he found among thieves? for since you spoke of him, you skipped for joy.


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O all of you that dwell in Moab, leave the cities, and dwell in the rock, and be like the dove that makes her nest in the sides of the hole's mouth.


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We have heard the pride of Moab, (he is exceeding proud) his loftiness, and his arrogancy, and his pride, and the haughtiness of his heart.


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Therefore will I wail for Moab, and I will cry out for all Moab; mine heart shall mourn for the men of Kirheres.


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O vine of Sibmah, I will weep for you with the weeping of Jazer: your plants are gone over the sea, they reach even to the sea of Jazer: the spoiler is fallen upon your summer fruits and upon your vintage.


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And joy and gladness is taken from the plentiful field, and from the land of Moab, and I have caused wine to fail from the winepresses: none shall tread with shouting; their shouting shall be no shouting.


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From the cry of Heshbon even unto Elealeh, and even unto Jahaz, have they uttered their voice, from Zoar even unto Horonaim, as an heifer of three years old: for the waters also of Nimrim shall be desolate.


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Moreover I will cause to cease in Moab, says the LORD, him that offers in the high places, and him that burns incense to his gods.


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Therefore mine heart shall sound for Moab like pipes, and mine heart shall sound like pipes for the men of Kirheres: because the riches that he has got are perished.


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For every head shall be bald, and every beard clipped: upon all the hands shall be cuttings, and upon the loins sackcloth.


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There shall be lamentation generally upon all the housetops of Moab, and in the streets thereof: for I have broken Moab like a vessel wherein is no pleasure, says the LORD.


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They shall wail, saying, How is it broken down! how has Moab turned the back with shame! so shall Moab be a derision and a dismaying to all them about him.


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Kerioth is taken, and the strong holds are surprised, and the mighty men's hearts in Moab at that day shall be as the heart of a woman in her pangs.


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He that flees from the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that gets up out of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for I will bring upon it, even upon Moab, the year of their visitation, says the LORD.


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They that fled stood under the shadow of Heshbon because of the force: but a fire shall come forth out of Heshbon, and a flame from the midst of Sihon, and shall devour the corner of Moab, and the crown of the head of the tumultuous ones.


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Woe be unto you, O Moab! the people of Chemosh perishes: for your sons are taken captives, and your daughters captives.


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Yet will I bring again the captivity of Moab in the latter days, says the LORD. Thus far is the judgment of Moab.


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Concerning the Ammonites, thus says the LORD; Has Israel no sons? has he no heir? why then does their king inherit Gad, and his people dwell in his cities?


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Therefore, behold, the days come, says the LORD, that I will cause an alarm of war to be heard in Rabbah of the Ammonites; and it shall be a desolate heap, and her daughters shall be burned with fire: then shall Israel be heir unto them that were his heirs, says the LORD.


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Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai is spoiled: cry, all of you daughters of Rabbah, gird you with sackcloth; lament, and run back and forth by the hedges; for their king shall go into captivity, and his priests and his princes together.


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Wherefore glory you in the valleys, your flowing valley, O backsliding daughter? that trusted in her treasures, saying, Who shall come unto me?


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Behold, I will bring a fear upon you, says the Lord GOD of hosts, from all those that be about you; and all of you shall be driven out every man right forth; and none shall gather up him that wanders.


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Concerning Edom, thus says the LORD of hosts; Is wisdom no more in Teman? is counsel perished from the prudent? is their wisdom vanished?


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Flee all of you, turn back, dwell deep, O inhabitants of Dedan; for I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him, the time that I will visit him.


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If grape-gatherers come to you, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? if thieves by night, they will destroy till they have enough.


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But I have made Esau bare, I have uncovered his secret places, and he shall not be able to hide himself: his seed is spoiled, and his brethren, and his neighbours, and he is not.


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For thus says the LORD; Behold, they whose judgment was not to drink of the cup have assuredly drunken; and are you he that shall altogether go unpunished? you shall not go unpunished, but you shall surely drink of it.


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For I have sworn by myself, says the LORD, that Bozrah shall become a desolation, a reproach, a waste, and a curse; and all the cities thereof shall be perpetual wastes.


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I have heard a rumour from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent unto the heathen, saying, Gather all of you together, and come against her, and rise up to the battle.


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Your terribleness has deceived you, and the pride of yours heart, O you that dwell in the clefts of the rock, that hold the height of the hill: though you should make your nest as high as the eagle, I will bring you down from thence, says the LORD.


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Also Edom shall be a desolation: every one that goes by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss at all the plagues thereof.


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As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof, says the LORD, no man shall abide there, neither shall a son of man dwell in it.


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Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan against the habitation of the strong: but I will suddenly make him run away from her: and who is a chosen man, that I may appoint over her? for who is like me? and who will appoint me the time? and who is that shepherd that will stand before me?


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Therefore hear the counsel of the LORD, that he has taken against Edom; and his purposes, that he has purposed against the inhabitants of Teman: Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out: surely he shall make their habitations desolate with them.


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The earth is moved at the noise of their fall, at the cry the noise thereof was heard in the Red sea.


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Behold, he shall come up and fly as the eagle, and spread his wings over Bozrah: and at that day shall the heart of the mighty men of Edom be as the heart of a woman in her pangs.


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Concerning Damascus. Hamath is confounded, and Arpad: for they have heard evil tidings: they are fainthearted; there is sorrow on the sea; it cannot be quiet.


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Damascus is waxed feeble, and turns herself to flee, and fear has seized on her: anguish and sorrows have taken her, as a woman in travail.


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Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be cut off in that day, says the LORD of hosts.


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Concerning Kedar, and concerning the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon shall strike, thus says the LORD; Arise all of you, go up to Kedar, and spoil the men of the east.


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Their tents and their flocks shall they take away: they shall take to themselves their curtains, and all their vessels, and their camels; and they shall cry unto them, Fear is on every side.


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Flee, get you far off, dwell deep, O all of you inhabitants of Hazor, says the LORD; for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon has taken counsel against you, and has conceived a purpose against you.


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Arise, get you up unto the wealthy nation, that dwells without care, says the LORD, which have neither gates nor bars, which dwell alone.


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And their camels shall be a booty, and the multitude of their cattle a spoil: and I will scatter into all winds them that are in the utmost corners; and I will bring their calamity from all sides thereof, says the LORD.


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And Hazor shall be a dwelling for dragons, and a desolation for ever: there shall no man abide there, nor any son of man dwell in it.


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The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet against Elam in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying,


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And upon Elam will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven, and will scatter them toward all those winds; and there shall be no nation where the outcasts of Elam shall not come.


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For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies, and before them that seek their life: and I will bring evil upon them, even my fierce anger, says the LORD; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them:


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And I will set my throne in Elam, and will destroy from thence the king and the princes, says the LORD.


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But it shall come to pass in the latter days, that I will bring again the captivity of Elam, says the LORD.


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The word that the LORD spoke against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet.


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Declare all of you among the nations, and publish, and set up a standard; publish, and conceal not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces.


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For out of the north there comes up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they shall remove, they shall depart, both man and beast.


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In those days, and in that time, says the LORD, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping: they shall go, and seek the LORD their God.


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They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces in that direction, saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to the LORD in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.


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My people has been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their resting place.


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All that found them have devoured them: and their adversaries said, We offend not, because they have sinned against the LORD, the habitation of justice, even the LORD, the hope of their fathers.


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Remove out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the he goats before the flocks.


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For, lo, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the north country: and they shall set themselves in array against her; from thence she shall be taken: their arrows shall be as of a mighty expert man; none shall return in vain.


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Because all of you were glad, because all of you rejoiced, O all of you destroyers of mine heritage, because all of you are grown fat as the heifer at grass, and bellow as bulls;


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Your mother shall be sore confounded; she that bare you shall be ashamed: behold, the hindermost of the nations shall be a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.


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Because of the wrath of the LORD it shall not be inhabited, but it shall be wholly desolate: every one that goes by Babylon shall be astonished, and hiss at all her plagues.


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Put yourselves in array against Babylon round about: all you that bend the bow, shoot at her, spare no arrows: for she has sinned against the LORD.


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Shout against her round about: she has given her hand: her foundations are fallen, her walls are thrown down: for it is the vengeance of the LORD: take vengeance upon her; as she has done, do unto her.


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Cut off the sower from Babylon, and him that handles the sickle in the time of harvest: for fear of the oppressing sword they shall turn every one to his people, and they shall flee every one to his own land.


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Israel is a scattered sheep; the lions have driven him away: first the king of Assyria has devoured him; and last this Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon has broken his bones.


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Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria.


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And I will bring Israel again to his habitation, and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied upon mount Ephraim and Gilead.


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In those days, and in that time, says the LORD, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon them whom I reserve.


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Go up against the land of Merathaim, even against it, and against the inhabitants of Pekod: waste and utterly destroy after them, says the LORD, and do according to all that I have commanded you.


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How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken! how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations!


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I have laid a snare for you, and you are also taken, O Babylon, and you were not aware: you are found, and also caught, because you have striven against the LORD.


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The LORD has opened his armoury, and has brought forth the weapons of his indignation: for this is the work of the Lord GOD of hosts in the land of the Chaldeans.


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Come against her from the utmost border, open her storehouses: cast her up as heaps, and destroy her utterly: let nothing of her be left.


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Slay all her bullocks; let them go down to the slaughter: woe unto them! for their day has come, the time of their visitation.


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The voice of them that flee and escape out of the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of the LORD our God, the vengeance of his temple.


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Call together the archers against Babylon: all you that bend the bow, camp against it round about; let none thereof escape: recompense her according to her work; according to all that she has done, do unto her: for she has been proud against the LORD, against the Holy One of Israel.


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Therefore shall her young men fall in the streets, and all her men of war shall be cut off in that day, says the LORD.


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Behold, I am against you, O you most proud, says the Lord GOD of hosts: for your day has come, the time that I will visit you.


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And the most proud shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise him up: and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all round about him.


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Thus says the LORD of hosts; The children of Israel and the children of Judah were oppressed together: and all that took them captives held them fast; they refused to let them go.


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Their Redeemer is strong; the LORD of hosts is his name: he shall thoroughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the land, and trouble the inhabitants of Babylon.


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A sword is upon the Chaldeans, says the LORD, and upon the inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her princes, and upon her wise men.


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A sword is upon the liars; and they shall be foolish: a sword is upon her mighty men; and they shall be dismayed.


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A sword is upon their horses, and upon their chariots, and upon all the mingled people that are in the midst of her; and they shall become as women: a sword is upon her treasures; and they shall be robbed.


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A drought is upon her waters; and they shall be dried up: for it is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols.


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Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts of the islands shall dwell there, and the owls shall dwell therein: and it shall be no more inhabited for ever; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation.


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As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof, says the LORD; so shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein.


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Behold, a people shall come from the north, and a great nation, and many kings shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth.


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They shall hold the bow and the lance: they are cruel, and will not show mercy: their voice shall roar like the sea, and they shall ride upon horses, every one put in array, like a man to the battle, against you, O daughter of Babylon.


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The king of Babylon has heard the report of them, and his hands waxed feeble: anguish took hold of him, and pangs as of a woman in travail.


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Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan unto the habitation of the strong: but I will make them suddenly run away from her: and who is a chosen man, that I may appoint over her? for who is like me? and who will appoint me the time? and who is that shepherd that will stand before me?


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Therefore hear all of you the counsel of the LORD, that he has taken against Babylon; and his purposes, that he has purposed against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out: surely he shall make their habitation desolate with them.


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Thus says the LORD; Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against them that dwell in the midst of them that rise up against me, a destroying wind;


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And will send unto Babylon fanners, that shall fan her, and shall empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about.


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Against him that bends let the archer bend his bow, and against him that lifts himself up in his brigandine: and spare all of you not her young men; destroy all of you utterly all her host.


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Thus the slain shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans, and they that are thrust through in her streets.


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For Israel has not been forsaken, nor Judah of his God, of the LORD of hosts; though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel.


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Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for this is the time of the LORD's vengeance; he will render unto her a recompence.


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Babylon has been a golden cup in the LORD's hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad.


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Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: wail for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.


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We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go every one into his own country: for her judgment reachs unto heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies.


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The LORD has brought forth our righteousness: come, and let us declare in Zion the work of the LORD our God.


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Make bright the arrows; gather the shields: the LORD has raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes: for his device is against Babylon, to destroy it; because it is the vengeance of the LORD, the vengeance of his temple.


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Set up the standard upon the walls of Babylon, make the watch strong, set up the watchmen, prepare the ambushes: for the LORD has both devised and done that which he spoke against the inhabitants of Babylon.


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O you that dwell upon many waters, abundant in treasures, yours end has come, and the measure of your covetousness.


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The LORD of hosts has sworn by himself, saying, Surely I will fill you with men, as with caterpillars; and they shall lift up a shout against you.


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


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


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Every man is brutish by his knowledge; every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.


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


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You are my battle axe and weapons of war: for with you will I break in pieces the nations, and with you will I destroy kingdoms;


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And with you will I break in pieces the horse and his rider; and with you will I break in pieces the chariot and his rider;


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With you also will I break in pieces man and woman; and with you will I break in pieces old and young; and with you will I break in pieces the young man and the maid;


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I will also break in pieces with you the shepherd and his flock; and with you will I break in pieces the farmer and his yoke of oxen; and with you will I break in pieces captains and rulers.


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And I will render unto Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight, says the LORD.


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Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain, says the LORD, which destroys all the earth: and I will stretch out mine hand upon you, and roll you down from the rocks, and will make you a burnt mountain.


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And they shall not take of you a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but you shall be desolate for ever, says the LORD.


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Set all of you up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, prepare the nations against her, call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz; appoint a captain against her; cause the horses to come up as the rough caterpillars.


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Prepare against her the nations with the kings of the Medes, the captains thereof, and all the rulers thereof, and all the land of his dominion.


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And the land shall tremble and sorrow: for every purpose of the LORD shall be performed against Babylon, to make the land of Babylon a desolation without an inhabitant.


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The mighty men of Babylon have ceased to fight, they have remained in their holds: their might has failed; they became as women: they have burned her dwelling places; her bars are broken.


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One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken at every quarter,


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And that the passages are stopped, and the reeds they have burned with fire, and the men of war are affrighted.


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For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor, it is time to thresh her: yet a little while, and the time of her harvest shall come.


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Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me, he has crushed me, he has made me an empty vessel, he has swallowed me up like a dragon, he has filled his belly with my delicates, he has cast me out.


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The violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon, shall the inhabitant of Zion say; and my blood upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say.


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Therefore thus says the LORD; Behold, I will plead your cause, and take vengeance for you; and I will dry up her sea, and make her springs dry.


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And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwelling place for dragons, an astonishment, and an hissing, without an inhabitant.


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In their heat I will make their feasts, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, says the LORD.


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How is Sheshach taken! and how is the praise of the whole earth surprised! how is Babylon become an astonishment among the nations!


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Her cities are a desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness, a land wherein no man dwells, neither does any son of man pass thereby.


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And I will punish Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he has swallowed up: and the nations shall not flow together any more unto him: yea, the wall of Babylon shall fall.


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My people, go all of you out of the midst of her, and deliver all of you every man his soul from the fierce anger of the LORD.


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And lest your heart faint, and all of you fear for the rumour that shall be heard in the land; a rumour shall both come one year, and after that in another year shall come a rumour, and violence in the land, ruler against ruler.


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Therefore, behold, the days come, that I will do judgment upon the graven images of Babylon: and her whole land shall be confounded, and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her.


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Then the heaven and the earth, and all that is therein, shall sing for Babylon: for the spoilers shall come unto her from the north, says the LORD.


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As Babylon has caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all the earth.


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All of you that have escaped the sword, go away, stand not still: remember the LORD far off, and let Jerusalem come into your mind.


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We are confounded, because we have heard reproach: shame has covered our faces: for strangers are come into the sanctuaries of the LORD's house.


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Wherefore, behold, the days come, says the LORD, that I will do judgment upon her graven images: and through all her land the wounded shall groan.


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Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me shall spoilers come unto her, says the LORD.


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Because the LORD has spoiled Babylon, and destroyed out of her the great voice; when her waves do roar like great waters, a noise of their voice is uttered:


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Because the spoiler has come upon her, even upon Babylon, and her mighty men are taken, every one of their bows is broken: for the LORD God of recompences shall surely requite.


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And I will make drunk her princes, and her wise men, her captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men: and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, says the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts.


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Thus says the LORD of hosts; The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and the people shall labour in vain, and the folk in the fire, and they shall be weary.


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The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah into Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. And this Seraiah was a quiet prince.


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So Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come upon Babylon, even all these words that are written against Babylon.


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And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When you come to Babylon, and shall see, and shall read all these words;


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Then shall you say, O LORD, you have spoken against this place, to cut it off, that none shall remain in it, neither man nor beast, but that it shall be desolate for ever.


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And it shall be, when you have made an end of reading this book, that you shall bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of Euphrates:


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And you shall say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring upon her: and they shall be weary. Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.


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Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.


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For through the anger of the LORD it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, till he had cast them out from his presence, that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.


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And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it, and built forts against it round about.


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And in the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the famine was sore in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land.


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Then the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled, and went forth out of the city by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king's garden; (now the Chaldeans were by the city round about:) and they went by the way of the plain.


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But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him.


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Then they took the king, and carried him up unto the king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath; where he gave judgment upon him.


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And the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes: he slew also all the princes of Judah in Riblah.


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Then he put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him in chains, and carried him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death.


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Now in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, which served the king of Babylon, into Jerusalem,


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And burned the house of the LORD, and the king's house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, and all the houses of the great men, burned he with fire:


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And all the army of the Chaldeans, that were with the captain of the guard, brake down all the walls of Jerusalem round about.


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Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive certain of the poor of the people, and the residue of the people that remained in the city, and those that fell away, that fell to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude.


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But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left certain of the poor of the land for vinedressers and for husbandmen.


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Also the pillars of brass that were in the house of the LORD, and the bases, and the brazen sea that was in the house of the LORD, the Chaldeans brake, and carried all the brass of them to Babylon.


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The caldrons also, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the bowls, and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass wherewith they ministered, took they away.


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And the basons, and the fire-pans, and the bowls, and the caldrons, and the candlesticks, and the spoons, and the cups; that which was of gold in gold, and that which was of silver in silver, took the captain of the guard away.


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The two pillars, one sea, and twelve brazen bulls that were under the bases, which king Solomon had made in the house of the LORD: the brass of all these vessels was without weight.


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And concerning the pillars, the height of one pillar was eighteen cubits; and a fastener of twelve cubits did compass it; and the thickness thereof was four fingers: it was hollow.


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And a capital of brass was upon it; and the height of one capital was five cubits, with network and pomegranates upon the capitals round about, all of brass. The second pillar also and the pomegranates were like unto these.


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And there were ninety and six pomegranates on a side; and all the pomegranates upon the network were an hundred round about.


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He took also out of the city an eunuch, which had the charge of the men of war; and seven men of them that were near the king's person, which were found in the city; and the principal scribe of the host, who mustered the people of the land; and threescore men of the people of the land, that were found in the midst of the city.


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So Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah.


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And the king of Babylon stroke them, and put them to death in Riblah in the land of Hamath. Thus Judah was carried away captive out of his own land.


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This is the people whom Nebuchadrezzar carried away captive: in the seventh year three thousand Jews and three and twenty:


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In the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar he carried away captive from Jerusalem eight hundred thirty and two persons:


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In the three and twentieth year of Nebuchadrezzar Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the Jews seven hundred forty and five persons: all the persons were four thousand and six hundred.


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And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, in the five and twentieth day of the month, that Evilmerodach king of Babylon in the first year of his reign lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah, and brought him forth out of prison.


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And spoke kindly unto him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon,


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And changed his prison garments: and he did continually eat bread before him all the days of his life.


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And for his diet, there was a continual diet given him of the king of Babylon, every day a portion until the day of his death, all the days of his life.


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How does the city sit solitary, that was full of people! how is she become as a widow! she that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary!


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She weeps sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks: among all her lovers she has none to comfort her: all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they are become her enemies.


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Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction, and because of great servitude: she dwells among the heathen, she finds no rest: all her persecutors overtook her between the straits.


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The ways of Zion do mourn, because none come to the solemn feasts: all her gates are desolate: her priests sigh, her virgins are afflicted, and she is in bitterness.


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Her adversaries are the chief, her enemies prosper; for the LORD has afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions: her children are gone into captivity before the enemy.


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And from the daughter of Zion all her beauty is departed: her princes are become like harts that find no pasture, and they are gone without strength before the pursuer.


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Jerusalem remembered in the days of her affliction and of her miseries all her pleasant things that she had in the days of old, when her people fell into the hand of the enemy, and none did help her: the adversaries saw her, and did mock at her sabbaths.


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Jerusalem has grievously sinned; therefore she is removed: all that honoured her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness: yea, she sighs, and turns backward.


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Her filthiness is in her skirts; she remembers not her last end; therefore she came down wonderfully: she had no comforter. O LORD, behold my affliction: for the enemy has magnified himself.


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The adversary has spread out his hand upon all her pleasant things: for she has seen that the heathen entered into her sanctuary, whom you did command that they should not enter into your congregation.


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All her people sigh, they seek bread; they have given their pleasant things for food to relieve the soul: see, O LORD, and consider; for I am become vile.


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Is it nothing to you, all you that pass by? behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the LORD has afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger.


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From above has he sent fire into my bones, and it prevails against them: he has spread a net for my feet, he has turned me back: he has made me desolate and faint all the day.


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The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand: they are wreathed, and come up upon my neck: he has made my strength to fall, the LORD has delivered me into their hands, from whom I am not able to rise up.


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The LORD has trodden under foot all my mighty men in the midst of me: he has called an assembly against me to crush my young men: the LORD has trodden the virgin, the daughter of Judah, as in a winepress.


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For these things I weep; mine eye, mine eye runs down with water, because the comforter that should relieve my soul is far from me: my children are desolate, because the enemy prevailed.


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Zion spreads forth her hands, and there is none to comfort her: the LORD has commanded concerning Jacob, that his adversaries should be round about him: Jerusalem is as a menstruous woman among them.


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The LORD is righteous; for I have rebelled against his commandment: hear, I pray you, all people, and behold my sorrow: my virgins and my young men are gone into captivity.


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I called for my lovers, but they deceived me: my priests and mine elders gave up the spirit in the city, while they sought their food to relieve their souls.


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Behold, O LORD; for I am in distress: my bowels are troubled; mine heart is turned within me; for I have grievously rebelled: abroad the sword bereaves, at home there is as death.


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They have heard that I sigh: there is none to comfort me: all mine enemies have heard of my trouble; they are glad that you have done it: you will bring the day that you have called, and they shall be like unto me.


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Let all their wickedness come before you; and do unto them, as you have done unto me for all my transgressions: for my sighs are many, and my heart is faint.


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How has the LORD covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger, and cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel, and remembered not his footstool in the day of his anger!


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The LORD has swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob, and has not pitied: he has thrown down in his wrath the strong holds of the daughter of Judah; he has brought them down to the ground: he has polluted the kingdom and the princes thereof.


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He has cut off in his fierce anger all the horn of Israel: he has drawn back his right hand from before the enemy, and he burned against Jacob like a flaming fire, which devours round about.


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He has bent his bow like an enemy: he stood with his right hand as an adversary, and slew all that were pleasant to the eye in the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion: he poured out his fury like fire.


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The LORD was as an enemy: he has swallowed up Israel, he has swallowed up all her palaces: he has destroyed his strong holds, and has increased in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation.


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And he has violently taken away his tabernacle, as if it were of a garden: he has destroyed his places of the assembly: the LORD has caused the solemn feasts and sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion, and has despised in the indignation of his anger the king and the priest.


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The LORD has cast off his altar, he has abhorred his sanctuary, he has given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces; they have made a noise in the house of the LORD, as in the day of a solemn feast.


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The LORD has purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion: he has stretched out a line, he has not withdrawn his hand from destroying: therefore he made the rampart and the wall to lament; they languished together.


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Her gates are sunk into the ground; he has destroyed and broken her bars: her king and her princes are among the Gentiles: the law is no more; her prophets also find no vision from the LORD.


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The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground, and keep silence: they have cast up dust upon their heads; they have girded themselves with sackcloth: the virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.


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Mine eyes do fail with tears, my bowels are troubled, my liver is poured upon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of my people; because the children and the infants swoon in the streets of the city.


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They say to their mothers, Where is corn and wine? when they swooned as the wounded in the streets of the city, when their soul was poured out into their mothers' bosom.


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What thing shall I take to witness for you? what thing shall I liken to you, O daughter of Jerusalem? what shall I equal to you, that I may comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion? for your breach is great like the sea: who can heal you?


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Your prophets have seen vain and foolish things for you: and they have not discovered yours iniquity, to turn away your captivity; but have seen for you false burdens and causes of banishment.


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All that pass by clap their hands at you; they hiss and shake their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, Is this the city that men call The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth?


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All yours enemies have opened their mouth against you: they hiss and gnash the teeth: they say, We have swallowed her up: certainly this is the day that we looked for; we have found, we have seen it.


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The LORD has done that which he had devised; he has fulfilled his word that he had commanded in the days of old: he has thrown down, and has not pitied: and he has caused yours enemy to rejoice over you, he has set up the horn of yours adversaries.


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Their heart cried unto the LORD, O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night: give yourself no rest; let not the apple of yours eye cease.


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Arise, cry out in the night: in the beginning of the watches pour out yours heart like water before the face of the LORD: lift up your hands toward him for the life of your young children, that faint for hunger in the top of every street.


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Behold, O LORD, and consider to whom you have done this. Shall the women eat their fruit, and children of a span long? shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord?


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The young and the old lie on the ground in the streets: my virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword; you have slain them in the day of yours anger; you have killed, and not pitied.


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You have called as in a solemn day my terrors round about, so that in the day of the LORD's anger none escaped nor remained: those that I have swaddled and brought up has mine enemy consumed.


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How is the gold become dim! how is the most fine gold changed! the stones of the sanctuary are poured out in the top of every street.


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The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter!


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Even the sea monsters draw out the breast, they give suck to their young ones: the daughter of my people is become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness.


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The tongue of the nursing infant cleaves to the roof of his mouth for thirst: the young children ask bread, and no man breaks it unto them.


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They that did feed delicately are desolate in the streets: they that were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills.


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For the punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom, that was overthrown as in a moment, and no hands stayed on her.


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Her Nazarites were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk, they were more rosy in body than rubies, their polishing was of sapphire:


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Their visage is blacker than a coal; they are not known in the streets: their skin cleaves to their bones; it is withered, it is become like a stick.


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They that be slain with the sword are better than they that be slain with hunger: for these pine away, stricken through for lack of the fruits of the field.


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The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children: they were their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people.


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The LORD has accomplished his fury; he has poured out his fierce anger, and has kindled a fire in Zion, and it has devoured the foundations thereof.


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The kings of the earth, and all the inhabitants of the world, would not have believed that the adversary and the enemy should have entered into the gates of Jerusalem.


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For the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests, that have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her,


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They have wandered as blind men in the streets, they have polluted themselves with blood, so that men could not touch their garments.


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They cried unto them, Depart all of you; it is unclean; depart, depart, touch not: when they fled away and wandered, they said among the heathen, They shall no more sojourn there.


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The anger of the LORD has divided them; he will no more regard them: they respected not the persons of the priests, they favoured not the elders.


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As for us, our eyes as yet failed for our vain help: in our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save us.


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They hunt our steps, that we cannot go in our streets: our end is near, our days are fulfilled; for our end has come.


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Our persecutors are swifter than the eagles of the heaven: they pursued us upon the mountains, they laid wait for us in the wilderness.


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The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the LORD, was taken in their pits, of whom we said, Under his shadow we shall live among the heathen.


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Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, that dwell in the land of Uz; the cup also shall pass through unto you: you shall be drunken, and shall make yourself naked.


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The punishment of yours iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Zion; he will no more carry you away into captivity: he will visit yours iniquity, O daughter of Edom; he will discover your sins.


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Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.


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The word of the LORD came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of the LORD was there upon him.


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And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire setting itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire.


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Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man.


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And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf's foot: and they sparkled like the colour of burnished brass.


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And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and they four had their faces and their wings.


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Their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward.


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As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle.


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Thus were their faces: and their wings were stretched upward; two wings of every one were joined one to another, and two covered their bodies.


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And they went every one straight forward: where the spirit was to go, they went; and they turned not when they went.


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As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps: it went up and down among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning.


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Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold one wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, with his four faces.


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The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.


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As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes round about them four.


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And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them: and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up.


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Anywhere the spirit was to go, they went, thither was their spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up opposite to them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.


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When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up opposite to them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.


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And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creature was as the colour of the terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads above.


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And under the firmament were their wings straight, the one toward the other: every one had two, which covered on this side, and every one had two, which covered on that side, their bodies.


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And when they went, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the voice of speech, as the noise of an host: when they stood, they let down their wings.


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And there was a voice from the firmament that was over their heads, when they stood, and had let down their wings.


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And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it.


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And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about.


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As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spoke.


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And the spirit entered into me when he spoke unto me, and set me upon my feet, that I heard him that spoke unto me.


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And he said unto me, Son of man, I send you to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me: they and their fathers have transgressed against me, even unto this very day.


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For they are shameless children and stiff hearted. I do send you unto them; and you shall say unto them, Thus says the Lord GOD.


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And they, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, (for they are a rebellious house,) yet shall know that there has been a prophet among them.


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And you, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns be with you, and you do dwell among scorpions: be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.


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And you shall speak my words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear: for they are most rebellious.


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But you, son of man, hear what I say unto you; Be not you rebellious like that rebellious house: open your mouth, and eat that I give you.


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And he spread it before me; and it was written within and without: and there was written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe.


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Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, eat that you find; eat this roll, and go speak unto the house of Israel.


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And he said unto me, Son of man, cause your belly to eat, and fill your bowels with this roll that I give you. Then did I eat it; and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness.


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And he said unto me, Son of man, go, get you unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them.


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For you are not sent to a people of a strange speech and of an hard language, but to the house of Israel;


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Not to many people of a strange speech and of an hard language, whose words you can not understand. Surely, had I sent you to them, they would have hearkened unto you.


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But the house of Israel will not hearken unto you; for they will not hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are shameless and hardhearted.


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Behold, I have made your face strong against their faces, and your forehead strong against their foreheads.


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As an adamant harder than flint have I made your forehead: fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.


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Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, all my words that I shall speak unto you receive in yours heart, and hear with yours ears.


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And go, get you to them of the captivity, unto the children of your people, and speak unto them, and tell them, Thus says the Lord GOD; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear.


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Then the spirit took me up, and I heard behind me a voice of a great rushing, saying, Blessed be the glory of the LORD from his place.


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I heard also the noise of the wings of the living creatures that touched one another, and the noise of the wheels opposite to them, and a noise of a great rushing.


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So the spirit lifted me up, and took me away, and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; but the hand of the LORD was strong upon me.


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Then I came to them of the captivity at Telabib, that dwelt by the river of Chebar, and I sat where they sat, and remained there astonished among them seven days.


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Son of man, I have made you a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.


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When I say unto the wicked, You shall surely die; and you give him not warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at yours hand.


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Yet if you warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul.


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Again, When a righteous man does turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling-block before him, he shall die: because you have not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at yours hand.


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Nevertheless if you warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he does not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also you have delivered your soul.


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And the hand of the LORD was there upon me; and he said unto me, Arise, go forth into the plain, and I will there talk with you.


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Then I arose, and went forth into the plain: and, behold, the glory of the LORD stood there, as the glory which I saw by the river of Chebar: and I fell on my face.


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Then the spirit entered into me, and set me upon my feet, and spoke with me, and said unto me, Go, shut yourself within yours house.


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But you, O son of man, behold, they shall put bands upon you, and shall bind you with them, and you shall not go out among them:


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And I will make your tongue cleave to the roof of your mouth, that you shall be dumb, and shall not be to them a reprover: for they are a rebellious house.


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But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say unto them, Thus says the Lord GOD; He that hears, let him hear; and he that forbears, let him forbear: for they are a rebellious house.


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You also, son of man, take you a tile, and lay it before you, and illustrate upon it the city, even Jerusalem:


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And lay siege against it, and build a fort against it, and cast a mount against it; set the camp also against it, and set battering rams against it round about.


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Moreover take you unto you an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between you and the city: and set your face against it, and it shall be besieged, and you shall lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel.


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Lie you also upon your left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: according to the number of the days that you shall lie upon it you shall bear their iniquity.


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For I have laid upon you the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shall you bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.


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And when you have accomplished them, lie again on your right side, and you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed you each day for a year.


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Therefore you shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and yours arm shall be uncovered, and you shall prophesy against it.


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And, behold, I will lay bands upon you, and you shall not turn you from one side to another, till you have ended the days of your siege.


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Take you also unto you wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and fitches, and put them in one vessel, and make you bread thereof, according to the number of the days that you shall lie upon your side, three hundred and ninety days shall you eat thereof.


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And your food which you shall eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day: from time to time shall you eat it.


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And you shall eat it as barley cakes, and you shall bake it with dung that comes out of man, in their sight.


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And the LORD said, Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles, where I will drive them.


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Then said I, Ah Lord GOD! behold, my soul has not been polluted: for from my youth up even till now have I not eaten of that which dies of itself, or is torn in pieces; neither came there abominable flesh into my mouth.


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Then he said unto me, Lo, I have given you cow's dung for man's dung, and you shall prepare your bread therewith.


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Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care; and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment:


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That they may lack bread and water, and be astonished one with another, and consume away for their iniquity.


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And you, son of man, take you a sharp knife, take you a barber's razor, and cause it to pass upon yours head and upon your beard: then take you balances to weigh, and divide the hair.


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You shall burn with fire a third part in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled: and you shall take a third part, and strike about it with a knife: and a third part you shall scatter in the wind; and I will draw out a sword after them.


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Then take of them again, and cast them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire; for thereof shall a fire come forth into all the house of Israel.


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Thus says the Lord GOD; This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her.


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And she has changed my judgments into wickedness more than the nations, and my statutes more than the countries that are round about her: for they have refused my judgments and my statutes, they have not walked in them.


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Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; Because all of you multiplied more than the nations that are round about you, and have not walked in my statutes, neither have kept my judgments, neither have done according to the judgments of the nations that are round about you;


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Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, am against you, and will execute judgments in the midst of you in the sight of the nations.


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And I will do in you that which I have not done, and unto which I will not do any more the like, because of all yours abominations.


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Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons in the midst of you, and the sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments in you, and the whole remnant of you will I scatter into all the winds.


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Wherefore, as I live, says the Lord GOD; Surely, because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your detestable things, and with all yours abominations, therefore will I also diminish you; neither shall mine eye spare, neither will I have any pity.


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A third part of you shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of you: and a third part shall fall by the sword round about you; and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them.


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Thus shall mine anger be accomplished, and I will cause my fury to rest upon them, and I will be comforted: and they shall know that I the LORD have spoken it in my zeal, when I have accomplished my fury in them.


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Moreover I will make you waste, and a reproach among the nations that are round about you, in the sight of all that pass by.


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So it shall be a reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an astonishment unto the nations that are round about you, when I shall execute judgments in you in anger and in fury and in furious rebukes. I the LORD have spoken it.


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When I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine, which shall be for their destruction, and which I will send to destroy you: and I will increase the famine upon you, and will break your staff of bread:


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So will I send upon you famine and evil beasts, and they shall bereave you: and pestilence and blood shall pass through you; and I will bring the sword upon you. I the LORD have spoken it.


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And say, All of you mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD; Thus says the Lord GOD to the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys; Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy your high places.


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And your altars shall be desolate, and your images shall be broken: and I will cast down your slain men before your idols.


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And I will lay the dead carcasses of the children of Israel before their idols; and I will scatter your bones round about your altars.


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In all your dwelling places the cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be desolate; that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, and your idols may be broken and cease, and your images may be cut down, and your works may be abolished.


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Yet will I leave a remnant, that all of you may have some that shall escape the sword among the nations, when all of you shall be scattered through the countries.


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And they that escape of you shall remember me among the nations where they shall be carried captives, because I am broken with their whorish heart, which has departed from me, and with their eyes, which go a whoring after their idols: and they shall loathe themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations.


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And they shall know that I am the LORD, and that I have not said in vain that I would do this evil unto them.


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Thus says the Lord GOD; Strike with yours hand, and stamp with your foot, and say, Alas for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel! for they shall fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.


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He that is far off shall die of the pestilence; and he that is near shall fall by the sword; and he that remains and is besieged shall die by the famine: thus will I accomplish my fury upon them.


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Then shall all of you know that I am the LORD, when their slain men shall be among their idols round about their altars, upon every high hill, in all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the place where they did offer sweet savour to all their idols.


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So will I stretch out my hand upon them, and make the land desolate, yea, more desolate than the wilderness toward Diblath, in all their habitations: and they shall know that I am the LORD.


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Also, you son of man, thus says the Lord GOD unto the land of Israel; An end, the end has come upon the four corners of the land.


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Now is the end come upon you, and I will send mine anger upon you, and will judge you according to your ways, and will recompense upon you all yours abominations.


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And mine eye shall not spare you, neither will I have pity: but I will recompense your ways upon you, and yours abominations shall be in the midst of you: and all of you shall know that I am the LORD.


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The morning has come unto you, O you that dwell in the land: the time has come, the day of trouble is near, and not the sounding again of the mountains.


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Now will I shortly pour out my fury upon you, and accomplish mine anger upon you: and I will judge you according to your ways, and will recompense you for all yours abominations.


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And mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: I will recompense you according to your ways and yours abominations that are in the midst of you; and all of you shall know that I am the LORD that strikes.


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Behold the day, behold, it has come: the morning is gone forth; the rod has blossomed, pride has budded.


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Violence has risen up into a rod of wickedness: none of them shall remain, nor of their multitude, nor of any of their's: neither shall there be wailing for them.


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The time has come, the day draws near: let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn: for wrath is upon all the multitude thereof.


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For the seller shall not return to that which is sold, although they were yet alive: for the vision is concerning the whole multitude thereof, which shall not return; neither shall any strengthen himself in the iniquity of his life.


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They have blown the trumpet, even to make all ready; but none goes to the battle: for my wrath is upon all the multitude thereof.


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The sword is without, and the pestilence and the famine within: he that is in the field shall die with the sword; and he that is in the city, famine and pestilence shall devour him.


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But they that escape of them shall escape, and shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, every one for his iniquity.


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They shall also gird themselves with sackcloth, and horror shall cover them; and shame shall be upon all faces, and baldness upon all their heads.


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They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumbling block of their iniquity.


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As for the beauty of his ornament, he set it in majesty: but they made the images of their abominations and of their detestable things therein: therefore have I set it far from them.


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And I will give it into the hands of the strangers for a prey, and to the wicked of the earth for a spoil; and they shall pollute it.


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My face will I turn also from them, and they shall pollute my secret place: for the robbers shall enter into it, and defile it.


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Wherefore I will bring the worst of the heathen, and they shall possess their houses: I will also make the pomp of the strong to cease; and their holy places shall be defiled.


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Mischief shall come upon mischief, and rumour shall be upon rumour; then shall they seek a vision of the prophet; but the law shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the ancients.


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The king shall mourn, and the prince shall be clothed with desolation, and the hands of the people of the land shall be troubled: I will do unto them after their way, and according to their deserts will I judge them; and they shall know that I am the LORD.


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And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in mine house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord GOD fell there upon me.


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Then I beheld, and lo a likeness as the appearance of fire: from the appearance of his loins even downward, fire; and from his loins even upward, as the appearance of brightness, as the colour of amber.


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And he put forth the form of an hand, and took me by a lock of mine head; and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that looks toward the north; where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provokes to jealousy.


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And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to the vision that I saw in the plain.


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Then said he unto me, Son of man, lift up yours eyes now the way toward the north. So I lifted up mine eyes the way toward the north, and behold northward at the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry.


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He said furthermore unto me, Son of man, see you what they do? even the great abominations that the house of Israel commits here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary? but turn you yet again, and you shall see greater abominations.


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Then said he unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall: and when I had dug in the wall, behold a door.


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So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed upon the wall round about.


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And there stood before them seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel, and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, with every man his censer in his hand; and a thick cloud of incense went up.


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Then said he unto me, Son of man, have you seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, the LORD sees us not; the LORD has forsaken the earth.


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Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the LORD's house which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz.


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Then said he unto me, Have you seen this, O son of man? turn you yet again, and you shall see greater abominations than these.


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And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD's house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east.


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Then he said unto me, Have you seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? for they have filled the land with violence, and have returned to provoke me to anger: and, lo, they put the branch to their nose.


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Therefore will I also deal in fury: mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them.


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He cried also in mine ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause them that have charge over the city to draw near, even every man with his destroying weapon in his hand.


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And, behold, six men came from the way of the higher gate, which lies toward the north, and every man a slaughter weapon in his hand; and one man among them was clothed with linen, with a writer's ink holder by his side: and they went in, and stood beside the brazen altar.


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And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon he was, to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer's ink holder by his side;


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And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.


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And to the others he said in mine hearing, Go all of you after him through the city, and strike: let not your eye spare, neither have all of you pity:


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Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house.


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And he said unto them, Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain: go all of you forth. And they went forth, and slew in the city.


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And it came to pass, while they were slaying them, and I was left, that I fell upon my face, and cried, and said, Ah Lord GOD! will you destroy all the residue of Israel in your pouring out of your fury upon Jerusalem?


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Then said he unto me, The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceeding great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of perverseness: for they say, The LORD has forsaken the earth, and the LORD sees not.


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And as for me also, mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity, but I will recompense their way upon their head.


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And, behold, the man clothed with linen, which had the ink holder by his side, reported the matter, saying, I have done as you have commanded me.


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Then I looked, and, behold, in the firmament that was above the head of the cherubims there appeared over them as it were a sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne.


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And he spoke unto the man clothed with linen, and said, Go in between the wheels, even under the cherub, and fill yours hand with coals of fire from between the cherubims, and scatter them over the city. And he went in in my sight.


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Now the cherubims stood on the right side of the house, when the man went in; and the cloud filled the inner court.


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Then the glory of the LORD went up from the cherub, and stood over the threshold of the house; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of the LORD's glory.


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And the sound of the cherubims' wings was heard even to the outer court, as the voice of the Almighty God when he speaks.


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And it came to pass, that when he had commanded the man clothed with linen, saying, Take fire from between the wheels, from between the cherubims; then he went in, and stood beside the wheels.


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And one cherub stretched forth his hand from between the cherubims unto the fire that was between the cherubims, and took thereof, and put it into the hands of him that was clothed with linen: who took it, and went out.


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And when I looked, behold the four wheels by the cherubims, one wheel by one cherub, and another wheel by another cherub: and the appearance of the wheels was as the colour of a beryl stone.


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And as for their appearances, they four had one likeness, as if a wheel had been in the midst of a wheel.


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When they went, they went upon their four sides; they turned not as they went, but to the place where the head looked they followed it; they turned not as they went.


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And their whole body, and their backs, and their hands, and their wings, and the wheels, were full of eyes round about, even the wheels that they four had.


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And every one had four faces: the first face was the face of a cherub, and the second face was the face of a man, and the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.


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And when the cherubims went, the wheels went by them: and when the cherubims lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth, the same wheels also turned not from beside them.


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When they stood, these stood; and when they were lifted up, these lifted up themselves also: for the spirit of the living creature was in them.


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Then the glory of the LORD departed from off the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubims.


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And the cherubims lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight: when they went out, the wheels also were beside them, and every one stood at the door of the east gate of the LORD's house; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.


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This is the living creature that I saw under the God of Israel by the river of Chebar; and I knew that they were the cherubims.


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Every one had four faces apiece, and every one four wings; and the likeness of the hands of a man was under their wings.


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And the likeness of their faces was the same faces which I saw by the river of Chebar, their appearances and themselves: they went every one straight forward.


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Moreover the spirit lifted me up, and brought me unto the east gate of the LORD's house, which looks eastward: and behold at the door of the gate five and twenty men; among whom I saw Jaazaniah the son of Azur, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people.


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Then said he unto me, Son of man, these are the men that devise mischief, and give wicked counsel in this city:


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And the Spirit of the LORD fell upon me, and said unto me, Speak; Thus says the LORD; Thus have all of you said, O house of Israel: for I know the things that come into your mind, every one of them.


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All of you have multiplied your slain in this city, and all of you have filled the streets thereof with the slain.


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Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; Your slain whom all of you have laid in the midst of it, they are the flesh, and this city is the caldron: but I will bring you forth out of the midst of it.


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And I will bring you out of the midst thereof, and deliver you into the hands of strangers, and will execute judgments among you.


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All of you shall fall by the sword; I will judge you in the border of Israel; and all of you shall know that I am the LORD.


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This city shall not be your caldron, neither shall all of you be the flesh in the midst thereof; but I will judge you in the border of Israel:


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And all of you shall know that I am the LORD: for all of you have not walked in my statutes, neither executed my judgments, but have done after the manners of the heathen that are round about you.


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And it came to pass, when I prophesied, that Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died. Then fell I down upon my face, and cried with a loud voice, and said, Ah Lord GOD! will you make a full end of the remnant of Israel?


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Son of man, your brethren, even your brethren, the men of your kindred, and all the house of Israel wholly, are they unto whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Get you far from the LORD: unto us is this land given in possession.


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Therefore say, Thus says the Lord GOD; Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come.


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Therefore say, Thus says the Lord GOD; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where all of you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.


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And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence.


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And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh:


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That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.


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But as for them whose heart walks after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, I will recompense their way upon their own heads, says the Lord GOD.


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Then did the cherubims lift up their wings, and the wheels beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.


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And the glory of the LORD went up from the midst of the city, and stood upon the mountain which is on the east side of the city.


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Afterwards the spirit took me up, and brought me in a vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to them of the captivity. So the vision that I had seen went up from me.


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Son of man, you dwell in the midst of a rebellious house, which have eyes to see, and see not; they have ears to hear, and hear not: for they are a rebellious house.


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Therefore, you son of man, prepare you stuff for removing, and remove by day in their sight; and you shall remove from your place to another place in their sight: it may be they will consider, though they be a rebellious house.


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Then shall you bring forth your stuff by day in their sight, as stuff for removing: and you shall go forth at even in their sight, as they that go forth into captivity.


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In their sight shall you bear it upon your shoulders, and carry it forth in the twilight: you shall cover your face, that you see not the ground: for I have set you for a sign unto the house of Israel.


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And I did so as I was commanded: I brought forth my stuff by day, as stuff for captivity, and in the even I dug through the wall with mine hand; I brought it forth in the twilight, and I bare it upon my shoulder in their sight.


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Say you unto them, Thus says the Lord GOD; This burden concerns the prince in Jerusalem, and all the house of Israel that are among them.


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Say, I am your sign: like I have done, so shall it be done unto them: they shall remove and go into captivity.


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And the prince that is among them shall bear upon his shoulder in the twilight, and shall go forth: they shall dig through the wall to carry out thereby: he shall cover his face, that he see not the ground with his eyes.


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My net also will I spread upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare: and I will bring him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans; yet shall he not see it, though he shall die there.


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And I will scatter toward every wind all that are about him to help him, and all his bands; and I will draw out the sword after them.


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And they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall scatter them among the nations, and disperse them in the countries.


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But I will leave a few men of them from the sword, from the famine, and from the pestilence; that they may declare all their abominations among the heathen where they come; and they shall know that I am the LORD.


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And say unto the people of the land, Thus says the Lord GOD of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and of the land of Israel; They shall eat their bread with carefulness, and drink their water with astonishment, that her land may be desolate from all that is therein, because of the violence of all them that dwell therein.


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And the cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, and the land shall be desolate; and all of you shall know that I am the LORD.


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Son of man, what is that proverb that all of you have in the land of Israel, saying, The days are prolonged, and every vision fails?


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Tell them therefore, Thus says the Lord GOD; I will make this proverb to cease, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel; but say unto them, The days are at hand, and the effect of every vision.


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For I am the LORD: I will speak, and the word that I shall speak shall come to pass; it shall be no more prolonged: for in your days, O rebellious house, will I say the word, and will perform it, says the Lord GOD.


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Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, The vision that he sees is for many days to come, and he prophesies of the times that are far off.


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Therefore say unto them, Thus says the Lord GOD; There shall none of my words be prolonged any more, but the word which I have spoken shall be done, says the Lord GOD.


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Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say you unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear all of you the word of the LORD;


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Thus says the Lord GOD; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!


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All of you have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the LORD.


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They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The LORD says: and the LORD has not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word.


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Have all of you not seen a vain vision, and have all of you not spoken a lying divination, whereas all of you say, The LORD says it; although it be I have not spoken?


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Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; Because all of you have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, says the Lord GOD.


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And mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies: they shall not be in the assembly of my people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and all of you shall know that I am the Lord GOD.


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Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace; and one built up a wall, and, lo, others daubed it with plaster:


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Say unto them which daub it with plaster, that it shall fall: there shall be an overflowing shower; and all of you, O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall rend it.


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Lo, when the wall is fallen, shall it not be said unto you, Where is the daubing wherewith all of you have daubed it?


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Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; I will even rend it with a stormy wind in my fury; and there shall be an overflowing shower in mine anger, and great hailstones in my fury to consume it.


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So will I break down the wall that all of you have daubed with plaster, and bring it down to the ground, so that the foundation thereof shall be discovered, and it shall fall, and all of you shall be consumed in the midst thereof: and all of you shall know that I am the LORD.


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Thus will I accomplish my wrath upon the wall, and upon them that have daubed it with plaster, and will say unto you, The wall is no more, neither they that daubed it;


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To know, the prophets of Israel which prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and which see visions of peace for her, and there is no peace, says the Lord GOD.


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Likewise, you son of man, set your face against the daughters of your people, which prophesy out of their own heart; and prophesy you against them,


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And say, Thus says the Lord GOD; Woe to the women that sew pillows to all armholes, and make kerchiefs upon the head of every stature to hunt souls! Will all of you hunt the souls of my people, and will all of you save the souls alive that come unto you?


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And will all of you pollute me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to slay the souls that should not die, and to save the souls alive that should not live, by your lying to my people that hear your lies?


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Wherefore thus says the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against your pillows, wherewith all of you there hunt the souls to make them fly, and I will tear them from your arms, and will let the souls go, even the souls that all of you hunt to make them fly.


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Your kerchiefs also will I tear, and deliver my people out of your hand, and they shall be no more in your hand to be hunted; and all of you shall know that I am the LORD.


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Because with lies all of you have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life:


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Therefore all of you shall see no more vanity, nor divine divinations: for I will deliver my people out of your hand: and all of you shall know that I am the LORD.


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Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them?


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Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus says the Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that sets up his idols in his heart, and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that comes according to the multitude of his idols;


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That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all cut off from me through their idols.


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Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations.


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For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourns in Israel, which separates himself from me, and sets up his idols in his heart, and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to a prophet to enquire of him concerning me; I the LORD will answer him by myself:


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And I will set my face against that man, and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and all of you shall know that I am the LORD.


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And if the prophet be deceived when he has spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.


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And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity: the punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeks unto him;


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That the house of Israel may go no more astray from me, neither be polluted any more with all their transgressions; but that they may be my people, and I may be their God, says the Lord GOD.


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Son of man, when the land sins against me by trespassing grievously, then will I stretch out mine hand upon it, and will break the staff of the bread thereof, and will send famine upon it, and will cut off man and beast from it:


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Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, says the Lord GOD.


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If I cause dangerous beasts to pass through the land, and they spoil it, so that it be desolate, that no man may pass through because of the beasts:


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Though these three men were in it, as I live, says the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters; they only shall be delivered, but the land shall be desolate.


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Or if I bring a sword upon that land, and say, Sword, go through the land; so that I cut off man and beast from it:


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Though these three men were in it, as I live, says the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only shall be delivered themselves.


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Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my fury upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast:


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Though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live, says the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness.


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For thus says the Lord GOD; How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the dangerous beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast?


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Yet, behold, therein shall be left a remnant that shall be brought forth, both sons and daughters: behold, they shall come forth unto you, and all of you shall see their way and their doings: and all of you shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, even concerning all that I have brought upon it.


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And they shall comfort you, when all of you see their ways and their doings: and all of you shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, says the Lord GOD.


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Son of man, what is the vine tree more than any tree, or than a branch which is among the trees of the forest?


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Shall wood be taken thereof to do any work? or will men take a pin of it to hang any vessel thereon?


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Behold, it is cast into the fire for fuel; the fire devours both the ends of it, and the midst of it is burned. Is it meet for any work?


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Behold, when it was whole, it was meet for no work: how much less shall it be meet yet for any work, when the fire has devoured it, and it is burned?


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Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; As the vine tree among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so will I give the inhabitants of Jerusalem.


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And I will set my face against them; they shall go out from one fire, and another fire shall devour them; and all of you shall know that I am the LORD, when I set my face against them.


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And say, Thus says the Lord GOD unto Jerusalem; Your birth and your nativity is of the land of Canaan; your father was an Amorite, and your mother an Hittite.


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And as for your nativity, in the day you were born your navel was not cut, neither were you washed in water to clean you; you were not salted at all, nor swaddled at all.


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None eye pitied you, to do any of these unto you, to have compassion upon you; but you were cast out in the open field, to the loathing of your person, in the day that you were born.


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And when I passed by you, and saw you polluted in yours own blood, I said unto you when you were in your blood, Live; yea, I said unto you when you were in your blood, Live.


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I have caused you to multiply as the bud of the field, and you have increased and becoming great, and you are come to excellent ornaments: your breasts are fashioned, and yours hair is grown, whereas you were naked and bare.


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Now when I passed by you, and looked upon you, behold, your time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over you, and covered your nakedness: yea, I swore unto you, and entered into a covenant with you, says the Lord GOD, and you became mine.


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Then washed I you with water; yea, I thoroughly washed away your blood from you, and I anointed you with oil.


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I clothed you also with broidered work, and shod you with badgers' skin, and I girded you about with fine linen, and I covered you with silk.


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And I put a jewel on your forehead, and earrings in yours ears, and a beautiful crown upon yours head.


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Thus were you decked with gold and silver; and your raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and broidered work; you did eat fine flour, and honey, and oil: and you were exceeding beautiful, and you did prosper into a kingdom.


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And your renown went forth among the heathen for your beauty: for it was perfect through my loveliness, which I had put upon you, says the Lord GOD.


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But you did trust in yours own beauty, and played the harlot because of your renown, and poured out your fornications on every one that passed by; his it was.


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And of your garments you did take, and decked your high places with divers colours, and played the harlot thereupon: the like things shall not come, neither shall it be so.


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You have also taken your fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and made to yourself images of men, and did commit whoredom with them,


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And took your broidered garments, and covered them: and you have set mine oil and mine incense before them.


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My food also which I gave you, fine flour, and oil, and honey, wherewith I fed you, you have even set it before them for a sweet savour: and thus it was, says the Lord GOD.


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Moreover you have taken your sons and your daughters, whom you have borne unto me, and these have you sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Is this of your whoredoms a small matter,


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That you have slain my children, and delivered them to cause them to pass through the fire for them?


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And in all yours abominations and your whoredoms you have not remembered the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, and were polluted in your blood.


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That you have also built unto you an eminent place, and have made you an high place in every street.


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You have built your high place at every head of the way, and have made your beauty to be abhorred, and have opened your feet to every one that passed by, and multiplied your whoredoms.


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You have also committed fornication with the Egyptians your neighbours, great of flesh; and have increased your whoredoms, to provoke me to anger.


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Behold, therefore I have stretched out my hand over you, and have diminished yours ordinary food, and delivered you unto the will of them that hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, which are ashamed of your lewd way.


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You have played the whore also with the Assyrians, because you were insatiable; yea, you have played the harlot with them, and yet could not be satisfied.


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You have moreover multiplied your fornication in the land of Canaan unto Chaldea; and yet you were not satisfied therewith.


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How weak is yours heart, says the LORD GOD, seeing you do all these things, the work of an domineering whorish woman;


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In that you build yours eminent place in the head of every way, and make yours high place in every street; and have not been as an harlot, in that you scorn hire;


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They give gifts to all whores: but you give your gifts to all your lovers, and hire them, that they may come unto you on every side for your whoredom.


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And the contrary is in you from other women in your whoredoms, whereas none follows you to commit whoredoms: and in that you give a reward, and no reward is given unto you, therefore you are contrary.


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Thus says the Lord GOD; Because your filthiness was poured out, and your nakedness discovered through your whoredoms with your lovers, and with all the idols of your abominations, and by the blood of your children, which you did give unto them;


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Behold, therefore I will gather all your lovers, with whom you have taken pleasure, and all them that you have loved, with all them that you have hated; I will even gather them round about against you, and will discover your nakedness unto them, that they may see all your nakedness.


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And I will judge you, as women that violate marriage bond and shed blood are judged; and I will give you blood in fury and jealousy.


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And I will also give you into their hand, and they shall throw down yours eminent place, and shall break down your high places: they shall strip you also of your clothes, and shall take your fair jewels, and leave you naked and bare.


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They shall also bring up a company against you, and they shall stone you with stones, and thrust you through with their swords.


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And they shall burn yours houses with fire, and execute judgments upon you in the sight of many women: and I will cause you to cease from playing the harlot, and you also shall give no hire any more.


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So will I make my fury toward you to rest, and my jealousy shall depart from you, and I will be quiet, and will be no more angry.


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Because you have not remembered the days of your youth, but have fretted me in all these things; behold, therefore I also will recompense your way upon yours head, says the Lord GOD: and you shall not commit this lewdness above all yours abominations.


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Behold, every one that uses proverbs shall use this proverb against you, saying, As is the mother, so is her daughter.


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You are your mother's daughter, that detests her husband and her children; and you are the sister of your sisters, which loathed their husbands and their children: your mother was an Hittite, and your father an Amorite.


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And yours elder sister is Samaria, she and her daughters that dwell at your left hand: and your younger sister, that dwells at your right hand, is Sodom and her daughters.


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Yet have you not walked after their ways, nor done after their abominations: but, as if that were a very little thing, you were corrupted more than they in all your ways.


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As I live, says the Lord GOD, Sodom your sister has not done, she nor her daughters, as you have done, you and your daughters.


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Behold, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom, pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.


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And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.


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Neither has Samaria committed half of your sins; but you have multiplied yours abominations more than they, and have justified your sisters in all yours abominations which you have done.


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You also, which have judged your sisters, bear yours own shame for your sins that you have committed more abominable than they: they are more righteous than you: yea, be you confounded also, and bear your shame, in that you have justified your sisters.


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When I shall bring again their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, then will I bring again the captivity of your captives in the midst of them:


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That you may bear yours own shame, and may be confounded in all that you have done, in that you are a comfort unto them.


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When your sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate, then you and your daughters shall return to your former estate.


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Before your wickedness was discovered, as at the time of your reproach of the daughters of Syria, and all that are round about her, the daughters of the Philistines, which despise you round about.


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For thus says the Lord GOD; I will even deal with you as you have done, which have despised the oath in breaking the covenant.


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Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish unto you an everlasting covenant.


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Then you shall remember your ways, and be ashamed, when you shall receive your sisters, yours elder and your younger: and I will give them unto you for daughters, but not by your covenant.


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That you may remember, and be confounded, and never open your mouth any more because of your shame, when I am pacified toward you for all that you have done, says the Lord GOD.


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And say, Thus says the Lord GOD; A great eagle with great wings, long pinions, full of feathers, which had divers colours, came unto Lebanon, and took the highest branch of the cedar:


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He cropped off the top of his young twigs, and carried it into a land of trade; he set it in a city of merchants.


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He took also of the seed of the land, and planted it in a fruitful field; he placed it by great waters, and set it as a willow tree.


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And it grew, and became a spreading vine of low stature, whose branches turned toward him, and the roots thereof were under him: so it became a vine, and brought forth branches, and shot forth sprigs.


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There was also another great eagle with great wings and many feathers: and, behold, this vine did bend her roots toward him, and shot forth her branches toward him, that he might water it by the furrows of her plantation.


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It was planted in a good soil by great waters, that it might bring forth branches, and that it might bear fruit, that it might be a goodly vine.


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Say you, Thus says the Lord GOD; Shall it prosper? shall he not pull up the roots thereof, and cut off the fruit thereof, that it wither? it shall wither in all the leaves of her spring, even without great power or many people to pluck it up by the roots thereof.


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Yea, behold, being planted, shall it prosper? shall it not utterly wither, when the east wind touches it? it shall wither in the furrows where it grew.


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Say now to the rebellious house, Know all of you not what these things mean? tell them, Behold, the king of Babylon has come to Jerusalem, and has taken the king thereof, and the princes thereof, and led them with him to Babylon;


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And has taken of the king's seed, and made a covenant with him, and has taken an oath of him: he has also taken the mighty of the land:


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That the kingdom might be base, that it might not lift itself up, but that by keeping of his covenant it might stand.


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But he rebelled against him in sending his ambassadors into Egypt, that they might give him horses and much people. Shall he prosper? shall he escape that does such things? or shall he break the covenant, and be delivered?


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As I live, says the Lord GOD, surely in the place where the king dwells that made him king, whose oath he despised, and whose covenant he brake, even with him in the midst of Babylon he shall die.


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Neither shall Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company make for him in the war, by casting up mounts, and building forts, to cut off many persons:


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Seeing he despised the oath by breaking the covenant, when, lo, he had given his hand, and has done all these things, he shall not escape.


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Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; As I live, surely mine oath that he has despised, and my covenant that he has broken, even it will I recompense upon his own head.


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And I will spread my net upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare, and I will bring him to Babylon, and will plead with him there for his trespass that he has trespassed against me.


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And all his fugitives with all his bands shall fall by the sword, and they that remain shall be scattered toward all winds: and all of you shall know that I the LORD have spoken it.


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Thus says the Lord GOD; I will also take of the highest branch of the high cedar, and will set it; I will crop off from the top of his young twigs a tender one, and will plant it upon an high mountain and eminent:


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In the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it: and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar: and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell.


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And all the trees of the field shall know that I the LORD have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish: I the LORD have spoken and have done it.


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What mean all of you, that all of you use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge?


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As I live, says the Lord GOD, all of you shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel.


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Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sins, it shall die.


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And has not eaten upon the mountains, neither has lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, neither has defiled his neighbour's wife, neither has come near to a menstruous woman,


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And has not oppressed any, but has restored to the debtor his pledge, has spoiled none by violence, has given his bread to the hungry, and has covered the naked with a garment;


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He that has not given forth upon interest, neither has taken any increase, that has withdrawn his hand from iniquity, has executed true judgment between man and man,


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Has walked in my statutes, and has kept my judgments, to deal truly; he is just, he shall surely live, says the Lord GOD.


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If he brought forth a son that is a robber, a shedder of blood, and that does the like to any one of these things,


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And that does not any of those duties, but even has eaten upon the mountains, and defiled his neighbour's wife,


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Has oppressed the poor and needy, has spoiled by violence, has not restored the pledge, and has lifted up his eyes to the idols, has committed abomination,


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Has given forth upon interest, and has taken increase: shall he then live? he shall not live: he has done all these abominations; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon him.


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Now, lo, if he brought forth a son, that sees all his father's sins which he has done, and considers, and does not such like,


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That has not eaten upon the mountains, neither has lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, has not defiled his neighbour's wife,


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Neither has oppressed any, has not withheld the pledge, neither has spoiled by violence, but has given his bread to the hungry, and has covered the naked with a garment,


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That has taken off his hand from the poor, that has not received interest nor increase, has executed my judgments, has walked in my statutes; he shall not die for the iniquity of his father, he shall surely live.


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As for his father, because he cruelly oppressed, spoiled his brother by violence, and did that which is not good among his people, lo, even he shall die in his iniquity.


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Yet say all of you, Why? does not the son bear the iniquity of the father? When the son has done that which is lawful and right, and has kept all my statutes, and has done them, he shall surely live.


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The soul that sins, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.


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But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he has committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die.


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All his transgressions that he has committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him: in his righteousness that he has done he shall live.


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Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? says the Lord GOD: and not that he should return from his ways, and live?


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But when the righteous turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, shall he live? All his righteousness that he has done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he has trespassed, and in his sin that he has sinned, in them shall he die.


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Yet all of you say, The way of the LORD is not equal. Hear now, O house of Israel; Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal?


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When a righteous man turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and dies in them; for his iniquity that he has done shall he die.


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Again, when the wicked man turns away from his wickedness that he has committed, and does that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive.


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Because he considers, and turns away from all his transgressions that he has committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die.


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Yet says the house of Israel, The way of the LORD is not equal. O house of Israel, are not my ways equal? are not your ways unequal?


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Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, says the Lord GOD. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.


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Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby all of you have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will all of you die, O house of Israel?


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For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dies, says the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live all of you.


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And say, What is your mother? A lioness: she lay down among lions, she nourished her whelps among young lions.


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And she brought up one of her whelps: it became a young lion, and it learned to catch the prey; it devoured men.


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The nations also heard of him; he was taken in their pit, and they brought him with chains unto the land of Egypt.


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Now when she saw that she had waited, and her hope was lost, then she took another of her whelps, and made him a young lion.


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And he went up and down among the lions, he became a young lion, and learned to catch the prey, and devoured men.


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And he knew their desolate palaces, and he laid waste their cities; and the land was desolate, and the fullness thereof, by the noise of his roaring.


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Then the nations set against him on every side from the provinces, and spread their net over him: he was taken in their pit.


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And they put him in ward in chains, and brought him to the king of Babylon: they brought him into holds, that his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel.


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Your mother is like a vine in your blood, planted by the waters: she was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters.


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And she had strong rods for the sceptres of them that bare rule, and her stature was exalted among the thick branches, and she appeared in her height with the multitude of her branches.


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But she was plucked up in fury, she was cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up her fruit: her strong rods were broken and withered; the fire consumed them.


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And fire is gone out of a rod of her branches, which has devoured her fruit, so that she has no strong rod to be a sceptre to rule. This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation.


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And it came to pass in the seventh year, in the fifth month, the tenth day of the month, that certain of the elders of Israel came to enquire of the LORD, and sat before me.


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Son of man, speak unto the elders of Israel, and say unto them, Thus says the Lord GOD; Are all of you come to enquire of me? As I live, says the Lord GOD, I will not be enquired of by you.


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Will you judge them, son of man, will you judge them? cause them to know the abominations of their fathers:


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And say unto them, Thus says the Lord GOD; In the day when I chose Israel, and lifted up mine hand unto the seed of the house of Jacob, and made myself known unto them in the land of Egypt, when I lifted up mine hand unto them, saying, I am the LORD your God;


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In the day that I lifted up mine hand unto them, to bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had espied for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands:


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Then said I unto them, Cast all of you away every man the abominations of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.


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But they rebelled against me, and would not hearken unto me: they did not every man cast away the abominations of their eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt: then I said, I will pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.


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But I wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen, among whom they were, in whose sight I made myself known unto them, in bringing them forth out of the land of Egypt.


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And I gave them my statutes, and showed them my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them.


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Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify them.


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But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: they walked not in my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; and my sabbaths they greatly polluted: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness, to consume them.


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But I wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen, in whose sight I brought them out.


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Yet also I lifted up my hand unto them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands;


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Because they despised my judgments, and walked not in my statutes, but polluted my sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols.


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Nevertheless mine eye spared them from destroying them, neither did I make an end of them in the wilderness.


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But I said unto their children in the wilderness, Walk all of you not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols:


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And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that all of you may know that I am the LORD your God.


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Notwithstanding the children rebelled against me: they walked not in my statutes, neither kept my judgments to do them, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; they polluted my sabbaths: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the wilderness.


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Nevertheless I withdrew mine hand, and wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted in the sight of the heathen, in whose sight I brought them forth.


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I lifted up mine hand unto them also in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the heathen, and disperse them through the countries;


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Because they had not executed my judgments, but had despised my statutes, and had polluted my sabbaths, and their eyes were after their fathers' idols.


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And I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they caused to pass through the fire all that opens the womb, that I might make them desolate, to the end that they might know that I am the LORD.


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Therefore, son of man, speak unto the house of Israel, and say unto them, Thus says the Lord GOD; Yet in this your fathers have blasphemed me, in that they have committed a trespass against me.


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For when I had brought them into the land, for the which I lifted up mine hand to give it to them, then they saw every high hill, and all the thick trees, and they offered there their sacrifices, and there they presented the provocation of their offering: there also they made their sweet savour, and poured out there their drink offerings.


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Then I said unto them, What is the high place unto which all of you go? And the name whereof is called Bamah unto this day.


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Wherefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD; Are all of you polluted after the manner of your fathers? and commit all of you whoredom after their abominations?


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For when all of you offer your gifts, when all of you make your sons to pass through the fire, all of you pollute yourselves with all your idols, even unto this day: and shall I be enquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live, says the Lord GOD, I will not be enquired of by you.


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And that which comes into your mind shall not be at all, that all of you say, We will be as the heathen, as the families of the countries, to serve wood and stone.


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As I live, says the Lord GOD, surely with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out, will I rule over you:


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And I will bring you out from the people, and will gather you out of the countries wherein all of you are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out.


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And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face.


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Like I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, says the Lord GOD.


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And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me: I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel: and all of you shall know that I am the LORD.


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As for you, O house of Israel, thus says the Lord GOD; Go all of you, serve all of you every one his idols, and hereafter also, if all of you will not hearken unto me: but pollute all of you my holy name no more with your gifts, and with your idols.


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For in mine holy mountain, in the mountain of the height of Israel, says the Lord GOD, there shall all the house of Israel, all of them in the land, serve me: there will I accept them, and there will I require your offerings, and the first-fruits of your oblations, with all your holy things.


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I will accept you with your sweet savour, when I bring you out from the people, and gather you out of the countries wherein all of you have been scattered; and I will be sanctified in you before the heathen.


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And all of you shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall bring you into the land of Israel, into the country for the which I lifted up mine hand to give it to your fathers.


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And there shall all of you remember your ways, and all your doings, wherein all of you have been defiled; and all of you shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for all your evils that all of you have committed.


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And all of you shall know that I am the LORD when I have wrought with you for my name's sake, not according to your wicked ways, nor according to your corrupt doings, O all of you house of Israel, says the Lord GOD.


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Son of man, set your face toward the south, and drop your word toward the south, and prophesy against the forest of the south field;


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And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus says the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in you, and it shall devour every green tree in you, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.


