World English Bible

1 “At that time,” says Yahweh, “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;

2 and they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the army of the sky, which they have loved, and which they have served, and after which they have walked, and which they have sought, and which they have worshiped: they shall not be gathered, nor be buried, they shall be for dung on the surface of the earth.

3 Death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue that remain of this evil family, that remain in all the places where I have driven them,” says Yahweh of Armies.

4 “Moreover you shall tell them, ‘Yahweh says:

“‘Shall men fall, and not rise up again?

Shall one turn away, and not return?

5 Why then have the people of Jerusalem fallen back by a perpetual backsliding?

They cling to deceit, they refuse to return.

6 I listened and heard, but they didn’t say what is right.

No one repents of his wickedness, saying, “What have I done?”

Everyone turns to his course,

as a horse that rushes headlong in the battle.

7 Yes, the stork in the sky knows her appointed times;

and the turtledove, the swallow, and the crane observe the time of their coming;

but my people don’t know Yahweh’s law.

8 “‘How do you say, “We are wise, and Yahweh’s law is with us?”

But, behold, the false pen of the scribes has worked falsely.

9 The wise men are disappointed.

They are dismayed and trapped.

Behold, they have rejected Yahweh’s word.

What kind of wisdom is in them?

10 Therefore will I give their wives to others,

and their fields to those who shall possess them.

For everyone from the least even to the greatest is given to covetousness;

from the prophet even to the priest everyone deals falsely.

11 They have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying,

“Peace, peace,” when there is no peace.

12 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination?

No, they were not at all ashamed,

neither could they blush:

therefore they shall fall among those who fall;

in the time of their visitation they shall be cast down, says Yahweh.

13 “‘I will utterly consume them, says Yahweh:

no grapes shall be 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.’”

14 “Why do we sit still?

Assemble yourselves,

and let us enter into the fortified cities,

and let us be silent there;

for Yahweh our God has put us to silence,

and given us water of gall to drink,

because we have sinned against Yahweh.

15 We looked for peace, but no good came;

and for a time of healing, and behold, dismay!

16 The snorting of his horses is heard from Dan:

at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones the whole land trembles;

for they have come, and have devoured the land and all that is in it;

the city and those who dwell therein.”

17 “For, behold, I will send serpents,

adders among you,

which will not be charmed;

and they shall bite you,” says Yahweh.

18 Oh that I could comfort myself against sorrow!

My heart is faint within me.

19 Behold, the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people from a land that is very far off:

“Isn’t Yahweh in Zion?

Isn’t her King in her?”

“Why have they provoked me to anger with their engraved images,

and with foreign vanities?”

20 “The harvest is past,

the summer is ended,

and we are not saved.”

21 For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt:

I mourn; dismay has taken hold on me.

22 Is there no balm in Gilead?

is there no physician there?

Why then isn’t the health of the daughter of my people recovered?

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/9/32k/JER/8-ac165639e68897c29c695bb0e170c789.mp3?version_id=206—

1 Oh that my head were waters,

and my eyes a spring of tears,

that I might weep day and night

for the slain of the daughter of my people!

2 Oh that I had in the wilderness

a lodging place of wayfaring men;

that I might leave my people,

and go from them!

For they are all adulterers,

an assembly of treacherous men.

3 “They bend their tongue,

as their bow, for falsehood;

and they have grown strong in the land,

but not for truth:

for they proceed from evil to evil,

and they don’t know me,” says Yahweh.

4 “Everyone beware of his neighbor,

and don’t trust in any brother;

for every brother will utterly supplant,

and every neighbor will go about with slanders.

5 Everyone will deceive their neighbors,

and will not speak the truth.

They have taught their tongue to speak lies.

They weary themselves commiting iniquity.

6 Your habitation is in the middle of deceit;

through deceit they refuse to know me,” says Yahweh.

7 Therefore Yahweh of Armies says,

“Behold, I will melt them, and try them;

for how should I deal with the daughter of my people?

8 Their tongue is a deadly arrow.

It speaks deceit.

One speaks peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth,

but in his heart, he lays wait for him.

9 Shall I not punish them for these things?” says Yahweh.

“Shouldn’t my soul be avenged on a nation such as this?

10 I will weep and wail for the mountains,

and lament for the pastures of the wilderness,

because they are burned up, so that no one passes through;

neither can men hear the voice of the livestock.

Both the birds of the sky and the animals have fled.

They are gone.

11 “I will make Jerusalem heaps,

a dwelling place of jackals.

I will make the cities of Judah a desolation,

without inhabitant.”

12 Who is wise enough to understand this? Who is he to whom the mouth of Yahweh has spoken, that he may declare it? Why is the land perished and burned up like a wilderness, so that no one passes through?

13 Yahweh says, “Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked therein,

14 but have walked after the stubbornness of their own heart, and after the Baals, which their fathers taught them.”

15 therefore Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says, “Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.

16 I will scatter them also among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them.”

17 Yahweh of Armies says,

“Consider, and call for the mourning women, that they may come;

and send for the skillful women, that they may come.

18 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.

19 For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion,

‘How are we ruined!

We are greatly confounded,

because we have forsaken the land,

because they have cast down our dwellings.’”

20 Yet hear Yahweh’s word, you women,

and let your ear receive the word of his mouth.

Teach your daughters wailing,

and everyone her neighbor lamentation.

21 For death has come up into our windows.

It has entered into our palaces;

to cut off the children from outside,

and the young men from the streets.

22 Speak, “Yahweh says,

“‘The dead bodies of men will fall as dung on the open field,

and as the handful after the harvester;

and no one will gather them.’”

23 Yahweh says,

“Don’t let the wise man glory in his wisdom,

neither let the mighty man glory in his might.

Don’t let the rich man glory in his riches.

24 But let him who glories glory in this,

that he has understanding, and knows me,

that I am Yahweh who exercises loving kindness, justice, and righteousness, in the earth:

for in these things I delight,” says Yahweh.

25 “Behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that I will punish all those who are circumcised only in their flesh:

26 Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all that have the corners of their hair cut off, who dwell in the wilderness; for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart.”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/9/32k/JER/9-5ead6922566b5dbfe935a1243da9c7b8.mp3?version_id=206—

1 Hear the word which Yahweh speaks to you, house of Israel!

2 Yahweh says,

“Don’t learn the way of the nations,

and don’t be dismayed at the signs of the sky;

for the nations are dismayed at them.

3 For the customs of the peoples are vanity;

for one cuts a tree out of the forest,

the work of the hands of the workman with the ax.

4 They deck it with silver and with gold;

they fasten it with nails and with hammers,

that it not move.

5 They are like a palm tree, of turned work,

and don’t speak:

they must be carried,

because they can’t move.

Don’t be afraid of them;

for they can’t do evil,

neither is it in them to do good.”

6 There is no one like you, Yahweh.

you are great,

and your name is great in might.

7 Who should not fear you,

King of the nations?

For it belongs to you.

Because among all the wise men of the nations,

and in all their royal estate,

there is no one like you.

8 But they are together brutish and foolish,

instructed by idols!

It is just wood.

9 There is silver beaten into plates, which is brought from Tarshish,

and gold from Uphaz,

the work of the artificer and of the hands of the goldsmith;

Blue and purple are their clothing;

they are all the work of skillful men.

10 But Yahweh is the true God;

he is the living God,

and an everlasting King.

At his wrath, the earth trembles,

and the nations are not able to withstand his indignation.

11 “You shall say this to them: ‘The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, these shall perish from the earth, and from under the heavens.’”

12 He has made the earth by his power.

he has established the world by his wisdom,

and by his understanding has he stretched out the heavens.

13 when he utters his voice,

there is a tumult of waters in the heavens,

and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth.

He makes lightnings for the rain,

and brings the wind out of his treasuries.

14 Every man has become brutish and without knowledge;

every goldsmith is disappointed by his engraved image;

for his molten image is falsehood,

and there is no breath in them.

15 They are vanity, a work of delusion.

In the time of their visitation they will perish.

16 The portion of Jacob is not like these;

for he is the former of all things;

and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance:

Yahweh of Armies is his name.

17 Gather up your wares out of the land,

you who live under siege.

18 For Yahweh says,

“Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land at this time,

and will distress them, that they may feel it.”

19 Woe is me because of my injury!

My wound is serious:

but I said,

“Truly this is my grief, and I must bear it.”

20 My tent is destroyed,

and all my cords are broken.

My children have gone away from me, and they are no more.

There is no one to spread my tent any more,

and to set up my curtains.

21 For the shepherds have become brutish,

and have not inquired of Yahweh.

Therefore they have not prospered,

and all their flocks are scattered.

22 The voice of news, behold, it comes,

and a great commotion out of the north country,

to make the cities of Judah a desolation,

a dwelling place of jackals.

23 Yahweh, I know that the way of man is not in himself:

it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.

24 Yahweh, correct me, but in measure:

not in your anger,

lest you bring me to nothing.

25 Pour out your wrath on the nations that don’t know you,

and on the families that don’t call on your name:

for they have devoured Jacob.

Yes, they have devoured him and consumed him,

and have laid waste his habitation.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/9/32k/JER/10-ff0b652f10bb377ee72d10aba9ac370b.mp3?version_id=206—

1 The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying,

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

3 and say to them, Yahweh, the God of Israel says: ‘Cursed is the man who doesn’t hear the words of this covenant,

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

5 that I may establish the oath which I swore to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey,’ as it is today.”

Then answered I, and said, “Amen, Yahweh.”

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

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

8 Yet they didn’t obey, nor turn their ear, but walked everyone in the stubbornness of their evil heart: therefore I brought on them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they didn’t do them.’”

9 Yahweh said to me, “A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

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

11 Therefore Yahweh says, ‘Behold, I will bring evil on them, which they shall not be able to escape; and they shall cry to me, but I will not listen to them.

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

13 For according to the number of your cities are your gods, Judah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem have you set up altars to the shameful thing, even altars to burn incense to Baal.’

14 “Therefore don’t pray for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them; for I will not hear them in the time that they cry to me because of their trouble.

15 What has my beloved to do in my house,

since she has worked lewdness with many,

and the holy flesh is passed from you?

When you do evil,

then you rejoice.”

16 Yahweh called your name, “A green olive tree,

beautiful with goodly fruit.”

With the noise of a great tumult he has kindled fire on it,

and its branches are broken.

17 For Yahweh of Armies, who planted you, has pronounced evil against you, because of the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have worked for themselves in provoking me to anger by offering incense to Baal.

18 Yahweh gave me knowledge of it, and I knew it: then you showed me their doings.

19 But I was like a gentle lamb that is led to the slaughter; and I didn’t know that they had devised devices against me, saying,

“Let us destroy the tree with its fruit,

and let us cut him off from the land of the living,

that his name may be no more remembered.”

20 But, Yahweh of Armies, who judges righteously,

who tests the heart and the mind,

I shall see your vengeance on them;

for to you I have revealed my cause.

21 “Therefore Yahweh says concerning the men of Anathoth, who seek your life, saying, ‘You shall not prophesy in Yahweh’s name, that you not die by our hand;’

22 therefore Yahweh of Armies says, ‘Behold, I will punish them: the young men shall die by the sword; their sons and their daughters shall die by famine;

23 and there shall be no remnant to them: for I will bring evil on the men of Anathoth, even the year of their visitation.’”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/9/32k/JER/11-67ecc1c4ce377fb151bba436301c67e0.mp3?version_id=206—

1 You are righteous, Yahweh,

when I contend with you;

yet I would reason the cause with you:

why does the way of the wicked prosper?

why are all they at ease who deal very treacherously?

2 You have planted them, yes, they have taken root;

they grow, yes, they produce fruit.

You are near in their mouth,

and far from their heart.

3 But you, Yahweh, know me;

you see me, and try my heart toward you.

Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter,

and prepare them for the day of slaughter.

4 How long shall the land mourn,

and the herbs of the whole country wither?

For the wickedness of those who dwell therein,

the animals are consumed, and the birds;

because they said,

“He shall not see our latter end.”

5 “If you have run with the footmen,

and they have wearied you,

then how can you contend with horses?

Though in a land of peace you are secure,

yet how will you do in the pride of the Jordan?

6 For even your brothers, and the house of your father,

even they have dealt treacherously with you;

even they have cried aloud after you!

Don’t believe them,

though they speak beautiful words to you.

7 “I have forsaken my house.

I have cast off my heritage.

I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies.

8 My heritage has become to me as a lion in the forest.

She has uttered her voice against me;

therefore I have hated her.

9 Is my heritage to me as a speckled bird of prey?

Are the birds of prey against her all around?

Go, assemble all the animals of the field,

bring them to devour.

10 Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard.

They have trodden my portion under foot.

They have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.

11 They have made it a desolation.

It mourns to me, being desolate.

The whole land is made desolate,

because no man lays it to heart.

12 Destroyers have come on all the bare heights in the wilderness;

for the sword of Yahweh devours from the one end of the land even to the other end of the land.

No flesh has peace.

13 They have sown wheat,

and have reaped thorns.

They have put themselves to pain,

and profit nothing.

You shall be ashamed of your fruits,

because of the fierce anger of Yahweh.”

14 Yahweh says, “Concerning all my evil neighbors, who touch the inheritance which I have caused my people Israel to inherit: behold, I will pluck them up from off their land, and will pluck up the house of Judah from among them.

15 It shall happen, after that I have plucked them up, I will return and have compassion on them; and I will bring them again, every man to his heritage, and every man to his land.

16 It shall happen, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, ‘As Yahweh lives;’ even as they taught my people to swear by Baal; then shall they be built up in the middle of my people.

17 But if they will not hear, then I will pluck up that nation, plucking up and destroying it,” says Yahweh.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/9/32k/JER/12-715a787328b7666836119e6858d28c90.mp3?version_id=206—

1 Yahweh says to me, “Go, and buy yourself a linen belt, and put it on your waist, and don’t put it in water.”

2 So I bought a belt according to Yahweh’s word, and put it on my waist.

3 Yahweh’s word came to me the second time, saying,

4 “Take the belt that you have bought, which is on your waist, and arise, go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a cleft of the rock.”

5 So I went, and hid it by the Euphrates, as Yahweh commanded me.

6 After many days, Yahweh said to me, “Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take the belt from there, which I commanded you to hide there.”

7 Then I went to the Euphrates, and dug, and took the belt from the place where I had hidden it; and behold, the belt was ruined. It was profitable for nothing.

8 Then Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,

9 “Yahweh says, ‘In this way I, will ruin the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem.

10 This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who walk in the stubbornness of their heart, and are gone after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this belt, which is profitable for nothing.

11 For as the belt clings to the waist of a man, so I have caused to cling to me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah,’ says Yahweh; ‘that they may be to me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory: but they would not hear.’

12 “Therefore you shall speak to them this word: ‘Yahweh, the God of Israel says, “Every bottle shall be filled with wine.”’ They will tell you, ‘Do we not certainly know that every bottle shall be filled with wine?’

13 Then tell them, ‘Yahweh says, “Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land, even the kings who sit on David’s throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with drunkenness.

14 I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together,” says Yahweh: “I will not pity, nor spare, nor have compassion, that I should not destroy them.”’”

15 Hear, and give ear.

Don’t be proud;

for Yahweh has spoken.

16 Give glory to Yahweh your God,

before he causes darkness,

and before your feet stumble on the dark mountains,

and, while you look for light,

he turns it into the shadow of death,

and makes it gross darkness.

17 But if you will not hear it,

my soul shall weep in secret for your pride;

and my eye shall weep bitterly,

and run down with tears,

because Yahweh’s flock is taken captive.

18 Say to the king and to the queen mother,

“Humble yourselves, sit down;

for your headdresses have come down,

even the crown of your glory.

19 The cities of the South are shut up,

and there is no one to open them.

Judah is carried away captive, all of it;

it is wholly carried away captive.

20 Lift up your eyes,

and see those who come from the north.

where is the flock that was given you,

your beautiful flock?

21 What will you say, when he shall set over you as head those whom you have yourself taught to be friends to you?

Shall not sorrows take hold of you, as of a woman in travail?

22 If you say in your heart,

“Why are these things come on me?”

For the greatness of your iniquity your skirts are uncovered,

and your heels suffer violence.

23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin,

or the leopard his spots?

Then may you also do good,

who are accustomed to do evil.

24 “Therefore I will scatter them,

as the stubble that passes away,

by the wind of the wilderness.

25 This is your lot,

the portion measured to you from me,” says Yahweh;

“because you have forgotten me,

and trusted in falsehood.”

26 Therefore will I also uncover your skirts on your face,

and your shame shall appear.

27 I have seen your abominations, even your adulteries,

and your neighing, the lewdness of your prostitution,

on the hills in the field.

Woe to you, Jerusalem!

You will not be made clean; how long shall it yet be?”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/9/32k/JER/13-6097b760f32bc38d25f583256c98a6d4.mp3?version_id=206—

1 This is Yahweh’s word that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought.

2 “Judah mourns,

and its gates languish,

they sit in black on the ground;

and the cry of Jerusalem goes up.

3 Their nobles send their little ones to the waters.

They come to the cisterns,

and find no water.

They return with their vessels empty.

They are disappointed and confounded,

and cover their heads.

4 Because of the ground which is cracked,

because no rain has been in the land.

The plowmen are disappointed.

They cover their heads.

5 Yes, the hind also in the field calves, and forsakes her young,

because there is no grass.

6 The wild donkeys stand on the bare heights.

They pant for air like jackals.

Their eyes fail,

because there is no vegetation.

7 Though our iniquities testify against us,

work for your name’s sake, Yahweh;

for our rebellions are many.

We have sinned against you.

8 You hope of Israel,

its Savior in the time of trouble,

why should you be as a foreigner in the land,

and as a wayfaring man who turns aside to stay for a night?

9 Why should you be like a scared man,

as a mighty man who can’t save?

Yet you, Yahweh, are in the middle of us,

and we are called by your name.

Don’t leave us.

10 Yahweh says to this people,

“Even so they have loved to wander.

They have not restrained their feet.

Therefore Yahweh does not accept them.

Now he will remember their iniquity,

and punish them for their sins.”

11 Yahweh said to me, “Don’t pray for this people for their good.

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

13 Then I said, “Ah, Lord Yahweh! Behold, the prophets tell them, ‘You will not see the sword, neither shall you have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place.’”

14 Then Yahweh said to me, “The prophets prophesy lies in my name. I didn’t send them, neither have I commanded them, neither did I speak to them. They prophesy to you a lying vision, divination, and a thing of nothing, and the deceit of their own heart.

15 Therefore Yahweh says concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name, and I didn’t send them, yet they say, ‘Sword and famine will not be in this land.’ Those prophets will be consumed by sword and famine.

16 The people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword. They shall have no one to bury them—them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters: for I will pour their wickedness on them.

17 “You shall say this word to them,

“‘Let my eyes run down with tears night and day,

and let them not cease;

for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach,

with a very grievous wound.

18 If I go out into the field,

then, behold, the slain with the sword!

If I enter into the city,

then, behold, those who are sick with famine!

For both the prophet and the priest go about in the land,

and have no knowledge.’”

19 Have you utterly rejected Judah?

Has your soul loathed Zion?

Why have you struck us, and there is no healing for us?

We looked for peace, but no good came;

and for a time of healing, and behold, dismay!

20 We acknowledge, Yahweh, our wickedness,

and the iniquity of our fathers;

for we have sinned against you.

21 Do not abhor us, for your name’s sake.

Do not disgrace the throne of your glory.

Remember, and don’t break your covenant with us.

22 Are there any among the vanities of the nations that can cause rain?

Or can the sky give showers?

Aren’t you he, Yahweh our God?

Therefore we will wait for you;

for you have made all these things.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/9/32k/JER/14-76aebd969513b01e127a0c6d48b49a61.mp3?version_id=206—

1 Then Yahweh said to me, “Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind would not be toward this people. Cast them out of my sight, and let them go out!

2 It shall happen, when they tell you, ‘Where shall we go out?’ Then you shall tell them, ‘Yahweh says:

“Such as are for death, to death;

and such as are for the sword, to the sword;

and such as are for the famine, to the famine;

and such as are for captivity, to captivity.”’

3 “I will appoint over them four kinds,” says Yahweh: “the sword to kill, and the dogs to tear, and the birds of the sky, and the animals of the earth, to devour and to destroy.

4 I will cause them to be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem.

5 For who will have pity on you, Jerusalem?

or who will bemoan you?

or who will turn aside to ask of your welfare?

6 You have rejected me,” says Yahweh.

“You have gone backward:

therefore I have stretched out my hand against you,

and destroyed you;

I am weary with repenting.

7 I have winnowed them with a fan in the gates of the land;

I have bereaved them of children.

I have destroyed my people.

They didn’t return from their ways.

8 Their widows are increased to me above the sand of the seas;

I have brought on them against the mother of the young men a destroyer at noonday.

I have caused anguish and terrors to fall on her suddenly.

9 She who has borne seven languishes;

she has given up the spirit.

Her sun has gone down while it was yet day.

She has been disappointed and confounded:

and their residue will I deliver to the sword before their enemies,” says Yahweh.

10 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 not lent, neither have men lent to me;

yet everyone of them curses me.

11 Yahweh said,

“Most certainly I will strengthen you for good.

Most certainly I will cause the enemy to make supplication to you in the time of evil

and in the time of affliction.

12 Can one break iron,

even iron from the north, and brass?

13 Your substance and your treasures will I give for a plunder without price,

and that for all your sins,

even in all your borders.

14 I will make them to pass with your enemies into a land which you don’t know;

for a fire is kindled in my anger,

which shall burn on you.”

15 Yahweh, you know;

remember me, and visit me,

and avenge me of my persecutors.

You are patient, so don’t take me away.

Know that for your sake I have suffered reproach.

16 Your words were found,

and I ate them.

Your words were to me a joy and the rejoicing of my heart,

for I am called by your name, Yahweh, God of Armies.

17 I didn’t sit in the assembly of those who make merry, nor rejoiced;

I sat alone because of your hand;

for you have filled me with indignation.

18 Why is my pain perpetual,

and my wound incurable,

which refuses to be healed?

Will you indeed be to me as a deceitful brook,

like waters that fail?

19 Therefore Yahweh says,

“If you return, then I will bring you again,

that you may stand before me;

and if you take out the precious from the vile,

you shall be as my mouth.

They shall return to you,

but you shall not return to them.

20 I will make you to this people a fortified bronze 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 Yahweh.

21 “I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked,

and I will redeem you out of the hand of the terrible.”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/9/32k/JER/15-a597327d31e4d9dd1abf231722d221cd.mp3?version_id=206—

1 Yahweh’s word came also to me, saying,

2 “You shall not take a wife, neither shall you have sons or daughters, in this place.”

3 For Yahweh says concerning the sons and concerning the daughters who are born in this place, and concerning their mothers who bore them, and concerning their fathers who became their father in this land:

4 “They shall die grievous deaths: they shall not be lamented, neither shall they be buried; they shall be as dung on the surface of the ground; and they shall be consumed by the sword, and by famine; and their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the sky, and for the animals of the earth.”

5 For Yahweh says, “Don’t enter into the house of mourning, neither go to lament, neither bemoan them; for I have taken away my peace from this people,” says Yahweh, “even loving kindness and tender mercies.

6 Both great and 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;

7 neither shall men break bread 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.

8 “You shall not go into the house of feasting to sit with them, to eat and to drink.”

9 For Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel says: “Behold, I will cause to cease out of this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.

10 It shall happen, when you shall show this people all these words, and they ask you, ‘Why has Yahweh pronounced all this great evil against us?’ or ‘What is our iniquity? or ‘What is our sin that we have committed against Yahweh our God?’

11 Then you shall tell them, ‘Because your fathers have forsaken me,’ says Yahweh, ‘and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshiped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law;

12 and you have done evil more than your fathers; for, behold, you walk every one after the stubbornness of his evil heart, so that you don’t listen to me.

13 Therefore will I cast you out of this land into the land that you have not known, neither you nor your fathers; and there you shall serve other gods day and night; for I will show you no favor.’

14 “Therefore behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that it shall no more be said, ‘As Yahweh lives, who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;’

15 but, ‘As Yahweh lives, who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the countries where he had driven them.’ I will bring them again into their land that I gave to their fathers.

16 “Behold, I will send for many fishermen,” says Yahweh, “and they shall fish them up; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the clefts of the rocks.

17 For my eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from my face, neither is their iniquity concealed from my eyes.

18 First I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double, because they have polluted my land with the carcasses of their detestable things, and have filled my inheritance with their abominations.”

19 Yahweh, my strength, and my stronghold,

and my refuge in the day of affliction,

to you shall the nations come from the ends of the earth,

and shall say,

“Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies,

vanity and things in which there is no profit.

20 Shall a man make to himself gods,

which yet are no gods?”

21 “Therefore behold, I will cause them to know,

this once will I cause them to know my hand and my might;

and they shall know that my name is Yahweh.”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/9/32k/JER/16-1932c92cd1bb6f7de54a25f0ffbd00bf.mp3?version_id=206—

1 “The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron,

and with the point of a diamond.

It is engraved on the tablet of their heart,

and on the horns of your altars.

2 Even their children remember their altars

and their Asherah poles by the green trees on the high hills.

3 My mountain in the field,

I will give your substance and all your treasures for a plunder,

and your high places, because of sin, throughout all your borders.

4 You, even of yourself, shall discontinue from your heritage that I gave you.

I will cause you to serve your enemies in the land which you don’t know,

for you have kindled a fire in my anger which shall burn forever.”

5 Yahweh says:

“Cursed is the man who trusts in man,

and makes flesh his arm,

and whose heart departs from Yahweh.

6 For he shall be like a bush in the desert,

and shall not see when good comes,

but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness,

a salt land and not inhabited.

7 “Blessed is the man who trusts in Yahweh,

and whose confidence is in Yahweh.

8 For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters,

who spreads out its roots by the river,

and shall not fear when heat comes,

but its leaf shall be green;

and shall not be careful in the year of drought,

neither shall cease from yielding fruit.

9 The heart is deceitful above all things,

and it is exceedingly corrupt.

Who can know it?

10 “I, Yahweh, search the mind,

I try the heart,

even to give every man according to his ways,

according to the fruit of his doings.”

11 As the partridge that sits on eggs which she has not laid,

so is he who gets riches, and not by right;

in the middle of his days they shall leave him,

and at his end he shall be a fool.

12 A glorious throne, set on high from the beginning,

is the place of our sanctuary.

13 Yahweh, the hope of Israel,

all who forsake you shall be disappointed.

Those who depart from me shall be written in the earth,

because they have forsaken Yahweh,

the spring of living waters.

14 Heal me, O Yahweh, and I shall be healed;

save me, and I shall be saved:

for you are my praise.

15 Behold, they tell me,

“Where is Yahweh’s word?

Let it be fulfilled now.”

16 As for me, I have not hurried from being a shepherd after you;

neither have I desired the woeful day; you know.

That which came out of my lips was before your face.

17 Don’t be a terror to me:

you are my refuge in the day of evil.

18 Let them be disappointed who persecute me,

but let not me be disappointed;

let them be dismayed,

but don’t let me be dismayed;

bring on them the day of evil,

and destroy them with double destruction.

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

20 and tell them, ‘Hear Yahweh’s word, you kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that enter in by these gates:

21 Yahweh says, “Be careful, and bear no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem;

22 neither carry a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath day, neither do any work: but make the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your fathers.

23 But they didn’t listen, neither turn their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, and might not receive instruction.

24 It shall happen, if you diligently listen to me,” says Yahweh, “to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but to make the Sabbath day holy, to do no work therein;

25 then shall there enter in by the gates of this city kings and princes sitting on David’s throne, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their princes, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and this city shall remain forever.

26 They shall come from the cities of Judah, and from the places around Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the lowland, and from the hill country, and from the South, bringing burnt offerings, and sacrifices, and meal offerings, and frankincense, and bringing sacrifices of thanksgiving, to Yahweh’s house.

27 But if you will not listen to me to make the Sabbath day holy, and not to bear a burden and enter in at the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day; then I will kindle a fire in its gates, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.”’”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/9/32k/JER/17-2be7a74668d3c2a08cc41d804faf7812.mp3?version_id=206—