World English Bible

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

2 “Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear my words.”

3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and behold, he was making a work on the wheels.

4 When the vessel that he made of the clay was marred in the hand of the potter, he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

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

6 “House of Israel, can’t I do with you as this potter?” says Yahweh. “Behold, as the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, house of Israel.

7 At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy it;

8 if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do to them.

9 At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it;

10 if they do that which is evil in my sight, that they not obey my voice, then I will repent of the good, with which I said I would benefit them.

11 “Now therefore, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Yahweh says: “Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you. Everyone return from his evil way now, and amend your ways and your doings.”’

12 But they say, ‘It is in vain; for we will walk after our own devices, and we will do everyone after the stubbornness of his evil heart.’”

13 Therefore Yahweh says:

“Ask now among the nations,

who has heard such things.

The virgin of Israel has done a very horrible thing.

14 Shall the snow of Lebanon fail from the rock of the field?

Shall the cold waters that flow down from afar be dried up?

15 For my people have forgotten me.

They have burned incense to false gods.

They have been made to stumble in their ways,

in the ancient paths,

to walk in byways, in a way not built up;

16 to make their land an astonishment,

and a perpetual hissing.

Everyone who passes thereby shall be astonished,

and shake his head.

17 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.

18 Then they said, “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.”

19 Give heed to me, Yahweh,

and listen to the voice of those who contend with me.

20 Shall evil be recompensed for good?

For they have dug a pit for my soul.

Remember how I stood before you to speak good for them,

to turn away your wrath from them.

21 Therefore deliver up their children to the famine,

and give them over to the power of the sword.

Let their wives become childless, and widows;

and let their men be slain of death,

and their young men struck by the sword in battle.

22 Let a cry be heard from their houses,

when you shall bring a troop suddenly on them;

for they have dug a pit to take me,

and hidden snares for my feet.

23 Yet, Yahweh, you know all their counsel against me to kill me.

Don’t forgive their iniquity,

neither blot out their sin from your sight;

but let them be overthrown before you.

Deal you with them in the time of your anger.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/9/32k/JER/18-59bbadd172d6f63e2ea4afd3f9fa21c8.mp3?version_id=206—

1 Thus said Yahweh, “Go, and buy a potter’s earthen bottle, and take some of the elders of the people, and of the elders of the priests;

2 and go out to the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the gate Harsith, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell you;

3 and say, ‘Hear Yahweh’s word, kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem: Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel says, “Behold, I will bring evil on this place, which whoever hears, his ears shall tingle.

4 Because they have forsaken me, and have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it to other gods, that they didn’t know, they and their fathers and the kings of Judah; and have filled this place with the blood of innocents,

5 and have built the high places of Baal, to burn their sons in the fire for burnt offerings to Baal; which I didn’t command, nor spoke it, neither came it into my mind:

6 therefore, behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that this place shall no more be called Topheth, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of Slaughter.

7 “‘“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 hand of those who seek their life: and their dead bodies will I give to be food for the birds of the sky, and for the animals of the earth.

8 I will make this city an astonishment, and a hissing; everyone who passes thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all its plagues.

9 I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters; and they shall eat everyone the flesh of his friend, in the siege and in the distress, with which their enemies, and those who seek their life, shall distress them.”’

10 “Then you shall break the bottle in the sight of the men who go with you,

11 and shall tell them, ‘Yahweh of Armies says: “Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter’s vessel, that can’t be made whole again; and they shall bury in Topheth, until there is no place to bury.

12 Thus will I do to this place,” says Yahweh, “and to its inhabitants, even making this city as Topheth:

13 and the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, which are defiled, shall be as the place of Topheth, even all the houses on whose roofs they have burned incense to all the army of the sky, and have poured out drink offerings to other gods.”’”

14 Then Jeremiah came from Topheth, where Yahweh had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of Yahweh’s house, and said to all the people:

15 “Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel says, ‘Behold, I will bring on this city and on all its towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it; because they have made their neck stiff, that they may not hear my words.’”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/9/32k/JER/19-833c68ad6f01a6c785770b33182e7c25.mp3?version_id=206—

1 Now Pashhur, the son of Immer the priest, who was chief officer in Yahweh’s house, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things.

2 Then Pashhur struck Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the upper gate of Benjamin, which was in Yahweh’s house.

3 On the next day, Pashhur released Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then Jeremiah said to him, “Yahweh has not called your name Pashhur, but Magormissabib.

4 For Yahweh says, ‘Behold, I will make you a terror to yourself, and to all your friends; and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and your eyes shall see it; and I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive to Babylon, and shall kill them with the sword.

5 Moreover I will give all the riches of this city, and all its gains, and all the precious things of it, yes, all the treasures of the kings of Judah will I give into the hand of their enemies; and they shall make them captives, and take them, and carry them to Babylon.

6 You, Pashhur, and all who dwell in your house shall go into captivity; and you shall come to Babylon, and there you shall die, and there you shall be buried, you, and all your friends, to whom you have prophesied falsely.’”

7 Yahweh, you have persuaded me, and I was persuaded;

you are stronger than I, and have prevailed.

I have become a laughing-stock all day.

Every one mocks me.

8 For as often as I speak, I cry out;

I cry, Violence and destruction!

because Yahweh’s word has been made a reproach to me,

and a derision, all day.

9 If I say, I will not make mention of him,

nor speak any more in his name,

then there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones,

and I am weary with holding it in,

and I can’t.

10 For I have heard the defaming of many,

“Terror on every side!

Denounce, and we will denounce him!”

say all my familiar friends,

those who watch for my fall.

“Perhaps he will be persuaded,

and we shall prevail against him,

and we shall take our revenge on him.”

11 But Yahweh is with me as an awesome mighty one.

Therefore my persecutors shall stumble,

and they shall not prevail.

They shall be utterly disappointed,

because they have not dealt wisely,

even with an everlasting dishonor which shall never be forgotten.

12 But, Yahweh of Armies, who tests the righteous,

who sees the heart and the mind,

let me see your vengeance on them;

for to you I have revealed my cause.

13 Sing to Yahweh,

praise Yahweh;

for he has delivered the soul of the needy from the hand of evildoers.

14 Cursed is the day in which I was born.

Don’t let the day in which my mother bore me be blessed.

15 Cursed is the man who brought news to my father, saying,

“A boy is born to you,” making him very glad.

16 Let that man be as the cities which Yahweh overthrew,

and didn’t repent.

Let him hear a cry in the morning,

and shouting at noontime;

17 because he didn’t kill me from the womb;

and so my mother would have been my grave,

and her womb always great.

18 Why did I come out of the womb to see labor and sorrow,

that my days should be consumed with shame?

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/9/32k/JER/20-9dd4b01bd3090167c9505a5a7d2ae20d.mp3?version_id=206—

1 The word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, when king Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur the son of Malchijah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, saying,

2 “Please inquire of Yahweh for us; for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon makes war against us. Perhaps Yahweh will deal with us according to all his wondrous works, that he may withdraw from us.”

3 Then Jeremiah said to them, “Tell Zedekiah:

4 ‘Yahweh, the God of Israel says, “Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, with which you fight against the king of Babylon, and against the Chaldeans who besiege you, without the walls; and I will gather them into the middle of this city.

5 I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger, and in wrath, and in great indignation.

6 I will strike the inhabitants of this city, both man and animal. They will die of a great pestilence.

7 Afterward,” says Yahweh, “I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, even those who are left in this city from the pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life. He will strike them with the edge of the sword. He will not spare them, neither have pity, nor have mercy.”’

8 “To this people you shall say, ‘Yahweh says: “Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death.

9 He who remains in this city will die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence; but he who goes out, and passes over to the Chaldeans who besiege you, he shall live, and he will escape with his life.

10 For I have set my face on this city for evil, and not for good,” says Yahweh. “It will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.”’

11 “Concerning the house of the king of Judah, hear Yahweh’s word.

12 House of David, Yahweh says,

‘Execute justice in the morning,

and deliver him who is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor,

lest my wrath go out like fire,

and burn so that no one can quench it,

because of the evil of your doings.

13 Behold, I am against you, O inhabitant of the valley,

and of the rock of the plain,’ says Yahweh.

‘You that say, “Who would come down against us?”

or “Who would enter into our homes?”

14 I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, says Yahweh;

and I will kindle a fire in her forest,

and it shall devour all that is around her.’”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/9/32k/JER/21-a1cee394ed6bd094fc28f8453ff38740.mp3?version_id=206—

1 Thus said Yahweh: “Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word,

2 ‘Hear Yahweh’s word, king of Judah, who sits on David’s throne, you, and your servants, and your people who enter in by these gates.

3 Yahweh says: “Execute justice and righteousness, and deliver him who is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor. Do no wrong. Do no violence, to the foreigner, the fatherless, nor the widow; neither shed innocent blood in this place.

4 For if you do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting on David’s throne, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people.

5 But if you will not hear these words, I swear by myself,” says Yahweh, “that this house shall become a desolation.”’”

6 For Yahweh says concerning the house of the king of Judah:

“You are Gilead to me,

the head of Lebanon.

Yet surely I will make you a wilderness,

cities which are not inhabited.

7 I will prepare destroyers against you,

everyone with his weapons,

and they will cut down your choice cedars,

and cast them into the fire.

8 “Many nations will pass by this city, and they will each ask his neighbor, ‘Why has Yahweh done this to this great city?’

9 Then they shall answer, ‘Because they abandoned the covenant of Yahweh their God, and worshiped other gods, and served them.’”

10 Don’t weep for the dead,

neither bemoan him;

but weep bitterly for him who goes away;

for he shall return no more,

nor see his native country.

11 For Yahweh says touching Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, and who went out of this place: “He shall not return there any more.

12 But in the place where they have led him captive, there shall he die, and he shall see this land no more.”

13 “Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness,

and his rooms by injustice;

who uses his neighbor’s service without wages,

and doesn’t give him his hire;

14 who says, ‘I will build me a wide house and spacious rooms,’

and cuts out windows for himself;

and it is ceiling with cedar,

and painted with vermilion.

15 “Shall you reign, because you strive to excel in cedar?

Didn’t your father eat and drink,

and do justice and righteousness?

Then it was well with him.

16 He judged the cause of the poor and needy;

then it was well.

Wasn’t this to know me?”

says Yahweh.

17 But your eyes and your heart are not but for your covetousness,

and for shedding innocent blood,

for oppression, and for doing violence.”

18 Therefore Yahweh says 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!’

19 He shall be buried with the burial of a donkey,

drawn and cast out beyond the gates of Jerusalem.”

20 “Go up to Lebanon, and cry;

and lift up your voice in Bashan,

and cry from Abarim;

for all your lovers are destroyed.

21 I spoke to you in your prosperity;

but you said, ‘I will not listen.’

This has been your way from your youth,

that you didn’t obey my voice.

22 The wind shall feed all your shepherds,

and your lovers shall go into captivity.

Surely then you will be ashamed

and confounded for all your wickedness.

23 Inhabitant of Lebanon,

who makes your nest in the cedars,

how greatly to be pitied you will be when pangs come on you,

the pain as of a woman in travail!

24 “As I live,” says Yahweh, “though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet on my right hand, yet would I pluck you from there;

25 and I would give you into the hand of those who seek your life, and into the hand of them of whom you are afraid, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.

26 I will cast you out with your mother who bore you, into another country, where you were not born; and there you will die.

27 But to the land to which their soul longs to return, there shall they not return.”

28 Is this man Coniah a despised broken vessel?

Is he a vessel in which no one delights?

Why are they cast out, he and his offspring,

and cast into a land which they don’t know?

29 O earth, earth, earth,

hear Yahweh’s word!

30 Yahweh says,

“Record this man as childless,

a man who will not prosper in his days;

for no more shall a man of his offspringprosper,

sitting on David’s throne,

and ruling in Judah.”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/9/32k/JER/22-8870ec59548ba0655f25337ede5092bc.mp3?version_id=206—

1 “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” says Yahweh.

2 Therefore Yahweh, the God of Israel, says against the shepherds who feed my people: “You have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them; behold, I will visit on you the evil of your doings,” says Yahweh.

3 “I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and multiply.

4 I will set up shepherds over them, who shall feed them; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be lacking,” says Yahweh.

5 “Behold, the days come,” says Yahweh,

“that I will raise to David a righteous Branch,

and he shall reign as king and deal wisely,

and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.

6 In his days Judah shall be saved,

and Israel shall dwell safely.

This is his name by which he shall be called:

Yahweh our righteousness.

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

8 but, ‘As Yahweh lives, who brought up and who led the offspringof the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all the countries where I had driven them.’ Then they will dwell in their own land.”

9 Concerning the prophets:

My heart within me is broken.

All my bones shake.

I am like a drunken man,

and like a man whom wine has overcome,

because of Yahweh,

and because of his holy words.

10 For the land is full of adulterers;

for because of the curse the land mourns.

The pastures of the wilderness are dried up.

Their course is evil,

and their might is not right;

11 for both prophet and priest are profane;

yes, in my house I have found their wickedness,” says Yahweh.

12 Therefore their way shall be to them as slippery places in the darkness.

They shall be driven on,

and fall therein;

for I will bring evil on them,

even the year of their visitation,” says Yahweh.

13 “I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria.

They prophesied by Baal,

and caused my people Israel to err.

14 In the prophets of Jerusalem also I have seen a horrible thing:

they commit adultery,

and walk in lies.

They strengthen the hands of evildoers,

so that no one returns from his wickedness.

They have all become to me as Sodom,

and its inhabitants as Gomorrah.”

15 Therefore Yahweh of Armies says concerning the prophets:

“Behold, I will feed them with wormwood,

and make them drink the water of gall;

for from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has gone out into all the land.”

16 Yahweh of Armies says,

“Don’t listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you.

They teach you vanity.

They speak a vision of their own heart,

and not out of the mouth of Yahweh.

17 They say continually to those who despise me,

‘Yahweh has said, “You shall have peace;”’

and to everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart they say,

‘No evil shall come on you.’

18 For who has stood in the council of Yahweh,

that he should perceive and hear his word?

Who has listend to my word, and heard it?

19 Behold, Yahweh’s storm, his wrath, has gone out.

Yes, a whirling storm.

It shall burst on the head of the wicked.

20 Yahweh’s anger shall not return, until he has executed,

and until he has performed the intents of his heart.

In the latter days, you will understand it perfectly.

21 I didn’t send these prophets, yet they ran.

I didn’t speak to them, yet they prophesied.

22 But if they had stood in my council,

then they would have caused my people to hear my words,

and would have turned them from their evil way,

and from the evil of their doings.

23 “Am I a God at hand,” says Yahweh,

“and not a God afar off?

24 Can anyone hide himself in secret places

so that I can’t see him?” says Yahweh.

“Don’t I fill heaven and earth?” says Yahweh.

25 “I have heard what the prophets have said, who prophesy lies in my name, saying, ‘I had a dream! I had a dream!’

26 How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies, even the prophets of the deceit of their own heart?

27 They intend to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they each tell his neighbor, as their fathers forgot my name because of Baal.

28 The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream; and he who has my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the straw to the wheat?” says Yahweh.

29 “Isn’t my word like fire?” says Yahweh; “and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?

30 “Therefore behold, I am against the prophets,” says Yahweh, “who each steal my words from his neighbor.

31 Behold, I am against the prophets,” says Yahweh, “who use their tongues, and say, ‘He says.’

32 Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams,” says Yahweh, “who tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their vain boasting; yet I didn’t send them, nor command them; neither do they profit this people at all,” says Yahweh.

33 “When this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask you, saying, ‘What is the message from Yahweh?’ Then you shall tell them, ‘“What message? I will cast you off,” says Yahweh.’

34 As for the prophet, and the priest, and the people, who say, ‘The message from Yahweh,’ I will even punish that man and his household.

35 You shall say everyone to his neighbor, and everyone to his brother, ‘What has Yahweh answered?’ and, ‘What has Yahweh spoken?’

36 You shall mention the message from Yahweh no more: for every man’s own word has become his message; for you have perverted the words of the living God, of Yahweh of Armies, our God.

37 You shall say to the prophet, ‘What has Yahweh answered you?’ and, ‘What has Yahweh spoken?’

38 Although you say, ‘The message from Yahweh;’ therefore Yahweh says: ‘Because you say this word, “The message from Yahweh,” and I have sent to you, telling you not to say, “The message from Yahweh;”

39 therefore, behold, I will utterly forget you, and I will cast you off, and the city that I gave to you and to your fathers, away from my presence.

40 I will bring an everlasting reproach on you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.’”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/9/32k/JER/23-1cec5f3ff316b02c41f5fbf0a284823d.mp3?version_id=206—

1 Yahweh showed me, and behold, two baskets of figs set before Yahweh’s temple, after that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the craftsmen and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon.

2 One basket had very good figs, like the figs that are first-ripe; and the other basket had very bad figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad.

3 Then Yahweh asked me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?”

I said, “Figs. The good figs are very good, and the bad are very bad, so bad that can’t be eaten.”

4 Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,

5 “Yahweh, the God of Israel says: ‘Like these good figs, so will I regard the captives of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans, for good.

6 For I will set my eyes on them for good, and I will bring them again to this land. I will build them, and not pull them down. I will plant them, and not pluck them up.

7 I will give them a heart to know me, that I am Yahweh: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God; for they shall return to me with their whole heart.

8 “‘As the bad figs, which can’t be eaten, they are so bad,’ surely Yahweh says, ‘So I will give up Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the remnant of Jerusalem, who remain in this land, and those who dwell in the land of Egypt.

9 I will even give them up to be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth for evil; to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places where I shall drive them.

10 I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, until they be consumed from off the land that I gave to them and to their fathers.’”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/9/32k/JER/24-44c261ca652d5487dc2136ed7752045c.mp3?version_id=206—

1 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 (the same was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon),

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

3 From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, these twenty-three years, Yahweh’s word has come to me, and I have spoken to you, rising up early and speaking; but you have not listened.

4 Yahweh has sent to you all his servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them (but you have not listened, nor inclined your ear to hear)

5 saying, “Return now everyone from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that Yahweh has given to you and to your fathers, from of old and even forever more.

6 Don’t go after other gods to serve them or worship them, and don’t provoke me to anger with the work of your hands; and I will do you no harm.”

7 “Yet you have not listened to me,” says Yahweh; “that you may provoke me to anger with the work of your hands to your own hurt.”

8 Therefore Yahweh of Armies says: “Because you have not heard my words,

9 behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,” says Yahweh, “and I will send to Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against its inhabitants, and against all these nations around. I will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and a hissing, and perpetual desolations.

10 Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth 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 lamp.

11 This whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

12 “It shall happen, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation,” says Yahweh, “for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make it desolate forever.

13 I will bring on 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.

14 For many nations and great kings shall make bondservants of them, even of them; and I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the work of their hands.”

15 For Yahweh, the God of Israel, says to me: “take this cup of the wine of wrath at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send you, to drink it.

16 They shall drink, and reel back and forth, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them.”

17 Then took I the cup at Yahweh’s hand, and made all the nations to drink, to whom Yahweh had sent me:

18 Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and its kings, and its princes, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse, as it is today;

19 Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people;

20 and all the mixed people, and all the kings of the land of the Uz, and all the kings of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Gaza, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod;

21 Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon;

22 and all the kings of Tyre, and all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the isle which is beyond the sea;

23 Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all who have the corners of their beard cut off;

24 and all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mixed people who dwell in the wilderness;

25 and all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes;

26 and all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another; and all the kingdoms of the world, which are on the surface of the earth: and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them.

27 “You shall tell them, ‘Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel says: “Drink, and be drunk, vomit, fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you.”’

28 It shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at your hand to drink, then you shall tell them, ‘Yahweh of Armies says: “You shall surely drink.

29 For, behold, I begin to work evil at the city which is called by my name; and should you be utterly unpunished? You shall not be unpunished; for I will call for a sword on all the inhabitants of the earth, says Yahweh of Armies.”’

30 “Therefore prophesy you against them all these words, and tell them,

“‘Yahweh will roar from on high,

and utter his voice from his holy habitation;

he will mightily roar against his fold.

He will give a shout, as those who tread grapes,

against all the inhabitants of the earth.

31 A noise shall come even to the end of the earth;

for Yahweh has a controversy with the nations;

he will enter into judgment with all flesh:

as for the wicked, he will give them to the sword,”’ says Yahweh.”

32 Yahweh of Armies says,

“Behold, evil shall go out from nation to nation,

and a great storm shall be raised up from the uttermost parts of the earth.”

33 The slain of Yahweh shall be at that day from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung on the surface of the ground.

34 Wail, you shepherds, and cry;

and wallow in dust, you leader of the flock;

for the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions are fully come,

and you shall fall like a goodly vessel.

35 The shepherds shall have no way to flee,

nor the leader of the flock to escape.

36 A voice of the cry of the shepherds,

and the wailing of the leader of the flock,

for Yahweh lays waste their pasture.

37 The peaceable folds are brought to silence

because of the fierce anger of Yahweh.

38 He has left his covert, as the lion;

for their land has become an astonishment because of the fierceness of the oppression,

and because of his fierce anger.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/9/32k/JER/25-6d6cf654d21c85903c52ed222da7e433.mp3?version_id=206—

1 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came from Yahweh:

2 “Yahweh says: ‘Stand in the court of Yahweh’s house, and speak to all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in Yahweh’s house, all the words that I command you to speak to them. Don’t omit a word.

3 It may be they will listen, and turn every man from his evil way; that I may relent from the evil which I intend to do to them because of the evil of their doings.’

4 You shall tell them, “Yahweh says: ‘If you will not listen to me, to walk in my law, which I have set before you,

5 to listen to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I send to you, even rising up early and sending them, but you have not listened;

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

7 The priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in Yahweh’s house.

8 When Jeremiah had finished speaking all that Yahweh had commanded him to speak to all the people, the priests and the prophets and all the people seized him, saying, “You shall surely die!

9 Why have you prophesied in Yahweh’s name, saying, ‘This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate, without inhabitant?’” All the people were crowded around Jeremiah in Yahweh’s house.

10 When the princes of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king’s house to Yahweh’s house; and they sat in the entry of the new gate of Yahweh’s house.

11 Then spoke the priests and the prophets to the princes and to all the people, saying, “This man is worthy of death; for he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your ears.”

12 Then Jeremiah spoke to all the princes and to all the people, saying, “Yahweh sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that you have heard.

13 Now therefore amend your ways and your doings, and obey Yahweh your God’s voice; and Yahweh will relent from the evil that he has pronounced against you.

14 But as for me, behold, I am in your hand. Do with me what is good and right in your eyes.

15 Only know for certain that, if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood on yourselves, and on this city, and on its inhabitants; for in truth Yahweh has sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears.”

16 Then the princes and all the people said to the priests and to the prophets: “This man is not worthy of death; for he has spoken to us in the name of Yahweh our God.”

17 Then certain of the elders of the land rose up, and spoke to all the assembly of the people, saying,

18 “Micah the Morashtite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah; and he spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, ‘Yahweh of Armies says:

“‘Zion will be plowed as a field,

and Jerusalem shall become heaps,

and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.’

19 Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him to death? Didn’t he fear Yahweh, and entreat the favor of Yahweh, and Yahweh relented of the disaster which he had pronounced against them? We would commit great evil against our own souls that way!”

20 There was also a man who prophesied in Yahweh’s name, Uriah the son of Shemaiah of Kiriath Jearim; and he prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah.

21 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 Uriah heard it, he was afraid, and fled, and went into Egypt:

22 and Jehoiakim the king sent men into Egypt, Elnathan the son of Achbor, and certain men with him, into Egypt;

23 and they fetched Uriah out of Egypt, and brought him to Jehoiakim the king, who killed him with the sword, and cast his dead body into the graves of the common people.

24 But 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.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/9/32k/JER/26-f2507d2f2fcfca0755bdaef9dd69a489.mp3?version_id=206—

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

2 Yahweh says to me: “Make bonds and bars, and put them on your neck.

3 Then send them to the king of Edom, and to the king of Moab, and to the king of the children of Ammon, and to the king of Tyre, and to the king of Sidon, by the hand of the messengers who come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah.

4 Give them a command to their masters, saying, ‘Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel says, “You shall tell your masters:

5 ‘I have made the earth, the men and the animals that are on the surface of the earth, by my great power and by my outstretched arm; and I give it to whom it seems right to me.

6 Now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and I have also given the animals of the field to him to serve him.

7 All the nations will serve him, and his son, and his son’s son, until the time of his own land comes. Then many nations and great kings will make him their bondservant.

8 “‘“‘It will happen that the nation and the kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish,’ says Yahweh, ‘with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand.

9 But as for you, don’t you listen to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreams, nor to your soothsayers, nor to your sorcerers, who speak to you, saying, “You shall not serve the king of Babylon;”

10 for they prophesy a lie to you, to remove you far from your land, and that I should drive you out, and you should perish.

11 But the nation that shall bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him, that nation will I let remain in their own land,’ says Yahweh; ‘and they shall till it, and dwell therein.’”’”

12 I spoke 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.

13 Why will you die, you and your people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as Yahweh has spoken concerning the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?

14 Don’t listen to the words of the prophets who speak to you, saying, ‘You shall not serve the king of Babylon;’ for they prophesy a lie to you.

15 For I have not sent them,” says Yahweh, “but they prophesy falsely in my name; that I may drive you out, and that you may perish, you, and the prophets who prophesy to you.”

16 Also I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying, Yahweh says, “Don’t listen to the words of your prophets who prophesy to you, saying, ‘Behold, the vessels of Yahweh’s house shall now shortly be brought again from Babylon;’ for they prophesy a lie to you.

17 Don’t listen to them. Serve the king of Babylon, and live. Why should this city become a desolation?

18 But if they are prophets, and if Yahweh’s word is with them, let them now make intercession to Yahweh of Armies, that the vessels which are left in Yahweh’s house, and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, don’t go to Babylon.

19 For Yahweh of Armies says concerning the pillars, and concerning the sea, and concerning the bases, and concerning the residue of the vessels that are left in this city,

20 which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon didn’t take, 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;

21 yes, Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says concerning the vessels that are left in Yahweh’s house, and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem:

22 ‘They shall be carried to Babylon, and there shall they be, until the day that I visit them,’ says Yahweh; ‘then I will bring them up, and restore them to this place.’”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/9/32k/JER/27-c8761f0b12809d90877cfda8d6492934.mp3?version_id=206—