Bible in 90 Days

¹⁴ Every man is carnal in his knowledge: let every founder be ashamed of his graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no spirit in them.

¹⁵ They are vanity and the work of scorn: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.

¹⁶ 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 the hosts is his name.

¹⁷ ¶ Gather up thy wares out of the lands, O inhabitant of the fortress.

¹⁸ For thus hath the LORD said, Behold, that this time I will throw out the inhabitants of the land with a sling and will afflict them, that they may find it.

¹⁹ Woe is me for my hurt! my wound is grievous, but I said, Truly this is my sickness, and I must bear it.

²⁰ My tent is destroyed, and all my cords are broken: my sons were taken from me, and they are lost; there is no one to stretch forth my tent any more and to set up my curtains.

²¹ For the pastors are become carnal and have not sought the LORD; therefore they did not understand, and all their flocks scattered.

²² Behold, the voice of the rumour is come, and a great commotion out of the land of the north wind to make the cities of Judah desolate and a den of dragons.

²³ O LORD, I know that man is not the lord of his own way: it is not in man that walks to order his steps.

²⁴ O LORD, chastise me, but with judgment; not with thine anger lest thou bring me to nothing.

²⁵ Pour out thy fury upon the Gentiles that do not know thee and upon the nations that do not call on thy name: for they have eaten up Jacob and devoured him and consumed him and have destroyed his habitation.

11 ¶ The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

² Hear ye the words of this covenant, and speak unto every man of Judah and to every inhabitant of Jerusalem;

³ and thou shalt say unto them, Thus hath the LORD God of Israel said: Cursed be the man that does not hear the words of this covenant,

⁴ which I commanded your fathers the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying unto them, hear my voice and comply with my words according to all which I command you; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God

⁵ that I may confirm the oath which I have sworn unto your fathers, that I would give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day. Then I answered, and said, Amen, O LORD.

⁶ And the LORD said unto me, Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, Hear ye the words of this covenant and do them.

⁷ 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, Hear my voice.

⁸ Yet they did not hear, nor did they incline their ear, but walked each 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.

⁹ And the LORD said unto me, A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

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

¹¹ ¶ Therefore thus hath the LORD said, 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.

¹² Then shall the cities of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem go and cry unto the gods unto whom they offer incense, who shall not be able to save them in the time of their trouble.

¹³ For according to the number of thy cities were thy gods, O Judah; and according to the number of thy streets, O Jerusalem, have ye set up altars of confusion, even altars to burn incense unto Baal.

¹⁴ Therefore pray not thou 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 in their trouble.

¹⁵ What part has my beloved in my house, seeing she has wrought lewdness with many? The holy flesh shall pass from upon thee, for in thy evil thou didst glory.

¹⁶ The LORD called thy name, A green olive tree, beautiful in fruit and in appearance. At the voice of a great word he caused fire to be kindled upon it, and they broke her branches.

¹⁷ For the LORD of the hosts, that planted thee, has pronounced evil against thee 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.

¹⁸ ¶ And the LORD gave me knowledge of it, and I experienced it: then thou didst show me their doings.

¹⁹ But I was like a ram or an ox that is brought to the slaughter; for I did not understand 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 no longer be remembered.

²⁰ But, O LORD of the hosts, that judges righteously, that tries the kidneys and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them, for unto thee I have uncovered my cause.

²¹ Therefore, thus hath the LORD said regarding the men of Anathoth that seek thy life, saying, Do not prophesy in the name of the LORD that thou not die by our hand;

²² therefore, thus hath the LORD of the hosts said, Behold, I visit: the young men shall die by the sword; their sons and their daughters shall die by famine:

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

12 ¶ Righteous art thou, O LORD, even though I dispute with thee: even so, I will speak judgments with thee; Why does the way of the wicked prosper? All those that completely rebel against thee have peace.

² Thou hast planted them, and they have taken root: they grow, and they bring forth fruit; thou art near in their mouth and far from their kidneys.

³ But thou, O LORD, dost know me; thou hast seen me and tried my heart toward thee; pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and mark them for the day of slaughter.

⁴ How long shall the land be desolate, and the grass of all the field wither, for the wickedness of those that dwell therein? The cattle are lacking, and the birds, because they said, He shall not see our latter end.

⁵ If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee then how canst thou contend with horses? and if in the land of peace, in which thou didst trust, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?

⁶ For even thy brethren, and the house of thy father, even they have dealt treacherously with thee, even they have raised their voice after thee, O congregation; do not believe them, when they speak fair words unto thee.

⁷ ¶ I have forsaken my house, I have left my heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies.

⁸ My heritage was unto me as a lion in the forest; it cried out against me, therefore I have hated it.

⁹ My heritage is unto me as a speckled bird; the birds round about are against her; come ye, assemble all the beasts of the field, come to devour her.

¹⁰ Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard; they have trodden my heritage under foot; they have made my precious heritage a desolate wilderness.

¹¹ They have made it desolate; it cries against me, desolate; the whole land was made desolate because there was no man that would see.

¹² 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; there is no peace for any flesh.

¹³ They have sown bread, but shall reap thorns; they had the heritage, but they did not profit; and they shall be ashamed because of your fruits, by the fierce anger of the LORD.

¹⁴ ¶ Thus hath the LORD said against all my evil neighbours that touch the heritage 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.

¹⁵ And it shall come to pass that after I have plucked them out, I will return and have mercy on them, and will cause them to return, each one to his heritage, and each one to his land.

¹⁶ And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear in my name, saying, The LORD lives; as they taught my people to swear by Baal then they shall be prospered in the midst of my people.

¹⁷ But if they will not hear, I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation, saith the LORD.

13 ¶ Thus hath the LORD said unto me, Go and buy thee a linen girdle and put it upon thy loins, and thou shalt not put it in water.

² And I bought the girdle according to the word of the LORD and put it on my loins.

³ And the word of the LORD came unto me the second time, saying,

⁴ Take the girdle that thou hast bought, which is upon thy loins, and arise; go to the Euphrates and hide it there in a hole of the rock.

⁵ So I went and hid it in the Euphrates, as the LORD commanded me.

⁶ And it came to pass after many days that the LORD said unto me, Arise; go to the Euphrates and take from there the girdle, which I commanded thee to hide there.

⁷ Then I went to the Euphrates and dug and took the girdle from the place where I had hid it; and, behold, the girdle was rotted, it was good for nothing.

⁸ Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

⁹ Thus hath the LORD said, After this manner I will cause the pride of Judah to rot and the great pride of Jerusalem.

¹⁰ This evil people that refuses to hear my words, which walk in the imagination of their heart and went after other gods to serve them and to worship them shall even be as this girdle, which is good for nothing.

¹¹ For as the girdle cleaves to the loins of a man, so I have caused to cleave unto me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, saith the LORD; that they might be unto me for a people and for fame, and for a praise, and for honour; but they did not hear.

¹² ¶ Therefore thou shalt speak unto them this word: Thus hath the LORD God of Israel said, Every bottle shall be filled with wine; and they shall say unto thee, Do we not certainly know that every bottle shall be filled with wine?

¹³ Then shalt thou say unto them, Thus hath the LORD said, Behold, I fill all the inhabitants of this land with drunkenness, even the kings that sit upon David’s throne and the priests and the prophets and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

¹⁴ And I will break them one against another, even the fathers with the sons together, saith the LORD; I will not pity nor spare nor have mercy to not destroy them.

¹⁵ Hear ye and give ear; do not be proud: for the LORD has spoken.

¹⁶ Give glory to the LORD your God before he causes darkness and before your feet stumble in mountains of darkness, and while ye look for light, he turns it into the shadow of death and makes it gross darkness.

¹⁷ But if ye will not hear this, my soul shall weep in secret because of your pride; and weeping bitterly, my eyes shall be undone in tears because the LORD’s flock was carried away captive.

¹⁸ Say unto the king and to the queen, Humble yourselves, sit down in the dust because the crown of your glory has come down off your heads.

¹⁹ The cities of the south were shut up, and no one could open them: Judah was carried away captive; all of it, it was completely carried away captive.

²⁰ Lift up your eyes, and behold those that come from the north wind: where is the flock that was given thee, the cattle of thy beauty?

²¹ What wilt thou say when he shall visit thee? For thou hast taught them to be princes and as head over thee; shall not sorrows take thee as a woman in travail?

²² ¶ When thou shalt say in thine heart, Why do these things come upon me? For the greatness of thine iniquity are thy skirts discovered and thy heels made bare.

²³ Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Likewise ye also cannot do good, being taught to do evil.

²⁴ Therefore I will scatter them as the stubble that passes away by the wind of the wilderness.

²⁵ This shall be thy lot, the portion of thy measures from me said the LORD; because thou hast forgotten me, and trusted in falsehood.

²⁶ Therefore I uncovered thy skirts before thy face, and thy shame was manifested.

²⁷ I have seen thine adulteries and thy neighings, the lewdness of thy whoredom upon the hills; in the same field I saw thine abominations. Woe unto thee, O Jerusalem! wilt thou not be made clean at last? How long then shall it be?

14 ¶ The word of the LORD that was given to Jeremiah concerning the famine.

² Judah mourns, and its gates languish; they are black unto the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up.

³ 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.

⁴ Because the ground is chapped, for there was no rain in the earth, the plowmen were ashamed, they covered their heads.

⁵ Even the hind calved in the field and forsook it, because there was no grass.

⁶ And the wild asses stood in the high places, they snuffed up the wind like dragons; their eyes failed because there was no grass.

⁷ O LORD, though our iniquities testify against us, do it for thy name’s sake; for our rebellions have multiplied; we have sinned against thee.

⁸ O the hope of Israel, the Keeper thereof in time of trouble, why should thou be as a stranger in the land and as a wayfaring man that turns aside to tarry for a night?

⁹ Why should thou be as a speechless man as a mighty man that cannot save? Yet thou, O LORD, art in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name; do not leave us.

¹⁰ ¶ Thus hath the LORD said unto this people, Thus have they loved to move, nor have they refrained their feet; therefore the LORD does not have them in his will; he will now remember their iniquity and visit their sins.

¹¹ Then the LORD said unto me, Do not pray for this people for their good.

¹² 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 sword and by famine and by pestilence.

¹³ Then I said, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, the prophets say unto them, Ye shall not see the sword, neither shall ye have famine; but I will give you true peace in this place.

¹⁴ Then the LORD said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I did not send them, neither have I commanded them, neither did I speak unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision, divination, vanity, and the deceit of their heart.

¹⁵ Therefore thus hath the LORD said concerning the prophets that prophesy in my name which I did not send and that say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land; By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed.

¹⁶ 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 no one to bury them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters; for I will pour their wickedness upon them.

¹⁷ ¶ Therefore thou shalt say this word unto 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 blow.

¹⁸ If I go forth into the field, then behold the slain with the sword! and if I enter into the city, then behold those that are sick with famine! for both the prophet and the priest walked around in circles in the land, and they did not know it.

¹⁹ Hast thou utterly rejected Judah? Hath thy soul loathed Zion? Why didst thou cause us to be smitten when no healing remains for us? We waited for peace, and there was no good; and for the time of healing, and behold trouble!

²⁰ We acknowledge, O LORD, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers; for we have sinned against thee.

²¹ Do not cast us away; for thy name’s sake, do not disgrace the throne of thy glory; remember, do not break thy covenant with us.

²² Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause it to rain? or can the heavens give rain? art not thou he, O LORD our God? therefore we will wait upon thee, for thou hast made all these things.

15 ¶ Then the LORD said unto me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my will would not be toward this people: cast them out of my sight, and let them go forth.

² And it shall come to pass, if they say unto thee, Where shall we go forth? then thou shalt tell them, Thus hath the LORD said: 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.

³ And I will visit over them four kinds of evil, saith 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.

⁴ And I will give them over to be sifted by 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 shall have pity upon thee, O Jerusalem? or who shall bemoan thee? or who is to come to ask regarding thy peace?

⁶ Thou hast forsaken me, saith the LORD; thou art gone backward: therefore, I stretched out my hand over thee and cast thee away; I am tired of repenting.

⁷ And I fanned them with a fan unto the gates of the land; I bereaved them of children, I wasted my people; they did not turn from their ways.

⁸ Their widows are multiplied unto me more than the sand of the sea: I have brought upon them a destroyer at noonday against the young; I have caused him to fall upon her suddenly, and terrors upon the city.

⁹ She that has borne seven languishes; her soul is filled with sorrow; her sun is gone down while it was yet day; she has been ashamed and confounded; and the residue of them I will deliver to the sword before their enemies, saith the LORD.

¹⁰ ¶ Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have neither lent on usury, nor men have lent to me on usury; yet every one of them curses me.

¹¹ The LORD said, Verily it shall be well with thy remnant; verily I will cause the enemy to entreat thee well in the time of evil and in the time of affliction.

¹² Shall iron break the iron from the place of the north wind and the bronze?

¹³ Thy riches and thy treasures I will give to the spoil without price, and that for all thy sins, even in all thy borders.

¹⁴ And I will make thee to serve thine enemies in a land which thou dost not know; for a fire is kindled in my anger, which shall burn upon you.

¹⁵ ¶ O LORD, thou knowest: remember me and visit me and revenge me of my enemies; do not take me away in the prolongation of thy anger, know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke.

¹⁶ Thy words were found, and I ate them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart: for thy name was called upon me, O LORD God of the hosts.

¹⁷ I did not sit in the assembly of the mockers, nor did I become puffed up by reason of thy prophecy; I sat alone because thou hast filled me with indignation.

¹⁸ Why was my pain perpetual and my wound incurable, which refuses to be healed? Wilt thou be altogether unto me as a liar and as waters that fail?

¹⁹ Therefore thus hath the LORD said, If thou wilt return, then I will bring thee again, and thou shalt stand before me; and if thou wilt take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth; let them return unto thee, but return not thou unto them.

²⁰ And I will give thee unto this people as a fenced brazen wall, and they shall fight against thee but they shall not prevail against thee: for I am with thee to keep thee and to defend thee, said the LORD.

²¹ And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will ransom thee out of the hand of the strong.

16 ¶ And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

² Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have sons or daughters in this place.

³ For thus hath the LORD said concerning the sons and concerning the daughters that would be born in this place and concerning their mothers that would bare them and concerning their fathers that would beget them in this land

⁴ 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.

⁵ For thus hath the LORD said, Do not enter into the house of mourning, neither go to lament nor comfort them: for I have taken away my peace from this people, said the LORD, even mercy and compassion.

⁶ 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:

⁷ neither shall they break the bread of mourning for them, to comfort themselves for their death; neither shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother.

⁸ In the same manner thou shalt not go into the house of feasting, to sit with them to eat and to drink.

⁹ For thus hath the LORD of the hosts, the God of Israel said: Behold, I will cause to cease in this place before your eyes and in your days, every voice of mirth and every voice of gladness, every voice of the bridegroom, and every voice of the bride.

¹⁰ ¶ And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt show this people all these things, they shall say unto thee, Why has the LORD pronounced all this great evil against us? or what is our iniquity? or what is our sin which we have committed against the LORD our God?

¹¹ Then thou shalt say unto them, Because your fathers have forsaken me, saith 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;

¹² and ye have done worse than your fathers; for, behold, ye walk each one after the imagination of his evil heart, not hearkening unto me:

¹³ Therefore I will cause you to be cast out of this land into a land that ye do not know, neither ye nor your fathers; and there ye shall serve other gods day and night; for I will not grant you mercy.

¹⁴ ¶ Therefore, behold, the days come, said the LORD, that it shall no longer be said, The LORD lives, that caused the sons of Israel to come up out of the land of Egypt;

¹⁵ but, The LORD lives, that caused the sons of Israel to come up out of the land of the north wind, 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.

¹⁶ Behold, I send many fishers, saith the LORD, and they shall fish them; and after, will I send many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.

¹⁷ For my eyes are upon all their ways, which they have not hid from me, neither does their iniquity hide from the presence of my eyes.

¹⁸ But first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double because they have defiled my land with the carcasses of their abominations, and they have filled my inheritance with abominable things.

¹⁹ O LORD, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the time of the affliction; Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things in which there is no profit.

²⁰ Shall a man make gods unto himself? But they shall not be gods.

²¹ Therefore, behold, I will cause them to know this time; I will cause them to know my hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is The LORD.

17 ¶ 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

² that their sons might remember their altars and their groves, by the green trees and upon the high hills.

³ My mountain dweller! In the field are thy riches; all thy treasures I will give to the spoil, because of the sin of thy high places throughout all thy borders.

⁴ And thou, even thyself, shalt discontinue from thine heritage that I gave thee; and I will cause thee to serve thine enemies in the land which thou dost not know: for ye have kindled a fire in my anger, which shall burn for ever.

⁵ ¶ Thus hath the LORD said; Cursed be the man that trusts in man and makes flesh his arm and whose heart departs from the LORD.

⁶ 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.

⁷ Blessed is the man that is steadfast in the LORD and whose trust is the LORD.

⁸ For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, 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 fatigued in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.

⁹ The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; who shall know it?

¹⁰ I the LORD search the heart; I try the kidneys, even to give each man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings.

¹¹ As the partridge that steals that which she did not hatch, is he that gets riches and not with righteousness; in the midst of his days he shall leave them, and at his end shall be a fool.

¹² ¶ The throne of glory, height from the beginning, is the place of our sanctification.

¹³ O hope of Israel! LORD, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed; and those that depart from me shall be written in the dust because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters.

¹⁴ Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise.

¹⁵ Behold, they say unto me, Where is the word of the LORD? let it come now.

¹⁶ For I did not take it upon myself to be a pastor following thee; neither have I desired the woeful day; thou dost know: that which came out of my lips has come forth in thy presence.

¹⁷ Do not be a terror unto me; thou art my hope in the day of evil.

¹⁸ Let them be confounded that persecute me, but do not let me be confounded; let them be dismayed; but do not let me be dismayed: bring upon them the day of evil and destroy them with double destruction.

¹⁹ ¶ Thus said the LORD unto me: Go and stand in the gate of the sons of the people by which the kings of Judah come in and by which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem;

²⁰ and say unto them, Hear ye the word of the LORD, ye kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that enter in by these gates:

²¹ Thus hath the LORD said: Take heed for your lives, and bring no burden on the sabbath day to bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem;

²² neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the sabbath day, neither do any work, but sanctify the sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers,

²³ who did not hear, nor inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, nor receive correction.

²⁴ And it shall come to pass, if ye diligently hearken unto me, saith the LORD, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the sabbath day but sanctify the sabbath day to do no work therein,

²⁵ then shall there enter in by the gates of this city, the kings and the princes, who sit 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 be inhabited for ever.

²⁶ And they shall come from the cities of Judah and from the places about Jerusalem and from the land of Benjamin and from the fields and from the mountain and from the south, bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices and presents and incense, and bringing the sacrifice of praise unto the house of the LORD.

²⁷ But if ye will not hearken unto me to sanctify the sabbath day, and not to bring burdens nor bring it in through the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day; then I will kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.

18 ¶ The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

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

³ Then I went down to the potter’s house; and, behold, he wrought a work upon a wheel.

⁴ And the vessel that he made of clay was broken in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

⁵ Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

⁶ O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in my hand, O house of Israel.

⁷ In an instant I shall speak against Gentiles and against kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down and to destroy.

⁸ But if these Gentiles shall turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.

⁹ And in an instant I shall speak concerning the nation and concerning the kingdom, to build and to plant it;

¹⁰ but if it should do evil in my sight, not hearing my voice, then I will repent of the good that I had determined to do unto them.

¹¹ ¶ Now therefore, speak to every man of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus hath the LORD said: Behold, I ordain evil against you and devise plans against you; return ye now each one from his evil way, and better your ways and your doings.

¹² And they said, This is useless, for we must walk after our own devices, and we must each one do the imagination of his evil heart.

¹³ Therefore thus hath the LORD said; Ask now among the Gentiles, who has heard such things: the virgin of Israel has done a very horrible thing.

¹⁴ Will anyone leave the snow of the rock of the field that flows from Lebanon? or shall they forsake the singular, cold, flowing waters?

¹⁵ Because my people have forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused themselves to stumble in their ways, in the ancient paths, to walk in paths, in a way not trodden;

¹⁶ to make their land desolate, and a perpetual hissing; every one that passes thereby shall be astonished and wag 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 perdition.

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 smite him with the tongue, and let us not consider any of his words.

¹⁹ Consider me, O LORD, and hear the voice of those that contend with me.

²⁰ Shall evil be recompensed for good? for they have dug a pit for my soul. Remember that I stood before thee to speak good for them and to turn away thy wrath from them.

²¹ Therefore deliver up their sons 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.

²² Let a cry be heard from their houses, when thou shalt bring a troop suddenly upon them; for they have dug a pit to take me and hid snares for my feet.

²³ Yet, LORD, thou dost know all their counsel against me to slay me; do not forgive their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from thy sight, but let them be overthrown before thee; deal thus with them in the time of thine anger.

19 ¶ Thus hath the LORD said, Go and buy a potter’s earthen bottle, and take of the elders of the people and of the elders of the priests;

² and go forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry by the east gate, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell thee.

³ Therefore thou shalt say, Hear ye the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus saith the LORD of the hosts, God of Israel: Behold, I bring evil upon this place, such that whoever hears of it, his ears shall tingle.

⁴ Because they have forsaken me and have estranged 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 innocents;

⁵ and have built high places unto Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto this same Baal, which I did not command, nor speak, neither did it come into my mind.

⁶ Therefore, behold, the days come, said the LORD, that this place shall no longer be called Tophet, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of the slaughter.

⁷ And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hands of those that seek their souls and I will give their carcasses to be food for the fowls of the heaven and for the beasts of the earth.

⁸ And I will make this city desolate and a hissing; every one that passes thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all its plagues.

⁹ And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and each one shall eat the flesh of his friend in the siege and straitness, with which their enemies and those that seek their souls shall straiten them.

¹⁰ ¶ Then thou shalt break the bottle in the sight of the men that go with thee,

¹¹ and shalt say unto them, Thus hath the LORD of the hosts said: Even so will I break this people and this city as one breaks a potter’s vessel that cannot be restored again; and they shall bury them in Tophet, for there shall be no other place to bury.

¹² Thus will I do unto this place, saith the LORD, and to its inhabitants and even make this city as Tophet:

¹³ And the houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah, shall be as the place of Tophet, defiled, because of all the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense unto all the host of the heaven and have poured out drink offerings unto other gods.

¹⁴ Then Jeremiah returned 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,

¹⁵ Thus hath the LORD of the hosts, God of Israel said: Behold, I bring upon this city and upon all her towns all the evil that I have spoken against her because they have hardened their necks that they might not hear my words.

20 ¶ And Pashur the priest, the son of Immer, who presided as prince in the house of the LORD, heard Jeremiah who prophesied these things.

² Then Pashur smote Jeremiah the prophet and put him in the stocks that were at the gate of Benjamin on the high place, which is in the house of the LORD.

³ And it came to pass on the morrow that Pashur brought forth Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then Jeremiah said unto him: The LORD has not called thy name Pashur, {Heb. Prosperity all around} but Magormissabib. {Heb. Fear from every side}

⁴ For thus hath the LORD said, Behold, I will make thee a terror to thyself and to all those that love thee well; and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and thine 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 smite them with the sword.

⁵ Moreover I will deliver all the strength of this city and all its labours and all its precious things and all the treasures of the kings of Judah I will give into the hand of their enemies, who shall spoil them and take them and carry them to Babylon.

⁶ And thou, Pashur, and all that dwell in thine house shall go into captivity; and thou shalt come to Babylon, and there thou shalt die and shalt be buried there, thou and all those who love thee well, unto whom thou hast prophesied with lies.

⁷ ¶ O LORD, thou hast seduced me, and I was seduced; thou wert stronger than I and hast overcome me; I am in derision daily; every one mocks me.

⁸ For since I spoke out, I raised my voice crying, Violence and destruction; because the word of the LORD has been a reproach unto me and a derision, daily.

⁹ And I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But he was in my heart as a burning fire and within my bones; I tried to forbear, and I could not.

¹⁰ For I heard the murmuring of many, fear on every side, Report, and we will report it. All my friends watched to see if I would stumble. Peradventure he will deceive himself, they said, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him.

¹¹ But the LORD is with me as a powerful giant; therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail: they shall be greatly ashamed; for they shall not prosper; they shall have everlasting confusion which shall never be forgotten.

¹² O LORD of the hosts, who examines that which is just, who seest the kidneys and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them; for unto thee I have opened my cause.

¹³ Sing unto the LORD, praise ye the LORD; for he has delivered the soul of the poor from the hand of evildoers.

¹⁴ ¶ Cursed be the day in which I was born; do not let the day in which my mother bore me be blessed.

¹⁵ Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father, saying, A man child is born unto thee; making him very glad.

¹⁶ And let that man be as the cities which the LORD overthrew and did not repent; and let him hear the cry in the morning and the shouting at noontide

¹⁷ because he did not slay me in the womb, and my mother would have been my grave, and her womb perpetual conception.

¹⁸ Why did I come forth out of the womb? To see labour and sorrow that my days should be consumed with shame?

21 ¶ The word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, when king Zedekiah sent unto him Pashur the son of Melchiah, and Zephaniah the priest, the son of Maaseiah, saying,

² Enquire, I pray thee, of the LORD for us; for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon makes war against us; peradventure the LORD will deal with us according to all his wondrous works, and he will go up from upon us.

³ And said Jeremiah unto them: Thus shall ye say to Zedekiah

⁴ Thus hath the LORD God of Israel said: Behold, I turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands with which ye fight against the king of Babylon and against the Chaldeans, which besiege you outside the walls, and I will assemble them into the midst of this city.

⁵ 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.

⁶ And I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast: they shall die of a great pestilence.

⁷ And afterward, thus hath the LORD said, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, and his slaves 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 souls; and he shall smite them with the edge of the sword; he shall not forgive them, neither have pity, nor have mercy.

⁸ ¶ And unto this people thou shalt say, Thus hath the LORD said: Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death.

⁹ He that abides in this city shall die by the sword or by the famine or by the pestilence, but he that goes out and falls to the Chaldeans that besiege you, he shall live, and his soul shall be unto him for a spoil.

¹⁰ For I have set my face against this city for evil, and not for good, saith the LORD; it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.

¹¹ And to the house of the king of Judah, say, Hear ye the word of the LORD;

¹² O house of David, thus hath the LORD said: Execute judgment early and deliver him that is oppressed out of the hand of the oppressor lest my fury go forth like fire, and burn so that no one can quench it because of the evil of your doings.

¹³ Behold, I am against thee, O inhabitant of the valley of the rock of the plain (saith the LORD), which say, Who shall come up against us? or who shall enter into our habitations?

¹⁴ I will visit you according to the fruit of your doings, said the LORD: and I will kindle a fire in your forest, and it shall devour all things round about it.

22 ¶ Thus hath the LORD said: Go down to the house of the king of Judah and speak there this word,

² and say, Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, that doth sit upon the throne of David, thou, and thy slaves and thy people that enter in by these gates:

³ Thus hath the LORD said: Execute judgment and righteousness and deliver the oppressed out of the hand of the oppressor and do not deceive, neither steal from the stranger nor from the fatherless nor from the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place.

⁴ For if ye effectively obey this word, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house the kings seated by David upon his throne, riding in chariots and on horses, he and his slaves and his people.

⁵ But if ye will not hear these words, I swear by myself, said the LORD, that this house shall become a desolation.

⁶ For thus hath the LORD said regarding the house of the king of Judah: Thou art Gilead unto me and the head of Lebanon: yet surely I will make thee a wilderness and cities which are not inhabited.

⁷ And I will appoint destroyers against thee, each one with his weapons, and they shall cut down thy choice cedars and cast them into the fire.

⁸ And many Gentiles shall pass by this city, and each man shall say to his neighbour, Why has the LORD done thus unto this great city?

⁹ Then they shall answer, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God and worshipped other gods and served them.

¹⁰ ¶ Do not weep for the dead nor bemoan him, but weep sore for him that goes away, for he shall return no more nor see his native country.

¹¹ For thus hath the LORD said of Shallum the son of Josiah king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, He who went forth out of this place shall not return there any more;

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

¹³ Woe unto him that builds his house and not in righteousness and his chambers and not in judgment, using his neighbour’s service without wages and not giving him the wages of his work!

¹⁴ That saith, I will build me a wide house and large chambers, and cuts out windows in it and covers it with cedar and anoints it with vermilion.

¹⁵ Shalt thou reign, because thou dost enclose thyself in cedar? did not thy father eat and drink and do judgment and righteousness, and then it was well with him?

¹⁶ He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well with him. Is this not to know me? said the LORD.

¹⁷ But thine eyes and thine heart are not but for thy covetousness and for to shed innocent blood and for oppression and for violence, to do it.

¹⁸ Therefore thus hath the LORD said concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah; They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah my brother! and Ah sister! they shall not lament for him, saying, Ah lord! or, Ah his glory!

¹⁹ He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.

²⁰ ¶ Go up to Lebanon and cry; and lift up thy voice in Bashan and cry unto all parts: for all thy lovers are destroyed.

²¹ I spoke unto thee in thy prosperity, but thou didst say, I will not hear. This has been thy way from thy youth, that thou hast never heard my voice.

²² The wind shall eat up all thy pastors, and thy lovers shall go into captivity; surely then shalt thou be ashamed and confound thyself because of all thy malice.

²³ Thou didst inhabit Lebanon, thou didst make thy nest in the cedars. How shalt thou cry out when pangs come upon thee, the pain as of a woman in travail!

²⁴ As I live, saith the LORD, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon my right hand, yet I would pluck thee from there;

²⁵ and I will give thee into the hand of those that seek thy soul and into the hand of those whose face thou dost fear, even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of the Chaldeans.

²⁶ And I will cast thee out and thy mother that bore thee into another country, where ye were not born, and there ye shall die.

²⁷ But to the land unto which they de sire to return, they shall not return there.

²⁸ Is this man Coniah a despised broken idol? Is he a vessel in which there is no pleasure? Why are they cast out, he and his generation, and are cast into a land which they know not?

²⁹ O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD.

³⁰ Thus hath the LORD said, Write what shall be of this man deprived of a generation, a man unto whom nothing shall prosper in all the days of his life, for no man of his seed who sits upon the throne of David and rules over Judah shall prosper.

23 ¶ Woe be unto the pastors that waste and scatter the sheep of my pasture! said the LORD.

² Therefore thus hath the LORD God of Israel said unto the pastors that feed my people: Ye have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not visited them; behold, I visit upon you the evil of your doings, said the LORD.

³ And I will gather the remnant of my sheep out of all the lands where I have driven them and will cause them to return to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase.

⁴ 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, said the LORD.

⁵ Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper and shall execute judgment and righteousness in the earth.

⁶ In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this shall be his name by which they shall call him, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

⁷ Therefore, behold, the days come, said the LORD, and they shall no longer say, The LORD lives, who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt;

⁸ but, The LORD lives, who caused the seed of the house of Israel to come up and out of the land of the north wind, and from all the lands where I had driven them, and they shall dwell in their own land.