1

1 These are the words of Yirmeyahu the son of Hilkiyahu, one of the cohanim living in 'Anatot, in the territory of Binyamin.

2 The word of ADONAI came to him during the days of Yoshiyahu the son of Amon, king of Y'hudah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.

3 It also came during the days of Y'hoyakim the son of Yoshiyahu, king of Y'hudah, continuing until the eleventh year of Tzidkiyahu the son of Yoshiyahu, king of Y'hudah, right up until the time Yerushalayim was carried away captive, in the fifth month.

4 Here is the word of ADONAI that came to me:

5 'Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; before you were born, I separated you for myself. I have appointed you to be a prophet to the nations.'

6 I said, 'Oh, Adonai ELOHIM, I don't even know how to speak! I'm just a child!'

7 But ADONAI said to me, 'Don't say, 'I'm just a child.' 'For you will go to whomever I send you, and you will speak whatever I order you.

8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you, says ADONAI, to rescue you.'

9 Then ADONAI put out his hand and touched my mouth, and ADONAI said to me, 'There! I have put my words in your mouth.

10 Today I have placed you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and to tear down, to destroy and to demolish, to build and to plant.'

11 The word of ADONAI came to me, asking, 'Yirmeyahu, what do you see?' I answered, 'I see a branch from an almond tree [Hebrew: shaked].

12 Then ADONAI said to me, 'You have seen well, because I am watching [Hebrew: shoked] to fulfill my word.'

13 A second time the word of ADONAI came to me, asking, 'What do you see?' I answered, 'I see a caldron tilted away from the north, over a fire fanned by the wind.'

14 Then ADONAI said to me, 'From the north calamity will boil over onto everyone living in the land,

15 because I will summon all the families in the kingdoms of the north,' says ADONAI, 'and they will come and sit, each one, on his throne at the entrance to the gates of Yerushalayim, opposite its walls, all the way around, and opposite all the cities of Y'hudah.

16 I will pronounce my judgments against them for all their wickedness in abandoning me, offering incense to other gods and worshipping what their own hands made.

17 'But you, dress for action; stand up and tell them everything I order you to say. When you confront them, don't break down; or I will break you down in front of them!

18 For today, you see, I have made you into a fortified city, a pillar of iron, a wall of bronze against the whole land - against the kings of Y'hudah, against its princes, against its cohanim and the people of the land.

19 They will fight against you, but they will not overcome you, for I am with you,' says ADONAI, 'to rescue you.'

2

1 The word of ADONAI came to me:

2 'Go and shout in the ears of Yerushalayim that this is what ADONAI says: 'I remember your devotion when you were young; how, as a bride, you loved me; how you followed me through the desert, through a land not sown.

3 ''Isra'el is set aside for ADONAI, the firstfruits of his harvest; all who devour him will incur guilt; evil will befall them,' says ADONAI.

4 Hear the word of ADONAI, house of Ya'akov and all families in the house of Isra'el;

5 here is what ADONAI says: 'What did your ancestors find wrong with me to make them go so far away from me, to make them go after nothings and become themselves nothings?

6 They didn't ask, 'Where is ADONAI, who brought us out of the land of Egypt, who led us through the desert, through a land of wastes and ravines, through a land of drought and death-dark shadows, through a land where no one travels and where no one ever lived?'

7 I brought you into a fertile land to enjoy its fruit and all its good things; but when you entered, you defiled my land and made my heritage loathsome.

8 The cohanim didn't ask, 'Where is ADONAI?' Those who deal with the Torah did not know me, the people's shepherds rebelled against me; the prophets prophesied by Ba'al and went after things of no value.

9 'So again I state my case against you,' says ADONAI, 'and state it against your grandchildren too.

10 Cross to the coasts of the Kitti'im and look; send to Kedar and observe closely; see if anything like this has happened before:

11 has a nation ever exchanged its gods (and theirs are not gods at all!)? Yet my people have exchanged their Glory for something without value.

12 Be aghast at this, you heavens! Shudder in absolute horror!' says ADONAI.

13 'For my people have committed two evils: they have abandoned me, the fountain of living water, and dug themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water!

14 'Is Isra'el a slave, born into serfdom? If not, why has he become plunder?

15 The young lions are roaring at him - how loudly they are roaring! They desolate his country, demolishing and depopulating his cities.

16 The people of Nof and Tachpanches feed on the crown of your head.

17 'Haven't you brought this on yourself by abandoning ADONAI your God when he led you along the way?

18 If you go to Egypt, what's in it for you? Drinking water from the Nile? If you go to Ashur, what's in it for you? Drinking water from the [Euphrates] River?

19 Your own wickedness will correct you, your own backslidings will convict you; you will know and see how bad and bitter it was to abandon ADONAI your God, and how fear of me is not in you,' says Adonai ELOHIM-Tzva'ot.

20 'For long ago I broke your yoke; when I snapped your chains, you said, 'I won't sin.' Yet on every high hill, under every green tree, you sprawled and prostituted yourself.

21 But I planted you as a choice vine of seed fully tested and true. How did you degenerate into a wild vine for me?

22 Even if you scrub yourself with soda and plenty of soap, the stain of your guilt is still there before me,' says Adonai ELOHIM.

23 'How can you say, 'I am not defiled, I have not pursued the ba'alim'? Look at your conduct in the valley, understand what you have done. You are a restive young female camel, running here and there,

24 wild, accustomed to the desert, sniffing the wind in her lust - who can control her when she's in heat? Males seeking her need not weary themselves, for at mating season they will find her.

25 'Stop before your shoes wear out, and your throat is dry from thirst! But you say, 'No, it's hopeless! I love these strangers, and I'm going after them.'

26 Just as a thief is ashamed when caught, so is the house of Isra'el ashamed - they, their kings, their leaders, their cohanim and their prophets,

27 who say to a log, 'You are my father,' and to a stone, 'You gave us birth.' For they have turned their backs to me instead of their faces. But when trouble comes, they will plead, 'Rouse yourself and save us!'

28 Where are your gods that you made for yourselves? Let them rouse themselves, if they can save you when trouble comes. Y'hudah, you have as many gods as you have cities!

29 Why argue with me? You have all rebelled against me!' says ADONAI.

30 'In vain have I struck down your people. They would not receive correction. Your own sword has devoured your prophets like a marauding lion.

31 You of this generation, look at the word of ADONAI: Have I been a desert to Isra'el? or a land of oppressive darkness? Why do my people say, 'We're free to roam, we will no longer come to you'?

32 Does a girl forget her jewellery, or a bride her wedding sash? Yet my people have forgotten me, days beyond numbering.

33 You are so clever in your search for love that the worst of women can learn from you!

34 Right there on your clothing is the blood of the innocent poor, although you never caught them breaking and entering. Yet concerning all these things,

35 you say, 'I am innocent; surely he's no longer angry at me.' Here, I am passing sentence on you, because you say, 'I have done nothing wrong.'

36 You cheapen yourself when you change course so often - you will be disappointed by Egypt too, just as you were disappointed by Ashur.

37 Yes, you will leave him too, with your hands on your heads [in shame]. For ADONAI rejects those in whom you trust; from them you will gain nothing.'

3

1 [ADONAI] says: 'If a man divorces his wife, and she leaves him and marries another man, then if the first one marries her again, that land will be completely defiled. But you prostituted yourself to many lovers, yet you want to return to me?' says ADONAI.

2 'Raise your eyes to the bare hills, take a look: where have you not had sex? You sat by the roadsides waiting for them like a nomad in the desert. You have defiled the land with your prostitution and wickedness.

3 For this reason the showers have been withheld, there has been no rain in the spring; still you maintain a whore's brazen look and refuse to be ashamed.

4 Didn't you just now cry to me, 'My father, you are my friend from my youth'?

5 [thinking,] 'He won't bear a grudge forever, will he? He wouldn't maintain it right to the end.' You say this, but you keep doing evil things, you just do whatever you want.'

6 In the days of Yoshiyahu the king, ADONAI asked me, 'Have you seen the things that backsliding Isra'el has been doing? She goes up on every bare hill and under every green tree and prostitutes herself there.

7 I said that after she had done all these things, she would return to me; but she hasn't returned. Meanwhile, her unfaithful sister Y'hudah has been watching.

8 I saw that even though backsliding Isra'el had committed adultery, so that I had sent her away and given her a divorce document, unfaithful Y'hudah her sister was not moved to fear - instead she too went and prostituted herself.

9 The ease with which Isra'el prostituted herself defiled the land, as she committed adultery with stones and with logs.

10 Yet in spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Y'hudah has not returned to me wholeheartedly; she only makes a pretense of it,' said ADONAI.

11 Then ADONAI said to me, 'Backsliding Isra'el has proved herself more righteous than unfaithful Y'hudah.

12 Go and proclaim these words toward the north: ''Return, backsliding Isra'el,' says ADONAI. 'I will not frown on you, for I am merciful,' says ADONAI. 'I will not bear a grudge forever.

13 Only acknowledge your guilt, that you have committed crimes against ADONAI your God, that you were promiscuous with strangers under every green tree, and that you have not paid attention to my voice,' says ADONAI.

14 'Return, backsliding children,' says ADONAI; 'for I am your master. I will take you, one from a city, two from a family, and bring you to Tziyon.

15 I will give you shepherds after my own heart, and they will feed you with knowledge and understanding.

16 '''And,' says ADONAI, 'in those days, when your numbers have increased in the land, people will no longer talk about the ark for the covenant of ADONAI - they won't think about it, they won't miss it, and they won't make another one.

17 When that time comes, they will call Yerushalayim the throne of ADONAI. All the nations will be gathered there to the name of ADONAI, to Yerushalayim. No longer will they live according to their stubbornly evil hearts.

18 In those days, the house of Y'hudah will live together with the house of Isra'el; they will come together from the lands in the north to the land I gave your ancestors as their heritage.

19 '''I thought that I would like to put you among the sons [with inheritance rights] and give you a pleasant land, the best heritage of all the nations. I thought that you would call me 'My father' and never stop following me.

20 But like a faithless woman who betrays her husband, you, house of Isra'el, have betrayed me,' says ADONAI.''

21 A sound is heard on the heights, the house of Isra'el crying, pleading for mercy, because they have perverted their way and forgotten ADONAI their God.

22 'Return, backsliding children, and I will heal your backsliding.' 'Here we are, we are coming to you, for you are ADONAI our God.

23 Indeed the hills have proved a delusion, likewise the orgies on the mountains. Truly the salvation of Isra'el is in ADONAI our God.

24 But from our youth the shameful thing [idolatry] has devoured the fruit of our ancestors' work, their flocks and herds, their sons and daughters.

25 Let us lie down in our shame, let our disgrace cover us, for we have sinned against ADONAI our God, both we and our ancestors, from our youth until today; we have not paid attention to the voice of ADONAI our God.'

4

1 'Isra'el, if you will return,' says ADONAI, 'yes, return to me; and if you will banish your abominations from my presence without wandering astray again;

2 and if you will swear, 'As ADONAI lives,' in truth, justice and righteousness; then the nations will bless themselves by him, and in him will they glory.'

3 For here is what ADONAI says to the people of Y'hudah and Yerushalayim: 'Break up your ground that hasn't been plowed, and do not sow among thorns.'

4 'People of Y'hudah and inhabitants of Yerushalayim, circumcise yourselves for ADONAI, remove the foreskins of your heart! Otherwise my fury will lash out like fire, burning so hot that no one can quench it, because of how evil your actions are.

5 'Announce in Y'hudah, proclaim in Yerushalayim; say: 'Blow the shofar in the land!' Shout the message aloud: 'Assemble! Let us go to the fortified cities!'

6 Set up a signal toward Tziyon, head for cover without delay. For I will bring disaster from the north, yes, dire destruction.

7 A lion has risen from his lair, a destroyer of nations has set out, left his own place to ruin your land, to demolish and depopulate your cities.'

8 So wrap yourselves in sackcloth, lament and wail, for ADONAI's fierce anger has not turned away from us.

9 'When that day comes,' says ADONAI, 'the king's heart will fail him, likewise the princes'; the cohanim will be appalled and the prophets stupefied.'

10 Then I said, 'Oh, Adonai ELOHIM! Surely you have sadly deceived this people and Yerushalayim by saying, 'You will have peace,' when the sword is at our very throats!'

11 'At that time it will be said of this people and of Yerushalayim: 'A scorching wind from the desert heights is sweeping down on my people.' It is not coming to winnow or cleanse;

12 this wind of mine is too strong for that. Now I will pass sentence on them.'

13 Here he comes, like the clouds, his chariots like the whirlwind, his horses faster than eagles! Woe to us, we are doomed!

14 Wash the evil from your heart, Yerushalayim, so that you can be saved. How long will you harbor within yourselves your evil thoughts?

15 For a voice is announcing the news from Dan, proclaiming disaster from the hills of Efrayim:

16 'Report it to the nations, proclaim about Yerushalayim: '[Enemies] are coming from a distant country, watching and shouting their war cry against the cities of Y'hudah.'

17 Like guards in a field they surround her, because she has rebelled against me,' says ADONAI.

18 'Your own ways and your actions have brought these things on yourselves. This is your wickedness, so bitter! It has reached your very heart.'

19 My guts! My guts! I'm writhing in pain! My heart! It beats wildly - I can't stay still! - because I have heard the shofar sound; it's the call to war.

20 The news is disaster after disaster! All the land is ruined! My tents are suddenly destroyed, my tent curtains in an instant.

21 How long must I see that signal and hear the shofar sound?

22 'It is because my people are foolish - they do not know me; they are stupid children, without understanding, wise when doing evil; but they don't know how to do good.'

23 I looked at the land - it was unformed and void - and at the sky - it had no light.

24 I looked at the mountains, and they shook - all the hills moved back and forth.

25 I looked, and there was no human being; all the birds in the air had fled.

26 I looked, and the fertile fields were a desert, all the land's cities were razed to the ground at the presence of ADONAI, before his burning anger.

27 For here is what ADONAI says: 'The whole land will be desolate (although I will not destroy it completely).

28 Because of this, the land will mourn and the sky above be black; for I have spoken, I have decided, I will not change my mind, I will not turn back.'

29 At the noise of the horsemen and archers, the entire city flees - some plunge into thickets; others climb rocks; all cities are deserted; no one lives there.

30 And you, who are doomed to be plundered, what do you mean by putting on crimson, decking yourselves with jewels and gold, enlarging your eyes with eye make-up? You beautify yourself in vain - your lovers despise you, they seek your life!

31 For I have heard a sound like a woman in labor, in anguish giving birth to her first child. It is the sound of the daughter of Tziyon gasping for breath as she spreads her hands: 'Woe to me! Everything in me is so weary before the killers.'

5

1 'Roam the streets of Yerushalayim look around, observe and ask in its open spaces: if you can find anyone (if there is anyone!) who acts with justice and seeks the truth, I will pardon her.

2 And though they say, 'As ADONAI lives,' the fact is that they are swearing falsely.'

3 ADONAI, your eyes look for truth. You struck them, but they weren't affected; you [nearly] destroyed them, but they refused correction. They made their faces harder than rock, refusing to repent.

4 My reaction was, 'These must be the poor, the foolish, not knowing the way of ADONAI or the rulings of their God.

5 I will go to the prominent men, and I will speak to them; for they know the way of ADONAI and the rulings of their God.' But these had completely broken the yoke and torn the harness off.

6 This is why a forest lion kills them, why a desert wolf can plunder them, why a leopard guards their cities - all who leave are torn to pieces - because their crimes are many, their backslidings keep increasing.

7 'Why should I forgive you? Your people have abandoned me and sworn by non-gods. When I fed them to the full, they committed adultery, thronging to the brothels.

8 They have become like well-fed horses, lusty stallions, each one neighing after his neighbor's wife.

9 Should I not punish for this?' asks ADONAI. 'Should I not be avenged on a nation like this?'

10 Go through her rows [of vines], and destroy them (but don't destroy them completely): strip away her branches, they do not belong to ADONAI.

11 'For the house of Isra'el and the house of Y'hudah have thoroughly betrayed me,' says ADONAI.

12 They have denied ADONAI, they have said, 'He won't do anything, calamity will not strike us, we will see neither sword nor famine.

13 The prophets are merely wind, they do not have the word; the things that they are predicting will happen only to them.'

14 Therefore ADONAI Elohei-Tzva'ot says: 'Because you people speak this way, I will make my words fire in your mouth, [Yirmeyahu,] and this people wood; so that it will devour them.

15 I will bring on you, house of Isra'el, a distant nation,' says ADONAI, 'an enduring nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know - you will not understand what they are saying.

16 Their quiver is like an open grave, they are all mighty warriors.

17 They will eat up your harvest and your bread, they will eat up your sons and your daughters, they will eat up your flocks and your herds, they will eat up your vines and your fig trees; with the sword they will beat down your fortified cities, in which you trust.

18 But even in those days,' says ADONAI, 'I will not completely destroy you.

19 And when your people ask, 'Why has ADONAI our God done all these things to us?' you are to give them this answer: 'Just as you abandoned me and served strange gods in your own land, so likewise you will serve strangers in a land that is not your own.'

20 Announce this in the house of Ya'akov, proclaim it in Y'hudah; say:

21 'Hear this, stupid, brainless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear:

22 Don't you fear me? - says ADONAI. Won't you tremble at my presence? I made the shore the limit for the sea; by eternal decree it cannot pass. Its waves may toss, but to no avail; although they roar, they cannot cross it.

23 But this people has a rebellious, defiant heart; they have rebelled and gone!

24 They don't say to themselves, 'Let's fear ADONAI our God, who gives the fall and spring rains in season, who reserves us the weeks assigned for harvest.'

25 Your crimes have overturned nature's rules, your sins have kept back good from you.'

26 'For among my people there are wicked men, who, like fowlers, lie in wait and set traps to catch their fellow human beings.

27 Their houses are as full of fraud as a cage full of birds. They grow rich and great,

28 sleek and bloated; they excel in acts of wickedness but do not plead on behalf of the orphan, thus enabling his cause to succeed; nor do they judge in favor of the poor.

29 'Should I not punish for this?' asks ADONAI. 'Should I not be avenged on a nation like this?

30 A shocking and horrifying thing has happened in the land:

31 The prophets prophesy lies, the cohanim obey the prophets, and my people love it that way. But what will you do at the end of it all?

6

1 'Head for cover, people of Binyamin, get out of Yerushalayim! Blow the shofar in T'koa, light the beacon on Beit-Hakerem. For disaster threatens from the north, with great destruction.

2 Although she is beautiful and delicate, I am cutting off the daughter of Tziyon.'

3 Shepherds advance on her with their flocks; all around her they pitch their tents, each grazing his own plot of pasture.

4 'Prepare for war against her! Get up! Let's attack at noon!' 'Woe to us! for the day is waning, evening shadows are lengthening.'

5 'Get up! Let's attack at night! Let's destroy her palaces!'

6 For ADONAI-Tzva'ot says this: 'Cut down her trees, and raise a siege-ramp against Yerushalayim! This is the city to be punished; in her there is nothing but oppression.

7 Just as a cistern keeps its water fresh, so she keeps her wickedness fresh! Violence and destruction are heard within her, always before me sickness and wounds.

8 Accept correction, Yerushalayim, or I will be estranged from you and turn you into a desolate waste, a land without inhabitants.'

9 Thus says ADONAI-Tzva'ot: 'They will glean the remnant of Isra'el as thoroughly as in a vineyard - one last time, like a grape-picker, pass your hand over the vines.'

10 To whom should I speak? Whom should I warn? Who will listen to me? Their ears are dull, they can't pay attention. For them the word of ADONAI has become unattractive, an object of scorn.

11 This is why I am full of ADONAI's fury; I am weary of holding it back. 'Pour it out on the children in the street and on the groups of young men gathered; for husbands and wives will be taken together, seniors as well as the very old.

12 Their homes will be turned over to others, their fields together with their wives. Yes, I will stretch out my hand against those who are living in the land,' says ADONAI.

13 'For from the least to the greatest of them, all are greedy for gains; prophets and cohanim alike, they all practice fraud

14 they dress the wound of my people, but only superficially, saying, 'There is perfect shalom,' when there is no shalom.

15 'They should be ashamed of their detestable deeds, but they are not ashamed at all; they don't know how to blush. Therefore when others fall, they too will fall; when I punish them, they will stumble,' says ADONAI.

16 Here is what ADONAI says: 'Stand at the crossroads and look; ask about the ancient paths, 'Which one is the good way?' Take it, and you will find rest for your souls. But they said, 'We will not take it.'

17 I appointed sentinels to direct them: 'Listen for the sound of the shofar.' But they said, 'We will not listen.'

18 So hear, you nations; know, you assembly, what there is against them.

19 Hear, oh earth! I am going to bring disaster on this people; it is the consequence of their own way of thinking; for they pay no attention to my words; and as for my Torah, they reject it.

20 What do I care about incense from Sh'va or sweet cane from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are unacceptable, your sacrifices don't please me.'

21 Therefore thus says ADONAI: 'I will put obstacles in the way of this people that they will stumble over fathers and sons, neighbors and friends, all will perish together.'

22 Here is what ADONAI says: 'A people is coming from the land of the north, a great nation will be aroused from the ends of the earth.

23 They will take hold of bow and spear; they are cruel; they have no compassion: their noise as they ride on horses is like the roaring sea; and they are equipped for battle against you, daughter of Tziyon.

24 'We have heard the news, and our hands fall limp; anguish has seized us, pain like a mother's in childbirth.''

25 Don't go into the countryside, don't walk out on the road; for the sword of the enemy is spreading terror in every direction.

26 Daughter of my people, put on sackcloth, roll in ashes, mourn as if for an only son, wail most bitterly; for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us.

27 'I have made you a refiner and tester of my people, to know and test how they behave.

28 All of them are total rebels, spreading slanderous gossip; they are bronze and iron, [inferior metals,] all of them corrupt.

29 The bellows blast away; and though the lead is consumed by the fire, in vain has the smelter refined, for the wicked have not been separated.

30 They are called 'rejected silver,' because ADONAI has rejected them.'

7

1 This word came to Yirmeyahu from ADONAI:

2 'Stand at the gate of the house of ADONAI and proclaim this word: 'Listen to the word of ADONAI, all you from Y'hudah who enter these gates to worship ADONAI!

3 Here is what ADONAI-Tzva'ot, the God of Isra'el, says: 'Improve your ways and actions, and I will let you stay in this place.

4 Don't rely on that deceitful slogan, 'The temple of ADONAI, the temple of ADONAI - these [buildings] are the temple of ADONAI.'

5 No, but if you really improve your ways and actions; if you really administer justice between people;

6 if you stop oppressing foreigners, orphans and widows; if you stop shedding innocent blood in this place; and if you stop following other gods, to your own harm;

7 then I will let you stay in this place, in the land I gave to your ancestors forever and ever.

8 Look! You are relying on deceitful words that can't do you any good.

9 First you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, offer to Ba'al and go after other gods that you haven't known.

10 Then you come and stand before me in this house that bears my name and say, 'We are saved' - so that you can go on doing these abominations!

11 Do you regard this house, which bears my name, as a cave for bandits? I can see for myself what's going on,' says ADONAI.

12 'Go to the place in Shiloh that used to be mine, that used to bear my name, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Isra'el.

13 I spoke to you again and again, but you wouldn't listen. I called you, but you wouldn't answer. Now,' says ADONAI, 'because you have done all these things,

14 I will do to the house that bears my name, on which you rely, and to the place I gave you and your ancestors, what I did to Shiloh;

15 and I will drive you out of my presence, just as I drove out all your kinsmen, all the descendants of Efrayim.''

16 'So you, [Yirmeyahu,] don't pray for this people! Don't cry, pray or intercede on their behalf with me; because I won't listen to you.

17 Don't you see what they are doing in the cities of Y'hudah and in the streets of Yerushalayim?

18 The children gather the wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and, just to provoke me, they pour out drink offerings to other gods!

19 Are they really provoking me,' asks ADONAI, 'or are they provoking themselves, to their own ruin?'

20 Therefore, here is what Adonai ELOHIM says: 'My anger and fury will be poured out on this place, on men, animals, trees in the fields and produce growing from the ground; and it will burn without being quenched.'

21 Thus says ADONAI-Tzva'ot, the God of Isra'el: 'You may as well eat the meat of your burnt offerings along with that of your sacrifices.

22 For I didn't speak to your ancestors or give them orders concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices when I brought them out of the land of Egypt.

23 Rather, what I did order them was this: 'Pay attention to what I say. Then I will be your God, and you will be my people. In everything, live according to the way that I order you, so that things will go well for you.'

24 But they neither listened nor paid attention, but lived according to their own plans, in the stubbornness of their evil hearts, thus going backward and not forward.

25 You have done this from the day your ancestors came out of Egypt until today. Even though I sent you all my servants the prophets, sending them time after time,

26 they would not listen or pay attention to me, but stiffened their necks; they did worse than their ancestors.

27 So tell them all this; but they won't listen to you; likewise, call to them; but they won't answer you.

28 Therefore, say to them, 'This is the nation that has not listened to the voice of ADONAI their God. They won't take correction; faithfulness has perished; it has vanished from their mouths.

29 Cut off your hair, and throw it away, take up a lament on the bare hills, for ADONAI has rejected and abandoned the generation that rouses his anger.'

30 'For the people of Y'hudah have done what is evil from my perspective,' says ADONAI; 'they have set up their detestable things in the house which bears my name, to defile it.

31 They have built the high places of Tofet in the Ben-Hinnom Valley, to burn their sons and daughters in the fire, something I never ordered; in fact, such a thing never even entered my mind!

32 Therefore, the days are coming,' says ADONAI, 'when it will no longer be called either Tofet or the Ben-Hinnom Valley, but the Valley of Slaughter - they will put the dead in Tofet, because there will be no space left [anywhere else].

33 The corpses of this people will become food for the birds in the air and the wild animals; no one will frighten them away.

34 Then in the cities of Y'hudah and the streets of Yerushalayim I will silence the sounds of joy and gladness and the voices of bridegroom and bride; because the land will be reduced to ruins.

8

1 'At that time,' says ADONAI, '[these enemies] will remove the bones of the kings of Y'hudah, the bones of his princes, the bones of the cohanim, the bones of the prophets and the bones of the inhabitants of Yerushalayim from their graves.

2 They will spread them out, exposed to the sun, the moon and the entire army of heaven, whom they loved, served, walked after, sought after and worshipped. The bones will not be collected or reburied but will be left lying on the ground like dung.

3 All the survivors of this evil family who remain wherever I have driven them will prefer death to life,' says ADONAI-Tzva'ot.

4 'You are to tell them that ADONAI says: 'If a person falls, doesn't he get up again? If someone goes astray, doesn't he turn back?

5 Why do these people keep backsliding? Why is their backsliding so persistent? They cling to deceit and refuse to return!

6 I listened attentively but they spoke nothing right. No one repents of his wickedness, saying, 'What have I done!' Each runs off in his own direction, like a horse plunging headlong into battle.

7 Storks in the sky know their seasons; doves, swallows and cranes their migration times; but my people do not know the rulings of ADONAI!

8 ''How can you say, 'We are wise; ADONAI's Torah is with us,' when in fact the lying pen of the scribes has turned it into falsehood?

9 The wise are put to shame, alarmed, entrapped. They have rejected the word of ADONAI, so what wisdom do they have?

10 ''Therefore I will give their wives to others, and their fields to those who take them over; for from the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gains; prophets and cohanim alike all practice fraud

11 they dress the wound of the daughter of my people, but only superficially, saying, 'There is perfect shalom,' when there is no shalom.

12 They should be ashamed of their detestable deeds, but they are not ashamed at all, they don't know how to blush. So when others fall, they too will fall; when I punish them, they will stumble,' says ADONAI.

13 ''I will put an end to them,' says ADONAI. 'There are no grapes on the vine, and no figs on the fig tree; the leaf has withered; and what I have given them will pass from their possession.''

14 'Why are we sitting still? Assemble! Let's enter the fortified cities and meet our doom there! For ADONAI our God has doomed us; he has given us bitter water to drink, because we have sinned against ADONAI.

15 When we look for peace, nothing good comes; when we seek a time of healing, instead there is terror.'

16 From Dan can be heard the snorting of his horses; when his stallions neigh, the whole land trembles. For they come devouring the land and all in it, the city and those who dwell there.

17 'Yes, now I am sending snakes among you, vipers that no one can charm, and they will bite you,' says ADONAI.

18 My grief has no cure, I am sick at heart.

19 Listen to my people's cry of distress out of a distant land: 'Is ADONAI no longer in Tziyon? Is her king no longer there?' 'Why do they provoke me with their idols and their futile foreign gods?'

20 'The harvest has passed, the summer is over, and still we are not saved.'

21 The daughter of my people is broken, and it's tearing me to pieces; everything looks dark to me, horror seizes me.

22 Has Gil'ad exhausted its healing resin? Is no physician there? If there is, then why is the daughter of my people so slow to recover her health?

9

1 - - -

2 I wish I were out in the desert, in some travelers' lodge then I could get away from my people and distance myself from them! 'Indeed they are all adulterers, a band of traitors is what they are.

3 They bend their tongues, their 'bow' of falsehood, and hold sway in the land, but not for truth. For they go from evil to evil, and me they do not know,' says ADONAI.

4 Everyone, be on guard against your neighbor, don't trust even a brother; for every brother is out to trick you, and every neighbor goes around gossiping.

5 Everyone deceives his neighbor, no one speaks the truth; they have taught their tongues to lie, they wear themselves out with sinning.

6 'You inhabit a world of deceit; deceitfully they refuse to know me,' says ADONAI.

7 'Therefore,' says ADONAI-Tzva'ot, 'I will refine them and test them. What else can I do with the daughter of my people?

8 Their tongues are sharpened arrows; with their mouths they speak deceit - they say nice words to their neighbors, while inwardly plotting against them.

9 Should I not punish them for these things?' asks ADONAI. 'Should I not take vengeance on such a nation?'

10 I weep and wail for the mountains and lament over the desert pastures, because they have been burned up; no one passes through; they no longer hear the sound of cattle; the birds and wild animals have fled, are gone.

11 'I will make Yerushalayim a heap of ruins, turn it into a lair for jackals, and make the cities of Y'hudah desolate, with no one living there.'

12 Who is wise enough to understand this? To whom has the mouth of ADONAI spoken, so that he can proclaim it? Why has the land perished and been laid waste like a desert, so that no one passes through?

13 ADONAI answers: 'Because they abandoned my Torah, which I set before them, and neither listened to what I said nor lived accordingly,

14 but have lived by their own hearts' stubbornness and by the ba'alim, as their ancestors taught them

15 therefore,' says ADONAI-Tzva'ot, the God of Isra'el: 'I will feed this people bitter wormwood and give them poisonous water to drink.

16 I will scatter them among nations that neither they nor their ancestors have known. I will send the sword after them until I have wiped them out.'

17 Thus says ADONAI-Tzva'ot: 'Mark this, then summon the mourning women, so that they will come; send for those who are best [at mourning], so that they will come:

18 'Have them hurry and wail for us, so our eyes will be wet from crying, and our eyelids gush with tears.'

19 For the sound of wailing is heard from Tziyon: 'We are utterly ruined, we are completely ashamed, because we have left the land, and our homes have been torn down!''

20 You women, hear the word of ADONAI! Let your ears receive the words from his mouth. Teach your daughters how to wail, have each teach her friend how to lament:

21 'Death has come up through our windows, it has entered our palaces, it has cut down children in the streets and young people in the public places.'

22 Say: 'Here is what ADONAI says: 'The corpses of people are scattered like dung in an open field, like sheaves left behind by the reaper with no one to gather them.''

23 Here is what ADONAI says: 'The wise man should not boast of his wisdom, the powerful should not boast of his power, the wealthy should not boast of his wealth;

24 instead, let the boaster boast about this: that he understands and knows me - that I am ADONAI, practicing grace, justice and righteousness in the land; for in these things I take pleasure,' says ADONAI.

25 'The days are coming,' says ADONAI, 'when I will punish all those who have been circumcised in their uncircumcision -

26 Egypt, Y'hudah, Edom, the people of 'Amon and Mo'av, and all those living in the desert who cut the edges [of their beard]: 'For although all the Goyim are uncircumcised, all the house of Isra'el have uncircumcised hearts.'

10

1 Hear the word ADONAI speaks to you, house of Isra'el!

2 Here is what ADONAI says: 'Don't learn the way of the Goyim, don't be frightened by astrological signs, even if the Goyim are afraid of them;

3 for the customs of the peoples are nothing. They cut down a tree in the forest; a craftsman works it with his axe;

4 they deck it with silver and gold. They fix it with hammer and nails, so that it won't move.

5 Like a scarecrow in a cucumber patch, it cannot speak. It has to be carried, because it cannot walk. Do not be afraid of it it can do nothing bad; likewise it is unable to do anything good!'

6 There is no one like you, ADONAI! You are great, and your name is great and mighty.

7 Who would not fear you, king of the nations? For it is your due! - since among all the wise of the nations and among all their royalty, there is no one like you.

8 One and all they are boorish and stupid; the teaching of their nothings is a piece of wood!

9 Silver is beaten into plates, then imported from Tarshish. Gold from Ufaz is worked by a craftsman and shaped by the hands of a goldsmith. They are clothed in blue and purple, all the work of skillful men.

10 But ADONAI, God, is the true God, the living God, the everlasting king. At his anger, the earth trembles; the nations cannot endure his fury.

11 'This is what you must say to them: 'The gods that did not make heaven and earth will perish from earth and from under heaven.''

12 God made the earth by his power, established the world by his wisdom spread out the sky by his understanding.

13 When he thunders, the waters in heaven roar, he raises clouds from the ends of the earth, he makes the lightning flash in the rain and brings the wind out from his storehouses.

14 At this, everyone is proved stupid, ignorant, every goldsmith put to shame by his idol! The figures he casts are a fraud; there is no breath in them;

15 they are nothings, ridiculous objects; when the day for their punishment comes, they will perish.

16 Ya'akov's portion is not like these, for he is the one who formed all things. Isra'el is the tribe he claims as his heritage; ADONAI-Tzva'ot is his name.

17 You who are living under the siege, gather your belongings off the ground,

18 for here is what ADONAI says: 'At this time I am slinging away the inhabitants of the land; I will distress them, so that they will feel it.'

19 Woe to me because of my wound! My injury is incurable! I used to say, 'It's only an illness, and I can bear it.'

20 But now my tent is ruined, all its cords are severed; my children have left me and are no more; there is no one to set up my tent again, no one to raise its curtains.

21 The shepherds have become stupid, they have not consulted ADONAI. This is why they have not prospered, and all their flocks are scattered.

22 Listen! A noise! It's coming closer! A great uproar from the land to the north, to make the cities of Y'hudah desolate, a place for jackals to live.

23 ADONAI, I know that the way of humans is not in their control, humans are not able to direct their steps as they walk.

24 ADONAI, correct me, but in moderation, not in your anger, or you'll reduce me to nothing.

25 Pour out your anger on the nations that do not acknowledge you, also on the families that do not call on your name. For they have consumed Ya'akov - consumed him and finished him off, and laid waste to his home.

11

1 Here is the word that came to Yirmeyahu from ADONAI:

2 'Listen to the words of this covenant; then speak to the people of Y'hudah and the inhabitants of Yerushalayim;

3 tell them that ADONAI the God of Isra'el says: 'A curse on anyone who does not pay attention to the words of this covenant,

4 which I enjoined on your ancestors at the time that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of that iron-smelter. I said, 'Listen to my voice, and carry out all my orders; then you will be my people, and I will be your God;

5 so that I can fulfill the oath that I swore to your ancestors, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is today.''' Then I responded, 'Amen, ADONAI.'

6 ADONAI said to me, 'Proclaim all these words in the cities of Y'hudah and in the streets of Yerushalayim: 'Listen to the words of this covenant, and obey them.

7 For I solemnly warned your ancestors at the time when I brought them out of the land of Egypt; and until this day I have frequently warned them, 'Listen to my voice!'

8 But they have not listened or paid attention; instead, each one has lived according to the stubbornness of his own evil heart. For this reason I have brought upon them all the words of this covenant, which I ordered them to obey, but which they did not obey.''

9 Then ADONAI said to me, 'The men of Y'hudah and the people living in Yerushalayim have formed a conspiracy.

10 They have returned to the sins of their ancestors, who refused to hear my words, and they have gone after other gods to serve them. The house of Isra'el and the house of Y'hudah have broken my covenant which I made with their ancestors.'

11 Therefore ADONAI says, 'I am going to bring on them a disaster which they will not be able to escape; and even if they cry to me, I will not listen to them.

12 Then the cities of Y'hudah and the people living in Yerushalayim will go and cry to the gods to whom they are making offerings; but they will not save them at all in their time of trouble.

13 For you have as many gods, Y'hudah, as you have towns; and you have erected as many altars for sacrificing to that shameful thing, Ba'al, as there are streets in Yerushalayim.

14 'So you, [Yirmeyahu,] don't pray for this people! Don't cry or pray on their behalf, because I won't listen to them when they cry to me because of their troubles.

15 What right does my beloved have to be in my house, when she has behaved so shamelessly with so many? Offerings of consecrated meat can no longer help, because it is when you are doing evil that you are happy.'

16 ADONAI once called you an olive tree, beautiful, full of leaves and good fruit. Now with the roar of a violent storm, he has set it on fire; and its branches will be consumed.

17 For ADONAI-Tzva'ot, who planted you, has decreed evil for you. 'It is because of the evil which the house of Isra'el and the house of Y'hudah did to themselves, provoking me with their offerings of incense to Ba'al.'

18 ADONAI made this known to me, and then I knew - you showed me what they were doing.

19 But I was like a tame lamb led to be slaughtered; I did not know that they were plotting schemes against me - 'Let's destroy the tree with its fruit, we'll cut him off from the land of the living, so that his name will be forgotten.'

20 ADONAI-Tzva'ot, righteous judge, tester of motives and thoughts, I have committed my cause to you; so let me see your vengeance on them.

21 Therefore, here is what ADONAI says concerning the men from 'Anatot who seek your life and who tell you, 'Stop prophesying in the name of ADONAI, or we will kill you ourselves' -

22 this is what ADONAI-Tzva'ot says: 'I will punish them. Their young men will die by the sword, their sons and daughters will die by famine.

23 None of them will remain, for I will bring disaster on the men from 'Anatot when the year comes for them to be punished.'

12

1 ADONAI, although you would be in the right if I were to dispute with you, nevertheless I want to discuss some points of justice with you: Why do the wicked prosper? Why do the treacherous all thrive?

2 You planted them, and they took root; they grow, and they bear fruit. You are near in their mouths, though far from their hearts.

3 But, ADONAI, you know me and see me; you test my devotion to you; drag them away like sheep to be slaughtered, and set them apart for the day of slaughter.

4 How long must the land mourn and the grass in all the fields wither? The wild animals and birds are consumed because of the wickedness of those who live there; for they say, 'He will not see how we end up.'

5 If racing men on foot exhausts you, how will you compete against horses? You may feel secure in a land at peace, but how will you do in the Yarden's thick brush?

6 For even your own brothers and your father's family are betraying you; they are in full cry after you. Despite all their nice speech, don't believe them.

7 'I have abandoned my house, I have rejected my heritage, I have given my heart's beloved over to the hands of her foes.

8 For me, my heritage has become like a lion in the forest - she roared out against me; so now I hate her.

9 For me, my heritage is like a speckled bird of prey - other birds of prey surround her and attack her. Go, gather all the wild animals, and bring them to devour her.

10 Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard, they have trampled my plot of land, they have turned my desirable property into a desert waste.

11 Yes, they have made it a waste; wasted, it mourns to me; the whole land is wasted, because nobody really cares.'

12 On all the desert's bare hills plunderers have come; yes, the sword of ADONAI devours the land from one end to the other; nothing alive is safe.

13 They sowed wheat and reaped thorns, they wore themselves out and gained nothing. So be ashamed of your [tiny] harvest, the result of ADONAI's fierce anger.

14 Here is what ADONAI says: 'As for all my evil neighbors who encroach on the heritage I gave to my people Isra'el as their possession, I will uproot them from their own land, and I will uproot Y'hudah from among them.

15 Then, after I have uprooted them, I will take pity on them again and bring them back, each one to his inheritance, each one to his own land.

16 Then, if they will carefully learn my people's ways, swearing by my name, 'As ADONAI lives,' just as they taught my people to swear by Ba'al, they will be built up among my people.

17 But if they refuse to listen, then I will uproot that nation, uproot and destroy it,' says ADONAI.

13

1 ADONAI said to me, 'Go, buy yourself a linen loincloth, and wrap it around your body; but don't soften it in water.'

2 So I bought a loincloth, as ADONAI had said, and put it on.

3 Then the word of ADONAI came to me a second time:

4 'Take the loincloth you bought and are wearing, get up, go to Parah, and hide it there in a hole in the rock.'

5 So I went and hid it in Parah, as ADONAI had ordered me.

6 A long time afterwards, ADONAI said to me, 'Get up, go to Parah, and recover the loincloth I ordered you to hide there.'

7 So I went to Parah and dug up the loincloth; but when I took it from the place where I had hidden it, I saw that it was ruined and useless for anything.

8 Then the word of ADONAI came to me:

9 'Here is what ADONAI says: 'This is how I will ruin what makes Y'hudah so proud and Yerushalayim so very proud:

10 I will ruin this evil people, who refuse to hear my words and live according to their own stubborn inclinations, who go after other gods to serve and worship them. They will be like this loincloth, which is useless for anything.

11 For just as a loincloth clings to a man's body, I made the whole house of Isra'el and the whole house of Y'hudah cling to me,' says ADONAI, 'so that they could be my people, building me a name and becoming for me a source of praise and honor. But they would not listen.

12 So you are to tell them, 'This is what ADONAI the God of Isra'el says: 'Every bottle is filled with wine.'' Then when they ask you, 'Don't we already know that every bottle is filled with wine?'

13 you are to answer them, 'This is what ADONAI says: 'I am going to fill all the inhabitants of this land - including the kings sitting on the throne of David, the cohanim, the prophets and the inhabitants of Yerushalayim - with drunkenness.

14 Then I will smash them one against another, even fathers and sons together,' says ADONAI 'I will show neither pity nor compassion, but I will destroy them relentlessly.''''

15 Listen and pay attention; don't be proud! For ADONAI has spoken.

16 Give glory to ADONAI your God before the darkness falls, before your feet stumble on the mountains in the twilight, and, while you are seeking light, he turns it into deathlike shadows and makes it completely dark.

17 But if you will not hear this warning, I will weep secretly because of your pride; my eyes will weep bitterly, streaming with tears, because ADONAI's flock is carried away captive.

18 Tell the king and the queen mother, 'Come down from your thrones, for your magnificent crowns are falling from your heads.'

19 The cities of the Negev are besieged, and no one can relieve them; all of Y'hudah is carried into exile, completely swept into exile.

20 Raise your eyes, and you will see them coming from the north. Where is the flock once entrusted to you, the sheep that were your pride?

21 When he sets over you as rulers those you trained to be allies, what will you say? Won't pains seize you like those of a woman in labor?

22 And if you ask yourself, 'Why have these things happened to me?' it is because of your many sins that your skirts are pulled up and you have been violated.

23 Can an Ethiopian change his skin? or a leopard its spots? If they can, then you can do good, who are so accustomed to doing evil.

24 'So I will scatter them like chaff that flies away in the desert wind.

25 This is what you get,' says ADONAI, 'the portion I measure out to you, because you have forgotten me and trusted in the lie.

26 I myself will lift your skirts above your face, and your privates will be exposed.

27 On the hills and in the fields, I have seen your abominations - your adulteries, your lustful neighings your shameless prostitution. Woe to you, Yerushalayim! You refuse to be purified! Won't you ever allow it?'

14

1 The word of ADONAI that came to Yirmeyahu concerning the drought:

2 'Y'hudah is mourning, her gates are languishing; they sit on the ground in gloom; Yerushalayim sends up a cry of anguish.

3 Her nobles send their servants for water; they go to the cisterns but find no water, so they return with empty jars. Ashamed and dismayed, they cover their heads.

4 Because of the ground, which is cracked, since it has not rained in the land, the farmers are ashamed; they cover their heads.

5 The doe in the countryside, giving birth, abandons her young for lack of grass.

6 The wild donkeys standing on the bare heights gasp for air like jackals; their eyes grow dim from trying to spot any vegetation.'

7 Although our crimes witness against us, take action, ADONAI, for your name's sake; for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against you.

8 You, hope of Isra'el, its savior in time of trouble, why should you be like a stranger in the land, like a traveler turning aside for the night?

9 Why should you be like a man in shock, like a champion unable to save? You, ADONAI, are right here with us; we bear your name - don't leave us!

10 Here is what ADONAI says to this people: 'They so love to wander, they don't restrain their feet; so ADONAI does not want them. Now he will remember their crimes, and he will punish their sins.'

11 Then ADONAI said to me, 'Don't pray for this people or for their welfare.

12 When they fast, I will not hear their cry; when they offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Rather, I will destroy them with war, famine and disease.'

13 Then I said, 'ADONAI, God! The prophets are telling them, 'You won't see war, and you won't have famine; but I will give you secure peace in this place.''

14 ADONAI replied, 'The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I didn't send them, order them or speak to them. They are prophesying false visions to you, worthless divinations, the delusions of their own minds.

15 Therefore,' ADONAI says, 'concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name, whom I did not send, yet they say, 'There will be neither war nor famine in this land' - it will be war and famine that will destroy those prophets.

16 And the people to whom they are prophesying will be thrown out into the streets of Yerushalayim because of the famine and war, with no one to bury them - them, or their wives, or their sons, or their daughters - because I will pour their own wickedness out upon them.

17 You are to give them this message: 'Let my eyes stream with tears night and day, unceasingly, because the virgin daughter of my people has been severely broken; she has been dealt a crushing blow.

18 If I go out in the field, I see those slain with the sword. If I enter the city, I see the victims of famine. Meanwhile, prophets and cohanim ply their trade in the land, knowing nothing.''

19 Have you rejected Y'hudah completely? Is Tziyon loathsome to you? Why have you struck us irreparably? We looked for peace, but to no avail; for a time of healing, but instead found terror!

20 We confess our rebellion, ADONAI, also the crimes of our ancestors; yes, we have sinned against you.

21 For your name's sake, do not spurn us; do not dishonor your glorious throne. Remember your covenant with us; do not break it.

22 Among the nations' idols, can any make it rain? Can the skies, of themselves, send showers? Aren't you the one, ADONAI, our God? Don't we look to you? For you do all these things.

15

1 Then ADONAI said to me, 'Even if Moshe and Sh'mu'el were standing in front of me, my heart would not turn toward this people! Drive them out of my sight, get them out of here!

2 And when they ask you where they should go, tell them that this is what ADONAI says: 'Those destined for death - to death! Those destined for the sword - to the sword! Those destined for famine - to famine! Those destined for captivity - to captivity!'

3 'I will assign them four kinds [of scourges],' says ADONAI, 'the sword to kill, dogs to drag away, birds in the air and wild animals to devour and destroy.

4 I will make them an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, because of M'nasheh the son of Hizkiyahu king of Y'hudah, because of what he did in Yerushalayim.

5 'Who will take pity on you, Yerushalayim? Who will grieve for you? Who will turn aside to ask about your welfare?

6 You have rejected me,' says ADONAI. 'You are heading backward. So I am stretching out my hand against you; tired of sparing you, I am destroying you.

7 With a winnowing fork I am scattering them to the wind at the gates of the land; I am bereaving them, destroying my people, because they will not return from their ways.

8 Their widows increase in number more than the sand of the seas; At midday I am bringing the destroyer on the mothers of young men, causing anguish and terror suddenly to fall upon her.

9 The mother of seven sons grows faint, panting in despair; her sun has gone down while it's still daytime; she is left disgraced and bewildered. And the rest of them I will give to the sword, to their enemies,' says ADONAI.

10 Woe to me, mother, that you gave me birth, a man who is the object of strife and controversy throughout the land! I neither lend nor borrow, yet all of them curse me.

11 ADONAI said, 'I promise to release you for good, I promise to make your enemies appeal to you when calamity and trouble come.

12 'Can iron break iron and bronze from the north?

13 I will give away your wealth and your treasures as plunder, and you will not be paid for them, because of all your sins throughout your territory;

14 and I will make you pass together with your enemies into a land you do not know. For my anger has become a blazing fire, and it will flare up against you.'

15 ADONAI, you know. Remember me, think of me, and take vengeance for me on my persecutors. Because you are patient, don't banish me; know that for your sake I suffer insults.

16 When I found your words, I devoured them; your words made me glad, they gave me joy; because, ADONAI-Tzva'ot, you had me bear your name.

17 I have never kept company with merrymakers, I could not celebrate; with your hand on me I sat by myself, for you filled me with indignation.

18 Why is my pain unending, my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Will you be for me like a deceptive vadi, which is only sometimes filled with water?

19 This is ADONAI's answer: 'If you return - if I bring you back you will stand before me. If you separate the precious from the base, you will be my spokesman. It will then be they who turn to you, not you who turn to them.

20 Toward this people I will make you a fortified wall of bronze they will fight against you but not prevail against you; for I am with you to save you and rescue you,' says ADONAI.

21 'I will free you from the grasp of the wicked and redeem you from the clutches of the ruthless.'

16

1 This word of ADONAI came to me:

2 'You are not to marry or have sons and daughters in this place.

3 For this is what ADONAI says concerning the sons and daughters born here, as well as their mothers who gave birth to them and their fathers who conceived them in this land:

4 'They will die terrible deaths without being mourned or buried; they will be left on the ground like dung. They will die by the sword and by famine, and their corpses will be food for the birds in the air and the wild animals.'

5 'For here is what ADONAI says: 'Do not enter any house where there is mourning; don't lament them, and don't grieve for them; for I have removed my shalom from this people, as well as my grace and compassion,' says ADONAI.

6 'Great and small alike will die in this land; they will not be buried, people will not lament them; nor will they cut their flesh or shave their heads for them.

7 No one will prepare a meal for those in mourning, to comfort them for the dead; and no one will give them a cup to drink, to console them for their father or mother.'

8 And you are not to go into any house where there is celebrating to sit with them, eating and drinking.

9 For here is what ADONAI-Tzva'ot, the God of Isra'el, says: 'In this place, while you are still alive, before your very eyes, I will put an end to the sounds of joy and gladness and to the voices of bridegroom and bride.'

10 'When you tell this people all that I have said, and they ask you, 'Why has ADONAI decreed all this terrible disaster against us? What is our iniquity, what is our sin, that we have committed against ADONAI our God?'

11 then you are to say to them, 'It is because your ancestors abandoned me, says ADONAI, and went after other gods, serving and worshipping them, but abandoned me and did not keep my Torah.

12 And you have done worse than your ancestors, for - look! - each of you lives according to the stubbornness of his own evilheart, so that you don't listen to me.

13 Therefore I am thrusting you out of this land into a land you have not known, neither you nor your ancestors; and there you will serve other gods day and night; for I will show you no favor.'

14 ''Therefore,' says ADONAI, 'the day will come when people will no longer swear, 'As ADONAI lives, who brought the people of Isra'el out of the land of Egypt,'

15 but, 'As ADONAI lives, who brought the people of Isra'el out of the land to the north and out of all the countries where he drove them'; for I will bring them back to their own land, which I gave to their ancestors.

16 ''Look,' says ADONAI, 'I will send for many fishermen, and they will fish for them. Afterwards, I will send for many hunters; and they will hunt them from every mountain and hill and out of caves in the rocks.

17 For I see all their ways; they are not hidden from me; their crimes are not concealed from my eyes.

18 First, I will pay them back double for their crimes and sins; because they have defiled the land which is mine; they have filled my heritage with the corpses of their horrors and abominations.''

19 ADONAI, my strength, my fortress, my refuge in time of trouble, the nations will come to you from the ends of the earth, saying, 'Our ancestors inherited nothing but lies, futile idols, completely useless.'

20 Can a person make himself gods? (In fact they aren't gods at all.)

21 'Therefore, I will make them know, once and for all, I will make them know my power and my might. Then they will know that my name is ADONAI.

17

1 'Y'hudah's sin is written with an iron pen; with a diamond point it is engraved on the tablet of their hearts and on the horns of your altars.

2 As they remember their children, so they remember their altars and their sacred poles by the green trees on the high hills.

3 My mountain in the field, your wealth and all your treasures will be plundered; because of the sin of your high places throughout your territory.

4 You will relinquish your hold on your heritage which I gave you. I will make you serve your enemies in a land you do not know. For you have kindled my fiery anger, and it will burn forever.'

5 Here is what ADONAI says: 'A curse on the person who trusts in humans, who relies on merely human strength, whose heart turns away from ADONAI.

6 He will be like a tamarisk in the 'Aravah - when relief comes, it is unaffected; for it lives in the sun-baked desert, in salty, uninhabited land.

7 Blessed is the man who trusts in ADONAI; ADONAI will be his security.

8 He will be like a tree planted near water; it spreads out its roots by the river; it does not notice when heat comes; and its foliage is luxuriant; it is not anxious in a year of drought but keeps on yielding fruit.

9 'The heart is more deceitful than anything else and mortally sick. Who can fathom it?

10 I, ADONAI, search the heart; I test inner motivations; in order to give to everyone what his actions and conduct deserve.'

11 A partridge hatches eggs it did not lay; like this are those who get rich unjustly: in the prime of life their wealth will desert them; in the end they will prove to be fools.

12 Throne of Glory, exalted from the beginning! Our Holy Sanctuary,

13 Hope of Isra'el, ADONAI! All who abandon you will be ashamed, those who leave you will be inscribed in the dust, because they have abandoned ADONAI, the source of living water.

14 Heal me, ADONAI, and I will be healed; save me, and I will be saved, for you are my praise.

15 They keep asking me, 'Where is the word of ADONAI? Let it come now.'

16 As for me, I have not run away from being a shepherd who follows you; you know I didn't want this fatal day; what came from my lips has been clear to you.

17 So do not be my ruin, you, my refuge on the day of disaster.

18 Let my persecutors be ashamed, not me; let them be terrified, not me. Bring on them the day of disaster, destroy them with double destruction.

19 Then ADONAI said this to me: 'Go, and stand at the People's Gate, where the kings of Y'hudah go in and out, and at all the gates of Yerushalayim;

20 and say to them: 'Kings of Y'hudah, all Y'hudah and all living in Yerushalayim who enter through these gates, hear the word of ADONAI!

21 Here is what ADONAI says: 'If you value your lives, don't carry anything on Shabbat or bring it in through the gates of Yerushalayim;

22 don't carry anything out of your houses on Shabbat; and don't do any work. Instead, make Shabbat a holy day. I ordered your ancestors to do this,

23 but they neither listened nor paid attention; rather, they stiffened their necks, so that they wouldn't have to hear or receive instruction.

24 However, if you will pay careful heed to me,' says ADONAI 'and carry nothing through the gates of this city on Shabbat, but instead make Shabbat a day which is holy and not for doing work;

25 then kings and princes occupying the throne of David will enter through the gates of this city, riding in chariots and on horses. They, their princes, the people of Y'hudah and the inhabitants of Yerushalayim will enter; and this city will be inhabited forever.

26 They will come from the cities of Y'hudah, from the places surrounding Yerushalayim, from the land of Binyamin, from the Sh'felah, from the hills and from the Negev, bringing burnt offerings, sacrifices, grain offerings, frankincense and thanksgiving sacrifices to the house of ADONAI.

27 But if you will not obey me and make Shabbat a holy day and not carry loads through the gates of Yerushalayim on Shabbat, then I will set its gates on fire; it will burn up the palaces of Yerushalayim and not be quenched.'''

18

1 This word came to Yirmeyahu from ADONAI:

2 'Get up, and go down to the potter's house; there I will tell you more.'

3 So I went down to the house of the potter; and there he was, working at the wheels.

4 Whenever a pot he made came out imperfect, the potter took the clay and made another pot with it, in whatever shape suited him.

5 Then the word of ADONAI came to me:

6 'House of Isra'el, can't I deal with you as the potter deals with his clay? - says ADONAI. Look! You, house of Isra'el, are the same in my hand as the clay in the potter's hand.

7 At one time, I may speak about uprooting, breaking down and destroying a nation or kingdom;

8 but if that nation turns from their evil, which prompted me to speak against it, then I relent concerning the disaster I had planned to inflict on it.

9 Similarly, at another time, I may speak about building and planting a nation or kingdom;

10 but if it behaves wickedly from my perspective and doesn't listen to what I say, then I change my mind and don't do the good I said I would do that would have helped it.

11 'So now, tell the people of Y'hudah and those living in Yerushalayim that this is what ADONAI says: 'I am designing disaster for you, working out my plan against you. Turn, each of you, from his evil ways; improve your conduct and actions.'

12 'But they will answer, 'It's hopeless! We will stick to our own plans; each of us will stubbornly follow his own evil desires!'

13 'Therefore, ADONAI says this: 'Ask among the nations who has heard anything like this. The virgin Isra'el has done a most horrible thing.

14 Does the snow of the L'vanon disappear from the mountain crags? Do the cold waters of foreign lands ever run dry?

15 No, but my people have forgotten me and offer incense to nothings. This causes them to stumble as they walk the ancient paths; they leave the highway to walk on side-trails.

16 Thus they make their land an object of horror and ongoing ridicule. Passers-by shake their heads, appalled, every one.

17 Like a strong east wind, I will scatter them before the enemy. I will see their back, not their face, on their day of disaster.''

18 Then they said, 'Let's develop a plan for dealing with Yirmeyahu. Torah won't be lost from the cohanim, or counsel from the wise, or words from the prophets. So come, let's destroy him with slander; and meanwhile, we won't pay attention to anything he says.'

19 Pay attention to me, ADONAI! Listen to what my opponents are saying!

20 Is good to be repaid with evil? For they have dug a pit [to trap] me. Remember how I stood before you and spoke well of them, in order to turn your anger away from them?

21 Therefore, hand their sons over to famine, hurl them into the power of the sword, let their wives be made childless and widows, let their husbands be slain by disease, let their young men be slain by the sword in battle,

22 let screams be heard from their houses when you bring raiders on them without warning. For they have dug a pit to catch me and have laid snares for my feet.

23 Nevertheless, ADONAI, you know all their plans against me to stop me. Do not forgive their crime, do not blot out their sin from your sight; but let them be made to stumble before you; deal with them when you are angry.

19

1 ADONAI then said, 'Go; buy a clay jar from the potter; take some of the people's leaders and some of the leading cohanim;

2 and go out into the Ben-Hinnom Valley, by the entry to the Potsherd Gate. There you are to proclaim the words I am about to tell you.

3 Say: 'Hear the word of ADONAI, kings of Y'hudah and inhabitants of Yerushalayim! This is what ADONAI-Tzva'ot, the God of Isra'el, says: 'I am about to bring disaster on this place that will make the ears of whoever hears about it ring.

4 This is because they have abandoned me and alienated this place. In it they have offered to other gods that neither they nor their ancestors have known, nor the kings of Y'hudah. They have filled this place with the blood of innocent people.

5 They have built the high places of Ba'al, in order to burn up their children in the fire as burnt offerings to Ba'al - something I never ordered or said; it never even entered my mind.

6 '''Therefore the time is coming,' says ADONAI, 'when this place will no longer be called either Tofet or the Ben-Hinnom Valley, but the Valley of Slaughter.

7 I will nullify the plans of Y'hudah and Yerushalayim in this place. I will have them fall by the sword before their enemies and at the hand of those seeking their lives, and I will give their corpses as food for the birds in the air and the wild animals.

8 I will make this city an object of horror and ridicule; everyone passing by will be horrified and will ridicule it because of all its wounds.

9 I will cause them to eat the flesh of their own sons and daughters; everyone will be eating the flesh of his friends during the siege, because of the shortage imposed on them by their enemies and those set on killing them.''

10 'Then you are to smash the jar in front of the people who went with you,

11 and say to them, 'ADONAI-Tzva'ot says that this is how I will break this people and this city, just as one smashes a potter's vessel beyond the possibility of repair. The dead will be buried in Tofet, because there will be no space left for burial [anywhere else].

12 That is what I will do to this place,' says ADONAI 'and to its inhabitants; I will make it like Tofet.

13 The houses of Yerushalayim and those of the kings of Y'hudah will be defiled like this place Tofet - yes, all the houses on whose roofs they have offered to all the stars in heaven and poured out drink offerings to other gods.''

14 Then Yirmeyahu returned from Tofet, where ADONAI had sent him to prophesy, stood in the courtyard of ADONAI's house and said to all the people,

15 'This is what ADONAI-Tzva'ot, the God of Isra'el, says: 'I am bringing on this city and all its surrounding villages all the disaster I have pronounced against it; because they have stiffened their necks and refused to pay attention to my words.''

20

1 Now when the cohen Pash'chur son of Immer, chief official in the house of ADONAI, heard Yirmeyahu prophesying these things,

2 he had him flogged and put him in the stocks at the Upper Binyamin Gate of the house of ADONAI.

3 The following morning, when Pash'chur led Yirmeyahu out of the stocks, Yirmeyahu said to him, 'ADONAI no longer calls you Pash'chur but Magor-Missaviv [terror on every side].

4 For this is what ADONAI says: 'I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends. They will fall by the sword of their enemies, while you watch. I will hand over all of Y'hudah to the king of Bavel, and he will carry them off captive to Bavel and put them to the sword.

5 Moreover, I will hand over everything stored in this city, all its valuables, all its wealth, indeed all the treasures of the kings of Y'hudah, to their enemies, who will plunder them, take them and carry them to Bavel.

6 And you, Pash'chur, along with your entire household, will go into captivity; you will go to Bavel, where you will die and be buried - you and all your friends to whom you have prophesied lies.''

7 You fooled me, ADONAI; I have been your dupe. You overpowered me, and you have prevailed. All day long I'm a laughingstock; everyone makes fun of me.

8 Whenever I speak, I have to cry out; I shout, 'Violence!' and 'Destruction!' Thus the word of ADONAI becomes for me the cause of reproach and derision all day!

9 But if I say, 'I won't think about him, I won't speak in his name any more,' then it seems as though a fire is burning in my heart, imprisoned in my bones; I wear myself out trying to hold it in, but I just can't do it.

10 I have heard many whispering their plot: ''Terror in every direction'? Denounce him! Let's denounce him!' Even all my close friends are watching for me to make a false step - 'Maybe he can be tricked, then we'll get the better of him, then we'll take our revenge on him.'

11 But ADONAI is with me like a dreaded warrior; so my persecutors will stumble, defeated, greatly ashamed because of their failure; their lasting disgrace will not be forgotten.

12 ADONAI-Tzva'ot, you who test the righteous and see people's hearts and thoughts, let me see you take vengeance on them, for I have committed my cause to you.

13 Sing to ADONAI! Praise ADONAI! For he rescues those in need from the clutches of evildoers.

14 A curse on the day I was born! The day my mother gave birth to me - let it not be blessed!

15 A curse on the man who brought the news to my father, 'A son has been born to you!' - thus making him very happy.

16 Let that man be like the cities ADONAI overthrew without mercy! Let him hear cries of alarm in the morning and the sound of battle at noon,

17 because God did not put me to death in the womb and let my mother become my grave, her womb forever filled with me.

18 Why did I have to emerge from the womb, just to see toil and sorrow, and end my days in shame?

21

1 This is the word that came to Yirmeyahu from ADONAI when King Tzidkiyahu sent to him Pash'chur the son of Malkiyah and Tz'fanyah the son of Ma'aseiyah with this message:

2 'Please consult ADONAI for us, because N'vukhadretzar king of Bavel is making war on us. Maybe ADONAI will perform a miracle for us and cause him to withdraw.'

3 Yirmeyahu answered them, 'Here is what you are to tell Tzidkiyahu:

4 'This is what ADONAI, the God of Isra'el, says: 'I will make the weapons of war that you have in your hands ineffectual in your fight against the king of Bavel and the Kasdim who are outside the walls besieging you. Instead, I will gather them inside this city;

5 and I myself will fight against you with my hand stretched out and with a strong arm, in anger, rage and great fury.

6 I will strike the inhabitants of this city, humans and animals alike, and they will die of a terrible plague.

7 Afterwards,' says ADONAI 'I will hand over Tzidkiyahu king of Y'hudah, his servants, the people, and anyone remaining alive in this city after the plague, war and famine, to N'vukhadretzar king of Bavel and to their enemies, to those who seek their lives; and he will put them to the sword. He will not spare them; he will have no pity, no compassion.''

8 'And here is what you are to tell this people: 'ADONAI says: 'Look! I am presenting you with the way of life and the way of death.

9 Anyone who stays in this city will die by sword, famine and plague. But he who leaves and surrenders to the Kasdim besieging you will stay alive; his own life will be his only 'spoils of war.'

10 For I have determined absolutely that this city will have evil, not good,' says ADONAI. 'It is going to be handed over to the king of Bavel, and he will burn it to the ground.''

11 'To the royal house of Y'hudah say: 'Hear the word of ADONAI;

12 house of David, this is what ADONAI says: 'Judge fairly every morning, rescue the wronged from their oppressors; or my fury will lash out like fire, burning so hot that no one can quench it, because of how evil your actions are.'

13 ADONAI says, 'I am against you, [Yerushalayim,] situated in a valley like a rock on a plain. You who say, 'Who can come down against us? Who can enter our lairs?'

14 I will punish you,' says ADONAI, 'as your deeds deserve. I will set its forest on fire, and it will devour everything around it.'''

22

1 ADONAI said, 'Go down to the house of the king of Y'hudah and there speak this word:

2 'King of Y'hudah occupying David's throne, hear the word of ADONAI - you, your servants and your people who enter through these gates.

3 This is what ADONAI says: 'Do what is right and just; rescue the wronged from their oppressors; do nothing wrong or violent to the stranger, orphan or widow; don't shed innocent blood in this place.

4 '''If you are careful to do this, then future kings occupying David's throne will enter these palace gates riding in chariots and on horses - he, his servants and his people.

5 But if you will not pay attention to these words, then I swear by myself,' says ADONAI, 'that this palace will become a ruin.''

6 'For here is what ADONAI says concerning the palace of the king of Y'hudah: 'You are like Gil'ad to me, like the peak of the L'vanon; yet I will turn you into a desert, uninhabited cities.

7 I will designate men to destroy you, each one with his weapons; they will chop down your choice cedars and throw them in the fire.'

8 'Many nations will pass by this city, and they will say to one another, 'Why has ADONAI done such a thing to this great city?'

9 The answer will be, 'Because they abandoned the covenant of ADONAI their God and worshipped other gods, serving them.''

10 Do not weep for [the king] who has died, do not mourn for him [Yoshiyahu]. But weep for him who departs [to Egypt], for he will never return or see his native land again.

11 For this is what ADONAI says about Shalum the son of Yoshiyahu, king of Y'hudah, who succeeded Yoshiyahu his father as king: 'He has left this place, never to return;

12 but he will die in the place where they have led him captive, without seeing this land again.

13 'Woe to him who builds his palace unfairly, its upper rooms by injustice; who makes his neighbor work for free and will not give him his wages;

14 who says, 'I will build me a spacious palace with airy upper rooms,' then makes windows and cedar panels painted with vermilion!

15 Your cedar may be excellent, but that doesn't make you a better king. True, your father ate and drank, but he also did what was right and just, so things went well with him.

16 He upheld the cause of the poor and the weak, so everything went well. Isn't that what knowing me is all about?' says ADONAI.

17 'In contrast, your eyes and heart are controlled entirely by your greed, your desire for shedding innocent blood, oppressing and extorting.'

18 Therefore here is what ADONAI says concerning Y'hoyakim the son of Yoshiyahu, king of Y'hudah: 'There will be no one to mourn for him, 'Oh! My brother!' or 'Oh! My sister!' There will be no one to mourn for him, 'Oh! My master!' or 'Oh! His glory!'

19 He will be given a donkey's 'burial' - dragged out the gates of Yerushalayim and thrown away [to rot].

20 Climb up to the L'vanon and cry out, raise your voice in Bashan, cry out from 'Avarim, for all your lovers are broken.

21 I spoke to you in your times of prosperity, but you said, 'I won't listen.' This has been your pattern since you were young - you pay no attention to what I say.

22 The wind will shepherd all your shepherds away, and your lovers will go into captivity. Then you will be ashamed and disgraced for all your wicked deeds.

23 You who live in the L'vanon, nesting in the cedars, how gracious will you be when pains come on you like a woman in labor?

24 'As I live,' says ADONAI, 'even if Koniyahu the son of Y'hoyakim king of Y'hudah were the signet ring on my right hand, I would pull you off

25 and hand you over to those who seek your life, to those you fear, N'vukhadretzar king of Bavel and the Kasdim.

26 I will hurl you and the mother who gave birth to you into a country different from the one you were born in, and you will die there.

27 They will not return to the country to which they long to return.'

28 Is this man Koniyahu a despised, broken pot, an instrument nobody wants? Why are they being thrown out? Why are he and his offspring thrown out into a country they do not know?

29 Oh, land, land, land! Hear the word of ADONAI!

30 This what ADONAI says: 'List this man as childless; he is a lifetime failure - none of his offspring will succeed, none will sit on David's throne or rule again in Y'hudah.'

23

1 'Oh no! The shepherds are destroying and scattering the sheep in my pasture!' says ADONAI.

2 Therefore this is what ADONAI, the God of Isra'el, says against the shepherds who shepherd my people: 'You have scattered my flock, driven them away and not taken care of them. So I will 'take care of' you because of your evil deeds,' says ADONAI.

3 'I myself will gather what remains of my flock from all the countries where I have driven them and bring them back to their homes, and they will be fruitful and increase their numbers.

4 I will appoint shepherds over them who will shepherd them; then they will no longer be afraid or disgraced; and none will be missing,' says ADONAI.

5 'The days are coming,' says ADONAI when I will raise a righteous Branch for David. He will reign as king and succeed, he will do what is just and right in the land.

6 In his days Y'hudah will be saved, Isra'el will live in safety, and the name given to him will be ADONAI Tzidkenu [ADONAI our righteousness].

7 'Therefore,' says ADONAI, 'the day will come when people no longer swear, 'As ADONAI lives, who brought the people of Isra'el out of the land of Egypt,'

8 but, 'As ADONAI lives, who brought the descendants of the house of Isra'el up from the land to the north' and from all the countries where I drove them. Then they will live in their own land.'

9 Concerning the prophets: My heart within me is broken, all my bones are shaking; I am like a drunk, like a man overcome by wine, because of ADONAI, because of his holy words.

10 For the land is full of adulterers; because of a curse the land is in mourning - the desert pastures have dried up. Their course is evil, their power misused.

11 'Both prophet and cohen are godless; In my own house I find their wickedness,' says ADONAI.

12 'Therefore their way will be slippery for them; they will be driven into darkness and fall there. For I will bring disaster upon them, their year of punishment,' says ADONAI.

13 'I have seen inappropriate conduct in the prophets of Shomron - they prophesied by Ba'al and led my people Isra'el astray.

14 But in the prophets of Yerushalayim I have seen a horrible thing - they commit adultery, live in lies, so encouraging evildoers that none returns from his sin. For me they have all become like S'dom, its inhabitants like 'Amora.'

15 Therefore, this is what ADONAI-Tzva'ot says concerning the prophets: 'I will feed them bitter wormwood and make them drink poisonous water, for ungodliness has spread through all the land from the prophets of Yerushalayim.'

16 ADONAI-Tzva'ot says: 'Don't listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you. They are making you act foolishly, telling you visions from their own minds and not from the mouth of ADONAI.

17 They keep reassuring those who despise me, 'ADONAI says you will be safe and secure,' and saying to all living by their own stubborn hearts, 'Nothing bad will happen to you.'

18 But which of them has been present at the council of ADONAI to see and hear his word? Who has paid attention to his word enough to hear it?'

19 Look! The storm of ADONAI, bursting out in fury, a whirling storm, whirling down upon the heads of the wicked!

20 ADONAI's anger will not abate till he fully accomplishes the purpose in his heart. In the acharit-hayamim, you will understand everything.

21 'I did not send these prophets; yet they ran. I did not speak to them; yet they prophesied.

22 If they have been present at my council, they should let my people hear my words and turn them from their evil way and the evil of their actions.

23 Am I God only when near,' asks ADONAI, 'and not when far away?

24 Can anyone hide in a place so secret that I won't see him?' asks ADONAI. ADONAI says, 'Do I not fill heaven and earth?

25 'I have heard what these prophets prophesying lies in my name are saying: 'I've had a dream! I've had a dream!'

26 How long will this go on? Is [my word] in the hearts of prophets who are prophesying lies, who are prophesying the deceit of their own minds?

27 With their dreams that they keep telling each other, they hope to cause my people to forget my name; just as their ancestors forgot my name when they worshipped Ba'al.

28 'If a prophet has a dream, let him tell it as a dream. But someone who has my word should speak my word faithfully. What do chaff and wheat have in common?' asks ADONAI.

29 'Isn't my word like fire,' asks ADONAI, 'like a hammer shattering rocks?

30 So, I am against the prophets,' says ADONAI, 'who steal my words from each other.

31 Yes, I am against the prophets,' says ADONAI, 'who speak their own words, then add, 'He says.'

32 'I am against those who concoct prophecies out of fake dreams,' says ADONAI. 'They tell them, and by their lies and arrogance they lead my people astray. I didn't send them, I didn't commission them, and they don't do this people any good at all,' says ADONAI.

33 'When [someone from] this people, a prophet or a cohen asks you, 'What is the burden of ADONAI?' you are to answer them, 'What burden? I am throwing you off,' says ADONAI.

34 As for a prophet, cohen or [someone else from] this people who speaks about 'the burden of ADONAI,' I will punish him and his household.'

35 So, when you speak with your neighbor or brother, ask, 'What answer has ADONAI given?' or 'What has ADONAI said?'

36 Don't use the expression, 'burden of ADONAI' any more; for every person's own word will be his burden. Must you twist the words of the living God, of ADONAI-Tzva'ot, our God?

37 So, when speaking to a prophet, ask, 'What answer has ADONAI given you?' or 'What did ADONAI say?'

38 But if you talk about 'the burden of ADONAI,' then here is what ADONAI says: 'Because you use this expression, 'the burden of ADONAI,' after I have already sent you the order not to say, 'the burden of ADONAI,'

39 I will lift you up, burden that you are, and throw you off, away from my presence - you and the city I gave you and your ancestors.

40 Then I will subject you to everlasting disgrace - eternal, unforgettable shame.'

24

1 It was after N'vukhadretzar king of Bavel had carried Y'khanyahu the son of Y'hoyakim, king of Y'hudah, along with the leaders of Y'hudah, the artisans and the skilled workers into exile from Yerushalayim and brought them to Bavel, that ADONAI gave me a vision. There, in front of the temple of ADONAI, two baskets of figs were placed.

2 One of the baskets had in it very good figs, like those that ripen first; while the other basket had very bad figs, so bad that they were inedible.

3 Then ADONAI asked me, 'Yirmeyahu, what do you see?' I answered, 'Figs - the good figs are very good; but the bad ones are very bad, so bad they are inedible.'

4 The word of ADONAI came to me:

5 'Here is what ADONAI the God of Isra'el says: 'I will regard the exiles from Y'hudah, whom I sent away from this place to the land of the Kasdim, as good, just as I do these good figs.

6 ''I will look after them for their good, I will bring them back to this land; I will build them up and not tear them down, plant them and not pull them up.

7 I will give them a heart to know me that I am ADONAI. They will be my people, and I will be their God; for they will return to me with all their heart.'

8 'But concerning the bad figs that are so bad as to be inedible, ADONAI says: 'I will make Tzidkiyahu the king of Y'hudah and his leaders resemble them, likewise the rest of Yerushalayim remaining in this land and those living in the land of Egypt.

9 Everywhere I drive them I will make them an object of horror, repulsive to all the kingdoms of the earth, a disgrace, a byword, a laughingstock and a curse;

10 and I will send sword, famine and plague among them until they have disappeared from the land I gave them and their ancestors.''

25

1 This is the word that came to Yirmeyahu concerning all the people of Y'hudah in the fourth year of Y'hoyakim the son of Yoshiyahu, king of Y'hudah; this was also the first year of N'vukhadretzar king of Bavel.

2 Yirmeyahu the prophet proclaimed it before all the people of Y'hudah and all the inhabitants of Yerushalayim:

3 'For twenty-three years, since the thirteenth year of Yoshiyahu the son of Amon, king of Y'hudah, until today, the word of ADONAI has come to me; and I have proclaimed it to you on numerous occasions; but you haven't listened.

4 Moreover, ADONAI sent you all his servants the prophets - again, on numerous occasions - but you didn't listen or pay attention.

5 The message was always: 'Every one of you, turn back from his evil way, from the evil of your actions. Then you will live in the land ADONAI gave you and your ancestors forever and ever.

6 Don't follow other gods by serving and worshipping them. 'Don't provoke my anger with things your own hands have made; then I will do you no harm.

7 But you wouldn't listen to me,' says ADONAI, 'so that you could provoke me with the products of your hands, to your own harm.'

8 'Therefore, here is what ADONAI-Tzva'ot says: 'Because you haven't paid attention to what I've been saying,

9 I'm going to send for all the families of the north,' says ADONAI, 'and for my servant N'vukhadretzar the king of Bavel, and bring them against this land, against its inhabitants and against all the surrounding nations. I will completely destroy them, making them an object of horror and ridicule, a perpetual ruin.

10 Moreover, I will silence among them the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bridegroom and bride, the grinding of millstones and the light of lamps.

11 This entire land will become a ruin, a waste; and these nations will serve the king of Bavel for seventy years.

12 But when the seventy years are over, I will punish the king of Bavel and that nation for their sin,' says ADONAI, 'and I will turn the land of the Kasdim into everlasting ruins.

13 I will inflict on that land all my words that I have decreed against it, everything written in this book, in which Yirmeyahu has prophesied against all the nations.

14 For they too will become slaves to many nations and to powerful kings; I will pay them back according to their deeds and the work of their own hands.'

15 'For here is what ADONAI the God of Isra'el says to me: 'Take this cup of the wine of fury from my hand, and make all the nations where I am sending you drink it.

16 They will drink, stagger to and fro and behave like crazy people because of the sword that I will send among them.''

17 Then I took the cup from ADONAI's hand and made all the nations drink, where ADONAI had sent me -

18 Yerushalayim and the cities of Y'hudah, along with their kings and leaders, to make them a ruin and an object of horror, ridicule and cursing, as it is today;

19 Pharaoh king of Egypt, with his servants and leaders and all his people, both native

20 and foreign; all the kings of the land of 'Utz; all the kings of the land of the P'lishtim, Ashkelon, 'Azah, 'Ekron and those remaining in Ashdod;

21 Edom, Mo'av, and the people of 'Amon;

22 all the kings of Tzor, of Tzidon and of the coastlands across the sea;

23 D'dan, Teima, Buz and all who cut the corners of their beards;

24 all the kings of Arabia and of the mixed peoples living in the desert;

25 all the kings of Zimri, of 'Eilam and of the Medes;

26 and all the kings of the north, far and near, one after another - indeed, all the kingdoms of the world that there are on the surface of the earth. And the king of Sheshakh will drink last of all.

27 'You are to say to them, 'Here is what ADONAI-Tzva'ot, the God of Isra'el, says: Drink until you're so drunk that you throw up, fall down, and never get up again, because of the sword I am sending among you!'

28 If they refuse to take the cup from your hand and drink it, then say to them, 'Here is what ADONAI-Tzva'ot says: You must drink!

29 For, look! - if I am bringing disaster on the city that bears my own name, do you expect to go unpunished? Yes, I will summon a sword for all the inhabitants of the earth,' says ADONAI.

30 'As for you, [Yirmeyahu,] prophesy all these words against them; say to them, 'ADONAI is roaring from on high, raising his voice from his holy dwelling, roaring with might against his own habitation, shouting out loud, like those who tread grapes, against everyone living on earth.

31 The sound resounds to the ends of the earth, for ADONAI is indicting the nations, about to pass judgment on all humankind; the wicked he has handed over to the sword,' says ADONAI.'

32 Thus says ADONAI-Tzva'ot: 'Disaster is spreading from nation to nation, a mighty tempest is being unleashed from the farthest ends of the earth.'

33 On that day, those killed by ADONAI will be strewn from one end of the earth to the other; they will not be mourned or gathered or buried, but will lie on the ground like dung.

34 'Wail, shepherds! Cry! Wallow in the dust, you lords of the flock! For the days for your slaughter have come. I will break you in pieces, and like a prized vase you will fall.'

35 The shepherds have no way to flee, the lords of the flock no way to escape.

36 Hear the cry of the shepherds, the wails of the lords of the flock! For ADONAI is destroying their pasture,

37 the peaceful grazing grounds are silenced, because of ADONAI's fierce anger.

38 Like a lion, he has abandoned his lair; for their land has become desolate because of the oppressor's fierce sword and because of ADONAI's fierce anger.

26

1 At the beginning of the reign of Y'hoyakim the son of Yoshiyahu, king of Y'hudah, this word came from ADONAI:

2 'ADONAI says: 'Stand in the courtyard of ADONAI's house and speak to the people from all the cities in Y'hudah who come to worship at ADONAI's house; say everything I order you to say to them, and don't leave out a word.

3 Maybe they will listen, and each of them turn from his evil way; then I will be able to relent from the disaster I intend to bring on them because of how evil their deeds are.

4 So tell them that this is what ADONAI says: 'If you will not pay attention to me and live according to my Torah, which I have given you,

5 and listen to what my servants the prophets, whom I send to you, say - I have sent them frequently, but you haven't listened -

6 then I will make this house like Shiloh, and I will make this city an object of cursing for all the nations of the earth.'''

7 The cohanim, the prophets and all the people heard Yirmeyahu speaking these words in the house of ADONAI.

8 When Yirmeyahu had finished saying everything ADONAI had ordered him to say to all the people, the cohanim, prophets and all the people seized him, shouting, 'You will die for this!

9 Why have you prophesied in the name of ADONAI, 'This house will become like Shiloh,' and, 'This city will become uninhabited ruins'?' The people all crowded in on Yirmeyahu in ADONAI's house.

10 When the officials of Y'hudah heard about it, they came up from the king's palace to ADONAI's house and sat at the entrance to the New Gate of ADONAI's house.

11 The cohanim and prophets said to the officials and all the people, 'This man deserves a death sentence, because he has prophesied against this city; you have heard it with your own ears.'

12 Then Yirmeyahu said to the officials and all the people, 'ADONAI sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words you have heard.

13 Therefore now, improve your ways and your doings; and listen to the voice of ADONAI your God; then ADONAI will relent from the disaster he has decreed against you.

14 But as for me, here, I am in your hands; do with me whatever seems good and right to you.

15 Only know for certain that if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood on yourselves, on this city and on its inhabitants; because the fact is that ADONAI sent me to you to speak all these words, so that you could hear them.'

16 The officials and all the people then said to the cohanim and prophets, 'This man does not deserve a death sentence, because he has spoken to us in the name of ADONAI our God.'

17 At this point some of the leaders of the land stood up and addressed all the people assembled:

18 'Back in the time of Hizkiyahu king of Y'hudah, Mikhah from Moreshet was a prophet. He told all the people of Y'hudah, 'ADONAI-Tzva'ot says, 'Tziyon will be plowed under like a field, Yerushalayim will become heaps of ruins, and the mountain of the house like a forested height.''

19 'Did Hizkiyahu king of Y'hudah and all Y'hudah put him to death? Not at all. Rather, he feared ADONAI, and prayed for ADONAI's favor; and ADONAI relented from the disaster he had pronounced against them. So [if we put Yirmeyahu to death,] we might bring great disaster on ourselves.'

20 On the other hand, there was also a man who prophesied in the name of ADONAI, Uriyahu the son of Sh'ma'yahu from Kiryat-Ye'arim, who prophesied against this city and against this land exactly what Yirmeyahu is saying.

21 When Y'hoyakim the king, with all his military men and other officials, heard what he was saying, the king wanted to have him killed. On hearing of this, Uriyahu became frightened, fled and went to Egypt.

22 Y'hoyakim the king sent men to Egypt - Elnatan the son of 'Akhbor and some others.

23 They brought Uriyahu back from Egypt and took him to Y'hoyakim the king, who put him to the sword and threw his corpse into the burial-ground of the common people.

24 But in this situation concerning Yirmeyahu, Achikam the son of Shafan used his influence to help him, so that he was not handed over to the people to be put to death.

27

1 At the beginning of the reign of Y'hoyakim the son of Yoshiyahu, king of Y'hudah, this word came to Yirmeyahu from ADONAI:

2 'ADONAI says this to me: 'Make yourself a yoke of straps and crossbars, and put it on your neck.

3 Send [similar yokes] to the kings of Edom, of Mo'av, of the people of 'Amon, of Tzor, and of Tzidon by means of the envoys they send to Yerushalayim, and to Tzidkiyahu king of Y'hudah.

4 Give them this message for their masters by telling their envoys that ADONAI-Tzva'ot, the God of Isra'el, says for them to tell their masters:

5 '''I made the earth, humankind, and the animals on the earth by my great power and my outstretched arm; and I give it to whom it seems right to me.

6 For now, I have given over all these lands to my servant N'vukhadnetzar the king of Bavel; I have also given him the wild animals to serve him.

7 All the nations will serve him, his son and his grandson, until his own country gets its turn - at which time many nations and great kings will make him their slave.

8 The nation and kingdom that refuses to serve this N'vukhadnetzar king of Bavel, that will not put their necks under the yoke of the king of Bavel, I will punish,' says ADONAI 'with sword, famine and plague, until I have put an end to them through him.

9 '''You, therefore, don't listen to your prophets, diviners, dreamers, magicians or sorcerers, when they tell you that you won't be subject to the king of Bavel;

10 for they are prophesying lies to you that will result in your being removed far from your land, with my driving you out, so that you perish.

11 But the nation that puts its neck under the yoke of the king of Bavel and serves him, that nation I will allow to remain on their own soil,' says ADONAI. 'They will farm it and live there.'''

12 Then I spoke to Tzidkiyahu king of Y'hudah in just the same way: 'Put your necks under the yoke of the king of Bavel, serve him and his people, and you will live.

13 Why would you want to die, you and your people, by sword, famine and plague - which is what ADONAI has decreed for the nation that will not serve the king of Bavel?

14 Don't listen to the words of the prophets who say to you, 'You will not serve the king of Bavel'; because they are prophesying lies to you.

15 'For I have not sent them,' says ADONAI, 'and they are prophesying falsely in my name, with the result that I will drive you out, and you will perish - you and the prophets prophesying to you.''

16 I also spoke to the cohanim and to all this people; I said, 'This is what ADONAI says: 'Don't listen to the words of the prophets prophesying to you that the articles from ADONAI's house will soon be returned from Bavel; because they are prophesying lies to you.

17 Don't listen to them. Serve the king of Bavel, and stay alive; why should this city become a ruin?'

18 But if they are in fact prophets, and if the word of ADONAI is with them, then let them now intercede with ADONAI-Tzva'ot that the articles still remaining in the house of ADONAI and in the palace of the king of Y'hudah will not go off to Bavel.

19 For this is what ADONAI-Tzva'ot says concerning the columns, the Sea, the bases and the rest of the articles still here in this city,

20 that N'vukhadnetzar, king of Bavel did not seize when he carried off captive Y'khanyahu the son of Y'hoyakim, king of Y'hudah, from Yerushalayim to Bavel, along with all the leading men of Y'hudah and Yerushalayim-

21 yes, this is what ADONAI Shaddai, the God of Isra'el, says about the things remaining in the house of ADONAI, in the palace of the king of Y'hudah and in Yerushalayim:

22 'They will be carried to Bavel; and there they will stay until the day I remember them, bring them back and restore them to this place,' says ADONAI.'

28

1 That same year, at the beginning of the reign of Tzidkiyahu king of Y'hudah, in the fifth month of the fourth year, Hananyah the son of 'Azur the prophet, from Giv'on, spoke to me in ADONAI's house in front of the cohanim and all the people, saying,

2 'This is what ADONAI-Tzva'ot, the God of Isra'el, says: 'I have broken the yoke of the king of Bavel.

3 Within two years I will restore to this place all the articles from ADONAI's house that N'vukhadnetzar king of Bavel removed from this place and carried to Bavel.

4 Also I will bring back here Y'khanyah the son of Y'hoyakim, king of Y'hudah, along with all those from Y'hudah who were taken captive to Bavel,' says ADONAI, 'for I will break the yoke of the king of Bavel.''

5 Then the prophet Yirmeyahu said to the prophet Hananyah in front of the cohanim and all the people standing in ADONAI's house -

6 the prophet Yirmeyahu said, 'Amen! May ADONAI do it! May ADONAI fulfill the words you have prophesied and bring back from Bavel to this place the articles from ADONAI's house and all the people who were carried away captive!

7 Nevertheless, listen now to this word that I am speaking for you to hear and for all the people to hear.

8 The prophets who were here before me and before you prophesied in times past against many countries and against great kingdoms about war, disaster and plagues.

9 As for a prophet who prophesies peace - when the word of that prophet is fulfilled, it will be evident concerning that prophet that ADONAI indeed did send him.'

10 At this point Hananyah the prophet took the crossbar off the prophet Yirmeyahu's neck and broke it.

11 Then Hananyah, in front of all the people, said, 'Thus says ADONAI: 'In just this way will I break off the yoke of N'vukhadnetzar king of Bavel from the necks of all the nations within two years.'' The prophet Yirmeyahu left them;

12 but then this word of ADONAI came to Yirmeyahu, after Hananyah the prophet had broken off the crossbar from the neck of the prophet Yirmeyahu:

13 'Go and tell Hananyah that ADONAI:says, 'You have broken the crossbars of wood, but you will make in their place crossbars of iron.

14 For here is what ADONAI-Tzva'ot, the God of Isra'el, says: 'I have put a yoke of iron on the necks of all these nations, so that they can serve N'vukhadnetzar king of Bavel; and they will serve him; and I have given him the wild animals too.'''

15 Then the prophet Yirmeyahu said to Hananyah the prophet, 'Listen here, Hananyah! ADONAI has not sent you! You are making these people trust in a lie!

16 Therefore, here is what ADONAI says: 'I am about to send you away from the face of the earth - this year you will die, because you have preached rebellion against ADONAI.''

17 Hananyah the prophet died that same year, in the seventh month.

29

1 Following is the text of the letter Yirmeyahu the prophet sent from Yerushalayim to the leaders remaining in exile, as well as to the cohanim, the prophets and all the people N'vukhadnetzar had carried off captive from Yerushalayim to Bavel.

2 This was after Y'khanyah the king, the queen mother, the officers, the leaders of Y'hudah and Yerushalayim, and the artisans and skilled workers had left Yerushalayim.

3 The letter was entrusted to El'asah the son of Shafan and G'maryah the son of Hilkiyah; Tzidkiyah king of Y'hudah sent them to Bavel, to N'vukhadnetzar king of Bavel. The letter said:

4 'Here is what ADONAI-Tzva'ot, the God of Isra'el, says to all those in exile, whom I have caused to be carried off captive from Yerushalayim to Bavel:

5 'Build yourselves houses, and live in them. Plant gardens, and eat what they produce.

6 Choose women to marry, and have sons and daughters. Choose wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage to men, so that they can have sons and daughters - increase your numbers there, don't decrease.

7 Seek the welfare of the city to which I have caused you to go in exile, and pray to ADONAI on its behalf; for your welfare is bound up in its welfare.'

8 For this is what ADONAI-Tzva'ot, the God of Isra'el, says: 'Don't let your prophets who are living among you and your diviners deceive you, and don't pay attention to the dreams you urge them to dream.

9 For they are prophesying falsely in my name; I have not sent them,' says ADONAI.

10 'For here is what ADONAI says: 'After Bavel's seventy years are over, I will remember you and fulfill my good promise to you by bringing you back to this place.

11 For I know what plans I have in mind for you,' says ADONAI,'plans for well-being, not for bad things; so that you can have hope and a future.

12 When you call to me and pray to me, I will listen to you.

13 When you seek me, you will find me, provided you seek for me wholeheartedly;

14 and I will let you find me,' says ADONAI. 'Then I will reverse your exile. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have driven you,' says ADONAI, 'and bring you back to the place from which I exiled you.'

15 'You say that ADONAI has raised up prophets for you in Bavel.

16 But here is what ADONAI says about the king occupying David's throne and about all the people living in this city, your kinsmen who did not go into exile with you -

17 thus says ADONAI-Tzva'ot: 'I will attack them with sword, famine and plague; I will make them like bad figs, so bad they are inedible.

18 I will pursue them with sword, famine and plague and make them an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth; and they will bring on themselves cursing, astonishment, ridicule and reproach among all the nations where I have driven them;

19 because they have not paid attention to my words,' says ADONAI, 'which I sent to them through my servants the prophets. I sent them frequently, but you refused to listen,' says ADONAI.

20 'So pay attention now to the word of ADONAI, all of you in exile, whom I sent away from Yerushalayim to Bavel.

21 Here is what ADONAI-Tzva'ot, the God of Isra'el, says about Ach'av the son of Kolayah and Tzidkiyahu the son of Ma'aseiyah, who prophesy lies to you in my name: 'I will hand them over to N'vukhadretzar king of Bavel, and he will put them to death before your eyes.

22 In fact, all those exiled from Y'hudah who are in Bavel will take up this formula for cursing: 'May ADONAI make you like Tzidkiyahu and Ach'av, whom the king of Bavel roasted in the fire!'

23 because they have done vile things in Isra'el, committing adultery with their neighbors' wives and speaking words in my name, falsely, which I did not order them to say. For I am he who knows; I am witness to this,' says ADONAI.

24 'To Sh'ma'yah the Nechelami you are to communicate this message:

25 'This is a word from ADONAI-Tzva'ot, the God of Isra'el, because of the letters you sent in your own name to all the people in Yerushalayim, including Tz'fanyah the son of Ma'aseiyah the cohen and all the cohanim.

26 Your letter said, 'ADONAI has made you cohen in place of Y'hoyada the cohen, in order to have officials in ADONAI's house who will arrest any crazy person who makes himself out to be a prophet, so that you can restrain him in stocks and collar.

27 So why haven't you rebuked Yirmeyahu of 'Anatot, who makes himself out to be a prophet for you?

28 He even sends word to us in Bavel saying that the exile will last a long time; so build houses and live in them, plant gardens and eat what they produce.'

29 Tz'fanyah the cohen read this letter to Yirmeyahu the prophet, and afterwards

30 the word of ADONAI came to Yirmeyahu,

31 instructing him to send to all those in exile this message: 'Here is what ADONAI says about Sh'ma'yah the Nechelami: 'This Sh'ma'yah has prophesied to you, even though I did not send him, and has caused you to put your trust in a lie.

32 Because of this,' ADONAI says, 'I will punish Sh'ma'yah the Nechelami and his offspring. He will not have a man to live among this people, and he will not see the good I am planning to do for my people,' says ADONAI, 'because he has preached rebellion against ADONAI.''''

30

1 This word came to Yirmeyahu from ADONAI:

2 'This is what ADONAI the God of Isra'el says: 'Write all the words I have spoken to you in a scroll.

3 For the day is coming,' says ADONAI, 'when I will reverse the exile of my people Isra'el and Y'hudah,' says ADONAI. 'I will cause them to return to the land I gave their ancestors, and they will take possession of it.''

4 These are the words ADONAI spoke concerning Isra'el and Y'hudah:

5 Here is what ADONAI says: 'We have heard a cry of terror, of fear and not of peace.

6 Ask now and see: can men give birth to children? Why, then, do I see all the men with their hands on their stomachs like women in labor, with every face turned pale?

7 How dreadful that day will be! - there has never been one like it: a time of trouble for Ya'akov, but out of it he will be saved.

8 'On that day,' says ADONAI-Tzva'ot, 'I will break his yoke from off your neck, I will snap your chains. Foreigners will no longer enslave him.

9 Instead, they will serve ADONAI their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.

10 'So don't be afraid, Ya'akov my servant,' says ADONAI, 'or be alarmed, Isra'el; for I will return you from far away and your offspring from their country of exile. Ya'akov will again be quiet, at rest; and no one will make him afraid.

11 'For I am with you to save you,' says ADONAI, 'I will finish off all the nations where I have scattered you. However, you I will not finish off, but will discipline only as you deserve; I will not completely destroy you.'

12 For here is what ADONAI says: 'Your wound is past healing, your injury most severe;

13 no one thinks your wound can be bandaged; you have no medicines that can heal you.

14 All your friends have forgotten you, they no longer seek you out. I have struck you down as an enemy would, punished as a cruel man would, because of your great wickedness, because of your many sins.

15 Why cry that your wound and pain are past healing? I have done these things to you because of your great wickedness, because of your many sins.

16 'But all who devour you will be devoured, all your enemies will go into exile, those who plunder you will be plundered, those who pillage you will be pillaged.

17 For I will restore your health, I will heal you of your wounds,' says ADONAI, 'because they called you an outcast, Tziyon, with no one who cares about her.'

18 Thus says ADONAI: 'I will return Ya'akov's captives to their tents; I will take pity on his dwellings. Cities will be rebuilt on their own tels, with palaces where they're supposed to be.

19 From them will come thanksgiving and the sound of people celebrating. I will increase them; they will not be decreased; I will honor them; they will not be despised.

20 Their children will be as they used to be, their community confirmed in my presence; and I will punish everyone who oppresses them.

21 Their leader will be one of their own, their ruler will come from among them. I will cause him to come close and let him approach me; for, otherwise, who would guarantee his heart enough to approach me?' says ADONAI.

22 'You will be my people, and I will be your God.'

23 Look! The storm of ADONAI, bursting out in fury, a sweeping storm, whirling down upon the heads of the wicked!

24 ADONAI's fierce anger will not abate till he accomplishes the purpose in his heart. In the acharit-hayamim, you will understand.

31

1 'When that time comes,' says ADONAI, 'I will be God of all the clans of Isra'el, and they will be my people.'

2 Here is what ADONAI says: 'The people escaping the sword found favor in the desert I have brought Isra'el to its rest.'

3 From a distance ADONAI appeared to me, [saying,] 'I love you with an everlasting love; this is why in my grace I draw you to me.

4 Once again, I will build you; you will be rebuilt, virgin of Isra'el. Once again, equipped with your tambourines, you will go out and dance with the merrymakers.

5 Once again, you will plant vineyards on the hills of Shomron, and those doing the planting will have the use of its fruit.

6 For a day will come when the watchmen on Mount Efrayim will call, 'Come, let's go up to Tziyon, to ADONAI our God.''

7 For here is what ADONAI says: 'Sing with joy for Ya'akov! shout for the chief of the nations! Proclaim your praise, and say: 'ADONAI! You have saved your people, the remnant of Isra'el!'

8 Look! I am bringing them from the land in the north, gathering them from the far ends of the earth; among them are the blind and lame, women with children, women in labor, all together, a vast throng returning here.

9 They will come weeping and praying as I bring them back. I will lead them by streams of water on smooth paths, so that they won't stumble. For I am a father to Isra'el, and Efrayim is my firstborn son.'

10 Nations, hear the word of ADONAI! Proclaim it in the coastlands far away. Say: 'He who scattered Isra'el is gathering him, guarding him like a shepherd his flock.'

11 For ADONAI has ransomed Ya'akov, redeemed him from hands too strong for him.

12 They will come and sing on the heights of Tziyon, streaming to the goodness of Adonai, to the grain, the wine, the olive oil, and the young of the flock and the herd. They themselves will be like a well-watered garden, never to languish again.

13 'Then the virgin will dance for joy, young men and old men together; for I will turn their mourning into joy, comfort and gladden them after their sorrow.

14 I will give the cohanim their fill of rich food, and my people will be satisfied with my bounty,' says ADONAI.

15 This is what ADONAI says: 'A voice is heard in Ramah, lamenting and bitter weeping. It is Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted for her children, because they are no longer alive.'

16 This is what ADONAI says: 'Stop your weeping, and dry your eyes, for your work will be rewarded,' says ADONAI. 'They will return from the enemy's land;

17 so there is hope for your future,' says ADONAI. 'Your children will return to their own territory.

18 'I hear Efrayim bemoaning himself: 'You disciplined me, and I took your discipline like a young ox not used to a yoke. Let me return, and I will return, for you are ADONAI, my God.

19 Yes, I turned away; but later I repented. When I had been made to understand, I struck my thigh in shame and remorse, bearing the weight of the disgrace acquired when I was young.'

20 'Isn't Efrayim my very dear son, a child who delights me so? I speak about him all the time, I can't help but recall him to mind. In sum, I deeply yearn for him; I will surely show him favor,' says ADONAI.

21 Set up road signs, erect guideposts, pay attention to the highway, the path on which you traveled. Come back, virgin Isra'el, come back to these cities of yours!

22 How long will you hesitate, you unruly daughter? For ADONAI has created something new on earth: a woman with the strengths of a man.

23 Here is what ADONAI-Tzva'ot, the God of Isra'el, says: 'This expression will be used again in the land of Y'hudah and its cities after I have returned their exiles: 'May ADONAI bless you, home of justice, holy mountain!'

24 In it will live together Y'hudah and all its cities, the farmer and those who lead the flocks.

25 For I have satisfied the weary and filled the needs of all in distress.'

26 At this point I woke up and looked around, but I had enjoyed my sleep.

27 'Here, the days are coming,' says ADONAI, when I will sow the house of Isra'el and the house of Y'hudah with the seed of humans and the seed of animals.

28 At that time, just as I used to watch over them with the intent to uproot, break down, overthrow, destroy and do harm; so then I will watch over them to build and plant,' says ADONAI.

29 'When those days come they will no longer say, 'The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge.'

30 Rather, each will die for his own sin; every one who eats sour grapes, his own teeth will be set on edge.

31 'Here, the days are coming,' says ADONAI, 'when I will make a new covenant with the house of Isra'el and with the house of Y'hudah.

32 It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers on the day I took them by their hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt; because they, for their part, violated my covenant, even though I, for my part, was a husband to them,' says ADONAI.

33 'For this is the covenant I will make with the house of Isra'el after those days,' says ADONAI: 'I will put my Torah within them and write it on their hearts; I will be their God, and they will be my people.

34 No longer will any of them teach his fellow community member or his brother, 'Know ADONAI'; for all will know me, from the least of them to the greatest; because I will forgive their wickednesses and remember their sins no more.'

35 This is what ADONAI says, who gives the sun as light for the day, who ordained the laws for the moon and stars to provide light for the night, who stirs up the sea until its waves rorar -- ADONAI-Tzva'ot is his name:

36 'If these laws leave my presence,' says ADONAI, 'then the offspring of Isra'el will stop being a nation in my presence forever.' 38 'Look, the days are coming,' says ADONAI, 'when the city will be rebuilt for ADONAI from the Tower of Hanan'el to the Corner Gate.39 The measuring line will be stretched straight to Garev Hill, then turn to Go'ah.40 The whole valley of corpses and ashes, including all the fields as far as Vadi Kidron, and on to the corner of the Horse Gate to the east, will be separated out for ADONAI; it will never be uprooted or destroyed again.' to provide light for the night, who stirs up the sea until its waves roar ADONAI-Tzva'ot is his name: 36 'If these laws leave my presence,' says ADONAI, 'then the offspring of Isra'el will stop being a nation in my presence forever.'

37 This is what ADONAI says: 'If the sky above can be measured and the foundations of the earth be fathomed, then I will reject all the offspring of Isra'el for all that they have done,' says ADONAI.

38 - - -

39 - - -

40 - - -

32

1 This is the word that came to Yirmeyahu from ADONAI in the tenth year of Tzidkiyahu king of Y'hudah, which was the eighteenth year of N'vukhadretzar.

2 At that time the army of the king of Bavel was besieging Yerushalayim; and Yirmeyahu the prophet was imprisoned in the guards' quarters attached to the king of Y'hudah's palace,

3 where Tzidkiyahu king of Y'hudah had imprisoned him after demanding, 'How dare you prophesy that ADONAI says, 'I will hand this city over to the king of Bavel, and he will capture it;

4 Tzidkiyahu king of Y'hudah will not escape from the Kasdim but will certainly be handed over to the king of Bavel, who will address him face to face, with their eyes meeting;

5 and he will lead Tzidkiyahu to Bavel, where he will stay until I remember him,' says ADONAI, 'and even if you fight the Kasdim, you will fail'?'

6 Yirmeyahu said, 'This word of ADONAI came to me:

7 'Hanam'el, the son of your uncle Shalum, will approach you and say, 'Buy my field at 'Anatot; you have next-of-kin's right to redeem it; so buy it.'''

8 AS ADONAI had said, my cousin Hanam'el came to me in the guards' quarters and said, 'Please buy my field at 'Anatot, in the territory of Binyamin; because you will inherit it, and you have next-of-kin's right to redeem it, so buy it for yourself.' Then I was certain that this was ADONAI's word.

9 So I bought the field at 'Anatot which belonged to my cousin Hanam'el and weighed out the money for him, seven ounces of silver shekels.

10 I signed on the purchase contract, sealed it, called witnesses and weighed out the money for him on a balance scale.

11 I took the purchase contract, both the sealed copy with the terms and conditions, and the unsealed copy,

12 and gave the purchase contract to Barukh the son of Neriyah, the son of Machseyah, in the presence of my cousin Hanam'el, the witnesses who had signed the purchase contract and the people from Y'hudah sitting by the guards' quarters.

13 In their presence I instructed Barukh as follows:

14 'Here is what ADONAI-Tzva'ot, the God of Isra'el, says: 'Take these contracts, both the sealed and unsealed copies, and place them in a clay jar, so that they can be preserved for a long time.'

15 For ADONAI-Tzva'ot, the God of Isra'el, says that one day homes, fields and vineyards will again be bought in this land.'

16 After giving the purchase contract to Barukh son of Neriyah, I prayed to ADONAI:

17 'ADONAI, God! You made heaven and earth by your great power and outstretched arm; nothing is too hard for you.

18 You display your grace to thousands but also repay the guilt of the fathers into the lap of their children who follow them. Great, powerful God, whose name is ADONAI-Tzva'ot,

19 great in counsel, mighty in deed! Your eyes are open to all the ways of human beings in order to repay each one according to his ways, according to the consequences of what he does.

20 You gave signs and performed miracles in the land of Egypt which continue to this day, also in Isra'el and among other people; thus you made yourself the reputation you have today.

21 You brought your people of Isra'el out of the land of Egypt with signs and miracles, with a strong hand and an outstretched arm and with great terror.

22 Then you gave them this land, which you had sworn to their ancestors that you would give them, a land flowing with milk and honey.

23 They entered and took possession of it; but they did not pay attention to your voice, did not live according to your Torah, and did nothing of all you ordered them to do. Therefore you made this complete disaster befall them -

24 the siege-works are already there; they have come to the city to capture it; and the city, by means of sword, famine and plague, is being handed over to the Kasdim fighting against it. What you foretold is being fulfilled; here, you see it, yourself.

25 Yet you, ADONAI, God, have said to me, 'Buy the field for money, and call witnesses; even as the city is being turned over to the Kasdim!''

26 Then this word of ADONAI came to Yirmeyahu:

27 'Look, I am ADONAI, the God of every living creature; is there anything too hard for me?

28 Therefore, here is what ADONAI says: 'I will hand this city over to the Kasdim and to N'vukhadretzar king of Bavel; and he will capture it.

29 The Kasdim who are fighting against this city will enter and set this city on fire; they will burn it down, including its houses, on whose roofs they offered to Ba'al and poured out drink offerings to other gods, in order to make me angry.

30 For from their youth, the people of Isra'el and the people of Y'hudah have done only what is evil from my perspective; the people of Isra'el have done nothing but provoke me with what their hands make,' says ADONAI.

31 'This city has so provoked my anger and fury from the day they built it to this day that I ought to remove it from my presence,

32 because of all the evil that the people of Isra'el and the people of Y'hudah have done in order to make me angry - they, their kings, their leaders, their cohanim, their prophets, the men of Y'hudah and the inhabitants of Yerushalayim.

33 They have turned their backs on me, not their faces; and although I taught them, taught them frequently, they have not listened so as to receive instruction.

34 Instead they put their detestable idols in the house that bears my name, to defile it;

35 and they built the high places for Ba'al which are in the Ben-Hinnom Valley, to burn alive their sons and daughters to Molekh - something I did not order them to do, it never even entered my mind that they would do such an abominable thing - and thus they caused Y'hudah to sin.'

36 'Therefore, thus says ADONAI the God of Isra'el concerning this city, of which you say that it is handed over to the king of Bavel by sword, famine and plague:

37 'I will gather them out of all the countries where I drove them in my anger, fury and great wrath; and I will bring them back to this place and have them live here in safety.

38 They will be my people, and I will be their God.

39 I will give them singleness of heart and singleness of purpose, so that they will fear me forever - this will be for their own good and for the good of their children after them.

40 I will make with them an everlasting covenant not to turn away from them, but to do them good; I will put fear of me in their hearts, so that they will not leave me.

41 I will take joy in them, so as to do them good. I will plant them in this land truly, with my whole heart and being.'

42 For here is what ADONAI says: 'Just as I have brought this complete disaster on this people, so likewise I will bring on them all the good I have promised them.

43 Fields will be bought in this land, even though you say about it that it is desolate, devoid of human beings or animals, and given over to the Kasdim.

44 Yes, people will buy fields for money, sign the purchase contracts, seal them and call witnesses, in the territory of Binyamin, in the areas around Yerushalayim, in the cities of Y'hudah, in the cities of the hill-country, in the cities of the Sh'felah and in the cities of the Negev. For I will cause their exiles to return,' says ADONAI.'

33

1 The word of ADONAI came to Yirmeyahu a second time while he was still imprisoned in the guards' quarters:

2 'Thus says ADONAI the maker, ADONAI who formed [the universe] so as to keep directing it ADONAI is his name:

3 'Call out to me, and I will answer you I will tell you great things, hidden things of which you are unaware.''

4 For here is what ADONAI the God of Isra'el says concerning the houses of this city and the palaces of the kings of Y'hudah which are about to be destroyed and used as siege-works and ramparts,

5 where they will come to fight the Kasdim: 'These places will eventually be filled with the corpses of people whom I am striking down in my anger and fury, everyone whose wickedness has caused me to hide my face from this city.

6 However, I will bring it health and healing; I will heal them and reveal to them peace and truth in plenty.

7 I will cause the captives of Y'hudah and the captives of Isra'el to return; and I will build them up as I did at first.

8 I will cleanse them from all their sins, through which they offended me; and I will pardon all their sins, through which they offended and rebelled against me.

9 Then the name of this city will bring me joy, praise and glory before all the nations of the earth that hear about all the good I am doing for them; they will be overcome with fear and trembling at all the good and peace I am securing for it.'

10 Here is what ADONAI says: 'You say that this place is a wasteland, with neither people nor animals in the cities of Y'hudah, and that the streets of Yerushalayim are desolate, without people or animals - no inhabitants. Yet there will again be heard here

11 the sounds of joy and gladness and the voices of bridegroom and bride, the voices of those who sing, 'Give thanks to ADONAI-Tzva'ot, for ADONAI is good, for his grace continues forever,' as they bring offerings of thanksgiving into the house of ADONAI. For I will cause those captured from the land to return, as before,' says ADONAI.

12 ADONAI-Tzva'ot says, 'In this place, which is a wasteland without people or animals, and in all its cities, there will once again be pasture-lands where shepherds can let their flocks rest.

13 In the cities of the hill-country, in the cities of the Sh'felah, in the cities of the Negev, in the territory of Binyamin, in the areas around Yerushalayim and in the cities of Y'hudah flocks will again pass under the hands of the one who counts them,' says ADONAI.

14 'Here, the days are coming,' says ADONAI, 'when I will fulfill this good promise which I have proclaimed for the house of Isra'el and the house of Y'hudah.

15 When those days come, at that time, I will cause to spring up for David a Branch of Righteousness. He will do what is just and right in the land.

16 When those days come, Y'hudah will be saved, Yerushalayim will live in safety, and the name given to her will be ADONAI Tzidkenu [ADONAI our Righteousness].'

17 For this is what ADONAI says: 'There will never be cut off from David a man to occupy the throne of the house of Isra'el.

18 Nor will there ever be cut off from the cohanim who are L'vi'im a man before me to offer burnt offerings, burn grain offerings and offer sacrifices every day.'

19 This word of ADONAI came to Yirmeyahu:

20 'Here is what ADONAI says: 'If you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that daytime and nighttime no longer come when they are supposed to,

21 then my covenant with my servant David also can be broken, so that he will not have a descendant to reign from his throne or L'vi'im who are cohanim to minister to me.

22 To the degree that the armies of heaven are past counting and the sand by the sea past measuring, I will increase the descendants of my servant David and the L'vi'im ministering to me.''

23 This word of ADONAI came to Yirmeyahu:

24 'Haven't you noticed that these people are saying, 'ADONAI has rejected the two families he chose'? Hence they despise my people and no longer look at them as a nation.

25 Here is what ADONAI says: 'If I have not established my covenant with day and night and fixed the laws for sky and earth,

26 then I will also reject the descendants of Ya'akov and of my servant David, not choosing from his descendants people to rule over the descendants of Avraham, Yis'chak and Ya'akov. For I will cause their captives to come back, and I will show them compassion.''

34

1 This word came to Yirmeyahu from ADONAI when N'vukhadretzar king of Bavel, his whole army, all his vassal kingdoms and all the peoples fought against Yerushalayim and all its cities:

2 'ADONAI the God of Isra'el says to go and speak to Tzidkiyahu king of Y'hudah. Tell him that ADONAI says: 'I am going to hand this city over to the king of Bavel, and he will burn it to the ground.

3 You will not escape but will surely be captured and handed over to him; your eyes will see the eyes of the king of Bavel, he will speak with you face to face, and you will go to Bavel.'

4 Nevertheless, Tzidkiyahu king of Y'hudah, hear the word of ADONAI. ADONAI says this about you: 'You will not be put to the sword

5 but will die peacefully; and just as they burned spices for your ancestors, the earlier kings who preceded you, so they will burn spices for you and mourn you, 'Oh! Master!' For I have spoken the word,' says ADONAI.'

6 Yirmeyahu the prophet said all these words to Tzidkiyahu king of Y'hudah in Yerushalayim

7 at the time when the king of Bavel's army was fighting against Yerushalayim and against all the cities of Y'hudah that were left - that is, against Lakhish and 'Azekah, since only these remained of the fortified cities of Y'hudah.

8 This word came to Yirmeyahu from ADONAI after King Tzidkiyahu had made a covenant with all the people in Yerushalayim to emancipate them.

9 Everyone who had a male or female slave who was Hebrew was to let him go free; none was to keep as his slave a fellow Jew.

10 All the leaders and all the people listened who had entered into the covenant, wherein everyone was to free his male and female slaves and not keep them in bondage any longer. They listened, and they let them go.

11 But afterwards, they changed their minds; they made the male and female slaves, whom they had freed, return; and they brought them back into subjection as slaves.

12 Therefore this word of ADONAI came to Yirmeyahu from ADONAI:

13 'Here is what ADONAI the God of Isra'el says: 'When I brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt, where they lived as slaves, I made this covenant with them:

14 'At the end of seven years every one of you is to set free his brother Hebrew who has been sold to you and has served you six years. You are to let him go free from you.' But your ancestors did not listen to me or pay any attention.

15 Now you repented, you did what is right from my viewpoint when each of you proclaimed freedom to his fellow; and you made a covenant before me in the house bearing my name.

16 But then you changed your minds. You profaned my name when each of you took back his male and female slaves, whom you had set free to live as they wished, and brought them back into subjection as your slaves.'

17 Therefore here is what ADONAI says: 'You did not heed me and proclaim freedom, each to his brother and each to his neighbor; so now I proclaim for you a freedom,' says ADONAI, 'for sword, plague and famine. I will make you an object of horror to all the kingdoms on earth.

18 As for the men who violated my covenant by not living up to the conditions of the covenant which they made in my presence when they cut the calf in two and passed between its parts -

19 the leaders of Y'hudah, the leaders of Yerushalayim, the officials, the cohanim and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf;

20 I will hand them over to their enemies, hand them over to those who seek their lives; and their corpses will become food for birds in the air and wild animals.

21 Tzidkiyahu king of Y'hudah and his officials I will hand over to their enemies, to those who seek their lives and to the army of the king of Bavel, which has withdrawn.

22 I will give the order,' says ADONAI, 'and cause them to return to this city. They will attack it, capture it and burn it to the ground; and I will make the cities of Y'hudah desolate and uninhabited.''

35

1 This word came to Yirmeyahu from ADONAI during the time of Y'hoyakim the son of Yoshiyahu, king of Y'hudah:

2 'Go to the Rekhavim, speak to them, bring them to one of the rooms in the house of ADONAI, and give them some wine to drink.'

3 So I took Ya'azanyah the son of Yirmeyahu, the son of Havatzinyah, and his brothers, all his sons and all the Rekhavim,

4 and took them into the house of ADONAI, to the room of the sons of Hanan the son of Yigdalyahu, a man of God. It was by the room of the officials, which was above the room of Ma'aseiyah the son of Shalum, the gatekeeper.

5 There I set in front of the members of the clan of the Rekhavim pitchers full of wine and cups, and said to them, 'Drink some wine.'

6 But they said, 'We will not drink any wine; because Yonadav the son of Rekhav, our ancestor, gave us this order: 'You are not to drink wine, neither you nor your descendants, forever.

7 Also you are not to build houses, sow seed, or plant or own vineyards. Rather, you are always to live in tents; so that you may live a long time in the land, in which you are not citizens.'

8 We have heeded the words of Yonadav the son of Rekhav, our ancestor, in all that he instructed us to do: not to drink wine as long as we live - we, our wives, our sons and our daughters;

9 not to build houses for ourselves to live in; and not to have vineyards, fields or seed.

10 We have lived in tents, and we have heeded Yonadav our ancestor and done everything he ordered us to do.

11 But when N'vukhadretzar king of Bavel came up to attack the land, we said, 'Come, let's go up to Yerushalayim,' because we were afraid of the army of the Kasdim and the army of Aram; hence we are living in Yerushalayim.'

12 Then the word of ADONAI came to Yirmeyahu:

13 'ADONAI-Tzva'ot the God of Isra'el says to go to the men of Y'hudah and the inhabitants of Yerushalayim and say: 'Won't you ever learn to listen to my words?' says ADONAI.

14 'The words of Yonadav the son of Rekhav which he ordered his offspring, not to drink wine, are obeyed; so to this day they don't drink any; because they heed their ancestor's order. But I have spoken to you, spoken frequently, and you have not listened to me.

15 I have also sent you all my servants the prophets, sent them frequently, with the message, 'Every one of you should turn back now from his evil way, improve your actions and not follow other gods in order to serve them. Then you will live in the land I gave you and your ancestors. But you have not paid attention or listened to me.

16 Because the descendants of Yonadav the son of Rekhav have obeyed the order of their ancestor, which he ordered them; but this people has not listened to me;

17 therefore - ' here is what ADONAI Elohei-Tzva'ot, the God of Isra'el, says: 'I will inflict on Y'hudah and all the inhabitants of Yerushalayim all the disaster I have decreed against them; because I have spoken to them, but they have not listened; and I have called out to them, but they have not answered.'''

18 Then to the clan of the Rekhavim Yirmeyahu said, 'Here is what ADONAI-Tzva'ot, the God of Isra'el, says: 'Because you have heeded the order of Yonadav your ancestor, observed all his commands and done what he ordered you to do;

19 therefore ADONAI-Tzva'ot, the God of Isra'el, says this: 'Yonadav the son of Rekhav will never lack a descendant to stand before me.'''

36

1 In the fourth year of Y'hoyakim the son of Yoshiyahu, king of Y'hudah, this word came to Yirmeyahu from ADONAI:

2 'Take a scroll and write on it all the words I have spoken to you against Isra'el, Y'hudah and all the other nations, from the day I started speaking to you, back in the time of Yoshiyahu, until today.

3 Perhaps the house of Y'hudah will listen to all the disaster I intend to bring on them, and turn back, each person from his evil way; then I will forgive their wickedness and sin.'

4 So Yirmeyahu summoned Barukh the son of Neriyah; and Barukh wrote down on a scroll, at Yirmeyahu's dictation, all the words that ADONAI had said to him.

5 Then Yirmeyahu gave this order to Barukh: 'I am not allowed to enter the house of ADONAI.

6 Therefore, you take the scroll which you wrote at my dictation, go into the house of ADONAI on a fast-day, and read from it the words of ADONAI in the hearing of the people; also read them to all Y'hudah as they exit their cities.

7 Perhaps they will turn to ADONAI in prayer and will return, each one, from his evil way. For the anger and fury which ADONAI has decreed against this people is great.'

8 Barukh the son of Neriyah obeyed everything Yirmeyahu the prophet ordered him to do, reading the words of ADONAI from the scroll in ADONAI's house.

9 A fast was proclaimed in the ninth month of the fifth year of Y'hoyakim the son of Yoshiyahu, king of Y'hudah, for all the people in Yerushalayim and all the people who came from the cities of Y'hudah to Yerushalayim.

10 It was then that Barukh read from the scroll the words of Yirmeyahu in the house of ADONAI, in the chamber of G'maryahu the son of Shafan the secretary, in the upper courtyard, at the entry to the New Gate of ADONAI's house, for all the people to hear.

11 When Mikhay'hu the son of G'maryahu, the son of Shafan, had heard from the scroll all the words of ADONAI,

12 he went down to the king's palace, into the secretary's room. All the officials were there - Elishama the secretary, D'layahu the son of Sh'ma'yahu, Elnatan the son of 'Akhbor, G'maryah the son of Shafan, Tzidkiyahu the son of Hananyahu and all the [other] officials.

13 Mikhay'hu told them all the words he had heard when Barukh read the scroll in the people's hearing;

14 whereupon all the officials sent Y'hudi the son of N'tanyahu, the son of Shelemyahu, the son of Kushi, to Barukh to say, 'Take in your hand the scroll from which you read in the hearing of the people, and come.' So Barukh the son of Neriyah took the scroll in his hand and went to them.

15 They said to him, 'Sit down, please, and read it to us.' Barukh read it to them.

16 After they had heard all the words, they turned in fear to each other and said to Barukh, 'We will certainly tell the king about all these words.'

17 Then they asked Barukh, 'Tell us now, how did you write all these words? At his dictation?'

18 Barukh answered them, 'He said all these words to me with his mouth, and I wrote them with ink in the scroll.'

19 At this, the officials said to Barukh, 'Go and hide yourselves, you and Yirmeyahu; don't let anyone know where you are.'

20 After depositing the scroll in the room of Elishama the secretary, they went in to the courtyard and told everything to the king.

21 The king sent Y'hudi to bring the scroll, and he took it from the room of Elishama the secretary. Y'hudi read it to the king and all the officials standing near the king.

22 The king was sitting in his winter house; and since it was the ninth month, he had a fire burning in the stove in front of him.

23 After Y'hudi had read three or four columns from the scroll, he would cut off that portion with a knife and throw it into the fire that was burning in the stove, until the entire scroll had been consumed by the fire in the stove.

24 But even though they heard all these words, neither the king nor any of his servants grew afraid or tore their clothes.

25 Elnatan, D'layahu and G'maryahu had begged the king not to burn the scroll; but he wouldn't listen to them.

26 Then the king ordered Yerachme'el the king's son, S'rayahu the son of 'Azri'el and Shelemyahu the son of 'Avde'el to arrest Barukh the scribe and Yirmeyahu the prophet; but ADONAI hid them.

27 Then this word of ADONAI came to Yirmeyahu after the king had burned the scroll with the words Barukh had written at Yirmeyahu's dictation:

28 'Take another scroll, and write on it all the words that were on the first scroll, which Y'hoyakim the king of Y'hudah burned up.

29 And as far as Y'hoyakim king of Y'hudah is concerned, you are to say that ADONAI says, 'You burned this scroll, asking, 'Why did you write in it that the king of Bavel will certainly come and destroy this land and leave it without either humans or animals?'

30 Therefore ADONAI says this about Y'hoyakim king of Y'hudah: 'He will have no one to occupy David's throne; and his dead body will be thrown out to lie in the heat by day and in the frost by night.

31 Moreover, I will punish him, his offspring and his officials for their wickedness; and I will bring on them, the inhabitants of Yerushalayim and the people of Y'hudah all the disaster I have decreed against them, to which they have paid no attention.'''

32 Then Yirmeyahu took another scroll and gave it to Barukh the scribe, the son of Neriyah. At Yirmeyahu's dictation he wrote in it all the words of the scroll which Y'hoyakim king of Y'hudah had burned up in the fire, and to those he added many similar words.

37

1 Tzidkiyahu the son of Yoshiyahu became king, succeeding Koniyahu the son of Y'hoyakim, whom N'vukhadretzar king of Bavel had made king over the land of Y'hudah.

2 But neither he, his servants nor the people of the land paid attention to the words of ADONAI, which he spoke through the prophet Yirmeyahu.

3 Tzidkiyahu the king sent Y'hukhal the son of Shelemyahu and Tz'fanyahu the son of Ma'aseiyah, the cohen, to the prophet Yirmeyahu with the message, 'Please pray to ADONAI our God for us.'

4 At that time Yirmeyahu was mixing freely with the people, because they had not yet put him in prison.

5 At the same time Pharaoh's army marched out of Egypt; and when the Kasdim besieging Yerushalayim heard about them, they lifted the siege from Yerushalayim.

6 Then this word of ADONAI came to the prophet Yirmeyahu:

7 'ADONAI the God of Isra'el says to tell the king of Y'hudah, who sent you to me to consult me: 'Pharaoh's army has marched out to assist you; but they will return to Egypt, to their own country.

8 The Kasdim will return, attack this city, capture it and burn it to the ground.'

9 Here is what ADONAI says: 'Don't deceive yourselves by thinking that the Kasdim must withdraw from you, because they will not withdraw.

10 Even if you were to strike the entire army of the Kasdim fighting against you, to the degree that only their wounded were left, they would still rise up every man from his tent and burn this city to the ground.''

11 Then, at the time when the army of the Kasdim had lifted the siege of Yerushalayim out of fear of Pharaoh's army,

12 Yirmeyahu left Yerushalayim to go to the territory of Binyamin to receive his share of an inheritance there. He was passing through the crowds

13 and had reached the gate leading toward Binyamin when a guard commander there named Yir'iyah the son of Shelemyah, the son of Hananyah, seized Yirmeyahu the prophet, shouting, 'You're deserting to the Kasdim!'

14 Yirmeyahu answered, 'That is a lie! I am not deserting to the Kasdim'; but Yir'iyah wouldn't listen to him. So he arrested Yirmeyahu and brought him to the officials.

15 The officials, furious with Yirmeyahu, had him beaten and jailed in the house of Y'honatan the secretary, which had been made over into a prison.

16 The cistern had been made into a dungeon, and Yirmeyahu was put in one of its cells; there he remained for a long time.

17 Then Tzidkiyahu the king sent and had him brought; and the king asked him secretly, in his palace, 'Is there any word from ADONAI?' 'There is,' Yirmeyahu said. 'You will be handed over to the king of Bavel.'

18 Yirmeyahu asked King Tzidkiyahu, 'In what way have I sinned against you or against your officials or against this people, that has caused you to put me in prison?

19 Where are your prophets now, the ones who prophesied to you that the king of Bavel wouldn't attack you or this land?

20 So now, please listen, my lord king! I beg you, approve my request - don't make me return to the house of Y'honatan the secretary, or I will die there.'

21 At that, Tzidkiyahu the king gave the order, at which they committed Yirmeyahu to the guards' quarters and gave him daily a loaf of bread from the Bakers' Street, until all the bread in the city had been used up. Thus Yirmeyahu remained in the guards' quarters.

38

1 But Sh'fatyah the son of Mattan, G'dalyahu the son of Pash'chur, Yukhal the son of Shelemyahu and Pash'chur the son of Malkiyah heard these words which Yirmeyahu had said to all the people,

2 'Here is what ADONAI says: whoever remains in this city will die by sword, famine and plague; but whoever leaves and surrenders to the Kasdim will stay alive; his own life will be his only 'spoils of war,' but he will stay alive.

3 ADONAI says that this city will certainly be handed over to the army of the king of Bavel, and he will capture it.'

4 The leaders said to the king, 'Please let this man be put to death; because by speaking such words to the soldiers left in this city and to all the people, he is demoralizing them. This man is seeking not to benefit this people, but to harm them.'

5 Tzidkiyahu the king said, 'All right, he is in your hands; for the king can't prevent you from doing as you please.'

6 Then they took Yirmeyahu and threw him into the cistern of Malkiyahu the king's son, which was in the guards' quarters; they let down Yirmeyahu into it with ropes. In the pit there was no water, but there was mud; and Yirmeyahu sank into the mud.

7 'Eved-Melekh the Ethiopian, an officer in the king's house, heard that they had put Yirmeyahu in the cistern. When the king was sitting at the gate leading toward Binyamin,

8 'Eved-Melekh left the palace and said to the king,

9 'My lord, king! What these men have done to Yirmeyahu the prophet is evil. They have thrown him into the cistern; and he is likely to die there where he is, because of the famine; for there is no more food in the city.'

10 Then the king ordered 'Eved-Melekh the Ethiopian, 'Take thirty men with you from here, and bring Yirmeyahu the prophet up out of the cistern before he dies.'

11 So 'Eved-Melekh took the men with him and entered a storeroom under the treasury in the king's palace, from which he took some old clothes and rags. These he let down with ropes to Yirmeyahu in the cistern.

12 'Eved-Melekh the Ethiopian then said to Yirmeyahu, 'Use these old clothes and rags as padding between your armpits and the ropes.' After Yirmeyahu had done this,

13 they pulled Yirmeyahu up with the ropes and took him out of the cistern. Yirmeyahu remained in the guards' quarters.

14 Tzidkiyahu summoned and had Yirmeyahu brought to him through the third entry in the house of ADONAI. Then the king said to Yirmeyahu, 'I want to ask you something; don't hide anything from me.'

15 Yirmeyahu said to Tzidkiyahu, 'If I do say it to you, won't you have me put to death? And if I give you counsel, you won't listen to me.'

16 So Tzidkiyahu swore secretly to Yirmeyahu, 'As ADONAI lives, who gave us our lives, I will not put you to death; nor will I hand you over to these men who want you put to death.'

17 Then Yirmeyahu said to Tzidkiyahu, 'Here is what ADONAI-Tzva'ot, the God of Isra'el, says: 'If you will go out and surrender to the king of Bavel's officers, then you will stay alive - this city will not be burned down; and you and your family will live.

18 But if you will not go out to the king of Bavel's officers, then this city will be handed over to the Kasdim; they will burn it to the ground; and you will not escape from them.''

19 Tzidkiyahu the king said to Yirmeyahu, 'I am afraid of the Judeans who deserted to the Kasdim. The Kasdim might hand me over to them, and they would mistreat me.'

20 Yirmeyahu answered, 'They won't hand you over. I beg you, listen to the voice of ADONAI concerning what I'm telling you about; then it will go well with you, and you will live.

21 But if you refuse to surrender, then this is the word ADONAI has shown me:

22 all the women remaining in the king of Y'hudah's palace will be brought out to the king of Bavel's officers, and those women will taunt you: 'Your own close friends misled you and took advantage of you. Now that your feet are stuck in the mud, they have abandoned you.'

23 They will bring all your women and children out to the Kasdim, and you will not escape from them. Rather, you will be captured by the king of Bavel, and you will cause this city to be burned to the ground.'

24 Tzidkiyahu said to Yirmeyahu, 'Don't tell anyone what you just said, or you will die.

25 If the officials hear that I have talked with you, and they come to you and say, 'Tell us now what you said to the king; don't hide it from us, or we will put you to death, and also what the king said to you,'

26 then tell them, 'I presented my request to the king that he would not make me return to Y'honatan's house, to die there.''

27 All the officials did come to Yirmeyahu and asked him, and he told them everything the king had ordered him to say. So they stopped speaking with him, since the matter had not been reported.

28 Yirmeyahu remained in the guards' quarters until the day Yerushalayim was captured; he was there when Yerushalayim was captured.

39

1 In the ninth year of Tzidkiyahu king of Y'hudah, in the tenth month, N'vukhadretzar king of Bavel marched against Yerushalayim with his entire army and began to lay siege against it.

2 On the ninth day of the fourth month of the eleventh year of Tzidkiyahu, they broke through into the city.

3 All the officers of the king of Bavel entered and sat at the Middle Gate - Nergal-Sar'etzer, Samgar-N'vo, Sars'khim the Rav-Saris, Nergal-Sar'etzer the Rav-Mag and all the other officers of the king of Bavel.

4 When Tzidkiyahu the king of Y'hudah and all the soldiers saw them, they fled, leaving the city by night through the king's garden, exiting from the gate between the two walls, and continuing out by the route through the 'Aravah.

5 But the army of the Kasdim went in pursuit of them and overtook Tzidkiyahu on the plains near Yericho. Upon capturing him, they brought him up to N'vukhadretzar king of Bavel at Rivlah, in the land of Hamat, where he passed judgment on him.

6 The king of Bavel slaughtered the sons of Tzidkiyahu before his eyes in Rivlah; the king of Bavel also slaughtered all the leading men of Y'hudah.

7 Then he put out Tzidkiyahu's eyes and bound him in chains to be carried off to Bavel.

8 The Kasdim burned down the royal palace and the people's houses, and they broke down the walls of Yerushalayim.

9 N'vuzar'adan commander of the guard then deported to Bavel the remaining population of the city, the deserters who had defected to him, and the rest of the people remaining.

10 But N'vuzar'adan the commander of the guard left behind in the territory of Y'hudah some of the poor people, those who had nothing, and at the same time gave them vineyards and fields.

11 Concerning Yirmeyahu, N'vukhadretzar king of Bavel gave N'vuzar'adan the commander of the guard this order:

12 'Take him, look after him well, and do him no harm, but treat him as he tells you.'

13 So N'vuzar'adan the commander of the guard, N'vushazban the Rav-Saris, Nergal-Sar'etzer the Rav-Mag, and all the chief officers of the king of Bavel

14 sent to have Yirmeyahu taken out of the guards' quarters; they committed him to the care of G'dalyahu the son of Achikam, the son of Shafan, to be brought home. There he lived among the people.

15 This word of ADONAI came to Yirmeyahu while he was imprisoned in the guards' quarters:

16 'Go and tell 'Eved-Melekh the Ethiopian that ADONAI-Tzva'ot, the God of Isra'el, says: ''I am about to fulfill my words about this city for disaster, not for good; when the day arrives, they will come true before your eyes.

17 But at that time I will rescue you,' says ADONAI, 'and I will not hand you over to the men you fear.

18 Yes, I will keep you safe; you will not fall by the sword, but you will escape with your life, because you have put your trust in me,' says ADONAI.''

40

1 This word came to Yirmeyahu from ADONAI after N'vuzar'adan the commander of the guard had let him leave Ramah, after having taken him, bound in chains, with all the captives from Yerushalayim and Y'hudah that had been carried off to Bavel.

2 The commander of the guard took Yirmeyahu and said to him, 'ADONAI your God decreed this disaster for this place,

3 and ADONAI has brought it about; he has done what he said he would do, because you people sinned against ADONAI and did not listen to what he said; that is why this has come upon you.

4 Now, today, I am freeing you from the chains on your hand. If it seems good to you to come with me to Bavel, come; and I will look after you well. But if it seems not good to you to come with me to Bavel, then don't - the entire land is in front of you: wherever it seems good and right for you to go, go there.'

5 Before Yirmeyahu could answer, [N'vuzar'adan said,] 'Go back then to G'dalyahu the son of Achikam, the son of Shafan, whom the king of Bavel has made governor over the cities of Y'hudah, and live with him among the people; or go wherever it seems right for you to go.' The commander of the guard gave him provisions and a gift, and dismissed him.

6 Yirmeyahu then went to G'dalyahu the son of Achikam in Mitzpah and lived with him among the people who were left in the land.

7 Now when all the field force commanders and their men heard that the king of Bavel had made G'dalyahu the son of Achikam governor in the land and had committed to his care men, women, children and some of the poorest people in the land of those who had not been carried captive to Bavel;

8 they approached G'dalyahu in Mitzpah - in particular, Yishma'el the son of N'tanyahu, Yochanan and Yonatan the sons of Kareach, S'rayah the son of Tanchumet, the sons of 'Efai the N'tofati and Y'zanyahu the son of the Ma'akhati, they and their men.

9 G'dalyahu the son of Achikam, the son of Shafan, swore to them and their men, 'Don't be afraid to serve the Kasdim. Live in the land, serve the king of Bavel; and things will go well with you.

10 As for me, I will live in Mitzpah and be responsible to the Kasdim who come to us. But you - harvest wine, summer fruits and olive oil; put them in your containers; and live in your cities that you have taken over.'

11 Likewise, when all the Judeans who were in Mo'av, in Edom, among the people of 'Amon, and in all the other countries heard that the king of Bavel had left a remnant in Y'hudah and had appointed G'dalyahu the son of Achikam, the son of Shafan, to govern them;

12 then all the Judeans returned from all the places where they had been driven and came to the land of Y'hudah, to G'dalyahu in Mitzpah, and harvested wine and summer fruit in great abundance.

13 Yochanan the son of Kareach and all the field force commanders came to G'dalyahu in Mitzpah

14 and said to him, 'Are you aware that Ba'alis the king of the people of 'Amon has sent Yishma'el the son of N'tanyahu to take your life?' But G'dalyahu the son of Achikam did not believe them.

15 Then Yochanan the son of Kareach spoke privately with G'dalyahu in Mitzpah: 'Please, let me go, and I will kill Yishma'el the son of N'tanyahu; no one will know. Why let him assassinate you? Moreover, if he does, all the Judeans gathered around you will scatter; and the remnant of Y'hudah will perish.'

16 But G'dalyahu the son of Achikam said to Yochanan the son of Kareach, 'Don't do it. What you are saying about Yishma'el is not true.'

41

1 In the seventh month Yishma'el the son of N'tanyahu, the son of Elishama, of royal blood and one of the chief officials of the king, came with ten men to G'dalyahu in Mitzpah. While eating a meal together there in Mitzpah,

2 Yishma'el and the ten men with him rose and attacked G'dalyahu the son of Achikam, the son of Shafan, struck him with their swords, and assassinated the man whom the king of Bavel had appointed governor of the land.

3 Yishma'el also murdered all the Judeans who were with G'dalyahu at Mitzpah, as well as the Kasdim soldiers they found there.

4 The next day, before his assassination of G'dalyahu had become known,

5 eighty men from Sh'khem, Shiloh and Shomron came with beards shaved off, clothes torn and gashes on their bodies; they had grain offerings and frankincense with them to present in the house of ADONAI.

6 Yishma'el the son of N'tanyahu went out from Mitzpah to meet them, weeping all along the way; on meeting them, he said to them, 'Come to G'dalyahu the son of Achikam.'

7 But once they were inside the city, Yishma'el the son of N'tanyahu and the men with him slaughtered them and threw them into the cistern.

8 However, ten of them said to Yishma'el, 'Don't kill us, for we have stores of wheat, barley, olive oil and honey hidden in the field.' So he relented, and did not kill them along with their comrades.

9 The cistern in which Yishma'el threw the corpses of the men he had murdered with G'dalyahu was the one Asa the king had made in fear of Ba'asha king of Isra'el; it was this cistern that Yishma'el the son of N'tanyahu filled with the slaughtered men.

10 Then Yishma'el carried off captive the rest of the people in Mitzpah - the king's daughters and all the people left in Mitzpah, whom N'vuzar'adan the commander of the guard had committed to the care of G'dalyahu the son of Achikam. Yishma'el the son of N'tanyahu carried them off captive and left to cross over to the people of 'Amon.

11 When Yochanan the son of Kareach and all the military commanders with him heard of all the crimes committed by Yishma'el the son of N'tanyahu,

12 they took all the men and went to attack Yishma'el the son of N'tanyahu. They found him by the big pool in Giv'on.

13 When all Yishma'el's captives saw Yochanan the son of Kareach and all the military commanders with him, they were overjoyed.

14 So all the people Yishma'el had carried off captive from Mitzpah turned and joined Yochanan the son of Kareach.

15 But Yishma'el the son of N'tanyahu escaped from Yochanan with eight men and went on to the people of 'Amon.

16 Yochanan the son of Kareach and the military commanders with him then took all the rest of the people he had freed from Yishma'el the son of N'tanyahu, those Yishma'el had taken from Mitzpah after assassinating G'dalyahu the son of Achikam - the heroes, the soldiers, the women, the children and the officers he had brought back from Giv'on -

17 and they left there to stay at Kimham's Lodge, near Beit-Lechem, intending to go on to Egypt

18 and thus escape the Kasdim. They were afraid of them, because Yishma'el the son of N'tanyahu had murdered G'dalyahu the son of Achikam, whom the king of Bavel had appointed governor of the land.

42

1 Then all the military commanders, Yochanan the son of Kareach, Y'zanyah the son of Hosha'yah and all the people, from the least to the greatest, approached

2 and said to Yirmeyahu the prophet, 'I beg you, approve our request: pray for us to ADONAI your God for all of this remnant. For, while once we were numerous, only a few of us are left, as you can see.

3 Pray that ADONAI your God will tell us what direction to take and what to do.'

4 Yirmeyahu the prophet said to them: 'I hear you. All right, I will pray to ADONAI your God, as you have asked. And whatever ADONAI answers you, I will tell you; I will withhold nothing from you.'

5 They said to Yirmeyahu, 'May ADONAI be a true and faithful witness against us if we fail to do any part of what ADONAI your God gives you to tell us.

6 Whether it be good or bad, we will listen to what ADONAI our God says. We are dispatching you to him so that things will go well with us, as we heed what ADONAI our God says.'

7 Ten days later the word of ADONAI came to Yirmeyahu.

8 So he called Yochanan the son of Kareach, all the military commanders with him and all the people, from the least to the greatest,

9 and said to them, 'You sent me to present your request to ADONAI the God of Isra'el. This is what he says:

10 'If you will stay in this land, then I will build you up, not pull you down; I will plant you and not uproot you; for I am relenting from the calamity I inflicted on you.

11 Don't be afraid of the king of Bavel - of whom you are afraid. Don't be afraid of him,' says ADONAI, 'for I am with you to save you and to rescue you from his power.

12 I will take pity on you, so that he will take pity on you and cause you to return to your own land.

13 'But if you say, 'We will not stay in this land,' thereby not heeding what ADONAI your God is saying,

14 and instead say, 'No, we will go to the land of Egypt; because there we will not see war or hear the shofar sounding its alarm or be short of food; so we'll stay there';

15 then hear what ADONAI says, remnant of Y'hudah - this is what ADONAI-Tzva'ot, the God of Isra'el, says: 'If you are determined to go to Egypt and stay there,

16 the sword, of which you are afraid, will overtake you there in the land of Egypt; and the famine, of which you are afraid, will pursue you relentlessly there in Egypt; and there you will die.

17 This is how it will be for all the people determined to go to Egypt and stay there - they will die by sword, famine and plague; none of them will remain or escape the disaster that I will bring upon them.'

18 For here is what ADONAI-Tzva'ot, the God of Isra'el, says: 'Just as my anger and fury were poured out on the inhabitants of Yerushalayim, so likewise my fury will be poured out on you if you go to Egypt; so that you will become an object of condemnation, astonishment, cursing and reproach; and you will see this place no more.'

19 'ADONAI has spoken concerning you, remnant of Y'hudah! Don't go to Egypt! You know for a fact that I have given you fair warning today.

20 For you have been behaving deceitfully, against your own interests. You sent me to ADONAI your God, saying, 'Pray for us to ADONAI our God; tell us everything ADONAI our God says, and we will do it.'

21 Today I have told it to you, but you haven't heeded any part of what ADONAI your God gave me to tell you.

22 Therefore, know for a fact that you will die by sword, famine and plague in the place where you want to go and live.'

43

1 When Yirmeyahu had finished telling all the people everything ADONAI their God had said, which ADONAI their God had sent him to tell them, the entire speech cited above,

2 then 'Azaryah the son of Hosha'yah, Yochanan the son of Kareach and all the men with him had the effrontery to say to Yirmeyahu, 'You are lying! ADONAI our God did not send you to say, 'Don't go to Egypt and live there'!

3 Rather, Barukh the son of Neriyah is inciting you against us, so that we can be handed over to the Kasdim to be put to death or carried off as captives to Bavel.'

4 So Yochanan the son of Kareach, all the military commanders and all the people did not heed what ADONAI said, to live in the land of Y'hudah.

5 Instead, Yochanan the son of Kareach and all the military commanders took all the remnant of Y'hudah who had returned from all the nations where they had been driven to live in the land of Y'hudah -

6 the men, the women, the children, the king's daughters, everyone N'vuzar'adan the commander of the guard had committed to G'dalyahu the son of Achikam, the son of Shafan, and Yirmeyahu the prophet and Barukh the son of Neriyah -

7 and went to the land of Egypt; for they did not heed what ADONAI had said; and they arrived in Tachpanches.

8 Then this word of ADONAI came to Yirmeyahu in Tachpanches:

9 'With the men of Y'hudah watching, take some big stones, and set them with mortar in the pavement at the entry to Pharaoh's palace in Tachpanches.

10 Tell them: 'This is what ADONAI-Tzva'ot, the God of Isra'el, says: 'I will summon N'vukhadretzar the king of Bavel, my servant, take him and set his throne on these stones I laid here; he will come and spread his royal canopy over them.

11 He will come and attack the land of Egypt. Those destined for death - to death! Those destined for captivity - to captivity! Those destined for the sword - to the sword!

12 I will light a fire in the temples of the gods of Egypt, and he will burn [those gods] or take them captive. He will fold up the land of Egypt like a shepherd folding up his cloak, and leave there victorious.

13 He will also break the standing-stones of the temple of the sun in the land of Egypt and burn to the ground the temples of the gods of Egypt.'''

44

1 This word came to Yirmeyahu concerning all the people from Y'hudah living in the land of Egypt - in Migdol, Tachpanches, Nof and the land of Patros:

2 'Here is what ADONAI-Tzva'ot, the God of Isra'el, says: 'You have seen all the disaster I inflicted on Yerushalayim and all the cities of Y'hudah; there they are today, ruined, with no one living in them.

3 It came about because of the wicked things they did to make me angry - sacrificing to and serving other gods, whom they did not know, neither they, nor you nor your ancestors.

4 I had sent you all my servants the prophets, sent them frequently, with the message, 'Don't do this horrible thing which I hate!'

5 But they neither listened nor obeyed, so as to turn from their wickedness and stop offering to other gods.

6 Hence my fury and anger were poured out and ignited in the cities of Y'hudah and the streets of Yerushalayim; so that they became waste and desolate, as they are today.'

7 'Therefore now, ADONAI-Tzva'ot, the God of Isra'el, says this: 'Why are you committing this great sin against yourselves? The result can only be to cut you off from Y'hudah - men, women, children and babies - so that none of you remain.

8 For you continue provoking me with the products of your own hands, offering to other gods in the land of Egypt, where you have gone to live as aliens. It will lead only to your destruction and becoming an object of curses and reproaches among all the nations of the earth.

9 Have you forgotten the wicked deeds of your ancestors, the wicked deeds of the kings of Y'hudah, the wicked deeds of their wives, your own wicked deeds, and the wicked deeds of your wives, which they committed in the land of Y'hudah and in the streets of Yerushalayim?

10 To this day they remain unhumbled; they have not been afraid, and they have not lived according to my Torah or my regulations that I presented to you and your ancestors.'

11 'Therefore here is what ADONAI-Tzva'ot, the God of Isra'el, says: 'I will decree disaster for you and destroy all of Y'hudah.

12 I will take the remnant of Y'hudah, who determined to go to Egypt and live there as aliens, and they will all perish - in the land of Egypt they will fall and perish by sword and famine. They will die, from the least to the greatest, by sword and famine; and they will become an object of condemnation, astonishment, cursing and reproach.

13 Yes, I will punish those living in the land of Egypt, as I punished Yerushalayim, by sword, famine and plague;

14 so that none of the remnant of Y'hudah who went into the land of Egypt to live as aliens will escape or remain, to be able to return to the land of Y'hudah. They long to return and live there, but none will return except a few refugees.''

15 Then all the men who knew that their wives were offering incense to other gods, along with all the women standing by, a huge crowd, all the people living in Patros in the land of Egypt, answered Yirmeyahu:

16 'As for the word you have just spoken to us in the name of ADONAI, we will not listen to you.

17 Instead, we will certainly continue to fulfill every word our mouths have spoken: we will offer incense to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, we and our ancestors, our kings and our leaders, in the cities of Y'hudah and the streets of Yerushalayim. For then we had plenty of food; everything was fine, we didn't experience anything unpleasant.

18 But since we stopped offering to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything, and we have been destroyed by sword and famine.'

19 [Then the wives added,] 'Are we the ones who offer incense to the queen of heaven? Do we pour out drink offerings to her? And did we make cakes marked with her image for her and pour out drink offerings to her without our husbands' consent?'

20 Then Yirmeyahu said to all the people - to the men, the women, and all the people who had answered him back:

21 'The incense you offered in the cities of Y'hudah and in the streets of Yerushalayim - you, your ancestors, your kings, your leaders and the people of the land - ADONAI kept remembering and taking note of this [insult],

22 until ADONAI could no longer bear it, so evil and so detestable were your deeds. This is why your land has become a wasteland, an object for astonishment and cursing, uninhabited, as it is today.

23 It is because you offered incense, sinned against ADONAI, didn't listen to what ADONAI said, and didn't live by his Torah, regulations and instructions that this disaster has befallen you, as it is today.'

24 In addition, Yirmeyahu said to all the people, but especially the women: 'Hear the word of ADONAI, all Y'hudah who are in the land of Egypt;

25 this is what ADONAI-Tzva'ot, the God of Isra'el, says: 'You and your wives stated your intentions with your mouths and performed them with your hands - you said, 'We will certainly fulfill our vows that we made to offer incense to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her.'' Without doubt, you will indeed fulfill every point of your vows.

26 Therefore hear the word of ADONAI, all Y'hudah living in the land of Egypt: 'I swear by my own great name,' says ADONAI, 'that no man of Y'hudah will speak my name again in the land of Egypt, swearing, 'As ADONAI, God, lives.'

27 I am watching over them for harm, not for good. All the men of Y'hudah in the land of Egypt will be destroyed by sword and famine, until none of them is left.

28 Those who escape the sword will return from the land of Egypt to the land of Y'hudah few in number; and all the remnant of Y'hudah who went into the land of Egypt to live will know whose word will stand - mine or theirs!

29 Moreover, here is a sign for you,' says ADONAI, 'that I will punish you in this place, so that you can know that my threats of disaster against you will come true.'

30 ADONAI says, 'I will hand over Pharaoh Hofra king of Egypt to his enemies, to those seeking his life - just as I handed Tzidkiyahu king of Y'hudah over to N'vukhadretzar king of Bavel, his enemy, who sought his life.''

45

1 Here is what Yirmeyahu said to Barukh the son of Neriyah when he wrote these words in a book at Yirmeyahu's dictation, in the fourth year of Y'hoyakim the son of Yoshiyahu, king of Y'hudah:

2 'This is what Adonai the God of Isra'el says concerning you, Barukh. You said,

3 'Woe to me now! ADONAI has compounded my pain with sorrow, I am weary from groaning, and I can find no relief!'

4 'Tell him that ADONAI says: 'I will tear down what I built up, I will uproot what I planted, and this throughout the land.

5 Are you seeking great things for yourself? Don't! For I am bringing disaster on everything living,' says ADONAI. 'But wherever you go, you will escape with your life.''

46

1 This is the word of ADONAI that came to Yirmeyahu the prophet concerning the nations.

2 Concerning Egypt, against the army of Pharaoh N'kho, king of Egypt, stationed by the Euphrates River in Kark'mish, which N'vukhadretzar king of Bavel attacked in the fourth year of Y'hoyakim son of Yoshiyahu, king of Y'hudah:

3 'Prepare breastplate and shield! Advance to battle!

4 Harness the horses! Riders, mount! [Troops,] fall in! Helmets in place! Polish the spears! Coats of mail on!

5 'Why do I see them retreating in panic, their heroes routed, fleeing headlong, not looking back, terror all around?' asks ADONAI.

6 'The swift cannot flee, nor the heroes escape. In the north, by the Euphrates River, they have stumbled and fallen.'

7 Who is this, rising up like the Nile, like rivers whose waters surge out in flood?

8 It is Egypt, rising up like the Nile, like rivers whose waters surge out in flood, saying, 'I will surge out and cover the earth, destroying the city along with its people.'

9 Charge, horses! Full speed ahead, chariots! Let the warriors attack! - Kush and Put, bearing their shields, and the Ludim, strung bows in hand.

10 For on that day Adonai ELOHEI-Tzva'ot will have a day of vengeance for avenging himself on his enemies. The sword will destroy, have its fill, be made drunk on their blood. Yes, Adonai ELOHEI-Tzva'ot decrees slaughter in the land to the north by the Euphrates River.

11 Go up to Gil'ad for its healing resin, virgin daughter of Egypt. You try many medicines, all in vain; for you there is no cure.

12 The nations have heard about your disgrace; your shrieks fill the earth as warrior trips over warrior, both falling down together.

13 This word ADONAI spoke to Yirmeyahu the prophet concerning how N'vukhadretzar king of Bavel would come and attack the land of Egypt:

14 'Proclaim in Egypt, announce in Migdol, announce in Nof and Tachpanches; say: 'Take your stand! Get ready! For all around you the sword is destroying.

15 Why has your strong one been overthrown? He failed to stand because ADONAI pushed him down.

16 He caused many to trip; yes, they fell all over each other.'' Then they said, 'Let's get up, let's return to our own people, back to the land where we were born, away from the sword that destroys.'

17 They cried there, 'Pharaoh king of Egypt makes noise, but he lets the right time [for action] slip by.'

18 'As I live,' says the king, whose name is ADONAI-Tzva'ot, 'when he comes, he will be [as mighty] as Tavor among the mountains, as Karmel next to the sea.

19 'Daughter living in Egypt, prepare what you need for exile; for Nof will become a ruin, laid waste, without inhabitant.

20 Egypt is a beautiful female calf; but a horsefly from the north has come to attack her.

21 Her mercenaries too, that she had with her, were like well-fed calves in a stable; but they too have withdrawn in retreat, they all ran away without standing their ground. For their day of disaster has come over them, the time for them to be punished.

22 Egypt hisses like a snake, as the enemy's army marches ahead, attacking her with their axes like lumbermen chopping trees.

23 They cut down her forest,' says ADONAI, 'for they cannot be numbered; yes, there are more of them than locusts, far too many to count.

24 The daughter of Egypt is put to shame, handed over to the people from the north.'

25 ADONAI-Tzva'ot, the God of Isra'el, says: 'I will punish Amon from No, Pharaoh, and Egypt with her gods and kings - that is, Pharaoh and those who trust in him;

26 I will hand them over to those who seek their lives, to N'vukhadretzar king of Bavel and to his servants. But afterwards, Egypt will be inhabited, as in the past,' says ADONAI.

27 'Yet don't be afraid, Ya'akov my servant; don't be distressed, Isra'el. For I will save you from faraway places, and your offspring from the lands where they are held captive. Ya'akov will return and be at peace, quiet, with no one to make him afraid.

28 Don't be afraid, Ya'akov my servant,' says ADONAI, 'for I am with you. I will finish off all the nations where I have scattered you. However, you I will not finish off, I will discipline you as you deserve, but not completely destroy you.'

47

1 This word of ADONAI came to Yirmeyahu the prophet concerning the P'lishtim before Pharaoh attacked 'Azah:

2 'Here is what ADONAI says: 'Water is rising out of the north; it will become a flooding stream, flooding the land and all that is in it, the city and its inhabitants. The people are crying out in alarm, everyone in the land is weeping

3 at the thunderous pound of his stallions' hoofs, at his rattling chariots' rumbling wheels. Fathers fail to turn back for their children; instead, their hands hang limp,

4 because the day has come for destroying all the P'lishtim, for cutting off from Tzor and Tzidon the last of their allies; for ADONAI is destroying the P'lishtim, the remnant from the island of Kaftor.

5 'Azah is shaved bald, Ashkelon reduced to silence. Those of you who remain in their valley, how long will you go on gashing yourselves?''

6 Oh, sword of ADONAI, how long till you can be quiet? Put yourself back in your scabbard! Stop! Be still!

7 But how can you be still? For ADONAI has given it orders against Ashkelon, against the seacoast; he has assigned it its task there.

48

1 Concerning Mo'av, this is what ADONAI-Tzva'ot, the God of Isra'el, says: 'Woe to N'vo, for it is ravaged; Kiryatayim disgraced and captured. Misgav is put to shame, distressed.

2 'In Mo'av, nothing is left to praise. At Heshbon they plotted her downfall: 'Come, we'll cut her off as a nation.' You too, Madmein, will be silenced; the sword pursues behind you.

3 An agonized cry from Horonayim, ruin, terrible devastation!

4 Mo'av has been shattered; the cries of her young ones are heard,

5 as they ascend the slopes of Luchit, weeping bitterly as they climb. On the road down to Horonayim shrieks of destruction ring out.'

6 Flee! Save your lives! Be strong, like a tamarisk in the desert.

7 Because you trust in your deeds and your wealth, you too will be captured. Together with his priests and princes, K'mosh will go into exile.

8 A destroyer will descend on every city, no city will escape. The valley too will perish, the plain will be laid waste, as ADONAI as said.

9 Give Mo'av wings, so it can fly and get away. Its cities will become ruins, with no one to live in them.

10 A curse on him who does the work of ADONAI carelessly! A curse on him who withholds his sword from blood!

11 Mo'av has lived at ease from his youth; he is [wine] settled on its dregs, not decanted from jar to jar - he has not gone into exile. Therefore it retains its own [bad] taste, its aroma remains unchanged.

12 'So the days are coming,' says ADONAI, 'when I will send people to tilt him; they will tilt his jars, emptying them and shattering the wine-flasks to pieces.

13 Mo'av will be disappointed by K'mosh then, just as the house of Isra'el was disappointed by Beit-El, a god in whom they had put their trust.

14 'How can you say, 'We are heroes, warriors valiant in battle'?

15 They are ravaging Mo'av, attacking its cities; its best young men go down to be slaughtered,' says the king, whose name is ADONAI-Tzva'ot.

16 Mo'av's ruin is coming soon, its disaster speeds on swiftly.

17 Pity him, all of you who are near him, all of you who know his name; say, 'How the mighty scepter is shattered, that splendid staff!'

18 Descend from your glory, and sit in thirst, daughter living in Divon; for Mo'av's destroyer advances on you; he has destroyed your strongholds.

19 Stand by the road and watch, inhabitant of 'Aro'er; ask the man fleeing and the woman escaping, 'What is going on?'

20 Mo'av is disgraced, indeed, destroyed. Wail aloud! Shriek! Proclaim it by the Arnon that Mo'av has been laid waste.

21 Judgment has come on the Plain - on Holon, Yachtzah, Mefa'at,

22 Divon, N'vo, Beit-Diblatayim,

23 Kiryatayim, Beit-Gamul, Beit-M'on,

24 K'riot, Botzrah and all the cities in the land of Mo'av, far and near.

25 'Mo'av's strength is cut down, his arm is broken,' says ADONAI.

26 Because Mo'av boasted against ADONAI, make him so drunk that he wallows in his own vomit and becomes a laughingstock.

27 After all, Isra'el was a laughingstock for you. He didn't associate with thieves; nevertheless, whenever you spoke of him, you shook your head.

28 You who live in Mo'av, leave the cities, and live on the rocks; be like the dove who makes her nest in a hole in the rock at the mouth of a cave.

29 We have heard of the pride of Mo'av: so very proud he is! - presumptuous, proud, conceited; so haughty his heart!

30 'I know what meager ground he has for his arrogance,' says ADONAI. 'His boasting has nothing behind it, and it hasn't accomplished a thing.'

31 Therefore I wail for Mo'av; for all Mo'av I cry; for the people of Kir-Heres I lament.

32 I will weep for you, vineyard of Sivmah, more than I wept for Ya'zer. Your branches spread to the sea, reaching as far as the sea of Ya'zer. On your summer fruits and on your vintage the destroyer has fallen.

33 Gladness and joy have been removed from productive fields and the land of Mo'av. 'I have stopped the flow of wine from the vats and the shouts of those who tread the grapes - those shouts of joy are stilled.'

34 The cries from Heshbon to El'aleh are heard as far away as Yachatz; those from Tzo'ar to Horonayim are heard in 'Eglat-Shlishiyah; for even the waters of Nimrim have become a desolate waste.

35 'Moreover,' says ADONAI, 'in Mo'av I will put an end to anyone sacrificing on a high place or offering incense to his gods.'

36 This is why my heart is moaning for Mo'av like funeral flutes, why my heart moans for the men of Kir-Heres like funeral flutes; for the wealth they produced has vanished.

37 Every head has been shaved bald, every beard has been clipped short, gashes are on every hand, sackcloth around every waist.

38 On all the housetops of Mo'av and in its open places - lamentation everywhere! 'For I have broken Mo'av like a pot that nobody wants,' says ADONAI.

39 Wail, 'How shattered is Mo'av! How shamefully in retreat!' Thus will Mo'av become an object of ridicule and distress to all its neighbors.

40 For here is what ADONAI says: 'Look! Down he swoops like a vulture, spreading his wings against Mo'av

41 the cities are captured, the strongholds are seized. On that day the hearts of Mo'av's warriors will be like the heart of a woman in labor.

42 Mo'av will be destroyed as a people, because he boasted against ADONAI.

43 Terror, pit and trap are upon you, people of Mo'av,' says ADONAI.

44 'Whoever flees from the terror will fall into the pit; and he who climbs up out of the pit will be caught in the trap. For I will bring on her, on Mo'av, the year for her punishment,' says ADONAI.

45 'In the shadow of Heshbon the fugitives stop, exhausted. For fire breaks out from Heshbon, a flame from inside Sichon, consuming the sides and tops of the heads of Mo'av's noisy boasters.

46 Woe to you, Mo'av! K'mosh's people are doomed! For your sons have been taken captive, and your daughters led into captivity.

47 Yet I will end Mo'av's exile in the acharit-hayamim,' says ADONAI. This is the judgment on Mo'av.

49

1 Concerning the people of 'Amon, here is what ADONAI says: 'Has Isra'el no sons? Has he no heir? Then why has Malkam inherited Gad, with his people settled in its cities?

2 Therefore,' says ADONAI, 'the days are coming when I will sound the battle alarm against Rabbah and the people of 'Amon; it will become a tel of ruins, her villages burned to the ground. Then Isra'el will inherit from them who disinherited him,' says ADONAI.

3 'Wail, Heshbon, for 'Ai is doomed! Cry out, daughters of Rabbah! Wear sackcloth and mourn, running here and there among the sheep pens. For Malkam will go into exile, together with his priests and officers.

4 Why do you take such pride in the valleys, your well-watered valleys, rebellious daughter? You trusted in your riches and thought, 'Who can attack me?'

5 I am bringing terror on you,' says Adonai ELOHEI-Tzva'ot, 'from every side. Each of you will be driven out headlong, with no one to gather the fugitives.

6 But afterwards, I will bring back the exiles of 'Amon,' says ADONAI.

7 Concerning Edom, this is what ADONAI-Tzva'ot says: 'Is there no wisdom left in Teman? Have her wise men forgotten how to counsel? Has their wisdom vanished?

8 Flee! Turn back! Hide yourselves well, you who live in D'dan; for I am bringing calamity on 'Esav, when the time for me to punish him comes.

9 If grape-pickers came to you, they would leave no grapes for gleaning. If thieves came at night, they would destroy until they were satisfied.

10 So I, for my part, have stripped 'Esav bare, I have exposed his hiding-places; he will not be able to hide himself. He is doomed - sons, brothers and neighbors - so that he is no more.

11 Leave your orphans; I will keep them alive; let your widows trust in me.'

12 For this is what ADONAI says: 'Those who do not deserve to drink from this cup will have to drink it anyway, so should you go unpunished? No, you will not go unpunished; you will certainly drink it.

13 For I have sworn by myself,' says ADONAI, 'that Botzrah will become a ruin and an object of astonishment, reproach and cursing; all its cities will be ruins forever.'

14 I have heard a message from ADONAI: 'A messenger is sent among the nations, saying: 'Gather together, and march against her! Prepare for battle!'

15 Here! I will make you least among nations, the most despised of people.

16 Your capacity to terrorize has deceived you and made you arrogant. You make your home in the rocky crags and seize the top of the mountain; but even if you build your nest high as an eagle's, from there I will drag you down,' says ADONAI.

17 Edom will become an object of horror; everyone passing by will whistle in astonishment at all its disasters.

18 It will be like the overthrow of S'dom, 'Amora and their neighboring towns,' says ADONAI. 'No one will settle there any more, no human being will live there again.

19 It will be like a lion coming up from the thickets of the Yarden against a strong settlement: in an instant I will chase him away and appoint over it whomever I choose. For who is like me? Who can call me to account? What shepherd can stand up to me?'

20 So hear the plan of ADONAI that he has devised against Edom, and his purpose that he will accomplish against those who live in Teman: the least of the flock will drag them away; their own pasture will be in shock at them.

21 The earth quakes at the sound of their fall; their cry can be heard at the Sea of Suf.

22 Like a vulture he will soar, swoop down and spread out his wings against Botzrah. On that day the hearts of Edom's warriors will be like the heart of a woman in labor.

23 Concerning Dammesek: 'Hamat and Arpad are confused; having heard bad news, they dissolve in fear, like the churning sea, which cannot calm itself.

24 Dammesek, weakened, turns to flee; trembling has seized her; anguish and pain take hold of her like the pains of a woman in labor.

25 How can a city so praised be deserted, a city that gave me such joy?

26 Therefore her young men will fall in her squares, and all her warriors be silenced on that day,' says ADONAI-Tzva'ot.

27 'I will light a fire inside Dammesek's walls which will consume the palaces of Ben-Hadad.'

28 Concerning Kedar and the kingdoms of Hatzor, which N'vukhadretzar king of Bavel struck, ADONAI says: 'Set out! March against Kedar! Plunder the people of the east!

29 They will seize their tents and their flocks, their tent curtains and all their equipment; their camels too they will take for themselves and shout at them, 'Terror in every direction!'

30 Flee! Leave your homes! Hide yourselves well, you who live in Hatzor,' says ADONAI; 'for N'vukhadretzar king of Bavel has devised a plan against you; he has formed a scheme against you.

31 Get up! March on a nation at ease, that lives secure,' says ADONAI. 'They have neither gates nor bars; they live in isolation.

32 Their camels will be booty, their many cattle a spoil. I will scatter to the winds those who shave the sides of their heads; From every direction I will bring their disaster on them,' says ADONAI.

33 'Hatzor will be a place for jackals to live, desolate forever; no one will settle there any more, no human being will live there again.'

34 This is the word of ADONAI that came to Yirmeyahu the prophet concerning 'Eilam at the beginning of the reign of Tzidkiyahu king of Y'hudah:

35 'ADONAI-Tzva'ot says: 'I will break 'Eilam's bow, the mainstay of their might.

36 I will bring against 'Eilam the four winds from the four quarters of the sky and scatter them to all those winds. There will not be one nation to which the dispersed of 'Eilam will not come.

37 I will break 'Eilam before their foes, before those who seek their lives; I will bring disaster on them, my burning anger,' says ADONAI. 'I will send the sword to pursue them until I have finished them off.

38 I will put my throne in 'Eilam and destroy their king and leaders,' says ADONAI.

39 'But in the acharit-hayamim, I will bring back the exiles of 'Eilam,' says ADONAI.'

50

1 This is the word which ADONAI spoke concerning Bavel, concerning the land of the Kasdim, through Yirmeyahu the prophet:

2 'Declare it among the nations, proclaim it! Hoist a banner, proclaim it, don't hide it! Say: 'Bavel is captured. Bel is shamed, M'rodakh disgraced, her images shamed, her idols disgraced.'

3 For from the north a nation is marching against her that will desolate her land. No one will live there - both humans and animals have fled and gone.

4 In those days, at that time,' says ADONAI, 'the people of Isra'el will come, together with the people of Y'hudah. They will weep as they go their way, seeking ADONAI their God.

5 They will ask the way to Tziyon; and, turning their faces toward it, will say, 'Come, join yourselves to ADONAI by an everlasting covenant never to be forgotten.'

6 My people have been lost sheep. My shepherds made them go astray, turning them loose in the mountains. As they wandered from mountain to hill, they lost track of where their home is.

7 Everyone finding them ate them up. Their enemies said, 'We aren't guilty; for they sinned against ADONAI, the resting place of justice; yes, against ADONAI, their ancestors' hope.'

8 Flee from Bavel! Leave the land of the Kasdim! Be like male goats leading the flock;

9 for I will stir up and bring against Bavel an alliance of great nations from the country to the north. They will array themselves against her; from there she will be captured. Their arrows are like those of a death-dealing warrior; none will return in vain.

10 The land of the Kasdim will be plundered; all who plunder it will get enough,' says ADONAI.

11 'Because you are glad, because you exult, you plunderers of my heritage; because you frisk like a calf in the grass and neigh like stallions;

12 your mother will be utterly shamed, she who bore you will be disgraced. Here she is! - last among the nations, a desert, parched and barren.

13 Because of the anger of ADONAI, no one will live there any more; all of it will be desolate. Everyone passing Bavel will whistle in shock at all her plagues.

14 'Take your positions surrounding Bavel, all you whose bows are strung; shoot at her, spare no arrows; because she sinned against ADONAI.

15 From all sides raise the war cry against her! Now she surrenders! Her buttresses fall, her walls are thrown down, for this is the vengeance of ADONAI. Avenge yourself on her! As she has done, do to her!

16 Cut off the sower from Bavel and the reaper with sickle at harvest-time. For fear of the destroying sword everyone returns to his own people, each one flees to his own land.

17 'Isra'el is a stray lamb, driven away by lions. First to devour him was Ashur's king; and the last to break his bones is this N'vukhadretzar king of Bavel.'

18 Therefore ADONAI-Tzva'ot, the God of Isra'el, says: 'I will punish the king of Bavel and his land as I punished the king of Ashur.

19 I will bring Isra'el back to his pasture, to graze on the Karmel and the Bashan, on the hills of Efrayim and in Gil'ad until he has his fill.

20 In those days, at that time,' says ADONAI, 'Isra'el's guilt will be sought, but there will be none, and Y'hudah's sins, but they won't be found; for I will pardon the remnant I leave.

21 'Attack the land of Meratayim; attack it and those living in P'kod. Waste them, utterly destroy them; do all I have ordered you,' says ADONAI.

22 'The sound of battle is heard in the land, with great destruction!

23 How the hammer of the whole earth lies hacked apart and shattered! What an object of horror among the nations Bavel has become!

24 I set a trap and caught you, Bavel, before you knew it. You were discovered and seized, because you challenged ADONAI.

25 ADONAI has opened his store of arms and brought out the weapons of his wrath; for Adonai ELOHEI-Tzva'ot has work to do in the land of the Kasdim.

26 Attack her from every direction! Open her stores of grain! Pile her up like heaps of grain; destroy her completely; leave nothing!

27 Kill all her bulls! let them go down to be slaughtered! Woe to them! for their day has come, the time for them to be punished.'

28 Hear the sound of the fugitives, of those escaping from Bavel, coming to proclaim in Tziyon the vengeance of ADONAI our God, vengeance over his temple.

29 'Call up archers against Bavel, all whose bows are strung. Besiege her from every side, let no one escape. Repay her for her deeds; as she has done, do to her. For she insulted ADONAI, the Holy One of Isra'el.

30 This is why her young men will fall in her open places, why all her warriors will be silenced on that day,' says ADONAI.

31 'I am against you, arrogant [nation],' says Adonai ELOHEI-Tzva'ot. 'For your day has come, the time for you to be punished.

32 The arrogant [nation] will stumble and fall, and no one will lift him up again. I will set his cities on fire, and it will devour everything around him.'

33 Thus says ADONAI-Tzva'ot: 'The people of Isra'el are oppressed, and so are the people of Y'hudah. Those who took them captive hold them fast; they refuse to let them go.

34 But their redeemer is strong; ADONAI-Tzva'ot is his name. He will thoroughly plead their cause, so that he can give rest to the land but unrest to those who live in Bavel.

35 ADONAI says, 'A sword hangs over the Kasdim, and over those who live in Bavel, over her leaders and over her sages.

36 A sword hangs over the lying diviners; they will become fools. A sword hangs over her warriors; they will be disgraced.

37 A sword hangs over their horses, also over their chariots, also over the foreigners within her; they will become like women. A sword hangs over her treasures; they will be robbed.

38 A drought hangs over her waters; they will be dried up. For this is a land of idols; they go mad over these horrors of theirs.

39 'Therefore wildcats and jackals will live there, and ostriches will settle there. It will never again be peopled, it will be uninhabited age after age;

40 as when God overthrew S'dom, 'Amora and their neighboring towns,' says ADONAI. 'No one will settle there any more, no human being will live there again.

41 'Look! A people is coming from the north; a great nation and many kings are being stirred up from the ends of the earth.

42 They are armed with bow and spear; they are cruel, without compassion; their sound is like the roaring sea, as they ride forth on horses. Their men take their battle positions against you, daughter of Bavel.

43 The king of Bavel has heard news of them; his hands droop, helpless. Anguish seizes hold of him and pain, like a woman in labor.

44 'It will be like a lion coming up from the thickets of the Yarden against a strong settlement; in an instant I will chase him away and appoint over it whomever I choose. For who is like me? Who can call me to account? What shepherd can stand up to me?'

45 So hear the plan of ADONAI that he has devised against Bavel, and his goals that he will accomplish against the land of the Kasdim: the least of the flock will drag them away; their own pasture will be in shock at them.

46 At the sound of Bavel's capture the earth quakes; their cry is heard throughout the nations.

51

1 ADONAI says this: 'Against Bavel and those living in Lev-Kamai I will stir up a destructive wind.

2 Against Bavel I will send foreigners to winnow her and leave her land empty. They will besiege her from every side on the day of disaster.

3 Let the archer draw his bow, let him flaunt his coat of mail; do not spare her young men, completely destroy her whole army.

4 In the land of the Kasdim the slain will fall, those thrust through [by the sword] in her streets.

5 Isra'el and Y'hudah are not left widowed of their God, ADONAI-Tzva'ot; but the land of [the Kasdim] is full of guilt before the Holy One of Isra'el.'

6 Flee from Bavel, let each one save his life! Don't perish because of her guilt. For the time has come for the vengeance of ADONAI; he will repay her what she deserves.

7 Bavel was a gold cup in the hands of ADONAI; it made the whole earth drunk - the nations drank her wine; this is why the nations have lost their senses.

8 Bavel has suddenly fallen. She is broken; wail for her. Bring healing ointment for her wounds; perhaps she can be healed.

9 'We tried to heal Bavel, but she cannot be healed. So leave her alone, and each of us will return to his own country.' For the judgment against her rises to the skies and reaches even the clouds.

10 ADONAI has brought forth our victory. Come, let us proclaim in Tziyon the work of ADONAI our God!

11 Sharpen the arrows! Fill the quivers! ADONAI roused the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because he plans to destroy Bavel. This is the vengeance of ADONAI vengeance over his temple.

12 Raise a standard against the walls of Bavel! Strengthen the guard! Post the sentries! Prepare ambushes! For ADONAI has both planned and accomplished what he promised to do to those living in Bavel.

13 You who live near plenty of water, so rich in treasure - your end has come, your time for being cut off!

14 ADONAI-Tzva'ot has sworn by himself, 'I will fill you with men as numerous as grasshoppers; they will raise over you a shout of triumph.'

15 He made the earth by his power, established the world by his wisdom spread out the sky by his understanding.

16 When he thunders, the waters in heaven roar, he raises clouds from the ends of the earth, he makes the lightning flash in the rain and brings the wind out from his storehouses.

17 At this, everyone is proved stupid, ignorant, every goldsmith put to shame by his idol! The figures he casts are a fraud, there is no breath in them,

18 they are nothings, ridiculous objects; when the day for their punishment comes, they will perish.

19 Ya'akov's portion is not like these, for he is the one who formed all things, including the tribe he claims as his heritage. ADONAI-Tzva'ot is his name.

20 '[Bavel] you are my war club and weapons of war - with you I shatter nations; with you I destroy kingdoms;

21 with you I shatter horses and their riders; with you I shatter chariots and their drivers;

22 with you I shatter husbands and wives; with you I shatter old and young; with you I shatter young men and virgins;

23 with you I shatter shepherds and their flocks; with you I shatter farmers and their teams; with you I shatter governors and deputies.

24 'But I will repay Bavel and all living in the land of the Kasdim for all the evil they did in Tziyon,' says ADONAI, 'before your eyes [, Y'hudah].'

25 'I am against you, destructive mountain, destroying all the earth,' says ADONAI. 'I will stretch out my hand against you, to send you tumbling down from the crags and make you a burned-out mountain.

26 No one will make cornerstones or foundation-stones from you again; but you will be desolate forever,' says ADONAI.

27 Raise up a banner in the land, blow the shofar among the nations. Prepare the nations for war against her. Summon kingdoms against her - Ararat, Minni and Ashkenaz. Appoint an officer against her; bring up horses like bristling grasshoppers.

28 Prepare the nations against her, the kings of the Medes, his governors and deputies, and all the land he controls.

29 The earth quakes and writhes, as ADONAI's designs against Bavel are fulfilled, to make the land of Bavel a ruin, with no one living there.

30 Bavel's warriors have given up fighting; they remain in their fortresses; their courage has failed; they are now like women. Her homes are on fire, her gate-bars broken.

31 One runner runs to meet another, messenger to meet messenger, to report to the king of Bavel that every part of his city is taken,

32 the fords have been occupied, and the swamp thickets set on fire, while the warriors are seized with panic.

33 For here is what ADONAI-Tzva'ot, the God of Isra'el, says: 'The daughter of Bavel is like a threshing-floor at treading-time. Just a little while longer, and the time for harvesting her will come.'

34 N'vukhadretzar king of Bavel has devoured me, crushed me. He left me like an empty pot. Like a monster, he swallowed me whole. With my delicacies he stuffed his belly; then he rinsed me out.

35 But one who lives in Tziyon will say, 'May my torn flesh be avenged on Bavel'; and Yerushalayim will say, 'May my blood be avenged on the Kasdim.'

36 Therefore here is what ADONAI says: 'I will plead your cause. I will take vengeance for you. I will dry up her river and make her water sources dry.

37 Bavel will become a heap of ruins, a place for jackals to live, an object of horror and hissing, with no one living there.

38 Together they roar like young lions, growl like lion cubs.

39 When they are hot with desire, I will prepare them a drink. I will make them so drunk they will have convulsions, sleep forever and never wake up,' says ADONAI.

40 'I will drag them down like lambs to be slaughtered, like rams and male goats.'

41 Sheshakh has been captured, the pride of the whole earth seized! Bavel has become an object of horror throughout the nations!

42 The sea has flooded Bavel, overwhelmed her with its raging waves.

43 Her cities have become desolate - parched, arid land, a land where no one lives; nobody even passes through.

44 'I will punish Bel in Bavel and make him disgorge what he swallowed. The nations will no longer flow to him. Bavel's wall will fall.

45 Get out of her, my people! Each one, save yourself from ADONAI's furious anger!

46 Don't be fainthearted, don't be afraid of the rumors spreading abroad in the land. One year one rumor comes, the next year another one, rumors of violence in the land and rulers fighting rulers.

47 Therefore, listen! The days are coming when I will pass judgment on Bavel's idols. Her whole land will be put to shame, as all her slain fall on home soil.

48 Then heaven and earth and all that is in them will sing for joy over Bavel; for the plunderers from the north are coming to her,' says ADONAI.

49 Just as Bavel caused the slain of Isra'el to fall, so at Bavel will fall the slain of all the land.

50 You who escaped the sword, go! Don't stand still! Remember ADONAI from afar, let Yerushalayim come into your minds.

51 'The reproaches we have heard have put us to shame, disgrace covers our faces; because foreigners have entered the sanctuaries of ADONAI's house.'

52 'Therefore,' says ADONAI, 'the days are coming when I will pass judgment on her idols, and the wounded will groan throughout her land.

53 Even if Bavel scales the heavens or reinforces her lofty stronghold, plunderers will come to her from me,' says ADONAI.

54 An agonized cry is heard from Bavel! Great destruction in the land of the Kasdim!

55 For ADONAI is plundering Bavel and silencing her noisy din their waves roar like the raging ocean, their clamor sounds and resounds.

56 Yes, the plunderer has fallen upon her, fallen on Bavel. Her warriors are captured, their bows are broken. For ADONAI is a God of retribution; he will surely repay.

57 'I will intoxicate her leaders and sages, her governors, deputies and warriors. They will sleep forever and never wake up,' says the king, whose name is ADONAI-Tzva'ot.

58 Thus says ADONAI-Tzva'ot: 'The wide walls of Bavel will be razed to the ground, her lofty gates will be set on fire. The peoples are toiling for nothing, the nation's labor goes up in flames, and everyone is exhausted.'

59 This is the order which Yirmeyahu the prophet gave to S'rayah the son of Neriyah, the son of Machseyah, when he went to Bavel with Tzidkiyahu the king of Y'hudah in the fourth year of his reign. S'rayah was quartermaster.

60 Yirmeyahu had written on a separate scroll all the above words describing the disaster that was to befall Bavel.

61 Yirmeyahu said to S'rayah, 'See to it that when you arrive in Bavel you read all these words aloud. Then say,

62 'ADONAI, you have promised to destroy this place, that no one will live here, neither human nor animal, but that it will be desolate forever.'

63 When you finish reading this scroll, tie a rock to it, throw it into the middle of the Euphrates,

64 and say, 'Like this, Bavel will sink, never to rise again, because of the disaster I am bringing on her; and they will grow weary.'' (Up to here, these have been the words of Yirmeyahu.)

52

1 Tzidkiyahu was twenty-one years old when he began to rule, and he ruled for eleven years in Yerushalayim. His mother's name was Hamutal the daughter of Yirmeyahu, from Livnah.

2 He did what was evil from ADONAI's perspective, following the example of everything Y'hoyakim had done.

3 And it was because of ADONAI's anger that all these things happened to Yerushalayim and Y'hudah, until he had thrown them out of his presence. Tzidkiyahu rebelled against the king of Bavel;

4 so in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, N'vukhadretzar king of Bavel marched against Yerushalayim with his entire army. He set up camp against it and built siege towers against it on every side.

5 The city remained under siege into the eleventh year of King Tzidkiyahu.

6 On the ninth day of the fourth month, when the famine in the city was so severe that there was no food for the people of the land,

7 they broke through into the city. All the soldiers fled and left the city by night through the gate between the two walls, near the king's garden. Because the Kasdim were surrounding the city, they took the route through the 'Aravah.

8 But the army of the Kasdim went in pursuit of the king and overtook Tzidkiyahu on the plains near Yericho; all his troops deserted him.

9 Then they took the king and brought him up to the king of Bavel in Rivlah, in the land of Hamat, where he passed judgment on him.

10 The king of Bavel slaughtered his sons before his eyes; he also slaughtered all the leading men of Y'hudah in Rivlah.

11 Then the king of Bavel put out Tzidkiyahu's eyes, bound him in chains, carried him off to Bavel and kept him in prison until the day of his death.

12 In the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month, which was also the nineteenth year of King N'vukhadretzar, king of Bavel, N'vuzar'adan, the commander of the guard and a close associate of the king of Bavel, entered Yerushalayim.

13 He burned down the house of ADONAI, the royal palace and all the houses in Yerushalayim - every notable person's house he burned to the ground.

14 The whole army of the Kasdim, who were with the commander of the guard, broke down all the walls of Yerushalayim on every side.

15 N'vuzar'adan the commander of the guard then deported some of the poor people, the remaining population of the city, the deserters who had defected to the king of Bavel and the rest of the common people.

16 But N'vuzar'adan the commander of the guard left behind some of the poor people of the land to be vineyard-workers and farmers.

17 The Kasdim smashed the bronze columns of the house of ADONAI, also the trolleys and bronze Sea that were in the house of ADONAI, and carried their bronze to Bavel.

18 They also took away the pots, shovels, snuffers, basins, pans, and all the bronze articles they had used in worship.

19 The commander of the guard took the cups, censers, sprinkling bowls, pots, menorahs, pans and bowls - everything made of gold and everything made of silver.

20 The bronze in the two columns, the one Sea, and the twelve bronze bulls under the bases, all of which Shlomo had made for the house of ADONAI, was more than could be weighed.

21 As for the columns, the height of one column was thirty-one-and-a-half feet; it took a twenty-one-foot measuring line to go around it; and its thickness was four fingers - it was hollow.

22 On it was a capital of brass eight-and-three quarters feet high, with netting and pomegranates all around the capital, all of bronze; the second column was similar, also with pomegranates.

23 There were ninety-six pomegranates on the outside; while the total number of pomegranates in the netting was one hundred.

24 The commander of the guard took [prisoner] S'rayah the chief cohen, Tz'fanyah the second-ranking cohen, and three doorkeepers.

25 From the city he took an official in charge of the soldiers, seven close associates of the king who had been found in the city, the army commander's secretary in charge of military conscription, and sixty of the common people found inside the city.

26 N'vuzar'adan the commander of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Bavel in Rivlah.

27 There in Rivlah, in the land of Hamat, the king of Bavel had them put to death. Thus Y'hudah was carried away captive out of his land.

28 The numbers of people deported by N'vukhadretzar were as follows: in the seventh year, 3,023 persons from Y'hudah;

29 in the eighteenth year of N'vukhadretzar, 832 persons from Yerushalayim;

30 and in the twenty-third year of N'vukhadretzar, N'vuzar'adan the commander of the guard deported 745 persons from Y'hudah; the total comes to 4,600 persons.

31 In the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Y'hoyakhin king of Y'hudah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth day of the month, Eveel-M'rodakh began his reign as king of Bavel; and in his first year, he commuted the sentence of Y'hoyakhin king of Y'hudah and released him from prison.

32 He treated him with kindness and gave him a throne higher than those of the other kings there with him in Bavel.

33 So Y'hoyakhin no longer had to wear prison clothes; moreover, he was provided with food as long as he lived,

34 and he was granted a daily allowance by the king of Bavel to spend on his other needs for as long as he lived, until the day of his death.