New American Standard Bible (NASB)

The Deceitful Heart

1 The sin of Judah is written down with an iron stylus;

With a diamond point it is engraved upon the tablet of their heart

And on the horns of their altars,

2 As they remember their children,

So theyremembertheir altars and their Asherim

By green trees on the high hills.

3 O mountain of Mine in the countryside,

I will give over your wealth and all your treasures for booty,

Your high places for sin throughout your borders.

4 And you will, even of yourself, let go of your inheritance

That I gave you;

And I will make you serve your enemies

In the land which you do not know;

For you have kindled a fire in My anger

Which will burn forever.

5 Thus says the Lord,

“Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind

And makes flesh his strength,

And whose heart turns away from the Lord.

6 “For he will be like a bush in the desert

And will not see when prosperity comes,

But will live in stony wastes in the wilderness,

A land of salt without inhabitant.

7 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord

And whose trust is the Lord.

8 “For he will be like a tree planted by the water,

That extends its roots by a stream

And will not fear when the heat comes;

But its leaves will be green,

And it will not be anxious in a year of drought

Nor cease to yield fruit.

9 “The heart is more deceitful than all else

And is desperately sick;

Who can understand it?

10 “I, the Lord, search the heart,

I test the mind,

Even to give to each man according to his ways,

According to the results of his deeds.

11 “As a partridge that hatches eggs which it has not laid,

Sois he who makes a fortune, but unjustly;

In the midst of his days it will forsake him,

And in the end he will be a fool.”

12 A glorious throne on high from the beginning

Is the place of our sanctuary.

13 O Lord, the hope of Israel,

All who forsake You will be put to shame.

Those who turn away on earth will be written down,

Because they have forsaken the fountain of living water, even the Lord.

14 Heal me, O Lord, and I will be healed;

Save me and I will be saved,

For You are my praise.

15 Look, they keep saying to me,

“Where is the word of the Lord?

Let it come now!”

16 But as for me, I have not hurried away frombeinga shepherd after You,

Nor have I longed for the woeful day;

You Yourself know that the utterance of my lips

Was in Your presence.

17 Do not be a terror to me;

You are my refuge in the day of disaster.

18 Let those who persecute me be put to shame, but as for me, let me not be put to shame;

Let them be dismayed, but let me not be dismayed.

Bring on them a day of disaster,

And crush them with twofold destruction!

The Sabbath Must Be Kept

19 Thus the Lordsaid to me, “Go and stand in the public gate, through which the kings of Judah come in and go out, as well as in all the gates of Jerusalem;

20 and say to them, ‘Listen to the word of the Lord, kings of Judah, and all Judah and all inhabitants of Jerusalem who come in through these gates:

21 Thus says the Lord, “Take heed for yourselves, and do not carry any load on the sabbath day or bring anything in through the gates of Jerusalem.

22 You shall not bring a load out of your houses on the sabbath day nor do any work, but keep the sabbath day holy, as I commanded your forefathers.

23 Yet they did not listen or incline their ears, but stiffened their necks in order not to listen or take correction.

24 “But it will come about, if you listen attentively to Me,” declares the Lord, “to bring no load in through the gates of this city on the sabbath day, but to keep the sabbath day holy by doing no work on it,

25 then there will come in through the gates of this city kings and princes sitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their princes, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and this city will be inhabited forever.

26 They will come in from the cities of Judah and from the environs of Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin, from the lowland, from the hill country and from the Negev, bringing burnt offerings, sacrifices, grain offerings and incense, and bringing sacrifices of thanksgiving to the house of the Lord.

27 But if you do not listen to Me to keep the sabbath day holy by not carrying a load and coming in through the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in its gates and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem and not be quenched.”‘”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/80/32k/JER/17-7bbdc7ea5d5922165c838f7085c58ef0.mp3?version_id=100—

The Potter and the Clay

1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lordsaying,

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

3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something on the wheel.

4 But the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he remade it into another vessel, as it pleased the potter to make.

5 Then the word of the Lordcame to me saying,

6 “Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potterdoes?” declares the Lord. “Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.

7 At one moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to uproot, to pull down, or to destroyit;

8 if that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I willrelent concerning the calamity I planned to bring on it.

9 Or at another moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to build up or to plantit;

10 if it does evil in My sight by not obeying My voice, then I willthink better of the good with which I had promised to bless it.

11 So now then, speak to the men of Judah and against the inhabitants of Jerusalem saying, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Behold, I am fashioning calamity against you and devising a plan against you. Oh turn back, each of you from his evil way, and reform your ways and your deeds.”‘

12 But they will say, ‘It’s hopeless! For we are going to follow our own plans, and each of us will act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.’

13 “Therefore thus says the Lord,

‘Ask now among the nations,

Who ever heard the like of this?

The virgin of Israel

Has done a most appalling thing.

14 ‘Does the snow of Lebanon forsake the rock of the open country?

Or is the cold flowing waterfroma foreignlandever snatched away?

15 ‘For My people have forgotten Me,

They burn incense to worthless gods

And they have stumbled from their ways,

From the ancient paths,

To walk in bypaths,

Not on a highway,

16 To make their land a desolation,

An object ofperpetual hissing;

Everyone who passes by it will be astonished

And shake his head.

17 ‘Like an east wind I will scatter them

Before the enemy;

I will show them My back and notMyface

In the day of their calamity.'”

18 Then they said, “Come and let us devise plans against Jeremiah. Surely the law is not going to be lost to the priest, nor counsel to the sage, nor thedivineword to the prophet! Come on and let us strike at him withourtongue, and let us give no heed to any of his words.”

19 Do give heed to me, O Lord,

And listen to what my opponents are saying!

20 Should good be repaid with evil?

For they have dug a pit for me.

Remember how I stood before You

To speak good on their behalf,

So as to turn away Your wrath from them.

21 Therefore, give their children over to famine

And deliver them up to the power of the sword;

And let their wives become childless and widowed.

Let their men also be smitten to death,

Their young men struck down by the sword in battle.

22 May an outcry be heard from their houses,

When You suddenly bring raiders upon them;

For they have dug a pit to capture me

And hidden snares for my feet.

23 Yet You, O Lord, know

All their deadly designs against me;

Do not forgive their iniquity

Or blot out their sin from Your sight.

But may they be overthrown before You;

Deal with them in the time of Your anger!

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/80/32k/JER/18-5868c72681573eccf7dac0812893b3a7.mp3?version_id=100—

The Broken Jar

1 Thus says the Lord, “Go and buy a potter’s earthenware jar, andtakesome of the elders of the people and some of the senior priests.

2 Then go out to the valley of Ben-hinnom, which is by the entrance of the potsherd gate, and proclaim there the words that I tell you,

3 and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: thus says the Lordof hosts, the God of Israel, “Behold I am about to bring a calamity upon this place, at which the ears of everyone that hears of it will tingle.

4 Because they have forsaken Me and have made this an alien place and have burned sacrifices in it to other gods, that neither they nor their forefathers nor the kings of Judah hadeverknown, andbecausethey have filled this place with the blood of the innocent

5 and have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, a thing which I never commanded or spoke of, nor did iteverenter My mind;

6 therefore, behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when this place will no longer be called Topheth or the valley of Ben-hinnom, but rather the valley of Slaughter.

7 I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hand of those who seek their life; and I will give over their carcasses as food for the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth.

8 I will also make this city a desolation and anobject ofhissing; everyone who passes by it will be astonished and hiss because of all its disasters.

9 I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they will eat one another’s flesh in the siege and in the distress with which their enemies and those who seek their life will distress them.”‘

10 “Then you are to break the jar in the sight of the men who accompany you

11 and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lordof hosts, “Just so will I break this people and this city, even as one breaks a potter’s vessel, which cannot again be repaired; and they will bury in Topheth because there is nootherplace for burial.

12 This is how I will treat this place and its inhabitants,” declares the Lord, “so as to make this city like Topheth.

13 The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be defiled like the place Topheth, because of all the houses on whose rooftops they burned sacrifices to all the heavenly host and poured out drink offerings to other gods.”‘”

14 Then Jeremiah came from Topheth, where the Lordhad sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of the Lord’shouse and said to all the people:

15 “Thus says the Lordof hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Behold, I am about to bring on this city and all its towns the entire calamity that I have declared against it, because they have stiffened their necks so as not to heed My words.'”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/80/32k/JER/19-419c440f48171fab6c823161cc3367a9.mp3?version_id=100—

Pashhur Persecutes Jeremiah

1 When Pashhur the priest, the son of Immer, who was chief officer in the house of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things,

2 Pashhur had Jeremiah the prophet beaten and put him in the stocks that were at the upper Benjamin Gate, which was by the house of the Lord.

3 On the next day, when Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, “Pashhur is not the name the Lordhas called you, but ratherMagor-missabib.

4 For thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I am going to make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends; and while your eyes look on, they will fall by the sword of their enemies. So I will give over all Judah to the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will carry them away as exiles to Babylon and will slay them with the sword.

5 I will also give over all the wealth of this city, all its produce and all its costly things; even all the treasures of the kings of Judah I will give over to the hand of their enemies, and they will plunder them, take them away and bring them to Babylon.

6 And you, Pashhur, and all who live in your house will go into captivity; and you will enter Babylon, and there you will die and there you will be buried, you and all your friends to whom you have falsely prophesied.'”

Jeremiah’s Complaint

7 O Lord, You have deceived me and I was deceived;

You have overcome me and prevailed.

I have become a laughingstock all day long;

Everyone mocks me.

8 For each time I speak, I cry aloud;

I proclaim violence and destruction,

Because for me the word of the Lordhas resulted

In reproach and derision all day long.

9 But if I say, “I will not remember Him

Or speak anymore in His name,”

Then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire

Shut up in my bones;

And I am weary of holdingitin,

And I cannot endureit.

10 For I have heard the whispering of many,

“Terror on every side!

Denouncehim;yes, let us denounce him!”

All my trusted friends,

Watching for my fall, say:

“Perhaps he will be deceived, so that we may prevail against him

And take our revenge on him.”

11 But the Lordis with me like a dread champion;

Therefore my persecutors will stumble and not prevail.

They will be utterly ashamed, because they have failed,

With an everlasting disgrace that will not be forgotten.

12 Yet, O Lordof hosts, You who test the righteous,

Who see the mind and the heart;

Let me see Your vengeance on them;

For to You I have set forth my cause.

13 Sing to the Lord, praise the Lord!

For He has delivered the soul of the needy one

From the hand of evildoers.

14 Cursed be the day when I was born;

Let the day not be blessed when my mother bore me!

15 Cursed be the man who brought the news

To my father, saying,

“A baby boy has been born to you!”

Andmade him very happy.

16 But let that man be like the cities

# Which the Lordoverthrew withoutrelenting,

And let him hear an outcry in the morning

And a shout of alarm at noon;

17 Because he did not kill me before birth,

So that my mother would have been my grave,

And her womb ever pregnant.

18 Why did I ever come forth from the womb

To look on trouble and sorrow,

So that my days have been spent in shame?

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/80/32k/JER/20-b0538aed332081c8000e4791d869d8b6.mp3?version_id=100—

Jeremiah’s Message for Zedekiah

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

2 “Please inquire of the Lordon our behalf, for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is warring against us; perhaps the Lordwill deal with us according to all His wonderful acts, so thatthe enemywill withdraw from us.”

3 Then Jeremiah said to them, “You shall say to Zedekiah as follows:

4 ‘Thus says the LordGod of Israel, “Behold, I am about to turn back the weapons of war which are in your hands, with which you are warring against the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans who are besieging you outside the wall; and I will gather them into the center of this city.

5 I Myself will war against you with an outstretched hand and a mighty arm, even in anger and wrath and great indignation.

6 I will also strike down the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast; they will die of a great pestilence.

7 Then afterwards,” declares the Lord, “I will give over Zedekiah king of Judah and his servants and the people, even those who survive in this city from the pestilence, the sword and the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their foes and into the hand of those who seek their lives; and he will strike them down with the edge of the sword. He will not spare them nor have pity nor compassion.”‘

8 “You shall also say to this people, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death.

9 He who dwells in this city will die by the sword and by famine and by pestilence; but he who goes out and falls away to the Chaldeans who are besieging you will live, and he will have his own life as booty.

10 For I have set My face against this city for harm and not for good,” declares the Lord. “It will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon and he will burn it with fire.”‘

11 “Thensayto the household of the king of Judah, ‘Hear the word of the Lord,

12 O house of David, thus says the Lord:

“Administer justice every morning;

And deliver thepersonwho has been robbed from the power ofhisoppressor,

That My wrath may not go forth like fire

And burn with none to extinguishit,

Because of the evil of their deeds.

13 “Behold, I am against you, O valley dweller,

O rocky plain,” declares the Lord,

“You men who say, ‘Who will come down against us?

Or who will enter into our habitations?’

14 “But I will punish you according to the results of your deeds,” declares the Lord,

“And I will kindle a fire in its forest

That it may devour all its environs.”‘”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/80/32k/JER/21-e946b427d22fce2499e0936584ec2dc8.mp3?version_id=100—

Warning of Jerusalem’s Fall

1 Thus says the Lord, “Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and there speak this word

2 and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, who sits on David’s throne, you and your servants and your people who enter these gates.

3 Thus says the Lord, “Do justice and righteousness, and deliver the one who has been robbed from the power ofhisoppressor. Also do not mistreatordo violence to the stranger, the orphan, or the widow; and do not shed innocent blood in this place.

4 For if you men will indeed perform this thing, then kings will enter the gates of this house, sitting in David’s place on his throne, riding in chariots and on horses,even the kinghimself and his servants and his people.

5 But if you will not obey these words, I swear by Myself,” declares the Lord, “that this house will become a desolation.”‘”

6 For thus says the Lordconcerning the house of the king of Judah:

“You arelikeGilead to Me,

Likethe summit of Lebanon;

Yet most assuredly I will make you like a wilderness,

Likecities which are not inhabited.

7 “For I will set apart destroyers against you,

Each with his weapons;

And they will cut down your choicest cedars

And throwthemon the fire.

8 “Many nations will pass by this city; and they will say to one another, ‘Why has the Lorddone thus to this great city?’

9 Then they will answer, ‘Because they forsook the covenant of the Lordtheir God and bowed down to other gods and served them.'”

10 Do not weep for the dead or mourn for him,

Butweep continually for the one who goes away;

For he will never return

Or see his native land.

11 For thus says the Lordin regard to Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who became king in the place of Josiah his father, who went forth from this place, “He will never return there;

12 but in the place where they led him captive, there he will die and not see this land again.

Messages about the Kings

13 “Woe to him who builds his house without righteousness

And his upper rooms without justice,

Who uses his neighbor’s services without pay

And does not give him his wages,

14 Who says, ‘I will build myself a roomy house

With spacious upper rooms,

And cut out its windows,

Panelingitwith cedar and paintingitbright red.’

15 “Do you become a king because you are competing in cedar?

Did not your father eat and drink

And do justice and righteousness?

Then it was well with him.

16 “He pled the cause of the afflicted and needy;

Then it was well.

Is not that what it means to know Me?”

Declares the Lord.

17 “But your eyes and your heart

Areintentonly upon your own dishonest gain,

And on shedding innocent blood

And on practicing oppression and extortion.”

18 Therefore thus says the Lordin regard to Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, “They will not lament for him: ‘Alas, my brother!’ or, ‘Alas, sister!’ They will not lament for him: ‘Alas for the master!’ or, ‘Alas for his splendor!’

19 “He will be buried with a donkey’s burial,

Dragged off and thrown out beyond the gates of Jerusalem.

20 “Go up to Lebanon and cry out,

And lift up your voice in Bashan;

Cry out also from Abarim,

For all your lovers have been crushed.

21 “I spoke to you in your prosperity;

But you said, ‘I will not listen!’

This has been your practice from your youth,

That you have not obeyed My voice.

22 “The wind will sweep away all your shepherds,

And your lovers will go into captivity;

Then you will surely be ashamed and humiliated

Because of all your wickedness.

23 “You who dwell in Lebanon,

Nested in the cedars,

How you will groan when pangs come upon you,

Pain like a woman in childbirth!

24 “As I live,” declares the Lord, “even thoughConiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were a signetringon My right hand, yet I would pull you off;

25 and I will give you over into the hand of those who are seeking your life, yes, into the hand of those whom you dread, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of the Chaldeans.

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

27 But as for the land to which they desire to return, they will not return to it.

28 “Is this man Coniah a despised, shattered jar?

Or is he an undesirable vessel?

Why have he and his descendants been hurled out

And cast into a land that they had not known?

29 “O land, land, land,

Hear the word of the Lord!

30 “Thus says the Lord,

‘Write this man down childless,

A man who will not prosper in his days;

For no man of his descendants will prosper

Sitting on the throne of David

Or ruling again in Judah.'”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/80/32k/JER/22-2a62d64df8e84401590e212a6b19cebc.mp3?version_id=100—

The Coming Messiah: the Righteous Branch

1 “Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of My pasture!” declares the Lord.

2 Therefore thus says the LordGod of Israel concerning the shepherds who are tending My people: “You have scattered My flock and driven them away, and have not attended to them; behold, I am about to attend to you for the evil of your deeds,” declares the Lord.

3 “Then I Myself will gather the remnant of My flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and bring them back to their pasture, and they will be fruitful and multiply.

4 I will also raise up shepherds over them and they will tend them; and they will not be afraid any longer, nor be terrified, nor will any be missing,” declares the Lord.

5 “Behold,thedays are coming,” declares the Lord,

“When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch;

And He will reign as king and act wisely

And do justice and righteousness in the land.

6 “In His days Judah will be saved,

And Israel will dwell securely;

And this is His name by which He will be called,

‘The Lordour righteousness.’

7 “Therefore behold,thedays are coming,” declares the Lord, “when they will no longer say, ‘As the Lordlives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt,’

8 but, ‘As the Lordlives, who brought up and led back the descendants of the household of Israel fromthenorth land and from all the countries where I had driven them.’ Then they will live on their own soil.”

False Prophets Denounced

9 As for the prophets:

My heart is broken within me,

All my bones tremble;

I have become like a drunken man,

Even like a man overcome with wine,

Because of the Lord

And because of His holy words.

10 For the land is full of adulterers;

For the land mourns because of the curse.

The pastures of the wilderness have dried up.

Their course also is evil

And their might is not right.

11 “For both prophet and priest are polluted;

Even in My house I have found their wickedness,” declares the Lord.

12 “Therefore their way will be like slippery paths to them,

They will be driven away into the gloom and fall down in it;

For I will bring calamity upon them,

The year of their punishment,” declares the Lord.

13 “Moreover, among the prophets of Samaria I saw an offensive thing:

They prophesied by Baal and led My people Israel astray.

14 “Also among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing:

The committing of adultery and walking in falsehood;

And they strengthen the hands of evildoers,

So that no one has turned back from his wickedness.

All of them have become to Me like Sodom,

And her inhabitants like Gomorrah.

15 “Therefore thus says the Lordof hosts concerning the prophets,

‘Behold, I am going to feed them wormwood

And make them drink poisonous water,

For from the prophets of Jerusalem

Pollution has gone forth into all the land.'”

16 Thus says the Lordof hosts,

“Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you.

They are leading you into futility;

They speak a vision of their own imagination,

Not from the mouth of the Lord.

17 “They keep saying to those who despise Me,

‘The Lordhas said, “You will have peace”‘;

And as for everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart,

They say, ‘Calamity will not come upon you.’

18 “But who has stood in the council of the Lord,

That he should see and hear His word?

Who has given heed to His word and listened?

19 “Behold, the storm of the Lordhas gone forth in wrath,

Even a whirling tempest;

It will swirl down on the head of the wicked.

20 “The anger of the Lordwill not turn back

Until He has performed and carried out the purposes of His heart;

In the last days you will clearly understand it.

21 “I did not sendtheseprophets,

But they ran.

I did not speak to them,

But they prophesied.

22 “But if they had stood in My council,

Then they would have announced My words to My people,

And would have turned them back from their evil way

And from the evil of their deeds.

23 “Am I a God who is near,” declares the Lord,

“And not a God far off?

24 “Can a man hide himself in hiding places

So I do not see him?” declares the Lord.

“Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” declares the Lord.

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

26 How long? Is thereanythingin the hearts of the prophets who prophesy falsehood, eventheseprophets of the deception of their own heart,

27 who intend to make My people forget My name by their dreams which they relate to one another, just as their fathers forgot My name because of Baal?

28 The prophet who has a dream may relatehisdream, but let him who has My word speak My word in truth. What does straw havein commonwith grain?” declares the Lord.

29 “Is not My word like fire?” declares the Lord, “and like a hammer which shatters a rock?

30 Therefore behold, I am against the prophets,” declares the Lord, “who steal My words from each other.

31 Behold, I am against the prophets,” declares the Lord, “who use their tongues and declare, ‘The Lorddeclares.’

32 Behold, I am against those who have prophesied false dreams,” declares the Lord, “and related them and led My people astray by their falsehoods and reckless boasting; yet I did not send them or command them, nor do they furnish this people the slightest benefit,” declares the Lord.

33 “Now when this people or the prophet or a priest asks you saying, ‘What is theoracle of the Lord?’ then you shall say to them, ‘What oracle?’ The Lorddeclares, ‘I will abandon you.’

34 Then as for the prophet or the priest or the people who say, ‘The oracle of the Lord,’ I will bring punishment upon that man and his household.

35 Thus will each of you say to his neighbor and to his brother, ‘What has the Lordanswered?’ or, ‘What has the Lordspoken?’

36 For you will no longer remember the oracle of the Lord, because every man’s own word will become the oracle, and you have perverted the words of the living God, the Lordof hosts, our God.

37 Thus you will say tothatprophet, ‘What has the Lordanswered you?’ and, ‘What has the Lordspoken?’

38 For if you say, ‘The oracle of the Lord!’ surely thus says the Lord, ‘Because you said this word, “The oracle of the Lord!” I have also sent to you, saying, “You shall not say, ‘The oracle of the Lord!'”‘

39 Therefore behold, I will surely forget you and cast you away from My presence, along with the city which I gave you and your fathers.

40 I will put an everlasting reproach on you and an everlasting humiliation which will not be forgotten.”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/80/32k/JER/23-5f34cfcd83084f33b5b7e5caddd032e8.mp3?version_id=100—

Baskets of Figs and the Returnees

1 After Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the officials of Judah with the craftsmen and smiths from Jerusalem and had brought them to Babylon, the Lordshowed me: behold, two baskets of figs set before the temple of the Lord!

2 One basket had very good figs, like first-ripe figs, and the other basket had very bad figs which could not be eaten due to rottenness.

3 Then the Lordsaid to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” And I said, “Figs, the good figs, very good; and the badfigs,very bad, which cannot be eaten due to rottenness.”

4 Then the word of the Lordcame to me, saying,

5 “Thus says the LordGod of Israel, ‘Like these good figs, so I will regard as good the captives of Judah, whom I have sent out of this placeintothe land of the Chaldeans.

6 For I will set My eyes on them for good, and I will bring them again to this land; and I will build them up and not overthrow them, and I will plant them and not pluck them up.

7 I will give them a heart to know Me, for I am the Lord; and they will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with their whole heart.

8 ‘But like the bad figs which cannot be eaten due to rottenness-indeed, thus says the Lord-so I will abandon Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials, and the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land and the ones who dwell in the land of Egypt.

9 I will make them a terrorand anevil for all the kingdoms of the earth, as a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse in all places where I will scatter them.

10 I will send the sword, the famine and the pestilence upon them until they are destroyed from the land which I gave to them and their forefathers.'”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/80/32k/JER/24-545e604da25eb256582d7d27aa41e411.mp3?version_id=100—

Prophecy of the Captivity

1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (that was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon),

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

3 “From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, these twenty-three years the word of the Lordhas come to me, and I have spoken to you again and again, but you have not listened.

4 And the Lordhas sent to you all His servants the prophets again and again, but you have not listened nor inclined your ear to hear,

5 saying, ‘Turn now everyone from his evil way and from the evil of your deeds, and dwell on the land which the Lordhas given to you and your forefathers forever and ever;

6 and do not go after other gods to serve them and to worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger with the work of your hands, and I will do you no harm.’

7 Yet you have not listened to Me,” declares the Lord, “in order that you might provoke Me to anger with the work of your hands to your own harm.

8 “Therefore thus says the Lordof hosts, ‘Because you have not obeyed My words,

9 behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,’ declares the Lord, ‘andI will sendto Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land and against its inhabitants and against all these nations round about; and I will utterly destroy them and make them a horror and a hissing, and an everlasting desolation.

10 Moreover, I will take from them the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp.

11 This whole land will be a desolation and a horror, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

Babylon Will Be Judged

12 ‘Then it will be when seventy years are completed I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation,’ declares the Lord, ‘for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make it an everlasting desolation.

13 I will bring upon that land all My words which I have pronounced against it, all that is written in this book which Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations.

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

15 For thus the Lord, the God of Israel, says to me, “Take this cup of the wine of wrath from My hand and cause all the nations to whom I send you to drink it.

16 They will drink and stagger and go mad because of the sword that I will send among them.”

17 Then I took the cup from the Lord’shand and made all the nations to whom the Lordsent me drink it:

18 Jerusalem and the cities of Judah and its kingsandits princes, to make them a ruin, a horror, a hissing and a curse, as it is this day;

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

20 and all the foreign people, all the kings of the land of Uz, all the kings of the land of the Philistines (even Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron and the remnant of Ashdod);

21 Edom, Moab and the sons of Ammon;

22 and all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon and the kings of the coastlands which are beyond the sea;

23 and Dedan, Tema, Buz and all who cut the cornersof their hair;

24 and all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the foreign people who dwell in the desert;

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

26 and all the kings of the north, near and far, one with another; and all the kingdoms of the earth which are upon the face of the ground, and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them.

27 “You shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lordof hosts, the God of Israel, “Drink, be drunk, vomit, fall and rise no more because of the sword which I will send among you.”‘

28 And it will be, if they refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, then you will say to them, ‘Thus says the Lordof hosts: “You shall surely drink!

29 For behold, I am beginning to work calamity inthiscity which is called by My name, and shall you be completely free from punishment? You will not be free from punishment; for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth,” declares the Lordof hosts.’

30 “Therefore you shall prophesy against them all these words, and you shall say to them, ‘The Lordwill roar from on high And utter His voice from His holy habitation; He will roar mightily against His fold. He will shout like those who treadthe grapes,Against all the inhabitants of the earth.

31 ‘A clamor has come to the end of the earth,

Because the Lordhas a controversy with the nations.

He is entering into judgment with all flesh;

As for the wicked, He has given them to the sword,’ declares the Lord.”

32 Thus says the Lordof hosts,

“Behold, evil is going forth

From nation to nation,

And a great storm is being stirred up

From the remotest parts of the earth.

33 “Those slain by the Lordon that day will be from one end of the earth to the other. They will not be lamented, gathered or buried; they will be like dung on the face of the ground.

34 “Wail, you shepherds, and cry;

And wallowin ashes,you masters of the flock;

For the days of your slaughter and your dispersions have come,

And you will fall like a choice vessel.

35 “Flight will perish from the shepherds,

And escape from the masters of the flock.

36 “Hearthe sound of the cry of the shepherds,

And the wailing of the masters of the flock!

For the Lordis destroying their pasture,

37 “And the peaceful folds are made silent

Because of the fierce anger of the Lord.

38 “He has left His hiding place like the lion;

For their land has become a horror

Because of the fierceness of the oppressingsword

And because of His fierce anger.”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/80/32k/JER/25-daab59c5551370a7fb77a1b618fd9cda.mp3?version_id=100—

Cities of Judah Warned

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

2 “Thus says the Lord, ‘Stand in the court of the Lord’shouse, and speak to all the cities of Judah who have come to worshipinthe Lord’shouse all the words that I have commanded you to speak to them. Do not omit a word!

3 Perhaps they will listen and everyone will turn from his evil way, that I may repent of the calamity which I am planning to do to them because of the evil of their deeds.’

4 And you will say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord, “If you will not listen to Me, to walk in My law which I have set before you,

5 to listen to the words of My servants the prophets, whom I have been sending to you again and again, but you have not listened;

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

A Plot to Murder Jeremiah

7 The priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord.

8 When Jeremiah finished speaking all that the Lordhad commandedhimto speak to all the people, the priests and the prophets and all the people seized him, saying, “You must die!

9 Why have you prophesied in the name of the Lordsaying, ‘This house will be like Shiloh and this city will be desolate, without inhabitant’?” And all the people gathered about Jeremiah in the house of the Lord.

10 When the officials of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king’s house to the house of the Lordand sat in the entrance of the New Gate of the Lord’shouse.

11 Then the priests and the prophets spoke to the officials and to all the people, saying, “A death sentence for this man! For he has prophesied against this city as you have heard in your hearing.”

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

13 Now therefore amend your ways and your deeds and obey the voice of the Lordyour God; and the Lordwill change His mind about the misfortune which He has pronounced against you.

14 But as for me, behold, I am in your hands; do with me as is good and right in your sight.

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

Jeremiah Is Spared

16 Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and to the prophets, “No death sentence for this man! For he has spoken to us in the name of the Lordour God.”

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

18 “Micah of Moresheth prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah; and he spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, ‘Thus the Lordof hosts has said,

“Zion will be plowedasa field,

And Jerusalem will become ruins,

And the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.”‘

19 Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him to death? Did he not fear the Lordand entreat the favor of the Lord, and the Lordchanged His mind about the misfortune which He had pronounced against them? But we are committing a great evil against ourselves.”

20 Indeed, there was also a man who prophesied in the name of the Lord, Uriah the son of Shemaiah from Kiriath-jearim; and he prophesied against this city and against this land words similar to all those of Jeremiah.

21 When King Jehoiakim and all his mighty men and all the officials heard his words, then the king sought to put him to death; but Uriah heardit,and he was afraid and fled and went to Egypt.

22 Then King Jehoiakim sent men to Egypt: Elnathan the son of Achbor andcertainmen with himwentinto Egypt.

23 And they brought Uriah from Egypt and led him to King Jehoiakim, who slew him with a sword and cast his dead body into the burial place of the common people.

24 But the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, so that he was not given into the hands of the people to put him to death.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/80/32k/JER/26-1ee78495fa2d1b068f13170b586a6bef.mp3?version_id=100—