Sermon Central
Jeremiah 1:1-30:1
View Full Chapter1The words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, one of the priests at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin. 2The word of the LORD came to him in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah,
3and through the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, down to the fifth month of the eleventh year of Zedekiah son of Josiah king of Judah, when the people of Jerusalem went into exile.
The Call of Jeremiah 4The word of the LORD came to me, saying,
6“Alas, Sovereign LORD,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young.”
11The word of the LORD came to me: “What do you see, Jeremiah?” “I see the branch of an almond tree,” I replied.
12The LORD said to me, “You have seen correctly, for I am watching
13The word of the LORD came to me again: “What do you see?” “I see a pot that is boiling,” I answered. “It is tilting toward us from the north.” 14The LORD said to me, “From the north disaster will be poured out on all who live in the land.
15I am about to summon all the peoples of the northern kingdoms,” declares the LORD . “Their kings will come and set up their thrones in the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem; they will come against all her surrounding walls and against all the towns of Judah. 17“Get yourself ready! Stand up and say to them whatever I command you. Do not be terrified by them, or I will terrify you before them. 19They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the LORD .
Israel Forsakes God 1The word of the LORD came to me:
2“Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem: “This is what the LORD says: “ ‘I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed me through the wilderness, through a land not sown.
3Israel was holy to the LORD, the firstfruits of his harvest; all who devoured her were held guilty, and disaster overtook them,’ ” declares the LORD .
4Hear the word of the LORD, you descendants of Jacob, all you clans of Israel.
5This is what the LORD says: “What fault did your ancestors find in me, that they strayed so far from me? They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves.
6They did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD, who brought us up out of Egypt and led us through the barren wilderness, through a land of deserts and ravines, a land of drought and utter darkness, a land where no one travels and no one lives?’
7I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce. But you came and defiled my land and made my inheritance detestable.
8The priests did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD ?’ Those who deal with the law did not know me; the leaders rebelled against me. The prophets prophesied by Baal, following worthless idols.
9“Therefore I bring charges against you again,” declares the LORD . “And I will bring charges against your children’s children.
10Cross over to the coasts of Cyprus and look, send to Kedar
12Be appalled at this, you heavens, and shudder with great horror,” declares the LORD .
13“My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.
14Is Israel a servant, a slave by birth? Why then has he become plunder?
15Lions have roared; they have growled at him. They have laid waste his land; his towns are burned and deserted.
16Also, the men of Memphis and Tahpanhes have cracked your skull.
19Your wickedness will punish you; your backsliding will rebuke you. Consider then and realize how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake the LORD your God and have no awe of me,” declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty.
21I had planted you like a choice vine of sound and reliable stock. How then did you turn against me into a corrupt, wild vine?
22Although you wash yourself with soap and use an abundance of cleansing powder, the stain of your guilt is still before me,” declares the Sovereign LORD .
23“How can you say, ‘I am not defiled; I have not run after the Baals’? See how you behaved in the valley; consider what you have done. You are a swift she-camel running here and there,
25Do not run until your feet are bare and your throat is dry. But you said, ‘It’s no use! I love foreign gods, and I must go after them.’
26“As a thief is disgraced when he is caught, so the people of Israel are disgraced— they, their kings and their officials, their priests and their prophets.
27They say to wood, ‘You are my father,’ and to stone, ‘You gave me birth.’ They have turned their backs to me and not their faces; yet when they are in trouble, they say, ‘Come and save us!’
28Where then are the gods you made for yourselves? Let them come if they can save you when you are in trouble! For you, Judah, have as many gods as you have towns.
29“Why do you bring charges against me? You have all rebelled against me,” declares the LORD .
30“In vain I punished your people; they did not respond to correction. Your sword has devoured your prophets like a ravenous lion.
33How skilled you are at pursuing love! Even the worst of women can learn from your ways.
35you say, ‘I am innocent; he is not angry with me.’ But I will pass judgment on you because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’ 37You will also leave that place with your hands on your head, for the LORD has rejected those you trust; you will not be helped by them.
1“If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him and marries another man, should he return to her again? Would not the land be completely defiled? But you have lived as a prostitute with many lovers— would you now return to me?” declares the LORD .
2“Look up to the barren heights and see. Is there any place where you have not been ravished? By the roadside you sat waiting for lovers, sat like a nomad in the desert. You have defiled the land with your prostitution and wickedness.
3Therefore the showers have been withheld, and no spring rains have fallen. Yet you have the brazen look of a prostitute; you refuse to blush with shame.
5will you always be angry? Will your wrath continue forever?’ This is how you talk, but you do all the evil you can.”
Unfaithful Israel 6During the reign of King Josiah, the LORD said to me, “Have you seen what faithless Israel has done? She has gone up on every high hill and under every spreading tree and has committed adultery there. 7I thought that after she had done all this she would return to me but she did not, and her unfaithful sister Judah saw it. 8I gave faithless Israel her certificate of divorce and sent her away because of all her adulteries. Yet I saw that her unfaithful sister Judah had no fear; she also went out and committed adultery. 9Because Israel’s immorality mattered so little to her, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stone and wood.
10In spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to me with all her heart, but only in pretense,” declares the LORD . 11The LORD said to me, “Faithless Israel is more righteous than unfaithful Judah. 14“Return, faithless people,” declares the LORD, “for I am your husband. I will choose you—one from a town and two from a clan—and bring you to Zion. 15Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will lead you with knowledge and understanding. 16In those days, when your numbers have increased greatly in the land,” declares the LORD, “people will no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of the LORD .’ It will never enter their minds or be remembered; it will not be missed, nor will another one be made. 17At that time they will call Jerusalem The Throne of the LORD, and all nations will gather in Jerusalem to honor the name of the LORD . No longer will they follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts.
20But like a woman unfaithful to her husband, so you, Israel, have been unfaithful to me,” declares the LORD .
21A cry is heard on the barren heights, the weeping and pleading of the people of Israel, because they have perverted their ways and have forgotten the LORD their God.
22“Return, faithless people; I will cure you of backsliding.” “Yes, we will come to you, for you are the LORD our God.
23Surely the idolatrous commotion on the hills and mountains is a deception; surely in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel.
24From our youth shameful gods have consumed the fruits of our ancestors’ labor— their flocks and herds, their sons and daughters.
1“If you, Israel, will return, then return to me,” declares the LORD . “If you put your detestable idols out of my sight and no longer go astray,
2and if in a truthful, just and righteous way you swear, ‘As surely as the LORD lives,’ then the nations will invoke blessings by him and in him they will boast.”
Disaster From the North 5“Announce in Judah and proclaim in Jerusalem and say: ‘Sound the trumpet throughout the land!’ Cry aloud and say: ‘Gather together! Let us flee to the fortified cities!’
7A lion has come out of his lair; a destroyer of nations has set out. He has left his place to lay waste your land. Your towns will lie in ruins without inhabitant.
8So put on sackcloth, lament and wail, for the fierce anger of the LORD has not turned away from us.
9“In that day,” declares the LORD, “the king and the officials will lose heart, the priests will be horrified, and the prophets will be appalled.”
15A voice is announcing from Dan, proclaiming disaster from the hills of Ephraim.
17They surround her like men guarding a field, because she has rebelled against me,’ ” declares the LORD .
18“Your own conduct and actions have brought this on you. This is your punishment. How bitter it is! How it pierces to the heart!”
19Oh, my anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain. Oh, the agony of my heart! My heart pounds within me, I cannot keep silent. For I have heard the sound of the trumpet; I have heard the battle cry.
20Disaster follows disaster; the whole land lies in ruins. In an instant my tents are destroyed, my shelter in a moment.
21How long must I see the battle standard and hear the sound of the trumpet?
23I looked at the earth, and it was formless and empty; and at the heavens, and their light was gone.
24I looked at the mountains, and they were quaking; all the hills were swaying.
25I looked, and there were no people; every bird in the sky had flown away.
26I looked, and the fruitful land was a desert; all its towns lay in ruins before the LORD, before his fierce anger.
27This is what the LORD says: “The whole land will be ruined, though I will not destroy it completely.
28Therefore the earth will mourn and the heavens above grow dark, because I have spoken and will not relent, I have decided and will not turn back.”
29At the sound of horsemen and archers every town takes to flight. Some go into the thickets; some climb up among the rocks. All the towns are deserted; no one lives in them. 31I hear a cry as of a woman in labor, a groan as of one bearing her first child— the cry of Daughter Zion gasping for breath, stretching out her hands and saying, “Alas! I am fainting; my life is given over to murderers.”
Not One Is Upright 1“Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem, look around and consider, search through her squares. If you can find but one person who deals honestly and seeks the truth, I will forgive this city.
3LORD, do not your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they felt no pain; you crushed them, but they refused correction. They made their faces harder than stone and refused to repent.
4I thought, “These are only the poor; they are foolish, for they do not know the way of the LORD, the requirements of their God.
6Therefore a lion from the forest will attack them, a wolf from the desert will ravage them, a leopard will lie in wait near their towns to tear to pieces any who venture out, for their rebellion is great and their backslidings many.
7“Why should I forgive you? Your children have forsaken me and sworn by gods that are not gods. I supplied all their needs, yet they committed adultery and thronged to the houses of prostitutes.
8They are well-fed, lusty stallions, each neighing for another man’s wife.
14Therefore this is what the LORD God Almighty says: “Because the people have spoken these words, I will make my words in your mouth a fire and these people the wood it consumes.
15People of Israel,” declares the LORD, “I am bringing a distant nation against you— an ancient and enduring nation, a people whose language you do not know, whose speech you do not understand.
16Their quivers are like an open grave; all of them are mighty warriors.
17They will devour your harvests and food, devour your sons and daughters; they will devour your flocks and herds, devour your vines and fig trees. With the sword they will destroy the fortified cities in which you trust. 18“Yet even in those days,” declares the LORD, “I will not destroy you completely.
19And when the people ask, ‘Why has the LORD our God done all this to us?’ you will tell them, ‘As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your own land, so now you will serve foreigners in a land not your own.’
20“Announce this to the descendants of Jacob and proclaim it in Judah:
23But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts; they have turned aside and gone away.
24They do not say to themselves, ‘Let us fear the LORD our God, who gives autumn and spring rains in season, who assures us of the regular weeks of harvest.’
26“Among my people are the wicked who lie in wait like men who snare birds and like those who set traps to catch people.
27Like cages full of birds, their houses are full of deceit; they have become rich and powerful
28and have grown fat and sleek. Their evil deeds have no limit; they do not seek justice. They do not promote the case of the fatherless; they do not defend the just cause of the poor.
29Should I not punish them for this?” declares the LORD . “Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this?
30“A horrible and shocking thing has happened in the land:
Jerusalem Under Siege 1“Flee for safety, people of Benjamin! Flee from Jerusalem! Sound the trumpet in Tekoa! Raise the signal over Beth Hakkerem! For disaster looms out of the north, even terrible destruction.
3Shepherds with their flocks will come against her; they will pitch their tents around her, each tending his own portion.”
4“Prepare for battle against her! Arise, let us attack at noon! But, alas, the daylight is fading, and the shadows of evening grow long.
5So arise, let us attack at night and destroy her fortresses!”
6This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Cut down the trees and build siege ramps against Jerusalem. This city must be punished; it is filled with oppression.
7As a well pours out its water, so she pours out her wickedness. Violence and destruction resound in her; her sickness and wounds are ever before me.
8Take warning, Jerusalem, or I will turn away from you and make your land desolate so no one can live in it.”
9This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Let them glean the remnant of Israel as thoroughly as a vine; pass your hand over the branches again, like one gathering grapes.”
10To whom can I speak and give warning? Who will listen to me? Their ears are closed
13“From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit.
15Are they ashamed of their detestable conduct? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; they will be brought down when I punish them,” says the LORD .
18Therefore hear, you nations; you who are witnesses, observe what will happen to them.
19Hear, you earth: I am bringing disaster on this people, the fruit of their schemes, because they have not listened to my words and have rejected my law.
20What do I care about incense from Sheba or sweet calamus from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable; your sacrifices do not please me.”
22This is what the LORD says: “Look, an army is coming from the land of the north; a great nation is being stirred up from the ends of the earth.
23They are armed with bow and spear; they are cruel and show no mercy. They sound like the roaring sea as they ride on their horses; they come like men in battle formation to attack you, Daughter Zion.”
24We have heard reports about them, and our hands hang limp. Anguish has gripped us, pain like that of a woman in labor.
25Do not go out to the fields or walk on the roads, for the enemy has a sword, and there is terror on every side.
26Put on sackcloth, my people, and roll in ashes; mourn with bitter wailing as for an only son, for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us.
28They are all hardened rebels, going about to slander. They are bronze and iron; they all act corruptly.
29The bellows blow fiercely to burn away the lead with fire, but the refining goes on in vain; the wicked are not purged out. 30They are called rejected silver, because the LORD has rejected them.”
False Religion Worthless 1This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD :
2“Stand at the gate of the LORD ’s house and there proclaim this message: “ ‘Hear the word of the LORD, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the LORD . 3This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place. 4Do not trust in deceptive words and say, “This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD !” 5If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, 7then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your ancestors for ever and ever.
8But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless.
9“ ‘Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury,
26But they did not listen to me or pay attention. They were stiff-necked and did more evil than their ancestors.’ 27“When you tell them all this, they will not listen to you; when you call to them, they will not answer.
28Therefore say to them, ‘This is the nation that has not obeyed the LORD its God or responded to correction. Truth has perished; it has vanished from their lips.
29“ ‘Cut off your hair and throw it away; take up a lament on the barren heights, for the LORD has rejected and abandoned this generation that is under his wrath.
The Valley of Slaughter 30“ ‘The people of Judah have done evil in my eyes, declares the LORD . They have set up their detestable idols in the house that bears my Name and have defiled it. 31They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to burn their sons and daughters in the fire—something I did not command, nor did it enter my mind. 32So beware, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when people will no longer call it Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter, for they will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room.
1“ ‘At that time, declares the LORD, the bones of the kings and officials of Judah, the bones of the priests and prophets, and the bones of the people of Jerusalem will be removed from their graves.
3Wherever I banish them, all the survivors of this evil nation will prefer death to life, declares the LORD Almighty.’
Sin and Punishment 4“Say to them, ‘This is what the LORD says: “ ‘When people fall down, do they not get up? When someone turns away, do they not return?
5Why then have these people turned away? Why does Jerusalem always turn away? They cling to deceit; they refuse to return.
6I have listened attentively, but they do not say what is right. None of them repent of their wickedness, saying, “What have I done?” Each pursues their own course like a horse charging into battle.
7Even the stork in the sky knows her appointed seasons, and the dove, the swift and the thrush observe the time of their migration. But my people do not know the requirements of the LORD .
9The wise will be put to shame; they will be dismayed and trapped. Since they have rejected the word of the LORD, what kind of wisdom do they have?
12Are they ashamed of their detestable conduct? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; they will be brought down when they are punished, says the LORD .
14Why are we sitting here? Gather together! Let us flee to the fortified cities and perish there! For the LORD our God has doomed us to perish and given us poisoned water to drink, because we have sinned against him.
15We hoped for peace but no good has come, for a time of healing but there is only terror.
17“See, I will send venomous snakes among you, vipers that cannot be charmed, and they will bite you,” declares the LORD .
18You who are my Comforter
1
3“They make ready their tongue like a bow, to shoot lies; it is not by truth that they triumph
5Friend deceives friend, and no one speaks the truth. They have taught their tongues to lie; they weary themselves with sinning.
6You
7Therefore this is what the LORD Almighty says: “See, I will refine and test them, for what else can I do because of the sin of my people?
8Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceitfully. With their mouths they all speak cordially to their neighbors, but in their hearts they set traps for them.
9Should I not punish them for this?” declares the LORD . “Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this?”
10I will weep and wail for the mountains and take up a lament concerning the wilderness grasslands. They are desolate and untraveled, and the lowing of cattle is not heard. The birds have all fled and the animals are gone.
12Who is wise enough to understand this? Who has been instructed by the LORD and can explain it? Why has the land been ruined and laid waste like a desert that no one can cross? 13The LORD said, “It is because they have forsaken my law, which I set before them; they have not obeyed me or followed my law. 15Therefore this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “See, I will make this people eat bitter food and drink poisoned water.
16I will scatter them among nations that neither they nor their ancestors have known, and I will pursue them with the sword until I have made an end of them.”
17This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Consider now! Call for the wailing women to come; send for the most skillful of them.
18Let them come quickly and wail over us till our eyes overflow with tears and water streams from our eyelids.
20Now, you women, hear the word of the LORD ; open your ears to the words of his mouth. Teach your daughters how to wail; teach one another a lament.
25“The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will punish all who are circumcised only in the flesh—
26Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab and all who live in the wilderness in distant places.
3For the practices of the peoples are worthless; they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel.
4They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter.
8They are all senseless and foolish; they are taught by worthless wooden idols.
9Hammered silver is brought from Tarshish and gold from Uphaz. What the craftsman and goldsmith have made is then dressed in blue and purple— all made by skilled workers.
10But the LORD is the true God; he is the living God, the eternal King. When he is angry, the earth trembles; the nations cannot endure his wrath.
13When he thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth. He sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses.
14Everyone is senseless and without knowledge; every goldsmith is shamed by his idols. The images he makes are a fraud; they have no breath in them.
15They are worthless, the objects of mockery; when their judgment comes, they will perish.
Coming Destruction 17Gather up your belongings to leave the land, you who live under siege.
18For this is what the LORD says: “At this time I will hurl out those who live in this land; I will bring distress on them so that they may be captured.”
19Woe to me because of my injury! My wound is incurable! Yet I said to myself, “This is my sickness, and I must endure it.”
21The shepherds are senseless and do not inquire of the LORD ; so they do not prosper and all their flock is scattered.
22Listen! The report is coming— a great commotion from the land of the north! It will make the towns of Judah desolate, a haunt of jackals.
24Discipline me, LORD, but only in due measure— not in your anger, or you will reduce me to nothing. 25Pour out your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge you, on the peoples who do not call on your name. For they have devoured Jacob; they have devoured him completely and destroyed his homeland. 4the terms I commanded your ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt, out of the iron-smelting furnace.’ I said, ‘Obey me and do everything I command you, and you will be my people, and I will be your God.
5Then I will fulfill the oath I swore to your ancestors, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey’—the land you possess today.” I answered, “Amen, LORD .” 6The LORD said to me, “Proclaim all these words in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: ‘Listen to the terms of this covenant and follow them. 7From the time I brought your ancestors up from Egypt until today, I warned them again and again, saying, “Obey me.”
8But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubbornness of their evil hearts. So I brought on them all the curses of the covenant I had commanded them to follow but that they did not keep.’ ” 11Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘I will bring on them a disaster they cannot escape. Although they cry out to me, I will not listen to them. 12The towns of Judah and the people of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to whom they burn incense, but they will not help them at all when disaster strikes.
13You, Judah, have as many gods as you have towns; and the altars you have set up to burn incense to that shameful god Baal are as many as the streets of Jerusalem.’
15“What is my beloved doing in my temple as she, with many others, works out her evil schemes? Can consecrated meat avert your punishment? When you engage in your wickedness, then you rejoice.
16The LORD called you a thriving olive tree with fruit beautiful in form. But with the roar of a mighty storm he will set it on fire, and its branches will be broken.
17The LORD Almighty, who planted you, has decreed disaster for you, because the people of both Israel and Judah have done evil and aroused my anger by burning incense to Baal.
Plot Against Jeremiah 18Because the LORD revealed their plot to me, I knew it, for at that time he showed me what they were doing.
20But you, LORD Almighty, who judge righteously and test the heart and mind, let me see your vengeance on them, for to you I have committed my cause. 21Therefore this is what the LORD says about the people of Anathoth who are threatening to kill you, saying, “Do not prophesy in the name of the LORD or you will die by our hands”— 22therefore this is what the LORD Almighty says: “I will punish them. Their young men will die by the sword, their sons and daughters by famine. 23Not even a remnant will be left to them, because I will bring disaster on the people of Anathoth in the year of their punishment.”
Jeremiah’s Complaint 1You are always righteous, LORD, when I bring a case before you. Yet I would speak with you about your justice: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease?
2You have planted them, and they have taken root; they grow and bear fruit. You are always on their lips but far from their hearts.
3Yet you know me, LORD ; you see me and test my thoughts about you. Drag them off like sheep to be butchered! Set them apart for the day of slaughter!
4How long will the land lie parched and the grass in every field be withered? Because those who live in it are wicked, the animals and birds have perished. Moreover, the people are saying, “He will not see what happens to us.”
God’s Answer
5“If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble
6Your relatives, members of your own family— even they have betrayed you; they have raised a loud cry against you. Do not trust them, though they speak well of you.
7“I will forsake my house, abandon my inheritance; I will give the one I love into the hands of her enemies.
8My inheritance has become to me like a lion in the forest. She roars at me; therefore I hate her.
9Has not my inheritance become to me like a speckled bird of prey that other birds of prey surround and attack? Go and gather all the wild beasts; bring them to devour.
10Many shepherds will ruin my vineyard and trample down my field; they will turn my pleasant field into a desolate wasteland.
11It will be made a wasteland, parched and desolate before me; the whole land will be laid waste because there is no one who cares.
12Over all the barren heights in the desert destroyers will swarm, for the sword of the LORD will devour from one end of the land to the other; no one will be safe.
13They will sow wheat but reap thorns; they will wear themselves out but gain nothing. They will bear the shame of their harvest because of the LORD ’s fierce anger.” 15But after I uproot them, I will again have compassion and will bring each of them back to their own inheritance and their own country. 16And if they learn well the ways of my people and swear by my name, saying, ‘As surely as the LORD lives’—even as they once taught my people to swear by Baal—then they will be established among my people. 17But if any nation does not listen, I will completely uproot and destroy it,” declares the LORD .
5So I went and hid it at Perath, as the LORD told me. 6Many days later the LORD said to me, “Go now to Perath and get the belt I told you to hide there.”
7So I went to Perath and dug up the belt and took it from the place where I had hidden it, but now it was ruined and completely useless. 8Then the word of the LORD came to me: 9“This is what the LORD says: ‘In the same way I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. 10These wicked people, who refuse to listen to my words, who follow the stubbornness of their hearts and go after other gods to serve and worship them, will be like this belt—completely useless!
11For as a belt is bound around the waist, so I bound all the people of Israel and all the people of Judah to me,’ declares the LORD, ‘to be my people for my renown and praise and honor. But they have not listened.’
Wineskins 12“Say to them: ‘This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Every wineskin should be filled with wine.’ And if they say to you, ‘Don’t we know that every wineskin should be filled with wine?’ 13then tell them, ‘This is what the LORD says: I am going to fill with drunkenness all who live in this land, including the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets and all those living in Jerusalem.
Threat of Captivity 15Hear and pay attention, do not be arrogant, for the LORD has spoken.
17If you do not listen, I will weep in secret because of your pride; my eyes will weep bitterly, overflowing with tears, because the LORD ’s flock will be taken captive.
18Say to the king and to the queen mother, “Come down from your thrones, for your glorious crowns will fall from your heads.”
19The cities in the Negev will be shut up, and there will be no one to open them. All Judah will be carried into exile, carried completely away.
20Look up and see those who are coming from the north. Where is the flock that was entrusted to you, the sheep of which you boasted?
21What will you say when the LORD sets over you those you cultivated as your special allies? Will not pain grip you like that of a woman in labor?
22And if you ask yourself, “Why has this happened to me?”— it is because of your many sins that your skirts have been torn off and your body mistreated.
23Can an Ethiopian
25This is your lot, the portion I have decreed for you,” declares the LORD, “because you have forgotten me and trusted in false gods.
26I will pull up your skirts over your face that your shame may be seen— 27your adulteries and lustful neighings, your shameless prostitution! I have seen your detestable acts on the hills and in the fields. Woe to you, Jerusalem! How long will you be unclean?”
2“Judah mourns, her cities languish; they wail for the land, and a cry goes up from Jerusalem.
4The ground is cracked because there is no rain in the land; the farmers are dismayed and cover their heads.
5Even the doe in the field deserts her newborn fawn because there is no grass.
6Wild donkeys stand on the barren heights and pant like jackals; their eyes fail for lack of food.”
7Although our sins testify against us, do something, LORD, for the sake of your name. For we have often rebelled; we have sinned against you.
8You who are the hope of Israel, its Savior in times of distress, why are you like a stranger in the land, like a traveler who stays only a night?
10This is what the LORD says about this people: “They greatly love to wander; they do not restrain their feet. So the LORD does not accept them; he will now remember their wickedness and punish them for their sins.” 11Then the LORD said to me, “Do not pray for the well-being of this people.
12Although they fast, I will not listen to their cry; though they offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Instead, I will destroy them with the sword, famine and plague.”
13But I said, “Alas, Sovereign LORD ! The prophets keep telling them, ‘You will not see the sword or suffer famine. Indeed, I will give you lasting peace in this place.’ ”
14Then the LORD said to me, “The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I have not sent them or appointed them or spoken to them. They are prophesying to you false visions, divinations, idolatries
18If I go into the country, I see those slain by the sword; if I go into the city, I see the ravages of famine. Both prophet and priest have gone to a land they know not.’ ”
19Have you rejected Judah completely? Do you despise Zion? Why have you afflicted us so that we cannot be healed? We hoped for peace but no good has come, for a time of healing but there is only terror.
21For the sake of your name do not despise us; do not dishonor your glorious throne. Remember your covenant with us and do not break it.
1Then the LORD said to me: “Even if Moses and Samuel were to stand before me, my heart would not go out to this people. Send them away from my presence! Let them go!
2And if they ask you, ‘Where shall we go?’ tell them, ‘This is what the LORD says: “ ‘Those destined for death, to death; those for the sword, to the sword; those for starvation, to starvation; those for captivity, to captivity.’
4I will make them abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth because of what Manasseh son of Hezekiah king of Judah did in Jerusalem.
6You have rejected me,” declares the LORD . “You keep on backsliding. So I will reach out and destroy you; I am tired of holding back.
7I will winnow them with a winnowing fork at the city gates of the land. I will bring bereavement and destruction on my people, for they have not changed their ways.
9The mother of seven will grow faint and breathe her last. Her sun will set while it is still day; she will be disgraced and humiliated. I will put the survivors to the sword before their enemies,” declares the LORD .
10Alas, my mother, that you gave me birth, a man with whom the whole land strives and contends! I have neither lent nor borrowed, yet everyone curses me.
11The LORD said, “Surely I will deliver you for a good purpose; surely I will make your enemies plead with you in times of disaster and times of distress.
12“Can a man break iron— iron from the north—or bronze?
13“Your wealth and your treasures I will give as plunder, without charge, because of all your sins throughout your country.
14I will enslave you to your enemies in
15LORD, you understand; remember me and care for me. Avenge me on my persecutors. You are long-suffering—do not take me away; think of how I suffer reproach for your sake.
17I never sat in the company of revelers, never made merry with them; I sat alone because your hand was on me and you had filled me with indignation.
18Why is my pain unending and my wound grievous and incurable? You are to me like a deceptive brook, like a spring that fails.
19Therefore this is what the LORD says: “If you repent, I will restore you that you may serve me; if you utter worthy, not worthless, words, you will be my spokesman. Let this people turn to you, but you must not turn to them.
20I will make you a wall to this people, a fortified wall of bronze; they will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you to rescue and save you,” declares the LORD . 21“I will save you from the hands of the wicked and deliver you from the grasp of the cruel.”
Day of Disaster 1Then the word of the LORD came to me: 6“Both high and low will die in this land. They will not be buried or mourned, and no one will cut themselves or shave their head for the dead.
7No one will offer food to comfort those who mourn for the dead—not even for a father or a mother—nor will anyone give them a drink to console them. 8“And do not enter a house where there is feasting and sit down to eat and drink.
9For this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Before your eyes and in your days I will bring an end to the sounds of joy and gladness and to the voices of bride and bridegroom in this place. 10“When you tell these people all this and they ask you, ‘Why has the LORD decreed such a great disaster against us? What wrong have we done? What sin have we committed against the LORD our God?’ 11then say to them, ‘It is because your ancestors forsook me,’ declares the LORD, ‘and followed other gods and served and worshiped them. They forsook me and did not keep my law. 12But you have behaved more wickedly than your ancestors. See how all of you are following the stubbornness of your evil hearts instead of obeying me. 14“However, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when it will no longer be said, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,’
18I will repay them double for their wickedness and their sin, because they have defiled my land with the lifeless forms of their vile images and have filled my inheritance with their detestable idols.”
20Do people make their own gods? Yes, but they are not gods!” 21“Therefore I will teach them— this time I will teach them my power and might. Then they will know that my name is the LORD .
2Even their children remember their altars and Asherah poles
3My mountain in the land and your
6That person will be like a bush in the wastelands; they will not see prosperity when it comes. They will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives.
9The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
10“I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.”
12A glorious throne, exalted from the beginning, is the place of our sanctuary.
13LORD, you are the hope of Israel; all who forsake you will be put to shame. Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust because they have forsaken the LORD, the spring of living water.
14Heal me, LORD, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise.
17Do not be a terror to me; you are my refuge in the day of disaster.
Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy
19This is what the LORD said to me: “Go and stand at the Gate of the People,
At the Potter’s House 1This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD :
4But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. 6He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the LORD . “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel. 7If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, 8and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. 9And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted,
10and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it.
13Therefore this is what the LORD says: “Inquire among the nations: Who has ever heard anything like this? A most horrible thing has been done by Virgin Israel.
14Does the snow of Lebanon ever vanish from its rocky slopes? Do its cool waters from distant sources ever stop flowing?
15Yet my people have forgotten me; they burn incense to worthless idols, which made them stumble in their ways, in the ancient paths. They made them walk in byways, on roads not built up.
16Their land will be an object of horror and of lasting scorn; all who pass by will be appalled and will shake their heads.
17Like a wind from the east, I will scatter them before their enemies; I will show them my back and not my face in the day of their disaster.”
18They said, “Come, let’s make plans against Jeremiah; for the teaching of the law by the priest will not cease, nor will counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophets. So come, let’s attack him with our tongues and pay no attention to anything he says.”
19Listen to me, LORD ; hear what my accusers are saying!
21So give their children over to famine; hand them over to the power of the sword. Let their wives be made childless and widows; let their men be put to death, their young men slain by the sword in battle. 23But you, LORD, know all their plots to kill me. Do not forgive their crimes or blot out their sins from your sight. Let them be overthrown before you; deal with them in the time of your anger.
1This is what the LORD says: “Go and buy a clay jar from a potter. Take along some of the elders of the people and of the priests 2and go out to the Valley of Ben Hinnom, near the entrance of the Potsherd Gate. There proclaim the words I tell you, 4For they have forsaken me and made this a place of foreign gods; they have burned incense in it to gods that neither they nor their ancestors nor the kings of Judah ever knew, and they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent. 5They have built the high places of Baal to burn their children in the fire as offerings to Baal—something I did not command or mention, nor did it enter my mind. 8I will devastate this city and make it an object of horror and scorn; all who pass by will be appalled and will scoff because of all its wounds.
9I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and daughters, and they will eat one another’s flesh because their enemies will press the siege so hard against them to destroy them.’ 10“Then break the jar while those who go with you are watching, 12This is what I will do to this place and to those who live here, declares the LORD . I will make this city like Topheth.
13The houses in Jerusalem and those of the kings of Judah will be defiled like this place, Topheth—all the houses where they burned incense on the roofs to all the starry hosts and poured out drink offerings to other gods.’ ” 14Jeremiah then returned from Topheth, where the LORD had sent him to prophesy, and stood in the court of the LORD ’s temple and said to all the people, 15“This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘Listen! I am going to bring on this city and all the villages around it every disaster I pronounced against them, because they were stiff-necked and would not listen to my words.’ ”
Jeremiah and Pashhur 1When the priest Pashhur son of Immer, the official in charge of the temple of the LORD, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things, 2he had Jeremiah the prophet beaten and put in the stocks at the Upper Gate of Benjamin at the LORD ’s temple. 3The next day, when Pashhur released him from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, “The LORD ’s name for you is not Pashhur, but Terror on Every Side. 4For this is what the LORD says: ‘I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends; with your own eyes you will see them fall by the sword of their enemies. I will give all Judah into the hands of the king of Babylon, who will carry them away to Babylon or put them to the sword. 5I will deliver all the wealth of this city into the hands of their enemies—all its products, all its valuables and all the treasures of the kings of Judah. They will take it away as plunder and carry it off to Babylon.
11But the LORD is with me like a mighty warrior; so my persecutors will stumble and not prevail. They will fail and be thoroughly disgraced; their dishonor will never be forgotten.
12LORD Almighty, you who examine the righteous and probe the heart and mind, let me see your vengeance on them, for to you I have committed my cause.
13Sing to the LORD ! Give praise to the LORD ! He rescues the life of the needy from the hands of the wicked.
14Cursed be the day I was born! May the day my mother bore me not be blessed!
15Cursed be the man who brought my father the news, who made him very glad, saying, “A child is born to you—a son!”
17For he did not kill me in the womb, with my mother as my grave, her womb enlarged forever.
18Why did I ever come out of the womb to see trouble and sorrow and to end my days in shame?
3But Jeremiah answered them, “Tell Zedekiah,
4‘This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I am about to turn against you the weapons of war that are in your hands, which you are using to fight the king of Babylon and the Babylonians
7After that, declares the LORD, I will give Zedekiah king of Judah, his officials and the people in this city who survive the plague, sword and famine, into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and to their enemies who want to kill them. He will put them to the sword; he will show them no mercy or pity or compassion.’ 8“Furthermore, tell the people, ‘This is what the LORD says: See, I am setting before you the way of life and the way of death. 9Whoever stays in this city will die by the sword, famine or plague. But whoever goes out and surrenders to the Babylonians who are besieging you will live; they will escape with their lives. 11“Moreover, say to the royal house of Judah, ‘Hear the word of the LORD .
12This is what the LORD says to you, house of David: “ ‘Administer justice every morning; rescue from the hand of the oppressor the one who has been robbed, or my wrath will break out and burn like fire because of the evil you have done— burn with no one to quench it. 14I will punish you as your deeds deserve, declares the LORD . I will kindle a fire in your forests that will consume everything around you.’ ”
Judgment Against Wicked Kings 1This is what the LORD says: “Go down to the palace of the king of Judah and proclaim this message there:
5But if you do not obey these commands, declares the LORD, I swear by myself that this palace will become a ruin.’ ”
6For this is what the LORD says about the palace of the king of Judah: “Though you are like Gilead to me, like the summit of Lebanon, I will surely make you like a wasteland, like towns not inhabited. 8“People from many nations will pass by this city and will ask one another, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this great city?’
9And the answer will be: ‘Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God and have worshiped and served other gods.’ ”
10Do not weep for the dead king or mourn his loss; rather, weep bitterly for him who is exiled, because he will never return nor see his native land again.
11For this is what the LORD says about Shallum
12He will die in the place where they have led him captive; he will not see this land again.”
13“Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness, his upper rooms by injustice, making his own people work for nothing, not paying them for their labor.
14He says, ‘I will build myself a great palace with spacious upper rooms.’ So he makes large windows in it, panels it with cedar and decorates it in red.
15“Does it make you a king to have more and more cedar? Did not your father have food and drink? He did what was right and just, so all went well with him.
16He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?” declares the LORD .
17“But your eyes and your heart are set only on dishonest gain, on shedding innocent blood and on oppression and extortion.”
18Therefore this is what the LORD says about Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah: “They will not mourn for him: ‘Alas, my brother! Alas, my sister!’ They will not mourn for him: ‘Alas, my master! Alas, his splendor!’
19He will have the burial of a donkey— dragged away and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem.”
20“Go up to Lebanon and cry out, let your voice be heard in Bashan, cry out from Abarim, for all your allies are crushed.
21I warned you when you felt secure, but you said, ‘I will not listen!’ This has been your way from your youth; you have not obeyed me.
22The wind will drive all your shepherds away, and your allies will go into exile. Then you will be ashamed and disgraced because of all your wickedness.
23You who live in ‘Lebanon,
27You will never come back to the land you long to return to.”
29O land, land, land, hear the word of the LORD !
The Righteous Branch 1“Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!” declares the LORD . 2Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says to the shepherds who tend my people: “Because you have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you for the evil you have done,” declares the LORD .
4I will place shepherds over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid or terrified, nor will any be missing,” declares the LORD .
5“The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will raise up for David
6In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The LORD Our Righteous Savior. 7“So then, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when people will no longer say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,’
Lying Prophets 9Concerning the prophets: My heart is broken within me; all my bones tremble. I am like a drunken man, like a strong man overcome by wine, because of the LORD and his holy words.
12“Therefore their path will become slippery; they will be banished to darkness and there they will fall. I will bring disaster on them in the year they are punished,” declares the LORD .
13“Among the prophets of Samaria I saw this repulsive thing: They prophesied by Baal and led my people Israel astray.
16This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you; they fill you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD .
17They keep saying to those who despise me, ‘The LORD says: You will have peace.’ And to all who follow the stubbornness of their hearts they say, ‘No harm will come to you.’
18But which of them has stood in the council of the LORD to see or to hear his word? Who has listened and heard his word?
19See, the storm of the LORD will burst out in wrath, a whirlwind swirling down on the heads of the wicked.
21I did not send these prophets, yet they have run with their message; I did not speak to them, yet they have prophesied.
22But if they had stood in my council, they would have proclaimed my words to my people and would have turned them from their evil ways and from their evil deeds.
23“Am I only a God nearby,” declares the LORD, “and not a God far away?
24Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them?” declares the LORD . “Do not I fill heaven and earth?” declares the LORD . 25“I have heard what the prophets say who prophesy lies in my name. They say, ‘I had a dream! I had a dream!’ 26How long will this continue in the hearts of these lying prophets, who prophesy the delusions of their own minds? 27They think the dreams they tell one another will make my people forget my name, just as their ancestors forgot my name through Baal worship. 28Let the prophet who has a dream recount the dream, but let the one who has my word speak it faithfully. For what has straw to do with grain?” declares the LORD .
29“Is not my word like fire,” declares the LORD, “and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces? 30“Therefore,” declares the LORD, “I am against the prophets who steal from one another words supposedly from me. 31Yes,” declares the LORD, “I am against the prophets who wag their own tongues and yet declare, ‘The LORD declares.’
32Indeed, I am against those who prophesy false dreams,” declares the LORD . “They tell them and lead my people astray with their reckless lies, yet I did not send or appoint them. They do not benefit these people in the least,” declares the LORD . 36But you must not mention ‘a message from the LORD ’ again, because each one’s word becomes their own message. So you distort the words of the living God, the LORD Almighty, our God. 37This is what you keep saying to a prophet: ‘What is the LORD ’s answer to you?’ or ‘What has the LORD spoken?’ 38Although you claim, ‘This is a message from the LORD,’ this is what the LORD says: You used the words, ‘This is a message from the LORD,’ even though I told you that you must not claim, ‘This is a message from the LORD .’ 39Therefore, I will surely forget you and cast you out of my presence along with the city I gave to you and your ancestors. 40I will bring on you everlasting disgrace—everlasting shame that will not be forgotten.”
2One basket had very good figs, like those that ripen early; the other basket had very bad figs, so bad they could not be eaten.
4Then the word of the LORD came to me:
6My eyes will watch over them for their good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not uproot them.
8“ ‘But like the bad figs, which are so bad they cannot be eaten,’ says the LORD, ‘so will I deal with Zedekiah king of Judah, his officials and the survivors from Jerusalem, whether they remain in this land or live in Egypt.
9I will make them abhorrent and an offense to all the kingdoms of the earth, a reproach and a byword, a curse
3For twenty-three years—from the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah until this very day—the word of the LORD has come to me and I have spoken to you again and again, but you have not listened. 5They said, “Turn now, each of you, from your evil ways and your evil practices, and you can stay in the land the LORD gave to you and your ancestors for ever and ever.
6Do not follow other gods to serve and worship them; do not arouse my anger with what your hands have made. Then I will not harm you.”
7“But you did not listen to me,” declares the LORD, “and you have aroused my anger with what your hands have made, and you have brought harm to yourselves.”
8Therefore the LORD Almighty says this: “Because you have not listened to my words,
9I will summon all the peoples of the north and my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon,” declares the LORD, “and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all the surrounding nations. I will completely destroy
11This whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
12“But when the seventy years are fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon and his nation, the land of the Babylonians,
26and all the kings of the north, near and far, one after the other—all the kingdoms on the face of the earth. And after all of them, the king of Sheshak
29See, I am beginning to bring disaster on the city that bears my Name, and will you indeed go unpunished? You will not go unpunished, for I am calling down a sword on all who live on the earth, declares the LORD Almighty.’
31The tumult will resound to the ends of the earth, for the LORD will bring charges against the nations; he will bring judgment on all mankind and put the wicked to the sword,’ ” declares the LORD .
32This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Look! Disaster is spreading from nation to nation; a mighty storm is rising from the ends of the earth.”
33At that time those slain by the LORD will be everywhere—from one end of the earth to the other. They will not be mourned or gathered up or buried, but will be like dung lying on the ground.
34Weep and wail, you shepherds; roll in the dust, you leaders of the flock. For your time to be slaughtered has come; you will fall like the best of the rams.
36Hear the cry of the shepherds, the wailing of the leaders of the flock, for the LORD is destroying their pasture.
37The peaceful meadows will be laid waste because of the fierce anger of the LORD .
Jeremiah Threatened With Death 1Early in the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came from the LORD : 3Perhaps they will listen and each will turn from their evil ways. Then I will relent and not inflict on them the disaster I was planning because of the evil they have done.
6then I will make this house like Shiloh and this city a curse
11Then the priests and the prophets said to the officials and all the people, “This man should be sentenced to death because he has prophesied against this city. You have heard it with your own ears!” 12Then Jeremiah said to all the officials and all the people: “The LORD sent me to prophesy against this house and this city all the things you have heard. 13Now reform your ways and your actions and obey the LORD your God. Then the LORD will relent and not bring the disaster he has pronounced against you. 14As for me, I am in your hands; do with me whatever you think is good and right.
19“Did Hezekiah king of Judah or anyone else in Judah put him to death? Did not Hezekiah fear the LORD and seek his favor? And did not the LORD relent, so that he did not bring the disaster he pronounced against them? We are about to bring a terrible disaster on ourselves!” 20(Now Uriah son of Shemaiah from Kiriath Jearim was another man who prophesied in the name of the LORD ; he prophesied the same things against this city and this land as Jeremiah did.
23They brought Uriah out of Egypt and took him to King Jehoiakim, who had him struck down with a sword and his body thrown into the burial place of the common people.) 24Furthermore, Ahikam son of Shaphan supported Jeremiah, and so he was not handed over to the people to be put to death. 2This is what the LORD said to me: “Make a yoke out of straps and crossbars and put it on your neck. 6Now I will give all your countries into the hands of my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; I will make even the wild animals subject to him.
7All nations will serve him and his son and his grandson until the time for his land comes; then many nations and great kings will subjugate him.
9So do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your interpreters of dreams, your mediums or your sorcerers who tell you, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon.’
10They prophesy lies to you that will only serve to remove you far from your lands; I will banish you and you will perish.
14Do not listen to the words of the prophets who say to you, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon,’ for they are prophesying lies to you.
16Then I said to the priests and all these people, “This is what the LORD says: Do not listen to the prophets who say, ‘Very soon now the articles from the LORD ’s house will be brought back from Babylon.’ They are prophesying lies to you.
17Do not listen to them. Serve the king of Babylon, and you will live. Why should this city become a ruin?
18If they are prophets and have the word of the LORD, let them plead with the LORD Almighty that the articles remaining in the house of the LORD and in the palace of the king of Judah and in Jerusalem not be taken to Babylon.
19For this is what the LORD Almighty says about the pillars, the bronze Sea, the movable stands and the other articles that are left in this city,
20which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take away when he carried Jehoiachin
The False Prophet Hananiah 1In the fifth month of that same year, the fourth year, early in the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, the prophet Hananiah son of Azzur, who was from Gibeon, said to me in the house of the LORD in the presence of the priests and all the people: 6He said, “Amen! May the LORD do so! May the LORD fulfill the words you have prophesied by bringing the articles of the LORD ’s house and all the exiles back to this place from Babylon. 7Nevertheless, listen to what I have to say in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people: 8From early times the prophets who preceded you and me have prophesied war, disaster and plague against many countries and great kingdoms.
9But the prophet who prophesies peace will be recognized as one truly sent by the LORD only if his prediction comes true.” 13“Go and tell Hananiah, ‘This is what the LORD says: You have broken a wooden yoke, but in its place you will get a yoke of iron.
14This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I will put an iron yoke on the necks of all these nations to make them serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and they will serve him. I will even give him control over the wild animals.’ ” 15Then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah the prophet, “Listen, Hananiah! The LORD has not sent you, yet you have persuaded this nation to trust in lies.
16Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘I am about to remove you from the face of the earth. This very year you are going to die, because you have preached rebellion against the LORD .’ ” 17In the seventh month of that same year, Hananiah the prophet died.
A Letter to the Exiles 1This is the text of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders among the exiles and to the priests, the prophets and all the other people Nebuchadnezzar had carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.
3He entrusted the letter to Elasah son of Shaphan and to Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to King Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon. It said: 4This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 7Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”
9They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them,” declares the LORD . 11For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
14I will be found by you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back from captivity.
19For they have not listened to my words,” declares the LORD, “words that I sent to them again and again by my servants the prophets. And you exiles have not listened either,” declares the LORD . 20Therefore, hear the word of the LORD, all you exiles whom I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon. 21This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says about Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying lies to you in my name: “I will deliver them into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will put them to death before your very eyes. 22Because of them, all the exiles from Judah who are in Babylon will use this curse: ‘May the LORD treat you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon burned in the fire.’
23For they have done outrageous things in Israel; they have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and in my name they have uttered lies—which I did not authorize. I know it and am a witness to it,” declares the LORD .
Message to Shemaiah 24Tell Shemaiah the Nehelamite, 25“This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: You sent letters in your own name to all the people in Jerusalem, to the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah, and to all the other priests. You said to Zephaniah, 26‘The LORD has appointed you priest in place of Jehoiada to be in charge of the house of the LORD ; you should put any maniac who acts like a prophet into the stocks and neck-irons.
28He has sent this message to us in Babylon: It will be a long time. Therefore build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce.’ ” 29Zephaniah the priest, however, read the letter to Jeremiah the prophet. 31“Send this message to all the exiles: ‘This is what the LORD says about Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, even though I did not send him, and has persuaded you to trust in lies, 32this is what the LORD says: I will surely punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his descendants. He will have no one left among this people, nor will he see the good things I will do for my people, declares the LORD, because he has preached rebellion against me.’ ”