20 aMy tent is plundered,
And all my cords are broken;
My children have gone from me,
And they are bno more.
There is no one to pitch my tent anymore,
Or set up my curtains.
21 For the shepherds have become dull-hearted,
And have not sought the LORD;
Therefore they shall not prosper,
And all their flocks shall be ascattered.
22 Behold, the noise of the report has come,
And a great commotion out of the anorth country,
To make the cities of Judah desolate, a bden of jackals.
23 O LORD, I know the away of man is not in himself;
It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps.
24 O LORD, acorrect me, but with justice;
Not in Your anger, lest You bring me to nothing.
25 aPour out Your fury on the Gentiles, bwho do not know You,
And on the families who do not call on Your name;
For they have eaten up Jacob,
cDevoured him and consumed him,
And made his dwelling place desolate.
The Broken Covenant
1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
2 “Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem;
3 “and say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD God of Israel: a“Cursed is the man who does not obey the words of this covenant
4 “which I commanded your fathers in the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt, afrom the iron furnace, saying, b‘Obey My voice, and do according to all that I command you; so shall you be My people, and I will be your God,’
5 “that I may establish the aoath which I have sworn to your fathers, to give them b‘a land flowing with milk and honey,’ as it is this day.” ’ ” And I answered and said, 1“So be it, LORD.”
6 Then the LORD said to me, “Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying: ‘Hear the words of this covenant aand do them.
7 ‘For I earnestly exhorted your fathers in the day I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, until this day, arising early and exhorting, saying, “Obey My voice.”
8 a‘Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but beveryone 1followed the dictates of his evil heart; therefore I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but which they have not done.’ ”
9 And the LORD said to me, a“A conspiracy has been found among the men of Judah and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
10 “They have turned back to athe iniquities of their forefathers who refused to hear My words, and they have gone after other gods to serve them; the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken My covenant which I made with their fathers.”
11 Therefore thus says the LORD: “Behold, I will surely bring calamity on them which they will not be able to 1escape; and athough they cry out to Me, I will not listen to them.
12 “Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and acry out to the gods to whom they offer incense, but they will not save them at all in the time of their trouble.
13 “For according to the number of your acities were your gods, O Judah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem you have set up altars to that shameful thing, altars to burn incense to Baal.
14 “So ado not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer for them; for I will not hear them in the time that they cry out to Me because of their trouble.
15 “Whata has My beloved to do in My house,
Having bdone lewd deeds with many?
And cthe holy flesh has passed from you.
When you do evil, then you drejoice.
aGreen Olive Tree, Lovely and of Good Fruit.
With the noise of a great tumult
He has kindled fire on it,
And its branches are broken.
17 “For the LORD of hosts, awho planted you, has pronounced doom against you for the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done against themselves to provoke Me to anger in offering incense to Baal.”
Jeremiah’s Life Threatened
18 Now the LORD gave me knowledge of it, and I know it; for You showed me their doings.
19 But I was like a docile lamb brought to the slaughter; and I did not know that they had devised schemes against me, saying, “Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, aand let us cut him off from bthe land of the living, that his name may be remembered no more.”
You who judge righteously,
aTesting the 1mind and the heart,
Let me see Your bvengeance on them,
For to You I have revealed my cause.
21 “Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the men of aAnathoth who seek your life, saying, b‘Do not prophesy in the name of the LORD, lest you die by our hand’—
22 “therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘Behold, I will punish them. The young men shall die by the sword, their sons and their daughters shall adie by famine;
23 ‘and there shall be no remnant of them, for I will bring catastrophe on the men of Anathoth, even athe year of their punishment.’ ”
Jeremiah’s Question
1 *Righteous aare You, O LORD, when I plead with You;
Yet let me talk with You about Your judgments.
bWhy does the way of the *wicked prosper?
Why are those happy who deal so treacherously?
2 You have planted them, yes, they have taken root;
They grow, yes, they bear fruit.
aYou are near in their mouth
But far from their 1mind.
3 But You, O LORD, aknow me;
You have seen me,
And You have btested my heart toward You.
Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter,
And prepare them for cthe day of slaughter.
4 How long will athe land mourn,
And the herbs of every field wither?
bThe beasts and birds are consumed,
cFor the wickedness of those who dwell there,
Because they said, “He will not see our final end.”
The LORD Answers Jeremiah
5 “If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you,
Then how can you contend with horses?
And if in the land of peace,
In which you trusted, they wearied you,
Then how will you do in athe 1floodplain of the Jordan?
6 For even ayour brothers, the house of your father,
Even they have dealt treacherously with you;
Yes, they have called 1a multitude after you.
bDo not believe them,
Even though they speak 2smooth words to you.
7 “I have forsaken My house, I have left My heritage;
I have given the dearly beloved of My soul into the hand of her enemies.
8 My heritage is to Me like a lion in the forest;
It cries out against Me;
Therefore I have ahated it.
9 My 1heritage is to Me like a speckled vulture;
The vultures all around are against her.
Come, assemble all the beasts of the field,
aBring them to devour!
10 “Many arulers1 have destroyed bMy vineyard,
They have ctrodden My portion underfoot;
They have made My 2pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.
11 They have made it adesolate;
Desolate, it mourns to Me;
The whole land is made desolate,
Because bno one takes it to heart.
On all the desolate heights in the wilderness,
For the sword of the LORD shall devour
From one end of the land to the other end of the land;
No flesh shall have peace.
13 aThey have sown wheat but reaped thorns;
They have 1put themselves to pain but do not profit.
But be ashamed of your harvest
Because of the fierce anger of the LORD.”
14 Thus says the LORD: “Against all My evil neighbors who atouch the inheritance which I have caused My people Israel to inherit—behold, I will bpluck them out of their land and pluck out the house of Judah from among them.
15 a“Then it shall be, after I have plucked them out, that I will return and *have compassion on them band bring them back, everyone to his heritage and everyone to his land.
16 “And it shall be, if they will learn carefully the ways of My people, ato swear by My name, ‘As the LORD lives,’ as they taught My people to swear by Baal, then they shall be bestablished in the midst of My people.
17 “But if they do not aobey, I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation,” says the LORD.
Symbol of the Linen Sash
1 Thus the LORD said to me: “Go and get yourself a linen sash, and put it 1around your waist, but do not put it in water.”
2 So I got a 1sash according to the word of the LORD, and put it around my waist.
3 And the word of the LORD came to me the second time, saying,
4 “Take the 1sash that you acquired, which is 2around your waist, and arise, go to the 3Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole in the rock.”
5 So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the LORD commanded me.
6 Now it came to pass after many days that the LORD said to me, “Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take from there the sash which I commanded you to hide there.”
7 Then I went to the Euphrates and dug, and I took the 1sash from the place where I had hidden it; and there was the sash, ruined. It was profitable for nothing.
8 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
9 “Thus says the LORD: ‘In this manner aI will ruin the pride of Judah and the *great bpride of Jerusalem.
10 ‘This evil people, who arefuse to hear My words, who bfollow1 the dictates of their hearts, and walk after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be just like this sash which is profitable for nothing.
11 ‘For as the sash clings to the waist of a man, so I have caused the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to cling to Me,’ says the LORD, ‘that athey may become My people, bfor renown, for *praise, and for cglory; but they would dnot hear.’
Symbol of the Wine Bottles
12 “Therefore you shall speak to them this word: ‘Thus says the LORD God of Israel: “Every bottle shall be filled with wine.” ’ And they will say to you, ‘Do we not certainly know that every bottle will be filled with wine?’
13 “Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD: “Behold, I will *fill all the inhabitants of this land—even the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem—awith drunkenness!
14 “And aI will dash them 1one against another, even the fathers and the sons together,” says the LORD. “I will not pity nor spare nor have mercy, but will destroy them.” ’ ”
Pride Precedes Captivity
Do not be proud,
For the LORD has spoken.
16 aGive glory to the LORD your God
Before He causes bdarkness,
And before your feet stumble
On the dark mountains,
And while you are clooking for light,
He turns it into dthe shadow of death
And makes it dense darkness.
17 But if you will not hear it,
My soul will aweep in secret for your pride;
My eyes will weep bitterly
And run down with tears,
Because the LORD’s flock has been taken captive.
18 Say to athe king and to the queen mother,
“Humble yourselves;
Sit down,
For your rule shall collapse, the crown of your glory.”
19 The cities of the South shall be shut up,
And no one shall open them;
Judah shall be carried away captive, all of it;
It shall be wholly carried away captive.
20 Lift up your eyes and see
Those who come from the anorth.
Where is the flock that was given to you,
Your beautiful sheep?
21 What will you say when He punishes you?
For you have taught them
To be chieftains, to be head over you.
Will not apangs seize you,
Like a woman in 1labor?
22 And if you say in your heart,
a“Why have these things come upon me?”
For the greatness of your iniquity
bYour skirts have been uncovered,
Your heels 1made bare.
23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots?
Then may you also do good who are accustomed to do evil.
24 “Therefore I will ascatter them blike stubble
That passes away by the wind of the wilderness.
25 aThis is your lot,
The portion of your measures from Me,” says the LORD,
“Because you have forgotten Me
And trusted in bfalsehood.
26 Therefore aI will uncover your skirts over your face,
That your shame may appear.
27 I have seen your adulteries
And your lustful aneighings,
The lewdness of your harlotry,
Your abominations bon the hills in the fields.
Woe to you, O Jerusalem!
Will you still not be *made clean?”
Sword, Famine, and Pestilence
1 The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the droughts.
And aher gates languish;
They bmourn for the land,
And cthe cry of Jerusalem has gone up.
3 Their nobles have sent their lads for water;
They went to the cisterns and found no water.
They returned with their vessels empty;
They were aashamed and confounded
bAnd covered their heads.
4 Because the ground is parched,
For there was ano rain in the land,
The plowmen were ashamed;
They covered their heads.
5 Yes, the deer also gave birth in the field,
But 1left because there was no grass.
6 And athe wild donkeys stood in the desolate heights;
They sniffed at the wind like jackals;
Their eyes failed because there was no grass.”
7 O LORD, though our iniquities testify against us,
Do it afor Your name’s sake;
For our *backslidings are many,
We have sinned against You.
8 aO the Hope of Israel, his Savior in time of trouble,
Why should You be like a stranger in the land,
And like a traveler who turns aside to tarry for a night?
9 Why should You be like a man astonished,
Like a mighty one awho cannot save?
Yet You, O LORD, bare in our midst,
And we are called by Your name;
Do not leave us!
10 Thus says the LORD to this people:
a“Thus they have loved to wander;
They have not restrained their feet.
Therefore the LORD does not accept them;
bHe will remember their iniquity now,
And punish their sins.”
11 Then the LORD said to me, a“Do not pray for this people, for their good.
12 a“When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and bwhen they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I will not accept them. But cI will consume them by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.”
13 aThen I said, “Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, the prophets say to them, ‘You shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine, but I will give you 1assured bpeace in this place.’ ”
14 And the LORD said to me, a“The prophets prophesy lies in My name. bI have not sent them, commanded them, nor spoken to them; they prophesy to you a false vision, 1divination, a worthless thing, and the cdeceit of their heart.
15 “Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the prophets who prophesy in My name, whom I did not send, aand who say, ‘Sword and famine shall not be in this land’—‘By sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed!
16 ‘And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; athey will have no one to bury them—them nor their wives, their sons nor their daughters—for I will pour their wickedness on them.’
17 “Therefore you shall say this word to them:
a‘Let my eyes flow with tears night and day,
And let them not cease;
bFor the *virgin daughter of my people
Has been broken with a mighty stroke, with a very severe blow.
18 If I go out to athe field,
Then behold, those slain with the sword!
And if I enter the city,
Then behold, those sick from famine!
Yes, both prophet and bpriest go about in a land they do not know.’ ”
The People Plead for Mercy
19 aHave You utterly rejected Judah?
Has Your soul loathed Zion?
Why have You stricken us so that bthere is no *healing for us?
cWe looked for peace, but there was no good;
And for the time of healing, and there was trouble.
20 We acknowledge, O LORD, our wickedness
And the iniquity of our afathers,
For bwe have sinned against You.
21 Do not abhor us, for Your name’s sake;
Do not disgrace the throne of Your glory.
aRemember, do not break Your covenant with us.
22 aAre there any among bthe idols of the nations that can cause crain?
Or can the heavens give showers?
dAre You not He, O LORD our God?
Therefore we will wait for You,
Since You have made all these.
The LORD Will Not Relent
1 Then the LORD said to me, a“Even if bMoses and cSamuel stood before Me, My 1mind would not be favorable toward this people. Cast them out of My sight, and let them go forth.
2 “And it shall be, if they say to you, ‘Where should we go?’ then you shall tell them, ‘Thus says the LORD:
a“Such as are for death, to death;
And such as are for the sword, to the sword;
And such as are for the famine, to the famine;
And such as are for the bcaptivity, to the captivity.” ’
3 “And I will aappoint over them four forms of destruction,” says the LORD: “the sword to slay, the dogs to drag, bthe birds of the heavens and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy.
4 “I will hand them over to atrouble, to all kingdoms of the earth, because of bManasseh the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem.
5 “For who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem?
Or who will bemoan you?
Or who will turn aside to ask how you are doing?
6 aYou have forsaken Me,” says the LORD,
“You have bgone backward.
Therefore I will stretch out My hand against you and destroy you;
7 And I will winnow them with a winnowing fan in the gates of the land;
I will abereave them of children;
I will destroy My people,
Since they bdo not return from their ways.
8 Their widows will be increased to Me more than the sand of the seas;
I will bring against them,
Against the mother of the young men,
A plunderer at noonday;
I will cause anguish and terror to fall on them asuddenly.
9 “Shea languishes who has borne seven;
She has breathed her last;
bHer sun has gone down
While it was yet day;
She has been ashamed and confounded.
And the remnant of them I will deliver to the sword
Before their enemies,” says the LORD.
Jeremiah’s Dejection
That you have borne me,
A man of strife and a man of contention to the whole 1earth!
I have neither lent for interest,
Nor have men lent to me for interest.
Every one of them curses me.
11 The LORD said:
“Surely it will be well with your remnant;
Surely I will cause athe enemy to intercede with you
In the time of adversity and in the time of affliction.
12 Can anyone break iron,
The northern iron and the bronze?
13 Your wealth and your treasures
I will give as aplunder without price,
Because of all your sins,
Throughout your territories.
14 And I will 1make you cross over with your enemies
aInto a land which you do not know;
For a bfire is kindled in My anger,
Which shall burn upon you.”
15 O LORD, aYou know;
Remember me and 1visit me,
And btake vengeance for me on my persecutors.
In Your enduring patience, do not take me away.
Know that cfor Your sake I have suffered rebuke.
16 Your words were found, and I aate them,
And bYour word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart;
For I am called by Your name,
O LORD God of hosts.
17 aI did not sit in the assembly of the mockers,
Nor did I rejoice;
I sat alone because of Your hand,
For You have filled me with indignation.
And my wound incurable,
Which refuses to be healed?
Will You surely be to me blike an unreliable stream,
As waters that 1fail?
The LORD Reassures Jeremiah
19 Therefore thus says the LORD:
a“If you return,
Then I will bring you back;
You shall bstand before Me;
If you ctake out the precious from the vile,
You shall be as My mouth.
Let them return to you,
But you must not return to them.
20 And I will make you to this people a fortified bronze awall;
And they will fight against you,
But bthey shall not prevail against you;
For I am with you to save you
And deliver you,” says the LORD.
21 “I will deliver you from the hand of the wicked,
And I will *redeem you from the grip of the terrible.”
Jeremiah’s Life-Style and Message
1 The word of the LORD also came to me, saying,
2 “You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place.”
3 For thus says the LORD concerning the sons and daughters who are born in this place, and concerning their mothers who bore them and their fathers who begot them in this land:
4 “They shall die agruesome deaths; they shall not be blamented nor shall they be cburied, but they shall be dlike refuse on the face of the earth. They shall be consumed by the sword and by famine, and their ecorpses shall be meat for the birds of heaven and for the beasts of the earth.”
5 For thus says the LORD: a“Do not enter the house of mourning, nor go to lament or bemoan them; for I have taken away My peace from this people,” says the LORD, “lovingkindness and mercies.
6 “Both the great and the small shall die in this land. They shall not be buried; aneither shall men lament for them, bcut themselves, nor cmake themselves bald for them.
7 “Nor shall men break bread in mourning for them, to comfort them for the dead; nor shall men give them the cup of consolation to adrink for their father or their mother.
8 “Also you shall not go into the house of feasting to sit with them, to eat and drink.”
9 For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, aI will cause to cease from this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of 1mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.
10 “And it shall be, when you show this people all these words, and they say to you, a‘Why has the LORD pronounced all this great disaster against us? Or what is our iniquity? Or what is our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?’
11 “then you shall say to them, a‘Because your fathers have forsaken Me,’ says the LORD; ‘they have walked after other gods and have served them and worshiped them, and have forsaken Me and not kept My law.
12 ‘And you have done aworse than your fathers, for behold, beach one 1follows the dictates of his own evil heart, so that no one listens to Me.
13 a‘Therefore I will cast you out of this land binto a land that you do not know, neither you nor your fathers; and there you shall serve other gods day and night, where I will not show you favor.’
God Will Restore Israel
14 “Therefore behold, the adays are coming,” says the LORD, “that it shall no more be said, ‘The LORD lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’
15 “but, ‘The LORD lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the anorth and from all the lands where He had driven them.’ For bI will bring them back into their land which I gave to their fathers.
16 “Behold, I will send for many afishermen,” says the LORD, “and they shall fish them; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.
17 “For My aeyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from My face, nor is their iniquity hidden from My eyes.
18 “And first I will repay adouble for their iniquity and their sin, because bthey have defiled My land; they have filled My inheritance with the carcasses of their detestable and abominable idols.”
19 O LORD, amy strength and my fortress,
bMy refuge in the day of affliction,
The Gentiles shall come to You
From the ends of the earth and say,
“Surely our fathers have inherited lies,
Worthlessness and cunprofitable things.”
20 Will a man make gods for himself,
aWhich are not gods?
21 “Therefore behold, I will this once cause them to know,
I will cause them to know
My hand and My might;
And they shall know that aMy name is the LORD.
Judah’s Sin and Punishment
1 “The sin of Judah is awritten with a bpen of iron;
With the point of a diamond it is cengraved
On the tablet of their heart,
And on the horns of your altars,
2 While their children remember
Their altars and their awooden1 images
By the green trees on the high hills.
3 O My mountain in the field,
I will give as plunder your wealth, all your treasures,
And your high places of sin within all your borders.
Shall let go of your heritage which I gave you;
And I will cause you to serve your enemies
In athe land which you do not know;
For byou have kindled a fire in My anger which shall burn forever.”
a“Cursed is the *man who trusts in man
And makes bflesh his 1strength,
Whose heart departs from the LORD.
6 For he shall be alike a shrub in the desert,
And bshall not see when good comes,
But shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness,
cIn a salt land which is not inhabited.
7 “Blesseda is the man who trusts in the LORD,
And whose hope is the LORD.
8 For he shall be alike a tree planted by the waters,
Which spreads out its roots by the river,
And will not 1fear when heat comes;
But its leaf will be green,
And will not be anxious in the year of drought,
Nor will cease from yielding fruit.
9 “The aheart* is deceitful above all things,
And 1desperately wicked;
Who can know it?
10 I, the LORD, asearch the heart,
I test the 1mind,
bEven to give every man according to his ways,
According to the fruit of his doings.
11 “As a partridge that 1broods but does not hatch,
So is he who gets riches, but not by right;
It awill leave him in the midst of his days,
And at his end he will be ba fool.”
12 A glorious high throne from the beginning
Is the place of our sanctuary.
13 O LORD, athe hope of Israel,
bAll who forsake You shall be ashamed.
“Those who depart from Me
Shall be cwritten in the earth,
Because they have forsaken the LORD,
The dfountain of living waters.”
Jeremiah Prays for Deliverance
14 Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed;
Save me, and I shall be saved,
For aYou are my praise.
15 Indeed they say to me,
a“Where is the word of the LORD?
Let it come now!”
16 As for me, aI have not hurried away from being a shepherd who follows You,
Nor have I desired the woeful day;
You know what came out of my lips;
It was right there before You.
aYou are my hope in the day of doom.
18 aLet them be ashamed who persecute me,
But bdo not let me be put to shame;
Let them be dismayed,
But do not let me be dismayed.
Bring on them the day of doom,
And cdestroy1 them with double destruction!
Hallow the Sabbath Day
19 Thus the LORD said to me: “Go and stand in the gate of the children of the people, by which the kings of Judah come in and by which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem;
20 “and say to them, a‘Hear the word of the LORD, you kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who enter by these gates.
21 ‘Thus says the LORD: a“Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem;
22 “nor carry a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath day, nor do any work, but hallow the Sabbath day, as I acommanded your fathers.
23 a“But they did not obey nor incline their ear, but 1made their neck stiff, that they might not hear nor receive *instruction.
24 “And it shall be, aif you heed Me carefully,” says the LORD, “to bring no burden through the gates of this city on the bSabbath day, but hallow the Sabbath day, to do no work in it,
25 a“then shall enter the gates of this city kings and princes *sitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their princes, accompanied by the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and this city shall remain forever.
26 “And they shall come from the cities of Judah and from athe places around Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin and from bthe 1lowland, from the mountains and from cthe 2South, bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings and incense, bringing dsacrifices of praise to the house of the LORD.
27 “But if you will not heed Me to hallow the Sabbath day, such as not carrying a burden when entering the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then aI will kindle a fire in its gates, band it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be cquenched.” ’ ”
The Potter and the Clay
1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying:
2 “Arise and go down to the potter’s *house, and there I will cause you to hear My words.”
3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something at the 1wheel.
4 And the vessel that he 1made of clay was 2marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make.
5 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying:
6 “O house of Israel, acan I not do with you as this potter?” says the LORD. “Look, bas the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel!
7 “The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to apluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it,
8 a“if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, bI will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it.
9 “And the instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it,
10 “if it does evil in My sight so that it does not obey My voice, then I will relent concerning the good with which I said I would benefit it.
11 “Now therefore, speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD: “Behold, I am fashioning a disaster and devising a plan against you. aReturn now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings bgood.” ’ ”
God’s Warning Rejected
12 And they said, a“That is hopeless! So we will walk according to our own plans, and we will every one 1obey the bdictates2 of his evil heart.”
13 Therefore thus says the LORD:
a“Ask now among the Gentiles,
Who has heard such things?
The virgin of Israel has done ba very horrible thing.
14 Will a man 1leave the snow water of Lebanon,
Which comes from the rock of the field?
Will the cold flowing waters be forsaken for strange waters?
15 “Because My people have forgotten aMe,
They have burned incense to worthless idols.
And they have caused themselves to stumble in their ways,
From the bancient paths,
To walk in pathways and not on a highway,
16 To make their land adesolate and a perpetual bhissing;
Everyone who passes by it will be astonished
And shake his head.
17 aI will scatter them bas with an east wind before the enemy;
cI will 1show them the back and not the face
In the day of their calamity.”
Jeremiah Persecuted
18 Then they said, a“Come and let us devise plans against Jeremiah; bfor the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come and let us attack him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.”
And listen to the voice of those who contend with me!
20 aShall evil be repaid for good?
For they have bdug a pit for my life.
Remember that I cstood before You
To speak good 1for them,
To turn away Your wrath from them.
21 Therefore adeliver up their children to the famine,
And pour out their blood
By the force of the sword;
Let their wives become widows
And bbereaved of their children.
Let their men be put to death,
Their young men be slain
By the sword in battle.
22 Let a cry be heard from their houses,
When You bring a troop suddenly upon them;
For they have dug a pit to take me,
And hidden snares for my feet.
23 Yet, LORD, You know all their counsel
Which is against me, to slay me.
aProvide no atonement for their iniquity,
Nor blot out their sin from Your sight;
But let them be overthrown before You.
Deal thus with them
In the time of Your banger.
The Sign of the Broken Flask
1 Thus says the LORD: “Go and get a potter’s earthen flask, and take some of the *elders of the people and some of the elders of the priests.
2 “And go out to athe Valley of the Son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the Potsherd Gate; and proclaim there the words that I will tell you,
3 a“and say, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, I will bring such a catastrophe on this place, that whoever hears of it, his ears will btingle.
4 “Because they ahave forsaken Me and made this an alien place, because they have burned incense in it to other gods whom neither they, their fathers, nor the kings of Judah have known, and have filled this place with bthe blood of the innocents
5 a“(they have also built the *high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings to Baal, bwhich I did not command or speak, nor did it come into My mind),
6 “therefore behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD, “that this place shall no more be called Tophet or athe Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.
7 “And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, aand I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hands of those who seek their lives; their bcorpses I will give as meat for the birds of the heaven and for the beasts of the earth.
8 “I will make this city adesolate and a hissing; everyone who passes by it will be astonished and hiss because of all its plagues.
9 “And I will cause them to eat the aflesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and everyone shall eat the flesh of his friend in the siege and in the desperation with which their enemies and those who seek their lives shall drive them to despair.” ’
10 a“Then you shall break the flask in the sight of the men who go with you,
11 “and say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts: a“Even so I will break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter’s vessel, which cannot be 1made whole again; and they shall bbury them in Tophet till there is no place to bury.
12 “Thus I will do to this place,” says the LORD, “and to its inhabitants, and make this city like Tophet.
13 “And the houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah shall be defiled alike the place of Tophet, because of all the houses on whose broofs they have burned incense to all the host of heaven, and cpoured out drink offerings to other gods.” ’ ”
14 Then Jeremiah came from Tophet, where the LORD had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in athe court of the Lord’s house and said to all the people,
15 “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Behold, I will bring on this city and on all her towns all the doom that I have pronounced against it, because athey have stiffened their necks that they might not hear My words.’ ”
The Word of God to Pashhur
1 Now aPashhur the son of bImmer, the priest who was also chief governor in the house of the LORD, heard that Jeremiah prophesied these things.
2 Then Pashhur struck Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the high agate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the LORD.
3 And it happened on the next day that Pashhur brought Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then Jeremiah said to him, “The LORD has not called your name Pashhur, but 1Magor-Missabib.
4 “For thus says the LORD: ‘Behold, I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends; and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and your eyes shall see it. I will agive all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive to Babylon and slay them with the sword.
5 ‘Moreover I awill deliver all the wealth of this city, all its produce, and all its precious things; all the treasures of the kings of Judah I will give into the hand of their enemies, who will plunder them, seize them, and bcarry them to Babylon.
6 ‘And you, Pashhur, and all who dwell in your house, shall go into captivity. You shall go to Babylon, and there you shall die, and be buried there, you and all your friends, to whom you have aprophesied lies.’ ”
Jeremiah’s Unpopular Ministry
7 O LORD, You 1induced me, and I was persuaded;
aYou are *stronger than I, and have prevailed.
Everyone mocks me.
8 For when I spoke, I cried out;
aI shouted, “Violence and plunder!”
Because the word of the LORD was made to me
A reproach and a derision daily.
9 Then I said, “I will not make mention of Him,
Nor speak anymore in His name.”
But His word was in my heart like a aburning fire
Shut up in my bones;
I was weary of holding it back,
And bI could not.
10 aFor I heard many 1mocking:
“Fear on every side!”
“Report,” they say, “and we will report it!”
bAll my acquaintances watched for my stumbling, saying,
“Perhaps he can be induced;
Then we will prevail against him,
And we will take our revenge on him.”
11 But the LORD is awith me as a mighty, awesome One.
Therefore my persecutors will stumble, and will not bprevail.
They will be greatly ashamed, for they will not prosper.
Their ceverlasting confusion will never be forgotten.
You who atest the righteous,
And see the 1mind and heart,
bLet me see Your vengeance on them;
For I have pleaded my cause before You.
13 *Sing to the LORD! Praise the LORD!
For aHe has delivered the life of the poor
From the hand of evildoers.
14 aCursed be the day in which I was born!
Let the day not be blessed in which my mother bore me!
Who brought news to my father, saying,
“A male child has been born to you!”
Making him very glad.
16 And let that man be like the cities
Which the LORD aoverthrew, and did not relent;
Let him bhear the cry in the morning
And the *shouting at noon,
17 aBecause he did not kill me from the womb,
That my mother might have been my grave,
And her womb always enlarged with me.
18 aWhy did I come forth from the womb to bsee 1labor* and sorrow,
That my days should be consumed with shame?
Jerusalem’s Doom Is Sealed
1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD when aKing Zedekiah sent to him bPashhur the son of Melchiah, and cZephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, saying,
2 a“Please inquire of the LORD for us, for 1Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon makes war against us. Perhaps the LORD will deal with us according to all His *wonderful works, that the king may go away from us.”
3 Then Jeremiah said to them, “Thus you shall say to Zedekiah,
4 ‘Thus says the LORD God of Israel: “Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, with which you fight against the king of Babylon and the 1Chaldeans who besiege you outside the walls; and aI will assemble them in the midst of this city.
5 “I aMyself will fight against you with an boutstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger and fury and great wrath.
6 “I will strike the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast; they shall die of a great pestilence.
7 “And afterward,” says the LORD, a“I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, his servants and the people, and such as are left in this city from the pestilence and the sword and the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life; and he shall strike them with the edge of the sword. bHe shall not spare them, or have pity or mercy.” ’
8 “Now you shall say to this people, ‘Thus says the LORD: “Behold, aI set before you the way of life and the way of death.
9 “He who aremains in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; but he who goes out and 1defects to the Chaldeans who besiege you, he shall blive, and his life shall be as a prize to him.
10 “For I have aset My face against this city for adversity and not for good,” says the LORD. b“It shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall cburn it with fire.” ’
Message to the House of David
11 “And concerning the house of the king of Judah, say, ‘Hear the word of the LORD,
12 ‘O house of David! Thus says the LORD:
a“Execute1 judgment bin the morning;
And deliver him who is plundered
Out of the hand of the oppressor,
Lest My fury go forth like fire
And burn so that no one can quench it,
Because of the evil of your doings.
13 “Behold, aI am against you, O 1inhabitant of the valley,
And rock of the plain,” says the LORD,
“Who say, b‘Who shall come down against us?
Or who shall enter our dwellings?’
14 But I will punish you according to the afruit of your 1doings,” says the LORD;
“I will kindle a fire in its forest,
And bit shall devour all things around it.” ’ ”
1 Thus says the LORD: “Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and there speak this word,
2 “and say, a‘Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, you who sit on the throne of David, you and your servants and your people who enter these gates!
3 ‘Thus says the LORD: a“Execute1 judgment and righteousness, and deliver the plundered out of the hand of the oppressor. Do no wrong and do no violence to the stranger, the bfatherless, or the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place.
4 “For if you indeed do this thing, athen shall enter the gates of this house, riding on horses and in chariots, accompanied by servants and people, kings who sit on the throne of David.
5 “But if you will not 1hear these words, aI *swear by Myself,” says the LORD, “that this house shall become a desolation.” ’ ”
6 For thus says the LORD to the house of the king of Judah:
“You are aGilead to Me,
The head of Lebanon;
Yet I surely will make you a wilderness,
Cities which are not inhabited.
7 I will prepare destroyers against you,
Everyone with his weapons;
They shall cut down ayour choice cedars
bAnd cast them into the fire.
8 “And many nations will pass by this city; and everyone will say to his neighbor, a‘Why has the LORD done so to this great city?’
9 “Then they will answer, a‘Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God, and worshiped other gods and served them.’ ”
10 Weep not for athe dead, nor bemoan him;
Weep bitterly for him bwho goes away,
For he shall return no more,
Nor see his native country.
Message to the Sons of Josiah
11 For thus says the LORD concerning aShallum1 the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, bwho went from this place: “He shall not return here anymore,
12 “but he shall die in the place where they have led him captive, and shall see this land no more.
13 “Woea to him who builds his house by unrighteousness
And his 1chambers by injustice,
bWho uses his neighbor’s service without wages
And gives him nothing for his work,
14 Who says, ‘I will build myself a wide house with spacious 1chambers,
And cut out windows for it,
Paneling it with cedar
And painting it with vermilion.’
15 “Shall you reign because you enclose yourself in cedar?
Did not your father eat and drink,
And do justice and righteousness?
Then ait was well with him.
16 He 1judged the cause of the poor and *needy;
Then it was well.
Was not this knowing Me?” says the LORD.
17 “Yeta your eyes and your heart are for nothing but your covetousness,
For shedding innocent blood,
And practicing oppression and violence.”
18 Therefore thus says the LORD concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:
a“They shall not lament for him,
Saying, b‘Alas, my brother!’ or ‘Alas, my sister!’
They shall not lament for him,
Saying, ‘Alas, master!’ or ‘Alas, his *glory!’
19 aHe shall be buried with the burial of a donkey,
Dragged and cast out beyond the gates of Jerusalem.
20 “Go up to Lebanon, and cry out,
And lift up your voice in Bashan;
Cry from Abarim,
For all your lovers are destroyed.
21 I spoke to you in your prosperity,
But you said, ‘I will not hear.’
aThis has been your manner from your youth,
That you did not obey My voice.
22 The wind shall eat up all ayour 1rulers,
And your lovers shall go into captivity;
Surely then you will be ashamed and humiliated
For all your wickedness.
Making your nest in the cedars,
How *gracious will you be when pangs come upon you,
Like athe pain of a woman in 1labor?
Message to Coniah
24 “As I live,” says the LORD, a“though 1Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, bwere the 2signet on My right hand, yet I would pluck you off;
25 a“and I will give you into the hand of those who seek your life, and into the hand of those whose face you fear—the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and the hand of the 1Chaldeans.
26 a“So I will cast you out, and your mother who bore you, into another country where you were not born; and there you shall die.
27 “But to the land to which they desire to return, there they shall not return.
28 “Is this man 1Coniah a despised, broken idol—
aA vessel in which is no pleasure?
Why are they cast out, he and his descendants,
And cast into a land which they do not know?
Hear the word of the LORD!
30 Thus says the LORD:
‘Write this man down as achildless,
A man who shall not prosper in his days;
For bnone of his descendants shall prosper,
Sitting on the throne of David,
And ruling anymore in Judah.’ ”
The Branch of Righteousness
1 “Woe ato the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!” says the LORD.
2 Therefore thus says the LORD God of Israel against the shepherds who feed My people: “You have scattered My flock, driven them away, and not attended to them. aBehold, I will attend to you for the evil of your doings,” says the LORD.
3 “But aI will gather the remnant of My flock out of all countries where I have driven them, and bring them back to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase.
4 “I will set up ashepherds over them who will feed them; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, nor shall they be lacking,” says the LORD.
5 “Behold, athe days are coming,” says the LORD,
“That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness;
A King shall reign and 1prosper,
bAnd execute 2judgment and righteousness in the 3earth.
6 aIn His days Judah will be saved,
And Israel bwill dwell safely;
Now cthis is His name by which He will be called:
1THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
7 “Therefore, behold, athe days are coming,” says the LORD, “that they shall no longer say, ‘As the LORD lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’
8 “but, ‘As the LORD lives who brought up and led the descendants of the house of Israel from the north country aand from all the countries where I had driven them.’ And they shall dwell in their own bland.”
False Prophets and Empty Oracles
9 My heart within me is broken
Because of the prophets;
aAll my bones shake.
I am like a drunken man,
And like a man whom wine has overcome,
Because of the LORD,
And because of His holy words.
10 For athe land is full of adulterers;
For bbecause of a curse the land mourns.
cThe pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up.
Their course of life is evil,
And their might is not right.
11 “For aboth prophet and priest are profane;
Yes, bin My house I have found their wickedness,” says the LORD.
12 “Thereforea their way shall be to them
Like slippery ways;
In the darkness they shall be driven on
And fall in them;
For I bwill bring disaster on them,
The year of their punishment,” says the LORD.
13 “And I have seen 1folly in the prophets of Samaria:
aThey prophesied by Baal
And bcaused My people Israel to err.
14 Also I have seen a horrible thing in the prophets of Jerusalem:
aThey commit adultery and walk in lies;
They also bstrengthen the hands of evildoers,
So that no one turns back from his wickedness.
All of them are like cSodom to Me,
And her inhabitants like Gomorrah.
15 “Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets:
‘Behold, I will feed them with awormwood,
And make them drink the water of gall;
For from the prophets of Jerusalem
1Profaneness has gone out into all the land.’ ”
16 Thus says the LORD of hosts:
“Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you.
They make you worthless;
aThey speak a vision of their own heart,
Not from the mouth of the LORD.
17 They continually say to those who despise Me,
‘The LORD has said, a“You shall have *peace” ’;
And to everyone who bwalks according to the 1dictates of his own heart, they say,
c‘No evil shall come upon you.’ ”
18 For awho has stood in the counsel of the LORD,
And has perceived and heard His word?
Who has marked His word and heard it?
19 Behold, a awhirlwind of the LORD has gone forth in fury—
A violent whirlwind!
It will fall violently on the head of the wicked.
20 The aanger of the LORD will not turn back
Until He has executed and performed the thoughts of His heart.
bIn the latter days you will understand it perfectly.
21 “Ia have not sent these prophets, yet they ran.
I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.
22 But if they had stood in My counsel,
And had caused My people to hear My words,
Then they would have aturned them from their evil way
And from the evil of their doings.
23 “Am I a God near at hand,” says the LORD,
“And not a God afar off?
24 Can anyone ahide himself in secret places,
So I shall not see him?” says the LORD;
b“Do I not fill heaven and earth?” says the LORD.
25 “I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in My name, saying, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’
26 “How long will this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies? Indeed they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart,
27 “who try to make My people forget My name by their dreams which everyone tells his neighbor, aas their fathers forgot My name for Baal.
28 “The prophet who has a *dream, let him tell a dream;
And he who has My word, let him speak My word faithfully.
What is the chaff to the wheat?” says the LORD.
29 “Is not My word like a afire?” says the LORD,
“And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?
30 “Therefore behold, aI am against the prophets,” says the LORD, “who steal My words every one from his neighbor.
31 “Behold, I am aagainst the prophets,” says the LORD, “who use their tongues and say, ‘He says.’
32 “Behold, I am against those who prophesy false dreams,” says the LORD, “and tell them, and cause My people to err by their alies and by btheir recklessness. Yet I did not send them or command them; therefore they shall not cprofit this people at all,” says the LORD.
33 “So when these people or the prophet or the priest ask you, saying, ‘What is athe 1oracle of the LORD?’ you shall then say to them, 2‘What oracle?’ I will even forsake you,” says the LORD.
34 “And as for the prophet and the priest and the people who say, ‘The 1oracle of the LORD!’ I will even punish that man and his house.
35 “Thus every one of you shall say to his neighbor, and every one to his brother, ‘What has the LORD answered?’ and, ‘What has the LORD spoken?’
36 “And the 1oracle of the LORD you shall mention no more. For every man’s word will be his oracle, for you have aperverted the words of the living God, the LORD of hosts, our God.
37 “Thus you shall say to the prophet, ‘What has the LORD answered you?’ and, ‘What has the LORD spoken?’
38 “But since you say, ‘The 1oracle of the LORD!’ therefore thus says the LORD: ‘Because you say this word, “The oracle of the LORD!” and I have sent to you, saying, “Do not say, ‘The oracle of the LORD!’ ”
39 ‘therefore behold, I, even I, awill utterly forget you and forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, and will cast you out of My presence.
40 ‘And I will bring aan everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual bshame, which shall not be forgotten.’ ”
The Sign of Two Baskets of Figs
1 The aLORD showed me, and there were two baskets of figs set before the temple of the LORD, after Nebuchadnezzar bking of Babylon had carried away captive cJeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the princes of Judah with the craftsmen and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon.
2 One basket had very good figs, like the figs that are first ripe; and the other basket had very bad figs which could not be eaten, they were so abad.
3 Then the LORD said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” And I said, “Figs, the good figs, very good; and the bad, very bad, which cannot be eaten, they are so bad.”
4 Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
5 “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: ‘Like these good figs, so will I 1acknowledge those who are carried away captive from Judah, whom I have sent out of this place for their own good, into the land of the Chaldeans.
6 ‘For I will set My eyes on them for good, and aI will bring them back to this land; bI will build them and not pull them down, and I will plant them and not pluck them up.
7 ‘Then I will give them aa heart to know Me, that I am the LORD; and they shall be bMy people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me cwith their whole heart.
8 ‘And as the bad afigs which cannot be eaten, they are so bad’—surely thus says the LORD—‘so will I give up Zedekiah the king of Judah, his princes, the bresidue of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and cthose who dwell in the land of Egypt.
9 ‘I will deliver them to atrouble into all the kingdoms of the earth, for their harm, bto be a reproach and a *byword, a taunt and a curse, in all places where I shall drive them.
10 ‘And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence among them, till they are 1consumed from the land that I gave to them and their fathers.’ ”
Seventy Years of Desolation
1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, ain the fourth year of bJehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (which 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 a“From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, this is the twenty-third year in which the word of the LORD has come to me; and I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking, bbut you have not listened.
4 “And the LORD has sent to you all His servants the prophets, arising early and sending them, but you have not listened nor inclined your ear to hear.
5 “They said, a‘Repent now everyone of his evil way and his evil doings, and dwell in the land that the LORD has given to you and your fathers forever and ever.
6 ‘Do not go after other gods to serve them and worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands; and I will not harm you.’
7 “Yet you have not listened to Me,” says the LORD, “that you might aprovoke Me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt.
8 “Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘Because you have not heard My words,
9 ‘behold, I will send and take aall the families of the north,’ says the LORD, ‘and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, bMy servant, and will bring them against this land, against its inhabitants, and against these nations all around, and will utterly destroy them, and cmake them an astonishment, a hissing, and perpetual desolations.
10 ‘Moreover I will 1take from them the avoice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, bthe sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp.
11 ‘And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy ayears.
12 ‘Then it will come to pass, awhen 1seventy years are completed, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity,’ says the LORD; b‘and I will make it a perpetual desolation.
13 ‘So I will bring on that land all My words which I have pronounced against it, all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied concerning all the nations.
14 a‘(For many nations band great kings shall cbe served by them also; dand I will repay them according to their deeds and according to the works of their own hands.)’ ”
Judgment on the Nations
15 For thus says the LORD God of Israel to me: “Take this awine cup of 1fury from My hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send you, to drink it.
16 “And athey 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’s hand, and made all the nations drink, to whom the LORD had sent me:
18 Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and its princes, to make them aa desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and ba curse, as it is this day;
19 Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his princes, and all his people;
20 all the mixed multitude, all the kings of athe land of Uz, all the kings of the land of the bPhilistines (namely, Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and cthe remnant of Ashdod);
21 aEdom, Moab, and the people of Ammon;
22 all the kings of aTyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the coastlands which are across the bsea;
23 aDedan, Tema, Buz, and all who are in the farthest corners;
24 all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the amixed multitude who dwell in the desert;
25 all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of aElam, and all the kings of the bMedes;
26 aall the kings of the north, far and near, one with another; and all the kingdoms of the world which are on the face of the earth. Also the king of 1Sheshach shall drink after them.
27 “Therefore you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: a“Drink, bbe drunk, and vomit! Fall and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you.” ’
28 “And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts: “You shall certainly drink!
29 “For behold, aI begin to bring calamity on the city bwhich is called by My name, and should you be utterly unpunished? You shall not be unpunished, for cI will call for a sword on all the inhabitants of the earth,” says the LORD of hosts.’
30 “Therefore prophesy against them all these words, and say to them: