‘The LORD will aroar* from on high,
And utter His voice from bHis holy habitation;
He will roar mightily against cHis fold.
He will give da shout, as those who tread the grapes,
Against all the inhabitants of the earth.
31 A noise will come to the ends of the earth—
For the LORD has aa controversy with the nations;
bHe will plead His case with all flesh.
He will give those who are wicked to the sword,’ says the LORD.”
32 Thus says the LORD of hosts:
“Behold, disaster shall go forth
From nation to nation,
And aa great whirlwind shall be raised up
From the farthest parts of the earth.
33 a“And at that day the slain of the LORD shall be from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth. They shall not be blamented, cor gathered, or buried; they shall become refuse on the ground.
34 “Wail,a shepherds, and cry!
Roll about in the ashes,
You leaders of the flock!
For the days of your slaughter and your dispersions are fulfilled;
You shall fall like a precious vessel.
35 And the shepherds will have no 1way to flee,
Nor the leaders of the flock to escape.
36 A voice of the cry of the shepherds,
And a wailing of the leaders to the flock will be heard.
For the LORD has plundered their pasture,
37 And the peaceful dwellings are cut down
Because of the fierce anger of the LORD.
38 He has left His lair like the lion;
For their land is desolate
Because of the fierceness of the Oppressor,
And because of His fierce anger.”
Jeremiah Saved from Death
1 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came from the LORD, saying,
2 “Thus says the LORD: ‘Stand in athe court of the LORD’s house, and speak to all the cities of Judah, which come to *worship in the LORD’s house, ball the words that I command you to speak to them. cDo not diminish a word.
3 a‘Perhaps everyone will listen and turn from his evil way, that I may brelent concerning the calamity which I purpose to bring on them because of the evil of their doings.’
4 “And you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD: a“If you will not listen to Me, to walk in My law which I have set before you,
5 “to heed the words of My servants the prophets awhom I sent to you, both rising up early and sending them (but you have not heeded),
6 “then I will make this house like aShiloh,* and will make this city ba curse to all the nations of the earth.” ’ ”
7 So the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the LORD.
8 Now it happened, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that the LORD had commanded him to speak to all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people seized him, saying, “You will surely die!
9 “Why have you prophesied in the name of the LORD, saying, ‘This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be adesolate, without an inhabitant’?” And all the people were gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the LORD.
10 When the princes of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king’s house to the house of the LORD and sat down in the entry of the New Gate of the LORD’s house.
11 And the priests and the prophets spoke to the princes and all the people, saying, 1“This man deserves to adie! For he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your ears.”
12 Then Jeremiah spoke to all the princes and all the people, saying: “The LORD sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city with all the words that you have heard.
13 “Now therefore, aamend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the LORD your God; then the LORD will relent concerning the doom that He has pronounced against you.
14 “As for me, here aI am, in your hand; do with me as seems good and 1proper to you.
15 “But know for certain that if you put me to death, you will surely bring innocent blood on yourselves, on this city, and on its inhabitants; for truly the LORD has sent me to you to speak all these words in your hearing.”
16 So the princes and all the people said to the priests and the prophets, “This man does not deserve to die. For he has spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God.”
17 aThen certain of the elders of the land rose up and spoke to all the assembly of the people, saying:
18 a“Micah of Moresheth prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts:
b“Zion shall be plowed like a field,
Jerusalem shall become cheaps of ruins,
And the mountain of the 1temple
Like the 2bare hills of the forest.” ’
19 “Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah ever put him to death? aDid he not fear the LORD and bseek the LORD’s favor? And the LORD crelented concerning the doom which He had pronounced against them. dBut we are doing great evil against ourselves.”
20 Now there was also a man who prophesied in the name of the LORD, Urijah the son of Shemaiah of Kirjath Jearim, who prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah.
21 And when Jehoiakim the king, with all his mighty men and all the princes, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death; but when Urijah heard it, he was afraid and fled, and went to Egypt.
22 Then Jehoiakim the king sent men to Egypt: Elnathan the son of Achbor, and other men who went with him to Egypt.
23 And they brought Urijah from Egypt and brought him to Jehoiakim the king, who killed him with the sword and cast his dead body into the graves of the 1common people.
24 Nevertheless athe hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, so that they should not give him into the hand of the people to put him to death.
Symbol of the Bonds and Yokes
1 In1 the beginning of the reign of 2Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, aking of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
2 “Thus says the LORD to me: ‘Make for yourselves bonds and yokes, aand put them on your neck,
3 ‘and send them to the king of Edom, the king of Moab, the king of the Ammonites, the king of Tyre, and the king of Sidon, by the hand of the messengers who come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah.
4 ‘And command them to say to their masters, “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel—thus you shall say to your masters:
5 a‘I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are on the ground, by My great power and by My outstretched arm, and bhave given it to whom it seemed proper to Me.
6 a‘And now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, bMy servant; and cthe beasts of the field I have also given him to serve him.
7 a‘So all nations shall serve him and his son and his son’s son, buntil the time of his land comes; cand then many nations and great kings shall make him serve them.
8 ‘And it shall be, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and which will not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation I will punish,’ says the LORD, ‘with the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand.
9 ‘Therefore do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your 1dreamers, your soothsayers, or your sorcerers, who speak to you, saying, “You shall not serve the king of Babylon.”
10 ‘For they prophesy a alie to you, to remove you far from your land; and I will drive you out, and you will perish.
11 ‘But the nations that bring their necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will let them remain in their own land,’ says the LORD, ‘and they shall till it and dwell in it.’ ” ’ ”
12 I also spoke to aZedekiah king of Judah according to all these words, saying, “Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live!
13 a“Why will you die, you and your people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as the LORD has spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?
14 “Therefore ado not listen to the words of the prophets who speak to you, saying, ‘You shall not serve the king of Babylon,’ for they prophesy ba lie to you;
15 “for I have anot sent them,” says the LORD, “yet they prophesy a lie in My name, that I may drive you out, and that you may perish, you and the prophets who prophesy to you.”
16 Also I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Do not listen to the words of your prophets who prophesy to you, saying, “Behold, athe vessels of the LORD’s house will now shortly be brought back from Babylon”; for they prophesy a lie to you.
17 ‘Do not listen to them; serve the king of Babylon, and live! Why should this city be laid waste?
18 ‘But if they are prophets, and if the word of the LORD is with them, let them now make intercession to the LORD of hosts, that the vessels which are left in the house of the LORD, in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, do not go to Babylon.’
19 “For thus says the LORD of hosts aconcerning the pillars, concerning the Sea, concerning the carts, and concerning the remainder of the vessels that remain in this city,
20 “which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take, when he carried away acaptive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem—
21 “yes, thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the avessels that remain in the house of the LORD, and in the house of the king of Judah and of Jerusalem:
22 ‘They shall be acarried to Babylon, and there they shall be until the day that I bvisit them,’ says the LORD. ‘Then cI will bring them up and restore them to this place.’ ”
Hananiah’s Falsehood and Doom
1 And ait happened in the same year, at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the bfourth year and in the fifth month, that Hananiah the son of cAzur the prophet, who was from Gibeon, spoke to me in the house of the LORD in the presence of the priests and of all the people, saying,
2 “Thus speaks the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying: ‘I have broken athe yoke of the king of Babylon.
3 a‘Within two full years I will bring back to this place all the vessels of the LORD’s house, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon btook away from this place and carried to Babylon.
4 ‘And I will bring back to this place 1Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, with all the captives of Judah who went to Babylon,’ says the LORD, ‘for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.’ ”
5 Then the *prophet Jeremiah spoke to the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests and in the presence of all the people who stood in the house of the LORD,
6 and the prophet Jeremiah said, a“Amen! The LORD do so; the LORD perform your words which you have prophesied, to bring back the vessels of the LORD’s house and all who were carried away captive, from Babylon to this place.
7 “Nevertheless hear now this word that I speak in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people:
8 “The prophets who have been before me and before you of old prophesied against many countries and great kingdoms—of war and disaster and pestilence.
9 “As for athe prophet who prophesies of bpeace, when the word of the prophet comes to pass, the prophet will be known as one whom the LORD has truly sent.”
10 Then Hananiah the prophet took the ayoke off the prophet Jeremiah’s neck and broke it.
11 And Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people, saying, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Even so I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon afrom the neck of all nations within the space of two full years.’ ” And the prophet Jeremiah went his way.
12 Now the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, after Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke from the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, saying,
13 “Go and tell Hananiah, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD: “You have broken the yokes of wood, but you have made in their place yokes of iron.”
14 ‘For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: a“I have put a yoke of iron on the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they shall serve him. bI have given him the beasts of the field also.” ’ ”
15 Then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah the prophet, “Hear now, Hananiah, the LORD has not sent you, but ayou make this people trust in a blie.
16 “Therefore thus says the LORD: ‘Behold, I will cast you from the face of the earth. This year you shall adie, because you have taught brebellion against the LORD.’ ”
17 So Hananiah the prophet died the same year in the seventh month.
Jeremiah’s Letter to the Captives
1 Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the remainder of the elders who were acarried away captive—to the priests, the prophets, and all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon.
2 (This happened after aJeconiah1 the king, the bqueen mother, the 2eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the smiths had departed from Jerusalem.)
3 The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah the son of aShaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, saying,
4 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all who were carried away captive, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon:
5 Build houses and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit.
6 Take wives and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters—that you may be increased there, and not diminished.
7 And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, aand pray to the LORD for it; for in its peace you will have peace.
8 For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are in your midst adeceive you, nor listen to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed.
9 For they prophesy afalsely to you in My name; I have not sent them, says the LORD.
10 For thus says the LORD: After aseventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to breturn to this place.
11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
12 Then you will acall upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will blisten to you.
13 And ayou will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me bwith all your heart.
14 aI will be found by you, says the LORD, and I will bring you back from your captivity; bI will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the LORD, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive.
15 Because you have said, “The LORD has raised up prophets for us in Babylon”—
16 atherefore thus says the LORD concerning the king who sits on the throne of David, concerning all the people who dwell in this city, and concerning your brethren who have not gone out with you into captivity—
17 thus says the LORD of hosts: Behold, I will send on them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like arotten figs that cannot be eaten, they are so bad.
18 And I will pursue them with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence; and I awill deliver them to trouble among all the kingdoms of the earth—to be ba curse, an astonishment, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them,
19 because they have not heeded My words, says the LORD, which aI sent to them by My servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them; neither would you heed, says the LORD.
20 Therefore hear the word of the LORD, all you of the captivity, whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon.
21 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the *son of Kolaiah, and Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who prophesy a alie to you in My name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall slay them before your eyes.
22 aAnd because of them a curse shall be taken up by all the captivity of Judah who are in Babylon, saying, “The LORD make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, bwhom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire”;
23 because athey have done disgraceful things in Israel, have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and have spoken lying words in My name, which I have not commanded them. Indeed I bknow, and am a witness, says the LORD.
24 You shall also speak to Shemaiah the Nehelamite, saying,
25 Thus speaks the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying: You have sent letters in your name to all the people who are at Jerusalem, ato Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, and to all the priests, saying,
26 “The LORD has made you priest instead of Jehoiada the priest, so that there should be aofficers in the house of the LORD over every man who is bdemented and considers himself a prophet, that you should cput him in prison and in the stocks.
27 Now therefore, why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth who makes himself a prophet to you?
28 For he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, ‘This captivity is long; build houses and dwell in them, and plant gardens and eat their fruit.’ ”
29 Now Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the hearing of Jeremiah the prophet.
30 Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying:
31 Send to all those in captivity, saying, Thus says the LORD concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, aand I have not sent him, and he has caused you to trust in a blie—
32 therefore thus says the LORD: Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his 1family: he shall not have anyone to dwell among this people, nor shall he see the good that I will do for My people, says the LORD, abecause he has taught rebellion against the LORD.
Restoration of Israel and Judah
1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
2 “Thus speaks the LORD God of Israel, saying: ‘Write in a book for yourself all the words that I have spoken to you.
3 ‘For behold, the days are coming,’ says the LORD, ‘that aI will bring back from captivity My people Israel and Judah,’ says the LORD. b‘And I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall *possess it.’ ”
4 Now these are the words that the LORD spoke concerning Israel and Judah.
‘We have heard a voice of trembling,
Of 1fear, and not of peace.
Whether a 1man is ever in 2labor with child?
So why do I see every man with his hands on his loins
aLike a woman in labor,
And all faces turned pale?
7 aAlas! For that day is great,
bSo that none is like it;
And it is the time of Jacob’s trouble,
But he shall be saved out of it.
8 ‘For it shall come to pass in that day,’
Says the LORD of hosts,
‘That I will break his yoke from your neck,
And will burst your bonds;
Foreigners shall no more enslave them.
9 But they shall *serve the LORD their God,
And aDavid their king,
Whom I will braise up for them.
10 ‘Therefore ado not fear, O My servant Jacob,’ says the LORD,
‘Nor be dismayed, O Israel;
For behold, I will save you from afar,
And your seed bfrom the land of their captivity.
Jacob shall return, have rest and be quiet,
And no one shall make him afraid.
11 For I am with ayou,’ says the LORD, ‘to save you;
bThough I make a full end of all nations where I have scattered you,
cYet I will not make a complete end of you.
But I will *correct you din justice,
And will not let you go altogether unpunished.’
12 “For thus says the LORD:
a‘Your affliction is incurable,
Your wound is severe.
13 There is no one to *plead your cause,
That you may be bound up;
aYou have no healing medicines.
14 aAll your lovers have forgotten you;
They do not seek you;
For I have wounded you with the wound bof an enemy,
With the chastisement cof a cruel one,
For the multitude of your iniquities,
dBecause your sins have increased.
15 Why ado you cry about your affliction?
Your sorrow is incurable.
Because of the multitude of your iniquities,
Because your sins have increased,
I have done these things to you.
16 ‘Therefore all those who devour you ashall be devoured;
And all your adversaries, every one of them, shall go into bcaptivity;
Those who plunder you shall become cplunder,
And all who prey upon you I will make a dprey.
17 aFor I will restore health to you
And heal you of your wounds,’ says the LORD,
‘Because they called you an outcast saying:
“This is Zion;
No one seeks her.” ’
18 “Thus says the LORD:
‘Behold, I will bring back the captivity of Jacob’s tents,
And ahave mercy on his *dwelling places;
The city shall be built upon its own 1mound,
And the palace shall *remain according to its own plan.
19 Then aout of them shall proceed *thanksgiving
And the voice of those who make merry;
bI will multiply them, and they shall not diminish;
I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small.
20 Their children also shall be aas before,
And their *congregation shall be established before Me;
And I will punish all who oppress them.
21 Their nobles shall be from among them,
aAnd their governor shall come from their midst;
Then I will bcause him to draw near,
And he shall approach Me;
For who is this who pledged his heart to approach Me?’ says the LORD.
22 ‘You shall be aMy people,
And I will be your God.’ ”
23 Behold, the awhirlwind of the LORD
Goes forth with fury,
A 1continuing whirlwind;
It will fall violently on the head of the wicked.
24 The fierce anger of the LORD will not return until He has done it,
And until He has performed the intents of His heart.
aIn the latter days you will consider it.