Chapter 14

Drought and a Prayer for Mercy

1 That which came as the word of the Lord to Jeremiah in regard to the adrought:

2 “Judah mourns

And aher gates languish;

They sit on the ground bin mourning,

And the ccry of Jerusalem has ascended.

3 “Their nobles have asent their 1servants for water;

They have come to the bcisterns and found no water.

They have returned with their vessels empty;

They have been cput to shame and humiliated,

And they dcover their heads.

4 “Because the aground is 1cracked,

For there has been bno rain on the land;

The cfarmers have been put to shame,

They have covered their heads.

5 “For even the doe in the field has given birth only to abandon her young,

Because there is ano grass.

6 “The awild donkeys stand on the bare heights;

They pant for air like jackals,

Their eyes fail

For there is bno vegetation.

7 “Although our ainiquities testify against us,

O Lord, act bfor Your name’s sake!

Truly our capostasies have been many,

We have dsinned against You.

8 “O aHope of Israel,

Its bSavior in ctime of distress,

Why are You like a stranger in the land

Or like a traveler who has pitched his tent for the night?

9 “Why are You like a man dismayed,

Like a mighty man who acannot save?

Yet bYou are in our midst, O Lord,

And we are ccalled by Your name;

Do not forsake us!”

10 Thus says the Lord to this people, “Even so they have aloved to wander; they have not bkept their feet in check. Therefore the Lord does cnot accept them; now He will dremember their iniquity and call their sins to account.”

11 So the Lord said to me, “aDo not pray for the welfare of this people.

12 “When they fast, I am anot going to listen to their cry; and when they offer bburnt offering and grain offering, I am not going to accept them. Rather I am going to cmake an end of them by the dsword, famine and pestilence.”

False Prophets

13 But, “Ah, Lord 1God!” I said, “Look, the prophets are telling them, ‘You awill not see the sword nor will you have famine, but I will give you 2lasting bpeace in this place.’ ”

14 Then the Lord said to me, “The aprophets are prophesying falsehood in My name. bI have neither sent them nor commanded them nor spoken to them; they are prophesying to you a cfalse vision, divination, futility and the deception of their own 1minds.

15 “Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who are prophesying in My name, although it was not I who sent them—yet they keep saying, ‘There will be no sword or famine in this land’—aby sword and famine those prophets shall 1meet their end!

16 “The people also to whom they are prophesying will be athrown out into the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and there will be no one to bbury them—neither them, nor their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters—for I will cpour out their own wickedness on them.

17 “You will say this word to them,

‘aLet my eyes flow down with tears night and day,

And let them not cease;

For the virgin bdaughter of my people has been crushed with a mighty blow,

With a sorely cinfected wound.

18 ‘If I ago out to the country,

Behold, those 1slain with the sword!

Or if I enter the city,

Behold, diseases of famine!

For bboth prophet and priest

Have 2gone roving about in the land that they do not know.’ ”

19 Have You completely arejected Judah?

Or have 1You loathed Zion?

Why have You stricken us so that we bare beyond healing?

We cwaited for peace, but nothing good came;

And for a time of healing, but behold, terror!

20 We aknow our wickedness, O Lord,

The iniquity of our fathers, for bwe have sinned against You.

21 Do not despise us, afor Your own name’s sake;

Do not disgrace the bthrone of Your glory;

Remember and do not annul Your covenant with us.

22 Are there any among the 1aidols of the nations who bgive rain?

Or can the heavens grant showers?

Is it not You, O Lord our God?

Therefore we 2chope in You,

For You are the one who has done all these things.

Chapter 15

Judgment Must Come

1 Then the Lord said to me, “Even athough bMoses and cSamuel were to dstand before Me, My 1heart would not be 2with this people; esend them away from My presence and let them go!

2 “And it shall be that when they say to you, ‘Where should we go?’ then you are to tell them, ‘Thus says the Lord:

“Those destined afor death, to death;

And those destined for the sword, to the sword;

And those destined for famine, to famine;

And those destined for captivity, to captivity.” ’

3 “I will aappoint over them four kinds of doom,” declares the Lord: “the sword to slay, the bdogs to drag off, and the cbirds of the sky and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy.

4 “I will amake them an object of horror among all the kingdoms of the earth because of bManasseh, the son of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem.

5 “Indeed, who will have apity on you, O Jerusalem,

Or who will bmourn for you,

Or who will turn aside to ask about your welfare?

6 “You who have aforsaken Me,” declares the Lord,

“You keep bgoing backward.

So I will cstretch out My hand against you and destroy you;

I am dtired of relenting!

7 “I will awinnow them with a winnowing fork

At the gates of the land;

I will bbereave them of children, I will destroy My people;

cThey did not 1repent of their ways.

8 “Their awidows will be more numerous before Me

Than the sand of the seas;

I will bring against them, against the mother of a young man,

A bdestroyer at noonday;

I will suddenly bring down on her

Anguish and dismay.

9 “She who abore seven sons pines away;

1Her breathing is labored.

Her bsun has set while it was yet day;

She has been cshamed and humiliated.

So I will dgive over their survivors to the sword

Before their enemies,” declares the Lord.

10 aWoe to me, my mother, that you have borne me

As a bman of strife and a man of contention to all the land!

I have not clent, nor have men lent money to me,

Yet everyone curses me.

11 The Lord said, “Surely I will aset you free for purposes of good;

Surely I will cause the benemy to make supplication to you

In a time of disaster and a time of distress.

12 “Can anyone smash iron,

aIron from the north, or bronze?

13 “Your awealth and your treasures

I will give for booty bwithout cost,

Even for all your sins

And within all your borders.

14 “Then I will cause your enemies to bring 1it

Into a aland you do not know;

For a bfire has been kindled in My anger,

It will burn upon you.”

Jeremiah’s Prayer and God’s Answer

15 aYou who know, O Lord,

Remember me, take notice of me,

And btake vengeance for me on my persecutors.

Do not, in view of Your patience, take me away;

Know that cfor Your sake I endure reproach.

16 Your words were found and I aate them,

And Your bwords became for me a joy and the delight of my heart;

For I have been ccalled by Your name,

O Lord God of hosts.

17 I adid not sit in the circle of merrymakers,

Nor did I exult.

Because of Your hand upon me I sat balone,

For You cfilled me with indignation.

18 Why has my pain been perpetual

And my awound incurable, refusing to be healed?

Will You indeed be to me blike a deceptive stream

With water that is unreliable?

19 Therefore, thus says the Lord,

“aIf you return, then I will restore you—

bBefore Me you will stand;

And cif you extract the precious from the worthless,

You will become 1My spokesman.

They for their part may turn to you,

But as for you, you must not turn to them.

20 “Then I will amake you to this people

A fortified wall of bronze;

And though they fight against you,

They will not prevail over you;

For bI am with you to save you

And deliver you,” declares the Lord.

21 “So I will adeliver you from the hand of the wicked,

And I will bredeem you from the 1grasp of the violent.”

Chapter 16

Distresses Foretold

1 The word of the Lord also came to me saying,

2 “You shall not take a wife for yourself nor have sons or daughters in this place.”

3 For thus says the Lord concerning the sons and daughters born in this place, and concerning their amothers who bear them, and their bfathers who beget them in this land:

4 “They will adie of deadly diseases, they bwill not be lamented or buried; they will be as cdung on the surface of the ground and come to an end by sword and famine, and their carcasses will become food for the dbirds of the sky and for the beasts of the earth.”

5 For thus says the Lord, “Do not enter a house of 1amourning, or go to lament or to console them; for I have bwithdrawn My peace from this people,” declares the Lord, “My clovingkindness and compassion.

6 “Both agreat men and small will die in this land; they will not be buried, they will not be lamented, nor will anyone bgash himself or cshave his head for them.

7 “Men will not abreak bread in mourning for them, to comfort anyone for the dead, nor give them a cup of consolation to drink for anyone’s father or mother.

8 “Moreover you shall anot go into a house of feasting to sit with them to eat and drink.”

9 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, I am going to 1aeliminate from this place, before your eyes and in your time, the voice of rejoicing and the voice of gladness, the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride.

10 “Now when you tell this people all these words, they will say to you, ‘aFor what reason has the Lord declared all this great calamity against us? And what is our iniquity, or what is our sin which we have committed against the Lord our God?’

11 “Then you are to say to them, ‘It is abecause your forefathers have forsaken Me,’ declares the Lord, ‘and have followed bother gods and served them and bowed down to them; but Me they have forsaken and have not kept My law.

12 ‘You too have done evil, even amore than your forefathers; for behold, you are each one walking according to the bstubbornness of his own cevil heart, without listening to Me.

13 ‘So I will ahurl you out of this land into the bland which you have not known, neither you nor your fathers; and there you will cserve other gods day and night, for I will grant you no favor.’

God Will Restore Them

14 “aTherefore behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when it will no longer be said, ‘As the Lord lives, who bbrought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’

15 but, ‘As the Lord lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the aland of the north and from all the countries where He had banished them.’ For I will restore them to their own land which I gave to their fathers.

16 “Behold, I am going to send for many afishermen,” declares the Lord, “and they will fish for them; and afterwards I will send for many hunters, and they will bhunt them cfrom every mountain and every hill and from the clefts of the rocks.

17 “aFor My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from My face, bnor is their iniquity concealed from My eyes.

18 “I will first adoubly repay their iniquity and their sin, because they have bpolluted My land; they have filled My inheritance with the carcasses of their cdetestable idols and with their abominations.”

19 O Lord, my astrength and my stronghold,

And my brefuge in the day of distress,

To You the cnations will come

From the ends of the earth and say,

“Our fathers have inherited nothing but dfalsehood,

Futility and 1ethings of no profit.”

20 Can man make gods for himself?

Yet they are anot gods!

21 “Therefore behold, I am going to make them know—

This time I will amake them know

My 1power and My might;

And they shall bknow that My name is the Lord.”

Chapter 17

The Deceitful Heart

1 The asin of Judah is written down with an biron stylus;

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

And on the horns of 1their altars,

2 As they remember their achildren,

So they remember their altars and their 1bAsherim

By cgreen trees on the high hills.

3 O amountain of Mine in the countryside,

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

Your high places for sin throughout your borders.

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

That I gave you;

And I will make you serve your benemies

In the cland which you do not know;

For you have dkindled a fire in My anger

Which will burn forever.

5 Thus says the Lord,

“aCursed is the man who trusts in mankind

And makes bflesh his 1strength,

And whose heart turns away from the Lord.

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

And will not see when prosperity comes,

But will live in stony wastes in the wilderness,

A bland of salt 1without inhabitant.

7 “aBlessed is the man who trusts in the Lord

And whose btrust is the Lord.

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

That extends its roots by a stream

And will not fear when the heat comes;

But its leaves will be green,

And it will not be anxious in a year of bdrought

Nor cease to yield fruit.

9 “The aheart is more bdeceitful than all else

And is desperately csick;

Who can understand it?

10 “I, the Lord, asearch the heart,

I test the 1mind,

Even bto give to each man according to his ways,

According to the 2results of his deeds.

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

So is he who amakes a fortune, but unjustly;

In the midst of his days it will forsake him,

And in 1the end he will be a bfool.”

12 aA glorious throne on high from the beginning

Is the place of our sanctuary.

13 O Lord, the ahope of Israel,

All who bforsake You will be put to shame.

Those who turn 1away on earth will be cwritten down,

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

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

bSave me and I will be saved,

For You are my cpraise.

15 Look, they keep asaying to me,

“Where is the word of the Lord?

Let it come now!”

16 But as for me, I have not hurried away from being a shepherd after You,

Nor have I longed for the woeful day;

aYou Yourself know that the utterance of my lips

Was in Your presence.

17 Do not be a aterror to me;

You are my brefuge in the day of disaster.

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

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

cBring on them a day of disaster,

And crush them with twofold destruction!

The Sabbath Must Be Kept

19 Thus the Lord said to me, “Go and stand in the 1public gate, through which the kings of Judah come in and go out, as well as in all the gates of Jerusalem;

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

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

22 “You shall not bring a load out of your houses on the sabbath day anor do any work, but keep the sabbath day holy, as I bcommanded your 1forefathers.

23 “Yet they adid not listen or incline their ears, but bstiffened their necks in order not to listen or take correction.

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

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

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

27 “But aif you do not listen to Me to keep the sabbath day holy by not carrying a load and coming in through the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day, then bI will kindle a fire in its gates and it will cdevour the palaces of Jerusalem and dnot be quenched.” ’ ”

Chapter 18

The Potter and the Clay

1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying,

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

3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something on the 1wheel.

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

5 Then the word of the Lord came to me saying,

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

7 “At one moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to auproot, to pull down, or to destroy it;

8 aif that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will 1brelent concerning the calamity I planned to bring on it.

9 “Or at another moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to abuild up or to plant it;

10 if it does aevil in My sight by not obeying My voice, then I will 1bthink better of the good with which I had promised to 2bless it.

11 “So now then, speak to the men of Judah and against the inhabitants of Jerusalem saying, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Behold, I am afashioning calamity against you and devising a plan against you. Oh bturn back, each of you from his evil way, and 1reform your ways and your deeds.” ’

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

13 “Therefore thus says the Lord,

‘aAsk now among the nations,

Who ever heard the like of 1this?

The bvirgin of Israel

Has done a most cappalling thing.

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

Or is the cold flowing water from a foreign land ever snatched away?

15 ‘For aMy people have forgotten Me,

bThey burn incense 1to worthless gods

And they 2have stumbled 3from their ways,

3From the cancient paths,

To walk in bypaths,

Not on a dhighway,

16 To make their land a adesolation,

An object of perpetual bhissing;

Everyone who passes by it will be astonished

And cshake his head.

17 ‘Like an aeast wind I will bscatter them

Before the enemy;

I will 1show them cMy back and not My face

dIn the day of their calamity.’ ”

18 Then they said, “Come and let us adevise plans against Jeremiah. Surely the blaw is not going to be lost to the priest, nor ccounsel to the sage, nor the divine dword to the prophet! Come on and let us estrike at him with our tongue, and let us fgive no heed to any of his words.”

19 Do give heed to me, O Lord,

And listen to 1what my opponents are saying!

20 aShould good be repaid with evil?

For they have bdug a pit for 1me.

Remember how I cstood before You

To speak good on their behalf,

So as to turn away Your wrath from them.

21 Therefore, agive their children over to famine

And deliver them up to the 1power of the sword;

And let their wives become bchildless and cwidowed.

Let their men also be smitten to death,

Their dyoung men struck down by the sword in battle.

22 May an aoutcry be heard from their houses,

When You suddenly bring raiders upon them;

bFor they have dug a pit to capture me

And chidden snares for my feet.

23 Yet You, O Lord, know

All their 1deadly designs against me;

aDo not 2forgive their iniquity

Or blot out their sin from Your sight.

But may they be 3boverthrown before You;

Deal with them in the ctime of Your anger!