But Yahweh said to me, “Don’t say, ‘I am a child;’ for to whoever I shall send you, you shall go, and whatever I shall command you, you shall speak. Don’t be afraid because of them; for I am with you to deliver you,” says Yahweh. Then Yahweh put forth his hand, and touched my mouth; and Yahweh said to me, “Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. Behold, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.” Moreover the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, “Jeremiah, what do you see?”

I said, “I see a branch of an almond tree.”

Then Yahweh said to me, “You have seen well; for I watch over my word to perform it.”

The word of Yahweh came to me the second time, saying, “What do you see?”

I said, “I see a boiling caldron; and it is tipping away from the north.”

Then Yahweh said to me, “Out of the north evil will break out on all the inhabitants of the land. For, behold, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north,” says Yahweh; “and they shall come, and they shall each set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all its walls all around, and against all the cities of Judah. I will utter my judgments against them touching all their wickedness, in that they have forsaken me, and have burned incense to other gods, and worshiped the works of their own hands.

“You therefore put your belt on your waist, arise, and speak to them all that I command you. Don’t be dismayed at them, lest I dismay you before them. For, behold, I have made you this day a fortified city, and an iron pillar, and bronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against its princes, against its priests, and against the people of the land. They will fight against you; but they will not prevail against you; for I am with you,” says Yahweh, “to deliver you.”

1:6 The word translated “Lord” is “Adonai.”

[Top of Page]

Hear the word of Yahweh, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel! Thus says Yahweh, “What unrighteousness have your fathers found in me, that they have gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain? Neither did they say, ‘Where is Yahweh who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought and of the shadow of death, through a land that none passed through, and where no man lived?’ I brought you into a plentiful land, to eat its fruit and its goodness; but when you entered, you defiled my land, and made my heritage an abomination. The priests didn’t say, ‘Where is Yahweh?’ and those who handle the law didn’t know me. The rulers also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit.

“Therefore I will yet contend with you,” says Yahweh, “and I will contend with your children’s children. For pass over to the islands of Kittim, and see; and send to Kedar, and consider diligently; and see if there has been such a thing. Has a nation changed its gods, which really are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit.

“Be astonished, you heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid. Be very desolate,” says Yahweh. “For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the spring of living waters, and cut them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water. Is Israel a servant? Is he a native-born slave? Why has he become a prey? The young lions have roared at him, and yelled. They have made his land waste. His cities are burned up, without inhabitant. The children also of Memphis and Tahpanhes have broken the crown of your head.

“Haven’t you procured this to yourself, in that you have forsaken Yahweh your God, when he led you by the way? Now what have you to do in the way to Egypt, to drink the waters of the Shihor? Or what have you to do in the way to Assyria, to drink the waters of the River?

“Your own wickedness shall correct you, and your backsliding shall reprove you. Know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and a bitter, that you have forsaken Yahweh your God, and that my fear is not in you,” says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies. “For of old time I have broken your yoke, and burst your bonds; and you said, ‘I will not serve;’ for on every high hill and under every green tree you bowed yourself, playing the prostitute. Yet I had planted you a noble vine, wholly a right seed. How then have you turned into the degenerate branches of a foreign vine to me? For though you wash yourself with lye, and use much soap, yet your iniquity is marked before me,” says the Lord Yahweh.

“How can you say, ‘I am not defiled. I have not gone after the Baals’? See your way in the valley. Know what you have done. You are a swift dromedary traversing her ways; a wild donkey used to the wilderness, that snuffs up the wind in her desire. When she is in heat, who can turn her away? All those who seek her will not weary themselves. In her month, they will find her.

“Withhold your foot from being unshod, and your throat from thirst. But you said, ‘It is in vain. No, for I have loved strangers, and I will go after them.’ As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets; who tell wood, ‘You are my father;’ and a stone, ‘You have brought me out:’ for they have turned their back to me, and not their face; but in the time of their trouble they will say, ‘Arise, and save us.’

“But where are your gods that you have made for yourselves? Let them arise, if they can save you in the time of your trouble: for according to the number of your cities are your gods, Judah.

“Why will you contend with me? You all have transgressed against me,” says Yahweh.

“I have struck your children in vain. They received no correction. Your own sword has devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion. Generation, consider the word of Yahweh. Have I been a wilderness to Israel? Or a land of thick darkness? Why do my people say, ‘We have broken loose. We will come to you no more?’

“Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet my people have forgotten me for days without number. How well you prepare your way to seek love! Therefore you have taught even the wicked women your ways. Also the blood of the souls of the innocent poor is found in your skirts. You did not find them breaking in; but it is because of all these things.

“Yet you said, ‘I am innocent. Surely his anger has turned away from me.’

“Behold, I will judge you, because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’ Why do you go about so much to change your way? You will be ashamed of Egypt also, as you were ashamed of Assyria. From there also you shall go forth, with your hands on your head; for Yahweh has rejected those in whom you trust, and you shall not prosper with them.

2:17 The Hebrew word rendered “God” is “Elohim.”

[Top of Page]

“Lift up your eyes to the bare heights, and see! Where have you not been lain with? You have sat for them by the ways, as an Arabian in the wilderness. You have polluted the land with your prostitution and with your wickedness. Therefore the showers have been withheld, and there has been no latter rain; yet you have a prostitute’s forehead, you refused to be ashamed. Will you not from this time cry to me, ‘My Father, you are the guide of my youth?’

“‘Will he retain his anger forever? Will he keep it to the end?’ Behold, you have spoken and have done evil things, and have had your way.”

Moreover, Yahweh said to me in the days of Josiah the king, “Have you seen that which backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and there has played the prostitute. I said after she had done all these things, ‘She will return to me;’ but she didn’t return; and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. I saw, when, for this very cause that backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a bill of divorce, yet treacherous Judah, her sister, didn’t fear; but she also went and played the prostitute. It happened through the lightness of her prostitution, that the land was polluted, and she committed adultery with stones and with stocks. Yet for all this her treacherous sister, Judah, has not returned to me with her whole heart, but only in pretense,” says Yahweh.

Yahweh said to me, “Backsliding Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, ‘Return, you backsliding Israel,’ says Yahweh; ‘I will not look in anger on you; for I am merciful,’ says Yahweh. ‘I will not keep anger forever. Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against Yahweh your God, and have scattered your ways to the strangers under every green tree, and you have not obeyed my voice,’ says Yahweh.” “Return, backsliding children,” says Yahweh; “for I am a husband to you. I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion. I will give you shepherds according to my heart, who shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. It shall come to pass, when you are multiplied and increased in the land, in those days,” says Yahweh, “they shall say no more, ‘The ark of the covenant of Yahweh!’ neither shall it come to mind; neither shall they remember it; neither shall they miss it; neither shall it be made any more. At that time they shall call Jerusalem ‘The throne of Yahweh;’ and all the nations shall be gathered to it, to the name of Yahweh, to Jerusalem. Neither shall they walk any more after the stubbornness of their evil heart. In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I gave for an inheritance to your fathers.

“But I said, ‘How I would put you among the children, and give you a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the armies of the nations!’ and I said, ‘You shall call me “My Father,” and shall not turn away from following me.’

“Surely as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, so you have dealt treacherously with me, house of Israel,” says Yahweh. A voice is heard on the bare heights, the weeping and the petitions of the children of Israel; because they have perverted their way, they have forgotten Yahweh their God. Return, you backsliding children, I will heal your backsliding.

“Behold, we have come to you; for you are Yahweh our God. Truly in vain is the help that is looked for from the hills, the tumult on the mountains. Truly the salvation of Israel is in Yahweh our God. But the shameful thing has devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. Let us lie down in our shame, and let our confusion cover us; for we have sinned against Yahweh our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day. We have not obeyed the voice of Yahweh our God.”

[Top of Page]

For thus says Yahweh to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, “Break up your fallow ground, and don’t sow among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to Yahweh, and take away the foreskins of your heart, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn so that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings. Declare in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem; and say, ‘Blow the trumpet in the land!’ Cry aloud and say, ‘Assemble yourselves! Let us go into the fortified cities!’ Set up a standard toward Zion. Flee for safety! Don’t wait; for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction.”

A lion is gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations; he is on his way, he is gone forth from his place, to make your land desolate, that your cities be laid waste, without inhabitant. For this clothe yourself with sackcloth, lament and wail; for the fierce anger of Yahweh hasn’t turned back from us. “It shall happen at that day,” says Yahweh, “that the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes; and the priests shall be astonished, and the prophets shall wonder.”

Then I said, “Ah, Lord Yahweh! Surely you have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘You shall have peace;’ whereas the sword reaches to the heart.”

At that time shall it be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A hot wind from the bare heights in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not to winnow, nor to cleanse; a full wind from these shall come for me. Now I will also utter judgments against them.”

Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots shall be as the whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us! For we are ruined. Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved. How long shall your evil thoughts lodge within you? For a voice declares from Dan, and publishes evil from the hills of Ephraim: “Tell the nations; behold, publish against Jerusalem, ‘Watchers come from a far country, and raise their voice against the cities of Judah. As keepers of a field, they are against her all around, because she has been rebellious against me,’” says Yahweh. “Your way and your doings have brought these things to you. This is your wickedness; for it is bitter, for it reaches to your heart.”

My anguish, my anguish! I am pained at my very heart; my heart is disquieted in me; I can’t hold my peace; because you have heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. Destruction on destruction is cried; for the whole land is laid waste: suddenly are my tents destroyed, and my curtains in a moment. How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet?

“For my people are foolish, they don’t know me. They are foolish children, and they have no understanding. They are skillful in doing evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.” I saw the earth, and, behold, it was waste and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. I saw the mountains, and behold, they trembled, and all the hills moved back and forth. I saw, and behold, there was no man, and all the birds of the sky had fled. I saw, and behold, the fruitful field was a wilderness, and all its cities were broken down at the presence of Yahweh, and before his fierce anger. For thus says Yahweh, “The whole land shall be a desolation; yet will I not make a full end. For this the earth will mourn, and the heavens above be black; because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and I have not repented, neither will I turn back from it.”

Every city flees for the noise of the horsemen and archers; they go into the thickets, and climb up on the rocks: every city is forsaken, and not a man dwells therein. You, when you are made desolate, what will you do? Though you clothe yourself with scarlet, though you deck you with ornaments of gold, though you enlarge your eyes with paint, in vain do you make yourself beautiful; your lovers despise you, they seek your life. For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, the anguish as of her who brings forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, who gasps for breath, who spreads her hands, saying, “Woe is me now! For my soul faints before the murderers.”

[Top of Page]

O Yahweh, don’t your eyes look on truth? You have stricken them, but they were not grieved. You have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than a rock. They have refused to return.

Then I said, “Surely these are poor. They are foolish; for they don’t know the way of Yahweh, nor the law of their God. I will go to the great men, and will speak to them; for they know the way of Yahweh, and the law of their God.” But these with one accord have broken the yoke, and burst the bonds. Therefore a lion out of the forest shall kill them, a wolf of the evenings shall destroy them, a leopard shall watch against their cities; everyone who goes out there shall be torn in pieces; because their transgressions are many, and their backsliding is increased.

“How can I pardon you? Your children have forsaken me, and sworn by what are no gods. When I had fed them to the full, they committed adultery, and assembled themselves in troops at the prostitutes’ houses. They were as fed horses roaming at large: everyone neighed after his neighbor’s wife. Shouldn’t I punish them for these things?” says Yahweh; “and shouldn’t my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

“Go up on her walls, and destroy; but don’t make a full end. Take away her branches; for they are not Yahweh’s. For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me,” says Yahweh.

They have denied Yahweh, and said, “It is not he; neither shall evil come on us; neither shall we see sword nor famine. The prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them. Thus shall it be done to them.”

Therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of Armies, “Because you speak this word, behold, I will make my words in your mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them. Behold, I will bring a nation on you from far, house of Israel,” says Yahweh. “It is a mighty nation. It is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you don’t know, neither understand what they say. Their quiver is an open tomb, they are all mighty men. They shall eat up your harvest, and your bread, which your sons and your daughters should eat. They shall eat up your flocks and your herds. They shall eat up your vines and your fig trees. They shall beat down your fortified cities, in which you trust, with the sword.

“But even in those days,” says Yahweh, “I will not make a full end with you. It will happen, when you say, ‘Why has Yahweh our God done all these things to us?’ Then you shall say to them, ‘Just like you have forsaken me, and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve strangers in a land that is not yours.’

“Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying, ‘Hear now this, foolish people, and without understanding; who have eyes, and don’t see; who have ears, and don’t hear: Don’t you fear me?’ says Yahweh ‘Won’t you tremble at my presence, who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea, by a perpetual decree, that it can’t pass it? and though its waves toss themselves, yet they can’t prevail; though they roar, yet they can’t pass over it.’

“But this people has a revolting and a rebellious heart; they have revolted and gone. Neither do they say in their heart, ‘Let us now fear Yahweh our God, who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season; who preserves to us the appointed weeks of the harvest.’

“Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withheld good from you. For among my people are found wicked men. They watch, as fowlers lie in wait. They set a trap. They catch men. As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit. Therefore they have become great, and grew rich. They have grown fat. They shine; yes, they excel in deeds of wickedness. They don’t plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they may prosper; and they don’t judge the right of the needy.

“Shall I not punish for these things?” says Yahweh. “Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

“An astonishing and horrible thing has happened in the land. The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority; and my people love to have it so. What will you do in the end of it?