Jeremiah

The priests did not say, ‘Where [is] YHWH?’ And those handling the law did not know Me; and the rulers transgressed against Me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after [things] not profitable.

“For from long ago I have broken your yoke, and torn off your bonds. And you said, I will not serve!’ For on every high hill and under every green tree you lay down as a prostitute.

saying to a tree, ‘You [are] my father,’ and to a stone, ‘You gave me birth.’ For they have turned the nape to Me, and not the faces; but in the time of their trouble they will say, ‘Arise, and save us.’

“And where [are] your gods that you made for yourselves? Let them stand up, if they can save you in the time of your trouble! For [as] the number of your cities, are your gods, O Judah.

Can a virgin forget her jewelry, [or] a bride her sashes? And My people have forgotten Me for days without number.

you also say ‘Because I am innocent, surely His anger has turned away from me.’ Behold, I will plead with you, because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’

And the showers have been withheld, and the spring rain has not come; and yet you had a whorish woman’s forehead; you refuse to be ashamed.

“If you would return, O Israel, a declaration of YHWH, to Me you must return!” And if you will put away your abominations from My sight, and no longer waver,

and you swear, ‘As YHWH’ lives, in truth, in justice, and in righteousness, then the nations shall bless themselves in Him, and in Him they shall glory.”

Circumcise yourselves to YHWH, and turn aside the foreskins of your⁺ heart, O men of Judah and dwellers of Jerusalem, lest My fury should go forth like the fire and burn—with no one to extinguish it—from the face of the evil of your⁺ deeds!”

“For My people [are] foolish—they have not known Me! They [are] foolish children, and they have no understanding! They [are] wise to do evil, and to do good they do not know.

And you, O devastated one, what are you doing, that you clothe yourself with crimson, that you adorn with ornaments of gold, that you tear open your eyes with paint? In vain you beautify yourself; [for] you have rejected the ones lusting; they seek your life!

O YHWH, [are] not Your eyes on the truth? You have struck them, and they have not grieved; You have finished them off; they have refused to receive discipline. They have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused to turn back.

And I said, “Surely these [are] poor; they are foolish, for they do not know the way of YHWH, the justice of their God.

I shall go Myself to the great ones, and will speak to them, for they have known the way of YHWH, the justice of their God.” But they have broken the yoke as one; they have drawn away the bonds.

“How can I grant forgiveness to you for this? Your sons have forsaken Me and have sworn by those not gods. And I satisfied them, and they committed adultery, and [in] the houses of a harlot they gather themselves together.

and they do not say in their heart, ‘Let us now fear YHWH our God, the One giving rain, the spring rain, and the autumn rain in its season, [and] the weeks appointed for the harvest He keeps for us.

Your⁺ iniquities have stretched away these [things], and your⁺ sins have withheld the good from you⁺.

“For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them, everyone is gaining dishonest gain; and from the prophet even to the priest, everyone is dealing falsely.

And they have healed the breach of My people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace!’ And [there is] no peace.

Thus says YHWH: “Stand along the pathways, and see; and ask for the old paths, ‘Where [is] this good way,’ and walk in it, and you will find rest for your⁺ souls. And they said, ‘We will not walk!’

Do not trust in words of deception, saying, ‘The temple of YHWH, the temple of YHWH, the temple of YHWH [are] they.’

Behold, you⁺ keep trusting for yourselves in words of deception that do not profit.

Are you stealing, murdering, and committing adultery, and swearing by deception, and burning incense to Baal, and walking after other gods whom you do not know,

and then come and stand before My face in this house, over which is called My name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’—In order to do all these abominations?

And I will do to this house, on which is called My name, which you⁺ trust in it, and this place that I gave to you⁺ and to your⁺ fathers, as I have done to Shiloh.

The sons gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven, and [they] pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke Me to anger.

Do they provoke Me to anger? A declaration of YHWH. Is it not themselves, to the shame of their own faces?

Therefore thus says the Lord YHWH: Behold, My anger and My fury are being poured out toward this place, upon man, and upon beast, and upon the tree of the field, and upon the fruit of the ground; and it will burn, and not be extinguished.

But only this thing did I command them, saying: Listen to My voice, and I will be your⁺ God, and you⁺ will be My people; and walk in all the ways that I have commanded you⁺, that it may go well for you⁺.

And they have built the high places of Topheth, which [is] in the Valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire—which I did not command, and it did not come into My heart!

The wise ones have been put to shame, they are dismayed and captured; behold, they have rejected the word of YHWH—what wisdom [is] unto them?

“And they bend their tongues [like] their bow [in] deception, and they are not mighty for the truth on the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know Me!” A declaration of YHWH.

And each man will deceive his neighbor, and they will not speak the truth; they have taught their tongue to speak deception, and they weary themselves to commit iniquity.

Thus says YHWH: “Let not the wise one glory in his wisdom, and let not the mighty one glory in his might, and let not the rich one glory in his riches;

that but let the one glorying glory in this, understanding and knowing Me, that I [am] YHWH, exercising loving devotion, justice, and righteousness in the earth; for in these [things] I delight!” A declaration of YHWH.

Who does not fear You O King of the nations? Indeed, it is fitting for you! Because among all the wise ones of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, [is] none like You.

But they are altogether senseless and foolish, the teaching of of vanities, it [is] of wood!

And YHWH [is] the true God; He [is] the living God, and King forever! At His wrath the earth trembles, and the nations cannot endure His indignation.

He has made the earth by His power; He established the world by His wisdom, and by His understanding He has stretched out the heavens.

Pour out Your fury on the nations who do not know You, and on the families who do not call on Your name; for they have eaten up Jacob, and have devoured him and consumed him, and have made his habitation desolate!

And I went and hid it in Perath, as YHWH commanded me.

And it came to pass after many days that YHWH said to me: “Rise [and] go to Perath, and take from there the the loincloth that I commanded you to hide there.

Listen and give ear! Do not be proud, for YHWH has spoken.

Lift up your⁺ eyes, and see those coming from the north. Where [is] the flock He gave to you, your beautiful flock?

What will you say when He sets over you—and you had taught them to be allies with you—to be head? Will not pangs seize you like a woman in labor?

Though our iniquities testify against us, O YHWH, may You act for the sake of Your name! For many are our backslidings; we have sinned against You.

Why should You be like a man astonished, like a mighty one not able to save? And You [are] among us, O YHWH, and we are called [by] Your name; do not leave us.

Therefore, thus says YHWH concerning the prophets who prophesy in My name, “When I did not send them, and they say, ‘Sword and famine will not be in this land.’ By sword and by famine those prophets will meet their end!

Are there any among the idols of the nations able to bring rain? Or can the heavens give showers? [Are] You not He, O YHWH our God? And we shall wait for You, since You make all these [things].

Thus says YHWH: “Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind and makes flesh his arm and turns away his heart from YHWH.

And he shall be like a shrub in the desert plain, and he shall not see when good comes, and he shall dwell in the parched places in the desert, [in] a salt land without dweller.

Blessed [is] the man who trusts in YHWH, and his hope is YHWH.

And he shall be planted like a tree by the waters, and [which] by the river sends out its roots; and it does not fear when the heat comes, and its leaf will be green, and in the year of drought it is not anxious, and it will not leave off from producing fruit.

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick—who can know it?

And you shall say to them: ‘Hear the word of YHWH, O kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all those dwelling in Jerusalem who enter by these gates.

Thus says YHWH: Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the Sabbath day to bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem.

You shall not bring out a load from your⁺ houses on the Sabbath day, and you⁺ shall not do any work, and keep holy the Sabbath day, as I commanded your⁺ fathers.

They did not listen and they did not incline their ear, and they stiffened their neck, that they would not hear, and they would not receive discipline.

And it will come to pass, if you⁺ listen carefully to Me, a declaration of YHWH, and do not bring in a load through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, and consecrate the Sabbath day to not do any work on it,

And if you⁺ will not listen to Me to consecrate the Sabbath day and not to carry a load and enter the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in its gates, and it will consume the citadels of Jerusalem, and it will not be quenched.’”

The moment I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to uproot and to tear down and to destroy,

and if that nation turns back from its evil, about which I have spoken against, then I will relent concerning the evil that I thought to bring upon it.

because that they have forsaken Me and made foreign this the place and burned incense in it to other gods, whom they have not known—they and not their fathers and not the kings of Judah. And they have filled this place with the blood of innocents!

And they have built the high places of Baal, to burn their sons in the fire [as] burnt offerings to Baal—which I did not command and did not speak, and it did not come upon My heart!

Behold, the days are coming, a declaration of YHWH, when I will raise up for David a Branch of Righteousness, and a King shall reign who will deal wisely, and he will do justice and righteousness in the land.

In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell in security; and this [is] his name that He will be called: YHWH Tsidqenu.

For the land is filled [with] adulterers, [and] the land mourns because of the face of the curse, and the pastures of the wilderness are dried up; and their course has come to be evil, and their strength [is] not right.

“[Am] I a God nearby,” a declaration of YHWH, “And not a God far away?”

“Can a man hide himself in the hidden places, and I shall not see him?” A declaration of YHWH. “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” A declaration of YHWH.

The prophet with whom [is] a dream, let him recount the dream, and with whom [is] My word, let him speak My word in faithfulness. What [is] the chaff to the wheat?” A declaration of YHWH.

And [as for] the prophet, and the priest, and the people, who say, ‘The oracle of YHWH,’ even I will visit punishment upon that man and upon his house.

And the burden of YHWH you shall not mention anymore, for each man’s word will be the burden, and you⁺ have overturned the words of the living God, YHWH of Hosts, our God.

And if you⁺ say, ‘The burden of YHWH,’ therefore thus says YHWH: Because you⁺ say ‘This word [is] the burden of YHWH,’ and I sent to you⁺ saying, you shall not say, ‘The burden of YHWH,’

Only know for certain that if you⁺ put me to death, that you⁺ are bringing on yourselves innocent blood—and on this city and on its dwellers; for in truth YHWH has sent me to you⁺ to speak in your⁺ ears all these words.

And the princes and all the people said to the priests and to the prophets, “This man [is] not worthy of death, for in the name of YHWH our God he has spoken to us.

YHWH has appeared to me from afar: “I have loved you [with] an everlasting love; upon thus I have drawn you with loving devotion.

Thus says YHWH: “Restrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears; for there will be reward for your work, a declaration of YHWH, and they will return from the land of the enemy.

I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself: ‘You disciplined me, and I was disciplined as an untrained heifer; turn me back and I will return, for You [are] YHWH my God.

For after my turning back, I repented; and after I was instructed, I struck myself on the thigh; I was ashamed and also humiliated, because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’

Behold, the days are coming, a declaration of YHWH, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—

not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, in that they broke My covenant, and I was a husband to them, a declaration of YHWH.

“For this [is] the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel, after those days, a declaration of YHWH: I will give My law in their inward parts, and I will write it upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they will be My people.

And they will teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know YHWH; for all of them will know Me, from the least of them and to the greatest of them, a declaration of YHWH. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

Thus says YHWH, who gives the sun for a light by day, [and] the ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night, who stirs up the sea when its waves roar—YHWH of Hosts [is] His name:

And I prayed to YHWH after I had delivered the account of the purchase to Baruch son of Neriah, saying:

“Ah Lord YHWH! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! There is not anything [too] difficult for You—

showing loving devotion to thousands and recompensing the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them, O God great [and] Mighty—YHWH of Hosts [is] His name—

great in counsel and mighty in deed. Your eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men, to give to each man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his deeds.

You have set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt to this day, and in Israel, and among men; and You have made for Yourself a name, as at this day.

And I will give to them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me all the days, for the good of them and of their sons after them.

And I will make with them a covenant forever, that I will not turn away from them My doing good, and My fear I will put in their hearts, and that they will not turn aside from Me.

And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against Me, and I will forgive all their iniquities by which they have sinned against Me and by which they have transgressed against Me.

The word that came to Jeremiah from YHWH after King Zedekiah had cut a covenant with all the people who [were] at Jerusalem, to proclaim to them liberty,

that each man should send forth free his manservant and his maidservant, a Hebrew or a Hebrewess, that none of them should lay service on a Jew, his fellow man.

And they agreed, all the princes and all the people who had come into this covenant, to send forth free each man his manservant and his maidservant, so as not to lay service on them anymore. And they agreed and sent [them] forth.

And they turned around after thus, the menservants and the maidservants made return whom they had sent forth free, and they subjected them as menservants and as maidservants.

And the princes said to the king, “Please, let this man be put to death, for by this he is weakening the hands of the men of war who remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, speaking to them these words. For this man is not seeking the well-being of this people, but only the harm.

And Ebed-melech the Cushite, a eunuch who [was] in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern—and the king was sitting at the Gate of Benjamin—

and Ebed-melech went forth from the house of the king, and he spoke to the king, saying:

“My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the cistern; and he is likely to die from hunger in his place, for there is no more bread in the city.

And the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying: “Take with you from this [place] thirty men and lift Jeremiah the prophet out the pit before he dies.

And Ebed-melech took the men with him, and he went into the house of the king under the treasury, and he took from there worn-out clothes and worn-out rags and let them down by cords into the cistern to Jeremiah.

And Ebed-melech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah: “Please put worn-out clothes and rags under the joints of your arms, under the cords.” And Jeremiah did so.

And they drew up Jeremiah with the cords, and they lifted him from the cistern; and Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.

For we will surely do will we do every word that has gone forth from our mouth, burning incense to the queen of the heavens, and pouring out to her drink offerings, as we have done—we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem. And we were satisfied [with] food, and we were well, and we did not see evil.

For did not Israel come to be for you a laughingstock? Was he found among thieves, that whenever you speak of him you shake your head about him?

They will ask the way [to] Zion, with their faces toward it: Come and let us join ourselves to YHWH [in] a covenant forever that will not be forgotten.