| 1 | Thus said the LORD to me, "Go and buy a linen waistcloth, and put it on your loins, and do not dip it in water." |
| 2 | So I bought a waistcloth according to the word of the LORD, and put it on my loins. |
| 3 | And the word of the LORD came to me a second time, |
| 4 | "Take the waistcloth which you have bought, which is upon your loins, and arise, go to the Euphra'tes, and hide it there in a cleft of the rock." |
| 5 | So I went, and hid it by the Euphra'tes, as the LORD commanded me. |
| 6 | And after many days the LORD said to me, "Arise, go to the Euphra'tes, and take from there the waistcloth which I commanded you to hide there." |
| 7 | Then I went to the Euphra'tes, and dug, and I took the waistcloth from the place where I had hidden it. And behold, the waistcloth was spoiled; it was good for nothing. |
| 8 | Then the word of the LORD came to me: |
| 9 | "Thus says the LORD: Even so will I spoil the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. |
| 10 | This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who stubbornly follow their own heart and have gone after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be like this waistcloth, which is good for nothing. |
| 11 | For as the waistcloth clings to the loins of a man, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, says the LORD, that they might be for me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory, but they would not listen. |
| 12 | "You shall speak to them this word: `Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, "Every jar shall be filled with wine."' And they will say to you, `Do we not indeed know that every jar will be filled with wine?' |
| 13 | Then you shall say to them, `Thus says the LORD: Behold, I will fill with drunkenness all the inhabitants of this land: the kings who sit on David's throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. |
| 14 | And I will dash them one against another, fathers and sons together, says the LORD. I will not pity or spare or have compassion, that I should not destroy them.'" |
| 15 | Hear and give ear; be not proud, for the LORD has spoken. |
| 16 | Give glory to the LORD your God before he brings darkness, before your feet stumble on the twilight mountains, and while you look for light he turns it into gloom and makes it deep darkness. |
| 17 | But if you will not listen, my soul will weep 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 the king and the queen mother: "Take a lowly seat, for your beautiful crown has come down from your head." |
| 19 | The cities of the Negeb are shut up, with none to open them; all Judah is taken into exile, wholly taken into exile. |
| 20 | "Lift up your eyes and see those who come from the north. Where is the flock that was given you, your beautiful flock? |
| 21 | What will you say when they set as head over you those whom you yourself have taught to be friends to you? Will not pangs take hold of you, like those of a woman in travail? |
| 22 | And if you say in your heart, `Why have these things come upon me?' it is for the greatness of your iniquity that your skirts are lifted up, and you suffer violence. |
| 23 | Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil. |
| 24 | I will scatter you like chaff driven by the wind from the desert. |
| 25 | This is your lot, the portion I have measured out to you, says the LORD, because you have forgotten me and trusted in lies. |
| 26 | I myself will lift up your skirts over your face, and your shame will be seen. |
| 27 | I have seen your abominations, your adulteries and neighings, your lewd harlotries, on the hills in the field. Woe to you, O Jerusalem! How long will it be before you are made clean?" |
| 1 | The word of the LORD which came to Jeremiah concerning the drought: |
| 2 | "Judah mourns and her gates languish; her people lament on the ground, and the cry of Jerusalem goes up. |
| 3 | Her nobles send their servants for water; they come to the cisterns, they find no water, they return with their vessels empty; they are ashamed and confounded and cover their heads. |
| 4 | Because of the ground which is dismayed, since there is no rain on the land, the farmers are ashamed, they cover their heads. |
| 5 | Even the hind in the field forsakes her newborn calf because there is no grass. |
| 6 | The wild asses stand on the bare heights, they pant for air like jackals; their eyes fail because there is no herbage. |
| 7 | "Though our iniquities testify against us, act, O LORD, for thy name's sake; for our backslidings are many, we have sinned against thee. |
| 8 | O thou hope of Israel, its savior in time of trouble, why shouldst thou be like a stranger in the land, like a wayfarer who turns aside to tarry for a night? |
| 9 | Why shouldst thou be like a man confused, like a mighty man who cannot save? Yet thou, O LORD, art in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name; leave us not." |
| 10 | Thus says the LORD concerning this people: "They have loved to wander thus, they have not restrained their feet; therefore the LORD does not accept them, now he will remember their iniquity and punish their sins." |
| 11 | The LORD said to me: "Do not pray for the welfare of this people. |
| 12 | Though they fast, I will not hear their cry, and though they offer burnt offering and cereal offering, I will not accept them; but I will consume them by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence." |
| 13 | Then 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 assured peace in this place.'" |
| 14 | And the LORD said to me: "The prophets are prophesying lies in my name; I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a lying vision, worthless divination, and the deceit of their own minds. |
| 15 | Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name although I did not send them, and who say, `Sword and famine shall not come on 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, victims of famine and sword, with none to bury them -- them, their wives, their sons, and their daughters. For I will pour out their wickedness upon them. |
| 17 | "You shall say to them this word: `Let my eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease, for the virgin daughter of my people is smitten with a great wound, with a very grievous blow. |
| 18 | If I go out into the field, behold, those slain by the sword! And if I enter the city, behold, the diseases of famine! For both prophet and priest ply their trade through the land, and have no knowledge.'" |
| 19 | Hast thou utterly rejected Judah? Does thy soul loathe Zion? Why hast thou smitten us so that there is no healing for us? We looked for peace, but no good came; for a time of healing, but behold, terror. |
| 20 | We acknowledge our wickedness, O LORD, and the iniquity of our fathers, for we have sinned against thee. |
| 21 | Do not spurn us, for thy name's sake; do not dishonor thy glorious throne; remember and do not break thy covenant with us. |
| 22 | Are there any among the false gods of the nations that can bring rain? Or can the heavens give showers? Art thou not he, O LORD our God? We set our hope on thee, for thou doest all these things. |
| 1 | Then the LORD said to me, "Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my heart would not turn toward this people. Send them out of my sight, and let them go! |
| 2 | And when they ask you, `Where shall we go?' you shall say to them, `Thus says the LORD: "Those who are for pestilence, to pestilence, and those who are for the sword, to the sword; those who are for famine, to famine, and those who are for captivity, to captivity."' |
| 3 | "I will appoint over them four kinds of destroyers, says the LORD: the sword to slay, the dogs to tear, and the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy. |
| 4 | And I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth because of what Manas'seh the son of Hezeki'ah, king of Judah, did in Jerusalem. |
| 5 | "Who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem, or who will bemoan you? Who will turn aside to ask about your welfare? |
| 6 | You have rejected me, says the LORD, you keep going backward; so I have stretched out my hand against you and destroyed you; -- I am weary of relenting. |
| 7 | I have winnowed them with a winnowing fork in the gates of the land; I have bereaved them, I have destroyed my people; they did not turn from their ways. |
| 8 | I have made their widows more in number than the sand of the seas; I have brought against the mothers of young men a destroyer at noonday; I have made anguish and terror fall upon them suddenly. |
| 9 | She who bore seven has languished; she has swooned away; her sun went down while it was yet day; she has been shamed and disgraced. And the rest of them I will give to the sword before their enemies, says the LORD." |
| 10 | Woe is me, my mother, that you bore me, a man of strife and contention to the whole land! I have not lent, nor have I borrowed, yet all of them curse me. |
| 11 | So let it be, O LORD, if I have not entreated thee for their good, if I have not pleaded with thee on behalf of the enemy in the time of trouble and in the time of distress! |
| 12 | Can one break iron, iron from the north, and bronze? |
| 13 | "Your wealth and your treasures I will give as spoil, without price, for all your sins, throughout all your territory. |
| 14 | I will make you serve your enemies in a land which you do not know, for in my anger a fire is kindled which shall burn for ever." |
| 15 | O LORD, thou knowest; remember me and visit me, and take vengeance for me on my persecutors. In thy forbearance take me not away; know that for thy sake I bear reproach. |
| 16 | Thy words were found, and I ate them, and thy words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart; for I am called by thy name, O LORD, God of hosts. |
| 17 | I did not sit in the company of merrymakers, nor did I rejoice; I sat alone, because thy hand was upon me, for thou hadst filled me with indignation. |
| 18 | Why is my pain unceasing, my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Wilt thou be to me like a deceitful brook, like waters that fail? |
| 19 | Therefore thus says the LORD: "If you return, I will restore you, and you shall stand before me. If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless, you shall be as my mouth. They shall turn to you, but you shall not turn to them. |
| 20 | And I will make you to this people a fortified wall of bronze; they will fight against you, but they shall not prevail over you, for I am with you to save you and deliver you, says the LORD. |
| 21 | I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked, and redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless." |
