14:1 The Lord spoke to Jeremiah 2 about the drought. 3
14:2 “The people of Judah are in mourning.
The people in her cities are pining away.
They lie on the ground expressing their sorrow. 4
Cries of distress come up to me 5 from Jerusalem. 6
14:3 The leading men of the cities send their servants for water.
They go to the cisterns, 7 but they do not find any water there.
They return with their containers 8 empty.
Disappointed and dismayed, they bury their faces in their hands. 9
14:4 They are dismayed because the ground is cracked 10
because there has been no rain in the land.
The farmers, too, are dismayed
and bury their faces in their hands.
14:5 Even the doe abandons her newborn fawn 11 in the field
because there is no grass.
14:6 Wild donkeys stand on the hilltops
and pant for breath like jackals.
Their eyes are strained looking for food,
because there is none to be found.” 12
14:7 Then I said, 13
“O Lord, intervene for the honor of your name 14
even though our sins speak out against us. 15
Indeed, 16 we have turned away from you many times.
We have sinned against you.
14:8 You have been the object of Israel’s hopes.
You have saved them when they were in trouble.
Why have you become like a resident foreigner 17 in the land?
Why have you become like a traveler who only stops in to spend the night?
14:9 Why should you be like someone who is helpless, 18
like a champion 19 who cannot save anyone?
You are indeed with us, 20
and we belong to you. 21
Do not abandon us!”
14:10 Then the Lord spoke about these people. 22
“They truly 23 love to go astray.
They cannot keep from running away from me. 24
So I am not pleased with them.
I will now call to mind 25 the wrongs they have done 26
and punish them for their sins.”
14:11 Then the Lord said to me, “Do not pray for good to come to these people! 27 14:12 Even if they fast, I will not hear their cries for help. Even if they offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. 28 Instead, I will kill them through wars, famines, and plagues.” 29
14:13 Then I said, “Oh, Lord God, 30 look! 31 The prophets are telling them that you said, 32 ‘You will not experience war or suffer famine. 33 I will give you lasting peace and prosperity in this land.’” 34
14:14 Then the Lord said to me, “Those prophets are prophesying lies while claiming my authority! 35 I did not send them. I did not commission them. 36 I did not speak to them. They are prophesying to these people false visions, worthless predictions, 37 and the delusions of their own mind. 14:15 I did not send those prophets, though they claim to be prophesying in my name. They may be saying, ‘No war or famine will happen in this land.’ But I, the Lord, say this about 38 them: ‘War and starvation will kill those prophets.’ 39 14:16 The people to whom they are prophesying will die through war and famine. Their bodies will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem 40 and there will be no one to bury them. This will happen to the men and their wives, their sons, and their daughters. 41 For I will pour out on them the destruction they deserve.” 42
14:17 “Tell these people this, Jeremiah: 43
‘My eyes overflow with tears
day and night without ceasing. 44
For my people, my dear children, 45 have suffered a crushing blow.
They have suffered a serious wound. 46
14:18 If I go out into the countryside,
I see those who have been killed in battle.
If I go into the city,
I see those who are sick because of starvation. 47
For both prophet and priest go about their own business
in the land without having any real understanding.’” 48
14:19 Then I said,
“Lord, 49 have you completely rejected the nation of Judah?
Do you despise 50 the city of Zion?
Why have you struck us with such force
that we are beyond recovery? 51
We hope for peace, but nothing good has come of it.
We hope for a time of relief from our troubles, but experience terror. 52
14:20 Lord, we confess that we have been wicked.
We confess that our ancestors have done wrong. 53
We have indeed 54 sinned against you.
14:21 For the honor of your name, 55 do not treat Jerusalem 56 with contempt.
Do not treat with disdain the place where your glorious throne sits. 57
Be mindful of your covenant with us. Do not break it! 58
14:22 Do any of the worthless idols 59 of the nations cause rain to fall?
Do the skies themselves send showers?
Is it not you, O Lord our God, who does this? 60
So we put our hopes in you 61
because you alone do all this.”
15:1 Then the Lord said to me, “Even if Moses and Samuel stood before me pleading for 62 these people, I would not feel pity for them! 63 Get them away from me! Tell them to go away! 64 15:2 If they ask you, ‘Where should we go?’ tell them the Lord says this:
“Those who are destined to die of disease will go to death by disease.
Those who are destined to die in war will go to death in war.
Those who are destined to die of starvation will go to death by starvation.
Those who are destined to go into exile will go into exile.” 65
15:3 “I will punish them in four different ways: I will have war kill them. I will have dogs drag off their dead bodies. I will have birds and wild beasts devour and destroy their corpses. 66 15:4 I will make all the people in all the kingdoms of the world horrified at what has happened to them because of what Hezekiah’s son Manasseh, king of Judah, did in Jerusalem.” 67
15:5 The Lord cried out, 68
“Who in the world 69 will have pity on you, Jerusalem?
Who will grieve over you?
Who will stop long enough 70
to inquire about how you are doing? 71
15:6 I, the Lord, say: 72 ‘You people have deserted me!
You keep turning your back on me.’ 73
So I have unleashed my power against you 74 and have begun to destroy you. 75
I have grown tired of feeling sorry for you!” 76
15:7 The Lord continued, 77
“In every town in the land I will purge them
like straw blown away by the wind. 78
I will destroy my people.
I will kill off their children.
I will do so because they did not change their behavior. 79
15:8 Their widows will become in my sight more numerous 80
than the grains of sand on the seashores.
At noontime I will bring a destroyer
against the mothers of their young men. 81
I will cause anguish 82 and terror
to fall suddenly upon them. 83
15:9 The mother who had seven children 84 will grow faint.
All the breath will go out of her. 85
Her pride and joy will be taken from her in the prime of their life.
It will seem as if the sun had set while it was still day. 86
She will suffer shame and humiliation. 87
I will cause any of them who are still left alive
to be killed in war by the onslaughts of their enemies,” 88
says the Lord.
15:10 I said, 89
“Oh, mother, how I regret 90 that you ever gave birth to me!
I am always starting arguments and quarrels with the people of this land. 91
I have not lent money to anyone and I have not borrowed from anyone.
Yet all of these people are treating me with contempt.” 92
15:11 The Lord said,
“Jerusalem, 93 I will surely send you away for your own good.
I will surely 94 bring the enemy upon you in a time of trouble and distress.
15:12 Can you people who are like iron and bronze
break that iron fist from the north? 95
15:13 I will give away your wealth and your treasures as plunder.
I will give it away free of charge for the sins you have committed throughout your land.
15:14 I will make you serve your enemies 96 in a land that you know nothing about.
For my anger is like a fire that will burn against you.”
15:15 I said, 97
“Lord, you know how I suffer. 98
Take thought of me and care for me.
Pay back for me those who have been persecuting me.
Do not be so patient with them that you allow them to kill me.
Be mindful of how I have put up with their insults for your sake.
15:16 As your words came to me I drank them in, 99
and they filled my heart with joy and happiness
because I belong to you. 100
15:17 I did not spend my time in the company of other people,
laughing and having a good time.
I stayed to myself because I felt obligated to you 101
and because I was filled with anger at what they had done.
15:18 Why must I continually suffer such painful anguish?
Why must I endure the sting of their insults like an incurable wound?
Will you let me down when I need you
like a brook one goes to for water, but that cannot be relied on?” 102
15:19 Because of this, the Lord said, 103
“You must repent of such words and thoughts!
If you do, I will restore you to the privilege of serving me. 104
If you say what is worthwhile instead of what is worthless,
I will again allow you to be my spokesman. 105
They must become as you have been.
You must not become like them. 106
15:20 I will make you as strong as a wall to these people,
a fortified wall of bronze.
They will attack you,
but they will not be able to overcome you.
For I will be with you to rescue you and deliver you,” 107
says the Lord.
15:21 “I will deliver you from the power of the wicked.
I will free you from the clutches of violent people.”
16:1 The Lord said to me, 16:2 “Do not get married and do not have children here in this land. 16:3 For I, the Lord, tell you what will happen to 108 the children who are born here in this land and to the men and women who are their mothers and fathers. 109 16:4 They will die of deadly diseases. No one will mourn for them. They will not be buried. Their dead bodies will lie like manure spread on the ground. They will be killed in war or die of starvation. Their corpses will be food for the birds and wild animals.
16:5 “Moreover I, the Lord, tell you: 110 ‘Do not go into a house where they are having a funeral meal. Do not go there to mourn and express your sorrow for them. For I have stopped showing them my good favor, 111 my love, and my compassion. I, the Lord, so affirm it! 112 16:6 Rich and poor alike will die in this land. They will not be buried or mourned. People will not cut their bodies or shave off their hair to show their grief for them. 113 16:7 No one will take any food to those who mourn for the dead to comfort them. No one will give them any wine to drink to console them for the loss of their father or mother.
16:8 “‘Do not go to a house where people are feasting and sit down to eat and drink with them either. 16:9 For I, the Lord God of Israel who rules over all, tell you what will happen. 114 I will put an end to the sounds of joy and gladness, to the glad celebration of brides and grooms in this land. You and the rest of the people will live to see this happen.’” 115
16:10 “When you tell these people about all this, 116 they will undoubtedly ask you, ‘Why has the Lord threatened us with such great disaster? What wrong have we done? What sin have we done to offend the Lord our God?’ 16:11 Then tell them that the Lord says, 117 ‘It is because your ancestors 118 rejected me and paid allegiance to 119 other gods. They have served them and worshiped them. But they have rejected me and not obeyed my law. 120 16:12 And you have acted even more wickedly than your ancestors! Each one of you has followed the stubborn inclinations of your own wicked heart and not obeyed me. 121 16:13 So I will throw you out of this land into a land that neither you nor your ancestors have ever known. There you must worship other gods day and night, for I will show you no mercy.’”
16:14 Yet 122 I, the Lord, say: 123 “A new time will certainly come. 124 People now affirm their oaths with ‘I swear as surely as the Lord lives who delivered the people of Israel out of Egypt.’ 16:15 But in that time they will affirm them with ‘I swear as surely as the Lord lives who delivered the people of Israel from the land of the north and from all the other lands where he had banished them.’ At that time I will bring them back to the land I gave their ancestors.” 125
16:16 But for now I, the Lord, say: 126 “I will send many enemies who will catch these people like fishermen. After that I will send others who will hunt them out like hunters from all the mountains, all the hills, and the crevices in the rocks. 127 16:17 For I see everything they do. Their wicked ways are not hidden from me. Their sin is not hidden away where I cannot see it. 128 16:18 Before I restore them 129 I will punish them in full 130 for their sins and the wrongs they have done. For they have polluted my land with the lifeless statues of their disgusting idols. They have filled the land I have claimed as my own 131 with their detestable idols.” 132
16:19 Then I said, 133
“Lord, you give me strength and protect me.
You are the one I can run to for safety when I am in trouble. 134
Nations from all over the earth
will come to you and say,
‘Our ancestors had nothing but false gods –
worthless idols that could not help them at all. 135
16:20 Can people make their own gods?
No, what they make are not gods at all.” 136
16:21 The Lord said, 137
“So I will now let this wicked people know –
I will let them know my mighty power in judgment.
Then they will know that my name is the Lord.” 138
17:1 139 The sin of Judah is engraved with an iron chisel
on their stone-hard 140 hearts.
It is inscribed with a diamond 141 point
on the horns of their altars. 142
17:2 Their children are always thinking about 143 their 144 altars
and their sacred poles dedicated to the goddess Asherah, 145
set up beside the green trees on the high hills
17:3 and on the mountains and in the fields. 146
I will give your wealth and all your treasures away as plunder.
I will give it away as the price 147 for the sins you have committed throughout your land.
17:4 You will lose your hold on the land 148
which I gave to you as a permanent possession.
I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you know nothing about.
For you have made my anger burn like a fire that will never be put out.” 149
17:5 The Lord says,
“I will put a curse on people
who trust in mere human beings,
who depend on mere flesh and blood for their strength, 151
and whose hearts 152 have turned away from the Lord.
17:6 They will be like a shrub 153 in the desert.
They will not experience good things even when they happen.
It will be as though they were growing in the desert,
in a salt land where no one can live.
17:7 My blessing is on those people who trust in me,
who put their confidence in me. 154
17:8 They will be like a tree planted near a stream
whose roots spread out toward the water.
It has nothing to fear when the heat comes.
Its leaves are always green.
It has no need to be concerned in a year of drought.
It does not stop bearing fruit.
17:9 The human mind is more deceitful than anything else.
It is incurably bad. 155 Who can understand it?
17:10 I, the Lord, probe into people’s minds.
I examine people’s hearts. 156
I deal with each person according to how he has behaved.
I give them what they deserve based on what they have done.
17:11 The person who gathers wealth by unjust means
is like the partridge that broods over eggs but does not hatch them. 157
Before his life is half over he will lose his ill-gotten gains. 158
At the end of his life it will be clear he was a fool.” 159
17:12 Then I said, 160
“Lord, from the very beginning
you have been seated on your glorious throne on high.
You are the place where we can find refuge.
17:13 You are the one in whom Israel may find hope. 161
All who leave you will suffer shame.
Those who turn away from you 162 will be consigned to the nether world. 163
For they have rejected you, the Lord, the fountain of life. 164
17:14 Lord, grant me relief from my suffering
so that I may have some relief.
Rescue me from those who persecute me
so that I may be rescued. 165
17:15 Listen to what they are saying to me. 166
They are saying, “Where are the things the Lord threatens us with?
Come on! Let’s see them happen!” 167
17:16 But I have not pestered you to bring disaster. 168
I have not desired the time of irreparable devastation. 169
You know that.
You are fully aware of every word that I have spoken. 170
17:17 Do not cause me dismay! 171
You are my source of safety in times of trouble.
17:18 May those who persecute me be disgraced.
Do not let me be disgraced.
May they be dismayed.
Do not let me be dismayed.
Bring days of disaster on them.
Bring on them the destruction they deserve.” 172
17:19 The Lord told me, “Go and stand in the People’s Gate 174 through which the kings of Judah enter and leave the city. Then go and stand in all the other gates of the city of Jerusalem. 175 17:20 As you stand in those places 176 announce, ‘Listen, all you people who pass through these gates. Listen, all you kings of Judah, all you people of Judah and all you citizens of Jerusalem. Listen to what the Lord says. 177 17:21 The Lord says, ‘Be very careful if you value your lives! 178 Do not carry any loads 179 in through 180 the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. 17:22 Do not carry any loads out of your houses or do any work on the Sabbath day. 181 But observe the Sabbath day as a day set apart to the Lord, 182 as I commanded your ancestors. 183 17:23 Your ancestors, 184 however, did not listen to me or pay any attention to me. They stubbornly refused 185 to pay attention or to respond to any discipline.’ 17:24 The Lord says, 186 ‘You must make sure to obey me. You must not bring any loads through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day. You must set the Sabbath day apart to me. You must not do any work on that day. 17:25 If you do this, 187 then the kings and princes who follow in David’s succession 188 and ride in chariots or on horses will continue to enter through these gates, as well as their officials and the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem. 189 This city will always be filled with people. 190 17:26 Then people will come here from the towns in Judah, from the villages surrounding Jerusalem, from the territory of Benjamin, from the western foothills, from the southern hill country, and from the southern part of Judah. They will come bringing offerings to the temple of the Lord: burnt offerings, sacrifices, grain offerings, and incense along with their thank offerings. 191 17:27 But you must obey me and set the Sabbath day apart to me. You must not carry any loads in through 192 the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. If you disobey, I will set the gates of Jerusalem on fire. It will burn down all the fortified dwellings in Jerusalem and no one will be able to put it out.’”