Bible in 90 Days Plan

¹This is what the LORD says: Preserve justice and do what is right, for my salvation is coming soon, and my righteousness will be revealed.

²Happy is the person who does this, the son of man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath without desecrating it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil.

³No foreigner who has joined himself to the LORD should say, “The LORD will exclude me from his people,” and the eunuch should not say, “Look, I am a dried-up tree.”

⁴For the LORD says this: “For the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, and choose what pleases me, and hold firmly to my covenant,

⁵I will give them, in my house and within my walls, a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters. I will give each of them an everlasting name that will never be cut off.

⁶As for the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD to minister to him, to love the name of the LORD, and to become his servants — all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold firmly to my covenant —

⁷I will bring them to my holy mountain and let them rejoice in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be acceptable on my altar, for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.”

⁸This is the declaration of the Lord GOD, who gathers the dispersed of Israel: “I will gather to them still others besides those already gathered.”

⁹All you animals of the field and forest, come and eat!

¹⁰Israel’s watchmen are blind, all of them, they know nothing; all of them are mute dogs, they cannot bark; they dream, lie down, and love to sleep.

¹¹These dogs have fierce appetites; they never have enough. And they are shepherds who have no discernment; all of them turn to their own way, every last one for his own profit.

¹²“Come, let me get some wine, let’s guzzle some beer; and tomorrow will be like today, only far better!”

¹The righteous person perishes, and no one takes it to heart; the faithful are taken away, with no one realizing that the righteous person is taken away because of evil.

²He will enter into peace — they will rest on their beds  — everyone who lives uprightly.

³But come here, you witch’s sons, offspring of an adulterer and a prostitute!

⁴Who are you mocking? Who are you opening your mouth and sticking out your tongue at? Isn’t it you, you rebellious children, you offspring of liars,

⁵who burn with lust among the oaks, under every green tree, who slaughter children in the wadis below the clefts of the rocks?

⁶Your portion is among the smooth stones of the wadi; indeed, they are your lot. You have even poured out a drink offering to them; you have offered a grain offering; should I be satisfied with these?

⁷You have placed your bed on a high and lofty mountain; you also went up there to offer sacrifice.

⁸You have set up your memorial behind the door and doorpost. For away from me, you stripped, went up, and made your bed wide, and you have made a bargain for yourself with them. You have loved their bed; you have gazed on their genitals.

⁹You went to the king with oil and multiplied your perfumes; you sent your envoys far away and sent them down even to Sheol.

¹⁰You became weary on your many journeys, but you did not say, “It’s hopeless!” You found a renewal of your strength; therefore you did not grow weak.

¹¹Who was it you dreaded and feared, so that you lied and didn’t remember me or take it to heart? I have kept silent for a long time, haven’t I? So you do not fear me.

¹²I will announce your righteousness, and your works — they will not profit you.

¹³When you cry out, let your collection of idols rescue you! The wind will carry all of them off, a breath will take them away. But whoever takes refuge in me will inherit the land and possess my holy mountain.

¹⁴He said, “Build it up, build it up, prepare the way, remove every obstacle from my people’s way.”

¹⁵For the High and Exalted One, who lives forever, whose name is holy, says this: “I live in a high and holy place, and with the oppressed and lowly of spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and revive the heart of the oppressed.

¹⁶For I will not accuse you forever, and I will not always be angry; for then the spirit would grow weak before me, even the breath, which I have made.

¹⁷Because of his sinful greed I was angry, so I struck him; I was angry and hid; but he went on turning back to the desires of his heart.

¹⁸I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will lead him and restore comfort to him and his mourners,

¹⁹creating words of praise.” The LORD says, “Peace, peace to the one who is far or near, and I will heal him.

²⁰But the wicked are like the storm-tossed sea, for it cannot be still, and its water churns up mire and muck.

²¹There is no peace for the wicked,” says my God.

¹“Cry out loudly, don’t hold back! Raise your voice like a trumpet. Tell my people their transgression and the house of Jacob their sins.

²They seek me day after day and delight to know my ways, like a nation that does what is right and does not abandon the justice of their God. They ask me for righteous judgments; they delight in the nearness of God.”

³“Why have we fasted, but you have not seen? We have denied ourselves, but you haven’t noticed!” “Look, you do as you please on the day of your fast, and oppress all your workers.

⁴You fast with contention and strife to strike viciously with your fist. You cannot fast as you do today, hoping to make your voice heard on high.

⁵Will the fast I choose be like this: A day for a person to deny himself, to bow his head like a reed, and to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast and a day acceptable to the LORD?

⁶Isn’t this the fast I choose: To break the chains of wickedness, to untie the ropes of the yoke, to set the oppressed free, and to tear off every yoke?

⁷Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, to bring the poor and homeless into your house, to clothe the naked when you see him, and not to ignore your own flesh and blood?

⁸Then your light will appear like the dawn, and your recovery will come quickly. Your righteousness will go before you, and the LORD’s glory will be your rear guard.

⁹At that time, when you call, the LORD will answer; when you cry out, he will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you get rid of the yoke among you, the finger-pointing and malicious speaking,

¹⁰and if you offer yourself to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted one, then your light will shine in the darkness, and your night will be like noonday.

¹¹The LORD will always lead you, satisfy you in a parched land, and strengthen your bones. You will be like a watered garden and like a spring whose water never runs dry.

¹²Some of you will rebuild the ancient ruins; you will restore the foundations laid long ago; you will be called the repairer of broken walls, the restorer of streets where people live.

¹³“If you keep from desecrating the Sabbath, from doing whatever you want on my holy day; if you call the Sabbath a delight, and the holy day of the LORD honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, seeking your own pleasure, or talking business;

¹⁴then you will delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride over the heights of the land, and let you enjoy the heritage of your father Jacob.” For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

¹Indeed, the LORD’s arm is not too weak to save, and his ear is not too deaf to hear.

²But your iniquities are separating you from your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not listen.

³For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers, with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, and your tongues mutter injustice.

⁴No one makes claims justly; no one pleads honestly. They trust in empty and worthless words; they conceive trouble and give birth to iniquity.

⁵They hatch viper’s eggs and weave spider’s webs. Whoever eats their eggs will die; crack one open, and a viper is hatched.

⁶Their webs cannot become clothing, and they cannot cover themselves with their works. Their works are sinful works, and violent acts are in their hands.

⁷Their feet run after evil, and they rush to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are sinful thoughts; ruin and wretchedness are in their paths.

⁸They have not known the path of peace, and there is no justice in their ways. They have made their roads crooked; no one who walks on them will know peace.

⁹Therefore justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us. We hope for light, but there is darkness; for brightness, but we live in the night.

¹⁰We grope along a wall like the blind; we grope like those without eyes. We stumble at noon as though it were twilight; we are like the dead among those who are healthy.

¹¹We all growl like bears and moan like doves. We hope for justice, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far from us.

¹²For our transgressions have multiplied before you, and our sins testify against us. For our transgressions are with us, and we know our iniquities:

¹³transgression and deception against the LORD, turning away from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering lying words from the heart.

¹⁴Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far off. For truth has stumbled in the public square, and honesty cannot enter.

¹⁵Truth is missing, and whoever turns from evil is plundered. The LORD saw that there was no justice, and he was offended.

¹⁶He saw that there was no man — he was amazed that there was no one interceding; so his own arm brought salvation, and his own righteousness supported him.

¹⁷He put on righteousness as body armor, and a helmet of salvation on his head; he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and he wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak.

¹⁸So he will repay according to their deeds: fury to his enemies, retribution to his foes, and he will repay the coasts and islands.

¹⁹They will fear the name of the LORD in the west and his glory in the east; for he will come like a rushing stream driven by the wind of the LORD.

²⁰“The Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those in Jacob who turn from transgression.” This is the LORD’s declaration.

²¹“As for me, this is my covenant with them,” says the LORD: “My Spirit who is on you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, will not depart from your mouth, or from the mouths of your children, or from the mouths of your children’s children, from now on and forever,” says the LORD.

¹Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD shines over you.

²For look, darkness will cover the earth, and total darkness the peoples; but the LORD will shine over you, and his glory will appear over you.

³Nations will come to your light, and kings to your shining brightness.

⁴Raise your eyes and look around: they all gather and come to you; your sons will come from far away, and your daughters on the hips of nannies.

⁵Then you will see and be radiant, and your heart will tremble and rejoice, because the riches of the sea will become yours and the wealth of the nations will come to you.

⁶Caravans of camels will cover your land  — young camels of Midian and Ephah — all of them will come from Sheba. They will carry gold and frankincense and proclaim the praises of the LORD.

⁷All the flocks of Kedar will be gathered to you; the rams of Nebaioth will serve you and go up on my altar as an acceptable sacrifice. I will glorify my beautiful house.

⁸Who are these who fly like a cloud, like doves to their shelters?

⁹Yes, the coasts and islands will wait for me with the ships of Tarshish in the lead, to bring your children from far away, their silver and gold with them, for the honor of the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, who has glorified you.

¹⁰Foreigners will rebuild your walls, and their kings will serve you. Although I struck you in my wrath, yet I will show mercy to you with my favor.

¹¹Your city gates will always be open; they will never be shut day or night so that the wealth of the nations may be brought into you, with their kings being led in procession.

¹²For the nation and the kingdom that will not serve you will perish; those nations will be annihilated.

¹³The glory of Lebanon will come to you  — its pine, elm, and cypress together  — to beautify the place of my sanctuary, and I will glorify my dwelling place.

¹⁴The sons of your oppressors will come and bow down to you; all who reviled you will fall facedown at your feet. They will call you the City of the LORD, Zion of the Holy One of Israel.

¹⁵Instead of your being deserted and hated, with no one passing through, I will make you an object of eternal pride, a joy from age to age.

¹⁶You will nurse on the milk of nations, and nurse at the breast of kings; you will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior and Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.

¹⁷I will bring gold instead of bronze; I will bring silver instead of iron, bronze instead of wood, and iron instead of stones. I will appoint peace as your government and righteousness as your overseers.

¹⁸Violence will never again be heard of in your land; devastation and destruction will be gone from your borders. You will call your walls Salvation and your city gates Praise.

¹⁹The sun will no longer be your light by day, and the brightness of the moon will not shine on you. The LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your splendor.

²⁰Your sun will no longer set, and your moon will not fade; for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and the days of your sorrow will be over.

²¹All your people will be righteous; they will possess the land forever; they are the branch I planted, the work of my hands, so that I may be glorified.

²²The least will become a thousand, the smallest a mighty nation. I am the LORD; I will accomplish it quickly in its time.

¹The Spirit of the Lord GOD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners;

²to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor, and the day of our God’s vengeance; to comfort all who mourn,

³to provide for those who mourn in Zion; to give them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, festive oil instead of mourning, and splendid clothes instead of despair. And they will be called righteous trees, planted by the LORD to glorify him.

⁴They will rebuild the ancient ruins; they will restore the former devastations; they will renew the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations.

⁵Strangers will stand and feed your flocks, and foreigners will be your plowmen and vinedressers.

⁶But you will be called the LORD’s priests; they will speak of you as ministers of our God; you will eat the wealth of the nations, and you will boast in their riches.

⁷In place of your shame, you will have a double portion; in place of disgrace, they will rejoice over their share. So they will possess double in their land, and eternal joy will be theirs.

⁸For I the LORD love justice; I hate robbery and injustice; I will faithfully reward my people and make a permanent covenant with them.

⁹Their descendants will be known among the nations, and their posterity among the peoples. All who see them will recognize that they are a people the LORD has blessed.

¹⁰I rejoice greatly in the LORD, I exult in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation and wrapped me in a robe of righteousness, as a groom wears a turban and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

¹¹For as the earth produces its growth, and as a garden enables what is sown to spring up, so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.

¹I will not keep silent because of Zion, and I will not keep still because of Jerusalem, until her righteousness shines like a bright light and her salvation, like a flaming torch.

²Nations will see your righteousness and all kings, your glory. You will be given a new name that the LORD’s mouth will announce.

³You will be a glorious crown in the LORD’s hand, and a royal diadem in the palm of your God’s hand.

⁴You will no longer be called Deserted, and your land will not be called Desolate; instead, you will be called My Delight Is in Her, and your land Married; for the LORD delights in you, and your land will be married.

⁵For as a young man marries a young woman, so your sons will marry you; and as a groom rejoices over his bride, so your God will rejoice over you.

⁶Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen on your walls; they will never be silent, day or night. There is no rest for you, who remind the LORD.

⁷Do not give him rest until he establishes and makes Jerusalem the praise of the earth.

⁸The LORD has sworn with his right hand and his strong arm: I will no longer give your grain to your enemies for food, and foreigners will not drink the new wine for which you have labored.

⁹For those who gather grain will eat it and praise the LORD, and those who harvest the grapes will drink the wine in my holy courts.

¹⁰Go out, go out through the city gates; prepare a way for the people! Build it up, build up the highway; clear away the stones! Raise a banner for the peoples.

¹¹Look, the LORD has proclaimed to the ends of the earth, “Say to Daughter Zion: Look, your salvation is coming, his wages are with him, and his reward accompanies him.”

¹²And they will be called the Holy People, the LORD’s Redeemed; and you will be called Cared For, A City Not Deserted.

¹Who is this coming from Edom in crimson-stained garments from Bozrah — this one who is splendid in his apparel, striding in his formidable might? It is I, proclaiming vindication, powerful to save.

²Why are your clothes red, and your garments like one who treads a winepress?

³I trampled the winepress alone, and no one from the nations was with me. I trampled them in my anger and ground them underfoot in my fury; their blood spattered my garments, and all my clothes were stained.

⁴For I planned the day of vengeance, and the year of my redemption came.

⁵I looked, but there was no one to help, and I was amazed that no one assisted; so my arm accomplished victory for me, and my wrath assisted me.

⁶I crushed nations in my anger; I made them drunk with my wrath and poured out their blood on the ground.

⁷I will make known the LORD’s faithful love and the LORD’s praiseworthy acts, because of all the LORD has done for us — even the many good things he has done for the house of Israel, which he did for them based on his compassion and the abundance of his faithful love.

⁸He said, “They are indeed my people, children who will not be disloyal,” and he became their Savior.

⁹In all their suffering, he suffered, and the angel of his presence saved them. He redeemed them because of his love and compassion; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of the past.

¹⁰But they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit. So he became their enemy and fought against them.

¹¹Then he remembered the days of the past, the days of Moses and his people. Where is he who brought them out of the sea with the shepherds of his flock? Where is he who put his Holy Spirit among the flock?

¹²He made his glorious strength available at the right hand of Moses, divided the water before them to make an eternal name for himself,

¹³and led them through the depths like a horse in the wilderness, so that they did not stumble.

¹⁴Like cattle that go down into the valley, the Spirit of the LORD gave them rest. You led your people this way to make a glorious name for yourself.

¹⁵Look down from heaven and see from your lofty home — holy and beautiful. Where is your zeal and your might? Your yearning and your compassion are withheld from me.

¹⁶Yet you are our Father, even though Abraham does not know us and Israel doesn’t recognize us. You, LORD, are our Father; your name is Our Redeemer from Ancient Times.

¹⁷Why, LORD, do you make us stray from your ways? You harden our hearts so we do not fear you. Return, because of your servants, the tribes of your heritage.

¹⁸Your holy people had a possession for a little while, but our enemies have trampled down your sanctuary.

¹⁹We have become like those you never ruled, like those who did not bear your name.

¹If only you would tear the heavens open and come down, so that mountains would quake at your presence  —

²just as fire kindles brushwood, and fire boils water — to make your name known to your enemies, so that nations will tremble at your presence!

³When you did awesome works that we did not expect, you who came down, and the mountains quaked at your presence.

⁴From ancient times no one has heard, no one has listened to, no eye has seen any God except you who acts on behalf of the one who waits for him.

⁵You welcome the one who joyfully does what is right; they remember you in your ways. But we have sinned, and you were angry. How can we be saved if we remain in our sins?

⁶All of us have become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like a polluted garment; all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind.

⁷No one calls on your name, striving to take hold of you. For you have hidden your face from us and made us melt because of our iniquity.

⁸Yet LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we all are the work of your hands.

⁹LORD, do not be terribly angry or remember our iniquity forever. Please look — all of us are your people!

¹⁰Your holy cities have become a wilderness; Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.

¹¹Our holy and beautiful temple, where our fathers praised you, has been burned down, and all that was dear to us lies in ruins.

¹²LORD, after all this, will you restrain yourself? Will you keep silent and afflict us severely?

¹“I was sought by those who did not ask; I was found by those who did not seek me. I said, ‘Here I am, here I am,’ to a nation that did not call on my name.

²I spread out my hands all day long to a rebellious people who walk in the path that is not good, following their own thoughts.

³These people continually anger me to my face, sacrificing in gardens, burning incense on bricks,

⁴sitting among the graves, spending nights in secret places, eating the meat of pigs, and putting polluted broth in their bowls.

⁵They say, ‘Keep to yourself, don’t come near me, for I am too holy for you!’ These practices are smoke in my nostrils, a fire that burns all day long.

⁶Look, it is written in front of me: I will not keep silent, but I will repay; I will repay them fully

⁷for your iniquities and the iniquities of your fathers together,” says the LORD. “Because they burned incense on the mountains and reproached me on the hills, I will reward them fully for their former deeds.”

⁸The LORD says this: “As the new wine is found in a bunch of grapes, and one says, ‘Don’t destroy it, for there’s some good in it,’ so I will act because of my servants and not destroy them all.

⁹I will produce descendants from Jacob, and heirs to my mountains from Judah; my chosen ones will possess it, and my servants will dwell there.

¹⁰Sharon will be a pasture for flocks, and the Valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down, for my people who have sought me.

¹¹But you who abandon the LORD, who forget my holy mountain, who prepare a table for Fortune and fill bowls of mixed wine for Destiny,

¹²I will destine you for the sword, and all of you will kneel down to be slaughtered, because I called and you did not answer, I spoke and you did not hear; you did what was evil in my sight and chose what I did not delight in.”

¹³Therefore, this is what the Lord GOD says: “My servants will eat, but you will be hungry; my servants will drink, but you will be thirsty; my servants will rejoice, but you will be put to shame.

¹⁴My servants will shout for joy from a glad heart, but you will cry out from an anguished heart, and you will lament out of a broken spirit.

¹⁵You will leave your name behind as a curse for my chosen ones, and the Lord GOD will kill you; but he will give his servants another name.

¹⁶Whoever asks for a blessing in the land will ask for a blessing by the God of truth, and whoever swears in the land will swear by the God of truth. For the former troubles will be forgotten and hidden from my sight.

¹⁷“For I will create a new heaven and a new earth; the past events will not be remembered or come to mind.

¹⁸Then be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I will create Jerusalem to be a joy and its people to be a delight.

¹⁹I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people. The sound of weeping and crying will no longer be heard in her.

²⁰In her, a nursing infant will no longer live only a few days, or an old man not live out his days. Indeed, the one who dies at a hundred years old will be mourned as a young man, and the one who misses a hundred years will be considered cursed.

²¹People will build houses and live in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

²²They will not build and others live in them; they will not plant and others eat. For my people’s lives will be like the lifetime of a tree. My chosen ones will fully enjoy the work of their hands.

²³They will not labor without success or bear children destined for disaster, for they will be a people blessed by the LORD along with their descendants.

²⁴Even before they call, I will answer; while they are still speaking, I will hear.

²⁵The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like cattle, but the serpent’s food will be dust! They will not do what is evil or destroy on my entire holy mountain,” says the LORD.

¹This is what the LORD says: Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool. Where could you possibly build a house for me? And where would my resting place be?

²My hand made all these things, and so they all came into being. This is the LORD’s declaration. I will look favorably on this kind of person: one who is humble, submissive in spirit, and trembles at my word.

³One person slaughters an ox, another kills a person; one person sacrifices a lamb, another breaks a dog’s neck; one person offers a grain offering, another offers pig’s blood; one person offers incense, another praises an idol — all these have chosen their ways and delight in their abhorrent practices.

⁴So I will choose their punishment, and I will bring on them what they dread because I called and no one answered; I spoke and they did not listen; they did what was evil in my sight and chose what I did not delight in.

⁵You who tremble at his word, hear the word of the LORD: “Your brothers who hate and exclude you for my name’s sake have said, ‘Let the LORD be glorified so that we can see your joy!’ But they will be put to shame.”

⁶A sound of uproar from the city! A voice from the temple — the voice of the LORD, paying back his enemies what they deserve!

⁷Before Zion was in labor, she gave birth; before she was in pain, she delivered a boy.

⁸Who has heard of such a thing? Who has seen such things? Can a land be born in one day or a nation be delivered in an instant? Yet as soon as Zion was in labor, she gave birth to her sons.

⁹“Will I bring a baby to the point of birth and not deliver it?” says the LORD; “or will I who deliver, close the womb?” says your God.

¹⁰Be glad for Jerusalem and rejoice over her, all who love her. Rejoice greatly with her, all who mourn over her —

¹¹so that you may nurse and be satisfied from her comforting breast and drink deeply and delight yourselves from her glorious breasts.

¹²For this is what the LORD says: I will make peace flow to her like a river, and the wealth of nations like a flood; you will nurse and be carried on her hip and bounced on her lap.

¹³As a mother comforts her son, so I will comfort you, and you will be comforted in Jerusalem.

¹⁴You will see, you will rejoice, and you will flourish like grass; then the LORD’s power will be revealed to his servants, but he will show his wrath against his enemies.

¹⁵Look, the LORD will come with fire  — his chariots are like the whirlwind  — to execute his anger with fury and his rebuke with flames of fire.

¹⁶For the LORD will execute judgment on all people with his fiery sword, and many will be slain by the LORD.

¹⁷“Those who dedicate and purify themselves to enter the groves following their leader, eating meat from pigs, vermin, and rats, will perish together.” This is the LORD’s declaration.

¹⁸“Knowing their works and their thoughts, I have come to gather all nations and languages; they will come and see my glory.

¹⁹I will establish a sign among them, and I will send survivors from them to the nations — to Tarshish, Put, Lud (who are archers), Tubal, Javan, and the coasts and islands far away — who have not heard about me or seen my glory. And they will proclaim my glory among the nations.

²⁰They will bring all your brothers from all the nations as a gift to the LORD on horses and chariots, in litters, and on mules and camels, to my holy mountain Jerusalem,” says the LORD, “just as the Israelites bring an offering in a clean vessel to the house of the LORD.

²¹I will also take some of them as priests and Levites,” says the LORD.

²²“For just as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, will remain before me” — this is the LORD’s declaration — “so your offspring and your name will remain.

²³All mankind will come to worship me from one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another,” says the LORD.

²⁴“As they leave, they will see the dead bodies of those who have rebelled against me; for their worm will never die, their fire will never go out, and they will be a horror to all mankind.”

¹The words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, one of the priests living in Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin.

²The word of the LORD came to him in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah.

³It also came throughout the days of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the fifth month of the eleventh year of Zedekiah son of Josiah, king of Judah, when the people of Jerusalem went into exile.

⁴The word of the LORD came to me:

⁵I chose you before I formed you in the womb; I set you apart before you were born. I appointed you a prophet to the nations.

⁶But I protested, “Oh no, Lord GOD! Look, I don’t know how to speak since I am only a youth.”

⁷Then the LORD said to me: Do not say, “I am only a youth,” for you will go to everyone I send you to and speak whatever I tell you.

⁸Do not be afraid of anyone, for I will be with you to rescue you. This is the LORD’s declaration.

⁹Then the LORD reached out his hand, touched my mouth, and told me: I have now filled your mouth with my words.

¹⁰See, I have appointed you today over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and demolish, to build and plant.

¹¹Then the word of the LORD came to me, asking, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” I replied, “I see a branch of an almond tree.”

¹²The LORD said to me, “You have seen correctly, for I watch over my word to accomplish it.”

¹³Again the word of the LORD came to me asking, “What do you see?” And I replied, “I see a boiling pot, its lip tilted from the north to the south.”

¹⁴Then the LORD said to me, “Disaster will be poured out from the north on all who live in the land.

¹⁵Indeed, I am about to summon all the clans and kingdoms of the north.” This is the LORD’s declaration. They will come, and each king will set up his throne at the entrance to Jerusalem’s gates. They will attack all her surrounding walls and all the other cities of Judah.

¹⁶“I will pronounce my judgments against them for all the evil they did when they abandoned me to burn incense to other gods and to worship the works of their own hands.

¹⁷“Now, get ready. Stand up and tell them everything that I command you. Do not be intimidated by them or I will cause you to cower before them.

¹⁸Today, I am the one who has made you a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls against the whole land — against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the population.

¹⁹They will fight against you but never prevail over you, since I am with you to rescue you.” This is the LORD’s declaration.

¹The word of the LORD came to me:

²“Go and announce directly to Jerusalem that this is what the LORD says: I remember the loyalty of your youth, your love as a bride — how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown.

³Israel was holy to the LORD, the firstfruits of his harvest. All who ate of it found themselves guilty; disaster came on them.” This is the LORD’s declaration.

⁴Hear the word of the LORD, house of Jacob and all families of the house of Israel.

⁵This is what the LORD says: What fault did your fathers find in me that they went so far from me, followed worthless idols, and became worthless themselves?

⁶They stopped asking, “Where is the LORD who brought us from the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and ravines, through a land of drought and darkness, a land no one traveled through and where no one lived?”

⁷I brought you to a fertile land to eat its fruit and bounty, but after you entered, you defiled my land; you made my inheritance detestable.

⁸The priests quit asking, “Where is the LORD?” The experts in the law no longer knew me, and the rulers rebelled against me. The prophets prophesied by Baal and followed useless idols.

⁹Therefore, I will bring a case against you again. This is the LORD’s declaration. I will bring a case against your children’s children.

¹⁰Cross over to the coasts of Cyprus and take a look. Send someone to Kedar and consider carefully; see if there has ever been anything like this:

¹¹Has a nation ever exchanged its gods? (But they were not gods! ) Yet my people have exchanged their Glory for useless idols.

¹²Be appalled at this, heavens; be shocked and utterly desolated! This is the LORD’s declaration.

¹³For my people have committed a double evil: They have abandoned me, the fountain of living water, and dug cisterns for themselves —  cracked cisterns that cannot hold water.

¹⁴Is Israel a slave? Was he born into slavery? Why else has he become a prey?

¹⁵The young lions have roared at him; they have roared loudly. They have laid waste his land. His cities are in ruins, without inhabitants.

¹⁶The men of Memphis and Tahpanhes have also broken your skull.

¹⁷Have you not brought this on yourself by abandoning the LORD your God while he was leading you along the way?

¹⁸Now what will you gain by traveling along the way to Egypt to drink the water of the Nile? What will you gain by traveling along the way to Assyria to drink the water of the Euphrates?

¹⁹Your own evil will discipline you; your own apostasies will reprimand you. Recognize how evil and bitter it is for you to abandon the LORD your God and to have no fear of me. This is the declaration of the Lord GOD of Armies.

²⁰For long ago I broke your yoke; I tore off your chains. You insisted, “I will not serve!” On every high hill and under every green tree you lay down like a prostitute.

²¹I planted you, a choice vine from the very best seed. How then could you turn into a degenerate, foreign vine?

²²Even if you wash with lye and use a great amount of bleach, the stain of your iniquity is still in front of me. This is the Lord GOD’s declaration.

²³How can you protest, “I am not defiled; I have not followed the Baals”? Look at your behavior in the valley; acknowledge what you have done. You are a swift young camel twisting and turning on her way,

²⁴a wild donkey at home in the wilderness. She sniffs the wind in the heat of her desire. Who can control her passion? All who look for her will not become weary; they will find her in her mating season.

²⁵Keep your feet from going bare and your throat from thirst. But you say, “It’s hopeless; I love strangers, and I will continue to follow them.”

²⁶Like the shame of a thief when he is caught, so the house of Israel has been put to shame. They, their kings, their officials, their priests, and their prophets

²⁷say to a tree, “You are my father,” and to a stone, “You gave birth to me.” For they have turned their back to me and not their face, yet in their time of disaster they beg, “Rise up and save us!”

²⁸But where are your gods you made for yourself? Let them rise up and save you in your time of disaster if they can, for your gods are as numerous as your cities, Judah.

²⁹Why do you bring a case against me? All of you have rebelled against me. This is the LORD’s declaration.

³⁰I have struck down your children in vain; they would not accept discipline. Your own sword has devoured your prophets like a ravaging lion.

³¹Evil generation, pay attention to the word of the LORD! Have I been a wilderness to Israel or a land of dense darkness? Why do my people claim, “We will go where we want; we will no longer come to you”?

³²Can a young woman forget her jewelry or a bride her wedding sash? Yet my people have forgotten me for countless days.

³³How skillfully you pursue love; you also teach evil women your ways.

³⁴Moreover, your skirts are stained with the blood of the innocent poor. You did not catch them breaking and entering. But in spite of all these things

³⁵you claim, “I am innocent. His anger is sure to turn away from me.” But I will certainly judge you because you have said, “I have not sinned.”

³⁶How unstable you are, constantly changing your ways! You will be put to shame by Egypt just as you were put to shame by Assyria.

³⁷Moreover, you will be led out from here with your hands on your head since the LORD has rejected those you trust; you will not succeed even with their help.