Bible in 90 Days Plan

¹“If a man divorces a woman and she goes and marries someone else, he will not take her back again, for that would surely corrupt the land. But you have prostituted yourself with many lovers, so why are you trying to come back to me?” says the LORD.

²“Look at the shrines on every hilltop. Is there any place you have not been defiled by your adultery with other gods? You sit like a prostitute beside the road waiting for a customer. You sit alone like a nomad in the desert. You have polluted the land with your prostitution and your wickedness.

³That’s why even the spring rains have failed. For you are a brazen prostitute and completely shameless.

⁴Yet you say to me, ‘Father, you have been my guide since my youth.

⁵Surely you won’t be angry forever! Surely you can forget about it!’ So you talk, but you keep on doing all the evil you can.”

⁶During the reign of King Josiah, the LORD said to me, “Have you seen what fickle Israel has done? Like a wife who commits adultery, Israel has worshiped other gods on every hill and under every green tree.

⁷I thought, ‘After she has done all this, she will return to me.’ But she did not return, and her faithless sister Judah saw this.

⁸She saw that I divorced faithless Israel because of her adultery. But that treacherous sister Judah had no fear, and now she, too, has left me and given herself to prostitution.

⁹Israel treated it all so lightly — she thought nothing of committing adultery by worshiping idols made of wood and stone. So now the land has been polluted.

¹⁰But despite all this, her faithless sister Judah has never sincerely returned to me. She has only pretended to be sorry. I, the LORD, have spoken!”

¹¹Then the LORD said to me, “Even faithless Israel is less guilty than treacherous Judah!

¹²Therefore, go and give this message to Israel. This is what the LORD says: “O Israel, my faithless people, come home to me again, for I am merciful. I will not be angry with you forever.

¹³Only acknowledge your guilt. Admit that you rebelled against the LORD your God and committed adultery against him by worshiping idols under every green tree. Confess that you refused to listen to my voice. I, the LORD, have spoken!

¹⁴“Return home, you wayward children,” says the LORD, “for I am your master. I will bring you back to the land of Israel — one from this town and two from that family — from wherever you are scattered.

¹⁵And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will guide you with knowledge and understanding.

¹⁶“And when your land is once more filled with people,” says the LORD, “you will no longer wish for ‘the good old days’ when you possessed the Ark of the LORD’s Covenant. You will not miss those days or even remember them, and there will be no need to rebuild the Ark.

¹⁷In that day Jerusalem will be known as ‘The Throne of the LORD.’ All nations will come there to honor the LORD. They will no longer stubbornly follow their own evil desires.

¹⁸In those days the people of Judah and Israel will return together from exile in the north. They will return to the land I gave your ancestors as an inheritance forever.

¹⁹“I thought to myself, ‘I would love to treat you as my own children!’ I wanted nothing more than to give you this beautiful land — the finest possession in the world. I looked forward to your calling me ‘Father,’ and I wanted you never to turn from me.

²⁰But you have been unfaithful to me, you people of Israel! You have been like a faithless wife who leaves her husband. I, the LORD, have spoken.”

²¹Voices are heard high on the windswept mountains, the weeping and pleading of Israel’s people. For they have chosen crooked paths and have forgotten the LORD their God.

²²“My wayward children,” says the LORD, “come back to me, and I will heal your wayward hearts.” “Yes, we’re coming,” the people reply, “for you are the LORD our God.

²³Our worship of idols on the hills and our religious orgies on the mountains are a delusion. Only in the LORD our God will Israel ever find salvation.

²⁴From childhood we have watched as everything our ancestors worked for — their flocks and herds, their sons and daughters — was squandered on a delusion.

²⁵Let us now lie down in shame and cover ourselves with dishonor, for we and our ancestors have sinned against the LORD our God. From our childhood to this day we have never obeyed him.”

¹“O Israel,” says the LORD, “if you wanted to return to me, you could. You could throw away your detestable idols and stray away no more.

²Then when you swear by my name, saying, ‘As surely as the LORD lives,’ you could do so with truth, justice, and righteousness. Then you would be a blessing to the nations of the world, and all people would come and praise my name.”

³This is what the LORD says to the people of Judah and Jerusalem: “Plow up the hard ground of your hearts! Do not waste your good seed among thorns.

⁴O people of Judah and Jerusalem, surrender your pride and power. Change your hearts before the LORD, or my anger will burn like an unquenchable fire because of all your sins.

⁵“Shout to Judah, and broadcast to Jerusalem! Tell them to sound the alarm throughout the land: ‘Run for your lives! Flee to the fortified cities!’

⁶Raise a signal flag as a warning for Jerusalem : ‘Flee now! Do not delay!’ For I am bringing terrible destruction upon you from the north.”

⁷A lion stalks from its den, a destroyer of nations. It has left its lair and is headed your way. It’s going to devastate your land! Your towns will lie in ruins, with no one living in them anymore.

⁸So put on clothes of mourning and weep with broken hearts, for the fierce anger of the LORD is still upon us.

⁹“In that day,” says the LORD, “the king and the officials will tremble in fear. The priests will be struck with horror, and the prophets will be appalled.”

¹⁰Then I said, “O Sovereign LORD, the people have been deceived by what you said, for you promised peace for Jerusalem. But the sword is held at their throats!”

¹¹The time is coming when the LORD will say to the people of Jerusalem, “My dear people, a burning wind is blowing in from the desert, and it’s not a gentle breeze useful for winnowing grain.

¹²It is a roaring blast sent by me! Now I will pronounce your destruction!”

¹³Our enemy rushes down on us like storm clouds! His chariots are like whirlwinds. His horses are swifter than eagles. How terrible it will be, for we are doomed!

¹⁴O Jerusalem, cleanse your heart that you may be saved. How long will you harbor your evil thoughts?

¹⁵Your destruction has been announced from Dan and the hill country of Ephraim.

¹⁶“Warn the surrounding nations and announce this to Jerusalem: The enemy is coming from a distant land, raising a battle cry against the towns of Judah.

¹⁷They surround Jerusalem like watchmen around a field, for my people have rebelled against me,” says the LORD.

¹⁸“Your own actions have brought this upon you. This punishment is bitter, piercing you to the heart!”

¹⁹My heart, my heart — I writhe in pain! My heart pounds within me! I cannot be still. For I have heard the blast of enemy trumpets and the roar of their battle cries.

²⁰Waves of destruction roll over the land, until it lies in complete desolation. Suddenly my tents are destroyed; in a moment my shelters are crushed.

²¹How long must I see the battle flags and hear the trumpets of war?

²²“My people are foolish and do not know me,” says the LORD. “They are stupid children who have no understanding. They are clever enough at doing wrong, but they have no idea how to do right!”

²³I looked at the earth, and it was empty and formless. I looked at the heavens, and there was no light.

²⁴I looked at the mountains and hills, and they trembled and shook.

²⁵I looked, and all the people were gone. All the birds of the sky had flown away.

²⁶I looked, and the fertile fields had become a wilderness. The towns lay in ruins, crushed by the LORD’s fierce anger.

²⁷This is what the LORD says: “The whole land will be ruined, but I will not destroy it completely.

²⁸The earth will mourn and the heavens will be draped in black because of my decree against my people. I have made up my mind and will not change it.”

²⁹At the noise of charioteers and archers, the people flee in terror. They hide in the bushes and run for the mountains. All the towns have been abandoned — not a person remains!

³⁰What are you doing, you who have been plundered? Why do you dress up in beautiful clothing and put on gold jewelry? Why do you brighten your eyes with mascara? Your primping will do you no good! The allies who were your lovers despise you and seek to kill you.

³¹I hear a cry, like that of a woman in labor, the groans of a woman giving birth to her first child. It is beautiful Jerusalem gasping for breath and crying out, “Help! I’m being murdered!”

¹“Run up and down every street in Jerusalem,” says the LORD. “Look high and low; search throughout the city! If you can find even one just and honest person, I will not destroy the city.

²But even when they are under oath, saying, ‘As surely as the LORD lives,’ they are still telling lies!”

³LORD, you are searching for honesty. You struck your people, but they paid no attention. You crushed them, but they refused to be corrected. They are determined, with faces set like stone; they have refused to repent.

⁴Then I said, “But what can we expect from the poor? They are ignorant. They don’t know the ways of the LORD. They don’t understand God’s laws.

⁵So I will go and speak to their leaders. Surely they know the ways of the LORD and understand God’s laws.” But the leaders, too, as one man, had thrown off God’s yoke and broken his chains.

⁶So now a lion from the forest will attack them; a wolf from the desert will pounce on them. A leopard will lurk near their towns, tearing apart any who dare to venture out. For their rebellion is great, and their sins are many.

⁷“How can I pardon you? For even your children have turned from me. They have sworn by gods that are not gods at all! I fed my people until they were full. But they thanked me by committing adultery and lining up at the brothels.

⁸They are well-fed, lusty stallions, each neighing for his neighbor’s wife.

⁹Should I not punish them for this?” says the LORD. “Should I not avenge myself against such a nation?

¹⁰“Go down the rows of the vineyards and destroy the grapevines, leaving a scattered few alive. Strip the branches from the vines, for these people do not belong to the LORD.

¹¹The people of Israel and Judah are full of treachery against me,” says the LORD.

¹²“They have lied about the LORD and said, ‘He won’t bother us! No disasters will come upon us. There will be no war or famine.

¹³God’s prophets are all windbags who don’t really speak for him. Let their predictions of disaster fall on themselves!’”

¹⁴Therefore, this is what the LORD God of Heaven’s Armies says: “Because the people are talking like this, my messages will flame out of your mouth and burn the people like kindling wood.

¹⁵O Israel, I will bring a distant nation against you,” says the LORD. “It is a mighty nation, an ancient nation, a people whose language you do not know, whose speech you cannot understand.

¹⁶Their weapons are deadly; their warriors are mighty.

¹⁷They will devour the food of your harvest; they will devour your sons and daughters. They will devour your flocks and herds; they will devour your grapes and figs. And they will destroy your fortified towns, which you think are so safe.

¹⁸“Yet even in those days I will not blot you out completely,” says the LORD.

¹⁹“And when your people ask, ‘Why did the LORD our God do all this to us?’ you must reply, ‘You rejected him and gave yourselves to foreign gods in your own land. Now you will serve foreigners in a land that is not your own.’

²⁰“Make this announcement to Israel, and say this to Judah:

²¹Listen, you foolish and senseless people, with eyes that do not see and ears that do not hear.

²²Have you no respect for me? Why don’t you tremble in my presence? I, the LORD, define the ocean’s sandy shoreline as an everlasting boundary that the waters cannot cross. The waves may toss and roar, but they can never pass the boundaries I set.

²³But my people have stubborn and rebellious hearts. They have turned away and abandoned me.

²⁴They do not say from the heart, ‘Let us live in awe of the LORD our God, for he gives us rain each spring and fall, assuring us of a harvest when the time is right.’

²⁵Your wickedness has deprived you of these wonderful blessings. Your sin has robbed you of all these good things.

²⁶“Among my people are wicked men who lie in wait for victims like a hunter hiding in a blind. They continually set traps to catch people.

²⁷Like a cage filled with birds, their homes are filled with evil plots. And now they are great and rich.

²⁸They are fat and sleek, and there is no limit to their wicked deeds. They refuse to provide justice to orphans and deny the rights of the poor.

²⁹Should I not punish them for this?” says the LORD. “Should I not avenge myself against such a nation?

³⁰A horrible and shocking thing has happened in this land —

³¹the prophets give false prophecies, and the priests rule with an iron hand. Worse yet, my people like it that way! But what will you do when the end comes?

¹“Run for your lives, you people of Benjamin! Get out of Jerusalem! Sound the alarm in Tekoa! Send up a signal at Beth-hakkerem! A powerful army is coming from the north, coming with disaster and destruction.

²O Jerusalem, you are my beautiful and delicate daughter — but I will destroy you!

³Enemies will surround you, like shepherds camped around the city. Each chooses a place for his troops to devour.

⁴They shout, ‘Prepare for battle! Attack at noon!’ ‘No, it’s too late; the day is fading, and the evening shadows are falling.’

⁵‘Well then, let’s attack at night and destroy her palaces!’”

⁶This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: “Cut down the trees for battering rams. Build siege ramps against the walls of Jerusalem. This is the city to be punished, for she is wicked through and through.

⁷She spouts evil like a fountain. Her streets echo with the sounds of violence and destruction. I always see her sickness and sores.

⁸Listen to this warning, Jerusalem, or I will turn from you in disgust. Listen, or I will turn you into a heap of ruins, a land where no one lives.”

⁹This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: “Even the few who remain in Israel will be picked over again, as when a harvester checks each vine a second time to pick the grapes that were missed.”

¹⁰To whom can I give warning? Who will listen when I speak? Their ears are closed, and they cannot hear. They scorn the word of the LORD. They don’t want to listen at all.

¹¹So now I am filled with the LORD’s fury. Yes, I am tired of holding it in! “I will pour out my fury on children playing in the streets and on gatherings of young men, on husbands and wives and on those who are old and gray.

¹²Their homes will be turned over to their enemies, as will their fields and their wives. For I will raise my powerful fist against the people of this land,” says the LORD.

¹³“From the least to the greatest, their lives are ruled by greed. From prophets to priests, they are all frauds.

¹⁴They offer superficial treatments for my people’s mortal wound. They give assurances of peace when there is no peace.

¹⁵Are they ashamed of their disgusting actions? Not at all — they don’t even know how to blush! Therefore, they will lie among the slaughtered. They will be brought down when I punish them,” says the LORD.

¹⁶This is what the LORD says: “Stop at the crossroads and look around. Ask for the old, godly way, and walk in it. Travel its path, and you will find rest for your souls. But you reply, ‘No, that’s not the road we want!’

¹⁷I posted watchmen over you who said, ‘Listen for the sound of the alarm.’ But you replied, ‘No! We won’t pay attention!’

¹⁸“Therefore, listen to this, all you nations. Take note of my people’s situation.

¹⁹Listen, all the earth! I will bring disaster on my people. It is the fruit of their own schemes, because they refuse to listen to me. They have rejected my word.

²⁰There’s no use offering me sweet frankincense from Sheba. Keep your fragrant calamus imported from distant lands! I will not accept your burnt offerings. Your sacrifices have no pleasing aroma for me.”

²¹Therefore, this is what the LORD says: “I will put obstacles in my people’s path. Fathers and sons will both fall over them. Neighbors and friends will die together.”

²²This is what the LORD says: “Look! A great army coming from the north! A great nation is rising against you from far-off lands.

²³They are armed with bows and spears. They are cruel and show no mercy. They sound like a roaring sea as they ride forward on horses. They are coming in battle formation, planning to destroy you, beautiful Jerusalem. ”

²⁴We have heard reports about the enemy, and we wring our hands in fright. Pangs of anguish have gripped us, like those of a woman in labor.

²⁵Don’t go out to the fields! Don’t travel on the roads! The enemy’s sword is everywhere and terrorizes us at every turn!

²⁶Oh, my people, dress yourselves in burlap and sit among the ashes. Mourn and weep bitterly, as for the loss of an only son. For suddenly the destroying armies will be upon you!

²⁷“Jeremiah, I have made you a tester of metals, that you may determine the quality of my people.

²⁸They are the worst kind of rebel, full of slander. They are as hard as bronze and iron, and they lead others into corruption.

²⁹The bellows fiercely fan the flames to burn out the corruption. But it does not purify them, for the wickedness remains.

³⁰I will label them ‘Rejected Silver,’ for I, the LORD, am discarding them.”

¹The LORD gave another message to Jeremiah. He said,

²“Go to the entrance of the LORD’s Temple, and give this message to the people: ‘O Judah, listen to this message from the LORD! Listen to it, all of you who worship here!

³This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: “‘Even now, if you quit your evil ways, I will let you stay in your own land.

⁴But don’t be fooled by those who promise you safety simply because the LORD’s Temple is here. They chant, “The LORD’s Temple is here! The LORD’s Temple is here!”

⁵But I will be merciful only if you stop your evil thoughts and deeds and start treating each other with justice;

⁶only if you stop exploiting foreigners, orphans, and widows; only if you stop your murdering; and only if you stop harming yourselves by worshiping idols.

⁷Then I will let you stay in this land that I gave to your ancestors to keep forever.

⁸“‘Don’t be fooled into thinking that you will never suffer because the Temple is here. It’s a lie!

⁹Do you really think you can steal, murder, commit adultery, lie, and burn incense to Baal and all those other new gods of yours,

¹⁰and then come here and stand before me in my Temple and chant, “We are safe!” — only to go right back to all those evils again?

¹¹Don’t you yourselves admit that this Temple, which bears my name, has become a den of thieves? Surely I see all the evil going on there. I, the LORD, have spoken!

¹²“‘Go now to the place at Shiloh where I once put the Tabernacle that bore my name. See what I did there because of all the wickedness of my people, the Israelites.

¹³While you were doing these wicked things, says the LORD, I spoke to you about it repeatedly, but you would not listen. I called out to you, but you refused to answer.

¹⁴So just as I destroyed Shiloh, I will now destroy this Temple that bears my name, this Temple that you trust in for help, this place that I gave to you and your ancestors.

¹⁵And I will send you out of my sight into exile, just as I did your relatives, the people of Israel. ’

¹⁶“Pray no more for these people, Jeremiah. Do not weep or pray for them, and don’t beg me to help them, for I will not listen to you.

¹⁷Don’t you see what they are doing throughout the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

¹⁸No wonder I am so angry! Watch how the children gather wood and the fathers build sacrificial fires. See how the women knead dough and make cakes to offer to the Queen of Heaven. And they pour out liquid offerings to their other idol gods!

¹⁹Am I the one they are hurting?” asks the LORD. “Most of all, they hurt themselves, to their own shame.”

²⁰So this is what the Sovereign LORD says: “I will pour out my terrible fury on this place. Its people, animals, trees, and crops will be consumed by the unquenchable fire of my anger.”

²¹This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Take your burnt offerings and your other sacrifices and eat them yourselves!

²²When I led your ancestors out of Egypt, it was not burnt offerings and sacrifices I wanted from them.

²³This is what I told them: ‘Obey me, and I will be your God, and you will be my people. Do everything as I say, and all will be well!’

²⁴“But my people would not listen to me. They kept doing whatever they wanted, following the stubborn desires of their evil hearts. They went backward instead of forward.

²⁵From the day your ancestors left Egypt until now, I have continued to send my servants, the prophets — day in and day out.

²⁶But my people have not listened to me or even tried to hear. They have been stubborn and sinful — even worse than their ancestors.

²⁷“Tell them all this, but do not expect them to listen. Shout out your warnings, but do not expect them to respond.

²⁸Say to them, ‘This is the nation whose people will not obey the LORD their God and who refuse to be taught. Truth has vanished from among them; it is no longer heard on their lips.

²⁹Shave your head in mourning, and weep alone on the mountains. For the LORD has rejected and forsaken this generation that has provoked his fury.’

³⁰“The people of Judah have sinned before my very eyes,” says the LORD. “They have set up their abominable idols right in the Temple that bears my name, defiling it.

³¹They have built pagan shrines at Topheth, the garbage dump in the valley of Ben-Hinnom, and there they burn their sons and daughters in the fire. I have never commanded such a horrible deed; it never even crossed my mind to command such a thing!

³²So beware, for the time is coming,” says the LORD, “when that garbage dump will no longer be called Topheth or the valley of Ben-Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. They will bury the bodies in Topheth until there is no more room for them.

³³The bodies of my people will be food for the vultures and wild animals, and no one will be left to scare them away.

³⁴I will put an end to the happy singing and laughter in the streets of Jerusalem. The joyful voices of bridegrooms and brides will no longer be heard in the towns of Judah. The land will lie in complete desolation.

¹“In that day,” says the LORD, “the enemy will break open the graves of the kings and officials of Judah, and the graves of the priests, prophets, and common people of Jerusalem.

²They will spread out their bones on the ground before the sun, moon, and stars — the gods my people have loved, served, and worshiped. Their bones will not be gathered up again or buried but will be scattered on the ground like manure.

³And the people of this evil nation who survive will wish to die rather than live where I will send them. I, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, have spoken!

⁴“Jeremiah, say to the people, ‘This is what the LORD says: “‘When people fall down, don’t they get up again? When they discover they’re on the wrong road, don’t they turn back?

⁵Then why do these people stay on their self-destructive path? Why do the people of Jerusalem refuse to turn back? They cling tightly to their lies and will not turn around.

⁶I listen to their conversations and don’t hear a word of truth. Is anyone sorry for doing wrong? Does anyone say, “What a terrible thing I have done”? No! All are running down the path of sin as swiftly as a horse galloping into battle!

⁷Even the stork that flies across the sky knows the time of her migration, as do the turtledove, the swallow, and the crane. They all return at the proper time each year. But not my people! They do not know the LORD’s laws.

⁸“‘How can you say, “We are wise because we have the word of the LORD,” when your teachers have twisted it by writing lies?

⁹These wise teachers will fall into the trap of their own foolishness, for they have rejected the word of the LORD. Are they so wise after all?

¹⁰I will give their wives to others and their farms to strangers. From the least to the greatest, their lives are ruled by greed. Yes, even my prophets and priests are like that. They are all frauds.

¹¹They offer superficial treatments for my people’s mortal wound. They give assurances of peace when there is no peace.

¹²Are they ashamed of these disgusting actions? Not at all — they don’t even know how to blush! Therefore, they will lie among the slaughtered. They will be brought down when I punish them, says the LORD.

¹³I will surely consume them. There will be no more harvests of figs and grapes. Their fruit trees will all die. Whatever I gave them will soon be gone. I, the LORD, have spoken!’

¹⁴“Then the people will say, ‘Why should we wait here to die? Come, let’s go to the fortified towns and die there. For the LORD our God has decreed our destruction and has given us a cup of poison to drink because we sinned against the LORD.

¹⁵We hoped for peace, but no peace came. We hoped for a time of healing, but found only terror.’

¹⁶“The snorting of the enemies’ warhorses can be heard all the way from the land of Dan in the north! The neighing of their stallions makes the whole land tremble. They are coming to devour the land and everything in it — cities and people alike.

¹⁷I will send these enemy troops among you like poisonous snakes you cannot charm. They will bite you, and you will die. I, the LORD, have spoken!”

¹⁸My grief is beyond healing; my heart is broken.

¹⁹Listen to the weeping of my people; it can be heard all across the land. “Has the LORD abandoned Jerusalem? ” the people ask. “Is her King no longer there?” “Oh, why have they provoked my anger with their carved idols and their worthless foreign gods?” says the LORD.

²⁰“The harvest is finished, and the summer is gone,” the people cry, “yet we are not saved!”

²¹I hurt with the hurt of my people. I mourn and am overcome with grief.

²²Is there no medicine in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why is there no healing for the wounds of my people?

¹If only my head were a pool of water and my eyes a fountain of tears, I would weep day and night for all my people who have been slaughtered.

²Oh, that I could go away and forget my people and live in a travelers’ shack in the desert. For they are all adulterers — a pack of treacherous liars.

³“My people bend their tongues like bows to shoot out lies. They refuse to stand up for the truth. They only go from bad to worse. They do not know me,” says the LORD.

⁴“Beware of your neighbor! Don’t even trust your brother! For brother takes advantage of brother, and friend slanders friend.

⁵They all fool and defraud each other; no one tells the truth. With practiced tongues they tell lies; they wear themselves out with all their sinning.

⁶They pile lie upon lie and utterly refuse to acknowledge me,” says the LORD.

⁷Therefore, this is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: “See, I will melt them down in a crucible and test them like metal. What else can I do with my people?

⁸For their tongues shoot lies like poisoned arrows. They speak friendly words to their neighbors while scheming in their heart to kill them.

⁹Should I not punish them for this?” says the LORD. “Should I not avenge myself against such a nation?”

¹⁰I will weep for the mountains and wail for the wilderness pastures. For they are desolate and empty of life; the lowing of cattle is heard no more; the birds and wild animals have all fled.

¹¹“I will make Jerusalem into a heap of ruins,” says the LORD. “It will be a place haunted by jackals. The towns of Judah will be ghost towns, with no one living in them.”

¹²Who is wise enough to understand all this? Who has been instructed by the LORD and can explain it to others? Why has the land been so ruined that no one dares to travel through it?

¹³The LORD replies, “This has happened because my people have abandoned my instructions; they have refused to obey what I said.

¹⁴Instead, they have stubbornly followed their own desires and worshiped the images of Baal, as their ancestors taught them.

¹⁵So now, this is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: Look! I will feed them with bitterness and give them poison to drink.

¹⁶I will scatter them around the world, in places they and their ancestors never heard of, and even there I will chase them with the sword until I have destroyed them completely.”

¹⁷This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: “Consider all this, and call for the mourners. Send for the women who mourn at funerals.

¹⁸Quick! Begin your weeping! Let the tears flow from your eyes.

¹⁹Hear the people of Jerusalem crying in despair, ‘We are ruined! We are completely humiliated! We must leave our land, because our homes have been torn down.’”

²⁰Listen, you women, to the words of the LORD; open your ears to what he has to say. Teach your daughters to wail; teach one another how to lament.

²¹For death has crept in through our windows and has entered our mansions. It has killed off the flower of our youth: Children no longer play in the streets, and young men no longer gather in the squares.

²²This is what the LORD says: “Bodies will be scattered across the fields like clumps of manure, like bundles of grain after the harvest. No one will be left to bury them.”

²³This is what the LORD says: “Don’t let the wise boast in their wisdom, or the powerful boast in their power, or the rich boast in their riches.

²⁴But those who wish to boast should boast in this alone: that they truly know me and understand that I am the LORD who demonstrates unfailing love and who brings justice and righteousness to the earth, and that I delight in these things. I, the LORD, have spoken!

²⁵“A time is coming,” says the LORD, “when I will punish all those who are circumcised in body but not in spirit —

²⁶the Egyptians, Edomites, Ammonites, Moabites, the people who live in the desert in remote places, and yes, even the people of Judah. And like all these pagan nations, the people of Israel also have uncircumcised hearts.”

¹Hear the word that the LORD speaks to you, O Israel!

²This is what the LORD says: “Do not act like the other nations, who try to read their future in the stars. Do not be afraid of their predictions, even though other nations are terrified by them.

³Their ways are futile and foolish. They cut down a tree, and a craftsman carves an idol.

⁴They decorate it with gold and silver and then fasten it securely with hammer and nails so it won’t fall over.

⁵Their gods are like helpless scarecrows in a cucumber field! They cannot speak, and they need to be carried because they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of such gods, for they can neither harm you nor do you any good.”

⁶LORD, there is no one like you! For you are great, and your name is full of power.

⁷Who would not fear you, O King of nations? That title belongs to you alone! Among all the wise people of the earth and in all the kingdoms of the world, there is no one like you.

⁸People who worship idols are stupid and foolish. The things they worship are made of wood!

⁹They bring beaten sheets of silver from Tarshish and gold from Uphaz, and they give these materials to skillful craftsmen who make their idols. Then they dress these gods in royal blue and purple robes made by expert tailors.

¹⁰But the LORD is the only true God. He is the living God and the everlasting King! The whole earth trembles at his anger. The nations cannot stand up to his wrath.

¹¹Say this to those who worship other gods: “Your so-called gods, who did not make the heavens and earth, will vanish from the earth and from under the heavens.”

¹²But the LORD made the earth by his power, and he preserves it by his wisdom. With his own understanding he stretched out the heavens.

¹³When he speaks in the thunder, the heavens roar with rain. He causes the clouds to rise over the earth. He sends the lightning with the rain and releases the wind from his storehouses.

¹⁴The whole human race is foolish and has no knowledge! The craftsmen are disgraced by the idols they make, for their carefully shaped works are a fraud. These idols have no breath or power.

¹⁵Idols are worthless; they are ridiculous lies! On the day of reckoning they will all be destroyed.

¹⁶But the God of Israel is no idol! He is the Creator of everything that exists, including Israel, his own special possession. The LORD of Heaven’s Armies is his name!

¹⁷Pack your bags and prepare to leave; the siege is about to begin.

¹⁸For this is what the LORD says: “Suddenly, I will fling out all you who live in this land. I will pour great troubles upon you, and at last you will feel my anger.”

¹⁹My wound is severe, and my grief is great. My sickness is incurable, but I must bear it.

²⁰My home is gone, and no one is left to help me rebuild it. My children have been taken away, and I will never see them again.

²¹The shepherds of my people have lost their senses. They no longer seek wisdom from the LORD. Therefore, they fail completely, and their flocks are scattered.

²²Listen! Hear the terrifying roar of great armies as they roll down from the north. The towns of Judah will be destroyed and become a haunt for jackals.

²³I know, LORD, that our lives are not our own. We are not able to plan our own course.

²⁴So correct me, LORD, but please be gentle. Do not correct me in anger, for I would die.

²⁵Pour out your wrath on the nations that refuse to acknowledge you — on the peoples that do not call upon your name. For they have devoured your people Israel ; they have devoured and consumed them, making the land a desolate wilderness.

¹The LORD gave another message to Jeremiah. He said,

²“Remind the people of Judah and Jerusalem about the terms of my covenant with them.

³Say to them, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Cursed is anyone who does not obey the terms of my covenant!

⁴For I said to your ancestors when I brought them out of the iron-smelting furnace of Egypt, “If you obey me and do whatever I command you, then you will be my people, and I will be your God.”

⁵I said this so I could keep my promise to your ancestors to give you a land flowing with milk and honey — the land you live in today.’” Then I replied, “Amen, LORD! May it be so.”

⁶Then the LORD said, “Broadcast this message in the streets of Jerusalem. Go from town to town throughout the land and say, ‘Remember the ancient covenant, and do everything it requires.

⁷For I solemnly warned your ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt, “Obey me!” I have repeated this warning over and over to this day,

⁸but your ancestors did not listen or even pay attention. Instead, they stubbornly followed their own evil desires. And because they refused to obey, I brought upon them all the curses described in this covenant.’”

⁹Again the LORD spoke to me and said, “I have discovered a conspiracy against me among the people of Judah and Jerusalem.

¹⁰They have returned to the sins of their ancestors. They have refused to listen to me and are worshiping other gods. Israel and Judah have both broken the covenant I made with their ancestors.

¹¹Therefore, this is what the LORD says: I am going to bring calamity upon them, and they will not escape. Though they beg for mercy, I will not listen to their cries.

¹²Then the people of Judah and Jerusalem will pray to their idols and burn incense before them. But the idols will not save them when disaster strikes!

¹³Look now, people of Judah; you have as many gods as you have towns. You have as many altars of shame — altars for burning incense to your god Baal — as there are streets in Jerusalem.

¹⁴“Pray no more for these people, Jeremiah. Do not weep or pray for them, for I will not listen to them when they cry out to me in distress.

¹⁵“What right do my beloved people have to come to my Temple, when they have done so many immoral things? Can their vows and sacrifices prevent their destruction? They actually rejoice in doing evil!

¹⁶I, the LORD, once called them a thriving olive tree, beautiful to see and full of good fruit. But now I have sent the fury of their enemies to burn them with fire, leaving them charred and broken.

¹⁷“I, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, who planted this olive tree, have ordered it destroyed. For the people of Israel and Judah have done evil, arousing my anger by burning incense to Baal.”

¹⁸Then the LORD told me about the plots my enemies were making against me.

¹⁹I was like a lamb being led to the slaughter. I had no idea that they were planning to kill me! “Let’s destroy this man and all his words,” they said. “Let’s cut him down, so his name will be forgotten forever.”

²⁰O LORD of Heaven’s Armies, you make righteous judgments, and you examine the deepest thoughts and secrets. Let me see your vengeance against them, for I have committed my cause to you.

²¹This is what the LORD says about the men of Anathoth who wanted me dead. They had said, “We will kill you if you do not stop prophesying in the LORD’s name.”

²²So this is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says about them: “I will punish them! Their young men will die in battle, and their boys and girls will starve to death.

²³Not one of these plotters from Anathoth will survive, for I will bring disaster upon them when their time of punishment comes.”

¹LORD, you always give me justice when I bring a case before you. So let me bring you this complaint: Why are the wicked so prosperous? Why are evil people so happy?

²You have planted them, and they have taken root and prospered. Your name is on their lips, but you are far from their hearts.

³But as for me, LORD, you know my heart. You see me and test my thoughts. Drag these people away like sheep to be butchered! Set them aside to be slaughtered!

⁴How long must this land mourn? Even the grass in the fields has withered. The wild animals and birds have disappeared because of the evil in the land. For the people have said, “The LORD doesn’t see what’s ahead for us!”

⁵“If racing against mere men makes you tired, how will you race against horses? If you stumble and fall on open ground, what will you do in the thickets near the Jordan?

⁶Even your brothers, members of your own family, have turned against you. They plot and raise complaints against you. Do not trust them, no matter how pleasantly they speak.

⁷“I have abandoned my people, my special possession. I have surrendered my dearest ones to their enemies.

⁸My chosen people have roared at me like a lion of the forest, so I have treated them with contempt.

⁹My chosen people act like speckled vultures, but they themselves are surrounded by vultures. Bring on the wild animals to pick their corpses clean!

¹⁰“Many rulers have ravaged my vineyard, trampling down the vines and turning all its beauty into a barren wilderness.

¹¹They have made it an empty wasteland; I hear its mournful cry. The whole land is desolate, and no one even cares.

¹²On all the bare hilltops, destroying armies can be seen. The sword of the LORD devours people from one end of the nation to the other. No one will escape!

¹³My people have planted wheat but are harvesting thorns. They have worn themselves out, but it has done them no good. They will harvest a crop of shame because of the fierce anger of the LORD.”

¹⁴Now this is what the LORD says: “I will uproot from their land all the evil nations reaching out for the possession I gave my people Israel. And I will uproot Judah from among them.

¹⁵But afterward I will return and have compassion on all of them. I will bring them home to their own lands again, each nation to its own possession.

¹⁶And if these nations truly learn the ways of my people, and if they learn to swear by my name, saying, ‘As surely as the LORD lives’ (just as they taught my people to swear by the name of Baal), then they will be given a place among my people.

¹⁷But any nation who refuses to obey me will be uprooted and destroyed. I, the LORD, have spoken!”

¹This is what the LORD said to me: “Go and buy a linen loincloth and put it on, but do not wash it.”

²So I bought the loincloth as the LORD directed me, and I put it on.

³Then the LORD gave me another message:

⁴“Take the linen loincloth you are wearing, and go to the Euphrates River. Hide it there in a hole in the rocks.”

⁵So I went and hid it by the Euphrates as the LORD had instructed me.

⁶A long time afterward the LORD said to me, “Go back to the Euphrates and get the loincloth I told you to hide there.”

⁷So I went to the Euphrates and dug it out of the hole where I had hidden it. But now it was rotting and falling apart. The loincloth was good for nothing.

⁸Then I received this message from the LORD:

⁹“This is what the LORD says: This shows how I will rot away the pride of Judah and Jerusalem.

¹⁰These wicked people refuse to listen to me. They stubbornly follow their own desires and worship other gods. Therefore, they will become like this loincloth — good for nothing!

¹¹As a loincloth clings to a man’s waist, so I created Judah and Israel to cling to me, says the LORD. They were to be my people, my pride, my glory — an honor to my name. But they would not listen to me.

¹²“So tell them, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: May all your jars be filled with wine.’ And they will reply, ‘Of course! Jars are made to be filled with wine!’

¹³“Then tell them, ‘No, this is what the LORD means: I will fill everyone in this land with drunkenness — from the king sitting on David’s throne to the priests and the prophets, right down to the common people of Jerusalem.

¹⁴I will smash them against each other, even parents against children, says the LORD. I will not let my pity or mercy or compassion keep me from destroying them.’”

¹⁵Listen and pay attention! Do not be arrogant, for the LORD has spoken.

¹⁶Give glory to the LORD your God before it is too late. Acknowledge him before he brings darkness upon you, causing you to stumble and fall on the darkening mountains. For then, when you look for light, you will find only terrible darkness and gloom.

¹⁷And if you still refuse to listen, I will weep alone because of your pride. My eyes will overflow with tears, because the LORD’s flock will be led away into exile.

¹⁸Say to the king and his mother, “Come down from your thrones and sit in the dust, for your glorious crowns will soon be snatched from your heads.”

¹⁹The towns of the Negev will close their gates, and no one will be able to open them. The people of Judah will be taken away as captives. All will be carried into exile.

²⁰Open up your eyes and see the armies marching down from the north! Where is your flock — your beautiful flock — that he gave you to care for?

²¹What will you say when the LORD takes the allies you have cultivated and appoints them as your rulers? Pangs of anguish will grip you, like those of a woman in labor!

²²You may ask yourself, “Why is all this happening to me?” It is because of your many sins! That is why you have been stripped and raped by invading armies.

²³Can an Ethiopian change the color of his skin? Can a leopard take away its spots? Neither can you start doing good, for you have always done evil.

²⁴“I will scatter you like chaff that is blown away by the desert winds.

²⁵This is your allotment, the portion I have assigned to you,” says the LORD, “for you have forgotten me, putting your trust in false gods.

²⁶I myself will strip you and expose you to shame.

²⁷I have seen your adultery and lust, and your disgusting idol worship out in the fields and on the hills. What sorrow awaits you, Jerusalem! How long before you are pure?”

¹This message came to Jeremiah from the LORD, explaining why he was holding back the rain:

²“Judah wilts; commerce at the city gates grinds to a halt. All the people sit on the ground in mourning, and a great cry rises from Jerusalem.

³The nobles send servants to get water, but all the wells are dry. The servants return with empty pitchers, confused and desperate, covering their heads in grief.

⁴The ground is parched and cracked for lack of rain. The farmers are deeply troubled; they, too, cover their heads.

⁵Even the doe abandons her newborn fawn because there is no grass in the field.

⁶The wild donkeys stand on the bare hills panting like thirsty jackals. They strain their eyes looking for grass, but there is none to be found.”

⁷The people say, “Our wickedness has caught up with us, LORD, but help us for the sake of your own reputation. We have turned away from you and sinned against you again and again.

⁸O Hope of Israel, our Savior in times of trouble, why are you like a stranger to us? Why are you like a traveler passing through the land, stopping only for the night?

⁹Are you also confused? Is our champion helpless to save us? You are right here among us, LORD. We are known as your people. Please don’t abandon us now!”

¹⁰So this is what the LORD says to his people: “You love to wander far from me and do not restrain yourselves. Therefore, I will no longer accept you as my people. Now I will remember all your wickedness and will punish you for your sins.”

¹¹Then the LORD said to me, “Do not pray for these people anymore.

¹²When they fast, I will pay no attention. When they present their burnt offerings and grain offerings to me, I will not accept them. Instead, I will devour them with war, famine, and disease.”

¹³Then I said, “O Sovereign LORD, their prophets are telling them, ‘All is well — no war or famine will come. The LORD will surely send you peace.’”

¹⁴Then the LORD said, “These prophets are telling lies in my name. I did not send them or tell them to speak. I did not give them any messages. They prophesy of visions and revelations they have never seen or heard. They speak foolishness made up in their own lying hearts.

¹⁵Therefore, this is what the LORD says: I will punish these lying prophets, for they have spoken in my name even though I never sent them. They say that no war or famine will come, but they themselves will die by war and famine!

¹⁶As for the people to whom they prophesy — their bodies will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem, victims of famine and war. There will be no one left to bury them. Husbands, wives, sons, and daughters — all will be gone. For I will pour out their own wickedness on them.

¹⁷Now, Jeremiah, say this to them: “Night and day my eyes overflow with tears. I cannot stop weeping, for my virgin daughter — my precious people — has been struck down and lies mortally wounded.

¹⁸If I go out into the fields, I see the bodies of people slaughtered by the enemy. If I walk the city streets, I see people who have died of starvation. The prophets and priests continue with their work, but they don’t know what they’re doing.”

¹⁹LORD, have you completely rejected Judah? Do you really hate Jerusalem? Why have you wounded us past all hope of healing? We hoped for peace, but no peace came. We hoped for a time of healing, but found only terror.

²⁰LORD, we confess our wickedness and that of our ancestors, too. We all have sinned against you.

²¹For the sake of your reputation, LORD, do not abandon us. Do not disgrace your own glorious throne. Please remember us, and do not break your covenant with us.

²²Can any of the worthless foreign gods send us rain? Does it fall from the sky by itself? No, you are the one, O LORD our God! Only you can do such things. So we will wait for you to help us.

¹Then the LORD said to me, “Even if Moses and Samuel stood before me pleading for these people, I wouldn’t help them. Away with them! Get them out of my sight!

²And if they say to you, ‘But where can we go?’ tell them, ‘This is what the LORD says: “‘Those who are destined for death, to death; those who are destined for war, to war; those who are destined for famine, to famine; those who are destined for captivity, to captivity.’

³“I will send four kinds of destroyers against them,” says the LORD. “I will send the sword to kill, the dogs to drag away, the vultures to devour, and the wild animals to finish up what is left.

⁴Because of the wicked things Manasseh son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, did in Jerusalem, I will make my people an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.

⁵“Who will feel sorry for you, Jerusalem? Who will weep for you? Who will even bother to ask how you are?

⁶You have abandoned me and turned your back on me,” says the LORD. “Therefore, I will raise my fist to destroy you. I am tired of always giving you another chance.

⁷I will winnow you like grain at the gates of your cities and take away the children you hold dear. I will destroy my own people, because they refuse to change their evil ways.

⁸There will be more widows than the grains of sand on the seashore. At noontime I will bring a destroyer against the mothers of young men. I will cause anguish and terror to come upon them suddenly.

⁹The mother of seven grows faint and gasps for breath; her sun has gone down while it is still day. She sits childless now, disgraced and humiliated. And I will hand over those who are left to be killed by the enemy. I, the LORD, have spoken!”

¹⁰Then I said, “What sorrow is mine, my mother. Oh, that I had died at birth! I am hated everywhere I go. I am neither a lender who threatens to foreclose nor a borrower who refuses to pay — yet they all curse me.”

¹¹The LORD replied, “I will take care of you, Jeremiah. Your enemies will ask you to plead on their behalf in times of trouble and distress.

¹²Can a man break a bar of iron from the north, or a bar of bronze?

¹³At no cost to them, I will hand over your wealth and treasures as plunder to your enemies, for sin runs rampant in your land.

¹⁴I will tell your enemies to take you as captives to a foreign land. For my anger blazes like a fire that will burn forever. ”

¹⁵Then I said, “LORD, you know what’s happening to me. Please step in and help me. Punish my persecutors! Please give me time; don’t let me die young. It’s for your sake that I am suffering.

¹⁶When I discovered your words, I devoured them. They are my joy and my heart’s delight, for I bear your name, O LORD God of Heaven’s Armies.

¹⁷I never joined the people in their merry feasts. I sat alone because your hand was on me. I was filled with indignation at their sins.

¹⁸Why then does my suffering continue? Why is my wound so incurable? Your help seems as uncertain as a seasonal brook, like a spring that has gone dry.”

¹⁹This is how the LORD responds: “If you return to me, I will restore you so you can continue to serve me. If you speak good words rather than worthless ones, you will be my spokesman. You must influence them; do not let them influence you!

²⁰They will fight against you like an attacking army, but I will make you as secure as a fortified wall of bronze. They will not conquer you, for I am with you to protect and rescue you. I, the LORD, have spoken!

²¹Yes, I will certainly keep you safe from these wicked men. I will rescue you from their cruel hands.”