Bible in 90 Days Plan

¹The word of the LORD also came to me, saying,

²"You shall not take a wife or have sons and daughters in this place (Jerusalem)."

³For thus says the LORD concerning the sons and daughters who are born in this place, and concerning the mothers who give birth to them, and the fathers who father them in this land:

⁴"They will die of deadly diseases. They will not be mourned or buried; they will be like dung on the surface of the ground and come to an end by sword and famine, and their dead bodies will be food for the birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth."

⁵For thus says the LORD, "Do not enter a house of mourning, nor go to lament (express grief) or bemoan [the dead], for I have taken My peace away from this people," says the LORD, "even My lovingkindness and compassion.

⁶Both great men and small will die in this land; they will not be buried, nor will they be lamented (mourned over with expressions of grief in death), nor will anyone cut himself or shave his head for them [in mourning].

⁷People will not offer food to the mourners, to comfort anyone [as they grieve] for the dead, nor give them a cup of consolation to drink for anyone's father or mother.

⁸And you [Jeremiah] shall not go into a house of feasting to sit with them to eat and drink."

⁹For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, "Behold, I will remove from this place, before your very eyes and in your time, the sound of joy and the shout of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.

¹⁰"Now when you tell these people all these words and they ask you, 'Why has the LORD decreed all this great tragedy against us? And what is our iniquity, what is the sin which we have committed against the LORD our God?'

¹¹Then you are to say to them, 'It is because your fathers have abandoned (rejected) Me,' says the LORD, 'and have walked after other gods and have served them and bowed down to the handmade idols and have abandoned (rejected) Me and have not kept My law,

¹²and because you have done worse [things] than your fathers. Just look, every one of you walks in the stubbornness of his own evil heart, so that you do not listen [obediently] to Me.

¹³Therefore I will hurl you out of this land [of Judah] into the land [of the Babylonians] which neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you will serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no compassion.'

¹⁴"Therefore behold, the days are coming," says the LORD, "when it will no longer be said, 'As the LORD lives, who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt,'

¹⁵but, 'As the LORD lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of the north and from all the countries to which He had driven them.' And I will bring them back to their land which I gave to their fathers.

¹⁶"Behold (listen carefully), I will send for many fishermen," says the LORD, "and they will fish for them; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them from every mountain and from every hill and out of the clefts of the rocks.

¹⁷For My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from My face, nor is their wickedness concealed from My eyes.

¹⁸I will first doubly repay and punish them for their wickedness and their sin [before I return them to their land], because they have profaned My land; they have filled My inheritance with the carcasses of their detestable idols and with their abominations."

¹⁹[Then said Jeremiah] "O LORD, my Strength and my Stronghold, And my Refuge in the day of distress and need, The nations will come to You From the ends of the earth and say, 'Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies and illusion, [Worthless] things in which there is no benefit!'

²⁰"Can a man make gods for himself? Such [things] are not gods!

²¹"Therefore," [says the LORD] "behold, I will make them know— This time I will make them know My power and My might; And they will know and recognize [without any doubt] that My Name is the LORD."

¹The sin of Judah is written down with an iron stylus; With a diamond point it is engraved upon the tablet of their heart And on the horns of their altars.

²As they remember their children, So they remember [in detail] their [pagan] altars and their Asherim Beside green trees on the high hills.

³O [Jerusalem] My mountain in the countryside, I will give [to the Babylonians, as the cost of your sin] your wealth and all your treasures as plunder, And throughout your territory, your high places of sin.

⁴And you will, through your own fault, let go of your [grip on your] inheritance That I gave you; And I will make you serve your enemies In a land which you do not know; For you have kindled a fire in My anger Which will burn forever.

⁵Thus says the LORD, "Cursed is the man who trusts in and relies on mankind, Making [weak, faulty human] flesh his strength, And whose mind and heart turn away from the LORD.

⁶"For he will be like a shrub in the [parched] desert; And shall not see prosperity when it comes, But shall live in the rocky places of the wilderness, In an uninhabited salt land.

⁷"Blessed [with spiritual security] is the man who believes and trusts in and relies on the LORD And whose hope and confident expectation is the LORD.

⁸"For he will be [nourished] like a tree planted by the waters, That spreads out its roots by the river; And will not fear the heat when it comes; But its leaves will be green and moist. And it will not be anxious and concerned in a year of drought Nor stop bearing fruit.

⁹"The heart is deceitful above all things And it is extremely sick; Who can understand it fully and know its secret motives?

¹⁰"I, the LORD, search and examine the mind, I test the heart, To give to each man according to his ways, According to the results of his deeds.

¹¹"Like the partridge that hatches eggs which she has not laid, So is he who makes a fortune in ways that are unjust. It will be lost to him before his days are over, And in the end he will be [nothing but] a fool."

¹²A glorious throne, set on high from the beginning, Is the place of our sanctuary (the temple).

¹³O LORD, the hope of Israel, All who abandon You will be shamed. Those who turn away on earth will be written down, Because they have abandoned the LORD, the fountain of living waters.

¹⁴Heal me, O LORD, and I will be healed; Save me and I will be saved, For You are my praise.

¹⁵Behold, they keep saying to me, "Where is the word of the LORD [that is, the disaster that you prophesied]? Let it come now!"

¹⁶But as for me, I have not tried to escape from being a shepherd [walking] after You, Nor have I longed for the woeful day [of judgment]; You know that, whatever I said Was [spoken] in Your presence and was from You.

¹⁷Do not be a terror to me; You are my refuge and my hope in the day of disaster.

¹⁸Let those who persecute me be shamed, but as for me, protect me from shame; Let them lose courage, but let me be undaunted. Bring on them a day of tragedy, And destroy them with double destruction!

¹⁹Thus the LORD said to me, "Go and stand in the public gate, through which the kings of Judah come in and go out, and [stand] also in all the gates of Jerusalem;

²⁰and say to them, 'Listen to the word of the LORD, kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the people of Jerusalem who enter through these gates.

²¹Thus says the LORD, "Pay attention for your own good, [and for the sake of your future] do not carry any load on the Sabbath day or bring anything in through the gates of Jerusalem.

²²You shall not carry a load out of your houses on the Sabbath day nor do any work, but keep the Sabbath day holy [by setting it apart as a day of worship], as I commanded your fathers.

²³Yet they would not listen and obey and control their behavior; but they were stiff-necked in order not to hear and take instruction.

²⁴But it will come about, if you listen diligently to Me," says the LORD, "to bring no load in through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but keep the Sabbath day holy by doing no work on it,

²⁵then kings and princes who will sit on the throne of David will enter through the gates of this city, riding in chariots and on horses—the kings and their princes, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and this city will be inhabited and endure throughout the ages.

²⁶People will come from the cities of Judah and the places all around Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin, from the lowland, from the hill country and from the South (the Negev), bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings and incense, and bringing sacrifices of thanksgiving to the house of the LORD.

²⁷But if you will not listen to Me and keep the Sabbath day holy by not carrying a load as you come in the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in her gates that cannot be extinguished, and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem."'"

¹The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD:

²"Arise and go down to the potter's house, and there I will make you hear My words."

³Then I went down to the potter's house, and saw that he was working at the wheel.

⁴But the vessel that he was making from clay was spoiled by the potter's hand; so he made it over, reworking it and making it into another pot that seemed good to him.

⁵Then the word of the LORD came to me:

⁶"O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?" says the LORD. "Look carefully, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.

⁷At one moment I might [suddenly] speak concerning a nation or kingdom, that I will uproot and break down and destroy;

⁸if that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent and reverse My decision concerning the devastation that I intended to do.

⁹Or at another time I might [suddenly] speak about a nation or kingdom that I will build up or establish;

¹⁰and if they do evil in My sight by not obeying My voice, then I will reverse My decision concerning the good with which I had promised to bless them.

¹¹Now then, say to the men of Judah and to the citizens of Jerusalem, 'Thus says the LORD, "Behold, I am shaping a disaster and working out a plan against you. Turn back, each of you from his evil way; correct your habits and change your actions for the better."'

¹²But they will say, 'That is hopeless! For we are going to follow our own plans, and each of us will act in accordance with the stubbornness of his evil heart.'

¹³"Therefore thus says the LORD, 'Ask now among the nations, Who has heard of such things? The virgin Israel Has done a very vile and horrible thing.

¹⁴'Will the snow of [Mount] Lebanon melt and vanish from its rocks [which tower above Israel]? Will the cold, rushing waters of foreign lands [that flow down from the distant land] be dried up?

¹⁵'Yet My people have forgotten Me; They burn incense to worthless gods, They have stumbled from their ways From the ancient roads, To walk in pathways, Not on a highway,

¹⁶Making their land a desolation and a horror, A thing to be hissed at perpetually; Everyone who passes by will be astounded And shake his head [in scorn].

¹⁷'I will scatter them like an east wind Before the enemy; I will show them My back and not My face In the day of their disaster [says the LORD].'"

¹⁸Then [my enemies] said, "Come and let us work out schemes against Jeremiah. Surely the law is not going to be lost to the priest [as Jeremiah predicts], nor the counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come and let us strike him with our tongue [by making charges against him before the king], and let us ignore anything he says."

¹⁹Pay attention to me, O LORD [and intercede]; Listen to what my adversaries are saying [and are plotting against me]—

²⁰Should good be repaid with evil? Yet they have dug a pit for me. Remember [with compassion] that I stood before You To speak good on their behalf, To turn Your anger away from them.

²¹Therefore, give their children over to the famine; Give them over to the power of the sword. And let their wives become childless and widowed; Let their men meet death [by virulent disease], Their young men be struck down by the sword in battle.

²²Let an outcry be heard from their houses When You suddenly bring [a troop of] raiders upon them, For they have dug a pit to capture me And have hidden snares for my feet.

²³Yet You, O LORD, know All their deadly plotting against me; Do not forgive their wickedness Or blot out their sin from Your sight. But let them be overthrown before You; Deal with them in the time of Your anger.

¹Thus says the LORD, "Go and buy a potter's earthenware jar, and take some of the elders of the people and some of the senior priests

²and go out to the Valley of Ben-hinnom (son of Hinnom), which is near the entrance of the Potsherd Gate; and proclaim there the words that I tell you,

³and say, 'Hear the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, "Behold (listen carefully), I am going to bring such disaster on this place that the ears of everyone who hears about it will tingle [in shock].

⁴Because the people [of Jerusalem] have abandoned (rejected) Me and have made this an alien and profaned place by burning sacrifices and incense in it to other gods, that neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah ever knew, and because they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent

⁵and have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, which I never commanded or spoke of, nor did it ever enter My mind (heart);

⁶therefore, listen very closely, the days are coming," says the LORD, "when this place shall no longer be called Topheth or the Valley of Ben-hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.

⁷I will pour out and nullify the counsel (plans) of [the men of] Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and I will make their people fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hand of those who seek their lives; and I will give their dead bodies as food for the birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth.

⁸I will make this city a desolation and an object of hissing; everyone who passes by it will be amazed and will hiss [in scorn] because of all its plagues and disasters.

⁹And I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and their daughters, and each one will eat one another's flesh during the siege and distress brought by their enemies and those who seek their lives."'

¹⁰"Then you are to break the jar in the sight of the men who accompany you,

¹¹and say to them, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, "This is the way I will break this people and this city as one breaks a potter's vessel, so that it cannot be mended. They will bury [corpses] in Topheth until there is no more room left [in that place] to bury [the dead].

¹²This I will do to this place," says the LORD, "and to its inhabitants; and I will even make this city like Topheth.

¹³The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be defiled like this place, Topheth, all the houses on whose rooftops incense has been burned to all the host of heaven (sun, moon, stars), and where drink offerings have been poured out to other gods."'"

¹⁴Then Jeremiah came from Topheth, where the LORD had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of the Lord's house and said to all the people:

¹⁵"Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, 'Behold, I am going to bring on this city and on all its towns, all the devastation that I have declared against it, because they have become stiff-necked and refused to hear and obey My words.'"

¹Now Pashhur the son of Immer, the priest, who was [also] chief officer in the house of the LORD, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things.

²Then Pashhur beat Jeremiah the prophet and put him in the stocks that were at the upper Benjamin Gate by the house of the LORD.

³And the next day Pashhur brought Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then Jeremiah said to him, "The LORD does not call your name Pashhur, but Magor-missabib (terror on every side).

⁴For thus says the LORD, 'Behold, I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends; they will fall by the sword of their enemies while you look on. And I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon; he will carry them away to Babylon as captives and will slaughter them with the sword.

⁵Moreover, I will hand over all the riches of this city, all the result of its labor, all its precious things; even all the treasures of the kings of Judah I will hand over to their enemies, and they will plunder them, and take them away and carry them to Babylon.

⁶And you, Pashhur, and all who live in your house will go into captivity; you will go to Babylon, and there you will die and be buried, you and all your friends to whom you have falsely prophesied.'"

⁷[Jeremiah said,] O LORD, You have persuaded me and I was deceived; You are stronger than I and You have prevailed. I am a laughingstock all day long; Everyone mocks me.

⁸For whenever I speak, I must shout out; I shout violence and destruction, Because the word of the LORD has become to me A reprimand and a mockery and has brought me insult all day long.

⁹If I say, "I will not remember Him Or speak His name anymore," Then my heart becomes a burning fire Shut up in my bones. And I am weary of enduring and holding it in; I cannot endure it [nor contain it any longer].

¹⁰For I have heard the whispering and defaming words of many, "Terror on every side! Denounce him! Let us denounce him!" All my familiar and trusted friends, [Those who are] watching for my fall, say, "Perhaps he will be persuaded and deceived; then we will overcome him, And take our revenge on him."

¹¹But the LORD is with me as a dread champion [one to be greatly feared]; Therefore my persecutors will stumble and not overcome [me]. They will be completely shamed, for they have not acted wisely and have failed [in their schemes]; Their eternal dishonor will never be forgotten.

¹²But, O LORD of hosts, You who examine the righteous, Who see the heart and the mind, Let me see Your vengeance on them; For to You I have committed my cause.

¹³Sing to the LORD! Praise the LORD! For He has rescued the life of the needy one From the hand of evildoers.

¹⁴Cursed be the day on which I was born; Do not bless the day on which my mother gave birth to me!

¹⁵Cursed be the man who brought the news To my father, saying, "A son has been born to you!" Making him very glad.

¹⁶And let that man be like the cities Which the LORD overthrew without regret. Let him hear an outcry in the morning And a shout of alarm at noon;

¹⁷Because he did not kill me before my birth, So that my mother might have been my grave, And her womb always pregnant.

¹⁸Why did I come out of the womb To see trouble and sorrow, So that my days have been filled with shame?

¹The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD when King Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur the son of Malchijah, and Zephaniah the priest the son of Maaseiah, saying,

²"Please inquire of the LORD for us, because Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is making war against us. Perhaps the LORD will deal [favorably] with us according to all His wonderful works and force him to withdraw from us."

³Then Jeremiah said to them, "Say this to Zedekiah:

⁴'Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, "Behold, I will turn back and dull the edge of the weapons of war that are in your hands, [those] with which you fight against the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans who are besieging you outside the walls; and I will bring them into the center of this city (Jerusalem).

⁵I Myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm in anger, in fury, and in great indignation and wrath.

⁶I will also strike the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast; they will die of a great virulent disease.

⁷Then afterward," says the LORD, "I will hand over Zedekiah king of Judah and his servants and the people in this city who survive the virulent disease, the sword, and the famine, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemy, into the hand of those who seek their lives. And he will strike them with the edge of the sword; he will not spare them nor have mercy and compassion on them."'

⁸"And to this people you (Jeremiah) shall also say, 'Thus says the LORD, "Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death.

⁹He who remains in this city [of Jerusalem] will die by the sword and by famine and by virulent disease. But he who goes outside and surrenders to the Chaldeans who are besieging you will live, and his life will be like a prize of war to him.

¹⁰For I have set My face against this city to do harm and not good," says the LORD. "It shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon and he will burn it with fire."'

¹¹"And concerning the royal house of the king of Judah [you shall say], 'Hear the word of the LORD,

¹²O house of David, thus says the LORD: "Administer justice in the morning, And rescue the one who has been robbed from the hand of his oppressor, That My wrath will not roar up like fire And burn so [hotly] that none can extinguish it, Because of the evil of their deeds.

¹³"Understand this, I am against you, O inhabitant of the valley, O rock of the plain," says the LORD— "You who say, 'Who will come down against us? Or who will enter into our dwelling places?'

¹⁴"But I will punish you in accordance with the [appropriate] consequences of your decisions and your actions," says the LORD. "I will kindle a fire in your forest, And it will devour all that is around you."'"

¹Thus says the LORD, "Go down to the house of the king of Judah and speak this word there:

²'Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, you who sit on the throne of David—you and your servants and your people who enter by these gates.

³Thus says the LORD, "Execute justice and righteousness, and rescue the one who has been robbed from the hand of his oppressor. And do no wrong; do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, or the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place.

⁴For if you will indeed obey this word, then kings will enter through the gates of this palace, sitting in David's place on his throne, riding in chariots and on horses, even the king himself and his servants and his people.

⁵But if you will not hear and obey these words, I swear [an oath] by Myself," says the LORD, "that this house will become a desolation."'"

⁶For thus says the LORD in regard to the house of the king of Judah: "You are [as valuable] to Me as [the green pastures of] Gilead [east of the Jordan] Or as the [plentiful] summit of Lebanon [west of the Jordan], Yet most certainly [if you will not listen to Me] I will make you a wilderness, And uninhabited cities.

⁷"For I will prepare and appoint destroyers [to execute My judgments] against you, Each with his weapons; And they will cut down your [palaces built of] choicest cedars And throw them in the fire.

⁸"Many nations will pass by this city; and each man will say to another, 'Why has the LORD done this to this great city?'

⁹Then they will answer, 'Because the people ignored and abandoned the [solemn] covenant with the LORD their God and worshiped other gods and served them.'"

¹⁰Do not weep for the dead or mourn for him; But weep bitterly for the one who goes away [into exile], For he will never return And see his native country [again].

¹¹For thus says the LORD in regard to Shallum (Jehoahaz) the [third] son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father and who went from this place, "Shallum will not return here anymore;

¹²he will die in the place where they led him captive and not see this land again.

¹³"Woe (judgment is coming) to him who builds his house by [acts of] unrighteousness And his upper chambers by injustice, Who uses his neighbor's service without pay And does not give him wages [for his work],

¹⁴Who says, 'I will build myself a spacious house With large upper rooms, And cut out its [wide] windows, And panel it with cedar and paint it vermilion."

¹⁵"Do you think that you become a king because you have much more cedar [in your palace than Solomon]? Did not your father [Josiah], as he ate and drank, Do just and righteous acts [being upright and in right standing with God]? Then all was well with him.

¹⁶"He defended the cause of the afflicted and needy; Then all was well. Is that not what it means to know Me?" Says the LORD.

¹⁷"But your eyes and your heart Are only intent on your own dishonest gain, On shedding innocent blood, On oppression and extortion and violence."

¹⁸Therefore thus says the LORD in regard to Jehoiakim the [second] son of Josiah, king of Judah, "The relatives will not lament (mourn over with expressions of grief) for him: 'Alas, my brother!' or, 'Alas, sister,' [how great our loss]! The subjects will not lament for him: 'Alas, master!' or 'Alas, majesty [how great was his glory]!'

¹⁹" He shall be buried with the burial of a donkey— Dragged off and thrown out beyond the gates of Jerusalem.

²⁰"Go up [north] to Lebanon and cry out, And raise your voice in [the hills of] Bashan [across the Jordan]; Cry out also from Abarim, For all your lovers (allies) have been destroyed.

²¹"I spoke to you in your [times of] prosperity, But you said, 'I will not listen!' This has been your attitude and practice from your youth; You have not obeyed My voice.

²²"The wind [of adversity] will carry away all your shepherds (rulers, statesmen), And your lovers (allies) will go into exile. Surely then you will be ashamed and humiliated and disgraced Because of all your wickedness.

²³"O inhabitant of [Jerusalem, whose palaces are made from the cedars of] Lebanon, You who nest in the cedars, How you will groan and how miserable you will be when pains come on you, Pain like a woman in childbirth!

²⁴"As I live," says the LORD, "though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet [ring] on My right hand, yet would I pull you (Coniah) off.

²⁵And I will place you in the hand of those who seek your life and in the hand of those whom you fear, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of the Chaldeans.

²⁶I will hurl you and the mother who gave you birth into another country where you were not born, and there you will die.

²⁷But as for the land to which they long to return, they will not return to it.

²⁸"Is this man [King] Coniah a despised, broken jar? Is he a vessel in which no one takes pleasure? Why are he and his [royal] descendants hurled out And cast into a land which they do not know or understand?

²⁹"O land, land, land, Hear the word of the LORD!

³⁰Thus says the LORD, 'Write this man [Coniah] down as childless, A man who will not prosper (succeed) in his lifetime; For not one of his descendants will succeed In sitting on the throne of David Or ruling again in Judah.'"

¹"Woe to the shepherds (civil leaders, rulers) who are destroying and scattering the sheep of My pasture!" says the LORD.

²Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, in regard to the shepherds who care for and feed My people: "You have scattered My flock and driven them away, and have not attended to them; hear this, I am about to visit and attend to you for the evil of your deeds," says the LORD.

³"Then I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all the countries to which I have driven them and bring them back to their folds and pastures; and they will be fruitful and multiply.

⁴I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them. And they will not be afraid any longer, nor be terrified, nor will any be missing," says the LORD.

⁵"Behold (listen closely), the days are coming," says the LORD, "When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; And He will reign as King and act wisely And will do [those things that accomplish] justice and righteousness in the land.

⁶"In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will dwell safely; Now this is His name by which He will be called; 'The LORD Our Righteousness.'

⁷"Therefore behold, the days are coming," says the LORD, "when they will no longer say, 'As the LORD lives, who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,'

⁸but [they will say], 'As the LORD lives, who brought up and led back the descendants of the house of Israel from the north country and from all the countries to which I had driven them.' Then they will live in their own land."

⁹Concerning the prophets: My heart [says Jeremiah] is broken within me, All my bones shake; I have become like a drunken man, A man whom wine has overcome, Because of the LORD And because of His holy words [declared against unfaithful leaders].

¹⁰For the land is full of adulterers (unfaithful to God); The land mourns because of the curse [of God upon it]. The pastures of the wilderness have dried up. The course of action [of the false prophets] is evil and they rush into wickedness; And their power is not right.

¹¹"For both [false] prophet and priest are ungodly (profane, polluted); Even in My house I have found their wickedness," says the LORD.

¹²"Therefore their way will be to them like slippery paths In the dark; they will be pushed and fall into them; For I will bring disaster on them, In the year of their punishment," says the LORD.

¹³"And I have seen a foolish and an offensive thing in the prophets of Samaria: They prophesied by Baal and caused My people Israel to go astray.

¹⁴"Also I have seen a horrible thing in the prophets of Jerusalem: They commit adultery and walk in lies; They encourage and strengthen the hands of evildoers, So that no one has turned back from his wickedness. All of them have become like Sodom to Me, And her inhabitants like Gomorrah.

¹⁵Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts in regard to the prophets, 'Behold, I am going to feed them [the bitterness of] wormwood And make them drink the poisonous water [of gall], For from the [counterfeit] prophets of Jerusalem Profaneness and ungodliness have spread into all the land.'"

¹⁶Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Do not listen to the words of the [false] prophets who prophesy to you. They are teaching you worthless things and are leading you into futility; They speak a vision of their own mind and imagination And not [truth] from the mouth of the LORD.

¹⁷"They are continually saying to those who despise Me [and My word], 'The Lord has said, "You will have peace"'; And they say to everyone who walks after the stubbornness of his own heart, 'No evil will come on you.'

¹⁸"But who [among them] has stood in the council of the LORD, That he would perceive and hear His word? Who has marked His word [noticing and observing and paying attention to it] and has [actually] heard it?

¹⁹"Behold, the tempest of the LORD has gone forth in wrath, A whirling tempest; It will whirl and burst on the heads of the wicked.

²⁰"The anger of the LORD will not turn back Until He has set in motion and accomplished the thoughts and intentions of His heart; In the last days you will clearly understand it.

²¹"I did not send [these counterfeit] prophets, Yet they ran; I did not speak to them, Yet they prophesied.

²²"But if they had stood in My council, Then they would have caused My people to hear My words, Then they would have turned My people from their evil way And from the evil of their decisions and deeds.

²³"Am I a God who is at hand," says the LORD, "And not a God far away?"

²⁴"Can anyone hide himself in secret places So that I cannot see him?" says the LORD. "Do I not fill heaven and earth?" says the LORD.

²⁵"I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in My Name, saying, 'I have dreamed, I have dreamed [visions when on my bed at night].'

²⁶How long [shall this state of affairs continue]? Is there anything in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy falsehood, even these prophets of the deception of their own heart,

²⁷who think that they can make My people forget My Name by their [contrived] dreams which each one tells another, just as their fathers forgot My Name because of Baal?

²⁸The prophet who has a dream may tell his dream; but he who has My word, let him speak My word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat [for nourishment]?" says the LORD.

²⁹Is not My word like fire [that consumes all that cannot endure the test]?" says the LORD, "and like a hammer that breaks the [most stubborn] rock [in pieces]?

³⁰Therefore behold (hear this), I am against the [counterfeit] prophets," says the LORD, "[I am descending on them with punishment, these prophets] who steal My words from one another [imitating the words of the true prophets].

³¹Hear this, I am against the prophets," says the LORD, "who use their [own deceitful] tongues and say, 'Thus says the Lord.'

³²Hear this, I am against those who have prophesied false and made-up dreams," says the LORD, "and have told them and have made My people err and go astray by their lies and by their reckless boasting; yet I did not send them or command them nor do they benefit and enhance [the life of] these people in the slightest way," says the LORD.

³³"Now when this people or a prophet or a priest asks you [in jest], 'What is the oracle of the LORD [the burden to be lifted up and carried]?' Then you shall say to them, 'What oracle [besides the one that declares you people to be the burden]!' The LORD says, 'I will unburden Myself and I will abandon you.'

³⁴And as for the prophet, the priest, or [any of] the people, whoever says, 'The oracle of the LORD,' [as if he knows God's will], I will punish that man and his household.

³⁵[For the future, in speaking of the words of the LORD] thus each of you shall say to his neighbor and to his brother, 'What has the LORD answered?' or, 'What has the LORD spoken?'

³⁶For you will no longer remember the oracle of the LORD, because every man's own word will become the oracle, [for as they mockingly call all prophecies oracles, whether good or bad, so will it prove to be to them; God will take them at their own word]; and you have perverted the words [not of a lifeless idol, but] of the living God, the LORD of hosts, our God.

³⁷Thus you will [reverently] say to the prophet, 'What has the LORD answered you?' and, 'What has the LORD spoken?'

³⁸For if you say, 'The oracle of the LORD!' surely thus says the LORD, 'Because you said this word, "The oracle of the LORD!" when I have also sent to you, saying, "You shall not say, 'The oracle of the LORD!'"'

³⁹"Therefore behold, I, even I, will assuredly forget you and send you away from My presence, you and the city (Jerusalem) which I gave to you and to your fathers.

⁴⁰And I will bring an everlasting disgrace on you and a perpetual humiliation (shame) which will not be forgotten."

¹After Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken Jeconiah [who was also called Coniah and Jehoiachin] the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the princes of Judah [along] with the craftsmen and smiths into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, the LORD showed me [in a vision] two baskets of figs set before the temple of the LORD.

²One basket had very good figs, like the figs that are the first to ripen; but the other basket had very bad figs, so rotten that they could not be eaten.

³Then the LORD said to me, "What do you see, Jeremiah?" And I said, "Figs, the good figs, very good; and the bad figs, very bad, so rotten that they cannot be eaten."

⁴Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

⁵"Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, 'Like these good figs, so I will regard as good the captives of Judah, whom I have sent from this place into the land of the Chaldeans.

⁶For I will set My eyes on them for good, and I will bring them again to this land; and I will build them up and not overwhelm them, and I will plant them and not uproot them.

⁷I will give them a heart to know Me, [understanding fully] that I am the LORD; and they will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with their whole heart.

⁸'And as for the bad figs, which are so rotten that they cannot be eaten,' surely thus says the LORD, 'so I will abandon Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes, and the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land and those who live in the land of Egypt.

⁹I will make them a focus of ridicule and disappointment [tossed back and forth] among all the kingdoms of the earth, a [notorious] disgrace, a byword, a taunt and a curse in all places where I will scatter them.

¹⁰I will send the sword, famine and virulent disease among them until they are consumed from the land which I gave to them and to their fathers.'"

¹The word that came to Jeremiah in regard to all the people of Judah in the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (that was the first year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon),

²which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying,

³"For these twenty-three years—from the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day—the word of the LORD has come to me and I have spoken to you over and over again, but you have not listened.

⁴Although the LORD has persistently sent to you all His servants the prophets, you have not listened nor [even] inclined your ear to hear [His message],

⁵saying, 'Turn now everyone from his evil way and the evil of your actions [that you may not forfeit the right to] live in the land that the LORD has given to you and your forefathers forever and ever;

⁶and do not go after other gods to serve them and to worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger with the work of your hands, and I will do you no harm.'

⁷Yet you have not listened to Me," says the LORD, "so that you have provoked Me to anger with the work (idols) of your hands to your own harm.

⁸"Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, 'Because you have not obeyed My words,

⁹behold (hear this), I will send for all the families of the north,' says the LORD, 'and I will send for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, My servant [to enact My plan], and I will bring them against this land and against its inhabitants and against all these surrounding nations; and I will utterly destroy them and make them a horror and a hissing [that is, an object of warning and ridicule] and an everlasting desolation.

¹⁰Moreover, I will take from them the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones [grinding meal] and the light of the lamp [to light the night].

¹¹This whole land will be a waste and a horror, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

¹²'Then when seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans (Babylonia),' says the LORD, 'for their wickedness, and will make the land [of the Chaldeans] a perpetual waste.

¹³I will bring on that land all My words which I have pronounced against it, all that is written in this book which Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations.

¹⁴(For many nations and great kings will make slaves of them, even the Chaldeans [who enslaved other nations]; and I will repay [all of] them according to their deeds and according to the work of their [own] hands.)'"

¹⁵For thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, to me, "Take this cup of the wine of wrath from My hand and cause all the nations to whom I send you to drink it.

¹⁶They will drink and stagger and go mad because of the sword that I will send among them."

¹⁷Then I (Jeremiah) took the cup from the Lord's hand and made all the nations to whom the LORD had sent me drink it:

¹⁸Jerusalem and the cities of Judah [being most guilty because their privileges were greatest], its kings and princes, to make them a horror, a ruin, a hissing and a curse, as it is to this day;

¹⁹Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his princes, all his people,

²⁰and all the foreign (mixed) population, all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines (and [their cities of] Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod);

²¹Edom, Moab, and the children of Ammon;

²²all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the islands and the coastlands across the [Mediterranean] Sea;

²³Dedan, Tema, Buz [the neighboring tribes north of Arabia], and all who clip off the side-growth of their hair;

²⁴all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the foreign population who live in the desert;

²⁵all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam (Persia), and all the kings of Media;

²⁶all the kings of the north, far and near, one after another—and all the kingdoms of the world which are on the face of the earth. And the king of Sheshach (Babylon) shall drink after them.

²⁷"Then you shall say to them, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, "Drink, be drunk, vomit, and fall to rise no more because of the sword which I will send among you."'

²⁸And if they refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, then you will say to them, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, "You shall surely drink!

²⁹For behold, I am beginning to work disaster in the city which is called by My Name, and shall you go unpunished? You will not be exempt from punishment, for I am calling for a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth," says the LORD of hosts.'

³⁰"Therefore prophesy all these words against them and say to them: 'The LORD will roar from on high And utter His voice from His holy dwelling; He will roar mightily against His fold and pasture. He will jubilantly shout like those who tread the grapes [in the wine press], Against all the inhabitants of the earth.

³¹'A noise has come to the end of the earth, For the LORD has a controversy with and an indictment against the nations. He is entering into judgment with all mankind; As for the wicked, He has given them to the sword,' says the LORD."

³²Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Behold, evil is going forth From nation to nation, And a great whirling tempest is rising From the remotest part of the earth.

³³"And those slain by the LORD on that day will be from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth. They will not be lamented (mourned over with expressions of grief) or gathered or buried; they will be like dung on the ground.

³⁴"Wail, you shepherds, and cry; And roll in ashes, you masters of the flock. For the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions have come in full, And you will fall and be broken into pieces like a choice vessel.

³⁵"The shepherds will have no way to flee, Nor the masters of the flock any [way of] escape.

³⁶"A voice! The cry of the shepherds And the wailing of the masters of the flock! For the LORD is destroying their pasture,

³⁷"And the peaceful folds are devastated and made silent Because of the fierce anger of the LORD.

³⁸"He has left His lair like the lion; For their land has become a horror Because of the fierceness of the oppressor And because of the Lord's fierce anger."

¹In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came from the LORD, saying,

²"Thus says the LORD, 'Stand in the court of the Lord's house [Jeremiah], and speak to all [the people of] the cities of Judah who have come to worship in the Lord's house all the words that I have commanded you to speak to them. Do not omit a word!

³It may be that they will listen and everyone will turn from his wickedness, so that I may relent and reverse [My decision concerning] the disaster which I am planning to do to them because of their malevolent deeds.'

⁴And you will say to them, 'Thus says the LORD, "If you will not listen to Me and obey My law which I have set before you,

⁵and listen and follow [carefully] the words of My servants the prophets, whom I have been sending to you repeatedly—though you have not listened—

⁶then I will make this house [the temple] like Shiloh, and I will make this city [subject to] the curse of all nations of the earth [because it will be so vile in their sight]."'"

⁷The priests and the [false] prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the LORD.

⁸Now when Jeremiah finished proclaiming everything that the LORD had commanded him to speak to all the people, the priests and the [false] prophets and all the people seized him, saying, "You must die!

⁹Why have you prophesied in the name of the LORD saying, 'This house will be like Shiloh [after the ark of the LORD had been taken by our enemies] and this city [Jerusalem] will be desolate, without inhabitant'?" And all the people were gathered around Jeremiah in the [outer area of the] house of the LORD.

¹⁰When the princes (court officials) of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king's house to the house of the LORD and sat in the entrance of the New Gate of the house of the LORD.

¹¹Then the priests and the [false] prophets said to the princes and to all the people, "This man is deserving of death, for he has prophesied against this city as you have heard with your own ears."

¹²Then Jeremiah spoke to all the princes and to all the people, saying, "The LORD sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that you have heard.

¹³Therefore, now change your ways and your deeds and obey the voice of the LORD your God; then the LORD will relent and reverse His decision concerning the misfortune which He has pronounced against you.

¹⁴As for me, behold, I am in your hands; do with me as seems good and suitable to you.

¹⁵But know for certain that if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood on yourselves and on this city and on its inhabitants, for in truth the LORD has sent me to you to speak all these words in your hearing."

¹⁶Then the princes and all the people said to the priests and to the [false] prophets, "This man is not deserving of death, for he has spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God."

¹⁷Then some of the elders of the land stood up and spoke to all the assembly of the people, saying,

¹⁸"Micah of Moresheth prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah; and he spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Zion will be plowed like a field, And Jerusalem will become [heaps of] ruins, And the mountain of the house [of the LORD—Mount Moriah, on which stands the temple, shall become covered not with buildings, but] like a densely wooded height."'

¹⁹"Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put Micah to death? Did he not [reverently] fear the LORD and entreat the favor of the LORD? And did not the LORD relent and reverse His decision concerning the misfortune which He had pronounced against them? But [here] we are [thinking of] committing a great evil against ourselves."

²⁰And there was also a man who prophesied in the name of the LORD, Uriah the son of Shemaiah of Kiriath-jearim, who prophesied against this city and against this land in words similar to all those of Jeremiah.

²¹And when Jehoiakim the king, with all his mighty men and all the princes, heard his words, the king sought to put Uriah to death; but when Uriah heard of it, he was afraid and fled and escaped to Egypt.

²²Then Jehoiakim the king sent men to Egypt: Elnathan the son of Achbor and certain [other] men with him [went] to Egypt.

²³And they brought Uriah [God's spokesman] from Egypt and led him to King Jehoiakim, who executed him with a sword and threw his dead body among the graves of the common people.

²⁴But the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, so that he was not given into the hands of the people to put him to death.

¹In the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD:

²Thus says the LORD to me, "Make for yourself bonds and yokes and put them on your neck,

³and send word to the king of Edom, to the king of Moab, to the king of the sons of Ammon, to the king of Tyre, and to the king of Sidon by the messengers who come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah.

⁴Command them to go to their masters, saying, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, you shall say this to your masters:

⁵"I have made the earth, the men and the animals that are on the face of the earth by My great power and by My outstretched arm, and I will give it to whomever pleases Me.

⁶Now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, My servant and instrument, and I have also given the wild animals of the field to serve him.

⁷All nations shall serve him and his son and his grandson until the [appointed] time [of punishment] for his own land comes; then many nations and great kings shall make him their servant.

⁸"But any nation or kingdom that will not serve this same Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation I will punish," says the LORD, "with the sword, with famine and with pestilence (virulent disease), until I have destroyed it by Nebuchadnezzar's hand.

⁹And as for you, do not listen to your [counterfeit] prophets, your diviners, your dreams and dreamers, your soothsayers or your sorcerers, who say to you, 'You will not serve the king of Babylon.'

¹⁰For they prophesy a lie to you which will cause you to be removed far from your land; and I will drive you out and you will perish.

¹¹But the nation which will bow its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, that nation I will let remain on its own land," says the LORD, "to cultivate it and live in it."'"

¹²I spoke to Zedekiah king of Judah in the same way, saying, "Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him and his people, and live!

¹³Why will you die, you and your people, by the sword, by famine and by virulent disease, as the LORD has spoken to any nation which will not serve the king of Babylon?

¹⁴Do not listen to and believe the words of the [false] prophets who are saying to you, 'You will not serve the king of Babylon,' for they prophesy a lie to you;

¹⁵for I have not sent them," says the LORD, "but they are prophesying falsely in My Name, in order that I may drive you out and that you may perish, you [together] with the [false] prophets who prophesy to you."

¹⁶Then I said to the priests and to all these people, saying, "Thus says the LORD: Do not listen to the words of your [false] prophets who are prophesying to you, saying, 'Behold, the articles of the Lord's house will now shortly be brought back from Babylon'; for they are prophesying a lie to you.

¹⁷Do not listen to them; serve the king of Babylon, and live! Why should this city become a ruin?

¹⁸But if they are [true] prophets, and if the word of the LORD is [really spoken] by them, let them now entreat the LORD of hosts that the articles which are [still] left in the house of the LORD, in the house of the king of Judah and in Jerusalem may not go to Babylon.

¹⁹For thus says the LORD of hosts concerning the [bronze] pillars, the [bronze] Sea, the [bronze] bases [of the ten basins in Solomon's temple used for washing sacrificial animals], and the rest of the articles that are left in this city (Jerusalem),

²⁰which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take when he carried Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, along with all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem.

²¹"Yes, thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the articles which remain in the house of the LORD, in the house of the king of Judah and in Jerusalem,

²²'They will be carried to Babylon and they will be there until the day that I visit them [with My favor],' says the LORD. 'Then I will bring them back and restore them to this place.'"

¹In the same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year and the fifth month, the [false] prophet Hananiah the son of Azzur, who was from Gibeon [one of the priests' cities], spoke [without godly authority] to me in the house of the LORD in the presence of the priests and all the people, saying:

²"Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, 'I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.

³Within two years I am going to bring back to this place all the articles of the Lord's house, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place and carried to Babylon.

⁴And I will also bring back to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, along with all the exiles from Judah who went to Babylon,' says the LORD, 'for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.'"

⁵Then the prophet Jeremiah spoke to the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests and all the people who stood in the house of the LORD,

⁶and the prophet Jeremiah said, "Amen! May the LORD do so; may the LORD confirm and fulfill your words which you have prophesied to bring back the articles of the Lord's house and all the captives, from Babylon to this place.

⁷Nevertheless, listen now to this word which I am about to speak in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people!

⁸The prophets who were before me and before you from ancient times prophesied against many lands and against great kingdoms, of war and of disaster and of virulent disease.

⁹But as for the prophet who [on the contrary] prophesies of peace, when that prophet's word comes to pass, [only] then will it be known that the LORD has truly sent him."

¹⁰Then Hananiah the [false] prophet took the yoke off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah and smashed it.

¹¹Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people, saying, "Thus says the LORD, 'Even so within two full years I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all the nations.'" Then the prophet Jeremiah went his way.

¹²The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah [some time] after Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, saying,

¹³"Go and tell Hananiah, 'The LORD says this, "You have broken yokes of wood, but you have made in their place bars of iron."

¹⁴For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, "I have put the iron yoke [of servitude] on the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they will serve him. And I have even given him the beasts of the field."'"

¹⁵Then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah the prophet, "Listen now, Hananiah, the LORD has not sent you, and you have made this people trust in a lie.

¹⁶Therefore thus says the LORD, 'Behold, I am about to send you away from the face of the earth. This year you will die, because you have spoken and counseled rebellion against the LORD.'"

¹⁷So Hananiah the [false] prophet died [two months later], the same year, in the seventh month.