Bible in 90 Days Plan

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

²“You shall not take a wife for yourself nor have sons or daughters in this place.”

³For this is what the LORD says concerning the sons and daughters born in this place, and concerning their mothers who give birth to them, and their 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 they will perish by sword and famine, and their dead bodies will become food for the birds of the sky and for the animals of the earth.”

⁵For this is what the LORD says: “Do not enter a house of mourning, or go to mourn or to console them; for I have withdrawn My peace from this people,” declares the LORD, “and My favor and compassion.

⁶Both great people and small will die in this land; they will not be buried, people will not mourn for them, nor will anyone make cuts on himself or have his head shaved for them.

⁷People will not break bread in mourning for them, to comfort anyone for the dead, nor give them a cup of consolation to drink for anyone’s father or mother.

⁸Moreover, you shall not go into a house of feasting to sit with them to eat and drink.”

⁹For this is what the LORD of armies, the God of Israel says: “Behold, I am going to eliminate from this place, before your eyes and in your time, the voice of rejoicing and the voice of joy, the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride.

¹⁰“Now it will happen that, when you tell this people all these words, they will say to you, ‘For what reason has the LORD declared all this great disaster against us? And what is our wrongdoing, or what is our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?’

¹¹Then you are to say to them, ‘It is because your forefathers have abandoned Me,’ declares the LORD, ‘and have followed other gods, and served and worshiped them; but they have abandoned Me and have not kept My Law.

¹²You too have done evil, even more than your forefathers; for behold, each one of you is following the stubbornness of his own evil heart, without listening to Me.

¹³So I will hurl you off this land to the land which you have not known, neither you nor your fathers; and there you will serve other gods day and night, because I will show you no compassion.’

¹⁴“Therefore behold, days are coming,” declares 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 lands where He had banished them.’ For I will restore them to their own land which I gave to their fathers.

¹⁶“Behold, I am going to send for many fishermen,” declares 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 every hill and from the clefts of the rocks.

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

¹⁸I will first repay them double for their wrongdoing and their sin, because they have defiled My land; they have filled My inheritance with the carcasses of their detestable idols and their abominations.”

¹⁹LORD, my strength and my stronghold, And my refuge in the day of distress, To You the nations will come From the ends of the earth and say, “Our fathers have inherited nothing but falsehood, Futility, and things of no benefit.”

²⁰Can a person make gods for himself? But they are not gods!

²¹“Therefore behold, I am going to make them know— This time I will make them know My power and My might; And they will know that My name is the LORD.”

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

²As they remember their children, So they remember their altars and their Asherim By green trees on the high hills.

³Mountain of Mine in the countryside, I will turn over your wealth and all your treasures as plunder, Your high places for sin throughout your borders.

⁴And you will, even of yourself, let go of your inheritance That I gave you; And I will make you serve your enemies In the land which you do not know; For you have kindled a fire in My anger Which will burn forever.

⁵This is what the LORD says: “Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind And makes flesh his strength, And whose heart turns away from the LORD.

⁶For he will be like a bush in the desert, And will not see when prosperity comes, But will live in stony wastes in the wilderness, A land of salt that is not inhabited.

⁷Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, And whose trust is the LORD.

⁸For he will be like a tree planted by the water That extends its roots by a stream, And does not fear when the heat comes; But its leaves will be green, And it will not be anxious in a year of drought, Nor cease to yield fruit.

⁹“The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?

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

¹¹As a partridge that hatches eggs which it has not laid, So is a person who makes a fortune, but unjustly; In the middle of his days it will abandon him, And in the end he will be a fool.”

¹²A glorious throne on high from the beginning Is the place of our sanctuary.

¹³LORD, the hope of Israel, All who abandon You will be put to shame. Those who turn away on earth will be written down, Because they have forsaken the fountain of living water, that is the LORD.

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

¹⁵Look, they keep saying to me, “Where is the word of the LORD? Let it come now!”

¹⁶But as for me, I have not hurried away from being a shepherd following after You, Nor have I longed for the disastrous day; You Yourself know that the utterance of my lips Was in Your presence.

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

¹⁸Let those who persecute me be put to shame, but as for me, let me not be put to shame; Let them be dismayed, but let me not be dismayed. Bring on them a day of disaster, And crush them with double destruction!

¹⁹This is what the LORD said to me: “Go and stand at the public gate, through which the kings of Judah come in and go out, as well as at all the gates of Jerusalem;

²⁰and say to them, ‘Listen to the word of the LORD, you kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all inhabitants of Jerusalem who come in through these gates.

²¹This is what the LORD says: “Take care for yourselves, and do not carry any load on the Sabbath day or bring anything in through the gates of Jerusalem.

²²You shall not bring a load out of your houses on the Sabbath day nor do any work, but keep the Sabbath day holy, just as I commanded your forefathers.

²³Yet they did not listen or incline their ears, but stiffened their necks so as not to listen or accept discipline.

²⁴“But it will come about, if you give your attention to Me,” declares the LORD, “to bring no load in through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but to keep the Sabbath day holy by doing no work on it,

²⁵then there will come in through the gates of this city kings and officials sitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their officials, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and this city will be inhabited forever.

²⁶They will come in from the cities of Judah and from the areas surrounding Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin, from the lowland, from the hill country, and from the Negev, bringing burnt offerings, sacrifices, grain offerings, and frankincense, and bringing sacrifices of thanksgiving to the house of the LORD.

²⁷But if you do not listen to Me, to keep the Sabbath day holy by not carrying a load and coming in through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will set fire to its gates, and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem and not go out.” ’ ”

¹The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

²“Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will announce My words to you.”

³So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something on the wheel.

⁴But the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he remade it into another vessel, as it pleased the potter to make.

⁵Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

⁶“Am I not able, house of Israel, to deal with you as this potter does?” declares the LORD. “Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, house of Israel.

⁷At one moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to uproot it, to tear it down, or to destroy it;

⁸if that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I planned to bring on it.

⁹Or at another moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to build up or to plant it;

¹⁰if it does evil in My sight by not obeying My voice, then I will relent of the good with which I said that I would bless it.

¹¹So now, speak to the men of Judah and against the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, ‘This is what the LORD says: “Behold, I am forming a disaster against you and devising a plan against you. Now turn back, each of you from his evil way, and correct your ways and your deeds!” ’

¹²But they will say, ‘It’s hopeless! For we are going to follow our own plans, and each of us will persist in the stubbornness of his evil heart.’

¹³“Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘Just ask among the nations, Who ever heard anything like this? The virgin of Israel Has done a most appalling thing.

¹⁴Does the snow of Lebanon leave the rock of the open country alone? Or is the cold flowing water from a foreign land ever dried up?

¹⁵For My people have forgotten Me, They burn incense to worthless gods. And they have stumbled in their ways, In the ancient roads, To walk on paths, Not on a highway,

¹⁶To make their land a desolation, An object of perpetual hissing; Everyone who passes by it will be astonished And shake his head.

¹⁷Like an east wind I will scatter them Before the enemy; I will show them My back and not My face In the day of their disaster.’ ”

¹⁸Then they said, “Come and let’s devise plans against Jeremiah. Certainly the Law is not going to be lost by the priest, nor advice by the wise, nor the divine word by the prophet! Come, and let’s strike at him with our tongue, and let’s pay no attention to any of his words.”

¹⁹Give Your attention to me, LORD, And listen to what my opponents are saying!

²⁰Should good be repaid with evil? For they have dug a pit for me. Remember how I stood before You To speak good in their behalf, So as to turn Your wrath away from them.

²¹Therefore, give their children over to famine And turn them over to the power of the sword; And let their wives become childless and widowed. Let their men also be slaughtered to death, Their young men struck and killed by the sword in battle.

²²May a cry be heard from their houses When You suddenly bring raiders upon them; For they have dug a pit to capture me And hidden snares for my feet.

²³But You, LORD, know All their deadly schemes against me; Do not forgive their wrongdoing Or wipe out their sin from Your sight. But may they be overthrown before You; Deal with them in the time of Your anger!

¹This is what the LORD says: “Go and buy a potter’s earthenware jar, and take some of the elders of the people and some of the senior priests.

²Then go out to the Valley of Ben-hinnom, which is by the entrance of the Potsherd Gate, and proclaim there the words that I tell you,

³and say, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, you kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. This is what the LORD of armies, the God of Israel says: “Behold I am going to bring a disaster upon this place, at which the ears of everyone that hears of it will tingle.

⁴Since they have abandoned Me and have made this place foreign, and have burned sacrifices in it to other gods that neither they nor their forefathers nor the kings of Judah had ever known, and since 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, a thing which I did not command nor speak of, nor did it ever enter My mind;

⁶therefore, behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when this place will no longer be called Topheth or the Valley of Ben-hinnom, but rather the Valley of Slaughter.

⁷And I will frustrate the planning of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and I will make them fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hand of those who seek their life; and I will make their carcasses food for the birds of the sky and the animals of the earth.

⁸I will also turn this city into an object of horror and hissing; everyone who passes by it will be appalled and hiss because of all its disasters.

⁹And I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they will eat one another’s flesh during the siege and in the hardship with which their enemies and those who seek their life will torment them.” ’

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

¹¹and say to them, ‘This is what the LORD of armies says: “To the same extent I will break this people and this city, just as one breaks a potter’s vessel, which cannot again be repaired; and they will bury their dead in Topheth, because there is no other place for burial.

¹²This is how I will treat this place and its inhabitants,” declares the LORD, “so as to make this city like Topheth.

¹³The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be defiled like the place Topheth, because of all the houses on whose rooftops they burned sacrifices to all the heavenly lights and poured out drink offerings to other gods.” ’ ”

¹⁴Then Jeremiah came from Topheth, where the LORD had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the courtyard of the LORD’S house and said to all the people,

¹⁵“This is what the LORD of armies, the God of Israel says: ‘Behold, I am going to bring on this city and all its towns the entire disaster that I have declared against it, because they have stiffened their necks so as not to listen to My words.’ ”

¹When Pashhur the priest, the son of Immer, who was chief overseer in the house of the LORD, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things,

²Pashhur had Jeremiah the prophet beaten and put him in the stocks that were at the upper Benjamin Gate, which was by the house of the LORD.

³Then on the next day, when Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, “Pashhur is not the name the LORD has called you, but rather Magor-missabib.

⁴For this is what the LORD says: ‘Behold, I am going to make you a horror to yourself and to all your friends; and while your eyes look on, they will fall by the sword of their enemies. So I will hand all Judah over to the king of Babylon, and he will take them away as exiles to Babylon and will kill them with the sword.

⁵I will also give all the wealth of this city, all its produce and all its valuable things—even all the treasures of the kings of Judah I will hand over to their enemies, and they will plunder them, take them away, and bring them to Babylon.

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

⁷LORD, You persuaded me and I let myself be persuaded; You have overcome me and prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all day long; Everyone mocks me.

⁸For each time I speak, I cry aloud; I proclaim violence and destruction, Because for me the word of the LORD has resulted In taunting and derision all day long.

⁹But if I say, “I will not remember Him Nor speak anymore in His name,” Then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire Shut up in my bones; And I am tired of holding it in, And I cannot endure it.

¹⁰For I have heard the whispering of many, “Terror on every side! Denounce him; let’s denounce him!” All my trusted friends, Watching for my fall, say: “Perhaps he will be persuaded, so that we may prevail against him And take our revenge on him.”

¹¹But the LORD is with me like a powerful champion; Therefore my persecutors will stumble and not prevail. They will be put to great shame because they have failed, An everlasting disgrace that will not be forgotten.

¹²Yet, LORD of armies, who tests the righteous, Who sees the mind and the heart; Let me see Your vengeance on them, For to You I have disclosed my cause.

¹³Sing to the LORD, praise the LORD! For He has saved the soul of the needy one From the hand of evildoers.

¹⁴Cursed be the day when I was born; May the day when my mother gave birth to me not be blessed!

¹⁵Cursed be the man who brought the news To my father, saying, “A boy has been born to you!” And made him very happy.

¹⁶But may that man be like the cities Which the LORD overthrew without relenting, And may he hear an outcry in the morning And an alarm for war at noon;

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

¹⁸Why did I ever come out of the womb To look at trouble and sorrow, So that my days have been spent in shame?

¹The word that 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 in our behalf, because Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is making war against us; perhaps the LORD will deal with us in accordance with all His wonderful acts, so that the enemy will withdraw from us.”

³But Jeremiah said to them, “You shall say to Zedekiah as follows:

⁴‘This is what the LORD, the God of Israel says: “Behold, I am going to turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, with which you are making war against the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans who are besieging you outside the wall; and I will gather them into the middle of this city.

⁵And I Myself will make war against you with an outstretched hand and a mighty arm, and in anger, wrath, and great indignation.

⁶I will also strike the inhabitants of this city, both the people and the animals; they will die of a great plague.

⁷Then afterward,” declares the LORD, “I will hand Zedekiah king of Judah, his servants, and the people, that is, those who survive in this city from the plague, the sword, and the famine, over to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, to their enemies, and to those who seek their lives; and he will strike and kill them with the edge of the sword. He will not spare them nor have pity nor compassion.” ’

⁸“You shall also say to this people, ‘This is what the LORD says: “Behold, I am setting before you the way of life and the way of death.

⁹Anyone who stays in this city will die by the sword, by famine, or by plague; but anyone who leaves and goes over to the Chaldeans who are besieging you will live, and he will have his own life as plunder.

¹⁰For I have set My face against this city for harm and not for good,” declares the LORD. “It will be handed over to the king of Babylon and he will burn it with fire.” ’

¹¹“Then say to the household of the king of Judah, ‘Hear the word of the LORD,

¹²house of David, this is what the LORD says: “Administer justice every morning; And save the person who has been robbed from the power of his oppressor, So that My wrath will not spread like fire And burn, with no one to extinguish it, Because of the evil of their deeds.

¹³“Behold, I am against you, you inhabitant of the valley, You rocky plain,” declares the LORD, “You who say, ‘Who will come down against us? Or who will enter our dwellings?’

¹⁴But I will punish you according to the results of your deeds,” declares the LORD, “And I will kindle a fire in its forest So that it may devour all its surroundings.” ’ ”

¹This is what the LORD says: “Go down to the house of the king of Judah and there speak this word,

²and say, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, who sits on David’s throne, you and your servants and your people who enter these gates.

³This is what the LORD says: “Do justice and righteousness, and save one who has been robbed from the power of his oppressor. And do not mistreat or do violence to the stranger, the orphan, or the widow; and do not shed innocent blood in this place.

⁴For if you will indeed perform this instruction, then kings will enter the gates of this house, sitting in David’s place on his throne, riding in chariots and on horses, the king himself, his servants, and his people.

⁵But if you will not obey these words, I swear by Myself,” declares the LORD, “that this house will become a place of ruins.” ’ ”

⁶For this is what the LORD says concerning the house of the king of Judah: “You are like Gilead to Me, Like the summit of Lebanon; Yet most assuredly I will make you a wilderness, Cities that are not inhabited.

⁷For I will set apart destroyers against you, Each with his weapons; And they will cut down your choicest cedars And throw them on the fire.

⁸“Many nations will pass by this city; and they will say to one another, ‘Why has the LORD done this to this great city?’

⁹Then they will answer, ‘Because they abandoned the covenant of the LORD their God and bowed down to other gods and served them.’ ”

¹⁰Do not weep for the dead or mourn for him, But weep deeply for the one who goes away; For he will never return Or see his native land.

¹¹For this is what the LORD says regarding Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who became king in the place of his father Josiah, who went out from this place: “He will never return there;

¹²but in the place where they took him into exile, there he will die and he will not see this land again.

¹³“Woe to him who builds his house without righteousness, And his upstairs rooms without justice, Who uses his neighbor’s services without pay And does not give him his wages,

¹⁴Who says, ‘I will build myself a large house With spacious upstairs rooms, And cut out its windows, Paneling it with cedar and painting it bright red.’

¹⁵Do you become a king because you are competing in cedar? Did your father not eat and drink And do justice and righteousness? Then it was well for him.

¹⁶He pled the cause of the afflicted and the poor, Then it was well. Is that not what it means to know Me?” Declares the LORD.

¹⁷“But your eyes and your heart Are intent only upon your own dishonest gain, And on shedding innocent blood, And on practicing oppression and extortion.”

¹⁸Therefore this is what the LORD says regarding Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: “They will not mourn for him: ‘Oh, my brother!’ or, ‘Oh, sister!’ They will not mourn for him: ‘Oh, for the master!’ or, ‘Oh, for his splendor!’

¹⁹He will be buried with a donkey’s burial, Dragged off and thrown out beyond the gates of Jerusalem.

²⁰Go up to Lebanon and cry out, And raise your voice in Bashan; Cry out also from Abarim, For all your lovers have been crushed.

²¹I spoke to you in your prosperity; But you said, ‘I will not listen!’ This has been your way from your youth, That you have not obeyed My voice.

²²The wind will sweep away all your shepherds, And your lovers will go into captivity; Then you will certainly be ashamed and humiliated Because of all your wickedness.

²³You who live in Lebanon, Nested in the cedars, How you will groan when sharp pains come on you, Pain like a woman in childbirth!

²⁴“As I live,” declares the LORD, “even if Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were a signet ring on My right hand, yet I would pull you off;

²⁵and I will hand you over to those who are seeking your life, yes, to those of whom you are frightened, that is, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and the Chaldeans.

²⁶I will hurl you and your mother who gave birth to you 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.

²⁸Is this man Coniah a despised, shattered jar? Or is he an undesirable vessel? Why have he and his descendants been hurled out And cast into a land that they had not known?

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

³⁰This is what the LORD says: ‘Write this man down as childless, A man who will not prosper in his days; For no man among his descendants will prosper Sitting on the throne of David Or ruling again in Judah.’ ”

¹“Woe to the shepherds who are causing the sheep of My pasture to perish and are scattering them!” declares the LORD.

²Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Israel says concerning the shepherds who are tending My people: “You have scattered My flock and driven them away, and have not been concerned about them; behold, I am going to call you to account for the evil of your deeds,” declares the LORD.

³“Then I Myself will gather the remnant of My flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and bring them back to their pasture, and they will be fruitful and multiply.

⁴I will also raise up shepherds over them and they will tend them; and they will not be afraid any longer, nor be terrified, nor will any be missing,” declares the LORD.

⁵“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; And He will reign as king and act wisely And do justice and righteousness in the land.

⁶In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will live securely; And this is His name by which He will be called, ‘The LORD Our Righteousness.’

⁷“Therefore behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when they will no longer say, ‘As the LORD lives, who brought the sons of Israel up from the land of Egypt,’

⁸but, ‘As the LORD lives, who brought up and led the descendants of the household of Israel back from the north land and from all the countries where I had driven them.’ Then they will live on their own soil.”

⁹As for the prophets: My heart is broken within me, All my bones tremble; I have become like a drunken man, And like a man overcome by wine, Because of the LORD And because of His holy words.

¹⁰For the land is full of adulterers; For the land mourns because of the curse. The pastures of the wilderness have dried up. Their course is evil And their might is not right.

¹¹“For both prophet and priest are defiled; Even in My house I have found their wickedness,” declares the LORD.

¹²“Therefore their way will be like slippery paths to them, They will be driven away into the gloom and fall down in it; For I will bring disaster upon them, The year of their punishment,” declares the LORD.

¹³“Moreover, among the prophets of Samaria I saw an offensive thing: They prophesied by Baal and led My people Israel astray.

¹⁴Also among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: The committing of adultery and walking in deceit; And they strengthen the hands of evildoers, So that no one has turned back from his wickedness. All of them have become to Me like Sodom, And her inhabitants like Gomorrah.

¹⁵Therefore this is what the LORD of armies says concerning the prophets: ‘Behold, I am going to feed them wormwood And make them drink poisonous water, For from the prophets of Jerusalem Ungodliness has spread into all the land.’ ”

¹⁶This is what the LORD of armies says: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you. They are leading you into futility; They tell a vision of their own imagination, Not from the mouth of the LORD.

¹⁷They keep saying to those who despise Me, ‘The LORD has said, “You will have peace” ’; And as for everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart, They say, ‘Disaster will not come on you.’

¹⁸But who has stood in the council of the LORD, That he should see and hear His word? Who has paid attention to His word and listened?

¹⁹Behold, the storm of the LORD has gone forth in wrath, Even a whirling tempest; It will swirl down on the head of the wicked.

²⁰The anger of the LORD will not turn back Until He has performed and carried out the purposes of His heart; In the last days you will clearly understand it.

²¹I did not send these prophets, But they ran. I did not speak to them, But they prophesied.

²²But if they had stood in My council, Then they would have announced My words to My people, And would have turned them back from their evil way And from the evil of their deeds.

²³“Am I a God who is near,” declares the LORD, “And not a God far off?

²⁴Can a person hide himself in hiding places So that I do not see him?” declares the LORD. “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” declares the LORD.

²⁵“I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy falsely in My name, saying, ‘I had a dream, I had a dream!’

²⁶How long? Is there anything in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy falsehood, these prophets of the deceitfulness of their own heart,

²⁷who intend to make My people forget My name by their dreams which they report to one another, just as their fathers forgot My name because of Baal?

²⁸The prophet who has a dream may report his dream, but let him who has My word speak My word truthfully. What does straw have in common with grain?” declares the LORD.

²⁹“Is My word not like fire?” declares the LORD, “and like a hammer which shatters a rock?

³⁰Therefore behold, I am against the prophets,” declares the LORD, “who steal My words from each other.

³¹Behold, I am against the prophets,” declares the LORD, “who use their tongues and declare, ‘The Lord declares!’

³²Behold, I am against those who have prophesied false dreams,” declares the LORD, “and reported them and led My people astray by their lies and reckless boasting; yet I did not send them nor command them, nor do they provide this people the slightest benefit,” declares the LORD.

³³“Now when this people or the prophet or a priest asks you, saying, ‘What is the pronouncement of the LORD?’ then you shall say to them, ‘What pronouncement?’ The LORD declares, ‘I will abandon you.’

³⁴Then as for the prophet or the priest or the people who say, ‘The pronouncement of the LORD,’ I will bring punishment upon that person and his household.

³⁵This is what each one of you will 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 pronouncement of the LORD, because every person’s own word will become the pronouncement, and you have perverted the words of the living God, the LORD of armies, our God.

³⁷This is what you will say to that prophet: ‘What has the LORD answered you?’ and, ‘What has the LORD spoken?’

³⁸And if you say, ‘The pronouncement of the LORD!’ for that reason the LORD says this: ‘Because you said this word, “The pronouncement of the LORD!” I have also sent word to you, saying, “You shall not say, ‘The pronouncement of the LORD!’ ” ’

³⁹Therefore behold, I will certainly forget you and thrust you away from My presence, along with the city which I gave you and your fathers.

⁴⁰I will put an everlasting disgrace on you and an everlasting humiliation which will not be forgotten.”

¹After Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken into exile Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the officials of Judah with the craftsmen and metalworkers from Jerusalem and had brought them to Babylon, the LORD showed me: behold, two baskets of figs placed before the temple of the LORD.

²One basket had very good figs, like first-ripe figs, and the other basket had very bad figs which could not be eaten due to rottenness.

³Then the LORD said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” And I said, “Figs: the good figs are very good, and the bad ones, very bad, which cannot be eaten due to rottenness.”

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

⁵“This is what the LORD, the God of Israel says: ‘Like these good figs, so I will regard as good the captives of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans.

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

⁷I will also give them a heart to know Me, for I am the LORD; and they will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me wholeheartedly.

⁸‘But like the bad figs which cannot be eaten due to rottenness,’ indeed, this is what the LORD says, ‘so will I give up Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials, and the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and the ones who live in the land of Egypt.

⁹I will make them an object of terror and an evil for all the kingdoms of the earth, as a disgrace and a proverb, a taunt and a curse in all the places where I will scatter them.

¹⁰And I will send the sword, the famine, and the plague upon them until they are eliminated from the land which I gave to them and their forefathers.’ ”

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

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

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

⁴And the LORD has sent to you all His servants the prophets again and again, but you have not listened nor inclined your ear to hear,

⁵saying, ‘Turn now, everyone from his evil way and from the evil of your deeds, and live on the land which the LORD has given to you and your forefathers forever and ever;

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

⁷Yet you have not listened to Me,” declares the LORD, “in order to provoke Me to anger with the work of your hands to your own harm.

⁸“Therefore this is what the LORD of armies says: ‘Because you have not obeyed My words,

⁹behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will send to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land and against its inhabitants and against all these surrounding nations; and I will completely destroy them and make them an object of horror and hissing, and an everlasting place of ruins.

¹⁰Moreover, I will eliminate from them the voice of jubilation and the voice of joy, the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp.

¹¹This entire land will be a place of ruins and an object of horror, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years.

¹²‘Then it will be when seventy years are completed I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation,’ declares the LORD, ‘for their wrongdoing, and the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make it an everlasting desolation.

¹³I will bring upon 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 them; and I will repay them according to their deeds and according to the work of their hands.)’ ”

¹⁵For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says to me: “Take this cup of the wine of wrath from My hand and give it to all the nations to whom I send you, to drink from it.

¹⁶Then they will drink and loudly vomit and act insanely because of the sword that I am going to send among them.”

¹⁷So I took the cup from the LORD’S hand and gave it to all the nations to whom the LORD sent me, to drink from it:

¹⁸To Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, and its kings and its officials, to make them places of ruins, objects of horror, hissing, and a curse, as it is this day;

¹⁹To Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his officials, and all his people;

²⁰and to all the foreign people, all the kings of the land of Uz, all the kings of the land of the Philistines (that is, Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod);

²¹To Edom, Moab, and the sons of Ammon;

²²and to all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the coastlands which are beyond the sea;

²³and to Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who trim the corners of their hair;

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

²⁵and to all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of Media;

²⁶and to all the kings of the north, near and far, one with another; and all the kingdoms of the earth which are on the face of the ground; and the king of Sheshach shall drink it after them.

²⁷“And you shall say to them, ‘This is what the LORD of armies, the God of Israel says: “Drink, be drunk, vomit, fall down, and do not get up, because of the sword which I am sending among you.” ’

²⁸And if they refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, ‘This is what the LORD of armies says: “You shall certainly drink!

²⁹For behold, I am beginning to inflict disaster on this city which is called by My name, so should you be completely free from punishment? You will not be free from punishment, for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth,” declares the LORD of armies.’

³⁰“Therefore you shall prophesy against them all these words, and you shall say to them, ‘The LORD will roar from on high And raise His voice from His holy dwelling; He will roar forcefully against His fold. He will shout like those who tread the grapes, Against all the inhabitants of the earth.

³¹A clamor has come to the end of the earth, Because the LORD has a controversy with the nations. He is entering into judgment with humanity; As for the wicked, He has turned them over to the sword,’ declares the LORD.”

³²This is what the LORD of armies says: “Behold, evil is going out From nation to nation, And a great storm is being stirred up From the remotest parts of the earth.

³³“Those put to death by the LORD on that day will be from one end of the earth to the other. They will not be mourned, gathered, or buried; they will be like dung on the face of the ground.

³⁴Wail, you shepherds, and cry out; Wallow in the dust, you masters of the flock; For the days of your slaughter and your dispersions have come, And you will fall like a precious vessel.

³⁵There will be no sanctuary for the shepherds, Nor escape for the masters of the flock.

³⁶Hear the sound of the cry of the shepherds, And the wailing of the masters of the flock! For the LORD is destroying their pasture,

³⁷And the peaceful grazing places are devastated Because of the fierce anger of the LORD.

³⁸He has left His hiding place like the lion; For their land has become a horror Because of the fierceness of the oppressing sword And because of His 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“This is what the LORD says: ‘Stand in the courtyard of the LORD’S house, and speak to all 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!

³Perhaps they will listen and everyone will turn from his evil way, and I will relent of the disaster which I am planning to inflict on them because of the evil of their deeds.’

⁴And you shall say to them, ‘This is what the LORD says: “If you do not listen to Me, to walk in My Law which I have set before you,

⁵to listen to the words of My servants the prophets, whom I have been sending to you again and again, but you have not listened;

⁶then I will make this house like Shiloh, and I will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.” ’ ”

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

⁸Yet when Jeremiah finished speaking everything that the LORD had commanded him to speak to all the people, then the priests and the 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 and this city will be in ruins, without inhabitant’?” And all the people gathered to Jeremiah at the house of the LORD.

¹⁰When the officials of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king’s house to the house of the LORD and sat at the entrance of the New Gate of the LORD’S house.

¹¹Then the priests and the prophets spoke to the officials and to all the people, saying, “A death sentence for this man! For he has prophesied against this city, just as you have heard with your own ears!”

¹²Then Jeremiah spoke to all the officials 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.

¹³Now then, reform your ways and your deeds and obey the voice of the LORD your God; and the LORD will relent of the disaster which He has pronounced against you.

¹⁴But as for me, behold, I am in your hands; do with me as is good and right in your sight.

¹⁵Only know for certain that if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood on yourselves, and on this city and its inhabitants; for truly the LORD has sent me to you to speak all these words so that you hear them.”

¹⁶Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and the prophets, “No death sentence for this man! For he has spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God.”

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

¹⁸“Micah of Moresheth used to prophesy in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah; and he spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, ‘This is what the LORD of armies has said: “Zion will be plowed like a field, And Jerusalem will become heaps of ruins, And the mountain of the house like the high places of a forest.” ’

¹⁹Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah actually put him to death? Did he not fear the LORD and plead for the favor of the LORD, and the LORD relented of the disaster which He had pronounced against them? But we are committing a great evil against our own lives!”

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

²¹When King Jehoiakim and all his warriors and all the officials heard his words, then the king sought to put him to death; but Uriah heard about it, and he was afraid, so he fled and went to Egypt.

²²Then King Jehoiakim sent men to Egypt: Elnathan the son of Achbor and certain men with him, to Egypt.

²³And they brought Uriah from Egypt and led him to King Jehoiakim, who killed him with a sword and threw his dead body into the burial place of the common people.

²⁴But the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, so that he was not handed over to 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, saying—

²this is what the LORD has said to me: “Make for yourself restraints and yokes and put them on your neck,

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

⁴Order them to go to their masters, saying, ‘This is what the LORD of armies, the God of Israel says: “This is what you shall say to your masters:

⁵‘I have made the earth, mankind, and the animals which are on the face of the earth by My great power and by My outstretched arm, and I will give it to the one who is pleasing in My sight.

⁶And now I have handed all these lands over to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, My servant, and I have also given him the animals of the field to serve him.

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

⁸‘And it will be that the nation or the kingdom which will not serve him, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and will not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish that nation with the sword, with famine, and with plague,’ declares the LORD, ‘until I have eliminated it by his hand.

⁹And as for you, do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your soothsayers, or your sorcerers who talk to you, saying, “You will not serve the king of Babylon.”

¹⁰For they are prophesying a lie to you in order to remove you far from your land; and I will drive you away and you will perish.

¹¹But the nation that will bring its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will let remain on its land,’ declares the LORD, ‘and they will cultivate it and live in it.’ ” ’ ”

¹²I spoke words like all these to Zedekiah king of Judah, saying, “Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him and his people, and live!

¹³Why should you die, you and your people, by the sword, famine, and plague, as the LORD has spoken to the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?

¹⁴So do not listen to the words of the prophets who talk to you, saying, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon,’ for they are prophesying a lie to you;

¹⁵for I have not sent them,” declares the LORD, “but they are prophesying falsely in My name, so that I will drive you away and that you will perish, you and the prophets who prophesy to you.”

¹⁶Then I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying: “This is what the LORD says: ‘Do not listen to the words of your prophets who prophesy to you, saying, “Behold, the vessels 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 place of ruins?

¹⁸But if they are prophets, and if the word of the LORD is with them, have them now plead with the LORD of armies that the vessels which are left in the house of the LORD and the house of the king of Judah and in Jerusalem do not go to Babylon.

¹⁹For this is what the LORD of armies says concerning the pillars, concerning the sea, concerning the kettle stands, and concerning the rest of the vessels that are left in this city,

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

²¹Yes, this is what the LORD of armies, the God of Israel, says concerning the vessels that are left in the house of the LORD and in the house of the king of Judah and in Jerusalem:

²²“They will be brought to Babylon and will be there until the day I visit them,” declares the LORD. “Then I will bring them back and restore them to this place.” ’ ”

¹Now in the same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year, in the fifth month, Hananiah the prophet the son of Azzur, who was from Gibeon, spoke to me at the house of the LORD in the sight of the priests and all the people, saying,

²“This is what the LORD of armies, the God of Israel says: ‘I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.

³Within two years I am going to bring back to this place all the vessels of the LORD’S house, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took from this place and brought to Babylon.

⁴I am also going to bring back to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the exiles of Judah who went to Babylon,’ declares the LORD, ‘for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.’ ”

⁵Then Jeremiah the prophet spoke to the prophet Hananiah in the sight of the priests and in the sight of all the people who were standing at the house of the LORD,

⁶and Jeremiah the prophet said, “Amen! May the LORD do so; may the LORD fulfill your words which you have prophesied, to bring back the vessels of the LORD’S house and all the exiles, from Babylon to this place.

⁷Yet hear now this word which I am going to speak so that you and all the people can hear it!

⁸The prophets who were before me and before you from ancient times also prophesied against many lands and against great kingdoms regarding war, disaster, and plague.

⁹As for the prophet who prophesies of peace, when the word of the prophet comes to pass, then that prophet will be known as one whom the LORD has truly sent.”

¹⁰Then Hananiah the prophet took the yoke from the neck of Jeremiah the prophet and broke it.

¹¹Hananiah spoke in the sight of all the people, saying, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Even so within two full years I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all the nations.’ ” Then Jeremiah the prophet went his way.

¹²Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah after Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke from the neck of Jeremiah the prophet, saying,

¹³“Go and speak to Hananiah, saying, ‘This is what the LORD says: “You have broken the yokes of wood, but in their place you have made yokes of iron.”

¹⁴For this is what the LORD of armies, the God of Israel says: “I have put a yoke of iron on the neck of all these nations, to serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they shall serve him. And I have also given him the animals of the field.” ’ ”

¹⁵Then Jeremiah the prophet 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, this is what the LORD says: ‘Behold, I am going to remove you from the face of the earth. This year you are going to die, because you spoke falsely against the LORD.’ ”

¹⁷So Hananiah the prophet died in the same year, in the seventh month.