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¹Righteous are You, LORD, when I plead my case with You; Nevertheless I would discuss matters of justice with You: Why has the way of the wicked prospered? Why are all those who deal in treachery at ease?

²You have planted them, they have also taken root; They grow, they have also produced fruit. You are near to their lips But far from their mind.

³But You know me, LORD; You see me And examine my heart’s attitude toward You. Drag them off like sheep for the slaughter, And set them apart for a day of slaughter!

⁴How long is the land to mourn, And the vegetation of the countryside to dry up? Due to the wickedness of those who live in it, Animals and birds have been snatched away, Because people have said, “He will not see our final end.”

⁵“If you have run with infantrymen and they have tired you out, How can you compete with horses? If you fall down in a land of peace, How will you do in the thicket by the Jordan?

⁶For even your brothers and the household of your father, Even they have dealt treacherously with you, Even they have called aloud after you. Do not believe them, though they say nice things to you.”

⁷“I have forsaken My house, I have abandoned My inheritance; I have handed the beloved of My soul Over to her enemies.

⁸My inheritance has become to Me Like a lion in the forest; She has roared against Me; Therefore I have come to hate her.

⁹Is My inheritance like a speckled bird of prey to Me? Are the birds of prey against her on every side? Go, gather all the animals of the field, Bring them to devour!

¹⁰Many shepherds have ruined My vineyard, They have trampled down My field; They have made My pleasant field A desolate wilderness.

¹¹It has been made a desolation; Desolate, it mourns before Me; The whole land has been made desolate, Because no one takes it to heart.

¹²On all the bare heights in the wilderness Destroyers have come, For the sword of the LORD is devouring From one end of the land even to the other; There is no peace for anyone.

¹³They have sown wheat but have harvested thorns, They have strained themselves to no profit. So be ashamed of your produce Because of the fierce anger of the LORD.”

¹⁴This is what the LORD says concerning all My wicked neighbors who do harm to the inheritance with which I have endowed My people Israel: “Behold, I am going to drive them out of their land, and I will drive the house of Judah out from among them.

¹⁵And it will come about that after I have driven them out, I will again have compassion on them; and I will bring them back, each one to his inheritance and each one to his land.

¹⁶Then, if they will really learn the ways of My people, to swear by My name, ‘As the LORD lives,’ just as they taught My people to swear by Baal, they will be built up in the midst of My people.

¹⁷But if they do not listen, then I will drive out that nation, drive it out and destroy it,” declares the LORD.

¹This is what the LORD said to me: “Go and buy yourself a linen undergarment and put it around your waist, but do not put it in water.”

²So I bought the undergarment in accordance with the word of the LORD, and put it around my waist.

³Then the word of the LORD came to me a second time, saying,

⁴“Take the undergarment that you bought, which is around your waist, and arise, go to the Euphrates and hide it there in a crevice of the rock.”

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

⁶After many days the LORD said to me, “Arise, go to the Euphrates and take from there the undergarment which I commanded you to hide there.”

⁷Then I went to the Euphrates and dug, and I took the undergarment from the place where I had hidden it; and behold, the undergarment was ruined, it was completely useless.

⁸Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

⁹“This is what the LORD says: ‘To the same extent I will destroy the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem.

¹⁰This wicked people, who refuse to listen to My words, who walk in the stubbornness of their hearts and have followed other gods to serve them and to bow down to them, let them be just like this undergarment which is completely useless.

¹¹For as the undergarment clings to the waist of a man, so I made the entire household of Israel and the entire household of Judah cling to Me,’ declares the LORD, ‘so that they might be My people, for renown, for praise, and for glory; but they did not listen.’

¹²“Therefore you are to speak this word to them. ‘This is what the LORD, the God of Israel says: “Every jug is to be filled with wine.” ’ And when they say to you, ‘Do we not very well know that every jug is to be filled with wine?’

¹³then say to them, ‘This is what the LORD says: “Behold, I am going to fill all the inhabitants of this land—the kings who sit for David on his throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem—with drunkenness!

¹⁴Then I will smash them against each other, both the fathers and the sons together,” declares the LORD. “I will not have compassion nor be troubled nor take pity so as to keep from destroying them.” ’ ”

¹⁵Listen and pay attention, do not be haughty; For the LORD has spoken.

¹⁶Give glory to the LORD your God Before He brings darkness And before your feet stumble On the mountains in the dark, And while you are hoping for light He makes it into gloom, And turns it into thick darkness.

¹⁷But if you do not listen to it, My soul will weep in secret for such pride; And my eyes will shed And stream down tears, Because the flock of the LORD has been taken captive.

¹⁸Say to the king and the queen mother, “Take a lowly seat, For your beautiful crown Has come down from your head.”

¹⁹The cities of the Negev have been locked up, And there is no one to open them; All Judah has been taken into exile, Wholly taken into exile.

²⁰“Raise your eyes and see Those coming from the north. Where is the flock that was given you, Your beautiful sheep?

²¹What will you say when He appoints over you— And you yourself had taught them— Former companions to be head over you? Will sharp pains not take hold of you Like a woman in childbirth?

²²If you say in your heart, ‘Why have these things happened to me?’ Because of the magnitude of your wrongdoing Your skirts have been removed And your heels have suffered violence.

²³Can the Ethiopian change his skin, Or the leopard his spots? Then you as well can do good Who are accustomed to doing evil.

²⁴Therefore I will scatter them like drifting straw To the desert wind.

²⁵This is your lot, the portion measured to you From Me,” declares the LORD, “Because you have forgotten Me And trusted in falsehood.

²⁶So I Myself have stripped your skirts off over your face, So that your shame will be seen.

²⁷As for your adulteries and your lustful neighings, The outrageous sin of your prostitution On the hills in the field, I have seen your abominations. Woe to you, Jerusalem! How long will you remain unclean?”

¹That which came as the word of the LORD to Jeremiah regarding the drought:

²“Judah mourns And her gates languish; Her people sit on the ground in mourning garments, And the cry of Jerusalem has ascended.

³Their nobles have sent their servants for water; They have come to the cisterns and found no water. They have returned with their containers empty; They have been put to shame and humiliated, And they cover their heads,

⁴Because the ground is cracked, For there has been no rain on the land. The farmers have been put to shame, They have covered their heads.

⁵For even the doe in the field has given birth only to abandon her young, Because there is no grass.

⁶The wild donkeys stand on the bare heights; They pant for air like jackals, Their eyes fail Because there is no vegetation.

⁷Though our wrongdoings testify against us, LORD, act for the sake of Your name! Our apostasies have indeed been many, We have sinned against You.

⁸Hope of Israel, Its Savior in time of distress, Why are You like a stranger in the land, Or like a traveler who has pitched his tent for the night?

⁹Why are You like a confused person, Like a warrior who cannot save? Yet You are in our midst, LORD, And we are called by Your name; Do not leave us!”

¹⁰This is what the LORD says to this people: “So much they have loved to wander; they have not restrained their feet. Therefore the LORD does not accept them; now He will remember their wrongdoing and call their sins to account.”

¹¹So the LORD said to me, “Do not pray for a good outcome on behalf of this people.

¹²When they fast, I am not going to listen to their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I am not going to accept them. Rather, I am going to put an end to them by the sword, famine, and plague.”

¹³But I said, “Oh, Lord GOD! Behold, the prophets are telling them, ‘You will not see a sword, nor will you have famine; on the contrary, I will give you lasting peace in this place.’ ”

¹⁴Then the LORD said to me, “The prophets are prophesying falsehood in My name. I have neither sent them nor commanded them, nor spoken to them; they are prophesying to you a false vision, divination, futility, and the deception of their own minds.

¹⁵Therefore this is what the LORD says concerning the prophets who are prophesying in My name, although it was not I who sent them—yet they keep saying: ‘There will be no sword or famine in this land’—by sword and famine those prophets shall meet their end!

¹⁶And the people to whom they are prophesying will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and there will be no one to bury them—neither them, nor their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters. For I will pour out their own wickedness upon them.

¹⁷You will say this word to them, ‘Let my eyes stream down tears night and day, And let them not cease; For the virgin daughter of my people has been crushed with a mighty blow, With a sorely infected wound.

¹⁸If I go out to the country, There are those killed by the sword! Or if I enter the city, There are diseases from famine! For both prophet and priest Have wandered around in the land that they do not know.’ ”

¹⁹Have You completely rejected Judah? Or have You loathed Zion? Why have You stricken us so that we are beyond healing? We waited for peace, but nothing good came; And for a time of healing, but behold, terror!

²⁰We know our wickedness, LORD, The wrongdoing of our fathers, for we have sinned against You.

²¹Do not despise us, for the sake of Your own name; Do not disgrace the throne of Your glory. Remember and do not annul Your covenant with us.

²²Are there any among the idols of the nations who give rain? Or can the heavens grant showers? Is it not You, LORD our God? Therefore we wait for You, For You are the one who has done all these things.