Chronological Plan

¹Hear the word which the LORD speaks to you, house of Israel.

²This is what the LORD says: “Do not learn the way of the nations, And do not be terrified by the signs of the heavens, Although the nations are terrified by them;

³For the customs of the peoples are futile; For it is wood cut from the forest, The work of the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool.

⁴They decorate the idol with silver and gold; They fasten it with nails and hammers So that it will not totter.

⁵They are like a scarecrow in a cucumber field, And they cannot speak; They must be carried, Because they cannot walk! Do not fear them, For they can do no harm, Nor can they do any good.”

⁶There is none like You, LORD; You are great, and Your name is great in might.

⁷Who would not fear You, O King of the nations? For it is Your due! For among all the wise men of the nations And in all their kingdoms, There is none like You.

⁸But they are altogether stupid and foolish; The instruction from idols is nothing but wood!

⁹Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish, And gold from Uphaz, The work of a craftsman and of the hands of a goldsmith; Their clothing is of violet and purple; They are all the work of skilled people.

¹⁰But the LORD is the true God; He is the living God and the everlasting King. The earth quakes at His wrath, And the nations cannot endure His indignation.

¹¹This is what you shall say to them: “The gods that did not make the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from under these heavens.”

¹²It is He who made the earth by His power, Who established the world by His wisdom; And by His understanding He has stretched out the heavens.

¹³When He utters His voice, there is a roar of waters in the heavens, And He makes the clouds ascend from the end of the earth; He makes lightning for the rain, And brings out the wind from His storehouses.

¹⁴Every person is stupid, devoid of knowledge; Every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols, For his cast metal images are deceitful, And there is no breath in them.

¹⁵They are worthless, a work of mockery; At the time of their punishment they will perish.

¹⁶The Portion of Jacob is not like these; For He is the Maker of everything, And Israel is the tribe of His inheritance; The LORD of armies is His name.

¹⁷Pick up your bundle from the ground, You who live under siege!

¹⁸For this is what the LORD says: “Behold, I am slinging out the inhabitants of the land At this time, And I will cause them distress, So that they may be found.”

¹⁹Woe to me, because of my injury! My wound is incurable. But I said, “This certainly is a sickness, And I must endure it.”

²⁰My tent is destroyed, And all my ropes are broken. My sons have gone from me and are no more. There is no one to stretch out my tent again Or to set up my curtains.

²¹For the shepherds have become stupid And have not sought the LORD. Therefore they have not prospered, And all their flock is scattered.

²²The sound of a report! Behold, it is coming— A great roar from the land of the north— To make the cities of Judah A desolation, a haunt of jackals.

²³I know, LORD, that a person’s way is not in himself, Nor is it in a person who walks to direct his steps.

²⁴Correct me, LORD, but with justice; Not with Your anger, or You will bring me to nothing.

²⁵Pour out Your wrath on the nations that do not know You, And on the families who do not call upon Your name; For they have devoured Jacob; They have devoured him and consumed him, And have laid waste his settlement.

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

²“Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem;

³and say to them, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of Israel says: “Cursed is the one who does not obey the words of this covenant

⁴which I commanded your forefathers on the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, ‘Listen to My voice, and do according to all that I command you; so you shall be My people, and I will be your God,’

⁵in order to confirm the oath which I swore to your forefathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day.” ’ ” Then I replied, “Amen, LORD.”

⁶And the LORD said to me, “Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Hear the words of this covenant and do them.

⁷For I solemnly warned your fathers on the day I brought them up from the land of Egypt, even to this day, warning them persistently, saying, “Listen to My voice.”

⁸Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in the stubbornness of their evil heart, each one of them; therefore I brought on them all the words of this covenant which I commanded them to do, but they did not.’ ”

⁹Then the LORD said to me, “A conspiracy has been found among the men of Judah and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

¹⁰They have turned back to the wrongdoings of their ancestors who refused to hear My words, and they have followed other gods to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken My covenant which I made with their fathers.”

¹¹Therefore this is what the LORD says: “Behold, I am bringing disaster on them which they will not be able to escape; though they will cry out to Me, I will not listen to them.

¹²Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to whom they burn incense, but they certainly will not save them in the time of their disaster.

¹³For your gods are as many as your cities, Judah; and as many as the streets of Jerusalem are the altars you have set up to the shameful thing, altars for burning incense to Baal.

¹⁴“So as for you, do not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry or prayer for them; for I will not listen when they call to Me because of their disaster.

¹⁵What right has My beloved in My house When she has carried out many evil schemes? Can the sacrificial flesh take away from you your disaster, So that you can rejoice?”

¹⁶The LORD named you “A green olive tree, beautiful in fruit and form”; With the noise of a great tumult He has set fire to it, And its branches are worthless.

¹⁷The LORD of armies, who planted you, has pronounced evil against you because of the evil of the house of Israel and the house of Judah, which they have done to provoke Me by offering sacrifices to Baal.

¹⁸Moreover, the LORD made it known to me and I knew it; Then You showed me their deeds.

¹⁹But I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter; And I did not know that they had devised plots against me, saying, “Let’s destroy the tree with its fruit, And let’s cut him off from the land of the living, So that his name will no longer be remembered.”

²⁰But, LORD of armies, who judges righteously, Who puts the feelings and the heart to the test, Let me see Your vengeance on them, For to You I have committed my cause.

²¹Therefore this is what the LORD says concerning the people of Anathoth, who are seeking your life, saying: “Do not prophesy in the name of the LORD, so that you do not die by our hand”;

²²therefore, this is what the LORD of armies says: “Behold, I am going to punish them! The young men will die by the sword, their sons and daughters will die by famine;

²³and a remnant will not be left to them, because I will bring disaster on the people of Anathoth—the year of their punishment.”

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?”