Chronological Plan

¹This is the word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought:

²Judah mourns; her city gates languish. Her people are on the ground in mourning; Jerusalem’s cry rises up.

³Their nobles send their servants for water. They go to the cisterns; they find no water; their containers return empty. They are ashamed and humiliated; they cover their heads.

⁴The ground is cracked since no rain has fallen on the land. The farmers are ashamed; they cover their heads.

⁵Even the doe in the field gives birth and abandons her fawn since there is no grass.

⁶Wild donkeys stand on the barren heights panting for air like jackals. Their eyes fail because there are no green plants.

⁷Though our iniquities testify against us, LORD, act for your name’s sake. Indeed, our rebellions are many; we have sinned against you.

⁸Hope of Israel, its Savior in time of distress, why are you like a resident alien in the land, like a traveler stopping only for the night?

⁹Why are you like a helpless man, like a warrior unable to save? Yet you are among us, LORD, and we bear your name. Don’t leave us!

¹⁰This is what the LORD says concerning these people: Truly they love to wander; they never rest their feet. So the LORD does not accept them. Now he will remember their iniquity and punish their sins.

¹¹Then the LORD said to me, “Do not pray for the well-being of these people.

¹²If they fast, I will not hear their cry of despair. If they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I will not accept them. Rather, I will finish them off by sword, famine, and plague.”

¹³And I replied, “Oh no, Lord GOD! The prophets are telling them, ‘You won’t see sword or suffer famine. I will certainly give you lasting peace in this place.’”

¹⁴But the LORD said to me, “These prophets are prophesying a lie in my name. I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a false vision, worthless divination, the deceit of their own minds.

¹⁵“Therefore, this is what the LORD says concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name, though I did not send them, and who say, ‘There will never be sword or famine in this land.’ By sword and famine these prophets will meet their end.

¹⁶The people they are prophesying to will be thrown into the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword. There will be no one to bury them  — they, their wives, their sons, and their daughters. I will pour out their own evil on them.”

¹⁷You are to speak this word to them: Let my eyes overflow with tears; day and night may they not stop, for the virgin daughter of my people has been destroyed by a crushing blow, an extremely severe wound.

¹⁸If I go out to the field, look — those slain by the sword! If I enter the city, look — those ill from famine! For both prophet and priest travel to a land they do not know.

¹⁹Have you completely rejected Judah? Do you detest Zion? Why do you strike us with no hope of healing for us? We hoped for peace, but there was nothing good; for a time of healing, but there was only terror.

²⁰We acknowledge our wickedness, LORD, the iniquity of our fathers; indeed, we have sinned against you.

²¹For your name’s sake, don’t despise us. Don’t disdain your glorious throne. Remember your covenant with us; do not break it.

²²Can any of the worthless idols of the nations bring rain? Or can the skies alone give showers? Are you not the LORD our God? We therefore put our hope in you, for you have done all these things.

¹Then the LORD said to me: “Even if Moses and Samuel should stand before me, my compassions would not reach out to these people. Send them from my presence, and let them go.

²If they ask you, ‘Where will we go? ’ tell them: This is what the LORD says: Those destined for death, to death; those destined for the sword, to the sword. Those destined for famine, to famine; those destined for captivity, to captivity.

³“I will ordain four kinds of judgment for them” — this is the LORD’s declaration — “the sword to kill, the dogs to drag away, and the birds of the sky and the wild animals of the land to devour and destroy.

⁴I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth because of Manasseh son of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem.

⁵Who will have pity on you, Jerusalem? Who will show sympathy toward you? Who will turn aside to ask about your well-being?

⁶You have left me.” This is the LORD’s declaration. “You have turned your back, so I have stretched out my hand against you and destroyed you. I am tired of showing compassion.

⁷I scattered them with a winnowing fork at the city gates of the land. I made them childless; I destroyed my people. They would not turn from their ways.

⁸I made their widows more numerous than the sand of the seas. I brought a destroyer at noon against the mother of young men. I suddenly released on her agitation and terrors.

⁹The mother of seven grew faint; she breathed her last breath. Her sun set while it was still day; she was ashamed and humiliated. The rest of them I will give over to the sword in the presence of their enemies.” This is the LORD’s declaration.

¹⁰Woe is me, my mother, that you gave birth to me, a man who incites dispute and conflict in all the land. I did not lend or borrow, yet everyone curses me.

¹¹The LORD said: Haven’t I set you loose for your good? Haven’t I punished you in a time of trouble, in a time of distress with the enemy?

¹²Can anyone smash iron, iron from the north, or bronze?

¹³I will give up your wealth and your treasures as plunder, without cost, for all your sins in all your borders.

¹⁴Then I will make you serve your enemies in a land you do not know, for my anger will kindle a fire that will burn against you.

¹⁵You know, LORD; remember me and take note of me. Avenge me against my persecutors. In your patience, don’t take me away. Know that I suffer disgrace for your honor.

¹⁶Your words were found, and I ate them. Your words became a delight to me and the joy of my heart, for I bear your name, LORD God of Armies.

¹⁷I never sat with the band of revelers, and I did not celebrate with them. Because your hand was on me, I sat alone, for you filled me with indignation.

¹⁸Why has my pain become unending, my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? You truly have become like a mirage to me — water that is not reliable.

¹⁹Therefore, this is what the LORD says: If you return, I will take you back; you will stand in my presence. And if you speak noble words, rather than worthless ones, you will be my spokesman. It is they who must return to you; you must not return to them.

²⁰Then I will make you a fortified wall of bronze to this people. They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you to save you and rescue you. This is the LORD’s declaration.

²¹I will rescue you from the power of evil people and redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless.

¹The word of the LORD came to me:

²“Do not marry or have sons or daughters in this place.

³For this is what the LORD says concerning sons and daughters born in this place as well as concerning the mothers who bear them and the fathers who father them in this land:

⁴They will die from deadly diseases. They will not be mourned or buried but will be like manure on the soil’s surface. They will be finished off by sword and famine. Their corpses will become food for the birds of the sky and for the wild animals of the land.

⁵“For this is what the LORD says: Don’t enter a house where a mourning feast is taking place. Don’t go to lament or sympathize with them, for I have removed my peace from these people as well as my faithful love and compassion.” This is the LORD’s declaration.

⁶“Both great and small will die in this land without burial. No lament will be made for them, nor will anyone cut himself or shave his head for them.

⁷Food won’t be provided for the mourner to comfort him because of the dead. A consoling drink won’t be given him for the loss of his father or mother.

⁸Do not enter the house where feasting is taking place to sit with them to eat and drink.

⁹For this is what the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says: I am about to eliminate from this place, before your very eyes and in your time, the sound of joy and gladness, the voice of the groom and the bride.

¹⁰“When you tell these people all these things, they will say to you, ‘Why has the LORD declared all this terrible disaster against us? What is our iniquity? What is our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?’

¹¹Then you will answer them, ‘Because your fathers abandoned me  — this is the LORD’s declaration — and followed other gods, served them, and bowed in worship to them. Indeed, they abandoned me and did not keep my instruction.

¹²You did more evil than your fathers. Look, each one of you was following the stubbornness of his evil heart, not obeying me.

¹³So I will hurl you from this land into a land that you and your fathers are not familiar with. There you will worship other gods both day and night, for I will not grant you grace.’

¹⁴“However, look, the days are coming”  — the LORD’s declaration — “when it will no longer be said, ‘As the LORD lives who brought the Israelites from the land of Egypt,’

¹⁵but rather, ‘As the LORD lives who brought the Israelites from the land of the north and from all the other lands where he had banished them.’ For I will return them to their land that I gave to their ancestors.

¹⁶“I am about to send for many fishermen”  — this is the LORD’s declaration — “and they will fish for them. Then I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill and out of the clefts of the rocks,

¹⁷for my gaze takes in all their ways. They are not concealed from me, and their iniquity is not hidden from my sight.

¹⁸I will first repay them double for their iniquity and sin because they have polluted my land. They have filled my inheritance with the carcasses of their abhorrent and detestable idols.”

¹⁹LORD, my strength and my stronghold, my refuge in a time of distress, the nations will come to you from the ends of the earth, and they will say, “Our fathers inherited only lies, worthless idols of no benefit at all.”

²⁰Can one make gods for himself? But they are not gods.

²¹“Therefore, I am about to inform them, and this time I will make them know my power and my might; then they will know that my name is the LORD.”

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

²while their children remember their altars and their Asherah poles, by the green trees on the high hills  —

³my mountains in the countryside. I will give up your wealth and all your treasures as plunder because of the sin of your high places in all your borders.

⁴You will, on your own, relinquish your inheritance that I gave you. I will make you serve your enemies in a land you do not know, for you have set my anger on fire; it will burn forever.

⁵This is what the LORD says: Cursed is the person who trusts in mankind. He makes human flesh his strength, and his heart turns from the LORD.

⁶He will be like a juniper in the Arabah; he cannot see when good comes but dwells in the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land where no one lives.

⁷The person who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence indeed is the LORD, is blessed.

⁸He will be like a tree planted by water: it sends its roots out toward a stream, it doesn’t fear when heat comes, and its foliage remains green. It will not worry in a year of drought or cease producing fruit.

⁹The heart is more deceitful than anything else, and incurable — who can understand it?

¹⁰I, the LORD, examine the mind, I test the heart to give to each according to his way, according to what his actions deserve.

¹¹He who makes a fortune unjustly is like a partridge that hatches eggs it didn’t lay. In the middle of his life his riches will abandon him, so 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. All who turn away from me will be written in the dirt, for they have abandoned the LORD, the fountain of living water.

¹⁴Heal me, LORD, and I will be healed; save me, and I will be saved, for you are my praise.

¹⁵Hear how they keep challenging me, “Where is the word of the LORD? Let it come!”

¹⁶But I have not run away from being your shepherd, and I have not longed for the fatal day. You know my words were spoken in your presence.

¹⁷Don’t become a terror to me. You are my refuge in the day of disaster.

¹⁸Let my persecutors be put to shame, but don’t let me be put to shame. Let them be terrified, but don’t let me be terrified. Bring on them the day of disaster; shatter them with total destruction.

¹⁹This is what the LORD said to me, “Go and stand at the People’s Gate, through which the kings of Judah enter and leave, as well as at all the gates of Jerusalem.

²⁰Announce to them, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, kings of Judah, all Judah, and all the residents of Jerusalem who enter through these gates.

²¹This is what the LORD says: Watch yourselves; do not pick up a load and bring it in through Jerusalem’s gates on the Sabbath day.

²²Do not carry a load out of your houses on the Sabbath day or do any work, but keep the Sabbath day holy, just as I commanded your ancestors.

²³They wouldn’t listen or pay attention but became obstinate, not listening or accepting discipline.

²⁴“‘However, if you listen to me — this is the LORD’s declaration — and do not bring loads through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but keep the Sabbath day holy and do no work on it,

²⁵kings and princes will enter through the gates of this city. They will sit on the throne of David; they will ride in chariots and on horses with their officials, the men of Judah, and the residents of Jerusalem. This city will be inhabited forever.

²⁶Then people will come from the cities of Judah and from the area around Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin and from the Judean foothills, from the hill country and from the Negev bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings and frankincense, and thank offerings 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 while entering the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, I will set fire to its gates, and it will consume the citadels of Jerusalem and not be extinguished.’”