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## Yirmeyahu

### Chapter 1

1The words of Yirmeyahu the son of Chilkiyahu, one of the priests who were in Anatot in the land of Binyamin. 2YHWH’s word came to him in the days of Yoshiyahu the son of Amon, king of Yehudah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. 3It came also in the days of Yehoyakim the son of Yoshiyahu, king of Yehudah, to the end of the eleventh year of Tzidkiyahu, the son of Yoshiyahu, king of Yehudah, to the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month. 4Now YHWH’s word came to me, saying, 5“Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I sanctified you. I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.” 6Then I said, “Ah, Adonai YHWH! Behold, I don’t know how to speak; for I am a child.” 7But YHWH said to me, “Don’t say, ‘I am a child;’ for you must go to whomever I send you, and you must say whatever I command you. 8Don’t be afraid because of them, for I am with you to rescue you,” says YHWH. 9Then YHWH stretched out his hand and touched my mouth. Then YHWH said to me, “Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. 10Behold, I have today set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to uproot and to tear down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.” 11Moreover YHWH’s word came to me, saying, “Yirmeyahu, what do you see?” I said, “I see a branch of an almond tree.” 12Then YHWH said to me, “You have seen well; for I watch over my word to perform it.” 13YHWH’s word came to me the second time, saying, “What do you see?” I said, “I see a boiling cauldron; and it is tipping away from the north.” 14Then YHWH said to me, “Out of the north, evil will break out on all the inhabitants of the land. 15For behold, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north,” says YHWH. “They will come, and they will each set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all its walls all around, and against all the cities of Yehudah. 16I will utter my judgements against them concerning all their wickedness, in that they have forsaken me, and have burnt incense to other gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands. 17“You therefore put your belt on your waist, arise, and say to them all that I command you. Don’t be dismayed at them, lest I dismay you before them. 18For behold, I have made you today a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls against the whole land—against the kings of Yehudah, against its princes, against its priests, and against the people of the land. 19They will fight against you, but they will not prevail against you; for I am with you”, says YHWH, “to rescue you.”

### Chapter 2

1YHWH’s word came to me, saying, 2“Go and proclaim in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, ‘YHWH says, “I remember for you the kindness of your youth, your love as a bride, how you went after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown. 3Yisrael was holiness to YHWH, the first fruits of his increase. All who devour him will be held guilty. Evil will come on them,”’ says YHWH.” 4Hear YHWH’s word, O house of Yaakov, and all the families of the house of Yisrael! 5YHWH says, “What unrighteousness have your fathers found in me, that they have gone far from me, and have walked after worthless vanity, and have become worthless? 6They didn’t say, ‘Where is YHWH who brought us up out of the land of Mitzrayim, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought and of the shadow of death, through a land that no one passed through, and where no man lived?’ 7I brought you into a plentiful land to eat its fruit and its goodness; but when you entered, you defiled my land, and made my heritage an abomination. 8The priests didn’t say, ‘Where is YHWH?’ and those who handle the law didn’t know me. The rulers also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Ba'al and followed things that do not profit. 9“Therefore I will yet contend with you,” says YHWH, “and I will contend with your children’s children. 10For pass over to the islands of Kittim, and see. Send to Kedar, and consider diligently, and see if there has been such a thing. 11Has a nation changed its gods, which really are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which doesn’t profit. 12“Be astonished, you heavens, at this and be horribly afraid. Be very desolate,” says YHWH. 13“For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the spring of living waters, and cut out cisterns for themselves: broken cisterns that can’t hold water. 14Is Yisrael a slave? Is he born into slavery? Why has he become a captive? 15The young lions have roared at him and raised their voices. They have made his land waste. His cities are burnt up, without inhabitant. 16The children also of Memphis and Tahpanhes have broken the crown of your head. 17“Haven’t you brought this on yourself, in that you have forsaken YHWH your Elohim, when he led you by the way? 18Now what do you gain by going to Mitzrayim, to drink the waters of the Shichor? Or why do you go on the way to Assyria, to drink the waters of the River? 19“Your own wickedness will correct you, and your backsliding will rebuke you. Know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing, that you have forsaken YHWH your Elohim, and that my fear is not in you,” says Adonai, YHWH Tzeva'ot. 20“For long ago I broke off your yoke, and burst your bonds. You said, ‘I will not serve;’ for on every high hill and under every green tree you bowed yourself, playing the prostitute. 21Yet I had planted you a noble vine, a pure and faithful seed. How then have you turned into the degenerate branches of a foreign vine to me? 22For though you wash yourself with lye, and use much soap, yet your iniquity is marked before me,” says Adonai YHWH. 23“How can you say, ‘I am not defiled. I have not gone after the Baals’? See your way in the valley. Know what you have done. You are a swift dromedary traversing her ways, 24a wild donkey used to the wilderness, that sniffs the wind in her craving. When she is in heat, who can turn her away? All those who seek her will not weary themselves. In her month, they will find her. 25“Keep your feet from being bare, and your throat from thirst. But you said, ‘It is in vain. No, for I have loved strangers, and I will go after them.’ 26As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so the house of Yisrael is ashamed— they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets, 27who tell wood, ‘You are my father,’ and a stone, ‘You have given birth to me,’ for they have turned their back to me, and not their face, but in the time of their trouble they will say, ‘Arise, and save us!’ 28“But where are your gods that you have made for yourselves? Let them arise, if they can save you in the time of your trouble, for you have as many gods as you have towns, O Yehudah. 29“Why will you contend with me? You all have transgressed against me,” says YHWH. 30“I have struck your children in vain. They received no correction. Your own sword has devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion. 31Generation, consider YHWH’s word. Have I been a wilderness to Yisrael? Or a land of thick darkness? Why do my people say, ‘We have broken loose. We will come to you no more’? 32“Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet my people have forgotten me for days without number. 33How well you prepare your way to seek love! Therefore you have even taught the wicked women your ways. 34Also the blood of the souls of the innocent poor is found in your skirts. You didn’t find them breaking in, but it is because of all these things. 35“Yet you said, ‘I am innocent. Surely his anger has turned away from me.’ “Behold, I will judge you, because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’ 36Why do you go about so much to change your ways? You will be ashamed of Mitzrayim also, as you were ashamed of Assyria. 37You will also leave that place with your hands on your head; for YHWH has rejected those in whom you trust, and you won’t prosper with them.

### Chapter 3

1“They say, ‘If a man puts away his wife, and she goes from him, and becomes another man’s, should he return to her again?’ Wouldn’t that land be greatly polluted? But you have played the prostitute with many lovers; yet return again to me,” says YHWH. 2“Lift up your eyes to the bare heights, and see! Where have you not been lain with? You have sat waiting for them by the road, as an Arabian in the wilderness. You have polluted the land with your prostitution and with your wickedness. 3Therefore the showers have been withheld and there has been no latter rain; yet you have had a prostitute’s forehead and you refused to be ashamed. 4Will you not from this time cry to me, ‘My Father, you are the guide of my youth!’? 5“‘Will he retain his anger forever? Will he keep it to the end?’ Behold, you have spoken and have done evil things, and have had your way.” 6Moreover, YHWH said to me in the days of Yoshiyahu the king, “Have you seen that which backsliding Yisrael has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and has played the prostitute there. 7I said after she had done all these things, ‘She will return to me;’ but she didn’t return, and her treacherous sister Yehudah saw it. 8I saw when, for this very cause, that backsliding Yisrael had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a certificate of divorce, yet treacherous Yehudah, her sister, had no fear, but she also went and played the prostitute. 9Because she took her prostitution lightly, the land was polluted, and she committed adultery with stones and with wood. 10Yet for all this her treacherous sister, Yehudah, has not returned to me with her whole heart, but only in pretence,” says YHWH. 11YHWH said to me, “Backsliding Yisrael has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Yehudah. 12Go, and proclaim these words towards the north, and say, ‘Return, you backsliding Yisrael,’ says YHWH; ‘I will not look in anger on you, for I am merciful,’ says YHWH. ‘I will not keep anger forever. 13Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against YHWH your Elohim, and have scattered your ways to the strangers under every green tree, and you have not obeyed my voice,’” says YHWH. 14“Return, backsliding children,” says YHWH, “for I am a husband to you. I will take one of you from a city, and two from a family, and I will bring you to Tzion. 15I will give you shepherds according to my heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. 16It will come to pass, when you are multiplied and increased in the land in those days,” says YHWH, “they will no longer say, ‘the Aron YHWH’s Brit!’ It will not come to mind. They won’t remember it. They won’t miss it, nor will another be made. 17At that time they will call Jerusalem ‘YHWH’s Throne;’ and all the nations will be gathered to it, to YHWH’s name, to Jerusalem. They will no longer walk after the stubbornness of their evil heart. 18In those days the house of Yehudah will walk with the house of Yisrael, and they will come together out of the land of the north to the land that I gave for an inheritance to your fathers. 19“But I said, ‘How I desire to put you amongst the children, and give you a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the armies of the nations!’ and I said, ‘You shall call me “My Father”, and shall not turn away from following me.’ 20“Surely as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, so you have dealt treacherously with me, house of Yisrael,” says YHWH. 21A voice is heard on the bare heights, the weeping and the petitions of the children of Yisrael; because they have perverted their way, they have forgotten YHWH their Elohim. 22Return, you backsliding children, and I will heal your backsliding. “Behold, we have come to you; for you are YHWH our Elohim. 23Truly help from the hills, the tumult on the mountains, is in vain. Truly the salvation of Yisrael is in YHWH our Elohim. 24But the shameful thing has devoured the labour of our fathers from our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. 25Let us lie down in our shame, and let our confusion cover us; for we have sinned against YHWH our Elohim, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day. We have not obeyed YHWH our Elohim’s voice.”

### Chapter 4

1“If you will return, Yisrael,” says YHWH, “if you will return to me, and if you will put away your abominations out of my sight; then you will not be removed; 2and you will swear, ‘As YHWH lives,’ in truth, in justice, and in righteousness. The nations will bless themselves in him, and they will glory in him.” 3For YHWH says to the men of Yehudah and to Jerusalem, “Break up your fallow ground, and don’t sow amongst thorns. 4Circumcise yourselves to YHWH, and take away the foreskins of your heart, you men of Yehudah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go out like fire, and burn so that no one can quench it, because of the evil of your doings. 5Declare in Yehudah, and publish in Jerusalem; and say, ‘Blow the trumpet in the land!’ Cry aloud and say, ‘Assemble yourselves! Let’s go into the fortified cities!’ 6Set up a standard towards Tzion. Flee for safety! Don’t wait; for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction.” 7A lion has gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations. He is on his way. He has gone out from his place, to make your land desolate, that your cities be laid waste, without inhabitant. 8For this, clothe yourself with sackcloth, lament and wail; for the fierce anger of YHWH hasn’t turned back from us. 9“It will happen at that day,” says YHWH, “that the heart of the king will perish, along with the heart of the princes. The priests will be astonished, and the prophets will wonder.” 10Then I said, “Ah, Adonai YHWH! Surely you have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘You will have peace;’ whereas the sword reaches to the heart.” 11At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A hot wind blows from the bare heights in the wilderness towards the daughter of my people, not to winnow, nor to cleanse. 12A full wind from these will come for me. Now I will also utter judgements against them.” 13Behold, he will come up as clouds, and his chariots will be as the whirlwind. His horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us! For we are ruined. 14Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved. How long will your evil thoughts lodge within you? 15For a voice declares from Dan, and publishes evil from the hills of Ephraim: 16“Tell the nations, behold, publish against Jerusalem, ‘Watchers come from a far country, and raise their voice against the cities of Yehudah. 17As keepers of a field, they are against her all around, because she has been rebellious against me,’” says YHWH. 18“Your way and your doings have brought these things to you. This is your wickedness, for it is bitter, for it reaches to your heart.” 19My anguish, my anguish! I am pained at my very heart! My heart trembles within me. I can’t hold my peace, because you have heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. 20Destruction on destruction is decreed, for the whole land is laid waste. Suddenly my tents are destroyed, and my curtains gone in a moment. 21How long will I see the standard and hear the sound of the trumpet? 22“For my people are foolish. They don’t know me. They are foolish children, and they have no understanding. They are skilful in doing evil, but they don’t know how to do good.” 23I saw the earth and, behold, it was waste and void, and the heavens, and they had no light. 24I saw the mountains, and behold, they trembled, and all the hills moved back and forth. 25I saw, and behold, there was no man, and all the birds of the sky had fled. 26I saw, and behold, the fruitful field was a wilderness, and all its cities were broken down at the presence of YHWH, before his fierce anger. 27For YHWH says, “The whole land will be a desolation; yet I will not make a full end. 28For this the earth will mourn, and the heavens above be black, because I have spoken it. I have planned it, and I have not repented, neither will I turn back from it.” 29Every city flees for the noise of the horsemen and archers. They go into the thickets and climb up on the rocks. Every city is forsaken, and not a man dwells therein. 30You, when you are made desolate, what will you do? Though you clothe yourself with scarlet, though you deck yourself with ornaments of gold, though you enlarge your eyes with makeup, you make yourself beautiful in vain. Your lovers despise you. They seek your life. 31For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, the anguish as of her who gives birth to her first child, the voice of the daughter of Tzion, who gasps for breath, who spreads her hands, saying, “Woe is me now! For my soul faints before the murderers.”

### Chapter 5

1“Run back and forth through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in its wide places, if you can find a man, if there is anyone who does justly, who seeks truth, then I will pardon her. 2Though they say, ‘As YHWH lives,’ surely they swear falsely.” 3O YHWH, don’t your eyes look on truth? You have stricken them, but they were not grieved. You have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than a rock. They have refused to return. 4Then I said, “Surely these are poor. They are foolish; for they don’t know YHWH’s way, nor the law of their Elohim. 5I will go to the great men and will speak to them, for they know the way of YHWH, and the law of their Elohim.” But these with one accord have broken the yoke, and burst the bonds. 6Therefore a lion out of the forest will kill them. A wolf of the evenings will destroy them. A leopard will watch against their cities. Everyone who goes out there will be torn in pieces, because their transgressions are many and their backsliding has increased. 7“How can I pardon you? Your children have forsaken me, and sworn by what are no gods. When I had fed them to the full, they committed adultery, and assembled themselves in troops at the prostitutes’ houses. 8They were as fed horses roaming at large. Everyone neighed after his neighbour’s wife. 9Shouldn’t I punish them for these things?” says YHWH. “Shouldn’t my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? 10“Go up on her walls, and destroy, but don’t make a full end. Take away her branches, for they are not YHWH’s. 11For the house of Yisrael and the house of Yehudah have dealt very treacherously against me,” says YHWH. 12They have denied YHWH, and said, “It is not he. Evil won’t come on us. We won’t see sword or famine. 13The prophets will become wind, and the word is not in them. Thus it will be done to them.” 14Therefore YHWH, the Elohim Tzeva'ot says, “Because you speak this word, behold, I will make my words in your mouth fire, and this people wood, and it will devour them. 15Behold, I will bring a nation on you from far away, house of Yisrael,” says YHWH. “It is a mighty nation. It is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you don’t know and don’t understand what they say. 16Their quiver is an open tomb. They are all mighty men. 17They will eat up your harvest and your bread, which your sons and your daughters should eat. They will eat up your flocks and your herds. They will eat up your vines and your fig trees. They will beat down your fortified cities in which you trust with the sword. 18“But even in those days,” says YHWH, “I will not make a full end of you. 19It will happen when you say, ‘Why has YHWH our Elohim done all these things to us?’ Then you shall say to them, ‘Just as you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, so you will serve strangers in a land that is not yours.’ 20“Declare this in the house of Yaakov, and publish it in Yehudah, saying, 21‘Hear this now, foolish people without understanding, who have eyes, and don’t see, who have ears, and don’t hear: 22Don’t you fear me?’ says YHWH; ‘Won’t you tremble at my presence, who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it can’t pass it? Though its waves toss themselves, yet they can’t prevail. Though they roar, they still can’t pass over it.’ 23“But this people has a revolting and a rebellious heart. They have revolted and gone. 24They don’t say in their heart, ‘Let’s now fear YHWH our Elohim, who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season, who preserves to us the appointed weeks of the harvest.’ 25“Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withheld good from you. 26For wicked men are found amongst my people. They watch, as fowlers lie in wait. They set a trap. They catch men. 27As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit. Therefore they have become great, and grew rich. 28They have grown fat. They shine; yes, they excel in deeds of wickedness. They don’t plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they may prosper; and they don’t defend the rights of the needy. 29“Shouldn’t I punish for these things?” says YHWH. “Shouldn’t my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? 30“An astonishing and horrible thing has happened in the land. 31The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority; and my people love to have it so. What will you do in the end of it?

### Chapter 6

1“Flee for safety, you children of Binyamin, out of the middle of Jerusalem! Blow the trumpet in Tekoa and raise up a signal on Beit Hakerem, for evil looks out from the north with a great destruction. 2I will cut off the beautiful and delicate one, the daughter of Tzion. 3Shepherds with their flocks will come to her. They will pitch their tents against her all around. They will feed everyone in his place.” 4“Prepare war against her! Arise! Let’s go up at noon. Woe to us! For the day declines, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out. 5Arise! Let’s go up by night, and let’s destroy her palaces.” 6For YHWH Tzeva'ot said, “Cut down trees, and cast up a mound against Jerusalem. This is the city to be visited. She is filled with oppression within herself. 7As a well produces its waters, so she produces her wickedness. Violence and destruction is heard in her. Sickness and wounds are continually before me. 8Be instructed, Jerusalem, lest my soul be alienated from you, lest I make you a desolation, an uninhabited land.” 9YHWH Tzeva'ot says, “They will thoroughly glean the remnant of Yisrael like a vine. Turn again your hand as a grape gatherer into the baskets.” 10To whom should I speak and testify, that they may hear? Behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they can’t listen. Behold, YHWH’s word has become a reproach to them. They have no delight in it. 11Therefore I am full of YHWH’s wrath. I am weary with holding it in. “Pour it out on the children in the street, and on the assembly of young men together; for even the husband with the wife will be taken, the aged with him who is full of days. 12Their houses will be turned to others, their fields and their wives together; for I will stretch out my hand on the inhabitants of the land, says YHWH.” 13“For from their least even to their greatest, everyone is given to covetousness. From the prophet even to the priest, everyone deals falsely. 14They have healed also the hurt of my people superficially, saying, ‘Peace, peace!’ when there is no peace. 15Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush. Therefore they will fall amongst those who fall. When I visit them, they will be cast down,” says YHWH. 16YHWH says, “Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, ‘Where is the good way?’ and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ 17I set watchmen over you, saying, ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’ But they said, ‘We will not listen!’ 18Therefore hear, you nations, and know, congregation, what is amongst them. 19Hear, earth! Behold, I will bring evil on this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not listened to my words; and as for my law, they have rejected it. 20To what purpose does frankincense from Sheva come to me, and the sweet cane from a far country? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, and your sacrifices are not pleasing to me.” 21Therefore YHWH says, “Behold, I will lay stumbling blocks before this people. The fathers and the sons together will stumble against them. The neighbour and his friend will perish.” 22YHWH says, “Behold, a people comes from the north country. A great nation will be stirred up from the uttermost parts of the earth. 23They take hold of bow and spear. They are cruel, and have no chesed. Their voice roars like the sea, and they ride on horses, everyone set in array, as a man to the battle, against you, daughter of Tzion.” 24We have heard its report. Our hands become feeble. Anguish has taken hold of us, and pains as of a woman in labour. 25Don’t go out into the field or walk by the way; for the sword of the enemy and terror are on every side. 26Daughter of my people, clothe yourself with sackcloth, and wallow in ashes! Mourn, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation, for the destroyer will suddenly come on us. 27“I have made you a tester of metals and a fortress amongst my people, that you may know and try their way. 28They are all grievous rebels, going around to slander. They are bronze and iron. All of them deal corruptly. 29The bellows blow fiercely. The lead is consumed in the fire. In vain they go on refining, for the wicked are not plucked away. 30Men will call them rejected silver, because YHWH has rejected them.”

### Chapter 7

1The word that came to Yirmeyahu from YHWH, saying, 2“Stand in the gate of YHWH’s house, and proclaim this word there, and say, ‘Hear YHWH’s word, all you of Yehudah, who enter in at these gates to worship YHWH.’” 3YHWH Tzeva'ot, the Elohim of Yisrael says, “Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. 4Don’t trust in lying words, saying, ‘YHWH’s Beit HaMikdash, YHWH’s Beit HaMikdash, YHWH’s Beit HaMikdash, are these.’ 5For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughly execute justice between a man and his neighbour; 6if you don’t oppress the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, and don’t shed innocent blood in this place, and don’t walk after other gods to your own hurt, 7then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, from of old even forever more. 8Behold, you trust in lying words that can’t profit. 9Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Ba'al, and walk after other gods that you have not known, 10then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, ‘We are delivered,’ that you may do all these abominations? 11Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it,” says YHWH. 12“But go now to my place which was in Shilo, where I caused my name to dwell at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Yisrael. 13Now, because you have done all these works,” says YHWH, “and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you didn’t hear; and I called you, but you didn’t answer; 14therefore I will do to the house which is called by my name, in which you trust, and to the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shilo. 15I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brothers, even the whole offspring of Ephraim. 16“Therefore don’t pray for this people. Don’t lift up a cry or prayer for them or make intercession to me; for I will not hear you. 17Don’t you see what they do in the cities of Yehudah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead the dough, to make cakes to the queen of the sky, and to pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke me to anger. 19Do they provoke me to anger?” says YHWH. “Don’t they provoke themselves, to the confusion of their own faces?” 20Therefore Adonai YHWH says: “Behold, my anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place, on man, on animal, on the trees of the field, and on the fruit of the ground; and it will burn and will not be quenched.” 21YHWH Tzeva'ot, the Elohim of Yisrael says: “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat meat. 22For I didn’t speak to your fathers or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Mitzrayim concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices; 23but this thing I commanded them, saying, ‘Listen to my voice, and I will be your Elohim, and you shall be my people. Walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.’ 24But they didn’t listen or turn their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward. 25Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Mitzrayim to this day, I have sent to you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them. 26Yet they didn’t listen to me or incline their ear, but made their neck stiff. They did worse than their fathers. 27“You shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you. You shall also call to them, but they will not answer you. 28You shall tell them, ‘This is the nation that has not listened to YHWH their Elohim’s voice, nor received instruction. Truth has perished, and is cut off from their mouth.’ 29Cut off your hair, and throw it away, and take up a lamentation on the bare heights; for YHWH has rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath. 30“For the children of Yehudah have done that which is evil in my sight,” says YHWH. “They have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to defile it. 31They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I didn’t command, nor did it come into my mind. 32Therefore behold, the days come”, says YHWH, “that it will no more be called ‘Topheth’ or ‘The valley of the son of Hinnom’, but ‘The valley of Slaughter’; for they will bury in Topheth until there is no place to bury. 33The dead bodies of this people will be food for the birds of the sky, and for the animals of the earth. No one will frighten them away. 34Then I will cause to cease from the cities of Yehudah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride; for the land will become a waste.”

### Chapter 8

1“At that time,” says YHWH, “they will bring the bones of the kings of Yehudah, the bones of his princes, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves. 2They will spread them before the sun, the moon, and all the army of the sky, which they have loved, which they have served, after which they have walked, which they have sought, and which they have worshipped. They will not be gathered or be buried. They will be like dung on the surface of the earth. 3Death will be chosen rather than life by all the residue that remain of this evil family, that remain in all the places where I have driven them,” says YHWH Tzeva'ot. 4“Moreover you shall tell them, ‘YHWH says: “‘Do men fall, and not rise up again? Does one turn away, and not return? 5Why then have the people of Jerusalem fallen back by a perpetual backsliding? They cling to deceit. They refuse to return. 6I listened and heard, but they didn’t say what is right. No one repents of his wickedness, saying, “What have I done?” Everyone turns to his course, as a horse that rushes headlong in the battle. 7Yes, the stork in the sky knows her appointed times. The turtledove, the swallow, and the crane observe the time of their coming; but my people don’t know YHWH’s law. 8“‘How do you say, “We are wise, and YHWH’s law is with us”? But, behold, the false pen of the scribes has made that a lie. 9The wise men are disappointed. They are dismayed and trapped. Behold, they have rejected YHWH’s word. What kind of wisdom is in them? 10Therefore I will give their wives to others and their fields to those who will possess them. For everyone from the least even to the greatest is given to covetousness; from the prophet even to the priest everyone deals falsely. 11They have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, “Peace, peace,” when there is no peace. 12Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed. They couldn’t blush. Therefore they will fall amongst those who fall. In the time of their visitation they will be cast down, says YHWH. 13“‘I will utterly consume them, says YHWH. No grapes will be on the vine, no figs on the fig tree, and the leaf will fade. The things that I have given them will pass away from them.’” 14“Why do we sit still? Assemble yourselves! Let’s enter into the fortified cities, and let’s be silent there; for YHWH our Elohim has put us to silence, and given us poisoned water to drink, because we have sinned against YHWH. 15We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of healing, and behold, dismay! 16The snorting of his horses is heard from Dan. The whole land trembles at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones; for they have come, and have devoured the land and all that is in it, the city and those who dwell therein.” 17“For, behold, I will send serpents, adders amongst you, which will not be charmed; and they will bite you,” says YHWH. 18Oh that I could comfort myself against sorrow! My heart is faint within me. 19Behold, the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people from a land that is very far off: “Isn’t YHWH in Tzion? Isn’t her King in her?” “Why have they provoked me to anger with their engraved images, and with foreign idols?” 20“The harvest is past. The summer has ended, and we are not saved.” 21For the hurt of the daughter of my people, I am hurt. I mourn. Dismay has taken hold of me. 22Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then isn’t the health of the daughter of my people recovered?

### Chapter 9

1Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a spring of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! 2Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men, that I might leave my people and go from them! For they are all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men. 3“They bend their tongue, as their bow, for falsehood. They have grown strong in the land, but not for truth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they don’t know me,” says YHWH. 4“Everyone beware of his neighbour, and don’t trust in any brother; for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbour will go around like a slanderer. 5Friends deceive each other, and will not speak the truth. They have taught their tongue to speak lies. They weary themselves committing iniquity. 6Your habitation is in the middle of deceit. Through deceit, they refuse to know me,” says YHWH. 7Therefore YHWH Tzeva'ot says, “Behold, I will melt them and test them; for how should I deal with the daughter of my people? 8Their tongue is a deadly arrow. It speaks deceit. One speaks peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth, but in his heart, he waits to ambush him. 9Shouldn’t I punish them for these things?” says YHWH. “Shouldn’t my soul be avenged on a nation such as this? 10I will weep and wail for the mountains, and lament for the pastures of the wilderness, because they are burnt up, so that no one passes through; Men can’t hear the voice of the livestock. Both the birds of the sky and the animals have fled. They are gone. 11“I will make Jerusalem heaps, a dwelling place of jackals. I will make the cities of Yehudah a desolation, without inhabitant.” 12Who is wise enough to understand this? Who is he to whom the mouth of YHWH has spoken, that he may declare it? Why has the land perished and burnt up like a wilderness, so that no one passes through? 13YHWH says, “Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice or walked in my ways, 14but have walked after the stubbornness of their own heart and after the Baals, which their fathers taught them.” 15Therefore YHWH Tzeva'ot, the Elohim of Yisrael, says, “Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink. 16I will scatter them also amongst the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known. I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them.” 17YHWH Tzeva'ot says, “Consider, and call for the mourning women, that they may come. Send for the skilful women, that they may come. 18Let them make haste and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears and our eyelids gush out with waters. 19For a voice of wailing is heard out of Tzion, ‘How we are ruined! We are greatly confounded because we have forsaken the land, because they have cast down our dwellings.’” 20Yet hear YHWH’s word, you women. Let your ear receive the word of his mouth. Teach your daughters wailing. Everyone teach her neighbour a lamentation. 21For death has come up into our windows. It has entered into our palaces to cut off the children from outside, and the young men from the streets. 22Speak, “YHWH says, “‘The dead bodies of men will fall as dung on the open field, and as the handful after the harvester. No one will gather them.’” 23YHWH says, “Don’t let the wise man glory in his wisdom. Don’t let the mighty man glory in his might. Don’t let the rich man glory in his riches. 24But let him who glories glory in this, that he has understanding, and knows me, that I am YHWH who exercises chesed, justice, and righteousness in the earth, for I delight in these things,” says YHWH. 25“Behold, the days come,” says YHWH, “that I will punish all those who are circumcised only in their flesh: 26Mitzrayim, Yehudah, Edom, the children of Ammon, Moab, and all who have the corners of their hair cut off, who dwell in the wilderness, for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Yisrael are uncircumcised in heart.”

### Chapter 10

1Hear the word which YHWH speaks to you, house of Yisrael! 2YHWH says, “Don’t learn the way of the nations, and don’t be dismayed at the signs of the sky; for the nations are dismayed at them. 3For the customs of the peoples are vanity; for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the axe. 4They deck it with silver and with gold. They fasten it with nails and with hammers, so that it can’t move. 5They are like a palm tree, of turned work, and don’t speak. They must be carried, because they can’t move. Don’t be afraid of them; for they can’t do evil, neither is it in them to do good.” 6There is no one like you, YHWH. You are great, and your name is great in might. 7Who shouldn’t fear you, King of the nations? For it belongs to you. Because amongst all the wise men of the nations, and in all their royal estate, there is no one like you. 8But they are together brutish and foolish, instructed by idols! It is just wood. 9There is silver beaten into plates, which is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the engraver and of the hands of the goldsmith. Their clothing is blue and purple. They are all the work of skilful men. 10But YHWH is the true Elohim. He is the living Elohim, and an everlasting King. At his wrath, the earth trembles. The nations aren’t able to withstand his indignation. 11“You shall say this to them: ‘The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth, and from under the heavens.’” 12Elohim has made the earth by his power. He has established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding has he stretched out the heavens. 13When he utters his voice, the waters in the heavens roar, and he causes the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth. He makes lightnings for the rain, and brings the wind out of his treasuries. 14Every man has become brutish and without knowledge. Every goldsmith is disappointed by his engraved image; for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. 15They are vanity, a work of delusion. In the time of their visitation they will perish. 16The portion of Yaakov is not like these; for he is the maker of all things; and Yisrael is the tribe of his inheritance. YHWH Tzeva'ot is his name. 17Gather up your wares out of the land, you who live under siege. 18For YHWH says, “Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land at this time, and will distress them, that they may feel it.” 19Woe is me because of my injury! My wound is serious; but I said, “Truly this is my grief, and I must bear it.” 20My tent has been destroyed, and all my cords are broken. My children have gone away from me, and they are no more. There is no one to spread my tent any more, to set up my curtains. 21For the shepherds have become brutish, and have not enquired of YHWH. Therefore they have not prospered, and all their flocks have scattered. 22The voice of news, behold, it comes, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Yehudah a desolation, a dwelling place of jackals. 23YHWH, I know that the way of man is not in himself. It is not in man who walks to direct his steps. 24YHWH, correct me, but gently; not in your anger, lest you reduce me to nothing. 25Pour out your wrath on the nations that don’t know you, and on the families that don’t call on your name; for they have devoured Yaakov. Yes, they have devoured him, consumed him, and have laid waste his habitation.

### Chapter 11

1The word that came to Yirmeyahu from YHWH, saying, 2“Hear the words of this Brit, and speak to the men of Yehudah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem; 3and say to them, YHWH, the Elohim of Yisrael says: ‘Cursed is the man who doesn’t hear the words of this Brit, 4which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Mitzrayim, out of the iron furnace,’ saying, ‘Obey my voice and do them, according to all which I command you; so you shall be my people, and I will be your Elohim; 5that I may establish the oath which I swore to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey,’ as it is today.” Then I answered, and said, “Amen, YHWH.” 6YHWH said to me, “Proclaim all these words in the cities of Yehudah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Hear the words of this Brit, and do them. 7For I earnestly protested to your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Mitzrayim, even to this day, rising early and protesting, saying, “Obey my voice.” 8Yet they didn’t obey, nor turn their ear, but everyone walked in the stubbornness of their evil heart. Therefore I brought on them all the words of this Brit, which I commanded them to do, but they didn’t do them.’” 9YHWH said to me, “A conspiracy is found amongst the men of Yehudah, and amongst the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 10They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to hear my words. They have gone after other gods to serve them. The house of Yisrael and the house of Yehudah have broken my Brit which I made with their fathers. 11Therefore YHWH says, ‘Behold, I will bring evil on them which they will not be able to escape; and they will cry to me, but I will not listen to them. 12Then the cities of Yehudah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry to the gods to which they offer incense, but they will not save them at all in the time of their trouble. 13For according to the number of your cities are your gods, Yehudah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem you have set up altars to the shameful thing, even altars to burn incense to Ba'al.’ 14“Therefore don’t pray for this people. Don’t lift up cry or prayer for them; for I will not hear them in the time that they cry to me because of their trouble. 15What has my beloved to do in my house, since she has behaved lewdly with many, and the kodesh flesh has passed from you? When you do evil, then you rejoice.” 16YHWH called your name, “A green olive tree, beautiful with goodly fruit.” With the noise of a great roar he has kindled fire on it, and its branches are broken. 17For YHWH Tzeva'ot, who planted you, has pronounced evil against you, because of the evil of the house of Yisrael and of the house of Yehudah, which they have done to themselves in provoking me to anger by offering incense to Ba'al. 18YHWH gave me knowledge of it, and I knew it. Then you showed me their doings. 19But I was like a gentle lamb that is led to the slaughter. I didn’t know that they had devised plans against me, saying, “Let’s destroy the tree with its fruit, and let’s cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered.” 20But, YHWH Tzeva'ot, who judges righteously, who tests the heart and the mind, I will see your vengeance on them; for to you I have revealed my cause. 21“Therefore YHWH says concerning the men of Anatot, who seek your life, saying, ‘You shall not prophesy in YHWH’s name, that you not die by our hand’— 22therefore YHWH Tzeva'ot says, ‘Behold, I will punish them. The young men will die by the sword. Their sons and their daughters will die by famine. 23There will be no remnant to them, for I will bring evil on the men of Anatot, even the year of their visitation.’”

### Chapter 12

1You are righteous, YHWH, when I contend with you; yet I would like to plead a case with you. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are they all at ease who deal very treacherously? 2You have planted them. Yes, they have taken root. They grow. Yes, they produce fruit. You are near in their mouth, and far from their heart. 3But you, YHWH, know me. You see me, and test my heart towards you. Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter. 4How long will the land mourn, and the herbs of the whole country wither? Because of the wickedness of those who dwell therein, the animals and birds are consumed; because they said, “He won’t see our latter end.” 5“If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses? Though in a land of peace you are secure, yet how will you do in the pride of the Jordan? 6For even your brothers, and the house of your father, even they have dealt treacherously with you! Even they have cried aloud after you! Don’t believe them, though they speak beautiful words to you. 7“I have forsaken my house. I have cast off my heritage. I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies. 8My heritage has become to me as a lion in the forest. She has uttered her voice against me. Therefore I have hated her. 9Is my heritage to me as a speckled bird of prey? Are the birds of prey against her all around? Go, assemble all the animals of the field. Bring them to devour. 10Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard. They have trodden my portion under foot. They have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness. 11They have made it a desolation. It mourns to me, being desolate. The whole land is made desolate, because no one cares. 12Destroyers have come on all the bare heights in the wilderness; for the sword of YHWH devours from the one end of the land even to the other end of the land. No flesh has peace. 13They have sown wheat, and have reaped thorns. They have exhausted themselves, and profit nothing. You will be ashamed of your fruits, because of YHWH’s fierce anger.” 14YHWH says, “Concerning all my evil neighbours, who touch the inheritance which I have caused my people Yisrael to inherit: Behold, I will pluck them up from off their land, and will pluck up the house of Yehudah from amongst them. 15It will happen that after I have plucked them up, I will return and have compassion on them. I will bring them again, every man to his heritage, and every man to his land. 16It will happen, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, ‘As YHWH lives;’ even as they taught my people to swear by Ba'al, then they will be built up in the middle of my people. 17But if they will not hear, then I will pluck up that nation, plucking up and destroying it,” says YHWH.

### Chapter 13

1YHWH said to me, “Go, and buy yourself a linen belt, and put it on your waist, and don’t put it in water.” 2So I bought a belt according to YHWH’s word, and put it on my waist. 3YHWH’s word came to me the second time, saying, 4“Take the belt that you have bought, which is on your waist, and arise, go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a cleft of the rock.” 5So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as YHWH commanded me. 6After many days, YHWH said to me, “Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take the belt from there, which I commanded you to hide there.” 7Then I went to the Euphrates, and dug, and took the belt from the place where I had hidden it; and behold, the belt was ruined. It was profitable for nothing. 8Then YHWH’s word came to me, saying, 9“YHWH says, ‘In this way I will ruin the pride of Yehudah, and the great pride of Jerusalem. 10This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who walk in the stubbornness of their heart, and have gone after other gods to serve them and to worship them, will even be as this belt, which is profitable for nothing. 11For as the belt clings to the waist of a man, so I have caused the whole house of Yisrael and the whole house of Yehudah to cling to me,’ says YHWH; ‘that they may be to me for a people, for a name, for praise, and for glory; but they would not hear.’ 12“Therefore you shall speak to them this word: ‘YHWH, the Elohim of Yisrael says, “Every container should be filled with wine.”’ They will tell you, ‘Do we not certainly know that every container should be filled with wine?’ 13Then tell them, ‘YHWH says, “Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land, even the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with drunkenness. 14I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together,” says YHWH: “I will not pity, spare, or have compassion, that I should not destroy them.”’” 15Hear, and give ear. Don’t be proud, for YHWH has spoken. 16Give glory to YHWH your Elohim, before he causes darkness, and before your feet stumble on the dark mountains, and while you look for light, he turns it into the shadow of death, and makes it deep darkness. 17But if you will not hear it, my soul will weep in secret for your pride. My eye will weep bitterly, and run down with tears, because YHWH’s flock has been taken captive. 18Say to the king and to the queen mother, “Humble yourselves. Sit down, for your crowns have come down, even the crown of your glory. 19The cities of the South are shut up, and there is no one to open them. Yehudah is carried away captive: all of them. They are wholly carried away captive. 20Lift up your eyes, and see those who come from the north. Where is the flock that was given to you, your beautiful flock? 21What will you say when he sets over you as head those whom you have yourself taught to be friends to you? Won’t sorrows take hold of you, as of a woman in travail? 22If you say in your heart, “Why have these things come on me?” Your skirts are uncovered because of the greatness of your iniquity, and your heels suffer violence. 23Can the Kushi change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Then may you also do good, who are accustomed to do evil. 24“Therefore I will scatter them as the stubble that passes away by the wind of the wilderness. 25This is your lot, the portion measured to you from me,” says YHWH, “because you have forgotten me, and trusted in falsehood.” 26Therefore I will also uncover your skirts on your face, and your shame will appear. 27I have seen your abominations, even your adulteries and your neighing, the lewdness of your prostitution, on the hills in the field. Woe to you, Jerusalem! You will not be made clean. How long will it yet be?”

### Chapter 14

1This is YHWH’s word that came to Yirmeyahu concerning the drought: 2“Yehudah mourns, and its gates languish. They sit in black on the ground. The cry of Jerusalem goes up. 3Their nobles send their little ones to the waters. They come to the cisterns, and find no water. They return with their vessels empty. They are disappointed and confounded, and cover their heads. 4Because of the ground which is cracked, because no rain has been in the land, the ploughmen are disappointed. They cover their heads. 5Yes, the doe in the field also calves and forsakes 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 iniquities testify against us, work for your name’s sake, YHWH; for our rebellions are many. We have sinned against you. 8You hope of Yisrael, its Moshia in the time of trouble, why should you be as a foreigner in the land, and as a wayfaring man who turns aside to stay for a night? 9Why should you be like a scared man, as a mighty man who can’t save? Yet you, YHWH, are in the middle of us, and we are called by your name. Don’t leave us. 10YHWH says to this people: “Even so they have loved to wander. They have not restrained their feet. Therefore YHWH does not accept them. Now he will remember their iniquity, and punish them for their sins.” 11YHWH said to me, “Don’t pray for this people for their good. 12When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and meal offering, I will not accept them; but I will consume them by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence.” 13Then I said, “Ah, Adonai YHWH! Behold, the prophets tell them, ‘You will not see the sword, neither will you have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place.’” 14Then YHWH said to me, “The prophets prophesy lies in my name. I didn’t send them. I didn’t command them. I didn’t speak to them. They prophesy to you a lying vision, divination, and a thing of nothing, and the deceit of their own heart. 15Therefore YHWH says concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name, but I didn’t send them, yet they say, ‘Sword and famine will not be in this land.’ Those prophets will be consumed by sword and famine. 16The people to whom they prophesy will be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword. They will have no one to bury them—them, their wives, their sons, or their daughters, for I will pour their wickedness on them. 17“You shall say this word to them: “‘Let my eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease; for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach, with a very grievous wound. 18If I go out into the field, then behold, the slain with the sword! If I enter into the city, then behold, those who are sick with famine! For both the prophet and the priest go about in the land, and have no knowledge.’” 19Have you utterly rejected Yehudah? Has your soul loathed Tzion? Why have you struck us, and there is no healing for us? We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of healing, and behold, dismay! 20We acknowledge, YHWH, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers; for we have sinned against you. 21Do not abhor us, for your name’s sake. Do not disgrace the throne of your glory. Remember, and don’t break your Brit with us. 22Are there any amongst the vanities of the nations that can cause rain? Or can the sky give showers? Aren’t you he, YHWH our Elohim? Therefore we will wait for you; for you have made all these things.

### Chapter 15

1Then YHWH said to me, “Though Moshe and Shmuel stood before me, yet my mind would not turn towards this people. Cast them out of my sight, and let them go out! 2It will happen when they ask you, ‘Where shall we go out?’ then you shall tell them, ‘YHWH says: “Such as are for death, to death; such as are for the sword, to the sword; such as are for the famine, to the famine; and such as are for captivity, to captivity.”’ 3“I will appoint over them four kinds,” says YHWH: “the sword to kill, the dogs to tear, the birds of the sky, and the animals of the earth, to devour and to destroy. 4I will cause them to be tossed back and forth amongst all the kingdoms of the earth, because of Menashe, the son of Chizkiyahu, king of Yehudah, for that which he did in Jerusalem. 5For who will have pity on you, Jerusalem? Who will mourn you? Who will come to ask of your welfare? 6You have rejected me,” says YHWH. “You have gone backward. Therefore I have stretched out my hand against you and destroyed you. I am weary of showing compassion. 7I have winnowed them with a fan in the gates of the land. I have bereaved them of children. I have destroyed my people. They didn’t return from their ways. 8Their widows are increased more than the sand of the seas. I have brought on them against the mother of the young men a destroyer at noonday. I have caused anguish and terrors to fall on her suddenly. 9She who has borne seven languishes. She has given up the spirit. Her sun has gone down while it was yet day. She has been disappointed and confounded. I will deliver their residue to the sword before their enemies,” says YHWH. 10Woe is me, my mother, that you have borne me, a man of strife, and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have not lent, neither have men lent to me; yet every one of them curses me. 11YHWH said, “Most certainly I will strengthen you for good. Most certainly I will cause the enemy to make supplication to you in the time of evil and in the time of affliction. 12Can one break iron, even iron from the north, and bronze? 13I will give your substance and your treasures for a plunder without price, and that for all your sins, even in all your borders. 14I will make them to pass with your enemies into a land which you don’t know; for a fire is kindled in my anger, which will burn on you.” 15YHWH, you know. Remember me, visit me, and avenge me of my persecutors. You are patient, so don’t take me away. Know that for your sake I have suffered reproach. 16Your words were found, and I ate them. Your words were to me a joy and the rejoicing of my heart, for I am called by your name, YHWH, Elohim Tzeva'ot. 17I didn’t sit in the assembly of those who make merry and rejoice. I sat alone because of your hand, for you have filled me with indignation. 18Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuses to be healed? Will you indeed be to me as a deceitful brook, like waters that fail? 19Therefore YHWH says, “If you return, then I will bring you again, that you may stand before me; and if you take out the precious from the vile, you will be as my mouth. They will return to you, but you will not return to them. 20I will make you to this people a fortified bronze wall. They will fight against you, but they will not prevail against you; for I am with you to save you and to deliver you,” says YHWH. 21“I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem you out of the hand of the terrible.”

### Chapter 16

1Then YHWH’s word came to me, saying, 2“You shall not take a wife, neither shall you have sons or daughters, in this place.” 3For YHWH says concerning the sons and concerning the daughters who are born in this place, and concerning their mothers who bore them, and concerning their fathers who became their father in this land: 4“They will die grievous deaths. They will not be lamented, neither will they be buried. They will be as dung on the surface of the ground. They will be consumed by the sword and by famine. Their dead bodies will be food for the birds of the sky and for the animals of the earth.” 5For YHWH says, “Don’t enter into the house of mourning. Don’t go to lament. Don’t bemoan them, for I have taken away my peace from this people,” says YHWH, “even chesed and tender mercies. 6Both great and small will die in this land. They will not be buried. Men won’t lament for them, cut themselves, or make themselves bald for them. 7Men won’t break bread for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead. Men won’t give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother. 8“You shall not go into the house of feasting to sit with them, to eat and to drink.” 9For YHWH Tzeva'ot, the Elohim of Yisrael says: “Behold, I will cause to cease out of this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride. 10It will happen, when you tell this people all these words, and they ask you, ‘Why has YHWH pronounced all this great evil against us?’ or ‘What is our iniquity?’ or ‘What is our sin that we have committed against YHWH our Elohim?’ 11then you shall tell them, ‘Because your fathers have forsaken me,’ says YHWH, ‘and have walked after other gods, have served them, have worshipped them, have forsaken me, and have not kept my law. 12You have done evil more than your fathers, for behold, you each walk after the stubbornness of his evil heart, so that you don’t listen to me. 13Therefore I will cast you out of this land into the land that you have not known, neither you nor your fathers. There you will serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favour.’ 14“Therefore behold, the days come,” says YHWH, “that it will no more be said, ‘As YHWH lives, who brought up the children of Yisrael out of the land of Mitzrayim;’ 15but, ‘As YHWH lives, who brought up the children of Yisrael from the land of the north, and from all the countries where he had driven them.’ I will bring them again into their land that I gave to their fathers. 16“Behold, I will send for many fishermen,” says YHWH, “and they will fish them up. Afterward I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them from every mountain, 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. Their iniquity isn’t concealed from my eyes. 18First I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double, because they have polluted my land with the carcasses of their detestable things, and have filled my inheritance with their abominations.” 19YHWH, my strength, my stronghold, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the nations will come to you from the ends of the earth, and will say, “Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies, vanity and things in which there is no profit. 20Should a man make to himself gods which yet are no gods?” 21“Therefore behold, I will cause them to know, this once I will cause them to know my hand and my might. Then they will know that my name is YHWH.”

### Chapter 17

1“The sin of Yehudah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond. It is engraved on the tablet of their heart, and on the horns of your altars. 2Even their children remember their altars and their Asherah poles by the green trees on the high hills. 3My mountain in the field, I will give your substance and all your treasures for a plunder, and your high places, because of sin, throughout all your borders. 4You, even of yourself, will discontinue from your heritage that I gave you. I will cause you to serve your enemies in the land which you don’t know, for you have kindled a fire in my anger which will burn forever.” 5YHWH says: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man, relies on strength of flesh, and whose heart departs from YHWH. 6For he will be like a bush in the desert, and will not see when good comes, but will inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, an uninhabited salt land. 7“Blessed is the man who trusts in YHWH, and whose confidence is in YHWH. 8For he will be as a tree planted by the waters, who spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes, but its leaf will be green, and will not be concerned in the year of drought. It won’t cease from yielding fruit. 9The heart is deceitful above all things and it is exceedingly corrupt. Who can know it? 10“I, YHWH, search the mind. I try the heart, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.” 11As the partridge that sits on eggs which she has not laid, so is he who gets riches, and not by right. In the middle of his days, they will leave him. At his end, he will be a fool. 12A glorious throne, set on high from the beginning, is the place of our Beit HaMikdash. 13YHWH, the hope of Yisrael, all who forsake you will be disappointed. Those who depart from me will be written in the earth, because they have forsaken YHWH, the spring of living waters. 14Heal me, O YHWH, and I will be healed. Save me, and I will be saved; for you are my praise. 15Behold, they ask me, “Where is YHWH’s word? Let it be fulfilled now.” 16As for me, I have not hurried from being a shepherd after you. I haven’t desired the woeful day. You know. That which came out of my lips was before your face. 17Don’t be a terror to me. You are my refuge in the day of evil. 18Let them be disappointed who persecute me, but don’t let me be disappointed. Let them be dismayed, but don’t let me be dismayed. Bring on them the day of evil, and destroy them with double destruction. 19YHWH said this to me: “Go and stand in the gate of the children of the people, through which the kings of Yehudah come in and by which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem. 20Tell them, ‘Hear YHWH’s word, you kings of Yehudah, all Yehudah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that enter in by these gates: 21YHWH says, “Be careful, and bear no burden on the Shabbat day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem. 22Don’t carry a burden out of your houses on the Shabbat day. Don’t do any work, but make the Shabbat day kodesh, as I commanded your fathers. 23But they didn’t listen. They didn’t turn their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, and might not receive instruction. 24It will happen, if you diligently listen to me,” says YHWH, “to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the Shabbat day, but to make the Shabbat day kodesh, to do no work therein; 25then there will enter in by the gates of this city kings and princes sitting on David’s throne, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their princes, the men of Yehudah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and this city will remain forever. 26They will come from the cities of Yehudah, and from the places around Jerusalem, from the land of Binyamin, from the lowland, from the hill country, and from the South, bringing burnt offerings, sacrifices, meal offerings, and frankincense, and bringing sacrifices of thanksgiving to YHWH’s house. 27But if you will not listen to me to make the Shabbat day kodesh, and not to bear a burden and enter in at the gates of Jerusalem on the Shabbat day, then I will kindle a fire in its gates, and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem. It will not be quenched.”’”

### Chapter 18

1The word which came to Yirmeyahu from YHWH, saying, 2“Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear my words.” 3Then I went down to the potter’s house, and behold, he was making something on the wheels. 4When the vessel that he made of the clay was marred in the hand of the potter, he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. 5Then YHWH’s word came to me, saying, 6“House of Yisrael, can’t I do with you as this potter?” says YHWH. “Behold, as the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, house of Yisrael. 7At the instant I speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy it, 8if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do to them. 9At the instant I speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it, 10if they do that which is evil in my sight, that they don’t obey my voice, then I will repent of the good with which I said I would benefit them. 11“Now therefore, speak to the men of Yehudah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, ‘YHWH says: “Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a plan against you. Everyone return from his evil way now, and amend your ways and your doings.”’ 12But they say, ‘It is in vain; for we will walk after our own plans, and we will each follow the stubbornness of his evil heart.’” 13Therefore YHWH says: “Ask now amongst the nations, ‘Who has heard such things?’ The virgin of Yisrael has done a very horrible thing. 14Will the snow of Lebanon fail from the rock of the field? Will the cold waters that flow down from afar be dried up? 15For my people have forgotten me. They have burnt incense to false gods. They have been made to stumble in their ways in the ancient paths, to walk in byways, in a way not built up, 16to make their land an astonishment, and a perpetual hissing. Everyone who passes by it will be astonished, and shake his head. 17I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy. I will show them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity. 18Then they said, “Come! Let’s devise plans against Yirmeyahu; for the law won’t perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let’s strike him with the tongue, and let’s not give heed to any of his words.” 19Give heed to me, YHWH, and listen to the voice of those who contend with me. 20Should evil be recompensed for good? For they have dug a pit for my soul. Remember how I stood before you to speak good for them, to turn away your wrath from them. 21Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and give them over to the power of the sword. Let their wives become childless and widows. Let their men be killed and their young men struck by the sword in battle. 22Let a cry be heard from their houses when you bring a troop suddenly on them; for they have dug a pit to take me and hidden snares for my feet. 23Yet, YHWH, you know all their counsel against me to kill me. Don’t forgive their iniquity. Don’t blot out their sin from your sight, Let them be overthrown before you. Deal with them in the time of your anger.

### Chapter 19

1Thus said YHWH, “Go, and buy a potter’s earthen container, and take some of the elders of the people and of the elders of the priests; 2and go out to the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the gate Harsith, and proclaim there the words that I will tell you. 3Say, ‘Hear YHWH’s word, kings of Yehudah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: YHWH Tzeva'ot, the Elohim of Yisrael says, “Behold, I will bring evil on this place, which whoever hears, his ears will tingle. 4Because they have forsaken me, and have defiled this place, and have burnt incense in it to other gods that they didn’t know—they, their fathers, and the kings of Yehudah—and have filled this place with the blood of innocents, 5and have built the high places of Ba'al to burn their children in the fire for burnt offerings to Ba'al, which I didn’t command, nor speak, which didn’t even enter into my mind. 6Therefore, behold, the days come,” says YHWH, “that this place will no more be called ‘Topheth’, nor ‘The Valley of the son of Hinnom’, but ‘The valley of Slaughter’. 7“‘“I will make the counsel of Yehudah and Jerusalem void in this place. I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of those who seek their life. I will give their dead bodies to be food for the birds of the sky and for the animals of the earth. 8I will make this city an astonishment and a hissing. Everyone who passes by it will be astonished and hiss because of all its plagues. 9I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters. They will each eat the flesh of his friend in the siege and in the distress with which their enemies, and those who seek their life, will distress them.”’ 10“Then you shall break the container in the sight of the men who go with you, 11and shall tell them, ‘YHWH Tzeva'ot says: “Even so I will break this people and this city as one breaks a potter’s vessel, that can’t be made whole again. They will bury in Topheth until there is no place to bury. 12This is what I will do to this place,” says YHWH, “and to its inhabitants, even making this city as Topheth. 13The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Yehudah, which are defiled, will be as the place of Topheth, even all the houses on whose roofs they have burnt incense to all the army of the sky and have poured out drink offerings to other gods.”’” 14Then Yirmeyahu came from Topheth, where YHWH had sent him to prophesy, and he stood in the court of YHWH’s house, and said to all the people: 15“YHWH Tzeva'ot, the Elohim of Yisrael says, ‘Behold, I will bring on this city and on all its towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they have made their neck stiff, that they may not hear my words.’”

### Chapter 20

1Now Pashchur, the son of Immer the priest, who was chief officer in YHWH’s house, heard Yirmeyahu prophesying these things. 2Then Pashchur struck Yirmeyahu the prophet and put him in the stocks that were in the upper gate of Binyamin, which was in YHWH’s house. 3On the next day, Pashchur released Yirmeyahu out of the stocks. Then Yirmeyahu said to him, “YHWH has not called your name Pashchur, but Magormissabib. 4For YHWH says, ‘Behold, I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends. They will fall by the sword of their enemies, and your eyes will see it. I will give all Yehudah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will carry them captive to Babylon, and will kill them with the sword. 5Moreover I will give all the riches of this city, and all its gains, and all its precious things, yes, I will give all the treasures of the kings of Yehudah into the hand of their enemies. They will make them captives, take them, and carry them to Babylon. 6You, Pashchur, and all who dwell in your house will go into captivity. You will come to Babylon, and there you will die, and there you will be buried, you, and all your friends, to whom you have prophesied falsely.’” 7YHWH, you have persuaded me, and I was persuaded. You are stronger than I, and have prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all day. Everyone mocks me. 8For as often as I speak, I cry out; I cry, “Violence and destruction!” because YHWH’s word has been made a reproach to me, and a derision, all day. 9If I say that I will not make mention of him, or speak any more in his name, then there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones. I am weary with holding it in. I can’t. 10For I have heard the defaming of many: “Terror on every side! Denounce, and we will denounce him!” say all my familiar friends, those who watch for my fall. “Perhaps he will be persuaded, and we will prevail against him, and we will take our revenge on him.” 11But YHWH is with me as an awesome mighty one. Therefore my persecutors will stumble, and they won’t prevail. They will be utterly disappointed because they have not dealt wisely, even with an everlasting dishonour which will never be forgotten. 12But YHWH Tzeva'ot, who tests the righteous, who sees the heart and the mind, let me see your vengeance on them, for I have revealed my cause to you. 13Sing to YHWH! Praise YHWH, for he has delivered the soul of the needy from the hand of evildoers. 14Cursed is the day in which I was born. Don’t let the day in which my mother bore me be blessed. 15Cursed is the man who brought news to my father, saying, “A boy is born to you,” making him very glad. 16Let that man be as the cities which YHWH overthrew, and didn’t repent. Let him hear a cry in the morning, and shouting at noontime, 17because he didn’t kill me from the womb. So my mother would have been my grave, and her womb always great. 18Why did I come out of the womb to see labour and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?

### Chapter 21

1The word which came to Yirmeyahu from YHWH, when King Tzidkiyahu sent to him Pashchur the son of Malkiyah, and Tzefaniah the son of Ma'aseyah, the priest, saying, 2“Please enquire of YHWH for us; for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon makes war against us. Perhaps YHWH will deal with us according to all his wondrous works, that he may withdraw from us.” 3Then Yirmeyahu said to them, “Tell Tzidkiyahu: 4‘YHWH, the Elohim of Yisrael says, “Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, with which you fight against the king of Babylon, and against the Kasdim who besiege you outside the walls; and I will gather them into the middle of this city. 5I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger, in wrath, and in great indignation. 6I will strike the inhabitants of this city, both man and animal. They will die of a great pestilence. 7Afterward,” says YHWH, “I will deliver Tzidkiyahu king of Yehudah, his servants, and the people, even those who are left in this city from the pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life. He will strike them with the edge of the sword. He will not spare them, have pity, or have chesed.”’ 8“You shall say to this people, ‘YHWH says: “Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death. 9He who remains in this city will die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, but he who goes out and passes over to the Kasdim who besiege you, he will live, and he will escape with his life. 10For I have set my face on this city for evil, and not for good,” says YHWH. “It will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire.”’ 11“Concerning the house of the king of Yehudah, hear YHWH’s word: 12House of David, YHWH says, ‘Execute justice in the morning, and deliver him who is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor, lest my wrath go out like fire, and burn so that no one can quench it, because of the evil of your doings. 13Behold, I am against you, O inhabitant of the valley, and of the rock of the plain,’ says YHWH. ‘You that say, “Who would come down against us?” or, “Who would enter into our homes?” 14I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings,’ says YHWH; ‘and I will kindle a fire in her forest, and it will devour all that is around her.’”

### Chapter 22

1YHWH said, “Go down to the house of the king of Yehudah, and speak this word there: 2‘Hear YHWH’s word, king of Yehudah, who sits on David’s throne—you, your servants, and your people who enter in by these gates. 3YHWH says: “Execute justice and righteousness, and deliver him who is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor. Do no wrong. Do no violence to the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow. Don’t shed innocent blood in this place. 4For if you do this thing indeed, then kings sitting on David’s throne will enter in by the gates of this house, riding in chariots and on horses—they, their servants, and their people. 5But if you will not hear these words, I swear by myself,” says YHWH, “that this house will become a desolation.”’” 6For YHWH says concerning the house of the king of Yehudah: “You are Gilead to me, the head of Lebanon. Yet surely I will make you a wilderness, cities which are not inhabited. 7I will prepare destroyers against you, everyone with his weapons, and they will cut down your choice cedars, and cast them into the fire. 8“Many nations will pass by this city, and they will each ask his neighbour, ‘Why has YHWH done this to this great city?’ 9Then they will answer, ‘Because they abandoned the Brit of YHWH their Elohim, worshipped other gods, and served them.’” 10Don’t weep for the dead. Don’t bemoan him; but weep bitterly for him who goes away, for he will return no more, and not see his native country. 11For YHWH says touching Shalum the son of Yoshiyahu, king of Yehudah, who reigned instead of Yoshiyahu his father, and who went out of this place: “He won’t return there any more. 12But he will die in the place where they have led him captive. He will see this land no more.” 13“Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his rooms by injustice; who uses his neighbour’s service without wages, and doesn’t give him his hire; 14who says, ‘I will build myself a wide house and spacious rooms,’ and cuts out windows for himself, with a cedar ceiling, and painted with red. 15“Should you reign because you strive to excel in cedar? Didn’t your father eat and drink, and do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him. 16He judged the cause of the poor and needy; so then it was well. Wasn’t this to know me?” says YHWH. 17But your eyes and your heart are only for your covetousness, for shedding innocent blood, for oppression, and for doing violence.” 18Therefore YHWH says concerning Yehoyakim the son of Yoshiyahu, king of Yehudah: “They won’t lament for him, saying, ‘Ah my brother!’ or, ‘Ah sister!’ They won’t lament for him, saying ‘Ah Adonai!’ or, ‘Ah his glory!’ 19He will be buried with the burial of a donkey, drawn and cast out beyond the gates of Jerusalem.” 20“Go up to Lebanon, and cry out. Lift up your voice in Bashan, and cry from Abarim; for all your lovers have been destroyed. 21I spoke to you in your prosperity, but you said, ‘I will not listen.’ This has been your way from your youth, that you didn’t obey my voice. 22The wind will feed all your shepherds, and your lovers will go into captivity. Surely then you will be ashamed and confounded for all your wickedness. 23Inhabitant of Lebanon, who makes your nest in the cedars, how greatly to be pitied you will be when pangs come on you, the pain as of a woman in travail! 24“As I live,” says YHWH, “though Konyahu the son of Yehoyakim king of Yehudah were the signet on my right hand, I would still pluck you from there. 25I would give you into the hand of those who seek your life, and into the hand of them of whom you are afraid, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Kasdim. 26I will cast you out with your mother who bore you into another country, where you were not born; and there you will die. 27But to the land to which their soul longs to return, there they will not return.” 28Is this man Konyahu a despised broken vessel? Is he a vessel in which no one delights? Why are they cast out, he and his offspring, and cast into a land which they don’t know? 29O earth, earth, earth, hear YHWH’s word! 30YHWH says, “Record this man as childless, a man who will not prosper in his days; for no more will a man of his offspring prosper, sitting on David’s throne and ruling in Yehudah.”

### Chapter 23

1“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” says YHWH. 2Therefore YHWH, the Elohim of Yisrael, says against the shepherds who feed my people: “You have scattered my flock, driven them away, and have not visited them. Behold, I will visit on you the evil of your doings,” says YHWH. 3“I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they will be fruitful and multiply. 4I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them. They will no longer be afraid or dismayed, neither will any be lacking,” says YHWH. 5“Behold, the days come,” says YHWH, “that I will raise to David a righteous Branch; and he will reign as king and deal wisely, and will execute justice and righteousness in the land. 6In his days Yehudah will be saved, and Yisrael will dwell safely. This is his name by which he will be called: YHWH Tzidkenu. 7“Therefore, behold, the days come,” says YHWH, “that they will no more say, ‘As YHWH lives, who brought up the children of Yisrael out of the land of Mitzrayim;’ 8but, ‘As YHWH lives, who brought up and who led the offspring of the house of Yisrael out of the north country, and from all the countries where I had driven them.’ Then they will dwell in their own land.” 9Concerning the prophets: My heart within me is broken. All my bones shake. I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine has overcome, because of YHWH, and because of his kodesh words. 10“For the land is full of adulterers; for because of the curse the land mourns. The pastures of the wilderness have dried up. Their course is evil, and their might is not right; 11for both prophet and priest are profane. Yes, in my house I have found their wickedness,” says YHWH. 12Therefore their way will be to them as slippery places in the darkness. They will be driven on, and fall therein; for I will bring evil on them, even the year of their visitation,” says YHWH. 13“I have seen folly in the prophets of Shomron. They prophesied by Ba'al, and caused my people Yisrael to err. 14In the prophets of Jerusalem I have also seen a horrible thing: they commit adultery and walk in lies. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one returns from his wickedness. They have all become to me as Sodom, and its inhabitants as Amorah.” 15Therefore YHWH Tzeva'ot says concerning the prophets: “Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink poisoned water; for from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has gone out into all the land.” 16YHWH Tzeva'ot says, “Don’t listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They teach you vanity. They speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of YHWH. 17They say continually to those who despise me, ‘YHWH has said, “You will have peace;”’ and to everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart they say, ‘No evil will come on you.’ 18For who has stood in the council of YHWH, that he should perceive and hear his word? Who has listened to my word, and heard it? 19Behold, YHWH’s storm, his wrath, has gone out. Yes, a whirling storm! It will burst on the head of the wicked. 20YHWH’s anger will not return until he has executed and performed the intents of his heart. In the latter days, you will understand it perfectly. 21I didn’t send these prophets, yet they ran. I didn’t speak to them, yet they prophesied. 22But if they had stood in my council, then they would have caused my people to hear my words, and would have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings. 23“Am I a Elohim at hand,” says YHWH, “and not a Elohim afar off? 24Can anyone hide himself in secret places so that I can’t see him?” says YHWH. “Don’t I fill heaven and earth?” says YHWH. 25“I have heard what the prophets have said, who prophesy lies in my name, saying, ‘I had a dream! I had a dream!’ 26How long will this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies, even the prophets of the deceit of their own heart? 27They intend to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they each tell his neighbour, as their fathers forgot my name because of Ba'al. 28The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream; and he who has my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the straw to the wheat?” says YHWH. 29“Isn’t my word like fire?” says YHWH; “and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? 30“Therefore behold, I am against the prophets,” says YHWH, “who each steal my words from his neighbour. 31Behold, I am against the prophets,” says YHWH, “who use their tongues, and say, ‘He says.’ 32Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams,” says YHWH, “who tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their vain boasting; yet I didn’t send them or command them. They don’t profit this people at all,” says YHWH. 33“When this people, or the prophet, or a priest, asks you, saying, ‘What is the message from YHWH?’ Then you shall tell them, ‘“What message? I will cast you off,” says YHWH.’ 34As for the prophet, the priest, and the people, who say, ‘The message from YHWH,’ I will even punish that man and his household. 35You will say everyone to his neighbour, and everyone to his brother, ‘What has YHWH answered?’ and, ‘What has YHWH said?’ 36You will mention the message from YHWH no more, for every man’s own word has become his message; for you have perverted the words of the living Elohim, of YHWH Tzeva'ot, our Elohim. 37You will say to the prophet, ‘What has YHWH answered you?’ and, ‘What has YHWH spoken?’ 38Although you say, ‘The message from YHWH,’ therefore YHWH says: ‘Because you say this word, “The message from YHWH,” and I have sent to you, telling you not to say, “The message from YHWH,” 39therefore behold, I will utterly forget you, and I will cast you off with the city that I gave to you and to your fathers, away from my presence. 40I will bring an everlasting reproach on you, and a perpetual shame, which will not be forgotten.’”

### Chapter 24

1YHWH showed me, and behold, two baskets of figs were set before YHWH’s Beit HaMikdash, after Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Yekhonyah the son of Yehoyakim, king of Yehudah, and the princes of Yehudah, with the craftsmen and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon. 2One basket had very good figs, like the figs that are first-ripe; and the other basket had very bad figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad. 3Then YHWH asked me, “What do you see, Yirmeyahu?” I said, “Figs. The good figs are very good, and the bad are very bad, so bad that they can’t be eaten.” 4YHWH’s word came to me, saying, 5“YHWH, the Elohim of Yisrael says: ‘Like these good figs, so I will regard the captives of Yehudah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Kasdim, as good. 6For I will set my eyes on them for good, and I will bring them again to this land. I will build them, and not pull them down. I will plant them, and not pluck them up. 7I will give them a heart to know me, that I am YHWH. They will be my people, and I will be their Elohim; for they will return to me with their whole heart. 8“‘As the bad figs, which can’t be eaten, they are so bad,’ surely YHWH says, ‘So I will give up Tzidkiyahu the king of Yehudah, and his princes, and the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and those who dwell in the land of Mitzrayim. 9I will even give them up to be tossed back and forth amongst all the kingdoms of the earth for evil, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places where I will drive them. 10I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence amongst them, until they are consumed from off the land that I gave to them and to their fathers.’”

### Chapter 25

1The word that came to Yirmeyahu concerning all the people of Yehudah, in the fourth year of Yehoyakim the son of Yoshiyahu, king of Yehudah (this was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), 2which Yirmeyahu the prophet spoke to all the people of Yehudah, and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem: 3From the thirteenth year of Yoshiyahu the son of Amon, king of Yehudah, even to this day, these twenty-three years, YHWH’s word has come to me, and I have spoken to you, rising up early and speaking; but you have not listened. 4YHWH has sent to you all his servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them (but you have not listened or inclined your ear to hear), 5saying, “Return now everyone from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that YHWH has given to you and to your fathers, from of old and even forever more. 6Don’t go after other gods to serve them or worship them, and don’t provoke me to anger with the work of your hands; then I will do you no harm.” 7“Yet you have not listened to me,” says YHWH, “that you may provoke me to anger with the work of your hands to your own hurt.” 8Therefore YHWH Tzeva'ot says: “Because you have not heard my words, 9behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,” says YHWH, “and I will send to Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against its inhabitants, and against all these nations around. I will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and a hissing, and perpetual desolations. 10Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the lamp. 11This whole land will be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years. 12“It will happen, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation,” says YHWH, “for their iniquity. I will make the land of the Kasdim desolate forever. 13I will bring on that land all my words which I have pronounced against it, even all that is written in this book, which Yirmeyahu has prophesied against all the nations. 14For many nations and great kings will make bondservants of them, even of them. I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the work of their hands.” 15For YHWH, the Elohim of Yisrael, says 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 reel back and forth, and be insane, because of the sword that I will send amongst them.” 17Then I took the cup at YHWH’s hand, and made all the nations to drink, to whom YHWH had sent me: 18Jerusalem, and the cities of Yehudah, with its kings and its princes, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse, as it is today; 19Pharaoh king of Mitzrayim, with his servants, his princes, and all his people; 20and all the mixed people, and all the kings of the land of Uz, all the kings of the Pelishtim, Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod; 21Edom, Moab, and the children of Ammon; 22and all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Tzidon, and the kings of the isle which is beyond the sea; 23Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who have the corners of their beard cut off; 24and all the kings of Arabia, all the kings of the mixed people who dwell in the wilderness; 25and all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes; 26and all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another; and all the kingdoms of the world, which are on the surface of the earth. The king of Sheshach will drink after them. 27“You shall tell them, ‘YHWH Tzeva'ot, the Elohim of Yisrael says: “Drink, and be drunk, vomit, fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send amongst you.”’ 28It shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at your hand to drink, then you shall tell them, ‘YHWH Tzeva'ot says: “You shall surely drink. 29For, behold, I begin to work evil at the city which is called by my name; and should you be utterly unpunished? You will not be unpunished; for I will call for a sword on all the inhabitants of the earth, says YHWH Tzeva'ot.”’ 30“Therefore prophesy against them all these words, and tell them, “‘YHWH will roar from on high, and utter his voice from his kodesh habitation. He will mightily roar against his fold. He will give a shout, as those who tread grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth. 31A noise will come even to the end of the earth; for YHWH has a controversy with the nations. He will enter into judgement with all flesh. As for the wicked, he will give them to the sword,”’ says YHWH.” 32YHWH Tzeva'ot says, “Behold, evil will go out from nation to nation, and a great storm will be raised up from the uttermost parts of the earth.” 33The slain of YHWH will be at that day from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth. They won’t be lamented. They won’t be gathered or buried. They will be dung on the surface of the ground. 34Wail, you shepherds, and cry. Wallow in dust, you leader of the flock; for the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions have fully come, and you will fall like fine pottery. 35The shepherds will have no way to flee. The leader of the flock will have no escape. 36A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and the wailing of the leader of the flock, for YHWH destroys their pasture. 37The peaceful folds are brought to silence because of the fierce anger of YHWH. 38He has left his covert, as the lion; for their land has become an astonishment because of the fierceness of the oppression, and because of his fierce anger.

### Chapter 26

1In the beginning of the reign of Yehoyakim the son of Yoshiyahu, king of Yehudah, this word came from YHWH: 2“YHWH says: ‘Stand in the court of YHWH’s house, and speak to all the cities of Yehudah which come to worship in YHWH’s house, all the words that I command you to speak to them. Don’t omit a word. 3It may be they will listen, and every man turn from his evil way, that I may relent from the evil which I intend to do to them because of the evil of their doings.’” 4You shall tell them, “YHWH says: ‘If you will 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 send to you, even rising up early and sending them—but you have not listened— 6then I will make this house like Shilo, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.’” 7The priests and the prophets and all the people heard Yirmeyahu speaking these words in YHWH’s house. 8When Yirmeyahu had finished speaking all that YHWH had commanded him to speak to all the people, the priests and the prophets and all the people seized him, saying, “You shall surely die! 9Why have you prophesied in YHWH’s name, saying, ‘This house will be like Shilo, and this city will be desolate, without inhabitant’?” All the people were crowded around Yirmeyahu in YHWH’s house. 10When the princes of Yehudah heard these things, they came up from the king’s house to YHWH’s house; and they sat in the entry of the new gate of YHWH’s house. 11Then the priests and the prophets spoke to the princes and to all the people, saying, “This man is worthy of death, for he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your ears.” 12Then Yirmeyahu spoke to all the princes and to all the people, saying, “YHWH sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that you have heard. 13Now therefore amend your ways and your doings, and obey YHWH your Elohim’s voice; then YHWH will relent from the evil that he has pronounced against you. 14But as for me, behold, I am in your hand. Do with me what is good and right in your eyes. 15Only know for certain that if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood on yourselves, on this city, and on its inhabitants; for in truth YHWH has sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears.” 16Then the princes and all the people said to the priests and to the prophets: “This man is not worthy of death; for he has spoken to us in the name of YHWH our Elohim.” 17Then certain of the elders of the land rose up, and spoke to all the assembly of the people, saying, 18“Michah the Morashtite prophesied in the days of Chizkiyahu king of Yehudah; and he spoke to all the people of Yehudah, saying, ‘YHWH Tzeva'ot says: “‘Tzion will be ploughed as a field, and Jerusalem will become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.’ 19Did Chizkiyahu king of Yehudah and all Yehudah put him to death? Didn’t he fear YHWH, and entreat the favour of YHWH, and YHWH relented of the disaster which he had pronounced against them? We would commit great evil against our own souls that way!” 20There was also a man who prophesied in YHWH’s name, Uriyah the son of Shemayah of Kiryat Ye'arim; and he prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Yirmeyahu. 21When Yehoyakim the king, with all his mighty men and all the princes heard his words, the king sought to put him to death; but when Uriyah heard it, he was afraid, and fled, and went into Mitzrayim. 22Then Yehoyakim the king sent Elnatan the son of Achbor and certain men with him into Mitzrayim. 23They fetched Uriyah out of Mitzrayim and brought him to Yehoyakim the king, who killed him with the sword and cast his dead body into the graves of the common people. 24But the hand of Ahikam the son of Shafan was with Yirmeyahu, so that they didn’t give him into the hand of the people to put him to death.

### Chapter 27

1In the beginning of the reign of Yehoyakim the son of Yoshiyahu, king of Yehudah, this word came to Yirmeyahu from YHWH, saying, 2YHWH says to me: “Make bonds and bars, and put them on your neck. 3Then send them to the king of Edom, to the king of Moab, to the king of the children of Ammon, to the king of Tyre, and to the king of Tzidon, by the hand of the messengers who come to Jerusalem to Tzidkiyahu king of Yehudah. 4Give them a command to their masters, saying, ‘YHWH Tzeva'ot, the Elohim of Yisrael says, “You shall tell your masters: 5‘I have made the earth, the men, and the animals that are on the surface of the earth by my great power and by my outstretched arm. I give it to whom it seems right to me. 6Now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant. I have also given the animals of the field to him to serve him. 7All the nations will serve him, his son, and his son’s son, until the time of his own land comes. Then many nations and great kings will make him their bondservant. 8“‘“‘It will happen that I will punish the nation and the kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon,’ says YHWH, ‘with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand. 9But as for you, don’t listen to your prophets, to your diviners, to your dreams, to your soothsayers, or to your sorcerers, who speak to you, saying, “You shall not serve the king of Babylon;” 10for they prophesy a lie to you, to remove you far from your land, so that I would drive you out, and you would perish. 11But the nation that brings their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serves him, that nation I will let remain in their own land,’ says YHWH; ‘and they will till it and dwell in it.’”’” 12I spoke to Tzidkiyahu king of Yehudah according to all these words, 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 the famine, and by the pestilence, as YHWH has spoken concerning the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon? 14Don’t listen to the words of the prophets who speak to you, saying, ‘You shall not serve the king of Babylon;’ for they prophesy a lie to you. 15For I have not sent them,” says YHWH, “but they prophesy falsely in my name; that I may drive you out, and that you may perish, you, and the prophets who prophesy to you.” 16Also I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying, YHWH says, “Don’t listen to the words of your prophets who prophesy to you, saying, ‘Behold, the vessels of YHWH’s house will now shortly be brought again from Babylon;’ for they prophesy a lie to you. 17Don’t listen to them. Serve the king of Babylon, and live. Why should this city become a desolation? 18But if they are prophets, and if YHWH’s word is with them, let them now make intercession to YHWH Tzeva'ot, that the vessels which are left in YHWH’s house, in the house of the king of Yehudah, and at Jerusalem, don’t go to Babylon. 19For YHWH Tzeva'ot says concerning the pillars, concerning the sea, concerning the bases, and concerning the rest of the vessels that are left in this city, 20which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon didn’t take when he carried away captive Yekhonyah the son of Yehoyakim, king of Yehudah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Yehudah and Jerusalem— 21yes, YHWH Tzeva'ot, the Elohim of Yisrael, says concerning the vessels that are left in YHWH’s house, and in the house of the king of Yehudah, and at Jerusalem: 22‘They will be carried to Babylon, and there they will be, until the day that I visit them,’ says YHWH; ‘then I will bring them up, and restore them to this place.’”

### Chapter 28

1That same year, in the beginning of the reign of Tzidkiyahu king of Yehudah, in the fourth year, in the fifth month, Chananyah the son of Azzur, the prophet, who was of Giv'on, spoke to me in YHWH’s house, in the presence of the priests and of all the people, saying, 2“YHWH Tzeva'ot, the Elohim of Yisrael, says, ‘I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. 3Within two full years I will bring again into this place all the vessels of YHWH’s house that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place and carried to Babylon. 4I will bring again to this place Yekhonyah the son of Yehoyakim, king of Yehudah, with all the captives of Yehudah, who went to Babylon,’ says YHWH; ‘for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.’” 5Then the prophet Yirmeyahu said to the prophet Chananyah in the presence of the priests, and in the presence of all the people who stood in YHWH’s house, 6even the prophet Yirmeyahu said, “Amen! May YHWH do so. May YHWH perform your words which you have prophesied, to bring again the vessels of YHWH’s house, and all those who are captives, from Babylon to this place. 7Nevertheless listen now to this word that I speak in your ears, and in the ears of all the people: 8The prophets who have been before me and before you of old prophesied against many countries, and against great kingdoms, of war, of evil, and of pestilence. 9As for the prophet who prophesies of peace, when the word of the prophet happens, then the prophet will be known, that YHWH has truly sent him.” 10Then Chananyah the prophet took the bar from off the prophet Yirmeyahu’s neck, and broke it. 11Chananyah spoke in the presence of all the people, saying, “YHWH says: ‘Even so I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from off the neck of all the nations within two full years.’” Then the prophet Yirmeyahu went his way. 12Then YHWH’s word came to Yirmeyahu, after Chananyah the prophet had broken the bar from off the neck of the prophet Yirmeyahu, saying, 13“Go, and tell Chananyah, saying, ‘YHWH says, “You have broken the bars of wood, but you have made in their place bars of iron.” 14For YHWH Tzeva'ot, the Elohim of Yisrael says, “I have put a yoke of iron on the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they will serve him. I have also given him the animals of the field.”’” 15Then the prophet Yirmeyahu said to Chananyah the prophet, “Listen, Chananyah! YHWH has not sent you, but you make this people trust in a lie. 16Therefore YHWH says, ‘Behold, I will send you away from off the surface of the earth. This year you will die, because you have spoken rebellion against YHWH.’” 17So Chananyah the prophet died the same year in the seventh month.

### Chapter 29

1Now these are the words of the letter that Yirmeyahu the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the residue of the elders of the captivity, and to the priests, to the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon, 2(after Yekhonyah the king, the queen mother, the eunuchs, the princes of Yehudah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the smiths had departed from Jerusalem), 3by the hand of Elasah the son of Shafan and Gemaryah the son of Chilkiyahu, (whom Tzidkiyahu king of Yehudah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon). It said: 4YHWH Tzeva'ot, the Elohim of Yisrael, says to all the captives whom I have caused to be carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5“Build houses and dwell in them. Plant gardens and eat their fruit. 6Take wives and father sons and daughters. Take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters. Multiply there, and don’t be diminished. 7Seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to YHWH for it; for in its peace you will have peace.” 8For YHWH Tzeva'ot, the Elohim of Yisrael says: “Don’t let your prophets who are amongst you and your diviners deceive you. Don’t listen to your dreams which you cause to be dreamt. 9For they prophesy falsely to you in my name. I have not sent them,” says YHWH. 10For YHWH says, “After seventy years are accomplished for Babylon, I will visit you and perform my good word towards you, in causing you to return to this place. 11For I know the thoughts that I think towards you,” says YHWH, “thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope and a future. 12You shall call on me, and you shall go and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13You shall seek me and find me, when you search for me with all your heart. 14I will be found by you,” says YHWH, “and I will turn again your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places where I have driven you,” says YHWH. “I will bring you again to the place from where I caused you to be carried away captive.” 15Because you have said, “YHWH has raised us up prophets in Babylon,” 16YHWH says concerning the king who sits on David’s throne, and concerning all the people who dwell in this city, your brothers who haven’t gone with you into captivity, 17YHWH Tzeva'ot says: “Behold, I will send on them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like rotten figs that can’t be eaten, they are so bad. 18I will pursue after them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will deliver them to be tossed back and forth amongst all the kingdoms of the earth, to be an object of horror, an astonishment, a hissing, and a reproach amongst all the nations where I have driven them, 19because they have not listened to my words,” says YHWH, “with which I sent to them my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them; but you would not hear,” says YHWH. 20Hear therefore YHWH’s word, all you captives whom I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon. 21YHWH Tzeva'ot, the Elohim of Yisrael, says concerning Achav the son of Kolaiah, and concerning Tzidkiyahu the son of Ma'aseyah, who prophesy a lie to you in my name: “Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and he will kill them before your eyes. 22A curse will be taken up about them by all the captives of Yehudah who are in Babylon, saying, ‘YHWH make you like Tzidkiyahu and like Achav, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire;’ 23because they have done foolish things in Yisrael, and have committed adultery with their neighbours’ wives, and have spoken words in my name falsely, which I didn’t command them. I am he who knows, and am witness,” says YHWH. 24Concerning Shemayah the Nehelamite you shall speak, saying, 25“YHWH Tzeva'ot, the Elohim of Yisrael, says, ‘Because you have sent letters in your own name to all the people who are at Jerusalem, and to Tzefaniah the son of Ma'aseyah, the priest, and to all the priests, saying, 26“YHWH has made you priest in the place of Yehoyada the priest, that there may be officers in YHWH’s house, for every man who is crazy and makes himself a prophet, that you should put him in the stocks and in shackles. 27Now therefore, why have you not rebuked Yirmeyahu of Anatot, who makes himself a prophet to you, 28because he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, The captivity is long. Build houses, and dwell in them. Plant gardens, and eat their fruit?”’” 29Tzefaniah the priest read this letter in the hearing of Yirmeyahu the prophet. 30Then YHWH’s word came to Yirmeyahu, saying, 31“Send to all of the captives, saying, ‘YHWH says concerning Shemayah the Nehelamite: “Because Shemayah has prophesied to you, and I didn’t send him, and he has caused you to trust in a lie,” 32therefore YHWH says, “Behold, I will punish Shemayah the Nehelamite and his offspring. He will not have a man to dwell amongst this people. He won’t see the good that I will do to my people,” says YHWH, “because he has spoken rebellion against YHWH.”’”

### Chapter 30

1The word that came to Yirmeyahu from YHWH, saying, 2“YHWH, the Elohim of Yisrael, says, ‘Write all the words that I have spoken to you in a book. 3For, behold, the days come,’ says YHWH, ‘that I will reverse the captivity of my people Yisrael and Yehudah,’ says YHWH. ‘I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they will possess it.’” 4These are the words that YHWH spoke concerning Yisrael and concerning Yehudah. 5For YHWH says: “We have heard a voice of trembling; a voice of fear, and not of peace. 6Ask now, and see whether a man travails with child. Why do I see every man with his hands on his waist, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned pale? 7Alas, for that day is great, so that none is like it! It is even the time of Yaakov’s trouble; but he will be saved out of it. 8It will come to pass in that day, says YHWH Tzeva'ot, that I will break his yoke from off your neck, and will burst your bonds. Strangers will no more make them their bondservants; 9but they will serve YHWH their Elohim, and David their king, whom I will raise up to them. 10Therefore don’t be afraid, O Yaakov my servant, says YHWH. Don’t be dismayed, Yisrael. For, behold, I will save you from afar, and save your offspring from the land of their captivity. Yaakov will return, and will be quiet and at ease. No one will make him afraid. 11For I am with you, says YHWH, to save you; for I will make a full end of all the nations where I have scattered you, but I will not make a full end of you; but I will correct you in measure, and will in no way leave you unpunished.” 12For YHWH says, “Your hurt is incurable. Your wound is grievous. 13There is no one to plead your cause, that you may be bound up. You have no healing medicines. 14All your lovers have forgotten you. They don’t seek you. For I have wounded you with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the greatness of your iniquity, because your sins were increased. 15Why do you cry over your injury? Your pain is incurable. For the greatness of your iniquity, because your sins have increased, I have done these things to you. 16Therefore all those who devour you will be devoured. All your adversaries, everyone of them, will go into captivity. Those who plunder you will be plunder. I will make all who prey on you become prey. 17For I will restore health to you, and I will heal you of your wounds,” says YHWH, “because they have called you an outcast, saying, ‘It is Tzion, whom no man seeks after.’” 18YHWH says: “Behold, I will reverse the captivity of Yaakov’s tents, and have compassion on his dwelling places. The city will be built on its own hill, and the palace will be inhabited in its own place. 19Thanksgiving will proceed out of them with the voice of those who make merry. I will multiply them, and they will not be few; I will also glorify them, and they will not be small. 20Their children also will be as before, and their congregation will be established before me. I will punish all who oppress them. 21Their prince will be one of them, and their ruler will proceed from amongst them. I will cause him to draw near, and he will approach me; for who is he who has had boldness to approach me?” says YHWH. 22“You shall be my people, and I will be your Elohim. 23Behold, YHWH’s storm, his wrath, has gone out, a sweeping storm; it will burst on the head of the wicked. 24The fierce anger of YHWH will not return until he has accomplished, and until he has performed the intentions of his heart. In the latter days you will understand it.”

### Chapter 31

1“At that time,” says YHWH, “I will be the Elohim of all the families of Yisrael, and they will be my people.” 2YHWH says, “The people who survive the sword found favour in the wilderness; even Yisrael, when I went to cause him to rest.” 3YHWH appeared of old to me, saying, “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore I have drawn you with chesed. 4I will build you again, and you will be built, O virgin of Yisrael. You will again be adorned with your tambourines, and will go out in the dances of those who make merry. 5Again you will plant vineyards on the mountains of Shomron. The planters will plant, and will enjoy its fruit. 6For there will be a day that the watchmen on the hills of Ephraim cry, ‘Arise! Let’s go up to Tzion to YHWH our Elohim.’” 7For YHWH says, “Sing with gladness for Yaakov, and shout for the chief of the nations. Publish, praise, and say, ‘YHWH, save your people, the remnant of Yisrael!’ 8Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the uttermost parts of the earth, along with the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her who travails with child together. They will return as a great company. 9They will come with weeping. I will lead them with petitions. I will cause them to walk by rivers of waters, in a straight way in which they won’t stumble; for I am a father to Yisrael. Ephraim is my firstborn. 10“Hear YHWH’s word, you nations, and declare it in the distant islands. Say, ‘He who scattered Yisrael will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd does his flock.’ 11For YHWH has ransomed Yaakov, and redeemed him from the hand of him who was stronger than he. 12They will come and sing in the height of Tzion, and will flow to the goodness of YHWH, to the grain, to the new wine, to the oil, and to the young of the flock and of the herd. Their soul will be as a watered garden. They will not sorrow any more at all. 13Then the virgin will rejoice in the dance, the young men and the old together; for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow. 14I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and my people will be satisfied with my goodness,” says YHWH. 15YHWH says: “A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children. She refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.” 16YHWH says: “Refrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears, for your work will be rewarded,” says YHWH. “They will come again from the land of the enemy. 17There is hope for your latter end,” says YHWH. “Your children will come again to their own territory. 18“I have surely heard Ephraim grieving thus, ‘You have chastised me, and I was chastised, as an untrained calf. Turn me, and I will be turned, for you are YHWH my Elohim. 19Surely after that I was turned. I repented. After that I was instructed. I struck my thigh. I was ashamed, yes, even confounded, because I bore the reproach of my youth.’ 20Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he a darling child? For as often as I speak against him, I still earnestly remember him. Therefore my heart yearns for him. I will surely have chesed on him,” says YHWH. 21“Set up road signs. Make guideposts. Set your heart towards the highway, even the way by which you went. Turn again, virgin of Yisrael. Turn again to these your cities. 22How long will you go here and there, you backsliding daughter? For YHWH has created a new thing in the earth: a woman will encompass a man.” 23YHWH Tzeva'ot, the Elohim of Yisrael, says: “Yet again they will use this speech in the land of Yehudah and in its cities, when I reverse their captivity: ‘YHWH bless you, habitation of righteousness, mountain of holiness.’ 24Yehudah and all its cities will dwell therein together, the farmers, and those who go about with flocks. 25For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul.” 26On this I awakened, and saw; and my sleep was sweet to me. 27“Behold, the days come,” says YHWH, “that I will sow the house of Yisrael and the house of Yehudah with the seed of man and with the seed of animal. 28It will happen that, like as I have watched over them to pluck up and to break down and to overthrow and to destroy and to afflict, so I will watch over them to build and to plant,” says YHWH. 29“In those days they will say no more, “‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’ 30But everyone will die for his own iniquity. Every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth will be set on edge. 31“Behold, the days come,” says YHWH, “that I will make a Brit Chadashah with the house of Yisrael, and with the house of Yehudah, 32not according to the Brit that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Mitzrayim, which Brit of mine they broke, although I was a husband to them,” says YHWH. 33“But this is the Brit that I will make with the house of Yisrael after those days,” says YHWH: “I will put my law in their inward parts, and I will write it in their heart. I will be their Elohim, and they shall be my people. 34They will no longer each teach his neighbour, and every man teach his brother, saying, ‘Know YHWH;’ for they will all know me, from their least to their greatest,” says YHWH, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” 35YHWH, who gives the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, who stirs up the sea, so that its waves roar— YHWH Tzeva'ot is his name, says: 36“If these ordinances depart from before me,” says YHWH, “then the offspring of Yisrael also will cease from being a nation before me forever.” 37YHWH says: “If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, then I will also cast off all the offspring of Yisrael for all that they have done,” says YHWH. 38“Behold, the days come,” says YHWH, “that the city will be built to YHWH from the tower of Chanan'el to the gate of the corner. 39The measuring line will go out further straight onward to the hill Garev, and will turn towards Goah. 40The whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields to the brook Kidron, to the corner of the horse gate towards the east, will be kodesh to YHWH. It will not be plucked up or thrown down any more forever.”

### Chapter 32

1This is the word that came to Yirmeyahu from YHWH in the tenth year of Tzidkiyahu king of Yehudah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. 2Now at that time the king of Babylon’s army was besieging Jerusalem. Yirmeyahu the prophet was shut up in the court of the guard, which was in the king of Yehudah’s house. 3For Tzidkiyahu king of Yehudah had shut him up, saying, “Why do you prophesy, and say, ‘YHWH says, “Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will take it; 4and Tzidkiyahu king of Yehudah won’t escape out of the hand of the Kasdim, but will surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, and will speak with him mouth to mouth, and his eyes will see his eyes; 5and he will bring Tzidkiyahu to Babylon, and he will be there until I visit him,” says YHWH, “though you fight with the Kasdim, you will not prosper”’?” 6Yirmeyahu said, “YHWH’s word came to me, saying, 7‘Behold, Chanam'el the son of Shalum your uncle will come to you, saying, “Buy my field that is in Anatot; for the right of redemption is yours to buy it.”’” 8“So Chanam'el my uncle’s son came to me in the court of the guard according to YHWH’s word, and said to me, ‘Please buy my field that is in Anatot, which is in the land of Binyamin; for the right of inheritance is yours, and the redemption is yours. Buy it for yourself.’ “Then I knew that this was YHWH’s word. 9I bought the field that was in Anatot of Chanam'el my uncle’s son, and weighed him the money, even seventeen shekels of silver. 10I signed the deed, sealed it, called witnesses, and weighed the money in the balances to him. 11So I took the deed of the purchase, both that which was sealed, containing the terms and conditions, and that which was open; 12and I delivered the deed of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neriyah, the son of Mahseiah, in the presence of Chanam'el my uncle’s son, and in the presence of the witnesses who signed the deed of the purchase, before all the Yehudim who sat in the court of the guard. 13“I commanded Baruch before them, saying, 14YHWH Tzeva'ot, the Elohim of Yisrael, says: ‘Take these deeds, this deed of the purchase which is sealed, and this deed which is open, and put them in an earthen vessel, that they may last many days.’ 15For YHWH Tzeva'ot, the Elohim of Yisrael says: ‘Houses and fields and vineyards will yet again be bought in this land.’ 16Now after I had delivered the deed of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neriyah, I prayed to YHWH, saying 17“Ah Adonai YHWH! Behold, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for you. 18You show chesed to thousands, and repay the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them. The great, the mighty Elohim, YHWH Tzeva'ot is your name: 19great in counsel, and mighty in work; whose eyes are open to all the ways of the children of men, to give everyone according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings; 20who performed signs and wonders in the land of Mitzrayim, even to this day, both in Yisrael and amongst other men; and made yourself a name, as it is today; 21and brought your people Yisrael out of the land of Mitzrayim with signs, with wonders, with a strong hand, with an outstretched arm, and with great terror; 22and gave them this land, which you swore to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey. 23They came in and possessed it, but they didn’t obey your voice and didn’t walk in your law. They have done nothing of all that you commanded them to do. Therefore you have caused all this evil to come upon them. 24“Behold, siege ramps have been built against the city to take it. The city is given into the hand of the Kasdim who fight against it, because of the sword, of the famine, and of the pestilence. What you have spoken has happened. Behold, you see it. 25You have said to me, Adonai YHWH, ‘Buy the field for money, and call witnesses;’ whereas the city is given into the hand of the Kasdim.” 26Then YHWH’s word came to Yirmeyahu, saying, 27“Behold, I am YHWH, the Elohim of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for me? 28Therefore YHWH says: Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the Kasdim, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will take it. 29The Kasdim, who fight against this city, will come and set this city on fire, and burn it with the houses on whose roofs they have offered incense to Ba'al, and poured out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke me to anger. 30“For the children of Yisrael and the children of Yehudah have done only that which was evil in my sight from their youth; for the children of Yisrael have only provoked me to anger with the work of their hands, says YHWH. 31For this city has been to me a provocation of my anger and of my wrath from the day that they built it even to this day, so that I should remove it from before my face, 32because of all the evil of the children of Yisrael and of the children of Yehudah, which they have done to provoke me to anger—they, their kings, their princes, their priests, their prophets, the men of Yehudah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 33They have turned their backs to me, and not their faces. Although I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not listened to receive instruction. 34But they set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to defile it. 35They built the high places of Ba'al, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through fire to Molekh, which I didn’t command them. It didn’t even come into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Yehudah to sin.” 36Now therefore YHWH, the Elohim of Yisrael, says concerning this city, about which you say, “It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence:” 37“Behold, I will gather them out of all the countries where I have driven them in my anger, and in my wrath, and in great indignation; and I will bring them again to this place. I will cause them to dwell safely. 38Then they will be my people, and I will be their Elohim. 39I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their good and the good of their children after them. 40I will make an everlasting Brit with them, that I will not turn away from following them, to do them good. I will put my fear in their hearts, that they may not depart from me. 41Yes, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul.” 42For YHWH says: “Just as I have brought all this great evil on this people, so I will bring on them all the good that I have promised them. 43Fields will be bought in this land, about which you say, ‘It is desolate, without man or animal. It is given into the hand of the Kasdim.’ 44Men will buy fields for money, sign the deeds, seal them, and call witnesses, in the land of Binyamin, and in the places around Jerusalem, in the cities of Yehudah, in the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the lowland, and in the cities of the South; for I will cause their captivity to be reversed,” says YHWH.

### Chapter 33

1Moreover YHWH’s word came to Yirmeyahu the second time, while he was still locked up in the court of the guard, saying, 2“YHWH who does it, YHWH who forms it to establish it—YHWH is his name, says: 3‘Call to me, and I will answer you, and will show you great and difficult things, which you don’t know.’ 4For YHWH, the Elohim of Yisrael, says concerning the houses of this city and concerning the houses of the kings of Yehudah, which are broken down to make a defence against the mounds and against the sword: 5‘While men come to fight with the Kasdim, and to fill them with the dead bodies of men, whom I have killed in my anger and in my wrath, and for all whose wickedness I have hidden my face from this city, 6behold, I will bring it health and healing, and I will cure them; and I will reveal to them abundance of peace and truth. 7I will restore the fortunes of Yehudah and Yisrael, and will build them as at the first. 8I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against me. I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned against me and by which they have transgressed against me. 9This city will be to me for a name of joy, for praise, and for glory, before all the nations of the earth, which will hear all the good that I do to them, and will fear and tremble for all the good and for all the peace that I provide to it.’” 10YHWH says: “Yet again there will be heard in this place, about which you say, ‘It is waste, without man and without animal, even in the cities of Yehudah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, that are desolate, without man and without inhabitant and without animal,’ 11the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who say, ‘Give thanks to YHWH Tzeva'ot, for YHWH is good, for his chesed endures forever;’ who bring thanksgiving into YHWH’s house. For I will cause the captivity of the land to be reversed as at the first,” says YHWH. 12YHWH Tzeva'ot says: “Yet again there will be in this place, which is waste, without man and without animal, and in all its cities, a habitation of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down. 13In the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the lowland, in the cities of the South, in the land of Binyamin, in the places around Jerusalem, and in the cities of Yehudah, the flocks will again pass under the hands of him who counts them,” says YHWH. 14“Behold, the days come,” says YHWH, “that I will perform that good word which I have spoken concerning the house of Yisrael and concerning the house of Yehudah. 15“In those days and at that time, I will cause a Branch of righteousness to grow up to David. He will execute justice and righteousness in the land. 16In those days Yehudah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell safely. This is the name by which she will be called: YHWH Tzidkenu.” 17For YHWH says: “David will never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Yisrael. 18The Levitical priests won’t lack a man before me to offer burnt offerings, to burn meal offerings, and to do sacrifice continually.” 19YHWH’s word came to Yirmeyahu, saying, 20“YHWH says: ‘If you can break my Brit of the day and my Brit of the night, so that there will not be day and night in their time, 21then my Brit could also be broken with David my servant, that he won’t have a son to reign on his throne; and with the Levitical priests, my ministers. 22As the army of the sky can’t be counted, and the sand of the sea can’t be measured, so I will multiply the offspring of David my servant and the Levi'im who minister to me.’” 23YHWH’s word came to Yirmeyahu, saying, 24“Don’t consider what this people has spoken, saying, ‘Has YHWH cast off the two families which he chose?’ Thus they despise my people, that they should be no more a nation before them.” 25YHWH says: “If my Brit of day and night fails, if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth, 26then I will also cast away the offspring of Yaakov, and of David my servant, so that I will not take of his offspring to be rulers over the offspring of Avraham, Yitzhak, and Yaakov; for I will cause their captivity to be reversed and will have chesed on them.”

### Chapter 34

1The word which came to Yirmeyahu from YHWH, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, with all his army, all the kingdoms of the earth that were under his dominion, and all the peoples, were fighting against Jerusalem and against all its cities, saying: 2“YHWH, the Elohim of Yisrael, says, ‘Go, and speak to Tzidkiyahu king of Yehudah, and tell him, YHWH says, “Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon and he will burn it with fire. 3You won’t escape out of his hand, but will surely be taken and delivered into his hand. Your eyes will see the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he will speak with you mouth to mouth. You will go to Babylon.”’ 4“Yet hear YHWH’s word, O Tzidkiyahu king of Yehudah. YHWH says concerning you, ‘You won’t die by the sword. 5You will die in peace; and with the burnings of your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so they will make a burning for you. They will lament you, saying, “Ah Adonai!” for I have spoken the word,’ says YHWH.” 6Then Yirmeyahu the prophet spoke all these words to Tzidkiyahu king of Yehudah in Jerusalem, 7when the king of Babylon’s army was fighting against Jerusalem and against all the cities of Yehudah that were left, against Lakhish and against Azekah; for these alone remained of the cities of Yehudah as fortified cities. 8The word came to Yirmeyahu from YHWH, after King Tzidkiyahu had made a Brit with all the people who were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty to them, 9that every man should let his male servant, and every man his female servant, who is a Ivri or a Hebrewess, go free, that no one should make bondservants of them, of a Yehudi his brother. 10All the princes and all the people obeyed who had entered into the Brit, that everyone should let his male servant and everyone his female servant go free, that no one should make bondservants of them any more. They obeyed and let them go, 11but afterwards they turned, and caused the servants and the handmaids whom they had let go free to return, and brought them into subjection for servants and for handmaids. 12Therefore YHWH’s word came to Yirmeyahu from YHWH, saying, 13“YHWH, the Elohim of Yisrael, says: ‘I made a Brit with your fathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Mitzrayim, out of the house of bondage, saying: 14At the end of seven years, every man of you shall release his brother who is a Ivri, who has been sold to you, and has served you six years. You shall let him go free from you. But your fathers didn’t listen to me, and didn’t incline their ear. 15You had now turned, and had done that which is right in my eyes, in every man proclaiming liberty to his neighbour. You had made a Brit before me in the house which is called by my name; 16but you turned and profaned my name, and every man caused his servant and every man his handmaid, whom you had let go free at their pleasure, to return. You brought them into subjection, to be to you for servants and for handmaids.’” 17Therefore YHWH says: “You have not listened to me, to proclaim liberty, every man to his brother, and every man to his neighbour. Behold, I proclaim to you a liberty,” says YHWH, “to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine. I will make you be tossed back and forth amongst all the kingdoms of the earth. 18I will give the men who have transgressed my Brit, who have not performed the words of the Brit which they made before me when they cut the calf in two and passed between its parts: 19the princes of Yehudah, the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, the priests, and all the people of the land, who passed between the parts of the calf. 20I will even give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life. Their dead bodies will be food for the birds of the sky and for the animals of the earth. 21“I will give Tzidkiyahu king of Yehudah and his princes into the hands of their enemies, into the hands of those who seek their life and into the hands of the king of Babylon’s army, who has gone away from you. 22Behold, I will command,” says YHWH, “and cause them to return to this city. They will fight against it, take it, and burn it with fire. I will make the cities of Yehudah a desolation, without inhabitant.”

### Chapter 35

1The word which came to Yirmeyahu from YHWH in the days of Yehoyakim the son of Yoshiyahu, king of Yehudah, saying, 2“Go to the house of the Rechabites, and speak to them, and bring them into YHWH’s house, into one of the rooms, and give them wine to drink.” 3Then I took Ya'azanyah the son of Yirmeyahu, the son of Habazziniah, with his brothers, all his sons, and the whole house of the Rechabites; 4and I brought them into YHWH’s house, into the room of the sons of Hanan the son of Igdaliah, the man of Elohim, which was by the room of the princes, which was above the room of Ma'aseyah the son of Shalum, the keeper of the threshold. 5I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites bowls full of wine, and cups; and I said to them, “Drink wine!” 6But they said, “We will drink no wine; for Yehonadav the son of Rechav, our father, commanded us, saying, ‘You shall drink no wine, neither you nor your children, forever. 7You shall not build a house, sow seed, plant a vineyard, or have any; but all your days you shall dwell in tents, that you may live many days in the land in which you live as nomads.’ 8We have obeyed the voice of Yehonadav the son of Rechav, our father, in all that he commanded us, to drink no wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, or our daughters; 9and not to build houses for ourselves to dwell in. We have no vineyard, field, or seed; 10but we have lived in tents, and have obeyed, and done according to all that Yehonadav our father commanded us. 11But when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up into the land, we said, ‘Come! Let’s go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Kasdim, and for fear of the army of the Aramim; so we will dwell at Jerusalem.’” 12Then YHWH’s word came to Yirmeyahu, saying, 13“YHWH Tzeva'ot, the Elohim of Yisrael, says: ‘Go and tell the men of Yehudah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, “Will you not receive instruction to listen to my words?” says YHWH. 14“The words of Yehonadav the son of Rechav that he commanded his sons, not to drink wine, are performed; and to this day they drink none, for they obey their father’s mitzvah; but I have spoken to you, rising up early and speaking, and you have not listened to me. 15I have sent also to you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, ‘Every one of you must return now from his evil way, amend your doings, and don’t go after other gods to serve them. Then you will dwell in the land which I have given to you and to your fathers;’ but you have not inclined your ear, nor listened to me. 16The sons of Yehonadav the son of Rechav have performed the mitzvah of their father which he commanded them, but this people has not listened to me.”’ 17“Therefore YHWH, the Elohim Tzeva'ot, the Elohim of Yisrael, says: ‘Behold, I will bring on Yehudah and on all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the evil that I have pronounced against them, because I have spoken to them, but they have not heard; and I have called to them, but they have not answered.’” 18Yirmeyahu said to the house of the Rechabites, “YHWH Tzeva'ot, the Elohim of Yisrael, says: ‘Because you have obeyed the mitzvah of Yehonadav your father, and kept all his precepts, and done according to all that he commanded you,’ 19therefore YHWH Tzeva'ot, the Elohim of Yisrael, says: ‘Yehonadav the son of Rechav will not lack a man to stand before me forever.’”

### Chapter 36

1In the fourth year of Yehoyakim the son of Yoshiyahu, king of Yehudah, this word came to Yirmeyahu from YHWH, saying, 2“Take a scroll of a book, and write in it all the words that I have spoken to you against Yisrael, against Yehudah, and against all the nations, from the day I spoke to you, from the days of Yoshiyahu even to this day. 3It may be that the house of Yehudah will hear all the evil which I intend to do to them, that they may each return from his evil way; that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.” 4Then Yirmeyahu called Baruch the son of Neriyah; and Baruch wrote from the mouth of Yirmeyahu all YHWH’s words, which he had spoken to him, on a scroll of a book. 5Yirmeyahu commanded Baruch, saying, “I am restricted. I can’t go into YHWH’s house. 6Therefore you go, and read from the scroll which you have written from my mouth, YHWH’s words, in the ears of the people in YHWH’s house on the fast day. Also you shall read them in the ears of all Yehudah who come out of their cities. 7It may be they will present their supplication before YHWH, and will each return from his evil way; for YHWH has pronounced great anger and wrath against this people.” 8Baruch the son of Neriyah did according to all that Yirmeyahu the prophet commanded him, reading in the book YHWH’s words in YHWH’s house. 9Now in the fifth year of Yehoyakim the son of Yoshiyahu, king of Yehudah, in the ninth month, all the people in Jerusalem and all the people who came from the cities of Yehudah to Jerusalem, proclaimed a fast before YHWH. 10Then Baruch read the words of Yirmeyahu from the book in YHWH’s house, in the room of Gemaryah the son of Shafan the scribe, in the upper court, at the entry of the new gate of YHWH’s house, in the ears of all the people. 11When Mikhayhu the son of Gemaryah, the son of Shafan, had heard out of the book all YHWH’s words, 12he went down into the king’s house, into the scribe’s room; and behold, all the princes were sitting there, Elishama the scribe, Delayah the son of Shemayah, Elnatan the son of Achbor, Gemaryah the son of Shafan, Tzidkiyahu the son of Chananyah, and all the princes. 13Then Mikhayhu declared to them all the words that he had heard, when Baruch read the book in the ears of the people. 14Therefore all the princes sent Yehudi the son of Netanyah, the son of Shelemyah, the son of Cushi, to Baruch, saying, “Take in your hand the scroll in which you have read in the ears of the people, and come.” So Baruch the son of Neriyah took the scroll in his hand, and came to them. 15They said to him, “Sit down now, and read it in our hearing.” So Baruch read it in their hearing. 16Now when they had heard all the words, they turned in fear one towards another, and said to Baruch, “We will surely tell the king of all these words.” 17They asked Baruch, saying, “Tell us now, how did you write all these words at his mouth?” 18Then Baruch answered them, “He dictated all these words to me with his mouth, and I wrote them with ink in the book.” 19Then the princes said to Baruch, “You and Yirmeyahu go hide. Don’t let anyone know where you are.” 20They went in to the king into the court, but they had laid up the scroll in the room of Elishama the scribe. Then they told all the words in the hearing of the king. 21So the king sent Yehudi to get the scroll, and he took it out of the room of Elishama the scribe. Yehudi read it in the hearing of the king, and in the hearing of all the princes who stood beside the king. 22Now the king was sitting in the winter house in the ninth month, and there was a fire in the brazier burning before him. 23When Yehudi had read three or four columns, the king cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire that was in the brazier, until all the scroll was consumed in the fire that was in the brazier. 24The king and his servants who heard all these words were not afraid, and didn’t tear their garments. 25Moreover Elnatan and Delayah and Gemaryah had made intercession to the king that he would not burn the scroll; but he would not listen to them. 26The king commanded Yerachme'el the king’s son, and Serayah the son of Azriel, and Shelemyah the son of Abdeel, to arrest Baruch the scribe and Yirmeyahu the prophet; but YHWH hid them. 27Then YHWH’s word came to Yirmeyahu, after the king had burnt the scroll, and the words which Baruch wrote at the mouth of Yirmeyahu, saying, 28“Take again another scroll, and write in it all the former words that were in the first scroll, which Yehoyakim the king of Yehudah has burnt. 29Concerning Yehoyakim king of Yehudah you shall say, ‘YHWH says: “You have burnt this scroll, saying, ‘Why have you written therein, saying, “The king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land, and will cause to cease from there man and animal”?’” 30Therefore YHWH says concerning Yehoyakim king of Yehudah: “He will have no one to sit on David’s throne. His dead body will be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost. 31I will punish him, his offspring, and his servants for their iniquity. I will bring on them, on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and on the men of Yehudah, all the evil that I have pronounced against them, but they didn’t listen.”’” 32Then Yirmeyahu took another scroll, and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriyah, who wrote therein from the mouth of Yirmeyahu all the words of the book which Yehoyakim king of Yehudah had burnt in the fire; and many similar words were added to them.

### Chapter 37

1Tzidkiyahu the son of Yoshiyahu reigned as king instead of Konyahu the son of Yehoyakim, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Yehudah. 2But neither he, nor his servants, nor the people of the land, listened to YHWH’s words, which he spoke by the prophet Yirmeyahu. 3Tzidkiyahu the king sent Yehukal the son of Shelemyah and Tzefaniah the son of Ma'aseyah, the priest, to the prophet Yirmeyahu, saying, “Pray now to YHWH our Elohim for us.” 4Now Yirmeyahu came in and went out amongst the people, for they had not put him into prison. 5Pharaoh’s army had come out of Mitzrayim; and when the Kasdim who were besieging Jerusalem heard news of them, they withdrew from Jerusalem. 6Then YHWH’s word came to the prophet Yirmeyahu, saying, 7“YHWH, the Elohim of Yisrael, says, ‘You shall tell the king of Yehudah, who sent you to me to enquire of me: “Behold, Pharaoh’s army, which has come out to help you, will return to Mitzrayim into their own land. 8The Kasdim will come again, and fight against this city. They will take it and burn it with fire.”’ 9“YHWH says, ‘Don’t deceive yourselves, saying, “The Kasdim will surely depart from us;” for they will not depart. 10For though you had struck the whole army of the Kasdim who fight against you, and only wounded men remained amongst them, they would each rise up in his tent and burn this city with fire.’” 11When the army of the Kasdim had withdrawn from Jerusalem for fear of Pharaoh’s army, 12then Yirmeyahu went out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Binyamin, to receive his portion there, in the middle of the people. 13When he was in Binyamin’s gate, a captain of the guard was there, whose name was Irijah, the son of Shelemyah, the son of Chananyah; and he seized Yirmeyahu the prophet, saying, “You are defecting to the Kasdim!” 14Then Yirmeyahu said, “That is false! I am not defecting to the Kasdim.” But he didn’t listen to him; so Irijah seized Yirmeyahu, and brought him to the princes. 15The princes were angry with Yirmeyahu, and struck him, and put him in prison in the house of Yonatan the scribe; for they had made that the prison. 16When Yirmeyahu had come into the dungeon house and into the cells, and Yirmeyahu had remained there many days, 17then Tzidkiyahu the king sent and had him brought out. The king asked him secretly in his house, “Is there any word from YHWH?” Yirmeyahu said, “There is.” He also said, “You will be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.” 18Moreover Yirmeyahu said to King Tzidkiyahu, “How have I sinned against you, against your servants, or against this people, that you have put me in prison? 19Now where are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, ‘The king of Babylon will not come against you, nor against this land’? 20Now please hear, my adonai the king: please let my supplication be presented before you, that you not cause me to return to the house of Yonatan the scribe, lest I die there.” 21Then Tzidkiyahu the king commanded, and they committed Yirmeyahu into the court of the guard. They gave him daily a loaf of bread out of the bakers’ street, until all the bread in the city was gone. Thus Yirmeyahu remained in the court of the guard.

### Chapter 38

1Shefatyah the son of Matan, Gedalyahu the son of Pashchur, Yukhal the son of Shelemyah, and Pashchur the son of Malkiyah heard the words that Yirmeyahu spoke to all the people, saying, 2“YHWH says, ‘He who remains in this city will die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, but he who goes out to the Kasdim will live. He will escape with his life and he will live.’ 3YHWH says, ‘This city will surely be given into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon, and he will take it.’” 4Then the princes said to the king, “Please let this man be put to death, because he weakens the hands of the men of war who remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words to them; for this man doesn’t seek the welfare of this people, but harm.” 5Tzidkiyahu the king said, “Behold, he is in your hand; for the king can’t do anything to oppose you.” 6Then they took Yirmeyahu and threw him into the dungeon of Malkiyah the king’s son, that was in the court of the guard. They let down Yirmeyahu with cords. In the dungeon there was no water, but mire; and Yirmeyahu sank in the mire. 7Now when Ebedmelech the Kushi, a eunuch, who was in the king’s house, heard that they had put Yirmeyahu in the dungeon (the king was then sitting in Binyamin’s gate), 8Ebedmelech went out of the king’s house, and spoke to the king, saying, 9“My Adonai the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Yirmeyahu the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon. He is likely to die in the place where he is, because of the famine; for there is no more bread in the city.” 10Then the king commanded Ebedmelech the Kushi, saying, “Take from here thirty men with you, and take up Yirmeyahu the prophet out of the dungeon, before he dies.” 11So Ebedmelech took the men with him, and went into the house of the king under the treasury, and took from there rags and worn-out garments, and let them down by cords into the dungeon to Yirmeyahu. 12Ebedmelech the Kushi said to Yirmeyahu, “Now put these rags and worn-out garments under your armpits under the cords.” Yirmeyahu did so. 13So they lifted Yirmeyahu up with the cords, and took him up out of the dungeon; and Yirmeyahu remained in the court of the guard. 14Then Tzidkiyahu the king sent and took Yirmeyahu the prophet to himself into the third entry that is in YHWH’s house. Then the king said to Yirmeyahu, “I will ask you something. Hide nothing from me.” 15Then Yirmeyahu said to Tzidkiyahu, “If I declare it to you, will you not surely put me to death? If I give you counsel, you will not listen to me.” 16So Tzidkiyahu the king swore secretly to Yirmeyahu, saying, “As YHWH lives, who made our souls, I will not put you to death, neither will I give you into the hand of these men who seek your life.” 17Then Yirmeyahu said to Tzidkiyahu, “YHWH, the Elohim Tzeva'ot, the Elohim of Yisrael, says: ‘If you will go out to the king of Babylon’s princes, then your soul will live, and this city will not be burnt with fire. You will live, along with your house. 18But if you will not go out to the king of Babylon’s princes, then this city will be given into the hand of the Kasdim, and they will burn it with fire, and you won’t escape out of their hand.’” 19Tzidkiyahu the king said to Yirmeyahu, “I am afraid of the Yehudim who have defected to the Kasdim, lest they deliver me into their hand, and they mock me.” 20But Yirmeyahu said, “They won’t deliver you. Obey, I beg you, YHWH’s voice, in that which I speak to you; so it will be well with you, and your soul will live. 21But if you refuse to go out, this is the word that YHWH has shown me: 22‘Behold, all the women who are left in the king of Yehudah’s house will be brought out to the king of Babylon’s princes, and those women will say, “Your familiar friends have turned on you, and have prevailed over you. Your feet are sunk in the mire, they have turned away from you.” 23They will bring out all your wives and your children to the Kasdim. You won’t escape out of their hand, but will be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon. You will cause this city to be burnt with fire.’” 24Then Tzidkiyahu said to Yirmeyahu, “Let no man know of these words, and you won’t die. 25But if the princes hear that I have talked with you, and they come to you, and tell you, ‘Declare to us now what you have said to the king; don’t hide it from us, and we will not put you to death; also tell us what the king said to you;’ 26then you shall tell them, ‘I presented my supplication before the king, that he would not cause me to return to Yonatan’s house, to die there.’” 27Then all the princes came to Yirmeyahu, and asked him; and he told them according to all these words that the king had commanded. So they stopped speaking with him, for the matter was not perceived. 28So Yirmeyahu stayed in the court of the guard until the day that Jerusalem was taken.

### Chapter 39

1In the ninth year of Tzidkiyahu king of Yehudah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem, and besieged it. 2In the eleventh year of Tzidkiyahu, in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, a breach was made in the city. 3All the princes of the king of Babylon came in, and sat in the middle gate: Nergal Sharezer, Samgarnebo, Sarsechim the Rabsaris, Nergal Sharezer the Rabmag, with all the rest of the princes of the king of Babylon. 4When Tzidkiyahu the king of Yehudah and all the men of war saw them, then they fled and went out of the city by night, by the way of the king’s garden, through the gate between the two walls; and he went out towards the Arava. 5But the army of the Kasdim pursued them, and overtook Tzidkiyahu in the plains of Jericho. When they had taken him, they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to Rivlah in the land of Chamat; and he pronounced judgement on him. 6Then the king of Babylon killed Tzidkiyahu’s sons in Rivlah before his eyes. The king of Babylon also killed all the nobles of Yehudah. 7Moreover he put out Tzidkiyahu’s eyes and bound him in fetters, to carry him to Babylon. 8The Kasdim burnt the king’s house and the people’s houses with fire and broke down the walls of Jerusalem. 9Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive into Babylon the rest of the people who remained in the city, the deserters also who fell away to him, and the rest of the people who remained. 10But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left of the poor of the people, who had nothing, in the land of Yehudah, and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time. 11Now Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon commanded Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard concerning Yirmeyahu, saying, 12“Take him and take care of him. Do him no harm; but do to him even as he tells you.” 13So Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, Nebushazban, Rabsaris, and Nergal Sharezer, Rabmag, and all the chief officers of the king of Babylon 14sent and took Yirmeyahu out of the court of the guard, and committed him to Gedalyahu the son of Ahikam, the son of Shafan, that he should bring him home. So he lived amongst the people. 15Now YHWH’s word came to Yirmeyahu while he was shut up in the court of the guard, saying, 16“Go, and speak to Ebedmelech the Kushi, saying, ‘YHWH Tzeva'ot, the Elohim of Yisrael, says: “Behold, I will bring my words on this city for evil, and not for good; and they will be accomplished before you in that day. 17But I will deliver you in that day,” says YHWH; “and you will not be given into the hand of the men of whom you are afraid. 18For I will surely save you. You won’t fall by the sword, but you will escape with your life, because you have put your trust in me,” says YHWH.’”

### Chapter 40

1The word which came to Yirmeyahu from YHWH, after Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had let him go from Ramah, when he had taken him being bound in chains amongst all the captives of Jerusalem and Yehudah who were carried away captive to Babylon. 2The captain of the guard took Yirmeyahu and said to him, “YHWH your Elohim pronounced this evil on this place; 3and YHWH has brought it, and done according as he spoke. Because you have sinned against YHWH, and have not obeyed his voice, therefore this thing has come on you. 4Now, behold, I release you today from the chains which are on your hand. If it seems good to you to come with me into Babylon, come, and I will take care of you; but if it seems bad to you to come with me into Babylon, don’t. Behold, all the land is before you. Where it seems good and right to you to go, go there.” 5Now while he had not yet gone back, “Go back then,” he said, “to Gedalyahu the son of Ahikam, the son of Shafan, whom the king of Babylon has made governor over the cities of Yehudah, and dwell with him amongst the people; or go wherever it seems right to you to go.” So the captain of the guard gave him food and a present, and let him go. 6Then Yirmeyahu went to Gedalyahu the son of Ahikam to Mitzpah, and lived with him amongst the people who were left in the land. 7Now when all the captains of the forces who were in the fields, even they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedalyahu the son of Ahikam governor in the land, and had committed to him men, women, children, and of the poorest of the land, of those who were not carried away captive to Babylon, 8then Yishmael the son of Netanyah, and Yochanan and Yonatan the sons of Kareach, and Serayah the son of Tanhumeth, and the sons of Ephai the Netofati, and Yezanyah the son of the Maacathite, they and their men came to Gedalyahu to Mitzpah. 9Gedalyahu the son of Ahikam the son of Shafan swore to them and to their men, saying, “Don’t be afraid to serve the Kasdim. Dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon, and it will be well with you. 10As for me, behold, I will dwell at Mitzpah, to stand before the Kasdim who will come to us; but you, gather wine and summer fruits and oil, and put them in your vessels, and dwell in your cities that you have taken.” 11Likewise when all the Yehudim who were in Moab, and amongst the children of Ammon, and in Edom, and who were in all the countries, heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant of Yehudah, and that he had set over them Gedalyahu the son of Ahikam, the son of Shafan, 12then all the Yehudim returned out of all places where they were driven, and came to the land of Yehudah, to Gedalyahu, to Mitzpah, and gathered very much wine and summer fruits. 13Moreover Yochanan the son of Kareach, and all the captains of the forces who were in the fields, came to Gedalyahu to Mitzpah, 14and said to him, “Do you know that Baalis the king of the children of Ammon has sent Yishmael the son of Netanyah to take your life?” But Gedalyahu the son of Ahikam didn’t believe them. 15Then Yochanan the son of Kareach spoke to Gedalyahu in Mitzpah secretly, saying, “Please let me go, and I will kill Yishmael the son of Netanyah, and no man will know it. Why should he take your life, that all the Yehudim who are gathered to you should be scattered, and the remnant of Yehudah perish?” 16But Gedalyahu the son of Ahikam said to Yochanan the son of Kareach, “You shall not do this thing, for you speak falsely of Yishmael.”

### Chapter 41

1Now in the seventh month, Yishmael the son of Netanyah, the son of Elishama, of the royal offspring and one of the chief officers of the king, and ten men with him, came to Gedalyahu the son of Ahikam to Mitzpah; and there they ate bread together in Mitzpah. 2Then Yishmael the son of Netanyah arose, and the ten men who were with him, and struck Gedalyahu the son of Ahikam the son of Shafan with the sword and killed him, whom the king of Babylon had made governor over the land. 3Yishmael also killed all the Yehudim who were with Gedalyahu at Mitzpah, and the Kasdi men of war who were found there. 4The second day after he had killed Gedalyahu, and no man knew it, 5men came from Shechem, from Shilo, and from Shomron, even eighty men, having their beards shaved and their clothes torn, and having cut themselves, with meal offerings and frankincense in their hand, to bring them to YHWH’s house. 6Yishmael the son of Netanyah went out from Mitzpah to meet them, weeping all along as he went, and as he met them, he said to them, “Come to Gedalyahu the son of Ahikam.” 7It was so, when they came into the middle of the city, that Yishmael the son of Netanyah killed them, and cast them into the middle of the pit, he, and the men who were with him. 8But ten men were found amongst those who said to Yishmael, “Don’t kill us; for we have stores hidden in the field, of wheat, and of barley, and of oil, and of honey.” So he stopped, and didn’t kill them amongst their brothers. 9Now the pit in which Yishmael cast all the dead bodies of the men whom he had killed, by the side of Gedalyahu (this was that which Asa the king had made for fear of Ba'asha king of Yisrael), Yishmael the son of Netanyah filled it with those who were killed. 10Then Yishmael carried away captive all of the people who were left in Mitzpah, even the king’s daughters, and all the people who remained in Mitzpah, whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had committed to Gedalyahu the son of Ahikam. Yishmael the son of Netanyah carried them away captive, and departed to go over to the children of Ammon. 11But when Yochanan the son of Kareach, and all the captains of the forces who were with him, heard of all the evil that Yishmael the son of Netanyah had done, 12then they took all the men, and went to fight with Yishmael the son of Netanyah, and found him by the great waters that are in Giv'on. 13Now when all the people who were with Yishmael saw Yochanan the son of Kareach, and all the captains of the forces who were with him, then they were glad. 14So all the people who Yishmael had carried away captive from Mitzpah turned about and came back, and went to Yochanan the son of Kareach. 15But Yishmael the son of Netanyah escaped from Yochanan with eight men, and went to the children of Ammon. 16Then Yochanan the son of Kareach and all the captains of the forces who were with him took all the remnant of the people whom he had recovered from Yishmael the son of Netanyah, from Mitzpah, after he had killed Gedalyahu the son of Ahikam—the men of war, with the women, the children, and the eunuchs, whom he had brought back from Giv'on. 17They departed and lived in Geruth Khimham, which is by Beit Lechem, to go to enter into Mitzrayim 18because of the Kasdim; for they were afraid of them, because Yishmael the son of Netanyah had killed Gedalyahu the son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon made governor over the land.

### Chapter 42

1Then all the captains of the forces, and Yochanan the son of Kareach, and Yezanyah the son of Hoshayah, and all the people from the least even to the greatest, came near, 2and said to Yirmeyahu the prophet, “Please let our supplication be presented before you, and pray for us to YHWH your Elohim, even for all this remnant, for we are left but a few of many, as your eyes see us, 3that YHWH your Elohim may show us the way in which we should walk, and the things that we should do.” 4Then Yirmeyahu the prophet said to them, “I have heard you. Behold, I will pray to YHWH your Elohim according to your words; and it will happen that whatever thing YHWH answers you, I will declare it to you. I will keep nothing back from you.” 5Then they said to Yirmeyahu, “May YHWH be a true and faithful witness amongst us, if we don’t do according to all the word with which YHWH your Elohim sends you to tell us. 6Whether it is good, or whether it is bad, we will obey the voice of YHWH our Elohim, to whom we send you; that it may be well with us, when we obey the voice of YHWH our Elohim.” 7After ten days, YHWH’s word came to Yirmeyahu. 8Then he called Yochanan the son of Kareach, and all the captains of the forces who were with him, and all the people from the least even to the greatest, 9and said to them, “YHWH, the Elohim of Yisrael, to whom you sent me to present your supplication before him, says: 10‘If you will still live in this land, then I will build you, and not pull you down, and I will plant you, and not pluck you up; for I grieve over the distress that I have brought on you. 11Don’t be afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom you are afraid. Don’t be afraid of him,’ says YHWH, ‘for I am with you to save you, and to deliver you from his hand. 12I will grant you chesed, that he may have chesed on you, and cause you to return to your own land. 13“‘But if you say, “We will not dwell in this land,” so that you don’t obey YHWH your Elohim’s voice, 14saying, “No, but we will go into the land of Mitzrayim, where we will see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor have hunger of bread; and there we will dwell;”’ 15now therefore hear YHWH’s word, O remnant of Yehudah! YHWH Tzeva'ot, the Elohim of Yisrael, says, ‘If you indeed set your faces to enter into Mitzrayim, and go to live there, 16then it will happen that the sword, which you fear, will overtake you there in the land of Mitzrayim; and the famine, about which you are afraid, will follow close behind you there in Mitzrayim; and you will die there. 17So will it be with all the men who set their faces to go into Mitzrayim to live there. They will die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence. None of them will remain or escape from the evil that I will bring on them.’ 18For YHWH Tzeva'ot, the Elohim of Yisrael, says: ‘As my anger and my wrath has been poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so my wrath will be poured out on you, when you enter into Mitzrayim; and you will be an object of horror, an astonishment, a curse, and a reproach; and you will see this place no more.’ 19“YHWH has spoken concerning you, remnant of Yehudah, ‘Don’t go into Mitzrayim!’ Know certainly that I have testified to you today. 20For you have dealt deceitfully against your own souls; for you sent me to YHWH your Elohim, saying, ‘Pray for us to YHWH our Elohim; and according to all that YHWH our Elohim says, so declare to us, and we will do it.’ 21I have declared it to you today; but you have not obeyed YHWH your Elohim’s voice in anything for which he has sent me to you. 22Now therefore know certainly that you will die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence in the place where you desire to go to live.”

### Chapter 43

1When Yirmeyahu had finished speaking to all the people all the words of YHWH their Elohim, with which YHWH their Elohim had sent him to them, even all these words, 2then Azaryah the son of Hoshayah, Yochanan the son of Kareach, and all the proud men spoke, saying to Yirmeyahu, “You speak falsely. YHWH our Elohim has not sent you to say, ‘You shall not go into Mitzrayim to live there;’ 3but Baruch the son of Neriyah has turned you against us, to deliver us into the hand of the Kasdim, that they may put us to death or carry us away captive to Babylon.” 4So Yochanan the son of Kareach, and all the captains of the forces, and all the people, didn’t obey YHWH’s voice, to dwell in the land of Yehudah. 5But Yochanan the son of Kareach and all the captains of the forces took all the remnant of Yehudah, who had returned from all the nations where they had been driven, to live in the land of Yehudah— 6the men, the women, the children, the king’s daughters, and every person who Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had left with Gedalyahu the son of Ahikam, the son of Shafan; and Yirmeyahu the prophet, and Baruch the son of Neriyah. 7They came into the land of Mitzrayim, for they didn’t obey YHWH’s voice; and they came to Tahpanhes. 8Then YHWH’s word came to Yirmeyahu in Tahpanhes, saying, 9“Take great stones in your hand and hide them in mortar in the brick work which is at the entry of Pharaoh’s house in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Yehudah. 10Tell them, YHWH Tzeva'ot, the Elohim of Yisrael, says: ‘Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will set his throne on these stones that I have hidden; and he will spread his royal pavilion over them. 11He will come, and will strike the land of Mitzrayim; such as are for death will be put to death, and such as are for captivity to captivity, and such as are for the sword to the sword. 12I will kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Mitzrayim. He will burn them, and carry them away captive. He will array himself with the land of Mitzrayim, as a shepherd puts on his garment; and he will go out from there in peace. 13He will also break the pillars of Beit Shemesh that is in the land of Mitzrayim; and he will burn the houses of the gods of Mitzrayim with fire.’”

### Chapter 44

1The word that came to Yirmeyahu concerning all the Yehudim who lived in the land of Mitzrayim, who lived at Migdol, and at Tahpanhes, and at Memphis, and in the country of Pathros, saying, 2“YHWH Tzeva'ot, the Elohim of Yisrael, says: ‘You have seen all the evil that I have brought on Jerusalem, and on all the cities of Yehudah. Behold, today they are a desolation, and no man dwells in them, 3because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke me to anger, in that they went to burn incense, to serve other gods that they didn’t know, neither they, nor you, nor your fathers. 4However I sent to you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, “Oh, don’t do this abominable thing that I hate.” 5But they didn’t listen and didn’t incline their ear. They didn’t turn from their wickedness, to stop burning incense to other gods. 6Therefore my wrath and my anger was poured out, and was kindled in the cities of Yehudah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they are wasted and desolate, as it is today.’ 7“Therefore now YHWH, the Elohim Tzeva'ot, the Elohim of Yisrael, says: ‘Why do you commit great evil against your own souls, to cut off from yourselves man and woman, infant and nursing child out of the middle of Yehudah, to leave yourselves no one remaining, 8in that you provoke me to anger with the works of your hands, burning incense to other gods in the land of Mitzrayim where you have gone to live, that you may be cut off, and that you may be a curse and a reproach amongst all the nations of the earth? 9Have you forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, the wickedness of the kings of Yehudah, the wickedness of their wives, your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives which they committed in the land of Yehudah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 10They are not humbled even to this day, neither have they feared, nor walked in my law, nor in my statutes, that I set before you and before your fathers.’ 11“Therefore YHWH Tzeva'ot, the Elohim of Yisrael, says: ‘Behold, I will set my face against you for evil, even to cut off all Yehudah. 12I will take the remnant of Yehudah that have set their faces to go into the land of Mitzrayim to live there, and they will all be consumed. They will fall in the land of Mitzrayim. They will be consumed by the sword and by the famine. They will die, from the least even to the greatest, by the sword and by the famine. They will be an object of horror, an astonishment, a curse, and a reproach. 13For I will punish those who dwell in the land of Mitzrayim, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence; 14so that none of the remnant of Yehudah, who have gone into the land of Mitzrayim to live there, will escape or be left to return into the land of Yehudah, to which they have a desire to return to dwell there; for no one will return except those who will escape.’” 15Then all the men who knew that their wives burnt incense to other gods, and all the women who stood by, a great assembly, even all the people who lived in the land of Mitzrayim, in Pathros, answered Yirmeyahu, saying, 16“As for the word that you have spoken to us in YHWH’s name, we will not listen to you. 17But we will certainly perform every word that has gone out of our mouth, to burn incense to the queen of the sky and to pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Yehudah and in the streets of Jerusalem; for then we had plenty of food, and were well, and saw no evil. 18But since we stopped burning incense to the queen of the sky, and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine.” 19The women said, “When we burnt incense to the queen of the sky and poured out drink offerings to her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings to her, without our husbands?” 20Then Yirmeyahu said to all the people—to the men and to the women, even to all the people who had given him an answer, saying, 21“The incense that you burnt in the cities of Yehudah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your fathers, your kings and your princes, and the people of the land, didn’t YHWH remember them, and didn’t it come into his mind? 22Thus YHWH could no longer bear it, because of the evil of your doings and because of the abominations which you have committed. Therefore your land has become a desolation, an astonishment, and a curse, without inhabitant, as it is today. 23Because you have burnt incense and because you have sinned against YHWH, and have not obeyed YHWH’s voice, nor walked in his law, nor in his statutes, nor in his testimonies; therefore this evil has happened to you, as it is today.” 24Moreover Yirmeyahu said to all the people, including all the women, “Hear YHWH’s word, all Yehudah who are in the land of Mitzrayim! 25YHWH Tzeva'ot, the Elohim of Yisrael, says, ‘You and your wives have both spoken with your mouths, and with your hands have fulfilled it, saying, “We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of the sky, and to pour out drink offerings to her.” “‘Establish then your vows, and perform your vows.’ 26“Therefore hear YHWH’s word, all Yehudah who dwell in the land of Mitzrayim: ‘Behold, I have sworn by my great name,’ says YHWH, ‘that my name will no more be named in the mouth of any man of Yehudah in all the land of Mitzrayim, saying, “As Adonai YHWH lives.” 27Behold, I watch over them for evil, and not for good; and all the men of Yehudah who are in the land of Mitzrayim will be consumed by the sword and by the famine, until they are all gone. 28Those who escape the sword will return out of the land of Mitzrayim into the land of Yehudah few in number. All the remnant of Yehudah, who have gone into the land of Mitzrayim to live there, will know whose word will stand, mine or theirs. 29“‘This will be the sign to you,’ says YHWH, ‘that I will punish you in this place, that you may know that my words will surely stand against you for evil.’ 30YHWH says, ‘Behold, I will give Pharaoh Hophra king of Mitzrayim into the hand of his enemies and into the hand of those who seek his life, just as I gave Tzidkiyahu king of Yehudah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who was his enemy and sought his life.’”

### Chapter 45

1The message that Yirmeyahu the prophet spoke to Baruch the son of Neriyah, when he wrote these words in a book at the mouth of Yirmeyahu, in the fourth year of Yehoyakim the son of Yoshiyahu, king of Yehudah, saying, 2“YHWH, the Elohim of Yisrael, says to you, Baruch: 3‘You said, “Woe is me now! For YHWH has added sorrow to my pain! I am weary with my groaning, and I find no rest.”’ 4“You shall tell him, YHWH says: ‘Behold, that which I have built, I will break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up; and this in the whole land. 5Do you seek great things for yourself? Don’t seek them; for, behold, I will bring evil on all flesh,’ says YHWH, ‘but I will let you escape with your life wherever you go.’”

### Chapter 46

1YHWH’s word which came to Yirmeyahu the prophet concerning the nations. 2Of Mitzrayim: concerning the army of Pharaoh Necoh king of Mitzrayim, which was by the river Euphrates in Karkemish, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon struck in the fourth year of Yehoyakim the son of Yoshiyahu, king of Yehudah. 3“Prepare the buckler and shield, and draw near to battle! 4Harness the horses, and get up, you horsemen, and stand up with your helmets. Polish the spears, put on the coats of mail. 5Why have I seen it? They are dismayed and are turned backward. Their mighty ones are beaten down, have fled in haste, and don’t look back. Terror is on every side,” says YHWH. 6“Don’t let the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape. In the north by the river Euphrates they have stumbled and fallen. 7“Who is this who rises up like the Nile, like rivers whose waters surge? 8Mitzrayim rises up like the Nile, like rivers whose waters surge. He says, ‘I will rise up. I will cover the earth. I will destroy cities and its inhabitants.’ 9Go up, you horses! Rage, you chariots! Let the mighty men go out: Cush and Put, who handle the shield; and the Ludim, who handle and bend the bow. 10For that day is of Adonai, YHWH Tzeva'ot, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge himself of his adversaries. The sword will devour and be satiated, and will drink its fill of their blood; for Adonai, YHWH Tzeva'ot, has a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates. 11Go up into Gilead, and take balm, virgin daughter of Mitzrayim. You use many medicines in vain. There is no healing for you. 12The nations have heard of your shame, and the earth is full of your cry; for the mighty man has stumbled against the mighty, they both fall together.” 13The word that YHWH spoke to Yirmeyahu the prophet, how that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon should come and strike the land of Mitzrayim: 14“Declare in Mitzrayim, publish in Migdol, and publish in Memphis and in Tahpanhes; say, ‘Stand up, and prepare, for the sword has devoured around you.’ 15Why are your strong ones swept away? They didn’t stand, because YHWH pushed them. 16He made many to stumble. Yes, they fell on one another. They said, ‘Arise! Let’s go again to our own people, and to the land of our birth, from the oppressing sword.’ 17They cried there, ‘Pharaoh king of Mitzrayim is but a noise; he has let the appointed time pass by.’ 18“As I live,” says the King, whose name is YHWH Tzeva'ot, “surely like Tavor amongst the mountains, and like Karmel by the sea, so he will come. 19You daughter who dwells in Mitzrayim, furnish yourself to go into captivity; for Memphis will become a desolation, and will be burnt up, without inhabitant. 20“Mitzrayim is a very beautiful heifer; but destruction out of the north has come. It has come. 21Also her hired men in the middle of her are like calves of the stall, for they also are turned back. They have fled away together. They didn’t stand, for the day of their calamity has come on them, the time of their visitation. 22Its sound will go like the serpent, for they will march with an army, and come against her with axes, as wood cutters. 23They will cut down her forest,” says YHWH, “though it can’t be searched; because they are more than the locusts, and are innumerable. 24The daughter of Mitzrayim will be disappointed; she will be delivered into the hand of the people of the north.” 25YHWH Tzeva'ot, the Elohim of Yisrael, says: “Behold, I will punish Ammon of No, and Pharaoh, and Mitzrayim, with her gods and her kings, even Pharaoh, and those who trust in him. 26I will deliver them into the hand of those who seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants. Afterwards it will be inhabited, as in the days of old,” says YHWH. 27“But don’t you be afraid, Yaakov my servant. Don’t be dismayed, Yisrael; for, behold, I will save you from afar, and your offspring from the land of their captivity. Yaakov will return, and will be quiet and at ease. No one will make him afraid. 28Don’t be afraid, O Yaakov my servant,” says YHWH, “for I am with you; for I will make a full end of all the nations where I have driven you, but I will not make a full end of you, but I will correct you in measure, and will in no way leave you unpunished.”

### Chapter 47

1YHWH’s word that came to Yirmeyahu the prophet concerning the Pelishtim, before Pharaoh struck Gaza. 2YHWH says: “Behold, waters rise up out of the north, and will become an overflowing stream, and will overflow the land and all that is therein, the city and those who dwell therein. The men will cry, and all the inhabitants of the land will wail. 3At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his strong ones, at the rushing of his chariots, at the rumbling of his wheels, the fathers don’t look back for their children because their hands are so feeble, 4because of the day that comes to destroy all the Pelishtim, to cut off from Tyre and Tzidon every helper who remains; for YHWH will destroy the Pelishtim, the remnant of the isle of Kaftor. 5Baldness has come on Gaza; Ashkelon is brought to nothing. You remnant of their valley, how long will you cut yourself? 6“‘You sword of YHWH, how long will it be before you are quiet? Put yourself back into your scabbard; rest, and be still.’ 7“How can you be quiet, since YHWH has given you a command? Against Ashkelon, and against the seashore, there he has appointed it.”

### Chapter 48

1Of Moab. YHWH Tzeva'ot, the Elohim of Yisrael, says: “Woe to Nevo! For it is laid waste. Kiriathaim is disappointed. It is taken. Misgab is put to shame and broken down. 2The praise of Moab is no more. In Cheshbon they have devised evil against her: ‘Come! Let’s cut her off from being a nation.’ You also, Madmen, will be brought to silence. The sword will pursue you. 3The sound of a cry from Horonaim, desolation and great destruction! 4Moab is destroyed. Her little ones have caused a cry to be heard. 5For they will go up by the ascent of Luhith with continual weeping. For at the descent of Horonaim they have heard the distress of the cry of destruction. 6Flee! Save your lives! Be like the juniper bush in the wilderness. 7For, because you have trusted in your works and in your treasures, you also will be taken. Chemosh will go out into captivity, his priests and his princes together. 8The destroyer will come on every city, and no city will escape; the valley also will perish, and the plain will be destroyed, as YHWH has spoken. 9Give wings to Moab, that she may fly and get herself away: and her cities will become a desolation, without anyone to dwell in them. 10“Cursed is he who does the work of YHWH negligently; and cursed is he who keeps back his sword from blood. 11“Moab has been at ease from his youth, and he has settled on his dregs, and has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither has he gone into captivity; therefore his taste remains in him, and his scent is not changed. 12Therefore behold, the days come,” says YHWH, “that I will send to him those who pour off, and they will pour him off; and they will empty his vessels, and break their containers in pieces. 13Moab will be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Yisrael was ashamed of Beit El, their confidence. 14“How do you say, ‘We are mighty men, and valiant men for the war’? 15Moab is laid waste, and they have gone up into his cities, and his chosen young men have gone down to the slaughter,” says the King, whose name is YHWH Tzeva'ot. 16“The calamity of Moab is near to come, and his affliction hurries fast. 17All you who are around him, bemoan him; and all you who know his name, say, ‘How the strong staff is broken, the beautiful rod!’ 18“You daughter who dwells in Dibon, come down from your glory, and sit in thirst; for the destroyer of Moab has come up against you. He has destroyed your strongholds. 19Inhabitant of Aro'er, stand by the way and watch. Ask him who flees, and her who escapes; say, ‘What has been done?’ 20Moab is disappointed; for it is broken down. Wail and cry! Tell it by the Arnon, that Moab is laid waste. 21Judgement has come on the plain country— on Cholon, on Yatza, on Mephaath, 22on Dibon, on Nevo, on Beit Diblathaim, 23on Kiriathaim, on Beit Gamul, on Beit Me'on, 24on Kerioth, on Botzra, and on all the cities of the land of Moab, far or near. 25The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken,” says YHWH. 26“Make him drunk, for he magnified himself against YHWH. Moab will wallow in his vomit, and he also will be in derision. 27For wasn’t Yisrael a derision to you? Was he found amongst thieves? For as often as you speak of him, you shake your head. 28You inhabitants of Moab, leave the cities, and dwell in the rock. Be like the dove that makes her nest over the mouth of the abyss. 29“We have heard of the pride of Moab. He is very proud in his loftiness, his pride, his arrogance, and the arrogance of his heart. 30I know his wrath,” says YHWH, “that it is nothing; his boastings have done nothing. 31Therefore I will wail for Moab. Yes, I will cry out for all Moab. They will mourn for the men of Kir Cheres. 32With more than the weeping of Yazer I will weep for you, vine of Sibmah. Your branches passed over the sea. They reached even to the sea of Yazer. The destroyer has fallen on your summer fruits and on your vintage. 33Gladness and joy is taken away from the fruitful field and from the land of Moab. I have caused wine to cease from the wine presses. No one will tread with shouting. The shouting will be no shouting. 34From the cry of Cheshbon even to Elealeh, even to Yahatz they have uttered their voice, from Zoar even to Horonaim, to Eglath Shelishiyah; for the waters of Nimrim will also become desolate. 35Moreover I will cause to cease in Moab,” says YHWH, “him who offers in the high place, and him who burns incense to his gods. 36Therefore my heart sounds for Moab like flutes, and my heart sounds like flutes for the men of Kir Cheres. Therefore the abundance that he has gotten has perished. 37For every head is bald, and every beard clipped. There are cuttings on all the hands, and sackcloth on the waist. 38On all the housetops of Moab, and in its streets, there is lamentation everywhere; for I have broken Moab like a vessel in which no one delights,” says YHWH. 39“How it is broken down! How they wail! How Moab has turned the back with shame! So will Moab become a derision and a terror to all who are around him.” 40For YHWH says: “Behold, he will fly as an eagle, and will spread out his wings against Moab. 41Kerioth is taken, and the strongholds are seized. The heart of the mighty men of Moab at that day will be as the heart of a woman in her pangs. 42Moab will be destroyed from being a people, because he has magnified himself against YHWH. 43Terror, the pit, and the snare are on you, inhabitant of Moab,” says YHWH. 44“He who flees from the terror will fall into the pit; and he who gets up out of the pit will be taken in the snare, for I will bring on him, even on Moab, the year of their visitation,” says YHWH. 45“Those who fled stand without strength under the shadow of Cheshbon; for a fire has gone out of Cheshbon, and a flame from the middle of Sihon, and has devoured the corner of Moab, and the crown of the head of the tumultuous ones. 46Woe to you, O Moab! The people of Chemosh are undone; for your sons are taken away captive, and your daughters into captivity. 47“Yet I will reverse the captivity of Moab in the latter days,” says YHWH. Thus far is the judgement of Moab.

### Chapter 49

1Of the children of Ammon. YHWH says: “Has Yisrael no sons? Has he no heir? Why then does Malkam possess Gad, and his people dwell in its cities? 2Therefore behold, the days come,” says YHWH, “that I will cause an alarm of war to be heard against Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and it will become a desolate heap, and her daughters will be burnt with fire; then Yisrael will possess those who possessed him,” says YHWH. 3“Wail, Cheshbon, for Ai is laid waste! Cry, you daughters of Rabbah! Clothe yourself in sackcloth. Lament, and run back and forth amongst the fences; for Malkam will go into captivity, his priests and his princes together. 4Why do you boast in the valleys, your flowing valley, backsliding daughter? You trusted in her treasures, saying, ‘Who will come to me?’ 5Behold, I will bring a terror on you,” says Adonai, YHWH Tzeva'ot, “from all who are around you. All of you will be driven completely out, and there will be no one to gather together the fugitives. 6“But afterward I will reverse the captivity of the children of Ammon,” says YHWH. 7Of Edom, YHWH Tzeva'ot says: “Is wisdom no more in Teman? Has counsel perished from the prudent? Has their wisdom vanished? 8Flee! Turn back! Dwell in the depths, inhabitants of Dedan; for I will bring the calamity of Esav on him when I visit him. 9If grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? If thieves came by night, wouldn’t they steal until they had enough? 10But I have made Esav bare, I have uncovered his secret places, and he will not be able to hide himself. His offspring is destroyed, with his brothers and his neighbours; and he is no more. 11Leave your fatherless children. I will preserve them alive. Let your widows trust in me.” 12For YHWH says: “Behold, they to whom it didn’t pertain to drink of the cup will certainly drink; and are you he who will altogether go unpunished? You won’t go unpunished, but you will surely drink. 13For I have sworn by myself,” says YHWH, “that Botzra will become an astonishment, a reproach, a waste, and a curse. All its cities will be perpetual wastes.” 14I have heard news from YHWH, and an ambassador is sent amongst the nations, saying, “Gather yourselves together! Come against her! Rise up to the battle!” 15“For, behold, I have made you small amongst the nations, and despised amongst men. 16As for your terror, the pride of your heart has deceived you, O you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, who hold the height of the hill, though you should make your nest as high as the eagle, I will bring you down from there,” says YHWH. 17“Edom will become an astonishment. Everyone who passes by it will be astonished, and will hiss at all its plagues. 18As in the overthrow of Sodom and Amorah and its neighbour cities,” says YHWH, “no man will dwell there, neither will any son of man live therein. 19“Behold, he will come up like a lion from the pride of the Jordan against the strong habitation; for I will suddenly make them run away from it, and whoever is chosen, I will appoint him over it. For who is like me? Who will appoint me a time? Who is the shepherd who will stand before me?” 20Therefore hear the counsel of YHWH, that he has taken against Edom, and his purposes that he has purposed against the inhabitants of Teman: Surely they will drag them away, the little ones of the flock. Surely he will make their habitation desolate over them. 21The earth trembles at the noise of their fall; there is a cry, the noise which is heard in the Yam Suf. 22Behold, he will come up and fly as the eagle, and spread out his wings against Botzra. The heart of the mighty men of Edom at that day will be as the heart of a woman in her pangs. 23Of Dameshek: “Chamat and Arpad are confounded, for they have heard evil news. They have melted away. There is sorrow on the sea. It can’t be quiet. 24Dameshek has grown feeble, she turns herself to flee, and trembling has seized her. Anguish and sorrows have taken hold of her, as of a woman in travail. 25How is the city of praise not forsaken, the city of my joy? 26Therefore her young men will fall in her streets, and all the men of war will be brought to silence in that day,” says YHWH Tzeva'ot. 27“I will kindle a fire in the wall of Dameshek, and it will devour the palaces of Ben Hadad.” 28Of Kedar, and of the kingdoms of Chatzor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon struck, YHWH says: “Arise, go up to Kedar, and destroy the children of the east. 29They will take their tents and their flocks. they will carry away for themselves their curtains, all their vessels, and their camels; and they will cry to them, ‘Terror on every side!’ 30Flee! Wander far off! Dwell in the depths, you inhabitants of Chatzor,” says YHWH; “for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has taken counsel against you, and has conceived a purpose against you. 31Arise! Go up to a nation that is at ease, that dwells without care,” says YHWH; “that has neither gates nor bars, that dwells alone. 32Their camels will be a booty, and the multitude of their livestock a plunder. I will scatter to all winds those who have the corners of their beards cut off; and I will bring their calamity from every side of them,” says YHWH. 33Chatzor will be a dwelling place of jackals, a desolation forever. No man will dwell there, neither will any son of man live therein.” 34YHWH’s word that came to Yirmeyahu the prophet concerning Elam, in the beginning of the reign of Tzidkiyahu king of Yehudah, saying, 35“YHWH Tzeva'ot says: ‘Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the chief of their might. 36I will bring on Elam the four winds from the four quarters of the sky, and will scatter them towards all those winds. There will be no nation where the outcasts of Elam will not come. 37I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies, and before those who seek their life. I will bring evil on them, even my fierce anger,’ says YHWH; ‘and I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them. 38I will set my throne in Elam, and will destroy from there king and princes,’ says YHWH. 39‘But it will happen in the latter days that I will reverse the captivity of Elam,’ says YHWH.”

### Chapter 50

1The word that YHWH spoke concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Kasdim, by Yirmeyahu the prophet. 2“Declare amongst the nations and publish, and set up a standard; publish, and don’t conceal; say, ‘Babylon has been taken, Bel is disappointed, Merodach is dismayed! Her images are disappointed. Her idols are dismayed.’ 3For a nation comes up out of the north against her, which will make her land desolate, and no one will dwell in it. They have fled. They are gone, both man and animal. 4“In those days, and in that time,” says YHWH, “the children of Yisrael will come, they and the children of Yehudah together; they will go on their way weeping, and will seek YHWH their Elohim. 5They will enquire concerning Tzion with their faces turned towards it, saying, ‘Come, and join yourselves to YHWH in an everlasting Brit that will not be forgotten.’ 6My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have caused them to go astray. They have turned them away on the mountains. They have gone from mountain to hill. They have forgotten their resting place. 7All who found them have devoured them. Their adversaries said, ‘We are not guilty, because they have sinned against YHWH, the habitation of righteousness, even YHWH, the hope of their fathers.’ 8“Flee out of the middle of Babylon! Go out of the land of the Kasdim, and be as the male goats before the flocks. 9For, behold, I will stir up and cause to come up against Babylon a company of great nations from the north country; and they will set themselves in array against her. She will be taken from there. Their arrows will be as of an expert mighty man. None of them will return in vain. 10Chaldea will be a prey. All who prey on her will be satisfied,” says YHWH. 11“Because you are glad, because you rejoice, O you who plunder my heritage, because you are wanton as a heifer that treads out the grain, and neigh as strong horses, 12your mother will be utterly disappointed. She who bore you will be confounded. Behold, she will be the least of the nations, a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert. 13Because of YHWH’s wrath she won’t be inhabited, but she will be wholly desolate. Everyone who goes by Babylon will be astonished, and hiss at all her plagues. 14Set yourselves in array against Babylon all around, all you who bend the bow; shoot at her. Spare no arrows, for she has sinned against YHWH. 15Shout against her all around. She has submitted herself. Her bulwarks have fallen. Her walls have been thrown down, for it is the vengeance of YHWH. Take vengeance on her. As she has done, do to her. 16Cut off the sower from Babylon, and him who handles the sickle in the time of harvest. For fear of the oppressing sword, they will each return to their own people, and they will each flee to their own land. 17“Yisrael is a hunted sheep. The lions have driven him away. First, the king of Assyria devoured him, and now at last Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has broken his bones.” 18Therefore YHWH Tzeva'ot, the Elohim of Yisrael, says: “Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria. 19I will bring Yisrael again to his pasture, and he will feed on Karmel and Bashan. His soul will be satisfied on the hills of Ephraim and in Gilead. 20In those days, and in that time,” says YHWH, “the iniquity of Yisrael will be sought for, and there will be none, also the sins of Yehudah, and they won’t be found; for I will pardon them whom I leave as a remnant. 21“Go up against the land of Merathaim, even against it, and against the inhabitants of Pekod. Kill and utterly destroy after them,” says YHWH, “and do according to all that I have commanded you. 22A sound of battle is in the land, and of great destruction. 23How the hammer of the whole earth is cut apart and broken! How Babylon has become a desolation amongst the nations! 24I have laid a snare for you, and you are also taken, Babylon, and you weren’t aware. You are found, and also caught, because you have fought against YHWH. 25YHWH has opened his armoury, and has brought out the weapons of his indignation; for Adonai, YHWH Tzeva'ot, has a work to do in the land of the Kasdim. 26Come against her from the farthest border. Open her storehouses. Cast her up as heaps. Destroy her utterly. Let nothing of her be left. 27Kill all her bulls. Let them go down to the slaughter. Woe to them! For their day has come, the time of their visitation. 28Listen to those who flee and escape out of the land of Babylon, to declare in Tzion the vengeance of YHWH our Elohim, the vengeance of his Beit HaMikdash. 29“Call together the archers against Babylon, all those who bend the bow. Encamp against her all around. Let none of it escape. Pay her back according to her work. According to all that she has done, do to her; for she has been proud against YHWH, against the Kodesh One of Yisrael. 30Therefore her young men will fall in her streets. All her men of war will be brought to silence in that day,” says YHWH. 31“Behold, I am against you, you proud one,” says Adonai, YHWH Tzeva'ot; “for your day has come, the time that I will visit you. 32The proud one will stumble and fall, and no one will raise him up. I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it will devour all who are around him.” 33YHWH Tzeva'ot says: “The children of Yisrael and the children of Yehudah are oppressed together. All who took them captive hold them fast. They refuse to let them go. 34Their Go'el is strong. YHWH Tzeva'ot is his name. He will thoroughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the earth, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon. 35“A sword is on the Kasdim,” says YHWH, “and on the inhabitants of Babylon, on her princes, and on her wise men. 36A sword is on the boasters, and they will become fools. A sword is on her mighty men, and they will be dismayed. 37A sword is on their horses, on their chariots, and on all the mixed people who are in the middle of her; and they will become as women. A sword is on her treasures, and they will be robbed. 38A drought is on her waters, and they will be dried up; for it is a land of engraved images, and they are mad over idols. 39Therefore the wild animals of the desert with the wolves will dwell there. The ostriches will dwell therein. It will be inhabited no more forever, neither will it be lived in from generation to generation. 40As when Elohim overthrew Sodom and Amorah and its neighbour cities,” says YHWH, “so no man will dwell there, neither will any son of man live therein. 41“Behold, a people comes from the north. A great nation and many kings will be stirred up from the uttermost parts of the earth. 42They take up bow and spear. They are cruel, and have no chesed. Their voice roars like the sea. They ride on horses, everyone set in array, as a man to the battle, against you, daughter of Babylon. 43The king of Babylon has heard the news of them, and his hands become feeble. Anguish has taken hold of him, pains as of a woman in labour. 44Behold, the enemy will come up like a lion from the thickets of the Jordan against the strong habitation; for I will suddenly make them run away from it. Whoever is chosen, I will appoint him over it, for who is like me? Who will appoint me a time? Who is the shepherd who can stand before me?” 45Therefore hear the counsel of YHWH that he has taken against Babylon; and his purposes that he has purposed against the land of the Kasdim: Surely they will drag them away, even the little ones of the flock. Surely he will make their habitation desolate over them. 46The earth trembles at the noise of the taking of Babylon. The cry is heard amongst the nations.

### Chapter 51

1YHWH says: “Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against those who dwell in Lebkamai, a destroying wind. 2I will send to Babylon strangers, who will winnow her. They will empty her land; for in the day of trouble they will be against her all around. 3Against him who bends, let the archer bend his bow, also against him who lifts himself up in his coat of mail. Don’t spare her young men! Utterly destroy all her army! 4They will fall down slain in the land of the Kasdim, and thrust through in her streets. 5For Yisrael is not forsaken, nor Yehudah, by his Elohim, by YHWH Tzeva'ot; though their land is full of guilt against the Kodesh One of Yisrael. 6“Flee out of the middle of Babylon! Everyone save his own life! Don’t be cut off in her iniquity, for it is the time of YHWH’s vengeance. He will give to her a recompense. 7Babylon has been a golden cup in YHWH’s hand, who made all the earth drunk. The nations have drunk of her wine; therefore the nations have gone mad. 8Babylon has suddenly fallen and been destroyed! Wail for her! Take balm for her pain. Perhaps she may be healed. 9“We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed. Forsake her, and let’s each go into his own country; for her judgement reaches to heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies. 10‘YHWH has produced our righteousness. Come, and let’s declare in Tzion the work of YHWH our Elohim.’ 11“Make the arrows sharp! Hold the shields firmly! YHWH has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because his purpose is against Babylon, to destroy it; for it is the vengeance of YHWH, the vengeance of his Beit HaMikdash. 12Set up a standard against the walls of Babylon! Make the watch strong! Set the watchmen, and prepare the ambushes; for YHWH has both purposed and done that which he spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon. 13You who dwell on many waters, abundant in treasures, your end has come, the measure of your covetousness. 14YHWH Tzeva'ot has sworn by himself, saying, ‘Surely I will fill you with men, as with locusts, and they will lift up a shout against you.’ 15“He has made the earth by his power. He has established the world by his wisdom. By his understanding he has stretched out the heavens. 16When he utters his voice, there is a roar of waters in the heavens, and he causes the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain, and brings the wind out of his treasuries. 17“Every man has become stupid and without knowledge. Every goldsmith is disappointed by his image, for his molten images are falsehood, and there is no breath in them. 18They are vanity, a work of delusion. In the time of their visitation, they will perish. 19The portion of Yaakov is not like these, for he formed all things, including the tribe of his inheritance. YHWH Tzeva'ot is his name. 20“You are my battle axe and weapons of war. With you I will break the nations into pieces. With you I will destroy kingdoms. 21With you I will break in pieces the horse and his rider. 22With you I will break in pieces the chariot and him who rides therein. With you I will break in pieces man and woman. With you I will break in pieces the old man and the youth. With you I will break in pieces the young man and the virgin. 23With you I will break in pieces the shepherd and his flock. With you I will break in pieces the farmer and his yoke. With you I will break in pieces governors and deputies. 24“I will give to Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Tzion in your sight,” says YHWH. 25“Behold, I am against you, destroying mountain,” says YHWH, “which destroys all the earth. I will stretch out my hand on you, roll you down from the rocks, and will make you a burnt mountain. 26They won’t take a cornerstone from you, nor a stone for foundations; but you will be desolate forever,” says YHWH. 27“Set up a standard in the land! Blow the trumpet amongst the nations! Prepare the nations against her! Call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz! Appoint a marshal against her! Cause the horses to come up as the swarming locusts! 28Prepare against her the nations, the kings of the Medes, its governors, and all its deputies, and all the land of their dominion! 29The land trembles and is in pain; for the purposes of YHWH against Babylon stand, to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant. 30The mighty men of Babylon have stopped fighting, they remain in their strongholds. Their might has failed. They have become as women. Her dwelling places are set on fire. Her bars are broken. 31One runner will run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken on every quarter. 32So the passages are seized. They have burnt the reeds with fire. The men of war are frightened.” 33For YHWH Tzeva'ot, the Elohim of Yisrael says: “The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time when it is trodden. Yet a little while, and the time of harvest comes for her.” 34“Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me. He has crushed me. He has made me an empty vessel. He has, like a monster, swallowed me up. He has filled his mouth with my delicacies. He has cast me out. 35May the violence done to me and to my flesh be on Babylon!” the inhabitant of Tzion will say; and, “May my blood be on the inhabitants of Chaldea!” will Jerusalem say. 36Therefore YHWH says: “Behold, I will plead your cause, and take vengeance for you. I will dry up her sea, and make her fountain dry. 37Babylon will become heaps, a dwelling place for jackals, an astonishment, and a hissing, without inhabitant. 38They will roar together like young lions. They will growl as lions’ cubs. 39When they are inflamed, I will make their feast, and I will make them drunk, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake up,” says YHWH. 40“I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with male goats. 41“How Sheshach is taken! How the praise of the whole earth is seized! How Babylon has become a desolation amongst the nations! 42The sea has come up on Babylon. She is covered with the multitude of its waves. 43Her cities have become a desolation, a dry land, and a desert, a land in which no man dwells. No son of man passes by it. 44I will execute judgement on Bel in Babylon, and I will bring out of his mouth that which he has swallowed up. The nations will not flow any more to him. Yes, the wall of Babylon will fall. 45“My people, go away from the middle of her, and each of you save yourselves from YHWH’s fierce anger. 46Don’t let your heart faint. Don’t fear for the news that will be heard in the land. For news will come one year, and after that in another year news will come, and violence in the land, ruler against ruler. 47Therefore behold, the days come that I will execute judgement on the engraved images of Babylon; and her whole land will be confounded. All her slain will fall in the middle of her. 48Then the heavens and the earth, and all that is therein, will sing for joy over Babylon; for the destroyers will come to her from the north,” says YHWH. 49“As Babylon has caused the slain of Yisrael to fall, so the slain of all the land will fall at Babylon. 50You who have escaped the sword, go! Don’t stand still! Remember YHWH from afar, and let Jerusalem come into your mind.” 51“We are confounded because we have heard reproach. Confusion has covered our faces, for strangers have come into the sanctuaries of YHWH’s house.” 52“Therefore behold, the days come,” says YHWH, “that I will execute judgement on her engraved images; and through all her land the wounded will groan. 53Though Babylon should mount up to the sky, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet destroyers will come to her from me,” says YHWH. 54“The sound of a cry comes from Babylon, and of great destruction from the land of the Kasdim! 55For YHWH lays Babylon waste, and destroys out of her the great voice! Their waves roar like many waters. The noise of their voice is uttered. 56For the destroyer has come on her, even on Babylon. Her mighty men are taken. Their bows are broken in pieces, for YHWH is a Elohim of retribution. He will surely repay. 57I will make her princes, her wise men, her governors, her deputies, and her mighty men drunk. They will sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake up,” says the King, whose name is YHWH Tzeva'ot. 58YHWH Tzeva'ot says: “The wide walls of Babylon will be utterly overthrown. Her high gates will be burnt with fire. The peoples will labour for vanity, and the nations for the fire; and they will be weary.” 59The word which Yirmeyahu the prophet commanded Serayah the son of Neriyah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went with Tzidkiyahu the king of Yehudah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. Now Serayah was chief quartermaster. 60Yirmeyahu wrote in a book all the evil that should come on Babylon, even all these words that are written concerning Babylon. 61Yirmeyahu said to Serayah, “When you come to Babylon, then see that you read all these words, 62and say, ‘YHWH, you have spoken concerning this place, to cut it off, that no one will dwell in it, neither man nor animal, but that it will be desolate forever.’ 63It will be, when you have finished reading this book, that you shall bind a stone to it, and cast it into the middle of the Euphrates. 64Then you shall say, ‘Thus will Babylon sink, and will not rise again because of the evil that I will bring on her; and they will be weary.’” Thus far are the words of Yirmeyahu.

### Chapter 52

1Tzidkiyahu was twenty-one years old when he began to reign. He reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Yirmeyahu of Livnah. 2He did that which was evil in YHWH’s sight, according to all that Yehoyakim had done. 3For through YHWH’s anger this happened in Jerusalem and Yehudah, until he had cast them out from his presence. Tzidkiyahu rebelled against the king of Babylon. 4In the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and encamped against it; and they built forts against it round about. 5So the city was besieged to the eleventh year of King Tzidkiyahu. 6In the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the famine was severe in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land. 7Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled, and went out of the city by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king’s garden. Now the Kasdim were against the city all around. The men of war went towards the Arava, 8but the army of the Kasdim pursued the king, and overtook Tzidkiyahu in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him. 9Then they took the king, and carried him up to the king of Babylon to Rivlah in the land of Chamat; and he pronounced judgement on him. 10The king of Babylon killed the sons of Tzidkiyahu before his eyes. He also killed all the princes of Yehudah in Rivlah. 11He put out the eyes of Tzidkiyahu; and the king of Babylon bound him in fetters, and carried him to Babylon, and put him in prison until the day of his death. 12Now in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, who stood before the king of Babylon, came into Jerusalem. 13He burnt YHWH’s house, and the king’s house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, even every great house, he burnt with fire. 14All the army of the Kasdim, who were with the captain of the guard, broke down all the walls of Jerusalem all around. 15Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the poorest of the people, and the rest of the people who were left in the city, and those who fell away, who defected to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude. 16But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left of the poorest of the land to be vineyard keepers and farmers. 17The Kasdim broke the pillars of bronze that were in YHWH’s house and the bases and the bronze sea that were in YHWH’s house in pieces, and carried all of their bronze to Babylon. 18They also took away the pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the basins, the spoons, and all the vessels of bronze with which they ministered. 19The captain of the guard took away the cups, the fire pans, the basins, the pots, the lamp stands, the spoons, and the bowls; that which was of gold, as gold, and that which was of silver, as silver. 20They took the two pillars, the one sea, and the twelve bronze bulls that were under the bases, which King Shlomo had made for YHWH’s house. The bronze of all these vessels was without weight. 21As for the pillars, the height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits; and a line of twelve cubits encircled it; and its thickness was four fingers. It was hollow. 22A capital of bronze was on it; and the height of the one capital was five cubits, with network and pomegranates on the capital all around, all of bronze. The second pillar also had the same, with pomegranates. 23There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides; all the pomegranates were one hundred on the network all around. 24The captain of the guard took Serayah the chief priest, and Tzefaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold, 25and out of the city he took an officer who was set over the men of war; and seven men of those who saw the king’s face, who were found in the city; and the scribe of the captain of the army, who mustered the people of the land; and sixty men of the people of the land, who were found in the middle of the city. 26Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Rivlah. 27The king of Babylon struck them, and put them to death at Rivlah in the land of Chamat. So Yehudah was carried away captive out of his land. 28This is the number of the people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive: in the seventh year, three thousand and twenty-three Yehudim; 29in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar, he carried away captive from Jerusalem eight hundred and thirty-two persons; 30in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the Yehudim seven hundred and forty-five people. All the people numbered four thousand and six hundred. 31In the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Yehoyachin king of Yehudah, in the twelfth month, in the twenty-fifth day of the month, Evilmerodach king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, lifted up the head of Yehoyachin king of Yehudah, and released him from prison. 32He spoke kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon, 33and changed his prison garments. Yehoyachin ate bread before him continually all the days of his life. 34For his allowance, there was a continual allowance given him by the king of Babylon, every day a portion until the day of his death, all the days of his life.

## KWS — KodeshWay Scriptures

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A Yeshua-centred edition derived from the public-domain World English Bible, with Hebrew names restored to the Mashiach's own tongue.

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