Jeremiah Chapter 1

Jeremiah 1:1 (NIV)

¹ The words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, one of the priests at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin.

Jeremiah 1:2 (NIV)

² The word of the LORD came to him in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah,

Jeremiah 1:3 (NIV)

³ and through the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, down to the fifth month of the eleventh year of Zedekiah son of Josiah king of Judah, when the people of Jerusalem went into exile.

Jeremiah 1:4 (NASB)

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

Jeremiah 1:5 (NASB)

⁵ “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

Jeremiah 1:6 (NASB)

⁶ Then I said, “Alas, Lord GOD! Behold, I do not know how to speak, Because I am a youth.”

Jeremiah 1:7 (NIV)

⁷ But the LORD said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a child.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you.

Jeremiah 1:8 (NIV)

⁸ Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 1:9 (NASB)

⁹ Then the LORD stretched out His hand and touched my mouth, and the LORD said to me, “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth.

Jeremiah 1:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.”

Jeremiah 1:11 (NKJV)

¹¹ Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Jeremiah, what do you see?” And I said, “I see a branch of an almond tree.”

Jeremiah 1:12 (NASB)

¹² Then the LORD said to me, “You have seen well, for I am watching over My word to perform it.”

Jeremiah 1:13 (NASB)

¹³ The word of the LORD came to me a second time saying, “What do you see?” And I said, “I see a boiling pot, facing away from the north.”

Jeremiah 1:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ The LORD said to me, “From the north disaster will be poured out on all who live in the land.

Jeremiah 1:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ I am about to summon all the peoples of the northern kingdoms,” declares the LORD. “Their kings will come and set up their thrones in the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem; they will come against all her surrounding walls and against all the towns of Judah.

Jeremiah 1:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ I will pronounce my judgments on my people because of their wickedness in forsaking me, in burning incense to other gods and in worshiping what their hands have made.

Jeremiah 1:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ “Get yourself ready! Stand up and say to them whatever I command you. Do not be terrified by them, or I will terrify you before them.

Jeremiah 1:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ Today I have made you a fortified city, an iron pillar and a bronze wall to stand against the whole land–against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests and the people of the land.

Jeremiah 1:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah Chapter 2

Jeremiah 2:1 (AMP)

¹ And the word of the Lord came to me [Jeremiah], saying,

Jeremiah 2:2 (NIV)

² “Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem: “‘I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed me through the desert, through a land not sown.

Jeremiah 2:3 (NIV)

³ Israel was holy to the LORD, the firstfruits of his harvest; all who devoured her were held guilty, and disaster overtook them,'” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 2:4 (NIV)

⁴ Hear the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, all you clans of the house of Israel.

Jeremiah 2:5 (NIV)

⁵ This is what the LORD says: “What fault did your fathers find in me, that they strayed so far from me? They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves.

Jeremiah 2:6 (NIV)

⁶ They did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD, who brought us up out of Egypt and led us through the barren wilderness, through a land of deserts and rifts, a land of drought and darkness, a land where no one travels and no one lives?’

Jeremiah 2:7 (NIV)

⁷ I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce. But you came and defiled my land and made my inheritance detestable.

Jeremiah 2:8 (NIV)

⁸ The priests did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD?’ Those who deal with the law did not know me; the leaders rebelled against me. The prophets prophesied by Baal, following worthless idols.

Jeremiah 2:9 (NIV)

⁹ “Therefore I bring charges against you again,” declares the LORD. “And I will bring charges against your children’s children.

Jeremiah 2:10 (AMP)

¹⁰ For cross over to the coasts of Cyprus [to the west] and see, send also to Kedar [to the east] and carefully consider; and see whether there has been such a thing as this:

Jeremiah 2:11 (NIV)

¹¹ Has a nation ever changed its gods? (Yet they are not gods at all.) But my people have exchanged their Glory for worthless idols.

Jeremiah 2:12 (NIV)

¹² Be appalled at this, O heavens, and shudder with great horror,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 2:13 (NIV)

¹³ “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.

Jeremiah 2:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ Is Israel a servant, a slave by birth? Why then has he become plunder?

Jeremiah 2:15 (AMP)

¹⁵ The young lions have roared over him and made their voices heard. And they have made his land a waste; his cities are burned ruins without inhabitant.

Jeremiah 2:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ Also, the men of Memphis and Tahpanhes have shaved the crown of your head.

Jeremiah 2:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ Have you not brought this on yourselves by forsaking the LORD your God when he led you in the way?

Jeremiah 2:18 (NASB)

¹⁸ “But now what are you doing on the road to Egypt, To drink the waters of the Nile? Or what are you doing on the road to Assyria, To drink the waters of the Euphrates?

Jeremiah 2:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ Your wickedness will punish you; your backsliding will rebuke you. Consider then and realize how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake the LORD your God and have no awe of me,” declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty.

Jeremiah 2:20 (NIV)

²⁰ “Long ago you broke off your yoke and tore off your bonds; you said, ‘I will not serve you!’ Indeed, on every high hill and under every spreading tree you lay down as a prostitute.

Jeremiah 2:21 (NIV)

²¹ I had planted you like a choice vine of sound and reliable stock. How then did you turn against me into a corrupt, wild vine?

Jeremiah 2:22 (NIV)

²² Although you wash yourself with soda and use an abundance of soap, the stain of your guilt is still before me,” declares the Sovereign LORD.

Jeremiah 2:23 (NIV)

²³ “How can you say, ‘I am not defiled; I have not run after the Baals’? See how you behaved in the valley; consider what you have done. You are a swift she-camel running here and there,

Jeremiah 2:24 (NIV)

²⁴ a wild donkey accustomed to the desert, sniffing the wind in her craving– in her heat who can restrain her? Any males that pursue her need not tire themselves; at mating time they will find her.

Jeremiah 2:25 (NIV)

²⁵ Do not run until your feet are bare and your throat is dry. But you said, ‘It’s no use! I love foreign gods, and I must go after them.’

Jeremiah 2:26 (NIV)

²⁶ “As a thief is disgraced when he is caught, so the house of Israel is disgraced– they, their kings and their officials, their priests and their prophets.

Jeremiah 2:27 (NIV)

²⁷ They say to wood, ‘You are my father,’ and to stone, ‘You gave me birth.’ They have turned their backs to me and not their faces; yet when they are in trouble, they say, ‘Come and save us!’

Jeremiah 2:28 (NIV)

²⁸ Where then are the gods you made for yourselves? Let them come if they can save you when you are in trouble! For you have as many gods as you have towns, O Judah.

Jeremiah 2:29 (NKJV)

²⁹ “Why will you plead with Me? You all have transgressed against Me,” says the LORD.

Jeremiah 2:30 (NIV)-M

³⁰ “In vain I punished your people; they did not respond to correction. Your [own] sword has devoured your prophets like a ravening lion.

Jeremiah 2:31 (AMP)

³¹ O generation [that you are]! Behold, consider, and regard the word of the Lord: Have I been a wilderness to Israel [like a land without food]? A land of deep darkness [like a way without light]? Why do My people say, We have broken loose [we are free and will roam at large]; we will come no more to You?

Jeremiah 2:32 (NIV)

³² Does a maiden forget her jewelry, a bride her wedding ornaments? Yet my people have forgotten me, days without number.

Jeremiah 2:33 (NIV)

³³ How skilled you are at pursuing love! Even the worst of women can learn from your ways.

Jeremiah 2:34 (NASB)

³⁴ “Also on your skirts is found The lifeblood of the innocent poor; You did not find them breaking in. But in spite of all these things,

Jeremiah 2:35 (NIV)

³⁵ you say, ‘I am innocent; he is not angry with me.’ But I will pass judgment on you because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’

Jeremiah 2:36 (NIV)

³⁶ Why do you go about so much, changing your ways? You will be disappointed by Egypt as you were by Assyria.

Jeremiah 2:37 (NIV)

³⁷ You will also leave that place with your hands on your head, for the LORD has rejected those you trust; you will not be helped by them.

Jeremiah Chapter 3

Jeremiah 3:1 (NIV)

¹ “If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him and marries another man, should he return to her again? Would not the land be completely defiled? But you have lived as a prostitute with many lovers– would you now return to me?” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 3:2 (NIV)

² “Look up to the barren heights and see. Is there any place where you have not been ravished? By the roadside you sat waiting for lovers, sat like a nomad in the desert. You have defiled the land with your prostitution and wickedness.

Jeremiah 3:3 (NIV)

³ Therefore the showers have been withheld, and no spring rains have fallen. Yet you have the brazen look of a prostitute; you refuse to blush with shame.

Jeremiah 3:4 (AMP)

⁴ Have you not just now cried to Me: My Father, You were the guide and companion of my youth?

Jeremiah 3:5 (NIV)

⁵ will you always be angry? Will your wrath continue forever?’ This is how you talk, but you do all the evil you can.”

Jeremiah 3:6 (NIV)

⁶ During the reign of King Josiah, the LORD said to me, “Have you seen what faithless Israel has done? She has gone up on every high hill and under every spreading tree and has committed adultery there.

Jeremiah 3:7 (NIV)

⁷ I thought that after she had done all this she would return to me but she did not, and her unfaithful sister Judah saw it.

Jeremiah 3:8 (NIV)

⁸ I gave faithless Israel her certificate of divorce and sent her away because of all her adulteries. Yet I saw that her unfaithful sister Judah had no fear; she also went out and committed adultery.

Jeremiah 3:9 (NIV)

⁹ Because Israel’s immorality mattered so little to her, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stone and wood.

Jeremiah 3:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ In spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to me with all her heart, but only in pretense,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 3:11 (NIV)

¹¹ The LORD said to me, “Faithless Israel is more righteous than unfaithful Judah.

Jeremiah 3:12 (NIV)

¹² Go, proclaim this message toward the north: “‘Return, faithless Israel,’ declares the LORD, ‘I will frown on you no longer, for I am merciful,’ declares the LORD, ‘I will not be angry forever.

Jeremiah 3:13 (NIV)

¹³ Only acknowledge your guilt– you have rebelled against the LORD your God, you have scattered your favors to foreign gods under every spreading tree, and have not obeyed me,'” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 3:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ “Return, faithless people,” declares the LORD, “for I am your husband. I will choose you–one from a town and two from a clan–and bring you to Zion.

Jeremiah 3:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will lead you with knowledge and understanding.

Jeremiah 3:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ In those days, when your numbers have increased greatly in the land,” declares the LORD, “men will no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of the LORD.’ It will never enter their minds or be remembered; it will not be missed, nor will another one be made.

Jeremiah 3:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ At that time they will call Jerusalem The Throne of the LORD, and all nations will gather in Jerusalem to honor the name of the LORD. No longer will they follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts.

Jeremiah 3:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ In those days the house of Judah will join the house of Israel, and together they will come from a northern land to the land I gave your forefathers as an inheritance.

Jeremiah 3:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ “I myself said, “‘How gladly would I treat you like sons and give you a desirable land, the most beautiful inheritance of any nation.’ I thought you would call me ‘Father’ and not turn away from following me.

Jeremiah 3:20 (NIV)

²⁰ But like a woman unfaithful to her husband, so you have been unfaithful to me, O house of Israel,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 3:21 (NIV)

²¹ A cry is heard on the barren heights, the weeping and pleading of the people of Israel, because they have perverted their ways and have forgotten the LORD their God.

Jeremiah 3:22 (NIV)

²² “Return, faithless people; I will cure you of backsliding.” “Yes, we will come to you, for you are the LORD our God.

Jeremiah 3:23 (NIV)

²³ Surely the [idolatrous] commotion on the hills and mountains is a deception; surely in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel.

Jeremiah 3:24 (NIV)

²⁴ From our youth shameful gods have consumed the fruits of our fathers’ labor– their flocks and herds, their sons and daughters.

Jeremiah 3:25 (NIV)

²⁵ Let us lie down in our shame, and let our disgrace cover us. We have sinned against the LORD our God, both we and our fathers; from our youth till this day we have not obeyed the LORD our God.”

Jeremiah Chapter 4

Jeremiah 4:1 (NIV)

¹ “If you will return, O Israel, return to me,” declares the LORD. “If you put your detestable idols out of my sight and no longer go astray,

Jeremiah 4:2 (NASB)

² And you will swear, ‘As the LORD lives,’ In truth, in justice and in righteousness; Then the nations will bless themselves in Him, And in Him they will glory.”

Jeremiah 4:3 (NIV)

³ This is what the LORD says to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem: “Break up your unplowed ground and do not sow among thorns.

Jeremiah 4:4 (NASB)

⁴ “Circumcise yourselves to the LORD And remove the foreskins of your heart, Men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, Or else My wrath will go forth like fire And burn with none to quench it, Because of the evil of your deeds.”

Jeremiah 4:5 (NIV)

⁵ “Announce in Judah and proclaim in Jerusalem and say: ‘Sound the trumpet throughout the land!’ Cry aloud and say: ‘Gather together! Let us flee to the fortified cities!’

Jeremiah 4:6 (NIV)

⁶ Raise the signal to go to Zion! Flee for safety without delay! For I am bringing disaster from the north, even terrible destruction.”

Jeremiah 4:7 (NASB)

⁷ “A lion has gone up from his thicket, And a destroyer of nations has set out; He has gone out from his place To make your land a waste. Your cities will be ruins Without inhabitant.

Jeremiah 4:8 (NASB)

⁸ “For this, put on sackcloth, Lament and wail; For the fierce anger of the LORD Has not turned back from us.”

Jeremiah 4:9 (NASB)

⁹ “It shall come about in that day,” declares the LORD, “that the heart of the king and the heart of the princes will fail; and the priests will be appalled and the prophets will be astounded.”

Jeremiah 4:10 (AMP)

¹⁰ Then I [Jeremiah] said, Alas, Lord God! Surely You have greatly deceived and misled this people and Jerusalem, [for the prophets represented You as] saying [to Your people], You shall have peace, whereas the sword has reached to [their very] life.

Jeremiah 4:11 (NASB)

¹¹ In that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A scorching wind from the bare heights in the wilderness in the direction of the daughter of My people—not to winnow and not to cleanse,

Jeremiah 4:12 (AMP)

¹² A wind too strong and full for winnowing comes at My word. Now I will also speak in judgment against [My people].

Jeremiah 4:13 (AMP)

¹³ Behold, [the enemy] comes up like clouds, his chariots like the whirlwind; his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are ruined (destroyed)!

Jeremiah 4:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ O Jerusalem, wash the evil from your heart and be saved. How long will you harbor wicked thoughts?

Jeremiah 4:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ A voice is announcing from Dan, proclaiming disaster from the hills of Ephraim.

Jeremiah 4:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ “Tell this to the nations, proclaim it to Jerusalem: ‘A besieging army is coming from a distant land, raising a war cry against the cities of Judah.

Jeremiah 4:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ They surround her like men guarding a field, because she has rebelled against me,'” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 4:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ “Your own conduct and actions have brought this upon you. This is your punishment. How bitter it is! How it pierces to the heart!”

Jeremiah 4:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ Oh, my anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain. Oh, the agony of my heart! My heart pounds within me, I cannot keep silent. For I have heard the sound of the trumpet; I have heard the battle cry.

Jeremiah 4:20 (NIV)

²⁰ Disaster follows disaster; the whole land lies in ruins. In an instant my tents are destroyed, my shelter in a moment.

Jeremiah 4:21 (NIV)

²¹ How long must I see the battle standard and hear the sound of the trumpet?

Jeremiah 4:22 (NIV)

²² “My people are fools; they do not know me. They are senseless children; they have no understanding. They are skilled in doing evil; they know not how to do good.”

Jeremiah 4:23 (NASB)

²³ I looked on the earth, and behold, it was formless and void; And to the heavens, and they had no light.

Jeremiah 4:24 (NIV)

²⁴ I looked at the mountains, and they were quaking; all the hills were swaying.

Jeremiah 4:25 (NIV)

²⁵ I looked, and there were no people; every bird in the sky had flown away.

Jeremiah 4:26 (NIV)

²⁶ I looked, and the fruitful land was a desert; all its towns lay in ruins before the LORD, before his fierce anger.

Jeremiah 4:27 (NIV)

²⁷ This is what the LORD says: “The whole land will be ruined, though I will not destroy it completely.

Jeremiah 4:28 (NIV)

²⁸ Therefore the earth will mourn and the heavens above grow dark, because I have spoken and will not relent, I have decided and will not turn back.”

Jeremiah 4:29 (NIV)

²⁹ At the sound of horsemen and archers every town takes to flight. Some go into the thickets; some climb up among the rocks. All the towns are deserted; no one lives in them.

Jeremiah 4:30 (NIV)

³⁰ What are you doing, O devastated one? Why dress yourself in scarlet and put on jewels of gold? Why shade your eyes with paint? You adorn yourself in vain. Your lovers despise you; they seek your life.

Jeremiah 4:31 (NIV)

³¹ I hear a cry as of a woman in labor, a groan as of one bearing her first child– the cry of the Daughter of Zion gasping for breath, stretching out her hands and saying, “Alas! I am fainting; my life is given over to murderers.”

Jeremiah Chapter 5

Jeremiah 5:1 (NIV)

¹ “Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem, look around and consider, search through her squares. If you can find but one person who deals honestly and seeks the truth, I will forgive this city.

Jeremiah 5:2 (NIV)

² Although they say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives,’ still they are swearing falsely.”

Jeremiah 5:3 (NIV)

³ O LORD, do not your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they felt no pain; you crushed them, but they refused correction. They made their faces harder than stone and refused to repent.

Jeremiah 5:4 (NIV)

⁴ I thought, “These are only the poor; they are foolish, for they do not know the way of the LORD, the requirements of their God.

Jeremiah 5:5 (NIV)

⁵ So I will go to the leaders and speak to them; surely they know the way of the LORD, the requirements of their God.” But with one accord they too had broken off the yoke and torn off the bonds.

Jeremiah 5:6 (NIV)

⁶ Therefore a lion from the forest will attack them, a wolf from the desert will ravage them, a leopard will lie in wait near their towns to tear to pieces any who venture out, for their rebellion is great and their backslidings many.

Jeremiah 5:7 (NIV)

⁷ “Why should I forgive you? Your children have forsaken me and sworn by gods that are not gods. I supplied all their needs, yet they committed adultery and thronged to the houses of prostitutes.

Jeremiah 5:8 (NIV)

⁸ They are well-fed, lusty stallions, each neighing for another man’s wife.

Jeremiah 5:9 (NIV)

⁹ Should I not punish them for this?” declares the LORD. “Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this?

Jeremiah 5:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ “Go through her vineyards and ravage them, but do not destroy them completely. Strip off her branches, for these people do not belong to the LORD.

Jeremiah 5:11 (NIV)

¹¹ The house of Israel and the house of Judah have been utterly unfaithful to me,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 5:12 (NIV)

¹² They have lied about the LORD; they said, “He will do nothing! No harm will come to us; we will never see sword or famine.

Jeremiah 5:13 (NIV)

¹³ The prophets are but wind and the word is not in them; so let what they say be done to them.”

Jeremiah 5:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ Therefore this is what the LORD God Almighty says: “Because the people have spoken these words, I will make my words in your mouth a fire and these people the wood it consumes.

Jeremiah 5:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ O house of Israel,” declares the LORD, “I am bringing a distant nation against you– an ancient and enduring nation, a people whose language you do not know, whose speech you do not understand.

Jeremiah 5:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ Their quivers are like an open grave; all of them are mighty warriors.

Jeremiah 5:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ They will devour your harvests and food, devour your sons and daughters; they will devour your flocks and herds, devour your vines and fig trees. With the sword they will destroy the fortified cities in which you trust.

Jeremiah 5:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ “Yet even in those days,” declares the LORD, “I will not destroy you completely.

Jeremiah 5:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ And when the people ask, ‘Why has the LORD our God done all this to us?’ you will tell them, ‘As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your own land, so now you will serve foreigners in a land not your own.’

Jeremiah 5:20 (NIV)

²⁰ “Announce this to the house of Jacob and proclaim it in Judah:

Jeremiah 5:21 (NIV)

²¹ Hear this, you foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear:

Jeremiah 5:22 (NIV)

²² Should you not fear me?” declares the LORD. “Should you not tremble in my presence? I made the sand a boundary for the sea, an everlasting barrier it cannot cross. The waves may roll, but they cannot prevail; they may roar, but they cannot cross it.

Jeremiah 5:23 (NIV)

²³ But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts; they have turned aside and gone away.

Jeremiah 5:24 (NIV)

²⁴ They do not say to themselves, ‘Let us fear the LORD our God, who gives autumn and spring rains in season, who assures us of the regular weeks of harvest.’

Jeremiah 5:25 (NIV)

²⁵ Your wrongdoings have kept these away; your sins have deprived you of good.

Jeremiah 5:26 (NIV)

²⁶ “Among my people are wicked men who lie in wait like men who snare birds and like those who set traps to catch men.

Jeremiah 5:27 (NIV)

²⁷ Like cages full of birds, their houses are full of deceit; they have become rich and powerful

Jeremiah 5:28 (NIV)

²⁸ and have grown fat and sleek. Their evil deeds have no limit; they do not plead the case of the fatherless to win it, they do not defend the rights of the poor.

Jeremiah 5:29 (NIV)

²⁹ Should I not punish them for this?” declares the LORD. “Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this?

Jeremiah 5:30 (NIV)

³⁰ “A horrible and shocking thing has happened in the land:

Jeremiah 5:31 (NIV)

³¹ The prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own authority, and my people love it this way. But what will you do in the end?

Jeremiah Chapter 6

Jeremiah 6:1 (NIV)

¹ “Flee for safety, people of Benjamin! Flee from Jerusalem! Sound the trumpet in Tekoa! Raise the signal over Beth Hakkerem! For disaster looms out of the north, even terrible destruction.

Jeremiah 6:2 (NIV)

² I will destroy the Daughter of Zion, so beautiful and delicate.

Jeremiah 6:3 (NIV)

³ Shepherds with their flocks will come against her; they will pitch their tents around her, each tending his own portion.”

Jeremiah 6:4 (NIV)

⁴ “Prepare for battle against her! Arise, let us attack at noon! But, alas, the daylight is fading, and the shadows of evening grow long.

Jeremiah 6:5 (NIV)

⁵ So arise, let us attack at night and destroy her fortresses!”

Jeremiah 6:6 (NIV)

⁶ This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Cut down the trees and build siege ramps against Jerusalem. This city must be punished; it is filled with oppression.

Jeremiah 6:7 (NIV)

⁷ As a well pours out its water, so she pours out her wickedness. Violence and destruction resound in her; her sickness and wounds are ever before me.

Jeremiah 6:8 (NIV)

⁸ Take warning, O Jerusalem, or I will turn away from you and make your land desolate so no one can live in it.”

Jeremiah 6:9 (NIV)

⁹ This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Let them glean the remnant of Israel as thoroughly as a vine; pass your hand over the branches again, like one gathering grapes.”

Jeremiah 6:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ To whom can I speak and give warning? Who will listen to me? Their ears are closed so they cannot hear. The word of the LORD is offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it.

Jeremiah 6:11 (NIV)

¹¹ But I am full of the wrath of the LORD, and I cannot hold it in. “Pour it out on the children in the street and on the young men gathered together; both husband and wife will be caught in it, and the old, those weighed down with years.

Jeremiah 6:12 (NIV)

¹² Their houses will be turned over to others, together with their fields and their wives, when I stretch out my hand against those who live in the land,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 6:13 (NIV)

¹³ “From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit.

Jeremiah 6:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. ‘Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace.

Jeremiah 6:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ Are they ashamed of their loathsome conduct? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; they will be brought down when I punish them,” says the LORD.

Jeremiah 6:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ This is what the LORD says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’

Jeremiah 6:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ I appointed watchmen over you and said, ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’ But you said, ‘We will not listen.’

Jeremiah 6:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ Therefore hear, O nations; observe, O witnesses, what will happen to them.

Jeremiah 6:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ Hear, O earth: I am bringing disaster on this people, the fruit of their schemes, because they have not listened to my words and have rejected my law.

Jeremiah 6:20 (NIV)

²⁰ What do I care about incense from Sheba or sweet calamus from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable; your sacrifices do not please me.”

Jeremiah 6:21 (NIV)

²¹ Therefore this is what the LORD says: “I will put obstacles before this people. Fathers and sons alike will stumble over them; neighbors and friends will perish.”

Jeremiah 6:22 (NIV)

²² This is what the LORD says: “Look, an army is coming from the land of the north; a great nation is being stirred up from the ends of the earth.

Jeremiah 6:23 (NIV)

²³ They are armed with bow and spear; they are cruel and show no mercy. They sound like the roaring sea as they ride on their horses; they come like men in battle formation to attack you, O Daughter of Zion.”

Jeremiah 6:24 (NIV)

²⁴ We have heard reports about them, and our hands hang limp. Anguish has gripped us, pain like that of a woman in labor.

Jeremiah 6:25 (NIV)

²⁵ Do not go out to the fields or walk on the roads, for the enemy has a sword, and there is terror on every side.

Jeremiah 6:26 (NIV)

²⁶ O my people, put on sackcloth and roll in ashes; mourn with bitter wailing as for an only son, for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us.

Jeremiah 6:27 (NIV)

²⁷ “I have made you a tester of metals and my people the ore, that you may observe and test their ways.

Jeremiah 6:28 (CJB)

²⁸ All of them are total rebels, spreading slanderous gossip; they are bronze and iron, [inferior metals,] all of them corrupt.

Jeremiah 6:29 (NIV)

²⁹ The bellows blow fiercely to burn away the lead with fire, but the refining goes on in vain; the wicked are not purged out.

Jeremiah 6:30 (NIV)

³⁰ They are called rejected silver, because the LORD has rejected them.”

Jeremiah Chapter 7

Jeremiah 7:1 (NIV)

¹ This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD:

Jeremiah 7:2 (NIV)

² “Stand at the gate of the LORD’s house and there proclaim this message: “‘Hear the word of the LORD, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the LORD.

Jeremiah 7:3 (NIV)

³ This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place.

Jeremiah 7:4 (AMP)

⁴ Trust not in the lying words [of the false prophets who maintain that God will protect Jerusalem because His temple is there], saying, This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.

Jeremiah 7:5 (NIV)

⁵ If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly,

Jeremiah 7:6 (NIV)

⁶ if you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm,

Jeremiah 7:7 (NIV)

⁷ then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your forefathers for ever and ever.

Jeremiah 7:8 (NIV)

⁸ But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless.

Jeremiah 7:9 (NIV)

⁹ “‘Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known,

Jeremiah 7:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, “We are safe”–safe to do all these detestable things?

Jeremiah 7:11 (NIV)

¹¹ Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 7:12 (NIV)

¹² “‘Go now to the place in Shiloh where I first made a dwelling for my Name, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel.

Jeremiah 7:13 (NIV)

¹³ While you were doing all these things, declares the LORD, I spoke to you again and again, but you did not listen; I called you, but you did not answer.

Jeremiah 7:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ Therefore, what I did to Shiloh I will now do to the house that bears my Name, the temple you trust in, the place I gave to you and your fathers.

Jeremiah 7:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ I will thrust you from my presence, just as I did all your brothers, the people of Ephraim.’

Jeremiah 7:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ “So do not pray for this people nor offer any plea or petition for them; do not plead with me, for I will not listen to you.

Jeremiah 7:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ Do you not see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

Jeremiah 7:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes of bread for the Queen of Heaven. They pour out drink offerings to other gods to provoke me to anger.

Jeremiah 7:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ But am I the one they are provoking? declares the LORD. Are they not rather harming themselves, to their own shame?

Jeremiah 7:20 (NIV)

²⁰ “‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: My anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place, on man and beast, on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground, and it will burn and not be quenched.

Jeremiah 7:21 (NIV)

²¹ “‘This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Go ahead, add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices and eat the meat yourselves!

Jeremiah 7:22 (NIV)

²² For when I brought your forefathers out of Egypt and spoke to them, I did not just give them commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices,

Jeremiah 7:23 (NIV)

²³ but I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in all the ways I command you, that it may go well with you.

Jeremiah 7:24 (NIV)

²⁴ But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts. They went backward and not forward.

Jeremiah 7:25 (NIV)

²⁵ From the time your forefathers left Egypt until now, day after day, again and again I sent you my servants the prophets.

Jeremiah 7:26 (NIV)

²⁶ But they did not listen to me or pay attention. They were stiff-necked and did more evil than their forefathers.’

Jeremiah 7:27 (NIV)

²⁷ “When you tell them all this, they will not listen to you; when you call to them, they will not answer.

Jeremiah 7:28 (NIV)

²⁸ Therefore say to them, ‘This is the nation that has not obeyed the LORD its God or responded to correction. Truth has perished; it has vanished from their lips.

Jeremiah 7:29 (NIV)

²⁹ Cut off your hair and throw it away; take up a lament on the barren heights, for the LORD has rejected and abandoned this generation that is under his wrath.

Jeremiah 7:30 (NIV)

³⁰ “‘The people of Judah have done evil in my eyes, declares the LORD. They have set up their detestable idols in the house that bears my Name and have defiled it.

Jeremiah 7:31 (NIV)

³¹ They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to burn their sons and daughters in the fire–something I did not command, nor did it enter my mind.

Jeremiah 7:32 (NIV)

³² So beware, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when people will no longer call it Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter, for they will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room.

Jeremiah 7:33 (NIV)

³³ Then the carcasses of this people will become food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and there will be no one to frighten them away.

Jeremiah 7:34 (NIV)

³⁴ I will bring an end to the sounds of joy and gladness and to the voices of bride and bridegroom in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem, for the land will become desolate.

Jeremiah Chapter 8

Jeremiah 8:1 (NIV)

¹ “‘At that time, declares the LORD, the bones of the kings and officials of Judah, the bones of the priests and prophets, and the bones of the people of Jerusalem will be removed from their graves.

Jeremiah 8:2 (NIV)

² They will be exposed to the sun and the moon and all the stars of the heavens, which they have loved and served and which they have followed and consulted and worshiped. They will not be gathered up or buried, but will be like refuse lying on the ground.

Jeremiah 8:3 (NIV)

³ Wherever I banish them, all the survivors of this evil nation will prefer death to life, declares the LORD Almighty.’

Jeremiah 8:4 (NIV)

⁴ “Say to them, ‘This is what the LORD says: “‘When men fall down, do they not get up? When a man turns away, does he not return?

Jeremiah 8:5 (NIV)

⁵ Why then have these people turned away? Why does Jerusalem always turn away? They cling to deceit; they refuse to return.

Jeremiah 8:6 (NIV)

⁶ I have listened attentively, but they do not say what is right. No one repents of his wickedness, saying, “What have I done?” Each pursues his own course like a horse charging into battle.

Jeremiah 8:7 (NIV)

⁷ Even the stork in the sky knows her appointed seasons, and the dove, the swift and the thrush observe the time of their migration. But my people do not know the requirements of the LORD.

Jeremiah 8:8 (NIV)

⁸ “‘How can you say, “We are wise, for we have the law of the LORD,” when actually the lying pen of the scribes has handled it falsely?

Jeremiah 8:9 (NIV)

⁹ The wise will be put to shame; they will be dismayed and trapped. Since they have rejected the word of the LORD, what kind of wisdom do they have?

Jeremiah 8:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ Therefore I will give their wives to other men and their fields to new owners. From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit.

Jeremiah 8:11 (NIV)

¹¹ They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. “Peace, peace,” they say, when there is no peace.

Jeremiah 8:12 (NIV)

¹² Are they ashamed of their loathsome conduct? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; they will be brought down when they are punished, says the LORD.

Jeremiah 8:13 (NIV)

¹³ “‘I will take away their harvest, declares the LORD. There will be no grapes on the vine. There will be no figs on the tree, and their leaves will wither. What I have given them will be taken from them.'”

Jeremiah 8:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ “Why are we sitting here? Gather together! Let us flee to the fortified cities and perish there! For the LORD our God has doomed us to perish and given us poisoned water to drink, because we have sinned against him.

Jeremiah 8:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ We hoped for peace but no good has come, for a time of healing but there was only terror.

Jeremiah 8:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ The snorting of the enemy’s horses is heard from Dan; at the neighing of their stallions the whole land trembles. They have come to devour the land and everything in it, the city and all who live there.”

Jeremiah 8:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ “See, I will send venomous snakes among you, vipers that cannot be charmed, and they will bite you,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 8:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ O my Comforter in sorrow, my heart is faint within me.

Jeremiah 8:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ Listen to the cry of my people from a land far away: “Is the LORD not in Zion? Is her King no longer there?” “Why have they provoked me to anger with their images, with their worthless foreign idols?”

Jeremiah 8:20 (NIV)

²⁰ “The harvest is past, the summer has ended, and we are not saved.”

Jeremiah 8:21 (AMP)

²¹ For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I [Jeremiah] hurt; I go around mourning; dismay has taken hold on me.

Jeremiah 8:22 (NIV)

²² Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is there no healing for the wound of my people?

Jeremiah Chapter 9

Jeremiah 9:1 (NIV)

¹ Oh, that my head were a spring of water and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night for the slain of my people.

Jeremiah 9:2 (NIV)

² Oh, that I had in the desert a lodging place for travelers, so that I might leave my people and go away from them; for they are all adulterers, a crowd of unfaithful people.

Jeremiah 9:3 (NIV)

³ “They make ready their tongue like a bow, to shoot lies; it is not by truth that they triumph in the land. They go from one sin to another; they do not acknowledge me,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 9:4 (NIV)

⁴ “Beware of your friends; do not trust your brothers. For every brother is a deceiver, and every friend a slanderer.

Jeremiah 9:5 (NIV)

⁵ Friend deceives friend, and no one speaks the truth. They have taught their tongues to lie; they weary themselves with sinning.

Jeremiah 9:6 (NIV)

⁶ You live in the midst of deception; in their deceit they refuse to acknowledge me,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 9:7 (NIV)

⁷ Therefore this is what the LORD Almighty says: “See, I will refine and test them, for what else can I do because of the sin of my people?

Jeremiah 9:8 (NIV)

⁸ Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks with deceit. With his mouth each speaks cordially to his neighbor, but in his heart he sets a trap for him.

Jeremiah 9:9 (NIV)

⁹ Should I not punish them for this?” declares the LORD. “Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this?”

Jeremiah 9:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ I will weep and wail for the mountains and take up a lament concerning the desert pastures. They are desolate and untraveled, and the lowing of cattle is not heard. The birds of the air have fled and the animals are gone.

Jeremiah 9:11 (NIV)

¹¹ “I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals; and I will lay waste the towns of Judah so no one can live there.”

Jeremiah 9:12 (NIV)

¹² What man is wise enough to understand this? Who has been instructed by the LORD and can explain it? Why has the land been ruined and laid waste like a desert that no one can cross?

Jeremiah 9:13 (NIV)

¹³ The LORD said, “It is because they have forsaken my law, which I set before them; they have not obeyed me or followed my law.

Jeremiah 9:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ Instead, they have followed the stubbornness of their hearts; they have followed the Baals, as their fathers taught them.”

Jeremiah 9:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ Therefore, this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “See, I will make this people eat bitter food and drink poisoned water.

Jeremiah 9:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ I will scatter them among nations that neither they nor their fathers have known, and I will pursue them with the sword until I have destroyed them.”

Jeremiah 9:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Consider now! Call for the wailing women to come; send for the most skillful of them.

Jeremiah 9:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ Let them come quickly and wail over us till our eyes overflow with tears and water streams from our eyelids.

Jeremiah 9:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ The sound of wailing is heard from Zion: ‘How ruined we are! How great is our shame! We must leave our land because our houses are in ruins.'”

Jeremiah 9:20 (NIV)

²⁰ Now, O women, hear the word of the LORD; open your ears to the words of his mouth. Teach your daughters how to wail; teach one another a lament.

Jeremiah 9:21 (NIV)

²¹ Death has climbed in through our windows and has entered our fortresses; it has cut off the children from the streets and the young men from the public squares.

Jeremiah 9:22 (NIV)

²² Say, “This is what the LORD declares: “‘The dead bodies of men will lie like refuse on the open field, like cut grain behind the reaper, with no one to gather them.'”

Jeremiah 9:23 (NIV)

²³ This is what the LORD says: “Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches,

Jeremiah 9:24 (NIV)

²⁴ but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 9:25 (NIV)

²⁵ “The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will punish all who are circumcised only in the flesh–

Jeremiah 9:26 (NIV)

²⁶ Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab and all who live in the desert in distant places. For all these nations are really uncircumcised, and even the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.”

Jeremiah Chapter 10

Jeremiah 10:1 (NIV)

¹ Hear what the LORD says to you, O house of Israel.

Jeremiah 10:2 (AMP)

² Thus says the Lord: Learn not the way of the [heathen] nations and be not dismayed at the signs of the heavens, though they are dismayed at them,

Jeremiah 10:3 (NIV)

³ For the customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel.

Jeremiah 10:4 (NIV)

⁴ They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter.

Jeremiah 10:5 (NIV)

⁵ Like a scarecrow in a melon patch, their idols cannot speak; they must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them; they can do no harm nor can they do any good.”

Jeremiah 10:6 (NIV)

⁶ No one is like you, O LORD; you are great, and your name is mighty in power.

Jeremiah 10:7 (NIV)

⁷ Who should not revere you, O King of the nations? This is your due. Among all the wise men of the nations and in all their kingdoms, there is no one like you.

Jeremiah 10:8 (AMP)

⁸ But they are altogether irrational and stupid and foolish. Their instruction is given by idols who are but wood [it is a teaching of falsity, emptiness, futility]!

Jeremiah 10:9 (NIV)

⁹ Hammered silver is brought from Tarshish and gold from Uphaz. What the craftsman and goldsmith have made is then dressed in blue and purple– all made by skilled workers.

Jeremiah 10:10 (NASB)

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

Jeremiah 10:11 (NIV)

¹¹ “Tell them this: ‘These gods, who did not make the heavens and the earth, will perish from the earth and from under the heavens.'”

Jeremiah 10:12 (NIV)

¹² But God made the earth by his power; he founded the world by his wisdom and stretched out the heavens by his understanding.

Jeremiah 10:13 (NIV)

¹³ When he thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth. He sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses.

Jeremiah 10:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ Everyone is senseless and without knowledge; every goldsmith is shamed by his idols. His images are a fraud; they have no breath in them.

Jeremiah 10:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ They are worthless, the objects of mockery; when their judgment comes, they will perish.

Jeremiah 10:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ He who is the Portion of Jacob is not like these, for he is the Maker of all things, including Israel, the tribe of his inheritance– the LORD Almighty is his name.

Jeremiah 10:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ Gather up your belongings to leave the land, you who live under siege.

Jeremiah 10:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ For this is what the LORD says: “At this time I will hurl out those who live in this land; I will bring distress on them so that they may be captured.”

Jeremiah 10:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ Woe to me because of my injury! My wound is incurable! Yet I said to myself, “This is my sickness, and I must endure it.”

Jeremiah 10:20 (NIV)

²⁰ My tent is destroyed; all its ropes are snapped. My sons are gone from me and are no more; no one is left now to pitch my tent or to set up my shelter.

Jeremiah 10:21 (NIV)

²¹ The shepherds are senseless and do not inquire of the LORD; so they do not prosper and all their flock is scattered.

Jeremiah 10:22 (NIV)

²² Listen! The report is coming– a great commotion from the land of the north! It will make the towns of Judah desolate, a haunt of jackals.

Jeremiah 10:23 (NLT)-M

²³ O Lord, I know that our lives are not our own and it is not in us to direct our own steps or to plan our own course (during our time on earth).

Jeremiah 10:24 (NLT)
²⁴ Correct me, LORD, but only with justice– not in your anger, lest you reduce me to nothing.

Jeremiah 10:25 (NIV)

²⁵ Pour out your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge you, on the peoples who do not call on your name. For they have devoured Jacob; they have devoured him completely and destroyed his homeland.

Jeremiah Chapter 11

Jeremiah 11:1 (NIV)

¹ This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD:

Jeremiah 11:2 (NIV)

² “Listen to the terms of this covenant and tell them to the people of Judah and to those who live in Jerusalem.

Jeremiah 11:3 (NIV)

³ Tell them that this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Cursed is the man who does not obey the terms of this covenant–

Jeremiah 11:4 (NIV)

⁴ the terms I commanded your forefathers when I brought them out of Egypt, out of the iron-smelting furnace.’ I said, ‘Obey me and do everything I command you, and you will be my people, and I will be your God.

Jeremiah 11:5 (NIV)

⁵ Then I will fulfill the oath I swore to your forefathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey’–the land you possess today.” I answered, “Amen, LORD.”

Jeremiah 11:6 (NIV)

⁶ The LORD said to me, “Proclaim all these words in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: ‘Listen to the terms of this covenant and follow them.

Jeremiah 11:7 (NIV)

⁷ From the time I brought your forefathers up from Egypt until today, I warned them again and again, saying, “Obey me.”

Jeremiah 11:8 (NIV)

⁸ But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubbornness of their evil hearts. So I brought on them all the curses of the covenant I had commanded them to follow but that they did not keep.'”

Jeremiah 11:9 (NIV)

⁹ Then the LORD said to me, “There is a conspiracy among the people of Judah and those who live in Jerusalem.

Jeremiah 11:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ They have returned to the sins of their forefathers, who refused to listen to my words. They have followed other gods to serve them. Both the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken the covenant I made with their forefathers.

Jeremiah 11:11 (NIV)

¹¹ Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘I will bring on them a disaster they cannot escape. Although they cry out to me, I will not listen to them.

Jeremiah 11:12 (NIV)

¹² The towns of Judah and the people of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to whom they burn incense, but they will not help them at all when disaster strikes.

Jeremiah 11:13 (NIV)

¹³ You have as many gods as you have towns, O Judah; and the altars you have set up to burn incense to that shameful god Baal are as many as the streets of Jerusalem.’

Jeremiah 11:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ “Do not pray for this people nor offer any plea or petition for them, because I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their distress.

Jeremiah 11:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ “What is my beloved doing in my temple as she works out her evil schemes with many? Can consecrated meat avert [your punishment]? When you engage in your wickedness, then you rejoice.”

Jeremiah 11:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ The LORD called you a thriving olive tree with fruit beautiful in form. But with the roar of a mighty storm he will set it on fire, and its branches will be broken.

Jeremiah 11:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ The LORD Almighty, who planted you, has decreed disaster for you, because the house of Israel and the house of Judah have done evil and provoked me to anger by burning incense to Baal.

Jeremiah 11:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ Because the LORD revealed their plot to me, I knew it, for at that time he showed me what they were doing.

Jeremiah 11:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ I had been like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter; I did not realize that they had plotted against me, saying, “Let us destroy the tree and its fruit; let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name be remembered no more.”

Jeremiah 11:20 (NIV)

²⁰ But, O LORD Almighty, you who judge righteously and test the heart and mind, let me see your vengeance upon them, for to you I have committed my cause.

Jeremiah 11:21 (NIV)

²¹ “Therefore this is what the LORD says about the men of Anathoth who are seeking your life and saying, ‘Do not prophesy in the name of the LORD or you will die by our hands’–

Jeremiah 11:22 (NIV)

²² therefore this is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘I will punish them. Their young men will die by the sword, their sons and daughters by famine.

Jeremiah 11:23 (NIV)

²³ Not even a remnant will be left to them, because I will bring disaster on the men of Anathoth in the year of their punishment.'”

Jeremiah Chapter 12

Jeremiah 12:1 (NIV)

¹ You are always righteous, O LORD, when I bring a case before you. Yet I would speak with you about your justice: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease?

Jeremiah 12:2 (NIV)

² You have planted them, and they have taken root; they grow and bear fruit. You are always on their lips but far from their hearts.

Jeremiah 12:3 (NIV)

³ Yet you know me, O LORD; you see me and test my thoughts about you. Drag them off like sheep to be butchered! Set them apart for the day of slaughter!

Jeremiah 12:4 (NIV)

⁴ How long will the land lie parched and the grass in every field be withered? Because those who live in it are wicked, the animals and birds have perished. Moreover, the people are saying, “He will not see what happens to us.”

Jeremiah 12:5 (NIV)

⁵ “If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in safe country, how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan?

Jeremiah 12:6 (NIV)

⁶ Your brothers, your own family– even they have betrayed you; they have raised a loud cry against you. Do not trust them, though they speak well of you.

Jeremiah 12:7 (NASB)

⁷ “I have forsaken My house, I have abandoned My inheritance; I have given the beloved of My soul Into the hand of her enemies.

Jeremiah 12:8 (AMP)

⁸ My heritage has become to Me like a lion in the forest; she has uttered her voice against Me; therefore I have [treated her as if I] hated her.

Jeremiah 12:9 (NIV)

⁹ Has not my inheritance become to me like a speckled bird of prey that other birds of prey surround and attack? Go and gather all the wild beasts; bring them to devour.

Jeremiah 12:10 (NASB)

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

Jeremiah 12:11 (NASB)

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

Jeremiah 12:12 (NIV)

¹² Over all the barren heights in the desert destroyers will swarm, for the sword of the LORD will devour from one end of the land to the other; no one will be safe.

Jeremiah 12:13 (NIV)

¹³ They will sow wheat but reap thorns; they will wear themselves out but gain nothing. So bear the shame of your harvest because of the LORD’s fierce anger.”

Jeremiah 12:14 (NASB)

¹⁴ Thus says the LORD concerning all My wicked neighbors who strike at the inheritance with which I have endowed My people Israel, “Behold I am about to uproot them from their land and will uproot the house of Judah from among them.

Jeremiah 12:15 (AMP)

¹⁵ And after I have plucked them up, I will return and have compassion on them and will bring them back again, every man to his heritage and every man to his land.

Jeremiah 12:16 (NASB)

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

Jeremiah 12:17 (AMP)

¹⁷ But if any nation will not hear and obey, I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation, says the Lord.

Jeremiah Chapter 13

Jeremiah 13:1 (NIV)

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

Jeremiah 13:2 (NIV)

² So I bought a belt, as the LORD directed, and put it around my waist.

Jeremiah 13:3 (NIV)

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

Jeremiah 13:4 (NASB)

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

Jeremiah 13:5 (NASB)

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

Jeremiah 13:6 (NIV)

⁶ Many days later the LORD said to me, “Go now to Perath and get the belt I told you to hide there.”

Jeremiah 13:7 (NIV)

⁷ So I went to Perath and dug up the belt and took it from the place where I had hidden it, but now it was ruined and completely useless.

Jeremiah 13:8 (NASB)

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

Jeremiah 13:9 (NIV)

⁹ “This is what the LORD says: ‘In the same way I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem.

Jeremiah 13:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ These wicked people, who refuse to listen to my words, who follow the stubbornness of their hearts and go after other gods to serve and worship them, will be like this belt–completely useless!

Jeremiah 13:11 (NIV)

¹¹ For as a belt is bound around a man’s waist, so I bound the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to me,’ declares the LORD, ‘to be my people for my renown and praise and honor. But they have not listened.’

Jeremiah 13:12 (NIV)

¹² “Say to them: ‘This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Every wineskin should be filled with wine.’ And if they say to you, ‘Don’t we know that every wineskin should be filled with wine?’

Jeremiah 13:13 (NIV)

¹³ then tell them, ‘This is what the LORD says: I am going to fill with drunkenness all who live in this land, including the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets and all those living in Jerusalem.

Jeremiah 13:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ I will smash them one against the other, fathers and sons alike, declares the LORD. I will allow no pity or mercy or compassion to keep me from destroying them.'”

Jeremiah 13:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ Hear and pay attention, do not be arrogant, for the LORD has spoken.

Jeremiah 13:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ Give glory to the LORD your God before he brings the darkness, before your feet stumble on the darkening hills. You hope for light, but he will turn it to thick darkness and change it to deep gloom.

Jeremiah 13:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ But if you do not listen, I will weep in secret because of your pride; my eyes will weep bitterly, overflowing with tears, because the LORD’s flock will be taken captive.

Jeremiah 13:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ Say to the king and to the queen mother, “Come down from your thrones, for your glorious crowns will fall from your heads.”

Jeremiah 13:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ The cities in the Negev will be shut up, and there will be no one to open them. All Judah will be carried into exile, carried completely away.

Jeremiah 13:20 (AMP)

²⁰ Lift up your eyes and behold those [the eruption of a hostile army] who come from the north. Where is the flock that was given to you [to shepherd], your beautiful flock?

Jeremiah 13:21 (NIV)

²¹ What will you say when [the LORD] sets over you those you cultivated as your special allies? Will not pain grip you like that of a woman in labor?

Jeremiah 13:22 (NIV)

²² And if you ask yourself, “Why has this happened to me?”– it is because of your many sins that your skirts have been torn off and your body mistreated.

Jeremiah 13:23 (NIV)

²³ Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil.

Jeremiah 13:24 (NIV)

²⁴ “I will scatter you like chaff driven by the desert wind.

Jeremiah 13:25 (NIV)

²⁵ This is your lot, the portion I have decreed for you,” declares the LORD, “because you have forgotten me and trusted in false gods.

Jeremiah 13:26 (NIV)

²⁶ I will pull up your skirts over your face that your shame may be seen–

Jeremiah 13:27 (NIV)

²⁷ your adulteries and lustful neighings, your shameless prostitution! I have seen your detestable acts on the hills and in the fields. Woe to you, O Jerusalem! How long will you be unclean?”

Jeremiah Chapter 14

Jeremiah 14:1 (NIV)

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

Jeremiah 14:2 (NIV)

² “Judah mourns, her cities languish; they wail for the land, and a cry goes up from Jerusalem.

Jeremiah 14:3 (NIV)

³ The nobles send their servants for water; they go to the cisterns but find no water. They return with their jars unfilled; dismayed and despairing, they cover their heads.

Jeremiah 14:4 (NIV)

⁴ The ground is cracked because there is no rain in the land; the farmers are dismayed and cover their heads.

Jeremiah 14:5 (NIV)

⁵ Even the doe in the field deserts her newborn fawn because there is no grass.

Jeremiah 14:6 (NIV)

⁶ Wild donkeys stand on the barren heights and pant like jackals; their eyesight fails for lack of pasture.”

Jeremiah 14:7 (NIV)

⁷ Although our sins testify against us, O LORD, do something for the sake of your name. For our backsliding is great; we have sinned against you.

Jeremiah 14:8 (NIV)

⁸ O Hope of Israel, its Savior in times of distress, why are you like a stranger in the land, like a traveler who stays only a night?

Jeremiah 14:9 (NIV)

⁹ Why are you like a man taken by surprise, like a warrior powerless to save? You are among us, O LORD, and we bear your name; do not forsake us!

Jeremiah 14:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ This is what the LORD says about this people: “They greatly love to wander; they do not restrain their feet. So the LORD does not accept them; he will now remember their wickedness and punish them for their sins.”

Jeremiah 14:11 (NIV)

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

Jeremiah 14:12 (NIV)

¹² Although they fast, I will not listen to their cry; though they offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Instead, I will destroy them with the sword, famine and plague.”

Jeremiah 14:13 (NIV)

¹³ But I said, “Ah, Sovereign LORD, the prophets keep telling them, ‘You will not see the sword or suffer famine. Indeed, I will give you lasting peace in this place.'”

Jeremiah 14:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ Then the LORD said to me, “The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I have not sent them or appointed them or spoken to them. They are prophesying to you false visions, divinations, idolatries and the delusions of their own minds.

Jeremiah 14:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ Therefore, this is what the LORD says about the prophets who are prophesying in my name: I did not send them, yet they are saying, ‘No sword or famine will touch this land.’ Those same prophets will perish by sword and famine.

Jeremiah 14:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ And the people they are prophesying to will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and sword. There will be no one to bury them or their wives, their sons or their daughters. I will pour out on them the calamity they deserve.

Jeremiah 14:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ “Speak this word to them: “‘Let my eyes overflow with tears night and day without ceasing; for my virgin daughter–my people– has suffered a grievous wound, a crushing blow.

Jeremiah 14:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ If I go into the country, I see those slain by the sword; if I go into the city, I see the ravages of famine. Both prophet and priest have gone to a land they know not.'”

Jeremiah 14:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ Have you rejected Judah completely? Do you despise Zion? Why have you afflicted us so that we cannot be healed? We hoped for peace but no good has come, for a time of healing but there is only terror.

Jeremiah 14:20 (NIV)

²⁰ O LORD, we acknowledge our wickedness and the guilt of our fathers; we have indeed sinned against you.

Jeremiah 14:21 (NIV)

²¹ For the sake of your name do not despise us; do not dishonor your glorious throne. Remember your covenant with us and do not break it.

Jeremiah 14:22 (NIV)

²² Do any of the worthless idols of the nations bring rain? Do the skies themselves send down showers? No, it is you, O LORD our God. Therefore our hope is in you, for you are the one who does all this.

Jeremiah Chapter 15

Jeremiah 15:1 (NLT2)

¹ Then the LORD said to me, “Even if Moses and Samuel stood before me pleading for these people, I wouldn’t help them. Away with them! Get them out of my sight!

Jeremiah 15:2 (NIV)

² And if they ask you, ‘Where shall we go?’ tell them, ‘This is what the LORD says: “‘Those destined for death, to death; those for the sword, to the sword; those for starvation, to starvation; those for captivity, to captivity.’

Jeremiah 15:3 (NIV)

³ “I will send four kinds of destroyers against them,” declares the LORD, “the sword to kill and the dogs to drag away and the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy.

Jeremiah 15:4 (NIV)

⁴ I will make them abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth because of what Manasseh son of Hezekiah king of Judah did in Jerusalem.

Jeremiah 15:5 (NASB)

⁵ “Indeed, who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem, Or who will mourn for you, Or who will turn aside to ask about your welfare?

Jeremiah 15:6 (NIV)

⁶ You have rejected me,” declares the LORD. “You keep on backsliding. So I will lay hands on you and destroy you; I can no longer show compassion.

Jeremiah 15:7 (NIV)

⁷ I will winnow them with a winnowing fork at the city gates of the land. I will bring bereavement and destruction on my people, for they have not changed their ways.

Jeremiah 15:8 (NIV)

⁸ I will make their widows more numerous than the sand of the sea. At midday I will bring a destroyer against the mothers of their young men; suddenly I will bring down on them anguish and terror.

Jeremiah 15:9 (NIV)

⁹ The mother of seven will grow faint and breathe her last. Her sun will set while it is still day; she will be disgraced and humiliated. I will put the survivors to the sword before their enemies,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 15:10 (NASB)

¹⁰ Woe to me, my mother, that you have borne me As a man of strife and a man of contention to all the land! I have not lent, nor have men lent money to me, Yet everyone curses me.

Jeremiah 15:11 (NIV)

¹¹ The LORD said, “Surely I will deliver you for a good purpose; surely I will make your enemies plead with you in times of disaster and times of distress.

Jeremiah 15:12 (NIV)

¹² “Can a man break iron– iron from the north–or bronze?

Jeremiah 15:13 (NIV)

¹³ Your wealth and your treasures I will give as plunder, without charge, because of all your sins throughout your country.

Jeremiah 15:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ I will enslave you to your enemies in a land you do not know, for my anger will kindle a fire that will burn against you.”

Jeremiah 15:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ You understand, O LORD; remember me and care for me. Avenge me on my persecutors. You are long-suffering–do not take me away; think of how I suffer reproach for your sake.

Jeremiah 15:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight, for I bear your name, O LORD God Almighty.

Jeremiah 15:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ I never sat in the company of revelers, never made merry with them; I sat alone because your hand was on me and you had filled me with indignation.

Jeremiah 15:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ Why is my pain unending and my wound grievous and incurable? Will you be to me like a deceptive brook, like a spring that fails?

Jeremiah 15:19 (7KB)

¹⁹ Therefore, this is what the LORD says to Jeremiah the Prophet: “If you return, (and overcome your negativity) I will restore you as my Prophet and you will stand in My presence. And if you speak noble ⌊words⌋, rather than worthless ones, then you will be My spokesman as before. As for these people, they must be the ones to repent and turn to you but you must not turn to them.

Jeremiah 15:20 (NIV)

²⁰ I will make you a wall to this people, a fortified wall of bronze; they will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you to rescue and save you,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 15:21 (NIV)

²¹ “I will save you from the hands of the wicked and redeem you from the grasp of the cruel.”

Jeremiah Chapter 16

Jeremiah 16:1 (NIV)

¹ Then the word of the LORD came to me:

Jeremiah 16:2 (NIV)

² “You must not marry and have sons or daughters in this place.”

Jeremiah 16:3 (NIV)

³ For this is what the LORD says about the sons and daughters born in this land and about the women who are their mothers and the men who are their fathers:

Jeremiah 16:4 (NIV)

⁴ “They will die of deadly diseases. They will not be mourned or buried but will be like refuse lying on the ground. They will perish by sword and famine, and their dead bodies will become food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth.”

Jeremiah 16:5 (NIV)

⁵ For this is what the LORD says: “Do not enter a house where there is a funeral meal; do not go to mourn or show sympathy, because I have withdrawn my blessing, my love and my pity from this people,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 16:6 (NIV)

⁶ “Both high and low will die in this land. They will not be buried or mourned, and no one will cut himself or shave his head for them.

Jeremiah 16:7 (NIV)

⁷ No one will offer food to comfort those who mourn for the dead–not even for a father or a mother–nor will anyone give them a drink to console them.

Jeremiah 16:8 (NIV)

⁸ “And do not enter a house where there is feasting and sit down to eat and drink.

Jeremiah 16:9 (NIV)

⁹ For this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Before your eyes and in your days I will bring an end to the sounds of joy and gladness and to the voices of bride and bridegroom in this place.

Jeremiah 16:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ “When you tell these people all this and they ask you, ‘Why has the LORD decreed such a great disaster against us? What wrong have we done? What sin have we committed against the LORD our God?’

Jeremiah 16:11 (NIV)

¹¹ then say to them, ‘It is because your fathers forsook me,’ declares the LORD, ‘and followed other gods and served and worshiped them. They forsook me and did not keep my law.

Jeremiah 16:12 (NIV)

¹² But you have behaved more wickedly than your fathers. See how each of you is following the stubbornness of his evil heart instead of obeying me.

Jeremiah 16:13 (NIV)

¹³ So I will throw you out of this land into a land neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you will serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor.’

Jeremiah 16:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ “However, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when men will no longer say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,’

Jeremiah 16:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ but they will say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where he had banished them.’ For I will restore them to the land I gave their forefathers.

Jeremiah 16:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ “But now I will send for many fishermen,” declares the LORD, “and they will catch them. After that I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill and from the crevices of the rocks.

Jeremiah 16:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from me, nor is their sin concealed from my eyes.

Jeremiah 16:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ I will repay them double for their wickedness and their sin, because they have defiled my land with the lifeless forms of their vile images and have filled my inheritance with their detestable idols.”

Jeremiah 16:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ O LORD, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in time of distress, to you the nations will come from the ends of the earth and say, “Our fathers possessed nothing but false gods, worthless idols that did them no good.

Jeremiah 16:20 (CJB)

²⁰ Can a person make himself gods? (In fact they aren’t gods at all.)

Jeremiah 16:21 (CJB-M

²¹ “Therefore, I will make them know, once and for all, I will make them know my power and my might. Then they will know that my name is the Lord.

Jeremiah Chapter 17

Jeremiah 17:1 (CJB)-M

¹ “Judah’s sin is written with an iron pen; with a diamond point it is engraved on the tablet of their hearts and on the horns of your altars.

Jeremiah 17:2 (CJB)

² As they remember their children, so they remember their altars and their sacred poles by the green trees on the high hills.

Jeremiah 17:3 (NIV)

³ My mountain in the land and your wealth and all your treasures I will give away as plunder, together with your high places, because of sin throughout your country.

Jeremiah 17:4 (CJB)

⁴ You will relinquish your hold on your heritage which I gave you. I will make you serve your enemies in a land you do not know. For you have kindled my fiery anger, and it will burn forever.”

Jeremiah 17:5 (NIV)-M

⁵ This is what the Lord says: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on humans for his strength and whose heart departs from the Lord.

Jeremiah 17:6 (NIV)-M

⁶ He will be like a bush in the wastelands; he will not see prosperity when it comes. He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives.

Jeremiah 17:7 (NIV)

⁷ “But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him.

Jeremiah 17:8 (NIV)

⁸ He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”

Jeremiah 17:9 (ASV)-M

⁹ The human heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly corrupt: who can know it?

Jeremiah 17:10 (NLT2)-M

¹⁰ But I, the Lord, search all human hearts and examine their secret motives. I give to everyone their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve.”

Jeremiah 17:11 (NIV)

¹¹ Like a partridge that hatches eggs it did not lay is the man who gains riches by unjust means. When his life is half gone, they will desert him, and in the end he will prove to be a fool.

Jeremiah 17:12 (NIV)

¹² A glorious throne, exalted from the beginning, is the place of our sanctuary.

Jeremiah 17:13 (NASB)

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

Jeremiah 17:14 (AMP)

¹⁴ Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved, for You are my praise.

Jeremiah 17:15 (AMP)

¹⁵ Behold, they say to me, Where is the word of the Lord [predicting the disaster that you said would befall us]? Let it come now!

Jeremiah 17:16 (AMP)

¹⁶ But as for me, I have not sought to escape from being a shepherd after You, nor have I desired the woeful day [of judgment]; You know that. Whatever I said was spoken in Your presence and was from You.

Jeremiah 17:17 (NIV)

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

Jeremiah 17:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ Let my persecutors be put to shame, but keep me from shame; let them be terrified, but keep me from terror. Bring on them the day of disaster; destroy them with double destruction.

Jeremiah 17:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ This is what the LORD said to me: “Go and stand at the gate of the people, through which the kings of Judah go in and out; stand also at all the other gates of Jerusalem.

Jeremiah 17:20 (NIV)

²⁰ Say to them, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah and all people of Judah and everyone living in Jerusalem who come through these gates.

Jeremiah 17:21 (NIV)

²¹ This is what the LORD says: Be careful not to carry a load on the Sabbath day or bring it through the gates of Jerusalem.

Jeremiah 17:22 (NIV)

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

Jeremiah 17:23 (NIV)

²³ Yet they did not listen or pay attention; they were stiff-necked and would not listen or respond to discipline.

Jeremiah 17:24 (NIV)

²⁴ But if you are careful to obey me, declares the LORD, and bring no load through the gates of this city on the Sabbath, but keep the Sabbath day holy by not doing any work on it,

Jeremiah 17:25 (NIV)

²⁵ then kings who sit on David’s throne will come through the gates of this city with their officials. They and their officials will come riding in chariots and on horses, accompanied by the men of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, and this city will be inhabited forever.

Jeremiah 17:26 (NIV)

²⁶ People will come from the towns of Judah and the villages around Jerusalem, from the territory of Benjamin and the western foothills, from the hill country and the Negev, bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings, incense and thank offerings to the house of the LORD.

Jeremiah 17:27 (NIV)

²⁷ But if you do not obey me to keep the Sabbath day holy by not carrying any load as you come through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle an unquenchable fire in the gates of Jerusalem that will consume her fortresses.'”

Jeremiah Chapter 18

Jeremiah 18:1 (NIV)

¹ This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD:

Jeremiah 18:2 (NIV)

² “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.”

Jeremiah 18:3 (NIV)

³ So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel.

Jeremiah 18:4 (NIV)

⁴ But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.

Jeremiah 18:5 (NIV)

⁵ Then the word of the LORD came to me:

Jeremiah 18:6 (NIV)

⁶ “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?” declares the LORD. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.

Jeremiah 18:7 (NIV)

⁷ If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed,

Jeremiah 18:8 (NIV)

⁸ and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned.

Jeremiah 18:9 (NIV)

⁹ And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted,

Jeremiah 18:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it.

Jeremiah 18:11 (NIV)

¹¹ “Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, ‘This is what the LORD says: Look! I am preparing a disaster for you and devising a plan against you. So turn from your evil ways, each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.’

Jeremiah 18:12 (NIV)

¹² But they will reply, ‘It’s no use. We will continue with our own plans; each of us will follow the stubbornness of his evil heart.'”

Jeremiah 18:13 (NIV)

¹³ Therefore this is what the LORD says: “Inquire among the nations: Who has ever heard anything like this? A most horrible thing has been done by Virgin Israel.

Jeremiah 18:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ Does the snow of Lebanon ever vanish from its rocky slopes? Do its cool waters from distant sources ever cease to flow?

Jeremiah 18:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ Yet my people have forgotten me; they burn incense to worthless idols, which made them stumble in their ways and in the ancient paths. They made them walk in bypaths and on roads not built up.

Jeremiah 18:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ Their land will be laid waste, an object of lasting scorn; all who pass by will be appalled and will shake their heads.

Jeremiah 18:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ Like a wind from the east, I will scatter them before their enemies; I will show them my back and not my face in the day of their disaster.”

Jeremiah 18:18 (AMP)

¹⁸ Then [my enemies] said, Come and let us devise schemes against Jeremiah; for the law [of Moses] shall not perish from the priest [as this false prophet Jeremiah predicts], nor will counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, let us smite him with the tongue [making a charge against him to the king], and let us not pay any attention to his words.

Jeremiah 18:19 (AMP)

¹⁹ Give heed to me, Lord; listen to [what] my adversaries [are plotting to do to me—and intercede].

Jeremiah 18:20 (AMP)

²⁰ Shall evil be recompensed for good? Yet they have dug a pit for my life. [Earnestly] remember that I stood before You to speak good for them, to turn away Your anger from them.

Jeremiah 18:21 (AMP)

²¹ Therefore deliver up their children to the famine; give them over to the power of the sword. And let their wives become childless and widows; let their men meet death by pestilence, their young men be slain by the sword in battle.

Jeremiah 18:22 (NIV)

²² Let a cry be heard from their houses when you suddenly bring invaders against them, for they have dug a pit to capture me and have hidden snares for my feet.

Jeremiah 18:23 (NIV)

²³ But you know, O LORD, all their plots to kill me. Do not forgive their crimes or blot out their sins from your sight. Let them be overthrown before you; deal with them in the time of your anger.

Jeremiah Chapter 19

Jeremiah 19:1 (NIV)

¹ This is what the LORD says: “Go and buy a clay jar from a potter. Take along some of the elders of the people and of the priests

Jeremiah 19:2 (NIV)

² and go out to the Valley of Ben Hinnom, near the entrance of the Potsherd Gate. There proclaim the words I tell you,

Jeremiah 19:3 (NIV)

³ and say, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah and people of Jerusalem. This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Listen! I am going to bring a disaster on this place that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle.

Jeremiah 19:4 (NIV)

⁴ For they have forsaken me and made this a place of foreign gods; they have burned sacrifices in it to gods that neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah ever knew, and they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent.

Jeremiah 19:5 (NIV)

⁵ They have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as offerings to Baal–something I did not command or mention, nor did it enter my mind.

Jeremiah 19:6 (NIV)

⁶ So beware, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when people will no longer call this place Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.

Jeremiah 19:7 (NIV)

⁷ “‘In this place I will ruin the plans of Judah and Jerusalem. I will make them fall by the sword before their enemies, at the hands of those who seek their lives, and I will give their carcasses as food to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth.

Jeremiah 19:8 (NIV)

⁸ I will devastate this city and make it an object of scorn; all who pass by will be appalled and will scoff because of all its wounds.

Jeremiah 19:9 (NIV)

⁹ I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and daughters, and they will eat one another’s flesh during the stress of the siege imposed on them by the enemies who seek their lives.’

Jeremiah 19:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ “Then break the jar while those who go with you are watching,

Jeremiah 19:11 (NIV)

¹¹ and say to them, ‘This is what the LORD Almighty says: I will smash this nation and this city just as this potter’s jar is smashed and cannot be repaired. They will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room.

Jeremiah 19:12 (NIV)

¹² This is what I will do to this place and to those who live here, declares the LORD. I will make this city like Topheth.

Jeremiah 19:13 (NIV)

¹³ The houses in Jerusalem and those of the kings of Judah will be defiled like this place, Topheth–all the houses where they burned incense on the roofs to all the starry hosts and poured out drink offerings to other gods.'”

Jeremiah 19:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ Jeremiah then returned from Topheth, where the LORD had sent him to prophesy, and stood in the court of the LORD’s temple and said to all the people,

Jeremiah 19:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ “This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘Listen! I am going to bring on this city and the villages around it every disaster I pronounced against them, because they were stiff-necked and would not listen to my words.'”

Jeremiah Chapter 20

Jeremiah 20:1 (NIV)

¹ When the priest Pashhur son of Immer, the chief officer in the temple of the LORD, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things,

Jeremiah 20:2 (NIV)

² he had Jeremiah the prophet beaten and put in the stocks at the Upper Gate of Benjamin at the LORD’s temple.

Jeremiah 20:3 (NIV)

³ The next day, when Pashhur released him from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, “The LORD’s name for you is not Pashhur, but Magor-Missabib.

Jeremiah 20:4 (NIV)

⁴ For this is what the LORD says: ‘I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends; with your own eyes you will see them fall by the sword of their enemies. I will hand all Judah over to the king of Babylon, who will carry them away to Babylon or put them to the sword.

Jeremiah 20:5 (NIV)

⁵ I will hand over to their enemies all the wealth of this city–all its products, all its valuables and all the treasures of the kings of Judah. They will take it away as plunder and carry it off to Babylon.

Jeremiah 20:6 (NIV)

⁶ And you, Pashhur, and all who live in your house will go into exile to Babylon. There you will die and be buried, you and all your friends to whom you have prophesied lies.'”

Jeremiah 20:7 (AMP)

⁷ [But Jeremiah said] O Lord, You have persuaded and deceived me, and I was persuaded and deceived; You are stronger than I am and You have prevailed. I am a laughingstock all the day; everyone mocks me.

Jeremiah 20:8 (NIV)

⁸ Whenever I speak, I cry out proclaiming violence and destruction. So the word of the LORD has brought me insult and reproach all day long.

Jeremiah 20:9 (NIV)

⁹ But if I say, “I will not mention him or speak any more in his name,” his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.

Jeremiah 20:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ I hear many whispering, “Terror on every side! Report him! Let’s report him!” All my friends are waiting for me to slip, saying, “Perhaps he will be deceived; then we will prevail over him and take our revenge on him.”

Jeremiah 20:11 (AMP)

¹¹ But the Lord is with me as a mighty and terrible One; therefore my persecutors will stumble, and they will not overcome [me]. They will be utterly put to shame, for they will not deal wisely or prosper [in their schemes]; their eternal dishonor will never be forgotten.

Jeremiah 20:12 (NIV)

¹² O LORD Almighty, you who examine the righteous and probe the heart and mind, let me see your vengeance upon them, for to you I have committed my cause.

Jeremiah 20:13 (NIV)

¹³ Sing to the LORD! Give praise to the LORD! He rescues the life of the needy from the hands of the wicked.

Jeremiah 20:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ Cursed be the day I was born! May the day my mother bore me not be blessed!

Jeremiah 20:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ Cursed be the man who brought my father the news, who made him very glad, saying, “A child is born to you–a son!”

Jeremiah 20:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ May that man be like the towns the LORD overthrew without pity. May he hear wailing in the morning, a battle cry at noon.

Jeremiah 20:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ For he did not kill me in the womb, with my mother as my grave, her womb enlarged forever.

Jeremiah 20:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ Why did I ever come out of the womb to see trouble and sorrow and to end my days in shame?

Jeremiah Chapter 21

Jeremiah 21:1 (NASB)

¹ The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD when King Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur the son of Malchijah, and Zephaniah the priest, the son of Maaseiah, saying,

Jeremiah 21:2 (NIV)

² “Inquire now of the LORD for us because Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is attacking us. Perhaps the LORD will perform wonders for us as in times past so that he will withdraw from us.”

Jeremiah 21:3 (NASB)

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

Jeremiah 21:4 (AMP)

⁴ Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Behold, I will turn back and dull the edge of the weapons of war that are in your hands, with which you fight against the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans who are besieging you outside the walls; and I will bring them into the midst of this city [Jerusalem].

Jeremiah 21:5 (NIV)

⁵ I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and a mighty arm in anger and fury and great wrath.

Jeremiah 21:6 (AMP)

⁶ And I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast; they will die of a great pestilence.

Jeremiah 21:7 (NIV)

⁷ After that, declares the LORD, I will hand over Zedekiah king of Judah, his officials and the people in this city who survive the plague, sword and famine, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and to their enemies who seek their lives. He will put them to the sword; he will show them no mercy or pity or compassion.’

Jeremiah 21:8 (NIV)

⁸ “Furthermore, tell the people, ‘This is what the LORD says: See, I am setting before you the way of life and the way of death.

Jeremiah 21:9 (NIV)

⁹ Whoever stays in this city will die by the sword, famine or plague. But whoever goes out and surrenders to the Babylonians who are besieging you will live; he will escape with his life.

Jeremiah 21:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ I have determined to do this city harm and not good, declares the LORD. It will be given into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he will destroy it with fire.’

Jeremiah 21:11 (NIV)

¹¹ “Moreover, say to the royal house of Judah, ‘Hear the word of the LORD;

Jeremiah 21:12 (NIV)

¹² O house of David, this is what the LORD says: “‘Administer justice every morning; rescue from the hand of his oppressor the one who has been robbed, or my wrath will break out and burn like fire because of the evil you have done– burn with no one to quench it.

Jeremiah 21:13 (NIV)

¹³ I am against you, [Jerusalem,] you who live above this valley on the rocky plateau, declares the LORD– you who say, “Who can come against us? Who can enter our refuge?”

Jeremiah 21:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ I will punish you as your deeds deserve, declares the LORD. I will kindle a fire in your forests that will consume everything around you.'”

Jeremiah Chapter 22

Jeremiah 22:1 (NIV)

¹ This is what the LORD says: “Go down to the palace of the king of Judah and proclaim this message there:

Jeremiah 22:2 (NIV)

² ‘Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, you who sit on David’s throne–you, your officials and your people who come through these gates.

Jeremiah 22:3 (NIV)

³ This is what the LORD says: Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of his oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the alien, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place.

Jeremiah 22:4 (NIV)

⁴ For if you are careful to carry out these commands, then kings who sit on David’s throne will come through the gates of this palace, riding in chariots and on horses, accompanied by their officials and their people.

Jeremiah 22:5 (NIV)

⁵ But if you do not obey these commands, declares the LORD, I swear by myself that this palace will become a ruin.'”

Jeremiah 22:6 (NIV)

⁶ For this is what the LORD says about the palace of the king of Judah: “Though you are like Gilead to me, like the summit of Lebanon, I will surely make you like a desert, like towns not inhabited.

Jeremiah 22:7 (NIV)

⁷ I will send destroyers against you, each man with his weapons, and they will cut up your fine cedar beams and throw them into the fire.

Jeremiah 22:8 (NIV)

⁸ “People from many nations will pass by this city and will ask one another, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this great city?’

Jeremiah 22:9 (NIV)

⁹ And the answer will be: ‘Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God and have worshiped and served other gods.'”

Jeremiah 22:10 (AMP)

¹⁰ Weep not for him who is dead nor bemoan him; but weep bitterly for him who goes away [into captivity], for he shall return no more nor see his native country [again].

Jeremiah 22:11 (AMP)

¹¹ For thus says the Lord concerning Shallum son of Josiah king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father and who went forth out of this place: [Shallum] shall not return here any more;

Jeremiah 22:12 (NIV)

¹² He will die in the place where they have led him captive; he will not see this land again.”

Jeremiah 22:13 (NIV)

¹³ “Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness, his upper rooms by injustice, making his countrymen work for nothing, not paying them for their labor.

Jeremiah 22:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ He says, ‘I will build myself a great palace with spacious upper rooms.’ So he makes large windows in it, panels it with cedar and decorates it in red.

Jeremiah 22:15 (AMP)

¹⁵ Do you think that being a king [merely] means [self-indulgent] vying [with Solomon] and striving to excel in cedar [palaces]? Did not your father [Josiah], as he ate and drank, do justice and righteousness [being upright and in right standing with God]? Then it was well with him.

Jeremiah 22:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 22:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ “But your eyes and your heart are set only on dishonest gain, on shedding innocent blood and on oppression and extortion.”

Jeremiah 22:18 (NIV)

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

Jeremiah 22:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ He will have the burial of a donkey– dragged away and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem.”

Jeremiah 22:20 (AMP)

²⁰ Go up [north] to Lebanon and cry out, and raise your voice in [the hills] of Bashan [across the Jordan], and cry out from Abarim [a range of mountains southeast of Palestine], for all your lovers (the king’s chosen allies) are destroyed.

Jeremiah 22:21 (AMP)

²¹ I spoke to you in your [times of] prosperity, but you said, I will not listen! This has been your attitude from your youth; you have not obeyed My voice.

Jeremiah 22:22 (NIV)

²² The wind will drive all your shepherds away, and your allies will go into exile. Then you will be ashamed and disgraced because of all your wickedness.

Jeremiah 22:23 (NIV)

²³ You who live in ‘Lebanon,’ who are nestled in cedar buildings, how you will groan when pangs come upon you, pain like that of a woman in labor!

Jeremiah 22:24 (NIV)

²⁴ “As surely as I live,” declares the LORD, “even if you, Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, were a signet ring on my right hand, I would still pull you off.

Jeremiah 22:25 (NIV)

²⁵ I will hand you over to those who seek your life, those you fear–to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and to the Babylonians.

Jeremiah 22:26 (NIV)

²⁶ I will hurl you and the mother who gave you birth into another country, where neither of you was born, and there you both will die.

Jeremiah 22:27 (NIV)

²⁷ You will never come back to the land you long to return to.”

Jeremiah 22:28 (NIV)

²⁸ Is this man Jehoiachin a despised, broken pot, an object no one wants? Why will he and his children be hurled out, cast into a land they do not know?

Jeremiah 22:29 (NIV)

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

Jeremiah 22:30 (NIV)

³⁰ This is what the LORD says: “Record this man as if childless, a man who will not prosper in his lifetime, for none of his offspring will prosper, none will sit on the throne of David or rule anymore in Judah.”

Jeremiah Chapter 23

Jeremiah 23:1 (NIV)

¹ “Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 23:2 (NIV)

² Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says to the shepherds who tend my people: “Because you have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you for the evil you have done,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 23:3 (NIV)

³ “I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and will bring them back to their pasture, where they will be fruitful and increase in number.

Jeremiah 23:4 (NIV)

⁴ I will place shepherds over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid or terrified, nor will any be missing,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 23:5 (NIV)

⁵ “The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land.

Jeremiah 23:6 (NIV)

⁶ In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness.

Jeremiah 23:7 (NIV)

⁷ “So then, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when people will no longer say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,’

Jeremiah 23:8 (NIV)

⁸ but they will say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the descendants of Israel up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where he had banished them.’ Then they will live in their own land.”

Jeremiah 23:9 (NIV)

⁹ Concerning the prophets: My heart is broken within me; all my bones tremble. I am like a drunken man, like a man overcome by wine, because of the LORD and his holy words.

Jeremiah 23:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ The land is full of adulterers; because of the curse the land lies parched and the pastures in the desert are withered. The [prophets] follow an evil course and use their power unjustly.

Jeremiah 23:11 (NIV)

¹¹ “Both prophet and priest are godless; even in my temple I find their wickedness,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 23:12 (NIV)

¹² “Therefore their path will become slippery; they will be banished to darkness and there they will fall. I will bring disaster on them in the year they are punished,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 23:13 (NIV)

¹³ “Among the prophets of Samaria I saw this repulsive thing: They prophesied by Baal and led my people Israel astray.

Jeremiah 23:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ And among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen something horrible: They commit adultery and live a lie. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns from his wickedness. They are all like Sodom to me; the people of Jerusalem are like Gomorrah.”

Jeremiah 23:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ Therefore, this is what the LORD Almighty says concerning the prophets: “I will make them eat bitter food and drink poisoned water, because from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has spread throughout the land.”

Jeremiah 23:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you; they fill you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD.

Jeremiah 23:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ They keep saying to those who despise me, ‘The LORD says: You will have peace.’ And to all who follow the stubbornness of their hearts they say, ‘No harm will come to you.’

Jeremiah 23:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ But which of them has stood in the council of the LORD to see or to hear his word? Who has listened and heard his word?

Jeremiah 23:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ See, the storm of the LORD will burst out in wrath, a whirlwind swirling down on the heads of the wicked.

Jeremiah 23:20 (NIV)

²⁰ The anger of the LORD will not turn back until he fully accomplishes the purposes of his heart. In days to come you will understand it clearly.

Jeremiah 23:21 (NIV)

²¹ I did not send these prophets, yet they have run with their message; I did not speak to them, yet they have prophesied.

Jeremiah 23:22 (NIV)

²² But if they had stood in my council, they would have proclaimed my words to my people and would have turned them from their evil ways and from their evil deeds.

Jeremiah 23:23 (NIV)

²³ “Am I only a God nearby,” declares the LORD, “and not a God far away?

Jeremiah 23:24 (NIV)

²⁴ Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him?” declares the LORD. “Do not I fill heaven and earth?” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 23:25 (NIV)

²⁵ “I have heard what the prophets say who prophesy lies in my name. They say, ‘I had a dream! I had a dream!’

Jeremiah 23:26 (NIV)

²⁶ How long will this continue in the hearts of these lying prophets, who prophesy the delusions of their own minds?

Jeremiah 23:27 (NIV)

²⁷ They think the dreams they tell one another will make my people forget my name, just as their fathers forgot my name through Baal worship.

Jeremiah 23:28 (NIV)

²⁸ Let the prophet who has a dream tell his dream, but let the one who has my word speak it faithfully. For what has straw to do with grain?” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 23:29 (NIV)

²⁹ “Is not my word like fire,” declares the LORD, “and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?

Jeremiah 23:30 (NIV)

³⁰ “Therefore,” declares the LORD, “I am against the prophets who steal from one another words supposedly from me.

Jeremiah 23:31 (NIV)

³¹ Yes,” declares the LORD, “I am against the prophets who wag their own tongues and yet declare, ‘The LORD declares.’

Jeremiah 23:32 (NIV)

³² Indeed, I am against those who prophesy false dreams,” declares the LORD. “They tell them and lead my people astray with their reckless lies, yet I did not send or appoint them. They do not benefit these people in the least,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 23:33 (NIV)

³³ “When these people, or a prophet or a priest, ask you, ‘What is the oracle of the LORD?’ say to them, ‘What oracle? I will forsake you, declares the LORD.’

Jeremiah 23:34 (NIV)

³⁴ If a prophet or a priest or anyone else claims, ‘This is the oracle of the LORD,’ I will punish that man and his household.

Jeremiah 23:35 (NIV)

³⁵ This is what each of you keeps on saying to his friend or relative: ‘What is the LORD’s answer?’ or ‘What has the LORD spoken?’

Jeremiah 23:36 (NIV)

³⁶ But you must not mention ‘the oracle of the LORD’ again, because every man’s own word becomes his oracle and so you distort the words of the living God, the LORD Almighty, our God.

Jeremiah 23:37 (AMP)

³⁷ Thus shall you [reverently] say to the prophet: What has the Lord answered you? Or, What has the Lord spoken?

Jeremiah 23:38 (NASB)

³⁸ “For if you say, ‘The oracle of the LORD!’ surely thus says the LORD, ‘Because you said this word, “The oracle of the LORD!” I have also sent to you, saying, “You shall not say, ‘The oracle of the LORD!'”‘

Jeremiah 23:39 (NIV)

³⁹ Therefore, I will surely forget you and cast you out of my presence along with the city I gave to you and your fathers.

Jeremiah 23:40 (NIV)

⁴⁰ I will bring upon you everlasting disgrace–everlasting shame that will not be forgotten.”

Jeremiah Chapter 24

Jeremiah 24:1 (AMP)

¹ After Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken into exile Jeconiah [also called Coniah and Jehoiachin] son of Jehoiakim king of Judah and the princes of Judah, with the craftsmen and smiths from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon, the Lord showed me [in a vision] two baskets of figs set before the temple of the Lord.

Jeremiah 24:2 (AMP)

² One basket had very good figs, like the figs that are first ripe; but the other basket had very bad figs, so bad that they could not be eaten.

Jeremiah 24:3 (NASB)

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

Jeremiah 24:4 (NASB)

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

Jeremiah 24:5 (NIV)

⁵ “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Like these good figs, I regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I sent away from this place to the land of the Babylonians.

Jeremiah 24:6 (NIV)

⁶ My eyes will watch over them for their good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not uproot them.

Jeremiah 24:7 (NIV)

⁷ I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart.

Jeremiah 24:8 (NASB)

⁸ ‘But like the bad figs which cannot be eaten due to rottenness—indeed, thus says the LORD—so I will abandon Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials, and the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land and the ones who dwell in the land of Egypt.

Jeremiah 24:9 (NASB)

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

Jeremiah 24:10 (NASB)

¹⁰ ~’I will send the sword, the famine and the pestilence upon them until they are destroyed from the land which I gave to them and their forefathers.'”

Jeremiah Chapter 25

Jeremiah 25:1 (NIV)

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

Jeremiah 25:2 (NIV)

² So Jeremiah the prophet said to all the people of Judah and to all those living in Jerusalem:

Jeremiah 25:3 (NASB)

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

Jeremiah 25:4 (NIV)

⁴ And though the LORD has sent all his servants the prophets to you again and again, you have not listened or paid any attention.

Jeremiah 25:5 (NIV)

⁵ They said, “Turn now, each of you, from your evil ways and your evil practices, and you can stay in the land the LORD gave to you and your fathers for ever and ever.

Jeremiah 25:6 (NASB)

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

Jeremiah 25:7 (NIV)

⁷ “But you did not listen to me,” declares the LORD, “and you have provoked me with what your hands have made, and you have brought harm to yourselves.”

Jeremiah 25:8 (NASB)

⁸ “Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘Because you have not obeyed My words,

Jeremiah 25:9 (NIV)

⁹ I will summon all the peoples of the north and my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon,” declares the LORD, “and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all the surrounding nations. I will completely destroy them and make them an object of horror and scorn, and an everlasting ruin.

Jeremiah 25:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ I will banish from them the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bride and bridegroom, the sound of millstones and the light of the lamp.

Jeremiah 25:11 (NIV)

¹¹ This whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

Jeremiah 25:12 (NIV)

¹² “But when the seventy years are fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon and his nation, the land of the Babylonians, for their guilt,” declares the LORD, “and will make it desolate forever.

Jeremiah 25:13 (NIV)

¹³ I will bring upon that land all the things I have spoken against it, all that are written in this book and prophesied by Jeremiah against all the nations.

Jeremiah 25:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ They themselves will be enslaved by many nations and great kings; I will repay them according to their deeds and the work of their hands.”

Jeremiah 25:15 (NASB)

¹⁵ For thus the LORD, the God of Israel, 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.

Jeremiah 25:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ When they drink it, they will stagger and go mad because of the sword I will send among them.”

Jeremiah 25:17 (NASB)

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

Jeremiah 25:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, its kings and officials, to make them a ruin and an object of horror and scorn and cursing, as they are today;

Jeremiah 25:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ Pharaoh king of Egypt, his attendants, his officials and all his people,

Jeremiah 25:20 (NIV)

²⁰ and all the foreign people there; all the kings of Uz; all the kings of the Philistines (those of Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the people left at Ashdod);

Jeremiah 25:21 (NIV)

²¹ Edom, Moab and Ammon;

Jeremiah 25:22 (NIV)

²² all the kings of Tyre and Sidon; the kings of the coastlands across the sea;

Jeremiah 25:23 (NIV)

²³ Dedan, Tema, Buz and all who are in distant places;

Jeremiah 25:24 (NIV)

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

Jeremiah 25:25 (NIV)

²⁵ all the kings of Zimri, Elam and Media;

Jeremiah 25:26 (NIV)

²⁶ and all the kings of the north, near and far, one after the other–all the kingdoms on the face of the earth. And after all of them, the king of Sheshach will drink it too.

Jeremiah 25:27 (NIV)

²⁷ “Then tell them, ‘This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Drink, get drunk and vomit, and fall to rise no more because of the sword I will send among you.’

Jeremiah 25:28 (NIV)

²⁸ But if they refuse to take the cup from your hand and drink, tell them, ‘This is what the LORD Almighty says: You must drink it!

Jeremiah 25:29 (NIV)

²⁹ See, I am beginning to bring disaster on the city that bears my Name, and will you indeed go unpunished? You will not go unpunished, for I am calling down a sword upon all who live on the earth, declares the LORD Almighty.’

Jeremiah 25:30 (NIV)

³⁰ “Now prophesy all these words against them and say to them: “‘The LORD will roar from on high; he will thunder from his holy dwelling and roar mightily against his land. He will shout like those who tread the grapes, shout against all who live on the earth.

Jeremiah 25:31 (NIV)

³¹ The tumult will resound to the ends of the earth, for the LORD will bring charges against the nations; he will bring judgment on all mankind and put the wicked to the sword,'” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 25:32 (NIV)

³² This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Look! Disaster is spreading from nation to nation; a mighty storm is rising from the ends of the earth.”

Jeremiah 25:33 (NIV)

³³ At that time those slain by the LORD will be everywhere–from one end of the earth to the other. They will not be mourned or gathered up or buried, but will be like refuse lying on the ground.

Jeremiah 25:34 (NIV)

³⁴ Weep and wail, you shepherds; roll in the dust, you leaders of the flock. For your time to be slaughtered has come; you will fall and be shattered like fine pottery.

Jeremiah 25:35 (NIV)

³⁵ The shepherds will have nowhere to flee, the leaders of the flock no place to escape.

Jeremiah 25:36 (NIV)

³⁶ Hear the cry of the shepherds, the wailing of the leaders of the flock, for the LORD is destroying their pasture.

Jeremiah 25:37 (NIV)

³⁷ The peaceful meadows will be laid waste because of the fierce anger of the LORD.

Jeremiah 25:38 (NIV)

³⁸ Like a lion he will leave his lair, and their land will become desolate because of the sword of the oppressor and because of the LORD’s fierce anger.

Jeremiah Chapter 26

Jeremiah 26:1 (AMP)

¹ In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah came this word from the Lord:

Jeremiah 26:2 (NIV)

² “This is what the LORD says: Stand in the courtyard of the LORD’s house and speak to all the people of the towns of Judah who come to worship in the house of the LORD. Tell them everything I command you; do not omit a word.

Jeremiah 26:3 (NIV)

³ Perhaps they will listen and each will turn from his evil way. Then I will relent and not bring on them the disaster I was planning because of the evil they have done.

Jeremiah 26:4 (NIV)

⁴ Say to them, ‘This is what the LORD says: If you do not listen to me and follow my law, which I have set before you,

Jeremiah 26:5 (NIV)

⁵ and if you do not listen to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I have sent to you again and again (though you have not listened),

Jeremiah 26:6 (NIV)

⁶ then I will make this house like Shiloh and this city an object of cursing among all the nations of the earth.'”

Jeremiah 26:7 (NIV)

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

Jeremiah 26:8 (NIV)

⁸ But as soon as Jeremiah finished telling all the people everything the LORD had commanded him to say, the priests, the prophets and all the people seized him and said, “You must die!

Jeremiah 26:9 (NIV)

⁹ Why do you prophesy in the LORD’s name that this house will be like Shiloh and this city will be desolate and deserted?” And all the people crowded around Jeremiah in the house of the LORD.

Jeremiah 26:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ When the officials of Judah heard about these things, they went up from the royal palace to the house of the LORD and took their places at the entrance of the New Gate of the LORD’s house.

Jeremiah 26:11 (NIV)

¹¹ Then the priests and the prophets said to the officials and all the people, “This man should be sentenced to death because he has prophesied against this city. You have heard it with your own ears!”

Jeremiah 26:12 (NIV)

¹² Then Jeremiah said to all the officials and all the people: “The LORD sent me to prophesy against this house and this city all the things you have heard.

Jeremiah 26:13 (NIV)

¹³ Now reform your ways and your actions and obey the LORD your God. Then the LORD will relent and not bring the disaster he has pronounced against you.

Jeremiah 26:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ As for me, I am in your hands; do with me whatever you think is good and right.

Jeremiah 26:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ Be assured, however, that if you put me to death, you will bring the guilt of innocent blood on yourselves and on this city and on those who live in it, for in truth the LORD has sent me to you to speak all these words in your hearing.”

Jeremiah 26:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and the prophets, “This man should not be sentenced to death! He has spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God.”

Jeremiah 26:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ Some of the elders of the land stepped forward and said to the entire assembly of people,

Jeremiah 26:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ “Micah of Moresheth prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah. He told all the people of Judah, ‘This is what the LORD Almighty says: “‘Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, the temple hill a mound overgrown with thickets.’

Jeremiah 26:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ “Did Hezekiah king of Judah or anyone else in Judah put him to death? Did not Hezekiah fear the LORD and seek his favor? And did not the LORD relent, so that he did not bring the disaster he pronounced against them? We are about to bring a terrible disaster on ourselves!”

Jeremiah 26:20 (NIV)

²⁰ (Now Uriah son of Shemaiah from Kiriath Jearim was another man who prophesied in the name of the LORD; he prophesied the same things against this city and this land as Jeremiah did.

Jeremiah 26:21 (NIV)

²¹ When King Jehoiakim and all his officers and officials heard his words, the king sought to put him to death. But Uriah heard of it and fled in fear to Egypt.

Jeremiah 26:22 (NIV)

²² King Jehoiakim, however, sent Elnathan son of Acbor to Egypt, along with some other men.

Jeremiah 26:23 (NIV)

²³ They brought Uriah out of Egypt and took him to King Jehoiakim, who had him struck down with a sword and his body thrown into the burial place of the common people.)

Jeremiah 26:24 (NIV)

²⁴ Furthermore, Ahikam son of Shaphan supported Jeremiah, and so he was not handed over to the people to be put to death.

Jeremiah Chapter 27

Jeremiah 27:1 (NIV)

¹ Early in the reign of Zedekiah son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD:

Jeremiah 27:2 (NIV)

² This is what the LORD said to me: “Make a yoke out of straps and crossbars and put it on your neck.

Jeremiah 27:3 (NIV)

³ Then send word to the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre and Sidon through the envoys who have come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah.

Jeremiah 27:4 (NIV)

⁴ Give them a message for their masters and say, ‘This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Tell this to your masters:

Jeremiah 27:5 (NIV)

⁵ With my great power and outstretched arm I made the earth and its people and the animals that are on it, and I give it to anyone I please.

Jeremiah 27:6 (NIV)

⁶ Now I will hand all your countries over to my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; I will make even the wild animals subject to him.

Jeremiah 27:7 (NIV)

⁷ All nations will serve him and his son and his grandson until the time for his land comes; then many nations and great kings will subjugate him.

Jeremiah 27:8 (NIV)

⁸ “‘ “If, however, any nation or kingdom will not serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon or bow its neck under his yoke, I will punish that nation with the sword, famine and plague, declares the LORD, until I destroy it by his hand.

Jeremiah 27:9 (NIV)

⁹ So do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your interpreters of dreams, your mediums or your sorcerers who tell you, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon.’

Jeremiah 27:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ They prophesy lies to you that will only serve to remove you far from your lands; I will banish you and you will perish.

Jeremiah 27:11 (NIV)

¹¹ But if any nation will bow its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will let that nation remain in its own land to till it and to live there, declares the LORD.”‘”

Jeremiah 27:12 (NIV)

¹² I gave the same message to Zedekiah king of Judah. I said, “Bow your neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon; serve him and his people, and you will live.

Jeremiah 27:13 (NIV)

¹³ Why will you and your people die by the sword, famine and plague with which the LORD has threatened any nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?

Jeremiah 27:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ Do not listen to the words of the prophets who say to you, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon,’ for they are prophesying lies to you.

Jeremiah 27:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ ‘I have not sent them,’ declares the LORD. ‘They are prophesying lies in my name. Therefore, I will banish you and you will perish, both you and the prophets who prophesy to you.'”

Jeremiah 27:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ Then I said to the priests and all these people, “This is what the LORD says: Do not listen to the prophets who say, ‘Very soon now the articles from the LORD’s house will be brought back from Babylon.’ They are prophesying lies to you.

Jeremiah 27:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ Do not listen to them. Serve the king of Babylon, and you will live. Why should this city become a ruin?

Jeremiah 27:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ If they are prophets and have the word of the LORD, let them plead with the LORD Almighty that the furnishings remaining in the house of the LORD and in the palace of the king of Judah and in Jerusalem not be taken to Babylon.

Jeremiah 27:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ For this is what the LORD Almighty says about the pillars, the Sea, the movable stands and the other furnishings that are left in this city,

Jeremiah 27:20 (NIV)

²⁰ which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take away when he carried Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim king of Judah into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, along with all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem–

Jeremiah 27:21 (NIV)

²¹ yes, this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says about the things that are left in the house of the LORD and in the palace of the king of Judah and in Jerusalem:

Jeremiah 27:22 (NIV)

²² ‘They will be taken to Babylon and there they will remain until the day I come for them,’ declares the LORD. ‘Then I will bring them back and restore them to this place.'”

Jeremiah Chapter 28

Jeremiah 28:1 (NIV)

¹ In the fifth month of that same year, the fourth year, early in the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, the prophet Hananiah son of Azzur, who was from Gibeon, said to me in the house of the LORD in the presence of the priests and all the people:

Jeremiah 28:2 (NIV)

² “This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.

Jeremiah 28:3 (NIV)

³ Within two years I will bring back to this place all the articles of the LORD’s house that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon removed from here and took to Babylon.

Jeremiah 28:4 (NIV)

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

Jeremiah 28:5 (NIV)

⁵ Then the prophet Jeremiah replied to the prophet Hananiah before the priests and all the people who were standing in the house of the LORD.

Jeremiah 28:6 (NIV)

⁶ He said, “Amen! May the LORD do so! May the LORD fulfill the words you have prophesied by bringing the articles of the LORD’s house and all the exiles back to this place from Babylon.

Jeremiah 28:7 (NIV)

⁷ Nevertheless, listen to what I have to say in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people:

Jeremiah 28:8 (NIV)

⁸ From early times the prophets who preceded you and me have prophesied war, disaster and plague against many countries and great kingdoms.

Jeremiah 28:9 (NIV)

⁹ But the prophet who prophesies peace will be recognized as one truly sent by the LORD only if his prediction comes true.”

Jeremiah 28:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ Then the prophet Hananiah took the yoke off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah and broke it,

Jeremiah 28:11 (NIV)

¹¹ and he said before all the people, “This is what the LORD says: ‘In the same way will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon off the neck of all the nations within two years.'” At this, the prophet Jeremiah went on his way.

Jeremiah 28:12 (NIV)

¹² Shortly after the prophet Hananiah had broken the yoke off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah:

Jeremiah 28:13 (NIV)

¹³ “Go and tell Hananiah, ‘This is what the LORD says: You have broken a wooden yoke, but in its place you will get a yoke of iron.

Jeremiah 28:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I will put an iron yoke on the necks of all these nations to make them serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and they will serve him. I will even give him control over the wild animals.'”

Jeremiah 28:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ Then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah the prophet, “Listen, Hananiah! The LORD has not sent you, yet you have persuaded this nation to trust in lies.

Jeremiah 28:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ Therefore, this is what the LORD says: ‘I am about to remove you from the face of the earth. This very year you are going to die, because you have preached rebellion against the LORD.'”

Jeremiah 28:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ In the seventh month of that same year, Hananiah the prophet died.

Jeremiah Chapter 29

Jeremiah 29:1 (NIV)

¹ This is the text of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders among the exiles and to the priests, the prophets and all the other people Nebuchadnezzar had carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.

Jeremiah 29:2 (NIV)

² (This was after King Jehoiachin and the queen mother, the court officials and the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen and the artisans had gone into exile from Jerusalem.)

Jeremiah 29:3 (NIV)

³ He entrusted the letter to Elasah son of Shaphan and to Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to King Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon. It said:

Jeremiah 29:4 (NIV)

⁴ This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:

Jeremiah 29:5 (NIV)

⁵ “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce.

Jeremiah 29:6 (NASB)

⁶ ~’Take wives and become the fathers of sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; and multiply there and do not decrease.

Jeremiah 29:7 (NIV)

⁷ Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”

Jeremiah 29:8 (NIV)

⁸ Yes, this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have.

Jeremiah 29:9 (NIV)

⁹ They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 29:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ This is what the LORD says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place.

Jeremiah 29:11 (NASB)

¹¹ ~’For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.

Jeremiah 29:12 (NASB)

¹² ‘Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.

Jeremiah 29:13 (NASB)

¹³ ‘You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart.

Jeremiah 29:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ I will be found by you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”

Jeremiah 29:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ You may say, “The LORD has raised up prophets for us in Babylon,”

Jeremiah 29:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ but this is what the LORD says about the king who sits on David’s throne and all the people who remain in this city, your countrymen who did not go with you into exile–

Jeremiah 29:17 (NASB)

¹⁷ thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘Behold, I am sending upon them the sword, famine and pestilence, and I will make them like split-open figs that cannot be eaten due to rottenness.

Jeremiah 29:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ I will pursue them with the sword, famine and plague and will make them abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth and an object of cursing and horror, of scorn and reproach, among all the nations where I drive them.

Jeremiah 29:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ For they have not listened to my words,” declares the LORD, “words that I sent to them again and again by my servants the prophets. And you exiles have not listened either,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 29:20 (NIV)

²⁰ Therefore, hear the word of the LORD, all you exiles whom I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon.

Jeremiah 29:21 (NIV)

²¹ This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says about Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying lies to you in my name: “I will hand them over to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will put them to death before your very eyes.

Jeremiah 29:22 (NASB)

²² ~’Because of them a curse will be used by all the exiles from Judah who are in Babylon, saying, “May the LORD make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire,

Jeremiah 29:23 (NIV)

²³ For they have done outrageous things in Israel; they have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives and in my name have spoken lies, which I did not tell them to do. I know it and am a witness to it,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 29:24 (NASB)

²⁴ To Shemaiah the Nehelamite you shall speak, saying,

Jeremiah 29:25 (NASB)

²⁵ “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Because you have sent letters in your own name to all the people who are in Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, and to all the priests, saying,

Jeremiah 29:26 (NIV)

²⁶ ‘The LORD has appointed you priest in place of Jehoiada to be in charge of the house of the LORD; you should put any madman who acts like a prophet into the stocks and neck-irons.

Jeremiah 29:27 (NIV)

²⁷ So why have you not reprimanded Jeremiah from Anathoth, who poses as a prophet among you?

Jeremiah 29:28 (NIV)

²⁸ He has sent this message to us in Babylon: It will be a long time. Therefore build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce.'”

Jeremiah 29:29 (NIV)

²⁹ Zephaniah the priest, however, read the letter to Jeremiah the prophet.

Jeremiah 29:30 (NIV)

³⁰ Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah:

Jeremiah 29:31 (NIV)

³¹ “Send this message to all the exiles: ‘This is what the LORD says about Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, even though I did not send him, and has led you to believe a lie,

Jeremiah 29:32 (NIV)

³² this is what the LORD says: I will surely punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his descendants. He will have no one left among this people, nor will he see the good things I will do for my people, declares the LORD, because he has preached rebellion against me.'”

Jeremiah Chapter 30

Jeremiah 30:1 (NASB)

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

Jeremiah 30:2 (CJB)-M

² “This is what the Lord the God of Israel says: ‘Write all the words I have spoken to you in a scroll.

Jeremiah 30:3 (NIV)

³ The days are coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘when I will bring my people Israel and Judah back from captivity and restore them to the land I gave their forefathers to possess,’ says the LORD.”

Jeremiah 30:4 (NIV)

⁴ These are the words the LORD spoke concerning Israel and Judah:

Jeremiah 30:5 (NIV)

⁵ “This is what the LORD says: “‘Cries of fear are heard– terror, not peace.

Jeremiah 30:6 (NIV)

⁶ Ask and see: Can a man bear children? Then why do I see every strong man with his hands on his stomach like a woman in labor, every face turned deathly pale?

Jeremiah 30:7 (NIV)

⁷ How awful that day will be! None will be like it. It will be a time of trouble for Jacob, but he will be saved out of it.

Jeremiah 30:8 (NIV)

⁸ “‘ In that day,’ declares the LORD Almighty, ‘I will break the yoke off their necks and will tear off their bonds; no longer will foreigners enslave them.

Jeremiah 30:9 (NIV)

⁹ Instead, they will serve the LORD their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.

Jeremiah 30:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ “‘So do not fear, O Jacob my servant; do not be dismayed, O Israel,’ declares the LORD. ‘I will surely save you out of a distant place, your descendants from the land of their exile. Jacob will again have peace and security, and no one will make him afraid.

Jeremiah 30:11 (NIV)

¹¹ I am with you and will save you,’ declares the LORD. ‘Though I completely destroy all the nations among which I scatter you, I will not completely destroy you. I will discipline you but only with justice; I will not let you go entirely unpunished.’

Jeremiah 30:12 (NIV)

¹² “This is what the LORD says: “‘Your wound is incurable, your injury beyond healing.

Jeremiah 30:13 (NIV)

¹³ There is no one to plead your cause, no remedy for your sore, no healing for you.

Jeremiah 30:14 (NASB)

¹⁴ ‘All your lovers have forgotten you, They do not seek you; For I have wounded you with the wound of an enemy, With the punishment of a cruel one, Because your iniquity is great And your sins are numerous.

Jeremiah 30:15 (NASB)

¹⁵ ‘Why do you cry out over your injury? Your pain is incurable. Because your iniquity is great And your sins are numerous, I have done these things to you.

Jeremiah 30:16 (NASB)

¹⁶ ‘Therefore all who devour you will be devoured; And all your adversaries, every one of them, will go into captivity; And those who plunder you will be for plunder, And all who prey upon you I will give for prey.

Jeremiah 30:17 (NASB)

¹⁷ ‘For I will restore you to health And I will heal you of your wounds,’ declares the LORD, ‘Because they have called you an outcast, saying: “It is Zion; no one cares for her.”‘

Jeremiah 30:18 (NASB)

¹⁸ “Thus says the LORD, ‘Behold, I will restore the fortunes of the tents of Jacob And have compassion on his dwelling places; And the city will be rebuilt on its ruin, And the palace will stand on its rightful place.

Jeremiah 30:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ From them will come songs of thanksgiving and the sound of rejoicing. I will add to their numbers, and they will not be decreased; I will bring them honor, and they will not be disdained.

Jeremiah 30:20 (NASB)

²⁰ ‘Their children also will be as formerly, And their congregation shall be established before Me; And I will punish all their oppressors.

Jeremiah 30:21 (NIV)

²¹ Their leader will be one of their own; their ruler will arise from among them. I will bring him near and he will come close to me, for who is he who will devote himself to be close to me?’ declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 30:22 (NIV)

²² “‘So you will be my people, and I will be your God.'”

Jeremiah 30:23 (NIV)

²³ See, the storm of the LORD will burst out in wrath, a driving wind swirling down on the heads of the wicked.

Jeremiah 30:24 (NIV)

²⁴ The fierce anger of the LORD will not turn back until he fully accomplishes the purposes of his heart. In days to come you will understand this.

Jeremiah Chapter 31

Jeremiah 31:1 (NIV)

¹ “At that time,” declares the LORD, “I will be the God of all the clans of Israel, and they will be my people.”

Jeremiah 31:2 (CJB)-M

² Here is what the Lord says: “The people escaping the sword found favor in the desert — I have brought Israel to its rest.”

Jeremiah 31:3 (NASB)

³ The LORD appeared to him from afar, saying, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness.

Jeremiah 31:4 (NIV)

⁴ I will build you up again and you will be rebuilt, O Virgin Israel. Again you will take up your tambourines and go out to dance with the joyful.

Jeremiah 31:5 (NIV)

⁵ Again you will plant vineyards on the hills of Samaria; the farmers will plant them and enjoy their fruit.

Jeremiah 31:6 (NIV)

⁶ There will be a day when watchmen cry out on the hills of Ephraim, ‘Come, let us go up to Zion, to the LORD our God.'”

Jeremiah 31:7 (NIV)

⁷ This is what the LORD says: “Sing with joy for Jacob; shout for the foremost of the nations. Make your praises heard, and say, ‘O LORD, save your people, the remnant of Israel.’

Jeremiah 31:8 (NIV)

⁸ See, I will bring them from the land of the north and gather them from the ends of the earth. Among them will be the blind and the lame, expectant mothers and women in labor; a great throng will return.

Jeremiah 31:9 (NIV)

⁹ They will come with weeping; they will pray as I bring them back. I will lead them beside streams of water on a level path where they will not stumble, because I am Israel’s father, and Ephraim is my firstborn son.

Jeremiah 31:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ “Hear the word of the LORD, O nations; proclaim it in distant coastlands: ‘He who scattered Israel will gather them and will watch over his flock like a shepherd.’

Jeremiah 31:11 (NIV)

¹¹ For the LORD will ransom Jacob and redeem them from the hand of those stronger than they.

Jeremiah 31:12 (NIV)

¹² They will come and shout for joy on the heights of Zion; they will rejoice in the bounty of the LORD– the grain, the new wine and the oil, the young of the flocks and herds. They will be like a well-watered garden, and they will sorrow no more.

Jeremiah 31:13 (NIV)

¹³ Then maidens will dance and be glad, young men and old as well. I will turn their mourning into gladness; I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow.

Jeremiah 31:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ I will satisfy the priests with abundance, and my people will be filled with my bounty,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 31:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ This is what the LORD says: “A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because her children are no more.”

Jeremiah 31:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ This is what the LORD says: “Restrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for your work will be rewarded,” declares the LORD. “They will return from the land of the enemy.

Jeremiah 31:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ So there is hope for your future,” declares the LORD. “Your children will return to their own land.

Jeremiah 31:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ “I have surely heard Ephraim’s moaning: ‘You disciplined me like an unruly calf, and I have been disciplined. Restore me, and I will return, because you are the LORD my God.

Jeremiah 31:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ After I strayed, I repented; after I came to understand, I beat my breast. I was ashamed and humiliated because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’

Jeremiah 31:20 (NIV)

²⁰ Is not Ephraim my dear son, the child in whom I delight? Though I often speak against him, I still remember him. Therefore my heart yearns for him; I have great compassion for him,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 31:21 (AMP)

²¹ Set up for yourselves highway markers [back to Canaan], make for yourselves guideposts; turn your thoughts and attention to the way by which you went [into exile]. Retrace your steps, O Virgin Israel, return to these your cities.

Jeremiah 31:22 (NIV2011)

²² How long will you wander, unfaithful Daughter Israel? The LORD will create a new thing on earth— the woman will return to the man.”

Jeremiah 31:23 (NIV)

²³ This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “When I bring them back from captivity, the people in the land of Judah and in its towns will once again use these words: ‘The LORD bless you, O righteous dwelling, O sacred mountain.’

Jeremiah 31:24 (NIV)

²⁴ People will live together in Judah and all its towns–farmers and those who move about with their flocks.

Jeremiah 31:25 (NIV)

²⁵ I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint.”

Jeremiah 31:26 (NASB)-M

²⁶ At this I awoke and looked, and my sleep had been most pleasant to me.

Jeremiah 31:27 (NIV)

²⁷ “The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will plant the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the offspring of men and of animals.

Jeremiah 31:28 (NIV)

²⁸ Just as I watched over them to uproot and tear down, and to overthrow, destroy and bring disaster, so I will watch over them to build and to plant,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 31:29 (NIV)

²⁹ “In those days people will no longer say, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’

Jeremiah 31:30 (NIV)

³⁰ Instead, everyone will die for his own sin; whoever eats sour grapes–his own teeth will be set on edge.

Jeremiah 31:31 (NIV)

³¹ “The time is coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.

Jeremiah 31:32 (NIV)

³² It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 31:33 (NIV)

³³ “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

Jeremiah 31:34 (NIV)

³⁴ No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the LORD. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”

Jeremiah 31:35 (NASB)

³⁵ Thus says the LORD, Who gives the sun for light by day And the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, Who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar; The LORD of hosts is His name:

Jeremiah 31:36 (NIV)

³⁶ “Only if these decrees vanish from my sight,” declares the LORD, “will the descendants of Israel ever cease to be a nation before me.”

Jeremiah 31:37 (NIV)

³⁷ This is what the LORD says: “Only if the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth below be searched out will I reject all the descendants of Israel because of all they have done,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 31:38 (NIV)

³⁸ “The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when this city will be rebuilt for me from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate.

Jeremiah 31:39 (NIV)

³⁹ The measuring line will stretch from there straight to the hill of Gareb and then turn to Goah.

Jeremiah 31:40 (NIV)

⁴⁰ The whole valley where dead bodies and ashes are thrown, and all the terraces out to the Kidron Valley on the east as far as the corner of the Horse Gate, will be holy to the LORD. The city will never again be uprooted or demolished.”

Jeremiah Chapter 32

Jeremiah 32:1 (NIV)

¹ This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar.

Jeremiah 32:2 (NIV)

² The army of the king of Babylon was then besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was confined in the courtyard of the guard in the royal palace of Judah.

Jeremiah 32:3 (NIV)

³ Now Zedekiah king of Judah had imprisoned him there, saying, “Why do you prophesy as you do? You say, ‘This is what the LORD says: I am about to hand this city over to the king of Babylon, and he will capture it.

Jeremiah 32:4 (NIV)

⁴ Zedekiah king of Judah will not escape out of the hands of the Babylonians but will certainly be handed over to the king of Babylon, and will speak with him face to face and see him with his own eyes.

Jeremiah 32:5 (NIV)

⁵ He will take Zedekiah to Babylon, where he will remain until I deal with him, declares the LORD. If you fight against the Babylonians, you will not succeed.'”

Jeremiah 32:6 (NIV)

⁶ Jeremiah said, “The word of the LORD came to me:

Jeremiah 32:7 (NIV)

⁷ Hanamel son of Shallum your uncle is going to come to you and say, ‘Buy my field at Anathoth, because as nearest relative it is your right and duty to buy it.’

Jeremiah 32:8 (NIV)

⁸ “Then, just as the LORD had said, my cousin Hanamel came to me in the courtyard of the guard and said, ‘Buy my field at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin. Since it is your right to redeem it and possess it, buy it for yourself.’ “I knew that this was the word of the LORD;

Jeremiah 32:9 (NIV)

⁹ so I bought the field at Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel and weighed out for him seventeen shekels of silver.

Jeremiah 32:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ I signed and sealed the deed, had it witnessed, and weighed out the silver on the scales.

Jeremiah 32:11 (NIV)

¹¹ I took the deed of purchase–the sealed copy containing the terms and conditions, as well as the unsealed copy–

Jeremiah 32:12 (NIV)

¹² and I gave this deed to Baruch son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the presence of my cousin Hanamel and of the witnesses who had signed the deed and of all the Jews sitting in the courtyard of the guard.

Jeremiah 32:13 (NIV)

¹³ “In their presence I gave Baruch these instructions:

Jeremiah 32:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ ‘This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Take these documents, both the sealed and unsealed copies of the deed of purchase, and put them in a clay jar so they will last a long time.

Jeremiah 32:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ For this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Houses, fields and vineyards will again be bought in this land.’

Jeremiah 32:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ “After I had given the deed of purchase to Baruch son of Neriah, I prayed to the LORD:

Jeremiah 32:17 (NASB)

¹⁷ ‘Ah Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You,

Jeremiah 32:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ You show love to thousands but bring the punishment for the fathers’ sins into the laps of their children after them. O great and powerful God, whose name is the LORD Almighty,

Jeremiah 32:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ great are your purposes and mighty are your deeds. Your eyes are open to all the ways of men; you reward everyone according to his conduct and as his deeds deserve.

Jeremiah 32:20 (NASB)

²⁰ who has set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, and even to this day both in Israel and among mankind; and You have made a name for Yourself, as at this day.

Jeremiah 32:21 (NIV)

²¹ You brought your people Israel out of Egypt with signs and wonders, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with great terror.

Jeremiah 32:22 (NIV)

²² You gave them this land you had sworn to give their forefathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.

Jeremiah 32:23 (NIV)

²³ They came in and took possession of it, but they did not obey you or follow your law; they did not do what you commanded them to do. So you brought all this disaster upon them.

Jeremiah 32:24 (NIV)

²⁴ “See how the siege ramps are built up to take the city. Because of the sword, famine and plague, the city will be handed over to the Babylonians who are attacking it. What you said has happened, as you now see.

Jeremiah 32:25 (NIV)

²⁵ And though the city will be handed over to the Babylonians, you, O Sovereign LORD, say to me, ‘Buy the field with silver and have the transaction witnessed.'”

Jeremiah 32:26 (NIV)

²⁶ Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah:

Jeremiah 32:27 (NASB)

²⁷ “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; is anything too difficult for me?”

Jeremiah 32:28 (NIV)

²⁸ Therefore, this is what the LORD says: I am about to hand this city over to the Babylonians and to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who will capture it.

Jeremiah 32:29 (NIV)

²⁹ The Babylonians who are attacking this city will come in and set it on fire; they will burn it down, along with the houses where the people provoked me to anger by burning incense on the roofs to Baal and by pouring out drink offerings to other gods.

Jeremiah 32:30 (NIV)

³⁰ “The people of Israel and Judah have done nothing but evil in my sight from their youth; indeed, the people of Israel have done nothing but provoke me with what their hands have made, declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 32:31 (NIV)

³¹ From the day it was built until now, this city has so aroused my anger and wrath that I must remove it from my sight.

Jeremiah 32:32 (NIV)

³² The people of Israel and Judah have provoked me by all the evil they have done–they, their kings and officials, their priests and prophets, the men of Judah and the people of Jerusalem.

Jeremiah 32:33 (NIV)

³³ They turned their backs to me and not their faces; though I taught them again and again, they would not listen or respond to discipline.

Jeremiah 32:34 (NIV)

³⁴ They set up their abominable idols in the house that bears my Name and defiled it.

Jeremiah 32:35 (NIV)

³⁵ They built high places for Baal in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to sacrifice their sons and daughters to Molech, though I never commanded, nor did it enter my mind, that they should do such a detestable thing and so make Judah sin.

Jeremiah 32:36 (NASB)

³⁶ “Now therefore thus says the LORD God of Israel concerning this city of which you say, ‘It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by sword, by famine and by pestilence.’

Jeremiah 32:37 (NIV)

³⁷ I will surely gather them from all the lands where I banish them in my furious anger and great wrath; I will bring them back to this place and let them live in safety.

Jeremiah 32:38 (NIV)

³⁸ They will be my people, and I will be their God.

Jeremiah 32:39 (NIV)

³⁹ I will give them singleness of heart and action, so that they will always fear me for their own good and the good of their children after them.

Jeremiah 32:40 (NIV)

⁴⁰ I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me.

Jeremiah 32:41 (NIV)

⁴¹ I will rejoice in doing them good and will assuredly plant them in this land with all my heart and soul.

Jeremiah 32:42 (NIV)

⁴² “This is what the LORD says: As I have brought all this great calamity on this people, so I will give them all the prosperity I have promised them.

Jeremiah 32:43 (NIV)

⁴³ Once more fields will be bought in this land of which you say, ‘It is a desolate waste, without men or animals, for it has been handed over to the Babylonians.’

Jeremiah 32:44 (NIV)

⁴⁴ Fields will be bought for silver, and deeds will be signed, sealed and witnessed in the territory of Benjamin, in the villages around Jerusalem, in the towns of Judah and in the towns of the hill country, of the western foothills and of the Negev, because I will restore their fortunes, declares the LORD.”

Jeremiah Chapter 33

Jeremiah 33:1 (NIV)

¹ While Jeremiah was still confined in the courtyard of the guard, the word of the LORD came to him a second time:

Jeremiah 33:2 (NIV)

² “This is what the LORD says, he who made the earth, the LORD who formed it and established it–the LORD is his name:

Jeremiah 33:3 (NASB)

³ ‘Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’

Jeremiah 33:4 (AMP)

⁴ For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city and the houses of the kings of Judah which are torn down to make a defense against the siege mounds and before the sword:

Jeremiah 33:5 (AMP)

⁵ They [the besieged Jews] are coming in to fight against the Chaldeans, and they [the houses] will be filled with the dead bodies of men whom I shall slay in My anger and My wrath; for I have hidden My face [in indignation] from this city because of all their wickedness.

Jeremiah 33:6 (AMP)

⁶ Behold, [in the future restored Jerusalem] I will lay upon it health and healing, and I will cure them and will reveal to them the abundance of peace (prosperity, security, stability) and truth.

Jeremiah 33:7 (NIV)

⁷ I will bring Judah and Israel back from captivity and will rebuild them as they were before.

Jeremiah 33:8 (NASB)

⁸ ~’I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned against Me and by which they have transgressed against Me.

Jeremiah 33:9 (AMP)

⁹ And [Jerusalem] shall be to Me a name of joy, a praise and a glory before all the nations of the earth that hear of all the good I do for it, and they shall fear and tremble because of all the good and all the peace, prosperity, security, and stability I provide for it.

Jeremiah 33:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ “This is what the LORD says: ‘You say about this place, “It is a desolate waste, without men or animals.” Yet in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem that are deserted, inhabited by neither men nor animals, there will be heard once more

Jeremiah 33:11 (NIV)

¹¹ the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bride and bridegroom, and the voices of those who bring thank offerings to the house of the LORD, saying, “Give thanks to the LORD Almighty, for the LORD is good; his love endures forever.” For I will restore the fortunes of the land as they were before,’ says the LORD.

Jeremiah 33:12 (NIV)

¹² “This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘In this place, desolate and without men or animals–in all its towns there will again be pastures for shepherds to rest their flocks.

Jeremiah 33:13 (NIV)

¹³ In the towns of the hill country, of the western foothills and of the Negev, in the territory of Benjamin, in the villages around Jerusalem and in the towns of Judah, flocks will again pass under the hand of the one who counts them,’ says the LORD.

Jeremiah 33:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ “‘The days are coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘when I will fulfill the gracious promise I made to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah.

Jeremiah 33:15 (AMP)

¹⁵ In those days and at that time will I cause a righteous Branch [the Messiah] to grow up to David; and He shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.

Jeremiah 33:16 (NASB)

¹⁶ ~’In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will dwell in safety; and this is the name by which she will be called: the LORD is our righteousness.’

Jeremiah 33:17 (AMP)

¹⁷ For thus says the Lord: David shall never fail [to have] a man [descendant] to sit on the throne of the house of Israel,

Jeremiah 33:18 (AMP)

¹⁸ Nor shall the Levitical priests fail [to have] a man [descendant] to offer burnt offerings before Me and to burn cereal offerings and to make sacrifices continually (all day long).

Jeremiah 33:19 (AMP)

¹⁹ And the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying,

Jeremiah 33:20 (NIV)

²⁰ “This is what the LORD says: ‘If you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that day and night no longer come at their appointed time,

Jeremiah 33:21 (NIV)

²¹ then my covenant with David my servant–and my covenant with the Levites who are priests ministering before me–can be broken and David will no longer have a descendant to reign on his throne.

Jeremiah 33:22 (NIV)

²² I will make the descendants of David my servant and the Levites who minister before me as countless as the stars of the sky and as measureless as the sand on the seashore.'”

Jeremiah 33:23 (NIV)

²³ The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah:

Jeremiah 33:24 (NIV)

²⁴ “Have you not noticed that these people are saying, ‘The LORD has rejected the two kingdoms he chose’? So they despise my people and no longer regard them as a nation.

Jeremiah 33:25 (NIV)

²⁵ This is what the LORD says: ‘If I have not established my covenant with day and night and the fixed laws of heaven and earth,

Jeremiah 33:26 (NIV)

²⁶ then I will reject the descendants of Jacob and David my servant and will not choose one of his sons to rule over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. For I will restore their fortunes and have compassion on them.'”

Jeremiah Chapter 34

Jeremiah 34:1 (NIV)

¹ While Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army and all the kingdoms and peoples in the empire he ruled were fighting against Jerusalem and all its surrounding towns, this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD:

Jeremiah 34:2 (AMP)

² Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah and tell him, Thus says the Lord: Behold, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire.

Jeremiah 34:3 (NIV)

³ You will not escape from his grasp but will surely be captured and handed over to him. You will see the king of Babylon with your own eyes, and he will speak with you face to face. And you will go to Babylon.

Jeremiah 34:4 (NIV)

⁴ “‘Yet hear the promise of the LORD, O Zedekiah king of Judah. This is what the LORD says concerning you: You will not die by the sword;

Jeremiah 34:5 (NIV)

⁵ you will die peacefully. As people made a funeral fire in honor of your fathers, the former kings who preceded you, so they will make a fire in your honor and lament, “Alas, O master!” I myself make this promise, declares the LORD.'”

Jeremiah 34:6 (NIV)

⁶ Then Jeremiah the prophet told all this to Zedekiah king of Judah, in Jerusalem,

Jeremiah 34:7 (NIV)

⁷ while the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and the other cities of Judah that were still holding out–Lachish and Azekah. These were the only fortified cities left in Judah.

Jeremiah 34:8 (NIV)

⁸ The word came to Jeremiah from the LORD after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem to proclaim freedom for the slaves.

Jeremiah 34:9 (NIV)

⁹ Everyone was to free his Hebrew slaves, both male and female; no one was to hold a fellow Jew in bondage.

Jeremiah 34:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ So all the officials and people who entered into this covenant agreed that they would free their male and female slaves and no longer hold them in bondage. They agreed, and set them free.

Jeremiah 34:11 (NIV)

¹¹ But afterward they changed their minds and took back the slaves they had freed and enslaved them again.

Jeremiah 34:12 (NIV)

¹² Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah:

Jeremiah 34:13 (NASB)

¹³ “Thus says the LORD God of Israel, ‘I made a covenant with your forefathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, saying,

Jeremiah 34:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ ‘Every seventh year each of you must free any fellow Hebrew who has sold himself to you. After he has served you six years, you must let him go free.’ Your fathers, however, did not listen to me or pay attention to me.

Jeremiah 34:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ Recently you repented and did what is right in my sight: Each of you proclaimed freedom to his countrymen. You even made a covenant before me in the house that bears my Name.

Jeremiah 34:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ But now you have turned around and profaned my name; each of you has taken back the male and female slaves you had set free to go where they wished. You have forced them to become your slaves again.

Jeremiah 34:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ “Therefore, this is what the LORD says: You have not obeyed me; you have not proclaimed freedom for your fellow countrymen. So I now proclaim ‘freedom’ for you, declares the LORD–‘freedom’ to fall by the sword, plague and famine. I will make you abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth.

Jeremiah 34:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ The men who have violated my covenant and have not fulfilled the terms of the covenant they made before me, I will treat like the calf they cut in two and then walked between its pieces.

Jeremiah 34:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ The leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the court officials, the priests and all the people of the land who walked between the pieces of the calf,

Jeremiah 34:20 (NIV)

²⁰ I will hand over to their enemies who seek their lives. Their dead bodies will become food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth.

Jeremiah 34:21 (NIV)

²¹ “I will hand Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials over to their enemies who seek their lives, to the army of the king of Babylon, which has withdrawn from you.

Jeremiah 34:22 (NASB)

²² ~’Behold, I am going to command,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will bring them back to this city; and they will fight against it and take it and burn it with fire; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without inhabitant.'”

Jeremiah Chapter 35

Jeremiah 35:1 (NIV)

¹ This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD during the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah:

Jeremiah 35:2 (NIV)

² “Go to the Recabite family and invite them to come to one of the side rooms of the house of the LORD and give them wine to drink.”

Jeremiah 35:3 (NIV)

³ So I went to get Jaazaniah son of Jeremiah, the son of Habazziniah, and his brothers and all his sons–the whole family of the Recabites.

Jeremiah 35:4 (NIV)

⁴ I brought them into the house of the LORD, into the room of the sons of Hanan son of Igdaliah the man of God. It was next to the room of the officials, which was over that of Maaseiah son of Shallum the doorkeeper.

Jeremiah 35:5 (NIV)

⁵ Then I set bowls full of wine and some cups before the men of the Recabite family and said to them, “Drink some wine.”

Jeremiah 35:6 (NIV)

⁶ But they replied, “We do not drink wine, because our forefather Jonadab son of Recab gave us this command: ‘Neither you nor your descendants must ever drink wine.

Jeremiah 35:7 (NIV)

⁷ Also you must never build houses, sow seed or plant vineyards; you must never have any of these things, but must always live in tents. Then you will live a long time in the land where you are nomads.’

Jeremiah 35:8 (NIV)

⁸ We have obeyed everything our forefather Jonadab son of Recab commanded us. Neither we nor our wives nor our sons and daughters have ever drunk wine

Jeremiah 35:9 (NIV)

⁹ or built houses to live in or had vineyards, fields or crops.

Jeremiah 35:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ We have lived in tents and have fully obeyed everything our forefather Jonadab commanded us.

Jeremiah 35:11 (NIV)

¹¹ But when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon invaded this land, we said, ‘Come, we must go to Jerusalem to escape the Babylonian and Aramean armies.’ So we have remained in Jerusalem.”

Jeremiah 35:12 (NIV)

¹² Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying:

Jeremiah 35:13 (NIV)

¹³ “This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Go and tell the men of Judah and the people of Jerusalem, ‘Will you not learn a lesson and obey my words?’ declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 35:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ ‘Jonadab son of Recab ordered his sons not to drink wine and this command has been kept. To this day they do not drink wine, because they obey their forefather’s command. But I have spoken to you again and again, yet you have not obeyed me.

Jeremiah 35:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ Again and again I sent all my servants the prophets to you. They said, “Each of you must turn from your wicked ways and reform your actions; do not follow other gods to serve them. Then you will live in the land I have given to you and your fathers.” But you have not paid attention or listened to me.

Jeremiah 35:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ The descendants of Jonadab son of Recab have carried out the command their forefather gave them, but these people have not obeyed me.’

Jeremiah 35:17 (NASB)

¹⁷ “Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Behold, I am bringing on Judah and on all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the disaster that I have pronounced against them; because I spoke to them but they did not listen, and I have called them but they did not answer.'”

Jeremiah 35:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ Then Jeremiah said to the family of the Recabites, “This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘You have obeyed the command of your forefather Jonadab and have followed all his instructions and have done everything he ordered.’

Jeremiah 35:19 (AMP)

¹⁹ Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Jonadab son of Rechab shall never fail [to have] a man [descendant] to stand before Me.

Jeremiah Chapter 36

Jeremiah 36:1 (NIV)

¹ In the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD:

Jeremiah 36:2 (NIV)

² “Take a scroll and write on it all the words I have spoken to you concerning Israel, Judah and all the other nations from the time I began speaking to you in the reign of Josiah till now.

Jeremiah 36:3 (NIV)

³ Perhaps when the people of Judah hear about every disaster I plan to inflict on them, each of them will turn from his wicked way; then I will forgive their wickedness and their sin.”

Jeremiah 36:4 (NIV)

⁴ So Jeremiah called Baruch son of Neriah, and while Jeremiah dictated all the words the LORD had spoken to him, Baruch wrote them on the scroll.

Jeremiah 36:5 (NIV)

⁵ Then Jeremiah told Baruch, “I am restricted; I cannot go to the LORD’s temple.

Jeremiah 36:6 (NIV)

⁶ So you go to the house of the LORD on a day of fasting and read to the people from the scroll the words of the LORD that you wrote as I dictated. Read them to all the people of Judah who come in from their towns.

Jeremiah 36:7 (NIV)

⁷ Perhaps they will bring their petition before the LORD, and each will turn from his wicked ways, for the anger and wrath pronounced against this people by the LORD are great.”

Jeremiah 36:8 (NIV)

⁸ Baruch son of Neriah did everything Jeremiah the prophet told him to do; at the LORD’s temple he read the words of the LORD from the scroll.

Jeremiah 36:9 (NIV)

⁹ In the ninth month of the fifth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, a time of fasting before the LORD was proclaimed for all the people in Jerusalem and those who had come from the towns of Judah.

Jeremiah 36:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ From the room of Gemariah son of Shaphan the secretary, which was in the upper courtyard at the entrance of the New Gate of the temple, Baruch read to all the people at the LORD’s temple the words of Jeremiah from the scroll.

Jeremiah 36:11 (NIV)

¹¹ When Micaiah son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, heard all the words of the LORD from the scroll,

Jeremiah 36:12 (NIV)

¹² he went down to the secretary’s room in the royal palace, where all the officials were sitting: Elishama the secretary, Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Acbor, Gemariah son of Shaphan, Zedekiah son of Hananiah, and all the other officials.

Jeremiah 36:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ all the officials sent Jehudi son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, to say to Baruch, “Bring the scroll from which you have read to the people and come.” So Baruch son of Neriah went to them with the scroll in his hand.

Jeremiah 36:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ They said to him, “Sit down, please, and read it to us.” So Baruch read it to them.

Jeremiah 36:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ When they heard all these words, they looked at each other in fear and said to Baruch, “We must report all these words to the king.”

Jeremiah 36:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ Then they asked Baruch, “Tell us, how did you come to write all this? Did Jeremiah dictate it?”

Jeremiah 36:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ “Yes,” Baruch replied, “he dictated all these words to me, and I wrote them in ink on the scroll.”

Jeremiah 36:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ Then the officials said to Baruch, “You and Jeremiah, go and hide. Don’t let anyone know where you are.”

Jeremiah 36:20 (NIV)

²⁰ After they put the scroll in the room of Elishama the secretary, they went to the king in the courtyard and reported everything to him.

Jeremiah 36:21 (NIV)

²¹ The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and Jehudi brought it from the room of Elishama the secretary and read it to the king and all the officials standing beside him.

Jeremiah 36:22 (NIV)

²² It was the ninth month and the king was sitting in the winter apartment, with a fire burning in the firepot in front of him.

Jeremiah 36:23 (NIV)

²³ Whenever Jehudi had read three or four columns of the scroll, the king cut them off with a scribe’s knife and threw them into the firepot, until the entire scroll was burned in the fire.

Jeremiah 36:24 (NIV)

²⁴ The king and all his attendants who heard all these words showed no fear, nor did they tear their clothes.

Jeremiah 36:25 (NIV)

²⁵ Even though Elnathan, Delaiah and Gemariah urged the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them.

Jeremiah 36:26 (NIV)

²⁶ Instead, the king commanded Jerahmeel, a son of the king, Seraiah son of Azriel and Shelemiah son of Abdeel to arrest Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet. But the LORD had hidden them.

Jeremiah 36:27 (NIV)

²⁷ After the king burned the scroll containing the words that Baruch had written at Jeremiah’s dictation, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah:

Jeremiah 36:28 (NIV)

²⁸ “Take another scroll and write on it all the words that were on the first scroll, which Jehoiakim king of Judah burned up.

Jeremiah 36:29 (NIV)

²⁹ Also tell Jehoiakim king of Judah, ‘This is what the LORD says: You burned that scroll and said, “Why did you write on it that the king of Babylon would certainly come and destroy this land and cut off both men and animals from it?”

Jeremiah 36:30 (NIV)

³⁰ Therefore, this is what the LORD says about Jehoiakim king of Judah: He will have no one to sit on the throne of David; his body will be thrown out and exposed to the heat by day and the frost by night.

Jeremiah 36:31 (NIV)

³¹ I will punish him and his children and his attendants for their wickedness; I will bring on them and those living in Jerusalem and the people of Judah every disaster I pronounced against them, because they have not listened.'”

Jeremiah 36:32 (NIV)

³² So Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to the scribe Baruch son of Neriah, and as Jeremiah dictated, Baruch wrote on it all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And many similar words were added to them.

Jeremiah Chapter 37

Jeremiah 37:1 (NIV)

¹ Zedekiah son of Josiah was made king of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; he reigned in place of Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim.

Jeremiah 37:2 (NIV)

² Neither he nor his attendants nor the people of the land paid any attention to the words the LORD had spoken through Jeremiah the prophet.

Jeremiah 37:3 (NIV)

³ King Zedekiah, however, sent Jehucal son of Shelemiah with the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah to Jeremiah the prophet with this message: “Please pray to the LORD our God for us.”

Jeremiah 37:4 (NIV)

⁴ Now Jeremiah was free to come and go among the people, for he had not yet been put in prison.

Jeremiah 37:5 (NIV)

⁵ Pharaoh’s army had marched out of Egypt, and when the Babylonians who were besieging Jerusalem heard the report about them, they withdrew from Jerusalem.

Jeremiah 37:6 (NIV)

⁶ Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet:

Jeremiah 37:7 (NIV)

⁷ “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Tell the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of me, ‘Pharaoh’s army, which has marched out to support you, will go back to its own land, to Egypt.

Jeremiah 37:8 (NIV)

⁸ Then the Babylonians will return and attack this city; they will capture it and burn it down.’

Jeremiah 37:9 (NIV)

⁹ “This is what the LORD says: Do not deceive yourselves, thinking, ‘The Babylonians will surely leave us.’ They will not!

Jeremiah 37:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ Even if you were to defeat the entire Babylonian army that is attacking you and only wounded men were left in their tents, they would come out and burn this city down.”

Jeremiah 37:11 (NIV)

¹¹ After the Babylonian army had withdrawn from Jerusalem because of Pharaoh’s army,

Jeremiah 37:12 (NIV)

¹² Jeremiah started to leave the city to go to the territory of Benjamin to get his share of the property among the people there.

Jeremiah 37:13 (NIV)

¹³ But when he reached the Benjamin Gate, the captain of the guard, whose name was Irijah son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah, arrested him and said, “You are deserting to the Babylonians!”

Jeremiah 37:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ “That’s not true!” Jeremiah said. “I am not deserting to the Babylonians.” But Irijah would not listen to him; instead, he arrested Jeremiah and brought him to the officials.

Jeremiah 37:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ They were angry with Jeremiah and had him beaten and imprisoned in the house of Jonathan the secretary, which they had made into a prison.

Jeremiah 37:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ Jeremiah was put into a vaulted cell in a dungeon, where he remained a long time.

Jeremiah 37:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ Then King Zedekiah sent for him and had him brought to the palace, where he asked him privately, “Is there any word from the LORD?” “Yes,” Jeremiah replied, “you will be handed over to the king of Babylon.”

Jeremiah 37:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ Then Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, “What crime have I committed against you or your officials or this people, that you have put me in prison?

Jeremiah 37:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ Where are your prophets who prophesied to you, ‘The king of Babylon will not attack you or this land’?

Jeremiah 37:20 (NIV)

²⁰ But now, my lord the king, please listen. Let me bring my petition before you: Do not send me back to the house of Jonathan the secretary, or I will die there.”

Jeremiah 37:21 (NIV)

²¹ King Zedekiah then gave orders for Jeremiah to be placed in the courtyard of the guard and given bread from the street of the bakers each day until all the bread in the city was gone. So Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.

Jeremiah Chapter 38

Jeremiah 38:1 (NIV)

¹ Shephatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur, Jehucal son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malkijah heard what Jeremiah was telling all the people when he said,

Jeremiah 38:2 (NIV)

² “This is what the LORD says: ‘Whoever stays in this city will die by the sword, famine or plague, but whoever goes over to the Babylonians will live. He will escape with his life; he will live.’

Jeremiah 38:3 (NIV)

³ And this is what the LORD says: ‘This city will certainly be handed over to the army of the king of Babylon, who will capture it.'”

Jeremiah 38:4 (NIV)

⁴ Then the officials said to the king, “This man should be put to death. He is discouraging the soldiers who are left in this city, as well as all the people, by the things he is saying to them. This man is not seeking the good of these people but their ruin.”

Jeremiah 38:5 (NIV)

⁵ “He is in your hands,” King Zedekiah answered. “The king can do nothing to oppose you.”

Jeremiah 38:6 (NIV)

⁶ So they took Jeremiah and put him into the cistern of Malkijah, the king’s son, which was in the courtyard of the guard. They lowered Jeremiah by ropes into the cistern; it had no water in it, only mud, and Jeremiah sank down into the mud.

Jeremiah 38:7 (NIV)

⁷ But Ebed-Melech, a Cushite, an official in the royal palace, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern. While the king was sitting in the Benjamin Gate,

Jeremiah 38:8 (NIV)

⁸ Ebed-Melech went out of the palace and said to him,

Jeremiah 38:9 (NIV)

⁹ “My lord the king, these men have acted wickedly in all they have done to Jeremiah the prophet. They have thrown him into a cistern, where he will starve to death when there is no longer any bread in the city.”

Jeremiah 38:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ Then the king commanded Ebed-Melech the Cushite, “Take thirty men from here with you and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies.”

Jeremiah 38:11 (NIV)

¹¹ So Ebed-Melech took the men with him and went to a room under the treasury in the palace. He took some old rags and worn-out clothes from there and let them down with ropes to Jeremiah in the cistern.

Jeremiah 38:12 (NIV)

¹² Ebed-Melech the Cushite said to Jeremiah, “Put these old rags and worn-out clothes under your arms to pad the ropes.” Jeremiah did so,

Jeremiah 38:13 (NIV)

¹³ and they pulled him up with the ropes and lifted him out of the cistern. And Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.

Jeremiah 38:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ Then King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah the prophet and had him brought to the third entrance to the temple of the LORD. “I am going to ask you something,” the king said to Jeremiah. “Do not hide anything from me.”

Jeremiah 38:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “If I give you an answer, will you not kill me? Even if I did give you counsel, you would not listen to me.”

Jeremiah 38:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ But King Zedekiah swore this oath secretly to Jeremiah: “As surely as the LORD lives, who has given us breath, I will neither kill you nor hand you over to those who are seeking your life.”

Jeremiah 38:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “This is what the LORD God Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, your life will be spared and this city will not be burned down; you and your family will live.

Jeremiah 38:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ But if you will not surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, this city will be handed over to the Babylonians and they will burn it down; you yourself will not escape from their hands.'”

Jeremiah 38:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Jews who have gone over to the Babylonians, for the Babylonians may hand me over to them and they will mistreat me.”

Jeremiah 38:20 (NIV)

²⁰ “They will not hand you over,” Jeremiah replied. “Obey the LORD by doing what I tell you. Then it will go well with you, and your life will be spared.

Jeremiah 38:21 (NIV)

²¹ But if you refuse to surrender, this is what the LORD has revealed to me:

Jeremiah 38:22 (NIV)

²² All the women left in the palace of the king of Judah will be brought out to the officials of the king of Babylon. Those women will say to you: “‘They misled you and overcame you– those trusted friends of yours. Your feet are sunk in the mud; your friends have deserted you.’

Jeremiah 38:23 (NIV)

²³ “All your wives and children will be brought out to the Babylonians. You yourself will not escape from their hands but will be captured by the king of Babylon; and this city will be burned down.”

Jeremiah 38:24 (NIV)

²⁴ Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Do not let anyone know about this conversation, or you may die.

Jeremiah 38:25 (NIV)

²⁵ If the officials hear that I talked with you, and they come to you and say, ‘Tell us what you said to the king and what the king said to you; do not hide it from us or we will kill you,’

Jeremiah 38:26 (NIV)

²⁶ then tell them, ‘I was pleading with the king not to send me back to Jonathan’s house to die there.'”

Jeremiah 38:27 (NIV)

²⁷ All the officials did come to Jeremiah and question him, and he told them everything the king had ordered him to say. So they said no more to him, for no one had heard his conversation with the king.

Jeremiah 38:28 (NIV)

²⁸ And Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard until the day Jerusalem was captured.

Jeremiah Chapter 39

Jeremiah 39:1 (NIV)

¹ This is how Jerusalem was taken: In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his whole army and laid siege to it.

Jeremiah 39:2 (NIV)

² And on the ninth day of the fourth month of Zedekiah’s eleventh year, the city wall was broken through.

Jeremiah 39:3 (NIV)

³ Then all the officials of the king of Babylon came and took seats in the Middle Gate: Nergal-Sharezer of Samgar, Nebo-Sarsekim a chief officer, Nergal-Sharezer a high official and all the other officials of the king of Babylon.

Jeremiah 39:4 (NIV)

⁴ When Zedekiah king of Judah and all the soldiers saw them, they fled; they left the city at night by way of the king’s garden, through the gate between the two walls, and headed toward the Arabah.

Jeremiah 39:5 (NIV)

⁵ But the Babylonian army pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. They captured him and took him to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he pronounced sentence on him.

Jeremiah 39:6 (NIV)

⁶ There at Riblah the king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes and also killed all the nobles of Judah.

Jeremiah 39:7 (NIV)

⁷ Then he put out Zedekiah’s eyes and bound him with bronze shackles to take him to Babylon.

Jeremiah 39:8 (NIV)

⁸ The Babylonians set fire to the royal palace and the houses of the people and broke down the walls of Jerusalem.

Jeremiah 39:9 (NIV)

⁹ Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard carried into exile to Babylon the people who remained in the city, along with those who had gone over to him, and the rest of the people.

Jeremiah 39:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ But Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard left behind in the land of Judah some of the poor people, who owned nothing; and at that time he gave them vineyards and fields.

Jeremiah 39:11 (NIV)

¹¹ Now Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had given these orders about Jeremiah through Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard:

Jeremiah 39:12 (NIV)

¹² “Take him and look after him; don’t harm him but do for him whatever he asks.”

Jeremiah 39:13 (NIV)

¹³ So Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard, Nebushazban a chief officer, Nergal-Sharezer a high official and all the other officers of the king of Babylon

Jeremiah 39:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ sent and had Jeremiah taken out of the courtyard of the guard. They turned him over to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, to take him back to his home. So he remained among his own people.

Jeremiah 39:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ While Jeremiah had been confined in the courtyard of the guard, the word of the LORD came to him:

Jeremiah 39:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ “Go and tell Ebed-Melech the Cushite, ‘This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I am about to fulfill my words against this city through disaster, not prosperity. At that time they will be fulfilled before your eyes.

Jeremiah 39:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ But I will rescue you on that day, declares the LORD; you will not be handed over to those you fear.

Jeremiah 39:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ I will save you; you will not fall by the sword but will escape with your life, because you trust in me, declares the LORD.'”

Jeremiah Chapter 40

Jeremiah 40:1 (NIV)

¹ The word came to Jeremiah from the LORD after Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard had released him at Ramah. He had found Jeremiah bound in chains among all the captives from Jerusalem and Judah who were being carried into exile to Babylon.

Jeremiah 40:2 (NIV)

² When the commander of the guard found Jeremiah, he said to him, “The LORD your God decreed this disaster for this place.

Jeremiah 40:3 (NIV)

³ And now the LORD has brought it about; he has done just as he said he would. All this happened because you people sinned against the LORD and did not obey him.

Jeremiah 40:4 (NIV)

⁴ But today I am freeing you from the chains on your wrists. Come with me to Babylon, if you like, and I will look after you; but if you do not want to, then don’t come. Look, the whole country lies before you; go wherever you please.”

Jeremiah 40:5 (NIV)

⁵ However, before Jeremiah turned to go, Nebuzaradan added, “Go back to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has appointed over the towns of Judah, and live with him among the people, or go anywhere else you please.” Then the commander gave him provisions and a present and let him go.

Jeremiah 40:6 (NIV)

⁶ So Jeremiah went to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah and stayed with him among the people who were left behind in the land.

Jeremiah 40:7 (NIV)

⁷ When all the army officers and their men who were still in the open country heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam as governor over the land and had put him in charge of the men, women and children who were the poorest in the land and who had not been carried into exile to Babylon,

Jeremiah 40:8 (NIV)

⁸ they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah–Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth, the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah the son of the Maacathite, and their men.

Jeremiah 40:9 (NIV)

⁹ Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, took an oath to reassure them and their men. “Do not be afraid to serve the Babylonians,” he said. “Settle down in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well with you.

Jeremiah 40:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ I myself will stay at Mizpah to represent you before the Babylonians who come to us, but you are to harvest the wine, summer fruit and oil, and put them in your storage jars, and live in the towns you have taken over.”

Jeremiah 40:11 (NIV)

¹¹ When all the Jews in Moab, Ammon, Edom and all the other countries heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant in Judah and had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, as governor over them,

Jeremiah 40:12 (NIV)

¹² they all came back to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah, from all the countries where they had been scattered. And they harvested an abundance of wine and summer fruit.

Jeremiah 40:13 (NIV)

¹³ Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers still in the open country came to Gedaliah at Mizpah

Jeremiah 40:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ and said to him, “Don’t you know that Baalis king of the Ammonites has sent Ishmael son of Nethaniah to take your life?” But Gedaliah son of Ahikam did not believe them.

Jeremiah 40:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ Then Johanan son of Kareah said privately to Gedaliah in Mizpah, “Let me go and kill Ishmael son of Nethaniah, and no one will know it. Why should he take your life and cause all the Jews who are gathered around you to be scattered and the remnant of Judah to perish?”

Jeremiah 40:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ But Gedaliah son of Ahikam said to Johanan son of Kareah, “Don’t do such a thing! What you are saying about Ishmael is not true.”

Jeremiah Chapter 41

Jeremiah 41:1 (NIV)

¹ In the seventh month Ishmael son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, who was of royal blood and had been one of the king’s officers, came with ten men to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah. While they were eating together there,

Jeremiah 41:2 (NIV)

² Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the ten men who were with him got up and struck down Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, with the sword, killing the one whom the king of Babylon had appointed as governor over the land.

Jeremiah 41:3 (NIV)

³ Ishmael also killed all the Jews who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah, as well as the Babylonian soldiers who were there.

Jeremiah 41:4 (NIV)

⁴ The day after Gedaliah’s assassination, before anyone knew about it,

Jeremiah 41:5 (NIV)

⁵ eighty men who had shaved off their beards, torn their clothes and cut themselves came from Shechem, Shiloh and Samaria, bringing grain offerings and incense with them to the house of the LORD.

Jeremiah 41:6 (NIV)

⁶ Ishmael son of Nethaniah went out from Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he went. When he met them, he said, “Come to Gedaliah son of Ahikam.”

Jeremiah 41:7 (NIV)

⁷ When they went into the city, Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the men who were with him slaughtered them and threw them into a cistern.

Jeremiah 41:8 (NIV)

⁸ But ten of them said to Ishmael, “Don’t kill us! We have wheat and barley, oil and honey, hidden in a field.” So he let them alone and did not kill them with the others.

Jeremiah 41:9 (NIV)

⁹ Now the cistern where he threw all the bodies of the men he had killed along with Gedaliah was the one King Asa had made as part of his defense against Baasha king of Israel. Ishmael son of Nethaniah filled it with the dead.

Jeremiah 41:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ Ishmael made captives of all the rest of the people who were in Mizpah–the king’s daughters along with all the others who were left there, over whom Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam. Ishmael son of Nethaniah took them captive and set out to cross over to the Ammonites.

Jeremiah 41:11 (NIV)

¹¹ When Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers who were with him heard about all the crimes Ishmael son of Nethaniah had committed,

Jeremiah 41:12 (NIV)

¹² they took all their men and went to fight Ishmael son of Nethaniah. They caught up with him near the great pool in Gibeon.

Jeremiah 41:13 (NIV)

¹³ When all the people Ishmael had with him saw Johanan son of Kareah and the army officers who were with him, they were glad.

Jeremiah 41:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ All the people Ishmael had taken captive at Mizpah turned and went over to Johanan son of Kareah.

Jeremiah 41:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ But Ishmael son of Nethaniah and eight of his men escaped from Johanan and fled to the Ammonites.

Jeremiah 41:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ Then Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers who were with him led away all the survivors from Mizpah whom he had recovered from Ishmael son of Nethaniah after he had assassinated Gedaliah son of Ahikam: the soldiers, women, children and court officials he had brought from Gibeon.

Jeremiah 41:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ And they went on, stopping at Geruth Kimham near Bethlehem on their way to Egypt

Jeremiah 41:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ to escape the Babylonians. They were afraid of them because Ishmael son of Nethaniah had killed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had appointed as governor over the land.

Jeremiah Chapter 42

Jeremiah 42:1 (NIV)

¹ Then all the army officers, including Johanan son of Kareah and Jezaniah son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least to the greatest approached

Jeremiah 42:2 (NIV)

² Jeremiah the prophet and said to him, “Please hear our petition and pray to the LORD your God for this entire remnant. For as you now see, though we were once many, now only a few are left.

Jeremiah 42:3 (NIV)

³ Pray that the LORD your God will tell us where we should go and what we should do.”

Jeremiah 42:4 (NIV)

⁴ “I have heard you,” replied Jeremiah the prophet. “I will certainly pray to the LORD your God as you have requested; I will tell you everything the LORD says and will keep nothing back from you.”

Jeremiah 42:5 (NIV)

⁵ Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act in accordance with everything the LORD your God sends you to tell us.

Jeremiah 42:6 (NIV)

⁶ Whether it is favorable or unfavorable, we will obey the LORD our God, to whom we are sending you, so that it will go well with us, for we will obey the LORD our God.”

Jeremiah 42:7 (NIV)

⁷ Ten days later the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 42:8 (NIV)

⁸ So he called together Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers who were with him and all the people from the least to the greatest.

Jeremiah 42:9 (NIV)

⁹ He said to them, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your petition, says:

Jeremiah 42:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ ‘If you stay in this land, I will build you up and not tear you down; I will plant you and not uproot you, for I am grieved over the disaster I have inflicted on you.

Jeremiah 42:11 (NIV)

¹¹ Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you now fear. Do not be afraid of him, declares the LORD, for I am with you and will save you and deliver you from his hands.

Jeremiah 42:12 (NIV)

¹² I will show you compassion so that he will have compassion on you and restore you to your land.’

Jeremiah 42:13 (NIV)

¹³ “However, if you say, ‘We will not stay in this land,’ and so disobey the LORD your God,

Jeremiah 42:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ and if you say, ‘No, we will go and live in Egypt, where we will not see war or hear the trumpet or be hungry for bread,’

Jeremiah 42:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ then hear the word of the LORD, O remnant of Judah. This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you are determined to go to Egypt and you do go to settle there,

Jeremiah 42:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ then the sword you fear will overtake you there, and the famine you dread will follow you into Egypt, and there you will die.

Jeremiah 42:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ Indeed, all who are determined to go to Egypt to settle there will die by the sword, famine and plague; not one of them will survive or escape the disaster I will bring on them.’

Jeremiah 42:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘As my anger and wrath have been poured out on those who lived in Jerusalem, so will my wrath be poured out on you when you go to Egypt. You will be an object of cursing and horror, of condemnation and reproach; you will never see this place again.’

Jeremiah 42:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ “O remnant of Judah, the LORD has told you, ‘Do not go to Egypt.’ Be sure of this: I warn you today

Jeremiah 42:20 (NIV)

²⁰ that you made a fatal mistake when you sent me to the LORD your God and said, ‘Pray to the LORD our God for us; tell us everything he says and we will do it.’

Jeremiah 42:21 (NIV)

²¹ I have told you today, but you still have not obeyed the LORD your God in all he sent me to tell you.

Jeremiah 42:22 (NIV)

²² So now, be sure of this: You will die by the sword, famine and plague in the place where you want to go to settle.”

Jeremiah Chapter 43

Jeremiah 43:1 (NIV)

¹ When Jeremiah finished telling the people all the words of the LORD their God–everything the LORD had sent him to tell them–

Jeremiah 43:2 (NIV)

² Azariah son of Hoshaiah and Johanan son of Kareah and all the arrogant men said to Jeremiah, “You are lying! The LORD our God has not sent you to say, ‘You must not go to Egypt to settle there.’

Jeremiah 43:3 (NIV)

³ But Baruch son of Neriah is inciting you against us to hand us over to the Babylonians, so they may kill us or carry us into exile to Babylon.”

Jeremiah 43:4 (NIV)

⁴ So Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers and all the people disobeyed the LORD’s command to stay in the land of Judah.

Jeremiah 43:5 (NIV)

⁵ Instead, Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers led away all the remnant of Judah who had come back to live in the land of Judah from all the nations where they had been scattered.

Jeremiah 43:6 (NIV)

⁶ They also led away all the men, women and children and the king’s daughters whom Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard had left with Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, and Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch son of Neriah.

Jeremiah 43:7 (NIV)

⁷ So they entered Egypt in disobedience to the LORD and went as far as Tahpanhes.

Jeremiah 43:8 (NIV)

⁸ In Tahpanhes the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah:

Jeremiah 43:9 (NIV)

⁹ “While the Jews are watching, take some large stones with you and bury them in clay in the brick pavement at the entrance to Pharaoh’s palace in Tahpanhes.

Jeremiah 43:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ Then say to them, ‘This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I will send for my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and I will set his throne over these stones I have buried here; he will spread his royal canopy above them.

Jeremiah 43:11 (NIV)

¹¹ He will come and attack Egypt, bringing death to those destined for death, captivity to those destined for captivity, and the sword to those destined for the sword.

Jeremiah 43:12 (NIV)

¹² He will set fire to the temples of the gods of Egypt; he will burn their temples and take their gods captive. As a shepherd wraps his garment around him, so will he wrap Egypt around himself and depart from there unscathed.

Jeremiah 43:13 (NIV)

¹³ There in the temple of the sun in Egypt he will demolish the sacred pillars and will burn down the temples of the gods of Egypt.'”

Jeremiah Chapter 44

Jeremiah 44:1 (NIV)

¹ This word came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews living in Lower Egypt–in Migdol, Tahpanhes and Memphis–and in Upper Egypt:

Jeremiah 44:2 (NIV)

² “This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: You saw the great disaster I brought on Jerusalem and on all the towns of Judah. Today they lie deserted and in ruins

Jeremiah 44:3 (NIV)

³ because of the evil they have done. They provoked me to anger by burning incense and by worshiping other gods that neither they nor you nor your fathers ever knew.

Jeremiah 44:4 (NIV)

⁴ Again and again I sent my servants the prophets, who said, ‘Do not do this detestable thing that I hate!’

Jeremiah 44:5 (NIV)

⁵ But they did not listen or pay attention; they did not turn from their wickedness or stop burning incense to other gods.

Jeremiah 44:6 (NIV)

⁶ Therefore, my fierce anger was poured out; it raged against the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem and made them the desolate ruins they are today.

Jeremiah 44:7 (NIV)

⁷ “Now this is what the LORD God Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Why bring such great disaster on yourselves by cutting off from Judah the men and women, the children and infants, and so leave yourselves without a remnant?

Jeremiah 44:8 (NIV)

⁸ Why provoke me to anger with what your hands have made, burning incense to other gods in Egypt, where you have come to live? You will destroy yourselves and make yourselves an object of cursing and reproach among all the nations on earth.

Jeremiah 44:9 (NIV)

⁹ Have you forgotten the wickedness committed by your fathers and by the kings and queens of Judah and the wickedness committed by you and your wives in the land of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem?

Jeremiah 44:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ To this day they have not humbled themselves or shown reverence, nor have they followed my law and the decrees I set before you and your fathers.

Jeremiah 44:11 (NIV)

¹¹ “Therefore, this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I am determined to bring disaster on you and to destroy all Judah.

Jeremiah 44:12 (NIV)

¹² I will take away the remnant of Judah who were determined to go to Egypt to settle there. They will all perish in Egypt; they will fall by the sword or die from famine. From the least to the greatest, they will die by sword or famine. They will become an object of cursing and horror, of condemnation and reproach.

Jeremiah 44:13 (NIV)

¹³ I will punish those who live in Egypt with the sword, famine and plague, as I punished Jerusalem.

Jeremiah 44:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ None of the remnant of Judah who have gone to live in Egypt will escape or survive to return to the land of Judah, to which they long to return and live; none will return except a few fugitives.”

Jeremiah 44:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ Then all the men who knew that their wives were burning incense to other gods, along with all the women who were present–a large assembly–and all the people living in Lower and Upper Egypt, said to Jeremiah,

Jeremiah 44:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ “We will not listen to the message you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD!

Jeremiah 44:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ We will certainly do everything we said we would: We will burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and will pour out drink offerings to her just as we and our fathers, our kings and our officials did in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. At that time we had plenty of food and were well off and suffered no harm.

Jeremiah 44:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ But ever since we stopped burning incense to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have had nothing and have been perishing by sword and famine.”

Jeremiah 44:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ The women added, “When we burned incense to the Queen of Heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, did not our husbands know that we were making cakes like her image and pouring out drink offerings to her?”

Jeremiah 44:20 (NIV)

²⁰ Then Jeremiah said to all the people, both men and women, who were answering him,

Jeremiah 44:21 (NIV)

²¹ “Did not the LORD remember and think about the incense burned in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem by you and your fathers, your kings and your officials and the people of the land?

Jeremiah 44:23 (NIV)

²³ Because you have burned incense and have sinned against the LORD and have not obeyed him or followed his law or his decrees or his stipulations, this disaster has come upon you, as you now see.”

Jeremiah 44:24 (NIV)

²⁴ Then Jeremiah said to all the people, including the women, “Hear the word of the LORD, all you people of Judah in Egypt.

Jeremiah 44:25 (NIV)

²⁵ This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: You and your wives have shown by your actions what you promised when you said, ‘We will certainly carry out the vows we made to burn incense and pour out drink offerings to the Queen of Heaven.’ “Go ahead then, do what you promised! Keep your vows!

Jeremiah 44:26 (NIV)

²⁶ But hear the word of the LORD, all Jews living in Egypt: ‘I swear by my great name,’ says the LORD, ‘that no one from Judah living anywhere in Egypt will ever again invoke my name or swear, “As surely as the Sovereign LORD lives.”

Jeremiah 44:27 (NIV)

²⁷ For I am watching over them for harm, not for good; the Jews in Egypt will perish by sword and famine until they are all destroyed.

Jeremiah 44:28 (NIV)

²⁸ Those who escape the sword and return to the land of Judah from Egypt will be very few. Then the whole remnant of Judah who came to live in Egypt will know whose word will stand–mine or theirs.

Jeremiah 44:29 (NIV)

²⁹ “‘This will be the sign to you that I will punish you in this place,’ declares the LORD, ‘so that you will know that my threats of harm against you will surely stand.’

Jeremiah 44:30 (NIV)

³⁰ This is what the LORD says: ‘I am going to hand Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt over to his enemies who seek his life, just as I handed Zedekiah king of Judah over to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the enemy who was seeking his life.'”

Jeremiah Chapter 45

Jeremiah 45:1 (NIV)

¹ This is what Jeremiah the prophet told Baruch son of Neriah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, after Baruch had written on a scroll the words Jeremiah was then dictating:

Jeremiah 45:2 (NIV)

² “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says to you, Baruch:

Jeremiah 45:3 (NIV)

³ You said, ‘Woe to me! The LORD has added sorrow to my pain; I am worn out with groaning and find no rest.'”

Jeremiah 45:4 (NIV)

⁴ [The LORD said,] “Say this to him: ‘This is what the LORD says: I will overthrow what I have built and uproot what I have planted, throughout the land.

Jeremiah 45:5 (NIV)

⁵ Should you then seek great things for yourself? Seek them not. For I will bring disaster on all people, declares the LORD, but wherever you go I will let you escape with your life.'”

Jeremiah Chapter 46

Jeremiah 46:1 (NIV)

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

Jeremiah 46:2 (NIV)

² Concerning Egypt: This is the message against the army of Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt, which was defeated at Carchemish on the Euphrates River by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah:

Jeremiah 46:3 (NIV)

³ “Prepare your shields, both large and small, and march out for battle!

Jeremiah 46:4 (NIV)

⁴ Harness the horses, mount the steeds! Take your positions with helmets on! Polish your spears, put on your armor!

Jeremiah 46:5 (NIV)

⁵ What do I see? They are terrified, they are retreating, their warriors are defeated. They flee in haste without looking back, and there is terror on every side,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 46:6 (NIV)

⁶ “The swift cannot flee nor the strong escape. In the north by the River Euphrates they stumble and fall.

Jeremiah 46:7 (NIV)

⁷ “Who is this that rises like the Nile, like rivers of surging waters?

Jeremiah 46:8 (NIV)

⁸ Egypt rises like the Nile, like rivers of surging waters. She says, ‘I will rise and cover the earth; I will destroy cities and their people.’

Jeremiah 46:9 (NIV)

⁹ Charge, O horses! Drive furiously, O charioteers! March on, O warriors– men of Cush and Put who carry shields, men of Lydia who draw the bow.

Jeremiah 46:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ But that day belongs to the Lord, the LORD Almighty– a day of vengeance, for vengeance on his foes. The sword will devour till it is satisfied, till it has quenched its thirst with blood. For the Lord, the LORD Almighty, will offer sacrifice in the land of the north by the River Euphrates.

Jeremiah 46:11 (NIV)

¹¹ “Go up to Gilead and get balm, O Virgin Daughter of Egypt. But you multiply remedies in vain; there is no healing for you.

Jeremiah 46:12 (NIV)

¹² The nations will hear of your shame; your cries will fill the earth. One warrior will stumble over another; both will fall down together.”

Jeremiah 46:13 (NIV)

¹³ This is the message the LORD spoke to Jeremiah the prophet about the coming of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to attack Egypt:

Jeremiah 46:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ “Announce this in Egypt, and proclaim it in Migdol; proclaim it also in Memphis and Tahpanhes: ‘Take your positions and get ready, for the sword devours those around you.’

Jeremiah 46:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ Why will your warriors be laid low? They cannot stand, for the LORD will push them down.

Jeremiah 46:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ They will stumble repeatedly; they will fall over each other. They will say, ‘Get up, let us go back to our own people and our native lands, away from the sword of the oppressor.’

Jeremiah 46:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ There they will exclaim, ‘Pharaoh king of Egypt is only a loud noise; he has missed his opportunity.’

Jeremiah 46:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ “As surely as I live,” declares the King, whose name is the LORD Almighty, “one will come who is like Tabor among the mountains, like Carmel by the sea.

Jeremiah 46:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ Pack your belongings for exile, you who live in Egypt, for Memphis will be laid waste and lie in ruins without inhabitant.

Jeremiah 46:20 (NIV)

²⁰ “Egypt is a beautiful heifer, but a gadfly is coming against her from the north.

Jeremiah 46:21 (NIV)

²¹ The mercenaries in her ranks are like fattened calves. They too will turn and flee together, they will not stand their ground, for the day of disaster is coming upon them, the time for them to be punished.

Jeremiah 46:22 (NIV)

²² Egypt will hiss like a fleeing serpent as the enemy advances in force; they will come against her with axes, like men who cut down trees.

Jeremiah 46:23 (NIV)

²³ They will chop down her forest,” declares the LORD, “dense though it be. They are more numerous than locusts, they cannot be counted.

Jeremiah 46:24 (NIV)

²⁴ The Daughter of Egypt will be put to shame, handed over to the people of the north.”

Jeremiah 46:25 (NIV)

²⁵ The LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “I am about to bring punishment on Amon god of Thebes, on Pharaoh, on Egypt and her gods and her kings, and on those who rely on Pharaoh.

Jeremiah 46:26 (NIV)

²⁶ I will hand them over to those who seek their lives, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and his officers. Later, however, Egypt will be inhabited as in times past,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 46:27 (NIV)

²⁷ “Do not fear, O Jacob my servant; do not be dismayed, O Israel. I will surely save you out of a distant place, your descendants from the land of their exile. Jacob will again have peace and security, and no one will make him afraid.

Jeremiah 46:28 (NIV)

²⁸ Do not fear, O Jacob my servant, for I am with you,” declares the LORD. “Though I completely destroy all the nations among which I scatter you, I will not completely destroy you. I will discipline you but only with justice; I will not let you go entirely unpunished.”

Jeremiah Chapter 47

Jeremiah 47:1 (NIV)

¹ This is the word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the Philistines before Pharaoh attacked Gaza:

Jeremiah 47:2 (NIV)

² This is what the LORD says: “See how the waters are rising in the north; they will become an overflowing torrent. They will overflow the land and everything in it, the towns and those who live in them. The people will cry out; all who dwell in the land will wail

Jeremiah 47:3 (NIV)

³ at the sound of the hoofs of galloping steeds, at the noise of enemy chariots and the rumble of their wheels. Fathers will not turn to help their children; their hands will hang limp.

Jeremiah 47:4 (NIV)

⁴ For the day has come to destroy all the Philistines and to cut off all survivors who could help Tyre and Sidon. The LORD is about to destroy the Philistines, the remnant from the coasts of Caphtor.

Jeremiah 47:5 (NIV)

⁵ Gaza will shave her head in mourning; Ashkelon will be silenced. O remnant on the plain, how long will you cut yourselves?

Jeremiah 47:6 (NIV)

⁶ “‘Ah, sword of the LORD,’ [you cry,] ‘how long till you rest? Return to your scabbard; cease and be still.’

Jeremiah 47:7 (NIV)

⁷ But how can it rest when the LORD has commanded it, when he has ordered it to attack Ashkelon and the coast?”

Jeremiah Chapter 48

Jeremiah 48:1 (NIV)

¹ Concerning Moab: This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Woe to Nebo, for it will be ruined. Kiriathaim will be disgraced and captured; the stronghold will be disgraced and shattered.

Jeremiah 48:2 (NIV)

² Moab will be praised no more; in Heshbon men will plot her downfall: ‘Come, let us put an end to that nation.’ You too, O Madmen, will be silenced; the sword will pursue you.

Jeremiah 48:3 (NIV)

³ Listen to the cries from Horonaim, cries of great havoc and destruction.

Jeremiah 48:4 (NIV)

⁴ Moab will be broken; her little ones will cry out.

Jeremiah 48:5 (NIV)

⁵ They go up the way to Luhith, weeping bitterly as they go; on the road down to Horonaim anguished cries over the destruction are heard.

Jeremiah 48:6 (NIV)

⁶ Flee! Run for your lives; become like a bush in the desert.

Jeremiah 48:7 (NIV)

⁷ Since you trust in your deeds and riches, you too will be taken captive, and Chemosh will go into exile, together with his priests and officials.

Jeremiah 48:8 (NIV)

⁸ The destroyer will come against every town, and not a town will escape. The valley will be ruined and the plateau destroyed, because the LORD has spoken.

Jeremiah 48:9 (NIV)

⁹ Put salt on Moab, for she will be laid waste; her towns will become desolate, with no one to live in them.

Jeremiah 48:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ “A curse on him who is lax in doing the LORD’s work! A curse on him who keeps his sword from bloodshed!

Jeremiah 48:11 (NIV)

¹¹ “Moab has been at rest from youth, like wine left on its dregs, not poured from one jar to another– she has not gone into exile. So she tastes as she did, and her aroma is unchanged.

Jeremiah 48:12 (NIV)

¹² But days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will send men who pour from jars, and they will pour her out; they will empty her jars and smash her jugs.

Jeremiah 48:13 (NIV)

¹³ Then Moab will be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed when they trusted in Bethel.

Jeremiah 48:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ “How can you say, ‘We are warriors, men valiant in battle’?

Jeremiah 48:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ Moab will be destroyed and her towns invaded; her finest young men will go down in the slaughter,” declares the King, whose name is the LORD Almighty.

Jeremiah 48:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ “The fall of Moab is at hand; her calamity will come quickly.

Jeremiah 48:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ Mourn for her, all who live around her, all who know her fame; say, ‘How broken is the mighty scepter, how broken the glorious staff!’

Jeremiah 48:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ “Come down from your glory and sit on the parched ground, O inhabitants of the Daughter of Dibon, for he who destroys Moab will come up against you and ruin your fortified cities.

Jeremiah 48:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ Stand by the road and watch, you who live in Aroer. Ask the man fleeing and the woman escaping, ask them, ‘What has happened?’

Jeremiah 48:20 (NIV)

²⁰ Moab is disgraced, for she is shattered. Wail and cry out! Announce by the Arnon that Moab is destroyed.

Jeremiah 48:21 (NIV)

²¹ Judgment has come to the plateau– to Holon, Jahzah and Mephaath,

Jeremiah 48:22 (NIV)

²² to Dibon, Nebo and Beth Diblathaim,

Jeremiah 48:23 (NIV)

²³ to Kiriathaim, Beth Gamul and Beth Meon,

Jeremiah 48:24 (NIV)

²⁴ to Kerioth and Bozrah– to all the towns of Moab, far and near.

Jeremiah 48:25 (NIV)

²⁵ Moab’s horn is cut off; her arm is broken,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 48:26 (NIV)

²⁶ “Make her drunk, for she has defied the LORD. Let Moab wallow in her vomit; let her be an object of ridicule.

Jeremiah 48:27 (NIV)

²⁷ Was not Israel the object of your ridicule? Was she caught among thieves, that you shake your head in scorn whenever you speak of her?

Jeremiah 48:28 (NIV)

²⁸ Abandon your towns and dwell among the rocks, you who live in Moab. Be like a dove that makes its nest at the mouth of a cave.

Jeremiah 48:29 (NIV)

²⁹ “We have heard of Moab’s pride– her overweening pride and conceit, her pride and arrogance and the haughtiness of her heart.

Jeremiah 48:30 (NIV)

³⁰ I know her insolence but it is futile,” declares the LORD, “and her boasts accomplish nothing.

Jeremiah 48:31 (NIV)

³¹ Therefore I wail over Moab, for all Moab I cry out, I moan for the men of Kir Hareseth.

Jeremiah 48:32 (NIV)

³² I weep for you, as Jazer weeps, O vines of Sibmah. Your branches spread as far as the sea; they reached as far as the sea of Jazer. The destroyer has fallen on your ripened fruit and grapes.

Jeremiah 48:33 (NIV)

³³ Joy and gladness are gone from the orchards and fields of Moab. I have stopped the flow of wine from the presses; no one treads them with shouts of joy. Although there are shouts, they are not shouts of joy.

Jeremiah 48:34 (NIV)

³⁴ “The sound of their cry rises from Heshbon to Elealeh and Jahaz, from Zoar as far as Horonaim and Eglath Shelishiyah, for even the waters of Nimrim are dried up.

Jeremiah 48:35 (NIV)

³⁵ In Moab I will put an end to those who make offerings on the high places and burn incense to their gods,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 48:36 (NIV)

³⁶ “So my heart laments for Moab like a flute; it laments like a flute for the men of Kir Hareseth. The wealth they acquired is gone.

Jeremiah 48:37 (NIV)

³⁷ Every head is shaved and every beard cut off; every hand is slashed and every waist is covered with sackcloth.

Jeremiah 48:38 (NIV)

³⁸ On all the roofs in Moab and in the public squares there is nothing but mourning, for I have broken Moab like a jar that no one wants,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 48:39 (NIV)

³⁹ “How shattered she is! How they wail! How Moab turns her back in shame! Moab has become an object of ridicule, an object of horror to all those around her.”

Jeremiah 48:40 (NIV)

⁴⁰ This is what the LORD says: “Look! An eagle is swooping down, spreading its wings over Moab.

Jeremiah 48:41 (NIV)

⁴¹ Kerioth will be captured and the strongholds taken. In that day the hearts of Moab’s warriors will be like the heart of a woman in labor.

Jeremiah 48:42 (NIV)

⁴² Moab will be destroyed as a nation because she defied the LORD.

Jeremiah 48:43 (NIV)

⁴³ Terror and pit and snare await you, O people of Moab,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 48:44 (NIV)

⁴⁴ “Whoever flees from the terror will fall into a pit, whoever climbs out of the pit will be caught in a snare; for I will bring upon Moab the year of her punishment,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 48:45 (NIV)

⁴⁵ “In the shadow of Heshbon the fugitives stand helpless, for a fire has gone out from Heshbon, a blaze from the midst of Sihon; it burns the foreheads of Moab, the skulls of the noisy boasters.

Jeremiah 48:46 (NIV)

⁴⁶ Woe to you, O Moab! The people of Chemosh are destroyed; your sons are taken into exile and your daughters into captivity.

Jeremiah 48:47 (NIV)

⁴⁷ “Yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab in days to come,” declares the LORD. Here ends the judgment on Moab.

Jeremiah Chapter 49

Jeremiah 49:1 (NIV)

¹ Concerning the Ammonites: This is what the LORD says: “Has Israel no sons? Has she no heirs? Why then has Molech taken possession of Gad? Why do his people live in its towns?

Jeremiah 49:2 (NIV)

² But the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will sound the battle cry against Rabbah of the Ammonites; it will become a mound of ruins, and its surrounding villages will be set on fire. Then Israel will drive out those who drove her out,” says the LORD.

Jeremiah 49:3 (NIV)

³ “Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai is destroyed! Cry out, O inhabitants of Rabbah! Put on sackcloth and mourn; rush here and there inside the walls, for Molech will go into exile, together with his priests and officials.

Jeremiah 49:4 (NIV)

⁴ Why do you boast of your valleys, boast of your valleys so fruitful? O unfaithful daughter, you trust in your riches and say, ‘Who will attack me?’

Jeremiah 49:5 (NIV)

⁵ I will bring terror on you from all those around you,” declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty. “Every one of you will be driven away, and no one will gather the fugitives.

Jeremiah 49:6 (NIV)

⁶ “Yet afterward, I will restore the fortunes of the Ammonites,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 49:7 (NIV)

⁷ Concerning Edom: This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Is there no longer wisdom in Teman? Has counsel perished from the prudent? Has their wisdom decayed?

Jeremiah 49:8 (NIV)

⁸ Turn and flee, hide in deep caves, you who live in Dedan, for I will bring disaster on Esau at the time I punish him.

Jeremiah 49:9 (NIV)

⁹ If grape pickers came to you, would they not leave a few grapes? If thieves came during the night, would they not steal only as much as they wanted?

Jeremiah 49:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ But I will strip Esau bare; I will uncover his hiding places, so that he cannot conceal himself. His children, relatives and neighbors will perish, and he will be no more.

Jeremiah 49:11 (NASB)

¹¹ “Leave your orphans behind, I will keep them alive; And let your widows trust in Me.”

Jeremiah 49:12 (NIV)

¹² This is what the LORD says: “If those who do not deserve to drink the cup must drink it, why should you go unpunished? You will not go unpunished, but must drink it.

Jeremiah 49:13 (NIV)

¹³ I swear by myself,” declares the LORD, “that Bozrah will become a ruin and an object of horror, of reproach and of cursing; and all its towns will be in ruins forever.”

Jeremiah 49:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ I have heard a message from the LORD: An envoy was sent to the nations to say, “Assemble yourselves to attack it! Rise up for battle!”

Jeremiah 49:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ “Now I will make you small among the nations, despised among men.

Jeremiah 49:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ The terror you inspire and the pride of your heart have deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rocks, who occupy the heights of the hill. Though you build your nest as high as the eagle’s, from there I will bring you down,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 49:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ “Edom will become an object of horror; all who pass by will be appalled and will scoff because of all its wounds.

Jeremiah 49:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ As Sodom and Gomorrah were overthrown, along with their neighboring towns,” says the LORD, “so no one will live there; no man will dwell in it.

Jeremiah 49:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ “Like a lion coming up from Jordan’s thickets to a rich pastureland, I will chase Edom from its land in an instant. Who is the chosen one I will appoint for this? Who is like me and who can challenge me? And what shepherd can stand against me?”

Jeremiah 49:20 (NIV)

²⁰ Therefore, hear what the LORD has planned against Edom, what he has purposed against those who live in Teman: The young of the flock will be dragged away; he will completely destroy their pasture because of them.

Jeremiah 49:21 (NIV)

²¹ At the sound of their fall the earth will tremble; their cry will resound to the Red Sea.

Jeremiah 49:22 (NIV)

²² Look! An eagle will soar and swoop down, spreading its wings over Bozrah. In that day the hearts of Edom’s warriors will be like the heart of a woman in labor.

Jeremiah 49:23 (NIV)

²³ Concerning Damascus: “Hamath and Arpad are dismayed, for they have heard bad news. They are disheartened, troubled like the restless sea.

Jeremiah 49:24 (NIV)

²⁴ Damascus has become feeble, she has turned to flee and panic has gripped her; anguish and pain have seized her, pain like that of a woman in labor.

Jeremiah 49:25 (CJB)

²⁵ How can a city so praised be deserted, a city that gave me such joy?

Jeremiah 49:26 (NIV)

²⁶ Surely, her young men will fall in the streets; all her soldiers will be silenced in that day,” declares the LORD Almighty.

Jeremiah 49:27 (NIV)

²⁷ “I will set fire to the walls of Damascus; it will consume the fortresses of Ben-Hadad.”

Jeremiah 49:28 (NIV)

²⁸ Concerning Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon attacked: This is what the LORD says: “Arise, and attack Kedar and destroy the people of the East.

Jeremiah 49:29 (NIV)

²⁹ Their tents and their flocks will be taken; their shelters will be carried off with all their goods and camels. Men will shout to them, ‘Terror on every side!’

Jeremiah 49:30 (NIV)

³⁰ “Flee quickly away! Stay in deep caves, you who live in Hazor,” declares the LORD. “Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has plotted against you; he has devised a plan against you.

Jeremiah 49:31 (NIV)

³¹ “Arise and attack a nation at ease, which lives in confidence,” declares the LORD, “a nation that has neither gates nor bars; its people live alone.

Jeremiah 49:32 (NIV)

³² Their camels will become plunder, and their large herds will be booty. I will scatter to the winds those who are in distant places and will bring disaster on them from every side,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 49:33 (NIV)

³³ “Hazor will become a haunt of jackals, a desolate place forever. No one will live there; no man will dwell in it.”

Jeremiah 49:34 (NIV)

³⁴ This is the word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam, early in the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah:

Jeremiah 49:35 (NIV)

³⁵ This is what the LORD Almighty says: “See, I will break the bow of Elam, the mainstay of their might.

Jeremiah 49:36 (NIV)

³⁶ I will bring against Elam the four winds from the four quarters of the heavens; I will scatter them to the four winds, and there will not be a nation where Elam’s exiles do not go.

Jeremiah 49:37 (NIV)

³⁷ I will shatter Elam before their foes, before those who seek their lives; I will bring disaster upon them, even my fierce anger,” declares the LORD. “I will pursue them with the sword until I have made an end of them.

Jeremiah 49:38 (NIV)

³⁸ I will set my throne in Elam and destroy her king and officials,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 49:39 (NIV)

³⁹ “Yet I will restore the fortunes of Elam in days to come,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah Chapter 50

Jeremiah 50:1 (NIV)

¹ This is the word the LORD spoke through Jeremiah the prophet concerning Babylon and the land of the Babylonians:

Jeremiah 50:2 (NIV)

² “Announce and proclaim among the nations, lift up a banner and proclaim it; keep nothing back, but say, ‘Babylon will be captured; Bel will be put to shame, Marduk filled with terror. Her images will be put to shame and her idols filled with terror.’

Jeremiah 50:3 (NIV)

³ A nation from the north will attack her and lay waste her land. No one will live in it; both men and animals will flee away.

Jeremiah 50:4 (NIV)

⁴ “In those days, at that time,” declares the LORD, “the people of Israel and the people of Judah together will go in tears to seek the LORD their God.

Jeremiah 50:5 (NIV)

⁵ They will ask the way to Zion and turn their faces toward it. They will come and bind themselves to the LORD in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.

Jeremiah 50:6 (NIV)

⁶ “My people have been lost sheep; their shepherds have led them astray and caused them to roam on the mountains. They wandered over mountain and hill and forgot their own resting place.

Jeremiah 50:7 (NIV)

⁷ Whoever found them devoured them; their enemies said, ‘We are not guilty, for they sinned against the LORD, their true pasture, the LORD, the hope of their fathers.’

Jeremiah 50:8 (NIV)

⁸ “Flee out of Babylon; leave the land of the Babylonians, and be like the goats that lead the flock.

Jeremiah 50:9 (NIV)

⁹ For I will stir up and bring against Babylon an alliance of great nations from the land of the north. They will take up their positions against her, and from the north she will be captured. Their arrows will be like skilled warriors who do not return empty-handed.

Jeremiah 50:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ So Babylonia will be plundered; all who plunder her will have their fill,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 50:11 (NIV)

¹¹ “Because you rejoice and are glad, you who pillage my inheritance, because you frolic like a heifer threshing grain and neigh like stallions,

Jeremiah 50:12 (NIV)

¹² your mother will be greatly ashamed; she who gave you birth will be disgraced. She will be the least of the nations– a wilderness, a dry land, a desert.

Jeremiah 50:13 (NIV)

¹³ Because of the LORD’s anger she will not be inhabited but will be completely desolate. All who pass Babylon will be horrified and scoff because of all her wounds.

Jeremiah 50:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ “Take up your positions around Babylon, all you who draw the bow. Shoot at her! Spare no arrows, for she has sinned against the LORD.

Jeremiah 50:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ Shout against her on every side! She surrenders, her towers fall, her walls are torn down. Since this is the vengeance of the LORD, take vengeance on her; do to her as she has done to others.

Jeremiah 50:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ Cut off from Babylon the sower, and the reaper with his sickle at harvest. Because of the sword of the oppressor let everyone return to his own people, let everyone flee to his own land.

Jeremiah 50:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ “Israel is a scattered flock that lions have chased away. The first to devour him was the king of Assyria; the last to crush his bones was Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.”

Jeremiah 50:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ Therefore this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “I will punish the king of Babylon and his land as I punished the king of Assyria.

Jeremiah 50:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ But I will bring Israel back to his own pasture and he will graze on Carmel and Bashan; his appetite will be satisfied on the hills of Ephraim and Gilead.

Jeremiah 50:20 (NIV)

²⁰ In those days, at that time,” declares the LORD, “search will be made for Israel’s guilt, but there will be none, and for the sins of Judah, but none will be found, for I will forgive the remnant I spare.

Jeremiah 50:21 (NIV)

²¹ “Attack the land of Merathaim and those who live in Pekod. Pursue, kill and completely destroy them,” declares the LORD. “Do everything I have commanded you.

Jeremiah 50:22 (NIV)

²² The noise of battle is in the land, the noise of great destruction!

Jeremiah 50:23 (NIV)

²³ How broken and shattered is the hammer of the whole earth! How desolate is Babylon among the nations!

Jeremiah 50:24 (NIV)

²⁴ I set a trap for you, O Babylon, and you were caught before you knew it; you were found and captured because you opposed the LORD.

Jeremiah 50:25 (NIV)

²⁵ The LORD has opened his arsenal and brought out the weapons of his wrath, for the Sovereign LORD Almighty has work to do in the land of the Babylonians.

Jeremiah 50:26 (NIV)

²⁶ Come against her from afar. Break open her granaries; pile her up like heaps of grain. Completely destroy her and leave her no remnant.

Jeremiah 50:27 (NIV)

²⁷ Kill all her young bulls; let them go down to the slaughter! Woe to them! For their day has come, the time for them to be punished.

Jeremiah 50:28 (NIV)

²⁸ Listen to the fugitives and refugees from Babylon declaring in Zion how the LORD our God has taken vengeance, vengeance for his temple.

Jeremiah 50:29 (NIV)

²⁹ “Summon archers against Babylon, all those who draw the bow. Encamp all around her; let no one escape. Repay her for her deeds; do to her as she has done. For she has defied the LORD, the Holy One of Israel.

Jeremiah 50:30 (NIV)

³⁰ Therefore, her young men will fall in the streets; all her soldiers will be silenced in that day,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 50:31 (NIV)

³¹ “See, I am against you, O arrogant one,” declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty, “for your day has come, the time for you to be punished.

Jeremiah 50:32 (NIV)

³² The arrogant one will stumble and fall and no one will help her up; I will kindle a fire in her towns that will consume all who are around her.”

Jeremiah 50:33 (NIV)

³³ This is what the LORD Almighty says: “The people of Israel are oppressed, and the people of Judah as well. All their captors hold them fast, refusing to let them go.

Jeremiah 50:34 (NIV)

³⁴ Yet their Redeemer is strong; the LORD Almighty is his name. He will vigorously defend their cause so that he may bring rest to their land, but unrest to those who live in Babylon.

Jeremiah 50:35 (NIV)

³⁵ “A sword against the Babylonians!” declares the LORD– “against those who live in Babylon and against her officials and wise men!

Jeremiah 50:36 (NIV)

³⁶ A sword against her false prophets! They will become fools. A sword against her warriors! They will be filled with terror.

Jeremiah 50:37 (NIV)

³⁷ A sword against her horses and chariots and all the foreigners in her ranks! They will become women. A sword against her treasures! They will be plundered.

Jeremiah 50:38 (NIV)

³⁸ A drought on her waters! They will dry up. For it is a land of idols, idols that will go mad with terror.

Jeremiah 50:39 (NIV)

³⁹ “So desert creatures and hyenas will live there, and there the owl will dwell. It will never again be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation.

Jeremiah 50:40 (NIV)

⁴⁰ As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah along with their neighboring towns,” declares the LORD, “so no one will live there; no man will dwell in it.

Jeremiah 50:41 (NIV)

⁴¹ “Look! An army is coming from the north; a great nation and many kings are being stirred up from the ends of the earth.

Jeremiah 50:42 (NIV)

⁴² They are armed with bows and spears; they are cruel and without mercy. They sound like the roaring sea as they ride on their horses; they come like men in battle formation to attack you, O Daughter of Babylon.

Jeremiah 50:43 (NIV)

⁴³ The king of Babylon has heard reports about them, and his hands hang limp. Anguish has gripped him, pain like that of a woman in labor.

Jeremiah 50:44 (NIV)

⁴⁴ Like a lion coming up from Jordan’s thickets to a rich pastureland, I will chase Babylon from its land in an instant. Who is the chosen one I will appoint for this? Who is like me and who can challenge me? And what shepherd can stand against me?”

Jeremiah 50:45 (NIV)

⁴⁵ Therefore, hear what the LORD has planned against Babylon, what he has purposed against the land of the Babylonians: The young of the flock will be dragged away; he will completely destroy their pasture because of them.

Jeremiah 50:46 (NASB)

⁴⁶ At the shout, “Babylon has been seized!” the earth is shaken, and an outcry is heard among the nations.

Jeremiah Chapter 51

Jeremiah 51:1 (NIV)

¹ This is what the LORD says: “See, I will stir up the spirit of a destroyer against Babylon and the people of Leb Kamai.

Jeremiah 51:2 (NIV)

² I will send foreigners to Babylon to winnow her and to devastate her land; they will oppose her on every side in the day of her disaster.

Jeremiah 51:3 (NIV)

³ Let not the archer string his bow, nor let him put on his armor. Do not spare her young men; completely destroy her army.

Jeremiah 51:4 (NIV)

⁴ They will fall down slain in Babylon, fatally wounded in her streets.

Jeremiah 51:5 (NIV)

⁵ For Israel and Judah have not been forsaken by their God, the LORD Almighty, though their land is full of guilt before the Holy One of Israel.

Jeremiah 51:6 (NIV)

⁶ “Flee from Babylon! Run for your lives! Do not be destroyed because of her sins. It is time for the LORD’s vengeance; he will pay her what she deserves.

Jeremiah 51:7 (NIV)

⁷ Babylon was a gold cup in the LORD’s hand; she made the whole earth drunk. The nations drank her wine; therefore they have now gone mad.

Jeremiah 51:8 (NIV)

⁸ Babylon will suddenly fall and be broken. Wail over her! Get balm for her pain; perhaps she can be healed.

Jeremiah 51:9 (NIV)

⁹ “‘We would have healed Babylon, but she cannot be healed; let us leave her and each go to his own land, for her judgment reaches to the skies, it rises as high as the clouds.’

Jeremiah 51:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ “‘The LORD has vindicated us; come, let us tell in Zion what the LORD our God has done.’

Jeremiah 51:11 (NIV)

¹¹ “Sharpen the arrows, take up the shields! The LORD has stirred up the kings of the Medes, because his purpose is to destroy Babylon. The LORD will take vengeance, vengeance for his temple.

Jeremiah 51:12 (NIV)

¹² Lift up a banner against the walls of Babylon! Reinforce the guard, station the watchmen, prepare an ambush! The LORD will carry out his purpose, his decree against the people of Babylon.

Jeremiah 51:13 (NIV)

¹³ You who live by many waters and are rich in treasures, your end has come, the time for you to be cut off.

Jeremiah 51:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ The LORD Almighty has sworn by himself: I will surely fill you with men, as with a swarm of locusts, and they will shout in triumph over you.

Jeremiah 51:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ “He made the earth by his power; he founded the world by his wisdom and stretched out the heavens by his understanding.

Jeremiah 51:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ When he thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth. He sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses.

Jeremiah 51:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ “Every man is senseless and without knowledge; every goldsmith is shamed by his idols. His images are a fraud; they have no breath in them.

Jeremiah 51:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ They are worthless, the objects of mockery; when their judgment comes, they will perish.

Jeremiah 51:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ He who is the Portion of Jacob is not like these, for he is the Maker of all things, including the tribe of his inheritance– the LORD Almighty is his name.

Jeremiah 51:20 (NIV)

²⁰ “You are my war club, my weapon for battle– with you I shatter nations, with you I destroy kingdoms,

Jeremiah 51:21 (NIV)

²¹ with you I shatter horse and rider, with you I shatter chariot and driver,

Jeremiah 51:22 (NIV)

²² with you I shatter man and woman, with you I shatter old man and youth, with you I shatter young man and maiden,

Jeremiah 51:23 (NIV)

²³ with you I shatter shepherd and flock, with you I shatter farmer and oxen, with you I shatter governors and officials.

Jeremiah 51:24 (NIV)

²⁴ “Before your eyes I will repay Babylon and all who live in Babylonia for all the wrong they have done in Zion,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 51:25 (NIV)

²⁵ “I am against you, O destroying mountain, you who destroy the whole earth,” declares the LORD. “I will stretch out my hand against you, roll you off the cliffs, and make you a burned-out mountain.

Jeremiah 51:26 (NIV)

²⁶ No rock will be taken from you for a cornerstone, nor any stone for a foundation, for you will be desolate forever,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 51:27 (NIV)

²⁷ “Lift up a banner in the land! Blow the trumpet among the nations! Prepare the nations for battle against her; summon against her these kingdoms: Ararat, Minni and Ashkenaz. Appoint a commander against her; send up horses like a swarm of locusts.

Jeremiah 51:28 (NIV)

²⁸ Prepare the nations for battle against her– the kings of the Medes, their governors and all their officials, and all the countries they rule.

Jeremiah 51:29 (NIV)

²⁹ The land trembles and writhes, for the LORD’s purposes against Babylon stand– to lay waste the land of Babylon so that no one will live there.

Jeremiah 51:30 (NIV)

³⁰ Babylon’s warriors have stopped fighting; they remain in their strongholds. Their strength is exhausted; they have become like women. Her dwellings are set on fire; the bars of her gates are broken.

Jeremiah 51:31 (NIV)

³¹ One courier follows another and messenger follows messenger to announce to the king of Babylon that his entire city is captured,

Jeremiah 51:32 (NIV)

³² the river crossings seized, the marshes set on fire, and the soldiers terrified.”

Jeremiah 51:33 (NIV)

³³ This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “The Daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time it is trampled; the time to harvest her will soon come.”

Jeremiah 51:34 (NIV)

³⁴ “Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured us, he has thrown us into confusion, he has made us an empty jar. Like a serpent he has swallowed us and filled his stomach with our delicacies, and then has spewed us out.

Jeremiah 51:35 (NIV)

³⁵ May the violence done to our flesh be upon Babylon,” say the inhabitants of Zion. “May our blood be on those who live in Babylonia,” says Jerusalem.

Jeremiah 51:36 (NIV)

³⁶ Therefore, this is what the LORD says: “See, I will defend your cause and avenge you; I will dry up her sea and make her springs dry.

Jeremiah 51:37 (NIV)

³⁷ Babylon will be a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals, an object of horror and scorn, a place where no one lives.

Jeremiah 51:38 (NIV)

³⁸ Her people all roar like young lions, they growl like lion cubs.

Jeremiah 51:39 (NIV)

³⁹ But while they are aroused, I will set out a feast for them and make them drunk, so that they shout with laughter– then sleep forever and not awake,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 51:40 (NIV)

⁴⁰ “I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams and goats.

Jeremiah 51:41 (NIV)

⁴¹ “How Sheshach will be captured, the boast of the whole earth seized! What a horror Babylon will be among the nations!

Jeremiah 51:42 (NIV)

⁴² The sea will rise over Babylon; its roaring waves will cover her.

Jeremiah 51:43 (NIV)

⁴³ Her towns will be desolate, a dry and desert land, a land where no one lives, through which no man travels.

Jeremiah 51:44 (NIV)

⁴⁴ I will punish Bel in Babylon and make him spew out what he has swallowed. The nations will no longer stream to him. And the wall of Babylon will fall.

Jeremiah 51:45 (NIV)

⁴⁵ “Come out of her, my people! Run for your lives! Run from the fierce anger of the LORD.

Jeremiah 51:46 (NIV)

⁴⁶ Do not lose heart or be afraid when rumors are heard in the land; one rumor comes this year, another the next, rumors of violence in the land and of ruler against ruler.

Jeremiah 51:47 (NIV)

⁴⁷ For the time will surely come when I will punish the idols of Babylon; her whole land will be disgraced and her slain will all lie fallen within her.

Jeremiah 51:48 (NIV)

⁴⁸ Then heaven and earth and all that is in them will shout for joy over Babylon, for out of the north destroyers will attack her,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 51:49 (NIV)

⁴⁹ “Babylon must fall because of Israel’s slain, just as the slain in all the earth have fallen because of Babylon.

Jeremiah 51:50 (NIV)

⁵⁰ You who have escaped the sword, leave and do not linger! Remember the LORD in a distant land, and think on Jerusalem.”

Jeremiah 51:51 (NIV)

⁵¹ “We are disgraced, for we have been insulted and shame covers our faces, because foreigners have entered the holy places of the LORD’s house.”

Jeremiah 51:52 (NIV)

⁵² “But days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will punish her idols, and throughout her land the wounded will groan.

Jeremiah 51:53 (NIV)

⁵³ Even if Babylon reaches the sky and fortifies her lofty stronghold, I will send destroyers against her,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 51:54 (NIV)

⁵⁴ “The sound of a cry comes from Babylon, the sound of great destruction from the land of the Babylonians.

Jeremiah 51:55 (NIV)

⁵⁵ The LORD will destroy Babylon; he will silence her noisy din. Waves [of enemies] will rage like great waters; the roar of their voices will resound.

Jeremiah 51:56 (NIV)

⁵⁶ A destroyer will come against Babylon; her warriors will be captured, and their bows will be broken. For the LORD is a God of retribution; he will repay in full.

Jeremiah 51:57 (NIV)

⁵⁷ I will make her officials and wise men drunk, her governors, officers and warriors as well; they will sleep forever and not awake,” declares the King, whose name is the LORD Almighty.

Jeremiah 51:58 (NIV)

⁵⁸ This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Babylon’s thick wall will be leveled and her high gates set on fire; the peoples exhaust themselves for nothing, the nations’ labor is only fuel for the flames.”

Jeremiah 51:59 (NIV)

⁵⁹ This is the message Jeremiah gave to the staff officer Seraiah son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went to Babylon with Zedekiah king of Judah in the fourth year of his reign.

Jeremiah 51:60 (NIV)

⁶⁰ Jeremiah had written on a scroll about all the disasters that would come upon Babylon–all that had been recorded concerning Babylon.

Jeremiah 51:61 (NIV)

⁶¹ He said to Seraiah, “When you get to Babylon, see that you read all these words aloud.

Jeremiah 51:62 (NIV)

⁶² Then say, ‘O LORD, you have said you will destroy this place, so that neither man nor animal will live in it; it will be desolate forever.’

Jeremiah 51:63 (NIV)

⁶³ When you finish reading this scroll, tie a stone to it and throw it into the Euphrates.

Jeremiah 51:64 (NIV)

⁶⁴ Then say, ‘So will Babylon sink to rise no more because of the disaster I will bring upon her. And her people will fall.'” The words of Jeremiah end here.

Jeremiah Chapter 52

Jeremiah 52:1 (NIV)

¹ Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah.

Jeremiah 52:2 (NIV)

² He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, just as Jehoiakim had done.

Jeremiah 52:3 (NIV)

³ It was because of the LORD’s anger that all this happened to Jerusalem and Judah, and in the end he thrust them from his presence. Now Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

Jeremiah 52:4 (NIV)

⁴ So in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his whole army. They camped outside the city and built siege works all around it.

Jeremiah 52:5 (NIV)

⁵ The city was kept under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.

Jeremiah 52:6 (NIV)

⁶ By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine in the city had become so severe that there was no food for the people to eat.

Jeremiah 52:7 (NIV)

⁷ Then the city wall was broken through, and the whole army fled. They left the city at night through the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden, though the Babylonians were surrounding the city. They fled toward the Arabah,

Jeremiah 52:8 (NIV)

⁸ but the Babylonian army pursued King Zedekiah and overtook him in the plains of Jericho. All his soldiers were separated from him and scattered,

Jeremiah 52:9 (NIV)

⁹ and he was captured. He was taken to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he pronounced sentence on him.

Jeremiah 52:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ There at Riblah the king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes; he also killed all the officials of Judah.

Jeremiah 52:11 (NIV)

¹¹ Then he put out Zedekiah’s eyes, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon, where he put him in prison till the day of his death.

Jeremiah 52:12 (NIV)

¹² On the tenth day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard, who served the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.

Jeremiah 52:13 (NIV)

¹³ He set fire to the temple of the LORD, the royal palace and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every important building he burned down.

Jeremiah 52:14 (NIV)

¹⁴ The whole Babylonian army under the commander of the imperial guard broke down all the walls around Jerusalem.

Jeremiah 52:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard carried into exile some of the poorest people and those who remained in the city, along with the rest of the craftsmen and those who had gone over to the king of Babylon.

Jeremiah 52:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ But Nebuzaradan left behind the rest of the poorest people of the land to work the vineyards and fields.

Jeremiah 52:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ The Babylonians broke up the bronze pillars, the movable stands and the bronze Sea that were at the temple of the LORD and they carried all the bronze to Babylon.

Jeremiah 52:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ They also took away the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, dishes and all the bronze articles used in the temple service.

Jeremiah 52:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ The commander of the imperial guard took away the basins, censers, sprinkling bowls, pots, lampstands, dishes and bowls used for drink offerings–all that were made of pure gold or silver.

Jeremiah 52:20 (NIV)

²⁰ The bronze from the two pillars, the Sea and the twelve bronze bulls under it, and the movable stands, which King Solomon had made for the temple of the LORD, was more than could be weighed.

Jeremiah 52:21 (NIV)

²¹ Each of the pillars was eighteen cubits high and twelve cubits in circumference; each was four fingers thick, and hollow.

Jeremiah 52:22 (NIV)

²² The bronze capital on top of the one pillar was five cubits high and was decorated with a network and pomegranates of bronze all around. The other pillar, with its pomegranates, was similar.

Jeremiah 52:23 (NIV)

²³ There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides; the total number of pomegranates above the surrounding network was a hundred.

Jeremiah 52:24 (NIV)

²⁴ The commander of the guard took as prisoners Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest next in rank and the three doorkeepers.

Jeremiah 52:25 (NIV)

²⁵ Of those still in the city, he took the officer in charge of the fighting men, and seven royal advisers. He also took the secretary who was chief officer in charge of conscripting the people of the land and sixty of his men who were found in the city.

Jeremiah 52:26 (NIV)

²⁶ Nebuzaradan the commander took them all and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.

Jeremiah 52:27 (NIV)

²⁷ There at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, the king had them executed. So Judah went into captivity, away from her land.

Jeremiah 52:28 (NIV)

²⁸ This is the number of the people Nebuchadnezzar carried into exile: in the seventh year, 3,023 Jews;

Jeremiah 52:29 (NIV)

²⁹ in Nebuchadnezzar’s eighteenth year, 832 people from Jerusalem;

Jeremiah 52:30 (NIV)

³⁰ in his twenty-third year, 745 Jews taken into exile by Nebuzaradan the commander of the imperial guard. There were 4,600 people in all.

Jeremiah 52:31 (NIV)

³¹ In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the year Evil-Merodach became king of Babylon, he released Jehoiachin king of Judah and freed him from prison on the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month.

Jeremiah 52:32 (NIV)

³² He spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat of honor higher than those of the other kings who were with him in Babylon.

Jeremiah 52:33 (NIV)

³³ So Jehoiachin put aside his prison clothes and for the rest of his life ate regularly at the king’s table.

Jeremiah 52:34 (NIV)

³⁴ Day by day the king of Babylon gave Jehoiachin a regular allowance as long as he lived, till the day of his death.

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