Complete Jewish Bible (CJB)

1 “Isra’el, if you will return,” saysAdonai,

“yes, return to me; and if you will banish

your abominations from my presence

without wandering astray again;

2 and if you will swear, ‘AsAdonailives,’

in truth, justice and righteousness;

then the nations will bless themselves by him,

and in him will they glory.”

3 For here is whatAdonaisays

to the people of Y’hudah and Yerushalayim:

“Break up your ground that hasn’t been plowed,

and do not sow among thorns.”

4 “People of Y’hudah and inhabitants of Yerushalayim,

circumcise yourselves forAdonai,

remove the foreskins of your heart!

Otherwise my fury will lash out like fire,

burning so hot that no one can quench it,

because of how evil your actions are.

5 “Announce in Y’hudah, proclaim in Yerushalayim;

say: ‘Blow theshofarin the land!’

Shout the message aloud: ‘Assemble!

Let us go to the fortified cities!’

6 Set up a signal toward Tziyon,

head for cover without delay.

For I will bring disaster from the north,

yes, dire destruction.

7 A lion has risen from his lair,

a destroyer of nations has set out,

left his own place to ruin your land,

to demolish and depopulate your cities.”

8 So wrap yourselves in sackcloth,

lament and wail, forAdonai’s fierce anger

has not turned away from us.

9 “When that day comes,” saysAdonai,

“the king’s heart will fail him,

likewise the princes’;

thecohanimwill be appalled

and the prophets stupefied.”

10 Then I said, “Oh,AdonaiElohim! Surely you have sadly deceived this people and Yerushalayim by saying, ‘You will have peace,’ when the sword is at our very throats!”

11 “At that time it will be said

of this people and of Yerushalayim:

‘A scorching wind from the desert heights

is sweeping down on my people.’

It is not coming to winnow or cleanse;

12 this wind of mine is too strong for that.

Now I will pass sentence on them.”

13 Here he comes, like the clouds,

his chariots like the whirlwind,

his horses faster than eagles!

Woe to us, we are doomed!

14 Wash the evil from your heart, Yerushalayim,

so that you can be saved.

How long will you harbor within yourselves

your evil thoughts?

15 For a voice is announcing the news from Dan,

proclaiming disaster from the hills of Efrayim:

16 “Report it to the nations,

proclaim about Yerushalayim:

‘[Enemies] are coming from a distant country,

watching and shouting their war cry

against the cities of Y’hudah.’

17 Like guards in a field they surround her,

because she has rebelled against me,” saysAdonai.

18 “Your own ways and your actions

have brought these things on yourselves.

This is your wickedness, so bitter!

It has reached your very heart.”

19 My guts! My guts! I’m writhing in pain!

My heart! It beats wildly — I can’t stay still! —

because I have heard theshofarsound;

it’s the call to war.

20 The news is disaster after disaster!

All the land is ruined!

My tents are suddenly destroyed,

my tent curtains in an instant.

21 How long must I see that signal

and hear theshofarsound?

22 “It is because my people are foolish —

they do not know me; they are stupid children,

without understanding, wise when doing evil;

but they don’t know how to do good.”

23 I looked at the land — it was unformed and void —

and at the sky — it had no light.

24 I looked at the mountains, and they shook —

all the hills moved back and forth.

25 I looked, and there was no human being;

all the birds in the air had fled.

26 I looked, and the fertile fields were a desert,

all the land’s cities were razed to the ground

at the presence ofAdonai,

before his burning anger.

27 For here is whatAdonaisays:

“The whole land will be desolate

(although I will not destroy it completely).

28 Because of this, the land will mourn

and the sky above be black;

for I have spoken, I have decided,

I will not change my mind, I will not turn back.”

29 At the noise of the horsemen and archers,

the entire city flees —

some plunge into thickets; others climb rocks;

all cities are deserted; no one lives there.

30 And you, who are doomed to be plundered,

what do you mean by putting on crimson,

decking yourselves with jewels and gold,

enlarging your eyes with eye make-up?

You beautify yourself in vain —

your lovers despise you, they seek your life!

31 For I have heard a sound like a woman in labor,

in anguish giving birth to her first child.

It is the sound of the daughter of Tziyon

gasping for breath as she spreads her hands:

“Woe to me! Everything in me

is so weary before the killers.”

1 “Roam the streets of Yerushalayim

look around, observe and ask in its open spaces:

if you can find anyone (if there is anyone!)

who acts with justice and seeks the truth,

I will pardon her.

2 And though they say, ‘AsAdonailives,’

the fact is that they are swearing falsely.”

3 Adonai, your eyes look for truth.

You struck them, but they weren’t affected;

you [nearly] destroyed them,

but they refused correction.

They made their faces harder than rock,

refusing to repent.

4 My reaction was, “These must be the poor,

the foolish, not knowing the way ofAdonai

or the rulings of their God.

5 I will go to the prominent men,

and I will speak to them;

for they know the way ofAdonai

and the rulings of their God.”

But these had completely broken the yoke

and torn the harness off.

6 This is why a forest lion kills them,

why a desert wolf can plunder them,

why a leopard guards their cities —

all who leave are torn to pieces —

because their crimes are many,

their backslidings keep increasing.

7 “Why should I forgive you?

Your people have abandoned me

and sworn by non-gods.

When I fed them to the full,

they committed adultery,

thronging to the brothels.

8 They have become like well-fed horses,

lusty stallions, each one neighing

after his neighbor’s wife.

9 Should I not punish for this?” asksAdonai.

“Should I not be avenged on a nation like this?”

10 Go through her rows [of vines], and destroy them

(but don’t destroy them completely):

strip away her branches,

they do not belong toAdonai.

11 “For the house of Isra’el

and the house of Y’hudah

have thoroughly betrayed me,” saysAdonai.

12 They have deniedAdonai,

they have said, “He won’t do anything,

calamity will not strike us,

we will see neither sword nor famine.

13 The prophets are merely wind,

they do not have the word;

the things that they are predicting

will happen only to them.”

14 ThereforeAdonaiElohei-Tzva’otsays:

“Because you people speak this way,

I will make my words fire in your mouth, [Yirmeyahu,]

and this people wood;

so that it will devour them.

15 I will bring on you, house of Isra’el,

a distant nation,” saysAdonai,

“an enduring nation, an ancient nation,

a nation whose language you do not know —

you will not understand what they are saying.

16 Their quiver is like an open grave,

they are all mighty warriors.

17 They will eat up your harvest and your bread,

they will eat up your sons and your daughters,

they will eat up your flocks and your herds,

they will eat up your vines and your fig trees;

with the sword they will beat down

your fortified cities, in which you trust.

18 But even in those days,” saysAdonai,

“I will not completely destroy you.

19 And when your people ask, ‘Why hasAdonai

our God done all these things to us?’

you are to give them this answer:

‘Just as you abandoned me

and served strange gods in your own land,

so likewise you will serve strangers

in a land that is not your own.’

20 Announce this in the house of Ya‘akov,

proclaim it in Y’hudah; say:

21 ‘Hear this, stupid, brainless people,

who have eyes but do not see,

who have ears but do not hear:

22 Don’t you fear me? — saysAdonai.

Won’t you tremble at my presence?

I made the shore the limit for the sea;

by eternal decree it cannot pass.

Its waves may toss, but to no avail;

although they roar, they cannot cross it.

23 But this people has a rebellious, defiant heart;

they have rebelled and gone!

24 They don’t say to themselves,

“Let’s fearAdonaiour God,

who gives the fall and spring rains in season,

who reserves us the weeks assigned for harvest.”

25 Your crimes have overturned nature’s rules,

your sins have kept back good from you.’

26 “For among my people there are wicked men,

who, like fowlers, lie in wait and set traps

to catch their fellow human beings.

27 Their houses are as full of fraud

as a cage full of birds.

They grow rich and great,

28 sleek and bloated;

they excel in acts of wickedness

but do not plead on behalf of the orphan,

thus enabling his cause to succeed;

nor do they judge in favor of the poor.

29 “Should I not punish for this?” asksAdonai.

“Should I not be avenged on a nation like this?

30 A shocking and horrifying thing

has happened in the land:

31 The prophets prophesy lies,

thecohanimobey the prophets,

and my people love it that way.

But what will you do at the end of it all?

1 “Head for cover, people of Binyamin,

get out of Yerushalayim!

Blow theshofarin T’koa,

light the beacon on Beit-Hakerem.

For disaster threatens from the north,

with great destruction.

2 Although she is beautiful and delicate,

I am cutting off the daughter of Tziyon.”

3 Shepherds advance on her with their flocks;

all around her they pitch their tents,

each grazing his own plot of pasture.

4 “Prepare for war against her!

Get up! Let’s attack at noon!”

“Woe to us! for the day is waning,

evening shadows are lengthening.”

5 “Get up! Let’s attack at night!

Let’s destroy her palaces!”

6 ForAdonai-Tzva’otsays this:

“Cut down her trees, and raise a siege-ramp

against Yerushalayim!

This is the city to be punished;

in her there is nothing but oppression.

7 Just as a cistern keeps its water fresh,

so she keeps her wickedness fresh!

Violence and destruction are heard within her,

always before me sickness and wounds.

8 Accept correction, Yerushalayim,

or I will be estranged from you

and turn you into a desolate waste,

a land without inhabitants.”

9 Thus saysAdonai-Tzva’ot:

“They will glean the remnant of Isra’el

as thoroughly as in a vineyard —

one last time, like a grape-picker,

pass your hand over the vines.”

10 To whom should I speak? Whom should I warn?

Who will listen to me?

Their ears are dull, they can’t pay attention.

For them the word ofAdonaihas become

unattractive, an object of scorn.

11 This is why I am full ofAdonai’s fury;

I am weary of holding it back.

“Pour it out on the children in the street

and on the groups of young men gathered;

for husbands and wives will be taken together,

seniors as well as the very old.

12 Their homes will be turned over to others,

their fields together with their wives.

Yes, I will stretch out my hand against those

who are living in the land,” saysAdonai.

13 “For from the least to the greatest of them,

all are greedy for gains;

prophets andcohanimalike,

they all practice fraud —

14 they dress the wound of my people,

but only superficially,

saying, ‘There is perfectshalom,’

when there is noshalom.

15 “They should be ashamed

of their detestable deeds,

but they are not ashamed at all;

they don’t know how to blush.

Therefore when others fall,

they too will fall;

when I punish them,

they will stumble,” saysAdonai.

16 Here is whatAdonaisays:

“Stand at the crossroads and look;

ask about the ancient paths,

‘Which one is the good way?’

Take it, and you will find rest for your souls.

But they said, ‘We will not take it.’

17 I appointed sentinels to direct them:

‘Listen for the sound of theshofar.’

But they said, ‘We will not listen.’

18 So hear, you nations; know, you assembly,

what there is against them.

19 Hear, oh earth! I am going

to bring disaster on this people;

it is the consequence

of their own way of thinking;

for they pay no attention to my words;

and as for myTorah, they reject it.

20 What do I care about incense from Sh’va

or sweet cane from a distant land?

Your burnt offerings are unacceptable,

your sacrifices don’t please me.”

21 Therefore thus saysAdonai:

“I will put obstacles in the way of this people

that they will stumble over —

fathers and sons, neighbors and friends,

all will perish together.”

22 Here is whatAdonaisays:

“A people is coming from the land of the north,

a great nation will be aroused from the ends of the earth.

23 They will take hold of bow and spear;

they are cruel; they have no compassion:

their noise as they ride on horses

is like the roaring sea;

and they are equipped for battle

against you, daughter of Tziyon.

24 ‘We have heard the news,

and our hands fall limp;

anguish has seized us,

pain like a mother’s in childbirth.’”

25 Don’t go into the countryside,

don’t walk out on the road;

for the sword of the enemy is spreading

terror in every direction.

26 Daughter of my people,

put on sackcloth, roll in ashes,

mourn as if for an only son,

wail most bitterly;

for suddenly the destroyer

will come upon us.

27 “I have made you a refiner and tester of my people,

to know and test how they behave.

28 All of them are total rebels,

spreading slanderous gossip;

they are bronze and iron, [inferior metals,]

all of them corrupt.

29 The bellows blast away;

and though the lead is consumed by the fire,

in vain has the smelter refined,

for the wicked have not been separated.

30 They are called ‘rejected silver,’

becauseAdonaihas rejected them.”

1 This word came to Yirmeyahu fromAdonai:

2 “Stand at the gate of the house ofAdonaiand proclaim this word: ‘Listen to the word ofAdonai, all you from Y’hudah who enter these gates to worshipAdonai!

3 Here is whatAdonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Isra’el, says: “Improve your ways and actions, and I will let you stay in this place.

4 Don’t rely on that deceitful slogan, ‘The temple ofAdonai, the temple ofAdonai—these [buildings] are the temple ofAdonai.’

5 No, but if you really improve your ways and actions; if you really administer justice between people;

6 if you stop oppressing foreigners, orphans and widows; if you stop shedding innocent blood in this place; and if you stop following other gods, to your own harm;

7 then I will let you stay in this place, in the land I gave to your ancestors forever and ever.

8 Look! You are relying on deceitful words that can’t do you any good.

9 First you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, offer to Ba‘al and go after other gods that you haven’t known.

10 Then you come and stand before me in this house that bears my name and say, ‘We are saved’ — so that you can go on doing these abominations!

11 Do you regard this house, which bears my name, as a cave for bandits? I can see for myself what’s going on,” saysAdonai.

12 “Go to the place in Shiloh that used to be mine, that used to bear my name, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Isra’el.

13 I spoke to you again and again, but you wouldn’t listen. I called you, but you wouldn’t answer. Now,” saysAdonai, “because you have done all these things,

14 I will do to the house that bears my name, on which you rely, and to the place I gave you and your ancestors, what I did to Shiloh;

15 and I will drive you out of my presence, just as I drove out all your kinsmen, all the descendants of Efrayim.”’

16 “So you, [Yirmeyahu,] don’t pray for this people! Don’t cry, pray or intercede on their behalf with me; because I won’t listen to you.

17 Don’t you see what they are doing in the cities of Y’hudah and in the streets of Yerushalayim?

18 The children gather the wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and, just to provoke me, they pour out drink offerings to other gods!

19 Are they really provoking me,” asksAdonai, “or are they provoking themselves, to their own ruin?”

20 Therefore, here is whatAdonaiElohimsays: “My anger and fury will be poured out on this place, on men, animals, trees in the fields and produce growing from the ground; and it will burn without being quenched.”

21 Thus saysAdonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Isra’el: “You may as well eat the meat of your burnt offerings along with that of your sacrifices.

22 For I didn’t speak to your ancestors or give them orders concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices when I brought them out of the land of Egypt.

23 Rather, what I did order them was this: ‘Pay attention to what I say. Then I will be your God, and you will be my people. In everything, live according to the way that I order you, so that things will go well for you.’

24 But they neither listened nor paid attention, but lived according to their own plans, in the stubbornness of their evil hearts, thus going backward and not forward.

25 You have done this from the day your ancestors came out of Egypt until today. Even though I sent you all my servants the prophets, sending them time after time,

26 they would not listen or pay attention to me, but stiffened their necks; they did worse than their ancestors.

27 So tell them all this; but they won’t listen to you; likewise, call to them; but they won’t answer you.

28 Therefore, say to them,

‘This is the nation that has not listened

to the voice ofAdonaitheir God.

They won’t take correction; faithfulness has perished;

it has vanished from their mouths.

29 Cut off your hair, and throw it away,

take up a lament on the bare hills,

forAdonaihas rejected and abandoned

the generation that rouses his anger.’

30 “For the people of Y’hudah have done what is evil from my perspective,” saysAdonai; “they have set up their detestable things in the house which bears my name, to defile it.

31 They have built the high places of Tofet in the Ben-Hinnom Valley, to burn their sons and daughters in the fire, something I never ordered; in fact, such a thing never even entered my mind!

32 Therefore, the days are coming,” saysAdonai, “when it will no longer be called either Tofet or the Ben-Hinnom Valley, but the Valley of Slaughter — they will put the dead in Tofet, because there will be no space left [anywhere else].

33 The corpses of this people will become food for the birds in the air and the wild animals; no one will frighten them away.

34 Then in the cities of Y’hudah and the streets of Yerushalayim I will silence the sounds of joy and gladness and the voices of bridegroom and bride; because the land will be reduced to ruins.

1 “At that time,” saysAdonai, “[these enemies] will remove the bones of the kings of Y’hudah, the bones of his princes, the bones of thecohanim, the bones of the prophets and the bones of the inhabitants of Yerushalayim from their graves.

2 They will spread them out, exposed to the sun, the moon and the entire army of heaven, whom they loved, served, walked after, sought after and worshipped. The bones will not be collected or reburied but will be left lying on the ground like dung.

3 All the survivors of this evil family who remain wherever I have driven them will prefer death to life,” saysAdonai-Tzva’ot.

4 “You are to tell them thatAdonaisays:

‘If a person falls, doesn’t he get up again?

If someone goes astray, doesn’t he turn back?

5 Why do these people keep backsliding?

Why is their backsliding so persistent?

They cling to deceit and refuse to return!

6 I listened attentively but they spoke nothing right.

No one repents of his wickedness,

saying, “What have I done!”

Each runs off in his own direction,

like a horse plunging headlong into battle.

7 Storks in the sky know their seasons;

doves, swallows and cranes their migration times;

but my people do not know

the rulings ofAdonai!

8 “‘How can you say, “We are wise;

Adonai’sTorahis with us,”

when in fact the lying pen of the scribes

has turned it into falsehood?

9 The wise are put to shame,

alarmed, entrapped.

They have rejected the word ofAdonai,

so what wisdom do they have?

10 “‘Therefore I will give their wives to others,

and their fields to those who take them over;

for from the least to the greatest,

all are greedy for gains;

prophets andcohanimalike

all practice fraud —

11 they dress the wound of the daughter of my people,

but only superficially,

saying, “There is perfectshalom,”

when there is noshalom.

12 They should be ashamed

of their detestable deeds,

but they are not ashamed at all,

they don’t know how to blush.

So when others fall, they too will fall;

when I punish them, they will stumble,’

saysAdonai.

13 “‘I will put an end to them,’ saysAdonai.

‘There are no grapes on the vine,

and no figs on the fig tree;

the leaf has withered; and what I have given them

will pass from their possession.’”

14 “Why are we sitting still? Assemble!

Let’s enter the fortified cities

and meet our doom there!

ForAdonaiour God has doomed us;

he has given us bitter water to drink,

because we have sinned againstAdonai.

15 When we look for peace, nothing good comes;

when we seek a time of healing, instead there is terror.”

16 From Dan can be heard the snorting of his horses;

when his stallions neigh, the whole land trembles.

For they come devouring the land and all in it,

the city and those who dwell there.

17 “Yes, now I am sending snakes among you,

vipers that no one can charm,

and they will bite you,” saysAdonai.

18 My grief has no cure, I am sick at heart.

19 Listen to my people’s cry of distress

out of a distant land:

“IsAdonaino longer in Tziyon?

Is her king no longer there?”

“Why do they provoke me with their idols

and their futile foreign gods?”

20 “The harvest has passed, the summer is over,

and still we are not saved.”

21 The daughter of my people is broken,

and it’s tearing me to pieces;

everything looks dark to me,

horror seizes me.

22 Has Gil‘ad exhausted its healing resin?

Is no physician there?

If there is, then why is the daughter of my people

so slow to recover her health?

23 I wish my head were made of water

and my eyes were a fountain of tears,

so that I could cry day and night

over the slain of the daughter of my people!

1 I wish I were out in the desert,

in some travelers’ lodge —

then I could get away from my people

and distance myself from them!

“Indeed they are all adulterers,

a band of traitors is what they are.

2 They bend their tongues, their ‘bow’ of falsehood,

and hold sway in the land, but not for truth.

For they go from evil to evil,

and me they do not know,”

saysAdonai.

3 Everyone, be on guard against your neighbor,

don’t trust even a brother;

for every brother is out to trick you,

and every neighbor goes around gossiping.

4 Everyone deceives his neighbor,

no one speaks the truth;

they have taught their tongues to lie,

they wear themselves out with sinning.

5 “You inhabit a world of deceit;

deceitfully they refuse to know me,”

saysAdonai.

6 “Therefore,” saysAdonai-Tzva’ot,

“I will refine them and test them.

What else can I do with the daughter of my people?

7 Their tongues are sharpened arrows;

with their mouths they speak deceit —

they say nice words to their neighbors,

while inwardly plotting against them.

8 Should I not punish them for these things?” asksAdonai.

“Should I not take vengeance on such a nation?”

9 I weep and wail for the mountains

and lament over the desert pastures,

because they have been burned up;

no one passes through;

they no longer hear the sound of cattle;

the birds and wild animals have fled, are gone.

10 “I will make Yerushalayim a heap of ruins,

turn it into a lair for jackals,

and make the cities of Y’hudah desolate,

with no one living there.”

11 Who is wise enough to understand this?

To whom has the mouth ofAdonaispoken,

so that he can proclaim it?

Why has the land perished

and been laid waste like a desert,

so that no one passes through?

12 Adonaianswers:

“Because they abandoned myTorah,

which I set before them,

and neither listened to what I said

nor lived accordingly,

13 but have lived by their own hearts’ stubbornness

and by theba‘alim, as their ancestors taught them —

14 therefore,” saysAdonai-Tzva’ot,

the God of Isra’el:

“I will feed this people bitter wormwood

and give them poisonous water to drink.

15 I will scatter them among nations

that neither they nor their ancestors have known.

I will send the sword after them

until I have wiped them out.”

16 Thus saysAdonai-Tzva’ot:

“Mark this, then summon the mourning women,

so that they will come;

send for those who are best [at mourning],

so that they will come:

17 ‘Have them hurry and wail for us,

so our eyes will be wet from crying,

and our eyelids gush with tears.’

18 For the sound of wailing is heard from Tziyon:

‘We are utterly ruined,

we are completely ashamed,

because we have left the land,

and our homes have been torn down!’”

19 You women, hear the word ofAdonai!

Let your ears receive the words from his mouth.

Teach your daughters how to wail,

have each teach her friend how to lament:

20 “Death has come up through our windows,

it has entered our palaces,

it has cut down children in the streets

and young people in the public places.”

21 Say: “Here is whatAdonaisays:

‘The corpses of people are scattered

like dung in an open field,

like sheaves left behind by the reaper

with no one to gather them.’”

22 Here is whatAdonaisays:

“The wise man should not boast of his wisdom,

the powerful should not boast of his power,

the wealthy should not boast of his wealth;

23 instead, let the boaster boast about this:

that he understands and knows me —

that I amAdonai, practicing grace,

justice and righteousness in the land;

for in these things I take pleasure,” saysAdonai.

24 “The days are coming,” saysAdonai, “when I will punish all those who have been circumcised in their uncircumcision —

25 Egypt, Y’hudah, Edom, the people of ‘Amon and Mo’av, and all those living in the desert who cut the edges [of their beard]:

“For although all theGoyimare uncircumcised,

all the house of Isra’el have uncircumcised hearts.”

1 Hear the wordAdonaispeaks to you,

house of Isra’el!

2 Here is whatAdonaisays:

“Don’t learn the way of theGoyim,

don’t be frightened by astrological signs,

even if theGoyimare afraid of them;

3 for the customs of the peoples are nothing.

They cut down a tree in the forest;

a craftsman works it with his axe;

4 they deck it with silver and gold.

They fix it with hammer and nails,

so that it won’t move.

5 Like a scarecrow in a cucumber patch,

it cannot speak.

It has to be carried,

because it cannot walk.

Do not be afraid of it —

it can do nothing bad;

likewise it is unable

to do anything good!”

6 There is no one like you,Adonai!

You are great, and your name is great and mighty.

7 Who would not fear you, king of the nations?

For it is your due! —

since among all the wise of the nations

and among all their royalty,

there is no one like you.

8 One and all they are boorish and stupid;

the teaching of their nothings is a piece of wood!

9 Silver is beaten into plates,

then imported from Tarshish.

Gold from Ufaz is worked by a craftsman

and shaped by the hands of a goldsmith.

They are clothed in blue and purple,

all the work of skillful men.

10 ButAdonai, God, is the true God,

the living God, the everlasting king.

At his anger, the earth trembles;

the nations cannot endure his fury.

11 “This is what you must say to them:

‘The gods that did not make heaven and earth

will perish from earth and from under heaven.’”

12 God made the earth by his power,

established the world by his wisdom

spread out the sky by his understanding.

13 When he thunders, the waters in heaven roar,

he raises clouds from the ends of the earth,

he makes the lightning flash in the rain

and brings the wind out from his storehouses.

14 At this, everyone is proved stupid, ignorant,

every goldsmith put to shame by his idol!

The figures he casts are a fraud;

there is no breath in them;

15 they are nothings, ridiculous objects;

when the day for their punishment comes, they will perish.

16 Ya‘akov’s portion is not like these,

for he is the one who formed all things.

Isra’el is the tribe he claims as his heritage;

Adonai-Tzva’otis his name.

17 You who are living under the siege,

gather your belongings off the ground,

18 for here is whatAdonaisays:

“At this time I am slinging away

the inhabitants of the land;

I will distress them,

so that they will feel it.”

19 Woe to me because of my wound!

My injury is incurable!

I used to say, “It’s only an illness,

and I can bear it.”

20 But now my tent is ruined,

all its cords are severed;

my children have left me and are no more;

there is no one to set up my tent again,

no one to raise its curtains.

21 The shepherds have become stupid,

they have not consultedAdonai.

This is why they have not prospered,

and all their flocks are scattered.

22 Listen! A noise! It’s coming closer!

A great uproar from the land to the north,

to make the cities of Y’hudah desolate,

a place for jackals to live.

23 Adonai, I know that the way of humans

is not in their control,

humans are not able

to direct their steps as they walk.

24 Adonai, correct me, but in moderation,

not in your anger, or you’ll reduce me to nothing.

25 Pour out your anger on the nations

that do not acknowledge you,

also on the families

that do not call on your name.

For they have consumed Ya‘akov —

consumed him and finished him off,

and laid waste to his home.

1 Here is the word that came to Yirmeyahu fromAdonai:

2 “Listen to the words of this covenant; then speak to the people of Y’hudah and the inhabitants of Yerushalayim;

3 tell them thatAdonaithe God of Isra’el says: ‘A curse on anyone who does not pay attention to the words of this covenant,

4 which I enjoined on your ancestors at the time that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of that iron-smelter. I said,

“Listen to my voice,

and carry out all my orders;

then you will be my people,

and I will be your God;

5 so that I can fulfill the oath

that I swore to your ancestors,

to give them a land flowing with milk and honey,

as it is today.”’”

Then I responded, “Amen,Adonai.”

6 Adonaisaid to me, “Proclaim all these words in the cities of Y’hudah and in the streets of Yerushalayim: ‘Listen to the words of this covenant, and obey them.

7 For I solemnly warned your ancestors at the time when I brought them out of the land of Egypt; and until this day I have frequently warned them, “Listen to my voice!”

8 But they have not listened or paid attention; instead, each one has lived according to the stubbornness of his own evil heart. For this reason I have brought upon them all the words of this covenant, which I ordered them to obey, but which they did not obey.’”

9 ThenAdonaisaid to me, “The men of Y’hudah and the people living in Yerushalayim have formed a conspiracy.

10 They have returned to the sins of their ancestors, who refused to hear my words, and they have gone after other gods to serve them. The house of Isra’el and the house of Y’hudah have broken my covenant which I made with their ancestors.”

11 ThereforeAdonaisays, “I am going to bring on them a disaster which they will not be able to escape; and even if they cry to me, I will not listen to them.

12 Then the cities of Y’hudah and the people living in Yerushalayim will go and cry to the gods to whom they are making offerings; but they will not save them at all in their time of trouble.

13 For you have as many gods, Y’hudah, as you have towns; and you have erected as many altars for sacrificing to that shameful thing, Ba‘al, as there are streets in Yerushalayim.

14 “So you, [Yirmeyahu,] don’t pray for this people! Don’t cry or pray on their behalf, because I won’t listen to them when they cry to me because of their troubles.

15 What right does my beloved have to be in my house, when she has behaved so shamelessly with so many? Offerings of consecrated meat can no longer help, because it is when you are doing evil that you are happy.”

16 Adonaionce called you an olive tree,

beautiful, full of leaves and good fruit.

Now with the roar of a violent storm,

he has set it on fire;

and its branches will be consumed.

17 ForAdonai-Tzva’ot, who planted you,

has decreed evil for you.

“It is because of the evil which the house of Isra’el and the house of Y’hudah did to themselves, provoking me with their offerings of incense to Ba‘al.”

18 Adonaimade this known to me, and then I knew —

you showed me what they were doing.

19 But I was like a tame lamb

led to be slaughtered;

I did not know that they were plotting

schemes against me —

“Let’s destroy the tree with its fruit,

we’ll cut him off from the land of the living,

so that his name will be forgotten.”

20 Adonai-Tzva’ot, righteous judge,

tester of motives and thoughts,

I have committed my cause to you;

so let me see your vengeance on them.

21 Therefore, here is whatAdonaisays concerning the men from ‘Anatot who seek your life and who tell you, “Stop prophesying in the name ofAdonai, or we will kill you ourselves” —

22 this is whatAdonai-Tzva’otsays: “I will punish them. Their young men will die by the sword, their sons and daughters will die by famine.

23 None of them will remain, for I will bring disaster on the men from ‘Anatot when the year comes for them to be punished.”

1 Adonai, although you would be in the right

if I were to dispute with you,

nevertheless I want to discuss

some points of justice with you:

Why do the wicked prosper?

Why do the treacherous all thrive?

2 You planted them, and they took root;

they grow, and they bear fruit.

You are near in their mouths,

though far from their hearts.

3 But,Adonai, you know me and see me;

you test my devotion to you;

drag them away like sheep to be slaughtered,

and set them apart for the day of slaughter.

4 How long must the land mourn

and the grass in all the fields wither?

The wild animals and birds are consumed

because of the wickedness of those who live there;

for they say, “He will not see how we end up.”

5 If racing men on foot exhausts you,

how will you compete against horses?

You may feel secure in a land at peace,

but how will you do in the Yarden’s thick brush?

6 For even your own brothers

and your father’s family are betraying you;

they are in full cry after you.

Despite all their nice speech, don’t believe them.

7 “I have abandoned my house,

I have rejected my heritage,

I have given my heart’s beloved

over to the hands of her foes.

8 For me, my heritage has become

like a lion in the forest —

she roared out against me;

so now I hate her.

9 For me, my heritage is like a speckled bird of prey —

other birds of prey surround her and attack her.

Go, gather all the wild animals,

and bring them to devour her.

10 Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard,

they have trampled my plot of land,

they have turned my desirable property

into a desert waste.

11 Yes, they have made it a waste;

wasted, it mourns to me;

the whole land is wasted,

because nobody really cares.”

12 On all the desert’s bare hills

plunderers have come;

yes, the sword ofAdonaidevours the land

from one end to the other;

nothing alive is safe.

13 They sowed wheat and reaped thorns,

they wore themselves out and gained nothing.

So be ashamed of your [tiny] harvest,

the result ofAdonai’s fierce anger.

14 Here is whatAdonaisays: “As for all my evil neighbors who encroach on the heritage I gave to my people Isra’el as their possession, I will uproot them from their own land, and I will uproot Y’hudah from among them.

15 Then, after I have uprooted them, I will take pity on them again and bring them back, each one to his inheritance, each one to his own land.

16 Then, if they will carefully learn my people’s ways, swearing by my name, ‘AsAdonailives,’ just as they taught my people to swear by Ba‘al, they will be built up among my people.

17 But if they refuse to listen, then I will uproot that nation, uproot and destroy it,” saysAdonai.

1 Adonaisaid to me, “Go, buy yourself a linen loincloth, and wrap it around your body; but don’t soften it in water.”

2 So I bought a loincloth, asAdonaihad said, and put it on.

3 Then the word ofAdonaicame to me a second time:

4 “Take the loincloth you bought and are wearing, get up, go to Parah, and hide it there in a hole in the rock.”

5 So I went and hid it in Parah, asAdonaihad ordered me.

6 A long time afterwards,Adonaisaid to me, “Get up, go to Parah, and recover the loincloth I ordered you to hide there.”

7 So I went to Parah and dug up the loincloth; but when I took it from the place where I had hidden it, I saw that it was ruined and useless for anything.

8 Then the word ofAdonaicame to me:

9 “Here is whatAdonaisays: ‘This is how I will ruin what makes Y’hudah so proud and Yerushalayim so very proud:

10 I will ruin this evil people, who refuse to hear my words and live according to their own stubborn inclinations, who go after other gods to serve and worship them. They will be like this loincloth, which is useless for anything.

11 For just as a loincloth clings to a man’s body, I made the whole house of Isra’el and the whole house of Y’hudah cling to me,’ saysAdonai,‘so that they could be my people, building me a name and becoming for me a source of praise and honor. But they would not listen.

12 So you are to tell them, “This is whatAdonaithe God of Isra’el says: ‘Every bottle is filled with wine.’” Then when they ask you, “Don’t we already know that every bottle is filled with wine?”

13 you are to answer them, “This is whatAdonaisays: ‘I am going to fill all the inhabitants of this land — including the kings sitting on the throne of David, thecohanim, the prophets and the inhabitants of Yerushalayim — with drunkenness.

14 Then I will smash them one against another, even fathers and sons together,’ saysAdonai‘I will show neither pity nor compassion, but I will destroy them relentlessly.’”’”

15 Listen and pay attention; don’t be proud!

ForAdonaihas spoken.

16 Give glory toAdonaiyour God

before the darkness falls,

before your feet stumble

on the mountains in the twilight,

and, while you are seeking light,

he turns it into deathlike shadows

and makes it completely dark.

17 But if you will not hear this warning,

I will weep secretly because of your pride;

my eyes will weep bitterly, streaming with tears,

becauseAdonai’s flock is carried away captive.

18 Tell the king and the queen mother,

“Come down from your thrones,

for your magnificent crowns

are falling from your heads.”

19 The cities of the Negev are besieged,

and no one can relieve them;

all of Y’hudah is carried into exile,

completely swept into exile.

20 Raise your eyes, and you will see them

coming from the north.

Where is the flock once entrusted to you,

the sheep that were your pride?

21 When he sets over you as rulers

those you trained to be allies,

what will you say? Won’t pains seize you

like those of a woman in labor?

22 And if you ask yourself,

“Why have these things happened to me?”

it is because of your many sins

that your skirts are pulled up and you have been violated.

23 Can an Ethiopian change his skin?

or a leopard its spots?

If they can, then you can do good,

who are so accustomed to doing evil.

24 “So I will scatter them like chaff

that flies away in the desert wind.

25 This is what you get,” saysAdonai,

“the portion I measure out to you,

because you have forgotten me

and trusted in the lie.

26 I myself will lift your skirts above your face,

and your privates will be exposed.

27 On the hills and in the fields,

I have seen your abominations —

your adulteries, your lustful neighings

your shameless prostitution.

Woe to you, Yerushalayim!

You refuse to be purified!

Won’t you ever allow it?”