Jeremiah 12-16

Jeremiah 12

¹Righteous art thou, O LORD, when I plead with thee: yet would I reason the cause with thee: wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are all they at ease that deal very treacherously?

²Thou hast planted them, yea, they have taken root; they grow, yea, they bring forth fruit: thou art near in their mouth, and far from their reins.

³But thou, O LORD, knowest me; thou seest me, and triest mine heart toward thee: pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter.

⁴How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of the whole country wither? for the wickedness of them that dwell therein, the beasts are consumed, and the birds; because they said, He shall not see our latter end.

⁵If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? and though in a land of peace thou art secure, yet how wilt thou do in the pride of Jordan?

⁶For even thy brethren, and the house of thy father, even they have dealt treacherously with thee; even they have cried aloud after thee: believe them not, though they speak fair words unto thee.

⁷I have forsaken mine house, I have cast off mine heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies.

⁸Mine heritage is become unto me as a lion in the forest: she hath uttered her voice against me; therefore I have hated her.

⁹Is mine heritage unto me as a speckled bird of prey? are the birds of prey against her round about? go ye, assemble all the beasts of the field, bring them to devour.

¹⁰Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.

¹¹They have made it a desolation; it mourneth unto me, being desolate; the whole land is made desolate, because no man layeth it to heart.

¹²Spoilers are come upon all the bare heights in the wilderness: for the sword of the LORD devoureth from the one end of the land even to the other end of the land: no flesh hath peace.

¹³They have sown wheat, and have reaped thorns; they have put themselves to pain, and profit nothing: and ye shall be ashamed of your fruits, because of the fierce anger of the LORD.

¹⁴Thus saith the LORD against all mine evil neighbours, that touch the inheritance which I have caused my people Israel to inherit: Behold, I will pluck them up from off their land, and will pluck up the house of Judah from among them.

¹⁵And it shall come to pass, after that I have plucked them up, I will return and have compassion on them; and I will bring them again, every man to his heritage, and every man to his land.

¹⁶and it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, As the LORD liveth; even as they taught my people to swear by Baal; then shall they be built up in the midst of my people.

¹⁷But if they will not hear, then will I pluck up that nation, plucking up and destroying it, saith the LORD.

Jeremiah 13

¹Thus said the LORD unto me, Go, and buy thee a linen girdle, and put it upon thy loins, and put it not in water.

²So I bought a girdle according to the word of the LORD, and put it upon my loins.

³And the word of the LORD came unto me the second time, saying,

⁴Take the girdle that thou hast bought, which is upon thy loins, and arise, go to Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole of the rock.

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

⁶And it came to pass after many days, that the LORD said unto me, Arise, go to Euphrates, and take the girdle from thence, which I commanded thee to hide there.

⁷Then I went to Euphrates, and digged, and took the girdle from the place where I had hid it: and, behold, the girdle was marred, it was profitable for nothing.

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

⁹Thus saith the LORD, After this manner will I mar the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem.

¹⁰This evil people, which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the stubbornness of their heart, and are gone after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this girdle, which is profitable for nothing.

¹¹For as the girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man, so have I caused to cleave unto me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, saith the LORD; that they might be unto me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory: but they would not hear.

¹²Therefore thou shalt speak unto them this word: Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, Every bottle shall be filled with wine: and they shall say unto thee, Do we not know that every bottle shall be filled with wine?

¹³Then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land, even the kings that sit upon David’s throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with drunkenness.

¹⁴And I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together, saith the LORD: I will not pity, nor spare, nor have compassion, that I should not destroy them.

¹⁵Hear ye, and give ear; be not proud: for the LORD hath spoken.

¹⁶Give glory to the LORD your God, before he cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains; and, while ye look for light, he turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness.

¹⁷But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret for your pride; and mine eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears, because the LORD’S flock is taken captive.

¹⁸Say thou unto the king and to the queen-mother, Humble yourselves, sit down: for your headtires are come down, even the crown of your glory.

¹⁹The cities of the South are shut up, and there is none to open them: Judah is carried away captive all of it; it is wholly carried away captive.

²⁰Lift up your eyes, and behold them that come from the north: where is the flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock?

²¹What wilt thou say, when he shall set thy friends over thee as head, seeing thou thyself hast instructed them against thee? shall not sorrows take hold of thee, as of a woman in travail?

²²And if thou say in thine heart, Wherefore are these things come upon me? for the greatness of thine iniquity are thy skirts discovered, and thy heels suffer violence.

²³Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.

²⁴Therefore will I scatter them, as the stubble that passeth away, by the wind of the wilderness.

²⁵This is thy lot, the portion measured unto thee from me, saith the LORD; because thou hast forgotten me, and trusted in falsehood.

²⁶Therefore will I also discover thy skirts upon thy face, and thy shame shall appear.

²⁷I have seen thine abominations, even thine adulteries, and thy neighings, the lewdness of thy whoredom, on the hills in the field. Woe unto thee, O Jerusalem! thou wilt not be made clean; how long shall it yet be?

Jeremiah 14

¹The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought.

²Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof languish, they sit in black upon the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up.

³And their nobles send their little ones to the waters: they come to the pits, and find no water; they return with their vessels empty: they are ashamed and confounded, and cover their heads.

⁴Because of the ground which is chapt, for that no rain hath been in the land, the plowmen are ashamed, they cover their heads.

⁵Yea, the hind also in the field calveth, and forsaketh her young, because there is no grass.

⁶And the wild asses stand on the bare heights, they pant for air like jackals; their eyes fail, because there is no herbage.

⁷Though our iniquities testify against us, work thou for thy name’s sake, O LORD: for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against thee.

⁸O thou hope of Israel, the saviour thereof in the time of trouble, why shouldest thou be as a sojourner in the land, and as a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night?

⁹Why shouldest thou be as a man astonied, as a mighty man that cannot save? yet thou, O LORD, art in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name; leave us not.

¹⁰Thus saith the LORD unto this people, Even so have they loved to wander; they have not refrained their feet: therefore the LORD doth not accept them; now will he remember their iniquity, and visit their sins.

¹¹And the LORD said unto me, Pray not for this people for their good.

¹²When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and oblation, I will not accept them: but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence;

¹³Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, the prophets say unto them, Ye shall not see the sword, neither shall ye have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place.

¹⁴Then the LORD said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake I unto them: they prophesy unto you a lying vision, and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their own heart.

¹⁵Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that prophesy in my name, and I sent them not, yet they say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land: By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed.

¹⁶And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and they shall have none to bury them, them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters: for I will pour their wickedness upon them.

¹⁷And thou shalt say this word unto them, Let mine eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease; for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach, with a very grievous wound.

¹⁸If I go forth into the field, then behold the slain with the sword! and if I enter into the city, then behold them that are sick with famine! for both the prophet and the priest go about in the land and have no knowledge.

¹⁹Hast thou utterly rejected Judah? hath thy soul loathed Zion? why hast thou smitten us, and there is no healing for us? We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of healing, and behold dismay!

²⁰We acknowledge, O LORD, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers: for we have sinned against thee.

²¹Do not abhor us, for thy name’s sake; do not disgrace the throne of thy glory: remember, break not thy covenant with us.

²²Are there any among the vanities of the heathen that can cause rain? or can the heavens give showers? art not thou he, O LORD our God? therefore we will wait upon thee; for thou hast made all these things.

Jeremiah 15

¹Then said the LORD unto me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could not be toward this people: cast them out of my sight, and let them go forth.

²And it shall come to pass, when they say unto thee, Whither shall we go forth? then thou shalt tell them, Thus saith the LORD: Such as are for death, to death; and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for the famine, to the famine; and such as are for captivity, to captivity.

³And I will appoint over them four kinds, saith the LORD: the sword to slay, and the dogs to tear, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the earth, to devour and to destroy.

⁴And I will cause them to be tossed to and fro among all the kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem.

⁵For who shall have pity upon thee, O Jerusalem? or who shall bemoan thee? or who shall turn aside to ask of thy welfare?

⁶Thou hast rejected me, saith the LORD, thou art gone backward: therefore have I stretched out my hand against thee, and destroyed thee; I am weary with repenting.

⁷And I have fanned them with a fan in the gates of the land; I have bereaved them of children, I have destroyed my people; they have not returned from their ways.

⁸Their widows are increased to me above the sand of the seas: I have brought upon them against the mother of the young men a spoiler at noonday: I have caused anguish and terrors to fall upon her suddenly.

⁹She that hath borne seven languisheth; she hath given up the ghost; her sun is gone down while it was yet day; she hath been ashamed and confounded: and the residue of them will I deliver to the sword before their enemies, saith the LORD.

¹⁰Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have not lent on usury, neither have men lent to me on usury; yet every one of them doth curse me.

¹¹The LORD said, Verily I will strengthen thee for good; verily I will cause the enemy to make supplication unto thee in the time of evil and in the time of affliction.

¹²Can one break iron, even iron from the north, and brass?

¹³Thy substance and thy treasures will I give for a spoil without price, and that for all thy sins, even in all thy borders.

¹⁴And I will make them to pass with thine enemies into a land which thou knowest not: for a fire is kindled in mine anger, which shall burn upon you.

¹⁵O LORD, thou knowest: remember me, and visit me, and avenge me of my persecutors; take me not away in thy longsuffering: know that for thy sake I have suffered reproach.

¹⁶Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy words were unto me a joy and the rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts.

¹⁷I sat not in the assembly of them that make merry, nor rejoiced: I sat alone because of thy hand; for thou hast filled me with indignation.

¹⁸Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuseth to be healed? wilt thou indeed be unto me as a deceitful brook, as waters that fail?

¹⁹Therefore thus saith the LORD, If thou return, then will I bring thee again, that thou mayest stand before me; and if thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth: they shall return unto thee, but thou shalt not return unto them.

²⁰And I will make thee unto this people a fenced brasen wall; and they shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee: for I am with thee to save thee and to deliver thee, saith the LORD.

²¹And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible.

Jeremiah 16

¹The word of the LORD came also unto me, saying,

²Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have sons or daughters in this place.

³For thus saith the LORD concerning the sons and concerning the daughters that are born in this place, and concerning their mothers that bare them, and concerning their fathers that begat them in this land:

⁴They shall die of grievous deaths; they shalt not be lamented, neither shall they be buried; they shall be as dung upon the face of the ground: and they shall be consumed by the sword, and by famine; and their carcases shall be meat for the fowls of heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.

⁵For thus saith the LORD, Enter not into the house of mourning, neither go to lament, neither bemoan them: for I have taken away my peace from this people, saith the LORD, even lovingkindness and tender mercies.

⁶Both great and small shall die in this land: they shall not be buried, neither shall men lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them:

⁷neither shall men break bread for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead; neither shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother.

⁸And thou shalt not go into the house of feasting to sit with them, to eat and to drink.

⁹For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will cause to cease out of this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.

¹⁰And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt shew this people all these words, and they shall say unto thee, Wherefore hath the LORD pronounced all this great evil against us? or what is our iniquity? or what is our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?

¹¹Then shalt thou say unto them, Because your fathers have forsaken me, saith the LORD, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshipped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law;

¹²and ye have done evil more than your fathers; for, behold, ye walk every one after the stubbornness of his evil heart, so that ye hearken not unto me:

¹³therefore will I cast you forth out of this land into the land that ye have not known, neither ye nor your fathers; and there shall ye serve other gods day and night; for I will shew you no favour.

¹⁴Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more be said, As the LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;

¹⁵but, As the LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the countries whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers.

¹⁶Behold, I will send for many fishers saith the LORD, and they shall fish them; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.

¹⁷For mine eyes are upon all their ways: they are not hid from my face, neither is their iniquity concealed from mine eyes.

¹⁸And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double; because they have polluted my land with the carcases of their detestable things, and have filled mine inheritance with their abominations.

¹⁹O LORD, my strength, and my strong hold, and my refuge in the day of affliction, unto thee shall the nations come from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Our fathers have inherited nought but lies, even vanity and things wherein there is no profit.

²⁰Shall a man make unto himself gods, which yet are no gods?

²¹Therefore, behold, I will cause them to know, this once will I cause them to know mine hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is Jehovah.