Yirmeyahu/Jeremiah [Sacred Names Bibel]

Yirmeyahu/Jeremiah 1

¹ These are the words of Yirmeyahu the son of Hilkiyahu, one of the cohanim living in ‘Anatot, in the territory of Binyamin. ² The word of יְהוָה came to him during the days of Yoshiyahu the son of Amon, king of Y’hudah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. ³ It also came during the days of Y’hoyakim the son of Yoshiyahu, king of Y’hudah, continuing until the eleventh year of Tzidkiyahu the son of Yoshiyahu, king of Y’hudah, right up until the time Yerushalayim was carried away captive, in the fifth month.

⁴ Here is the word of יְהוָה that came to me:

⁵ “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you;
before you were born, I separated you for myself.
I have appointed you to be a prophet to the nations.”[One of the great multitude of verses dealing with election and predestination. See also Ephesians 1.]

⁶ I said, “Oh, יְהוָה Elohim, I don’t even know how to speak! I’m just a child!” ⁷ But יְהוָה said to me, “Don’t say, ‘I’m just a child.’

“For you will go to whomever I send you,
and you will speak whatever I order you.
⁸ Do not be afraid of them,
for I am with you, says יְהוָה,
to rescue you.”

⁹ Then יְהוָה put out his hand and touched my mouth, and יְהוָה said to me,

“There! I have put my words in your mouth.
¹⁰ Today I have placed you over nations and kingdoms
to uproot and to tear down,
to destroy and to demolish,
to build and to plant.”[Some think Yirmeyahu may have been just a teenager when called into ministry. Of course, that is possible, but my best guess is that he was at least 30 years, still quite young to be prophesying to nations, even to the Nation of Yisra'el. In Yisra'el one was not considered worth listening to until he was at least 60 years of age. Of course, there were exceptions, of which Sh'mu'el was a prime example. And certainly, Yirmeyahu could also have been just such an example.]

¹¹ The word of יְהוָה came to me, asking, “Yirmeyahu, what do you see?” I answered, “I see a branch from an almond tree . ¹² Then יְהוָה said to me, “You have seen well, because I am watching to fulfill my word.”

¹³ A second time the word of יְהוָה came to me, asking, “What do you see?” I answered, “I see a caldron tilted away from the north, over a fire fanned by the wind.” ¹⁴ Then יְהוָה said to me, “From the north calamity will boil over onto everyone living in the land, ¹⁵ because I will summon all the families in the kingdoms of the north,” says יְהוָה,

“and they will come and sit, each one, on his throne
at the entrance to the gates of Yerushalayim,
opposite its walls, all the way around,
and opposite all the cities of Y’hudah.
¹⁶ I will pronounce my judgments against them
for all their wickedness in abandoning me,
offering incense to other elohim
and worshipping what their own hands made. [No less than six nations invaded and destroyed vestiges of Yerushalayim: Syria, Babylon, Persia, Medo-Persia, Egypt, and Ethiopia, all, at one time or another during its downfall, invaded and destroyed parts of the Southern Kingdom's cities. Four of those were from the North.]

¹⁷ “But you, dress for action; stand up and tell them
everything I order you to say.
When you confront them, don’t break down;
or I will break you down in front of them!
¹⁸ For today, you see, I have made you into
a fortified city, a pillar of iron,
a wall of bronze against the whole land,
against the kings of Y’hudah, against its princes,
against its cohanim and the people of the land.
¹⁹ They will fight against you,
but they will not overcome you,
for I am with you,” says יְהוָה,
“to rescue you.”

Yirmeyahu/Jeremiah 2

¹ The word of יְהוָה came to me: ² “Go and shout in the ears of Yerushalayim that this is what יְהוָה says:

‘I remember your devotion when you were young;
how, as a bride, you loved me;
how you followed me through the desert,
through a land not sown.

³ “‘Yisra’el is set aside for יְהוָה,
the firstfruits of His harvest; [As Messiah resurrected as the First Fruits of all that would follow that example by resurrecting on the Day of Adonai, Yisra'el was the first fruits of the nations who would be called to be His bride.]
all who devour him will incur guilt;
evil will befall them,” says יְהוָה.

⁴ Hear the word of יְהוָה, house of Ya‘akov
and all families in the house of Yisra’el;
⁵ here is what יְהוָה says:

“What did your ancestors find wrong with me
to make them go so far away from me,
to make them go after nothings
and become themselves nothings?
⁶ They didn’t ask, ‘Where is יְהוָה,
who brought us out of the land of Egypt,
Who led us through the desert,
through a land of wastes and ravines,
through a land of drought and death-dark shadows,
through a land where no one travels
and where no one ever lived?’
⁷ I brought you into a fertile land
to enjoy its fruit and all its good things;
but when you entered, you defiled My land
and made My heritage loathsome.
⁸ The cohanim didn’t ask, ‘Where is יְהוָה?’
Those who deal with the Torah did not know Me,
the people’s shepherds rebelled against Me;
the prophets prophesied by Ba‘al
and went after things of no value.

⁹ “So again I state My case against you,” says יְהוָה,
“and state it against your grandchildren too.
¹⁰ Cross to the coasts of the Kitti’im and look;
send to Kedar and observe closely;
see if anything like this has happened before:
¹¹ has a nation ever exchanged its elohim
(and theirs are not elohim at all!)?
Yet my people have exchanged their Glory
for something without value.
¹² Be aghast at this, you heavens!
Shudder in absolute horror!” says יְהוָה.
¹³ “For my people have committed two evils:
they have abandoned Me,
the Fountain of Living Water,
and dug themselves cisterns, broken cisterns,
that can hold no water!

¹⁴ “Is Yisra’el a slave, born into serfdom?
If not, why has he become plunder?
¹⁵ The young lions are roaring at him;
how loudly they are roaring!
They desolate his country,
demolishing and depopulating his cities.
¹⁶ The people of Nof and Tachpanches
feed on the crown of your head.

¹⁷ “Haven’t you brought this on yourself
by abandoning יְהוָה ELOHEIKEM
when He led you along the way?
¹⁸ If you go to Egypt, what’s in it for you?
Drinking water from the Nile?
If you go to Ashur, what’s in it for you?
Drinking water from the [Euphrates] River?
¹⁹ Your own wickedness will correct you,
your own backslidings will convict you;
you will know and see how bad and bitter
it was to abandon יְהוָה ELOHEIKEM,
and how fear of me is not in you,”
says יְהוָה Elohim-Tzva’ot.

²⁰ “For long ago I broke your yoke;
when I snapped your chains, you said, ‘I won’t sin.’
Yet on every high hill, under every green tree,
you sprawled and prostituted yourself.
²¹ But I planted you as a choice vine
of seed fully tested and true.
How did you degenerate
into a wild vine for me?
²² Even if you scrub yourself
with soda and plenty of soap,
the stain of your guilt is still there before Me,”
says יְהוָה Elohim.

²³ “How can you say, ‘I am not defiled,
I have not pursued the ba‘alim’?
Look at your conduct in the valley,
understand what you have done.
You are a restive young female camel,
running here and there,
²⁴ wild, accustomed to the desert,
sniffing the wind in her lust;
who can control her when she’s in heat?
Males seeking her need not weary themselves,
for at mating season they will find her.

²⁵ “Stop before your shoes wear out,
and your throat is dry from thirst!
But you say, ‘No, it’s hopeless!
I love these strangers, and I’m going after them.’
²⁶ Just as a thief is ashamed when caught,
so is the house of Yisra’el ashamed;
they, their kings, their leaders,
their cohanim and their prophets,
²⁷ who say to a log, ‘You are my father,’
and to a stone, ‘You gave us birth.’
For they have turned their backs to Me
instead of their faces.
But when trouble comes, they will plead,
‘Rouse Yourself and save us!’
²⁸ Where are your elohim that you made for yourselves?
Let them rouse themselves,
if they can save you when trouble comes.
Y’hudah, you have as many elohim
as you have cities! [Like Y'hudah, we in America have as many elohim as we have cities. Sports, TV, movie stars, our jobs, a position of importance, our spouses, children, whatever one pursues at the expense of worshiping and serving the living YHWH ELOHIM is a false elohim.]
²⁹ Why argue with Me? You have all
rebelled against Me!” says יְהוָה.

³⁰ “In vain have I struck down your people.
They would not receive correction.
Your own sword has devoured your prophets
like a marauding lion.
³¹ You of this generation,
look at the word of יְהוָה:
Have I been a desert to Yisra’el?
or a land of oppressive darkness?
Why do My people say, ‘We’re free to roam,
we will no longer come to You’?
³² Does a girl forget her jewelry,
or a bride her wedding sash?
Yet My people have forgotten Me,
days beyond numbering.
³³ You are so clever in your search for love
that the worst of women can learn from you!
³⁴ Right there on your clothing
is the blood of the innocent poor,
although you never caught them breaking and entering.
Yet concerning all these things,
³⁵ you say, ‘I am innocent;
surely He’s no longer angry at me.’
Here, I am passing sentence on you,
because you say, ‘I have done nothing wrong.’
³⁶ You cheapen yourself
when you change course so often;
you will be disappointed by Egypt too,
just as you were disappointed by Ashur.
³⁷ Yes, you will leave him too,
with your hands on your heads [in shame].
For יְהוָה rejects those in whom you trust;
from them you will gain nothing.”

Yirmeyahu/Jeremiah 3

¹ [יְהוָה] says:

“If a man divorces his wife,
and she leaves him and marries another man,
then if the first one marries her again,
that land will be completely defiled.
But you prostituted yourself to many lovers,
yet you want to return to Me?” says יְהוָה.
² “Raise your eyes to the bare hills, take a look:
where have you not had sex?
You sat by the roadsides waiting for them
like a nomad in the desert.
You have defiled the land
with your prostitution and wickedness.
³ For this reason the showers have been withheld,
there has been no rain in the spring;
still you maintain a whore’s brazen look
and refuse to be ashamed.
⁴ Didn’t you just now cry to Me,
‘My father, you are my friend from my youth’?
⁵ [thinking,] ‘He won’t bear a grudge forever, will He?
He wouldn’t maintain it right to the end.’
You say this, but you keep doing evil things,
you just do whatever you want.”[One of the things I have discovered today is that most people think exactly like this. They believe that YHWH has a short memory, or that He is not one to hold a grudge, or that He sometimes looks the other way when we choose to rebel against His clearly revealed will. Nine out of ten people will claim they are a pretty good person, when asked. They mostly claim their good works outnumber their bad works, so they will likely go to His kingdom when they die. Not knowing YHWH's standard is perfection, likening YHWH to our miserable excuse for judges today, they actually believe they will somehow be able to convince YHWH to let them enter His kingdom when they pass from this life.]

⁶ In the days of Yoshiyahu the king, יְהוָה asked me, “Have you seen the things that backsliding [Hebrew root means apostasy (m'shubah-literally apostasizing)] Yisra’el has been doing? She goes up on every bare hill and under every green tree and prostitutes herself there. ⁷ I said that after she had done all these things, she would return to me; but she hasn’t returned. Meanwhile, her unfaithful sister Y’hudah has been watching. ⁸ I saw that even though backsliding Isra’el had committed adultery, so that I had sent her away and given her a divorce document, unfaithful Y’hudah her sister was not moved to fear; instead, she too went and prostituted herself. ⁹ The ease with which Yisra’el prostituted herself defiled the land, as she committed adultery with stones and with logs. ¹⁰ Yet in spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Y’hudah has not returned to me wholeheartedly; she only makes a pretense of it,” said יְהוָה. [The picture here is rich. Can you imagine committing prostitution with stones and logs?]

¹¹ Then יְהוָה said to me, “Backsliding Yisra’el has proved herself more righteous than unfaithful Y’hudah. ¹² Go and proclaim these words toward the north:

‘“Return, backsliding Yisra’el,” says יְהוָה.
“I will not frown on you, for I am merciful,” says יְהוָה.
“I will not bear a grudge forever.
¹³ Only acknowledge your guilt,
that you have committed crimes
against יְהוָה ELOHEIKEM,
that you were promiscuous with strangers
under every green tree,
and that you have not paid attention
to My voice,” says יְהוָה.
¹⁴ “Return, backsliding children,” says יְהוָה;
“for I am your Master.
I will take you, one from a city,
two from a family, and bring you to Tziyon.
¹⁵ I will give you shepherds
after My own heart,
and they will feed you
with knowledge and understanding.

¹⁶ “‘“And,” says יְהוָה, “in those days, when your numbers have increased in the land, people will no longer talk about the ark for the covenant of יְהוָה. They won’t think about it, they won’t miss it, and they won’t make another one. ¹⁷ When that time comes, they will call Yerushalayim the throne of יְהוָה. All the nations will be gathered there to The Name of יְהוָה, to Yerushalayim. No longer will they live according to their stubbornly evil hearts. ¹⁸ In those days, the house of Y’hudah will live together with the house of Yisra’el; they will come together from the lands in the north to the land I gave your ancestors as their heritage.

¹⁹ “‘“I thought that I would like to put you among the sons [with inheritance rights] and give you a pleasant land, the best heritage of all the nations. I thought that you would call Me ‘My Father’ and never stop following Me. ²⁰ But like a faithless woman who betrays her husband, you, house of Yisra’el, have betrayed me,” says יְהוָה.’”

²¹ A sound is heard on the heights,
the house of Yisra’el crying, pleading for mercy,
because they have perverted their way
and forgotten יְהוָה ELOHEIKEM.

²² “Return, backsliding children,
and I will heal your backsliding.”

“Here we are, we are coming to You,
for You are יְהוָה ELOHEINU.
²³ Indeed the hills have proved a delusion,
likewise the orgies on the mountains.
Truly the salvation of Yisra’el
is in יְהוָה ELOHEINU.
²⁴ But from our youth the shameful thing [idolatry]
has devoured the fruit of our ancestors’ work,
their flocks and herds, their sons and daughters.
²⁵ Let us lie down in our shame,
let our disgrace cover us,
for we have sinned against יְהוָה ELOHEINU,
both we and our ancestors,
from our youth until today;
we have not paid attention
to the voice of יְהוָה ELOHEINU.”

Yirmeyahu/Jeremiah 4

¹ “Yisra’el, if you will return,” says יְהוָה,
“yes, return to Me; and if you will banish
your abominations from My presence
without wandering astray again;
² and if you will swear, ‘As יְהוָה lives,’
in truth, justice and righteousness;
then the nations will bless themselves by Him,
and in Him will they glory.”

³ For here is what יְהוָה says
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 for יְהוָה,
remove the foreskins of your heart! [Fleshly circumcision was always just an outward fleshly sign of what was supposed to be happening day by day and moment by moment in one's spiritual center, depicted almost universally in scripture as the heart. See also Romans 2:28-29]
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 the shofar in 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, for יְהוָה’s fierce anger
has not turned away from us.

⁹ “When that day comes,” says יְהוָה,
“the king’s heart will fail him,
likewise the princes’;
the cohanim will be appalled
and the prophets stupefied.”

¹⁰ Then I said, “Oh, יְהוָה Elohim! 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,” says יְהוָה.
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 the shofar sound;
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 the shofar sound?

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 of יְהוָה,
before his burning anger.

²⁷ For here is what יְהוָה says:

“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.”

Yirmeyahu/Jeremiah 5

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, ‘As יְהוָה lives,’
the fact is that they are swearing falsely.”

³ יְהוָה, 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 of יְהוָה
or the rulings of ELOHEIKEM.
⁵ I will go to the prominent men,
and I will speak to them;
for they know the way of יְהוָה
and the rulings of ELOHEIKEM.”
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-ELOHIM.
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?” asks יְהוָה.
“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 to יְהוָה.
¹¹ “For the house of Yisra’el
and the house of Y’hudah
have thoroughly betrayed me,” says יְהוָה.

¹² They have denied יְהוָה,
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 Therefore יְהוָה Elohei-Tzva’ot says:

“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 Yisra’el,
a distant nation,” says יְהוָה,
“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,” says יְהוָה,
“I will not completely destroy you.
¹⁹ And when your people ask, ‘Why has יְהוָה
ELOHEINU done all these things to us?’
you are to give them this answer:
‘Just as you abandoned Me
and served strange elohim 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? asks יְהוָה.
"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 fear יְהוָה ELOHEINU,
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?” asks יְהוָה.
“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,
the cohanim obey the prophets,
and my people love it that way.
But what will you do at the end of it all?

[Jeremiah prophecies about the tribulation woes of the Hebrews]
Yirmeyahu/Jeremiah 6

¹ “Head for cover, people of Binyamin,
get out of Yerushalayim!
Blow the shofar in 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 For יְהוָה-Tzva’ot says 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 says יְהוָה-Tzva’ot:

“They will glean the remnant of Yisra’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 of יְהוָה has become
unattractive, an object of scorn.
¹¹ This is why I am full of יְהוָה’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,” says יְהוָה.
¹³ “For from the least to the greatest of them,
all are greedy for gains;
prophets and cohanim alike,
they all practice fraud,
¹⁴ they dress the wound of my people,
but only superficially,
saying, ‘There is perfect shalom,’
when there is no shalom.

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,” says יְהוָה.

¹⁶ Here is what יְהוָה says:

“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 the shofar.’
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; [This is obviously not intended to
address their first exile to Babylon because Jeremiah's message is to the entire earth.]
for they pay no attention to my words;
and as for my Torah, 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 says יְהוָה:

“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 what יְהוָה says:

“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. [There has been speculation for decades
as to who this great nation from the north might be. I suspect it is Babylon (current day Iraq,
in a coalition with Iran and Russia. Hal Lindsey has indicated he believes it is Russia alone. I
don't believe any of us can be sure until it actually happens. What we do know is that Russia
is not negotiating secret treaties (our own CIA tells us this) with both of those nation, as well as with the Syrians to keep
the United States out of any attempt by them to overrun Yisra'el.]

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,’
because יְהוָה has rejected them.”

Yirmeyahu/Jeremiah 7

¹ This word came to Yirmeyahu from יְהוָה: ² “Stand at the gate of the house of יְהוָה and proclaim this word: ‘Listen to the word of יְהוָה, all you from Y’hudah who enter these gates to worship יְהוָה!
³ Here is what יְהוָה-Tzva’ot, ELOHEI Yisra’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 of יְהוָה, the temple of יְהוָה, these [buildings] are the temple of יְהוָה.’ 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 elohim, 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 elohim 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,” says יְהוָה. 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 Yisra’el. ¹³ I spoke to you again and again, but you wouldn’t listen. I called you, but you wouldn’t answer. Now,” says יְהוָה, “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 elohim! ¹⁹ Are they really provoking me,” asks יְהוָה, “or are they provoking themselves, to their own ruin?”

²⁰ Therefore, here is what יְהוָה Elohim says: “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 says יְהוָה-Tzva’ot, ELOHEI Yisra’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 ELOHEIKEM, 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 of יְהוָה ELOHEIHEM.
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,
for יְהוָה has rejected and abandoned
the generation that rouses his anger.’

³⁰ “For the people of Y’hudah have done what is evil in My eyes,” says יְהוָה; “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,” says יְהוָה, “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. [I wondered for years to what these kinds of verses referred. Mathew 24:28 tells us, "Where the corpse is, the vultures will gather. Yeshua was teaching about Armageddon. And, also, He was speaking, in a broader sense, about the seven years of tribulation. Great multitudes from every nation will die from plagues, floods, earthquakes, war, wild animals gone berserk, hailstones, and famine. Upon those dead bodies the vultures will feast.] 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. [While this is an unfortunate bit of news for Yisra'el, it is also just as unfortunate news for the rest of the world. Yisra'el is not the only nation that will experience this kind of devastation during the tribulation.]

Yirmeyahu/Jeremiah  8

¹ “At that time,” says יְהוָה, “[these enemies] will remove the bones of the kings of Y’hudah, the bones of his princes, the bones of the cohanim, 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,” says יְהוָה-Tzva’ot. ⁴ “You are to tell them that יְהוָה says:

‘If a person falls, doesn’t he get up again?
If someone goes astray, doesn’t he turn back?
⁵ Why do these people remain faithless?
Why is their lack of faith 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 of יְהוָה!

⁸ “‘How can you say, “We are wise;
יְהוָה’s Torah is 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 of יְהוָה,
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 and cohanim alike
all practice fraud;
¹¹ they dress the wound of the daughter of My people,
but only superficially,
saying, “There is perfect shalom,”
when there is no shalom.
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,’
says יְהוָה.

¹³ “‘I will put an end to them,’ says יְהוָה.
‘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!
For יְהוָה ELOHEINU has doomed us;
He has given us bitter water to drink,
because we have sinned against יְהוָה.
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,” says יְהוָה.

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:
“Is יְהוָה no longer in Tziyon?
Is her King no longer there?”

“Why do they provoke Me with their idols
and their futile foreign elohim?”

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?"

Yirmeyahu/Jeremiah 9

^{1 "}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!

² 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.
³ 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,” says יְהוָה.

⁴ 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.
⁵ Everyone deceives his neighbor,
no one speaks the truth;
they have taught their tongues to lie,
they wear themselves out with sinning.

⁶ “You inhabit a world of deceit;
deceitfully they refuse to know Me,”
says יְהוָה.

⁷ “Therefore,” says יְהוָה-Tzva’ot,
“I will refine them and test them.
What else can I do with the daughter of My people?
[This phrase, "the daughter of My people," may well refer to the Messianic Assemblies of today.
We call them churches, a term not found in the Aramaic New Covenant writings, which, by the
way, are the oldest known writings of the New Covenant.]
⁸ Their tongues are sharpened arrows;
with their mouths they speak deceit,
they say nice words to their neighbors,
while inwardly plotting against them.
⁹ Should I not punish them for these things?” asks יְהוָה.
“Should I not take vengeance on such a nation?”

¹⁰ 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.

¹¹ “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.”

¹² Who is wise enough to understand this?
To whom has the mouth of יְהוָה spoken,
so that he can proclaim it?
Why has the land perished
and been laid waste like a desert,
so that no one passes through?

¹³ יְהוָה answers:

“Because they abandoned My Torah,
which I set before them,
and neither listened to what I said
nor lived accordingly,
¹⁴ but have lived by their own hearts’ stubbornness
and by the ba‘alim, as their ancestors taught them.
¹⁵ Therefore,” says יְהוָה-Tzva’ot,
ELOHEI Yisra’el:
“I will feed this people bitter wormwood
and give them poisonous water to drink.
¹⁶ 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.”

¹⁷ Thus says יְהוָה-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:
¹⁸ ‘Have them hurry and wail for us,
so our eyes will be wet from crying,
and our eyelids gush with tears.’
¹⁹ 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!’”
²⁰ You women, hear the word of יְהוָה!
Let your ears receive the words from His mouth.
Teach your daughters how to wail,
have each teach her friend how to lament:
²¹ “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.”
²² Say: “Here is what יְהוָה says:
‘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.’”

²³ Here is what יְהוָה says:

“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;
²⁴ instead, let the boaster boast about this:
that he understands and knows me;
that I am יְהוָה, practicing grace,
justice and righteousness in the land;
for in these things I take pleasure,” says יְהוָה.

²⁵ “The days are coming,” says יְהוָה, “when I will punish all those who have been circumcised in their uncircumcision, ²⁶ 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 the Goyim are uncircumcised,
all the house of Yisra’el have uncircumcised hearts.”

Yirmeyahu/Jeremiah 10

¹ Hear the word יְהוָה speaks to you,
house of Yisra’el!
² Here is what יְהוָה says:
“Don’t learn the way of the Goyim,
don’t be frightened by astrological signs,
even if the Goyim are 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!”[a rather revealing reference to things like,
among other things, Christmas trees with their ornaments of gold and
silver.]

⁶ There is no one like You, יְהוָה!
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 stupid and foolish;
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 But יְהוָה, ELOHIM, is the true ELOHIM,
the living ELOHIM, 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 elohim that did not make heaven and earth
will perish from earth and from under heaven.’”

¹² ELOHIM 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.
Yisra’el is the tribe he claims as His heritage;
יְהוָה-Tzva’ot is His Name.

¹⁷ You who are living under the siege,
gather your belongings off the ground,
¹⁸ for here is what יְהוָה says:
“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 consulted יְהוָה.
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 יְהוָה, I know that the way of man
is not in their control,
men are not able
to direct their steps as they walk.
²⁴ יְהוָה, 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.

Yirmeyahu/Jeremiah 11

¹ Here is the word that came to Yirmeyahu from יְהוָה: ² “Listen to the words of this covenant; then speak to the people of Y’hudah and the inhabitants of Yerushalayim; ³ tell them that יְהוָה ELOHEI Yisra’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 ELOHEIHEM;
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, “Amein, יְהוָה.”

⁶ יְהוָה said 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 Then יְהוָה said 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 ELOHIM to serve them. The beit Yisra’el and the house of Y’hudah have broken my covenant which I made with their ancestors.” ¹¹ יְהוָה says, “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 elohim 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 elohim, 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 יְהוָה once 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 For יְהוָה-Tzva’ot, Who planted you,
has decreed evil for you.

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

¹⁸ יְהוָה made 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 יְהוָה-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 what יְהוָה says concerning the men from ‘Anatot who seek your life and who tell you, “Stop prophesying in the Name of יְהוָה, or we will kill you ourselves." ²² This is what יְהוָה-Tzva’ot says: “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.”

Yirmeyahu/Jeremiah 12

¹ יְהוָה, 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, יְהוָה, 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 of יְהוָה devours 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 of יְהוָה’s fierce anger."

¹⁴ Here is what יְהוָה says: “As for all My evil neighbors who encroach on the heritage I gave to My people Yisra’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, ‘As יְהוָה lives,’ 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,” says יְהוָה.

Yirmeyahu/Jeremiah 13

¹ יְהוָה said 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, as יְהוָה had said, and put it on.

³ Then the word of יְהוָה came 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, as יְהוָה had ordered me.

⁶ A long time afterwards, יְהוָה said 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 of יְהוָה came to me: ⁹ “Here is what יְהוָה says: ‘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 elohim 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 beit Yisra’el and the whole beit Y’hudah cling to me,’ says יְהוָה, ‘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 what יְהוָה ELOHEI Yisra’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 what יְהוָה says: ‘I am going to fill all the inhabitants of this land, including the kings sitting on the throne of David, the cohanim, the prophets and the inhabitants of Yerushalayim, with drunkenness. ¹⁴ Then I will smash them one against another, even fathers and sons together,’ says יְהוָה. ‘I will show neither pity nor compassion, but I will destroy them relentlessly.’”’”

¹⁵ Listen and pay attention; don’t be proud!
For יְהוָה has spoken.
¹⁶ Give glory to יְהוָה ELOHEIHEM
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,
because יְהוָה’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,” says יְהוָה,
“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?”

Yirmeyahu/Jeremiah 14

¹ The word of יְהוָה that came to Yirmeyahu concerning the drought:

² “Y’hudah is mourning, her gates are languishing;
they sit on the ground in gloom;
Yerushalayim sends up a cry of anguish.
³ Her nobles send their servants for water;
they go to the cisterns but find no water,
so they return with empty jars.
Ashamed and dismayed, they cover their heads.
⁴ Because of the ground, which is cracked,
since it has not rained in the land,
the farmers are ashamed;
they cover their heads.
⁵ The doe in the countryside, giving birth,
abandons her young for lack of grass.
⁶ The wild donkeys standing on the bare heights
gasp for air like jackals;
their eyes grow dim from trying to spot
any vegetation.”

⁷ Although our crimes witness against us,
take action, יְהוָה, for Your Name’s sake;
for our faithless acts are many;
we have sinned against You.
⁸ You, Hope of Yisra’el,
its Deliverer in time of trouble,
why should You be like a stranger in the land,
like a traveler turning aside for the night?
⁹ Why should You be like a man in shock,
like a champion unable to save?
You, יְהוָה, are right here with us;
we bear your name, don’t leave us!

¹⁰ Here is what יְהוָה says to this people:
“They so love to wander,
they don’t restrain their feet;
so יְהוָה does not want them.
Now He will remember their crimes,
and He will punish their sins.”

¹¹ Then יְהוָה said to me, “Don’t pray for this people or for their welfare. ¹² When they fast, I will not hear their cry; when they offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Rather, I will destroy them with war, famine and disease.” ¹³ Then I said, “יְהוָה, ELOHIM! The prophets are telling them, ‘You won’t see war, and you won’t have famine; but I will give you secure peace in this place.’” ¹⁴ יְהוָה replied, “The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I didn’t send them, order them or speak to them. They are prophesying false visions to you, worthless divinations, the delusions of their own minds. ¹⁵ Therefore,” יְהוָה says, “concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name, whom I did not send, yet they say, ‘There will be neither war nor famine in this land.' It will be war and famine that will destroy those prophets. ¹⁶ And the people to whom they are prophesying will be thrown out into the streets of Yerushalayim because of the famine and war, with no one to bury them, them, or their wives, or their sons, or their daughters, because I will pour their own wickedness out upon them. ¹⁷ You are to give them this message:

‘Let my eyes stream with tears
night and day, unceasingly,
because the virgin daughter of My people
has been severely broken;
she has been dealt a crushing blow.
¹⁸ If I go out in the field,
I see those slain with the sword.
If I enter the city,
I see the victims of famine.
Meanwhile, prophets and cohanim
ply their trade in the land, knowing nothing.’” [Once again, it seems to me, "the virgin daughter of My people are the Messianic assemblies of today.]

¹⁹ Have you rejected Y’hudah completely?
Is Tziyon loathsome to you?
Why have you struck us irreparably?
We looked for peace, but to no avail;
for a time of healing, but instead found terror!
²⁰ We confess our rebellion, יְהוָה,
also the crimes of our ancestors;
yes, we have sinned against You.
²¹ For Your Name’s sake, do not spurn us;
do not dishonor Your glorious throne.
Remember Your covenant with us;
do not break it.
²² Among the nations’ idols,
can any make it rain?
Can the skies, of themselves,
send showers?
Aren’t You the one,
יְהוָה, ELOHEINU?
Don’t we look to You?
For You do all these things.

Yirmeyahu/Jeremiah 15

¹ Then יְהוָה said to me, “Even if Moshe and Sh’mu’el were standing in front of Me, My heart would not turn toward this people! Drive them out of my sight, get them out of here! ² And when they ask you where they should go, tell them that this is what יְהוָה says:

‘Those destined for death, to death!
Those destined for the sword, to the sword!
Those destined for famine, to famine!
Those destined for captivity, to captivity!’

³ “I will assign them four kinds [of scourges],” says Adonai, “the sword to kill, dogs to drag away, birds in the air and wild animals to devour and destroy. ⁴ I will make them an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, because of M’nasheh the son of Hizkiyahu king of Y’hudah, because of what he did in Yerushalayim.

⁵ “Who will take pity on you, Yerushalayim?
Who will grieve for you?
Who will turn aside
to ask about your welfare?
⁶ You have rejected Me,” says יְהוָה.
“You are heading backward.
So I am stretching out My hand against you;
tired of sparing you, I am destroying you.
⁷ With a winnowing fork I am scattering them
to the wind at the gates of the land;
I am bereaving them, destroying My people,
because they will not return from their ways.
⁸ Their widows increase in number
more than the sand of the seas;
At midday I am bringing the destroyer
on the mothers of young men,
causing anguish and terror
suddenly to fall upon her.
⁹ The mother of seven sons grows faint,
panting in despair;
her sun has gone down while it’s still daytime;
she is left disgraced and bewildered.
And the rest of them I will give to the sword,
to their enemies,” says יְהוָה.

¹⁰ Woe to me, mother, that you gave me birth,
a man who is the object of strife
and controversy throughout the land!
I neither lend nor borrow,
yet all of them curse me.

¹¹ יְהוָה said, “I promise to release you for good, I promise to make your enemies appeal to you when calamity and trouble come.

¹² “Can iron break iron and bronze from the north? ¹³ I will give away your wealth and your treasures as plunder, and you will not be paid for them, because of all your sins throughout your territory; ¹⁴ and I will make you pass together with your enemies into a land you do not know. For My anger has become a blazing fire, and it will flare up against you.”

¹⁵ יְהוָה, you know. Remember me, think of me,
and take vengeance for me on my persecutors.
Because you are patient, don’t banish me;
know that for your sake I suffer insults.
¹⁶ When I found Your words, I devoured them;
Your words made me glad, they gave me joy;
because, יְהוָה-Tzva’ot,
You had me bear Your name.
¹⁷ I have never kept company with merrymakers,
I could not celebrate;
with your hand on me I sat by myself,
for you filled me with indignation.

¹⁸ Why is my pain unending,
my wound incurable, refusing to be healed?
Will You be for me like a deceptive vadi,
which is only sometimes filled with water?

¹⁹ This is יְהוָה’s answer:

“If you return, if I bring you back,
you will stand before Me.
If you separate the precious from the base,
you will be My spokesman.
It will then be they who turn to you,
not you who turn to them.
²⁰ Toward this people I will make you
a fortified wall of bronze,
they will fight against you
but not prevail against you;
for I am with you to save you
and rescue you,” says יְהוָה.
²¹ “I will free you from the grasp of the wicked
and redeem you from the clutches of the ruthless.”

Yirmeyahu/Jeremiah 16

¹ This word of יְהוָה came to me: ² “You are not to marry or have sons and daughters in this place.
³ For this is what יְהוָה says concerning the sons and daughters born here, as well as their mothers who gave birth to them and their fathers who conceived them in this land: ⁴ ‘They will die terrible deaths without being mourned or buried; they will be left on the ground like dung. They will die by the sword and by famine, and their corpses will be food for the birds in the air and the wild animals.’

⁵ “For here is what יְהוָה says: ‘Do not enter any house where there is mourning; don’t lament them, and don’t grieve for them; for I have removed My shalom from this people, as well as My grace and compassion,’ says יְהוָה. ⁶ ‘Great and small alike will die in this land; they will not be buried, people will not lament them; nor will they cut their flesh or shave their heads for them. ⁷ No one will prepare a meal for those in mourning, to comfort them for the dead; and no one will give them a cup to drink, to console them for their father or mother.’ ⁸ And you are not to go into any house where there is celebrating to sit with them, eating and drinking. ⁹ For here is what Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Isra’el, says: ‘In this place, while you are still alive, before your very eyes, I will put an end to the sounds of joy and gladness and to the voices of bridegroom and bride.’

¹⁰ “When you tell this people all that I have said, and they ask you, ‘Why has יְהוָה decreed all this terrible disaster against us? What is our iniquity, what is our sin, that we have committed against יְהוָה ELOHEINU?’ ¹¹ then you are to say to them, ‘It is because your ancestors abandoned Me,' says יְהוָה, 'and went after other elohim, serving and worshipping them, but abandoned Me and did not keep my Torah. ¹² And you have done worse than your ancestors; for look! each of you lives according to the stubbornness of his own evil heart, so that you don’t listen to Me. ¹³ Therefore, I am thrusting you out of this land into a land you have not known, neither you nor your ancestors; and there you will serve other elohim day and night; for I will show you no favor.’

¹⁴ “‘Therefore,’ says יְהוָה, ‘the day will come when people will no longer swear, “As יְהוָה lives, who brought the people of Yisra’el out of the land of Egypt,” ¹⁵ but, “As יְהוָה lives, who brought the people of Yisra’el out of the land to the north and out of all the countries where He drove them”; for I will bring them back to their own land, which I gave to their ancestors.

¹⁶ “‘Look,’ says יְהוָה, ‘I will send for many fishermen, and they will fish for them. Afterwards, I will send for many hunters; and they will hunt them from every mountain and hill and out of caves in the rocks. ¹⁷ For I see all their ways; they are not hidden from me; their crimes are not concealed from my eyes. ¹⁸ First, I will pay them back double for their crimes and sins; because they have defiled the land which is mine; they have filled my heritage with the corpses of their horrors and abominations.’”

¹⁹ יְהוָה, my strength, my fortress,
my refuge in time of trouble,
the nations will come to You
from the ends of the earth, saying,
“Our ancestors inherited nothing but lies,
futile idols, completely useless.”
²⁰ Can a person make himself elohim?
(In fact they aren’t elohim at all.)

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 יְהוָה.

Yirmeyahu/Jeremiah 17

¹ “Y’hudah’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.
² As they remember their children,
so they remember their altars
and their sacred poles by the green trees
on the high hills.
³ My mountain in the field, your wealth
and all your treasures will be plundered;
because of the sin of your high places
throughout your territory.
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.”
⁵ Here is what יְהוָה says:

“A curse on the person who trusts in humans,
who relies on merely human strength,
whose heart turns away from יְהוָה.
⁶ He will be like a tamarisk in the ‘Aravah;
when relief comes, it is unaffected;
for it lives in the sun-baked desert,
in salty, uninhabited land.
⁷ Blessed is the man who trusts in יְהוָה;
יְהוָה will be his security.
⁸ He will be like a tree planted near water;
it spreads out its roots by the river;
it does not notice when heat comes;
and its foliage is luxuriant;
it is not anxious in a year of drought
but keeps on yielding fruit.

⁹ “The heart is more deceitful than anything else
and mortally sick. Who can fathom it?
¹⁰ I, Adonai, search the heart;
I test inner motivations;
in order to give to everyone
what his actions and conduct deserve.”

¹¹ A partridge hatches eggs it did not lay;
like this are those who get rich unjustly:
in the prime of life their wealth will desert them;
in the end they will prove to be fools.

¹² Throne of Glory,
exalted from the beginning!
Our Holy Sanctuary,
¹³ Hope of Yisra’el, יְהוָה!
All who abandon You will be ashamed,
those who leave You will be inscribed in the dust,
because they have abandoned יְהוָה,
the source of living water.
¹⁴ Heal me, יְהוָה, and I will be healed;
save me, and I will be saved,
for You are my praise.

¹⁵ They keep asking me,
“Where is the word of יְהוָה?
Let it come now.”
¹⁶ As for me, I have not run away
from being a shepherd who follows You;
You know I didn’t want this fatal day;
what came from my lips has been clear to You.
¹⁷ So do not be my ruin,
You, my refuge on the day of disaster.
¹⁸ Let my persecutors be ashamed, not me;
let them be terrified, not me.
Bring on them the day of disaster,
destroy them with double destruction.

¹⁹ Then יְהוָה said this to me: “Go, and stand at the People’s Gate, where the kings of Y’hudah go in and out, and at all the gates of Yerushalayim; ²⁰ and say to them: ‘Kings of Y’hudah, all Y’hudah and all living in Yerushalayim who enter through these gates, hear the word of יְהוָה! ²¹ Here is what יְהוָה says: “If you value your lives, don’t carry anything on Shabbat or bring it in through the gates of Yerushalayim; ²² don’t carry anything out of your houses on Shabbat; and don’t do any work. Instead, make Shabbat a holy day. I ordered your ancestors to do this, ²³ but they neither listened nor paid attention; rather, they stiffened their necks, so that they wouldn’t have to hear or receive instruction. ²⁴ However, if you will pay careful heed to me,” says יְהוָה “and carry nothing through the gates of this city on Shabbat, but instead make Shabbat a day which is holy and not for doing work; ²⁵ then kings and princes occupying the throne of David will enter through the gates of this city, riding in chariots and on horses. They, their princes, the people of Y’hudah and the inhabitants of Yerushalayim will enter; and this city will be inhabited forever. ²⁶ They will come from the cities of Y’hudah, from the places surrounding Yerushalayim, from the land of Binyamin, from the Sh’felah, from the hills and from the Negev, bringing burnt offerings, sacrifices, grain offerings, frankincense and thanksgiving sacrifices to the house of יְהוָה. ²⁷ But if you will not obey me and make Shabbat a holy day and not carry loads through the gates of Yerushalayim on Shabbat, then I will set its gates on fire; it will burn up the palaces of Yerushalayim and not be quenched.”’”

Yirmeyahu/Jeremiah 18

¹ This word came to Yirmeyahu from יְהוָה: ² “Get up, and go down to the potter’s house; there I will tell you more.” ³ So I went down to the house of the potter; and there he was, working at the wheels.
⁴ Whenever a pot he made came out imperfect, the potter took the clay and made another pot with it, in whatever shape suited him.

⁵ Then the word of יְהוָה came to me: ⁶ “House of Yisra’el, can’t I deal with you as the potter deals with his clay? says יְהוָה. Look! You, house of Yisra’el, are the same in my hand as the clay in the potter’s hand. ⁷ At one time, I may speak about uprooting, breaking down and destroying a nation or kingdom; ⁸ but if that nation turns from their evil, which prompted me to speak against it, then I relent concerning the disaster I had planned to inflict on it. ⁹ Similarly, at another time, I may speak about building and planting a nation or kingdom; ¹⁰ but if it behaves wickedly from my perspective and doesn’t listen to what I say, then I change my mind and don’t do the good I said I would do that would have helped it.

¹¹ “So now, tell the people of Y’hudah and those living in Yerushalayim that this is what יְהוָה says:

‘I am designing disaster for you,
working out my plan against you.
Turn, each of you, from his evil ways;
improve your conduct and actions.’

¹² “But they will answer, ‘It’s hopeless!
We will stick to our own plans;
each of us will stubbornly follow
his own evil desires!’

¹³ “Therefore, יְהוָה says this:
‘Ask among the nations
who has heard anything like this.
The virgin Isra’el has done
a most horrible thing.
¹⁴ Does the snow of the L’vanon
disappear from the mountain crags?
Do the cold waters of foreign lands
ever run dry?
¹⁵ No, but my people have forgotten me
and offer incense to nothings.
This causes them to stumble
as they walk the ancient paths;
they leave the highway
to walk on side-trails.
¹⁶ Thus they make their land an object of horror
and ongoing ridicule.
Passers-by shake their heads,
appalled, every one.
¹⁷ Like a strong east wind, I will scatter them
before the enemy.
I will see their back, not their face,
on their day of disaster.’”

¹⁸ Then they said, “Let’s develop a plan for dealing with Yirmeyahu. Torah won’t be lost from the cohanim, or counsel from the wise, or words from the prophets. So come, let’s destroy him with slander; and meanwhile, we won’t pay attention to anything he says.”

¹⁹ Pay attention to me, יְהוָה!
Listen to what my opponents are saying!
²⁰ Is good to be repaid with evil?
For they have dug a pit [to trap] me.
Remember how I stood before You
and spoke well of them,
in order to turn Your anger
away from them?
²¹ Therefore, hand their sons over to famine,
hurl them into the power of the sword,
let their wives be made childless and widows,
let their husbands be slain by disease,
let their young men be slain by the sword in battle,
²² let screams be heard from their houses
when You bring raiders on them without warning.
For they have dug a pit to catch me
and have laid snares for my feet.
²³ Nevertheless, יְהוָה, you know
all their plans against me to stop me.
Do not forgive their crime,
do not blot out their sin from Your sight;
but let them be made to stumble before You;
deal with them when You are angry.

Yirmeyahu/Jeremiah 19

¹ יְהוָה then said, “Go; buy a clay jar from the potter; take some of the people’s leaders and some of the leading cohanim; ² and go out into the Ben-Hinnom Valley, by the entry to the Potsherd Gate. There you are to proclaim the words I am about to tell you. ³ Say: ‘Hear the word of יְהוָה, kings of Y’hudah and inhabitants of Yerushalayim! This is what יְהוָה-Tzva’ot, ELOHEI Yisra’el, says: “I am about to bring disaster on this place that will make the ears of whoever hears about it ring. ⁴ This is because they have abandoned Me and alienated this place. In it they have offered to other elohim that neither they nor their ancestors have known, nor the kings of Y’hudah. They have filled this place with the blood of innocent people. ⁵ They have built the high places of Ba‘al, in order to burn up their children in the fire as burnt offerings to Ba‘al, something I never ordered or said; it never even entered My mind.

⁶ “‘“Therefore the time is coming,” says יְהוָה, “when this place will no longer be called either Tofet or the Ben-Hinnom Valley, but the Valley of Slaughter. ⁷ I will nullify the plans of Y’hudah and Yerushalayim in this place. I will have them fall by the sword before their enemies and at the hand of those seeking their lives, and I will give their corpses as food for the birds in the air and the wild animals. ⁸ I will make this city an object of horror and ridicule; everyone passing by will be horrified and will ridicule it because of all its wounds. ⁹ I will cause them to eat the flesh of their own sons and daughters; everyone will be eating the flesh of his friends during the siege, because of the shortage imposed on them by their enemies and those set on killing them.”’[I'm sure I don't need to tell anyone how horrendous cannibalism is; but we must realize right here that Yisra'el's rebellion was so uncompromising, that YHWH allowed them to go to this extreme so that they could later realize the level of depravity to which they had sunk.]

¹⁰ “Then you are to smash the jar in front of the people who went with you, ¹¹ and say to them, ‘יְהוָה -Tzva’ot says that this is how I will break this people and this city, just as one smashes a potter’s vessel beyond the possibility of repair. The dead will be buried in Tofet, because there will be no space left for burial [anywhere else]. ¹² That is what I will do to this place,’ says יְהוָה ‘and to its inhabitants; I will make it like Tofet. ¹³ The houses of Yerushalayim and those of the kings of Y’hudah will be defiled like this place Tofet; yes, all the houses on whose roofs they have offered to all the stars in heaven and poured out drink offerings to other elohim.’”

¹⁴ Then Yirmeyahu returned from Tofet, where יְהוָה had sent him to prophesy, stood in the courtyard of יְהוָה’s house and said to all the people, ¹⁵ “This is what יְהוָה -Tzva’ot, ELOHEI Yisra’el, says: ‘I am bringing on this city and all its surrounding villages all the disaster I have pronounced against it; because they have stiffened their necks and refused to pay attention to my words.’”

Yirmeyahu/Jeremiah 20

¹ Now when the cohen Pash’chur son of Immer, chief official in the house of יְהוָה, heard Yirmeyahu prophesying these things, ² he had him flogged and put him in the stocks at the Upper Binyamin Gate of beit יְהוָה. ³ The following morning, when Pash’chur led Yirmeyahu out of the stocks, Yirmeyahu said to him, “יְהוָה no longer calls you Pash’chur but Magor-Missaviv [terror on every side]. ⁴ For this is what יְהוָה says: ‘I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends. They will fall by the sword of their enemies, while you watch. I will hand over all of Y’hudah to the king of Bavel, and he will carry them off captive to Bavel and put them to the sword. ⁵ Moreover, I will hand over everything stored in this city, all its valuables, all its wealth, indeed all the treasures of the kings of Y’hudah, to their enemies, who will plunder them, take them and carry them to Bavel. ⁶ And you, Pash’chur, along with your entire household, will go into captivity; you will go to Bavel, where you will die and be buried, you and all your friends to whom you have prophesied lies.’”

⁷ You have deceived me, יְהוָה; and I was deceived.
You overpowered me, and You have prevailed.
All day long I’m a laughingstock;
everyone makes fun of me.
⁸ Whenever I speak, I have to cry out;
I shout, “Violence!” and “Destruction!”
Thus the word of יְהוָה becomes for me
the cause of reproach and derision all day!
⁹ But if I say, “I won’t think about Him,
I won’t speak in His name any more,”
then it seems as though a fire
is burning in my heart,
imprisoned in my bones;
I wear myself out
trying to hold it in,
but I just can’t do it.
¹⁰ I have heard many whispering their plot:
“‘Terror in every direction’?
Denounce him! Let’s denounce him!”
Even all my close friends
are watching for me to make a false step.
“Maybe he can be tricked,
then we’ll get the better of him,
then we’ll take our revenge on him.”

¹¹ But יְהוָה is with me like a dreaded warrior;
so my persecutors will stumble, defeated,
greatly ashamed because of their failure;
their lasting disgrace will not be forgotten.
¹² יְהוָה -Tzva’ot, You who test the righteous
and see people’s hearts and thoughts,
let me see You take vengeance on them,
for I have committed my cause to You.

¹³ Sing to יְהוָה! Praise יְהוָה!
For He rescues those in need
from the clutches of evildoers.

¹⁴ A curse on the day I was born!
The day my mother gave birth to me;
let it not be blessed!
¹⁵ A curse on the man who brought the news
to my father, “A son has been born to you!”
thus making him very happy.
¹⁶ Let that man be like the cities
יְהוָה overthrew without mercy!
Let him hear cries of alarm in the morning
and the sound of battle at noon,
¹⁷ because ELOHIM did not put me to death in the womb
and let my mother become my grave,
her womb forever filled with me.
¹⁸ Why did I have to emerge from the womb,
just to see toil and sorrow,
and end my days in shame?

Yirmeyahu/Jeremiah 21

¹ This is the word that came to Yirmeyahu from יְהוָה when King Tzidkiyahu sent to him Pash’chur the son of Malkiyah and Tz’fanyah the son of Ma‘aseiyah with this message: ² “Please consult יְהוָה for us, because N’vukhadretzar king of Bavel is making war on us. Maybe יְהוָה will perform a miracle for us and cause him to withdraw.”

³ Yirmeyahu answered them, “Here is what you are to tell Tzidkiyahu: ⁴ ‘This is what יְהוָה, ELOHEI Yisra’el, says: “I will make the weapons of war that you have in your hands ineffectual in your fight against the king of Bavel and the Kasdim who are outside the walls besieging you. Instead, I will gather them inside this city; ⁵ and I myself will fight against you with my hand stretched out and with a strong arm, in anger, rage and great fury. ⁶ I will strike the inhabitants of this city, humans and animals alike, and they will die of a terrible plague.

⁷ Afterwards,” says Adonai “I will hand over Tzidkiyahu king of Y’hudah, his servants, the people, and anyone remaining alive in this city after the plague, war and famine, to N’vukhadretzar king of Bavel and to their enemies, to those who seek their lives; and he will put them to the sword. He will not spare them; he will have no pity, no compassion.”’

⁸ “And here is what you are to tell this people: ‘Adonai says: “Look! I am presenting you with the way of life and the way of death. ⁹ Anyone who stays in this city will die by sword, famine and plague. But he who leaves and surrenders to the Kasdim besieging you will stay alive; his own life will be his only ‘spoils of war.’ ¹⁰ For I have determined absolutely that this city will have evil, not good,” says Adonai. “It is going to be handed over to the king of Bavel, and he will burn it to the ground.”’

¹¹ “To the royal house of Y’hudah say: ‘Hear the word of Adonai; ¹² house of David, this is what Adonai says:

“Judge fairly every morning,
rescue the wronged from their oppressors;
or my fury will lash out like fire,
burning so hot that no one can quench it,
because of how evil your actions are.”
¹³ יְהוָה says, “I am against you, [Yerushalayim,]
situated in a valley like a rock on a plain.
You who say, ‘Who can come down against us?
Who can enter our lairs?’
¹⁴ I will punish you,” says יְהוָה,
“as your deeds deserve.
I will set its forest on fire,
and it will devour everything around it.”’”

                                                       
Yirmeyahu/Jeremiah 22

¹ יְהוָה said, “Go down to the house of the king of Y’hudah and there speak this word: ² ‘King of Y’hudah occupying David’s throne, hear the word of יְהוָה — you, your servants and your people who enter through these gates. ³ This is what Adonai says:

“Do what is right and just;
rescue the wronged from their oppressors;
do nothing wrong or violent
to the stranger, orphan or widow;
don’t shed innocent blood in this place.

⁴ “‘“If you are careful to do this, then future kings occupying David’s throne will enter these palace gates riding in chariots and on horses — he, his servants and his people. ⁵ But if you will not pay attention to these words, then I swear by myself,” says יְהוָה, “that this palace will become a ruin.”’

⁶ “For here is what יְהוָה says concerning the palace of the king of Y’hudah:

‘You are like Gil‘ad to me,
like the peak of the L’vanon;
yet I will turn you into a desert,
uninhabited cities.
⁷ I will designate men to destroy you,
each one with his weapons;
they will chop down your choice cedars
and throw them in the fire.’

⁸ “Many nations will pass by this city, and they will say to one another, ‘Why has Adonai done such a thing to this great city?’ ⁹ The answer will be, ‘Because they abandoned the covenant of Adonai their God and worshipped other gods, serving them.’”

¹⁰ Do not weep for [the king] who has died,
do not mourn for him [Yoshiyahu].
But weep for him who departs [to Egypt],
for he will never return
or see his native land again.

¹¹ For this is what Adonai says about Shalum the son of Yoshiyahu, king of Y’hudah, who succeeded Yoshiyahu his father as king: “He has left this place, never to return; ¹² but he will die in the place where they have led him captive, without seeing this land again.

¹³ “Woe to him who builds his palace unfairly,
its upper rooms by injustice;
who makes his neighbor work for free
and will not give him his wages;
¹⁴ who says, ‘I will build me a spacious palace
with airy upper rooms,’
then makes windows and cedar panels
painted with vermilion!
¹⁵ Your cedar may be excellent,
but that doesn’t make you a better king.
True, your father ate and drank,
but he also did what was right and just,
so things went well with him.
¹⁶ He upheld the cause of the poor and the weak,
so everything went well.
Isn’t that what knowing me
is all about?” says Adonai.
¹⁷ “In contrast, your eyes and heart
are controlled entirely by your greed,
your desire for shedding innocent blood,
oppressing and extorting.”

¹⁸ Therefore here is what יְהוָה says concerning Y’hoyakim the son of Yoshiyahu, king of Y’hudah:

“There will be no one to mourn for him,
‘Oh! My brother!’ or ‘Oh! My sister!’
There will be no one to mourn for him,
‘Oh! My master!’ or ‘Oh! His glory!’
¹⁹ He will be given a donkey’s ‘burial,'
dragged out the gates of Yerushalayim
and thrown away [to rot].
²⁰ Climb up to the L’vanon and cry out,
raise your voice in Bashan,
cry out from ‘Avarim,
for all your lovers are broken.
²¹ I spoke to you in your times of prosperity,
but you said, ‘I won’t listen.’
This has been your pattern since you were young;
you pay no attention to what I say.
²² The wind will shepherd all your shepherds away,
and your lovers will go into captivity.
Then you will be ashamed and disgraced
for all your wicked deeds.
²³ You who live in the L’vanon,
nesting in the cedars,
how gracious will you be
when pains come on you like a woman in labor?

²⁴ “As I live,” says יְהוָה, “even if Koniyahu the son of Y’hoyakim king of Y’hudah were the signet ring on My right hand, I would pull you off ²⁵ and hand you over to those who seek your life, to those you fear, N’vukhadretzar king of Bavel and the Kasdim. ²⁶ I will hurl you and the mother who gave birth to you into a country different from the one you were born in, and you will die there. ²⁷ They will not return to the country to which they long to return.”

²⁸ Is this man Koniyahu
a despised, broken pot,
an instrument nobody wants?
Why are they being thrown out?
Why are he and his offspring thrown out
into a country they do not know?
²⁹ Oh, land, land, land!
Hear the word of יְהוָה!
³⁰ This what יְהוָה says:
“List this man as childless;
he is a lifetime failure.
None of his offspring will succeed,
none will sit on David’s throne
or rule again in Y’hudah.”

Yirmeyahu/Jeremiah 23

¹ “Oh no! The shepherds are destroying and scattering the sheep in my pasture!” says יְהוָה.
² Therefore this is what יְהוָה, ELOHEI Yisra’el, says against the shepherds who shepherd my people: “You have scattered my flock, driven them away and not taken care of them. So I will ‘take care of’ you because of your evil deeds,” says יְהוָה. ³ “I myself will gather what remains of my flock from all the countries where I have driven them and bring them back to their homes, and they will be fruitful and increase their numbers. ⁴ I will appoint shepherds over them who will shepherd them; then they will no longer be afraid or disgraced; and none will be missing,” says יְהוָה.

⁵ “The days are coming,” says יְהוָה
when I will raise a righteous Branch for David.
He will reign as king and succeed,
he will do what is just and right in the land.
⁶ In his days Y’hudah will be saved,
Ysra’el will live in safety,
and the name given to him will be
יְהוָה Tzidkenu [Adonai our righteousness].

⁷ “Therefore,” says יְהוָה, “the day will come when people no longer swear, ‘As יְהוָה lives, who brought the people of Yisra’el out of the land of Egypt,’ ⁸ but, ‘As יְהוָה lives, who brought the descendants of the house of Yisra’el up from the land to the north’ and from all the countries where I drove them. Then they will live in their own land.”

⁹ Concerning the prophets:

My heart within me is broken,
all my bones are shaking;
I am like a drunk,
like a man overcome by wine,
because of יְהוָה,
because of His holy words.
¹⁰ For the land is full of adulterers;
because of a curse the land is in mourning;
the desert pastures have dried up.
Their course is evil, their power misused.
¹¹ “Both prophet and cohen are without ELOHIM;
In my own house I find their wickedness,” says יְהוָה.
¹² “Therefore their way will be slippery for them;
they will be driven into darkness and fall there.
For I will bring disaster upon them,
their year of punishment,” says יְהוָה.
¹³ “I have seen inappropriate conduct
in the prophets of Shomron;
they prophesied by Ba‘al
and led My people Yisra’el astray.
¹⁴ But in the prophets of Yerushalayim
I have seen a horrible thing;
they commit adultery, live in lies,
so encouraging evildoers
that none returns from his sin.
For me they have all become like S’dom,
its inhabitants like ‘Amora.”

¹⁵ Therefore, this is what Adonai-Tzva’ot says concerning the prophets:

“I will feed them bitter wormwood
and make them drink poisonous water,
for ungodliness has spread through all the land
from the prophets of Yerushalayim.”
¹⁶ יְהוָה-Tzva’ot says:

“Don’t listen to the words of the prophets
who are prophesying to you.
They are making you act foolishly,
telling you visions from their own minds
and not from the mouth of יְהוָה.
¹⁷ They keep reassuring those who despise me,
‘יְהוָה says you will be safe and secure,’
and saying to all living by their own stubborn hearts,
‘Nothing bad will happen to you.’
¹⁸ But which of them has been present at the council
of יְהוָה to see and hear His word?
Who has paid attention to
his word enough to hear it?”

¹⁹ Look! The storm of יְהוָה,
bursting out in fury,
a whirling storm, whirling down
upon the heads of the wicked!
²⁰ יְהוָה’s anger will not abate
till He fully accomplishes the purpose in His heart.
In the acharit-hayamim,
you will understand everything.

²¹ “I did not send these prophets; yet they ran.
I did not speak to them; yet they prophesied.
²² If they have been present at my council,
they should let my people hear my words
and turn them from their evil way
and the evil of their actions.
²³ Am I God only when near,” asks ²⁰ יְהוָה,
“and not when far away?
²⁴ Can anyone hide in a place so secret
that I won’t see him?”

יְהוָה says, “Do I not
fill heaven and earth?

²⁵ “I have heard what these prophets prophesying lies in my name are saying: ‘I’ve had a dream! I’ve had a dream!’ ²⁶ How long will this go on? Is [my word] in the hearts of prophets who are prophesying lies, who are prophesying the deceit of their own minds? ²⁷ With their dreams that they keep telling each other, they hope to cause my people to forget my name; just as their ancestors forgot my name when they worshipped Ba‘al.

²⁸ “If a prophet has a dream,
let him tell it as a dream.
But someone who has my word
should speak my word faithfully.
What do chaff and wheat
have in common?” asks יְהוָה.
²⁹ “Isn’t my word like fire,” asks יְהוָה,
“like a hammer shattering rocks?
³⁰ So, I am against the prophets,” says יְהוָה,
“who steal my words from each other.
³¹ Yes, I am against the prophets,” says יְהוָה,
“who speak their own words, then add, ‘He says.’

³² “I am against those who concoct prophecies out of fake dreams,” says יְהוָה. “They tell them, and by their lies and arrogance they lead my people astray. I didn’t send them, I didn’t commission them, and they don’t do this people any good at all,” says יְהוָה.

³³ “When [someone from] this people, a prophet or a cohen asks you, ‘What is the burden of יְהוָה?’ you are to answer them, ‘What burden? I am throwing you off,’ says יְהוָה. ³⁴ As for a prophet, cohen or [someone else from] this people who speaks about ‘the burden of יְהוָה,’ I will punish him and his household.”

³⁵ So, when you speak with your neighbor or brother, ask, “What answer has יְהוָה given?” or “What has יְהוָה said?” ³⁶ Don’t use the expression, “burden of יְהוָה” anymore; for every person’s own word will be his burden. Must you twist the words of the living ELOHIM, of יְהוָה-Tzva’ot, ELOHEINU? ³⁷ So, when speaking to a prophet, ask, “What answer has יְהוָה given you?” or “What did יְהוָה say?” ³⁸ But if you talk about “the burden of יְהוָה,” then here is what יְהוָה says: “Because you use this expression, ‘the burden of יְהוָה,’ after I have already sent you the order not to say, ‘the burden of יְהוָה,’ ³⁹ I will lift you up, burden that you are, and throw you off, away from my presence, you and the city I gave you and your ancestors. ⁴⁰ Then I will subject you to everlasting disgrace, eternal, unforgettable shame.”

 

Yirmeyahu/Jeremiah 24

¹ It was after N’vukhadretzar king of Bavel had carried Y’khanyahu the son of Y’hoyakim, king of Y’hudah, along with the leaders of Y’hudah, the artisans and the skilled workers into exile from Yerushalayim and brought them to Bavel, that יְהוָה gave me a vision. There, in front of the temple of יְהוָה, two baskets of figs were placed. ² One of the baskets had in it very good figs, like those that ripen first; while the other basket had very bad figs, so bad that they were inedible. ³ Then יְהוָה asked me, “Yirmeyahu, what do you see?” I answered, “Figs, the good figs are very good; but the bad ones are very bad, so bad they are inedible.” ⁴ The word of Adonai came to me: ⁵ “Here is what יְהוָה ELOHEI Yisra’el says: ‘I will regard the exiles from Y’hudah, whom I sent away from this place to the land of the Kasdim, as good, just as I do these good figs.

⁶ “‘I will look after them for their good,
I will bring them back to this land;
I will build them up and not tear them down,
plant them and not pull them up.
⁷ I will give them a heart to know Me
that I am יְהוָה.
They will be my people,
and I will be ELOHEIHEM;
for they will return to Me
with all their heart.’

⁸ “But concerning the bad figs that are so bad as to be inedible, יְהוָה says: ‘I will make Tzidkiyahu the king of Y’hudah and his leaders resemble them, likewise the rest of Yerushalayim remaining in this land and those living in the land of Egypt. ⁹ Everywhere I drive them I will make them an object of horror, repulsive to all the kingdoms of the earth, a disgrace, a byword, a laughingstock and a curse; ¹⁰ and I will send sword, famine and plague among them until they have disappeared from the land I gave them and their ancestors.’”

Yirmeyahu/Jeremiah 25

¹ This is the word that came to Yirmeyahu concerning all the people of Y’hudah in the fourth year of Y’hoyakim the son of Yoshiyahu, king of Y’hudah; this was also the first year of N’vukhadretzar king of Bavel. ² Yirmeyahu the prophet proclaimed it before all the people of Y’hudah and all the inhabitants of Yerushalayim: ³ “For twenty-three years, since the thirteenth year of Yoshiyahu the son of Amon, king of Y’hudah, until today, the word of יְהוָה has come to me; and I have proclaimed it to you on numerous occasions; but you haven’t listened. ⁴ Moreover, יְהוָה sent you all his servants the prophets; again, on numerous occasions, but you didn’t listen or pay attention. ⁵ The message was always: ‘Every one of you, turn back from his evil way, from the evil of your actions. Then you will live in the land יְהוָה gave you and your ancestors forever and ever. ⁶ Don’t follow other elohim by serving and worshipping them. “Don’t provoke my anger with things your own hands have made; then I will do you no harm. ⁷ But you wouldn’t listen to me,” says יְהוָה, “so that you could provoke Me with the products of your hands, to your own harm.”

⁸ “Therefore, here is what יְהוָה-Tzva’ot says: ‘Because you haven’t paid attention to what I’ve been saying, ⁹ I’m going to send for all the families of the north,’ says יְהוָה, ‘and for My servant N’vukhadretzar the king of Bavel, and bring them against this land, against its inhabitants and against all the surrounding nations. I will completely destroy them, making them an object of horror and ridicule, a perpetual ruin. ¹⁰ Moreover, I will silence among them the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bridegroom and bride, the grinding of millstones and the light of lamps.
¹¹ This entire land will become a ruin, a waste; and these nations will serve the king of Bavel for seventy years. ¹² But when the seventy years are over, I will punish the king of Bavel and that nation for their sin,’ says יְהוָה, ‘and I will turn the land of the Kasdim into everlasting ruins. ¹³ I will inflict on that land all my words that I have decreed against it, everything written in this book, in which Yirmeyahu has prophesied against all the nations. ¹⁴ For they too will become slaves to many nations and to powerful kings; I will pay them back according to their deeds and the work of their own hands.’

¹⁵ “For here is what יְהוָה ELOHEI Yisra’el says to me: ‘Take this cup of the wine of fury from My hand, and make all the nations where I am sending you drink it. ¹⁶ They will drink, stagger to and fro and behave like crazy people because of the sword that I will send among them.’”

¹⁷ Then I took the cup from יְהוָה’s hand and made all the nations drink, where יְהוָה had sent me,
¹⁸ Yerushalayim and the cities of Y’hudah, along with their kings and leaders, to make them a ruin and an object of horror, ridicule and cursing, as it is today; ¹⁹ Pharaoh king of Egypt, with his servants and leaders and all his people, both native ²⁰ and foreign; all the kings of the land of ‘Utz; all the kings of the land of the P’lishtim, Ashkelon, ‘Azah, ‘Ekron and those remaining in Ashdod; ²¹ Edom, Mo’av, and the people of ‘Amon; ²² all the kings of Tzor, of Tzidon and of the coastlands across the sea;
²³ D’dan, Teima, Buz and all who cut the corners of their beards; ²⁴ all the kings of Arabia and of the mixed peoples living in the desert; ²⁵ all the kings of Zimri, of ‘Eilam and of the Medes; ²⁶ and all the kings of the north, far and near, one after another; indeed, all the kingdoms of the world that there are on the surface of the earth. And the king of Sheshakh will drink last of all.

²⁷ “You are to say to them, ‘Here is what יְהוָה-Tzva’ot, ELOHEI Yisra’el, says: Drink until you’re so drunk that you throw up, fall down, and never get up again, because of the sword I am sending among you!’ ²⁸ If they refuse to take the cup from your hand and drink it, then say to them, ‘Here is what יְהוָה-Tzva’ot says: You must drink! ²⁹ For, look! If I am bringing disaster on the city that bears My own name, do you expect to go unpunished? Yes, I will summon a sword for all the inhabitants of the earth,’ says יְהוָה.

³⁰ “As for you, [Yirmeyahu,] prophesy all these words against them; say to them,

‘is roaring from on high,
raising His voice from His holy dwelling,
roaring with might against His own habitation,
shouting out loud, like those who tread grapes,
against everyone living on earth.
³¹ The sound resounds to the ends of the earth,
for יְהוָה is indicting the nations,
about to pass judgment on all humankind;
the wicked He has handed over to the sword,’

says יְהוָה.” ³² Thus says יְהוָה-Tzva’ot:

“Disaster is spreading from nation to nation,
a mighty tempest is being unleashed
from the farthest ends of the earth.”

³³ On that day, those killed by Adonai will be strewn
from one end of the earth to the other;
they will not be mourned or gathered or buried,
but will lie on the ground like dung.

³⁴ “Wail, shepherds! Cry!
Wallow in the dust, you lords of the flock!
For the days for your slaughter have come.
I will break you in pieces,
and like a prized vase you will fall.”
³⁵ The shepherds have no way to flee,
the lords of the flock no way to escape.
³⁶ Hear the cry of the shepherds,
the wails of the lords of the flock!
For יְהוָה is destroying their pasture,
³⁷ the peaceful grazing grounds are silenced,
because of יְהוָה’s fierce anger.
³⁸ Like a lion, He has abandoned His lair;
for their land has become desolate
because of the oppressor’s fierce sword
and because of יְהוָה’s fierce anger.

Yirmeyahu/Jeremiah 26

²⁶ At the beginning of the reign of Y’hoyakim the son of Yoshiyahu, king of Y’hudah, this word came from יְהוָה: ² “יְהוָה says: ‘Stand in the courtyard of יְהוָה’s house and speak to the people from all the cities in Y’hudah who come to worship at יְהוָה’s house; say everything I order you to say to them, and don’t leave out a word. ³ Maybe they will listen, and each of them turn from his evil way; then I will be able to relent from the disaster I intend to bring on them because of how evil their deeds are.
⁴ So tell them that this is what יְהוָה says: “If you will not pay attention to me and live according to my Torah, which I have given you, ⁵ and listen to what my servants the prophets, whom I send to you, say, I have sent them frequently, but you haven’t listened. ⁶ Then I will make this house like Shiloh, and I will make this city an object of cursing for all the nations of the earth.”’”

⁷ The cohanim, the prophets and all the people heard Yirmeyahu speaking these words in the house of יְהוָה. ⁸ When Yirmeyahu had finished saying everything יְהוָה had ordered him to say to all the people, the cohanim, prophets and all the people seized him, shouting, “You will die for this! ⁹ Why have you prophesied in the name of יְהוָה, ‘This house will become like Shiloh,’ and, ‘This city will become uninhabited ruins’?” The people all crowded in on Yirmeyahu in יְהוָה’s house.

¹⁰ When the officials of Y’hudah heard about it, they came up from the king’s palace to יְהוָה’s house and sat at the entrance to the New Gate of יְהוָה’s house. ¹¹ The cohanim and prophets said to the officials and all the people, “This man deserves a death sentence, because he has prophesied against this city; you have heard it with your own ears.” ¹² Then Yirmeyahu said to the officials and all the people, “יְהוָה sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words you have heard. ¹³ Therefore now, improve your ways and your doings; and listen to the voice of יְהוָה ELOHEIHEM; then יְהוָה will relent from the disaster he has decreed against you. ¹⁴ But as for me, here, I am in your hands; do with me whatever seems good and right to you. ¹⁵ Only know for certain that if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood on yourselves, on this city and on its inhabitants; because the fact is that יְהוָה sent me to you to speak all these words, so that you could hear them.”

¹⁶ The officials and all the people then said to the cohanim and prophets, “This man does not deserve a death sentence, because he has spoken to us in the name of יְהוָה ELOHEINU.” ¹⁷ At this point some of the leaders of the land stood up and addressed all the people assembled: ¹⁸ “Back in the time of Hizkiyahu king of Y’hudah, Mikhah from Moreshet was a prophet. He told all the people of Y’hudah, ‘יְהוָה-Tzva’ot says,

“Tziyon will be plowed under like a field,
Yerushalayim will become heaps of ruins,
and the mountain of the house like a forested height.”’

¹⁹ “Did Hizkiyahu king of Y’hudah and all Y’hudah put him to death? Not at all. Rather, he feared יְהוָה, and prayed for יְהוָה’s favor; and יְהוָה relented from the disaster He had pronounced against them. So [if we put Yirmeyahu to death,] we might bring great disaster on ourselves.”

²⁰ On the other hand, there was also a man who prophesied in the name of יְהוָה, Uriyahu the son of Sh’ma‘yahu from Kiryat-Ye‘arim, who prophesied against this city and against this land exactly what Yirmeyahu is saying. ²¹ When Y’hoyakim the king, with all his military men and other officials, heard what he was saying, the king wanted to have him killed. On hearing of this, Uriyahu became frightened, fled and went to Egypt. ²² Y’hoyakim the king sent men to Egypt, Elnatan the son of ‘Akhbor and some others. ²³ They brought Uriyahu back from Egypt and took him to Y’hoyakim the king, who put him to the sword and threw his corpse into the burial-ground of the common people.

²⁴ But in this situation concerning Yirmeyahu, Achikam the son of Shafan used his influence to help him, so that he was not handed over to the people to be put to death.

Yirmeyahu/Jeremiah 27

¹ At the beginning of the reign of Y’hoyakim the son of Yoshiyahu, king of Y’hudah, this word came to Yirmeyahu from יְהוָה: ² “יְהוָה says this to me: ‘Make yourself a yoke of straps and crossbars, and put it on your neck. ³ Send [similar yokes] to the kings of Edom, of Mo’av, of the people of ‘Amon, of Tzor, and of Tzidon by means of the envoys they send to Yerushalayim, and to Tzidkiyahu king of Y’hudah. ⁴ Give them this message for their masters by telling their envoys that יְהוָה-Tzva’ot, ELOHEI Yisra’el, says for them to tell their masters:

⁵ “‘“I made the earth, humankind, and the animals on the earth by My great power and My outstretched arm; and I give it to whom it seems right to Me. ⁶ For now, I have given over all these lands to my servant N’vukhadnetzar the king of Bavel; I have also given him the wild animals to serve him. ⁷ All the nations will serve him, his son and his grandson, until his own country gets its turn , at which time many nations and great kings will make him their slave. ⁸ The nation and kingdom that refuses to serve this N’vukhadnetzar king of Bavel, that will not put their necks under the yoke of the king of Bavel, I will punish,” says יְהוָה “with sword, famine and plague, until I have put an end to them through him.

⁹ “‘“You, therefore, don’t listen to your prophets, diviners, dreamers, magicians or sorcerers, when they tell you that you won’t be subject to the king of Bavel; ¹⁰ for they are prophesying lies to you that will result in your being removed far from your land, with my driving you out, so that you perish. ¹¹ But the nation that puts its neck under the yoke of the king of Bavel and serves him, that nation I will allow to remain on their own soil,” says יְהוָה. “They will farm it and live there.”’”

¹² Then I spoke to Tzidkiyahu king of Y’hudah in just the same way: “Put your necks under the yoke of the king of Bavel, serve him and his people, and you will live. ¹³ Why would you want to die, you and your people, by sword, famine and plague, which is what יְהוָה has decreed for the nation that will not serve the king of Bavel? ¹⁴ Don’t listen to the words of the prophets who say to you, ‘You will not serve the king of Bavel’; because they are prophesying lies to you. ¹⁵ ‘For I have not sent them,’ says יְהוָה, ‘and they are prophesying falsely in my name, with the result that I will drive you out, and you will perish, you and the prophets prophesying to you.’”

¹⁶ I also spoke to the cohanim and to all this people; I said, “This is what יְהוָה says: ‘Don’t listen to the words of the prophets prophesying to you that the articles from יְהוָה’s house will soon be returned from Bavel; because they are prophesying lies to you. ¹⁷ Don’t listen to them. Serve the king of Bavel, and stay alive; why should this city become a ruin?’ ¹⁸ But if they are in fact prophets, and if the word of יְהוָה is with them, then let them now intercede with יְהוָה-Tzva’ot that the articles still remaining in the house of יְהוָה and in the palace of the king of Y’hudah will not go off to Bavel. ¹⁹ For this is what יְהוָה-Tzva’ot says concerning the columns, the Sea, the bases and the rest of the articles still here in this city, ²⁰ that N’vukhadnetzar, king of Bavel did not seize when he carried off captive Y’khanyahu the son of Y’hoyakim, king of Y’hudah, from Yerushalayim to Bavel, along with all the leading men of Y’hudah and Yerushalayim — ²¹ yes, this is what יְהוָה Shaddai, ELOHEI Yisra’el, says about the things remaining in the house of יְהוָה, in the palace of the king of Y’hudah and in Yerushalayim: ²² ‘They will be carried to Bavel; and there they will stay until the day I remember them, bring them back and restore them to this place,’ says יְהוָה.”

Yirmeyahu/Jeremiah 28

¹ That same year, at the beginning of the reign of Tzidkiyahu king of Y’hudah, in the fifth month of the fourth year, Hananyah the son of ‘Azur the prophet, from Giv‘on, spoke to me in יְהוָה’s house in front of the cohanim and all the people, saying, ² “This is what יְהוָה-Tzva’ot, ELOHEI Yisra'el, says: ‘I have broken the yoke of the king of Bavel. ³ Within two years I will restore to this place all the articles from יְהוָה’s house that N’vukhadnetzar king of Bavel removed from this place and carried to Bavel.
⁴ Also I will bring back here Y’khanyah the son of Y’hoyakim, king of Y’hudah, along with all those from Y’hudah who were taken captive to Bavel,’ says יְהוָה, ‘for I will break the yoke of the king of Bavel.’”

⁵ Then the prophet Yirmeyahu said to the prophet Hananyah in front of the cohanim and all the people standing in יְהוָה’s house, ⁶ the prophet Yirmeyahu said, “Amein! May יְהוָה do it! May יְהוָה fulfill the words you have prophesied and bring back from Bavel to this place the articles from יְהוָה’s house and all the people who were carried away captive! ⁷ Nevertheless, listen now to this word that I am speaking for you to hear and for all the people to hear. ⁸ The prophets who were here before me and before you prophesied in times past against many countries and against great kingdoms about war, disaster and plagues. ⁹ As for a prophet who prophesies peace, when the word of that prophet is fulfilled, it will be evident concerning that prophet that יְהוָה indeed did send him.”

¹⁰ At this point Hananyah the prophet took the crossbar off the prophet Yirmeyahu’s neck and broke it. ¹¹ Then Hananyah, in front of all the people, said, “Thus says יְהוָה: ‘In just this way will I break off the yoke of N’vukhadnetzar king of Bavel from the necks of all the nations within two years.’”

The prophet Yirmeyahu left them; ¹² but then this word of יְהוָה came to Yirmeyahu, after Hananyah the prophet had broken off the crossbar from the neck of the prophet Yirmeyahu: ¹³ “Go and tell Hananyah that יְהוָה:says, ‘You have broken the crossbars of wood, but you will make in their place crossbars of iron. ¹⁴ For here is what יְהוָה-Tzva’ot, ELOHEI Yisra’el, says: “I have put a yoke of iron on the necks of all these nations, so that they can serve N’vukhadnetzar king of Bavel; and they will serve him; and I have given him the wild animals too.”’”

¹⁵ Then the prophet Yirmeyahu said to Hananyah the prophet, “Listen here, Hananyah! יְהוָה has not sent you! You are making these people trust in a lie! ¹⁶ Therefore, here is what יְהוָה says: ‘I am about to send you away from the face of the earth — this year you will die, because you have preached rebellion against יְהוָה.’” ¹⁷ Hananyah the prophet died that same year, in the seventh month.

Yirmeyahu/Jeremiah 29

¹ Following is the text of the letter Yirmeyahu the prophet sent from Yerushalayim to the leaders remaining in exile, as well as to the cohanim, the prophets and all the people N’vukhadnetzar had carried off captive from Yerushalayim to Bavel. ² This was after Y’khanyah the king, the queen mother, the officers, the leaders of Y’hudah and Yerushalayim, and the artisans and skilled workers had left Yerushalayim. ³ The letter was entrusted to El‘asah the son of Shafan and G’maryah the son of Hilkiyah; Tzidkiyah king of Y’hudah sent them to Bavel, to N’vukhadnetzar king of Bavel. The letter said:

⁴ “Here is what יְהוָה -Tzva’ot, ELOHEI Yisra’el, says to all those in exile, whom I have caused to be carried off captive from Yerushalayim to Bavel: ⁵ ‘Build yourselves houses, and live in them. Plant gardens, and eat what they produce. ⁶ Choose women to marry, and have sons and daughters. Choose wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage to men, so that they can have sons and daughters — increase your numbers there, don’t decrease. ⁷ Seek the welfare of the city to which I have caused you to go in exile, and pray to Adonai on its behalf; for your welfare is bound up in its welfare.’ ⁸ For this is what יְהוָה-Tzva’ot, ELOHEI Yisra’el, says: ‘Don’t let your prophets who are living among you and your diviners deceive you, and don’t pay attention to the dreams you urge them to dream. ⁹ For they are prophesying falsely in My name; I have not sent them,’ says יְהוָה.

¹⁰ “For here is what יְהוָה says: ‘After Bavel’s seventy years are over, I will remember you and fulfill my good promise to you by bringing you back to this place. ¹¹ For I know what plans I have in mind for you,’ says יְהוָה, ‘plans for well-being, not for bad things; so that you can have hope and a future. ¹² When you call to Me and pray to Me, I will listen to you. ¹³ When you seek Me, you will find Me, provided you seek for Me wholeheartedly; ¹⁴ and I will let you find Me,’ says יְהוָה. ‘Then I will reverse your exile. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have driven you,’ says יְהוָה, ‘and bring you back to the place from which I exiled you.’

¹⁵ “You say that יְהוָה has raised up prophets for you in Bavel. ¹⁶ But here is what יְהוָה says about the king occupying David’s throne and about all the people living in this city, your kinsmen who did not go into exile with you. ¹⁷ Thus says יְהוָה-Tzva’ot: ‘I will attack them with sword, famine and plague; I will make them like bad figs, so bad they are inedible. ¹⁸ I will pursue them with sword, famine and plague and make them an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth; and they will bring on themselves cursing, astonishment, ridicule and reproach among all the nations where I have driven them; ¹⁹ because they have not paid attention to My words,’ says יְהוָה, ‘which I sent to them through My servants the prophets. I sent them frequently, but you refused to listen,’ says יְהוָה.

²⁰ “So pay attention now to the word of יְהוָה, all of you in exile, whom I sent away from Yerushalayim to Bavel. ²¹ Here is what יְהוָה-Tzva’ot, ELOHEI Yisra’el, says about Ach’av the son of Kolayah and Tzidkiyahu the son of Ma‘aseiyah, who prophesy lies to you in my name: ‘I will hand them over to N’vukhadretzar king of Bavel, and he will put them to death before your eyes. ²² In fact, all those exiled from Y’hudah who are in Bavel will take up this formula for cursing: “May יְהוָה make you like Tzidkiyahu and Ach’av, whom the king of Bavel roasted in the fire!”
²³ because they have done vile things in Yisra’el, committing adultery with their neighbors’ wives and speaking words in my name, falsely, which I did not order them to say. For I am He who knows; I am witness to this,’ says יְהוָה.

²⁴ “To Sh’ma‘yah the Nechelami you are to communicate this message: ²⁵ ‘This is a word from יְהוָה-Tzva’ot, ELOHEI Yisra’el, because of the letters you sent in your own name to all the people in Yerushalayim, including Tz’fanyah the son of Ma‘aseiyah the cohen and all the cohanim. ²⁶ Your letter said, “יְהוָה has made you cohen in place of Y’hoyada the cohen, in order to have officials in יְהוָה’s house who will arrest any crazy person who makes himself out to be a prophet, so that you can restrain him in stocks and collar. ²⁷ So why haven’t you rebuked Yirmeyahu of ‘Anatot, who makes himself out to be a prophet for you? ²⁸ He even sends word to us in Bavel saying that the exile will last a long time; so build houses and live in them, plant gardens and eat what they produce.” ²⁹ Tz’fanyah the cohen read this letter to Yirmeyahu the prophet, and afterwards ³⁰ the word of יְהוָה came to Yirmeyahu, ³¹ instructing him to send to all those in exile this message: “Here is what יְהוָה says about Sh’ma‘yah the Nechelami: ‘This Sh’ma‘yah has prophesied to you, even though I did not send him, and has caused you to put your trust in a lie. ³² Because of this,’ יְהוָה says, ‘I will punish Sh’ma‘yah the Nechelami and his offspring. He will not have a man to live among this people, and he will not see the good I am planning to do for My people,’ says יְהוָה, ‘because he has preached rebellion against יְהוָה.’”’”

Yirmeyahu/Jeremiah 30

¹ This word came to Yirmeyahu from יְהוָה: ² “This is what יְהוָה ELOHEI Yisra’el says: ‘Write all the words I have spoken to you in a scroll. ³ For the day is coming,’ says יְהוָה, ‘when I will reverse the exile of my people Yisra’el and Y’hudah,’ says יְהוָה. ‘I will cause them to return to the land I gave their ancestors, and they will take possession of it.’”

⁴ These are the words יְהוָה spoke concerning Yisra’el and Y’hudah: ⁵ Here is what יְהוָה says:

“We have heard a cry of terror,
of fear and not of peace.
⁶ Ask now and see:
can men give birth to children?
Why, then, do I see all the men
with their hands on their stomachs like women in labor,
with every face turned pale?
⁷ How dreadful that day will be!
There has never been one like it;
a time of trouble for Ya‘akov,
but out of it he will be saved.

⁸ “On that day,” says יְהוָה-Tzva’ot,
“I will break his yoke from off your neck,
I will snap your chains.
Foreigners will no longer enslave him.
⁹ Instead, they will serve יְהוָה ELOHIM
and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.

¹⁰ “So don’t be afraid, Ya‘akov My servant,”
says יְהוָה, “or be alarmed, Yisra’el;
for I will return you from far away
and your offspring from their country of exile.
Ya‘akov will again be quiet, at rest;
and no one will make him afraid.

¹¹ “For I am with you to save you,” says יְהוָה,
“I will finish off all the nations
where I have scattered you.
However, you I will not finish off,
but will discipline only as you deserve;
I will not completely destroy you.”

¹² For here is what יְהוָה says:

“Your wound is past healing,
your injury most severe;
¹³ no one thinks your wound can be bandaged;
you have no medicines that can heal you.
¹⁴ All your friends have forgotten you,
they no longer seek you out.
I have struck you down as an enemy would,
punished as a cruel man would,
because of your great wickedness,
because of your many sins.
¹⁵ Why cry that your wound and pain are past healing?
I have done these things to you
because of your great wickedness,
because of your many sins.

¹⁶ “But all who devour you will be devoured,
all your enemies will go into exile,
those who plunder you will be plundered,
those who pillage you will be pillaged.
¹⁷ For I will restore your health,
I will heal you of your wounds,” says יְהוָה,
“because they called you an outcast,
Tziyon, with no one who cares about her.”

¹⁸ Thus says יְהוָה:

“I will return Ya‘akov’s captives to their tents;
I will take pity on his dwellings.
Cities will be rebuilt on their own tels,
with palaces where they’re supposed to be.
¹⁹ From them will come thanksgiving
and the sound of people celebrating.
I will increase them; they will not be decreased;
I will honor them; they will not be despised.
²⁰ Their children will be as they used to be,
their community confirmed in my presence;
and I will punish everyone
who oppresses them.
²¹ Their leader will be one of their own,
their ruler will come from among them.
I will cause him to come close
and let him approach me;
for, otherwise, who would guarantee his heart
enough to approach me?” says יְהוָה.
²² “You will be My people,
and I will be ELOHEIKEM.”

²³ Look! The storm of יְהוָה,
bursting out in fury,
a sweeping storm, whirling down
upon the heads of the wicked!
²⁴ יְהוָה’s fierce anger will not abate
till He accomplishes the purpose in his heart.
In the acharit-hayamim,
you will understand.

Yirmeyahu/Jeremiah 31

¹ “When that time comes,” says יְהוָה,
“I will be ELOHEI all the clans of Yisra’el,
and they will be My people.”

² Here is what יְהוָה says:

“The people escaping the sword
found favor in the desert.
I have brought Ysra’el to its rest.”

³ From a distance יְהוָה appeared to me, [saying,]
“I love you with an everlasting love;
this is why in My grace I draw you to Me.
⁴ Once again, I will build you; you will be rebuilt,
virgin of Yisra’el.
Once again, equipped with your tambourines,
you will go out and dance with the merrymakers.
⁵ Once again, you will plant vineyards on the hills of Shomron,
and those doing the planting will have the use of its fruit.
⁶ For a day will come when the watchmen
on Mount Efrayim will call,
‘Come, let’s go up to Tziyon,
to יְהוָה ELOHEINU.’”

⁷ For here is what Adonai says:
“Sing with joy for Ya‘akov!
shout for the chief of the nations!
Proclaim your praise, and say:
‘יְהוָה! You have saved Your people,
the remnant of Yisra’el!’
⁸ Look! I am bringing them from the land in the north,
gathering them from the far ends of the earth;
among them are the blind and lame,
women with children, women in labor,
all together, a vast throng
returning here.
⁹ They will come weeping and praying
as I bring them back.
I will lead them by streams of water
on smooth paths, so that they won’t stumble.
For I am a Father to Yisra’el,
and Efrayim is My firstborn son.”

¹⁰ Nations, hear the word of יְהוָה!
Proclaim it in the coastlands far away. Say:
“He who scattered Yisra’el is gathering him,
guarding him like a shepherd his flock.”
¹¹ For יְהוָה has ransomed Ya‘akov,
redeemed him from hands too strong for him.
¹² They will come and sing on the heights of Tziyon,
streaming to the goodness of יְהוָה,
to the grain, the wine, the olive oil,
and the young of the flock and the herd.
They themselves will be like a well-watered garden,
never to languish again.
¹³ “Then the virgin will dance for joy,
young men and old men together;
for I will turn their mourning into joy,
comfort and gladden them after their sorrow.
^{13 (14)} I will give the cohanim their fill of rich food,
and My people will be satisfied with My bounty,” says יְהוָה.

¹⁵ This is what יְהוָה says:
“A voice is heard in Ramah,
lamenting and bitter weeping.
It is Rachel weeping for her children,
refusing to be comforted for her children,
because they are no longer alive.” [Of course, anyone who has done much reading of the New and Old Covenants knows this is a prophecy of what Herod will do in Beit-Lechem upon being deceived by the men from the east who came to find Messiah, King of the Jews.]
¹⁶ This is what יְהוָה says:
“Stop your weeping, and dry your eyes,
for your work will be rewarded,” says יְהוָה.
“They will return from the enemy’s land;
¹⁷ so there is hope for your future,” says יְהוָה.
“Your children will return
to their own territory.

^{17 (18)} “I hear Efrayim bemoaning himself:
‘You disciplined me, and I took your discipline
like a young ox not used to a yoke.
Let me return, and I will return,
for you are יְהוָה, ELOHAI.
¹⁹ Yes, I turned away;
but later I repented.
When I had been made to understand,
I struck my thigh in shame and remorse,
bearing the weight of the disgrace
acquired when I was young.’

²⁰ “Isn’t Efrayim My very dear son,
a child who delights Me so?
I speak about him all the time,
I can’t help but recall him to mind.
In sum, I deeply yearn for him;
I will surely show him favor,” says יְהוָה.

²¹ Set up road signs, erect guideposts,
pay attention to the highway,
the path on which you traveled.
Come back, virgin Yisra’el,
come back to these cities of yours!
²² How long will you hesitate,
you unruly daughter?
For יְהוָה has created something new on earth:
a woman with the strengths of a man.

²³ Here is what יְהוָה-Tzva’ot,
ELOHEI Yisra’el, says:
“This expression will be used again
in the land of Y’hudah and its cities
after I have returned their exiles:
‘May יְהוָה bless you,
home of justice, holy mountain!’
^{23 (24)} In it will live together
Y’hudah and all its cities,
the farmer and those who lead the flocks.
^{24 (25)} For I have satisfied the weary
and filled the needs of all in distress.”

²⁶ At this point I woke up and looked around, but I had enjoyed my sleep.

²⁷ “Here, the days are coming,” says יְהוָה, "when I will sow beit Yisra’el and beit Y’hudah with the seed of humans and the seed of animals. ^{27 (28)} At that time, just as I used to watch over them with the intent to uproot, break down, overthrow, destroy and do harm; so then I will watch over them to build and plant,” says יְהוָה. ²⁹ “When those days come they will no longer say,

‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes,
and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’
³⁰ Rather, each will die for his own sin;
every one who eats sour grapes,
his own teeth will be set on edge.

³¹  “Here, the days are coming,” says יְהוָה, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Isra’el and with the house of Y’hudah. ³² It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers on the day I took them by their hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt; because they, for their part, violated my covenant, even though I, for my part, was a husband to them,” says יְהוָה.
³³ “For this is the covenant I will make with the house of Yisra’el after those days,” says יְהוָה: “I will put my Torah within them and write it on their hearts; I will be ELOHEIHEM, and they will be My people. ³⁴ No longer will any of them teach his fellow community member or his brother, ‘Know יְהוָה; for all will know Me, from the least of them to the greatest; because I will forgive their wickednesses and remember their sins no more.”

³⁵ This is what יְהוָה says,
who gives the sun as light for the day,
who ordained the laws for the moon and stars
to provide light for the night,
who stirs up the sea until its waves roar;
יְהוָה-Tzva’ot is His Name:
³⁶ “If these laws leave my presence,” says יְהוָה,
“then the offspring of Yisra’el will stop being
a nation in my presence forever.”

³⁷ This is what יְהוָה says:
“If the sky above can be measured
and the foundations of the earth be fathomed,
then I will reject all the offspring of Yisra’el
for all that they have done,” says יְהוָה.

³⁸ “Look, the days are coming,” says יְהוָה, “when the city will be rebuilt for יְהוָה from the Tower of Hanan’el to the Corner Gate. ³⁹ The measuring line will be stretched straight to Garev Hill, then turn to Go‘ah. ⁴⁰ The whole valley of corpses and ashes, including all the fields as far as Vadi Kidron, and on to the corner of the Horse Gate to the east, will be separated out for יְהוָה; it will never be uprooted or destroyed again.”

 

Yirmeyahu/Jeremiah 32

¹ This is the word that came to Yirmeyahu from יְהוָה in the tenth year of Tzidkiyahu king of Y’hudah, which was the eighteenth year of N’vukhadretzar. ² At that time the army of the king of Bavel was besieging Yerushalayim; and Yirmeyahu the prophet was imprisoned in the guards’ quarters attached to the king of Y’hudah’s palace, ³ where Tzidkiyahu king of Y’hudah had imprisoned him after demanding, “How dare you prophesy that יְהוָה says, ‘I will hand this city over to the king of Bavel, and he will capture it; ⁴ Tzidkiyahu king of Y’hudah will not escape from the Kasdim but will certainly be handed over to the king of Bavel, who will address him face to face, with their eyes meeting; ⁵ and he will lead Tzidkiyahu to Bavel, where he will stay until I remember him,’ says יְהוָה, ‘and even if you fight the Kasdim, you will fail’?”

⁶ Yirmeyahu said, “This word of יְהוָה came to me: ⁷ ‘Hanam’el, the son of your uncle Shalum, will approach you and say, “Buy my field at ‘Anatot; you have next-of-kin’s right to redeem it; so buy it.”’” ⁸ As יְהוָה had said, my cousin Hanam’el came to me in the guards’ quarters and said, “Please buy my field at ‘Anatot, in the territory of Binyamin; because you will inherit it, and you have next-of-kin’s right to redeem it, so buy it for yourself.” Then I was certain that this was יְהוָה’s word.

⁹ So I bought the field at ‘Anatot which belonged to my cousin Hanam’el and weighed out the money for him, seven ounces of silver shekels. ¹⁰ I signed on the purchase contract, sealed it, called witnesses and weighed out the money for him on a balance scale. ¹¹ I took the purchase contract, both the sealed copy with the terms and conditions, and the unsealed copy, ¹² and gave the purchase contract to Barukh the son of Neriyah, the son of Machseyah, in the presence of my cousin Hanam’el, the witnesses who had signed the purchase contract and the people from Y’hudah sitting by the guards’ quarters. ¹³ In their presence I instructed Barukh as follows: ¹⁴ “Here is what יְהוָה-Tzva’ot, ELOHEI Yisra’el, says: ‘Take these contracts, both the sealed and unsealed copies, and place them in a clay jar, so that they can be preserved for a long time.’ ¹⁵ For יְהוָה-Tzva’ot, ELOHEI Yisra’el, says that one day homes, fields and vineyards will again be bought in this land.”

¹⁶ After giving the purchase contract to Barukh son of Neriyah, I prayed to יְהוָה: ¹⁷ “יְהוָה, ELOHIM! You made heaven and earth by your great power and outstretched arm; nothing is too hard for You. ¹⁸ You display your grace to thousands but also repay the guilt of the fathers into the lap of their children who follow them. Great, powerful ELOHIM, whose name is יְהוָה-Tzva’ot, ¹⁹ great in counsel, mighty in deed! Your eyes are open to all the ways of men in order to repay each one according to his ways, according to the consequences of what he does. ²⁰ You gave signs and performed miracles in the land of Egypt which continue to this day, also in Yisra’el and among other people; thus You made Yourself the reputation You have today. ²¹ You brought Your people of Yisra’el out of the land of Egypt with signs and miracles, with a strong hand and an outstretched arm and with great terror.
²² Then You gave them this land, which You had sworn to their ancestors that you would give them, a land flowing with milk and honey. ²³ They entered and took possession of it; but they did not pay attention to Your voice, did not live according to Your Torah, and did nothing of all You ordered them to do. Therefore You made this complete disaster befall them. ²⁴ The siege-works are already there; they have come to the city to capture it. And the city, by means of sword, famine and plague, is being handed over to the Kasdim fighting against it. What You foretold is being fulfilled. Here, You see it, yourself. ²⁵ Yet you, יְהוָה, ELOHIM, have said to me, ‘Buy the field for money, and call witnesses; even as the city is being turned over to the Kasdim!’”

²⁶ Then this word of יְהוָה came to Yirmeyahu: ²⁷ “Look, I am יְהוָה, ELOHEI every living creature; is there anything too hard for Me? ²⁸ Therefore, here is what יְהוָה says: ‘I will hand this city over to the Kasdim and to N’vukhadretzar king of Bavel; and he will capture it. ²⁹ The Kasdim who are fighting against this city will enter and set this city on fire; they will burn it down, including its houses, on whose roofs they offered to Ba‘al and poured out drink offerings to other elohim, in order to make Me angry. ³⁰ For from their youth, the people of Yisra’el and the people of Y’hudah have done only what is evil in my eyes; the people of Yisra’el have done nothing but provoke Me with what their hands make,’ says יְהוָה. ³¹ ‘This city has so provoked My anger and fury from the day they built it to this day that I ought to remove it from My presence, ³² because of all the evil that the people of Yisra’el and the people of Y’hudah have done in order to make Me angry, they, their kings, their leaders, their cohanim, their prophets, the men of Y’hudah and the inhabitants of Yerushalayim.
³³ They have turned their backs on me, not their faces; and although I taught them, taught them frequently, they have not listened so as to receive instruction. ³⁴ Instead they put their detestable idols in the house that bears my name, to defile it; ³⁵ and they built the high places for Ba‘al which are in the Ben-Hinnom Valley, to burn alive their sons and daughters to Molekh, something I did not order them to do, it never even entered My mind that they would do such an abominable thing, and thus they caused Y’hudah to sin.’

³⁶ “Therefore, thus says יְהוָה ELOHEI Yisra’el concerning this city, of which you say that it is handed over to the king of Bavel by sword, famine and plague: ³⁷ ‘I will gather them out of all the countries where I drove them in My anger, fury and great wrath; and I will bring them back to this place and have them live here in safety. ³⁸ They will be My people, and I will be ELOHEIHEM. ³⁹ I will give them singleness of heart and singleness of purpose, so that they will fear Me forever. This will be for their own good and for the good of their children after them. ⁴⁰ I will make with them an everlasting covenant not to turn away from them, but to do them good; I will put fear of Me in their hearts, so that they will not leave Me. ⁴¹ I will take joy in them, so as to do them good. I will plant them in this land truly, with My whole heart and being.’ ⁴² For here is what יְהוָה says: ‘Just as I have brought this complete disaster on this people, so likewise I will bring on them all the good I have promised them. ⁴³ Fields will be bought in this land, even though you say about it that it is desolate, devoid of human beings or animals, and given over to the Kasdim. ⁴⁴ Yes, people will buy fields for money, sign the purchase contracts, seal them and call witnesses, in the territory of Binyamin, in the areas around Yerushalayim, in the cities of Y’hudah, in the cities of the hill-country, in the cities of the Sh’felah and in the cities of the Negev. For I will cause their exiles to return,’ says יְהוָה.”

Yirmeyahu/Jeremiah 33

¹ The word of יְהוָה came to Yirmeyahu a second time while he was still imprisoned in the guards’ quarters:

² “Thus says יְהוָה the Maker,
יְהוָה Who formed [the universe]
so as to keep directing it.
יְהוָה is His name:
³ ‘Call out to Me,
and I will answer you,
I will tell you great things,
hidden things of which you are unaware.’”

⁴ For here is what יְהוָה ELOHEI Yisra'el says concerning the houses of this city and the palaces of the kings of Y’hudah which are about to be destroyed and used as siege-works and ramparts, ⁵ where they will come to fight the Kasdim: “These places will eventually be filled with the corpses of people whom I am striking down in my anger and fury, everyone whose wickedness has caused me to hide my face from this city. ⁶ However, I will bring it health and healing; I will heal them and reveal to them peace and truth in plenty. ⁷ I will cause the captives of Y’hudah and the captives of Yisra’el to return; and I will build them up as I did at first. ⁸ I will cleanse them from all their sins, through which they offended Me; and I will pardon all their sins, through which they offended and rebelled against Me. ⁹ Then the name of this city will bring Me joy, praise and glory before all the nations of the earth that hear about all the good I am doing for them; they will be overcome with fear and trembling at all the good and peace I am securing for it.”

¹⁰ Here is what יְהוָה says: “You say that this place is a wasteland, with neither people nor animals in the cities of Y’hudah, and that the streets of Yerushalayim are desolate, without people or animals — no inhabitants. Yet there will again be heard here ¹¹ the sounds of joy and gladness and the voices of bridegroom and bride, the voices of those who sing, ‘Give thanks to יְהוָה-Tzva’ot, for יְהוָה is good, for his grace continues forever,’ as they bring offerings of thanksgiving into beit יְהוָה. For I will cause those captured from the land to return, as before,” says יְהוָה.

¹² יְהוָה-Tzva’ot says, “In this place, which is a wasteland without people or animals, and in all its cities, there will once again be pasture-lands where shepherds can let their flocks rest. ¹³ In the cities of the hill-country, in the cities of the Sh’felah, in the cities of the Negev, in the territory of Binyamin, in the areas around Yerushalayim and in the cities of Y’hudah flocks will again pass under the hands of the one who counts them,” says יְהוָה.

¹⁴ “Here, the days are coming,” says יְהוָה, “when I will fulfill this good promise which I have proclaimed for the house of Yisra’el and the house of Y’hudah.

¹⁵ When those days come, at that time,
I will cause to spring up for David
a Branch of Righteousness.
He will do what is just and right in the land.
¹⁶ When those days come, Y’hudah will be saved,
Yerushalayim will live in safety,
and the name given to her will be
יְהוָה Tzidkenu [יְהוָה our Righteousness].”

¹⁷ For this is what יְהוָה says: “There will never be cut off from David a man to occupy the throne of beit Yisra’el. ¹⁸ Nor will there ever be cut off from the cohanim who are L’vi’im a man before me to offer burnt offerings, burn grain offerings and offer sacrifices every day.”

¹⁹ This word of יְהוָה came to Yirmeyahu: ²⁰ “Here is what יְהוָה says:

‘If you can break My covenant with the day
and My covenant with the night,
so that daytime and nighttime no longer come
when they are supposed to,
²¹ then My covenant with my servant David
also can be broken,
so that he will not have a descendant
to reign from his throne
or L’vi’im who are cohanim
to minister to Me.
²² To the degree that the armies of heaven are past counting
and the sand by the sea past measuring,
I will increase the descendants of my servant David
and the L’vi’im ministering to Me.’”

²³ This word of יְהוָה came to Yirmeyahu: ²⁴ “Haven’t you noticed that these people are saying, ‘יְהוָה has rejected the two families he chose’? Hence they despise my people and no longer look at them as a nation. ²⁵ Here is what יְהוָה says: ‘If I have not established my covenant with day and night and fixed the laws for sky and earth, ²⁶ then I will also reject the descendants of Ya‘akov and of my servant David, not choosing from his descendants people to rule over the descendants of Avraham, Yis’chak and Ya‘akov. For I will cause their captives to come back, and I will show them compassion.’”

Yirmeyahu/Jeremiah 34

¹ This word came to Yirmeyahu from יְהוָה when N’vukhadretzar king of Bavel, his whole army, all his vassal kingdoms and all the peoples fought against Yerushalayim and all its cities: ² “יְהוָה, ELOHEI Yisra’el says to go and speak to Tzidkiyahu king of Y’hudah. Tell him that יְהוָה says: ‘I am going to hand this city over to the king of Bavel, and he will burn it to the ground. ³ You will not escape but will surely be captured and handed over to him; your eyes will see the eyes of the king of Bavel, he will speak with you face to face, and you will go to Bavel.’ ⁴ Nevertheless, Tzidkiyahu king of Y’hudah, hear the word of יְהוָה. יְהוָה says this about you: ‘You will not be put to the sword ⁵ but will die peacefully; and just as they burned spices for your ancestors, the earlier kings who preceded you, so they will burn spices for you and mourn you, “Oh! Master!” For I have spoken the word,’ says יְהוָה.” ⁶ Yirmeyahu the prophet said all these words to Tzidkiyahu king of Y’hudah in Yerushalayim ⁷ at the time when the king of Bavel’s army was fighting against Yerushalayim and against all the cities of Y’hudah that were left, that is, against Lakhish and ‘Azekah, since only these remained of the fortified cities of Y’hudah.

⁸ This word came to Yirmeyahu from יְהוָה after King Tzidkiyahu had made a covenant with all the people in Yerushalayim to emancipate them. ⁹ Everyone who had a male or female slave who was Hebrew was to let him go free; none was to keep as his slave a fellow Jew. ¹⁰ All the leaders and all the people listened who had entered into the covenant, wherein everyone was to free his male and female slaves and not keep them in bondage any longer. They listened, and they let them go. ¹¹ But afterwards, they changed their minds; they made the male and female slaves, whom they had freed, return; and they brought them back into subjection as slaves. ¹² Therefore this word of יְהוָה came to Yirmeyahu from יְהוָה: ¹³ “Here is what יְהוָה ELOHEI Yisra’el says: ‘When I brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt, where they lived as slaves, I made this covenant with them: ¹⁴ “At the end of seven years every one of you is to set free his brother Hebrew who has been sold to you and has served you six years. You are to let him go free from you.” But your ancestors did not listen to Me or pay any attention. ¹⁵ Now you repented, you did what is right in My eyes when each of you proclaimed freedom to his fellow; and you made a covenant before Me in the house bearing my name. ¹⁶ But then you changed your minds. You profaned My Name when each of you took back his male and female slaves, whom you had set free to live as they wished, and brought them back into subjection as your slaves.’ ¹⁷ Therefore here is what יְהוָה says: ‘You did not heed Me and proclaim freedom, each to his brother and each to his neighbor; so now I proclaim for you a freedom,’ says יְהוָה, ‘for sword, plague and famine. I will make you an object of horror to all the kingdoms on earth. ¹⁸ As for the men who violated My covenant by not living up to the conditions of the covenant which they made in my presence when they cut the calf in two and passed between its parts, ¹⁹ the leaders of Y’hudah, the leaders of Yerushalayim, the officials, the cohanim and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf; ²⁰ I will hand them over to their enemies, hand them over to those who seek their lives; and their corpses will become food for birds in the air and wild animals. ²¹ Tzidkiyahu king of Y’hudah and his officials I will hand over to their enemies, to those who seek their lives and to the army of the king of Bavel, which has withdrawn. ²² I will give the order,’ says יְהוָה, ‘and cause them to return to this city. They will attack it, capture it and burn it to the ground; and I will make the cities of Y’hudah desolate and uninhabited.’”

Yirmeyahu/Jeremiah 35

¹ This word came to Yirmeyahu from יְהוָה during the time of Y’hoyakim the son of Yoshiyahu, king of Y’hudah: ² “Go to the Rekhavim, speak to them, bring them to one of the rooms in the house of יְהוָה, and give them some wine to drink.” ³ So I took Ya’azanyah the son of Yirmeyahu, the son of Havatzinyah, and his brothers, all his sons and all the Rekhavim, ⁴ and took them into the house of יְהוָה, to the room of the sons of Hanan the son of Yigdalyahu, a man of ELOHIM. It was by the room of the officials, which was above the room of Ma‘aseiyah the son of Shalum, the gatekeeper. ⁵ There I set in front of the members of the clan of the Rekhavim pitchers full of wine and cups, and said to them, “Drink some wine.” ⁶ But they said, “We will not drink any wine; because Yonadav the son of Rekhav, our ancestor, gave us this order: ‘You are not to drink wine, neither you nor your descendants, forever. ⁷ Also you are not to build houses, sow seed, or plant or own vineyards. Rather, you are always to live in tents; so that you may live a long time in the land, in which you are not citizens.’ ⁸ We have heeded the words of Yonadav the son of Rekhav, our ancestor, in all that he instructed us to do: not to drink wine as long as we live, we, our wives, our sons and our daughters;
⁹ not to build houses for ourselves to live in; and not to have vineyards, fields or seed. ¹⁰ We have lived in tents, and we have heeded Yonadav our ancestor and done everything he ordered us to do.
¹¹ But when N’vukhadretzar king of Bavel came up to attack the land, we said, ‘Come, let’s go up to Yerushalayim,’ because we were afraid of the army of the Kasdim and the army of Aram; hence we are living in Yerushalayim.”

¹² Then the word of יְהוָה came to Yirmeyahu: ¹³ “יְהוָה-Tzva’ot ELOHEI Yisra’el says to go to the men of Y’hudah and the inhabitants of Yerushalayim and say: ‘Won’t you ever learn to listen to my words?’ says יְהוָה. ¹⁴ ‘The words of Yonadav the son of Rekhav which he ordered his offspring, not to drink wine, are obeyed; so to this day they don’t drink any; because they heed their ancestor’s order. But I have spoken to you, spoken frequently, and you have not listened to me. ¹⁵ I have also sent you all My servants the prophets, sent them frequently, with the message, “Every one of you should turn back now from his evil way, improve your actions and not follow other elohim in order to serve them. Then you will live in the land I gave you and your ancestors. But you have not paid attention or listened to Me. ¹⁶ Because the descendants of Yonadav the son of Rekhav have obeyed the order of their ancestor, which he ordered them; but this people has not listened to Me;
¹⁷ therefore.” Here is what יְהוָה Elohei-Tzva’ot, ELOHEI Yisra’el, says: “I will inflict on Y’hudah and all the inhabitants of Yerushalayim all the disaster I have decreed against them; because I have spoken to them, but they have not listened; and I have called out to them, but they have not answered.”’”

¹⁸ Then to the clan of the Rekhavim Yirmeyahu said, “Here is what יְהוָה-Tzva’ot, ELOHEI Yisra’el, says: ‘Because you have heeded the order of Yonadav your ancestor, observed all his commands and done what he ordered you to do; ¹⁹ therefore יְהוָה-Tzva’ot, ELOHEI Yisra’el, says this: “Yonadav the son of Rekhav will never lack a descendant to stand before me.”’”

Yirmeyahu/Jeremiah 36

¹ In the fourth year of Y’hoyakim the son of Yoshiyahu, king of Y’hudah, this word came to Yirmeyahu from יְהוָה: ² “Take a scroll and write on it all the words I have spoken to you against Yisra’el, Y’hudah and all the other nations, from the day I started speaking to you, back in the time of Yoshiyahu, until today. ³ Perhaps the house of Y’hudah will listen to all the disaster I intend to bring on them, and turn back, each person from his evil way; then I will forgive their wickedness and sin.”

⁴ So Yirmeyahu summoned Barukh the son of Neriyah; and Barukh wrote down on a scroll, at Yirmeyahu’s dictation, all the words that יְהוָה had said to him. ⁵ Then Yirmeyahu gave this order to Barukh: “I am not allowed to enter the house of יְהוָה. ⁶ Therefore, you take the scroll which you wrote at my dictation, go into the house of יְהוָה on a fast-day, and read from it the words of יְהוָה in the hearing of the people; also read them to all Y’hudah as they exit their cities. ⁷ Perhaps they will turn to יְהוָה in prayer and will return, each one, from his evil way. For the anger and fury which יְהוָה has decreed against this people is great.”

⁸ Barukh the son of Neriyah obeyed everything Yirmeyahu the prophet ordered him to do, reading the words of יְהוָה from the scroll in יְהוָה’s house. ⁹ A fast was proclaimed in the ninth month of the fifth year of Y’hoyakim the son of Yoshiyahu, king of Y’hudah, for all the people in Yerushalayim and all the people who came from the cities of Y’hudah to Yerushalayim. ¹⁰ It was then that Barukh read from the scroll the words of Yirmeyahu in the house of יְהוָה, in the chamber of G’maryahu the son of Shafan the secretary, in the upper courtyard, at the entry to the New Gate of יְהוָה’s house, for all the people to hear. ¹¹ When Mikhay’hu the son of G’maryahu, the son of Shafan, had heard from the scroll all the words of יְהוָה, ¹² he went down to the king’s palace, into the secretary’s room. All the officials were there, Elishama the secretary, D’layahu the son of Sh’ma‘yahu, Elnatan the son of ‘Akhbor, G’maryah the son of Shafan, Tzidkiyahu the son of Hananyahu and all the [other] officials. ¹³ Mikhay’hu told them all the words he had heard when Barukh read the scroll in the people’s hearing; ¹⁴ whereupon all the officials sent Y’hudi the son of N’tanyahu, the son of Shelemyahu, the son of Kushi, to Barukh to say, “Take in your hand the scroll from which you read in the hearing of the people, and come.” So Barukh the son of Neriyah took the scroll in his hand and went to them.
¹⁵ They said to him, “Sit down, please, and read it to us.” Barukh read it to them. ¹⁶ After they had heard all the words, they turned in fear to each other and said to Barukh, “We will certainly tell the king about all these words.” ¹⁷ Then they asked Barukh, “Tell us now, how did you write all these words? At his dictation?” ¹⁸ Barukh answered them, “He said all these words to me with his mouth, and I wrote them with ink in the scroll.” ¹⁹ At this, the officials said to Barukh, “Go and hide yourselves, you and Yirmeyahu; don’t let anyone know where you are.” ²⁰ After depositing the scroll in the room of Elishama the secretary, they went in to the courtyard and told everything to the king.

²¹ The king sent Y’hudi to bring the scroll, and he took it from the room of Elishama the secretary. Y’hudi read it to the king and all the officials standing near the king. ²² The king was sitting in his winter house; and since it was the ninth month, he had a fire burning in the stove in front of him.
²³ After Y’hudi had read three or four columns from the scroll, he would cut off that portion with a knife and throw it into the fire that was burning in the stove, until the entire scroll had been consumed by the fire in the stove. ²⁴ But even though they heard all these words, neither the king nor any of his servants grew afraid or tore their clothes. ²⁵ Elnatan, D’layahu and G’maryahu had begged the king not to burn the scroll; but he wouldn’t listen to them. ²⁶ Then the king ordered Yerachme’el the king’s son, S’rayahu the son of ‘Azri’el and Shelemyahu the son of ‘Avde’el to arrest Barukh the scribe and Yirmeyahu the prophet; but יְהוָה hid them.

²⁷ Then this word of יְהוָה came to Yirmeyahu after the king had burned the scroll with the words Barukh had written at Yirmeyahu’s dictation: ²⁸ “Take another scroll, and write on it all the words that were on the first scroll, which Y’hoyakim the king of Y’hudah burned up. ²⁹ And as far as Y’hoyakim king of Y’hudah is concerned, you are to say that יְהוָה says, ‘You burned this scroll, asking, “Why did you write in it that the king of Bavel will certainly come and destroy this land and leave it without either humans or animals?” ³⁰ Therefore יְהוָה says this about Y’hoyakim king of Y’hudah: “He will have no one to occupy David’s throne; and his dead body will be thrown out to lie in the heat by day and in the frost by night. ³¹ Moreover, I will punish him, his offspring and his officials for their wickedness; and I will bring on them, the inhabitants of Yerushalayim and the people of Y’hudah all the disaster I have decreed against them, to which they have paid no attention.”’”

³² Then Yirmeyahu took another scroll and gave it to Barukh the scribe, the son of Neriyah. At Yirmeyahu’s dictation he wrote in it all the words of the scroll which Y’hoyakim king of Y’hudah had burned up in the fire, and to those he added many similar words.

Yirmeyahu/Jeremiah 37

¹ Tzidkiyahu the son of Yoshiyahu became king, succeeding Koniyahu the son of Y’hoyakim, whom N’vukhadretzar king of Bavel had made king over the land of Y’hudah. ² But neither he, his servants nor the people of the land paid attention to the words of יְהוָה, which he spoke through the prophet Yirmeyahu.

³ Tzidkiyahu the king sent Y’hukhal the son of Shelemyahu and Tz’fanyahu the son of Ma‘aseiyah, the cohen, to the prophet Yirmeyahu with the message, “Please pray to יְהוָה ELOHEINU for us.” ⁴ At that time Yirmeyahu was mixing freely with the people, because they had not yet put him in prison.
⁵ At the same time Pharaoh’s army marched out of Egypt; and when the Kasdim besieging Yerushalayim heard about them, they lifted the siege from Yerushalayim.

⁶ Then this word of יְהוָה came to the prophet Yirmeyahu: ⁷ “יְהוָה ELOHEI Yisra’el says to tell the king of Y’hudah, who sent you to me to consult me: ‘Pharaoh’s army has marched out to assist you; but they will return to Egypt, to their own country. ⁸ The Kasdim will return, attack this city, capture it and burn it to the ground.’ ⁹ Here is what יְהוָה says: ‘Don’t deceive yourselves by thinking that the Kasdim must withdraw from you, because they will not withdraw. ¹⁰ Even if you were to strike the entire army of the Kasdim fighting against you, to the degree that only their wounded were left, they would still rise up every man from his tent and burn this city to the ground.’”

¹¹ Then, at the time when the army of the Kasdim had lifted the siege of Yerushalayim out of fear of Pharaoh’s army, ¹² Yirmeyahu left Yerushalayim to go to the territory of Binyamin to receive his share of an inheritance there. He was passing through the crowds ¹³ and had reached the gate leading toward Binyamin when a guard commander there named Yir’iyah the son of Shelemyah, the son of Hananyah, seized Yirmeyahu the prophet, shouting, “You’re deserting to the Kasdim!” ¹⁴ Yirmeyahu answered, “That is a lie! I am not deserting to the Kasdim”; but Yir’iyah wouldn’t listen to him. So he arrested Yirmeyahu and brought him to the officials. ¹⁵ The officials, furious with Yirmeyahu, had him beaten and jailed in the house of Y’honatan the secretary, which had been made over into a prison. ¹⁶ The cistern had been made into a dungeon, and Yirmeyahu was put in one of its cells; there he remained for a long time.

¹⁷ Then Tzidkiyahu the king sent and had him brought; and the king asked him secretly, in his palace, “Is there any word from יְהוָה?” “There is,” Yirmeyahu said. “You will be handed over to the king of Bavel.” ¹⁸ Yirmeyahu asked King Tzidkiyahu, “In what way have I sinned against you or against your officials or against this people, that has caused you to put me in prison? ¹⁹ Where are your prophets now, the ones who prophesied to you that the king of Bavel wouldn’t attack you or this land? ²⁰ So now, please listen, my lord king! I beg you, approve my request. Don’t make me return to the house of Y’honatan the secretary, or I will die there.” ²¹ At that, Tzidkiyahu the king gave the order, at which they committed Yirmeyahu to the guards’ quarters and gave him daily a loaf of bread from the Bakers’ Street, until all the bread in the city had been used up. Thus Yirmeyahu remained in the guards’ quarters.

Yirmeyahu/Jeremiah 38

¹ But Sh’fatyah the son of Mattan, G’dalyahu the son of Pash’chur, Yukhal the son of Shelemyahu and Pash’chur the son of Malkiyah heard these words which Yirmeyahu had said to all the people,
² “Here is what יְהוָה says: "Whoever remains in this city will die by sword, famine and plague; but whoever leaves and surrenders to the Kasdim will stay alive; his own life will be his only ‘spoils of war,’ but he will stay alive.^{" 3} יְהוָה says that this city will certainly be handed over to the army of the king of Bavel, and he will capture it.” ⁴ The leaders said to the king, “Please let this man be put to death; because by speaking such words to the soldiers left in this city and to all the people, he is demoralizing them. This man is seeking not to benefit this people, but to harm them.” ⁵ Tzidkiyahu the king said, “All right, he is in your hands; for the king can’t prevent you from doing as you please.”

⁶ Then they took Yirmeyahu and threw him into the cistern of Malkiyahu the king’s son, which was in the guards’ quarters; they let down Yirmeyahu into it with ropes. In the pit there was no water, but there was mud; and Yirmeyahu sank into the mud. ⁷ ‘Eved-Melekh the Ethiopian, an officer in the king’s house, heard that they had put Yirmeyahu in the cistern. When the king was sitting at the gate leading toward Binyamin, ⁸ ‘Eved-Melekh left the palace and said to the king, ⁹ “My lord, king! What these men have done to Yirmeyahu the prophet is evil. They have thrown him into the cistern; and he is likely to die there where he is, because of the famine; for there is no more food in the city.” ¹⁰ Then the king ordered ‘Eved-Melekh the Ethiopian, “Take thirty men with you from here, and bring Yirmeyahu the prophet up out of the cistern before he dies.” ¹¹ So ‘Eved-Melekh took the men with him and entered a storeroom under the treasury in the king’s palace, from which he took some old clothes and rags. These he let down with ropes to Yirmeyahu in the cistern. ¹² ‘Eved-Melekh the Ethiopian then said to Yirmeyahu, “Use these old clothes and rags as padding between your armpits and the ropes.” After Yirmeyahu had done this, ¹³ they pulled Yirmeyahu up with the ropes and took him out of the cistern. Yirmeyahu remained in the guards’ quarters.

¹⁴ Tzidkiyahu summoned and had Yirmeyahu brought to him through the third entry in the house of יְהוָה. Then the king said to Yirmeyahu, “I want to ask you something; don’t hide anything from me.” ¹⁵ Yirmeyahu said to Tzidkiyahu, “If I do say it to you, won’t you have me put to death? And if I give you counsel, you won’t listen to me.” ¹⁶ So Tzidkiyahu swore secretly to Yirmeyahu, “As יְהוָה lives, who gave us our lives, I will not put you to death; nor will I hand you over to these men who want you put to death.”

¹⁷ Then Yirmeyahu said to Tzidkiyahu, “Here is what יְהוָה-Tzva’ot, ELOHEI Yisra’el, says: ‘If you will go out and surrender to the king of Bavel’s officers, then you will stay alive — this city will not be burned down; and you and your family will live. ¹⁸ But if you will not go out to the king of Bavel’s officers, then this city will be handed over to the Kasdim; they will burn it to the ground; and you will not escape from them.’” ¹⁹ Tzidkiyahu the king said to Yirmeyahu, “I am afraid of the Judeans who deserted to the Kasdim. The Kasdim might hand me over to them, and they would mistreat me.” ²⁰ Yirmeyahu answered, “They won’t hand you over. I beg you, listen to the voice of יְהוָה concerning what I’m telling you about; then it will go well with you, and you will live. ²¹ But if you refuse to surrender, then this is the word יְהוָה has shown me: ²² All the women remaining in the king of Y’hudah’s palace will be brought out to the king of Bavel’s officers, and those women will taunt you:

‘Your own close friends misled you
and took advantage of you.
Now that your feet are stuck in the mud,
they have abandoned you.’

²³ They will bring all your women and children out to the Kasdim, and you will not escape from them. Rather, you will be captured by the king of Bavel, and you will cause this city to be burned to the ground.”

²⁴ Tzidkiyahu said to Yirmeyahu, “Don’t tell anyone what you just said, or you will die. ²⁵ If the officials hear that I have talked with you, and they come to you and say, ‘Tell us now what you said to the king; don’t hide it from us, or we will put you to death, and also what the king said to you,’ ²⁶ then tell them, ‘I presented my request to the king that he would not make me return to Y’honatan’s house, to die there.’” ²⁷ All the officials did come to Yirmeyahu and asked him, and he told them everything the king had ordered him to say. So they stopped speaking with him, since the matter had not been reported.

²⁸ Yirmeyahu remained in the guards’ quarters until the day Yerushalayim was captured; he was there when Yerushalayim was captured.

Yirmeyahu/Jeremiah 39

¹ In the ninth year of Tzidkiyahu king of Y’hudah, in the tenth month, N’vukhadretzar king of Bavel marched against Yerushalayim with his entire army and began to lay siege against it. ² On the ninth day of the fourth month of the eleventh year of Tzidkiyahu, they broke through into the city. ³ All the officers of the king of Bavel entered and sat at the Middle Gate, Nergal-Sar’etzer, Samgar-N’vo, Sars’khim the Rav-Saris, Nergal-Sar’etzer the Rav-Mag and all the other officers of the king of Bavel.
⁴ When Tzidkiyahu the king of Y’hudah and all the soldiers saw them, they fled, leaving the city by night through the king’s garden, exiting from the gate between the two walls, and continuing out by the route through the ‘Aravah. ⁵ But the army of the Kasdim went in pursuit of them and overtook Tzidkiyahu on the plains near Yericho. Upon capturing him, they brought him up to N’vukhadretzar king of Bavel at Rivlah, in the land of Hamat, where he passed judgment on him. ⁶ The king of Bavel slaughtered the sons of Tzidkiyahu before his eyes in Rivlah; the king of Bavel also slaughtered all the leading men of Y’hudah. ⁷ Then he put out Tzidkiyahu’s eyes and bound him in chains to be carried off to Bavel. ⁸ The Kasdim burned down the royal palace and the people’s houses, and they broke down the walls of Yerushalayim. ⁹ N’vuzar’adan commander of the guard then deported to Bavel the remaining population of the city, the deserters who had defected to him, and the rest of the people remaining. ¹⁰ But N’vuzar’adan the commander of the guard left behind in the territory of Y’hudah some of the poor people, those who had nothing, and at the same time gave them vineyards and fields.

¹¹ Concerning Yirmeyahu, N’vukhadretzar king of Bavel gave N’vuzar’adan the commander of the guard this order: ¹² “Take him, look after him well, and do him no harm, but treat him as he tells you.” ¹³ So N’vuzar’adan the commander of the guard, N’vushazban the Rav-Saris, Nergal-Sar’etzer the Rav-Mag, and all the chief officers of the king of Bavel ¹⁴ sent to have Yirmeyahu taken out of the guards’ quarters; they committed him to the care of G’dalyahu the son of Achikam, the son of Shafan, to be brought home. There he lived among the people.

¹⁵ This word of יְהוָה came to Yirmeyahu while he was imprisoned in the guards’ quarters: ¹⁶ “Go and tell ‘Eved-Melekh the Ethiopian that יְהוָה-Tzva’ot, ELOHEI Yisra’el, says: ‘“I am about to fulfill my words about this city for disaster, not for good; when the day arrives, they will come true before your eyes. ¹⁷ But at that time I will rescue you,” says יְהוָה, “and I will not hand you over to the men you fear. ¹⁸ Yes, I will keep you safe; you will not fall by the sword, but you will escape with your life, because you have put your trust in me,” says יְהוָה.’”

 

Yirmeyahu/Jeremiah 40

¹ This word came to Yirmeyahu from יְהוָה after N’vuzar’adan the commander of the guard had let him leave Ramah, after having taken him, bound in chains, with all the captives from Yerushalayim and Y’hudah that had been carried off to Bavel. ² The commander of the guard took Yirmeyahu and said to him, “יְהוָה ELOHEIKEM decreed this disaster for this place, ³ and יְהוָה has brought it about; He has done what He said He would do, because you people sinned against יְהוָה and did not listen to what He said; that is why this has come upon you.  [It is a rather incredible thing that the commander of the guard of Babylon would know this. It is clear he heard rumors, but I suggest it goes much deeper than that. His comments indicate that He had become a true believer in יְהוָה ELOHEI Yisra'el.]  ⁴ Now, today, I am freeing you from the chains on your hand. If it seems good to you to come with me to Bavel, come; and I will look after you well. But if it seems not good to you to come with me to Bavel, then don’t. The entire land is in front of you. Wherever it seems good and right for you to go, go there.” ⁵ Before Yirmeyahu could answer, [N’vuzar’adan said,] “Go back then to G’dalyahu the son of Achikam, the son of Shafan, whom the king of Bavel has made governor over the cities of Y’hudah, and live with him among the people; or go wherever it seems right for you to go.” The commander of the guard gave him provisions and a gift, and dismissed him.

⁶ Yirmeyahu then went to G’dalyahu the son of Achikam in Mitzpah and lived with him among the people who were left in the land. [It is at this point that one might expect Yirmeyahu to leave the remaining Hebrews for richer pasture. They had completely rejected his prophecies, even after they came true. They had imprisoned him in the bottom of a cistern, fully intending to leave him there to die, time and again they called him a liar, told him not to prophesy, and clearly had no intention of abiding in any of the mitzvot יְהוָה.]

⁷ Now when all the field force commanders and their men heard that the king of Bavel had made G’dalyahu the son of Achikam governor in the land and had committed to his care men, women, children and some of the poorest people in the land of those who had not been carried captive to Bavel; ⁸ they approached G’dalyahu in Mitzpah, in particular, Yishma‘el the son of N’tanyahu, Yochanan and Yonatan the sons of Kareach, S’rayah the son of Tanchumet, the sons of ‘Efai the N’tofati and Y’zanyahu the son of the Ma‘akhati, they and their men. ⁹ G’dalyahu the son of Achikam, the son of Shafan, swore to them and their men, “Don’t be afraid to serve the Kasdim. Live in the land, serve the king of Bavel; and things will go well with you. ¹⁰ As for me, I will live in Mitzpah and be responsible to the Kasdim who come to us. But you, harvest wine, summer fruits and olive oil; put them in your containers; and live in your cities that you have taken over.”

¹¹ Likewise, when all the Judeans who were in Mo’av, in Edom, among the people of ‘Amon, and in all the other countries heard that the king of Bavel had left a remnant in Y’hudah and had appointed G’dalyahu the son of Achikam, the son of Shafan, to govern them; ¹² then all the Judeans returned from all the places where they had been driven and came to the land of Y’hudah, to G’dalyahu in Mitzpah, and harvested wine and summer fruit in great abundance.

¹³ Yochanan the son of Kareach and all the field force commanders came to G’dalyahu in Mitzpah

¹⁴ and said to him, “Are you aware that Ba‘alis the king of the people of ‘Amon has sent Yishma‘el the son of N’tanyahu to take your life?” But G’dalyahu the son of Achikam did not believe them.
¹⁵ Then Yochanan the son of Kareach spoke privately with G’dalyahu in Mitzpah: “Please, let me go, and I will kill Yishma‘el the son of N’tanyahu; no one will know. Why let him assassinate you? Moreover, if he does, all the Judeans gathered around you will scatter; and the remnant of Y’hudah will perish.” ¹⁶ But G’dalyahu the son of Achikam said to Yochanan the son of Kareach, “Don’t do it. What you are saying about Yishma‘el is not true.”