This is the word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought:
“Judah mournsand her gates languish.Her people wail for the land,and a cry goes up from Jerusalem.The nobles send their servants for water;they go to the cisterns, but find no water;their jars return empty.They are ashamed and humiliated;they cover their heads.The ground is crackedbecause no rain has fallen on the land.The farmers are ashamed;they cover their heads.Even the doe in the field deserts her newborn fawnbecause there is no grass.Wild donkeys stand on barren heights;they pant for air like jackals;their eyes fail for lack of pasture.”
Although our iniquities testify against us, O LORD,act for the sake of your name.Indeed, our rebellions are many;we have sinned against you.O Hope of Israel,its Savior in times of distress,why are you like a stranger in the land,like a traveler who stays but a night?Why are you like a man taken by surprise,like a warrior powerless to save?Yet you are among us, O LORD,and we are called by your name.
Do not forsake us!
This is what the LORD says about this people:
“Truly they love to wander;they have not restrained their feet.So the LORD does not accept them;he will now remember their guiltand call their sins to account.”
Then the LORD said to me, “Do not pray for the well-being of this people. Although they may fast, I will not listen to their cry; although they may offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Instead, I will finish them off by sword and famine and plague.”
“Ah, Lord GOD!” I replied, “Look, the prophets are telling them, ‘You will not see the sword or suffer famine, but I will give you lasting peace in this place.’ ”
“The prophets are prophesying lies in my name,” replied the LORD. “I did not send them or appoint them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a false vision, a worthless divination, the futility and delusion of their own minds.
Therefore this is what the LORD says about the prophets who prophesy in my name: I did not send them, yet they say, ‘No sword or famine will touch this land.’
By sword and famine these very prophets will meet their end! And the people to whom they prophesy will be thrown into the streets of Jerusalem because of famine and sword. There will be no one to bury them or their wives, their sons or their daughters. I will pour out their own evil upon them.
You are to speak this word to them:
‘My eyes overflow with tears;day and night they do not cease,for the virgin daughter of my peoplehas been shattered by a crushing blow,a severely grievous wound.If I go out to the country,I see those slain by the sword;if I enter the city,I see those ravaged by famine!For both prophet and priesttravel to a land they do not know.’ ”
Have you rejected Judah completely?Do you despise Zion?Why have you stricken usso that we are beyond healing?We hoped for peace,but no good has come,and for the time of healing,but there was only terror.We acknowledge our wickedness, O LORD,the guilt of our fathers;indeed, we have sinned against you.
For the sake of your name do not despise us;do not disgrace your glorious throne.Remember your covenant with us;do not break it.Can the worthless idols of the nations bring rain?Do the skies alone send showers?Is this not by you, O LORD our God?So we put our hope in you,for you have done all these things.
Then the LORD said to me: “Even if Moses and Samuel should stand before me, my heart would not go out to this people. Send them from my presence, and let them go. If they ask you, ‘Where shall we go?’ you are to tell them that this is what the LORD says:
‘Those destined for death, to death;those destined for the sword, to the sword;those destined for famine, to famine;and those destined for captivity, to captivity.’
I will appoint over them four kinds of destroyers, declares the LORD: the sword to kill, the dogs to drag away, and the birds of the air and beasts of the earth to devour and destroy. I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth because of what Manasseh son of Hezekiah king of Judah did in Jerusalem.
Who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem?Who will mourn for you?Who will turn asideto ask about your welfare?You have forsaken me, declares the LORD.You have turned your back.So I will stretch out my hand against youand I will destroy you;I am weary of showing compassion.
I will scatter them with a winnowing forkat the gates of the land.I will bereave and destroy my peoplewho have not turned from their ways.I will make their widows more numerousthan the sand of the sea.I will bring a destroyer at noonagainst the mothers of young men.I will suddenly bring upon themanguish and dismay.
The mother of seven will grow faint;she will breathe her last breath.Her sun will set while it is still day;she will be disgraced and humiliated.And the rest I will put to the swordin the presence of their enemies,”declares the LORD.
Woe to me, my mother,that you have borne me,a man of strife and conflictin all the land.I have neither lent nor borrowed,yet everyone curses me.
The LORD said:
“Surely I will deliver you for a good purpose;surely I will intercede with your enemyin your time of trouble,in your time of distress.Can anyone smash iron—iron from the north—or bronze?Your wealth and your treasuresI will give up as plunder,without charge for all your sinswithin all your borders.Then I will enslave you to your enemiesin a land you do not know,for my anger will kindle a firethat will burn against you.”
You understand, O LORD;remember me and attend to me.Avenge me against my persecutors.In your patience, do not take me away.Know that I endure reproach for your honor.Your words were found, and I ate them.Your words became my joyand my heart’s delight.For I bear your name,O LORD God of Hosts.I never sat with the band of revelers,nor did I celebrate with them.Because your hand was on me, I sat alone,for you have filled me with indignation.Why is my pain unending,and my wound incurable,refusing to be healed?You have indeed become like a mirage to me—water that is not there.
Therefore this is what the LORD says:
“If you return, I will restore you;you will stand in my presence.And if you speak words that are noble instead of worthless,you will be my spokesman.It is they who must turn to you,but you must not turn to them.Then I will make you a wall to this people,a fortified wall of bronze;they will fight against youbut will not overcome you,for I am with you to save and deliver you,declares the LORD.I will deliver you from the hand of the wickedand redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless.”
Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “You must not marry or have sons or daughters in this place.”
For this is what the LORD says concerning the sons and daughters born in this place, and the mothers who bore them, and the fathers who fathered them in this land: “They will die from deadly diseases. They will not be mourned or buried, but will lie like dung on the ground. They will be finished off by sword and famine, and their corpses will become food for the birds of the air and beasts of the earth.”
Indeed, this is what the LORD says: “Do not enter a house where there is a funeral meal. Do not go to mourn or show sympathy, for I have removed from this people my peace, my loving devotion, and my compassion,” declares the LORD.
“Both great and small will die in this land. They will not be buried or mourned, nor will anyone cut himself or shave his head for them. No food will be offered to comfort those who mourn the dead; not even a cup of consolation will be given for the loss of a father or mother.
You must not enter a house where there is feasting and sit down with them to eat and drink. For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: I am going to remove from this place, before your very eyes and in your days, the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of the bride and bridegroom.
When you tell these people all these things, they will ask you, ‘Why has the LORD pronounced all this great disaster against us? What is our guilt? What is the sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?’
Then you are to answer them: ‘It is because your fathers have forsaken me, declares the LORD, and followed other gods, and served and worshiped them. They abandoned me and did not keep my instruction. And you have done more evil than your fathers. See how each of you follows the stubbornness of his evil heart instead of obeying me. So I will cast you out of this land into a land that neither you nor your fathers have known. There you will serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor.’
Yet behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when they will no longer say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of the land of Egypt.’ Instead they will say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of the land of the north and all the other lands to which he had banished them.’ For I will return them to their land that I gave to their forefathers.
But for now I will send for many fishermen, declares the LORD, and they will catch them. After that I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill, even from the clefts of the rocks.
For my eyes are on all their ways. They are not hidden from my face, and their guilt is not concealed from my eyes. And I will first repay them double their iniquity and their sin, because they have defiled my land with the carcasses of their detestable idols, and they have filled my inheritance with their abominations.”
O LORD, my strength and my fortress,my refuge in the day of distress,the nations will come to youfrom the ends of the earth, and they will say,“Our fathers inherited nothing but lies,worthless idols of no benefit at all.Can man make gods for himself?Such are not gods!”
“Therefore behold, I will inform them,and this time I will make them knowmy power and my might;then they will knowthat my name is the LORD.“The sin of Judah is written with an iron stylus,engraved with a diamond pointon the tablets of their heartsand on the horns of their altars.Even their children remember their altars and Asherah polesby the green trees and on the high hills.O my mountain in the countryside,I will give over your wealthand all your treasures as plunder,because of the sin of your high places,within all your borders.And you yourself will relinquishthe inheritance that I gave you.I will enslave you to your enemiesin a land that you do not know,for you have kindled my anger;it will burn forever.”
This is what the LORD says:
“Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind,who makes the flesh his strengthand turns his heart from the LORD.He will be like a shrub in the desert;he will not see when prosperity comes.He will dwell in the parched places of the desert,in a salt land where no one lives.
But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,whose confidence is in him.He is like a tree planted by the watersthat sends out its roots toward the stream.It does not fear when the heat comes,and its leaves are always green.It does not worry in a year of drought,nor does it cease to produce fruit.
The heart is deceitful above all thingsand beyond cure.Who can understand it?I, the LORD, search the heart;I examine the mindto reward a man according to his way,by what his deeds deserve.Like a partridge hatching eggs it did not layis the man who makes a fortune unjustly.In the middle of his days his riches will desert him,and in the end he will be the fool.”
A glorious throne, exalted from the beginning,is the place of our sanctuary.O LORD, the hope of Israel,all who abandon you will be put to shame.All who turn away will be written in the dust,for they have abandoned the LORD,the fountain of living water.
Heal me, O LORD, and I will be healed;save me, and I will be saved,for you are my praise.Behold, they keep saying to me,“Where is the word of the LORD?Let it come now!”But I have not run away from being your shepherd;I have not desired the day of despair.You know that the utterance of my lipswas spoken in your presence.
Do not become a terror to me;you are my refuge in the day of disaster.Let my persecutors be put to shame,but do not let me be put to shame.Let them be terrified,but do not let me be terrified.Bring upon them the day of disasterand shatter them with double destruction.
This is what the LORD said to me: “Go and stand at the gate of the people, through which the kings of Judah go in and out; and stand at all the other gates of Jerusalem.
Say to them, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah, all people of Judah and Jerusalem who enter through these gates. This is what the LORD says: Take heed for yourselves; do not carry a load or bring it through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. You must not carry a load out of your houses or do any work on the Sabbath day, but you must keep the Sabbath day holy, just as I commanded your forefathers. Yet they would not listen or incline their ear, but they stiffened their necks and would not listen or receive my discipline.
If, however, you listen carefully to me, says the LORD, and bring no load through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, and keep the Sabbath day holy, and do no work on it, then kings and princes will enter through the gates of this city. They will sit on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses with their officials, along with the men of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem, and this city will be inhabited forever. And people will come from the cities of Judah and the places around Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin, and from the foothills, the hill country, and the Negev, bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings and frankincense, and thank offerings to the house of the LORD.
But if you do not listen to me to keep the Sabbath day holy by not carrying a load while entering the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle an unquenchable fire in its gates to consume the citadels of Jerusalem.’ ”