The
Lord
's Response
5
If you have raced with runners
and they have worn you out,
how can you compete with horses?
If you stumble in a peaceful land,
what will you do in the thickets of the Jordan?
6
Even your brothers — your own father's household —
even they were treacherous to you;
even they have cried out loudly after you.
Do not have confidence in them,
though they speak well of you.
7
I have abandoned My house;
I have deserted My inheritance.
I have given the love of My life
into the hands of her enemies.
8
My inheritance has acted toward Me
like a lion in the forest.
She has roared against Me.
Therefore, I hate her.
9
Is My inheritance like a hyena to Me?
Are birds of prey circling her?
Go, gather all the wild animals;
bring them to devour her.
10
Many shepherds have destroyed My vineyard;
they have trampled My plot of land.
They have turned My desirable plot
into a desolate wasteland.
11
They have made it a desolation.
It mourns, desolate, before Me.
All the land is desolate,
but no one takes it to heart.
12
Over all the barren heights in the wilderness
the destroyers have come,
for the
Lord
has a sword that devours
from one end of the earth to the other.
No one has peace.
13
They have sown wheat but harvested thorns.
They have exhausted themselves but have no profit.
Be put to shame by your harvests
because of the
Lord
's burning anger.
14
This is what the
Lord
says: “Concerning all My evil neighbors who attack the inheritance that I bequeathed to My people, Israel, I am about to uproot them from their land, and I will uproot the house of Judah from them.
15
After I have uprooted them, I will once again have compassion on them and return each one to his inheritance and to his land.
16
If they will diligently learn the ways of My people — to swear by My name, ‘As
•Yahweh
lives,' just as they taught My people to swear by
•Baal
— they will be built up among My people.
17
However, if they will not obey, then I will uproot and destroy that nation.”
This is the
Lord
's declaration.
Jeremiah
Linen Underwear
13
This is what the
Lord
said to me: “Go and buy yourself a linen undergarment and put it on, but do not put it in water.”
2
So I bought underwear as the
Lord
instructed me and put it on.
3
Then the word of the
Lord
came to me a second time:
4
“Take the underwear that you bought and are wearing, and go at once to the Euphrates and hide it in a rocky crevice.”
5
So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the
Lord
commanded me.
6
A long time later the
Lord
said to me, “Go at once to the Euphrates and get the underwear that I commanded you to hide there.”
7
So I went to the Euphrates and dug up the underwear and got it from the place where I had hidden it, but it was ruined — of no use at all.
8
Then the word of the
Lord
came to me:
9
“This is what the
Lord
says: Just like this I will ruin the great pride of both Judah and Jerusalem.
10
These evil people, who refuse to listen to Me, who follow the stubbornness of their own hearts, and who have followed other gods to serve and worship — they will be like this underwear, of no use at all.
11
Just as underwear clings to one's waist, so I fastened the whole house of Israel and of Judah to Me” — this is the
Lord
's declaration — “so that they might be My people for My fame, praise, and glory, but they would not obey.
The Wine Jars
12
“Say this to them: This is what the
Lord
, the God of Israel, says: Every jar should be filled with wine. Then they will respond to you, ‘Don't we know that every jar should be filled with wine?'
13
And you will say to them: This is what the
Lord
says: I am about to fill all who live in this land — the kings who reign for David on his throne, the priests, the prophets and all the residents of Jerusalem — with drunkenness.
14
I will smash them against each other, fathers and sons alike” — this is the
Lord
's declaration. “I will allow no mercy, pity, or compassion to keep Me from destroying them.”
The
Lord
's Warning
15
Listen and pay attention. Do not be proud,
for the
Lord
has spoken.
16
Give glory to the
Lord
your God
before He brings darkness,
before your feet stumble
on the mountains at dusk.
You wait for light,
but He brings darkest gloom
and makes thick darkness.
17
But if you will not listen,
my innermost being will weep in secret
because of your pride.
My eyes will overflow with tears,
for the
Lord
's flock has been taken captive.
18
Say to the king and the queen mother:
Take a humble seat,
for your glorious crowns
have fallen from your heads.
19
The cities of the
•Negev
are under siege;
no one can help them.
All of Judah has been taken into exile,
taken completely into exile.
20
Look up and see
those coming from the north.
Where is the flock entrusted to you,
the sheep that were your pride?
The Destiny of Jerusalem
21
What will you say when He appoints
close friends as leaders over you,
ones you yourself trained?
Won't labor pains seize you,
as they do a woman in labor?
22
And when you ask yourself,
“Why have these things happened to me? ”
It is because of your great
•guilt
that your skirts have been stripped off,
your body exposed.
23
Can the
•Cushite
change his skin,
or a leopard his spots?
If so, you might be able to do what is good,
you who are instructed in evil.
24
I will scatter you like drifting chaff
before the desert wind.
25
This is your lot,
what I have decreed for you —
this is the
Lord
's declaration —
because you have forgotten Me
and trusted in Falsehood.
26
I will pull your skirts up over your face
so that your shame might be seen.
27
Your adulteries and your lustful neighing,
your heinous prostitution
on the hills, in the fields —
I have seen your detestable acts.
Woe to you, Jerusalem!
You are
•unclean
—
for how long yet?
Jeremiah
The Drought
14
The word of the
Lord
that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought:
2
Judah mourns;
her gates languish.
Her people are on the ground in mourning;
Jerusalem's cry rises up.
3
Their nobles send their servants for water.
They go to the cisterns;
they find no water;
their containers return empty.
They are ashamed and humiliated;
they cover their heads.
4
The ground is cracked
since no rain has fallen on the land.
The farmers are ashamed;
they cover their heads.
5
Even the doe in the field
gives birth and abandons her fawn
since there is no grass.
6
Wild donkeys stand on the barren heights
panting for air like jackals.
Their eyes fail
because there are no green plants.
7
Though our
•guilt
testifies against us,
•Yahweh
, act for Your name's sake.
Indeed, our rebellions are many;
we have sinned against You.
8
Hope of Israel,
its Savior in time of distress,
why are You like a foreigner in the land,
like a traveler stopping only for the night?
9
Why are You like a helpless man,
like a warrior unable to save?
Yet You are among us, Yahweh,
and we are called by Your name.
Don't leave us!
10
This is what the
Lord
says concerning these people:
Truly they love to wander;
they never rest their feet.
So the
Lord
does not accept them.
Now He will remember their guilt
and punish their sins.
False Prophets to be Punished
11
Then the
Lord
said to me, “Do not pray for the well-being of these people.
12
If they fast, I will not hear their cry of despair. If they offer
•burnt
offering and
•grain
offering, I will not accept them. Rather, I will finish them off by sword, famine, and plague.”
13
And I replied, “Oh no, Lord
God
! The prophets are telling them, ‘You won't see sword or suffer famine. I will certainly give you true peace in this place.' ”
14
But the
Lord
said to me, “These prophets are prophesying a lie in My name. I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a false vision, worthless
•divination
, the deceit of their own minds.
15
“Therefore, this is what the
Lord
says concerning the prophets who prophesy in My name, though I did not send them, and who say, ‘There will never be sword or famine in this land.' By sword and famine these prophets will meet their end.
16
The people they are prophesying to will be thrown into the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword. There will be no one to bury them — they, their wives, their sons, and their daughters. I will pour out their own evil on them.”
Jeremiah's Request
17
You are to speak this word to them:
Let my eyes overflow with tears;
day and night may they not stop,
for the virgin daughter of my people
has been destroyed by a great disaster,
an extremely severe wound.
18
If I go out to the field,
look — those slain by the sword!
If I enter the city,
look — those ill from famine!
For both prophet and priest
travel to a land they do not know.
19
Have You completely rejected Judah?
Do You detest
•Zion
?
Why do You strike us
with no hope of healing for us?
We hoped for peace,
but there was nothing good;
for a time of healing,
but there was only terror.
20
We acknowledge our wickedness,
Lord
,
the guilt of our fathers;
indeed, we have sinned against You.
21
Because of Your name, don't despise us.
Don't disdain Your glorious throne.
Remember Your covenant with us;
do not break it.
22
Can any of the worthless idols of the nations bring rain?
Or can the skies alone give showers?
Are You not the
Lord
our God?
We therefore put our hope in You,
for You have done all these things.
Jeremiah
The
Lord
's Negative Response
15
Then the
Lord
said to me: “Even if Moses and Samuel should stand before Me, My compassions would not reach out to these people. Send them from My presence, and let them go.
2
If they ask you, ‘Where will we go?' you must tell them: This is what the
Lord
says: