“Before I formed you in the belly,

I knew you,

And before you came out of the womb,

I sanctified you.

I have appointed you

As a prophet to the nations.”

Then I said,

“Oh, my Lord the Lord,

Look, I do not know how to speak,

For I am just a lad.”

But the Lord said to me,

“Do not say,

‘I am just a lad’,

For you shall go everywhere I send you,

And you shall speak everything I command you.

Do not fear their presence;

I am with you to deliver you”,

Says the Lord.

“Look, I have put my words in your mouth.

See, I have appointed you today

Over the nations and over the kingdoms,

To tear down and to demolish

And to destroy and to devastate,

To build and to plant.”

“Evil will break out from the north

Over all the inhabitants of the land.

For I am about to call

All the families of the kingdoms of the north,

Says the Lord,

And they will come,

And each king will direct his throne

To the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem,

And against all its walls round about,

And against all the cities of Judah.

And I will pronounce my judgments on them,

Concerning all their evil,

In that they have forsaken me

And burned incense to other gods

And have worshipped the works of their hands.

But you gird up your loins and arise,

And tell them everything that I command you.

Do not be afraid of them,

So that I do not cause you dismay in their presence.

And as for my part,

Look, I have made you today

A fortified city and an iron column,

And copper walls, all over the land,

To the kings of Judah, to its officers, to its priests,

And to the people of the land.

And they will fight against you,

But they will not prevail over you,

For I am with you,

Says the Lord,

To deliver you.”

«I remember your kindness in your youth,

Your love in your bridal state

– The fact that you walked after me in the desert,

In an uncultivated land.

Israel is holy to the Lord,

As are the firstfruits of its produce.

All who eat it will be guilty.

Evil will come upon them,

Says the Lord.» ’ ”

Hear the word of the Lord,

O house of Jacob,

And all you families

Of the house of Israel.

This is what the Lord says:

“What iniquity did your fathers find in me?

For they have distanced themselves from me

And have followed vanity

And have acted vainly.

And they did not say,

‘Where is the Lord

Who brought us up out of the land of Egypt?

– Who led us in the desert,

In an arid and sunken land,

In a land of drought

And a shadow of death,

Through a land through which no man crosses

And where no man dwells.’

And I brought you into a cultivable land,

To eat its fruit and its good produce,

But you came and defiled my land,

And you made my inheritance an abomination.

The priests did not say,

‘Where is the Lord?’

Those who administered the law did not know me,

And the pastors have transgressed against me,

And the prophets have prophesied through Baal,

And they have walked after things

Which do not benefit anyone.

That is why I will still contend with you,

Says the Lord,

And I will contend with your sons' sons.

For pass through the coastlands of Chittim and see,

And send men to Kedar to observe well,

And see whether it is like this.

Does a nation change its gods?

But they are not gods.

Yet my people have exchanged {P: my honour} [M: their honour]

For what will not benefit anyone.

O heavens, be astonished at this,

And shudder and be very astounded,

Says the Lord.

For my people have committed two evil acts;

They have forsaken me

– The source of living water –

For hewing cisterns out for themselves,

Broken cisterns

Which will not hold the water.

Is Israel a servant?

Or is he a homeborn slave?

Why has he become a target of spoil?

Young lions roar at him;

They made their sound,

And they laid his land waste.

His cities were burned down,

Leaving no inhabitant.

Also the sons of Noph and Tahpanhes

Have shaved your scalp.

Are you not doing this to yourself

By your forsaking the Lord your God,

At the time when he is leading you on the way?

So now, what do you have to do with Egypt's way,

With drinking the waters of Shihor?

And what do you have to do with Assyria's way,

With drinking the waters of the river?

Your wickedness will discipline you,

And your acts of apostasy will reprove you,

So know and see that your forsaking the Lord your God

Is evil and bitter,

And there is no fear of me in you,

Says the Lord, the Lord of hosts.

For I broke your yoke long ago,

And I detached your fetters,

{K: But you said, ‘I will not serve you’,} [Q: And you said, ‘I will not transgress’,]

{K: For} [Q: Yet] you wander around committing prostitution

On every high hill

And under every luxuriant tree.

Yet I planted you as a choice vine,

All of it being a true seed,

But how you have turned against me,

You who turn aside to become a foreign vine.

Even if you wash with soda ash,

And you apply much soap to yourself,

Your iniquity is a stain before me,

Says the Lord, the Lord.

How can you say,

‘I am not defiled;

I have not gone after the Baalim’?

Look at your way in the valley,

And know what you have done.

You are a swift young she-camel,

Devious in her ways.

A wild donkey is accustomed to the desert;

{Q: In her} [K: At his] feeling of desire

She draws in breath.

As for her passion,

Who can turn it back?

None who seek her become weary;

In her mating season they find her.

Keep your feet from being barefoot

And your throat from thirst.

But you said, ‘It is desperate.

No, for I love foreigners,

And I will go after them.’

Like the shame of a thief when he is caught,

So will the house of Israel be ashamed

– They, their kings, their officials,

And their priests and their prophets,

Who say to the wood,

‘You are my father’,

And to the stone,

‘You gave birth to {K: me} [Q: us].’

For they have turned their back on me,

And not their face,

But in their time of trouble, they say,

‘Arise and save us.’

Now where are your gods

Which you have made for yourself?

Let them arise

If they can save you in your time of trouble,

For your gods are as the number of your cities,

O Judah.

Why do you contend with me?

You have all transgressed against me,

Says the Lord.

I have struck your sons in vain;

They do not take discipline.

Your sword has devoured your prophets,

Like a rampaging lion.

O generation,

See the word of the Lord.

Have I been a desert to Israel?

Or a land of great darkness?

Why do my people say,

‘We rove around;

We will not come to you any more’?

Can a virgin forget her ornaments?

Or a bride her girdles?

But my people have forgotten me

For innumerable days.

How well you go your way in seeking love!

That is why you have also taught bad women your ways.

Also on your skirts is found

The blood of the lives of the innocent poor.

I did not find it by dint of an investigation,

For it is abundantly evident on all these skirts.

But you say,

‘As I am innocent,

Surely his anger will recede from me.’

But I am about to contend with you about your saying,

‘I have not sinned.’

How you exhaust yourself changing your way!

You will also be put to shame by Egypt,

As you were put to shame by Assyria.

You will also come out of this

With your hands on your head.

For the Lord has rejected your trusted allies,

And you will not succeed with them.

It is said,

‘If a man sends his wife away,

And she departs from him

And becomes another man's,

Can he return to her again?

Would that land not be badly defiled?’

But you have been promiscuous with many lovers.

Yet return to me,

Says the Lord.

Lift up your eyes to the heights and see:

Where have you not had someone to lie with you?

You have sat for them by the roadside,

Like an Arabian in the desert,

And you have defiled the land

With your acts of prostitution

And with your wickedness.

So the showers of rain were withheld,

And there was no latter rain,

And you have had the effrontery

Of a woman who is a prostitute;

You have refused to feel ashamed.

Will you not from now on call out to me,

‘My father,

You are the family head of my youth.’

Will he keep his anger age-abidingly?

Or will he retain it in perpetuity?

Look, you have spoken

And done evil things,

And you have won the day.”

‘Return, apostate Israel,

Says the Lord.

I will not rage at you,

For I am kind,

Says the Lord;

I will not keep my anger age-abidingly.

But admit your iniquity,

For you have transgressed against the Lord your God,

And you have gone in all directions to foreigners,

Under every luxuriant tree,

But you have not heeded my voice,

Says the Lord.

«How shall I place you among the sons,

And give you a pleasant land,

An inheritance which is the splendour of splendours of the nations?»

«You will call me, ‹My father›,

And you will not turn back from following me.»

Surely, as a wife is unfaithful to her husband,

So you have been unfaithful to me,

O house of Israel,

Says the Lord.

A sound is heard on the heights,

Weeping and supplications of the sons of Israel,

For they have taken a crooked path;

They have forgotten the Lord their God.

Return, you rebellious sons.

I will heal your apostatizings.’ ”

Here we are;

We have come to you,

For you are the Lord our God.

Truly, salvation is in vain

From hills and many mountains;

Truly, the salvation of Israel

Is in the Lord our God.

And shame has devoured

The hard work of our fathers from our youth

– Their sheep and their oxen,

Their sons and their daughters.

Let us lie in our shame,

And let our ignominy cover us,

For we have sinned against the Lord our God

– We and our fathers

From our youth up to this day.

And we have not heeded

The voice of the Lord our God.

“If you will return, O Israel,

Says the Lord,

Return to me,

And if you will remove your abominations from my presence,

And you will not be erratic,

And you swear that the Lord lives,

In truth, in justice, in righteousness,

Then the nations will be blessed through him

And will boast in him.”

For this is what the Lord says

To the men of Judah and to Jerusalem:

“Till yourselves some fallow land,

And do not sow in the thorns.

Circumcise yourselves to the Lord,

And remove the foreskin of your heart,

You men of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem,

So that my fury does not go forth like fire,

And burn,

With no-one to quench it,

For the evil of your actions.

Tell of it in Judah,

And announce it in Jerusalem,

{Q: And say, ‘Sound the ramshorn in the land.’} [K: And declare it, and sound the ramshorn in the land.]

Proclaim it aloud and say,

‘Assemble and let us go to the fortified cities.

Raise a standard in Zion,

Bring your household to safety;

Do not stand still.’

For I will bring evil from the north,

And great destruction.

A lion came up from its thicket,

And the one who brings ruin in nations

Has set off and left his place

To make your land a desolation.

Your cities will be laid waste

Without an inhabitant.

Because of this, gird yourselves with sackcloth,

Mourn and howl,

For the furious anger of the Lord

Has not receded from us.

And it will come to pass on that day,

Says the Lord,

That the king will lose heart,

As will the officials,

And the priests will be astonished,

And the prophets will be astounded.”

Then I said,

“Alas, my Lord the Lord,

You have truly really deceived this people and Jerusalem,

Saying, ‘You will have peace’,

But the sword has struck to the quick.”

At that time, it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem,

“There is a dry wind from the heights in the desert,

On its way to the daughter of my people,

Not for winnowing

And not for purifying.

A full wind from these places will come to me,

And now I too will pronounce judgment on them.”

Behold, he will come up as clouds,

And his chariots will be like a whirlwind.

His horses are swifter than eagles.

Woe is us,

For we are to be devastated.

“Cleanse your heart from evil, Jerusalem,

So that you may be saved.

How long will your vain thoughts remain within you?

For a voice is making an announcement from Dan,

And proclaiming vanity from Mount Ephraim.

Remind the nations,

Look, proclaim to Jerusalem,

Watchmen are coming from a distant land,

And they have raised their voices

Against the cities of Judah.

They are against her like guards around a field,

Because she has rebelled against me,

Says the Lord.

Your way and your deeds have done these things to you

– This wickedness of yours,

For it is bitter,

Because it strikes at your heart.”

My anguish, my anguish;

I writhe at the sides of my heart.

My heart is agitated in me;

I cannot be quiet,

For my inner being has heard the sound of the ramshorn

– The sound of war.

Destruction upon destruction is reported,

For all the land has been spoiled;

My tents were suddenly spoiled

– My encampment in a moment.

How long will I see a standard?

How long will I hear the sound of a ramshorn?

“For my people are fools;

They do not know me.

They are witless sons,

And they are not sensible.

They are wise in doing wrong,

But they do not know how to do what is right.”

I have seen the land

And seen that it is desolate and deserted.

And concerning the heavens,

Their light is absent.

I have seen the hills

And seen that they were trembling,

And that all the hills have shaken.

I looked and saw that there was no man,

And that all the birds of the sky

Had flown away.

I looked and saw the well-cultivated plain

Looking like the desert,

And that all its cities had been demolished

Because of the Lord

– Because of the fury of his anger.

For this is what the Lord says:

“All the land will be a desolation,

But I will not bring it to a complete end.

On account of this the land will mourn,

And the heavens above will be melancholic,

For I have spoken;

I have purposed it,

And I do not repent,

And I will not revoke it.

At the sound of the horseman and the archer,

All the city will flee;

They will go to the thickets

And go up into the rocks.

The whole city will be abandoned,

And there will be no man inhabiting any of them.

And when you have been devastated,

What will you do?

Even if you dress in scarlet,

If you adorn yourself with golden ornaments,

If you make your eyes stand out with eye shadow,

You will beautify yourself in vain.

Your lovers will reject you;

They will seek your life.

For I have heard a sound

Like a woman giving birth

– Distress like one bearing her firstborn –

The sound of the daughter of Zion,

Gasping and spreading her hands,

Saying, ‘Oh woe is me,

For my being is weary

With those who kill.’

Traverse the open places of Jerusalem,

And take a look and ascertain and find out

Whether you can find a man in her streets,

Whether there is anyone acting justly,

Seeking faithfulness,

And I will pardon the city.

But if they say,

‘As the Lord lives’,

It will be

Because they are swearing falsely.”

O Lord, are not your eyes for seeing faithfulness?

You have struck them without them feeling pain.

You have caused them to languish,

But they have refused to accept correction.

They have hardened themselves more than rock;

They have refused to return.

So I said, “Certainly they are weak;

They have acted foolishly,

For they do not know the way of the Lord,

Or the justice of their God.

I will betake myself to great men;

I will speak to them,

For they know the way of the Lord

– The justice of their God.

But they have altogether broken the yoke;

They have unshackled the bonds.

That is why a lion from the forest will strike them,

And a wolf from the arid tracts will prey on them.

A leopard will lie in wait in their cities,

And everyone who goes out from them will be torn to pieces,

For their transgressions are many,

And their apostasies are immense.”

“On what account should I pardon you?

Your sons have forsaken me

And have sworn by what are not gods.

And when I filled them with food,

They committed adultery

And converged on the house of a prostitute.

They were like ruttish horses,

Wandering about lusting,

Each neighing after his neighbour's wife.

Shall I not visit on account of these things?

Says the Lord,

And shall my being not be avenged

On a nation such as this?

‘Go up onto her walls and demolish it,

But do not bring it to a complete end.

Remove its bulwarks

For they are not for the Lord.

For the house of Israel and the house of Judah

Have treacherously betrayed me’,

Says the Lord.

They have acted deceitfully with the Lord and said,

‘He is not concerned.

No harm will come over us,

And we will not see sword or famine.’

And the prophets are becoming wind,

And the word is not present among them.

So it shall be done to them.”

That is why this is what the Lord God of hosts says:

“Because you have said these words,

I am about to make my words in your mouth fire,

And this people wood,

And it will consume them.

I am about to bring a people over you from afar,

O house of Israel,

Says the Lord.

It is a strong nation,

It is an age-old nation

– A nation whose tongue you do not know,

And you will not understand what they say.

Their quiver is like an open grave;

They are all warriors.

And they will eat your harvest and your bread,

They will eat your sons and your daughters,

They will eat your sheep and your oxen,

They will eat your vine and your fig tree;

They will emaciate your fortified cities

In which you trust, with the sword.

But neither in those days,

Says the Lord,

Will I bring you to a complete end.

And it will come to pass that you will say,

‘In return for what

Has the Lord our God done all these things to us?’

And you will say to them,

‘Just as you forsook me

And served foreign gods in your land,

So you will serve foreigners in a land not yours.’

Report this in the house of Jacob,

And announce it in Judah,

And say,

‘Now hear this, you foolish people,

And without a heart,

Do you not fear me?

Says the Lord.

Do you not tremble at the presence of me

Who have set sand as a border to the sea

– An age-abiding statute –

So that it will not pass over it?

And although its waves are turbulent,

They do not prevail,

And although they rage,

They do not pass over it.

But this people has a recalcitrant and rebellious heart.

They turn aside

And go their way.

And they have not said in their heart,

«Let us now fear the Lord our God

Who gives rain

– {K: Both early} [Q: Early] rain and latter rain in its time.

He keeps statutory weeks and harvest-time for us.»

Your iniquities have caused these things to depart,

And your sins have held goodness back from you.

For among my people wicked men are found;

They lie in wait like the couching down

Of those who trap birds.

They set a trap;

They catch men.

Like a cage full of birds,

So their houses are full of deceit,

Which is how they become important

And become rich.

They become fat,

They have a shining complexion;

They have even transgressed in matters of the wicked one.

They do not execute justice

– Justice of the orphan –

And they become prosperous.

They do not do justice to the poor.

Shall I not visit on account of these things?

Says the Lord,

And shall my being not be avenged

On a nation such as this?

An astonishing and horrendous thing

Has taken place in the land.

The prophets have prophesied falsely,

And the priests march hand in hand with them,

And my people love it like that.

So what will you do at its conclusion?’ ”

Bring your household to safety,

You sons of Benjamin,

From the heart of Jerusalem.

And sound the ramshorn in Tekoa,

And light a signal fire in Beth-Haccerem,

For trouble is impending from the north,

And a great catastrophe.

I have likened the daughter of Zion

To a fair and delicate woman.

Shepherds will come to her with their flocks,

They will pitch their tents near her round about;

Each one will pasture in his place.

“Sanctify a war against her;

Arise, we will go up at midday.”

Woe to us, for the day has advanced,

For the evening shadows are lengthening.

“Arise, and let us go up in the night,

And destroy her palaces.”

For this is what the Lord of hosts says:

“Cut down wood,

And throw up a rampart against Jerusalem.

She is the city which will be visited.

There is nothing but oppression inside her.

As a cistern keeps its water cool,

So she has kept her wickedness cool.

Violence and plundering are heard within her;

Before me are sickness and wounding continually.

Be chastised, Jerusalem,

So that I myself do not become alienated from you,

So that I do not make you a desolation

– An uninhabited land.”

This is what the Lord of hosts says:

“They will certainly glean out the remnant of Israel,

As with a vine.

Saying, ‘Draw your hand back to the baskets,

As a vine reaper does.’

To whom can I speak and testify,

And they will hear?

Look, their ears are uncircumcised,

And they are unable to listen.

Look, the word of the Lord came to them as a reproach;

They did not delight in it.

And I am full of the fury of the Lord;

I am weary of enduring it.

‘Heap it up

On a child out of doors,

And on a secret meeting of young men together’,

For even a man and wife will be taken,

And an old man with him who is full of days.

And their houses will be transferred to others

– Fields and wives together –

For I will stretch out my hand over the inhabitants of the land,

Says the Lord.

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

Every one of them defrauds for unjust gain,

And among both prophet and priest

Every one acts falsely.

And they had an easy way

Of healing the demise of my people,

Saying, ‘Peace, peace’,

When there was no peace.

Were they ashamed when they committed an abomination?

They were not ashamed at all,

Nor did they have a sense of ignominy,

Which is why they will be among those who fall.

At the time when I visit them,

They will stumble,

Says the Lord.”

This is what the Lord says:

“Stand on the ways and see,

And ask for the age-old paths;

Ask which way is the right one,

And walk on it,

And find rest for yourselves.

But they said,

‘We will not walk there.’

And I set up watchmen over you,

Who said,

‘Listen to the sound of the ramshorn’,

But they said,

‘We will not listen.’

Therefore hear, O nations,

And know, O congregation,

What is to happen among them.

Hear O earth,

I am about to bring trouble to this people

– The fruit of their thoughts –

For they have not listened to my words,

And as for my law,

They have rejected it.

What is this to me that frankincense should come from Sheba?

And fine cinnamon from a distant country?

Your burnt offerings are not a delight,

And your sacrifices do not please me.”

That is why this is what the Lord says:

“I am about to put stumbling blocks before this people,

And fathers and sons will stumble at them {K: together;} [Q: together,]

{K: A} [Q: And a] neighbour and his friend will perish.”

This is what the Lord says:

“Look, a people is coming from the land of the north,

And a great nation will be awakened

From the remote parts of the earth.

They will wield bow and spear;

They are cruel

And they will not show mercy.

Their voice roars like the sea,

And they ride on horses.

They are mobilized as men ready for war against you,

O daughter of Zion.”

We have heard of their fame,

Our hands have become limp,

And adversity has taken hold of us,

As has writhing like a woman giving birth.

Do not go out into the field,

And do not walk on the road,

For the enemy has a sword,

And there is fear all round.

O daughter of my people,

Gird yourself with sackcloth,

And roll in ashes.

Occupy yourself with mourning as for an only son

– With bitter lamentation –

For the destroyer will come upon us suddenly.

“I have made you an assayer

And a fortification among my people,

So that you may know and examine their way.

They are all inveterate rebels,

Who go about slandering.

They are copper and iron;

They are all ruinous people.

There is burning with bellows;

In the fire, lead is consumed.

The refiner refines in vain,

And the wicked are not drawn off.

They will be called rejected silver,

For the Lord has rejected them.”

«Will they fall,

And not arise?

Will one turn away from me,

And not turn back to me?

Why is this people

– Apostate Jerusalem –

Constantly rebellious?

They have persisted in deceit;

They have refused to return.

I listened and I heard,

But they did not speak honestly.

There is no man

Who has repented of his evil,

Who says,

‹What have I done?›

They have all turned away in their impetuousness,

Like a horse charging into battle.

Even the stork in the sky

Knows its set times,

And the turtle-dove and {Q: swallow} [K: horse] and the crane

Keep the time of their arrival,

But my people

Do not know the justice of the Lord.

How can you say,

‹We are wise,

And the law of the Lord is with us?›

Truly, look, he made it in vain;

The scribes' pen is in vain.

The wise men have been put to shame.

They are terrified, and they have been caught.

Look, they have rejected the word of the Lord,

And what wisdom do they have?

That is why I will give their wives to others,

And their fields to those who take possession of them,

Because from small to great,

They have all relentlessly made unjust gain;

Among both prophet and priest

They all deal falsely.

And they had an easy way of healing the demise of my people,

Saying, ‹Peace, peace›,

When there was no peace.

Were they ashamed when they committed an abomination?

They were not ashamed at all,

Nor did they have a sense of ignominy,

Which is why they will be among those who fall.

At the time of their visitation,

They will stumble,

Says the Lord.

I will certainly make an end of them,

Says the Lord.

There are no grapes on the vine,

And no figs on the fig tree,

And the foliage is withering.

And what I have given them,

They transgress.» ’ ”

Why are we sitting down?

Gather yourselves,

And let us go to the fortified cities

And be silent there,

For the Lord our God has silenced us,

And he has given us hemlock water to drink,

For we have sinned against the Lord.

We waited for peace,

But there was nothing good,

For a time of healing,

But what came was terror.

From Dan the snorting of his horses was heard.

At the sound of neighing of his mighty animals,

All the earth trembled.

And they came, and they devoured the land and its fulness,

And the city and those living in it.

“For I am about to send serpents and vipers against you,

Which cannot be charmed,

And they will bite you,

Says the Lord.”

My cheerfulness has turned into sorrow;

My heart is faint within me.

Just hear the sound of the crying out

Of the daughter of my people,

From a distant land.

Is the Lord not at Zion?

Or is her king not in her?

“Why have they provoked me to anger with their carved images

– With their foreign idols?”

The harvest has passed away;

The summer has ended,

But we have not been saved.

I am distressed at the distress

Of the daughter of my people.

I am dejected;

Astonishment has taken hold of me.

Is there no balsam in Gilead?

Or is there no doctor there?

So why has the health of the daughter of my people not blossomed?

If only I had a head full of water

– For my eye is a source of tears –

Then I would weep day and night

For the casualties of the daughter of my people.

If only I had in the desert a traveller's lodging place

So that I could leave my people

And go away from them,

“For they are all adulterers

– An assembly of traitors.

And they have spoken deceitfully,

Their bow is false,

And they have not become strong in the land

In a faithful way,

For they have gone from one bad thing to another,

And they have not known me,

Says the Lord.

Let each man beware of his neighbour,

And do not trust any brother,

For every brother will defraud and defraud,

And every neighbour will go about slandering.

And each man will deceive his neighbour,

And they will not speak the truth.

They have taught their tongue to speak lies;

They have exerted themselves in acting iniquitously.

You are seated in the midst of deceit;

It is through deceit

That they refuse to know me,

Says the Lord.”

That is why this is what the Lord of hosts says:

“I am about to refine them,

And I will test them,

For how else should I act

In view of the daughter of my people?

Their tongue is {K: a deadly} [Q: a hammered] arrow;

It speaks deceit.

With his mouth a man speaks peaceably with his neighbour,

But inwardly he plans his plot.

Shall I not visit them on account of these things,

Says the Lord,

And shall my being not be avenged

On a nation such as this?

I will bring forth weeping and lamentation for the hills,

And a dirge for the pastures in the desert,

For they have been burned,

So that no man passes through,

And no sound of cattle has been heard.

Both birds of the sky and cattle have migrated

And have gone away.

And I will turn Jerusalem into heaps of stones

– An abode for jackals –

And I will make the cities of Judah a desolation

Without any inhabitant.

“Take note

And call for the women who lament,

So that they come,

And send for women skilled in the art

So that they come.

And let them hasten to recite a lamentation on our account,

So that our eyes run with tears,

And our eyelids flow with water.

For the sound of lamentation is heard,

Coming from Zion,

‘How we have been plundered;

We have been very much put to shame,

For we have abandoned the land,

For our tent sites have been overthrown.’ ”

But, you women,

Hear the word of the Lord,

And let your ears accept the word of his mouth,

And teach your daughters lamentation,

And let each teach her neighbour a dirge.

For death has come through our windows;

It has entered our castles

To cut down the infant outside

And the youth in the streets.

Say, “This is what the Lord says:

‘And a man's dead body will fall

Like dung on the surface of a field,

And like sheaves behind the reaper,

With no-one gathering them up.’

This is what the Lord says:

‘Do not let the wise man boast of his wisdom,

And do not let the valiant warrior boast of his valiance,

And do not let the wealthy man boast of his wealth,

But rather let the boaster boast in this:

Being instructed and knowing me,

For I, the Lord,

Act with kindness, justice and righteousness in the land,

For it is in these that I delight,

Says the Lord.

‘Do not learn the ways of the Gentiles,

And do not be afraid of signs in the sky,

For the Gentiles are afraid of them.

For the customs of the various peoples are vain,

For it is a tree of the forest which a person cuts down,

And it becomes the work of the hands of a craftsman with a chisel.

He beautifies it with silver and with gold,

And they strengthen it with nails and with hammers

So that it is not fragile.

They are like a rigid post,

And they do not speak.

They need to be carried

Because they cannot walk.

Do not fear them,

For they cannot do harm,

And neither can they do any good.’ ”

Seeing that there is no-one like you, O Lord,

You are great,

And your name is great in might.

O king of the nations?

For it is fitting for you,

In that among all the wise men of the nations

And in all their kingdoms,

There is no-one like you.

They are at the same time vulgar and foolish;

For instruction in vain things,

They have a piece of wood.

Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish,

And gold from Uphaz.

The work of the craftsman and the hands of the refiner,

The blue and the purple material for their clothing

– They are all the work of skilled men.

But the Lord God is truthful;

He is the living God

And the age-abiding king.

At his anger, the earth trembles;

The nations cannot endure his indignation.

He is the maker of the earth by his power

– The preparer of the world by his wisdom –

Who stretched out the heavens

With his understanding.

When he sounds his voice,

There is roaring of water in the sky,

And he makes vapours rise from the ends of {K: the earth} [Q: the earth].

He produces lightning with the rain,

And he brings wind out of his storehouses.

Every man has become deficient in knowledge;

Every metalsmith has become ashamed of the idol,

For his cast figure is a false thing,

And there is no spirit in them.

They are vanity

– A work based on delusions.

At the time of their visitation,

They will perish.

Such is not the portion of Jacob;

Rather, it is he who is the fashioner of everything,

And of Israel, the sceptre of his inheritance

– The Lord of hosts is his name.”

Collect up your belongings

And take them away from the land,

You who dwell in the fortification.

For this is what the Lord says:

“I am about to sling out the inhabitants of the land at this time,

And I will cause them distress

In order that they may encounter it.”

Woe is me for my demise;

My wound is morbid,

And I have said,

“This really is a calamity

Which I shall bear.”

My tent has been plundered,

And all my guylines have been detached.

My sons have gone away from me,

And they are not to be found,

And there is no-one pitching my tent any more

Or setting up my encampment.

For the shepherds have become callous,

And they have not sought the Lord,

Which is why they have not acted prudently,

And all their flock has been scattered.

You will find that a report of a rumour is coming,

And a great tumult from the land of the north,

To make the cities of Judah a desolation

– A dwelling place for jackals.

I know, O Lord,

That it is not for man to determine his way;

It is not for man when walking

To direct his own steps.

Discipline me, O Lord,

But with justice;

Not in your anger,

So that you do not diminish me.

Pour out your wrath on the Gentiles

Who have not known you,

And on the families

Who have not called on your name,

For they have devoured Jacob

And devoured him more,

And they have made an end of him,

And they have devastated his abode.

What entitlement does my beloved have to be in my house,

With so many making the place a place of intrigue?

And they neglect the holy flesh of the sacrifices which are due to you.

When they neglect harming you, O Jerusalem,

Then you will rejoice.

The Lord has called you a flourishing olive tree

– The beauty of a fine fruit.

At the sound of a great tumult,

He lit a fire in her,

And its branches were broken.

“Let us destroy the tree at its nourishment,

And let us cut him off from the land of the living,

So that his name is no longer remembered.”

But, O Lord of hosts,

You who judge righteously,

I will see your vengeance on them,

For I have revealed my contention to you.

You are righteous, O Lord,

When I take issue with you,

But I will contend a legal issue with you.

Why does the way of the wicked prosper?

All those who act treacherously are at ease.

You planted them,

And they for their part have taken root;

They sprout up and also produce fruit.

You are near in their mouth

But far away in their inward feelings.

But you, O Lord, know me;

You see me, and you test my heart's attitude to you.

Draw them off like sheep for the slaughter,

And devote them to the day of killing.

How long will the land mourn,

And the herbaceous vegetation of the whole countryside dry up?

On account of the evil of those who inhabit it,

It is causing cattle and fowl to die out,

Because they said,

“He will not see our end result.”

“If when you run with the foot soldiers,

They tire you out,

How can you compete with the horses?

And if you were confident only in a land at peace,

What will you do at the rising of the Jordan?

For even your brothers,

And also those of your father's house,

Have betrayed you.

Even they called after you loudly;

Do not believe them

When they speak of good things to you.

I have forsaken my house,

I have abandoned my inheritance;

I have delivered my dear love

Into the hand of her enemies.

My inheritance has become like a lion in the forest.

It has decried me,

Which is why I have come to hate it.

Is my inheritance a coloured bird of prey to me?

Is the bird of prey circling round about it?

Come and gather all the wild animals;

Bring them to eat.

Many shepherds have ruined my vineyard,

They have trodden down what I have apportioned;

They have made my pleasant apportionment into a desert of desolation.

He has made it a desolation;

A desolate land mourns to me.

The whole land has been made desolate,

For there is no-one who gives his mind to it.

The despoilers have come to all the high places in the desert,

For the sword of the Lord has devoured

From one end of the land

To the other end of the land.

There is no peace for any flesh.

They have sown wheat,

But they have reaped thorns;

They have exhausted themselves

But are not benefited by it.

So be put to shame by your produce,

Because of the furious anger of the Lord.”

Hear and listen;

Do not be high-minded,

For the Lord has spoken.

Give the Lord your God honour

Before he brings darkness,

And before your feet strike the mountains in the darkness,

And, when you await light,

He makes it a shadow of death,

{K: And he turns} [Q: And he turns] it into sombre gloom.

And if you do not heed it,

My inner being will weep in secret places

Because of your arrogance.

My eye will weep bitterly

And run with tears,

For the Lord's flock will have been taken captive.

Say to the king and to the queen consort,

“Take a lower seat,

For your head-end has come down

– The crown of your splendour.

The cities of the south will be shut,

And there will be no-one opening them up.

All of Judah will be exiled;

It will be completely exiled.

Lift up your eyes

And see those coming from the north.

Where is the flock which was given to you?

– Your splendid sheep?

What will you say when he visits you?

For you taught them,

And they will be over you as masters,

And they will become your head.

Will not birth pangs seize you,

As of a woman in labour?

And if you say in your heart,

‘Why have these things happened to me?’

It is for your great iniquity

That the train of your skirt is uncovered,

And your heels are violated.

Can an Ethiopian change his skin,

Or a leopard his spots?

If so then you too can do good,

You who are accustomed to doing evil.

And I will scatter them

Like chaff passing by in a wind from the desert.

This is your lot,

A portion from me to be meted out to you,

Says the Lord,

Because you have forgotten me,

And you have trusted in a lie.

So I for my part

Will uncover the train of your skirt

Up to your face

So that your shame is seen.

I have seen your adulteries and your neighings,

And the depravity of your prostitution on hills in the countryside

– Your abominations.

Woe to you, Jerusalem!

Will you not become clean?

After how long, still?”

“Judah is mourning,

And her gates are languishing

And lamenting for the land,

While Jerusalem's cry has gone up.

And their nobles have sent their young children for water,

And they came to the cisterns,

But they did not find any water.

They returned with their vessels empty;

They were put to shame

And were made ignominious,

And they covered their heads.

For the land is cracked,

For there has been no rain in the land.

The farmers have been put to shame;

They have covered their heads.

For even the hind in the field has given birth

And abandoned the fawn,

For there was no grass.

And wild donkeys stand on the heights

And draw breath like jackals.

Their eyes are wasted

Because there is no herbaceous vegetation.”

Although our iniquities testify against us,

O Lord,

Act for the sake of your name,

For our apostasies are many;

We have sinned against you.

O hope of Israel,

His saviour in a time of distress,

Why are you like a foreigner in the land,

And like a wayfarer who turns in

To lodge for the night?

Why should you be like a startled man?

– Like a warrior unable to save?

But you are in our midst, O Lord,

And we are called after your name.

Do not abandon us!

“This is how they have loved to wander about:

They have not restrained their feet,

And the Lord has not had delight in them.

Now he will remember their iniquity

And visit their sins.”

‘My eyes will run with tears night and day,

And they will not cease,

For the virgin daughter of my people

Has been broken up by a great disaster

– A very debilitating blow.

If I go out into the field,

What I see is casualties of the sword,

And if I go into the city,

What I see is people suffering from famine,

For both prophet and priest travel around in a country

Which they do not care for.’ ”

Have you really rejected Judah?

Or has your inner self loathed Zion?

Why have you struck us

To the extent that we are beyond healing?

We hoped for peace

But there is nothing good,

And for a time of healing,

But what came was terror.

We know, O Lord,

Our wickedness and the iniquity of our fathers,

For we have sinned against you.

Do not despise us,

For the sake of your name.

Do not disdain your glorious throne.

Remember, and do not break

Your covenant with us.

Are there any among the idols of the Gentiles

Who cause rain?

Or do the heavens produce showers?

Is it not you who do,

O Lord our God?

And we put hope in you,

Because it is you

Who have made all these things.

«He who is destined for death,

To death;

And he who is destined for the sword,

To the sword;

And he who is destined for famine,

To famine;

And he who is destined for captivity,

To captivity.» ’

For who will have compassion on you, Jerusalem,

And who will console you,

And who will turn aside

To ask how you are?

You have forsaken me,

Says the Lord,

You are going backwards,

And I will stretch my hand out over you,

And I will ravage you.

I am weary of showing compassion.

And I will winnow them with a winnowing fan.

At the gates of the land,

I will bereave them of children;

I will cause my people to perish.

They have not turned back from their ways.

Their widows are more numerous,

Let me tell you,

Than the sand of the seas.

I have brought to them

– Against the mother of a young man –

A plunderer at noon.

I have made fear and terrors descend on her suddenly.

One who has given birth to seven is languishing;

She has breathed her last.

Her sun has set

While it is still day.

She has been put to shame

And has been put to the blush.

And I will deliver the rest of them to the sword before their enemies,

Says the Lord.”

Woe is me, my mother,

Because you gave birth to me,

A man of contention and a man of dispute with the whole of the land.

I have not lent at interest,

Nor have others lent at interest to me.

Yet they all curse me.

“I will certainly set you free

For what is right;

I will certainly make the enemy plead with you

In a time of trouble

And in a time of distress.

Does iron break iron,

From the north?

Or copper?

I will make your wealth and your treasures spoil without a price,

And this for all your sins

And in all your territories.

And I will cause your enemies to pass through a land

Which you are not acquainted with,

For a fire has been kindled in my anger;

It will burn against you.”

You know, O Lord;

Remember me and visit me and avenge me

Of those who pursue me.

Do not take me in persistence of your anger;

Be aware that I have borne reproach for your sake.

Your words were found,

And I absorbed them,

And your {Q: word was} [K: words were] a joy to me

And gladness to my heart,

For I am called after your name,

O Lord God of hosts.

I have not sat in the company of the merry-makers and exulted.

I have sat alone because of your hand,

For you have filled me with indignation.

Why is my pain perpetual

And my wound incurable?

It refuses to heal.

Will it really be a delusion of mine

Like untrustworthy waters?

That is why this is what the Lord says:

“If you return,

I will restore you,

And you will stand before me.

And if you utter honoured words

Rather than base ones,

You will be like my mouth

– They will return to you.

But do not you go back on them.

And I will make you a reinforced wall of copper to this people,

And when men fight against you,

They will not prevail over you,

For I am with you to save you

And to deliver you,

Says the Lord.

And I will deliver you from the hand of the wicked,

And I will redeem you from the grip of the violent.”

The Lord is my strength and my stronghold,

And my refuge on a day of distress.

To you the Gentiles will come from the ends of the earth,

And they will say,

“Our fathers inherited nothing but lies

– Vanity –

And there was nothing profitable in them.”

“Will a man make himself some gods?

But they are not gods.

That is why I am about to reveal something to them.

This time, I will reveal to them

My hand and my might,

And they will know

That my name is the Lord.

Judah's sin has been written with an iron stylus,

With a diamond point,

Engraved on the tablet of their heart,

And on the horns of your altars,

While their sons remember their own altars,

And their phallic parks,

With luxuriant trees on the high hills.

O mountain of mine in the countryside,

I will make your riches

– All your treasures –

Spoil.

Your idolatrous raised sites are in sin in all your territories.

And you

– And this because of you –

Will be removed from your inheritance

Which I have given you,

And I will make you serve your enemies

In a land which you have not known,

For you have kindled a fire in my anger,

Which will burn age-abidingly.”

This is what the Lord says:

“Cursed is the man who trusts in man,

Who makes flesh his strong arm,

And whose heart departs from the Lord.

And he will be most destitute

In an arid tract,

And he will not see it when prosperity comes,

And he will live in parched places in the desert,

In a salty land,

And not inhabited.

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,

Whose reliance is the Lord.

And he will be like a tree planted by water,

Which sends its roots into a river,

Which will not {K: fear} [Q: see] when heat comes,

Whose foliage will be luxuriant,

Which will not be concerned in a year of drought,

And which will not fail to produce fruit.

The heart is more deceitful than anything,

And it is incurable

– Who can discern it?

And examine the kidneys,

Like a partridge brooding over what it has not begotten,

So is he who gains wealth but not legitimately.

At half of his {Q: days} [K: day] it leaves him,

And in his later life he becomes a fool.”

The place of our sanctuary is a glorious throne;

It has been an exalted place from the beginning.

The hope of Israel is the Lord;

All who desert you will be put to shame.

“{K:And} [Q:And] those who depart from me

Will be written on the ground,

Because they have deserted the source of living water

– The Lord.”

Heal me, O Lord,

So that I am healed.

Save me

So that I am saved,

For you are my focus of praise.

See how they say to me,

“Where is the word of the Lord?

Let it come, then.”

But I have not hastened away

From being a shepherd in following you,

Nor have I longed for the sorrowful day.

You know the utterance of my lips

Which was in your presence.

Do not be a terror to me;

You are my refuge on the evil day.

Let those who pursue me be put to shame,

But do not let me be put to shame.

Let them fear,

But do not let me fear.

Bring on them the evil day,

And break them in pieces,

With double breaking force.

“Just ask among the nations

Who has heard such things.

The virgin of Israel has done

A very horrible thing.

Does the snow of Lebanon

Desert the rock in the plain?

Or will the flowing foreign cold water

Be withdrawn?

But my people have forgotten me;

They burn incense in vain.

And they have caused themselves to stumble in their ways.

They have forsaken the age-old paths

By walking in the tracks of a road not raised up,

So making their land a desolation

– An age-long object of jeering.

Everyone who passes over it is astonished

And shakes his head.

Like an east wind,

I will scatter them before the enemy.

I will show them the back of the neck

And not the face

On the day of their downfall.”

O Lord, heed me,

And hear the voice

Of those who take issue with me.

Will evil be recompensed for good?

For they have dug a lethal pit for me.

Remember me standing before you

To speak a good thing concerning them,

To turn your fury away from them.

Therefore deliver their sons to famine,

And give them over to the blade of the sword,

And let their wives be bereaved of children

And be widows,

And let their men be put to death,

And let their young men be struck by the sword in battle.

Let their shout be heard from their houses

When you suddenly bring a troop on them,

For they have dug a pit to trap me,

And they have hidden snares for my feet.

But you, O Lord,

Know all their deadly plans against me.

Do not pardon their iniquity,

And do not blot out their sin from your presence,

And let them be made to stumble before you.

At the time of your anger,

Deal with them.

O Lord, you have induced me into this,

And I have been induced into it.

You are stronger than I,

And you have prevailed.

I have become a laughing stock

All day long.

Everyone mocks me.

For whenever I speak, I shout.

I cry out,

“Violence and oppression!”

For the word of the Lord

Was reproach and derision for me

All day long.

And I said,

“I will not mention him,

And I will not speak in his name any more.”

But it was in my heart like burning fire,

Shut up in my bones,

And I became weary enduring it,

And I was not able to do so.

For I have heard the slander of many;

There is fear all round.

“Report it, and we will report him”, they say.

Every man I have been well-disposed towards,

Who would stand by me,

Says, “Perhaps he will be enticed,

And we will get the better of him,

And take our revenge on him.”

But the Lord is with me as a mighty warrior,

Which is why those who pursue me will stumble

And will not prevail.

They will be very ashamed,

Because they have not acted prudently.

They will have age-abiding ignominy

Which will not be forgotten.

But the Lord of hosts tests the righteous

And sees the kidneys and the heart.

I will see your vengeance on them,

For I have disclosed my contention to you.

Sing to the Lord;

Praise the Lord,

For he has delivered the livelihood of the poor

From the grip of evildoers.

Cursed be the day on which I was born

– The day when my mother bore me.

Let it not be blessed.

Cursed be the man who brought the news to my father

And said, “A son, a male, has been born to you”,

Making him rejoice greatly.

And let that man be like the cities which the Lord has overturned

And did not show compassion on,

And let him hear an outcry in the morning

And shouting at noon time,

Because he did not kill me in the womb,

So that my mother would be my grave,

And her womb would be age-abidingly pregnant.

Why is it that I came out of the womb

To see toil and sorrow,

And that my days should end in shame?

«Administer justice in the morning,

And deliver him who has been plundered from the oppressor,

So that my fury does not go forth like fire

And burn with no-one to extinguish it,

Because of the evil of {K: their} [Q: your] deeds.

I am here against you,

You who inhabit the valley

And the rock of the plain,

Says the Lord

– Against you who say,

‹Who can descend on us,

And who will come to our dwelling places?›

But I will visit you according to the fruit of your deeds,

Says the Lord,

And I will light a fire in her forest,

And it will consume all her surrounding area.» ’ ”

«You are Gilead to me

– The summit of Lebanon –

But I will certainly make you a desert

– Cities which are not inhabited.

And I will consecrate destroyers against you

– Each one and his weapons –

And they will cut your choice cedars down

And consign them to the fire.

Do not weep for him who is dead,

And do not bemoan him;

Weep profusely rather

For him who goes away,

For he will not return again

Or see his native land.»

Woe to him who builds his house on an unrighteous basis,

And his upper rooms in an unjust way,

With his neighbour working for nothing,

And not giving him his wages,

Who says,

‹I will build myself a vast house,

And spacious upper rooms.›

And he cuts himself out windows,

And it is panelled with cedar,

And it is painted with red ochre.

Will you reign

Because you are zealous about cedar?

Did your father not eat and drink

And administer justice and righteousness,

And then things went well with him?

He defended the interest of the poor and the needy,

Then it went well with him.

Is this not knowing me?

Says the Lord.

For your eyes and your heart

Are set on nothing but personal profit

And on shedding the blood of the innocent

And on oppression and on inflicting ill-treatment.»

«They shall not mourn for him, saying,

‹Alas, my brother›,

And, ‹Alas, sister.›

They shall not mourn for him saying,

‹Alas, lord›,

Or, ‹Alas for his illustriousness.›

He will be buried with the burial of a donkey,

Which they drag and cast down

Beyond the gates of Jerusalem.

Go up to Lebanon and cry out,

And raise your voice in Bashan,

And cry out from Abarim,

For all your lovers have been routed.

I spoke to you in your time at ease,

But you said, ‹I will not hear.›

This has been your way since your youth,

For you have not heeded my voice.

The wind will consume all your shepherds,

And your lovers will go into captivity,

For then you will be put to shame,

And you will suffer ignominy

Because of all your wickedness.

You who live in Lebanon,

Who have had your nest built in the cedars,

How pitiable you are

When the pangs come upon you

– The throes as of a woman giving birth.

Is this man Coniah not a despicable smashed piece of earthenware?

Or a vessel which has nothing attractive about it?

Why have he and his seed been cast out

And ejected into a land

Which they have not known?»

O earth, earth, earth,

Hear the word of the Lord.

This is what the Lord says:

«Record this man as childless

– A man who will not prosper in his days –

For none of his seed will prosper,

Neither as a man sitting on the throne of David,

Nor a ruler in Judah any more.» ’ ”

Behold, the days are coming,

Says the Lord,

When I will raise a righteous branch to David,

And he will reign as king,

And he will act wisely

And administer justice and righteousness in the land.

In his days Judah will be saved,

And Israel will dwell securely,

And this is his name by which he will be called:

The Lord our Righteousness.

As for the prophets, my heart inside me is broken;

All my bones tremble.

I am like a drunkard

And like a man whom wine has overcome,

Because of the Lord

And because of his holy words.

For the land is full of adulterers,

For on account of a curse,

The land is mourning.

The places of pasturage in the desert have dried up.

And their oppression is evil,

And their boldness is out of place.

“For both prophet and priest have become profaned.

Even in my house I have found their evil,

Says the Lord,