committed such abominations, though they will be undefiled, and will not be ashamed. Therefore they shall fall in heaps, and when I visit them, they shall fall, saith the LORD.

I will gather them all, saith the LORD; and there shall not be left grapes in the vine, nor figs in the fig tree; yea, the leaves also shall fall away: and that which I have given them shall be taken away from them.

Where then shall we dwell? gather yourselves together, and let us go into the strong cities, and there wait for help. For the LORD our God will help us with a bitter drink, because we have sinned against the LORD.

Yea, trust ye that there shall be no need, when there is no good; and that ye shall be healed, when there is great hurt.

And it shall be heard, that their horses shall make a noise in Dan, and their horses shall give a shout, and the whole land shall tremble. And they shall go forth, and devour the land, and all that is therein, and the city, and all that dwell therein.

For, behold, I will send serpents and basilisks among you, which are not sworn; and they shall bite you, saith the LORD.

There will I rejoice in my labour and in my heart’s sorrow.

Behold, the daughter of my people shall cry out from a far country, Will not the LORD be God in Zion any more, or shall she have no king? Yea, why have they provoked me to anger with their images, and with their strange and vain services?

The harvest is past, the summer is gone, and no help is come unto us.

I am heartily sorry that my people are so corrupt: I am grieved and wretched.

Is there no ointment in Gilead? or is there no physician? Why then is not the daughter of my people healed?
(Jeremiah)
Chapter 9
Jeremiah’s lamentation over his people’s sins and the same punishment.

Oh that I had water enough in my head, and that mine eyes were fountains of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of my people!

Oh that I had an inn in the wilderness, that I might leave my people, and depart from them. For they are vain adulterers, and an unruly multitude.

They shoot with their tongues vain lies, and no truth: and they do violence in the land, and go from wickedness to wickedness, and regard me not, saith the LORD.

Let every man beware of his friend, neither let him trust his brother: for brother oppresseth another, and friend betrayeth another.

One friend deceiveth another, and speaketh no truer word: they labour how one may deceive another, and are sorry that they cannot make it worse.

There is deceitfulness among them everywhere: and for deceitfulness they will not know me, saith the LORD.

Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will melt them, and try them. For what else shall I do, because my people are so adorned?

Their false tongues are murderous arrows: with their mouth they speak kindly against their neighbour, but in their heart they lie in wait for him.

Should I not therefore visit these things upon them, saith the LORD, and should not my soul take vengeance upon such a people as these?

I have wept and lamented upon the mountains, and lamented upon the waste places: for they are utterly desolate, and none walketh there, neither can cattle be heard to cry. The birds of the air and the cattle are all gone.

And I will make Jerusalem a heap of stones, and a dragon’s habitation; and I will make the cities of Judah desolate, and none shall dwell therein.

Who then would be wise, and would let him go to his heart, and declare the things which the mouth of the LORD saith unto him, why the land is laid waste and desolate, as a wilderness where no man walketh?

And the LORD said, Because they have forsaken my law, which I commanded them, and have not hearkened unto my words, neither have they walked in them, 14. But follow the dictates of their hearts, and Baalim, as they taught their fathers, 15. Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will feed this people with wormwood, and water them with gall.

I will scatter them among the heathen, which know neither them nor their fathers; and I will send the sword after them, until they be finished.

Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Create and appoint wailing women to come, and send for them that are able,

And hastening to lament, our eyes run with tears, and our eyelids flow with water, 19. And there shall be heard a lamentable cry in Zion, saying, Alas, how we are utterly desolate and confounded! We must leave the land, for they have taken away our dwellings.

Hear therefore, ye wives, the word of the LORD, and take heed to the words of his mouth: teach your daughters to weep, and one to mourn, even thus:

Death is come in at our windows, and into our palaces, to choke the children in the street, and the young men in the street.

Thus saith the LORD; Say: The dead bodies of men shall lie as dung in the field, and as sheaves behind the reaper, which no man gathereth.

Thus saith the LORD; Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his strength, neither let the rich man glory in his riches, 24. But let him that will boast boast, that he knoweth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD, which do mercy, and judgment, and righteousness in the earth: for these things please me, saith the LORD.

Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will visit all the circumcised with the uncircumcised,

Egypt, Judah, Edom, the children of Ammon, Moab, and all that dwell in the wilderness places. For all the heathen have uncircumcised foreskins, but all the house of Israel have uncircumcised hearts.
(Jeremiah)
Chapter 10
Not idols, but God alone is to be feared and called upon.

Hear what the LORD saith unto you concerning the house of Israel.

Thus saith the LORD; Ye shall not learn the manner of the heathen, neither shall ye be afraid
of the signs of heaven, as the heathen are afraid: 3. For the gods of the heathen are nothing. They hew down a tree in the land, and the master of the work maketh them with an axe.

And adorn them with silver and gold, and fasten them with nails and hammers, that they fall not down.

They are nothing but pillars covered. They cannot speak, so they must be carried, for they cannot walk. Therefore do not be afraid of them, for they can neither help nor hurt.

But unto thee, O LORD, is no man like: thou art great, and thy name is great, and canst prove it in deed.

Who shall not fear thee, O king of the heathen? For thou shalt be obeyed: for there is none like thee among all the wise men of the heathen, nor in all the kingdoms.

They are all fools and fools only: for a wood must be a vain service.

Silver plate is brought from the sea, and gold from Uphaz, prepared by the master and the goldsmith; yellow silk and purple are made for him: all this is the work of the wise.

But the LORD is a true God, a living God, an everlasting King. The earth trembleth at his wrath, and the heathen cannot bear his wrath.

Say ye therefore unto them, The gods which have not made heaven and earth must be destroyed from off the earth, and from under heaven.

And he made the earth by his power, and prepared the world by his wisdom, and stretched out the heavens by his understanding.

When he thundereth, the multitude of waters is under heaven, and he causeth the mists to come up from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings in the rain, and causeth the wind to come out of secret places.

All men are fools in their art, and all goldsmiths are ashamed of their images: for their idols are deceitfulness, and have no life.

It is vain nothing, and a deceitful work; they must perish when they are afflicted.

But he that is Jacob’s treasure is not so; but he that made all things, and Israel is his inheritance. His name is called LORD of hosts.

Put away thy trade out of the land, thou that dwellest in the strong city.

For thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will spoil the inhabitants of the land this day, and will afflict them, that they may feel it.

Alas for the sorrow of my heart! But I think, It is my affliction, I must suffer it.

My tabernacle is broken down, and all my cords are rent. My children are gone, and are no more. No man rebuildeth my tabernacle, neither pitcheth my tent again.

For the shepherds are become fools, and enquire not after the LORD: therefore can they teach nothing that is right, but all the flocks are scattered.

Behold, there cometh a shout, and a great shaking out of the land of the north, that the cities of Judah shall be desolate, and shall become the habitation of dragons.

I know, O Lord, that a man’s doings are not in his power, neither is it in any man’s power how he shall walk, or how he shall direct his course.

Chasten me, O LORD, but with moderation, and not in thine anger, lest thou destroy me.

But pour out thine anger upon the heathen that know thee not, and upon the kindreds that call not upon thy name. For they