long, and our wounds so grievous, that no man can heal them? Thou art become unto us as a spring that will no more spring.

Therefore thus saith the LORD; If thou shalt cleave unto me, I will cleave unto thee, and thou shalt be my preacher: and if thou shalt teach the righteous from the wicked, thou shalt be my teacher: and before thou shalt fall unto them, they shall fall unto thee.

For I have made thee a strong wall of brass against this people: though they fight against thee, they shall not hurt thee: for I am with thee to help thee, and to deliver thee, saith the LORD.

And will also deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and will redeem thee out of the hand of tyrants.
(Jeremiah)
Chapter 16
The Jews are to be led to Babel and from there redeemed again.

And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying:

Thou shalt not take a wife, nor beget sons or daughters in this place.

For thus saith the LORD concerning the sons and daughters that are born in this place, and concerning their mothers that bear them, and concerning their fathers that beget them in this land:

They shall die of sickness, and shall not be lamented, neither shall they be buried: but they shall be dung upon the ground, and perish by the sword and by the famine: and their dead bodies shall be meat for the fowls of the air, and for the beasts of the earth.

For thus saith the LORD; Thou shalt not go to the house of mourning, neither shalt thou go anywhere to mourn, nor have compassion on them: for I have taken away my peace from this people, saith the LORD, with my grace and my mercy,

And both they, great and small, shall die in this land, and shall not be buried, neither shall they be lamented; neither shall any man cut himself upon them, nor make them bald.

Neither shall they divide bread among them for a lamentation, to comfort them for a dead body; neither shall they give them drink of the cup of consolation for their father and mother.

Therefore shalt thou not go into any drinking house to sit with them, neither to eat nor to drink.

For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will raise up in this place before your eyes, and in your life, the voice of joy and gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and of
the bride.

And when thou hast told all these things unto this people, and they shall say unto thee: Why saith the LORD against us all this great evil? what is this iniquity and sin, that we have sinned against the LORD our God?

And thou shalt say unto them, Because your fathers have forsaken me, saith the LORD, and have followed other gods, and served them, and worshipped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law,

And ye do more wickedly than your fathers. For, behold, every man liveth after the imagination of his own evil heart, that he should not obey me.

Therefore will I thrust you out of this land into a land which neither ye nor your fathers know, and there ye shall serve other gods day and night: there will I show you no mercy.

Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more be said: As the LORD liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, 15. But, As the LORD liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of the north, and out of all countries whither he had driven them. For I will bring them again into the land which I gave unto their fathers.

Behold, I will send forth many fishermen, saith the LORD, and they shall fish; and afterward I will send forth many hunters, and they shall hunt them in every mountain, and in every hill, and in every cave of stones.

For mine eyes are upon all their ways, that they cannot hide themselves from me: and their iniquity is unconcealed from mine eyes.

But first I will pay their iniquity and their sin double, because they have polluted my land with the carcases of their idols, and filled my inheritance with their abominations.

O LORD, thou art my strength, and my power, and my refuge in trouble. The heathen shall come unto thee from the end of the world, saying, Our fathers had false and vain gods, which profit nothing.

How can a man make gods that are not gods?

Therefore, behold, now will I teach them, and make known my hand and my power unto them, that they may know that my name is the LORD.
(Jeremiah)
Chapter 17
Idolatry, reliance on creatures, desecration of the Sabbath, etc., are causes of all unhappiness.

The sin of Judah is written with styluses of iron, and with pointed demonds, and graven upon the tablet of their heart, and upon the horns of their altars,

And their children shall remember the same altars and groves among the green trees in the high mountains.

But I will give both thy high places, on mountains and in fields, with thy substance, and all thy treasures, into the river of rapine, because of sin committed within all thy borders.

And thou shalt be cast out of thine inheritance which I have given thee, and I will make thee servants of thine enemies in a land which thou knowest not: for ye have kindled a fire of mine anger, which shall burn for ever.

Thus saith the LORD; Cursed is the man that trusteth in man, and keepeth flesh for his arm, and departeth from the LORD with his heart.

He shall be as the heathen in the wilderness, and shall not see the consolation that is to come; but shall abide in drought, in desolation, in a barren land, where no man dwelleth.

But blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and the LORD is his confidence.

He is planted like a tree by the waters, and rooted by the brook. For though a heat cometh, yet it feareth not, but the leaf thereof remaineth green, and sorroweth not when a drought cometh, but bringeth forth fruit without ceasing.

The heart is a stout and timorous thing: who can search it out?

I the LORD am able to search the heart, and to try the kidneys: and I give unto every man according to his doings, according to the fruits of his works.

For as a bird that sitteth over eggs, and hatcheth them not, so is he that gathereth unrighteous
goods: for he is made to eat them, when he esteemeth them least, and is made a mockery of them at the last.

But the place of our sanctuary, which is the throne of the glory of God, is established for ever.

For, O LORD, thou art the hope of Israel. All they that forsake thee must be put to shame, and the apostates must be written in the earth: for they forsake the LORD, the fountain of living waters.

Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed: help me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my glory.

Behold, they say unto me, Where is the word of the LORD? Let us go, my beloved!

But I have not therefore fled from thee, my shepherd: I have not desired the days of men, thou knowest: that which I have preached is right in thy sight.

Be thou not terrible unto me, my confidence in trouble!

Let them be put to shame that persecute me, and me not; let them be dismayed, and me not; let the day of calamity come upon them, and break them in twain.

Thus saith the LORD unto me, Go and stand under the gate of the people, where the kings of Judah go in and out, and under all the gates of Jerusalem.

And say unto them: Hear the word of the LORD, ye kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, which come in at this gate.

Thus saith the LORD; Take heed, and bear no burden in the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day.

And bring no burden out of your houses on the sabbath day, neither do ye any work: but hallow the sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers.

But they will not hear, neither will they incline their ears; but they will be stiffnecked, that they may not hear me, nor be drawn away.

If ye will hear me, saith the LORD, that ye bear no burden through the gates of this city on the sabbath day, but keep it holy, that ye do no work on that day, 25. And through the gates of this city shall go out kings, and princes that sit on the throne of David, riding, and going, both in chariots, and on horses, they and their princes, and all that dwell in Judah and in Jerusalem: and this city shall be inhabited for ever.

And they shall come from the cities of Judah, and from Jerusalem round about, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the valleys, and from the mountains, and from the south, bringing burnt offerings, and sacrifices, and meat offerings, and incense, unto the house of the LORD.

But if ye will not hearken unto me, to hallow the sabbath day, and to bear no burden in the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day, then will I kindle a fire under their gates, and it shall devour the houses of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.
(Jeremiah)
Chapter 18
True repentance preserves, impenitence corrupts.

This is the word that came unto Jeremiah from the LORD,