15Attend and give ear; be not haughty,
For the LORD has spoken.
16Give honor to the LORD your God
Before He brings darkness,
Before your feet stumble
On the mountains in shadow—
When you hope for light,
And it is turned to darkness
And becomes deep gloom.
17For if you will not give heed,
My inmost self must weep,
Because of your arrogance;
My eye must stream and flow
With copious tears,
Because the flock of the LORD
Is taken captive.
18Say to the king and the queen mother,
“Sit in a lowly spot;
For your diadems are abased,
Your glorious crowns.”
19The cities of the Negeb are shut,
There is no one to open them;
b-Judah is exiled completely,
All of it exiled.-b
20Raise your eyes and behold
Those who come from the north:
Where are the sheep entrusted to you,
The flock you took pride in?
21c-What will you say when they appoint as your heads
Those among you whom you trained to be tame?-c
Shall not pangs seize you
Like a woman in childbirth?
22And when you ask yourself,
“Why have these things befallen me?”
It is because of your great iniquity
That your skirts are lifted up,
Your limbs exposed.
23Can the Cushite change his skin,
Or the leopard his spots?
Just as much can you do good,
Who are practiced in doing evil!
24So I will scatter youd like straw that flies
Before the desert wind.
25This shall be your lot,
Your measured portion from Me
—declares the LORD.
Because you forgot Me
And trusted in falsehood,
26I in turn will lift your skirts over your face
And your shame shall be seen.
27I behold your adulteries,
Your lustful neighing.
Your unbridled depravity, your vile acts
On the hills of the countryside.
Woe to you, O Jerusalem,
Who will not be clean!
How much longer shall it be?
14 The word of the LORD which came to Jeremiah concerning the droughts.
2Judah is in mourning,
Her settlements languish.
Men are bowed to the ground,
And the outcry of Jerusalem rises.
3Their nobles sent their servants for water;
They came to the cisterns, they found no water.
They returned, their vessels empty.
They are shamed and humiliated,
They cover their heads.
4a-Because of the ground there is dismay,-a
For there has been no rain on the earth.
The plowmen are shamed,
They cover their heads.
5Even the hind in the field
Forsakes her new-born fawn,
Because there is no grass.
6And the wild asses stand on the bare heights,
Snuffing the air like jackals;
Their eyes pine,
Because there is no herbage.
7Though our iniquities testify against us,
Act, O LORD, for the sake of Your name;
Though our rebellions are many
And we have sinned against You.
😯 Hope of Israel,
Its deliverer in time of trouble,
Why are You like a stranger in the land,
Like a traveler who stops only for the night?
9Why are You like a man who is stunned,
Like a warrior who cannot give victory?
Yet You are in our midst, O LORD,
And Your name is attached to us—
Do not forsake us!
10Thus said the LORD concerning this people: “Truly, they love to stray, they have not restrained their feet; so the LORD has no pleasure in them. Now He will recall their iniquity and punish their sin.”
11And the LORD said to me, “Do not pray for the benefit of this people. 12When they fast, I will not listen to their outcry; and when they present burnt offering and meal offering, I will not accept them. I will exterminate them by war, famine, and disease.”
13I said, “Ah, LORD GOD! The prophets are saying to them, ‘You shall not see the sword, famine shall not come upon you, but I will give you unfailing security in this place.”’
14The LORD replied: It is a lie that the prophets utter in My name. I have not sent them or commanded them. I have not spoken to them. A lying vision, an empty divination, the deceit of their own contriving— that is what they prophesy to you! 15Assuredly, thus said the LORD concerning the prophets who prophesy in My name though I have not sent them, and who say, “Sword and famine shall not befall this land”; those very prophets shall perish by sword and famine. 16And the people to whom they prophesy shall be left lying in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword, with none to bury them—they, their wives, their sons, and their daughters. I will pour out upon them [the requital of] their wickedness.
17And do you speak to them thus:
Let my eyes run with tears,
Day and night let them not cease,
For b-my hapless people-b has suffered
A grievous injury, a very painful wound.
18If I go out to the country—
Lo, the slain of the sword.
If I enter the city—
Lo, c-those who are sick with-c famine.
Both priest and prophet roama the land,
They know not where.
19Have You, then, rejected Judah?
Have You spurned Zion?
Why have You smitten us
So that there is no cure?
Why do we hope for happiness,
But find no good;
For a time of healing,
And meet terror instead?
20We acknowledge our wickedness, O LORD—
The iniquity of our fathers—
For we have sinned against You.
21For Your name’s sake, do not disown us;
Do not dishonor Your glorious throne.
Remember, do not annul Your covenant with us.
22Can any of the false gods of the nations give rain?
Can the skies of themselves give showers?
Only You can, O LORD our God!
So we hope in You,
For only You made all these things.
15 The LORD said to me, “Even if Moses and Samuel were to a- intercede with Me,-a I would not be won over to that people. Dismiss them from My presence, and let them go forth! 2And if they ask you, ‘To what shall we go forth?’ answer them, ‘Thus said the LORD:
Those destined for the plague, to the plague;
Those destined for the sword, to the sword;
Those destined for famine, to famine;
Those destined for captivity, to captivity.
3And I will appoint over them four kindsb [of punishment]—declares the LORD—the sword to slay, the dogs to drag, the birds of the sky, and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy. 4I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, on account of King Manasseh son of Hezekiah of Judah, and of what he did in Jerusalem.’ ”
5But who will pity you, O Jerusalem,
Who will console you?
Who will turn aside to inquire
About your welfare?
6You cast Me off
—declares the LORD—
You go ever backward.
So I have stretched out My hand to destroy you;
I cannot relent.
7I will scatter them as with a winnowing fork
Through the settlements of the earth.
I will bereave, I will destroy My people,
For they would not turn back from their ways.
8Their widows shall be more numerous
Than the sands of the seas.
I will bring against them—
b-Young men and mothers together-b—
A destroyer at noonday.
I will bring down suddenly upon them
Alarmb and terror.
9She who bore seven is forlorn,
Utterly disconsolate;
Her sun has set while it is still day,
She is shamed and humiliated.
The remnant of them I will deliver to the sword,
To the power of their enemies
—declares the LORD.
10Woe is me, my mother, that you ever bore me—
A man of conflict and strife with all the land!
I have not lent,
And I have not borrowed;
Yet everyone curses me.
11The LORD said:
b-Surely, a mere remnant of you
Will I spare for a better fate!-b
By the enemy c-from the north-c
In a time of distress and a time of disaster,
Surely, I will have you struck down!
12d-Can iron break iron and bronze?-d
13b-I will hand over your wealth and your treasures
As a spoil, free of charge,
Because of all your sins throughout your territory.
14And I will bring your enemies
By way of a land you have not known.-b
For a fire has flared in My wrath,
It blazes against you.
15O LORD, you know—
Remember me and take thought of me,
Avenge me on those who persecute me;
Do not yield to Your patience,
e-Do not let me perish!-e
Consider how I have borne insult
On Your account.
16When Your words were offered, I devoured them;
Your word brought me the delight and joy
Of knowing that Your name is attached to me,
O LORD, God of Hosts.
17I have not sat in the company of revelers
And made merry!
I have sat lonely because of Your hand upon me,
For You have filled me with gloom.
18Why must my pain be endless,
My wound incurable,
Resistant to healing?
You have been to me like a spring that fails,
Like waters that cannot be relied on.
19Assuredly, thus said the LORD:
If you turn back, I shall take you back
And you shall stand before Me;
If you produce what is noble
Out of the worthless,
You shall be My spokesman.
They shall come back to you,
Not you to them.
20Against this people I will make you
As a fortified wall of bronze:
They will attack you,
But they shall not overcome you,
For I am with you to deliver and save you
—declares the LORD.
21I will save you from the hands of the wicked
And rescue you from the clutches of the violent.
16 The word of the LORD came to me:
2You are not to marry and not to have sons and daughters in this place. 3For thus said the LORD concerning any sons and daughters that may be born in this place, and concerning the mothers who bear them, and concerning the fathers who beget them in this land: 4They shall die gruesome deaths. They shall not be lamented or buried; they shall be like dung on the surface of the ground. They shall be consumed by the sword and by famine, and their corpses shall be food for the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth.
5For thus said the LORD:
Do not enter a house of mourning,a
Do not go to lament and to
