and for thy doings. Then shall thy heart feel how thy wickedness is so great.

How heartily I am pained! My heart throbs in my flesh, and I have no rest: for my soul heareth the sound of the trumpet, and a battle of the field.

And the cry of murder shall be upon the cry of murder: for all the land shall be devastated; suddenly shall my tents and my tabernacles be destroyed.

How long shall I see the banner, and hear the sound of the trumpet?

But my people are foolish, and believe me not: they are foolish, and regard not. They are wise enough to do evil, but they will not learn to do good.

I looked upon the land, and, behold, it was desolate and waste; and upon the heaven, and it was dark.

I looked upon the mountains, and, behold, they quaked, and all the hills trembled.

I looked, and, behold, there was no man, and every fowl under heaven was flown away.

I looked, and, behold, the field was a desolation, and all the cities thereof were broken down before the LORD, and before his fierce anger.

For thus saith the LORD, The whole land shall be desolate, and yet it shall not be utterly desolate.

Therefore the land shall be sad, and the heavens above shall be sorrowful: for I have spoken it, I have determined it, and I will not repent, neither will I cease from it.

All the cities shall flee from the shout of the horsemen and the archers, and shall run into the thick forests, and shall creep into the rocks: all the cities shall stand desolate, and none shall
dwell therein.

What then wilt thou do, O thou that art distressed? Though thou be clothed in purple, though thou be adorned with jewels of gold, though thou make up thy face, yet thou adornest thyself in vain: for they that court thee shall despise thee, they shall seek thy life.

For I hear a cry as of a woman in childbirth, an anguish as of one in the first throes of childbearing, a cry of the daughter of Zion, lamenting and casting out her hands, Alas, woe is me, I am almost consumed with grief.
(Jeremiah)
Chapter 5
Many sins of the Jewish people and the punishments threatened against them.

Go ye through the streets of Jerusalem, and see, and know, and search in her streets, if ye find any that do right, and enquire after faith; and I will be gracious unto her.

And though they speak: By the living God, they swear falsely.

O Lord, thine eyes are upon faith. Thou smitest them, but they feel it not: thou afflictest them, but they amend not. They have a hard face like a rock, and will not be converted.

And I said, Well, this poor company is without understanding, and knoweth not the way of the LORD, nor the righteousness of their God.

I will go to the mighty, and speak unto them: they shall know the way of the LORD, and the judgment of their God: but they all had broken the yoke, and rent the cords.

Therefore also the lion that cometh out of the forest shall tear them, and the wolf that cometh out of the wilderness shall destroy them, and the leopard shall lie in wait for their cities; and all that go out therein shall he devour. For their sins are too many, and they are hardened in their rebellion.

How then shall I be gracious unto thee, because thy children forsake me, and swear by him that is not God? And when I have filled them, they commit adultery, and run into the whorehouse.

Every man neigheth after his neighbour’s wife, as the full and idle stallions.

And shall I not punish them for these things? saith the LORD; and shall not my soul take vengeance on such a people as these?

Overthrow their walls, and cast them down, and make them not at all. Take away their branches; for they are not the LORD’S,

But they despise me, both the house of Israel, and the house of Judah, saith the LORD.

They deny the LORD, and say: This is he not, and so evil shall it not be unto us; sword and famine shall we not see;

Yea, the prophets are washers, neither have they the word of God: so let it pass over themselves!

Therefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts; Because ye do such words, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and will consume them.

Behold, I will bring upon you of the house of Israel, saith the LORD, a nation from afar, a mighty nation, which were the first nation, a nation whose language thou canst not understand, neither canst thou hear what they say.

His quivers are open graves, they are vain giants.

They shall devour thy harvest and thy bread, they shall devour thy sons and thy daughters, they shall devour thy sheep and thy oxen, they shall devour thy vines and thy fig trees; thy strong cities, wherein thou trustedst, shall they destroy with the sword.

And I will not, saith the LORD, finish it in that day.

And if they say, Why doth the LORD our God do these things unto us? thou shalt answer them: As ye have forsaken me, and served strange gods in your own land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours.

These things shall ye proclaim in the house of Jacob, and preach in Judah, saying: 21. Give ear, ye foolish people, which have no understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not.

Will ye not fear me, saith the LORD, and be afraid of me? For I have set the sand of the sea
for a shore, wherein it shall dwell for ever, and it shall not pass over it: though it roll, it shall not be able; though the waves thereof rage, they shall not pass over it.

But this people have an apostate and disobedient heart; they remain apostate, and go away continually.

And say not even in their heart, Let us fear the LORD our God, which giveth us early rain, and rain in due season, and keepeth us the harvest faithfully year by year.

But your iniquities hinder such things, and your sins turn away such good from you.

For wicked men are found among my people, pursuing after men, and setting snares to catch them, as the reeves do with cobs.

And their houses are full of deceit, as a fowler is full of decoys. Therefore they become mighty and rich, fat and smooth.

They deal wickedly; they keep not justice; they promote not the cause of the fatherless, and prosper them; they help not the poor to justice.

Shall I not then visit these things, saith the LORD, and shall not my soul take vengeance on such a people as these?

The land is a dreadful and abominable place.

The prophets teach falsely, and the priests rule in their office, and my people are pleased so.
How will ye fare at the last?
(Jeremiah)
Chapter 6
Babylonian captivity and its causes.

Gather yourselves together, ye children of Benjamin, out of Jerusalem, and sound the trumpets in the tabernacle of Thekoa, and cast upon a banner in the tabernacle of Beth-cherem: for there goeth a calamity from the north, and a great distress.

the daughter of Zion is like a beautiful and merry meadow.

But shepherds shall come upon them with their flocks, and shall pitch tents round about them, and feed every man in his place:

Prepare yourselves for war against them. Come, let us go up, for it is still high day. The evening is about to come, and the shadows are growing large.

Come, let us be up, and let us go up by night, and destroy their palaces.

For thus saith the LORD of hosts, Cut down trees, and make a vail against Jerusalem: for she is a city to be visited. For she is a city to be visited. For there is iniquity in it.

For as a brook quencheth its waters, so quencheth their wickedness. Their iniquities and their violence cry out against them; And their murders and their smitings do they daily before me.

Amend thee, O Jerusalem, before my heart turn from thee, and I make thee a desolate land, wherein no man dwelleth.

Thus saith the LORD of hosts; What is left of Israel shall be gathered afterward, as from the vine. The grape harvester shall cast one by one into the vats.

Ah, to whom shall I speak and testify? I wish someone would listen. But their ears are uncircumcised; they will not hear. Behold, they hold the word of the LORD in derision, and will not hear it.

Therefore I am so full of the LORD’S wrath, that I cannot forbear it. Pour out, both of you, upon the children of the streets, and upon the company of the council together: for both man and woman, both old and old, shall be taken.

Their houses shall be for the strangers, and their fields, and their wives: for I will stretch out mine hand, saith the LORD, upon the inhabitants of the land.

For they are all covetous, both small and great; and both prophets and priests teach false worship.

And comfort my people in their affliction, that ye should esteem them little, saying, Peace, peace; and yet is not peace.

Therefore shall they be ashamed, because they have committed such abominations, though they will be undefiled, and will not be ashamed. Therefore they shall fall upon a heap: and when I shall visit them, they shall fall, saith the LORD.

Thus saith the LORD; Stand ye in the ways, and look, and enquire of the former paths which is the