and out of all the countries whither I had driven them, to dwell in their own land.

Against the prophets. My heart wants to break in my body, all my bones tremble; I am like a drunken man and like one reeling from wine before the Lord and before his holy words, 10. That the land is full of adulterers, and that the land standeth in desolation, and is cursed, and the pastures of the wilderness are withered: and their life is evil, and their government is not good.

For both prophets and priests are husks, and find also in my house their wickedness, saith the LORD.

Therefore their way is as a smooth path in the darkness, whereon they slide and fall. For I will bring evil upon them in the year of their visitation, saith the LORD.

For I saw folly in the prophets of Samaria, that they prophesied by Baal, and deceived my people Israel.

But with the prophets of Jerusalem I see abominations, how they commit adultery, and deal in lies, and strengthen the wicked, lest any man turn from his wickedness. They are all like Sodom before me, and their people like Gomorrah.

Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets; Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and water them with gall: for from the prophets of Jerusalem cometh hypocrisy throughout all the land.

Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you. They deceive you: for they preach the words of their heart, and not of the LORD’S
mouth.

They say to them that blaspheme me, The LORD hath said, It shall be well with you. And to all that walk after the stinking of their hearts, they say, There shall no evil come upon you.

For who hath stood in the council of the LORD, seeing and hearing his word? Who hath heard and heard his word?

Behold, the weather of the LORD shall come with fury, and a terrible tempest shall fall upon the head of all the wicked.

And the wrath of the LORD shall not abate, until he do and execute that which he hath in mind. Afterward ye shall know it.

I sent not the prophets, neither did they run: I spake not unto them, neither did they prophesy.

For if they had kept my counsel, and had preached my words unto my people, they would have converted them from their evil nature, and from their evil living.

Am not I a God that is near, saith the LORD, and not a God that is far off?

Thinkest thou that any man can hide himself secretly, that I should not see him? saith the LORD. Is it not I that fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.

I have heard that the prophets preach and prophesy falsely in my name, and say: I have dreamed, I have dreamed.

When will the prophets cease from prophesying falsely, and from prophesying the deceitfulness of their hearts?

And will my people forget my name above their dreams, which they preach one to another, as their fathers forgot my name above Baal?

A prophet that hath dreams, let him preach dreams: but he that hath my word, let him preach my word aright. How do straw and wheat rhyme together? saith the LORD.

Is not my word as a fire, saith the LORD, and as a hammer that breaketh in pieces the rock?

Wherefore, behold, I will look unto the prophets, saith the LORD, which steal my word one from another.

Behold, I will look unto the prophets, saith the LORD, which speak and speak their own word: He hath spoken it.

Behold, I will speak unto them that prophesy false dreams, saith the LORD, and preach them, and deceive my people with their lies, and with their loose words, when I have not sent them, neither commanded them, neither are they of any use unto this people, saith the LORD.

And when this people, or a prophet, or a priest, shall ask thee, saying, What is the burden of the LORD? thou shalt say unto them, What is the burden? I will cast you down, saith the LORD.

And if any prophet, or priest, or people, shall say, This is the burden of the LORD; I will punish him, and his house also.

And they shall speak one to another, saying one to another, What answereth the LORD, and what saith the LORD?

And call it no more the burden of the LORD: for every man’s own word shall be a burden unto him, because ye thus pervert the words of the living God, the LORD of hosts, our God.

Therefore thus shall ye say unto the prophet, What answer answereth thee, and what saith the LORD?

But because ye say, The burden of the LORD; therefore thus saith the LORD; If ye call this word the burden of the LORD, and I have sent unto you, saying, Ye shall not call it the burden of the LORD,

Behold, I will take you away, and cast you out of my sight, and the city which I have given you and your fathers;

And I will bring upon you everlasting shame and everlasting reproach, which shall never be forgotten.
(Jeremiah)
Chapter 24
Face of good and bad figs and what they mean.

Behold, the LORD shewed me two baskets of figs, which were set before the temple of the LORD, after that Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away Jechaniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, the carpenters and smiths of Jerusalem, and brought them to Babylon.

In the one basket were very good figs, as the first ripe figs are; in the other basket were very bad figs, that they could not be eaten, so bad were they.

And the LORD said unto me, Jeremiah, what seest thou? And I said, Figs: the good figs are very good, and the bad figs are very bad, that they cannot be eaten, because they are so bad.

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

Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, As these figs are good, so will I have mercy upon the captives of Judah, whom I have sent forth out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans, 6. And I will look upon them graciously, and will bring them again into this land, and will build them, and not break them down; I will plant them, and not pluck them up.

And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the LORD. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall turn unto me with all their heart.

But as the evil figs are so evil that they cannot be eaten, saith the LORD, so will I deliver up Zedekiah king of Judah, and his princes, and the remnant that are left in Jerusalem, and the remnant that are left in this land, and they that dwell in the land of Egypt.

I will do them evil, and will not suffer them to dwell in any kingdom upon the earth; and they shall be put to shame, and become a proverb, and a fable, and a curse, in all places whither I will cast them.

And I will send sword and famine and pestilence among them, until they perish from off the land which I have given them and their fathers.
(Jeremiah)
Chapter 25
Seventy years of captivity at Babel.

This is the word that came unto Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah (which is the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon),

Which also Jeremiah the prophet spake unto all the people of Judah, and unto all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying:

From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah the word of the LORD came unto me unto this day, and I have preached unto you twenty and three years with diligence; but ye would not hear.

Even so hath the LORD sent unto you all his servants the prophets diligently: but ye have never hearkened, nor inclined your ears to obey,

Saying, Turn ye every man from his wicked way, and from your wickedness; and ye shall dwell in the land which the LORD hath given you, and to your fathers, for ever and ever.

Follow not other gods, to serve them, and to worship them; lest ye provoke me to anger with the works of your hands, and I bring evil upon you.

But ye would not hearken unto me, saith the LORD, that ye might provoke me to anger by the work of your hands, to your own hurt.

Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Because ye will not hear my words, 9. Behold, I will send and bring all nations northward, saith the LORD, even Nebuchadnezzar my servant the king of Babylon; and I will bring them upon this land, and upon them that dwell therein, and upon all this people that are round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them a mockery, and an everlasting desolation.

And I will take out all joyful singing, the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride, the voice of the mills, and the light of the lantern,

And all this land shall lie desolate and waste. And these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. And these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

And it shall come to pass, when the seventy years are expired, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and all this people, saith the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make it an