k So many mss. and ancient versions; other texts “shepherds.”
l-l Emendation yields “guided them.”
m Heb. “me.” Emendation yields “[Where are] Your yearning and Your love?/Let them not be restrained!”
n-n Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
a Meaning of vv. 1–4 uncertain.
b Heb. “Him.”
c-c Emendation yields “Because You have hidden Yourself we have offended.” For the thought cf. 63.17.
d-d Emendation yields “delivered us into the hands of.…”
a-a Lit. “I let Myself be inquired of.…”
b-b Taking qedashtikha as equivalent to qiddashtikha,/cf. Ezek. 49.19; others “For I am holier than thou.”
c-c Brought up from v. 7 for clarity.
d Heb. “your.”
e Taking rishonah as equivalent to beroshah; cf. Lev. 5.24; Jer. 16.18. Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
f Emendation yields “Jeshimon,” the bleak southeast corner of the Jordan Valley; cf. Num. 21.20; 23.8.
g Names of heathen deities.
h-h I.e., a name to be used in blessing.
i Lit. “wear out.”
j-j Emendation yields “in vain.”
k See note at 11.9.
a Vv. 3–4 refer to practitioners of idolatrous rites; cf. v. 17 and 57.5–8; 65.1–12.
b Lit. “break the necks of.”
c Heb. mazkir refers to giving the “token portion” (’azkarah); cf. Lev. 2.2, etc.
d Lit. “My name.”
e Cf. Akkadiam zāizu, Arabic zāizat, “udder.”
f-f Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
g Exact construction of this verse uncertain; for the insertions in brackets, cf. Kimhi.
h-h Some Heb. mss. read “priests and Levites.”
Jeremiah
1 The words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, one of the priests at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin. 2The word of the LORD came to him in the days of King Josiah son of Amon of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign, 3and throughout the days of King Jehoiakim son of Josiah of Judah, and until the end of the eleventh year of King Zedekiah son of Josiah of Judah, when Jerusalem went into exile in the fifth month.
4The word of the LORD came to me:
5Before I created you in the womb, I selected you;
Before you were born, I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet concerning the nations.
6I replied:
Ah, Lord GOD!
I don’t know how to speak,
For I am still a boy.
7And the LORD said to me:
Do not say, “I am still a boy,”
But go wherever I send you
And speak whatever I command you.
8Have no fear of them,
For I am with you to deliver you
—declares the LORD.
9The LORD put out His hand and touched my mouth, and the LORD said to me: Herewith I put My words into your mouth.
10See, I appoint you this day
Over nations and kingdoms:
To uproot and to pull down,
To destroy and to overthrow,
To build and to plant.
11The word of the LORD came to me: What do you see, Jeremiah? I replied: I see a branch of an almond tree.a
12The LORD said to me:
You have seen right,
For I am watchfulb to bring My word to pass.
13And the word of the LORD came to me a second time: What do you see? I replied:
I see a steaming pot,
c-Tipped away from the north.-c
14And the LORD said to me:
From the north shall disaster break loose
Upon all the inhabitants of the land!
15For I am summoning all the peoples
of the kingdoms of the north
—declares the LORD.
They shall come, and shall each set up a throne
Before the gates of Jerusalem,
Against its walls roundabout,
And against all the towns of Judah.
16And I will argue My case against themd
For all their wickedness:
They have forsaken Me
And sacrificed to other gods
And worshiped the works of their hands.
17So you, gird up your loins,
Arise and speak to them
All that I command you.
Do not break down before them,
Lest I break you before them.
18I make you this day
A fortified city,
And an iron pillar,
And bronze walls
Against the whole land—
Against Judah’s kings and officers,
And against its priests and citizens.e
19They will attack you,
But they shall not overcome you;
For I am with you—declares the LORD—to save you.
2 The word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2Go proclaim to Jerusalem: Thus said the LORD:
I accounted to your favor
The devotion of your youth,
Your love as a bride—
How you followed Me in the wilderness,
In a land not sown.
3Israel was holy to the LORD,
The first fruits of His harvest.
All who ate of it were held guilty;
Disaster befell them
—declares the LORD.
4Hear the word of the LORD, O House of Jacob,
Every clan of the House of Israel!
5Thus said the LORD:
What wrong did your fathers find in Me
That they abandoned Me
And went after delusion and were deluded?
6They never asked themselves, “Where is the LORD,
Who brought us up from the land of Egypt,
Who led us through the wilderness,
A land of deserts and pits,
A land of drought and darkness,
A land no man had traversed,
Where no human being had dwelt?”
7I brought you to this country of farm land
To enjoy its fruit and its bounty;
But you came and defiled My land,
You made My possession abhorrent.
8The priests never asked themselves, “Where is the LORD?”
The guardians of the Teaching ignored Me;
The rulersa rebelled against Me,
And the prophets prophesied by Baal
And followed what can do no good.
9Oh, I will go on accusing you
—declares the LORD—
And I will accuse your children’s children!
10Just cross over to the isles of the Kittim and look,
Send to Kedar and observe carefully;
See if aught like this has ever happened:
11Has any nation changed its gods
Even though they are no-gods?
But My people has exchanged its glory
For what can do no good.
12Be appalled, O heavens, at this;
Be horrified, utterly dazed!
—says the LORD.
13For My people have done a twofold wrong:
They have forsaken Me, the Fount of living waters,
And hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns,
Which cannot even hold water.
14Is Israel a bondman?
Is he a home-born slave?
Then why is he given over to plunder?
15Lions have roared over him,
Have raised their cries.
They have made his land a waste,
His cities desolate, without inhabitants.
16Those, too, in Noph and Tahpanhesb
c-Will lay bare-c your head.
17See, d-that is the price you have paid
For forsaking the LORD your God-d
c-While He led you in the way.-c
18What, then, is the good of your going to Egypt
To drink the waters of the Nile?
And what is the good of your going to Assyria
To drink the waters of the Euphrates?
19Let your misfortune reprove you,
Let your afflictions rebuke you;
Mark well how bad and bitter it is
That you forsake the LORD your God,
That awe for Me is not in you
—declares the Lord GOD of Hosts.
20For long ago youe broke your yoke,
Tore off your yoke-bands,
And said, “I will not work!”f
On every high hill and under every verdant tree,
You recline as a whore.
21I planted you with noble vines,
All with choicest seed;
Alas, I find you changed
Into a base, an alien vine!
22Though you wash with natron
And use much lye,
Your guilt is ingrained before Me
—declares the Lord GOD.
23How can you say, “I am not defiled,
I have not gone after the Baalim”?
Look at your deeds in the Valley,g
Consider what you have done!
Like a lustful she-camel,
c-Restlessly running about,-c
24Or like a wild ass used to the desert,
Snuffing the wind in her eagerness,
Whose passion none can restrain,
None that seek her need grow weary—
In her season, they’ll find her!
25Save your foot from going bare,
And your throat from thirst.
But you say, “It is no use.
No, I love the strangers,h
And after them I must go.”
26Like a thief chagrined when he is caught,
So is the House of Israel chagrined—
They, their kings, their officers,
And their priests and prophets.
27They said to wood, “You are my father,”
To stone, “You gave birth to me,”
While to Me they turned their backs
And not their faces.
But in their hour of calamity they cry,
“Arise and save us!”
28And where are those gods
You made for yourself?
Let them arise and save you, if they can,
In your hour of calamity.
For your gods have become, O Judah,
As many as your towns!
29Why do you call Me to account?
You have all rebelled against Me
—declares the LORD.
30To no purpose did I smite your children;
They would not accept correction.
Your sword has devoured your prophets
Like a ravening lion.
31 c-O generation, behold-c the word of the LORD!
Have I been like a desert to Israel,
Or like a land of deep gloom?
Then why do My people say, “We have broken loose,
We will not come to You any more?”
32Can a maiden forget her jewels,
A bride her adornments?
Yet My people have forgotten Me—
Days without number.
33How skillfully you plan your way
To seek out love!
Why, you have even taught
The worst of women your ways.
34Moreover, on your garments is found
The lifeblood of the innocent poor—
You did not catch them breaking in.i
c-Yet, despite all these things,-c
35You say, “I have been acquitted;
Surely, His anger has turned away from me.”
Lo, I will bring you to judgment
For saying, “I have not sinned.”
36How you cheapen yourself,
By changing your course!
You shall be put to shame through Egypt,
Just as you were put to shame through Assyria.
37From this way, too, you will come out
j-With your hands on your head;-j
For the LORD has rejected those you trust,
You will not prosper with them.
3 [The word of the LORD came to me] as follows: If a man divorces his wife, and she leaves him and marries another man, can he ever go back to her? Would not such a land be defiled?a Now you have whored with many lovers: can you return to Me?—says the LORD.
2Look up to the bare heights, and see:
Where have they not lain with you?
You waited for them on the roadside
Like a banditb in the wilderness.
And you defiled the land
With your whoring and your debauchery.
3And when showers were withheld
And the late rains did not come,
You had the brazennessc of a street woman,
You refused to be ashamed.
4Just now you called to Me, “Father!
You are the Companion of my youth.
5Does one hated for all time?
Does one raged forever?”
That is how you spoke;
You did wrong, and e-had your way.-e
6The LORD said to me in the days of King Josiah: Have you seen what Rebel Israel did, going to every high mountain and under every leafy tree, and whoring there? 7I thought: After she has done all these things, she will
