# verse

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 in transgressing and lying against Jehovah, and going away from our God, talking cruelty and revolt, conceiving and speaking from the heart words of falsehood. 


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 And justice is driven back, and justice stands afar off; for truth has fallen in the street, and right cannot enter. 


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 Yea, truth fails; and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. And Jehovah saw, and it displeased Him that there was no judgment. 


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 And He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor. Therefore His own arm brought salvation to Him; and His righteousness sustained Him. 


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 For He put on righteousness like a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on His head. And He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was covered with zeal like a cloak. 


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 According to their deeds, accordingly He will repay; fury to His foes, deed for deed to His enemies. He will repay their deeds to the coastlands. 


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 So they shall fear the name of Jehovah from the west, and His glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of Jehovah shall make him flee. 


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 And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob, says Jehovah. 


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 As for Me, this is My covenant with them, says Jehovah; My Spirit that is on you, and My Words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, nor out of the mouth of your seed, nor out of the mouth of your seed's seed, says Jehovah, from now on and forever. 


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 For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the peoples; but Jehovah shall rise on you, and His glory shall be seen on you. 


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 Lift up your eyes all around, and see. All of them gather themselves; they come to you. Your sons shall come from far, and your daughters shall be nursed at your side. 


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 Then you shall fear and become bright, and your heart shall throb and swell for joy; because the abundance of the sea shall turn to you, the wealth of the nations will come to you. 


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 A host of camels shall cover you, the camels of Midian and Ephah. All of them from Sheba shall come; they shall bring gold and incense; and they shall proclaim the praises of Jehovah. 


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 All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together to you; the rams of Nebaioth shall minister to you. They shall come up on My altar pleasing Me, and I will glorify the house of My glory. 


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 Surely the coastlands shall wait for Me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring your sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, to the name of Jehovah your God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because He has glorified you. 


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 And the sons of strangers will build up your walls, and their kings will serve you; for in My wrath I struck you, but in My favor I had mercy on you. 


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 Therefore your gates will always be open; they will not be shut day nor night, to bring to you the wealth of the nations, and their kings may be led. 


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 For the nation and kingdom that will not serve you will perish. Yes, those nations will be completely wasted. 


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 The glory of Lebanon will come to you, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box tree together, to beautify the place of My sanctuary; and I will make the place of My feet glorious. 


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 Also the sons of your afflicters shall come bowing to you; and all your despisers will bow down at the soles of your feet. And they will call you, The city of Jehovah, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel. 


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 Instead of being forsaken and hated, so that no one passes through, I will make you for everlasting majesty, a joy of many generations. 


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 You will also suck the milk of nations, and suck the breast of kings; and you will know that I Jehovah am your Savior and your Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob. 


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 For bronze I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver; and for wood I will bring bronze, and for stones, iron. I will also make your overseers to be peace, and your rulers to be righteousness. 


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 Violence will no more be heard in your land, wasting nor ruin within your borders; but you will call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise. 


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 The sun will no more be your light by day; nor the brightness of the moon give light to you; but Jehovah will be to you for everlasting light, and your God your glory. 


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 Your sun will no more go down, nor your moon withdraw; for Jehovah will be your everlasting light, and the days of your mourning will be ended. 


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 Your people also will all be righteous; they will inherit the land forever, the branch of My planting, the work of My hands, so that I may be glorified. 


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 A little one will become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I Jehovah will hasten it in its time. 


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 The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah is on Me; because Jehovah has anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; 


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 to preach the acceptable year of Jehovah and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; 


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 to appoint to those who mourn in Zion, to give to them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the mantle of praise for the spirit of heaviness; so that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of Jehovah, that He might be glorified. 


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 And they will build the old wastes, they will raise up the ruins of former times. And they will repair the waste cities, the ruins of many generations. 


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 And strangers will stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the stranger will be your plowmen and your vinedressers. 


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 But you will be named the priests of Jehovah; it will be said of you, Ministers of our God; you will eat the riches of the nations, and you will revel in their glory. 


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 For your shame you will have double; and for disgrace they will rejoice in their portion; therefore in their own land they will possess double; everlasting joy will be theirs. 


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 For I Jehovah love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt offering; and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. 


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 And their seed will be known among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples; all who see them will acknowledge them, that they are the seed Jehovah has blessed. 


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 I will greatly rejoice in Jehovah, my soul will be joyful in my God; for He has clothed me with the robes of salvation, He covered me with the robe of righteousness like a bridegroom adorns himself with ornaments, and like a bride adorns herself with her jewels. 


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 For as the earth comes out with its bud, and as the garden causes that which is sown to grow; so the Lord Jehovah will cause righteousness and praise to grow before all the nations. 


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 For Zion's sake I will not be silent, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until its righteousness goes out as brightness, and her salvation as a burning lamp. 


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 And the nations will see your righteousness, and all kings your glory; and you will be called by a new name, which the mouth of Jehovah will name. 


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 You also will be a crown of glory in the hand of Jehovah, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God. 


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 You will no more be called Forsaken; nor will your land any more be called Desolate; but you will be called My Delight is in her, and your land, Married; for Jehovah delights in you, and your land is married. 


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 For as a young man marries a virgin, so will your sons marry you; and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so will your God rejoice over you. 


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 I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem, who will not always be silent all the day nor all the night; you who remember Jehovah, do not be silent. 


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 Jehovah has sworn by His right hand, and by the arm of His strength, Surely I will no more give your grain to be food for your enemies; and the sons of strangers will not drink your wine for which you have labored. 


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 But its gatherers will eat it and praise Jehovah; and they who collected it will drink it in My holy courts. 


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 Pass! Pass through the gates; prepare the way of the people. Raise up! Raise up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a banner for the peoples. 


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 Behold, Jehovah has sent a message to the end of the earth, Tell the daughter of Zion, Behold, your salvation comes. Behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him. 


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 And they will call them, The Holy People, The Redeemed of Jehovah; and you will be called, Sought Out, a city not forsaken. 


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 Who is this who comes from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah, this One adorned in His clothing, bending down in His great power? I who speak in righteousness, great to save. 


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 I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the peoples there was no man with Me; for I will tread them in My anger and trample them in My fury; and their blood will be sprinkled on My garments, and I will stain all My clothing. 


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 And I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was no one to uphold; therefore My own arm has saved for Me; and My fury upheld Me. 


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 And I will tread down the people in My anger, and make them drunk in My fury, and I will pour their juice to the earth. 


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 I will mention the loving-kindnesses of Jehovah, the praises of Jehovah, according to all that Jehovah has benefited for us, and the great good to the house of Israel by which He benefited them according to His mercies, and according to the multitude of His loving-kindnesses. 


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 In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the Angel of His Presence saved them; in His love and in His pity He redeemed them; and He bore them, and carried them all the days of old. 


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 But they rebelled, and troubled His Holy Spirit; therefore He was turned to be their enemy, and He fought against them. 


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 Then He remembered the days of old, Moses and His people, saying, Where is He who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherd of His flock? Where is He who put His Holy Spirit within him; 


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 who led them by the right hand of Moses with His glorious arm, dividing the water before them, to make Himself an everlasting name? 


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 As a beast goes down into the valley, the Spirit of Jehovah caused him to rest. So You led Your people, to make Yourself a glorious name. 


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 Look down from Heaven, and look down from the place of Your holiness and of Your glory; where is Your zeal and Your strength, the multitude of Your tender affections and of Your mercies toward me? Are they withheld? 


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 For You are our Father, though Abraham does not know us, and Israel does not acknowledge us. You, O Jehovah, are our Father, our Redeemer; Your name is from everlasting. 


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 O Jehovah, why have You made us wander from Your ways. You harden our heart from Your fear? For Your servants' sake, return the tribes of Your inheritance. 


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 The people of Your holiness have possessed it but a little while; our enemies have trampled Your sanctuary. 


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 as the brushwood fire burns, the fire causes water to boil, to make Your name known to Your foes, that the nations may tremble at Your presence! 


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 When You did dreadful things which we did not look for, You came down, the mountains flowed down at Your presence. 


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 And from forever they have not heard, nor did they listen. Eye has not seen a God except You, who works for him who waits for Him. 


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 You meet him who rejoices and works righteousness, those who remember You in Your ways. Behold, You were angry, for we sinned. In them is eternity, and we will be saved. 


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 But we are all as the unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as a menstruation cloth. And we all fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. 


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 And there is no one who calls on Your name, who stirs up himself to take hold of You. For You have hidden Your face from us, and have melted us away because of our iniquities. 


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 But now, O Jehovah, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You are our Former; and we all are the work of Your hand. 


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 Do not be grievously angry, O Jehovah, nor remember iniquity forever. Behold! Look, please; all of us are Your people. 


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 The house of our holiness and our beauty, where our fathers praised You, has become a burning of fire; and all our pleasant things are laid waste. 


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 Will You restrain Yourself over these things, O Jehovah? Will You be silent and sorely afflict us? 


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 I am sought by those who asked not for Me; I am found by those who did not seek Me. I said, Behold Me, behold Me, to a nation not calling on My name. 


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 I have spread out My hands all the day to a rebellious people who walk in the way not good, after their own thoughts; 


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 a people who without ceasing provoke Me to anger to My face; who sacrifice in gardens, and burn incense on the bricks; 


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 a people who remain among the graves, and sleep in the tombs, who eat swine's flesh, and broth from hateful things in their vessels; 


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 who say, Keep to yourself, do not come near me; for I am holier than you. These are a smoke in My nose, a fire that burns all the day. 


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 Behold, it is written before Me; I will not be silent, except I will repay; yea, I will repay into their bosom 


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 your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, says Jehovah, they that burned incense on the mountains, and blasphemed Me on the hills. And I will measure their former work into their bosom. 


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 So says Jehovah, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one says, Do not destroy it, for a blessing is in it; so I will do to My servants, that I may not destroy them all. 


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 And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah one who inherits My mountains; and My elect will inherit it, and My servants will dwell there. 


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 And Sharon will be a fold of flocks, and the Valley of Achor a resting-place of herds for My people who have sought Me. 


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 But you are those who forsake Jehovah, who forget My holy mountain, who prepare a table for Fortune, and who furnish the drink offering to Fate. 


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 Therefore I will number you to the sword; and you will all bow down to the slaughter; because I called and you did not answer; when I spoke, you did not hear and did evil before My eyes, and chose that in which I did not delight. 


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 So the Lord Jehovah says, Behold, My servants will eat, but you will be hungry. Behold, My servants will drink, but you will be thirsty. Behold, My servants will rejoice, but you will be ashamed. 


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 Behold, My servants will sing for joy of heart, but you will cry for sorrow of heart, and will howl because of a breaking of spirit. 


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 And you will leave your name for a curse to My elect; for the Lord Jehovah will kill you, and call His servants by another name. 


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 He who blesses himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth. And he who swears in the earth will swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hidden from My eyes. 


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 For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth. And the things before will not be remembered, nor come to mind. 


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 But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. 


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 I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and I will rejoice in My people; and the voice of weeping will no more be heard in her, nor the voice of crying be heard in her. 


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 There will not be an infant, nor an old man that has not filled his days. For the child will die a hundred years old; but the sinner who is a hundred years old will be despised. 


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 They will not build, and another live in them; they will not plant, and another eat. For like the days of a tree are the days of My people, and My elect will long enjoy the work of their hands. 


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 They will not labor in vain, nor bring forth for terror. For they are the seed of the beloved of Jehovah, and their offspring with them. 


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 The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox; and dust will be the food of the snake. They will not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, says Jehovah. 


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 So says Jehovah, Heaven is My throne, and earth My footstool. Where, then, is the house that you build for Me? And where is the place of My rest? 


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 For all those My hand has made, and all those exist, says Jehovah. But to this one I will look, to the afflicted and contrite spirit, and the one who trembles at My Word. 


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 He who kills an ox is is as if he killed a man; he who sacrifices a lamb is as if he broke a dog's neck; he who offers an offering is as if he offered swine's blood; he who burns incense is as if he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations. 


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 I also will choose the things that delude them, and I will bring their fears on them, because I called, no one answered; when I spoke, they did not hear. But they did evil before My eyes and chose that in which I did not delight. 


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 Hear the Word of Jehovah, you who tremble at His Word; your brothers who hated you, who cast you out for My name's sake, said, Let Jehovah be glorified. But He will appear to your joy, and they will be ashamed. 


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 Who has heard a thing like this? Who has seen things like these? Will the earth be brought forth in one day? Or will a nation be born at once? For Zion travailed and also brought forth her sons. 


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 Will I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth, says Jehovah? Surely I will cause birth and restrain, says your God. 


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 Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all who love her. Rejoice for joy with her, all who mourn for her; 


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 that you may suck and be satisfied with her comforting breasts; that you may milk out and be delighted with the fullness of her glory. 


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 For so says Jehovah, Behold, I will hold out peace to her like a river, and the glory of the nations like a flowing stream. Then you will suck, you will be carried on her sides and be dandled upon her knees. 


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 And you will see, and your heart will rejoice, and your bones will flourish like the grass. And the hand of Jehovah will be known toward His servants, and His fury toward His enemies. 


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 For, behold, Jehovah will come with fire, and with His chariots like a tempest, to refresh His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of fire. 


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 For by fire and by His sword Jehovah will execute judgment with all flesh; and the slain of Jehovah will be many. 


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 Those who sanctify themselves, and purify themselves to go into the gardens, behind one tree in the middle, eating swine's flesh, and the hateful thing, and the mouse, will be cut off together, says Jehovah. 


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 For I know their works and their thoughts; it comes to gather all the nations and the tongues; and they will come and see My glory. 


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 And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those who escape from them to the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, drawers of the bow; to Tubal, and Javan, to the far away coasts that have not heard My fame, nor have seen My glory. And they will declare My glory among the nations. 


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 And they will bring all your brothers for an offering to Jehovah out of all nations on horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and on mules, and on camels, to My holy mountain Jerusalem, says Jehovah, as the sons of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of Jehovah. 


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 For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make stand before Me, says Jehovah, so will your seed and your name stand. 


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 And it will be, from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, all flesh will come to worship before Me, says Jehovah. 


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 And they will go out and see the dead bodies of the men who have sinned against Me; for their worm will not die, nor will their fire be put out; and they will be an object of disgust to all flesh. 


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 The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, 


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 to whom the Word of Jehovah came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. 


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 It also came in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, to the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah, to the exiling of Jerusalem in the fifth month. 


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 Before I formed you in the belly I knew you; and before you came forth out of the womb I consecrated you, and I ordained you a prophet to the nations. 


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 But Jehovah said to me, Do not say, I am a boy; for you shall go to all that I shall send you, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. 


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 And Jehovah put forth His hand, and touched my mouth. And Jehovah said to me, Behold, I have put My Words in your mouth. 


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 Behold! I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant. 


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 And the Word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Jeremiah, what do you see? And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree. 


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 And the Word of Jehovah came to me the second time, saying, What do you see? And I said, I see a boiling pot; and its face is from the face of the north. 


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 And Jehovah said to me, Out of the north an evil will be set loose on all the inhabitants of the land. 


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 For, behold, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, says Jehovah. And they shall come, and they shall each one set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all its wall all around, and against all the cities of Judah. 


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 And I will pronounce My judgments against them regarding all their evil, those who have forsaken Me, and burned incense to other gods, and worshiped the works of their own hands. 


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 And you must gird up your loins, and arise, and speak to them all that I command you. Do not be terrified at their faces, lest I prostrate you before them. 


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 For, behold, I have made you a fortified city this day, and an iron pillar, and bronze walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against its rulers, against its priests, and against the people of the land. 


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 And they shall fight against you; but they shall not overcome you. For I am with you, says Jehovah, to deliver you. 


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 Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, So says Jehovah, I remember you, the kindness of your youth, the love of your betrothals, when you went after Me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. 


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 Israel was holiness to Jehovah, and the firstfruits of His increase. All that devour him shall offend; evil shall come on them, says Jehovah. 


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 So says Jehovah, What injustice have your fathers found in Me, that they have gone far from Me and have walked after vanity, and have become vain? 


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 Nor did they say, Where is Jehovah who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of dry places, and of the shadow of death, through a land that no man passed through, and where no man lived? 


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 And I brought you into a plentiful country, to eat its fruit and its goodness; but when you entered, you defiled My land and made My inheritance an abomination. 


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 The priests did not say, Where is Jehovah? And they who handle the Law did not know Me; the shepherds also rebelled against Me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things not profitable. 


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 Therefore I will contend with you, says Jehovah, and with your son's sons I will enter into judgment. 


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 For pass over the coasts of Kittim, and see; and send to Kedar, and carefully consider, and see if there is such a thing. 


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 Has a nation changed their gods who are yet no gods? But My people have changed their Glory for that which does not profit. 


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 For My people have committed two evils; they have forsaken Me, the Fountain of living waters, to hew out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water. 


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 The young lions roared against him; they gave their voice. And they made his land a waste; his cities are burned without inhabitant. 


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 Have you not brought this on yourself, in that you have forsaken Jehovah your God, when He led you by the way? 


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 And now what is for you toward the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Sihor? Or what for you toward Assyria, to drink the waters of the River? 


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 Your own evil shall correct you, and your backslidings shall reprove you, therefore know and see that it is an evil and bitter thing that you have forsaken Jehovah your God, and that My fear is not in you, says the Lord Jehovah of Hosts. 


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 For long ago you broke your yoke and tore up your bonds; and you said, I will not transgress, when on every high hill and under every green tree you lay down like a harlot. 


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 Yet I planted you a noble vine, wholly a true seed. How then have you turned into the degenerate shoots of an alien vine to Me? 


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 For though you wash yourself with potash, and multiply soap for yourself, yet your iniquity is marked before Me, says the Lord Jehovah. 


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 How can you say, I am not defiled; I have not gone after the Baals? See your way in the valley, know what you have done! You are a swift camel crossing its ways; 


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 a wild ass used to the wilderness; in the desire of her passion she snuffs at the wind; in her time who can turn her away? All those who seek her will not tire themselves; in her month they will find her. 


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 Withhold your foot from being bare, and your throat from thirst. But you said, There is no hope; no; for I have loved strangers, and after them I will go. 


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 As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their rulers, and their priests, and their prophets; 


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 saying to a tree, You are my father; and to a stone, You gave me birth. For they have turned their back to Me, and not their face; but in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise and save us! 


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 But where are your gods that you have made for yourselves? Let them arise, if they can save you in the time of your trouble; for according to the number of your cities are your gods, O Judah. 


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 In vain I have stricken your sons; they received no correction. Your own sword has devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion. 


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 O generation, see the Word of Jehovah. Have I been a wilderness to Israel, or a land of darkness? Why do My people say, We roam freely; we will come no more to You? 


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 Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet My people have forgotten Me days without number. 


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 Also in your skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents; I did not find them by breaking in, but on all these. 


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 Yet you say, Because I am innocent, surely His anger shall turn from me. Behold, I will plead with you, because you say, I have not sinned. 


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 Why do you go about so much to change your way? You also shall be ashamed of Egypt, as you were ashamed of Assyria. 


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 Yes, you shall go out from this place, and your hands on your head. For Jehovah has rejected those in whom you trust, and you will not prosper by them. 


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 They say, If a man puts away his wife, and she goes from him and will be for another man, will he return to her again? Would not that land be greatly defiled? But you play the harlot with many lovers; yet come back to Me, says Jehovah. 


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 Lift up your eyes to the high places, and see. Where have you not been lain with? By the highways you have sat for them, like the Arabian in the wilderness; and you have defiled the land with your fornications and with your wickedness. 


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 Therefore the showers have been withheld, and there has been no latter rain; and you had a harlot's forehead, you refused to be ashamed. 


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 Will He keep His anger forever? Will He keep it to the end? Behold, you have spoken and done all the evil things you could do. 


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 Jehovah also said to me in the days of Josiah the king, Have you seen that which backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and has fornicated there. 


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 And I said after she had done all these things, Turn to Me! But she did not return. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it. 


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 And I saw, when for all the causes for which backsliding Israel committed adultery, I sent her away and gave a bill of divorce to her, yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she went and whored, she also. 


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 And it happened, from the folly of her whoredom, she defiled the land and fornicated with stones and stocks. 


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 And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not turned to Me with her whole heart, but with falsehood, says Jehovah. 


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 Go and cry these words toward the north, and say, Return, O backsliding Israel, says Jehovah; and I will not cause My anger to fall on you; for I am merciful, says Jehovah, and I will not keep anger forever. 


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 Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have sinned against Jehovah your God and have scattered your ways to the strangers under every green tree, and you have not obeyed My voice, says Jehovah. 


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 Turn, O backsliding sons, says Jehovah; for I am married to you; and I will take you one from a city, and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion. 


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 And I will give you shepherds according to My heart, who shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. 


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 And it will be when you have multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, says Jehovah, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of Jehovah! Nor shall it come to mind; nor shall they remember it; nor shall they visit it; nor shall it be made any more. 


text:
 At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of Jehovah; and all nations shall be gathered to it, to the name of Jehovah, to Jerusalem. Nor shall they walk any more after the stubbornness of their evil heart. 


text:
 In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance to your fathers. 


text:
 But I said, How shall I put you among the sons, and give you a pleasant land, a beautiful inheritance among the hosts of nations? And I said, You shall call Me, My Father, and shall not turn away from Me. 


text:
 Surely as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, so you have dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, says Jehovah. 


text:
 A voice was heard on the high places weeping, cryings of the sons of Israel; for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten Jehovah their God. 


text:
 Return, O backsliding sons, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come to You; for You are Jehovah our God. 


text:
 Truly, for delusion comes from the high hills, tumult on the mountains. Truly, in Jehovah our God is the salvation of Israel. 


text:
 For shame has eaten up the labor of our fathers from our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. 


text:
 We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covers us; for we have sinned against Jehovah our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day, and have not obeyed the voice of Jehovah our God. 


text:
 If you will return, O Israel, says Jehovah, return to Me. And if you will put away your abominations out of your sight, then you shall not be moved. 


text:
 And you shall swear, Jehovah lives, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in Him, and in Him they shall glory. 


text:
 For so says Jehovah to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns. 


text:
 Circumcise yourselves to Jehovah, and take away the foreskins of your heart, men of Judah and people of Jerusalem; lest My fury come forth like fire, and burn so that none can put it out; because of the evil of your doings. 


text:
 Declare in Judah, and let it be heard in Jerusalem; and say, Blow the trumpet in the land; cry, gather together, and say, Gather yourselves and let us go into the fortified cities. 


text:
 Set up the banner toward Zion; flee for safety and do not wait; for I will bring evil from the north, and a great ruin. 


text:
 The lion has come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the nations has set out; he has left his place to make your land a waste. Your cities will fall into ruins without inhabitant. 


text:
 Put on sackcloth for this, wail and howl; for the fierce anger of Jehovah is not turned back from us. 


text:
 And it shall be at that day, says Jehovah, the king's heart will perish, and the heart of the rulers; and the priests will be amazed, and the prophets will be astounded. 


text:
 Then I said, Ah, Lord Jehovah! Surely You have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, You shall have peace; but the sword reaches to the soul. 


text:
 At that time it shall be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A dry wind from the high places in the wilderness toward the daughter of My people, not to sift nor to cleanse. 


text:
 Behold, he shall come up like clouds, and his chariots like a tempest. His horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are plundered! 


text:
 O Jerusalem, cleanse your heart from evil so that you may be saved. How long shall your vain thoughts lodge within you? 


text:
 Tell it to the nations: Behold! proclaim against Jerusalem! Besiegers are going to come from a distant land; and they will set their voice against the cities of Judah. 


text:
 Like watchmen of a field, they are against her all around; because she rebelled against Me, says Jehovah. 


text:
 Your way and your doings have brought these things on you; this is your evil, because it is bitter, because it reaches to your heart. 


text:
 My bowels, my bowels! I convulse in pain. O walls of my heart! My heart is restless within me; I cannot be silent because you have heard, O my soul, the sound of the ram's horn, the alarm of war. 


text:
 Ruin on ruin is cried; for the whole land is laid waste. Suddenly my tents are laid waste, my curtains in a moment. 


text:
 For My people are foolish; they have not known Me; they are stupid sons, and they have no understanding. They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge. 


text:
 I looked on the earth, and, lo, it was without form and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. 


text:
 I looked, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all its cities were broken down before the face of Jehovah, before His fierce anger. 


text:
 The earth shall mourn for this, and the heavens above shall be black, because I have spoken, I have purposed, and will not repent, nor will I turn back from it. 


text:
 Every city shall flee from the sound of the horsemen and bowmen. They shall go into thickets and climb up among the rocks. All the city is abandoned, and not a man shall live in them. 


text:
 And you, O desolate one, what will you do? Though you dress with crimson, though you put on ornaments of gold, though you make your eyes large with paint, you shall make yourself beautiful in vain; your lovers will despise you; they will seek your life. 


text:
 For I have heard a voice as of a woman in labor, the anguish as one bearing her first child, the voice of Zion's daughter, gasping and spreading her hands, saying, Woe to me now! For my soul faints because of murderers. 


text:
 Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in her open places, if you can find a man, if there is one who does justice, who seeks the truth; and I will pardon her. 


text:
 O Jehovah, are not Your eyes on the truth? You have stricken them, but they have not grieved; You have destroyed them, but they have refused to receive correction; they have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused to return. 


text:
 So I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish; for they do not know the way of Jehovah, nor the judgment of their God. 


text:
 I will go up for myself to the great men, and will speak to them; for they have known the way of Jehovah and the judgment of their God. But these have broken the yoke together and have torn off the bonds! 


text:
 Therefore a lion out of the forest shall kill them, and a wolf of the deserts shall rob them; a leopard shall watch over their cities. Everyone who goes out from them shall be torn in pieces, because their sins are many and their backslidings are multiplied. 


text:
 Why shall I pardon you for this? Your sons have forsaken Me, and have sworn by No-gods. When I adjured them, then they committed adultery, and gathered themselves by troops in a harlot's house. 


text:
 They were like lusty, well-fed stallions in the morning; every one neighing after his neighbor's wife. 


text:
 Shall I not judge for these things? says Jehovah. And shall not My soul be avenged on such a nation as this? 


text:
 Go up on her vine-rows and destroy; but do not make a full end; take away her branches, for they are not Jehovah's. 


text:
 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very deceitfully against Me, says Jehovah. 


text:
 They have lied against Jehovah and said, It is not He; neither shall evil come on us; nor shall we see sword nor famine. 


text:
 Therefore so says Jehovah, the God of Hosts, Because you spoke this word, behold, I will make My Words in your mouth fire, and these people wood, and it shall devour them. 


text:
 Lo, I will bring a nation on you from afar, O house of Israel, says Jehovah. It is an enduring nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know, nor understand what they say. 


text:
 And they shall eat up your harvest and your bread. They will devour your sons and your daughters. They shall eat up your flocks and your herds; they shall eat up your vines and your fig-trees. One shall beat down your fortified cities with the sword, those in which you trust. 


text:
 And it will be, when you shall say, Why does Jehovah our God do all these things to us? Then You shall answer them, Just as you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve strangers in a land that is not yours. 


text:
 Now hear this, O foolish people and without heart; who have eyes and see not; who have ears and hear not; 


text:
 Do you not fear Me? says Jehovah. Will you not tremble at My presence, I who have placed the sand for the boundary of the sea by a never-ending decree, so that it cannot pass it? And though they toss themselves, yet they cannot prevail; though its waves roar, yet they cannot pass over it? 


text:
 And they do not say in their heart, Let us now fear Jehovah our God, who gives both the former and the latter rain in its season; He reserves to us the appointed weeks of the harvest. 


text:
 For among My people are found wicked ones; they lie in wait, as one who sets snares; they set a trap, they catch men. 


text:
 Like a cage full of birds, so their houses are full of deceit; therefore they have become great and grown rich. 


text:
 They have become fat, they shine. Yes, they go past the deeds of the wicked; they do not judge the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they may get rich; and they do not judge the right of the needy. 


text:
 Shall I not visit for these things? says Jehovah. Shall not My soul be avenged on such a nation as this? 


text:
 The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so, and what will you do at the end of it? 


text:
 O sons of Benjamin, take refuge out of the midst of Jerusalem. And blow the ram's horn in Tekoa, and set up a signal-fire over Beth-haccerem; for evil appears out of the north, and great ruin. 


text:
 The shepherds with their flocks shall come to her; they shall pitch tents on her all around; they shall feed each one in his hand. 


text:
 Prepare war against her; arise and let us go up at noon. Woe to us! For the day goes away, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out. 


text:
 For so has Jehovah of Hosts said, Cut down trees and cast a mound against Jerusalem! She is the city to be visited; there is nothing but oppression in her midst. 


text:
 As a fountain keeps fresh her waters, so she keeps fresh her evil; violence and spoil is heard in her; always before Me are grief and wounds. 


text:
 O Jerusalem, you must be instructed, lest My soul depart from you; lest I make you desolate, a land without people. 


text:
 So says Jehovah of Hosts, They shall thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel like a vine; turn back your hand as a grape gatherer into the baskets. 


text:
 To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? Behold, their ears are not circumcised, and they cannot listen. Behold, the Word of Jehovah is to them a reproach; they have no delight in it. 


text:
 Therefore I am full of the fury of Jehovah; I am weary with holding in; I will pour it out on the children in the street, and on the circle of young men together. For even the husband with the wife shall be taken, the aged with fullness of days. 


text:
 And their houses shall be turned to others, together with their fields and wives; for I will stretch out My hand on the people of the land, says Jehovah. 


text:
 For everyone from the least of them even to the greatest of them cuts off a profit; and from the prophet even to the priest everyone deals falsely. 


text:
 They have also healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace, when there is no peace. 


text:
 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed, nor could they blush; therefore they shall fall among those who fall. At the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, says Jehovah. 


text:
 So says Jehovah, Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths where the good way is, and walk in it, and you shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk in it. 


text:
 Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Listen to the sound of the ram's horn. But they said, We will not listen. 


text:
 Hear, O earth; behold, I will bring evil on this people, the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not listened to My Words, nor to My Law, but have rejected it. 


text:
 Why does frankincense come to Me from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country? Your burnt offerings are not pleasing, nor your sacrifices sweet to Me. 


text:
 Therefore so says Jehovah, Behold, I will lay stumbling-blocks before this people, and the fathers and the sons together shall fall on them; the neighbor and his friend shall perish. 


text:
 So says Jehovah, Behold, a people comes from the north country, and a great nation shall be stirred from the sides of the earth. 


text:
 They shall lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel and have no mercy; their voice roars like the sea; and they ride on horses, set in order like a man for war against you, O daughter of Zion. 


text:
 We have heard the rumor of it; our hands become feeble; anguish has taken hold of us, and pain, like a woman in labor. 


text:
 Do not go out into the field, nor walk by the way; for the sword of the enemy and fear are on every side. 


text:
 O daughter of my people, put on sackcloth, and wallow in ashes; make mourning for yourself, as for an only son, most bitter weeping; for the ravager shall suddenly come on us. 


text:
 They are all grievous revolters, walking in slanders; they are bronze and iron; they are all corrupters. 


text:
 The bellows are burned, the lead is melted by the fire; the refiner melts in vain; for the wicked are not plucked away. 


text:
 Stand in the gate of Jehovah's house, and declare there this Word, and say, Hear the Word of Jehovah, all Judah, who enter in at these gates to worship Jehovah. 


text:
 So says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, Make your ways and your doings good, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. 


text:
 Do not trust in lying words, saying, The temple of Jehovah, The temple of Jehovah, The temple of Jehovah are these. 


text:
 For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings; if you completely do judgment between a man and his neighbor; 


text:
 if you do not oppress the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, nor walk after other gods to your hurt; 


text:
 then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, forever and ever. 


text:
 Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know; 


text:
 and then come and stand before Me in this house which is called by My name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations? 


text:
 Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I also have seen, says Jehovah. 


text:
 But go now to My place which was in Shiloh, where I set My name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of My people Israel. 


text:
 And now, because you have done all these works, says Jehovah, and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you did not hear; and I called you, but you did not answer; 


text:
 therefore I will do to this house, which is called by My name, in which you trust, and to the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh. 


text:
 And I will cast you out of My sight, as I have cast out all your brothers, the whole seed of Ephraim. 


text:
 Therefore do not pray for this people, nor lift up cry nor prayer for them, nor make intercession to Me; for I will not hear you. 


text:
 The sons gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke Me to anger. 


text:
 Therefore so says the Jehovah God; Behold, My anger and My fury shall be poured out on this place, on man, and on animal, and on the trees of the field, and on the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be put out. 


text:
 So says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: Put your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat flesh. 


text:
 For I did not speak to your fathers, nor command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices. 


text:
 But I commanded them this thing, saying, Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people; and walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, so that it may be well with you. 


text:
 But they did not listen, nor bow their ear, but walked in their own plans, in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward and not forward. 


text:
 Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day I have even sent to you all My servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending. 


text:
 Yet they did not listen to Me, nor bow down their ear, but hardened their neck. They did worse than their fathers. 


text:
 So you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you; you shall also call to them, but they will not answer you. 


text:
 But you shall say to them, This is a nation which does not obey the voice of Jehovah their God, nor receives instruction; truth has perished, and is cut off from their mouth. 


text:
 Cut off your hair and throw it away, and take up a weeping on the high places. For Jehovah has rejected and forsaken the generation of His wrath. 


text:
 For the sons of Judah have done evil in My sight, says Jehovah. They have set their abominations in the house which is called by My name, in order to defile it. 


text:
 They have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I did not command them, nor did it come into My heart. 


text:
 So, behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that it shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. For they shall bury in Tophet, until there is no place. 


text:
 And the bodies of this people shall be food for the birds of the heavens, and for the beasts of the earth; and none shall frighten them away. 


text:
 Then I will cause the voice of gladness to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem, and the voice of joy, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride. For the land shall be desolate. 


text:
 At that time, says Jehovah, they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of its rulers, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the people of Jerusalem, out of their graves. 


text:
 And they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the host of the heavens, whom they have loved and whom they have served, and after whom they have walked, and whom they have sought, and whom they have worshiped. They shall not be gathered nor buried; they shall be as dung on the face of the earth. 


text:
 And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the rest of those who remain of this evil family, who remain in all the places where I have driven them, says Jehovah of Hosts. 


text:
 And you shall say to them, So says Jehovah; shall they fall and not arise? Shall he turn away and not return? 


text:
 Why has this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a never-ending backsliding? They hold fast to deceit; they refuse to return. 


text:
 I listened and heard, but they did not speak right; no man repented of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? Everyone turned in their own courses, as the horse rushes into the battle. 


text:
 Yea, the stork in the heavens knows her seasons; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow watch the time of their coming; but my people do not know the judgment of Jehovah. 


text:
 How do you say, We are wise, and the Law of Jehovah is with us? Lo, certainly the lying pen of the scribes has written falsely. 


text:
 The wise are ashamed, they are terrified, and are captured. Lo, they have turned away from the Word of Jehovah; and what wisdom is in them? 


text:
 Therefore I will give their wives to others, and their fields to those who shall inherit them, for everyone from the least even to the greatest cuts off a profit. From the prophet even to the priest everyone deals falsely. 


text:
 For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of My people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace. 


text:
 Were they ashamed when they had done an abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed, nor could they blush; therefore they shall fall among those who fall; in the time of their visitation they shall be cast down, says Jehovah. 


text:
 I will utterly consume them, says Jehovah; there shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; and the things that I have given them, those who pass over them. 


text:
 Why do we sit still? Gather yourselves, and let us enter into the fortified cities, and let us be silent there. For Jehovah our God has put us to silence, and has given us poisonous water to drink, because we have sinned against Jehovah. 


text:
 The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan; the whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of his stallions. For they have come, and have devoured the land, and all that is in it; the city, and those who live in it. 


text:
 For, behold, I will send serpents and adders among you, which will not be charmed; and they shall bite you, says Jehovah. 


text:
 Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people, from a far country. Is not Jehovah in Zion? Is not her King in her? Why have they provoked Me with their graven images, with foreign vanities? 


text:
 Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has the healing of the daughter of My people not come? 


text:
 Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! 


text:
 Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place for traveling men, that I might leave my people and go away from them! For they are all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men. 


text:
 And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies. But they are not mighty for the truth on the earth; for they go from evil to evil, and they do not know Me, says Jehovah. 


text:
 Everyone beware of his neighbor, and do not trust any brother! For every brother will supplant his neighbor, and will walk with slanders. 


text:
 And everyone will deceive his neighbor and will not speak the truth; they have taught their tongue to speak lies, and they weary themselves to commit iniquity. 


text:
 Therefore so says Jehovah of Hosts, Behold, I will melt them and try them; for what else can I do for the daughter of My people? 


text:
 Their tongue is a slaughtering arrow; it speaks deceit; one speaks peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth, but in heart he lies in ambush. 


text:
 Shall I not visit them for these things? says Jehovah; shall not My soul be avenged on such a nation as this? 


text:
 I will take up a weeping and a wailing for the mountains, and a mourning for the pastures of the wilderness; because they are burned up, so that none can pass through them; nor can men hear the voice of the cattle. Both the birds of the heavens and the beast have fled; they are gone. 


text:
 And I will make Jerusalem ruins, a den of jackals; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without a living soul. 


text:
 Who is the wise man who may understand this? And who is he to whom the mouth of Jehovah has spoken, that he may declare it? Why does the land perish and burn up like a wilderness, so that none passes through? 


text:
 And Jehovah says, Because they have forsaken My Law which I set before them, and have not obeyed My voice, and have not walked in it, 


text:
 but they have walked after the stubbornness of their own heart, and after the Baals, which their fathers taught them. 


text:
 Therefore so says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and make them drink poisonous water. 


text:
 I will also scatter them among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known. And I will send a sword after them until I have consumed them. 


text:
 So says Jehovah of Hosts, Think carefully, and call for the wailers, that they may come. And send for the wise women, that they may come; 


text:
 and let them make haste and take up a weeping for us, so that our eyes may run down with tears, and waters flow from our eyelids. 


text:
 For a voice of weeping is heard out of Zion. How are we plundered! We are greatly ashamed, because we have forsaken the land, because they have thrown down our tents. 


text:
 Yet hear the Word of Jehovah, O women, and let your ear receive the Word of His mouth, and teach your daughters to weep, and each one teach her neighbor to mourn. 


text:
 For death has come up into our windows, and has entered into our houses, to cut off the children from outside and the young men from the streets. 


text:
 Speak, So says Jehovah, Even the bodies of men shall fall as dung on the open field, and as the fallen grain after the reaper; and none shall gather them. 


text:
 So says Jehovah, Do not let the wise glory in his wisdom, nor let the mighty glory in his might; do not let the rich glory in his riches; 


text:
 but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am Jehovah, doing kindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth; for in these I delight, says Jehovah. 


text:
 Behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that I will punish all the circumcised with the uncircumcised; 


text:
 Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the sons of Ammon, and Moab, and all who are in the outermost corners, who dwell in the wilderness. For all these nations are not circumcised, and all the house of Israel, those not circumcised in heart. 


text:
 So says Jehovah, Do not learn the way of the nations, and do not be terrified at the signs of the heavens; for the nations are terrified at them. 


text:
 For the customs of the people are vain; for one cuts a tree out of the forest with the axe, the work of the hands of the workman. 


text:
 They adorn it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and hammers, so that it will not wobble. 


text:
 They are like a rounded post, and they cannot speak. They must surely be lifted, because they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them; for they cannot do evil nor good, for it is not in them. 


text:
 Who would not fear You, O King of nations? For fear belongs to You, because among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like You. 


text:
 Silver beaten into plates is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the workman, and of the hands of the goldsmith. Violet and purple is their clothing; they are all the work of skillful ones. 


text:
 But Jehovah is the true God, He is the living God, and the everlasting King. At His wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to stand His fury. 


text:
 So you shall say to them, The gods who have not made the heavens and the earth, they shall perish from the earth and from under these heavens. 


text:
 He has made the earth by His power; He has established the world by His wisdom, and has stretched out the heavens by His judgment. 


text:
 When He utters His voice, there is a noise of many waters in the heavens. He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; He makes lightnings with rain, and brings forth the wind out of His treasures. 


text:
 Every man is stupid for lack of knowledge; every refiner is put to shame by the graven image; for his molten image is a lie, and no breath is in them. 


text:
 The Portion of Jacob is not like them; for He is the Maker of all things; and Israel is the rod of His inheritance. Jehovah of Hosts is His name. 


text:
 For so says Jehovah, Behold, I will sling out the people of the land at this time, and will distress them, so that they may find Me. 


text:
 Woe to me for my breaking! My wound is grievous; but I said, Truly this is a malady, and I must bear it. 


text:
 My tabernacle is ravaged, and all my cords are broken; My sons went away from me, and they are not. There is none to stretch out My tabernacle any more, and to set up My curtains. 


text:
 For the pastors have become stupid, and have not sought Jehovah, therefore they shall not be blessed, and all their flocks shall be scattered. 


text:
 Behold, the noise of the rumor has come, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah a desolation, a den of jackals. 


text:
 O Jehovah, I know that the way of man does not belong to man; it is not in man who walks to direct his steps. 


text:
 Pour out Your fury on the nations who do not know You, and on the families who do not call on Your name; for they have eaten up Jacob and have devoured him, and have destroyed him, and have made his dwelling desolate. 


text:
 And say to them, So says Jehovah, the God of Israel, Cursed is the man who does not obey the Words of this covenant, 


text:
 which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, Obey My voice and do them according to all that I command you; so you shall be My people, and I will be your God; 


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 so that I may fulfil the oath which I have sworn to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day. Then I answered and said, Amen, O Jehovah. 


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 Then Jehovah said to me, Declare all these Words in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, Hear the Words of this covenant, and do them. 


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 For I earnestly testified to your fathers in the day I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even to this day, rising early and testifying, saying, Obey My voice. 


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 Yet they did not obey nor bow down their ear, but walked each one in the stubbornness of his evil heart. So I will bring on them all the Words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do; but they did not do them. 


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 And Jehovah said to me, A plot is found among the men of Judah, and among the people of Jerusalem. 


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 They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to hear My Words. And they went after other gods to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken My covenant which I made with their fathers. 


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 So Jehovah says this: Behold, I will bring evil on them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry to Me, I will not listen to them. 


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 Then shall the cities of Judah and the people of Jerusalem go and cry to the gods to whom they offer incense. But they shall not save them at all in the time of their trouble. 


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 For according to the number of your cities were your gods, O Judah. And according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem you have set up altars to that shameful thing, altars to burn incense to Baal. 


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 And you, do not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry or prayer for them. For I will not hear them in the time they cry to Me for their trouble. 


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 What is to My beloved in My house, since she has committed her many evils? And has the holy flesh caused your evil to pass from you? How then do you exult? 


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 Jehovah called your name, a green olive tree, fair, with fine fruit. With the sound of a great storm He has set fire to it, and its branches are worthless. 


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 And Jehovah of Hosts who planted you has spoken evil against you, for the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done to themselves to provoke Me to anger by offering incense to Baal. 


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 But I was like a docile lamb being brought to the slaughter. And I did not know that they had plotted evils against me, saying, Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, so that his name may be remembered no more. 


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 But, O Jehovah of Hosts who judges rightly, who tries the heart and the mind, let me see Your vengeance on them. For to You I have revealed my cause. 


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 Therefore so says Jehovah of the men of Anathoth, who seek your life, saying, Do not prophesy in the name of Jehovah, that you do not die by our hand. 


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 So says Jehovah of Hosts, Behold, I will punish them. The young men shall die by the sword; their sons and their daughters shall die by famine; 


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 and there shall be no remnant of them. For I will bring evil on the men of Anathoth, the year of their judgment. 


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 Righteous are You, O Jehovah, that I might contend with You; yet let me speak with You about Your judgments. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are all those happy who deal treacherously? 


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 You have planted them; yea, they take root. They grow, yea, they make fruit. You are near in their mouth and far from their reins. 


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 But You, O Jehovah, know me. You have seen me and tried my heart toward You. Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and devote them for the day of slaughter. 


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 How long shall the land mourn, and the grass of every field wither from the evil of those who dwell in it? The beasts and the birds have been destroyed, because they said, He shall not see our last end. 


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 If you have run with footmen, and they wore you out, then how can you compete with horses? And if you feel secure in the land of peace, then how will you do in the swelling of the Jordan? 


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 For even your brothers and the house of your father, even they have dealt treacherously with you. Yea, they have called a multitude after you. Do not believe them, though they speak good things to you. 


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 I have forsaken My house; I have left My inheritance. I have given the dearly beloved of My soul into the hand of her enemies. 


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 My inheritance is to Me as a lion in the forest; it cries out against Me; therefore I have hated it. 


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 My inheritance is like a speckled bird to Me; the birds all around are against her. Go, gather all the beasts of the field, bring them to devour. 


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 Many shepherds have destroyed My vineyard; they have trampled My portion under foot; they have made My pleasant portion a desolate wilderness. 


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 One has made it a desolation, it mourns to Me. The whole land is made desolate because no man lays it to heart. 


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 The ravagers have come on all high places through the wilderness; for the sword of Jehovah shall devour from the one end of the land even to the other end of the land. No flesh shall have peace. 


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 They have sown wheat, but shall reap thorns. They are worn out, but they do not profit. And they shall be ashamed of your harvests because of the fierce anger of Jehovah. 


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 So says Jehovah against all My evil neighbors who touch the inheritance which I have caused My people Israel to inherit: Behold, I will pluck them out of their land, and pluck out the house of Judah from among them. 


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 And it will be after I have plucked them out, I will return and have pity on them, and will bring them again, each man to his inheritance and each man to his land. 


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 And it will be if they will carefully learn the ways of My people, to swear by My name, As Jehovah lives; as they taught the people to swear by Baal; then they shall be built in the midst of My people. 


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 So says Jehovah to me, Go and buy for yourself a linen girdle, and put it on your loins, and do not put it in water. 


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 Take the girdle that you bought, which is on your loins, and arise. Go to Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole of the rock. 


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 And it happened at the end of many days Jehovah said to me, Arise, go to Euphrates and take the girdle from there, which I commanded you to hide there. 


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 Then I went to Euphrates and dug, and took the girdle from the place where I had hidden it. And, behold, the girdle was rotted; it was not good for anything. 


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 This evil people, who refuse to hear My Words, who walk in the stubbornness of their heart and walk after other gods to serve them and to worship them, shall even be like this girdle, which is good for nothing. 


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 For as the girdle holds fast to the loins of a man, so I have caused the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to cling to Me, says Jehovah; so that they might be to Me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory; but they would not hear. 


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 So you will speak to them this Word: So says Jehovah, the God of Israel, Every skin shall be filled with wine. And they shall say to you, Do we not surely know that every skin shall be filled with wine? 


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 Then you shall say to them, So says Jehovah, Behold, I will fill all the people of this land, even the kings that sit on David's throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people of Jerusalem, with drunkenness. 


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 And I will smash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together, says Jehovah. I will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, to keep them from their destruction. 


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 Give glory to Jehovah your God, before He causes darkness, and before your feet stumble on the dark mountains, and, while you look for light, He turns it into the shadow of death, setting up deep gloom. 


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 But if you will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride. And my eye shall weep sore and run down with tears, because Jehovah's flock was captured. 


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 Say to the king and to the queen mother, Humble yourselves, sit down; for your greatness shall come down, even the crown of your glory. 


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 The cities of the south have been shut up, and none are opening; Judah has been exiled, all of it has been peacefully exiled. 


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 Lift up your eyes and behold those who come from the north. Where is the flock that was given to you, your beautiful flock? 


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 What will you say when he comes to punish you? For you have taught them to be rulers over you for a head. Do not pangs seize you, like a woman in travail? 


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 And if you say in your heart, Why do these things come on me? It is because of the greatness of your iniquity; your skirts are bared, and your heels suffer violence. 


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 Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard its spots? Then you also may do good, who are accustomed to doing evil. 


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 This is your lot, the share I have measured to you, says Jehovah, because you have forgotten Me and trusted in falsehood. 


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 I have seen your adulteries, and your neighings, the wickedness of your fornication, and your abominations on the hills in the fields. Woe to you, O Jerusalem! Will you not be made clean? How long will it still be? 


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 Judah mourns, and its gates droop. They are black to the ground, and the cry of Jerusalem has gone up. 


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 And their nobles have sent their little ones to the waters; they came to the cisterns, and found no water. They returned with their vessels empty; they were ashamed and confounded, and covered their heads. 


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 Because the ground was cracked, for there was no rain in the earth, the plowmen were ashamed; they covered their heads. 


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 And the wild asses stood in the high places; they snuffed up the wind like jackals; their eyes failed because there was no grass. 


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 O Jehovah, though our iniquities testify against us, act for Your name's sake; for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against You. 


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 O the Hope of Israel, its Savior in time of trouble, why should You be as a stranger in the land, and as a traveler turning in to lodge? 


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 Why should You be as a man stunned, as one mighty, yet who cannot save? Yet You, O Jehovah, are in our midst, and we are called by Your name. Do not leave us! 


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 So says Jehovah to this people; So they have loved to wander; they have not restrained their feet; therefore Jehovah does not accept them. He will now remember their iniquity and visit their sins. 


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 When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and a grain offering, I will not accept them. But I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the plague. 


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 Then I said, Ah, O Lord Jehovah! Behold, the prophets are saying to them, You shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine; but I will give you true peace in this place. 


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 And Jehovah said to me, The prophets prophesy lies in My name; I did not send them, nor have I commanded them, nor did I speak to them. They prophesy to you a false vision and a worthless divination, and a thing of no value, and the deceit of their heart. 


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 So Jehovah says this concerning the prophets who prophesy in My name, and I did not send them; yet they say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land; by sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed. 


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 And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and they shall have none to bury them, either them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters. For I will pour their evil on them. 


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 And you shall speak this word to them: Let my eyes run down with tears night and day, and do not let them cease. For the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great break, with a very grievous blow. 


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 If I go out into the field, then I see those killed with the sword! And if I enter into the city, then, behold, sicknesses of famine! Yes, both the prophet and the priest have gone up into a land that they do not know. 


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 Have You utterly rejected Judah? Or has Your soul hated Zion? Why have You stricken us, and there is no healing for us? We looked for peace, but no good came; and for the time of healing, and behold, trouble! 


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 We acknowledge, O Jehovah, our wickedness, the iniquity of our fathers; for we have sinned against You. 


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 Do not abhor us for Your name's sake, do not disgrace the throne of Your glory; remember, do not break Your covenant with us. 


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 Are there any among the vanities of the nations who make rain fall? Or can the heavens give showers? Is it not You, O Jehovah our God? Then we will wait on You; for You do all these things. 


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 Then Jehovah said to me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before Me, My soul could not be toward this people. Send them out of My sight, and let them go out. 


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 And it will be, if they say to you, Where shall we go? Then you shall tell them, So says Jehovah: Those who are for death, go to death; and those for the sword, to the sword; and those for the famine, to the famine; and those for the captivity, to the captivity. 


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 And I will set over them four kinds, says Jehovah; the sword to kill, and the dogs to tear, and the birds of the heaven and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy. 


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 And I will make them a horror to all kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem. 


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 For who shall have pity on you, O Jerusalem? Or who shall weep over you? Or who shall turn aside to ask your welfare? 


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 You have forsaken Me, says Jehovah; you have gone backward; therefore I will stretch out My hand against you, and destroy you; I am weary with repenting. 


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 And I will winnow them with a fork in the gates of the land; I will bereave them of sons; I will destroy My people, since they do not turn from their ways. 


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 Their widows are more numerous about Me than the sand of the seas; I have brought on them, against a mother of a young man, a ravager at noonday; I have caused anguish and terror to fall on her suddenly. 


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 She who bore seven languishes; she has breathed out her life; her sun has gone down while it was yet day. She has been ashamed and humiliated; and I will deliver the rest of them to the sword before their enemies, says Jehovah. 


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 Woe is me, my mother, that you have borne me, a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have not loaned, nor have men loaned to me; yet every one curses me. 


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 Jehovah said, Truly I will free you for good. Truly I will cause the enemy to entreat you in the time of evil and in the time of affliction. 


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 Your wealth and your treasures I will give for prey, not for price, but for all your sins, even in all your borders. 


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 And I will make you pass with your enemies into a land which you do not know. For a fire has been kindled in My anger; it shall burn against you. 


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 O Jehovah, You know; remember me and visit me, and take vengeance for me on those who seek to hurt me. Do not take me away in Your long-suffering; know that for Your sake I have suffered rebuke. 


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 Your Words were found, and I ate them; and Your Word was to me the joy and gladness of my heart; for I am called by Your name, O Jehovah, the God of Hosts. 


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 I did not sit in the circle of mockers, nor rejoice; I sat alone because of Your hand; for You have filled me with indignation. 


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 Why has my pain been without end, and why is my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? You surely are to me like a deceitful brook, waters that cannot be trusted. 


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 Therefore so says Jehovah, If you turn back, then I will bring you again; you shall stand before Me. And if you take the precious from the worthless, you shall be as My mouth. Let them turn back to you, but do not return to them. 


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 And I will make you to this people a fortified wall of bronze; and they shall fight against you, but they shall not overcome you; for I am with you to save you and to deliver you, says Jehovah. 


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 And I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem you out of the hand of the evil ones. 


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 For so says Jehovah concerning the sons and concerning the daughters who are born in this place, and concerning their mothers who bore them, and concerning their fathers who fathered them in this land: 


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 They shall die from deaths of diseases; they shall not be mourned, nor shall they be buried. But they shall be as dung on the face of the earth. And they shall be destroyed by the sword and by famine; and their bodies shall be food for the birds of the heavens and for the beasts of the earth. 


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 For so says Jehovah, Do not enter into the house of mourning; do not go to weep nor moan over them. For I have taken away My peace from this people, says Jehovah, even loving-kindness and mercies. 


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 Both the great and the small shall die in this land. They shall not be buried, nor shall men mourn for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them. 


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 Nor shall anyone tear themselves for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead. Nor shall anyone give them the cup of comfort to drink for their father or for their mother. 


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 For so says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will cause the voice of mirth to cease out of this place before your eyes, and in your days, and the voice of gladness, and the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride. 


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 And it shall be, when you declare to this people all these words, and they shall say to you, Why has Jehovah pronounced all this great evil against us? Or what is our iniquity, or what is our sin that we have committed against Jehovah our God? 


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 Then you shall say to them, Because your fathers have forsaken Me, says Jehovah, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshiped them, and have forsaken Me, and have not kept My Law. 


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 And you have done worse than your fathers; for, behold, you walk each one after the stubbornness of his evil heart, without listening to Me; 


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 even I will cast you out of this land into a land that you do not know, neither you nor your fathers; and there you shall serve other gods day and night; where I will not grant you favor. 


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 So, behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that it shall no more be said, As Jehovah lives, who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt; 


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 but, As Jehovah lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands where He had driven them. And I will bring them again into their lands that I gave to their fathers. 


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 Behold, I will send for many fishermen, says Jehovah, and they will fish them. And afterwards I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them from every mountain and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks. 


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 For My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from My face, nor is their iniquity hidden from My eyes. 


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 And first I will twice repay their iniquity and their sin, because they have defiled My land, they have filled My inheritance with the dead bodies of their abominable things. 


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 O Jehovah, my strength and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the nations shall come to You from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and there is no profit in them. 


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 Therefore, behold, I will make them know; this time I will cause them to know My hand and My might; and they shall know that My name is Jehovah. 


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 The sin of Judah is engraved with an iron stylus; it is carved on the tablet of the heart and on the horns of Your altar with the point of a diamond; 


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 O My mountain in the field, I will give your wealth and all your treasures for prey, and your high places for sin, throughout all your borders. 


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 And you, even through yourself, have let go of the inheritance which I gave you; and I will cause you to serve your enemies in a land which you do not know. For you have kindled a fire in My anger, which shall burn forever. 


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 So says Jehovah, Cursed is the man who trusts in man, and makes flesh his arm, and whose heart departs from Jehovah. 


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 For he shall be like a juniper in the desert, and shall not see when good comes. But he shall live in the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land that is not inhabited. 


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 For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters; it sends out its roots by the river, and it shall not fear when the heat comes, but its foliage shall be green; and he is not worried in the year of drought, nor will it cease from yielding fruit. 


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 I Jehovah search the heart, I try the reins, even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings. 


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 The quail sits on eggs and does not hatch them; in the same way he who gets riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the middle of his days, and in his end he shall be a fool. 


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 O Jehovah, the Hope of Israel, all who forsake You shall be ashamed. Those who depart from Me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken Jehovah, the Fountain of living waters. 


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 I have not hurried away from shepherding after You; nor have I desired the woeful day; You surely know the going forth of my lips before Your face. 


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 Let those who persecute me be ashamed, but do not let me be ashamed; let them be afraid, but do not let me be afraid. Bring on them the day of evil, and destroy them with double breaking. 


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 So Jehovah said to me: Go and stand in the gates of the sons of the people, by which the kings of Judah come in, and by which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem. 


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 And say to them, Hear the Word of Jehovah, kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the people of Jerusalem who enter in by these gates! 


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 So says Jehovah, Take heed to yourselves, and carry no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem. 


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 Nor carry out a burden from your houses on the Sabbath day, nor do any work, but keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your fathers. 


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 But they did not obey, nor bowed down their ear, but made their neck stiff, so that they might not hear nor receive instruction. 


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 And it shall be, if you carefully listen to Me, says Jehovah, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but keep the Sabbath day holy, to do no work in it; 


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 then kings and rulers sitting on the throne of David shall enter into the gates of this city, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their rulers, the men of Judah, and the people of Jerusalem. And this city shall remain forever. 


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 And they shall come from the cities of Judah, and from the places about Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the plain, and from the mountains, and from the south, bringing burnt offerings, and sacrifices, and grain offerings, and incense, and bringing sacrifices of praise to the house of Jehovah. 


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 But if you will not listen to me to keep the Sabbath day holy, and not to carry a burden, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day; then I will kindle a fire in its gates, and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it will not be put out. 


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 And the vessel that he made in clay was ruined in the hand of the potter; so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. 


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 O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter? says Jehovah. Behold, As the clay in the potter's hands, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel. 


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 The instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck it up and to pull it down, and to destroy it; 


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 if that nation, against whom I have spoken, will turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do to them. 


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 And the instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build it and to plant it; 


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 if it does evil in My sight, not to obey My voice, then I will repent of the good with which I said I would do them good. 


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 Now then please, speak to the men of Judah, and to the people of Jerusalem, saying, So says Jehovah: Behold, I am forming evil against you, and devising a plan against you. Return now, each one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good. 


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 And they said, There is no hope; but we will walk after our own ways, and we will each one do according to the stubbornness of his evil heart. 


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 Therefore so says Jehovah, Ask now among the nations; who has heard the like of this? The virgin of Israel has done a very horrible thing. 


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 Does the snow of Lebanon forsake the rock of the field? Or shall the cold flowing waters that come from another place be forsaken? 


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 Because My people have forgotten Me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused themselves to stumble in their ways from the old paths, to walk in by-paths, not in the highway, 


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 to make their land desolate and a hissing forever. Everyone who passes by will be amazed, and will wag his head. 


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 I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will show them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity. 


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 Then they said, Come and let us plot schemes against Jeremiah. For the Law shall not perish from the priest, nor wisdom from the wise, nor the Word from the prophet. Come and let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not pay attention to any of his words. 


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 Should evil be repaid for good? For they have dug a pit for my soul. Remember that I stood before You to do good for them, and to turn away Your wrath from them. 


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 Therefore deliver up their sons to the famine, and give them over to the hand of the sword. And let their wives be bereaved, and widows, and their men be slain of death; let their young men be struck by the sword in battle. 


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 Let a cry be heard from their houses, when You suddenly bring a raiding party on them. For they have dug a pit to take me, and have hidden snares for my feet. 


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 Yet, Jehovah, You know all their counsel against me to kill me. Do not forgive their iniquity, nor blot out their sin from Your sight, but let them be overthrown before You; deal with them in the time of Your anger. 


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 So says Jehovah, Go and get a potter's earthen jar, and assemble from the elders of the people and of the elders of the priests. 


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 And go out to the valley of the son of Hinnom by the entry of Potsherd Gate. And there declare the words that I shall tell you. 


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 And say, Hear the Word of Jehovah, O kings of Judah, and people of Jerusalem. So says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will bring evil on this place, which shall cause the ears of him who hears it to tingle. 


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 Because they have forsaken Me, and have made this place famous and have burned incense in it to other gods whom neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Judah, and have filled this place with the blood of innocents. 


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 They have also built the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings to Baal, which I never commanded nor spoke, nor did it come into My mind. 


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 Therefore, behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that this place shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but, The Valley of Slaughter. 


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 And I will make the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem come to nothing in this place, and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hands of those who seek their lives. And I will give their dead bodies to be food for the birds of the heavens, and for the animals of the earth. 


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 And I will make this city a waste and a hissing. Everyone who passes by shall be amazed and shall hiss because of all its plagues. 


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 And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall each one eat the flesh of his friend in the siege and distress, with which their enemies and those who seek their lives shall distress them. 


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 and shall say to them, So says Jehovah of Hosts, Even so I will break this people of this city, as one breaks a potter's vessel that cannot be made whole again. And they shall bury them in Tophet until there is no place left to bury. 


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 And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, shall be as defiled as the place of Tophet, because of all the houses on whose roofs they have burned incense to all the host of the heavens, and have poured out drink offerings to other gods. 


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 Then Jeremiah came from Tophet, where Jehovah had sent him to prophesy. And he stood in the court of Jehovah's house, and said to all the people, 


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 So says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring on this city and on all its towns all the evil that I have spoken against it, because they have hardened their necks so that they might not hear My Words. 


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 When Pashur the son of Immer the priest (he was chief officer in the house of Jehovah) heard Jeremiah prophesying these things, 


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 then Pashur struck Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the upper Benjamin Gate, which was by the house of Jehovah. 


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 And it happened on the next day, Pashur brought Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then Jeremiah said to him, Jehovah has not called your name Pashur, but Terror from All Around. 


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 For so says Jehovah, Behold, I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends. And they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and your eyes shall behold it. And I will give all Judah into the king of Babylon's hand, and he will exile them into Babylon, and kill them with the sword. 


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 And I will give all the wealth of this city, and its produce, and all its precious things, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah, even I will give into the hand of their enemies; who will strip them and take them, and bring them to Babylon. 


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 And you, Pashur, and all who dwell in your house, shall go into captivity. And you shall come to Babylon, and you shall die there, and shall be buried there; you and all your friends to whom you have prophesied lies. 


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 O Jehovah, You have deceived me, and I was deceived. You are stronger than I, and You have prevailed. I am in derision all the day; everyone laughs at me. 


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 For whenever I speak, I cry out, I cry violence and ruin; for the Word of Jehovah has been a reproach and a cause of mocking to me all day. 


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 Then I said, I will not mention Him, nor speak in His name any more. But His Word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with holding in, and I could not stop. 


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 For I heard the slanders of many, Terror is all around! Expose! Yea, let us expose him! Every man of my peace is watching for my fall, saying, Perhaps he will be lured away, and we shall prevail over him, and we shall take our revenge on him. 


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 But Jehovah is with me like a mighty, awesome one. Therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not overcome me. They shall be greatly ashamed; for they shall not be blessed. Their everlasting shame shall never be forgotten. 


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 But, O Jehovah of Hosts, who tries the righteous and sees the reins and the heart, let me see Your vengeance on them. For I have committed my cause to You. 


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 Sing to Jehovah, praise Jehovah; for He has delivered the soul of the poor from the hand of evildoers. 


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 Cursed is the man who brought news to my father, saying, A man child is born to you; making him very glad. 


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 And let that man be as the cities which Jehovah overthrew, and repented not; and let him hear the cry in the morning, and the shouting at noontide; 


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 because he did not kill me from the womb; or that my mother might have been my grave, and her womb to be always great with me. 


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 Why did I come forth from the womb to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed in shame? 


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 The Word which came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, when King Zedekiah sent to him Pashur the son of Melchiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, saying, 


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 Please inquire of Jehovah for us. For Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is warring against us. Perhaps Jehovah will deal with us according to all His wonderful works, that he may go up from us. 


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 So says the Jehovah, the God of Israel: Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war in your hands, with which you fight against the king of Babylon, and against the Chaldeans who besiege you outside the walls. And I will gather them together in the middle of this city. 


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 And I Myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger, and in fury, and in great wrath. 


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 And afterward, says Jehovah, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, and those who are left in this city from the plague, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life. And he shall strike them with the edge of the sword; he shall not spare them, nor have pity, nor have mercy. 


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 And to this people you shall say, So says Jehovah, Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death. 


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 He who remains in this city shall die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the plague. But he who goes out and falls to the Chaldeans who are all around you, he shall live, and his life shall be his prize. 


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 For I have set My face against this city for evil, and not for good, says Jehovah. It shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire. 


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 O house of David, so says Jehovah: Do judgment in the morning, and deliver him who is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor, lest My fury go out like fire, and burn so that none can put it out, because of the evil of your doings. 


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 Behold, I am against you, O dweller of the valley, rock of the plain, says Jehovah; those who say, Who shall come down against us? Or who shall enter into our homes? 


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 But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, says Jehovah; and I will kindle a fire in the forest of it, and it shall devour all things around it. 


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 And say, Hear the Word of Jehovah, O king of Judah, who sits on the throne of David, you and your servants, and your people who enter in by these gates. 


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 So says Jehovah, Do judgment and righteousness, and deliver him who is robbed out of the oppressors's hand. And do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, or the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place. 


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 For if you do this thing indeed, then there shall enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people. 


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 But if you will not hear these Words, I swear by Myself, says Jehovah, that this house shall become a ruin. 


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 For so says Jehovah to the king of Judah's house, You are Gilead to Me, and the head of Lebanon. Yet surely I will make you a wilderness, cities with no people. 


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 And I will prepare destroyers against you, each one with his weapons. And they shall cut down your choice cedars, and throw them into the fire. 


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 And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say each one to his neighbor, Why has Jehovah done this to this great city? 


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 Then they shall answer, Because they have forsaken the covenant of Jehovah their God, and worshiped other gods, and served them. 


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 Weep not for the dead, nor moan for him; but weep bitterly for him who goes away. For he shall return no more, nor see his native country. 


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 For so says Jehovah concerning Shallum the son of Josiah king of Judah, who reigned in the place of Josiah his father, who went forth out of this place: he shall not return there any more. 


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 Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness and his upper rooms without justice; his neighbor serves without pay, and he does not give him for his work; 


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 who says, I will build myself a wide house and large rooms, and cuts out windows for himself, and puts in a cedar ceiling, and paints it with vermilion. 


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 Do you reign, because you lust to excel in cedar? Did not your father eat and drink, and do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him. 


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 He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well with him. Was this not to know Me? says Jehovah. 


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 But your eyes and your heart are for nothing but your unjust gain, and to shed innocent blood, and for cruelty, and to do violence. 


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 Therefore so says Jehovah concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, They shall not mourn for him, saying, Ah, my brother! or, Ah, sister! They shall not mourn for him, saying, Ah, lord! or, Ah, his glory! 


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 Go up to Lebanon, and cry. And lift up your voice in Bashan, and cry from Abarim, for all your lovers are destroyed. 


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 I spoke to you in your prosperity; but you said, I will not hear. This has been your way from your youth, for you have not obeyed My voice. 


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 The wind shall eat up all your shepherds, and your lovers shall go into captivity; surely then you will be ashamed and humiliated for all your wickedness. 


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 O dweller in Lebanon, nested in the cedars, how you will groan when pangs come to you, the pain as one giving birth? 


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 As I live, says Jehovah, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet on My right hand, yet I would pull you out of there! 


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 And I will give you into the hand of those who seek your life, and into the hand of those whose face you fear, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans. 


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 And I will cast you and your mother who bore you into another country where you were not born. And there you shall die. 


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 Is this man Coniah a despised broken jar? Is he a vessel in which there is no pleasure? Why are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land which they do not know? 


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 So says Jehovah, Write this man down as childless, a man who will not be blessed in his days. For no man of his seed shall be blessed, sitting on the throne of David and ruling any more in Judah. 


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 Therefore so says Jehovah, the God of Israel, against the shepherds who feed My people, You have scattered My flock, and have driven them away, and have not visited them. Behold, I will bring on you the evil of your doings, says Jehovah. 


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 And I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all countries where I have driven them, and will bring them again to their fold. And they shall be fruitful and multiply. 


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 And I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them. And they shall fear no more, nor be afraid; nor shall they lack anything, says Jehovah. 


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 Behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that I will raise to David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and act wisely, and shall do judgment and justice in the earth. 


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 In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely. And this is His name by which He shall be called, JEHOVAH, OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. 


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 Therefore, behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that they shall no more say, Jehovah lives, who brought the sons of Israel up out of the land of Egypt; 


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 but, Jehovah lives, who brought up and led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries where I have driven them. And they shall dwell in their own land. 


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 My heart within me is broken because of the prophets; all my bones shake. I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine has overcome, because of Jehovah, and because of the Words of His holiness. 


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 For the land is full of adulterers. Yes, because of cursing the land mourns; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil, and their power is not right. 


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 So their way shall be to them as slippery ways in the darkness; they shall be driven on, and fall in them; for I will bring evil on them, even the year of their judgment, says Jehovah. 


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 And I have seen frivolity in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied by Baal and caused My people Israel to go astray. 


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 I have also seen in the prophets of Jerusalem a horrible thing; they commit adultery and walk in falsehood. They also strengthen to the hands of evildoers, so that none returns from his evil; they are all of them like Sodom to Me, and its inhabitants like Gomorrah. 


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 So Jehovah of Hosts says this concerning the prophets: Behold, I will feed them wormwood, and make them drink poisonous water; for from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has gone forth into all the land. 


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 So says Jehovah of Hosts, Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They make you vain; they speak a vision from their own heart, not out of the mouth of Jehovah. 


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 They still say to those who despise Me, Jehovah has said, You shall have peace! And they say to everyone who walks after the stubbornness of his own heart, No evil shall come on you! 


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 For who has stood in the counsel of Jehovah, and hears His Word? Who has listened to His Word and heard it? 


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 Behold, the tempest of Jehovah has gone forth in fury, a whirling tempest. It shall whirl on the head of the wicked. 


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 The anger of Jehovah shall not return, until He has done and until He has set up the purposes of His heart; in later days you shall understand it perfectly. 


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 But if they had stood in My wisdom and had caused My people to hear My Words, then they would have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their doings. 


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 Can anyone hide himself in secret places so that I shall not see him? says Jehovah. Do I not fill the heavens and earth? says Jehovah. 


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 I have heard what the prophets said, who prophesy lies in My name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed. 


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 How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies? But they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart, 


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 who plot to cause My people to forget My name by their dreams which they tell, each one to his neighbor, as their fathers have forgotten My name for Baal. 


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 The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream. And he who has My Word, let him speak My Word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? says Jehovah. 


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 Jehovah says, Behold, I am against those who prophesy false dreams and tell them, and cause My people to go astray by their lies and by their lightness. Yet I did not send them nor command them; therefore they shall not profit this people at all, says Jehovah. 


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 And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask you, saying, What is the burden of Jehovah? You shall then say to them, What burden? I will even forsake you, says Jehovah. 


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 And as for the prophet, and the priest, and the people, who shall say, The burden of Jehovah, I will even punish that man and his house. 


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 So you shall say each one to his neighbor, and each one to his brother, What has Jehovah answered? And what has Jehovah spoken? 


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 And you shall mention the burden of Jehovah no more. For every man's word shall be his burden; for you have perverted the Words of the living God, of Jehovah of Hosts our God. 


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 But since you say, The burden of Jehovah; therefore so says Jehovah, Because you say this word; the burden of Jehovah; and I have sent to you saying, You shall not say, The burden of Jehovah; 


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 therefore, behold, I, even I, will completely forget you, and I will forsake you and the city that I gave you and your fathers, and cast you out of My presence. 


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 And I will bring an everlasting reproach on you, and a never-ending shame, which shall not be forgotten. 


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 Jehovah caused me to see, and behold, two baskets of figs set before the temple of Jehovah (after Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had exiled Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, and the rulers of Judah, with the craftsmen and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon); 


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 one basket had very good figs, like the first ripe figs. And the other basket had very bad figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad. 


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 Then Jehovah said to me, What do you see, Jeremiah? And I said, Figs; the good figs are very good, and the bad are very bad, so that they cannot be eaten, they are so bad. 


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 So says Jehovah, the God of Israel: Like these good figs, so I will acknowledge the exiles of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good. 


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 For I will set My eyes on them for good, and I will bring them again to this land. And I will build them and not pull them down; and I will plant them and not pluck them up. 


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 And I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am Jehovah; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God. For they shall return to Me with their whole heart. 


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 And like the bad figs, which cannot be eaten, they are so bad; surely so says Jehovah, So I will give to Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his rulers, and the rest of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and those who dwell in the land of Egypt; 


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 and I will even make them a horror for evil to all the kingdoms of the earth, for a reproach and a proverb, a gibe and a curse, there in all places where I shall drive them. 


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 And I will send the sword, the famine, and the plague among them until they are destroyed from the land that I gave to them and to their fathers. 


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 The Word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah. It was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; 


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 the Word which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the people of Jerusalem, saying, 


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 From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, even to this day, that is the twenty-third year, the Word of Jehovah has come to me, and I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking. But you have not listened. 


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 And Jehovah has sent to you all His servants the prophets, rising early and sending them; but you have not listened nor bowed down your ear to hear. 


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 They said, Turn again now, each one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that Jehovah has given to you and to your fathers forever and ever. 


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 And do not go after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands; and I will do you no harm. 


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 Yet you have not listened to Me, says Jehovah, so that you might provoke Me with the works of your hands, for harm to you. 


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 behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, says Jehovah, and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant; and will bring them against this land, and against its people, and against all these nations all around. And I will completely destroy them, and make them a waste, and a hissing, and everlasting ruins. 


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 And I will take from them the voice of rejoicing and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the candle. 


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 And this whole land shall be a ruin and a waste. And these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. 


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 And it shall be, when seventy years are fulfilled I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, and the land of the Chaldeans, says Jehovah, for their iniquity, and I will make it an everlasting ruin. 


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 And I will bring on that land all My Words which I have spoken against it, all that is written in this book which Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations. 


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 For many nations and great kings shall lay service on them also. And I will repay them according to their deeds, and according to the works of their own hands. 


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 For so says Jehovah, the God of Israel, to me, Take the wine cup of this wrath at My hand, and cause all the nations to whom I shall send you to drink it. 


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 And they shall drink, and reel to and fro, and be maddened, because of the sword that I will send among them. 


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 Then I took the cup at Jehovah's hand, and made all the nations drink, to whom Jehovah had sent me. 


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 Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings of them, and their rulers, to make them a ruin, a horror, a hissing, and a curse, as it is today, 


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 and all the mixed people, and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Azzah, and Ekron, and the rest of Ashdod; 


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 and all the kings of Tyre, and all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the coastlands beyond the sea, 


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 and all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the world, which are on the face of the earth; and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them. 


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 So you shall say to them, So says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: Drink and be drunk, and vomit, and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you. 


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 And it shall be if they refuse to take the cup at your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, So says Jehovah of Hosts, You shall certainly drink. 


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 For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by My name; and should you be found entirely without guilt? You shall not be without guilt. For I will call for a sword on all the inhabitants of the earth, says Jehovah of Hosts. 


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 And prophesy against them all these Words, and say to them, Jehovah shall roar from on high, and utter His voice from His holy habitation. He shall mightily roar over His dwelling place. He shall give a shout, like those who tread out grapes, against all the people of the earth. 


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 A noise shall come to the ends of the earth; for Jehovah has a controversy with the nations; He will enter into judgment with all flesh. He will give those who are wicked to the sword, says Jehovah. 


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 So says Jehovah of Hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great tempest shall be stirred up from the corners of the earth. 


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 And the slain of Jehovah shall be at that day from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth; they shall not be mourned, nor gathered, nor buried. They shall be as dung on the ground. 


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 Howl, shepherds, and cry; and roll, leaders of the flock! For the days of your slaughter and of your scatterings are fulfilled; and you shall fall like a desirable vessel. 


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 A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and a howling of the choice ones of the flock shall be heard; for Jehovah has spoiled their pasture. 


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 Like the lion, He has left His den; for their land is wasted because of the oppressor's pressing fury, and because of His fierce anger. 


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 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, this Word came from Jehovah, saying, 


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 So says Jehovah: Stand in the court of Jehovah's house and speak to all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in Jehovah's house, all the Words that I command you to speak to them; do not keep back a word. 


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 It may be that they will listen, and each man turn from his evil way, that I may repent of the evil which I plan to do to them because of the evil of their doings. 


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 And you shall say to them, So says Jehovah: If you will not listen to Me, to walk in My Law which I have set before you, 


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 to listen to the words of My servants the prophets whom I am sending to you (both rising up early and sending them, but you have not listened); 


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 then I will make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth. 


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 So the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of Jehovah. 


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 And it happened when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that Jehovah had commanded him to speak to all the people, the priests and the prophets and all the people took him, saying, You shall surely die! 


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 Why have you prophesied in the name of Jehovah, saying, This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be wasted, without inhabitant? And all the people were gathered against Jeremiah in the house of Jehovah. 


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 When the rulers of Judah heard these things, then they came up from the king's house to the house of Jehovah, and sat down in the entrance of the New Gate of Jehovah's house. 


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 And the priests and the prophets spoke to the rulers and to all the people, saying, Let a death sentence be for this man, for he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your ears. 


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 Then Jeremiah spoke to all the rulers and to all the people, saying, Jehovah sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that you have heard. 


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 So now make your ways and your doings good, and obey the voice of Jehovah your God. And Jehovah will repent of the evil that He has spoken against you. 


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 But know for certain that if you put me to death you shall surely bring innocent blood on yourselves, and on this city, and on its people. For truly Jehovah has sent me to you to speak all these Words in your ears. 


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 Then the rulers and all the people said to the priests and to the prophets, There is not a sentence of death for this man; for he has spoken to us in the name of Jehovah our God. 


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 Micah the Morasthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, So says Jehovah of Hosts: Zion shall be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house like the high places of a forest. 


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 Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah indeed put him to death? Did he not fear Jehovah, and pray to Jehovah, and Jehovah repented of the evil which He had spoken against them? So we are doing great evil against our souls. 


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 And there was also a man who prophesied in the name of Jehovah, Urijah the son of Shemaiah of Kirjath-jearim, who prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah. 


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 And when Jehoiakim the king, with all his mighty men, and all the rulers, heard his words, the king tried to put him to death. But when Urijah heard it, he was afraid, and fled and went into Egypt. 


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 And Jehoiakim the king sent men into Egypt; Elnathan the son of Achbor, and men with him into Egypt. 


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 And they brought Urijah out of Egypt and brought him to Jehoiakim the king, who killed him with the sword and threw his dead body into the graves of the common people. 


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 But the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, that they should not give him into the hand of the people to put him to death. 


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 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, this Word came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying, 


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 And send them to the king of Edom, and to the king of Moab, and to the king of the Ammonites, and to the king of Tyre, and to the king of Sidon, by the hand of the messengers who came to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah. 


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 And command them to go to their masters, saying, So says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: So you shall say to your masters, 


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 I have made the earth, man, and the animals on the face of the earth, by My great power and by My outstretched arm, and have given it to whom it seemed right to Me. 


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 And now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant. And I have also given him the beast of the field to serve him. 


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 And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son's son, until the time of his own land comes. And then many nations and great kings shall enslave him. 


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 And it shall be, the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation I will punish, says Jehovah, with the sword and with the famine, and with the plague, until I have destroyed them by his hand. 


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 As for you, do not listen to your prophets, nor to your fortune tellers, nor to your dreamers, nor to your conjurers, nor to your sorcerers, who speak to you, saying, You shall not serve the king of Babylon. 


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 For they prophesy a lie to you, to remove you far from your land, and that I should drive you out and you should perish. 


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 But the nations who bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him, those I will leave on their own land, says Jehovah. And they shall work it and dwell in it. 


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 I also spoke to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words, saying, Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live. 


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 Why will you die, you and your people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the plague, as Jehovah has spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon? 


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 Therefore do not listen to the words of the prophets who speak to you, saying, You shall not serve the king of Babylon. For they prophesy a lie to you. 


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 For I have not sent them, says Jehovah; yet they prophesy a lie in My name, so that I might drive you out, and that you might perish, you and the prophets who prophesy to you. 


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 Also I spoke to the priests and to all the people, saying, So says Jehovah, Do not listen to the words of your prophets who prophesy to you, saying, Behold, the vessels of Jehovah's house shall now shortly be brought again from Babylon. For they prophesy a lie to you. 


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 Do not listen to them; serve the king of Babylon and live. For why should this city be laid waste? 


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 But if they are prophets, and if the Word of Jehovah is with them, let them now pray to Jehovah of Hosts, that the vessels which are left in the house of Jehovah, and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, may not go to Babylon. 


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 For so says Jehovah of Hosts, concerning the pillars, and concerning the sea, and concerning the bases, and concerning the rest of the vessels which remain in this city, 


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 which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take when he exiled Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem; 


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 yes, so says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that remain in the house of Jehovah and in the house of the king of Judah and of Jerusalem: 


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 They shall be carried to Babylon, and they shall be there until the day that I visit them, says Jehovah. Then I will bring them up and give them back to this place. 


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 And it happened in that year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year, in the fifth month, Hananiah the son of Azur the prophet, of Gibeon, spoke to me in the house of Jehovah, in the presence of the priests and of all the people, saying, 


text:
 So says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, saying, I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. 


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 Within two full years I will again bring into this place all the vessels of Jehovah's house, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place and carried them to Babylon. 


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 And I will bring again to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, with all the captives of Judah who went into Babylon, says Jehovah. For I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon. 


text:
 Then the prophet Jeremiah said to the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests, and in the presence of all the people who stood in the house of Jehovah, 


text:
 even the prophet Jeremiah said, Amen. May Jehovah do so. May Jehovah confirm your words which you have prophesied, to bring again the vessels of Jehovah's house, and all that is exiled from Babylon into this place. 


text:
 The prophets who have been before me and before you of old prophesied against many countries and against great kingdoms, of war, and of evil, and of plague. 


text:
 As for the prophet who prophesies of peace, when the word of the prophet shall come to pass, then the prophet shall be known, that Jehovah has truly sent him. 


text:
 And Hananiah spoke for the eyes of all the people, saying, So says Jehovah, Even so I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all nations within the time of two full years. And the prophet Jeremiah went his way. 


text:
 Then the Word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah, after Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke from off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, saying, 


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 Go and tell Hananiah, saying, So says Jehovah: You have broken the yokes of wood, but you shall make for them yokes of iron. 


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 For so says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, I have put a yoke of iron on the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. And they shall serve him. And I have given him the beasts of the field also. 


text:
 Then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah the prophet, Hear now, Hananiah. Jehovah has not sent you, but you make this people to trust in a lie. 


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 Therefore so says Jehovah, Behold, I will drive you from off the face of the earth. You shall die this year, because you have taught rebellion against Jehovah. 


text:
 And these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the rest of the elders of the exile, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon. 


text:
 (After Jeconiah the king, and the queen mother, and the eunuchs, the rulers of Judah and Jerusalem, and the craftsmen, and the smiths, had departed from Jerusalem.) 


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 The letter came by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah the king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, saying, 


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 So says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I caused to be exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon: 


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 Take wives and father sons and daughters. And take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters, that you may be multiplied there and not become few. 


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 And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be exiled, and pray to Jehovah for it. For in its peace you shall have peace. 


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 For so says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your fortune-tellers in your midst deceive you, nor listen to your dreams which you dream. 


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 For so says Jehovah, When according to My Word seventy years have been fulfilled for Babylon, I will visit you and confirm My good Word to you, to bring you back to this place. 


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 For I know the purposes which I am purposing for you, says Jehovah; purposes of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. 


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 And I will be found by you, says Jehovah; and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places where I have driven you, says Jehovah. And I will bring you again into the place from where I caused you to be exiled. 


text:
 so says Jehovah of the king who sits on the throne of David, and of all the people who dwell in this city, and of your brothers who have not gone out with you into captivity; 


text:
 so says Jehovah of Hosts: Behold, I will send on them the sword, the famine, and the plague, and will make them like worthless figs which cannot be eaten from badness. 


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 And I will pursue them with the sword, with the famine, and with the plague, and will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, and a waste, and a hissing, and a reproach, among all the nations where I have driven them, 


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 because they have not listened to My Words, says Jehovah, which I sent to them by My servants the prophets, rising up early and sending; but you would not hear, says Jehovah. 


text:
 so says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, about Ahab the son of Kolaiah and of Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who prophesy a lie to you in My name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall kill them before your eyes. 


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 And a curse shall be taken up from them by all the exiles of Judah who are in Babylon, saying, May Jehovah make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire, 


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 because they have committed evil in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbors' wives, and have spoken lying words in My name, which I have not commanded them; for I am He who knows and a witness, says Jehovah. 


text:
 So says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, saying, Because you have sent letters in your name to all the people who are at Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, and to all the priests, saying, 


text:
 Jehovah has made you priest instead of Jehoiada the priest, to be officers in the house of Jehovah, over every madman who prophesies, that you should put him into the stocks and into the collar. 


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 For this cause he sent to us in Babylon, saying, This exile is long. Build houses and live in them, and plant gardens and eat their fruit. 


text:
 Send to all the exiles, saying, So says Jehovah concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, and I did not send him, and he caused you to trust in a lie, 


text:
 therefore so says Jehovah, Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his seed. He shall not have a man to dwell among this people; nor shall he behold the good which I shall do for My people, says Jehovah, because he has taught rebellion against Jehovah. 


text:
 So speaks Jehovah, the God of Israel, saying, Write all the Words that I have spoken to you in a book. 


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 For, lo, the days come, says Jehovah, that I will bring again the captivity of My people Israel and Judah, says Jehovah. And I will cause them to return to the land that I gave their fathers, and they shall possess it. 


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 Ask now, and see whether a man is giving birth? Why do I see every man with his hands on his loins, like a woman in labor, and all faces are turned into paleness? 


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 Alas! For that day is great, so that none is like it; it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it. 


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 For it shall be in that day, says Jehovah of Hosts, I will break his yoke from your neck and will burst your bonds. And strangers shall no longer enslave him, 


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 And you, O My servant Jacob, do not fear, says Jehovah. Do not be terrified, O Israel. For lo, I will save you from afar, and your seed from the land of their captivity. And Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid. 


text:
 For I am with you, says Jehovah, to save you. Though I make a full end of all nations where I have scattered you, yet I will not make a full end of you; but I will correct you in measure, and will not leave you entirely unpunished. 


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 All your lovers have forgotten you; they do not seek you. For I have wounded you with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the greatness of your iniquity; because your sins are many. 


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 Why do you cry over your crushing? Your pain is incurable, for the greatness of your iniquity; because your sins are many, I have done these things to you. 


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 So all those who devour you shall be devoured; and all your enemies, every one of them, shall go into captivity. And they who rob you shall be robbed, and all who strip you I will strip. 


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 For I will give health back to you, and will heal you of your wounds, says Jehovah; because they called you an outcast, saying, This is Zion; no one is seeking for her. 


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 So says Jehovah: Behold, I will bring again the captivity of Jacob's tents, and will have mercy on his dwelling places. And the city shall be built on her own hill, and the palace shall remain in its own place. 


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 And out of them shall come thanksgiving, and the voice of those who rejoice. And I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small. 


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 Also their sons shall be as they were before, and their congregation shall be established before Me, and I will punish all who ill-treat them. 


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 And their rulers shall be of themselves, and their governor shall come from among them; and I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach Me. For who is this who pledged his heart to come near to Me? says Jehovah. 


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 Behold, the tempest of Jehovah's wrath goes forth, a sweeping tempest; it shall whirl on the head of the wicked. 


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 The fierce anger of Jehovah shall not return until He has done it, and until He has fulfilled the purposes of His heart. In the latter days you shall understand it. 


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 At that time, says Jehovah, I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people. 


text:
 So says Jehovah, The people who were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness; even Israel, when I will go to give him rest. 


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 Jehovah has appeared to me from afar, saying, Yea, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with loving-kindness I have drawn you. 


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 Again I will build you, and you shall be built, O virgin of Israel. You shall again put on your tambourines, and shall go forth in the dances of those who rejoice. 


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 You shall yet plant vines on the mountains of Samaria; the planters shall plant, and shall eat them as common things. 


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 For there shall be a day that the watchmen on Mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise and let us go up to Zion to Jehovah our God! 


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 For so says Jehovah, Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations. Cry out, give praise and say, O Jehovah, save Your people, the remnant of Israel. 


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 Behold, I will bring them from the north country and gather them from the corners of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and she who is in labor with child, together; a great company shall return there. 


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 They shall come with weeping, and with prayers I will lead them. I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way; they shall not stumble in it, for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is My firstborn. 


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 Hear the Word of Jehovah, O nations, and declare it in the coastlands afar off. And say, He who scattered Israel will gather him and keep him, as a shepherd keeps his flock. 


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 Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of Jehovah, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the sons of the flock and the herd. And their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not pine away any more at all. 


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 Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men and old together; for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them and make them rejoice from their affliction. 


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 And I will fill the soul of the priests with fatness, and My people shall be satisfied with My goodness, says Jehovah. 


text:
 So says Jehovah: A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and bitter weeping; Rachel weeping for her sons; she refuses to be comforted for her sons, because they are not. 


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 So says Jehovah: Hold back your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears; for your work shall be rewarded, says Jehovah. And they shall come again from the land of the enemy. 


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 And there is hope for your future, says Jehovah, that your sons shall come again to their own border. 


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 I have surely heard Ephraim mourning to himself, saying, You have chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bull not broken in; turn me, and I shall be turned. For You are Jehovah my God. 


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 Surely after I was turned, I repented; and after I was taught, I struck on my thigh. I was ashamed, yea, I even blushed, because I bore the disgrace of my youth. 


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 Is Ephraim My dear son? Is he a delightful child? For as often as I spoke against him, I earnestly remember him still. Therefore My heart is troubled for him; I will surely have mercy on him, says Jehovah. 


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 Set up waymarks, make sign posts for yourself. Set your heart toward the highway, the way you went. Turn again, O virgin of Israel, turn again to these your cities. 


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 How long will you turn to and fro, O faithless daughter? For Jehovah has created a new thing in the land; a woman shall enclose a man. 


text:
 So says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, Again they shall speak this word in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I shall again bring their captivity: Jehovah bless you, O home of justice and mountain of holiness. 


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 And farmers, and those going forth with flocks, shall dwell in Judah itself, and in all the cities of it together. 


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 Behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and with the seed of animal. 


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 And it shall be, as I have watched over them to pluck up, and to break down, and to throw down, and to destroy, and to afflict; so I will watch over them to build, and to plant, says Jehovah. 


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 In those days they shall not say any more, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of the sons are dull. 


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 But every man shall die in his iniquity. Every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth will be dull. 


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 Behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that I will cut a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah, 


text:
 not according to the covenant that I cut with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which covenant of Mine they broke, although I was a husband to them, says Jehovah; 


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 but this shall be the covenant that I will cut with the house of Israel: After those days, says Jehovah, I will put My Law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 


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 And they shall no more teach each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, Know Jehovah; for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says Jehovah. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sins no more. 


text:
 So says Jehovah, who gives the sun for a light by day and the laws of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, who divides the sea when its waves roar; Jehovah of Hosts is His name; 


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 if those ordinances depart from Me, says Jehovah, the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before Me forever. 


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 So says Jehovah, If the heavens above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth below can be searched out, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, says Jehovah. 


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 Behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that the city shall be built to Jehovah from the Tower of Hananeel to the Corner Gate. 


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 And the whole valley of the dead bodies, and of the ashes, and all the fields to the torrent of Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, shall be holy to Jehovah. It shall not be plucked up nor thrown down any more forever. 


text:
 The Word that came to Jeremiah from Jehovah in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. 


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 For then the king of Babylon's army besieged Jerusalem. And Jeremiah the prophet was shut in the court of the guard, which was in the king of Judah's house. 


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 For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, Why do you prophesy and say, So says Jehovah, Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it, 


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 and Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans, but shall surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him mouth to mouth, and his eyes shall behold his eyes, 


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 and he shall lead Zedekiah into Babylon, and there he shall be until I visit him, says Jehovah; though you fight with the Chaldeans, you shall not be blessed. 


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 Behold, Hanameel the son of Shallum your uncle shall come to you, saying, Buy for yourself my field in Anathoth; for the right to redeem it is yours, to buy it. 


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 So Hanameel my uncle's son came to me in the court of the prison according to the Word of Jehovah and said to me, Please buy my field in Anathoth, which is in the land of Benjamin; for the right of inheritance is yours, and the right to redeem is yours. Buy it for yourself. Then I knew that this was the Word of Jehovah. 


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 And I bought the field in Anathoth, of Hanameel my uncle's son, and weighed him the silver, seventeen shekels of silver. 


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 And I wrote it in the document, and sealed it, and called witnesses, and weighed the silver in the scales. 


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 So I took the document of the purchase, that which was sealed according to the law and custom, and the open copy. 


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 And I gave the document of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, before the eyes of Hanameel my uncle's son, and before the eyes of the witnesses who wrote in the purchase document, before all the Jews who sat in the court of the guard. 


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 So says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: Take these books, the purchase document, the one sealed and the open book, and put them in an earthen vessel so that they may stand many days. 


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 For so says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall be owned again in this land. 


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 Ah, Lord Jehovah! You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and stretched out arm. Nothing is too great for You. 


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 You show loving-kindness to thousands, and repay the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their sons after them. The great, the mighty God, Jehovah of Hosts, is His name, 


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 great in wisdom and mighty in work; for Your eyes are open on all the ways of the sons of men, to give every one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings. 


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 For You have set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, until this day, and in Israel, and among men; and have made You a name, as at this day; 


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 and have brought forth Your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs, and with wonders, and with a strong hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with great terror. 


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 And You have given them this land, which You swore to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey. 


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 And they came in and possessed it, but they did not obey Your voice, nor did they walk in Your Law. They have done nothing of all that You commanded them to do; therefore You have caused all this evil to come on them. 


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 Behold, the siege mounds have come to the city to take it; and the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans who fight against it, because of the sword, and of the famine, and of the plague. And what You have spoken has happened; and, behold, You saw it. 


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 And You have said to me, O Lord Jehovah, Buy the field for money, and take witnesses; for the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans. 


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 Therefore so says Jehovah: Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall take it. 


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 And the Chaldeans who fight against this city shall come up and set this city on fire, and burn it with the houses on whose roofs they have offered incense to Baal, and poured out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke Me to anger. 


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 For the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah have only done evil before Me from their youth. For the sons of Israel have only provoked Me to anger with the work of their hands, says Jehovah. 


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 For this city has been to Me as a cause of My anger and of My fury from the day that they built it even to this day; that I should remove it from before My face; 


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 because of all the evil of the sons of Israel and of the sons of Judah, which they have done to provoke Me to anger, they, their kings, their rulers, their priests, and their prophets, and the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 


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 And they have turned the back to Me, and not the face; though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not listened to receive instruction. 


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 And they built the high places of Baal, in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to Molech; which I did not command them, nor did it come into My mind that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin. 


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 And now therefore, so says Jehovah, the God of Israel, concerning this city of which you say, It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, and by the famine, and by the plague: 


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 Behold, I will gather them out of all the lands where I have driven them in My anger, and in My fury, and in great wrath. And I will bring them again to this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely. 


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 And I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for their good and for the good of their sons after them. 


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 And I will cut an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them, to do them good. But I will put My fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from Me. 


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 Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will truly plant them in this land with all My heart and all My whole soul. 


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 For so says Jehovah: As I have brought all this great evil on this people, so I will bring on them all the good that I have promised them. 


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 And fields shall be bought in this land of which you say, It is a desert without man or beast; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans. 


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 Men shall buy fields for silver, and write it in a book, and seal it, and take witnesses in the land of Benjamin, and in the places around Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, and in the cities of the mountains, and in the cities of the valley, and in the cities of the south. For I will cause their captivity to return, says Jehovah. 


text:
 And the Word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah the second time, while he was still shut up in the court of the guard, saying, 


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 So says Jehovah the Maker of it, Jehovah who formed it in order to establish it; Jehovah is His name: 


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 Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and inscrutable things which you do not know. 


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 For so says Jehovah, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city, and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, which are broken down to defend against the siege-mounds and against the sword: 


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 They come to fight with the Chaldeans, and to fill them with the dead bodies of men whom I have slain in My anger and in My fury, and for all whose evil I have hidden My face from this city. 


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 Behold, I will bring it health and healing, and I will heal them and will show them the riches of peace and truth. 


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 And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them, as at the first. 


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 And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against Me; and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned, and by which they have transgressed against Me. 


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 And it shall be to Me a name of joy, a praise and an honor before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good that I do to them. And they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and for all the riches that I bring to it. 


text:
 So says Jehovah: Again there shall be heard in this place, which you say is a waste without man and without beast, even in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate without man, and without inhabitant, and without beast; 


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 the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who shall say, Praise Jehovah of Hosts, for Jehovah is good, for His mercy endures forever; and the voice of those who shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of Jehovah. For I will cause the captivity of the land to return, as at the first, says Jehovah. 


text:
 So says Jehovah of Hosts: Again in this place which is a desert without man and without beast, and in all its cities, there shall be a home of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down. 


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 In the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the valley, and in the cities of the south, and in the land of Benjamin, and in the places around Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, shall the flocks pass again under the hands of him who tallies, says Jehovah. 


text:
 Behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that I will establish the good thing which I have spoken to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah. 


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 In those days, and at that time, I will cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up to David. And He shall do judgment and righteousness in the land. 


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 In those days Judah shall be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely. And this is the name with which she shall be called, JEHOVAH OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. 


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 nor shall the priests the Levites lack a man before Me to offer burnt offerings, and to kindle grain offerings, and to do sacrifice forever. 


text:
 So says Jehovah: If you can break My covenant of the day and My covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season, 


text:
 then also may My covenant with David My servant be broken, that he should not have a son to reign on his throne, and My covenant with the Levites the priests, My ministers. 


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 As the host of the heavens cannot be numbered, nor the sand of the sea measured, so I will multiply the seed of David My servant and the Levites who minister to Me. 


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 Do you not consider what this people have spoken, saying, The two families which Jehovah has chosen, He has even cast them off? So they have despised My people, that they should be no more a nation before them. 


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 So says Jehovah: If My covenant is not with day and night, and if I have not given the ordinances of the heavens and the earth, 


text:
 then I will cast away the seed of Jacob, and David My servant, so that I will not take any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will bring back their captivity, and have mercy on them. 


text:
 The Word which came to Jeremiah from Jehovah when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth (because his hand rules) and all the peoples, fought against Jerusalem and against all its cities; saying, 


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 So says Jehovah, the God of Israel: Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah and tell him, So says Jehovah, Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire. 


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 And you shall not escape out of his hand, but shall surely be captured and delivered into his hand. And your eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with you mouth to mouth, and you shall go to Babylon. 


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 Yet hear the Word of Jehovah, O Zedekiah king of Judah: So says Jehovah of you, You shall not die by the sword. 


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 You shall die in peace; and as the burnings of spices for your fathers, the former kings which were before you, so they shall burn spices for you. And they will mourn you, saying, Ah, lord! For I have spoken the Word, says Jehovah. 


text:
 when the king of Babylon's army fought against Jerusalem and against all the remaining cities of Judah; against Lachish, and against Azekah; for these fortified cities remained of the cities of Judah. 


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 The Word that came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, after King Zedekiah had cut a covenant with all the people at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty to them, 


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 that each man should let his male slave, and each man his female slave, if a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, to go free, that none should enslave a Jew, his brother among them. 


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 And all the rulers obeyed, and all the people who had entered into the covenant allowed them to go free, each man his male slave, and each man his female slave, so that not any should enslave among them any more; and they obeyed and let them go. 


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 But afterward they turned and caused the slaves and slave women whom they had let go free, to return! And they subjected them for slaves and slave women. 


text:
 So says Jehovah, the God of Israel: I cut a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, saying, 


text:
 At the end of seven years each man should let go his brother, a Hebrew, and who has been sold to him. And when he has served you six years, you shall let him go free from you. But your fathers did not listen to me, nor bow down their ears. 


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 And you had turned today, and had done right in My sight to call for liberty, each man to his neighbor. And you had cut a covenant before Me in the house which is called by My name. 


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 But you turned and defiled My name, and each man caused his slave, and each man caused his slave woman, whom you had set free to do as they pleased, to return. And you brought them into service to be slaves and slave women to you. 


text:
 So Jehovah says this: You have not listened to Me to proclaim liberty each man to his brother, and each man to his neighbor! Behold, I call for freedom for you, says Jehovah, to the sword, to the plague, and to the famine. And I will cause you to be a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. 


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 And I will give the men who have sinned against My covenant, who have not done the words of the covenant which they cut before Me when they cut the calf in two and passed between its parts; 


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 the rulers of Judah, and the rulers of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, and the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf; 


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 I will even give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life. And their dead bodies shall be for food to the birds of the heavens and to the beasts of the earth. 


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 And I will give Zedekiah king of Judah, and his rulers, into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life, and into the hand of the king of Babylon's army, who have withdrawn from you. 


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 Behold, I will command, says Jehovah, and cause them to return to this city. And they shall fight against it and capture it, and burn it with fire. And I will make the cities of Judah a desert without a soul to live in it. 


text:
 The Word which came to Jeremiah from Jehovah in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, saying, 


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 Go to the house of the Rechabites and speak to them, and bring them into the house of Jehovah, into one of the rooms. And give them wine to drink. 


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 Then I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habaziniah, and his brothers, and all his sons, and the whole house of the Rechabites. 


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 And I brought them into the house of Jehovah, into the room of the sons of Hanan the son of Igdaliah, a man of God, which was near the room of the rulers, above the room of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the keeper of the door. 


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 And I set pots full of wine, and cups, before the sons of the house of the Rechabites. And I said to them, Drink wine! 


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 But they said, We will drink no wine, for Jonadab the son of Rechab our father commanded us, saying, You shall drink no wine, you nor your sons forever. 


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 Nor shall you build houses, nor sow seed, nor plant a vineyard, nor have anything; but all your days you shall live in tents, so that you may live many days in the land where you are strangers. 


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 So we have obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab our father in all that he has commanded us, to drink no wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, nor our daughters; 


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 But we have lived in tents, and have obeyed and done according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us. 


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 But it happened when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up into the land, we said, Come and let us go to Jerusalem for fear of the Chaldean army, and for fear of the Syrian army. So we are living at Jerusalem. 


text:
 So says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: Go and tell the men of Judah and the people of Jerusalem, Will you not receive instruction to listen to My Words? says Jehovah. 


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 The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, which he commanded his sons not to drink wine, are done. For to this day they do not drink, but obey their father's commandment. But I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking, but you did not listen to Me. 


text:
 I have also sent to you all My servants the prophets, rising up early and sending, saying, Return now each man from his evil way, and make your doings good, and do not go after other gods to serve them, and you shall dwell in the land which I have given to you and to your fathers. But you have not bowed down your ear, nor listened to Me. 


text:
 Because the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have done the commandment of their father, which He commanded them; but this people has not listened to Me; 


text:
 therefore so says Jehovah, the God of Hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring on Judah and on all the people of Jerusalem all the evil that I have spoken against them. Because I have spoken to them, but they have not heard; and I have called to them, but they have not answered. 


text:
 And Jeremiah said to the house of the Rechabites, So says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: Because you have obeyed the command of Jonadab your father, and have kept all his precepts, and have done according to all that he has commanded you; 


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 therefore so says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not lack a man to stand before Me forever. 


text:
 And it happened in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, this Word came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying, 


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 Take for yourself a roll of a book, and write in it all the Words that I have spoken to you against Israel, and against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah, even to this day. 


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 It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I plan to do to them, that they may each man turn from his evil way, so that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin. 


text:
 Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah. And Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the Words of Jehovah, which He had spoken to him, on a roll of a book. 


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 Therefore you go, and read in the roll which you have written from my mouth, the Words of Jehovah in the ears of the people in Jehovah's house on the fasting day. And also you shall read them in the ears of all Judah who come out of their cities. 


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 It may be they will present their prayer before Jehovah, and will return, each one from his evil way. For great is the anger and the fury that Jehovah has spoken against this people. 


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 And Baruch the son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading in the book, the Words of Jehovah in Jehovah's house. 


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 And it happened in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, in the ninth month, they called a fast before Jehovah to all the people in Jerusalem, and to all the people who came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem. 


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 And Baruch read in the book, the words of Jeremiah in the house of Jehovah, in the room of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the scribe, in the higher court, at the entrance to the New Gate of Jehovah's house, in the ears of all the people. 


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 When Michaiah, the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, heard all the Words of Jehovah out of the book, 


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 then he went down into the king's house, into the scribe's room. And, lo, all the rulers sat there, even Elishama the scribe, and Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, and Elnathan the son of Achbor, and Gemariah the son of Shaphan, and Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the rulers. 


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 Then Michaiah declared to them all the words that he had heard, when Baruch read the book in the ears of the people. 


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 Therefore all the rulers sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, to Baruch, saying, Take the roll in your hand in which you have read in the ears of the people, and come. So Baruch the son of Neriah took the roll in his hand and came to them. 


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 And it happened when they had heard all the words, they turned to one another in fear and said to Baruch, We will surely tell the king of all these words. 


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 Then Baruch answered them, He spoke all these words to me with his mouth, and I wrote them with ink on the book. 


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 And the rulers said to Baruch, Go hide yourselves, you and Jeremiah; and let no man know where you are. 


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 And they went in to the king into the court. But they laid up the roll in the room of Elishama the scribe, and told all the words in the ears of the king. 


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 So the king sent Jehudi to bring the roll. And he took it out of the room of Elishama the scribe. And Jehudi read it in the ears of the king, and in the ears of all the rulers who stood beside the king. 


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 And the king sat in the winter house in the ninth month; also with the burning fire-pan before him. 


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 And it happened when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, he cut it with the scribe's knife and threw it into the fire in the fire-pan, until all the scroll was burned up in the fire-pan. 


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 Yet the king and all his servants who heard these words were not afraid, nor did they tear their garments. 


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 But Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah had pleaded with the king that he should not burn the scroll, but he would not hear them. 


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 And the king commanded Jerahmeel the son of Hammelech, and Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to seize Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet. But Jehovah hid them. 


text:
 Then the Word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah, after the king had burned the scroll and the words which Baruch wrote at the mouth of Jeremiah, saying, 


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 Take for yourself another scroll, and write in it all the former Words that were in the first scroll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah has burned. 


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 And you shall say to Jehoiakim king of Judah, So says Jehovah: You have burned this scroll, saying, Why have you written in it, saying, The king of Babylon shall certainly come and destroy this land, and shall cause man and beast to cease from there? 


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 Therefore so says Jehovah of Jehoiakim king of Judah: He shall have no one to sit on the throne of David. And his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost. 


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 And I will punish him and his seed and his servants for their iniquity. And I will bring on them, and on the people of Jerusalem, and on the men of Judah, all the evils that I have spoken against them; but they did not listen. 


text:
 Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah, who wrote in it from the mouth of Jeremiah all the Words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And many words like them were added to them. 


text:
 And King Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah. 


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 But neither he, nor his servants, nor the people of the land, listened to the Words of Jehovah which He spoke by the prophet Jeremiah. 


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 And Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, Pray now to Jehovah our God for us. 


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 And Pharaoh's army had come out from Egypt. And when the Chaldeans who besieged Jerusalem heard news of them, they departed from Jerusalem. 


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 So says Jehovah, the God of Israel: You shall say this to the king of Judah, who sent you to Me to inquire of Me: Behold, Pharaoh's army, which has come forth to help you, shall return to Egypt into their own land. 


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 And the Chaldeans shall come again and fight against this city, and capture it, and burn it with fire. 


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 So says Jehovah: Do not deceive yourselves, saying, The Chaldeans shall surely depart from us. For they shall not depart. 


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 For though you had stricken the whole army of the Chaldeans who fight against you, and there remained only wounded men among them, they would rise up, each man in his tent, and burn this city with fire. 


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 And it happened when the army of Chaldeans was made to go up from Jerusalem because of fear of Pharaoh's army, 


text:
 then Jeremiah went out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin, to receive a portion from there in the midst of the people. 


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 And it happened, he being in the gate of Benjamin, a commander of the guard named Irijah was there, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah. And he seized Jeremiah the prophet, saying, You are falling away to the Chaldeans. 


text:
 Then Jeremiah said, A lie! I am not falling away to the Chaldeans. But he did not listen to him; so Irijah took Jeremiah and brought him to the rulers. 


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 And the rulers were angry with Jeremiah, and struck him, and put him in prison, the house of Jonathan the scribe. For they had made that the prison. 


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 When Jeremiah had entered into the house of the pit, and into the cells, then Jeremiah remained there many days. 


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 And Zedekiah the king sent and took him out. And the king asked him secretly in his house, and said, Is there any Word from Jehovah? And Jeremiah said, There is. For, He said, you shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon. 


text:
 And Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, What have I offended against you, or against your servants, or against this people, that you have put me in prison? 


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 Where now are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, The king of Babylon shall not come against you nor against this land? 


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 And please hear now, O my lord the king; I beg you, let my cry be pleasing to you, so that you cause me not to return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there. 


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 And Zedekiah the king commanded that they should put Jeremiah into the court of the prison, and that they should give him a piece of bread out of the bakers' street daily, until all the bread in the city was gone. So Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison. 


text:
 And Shephatiah the son of Mattan, and Gedaliah the son of Pashur, and Jehucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashur the son of Malchiah, heard the words that Jeremiah had spoken to all the people, saying, 


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 So says Jehovah, He who remains in this city shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the plague. But he who goes out to the Chaldeans shall live; for he shall have his life as a prize, and shall live. 


text:
 So says Jehovah: This city shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon's army, and he shall capture it. 


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 And the rulers said to the king, Please let this man be put to death. For in this way he weakens the hands of the men of war who remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words to them. For this man does not seek the good of this people, but the hurt. 


text:
 Then Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he is in your hand. For the king cannot do a thing against you. 


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 And they took Jeremiah and threw him into the pit of Malchiah the son of Hammelech, which was in the court of the prison. And they let Jeremiah down with ropes. And there was no water in the pit, only mud. So Jeremiah sank into the mud. 


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 And Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, of the eunuchs in the king's house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the pit (the king then sitting in the gate of Benjamin), 


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 My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have thrown into the pit. And he is likely to die of hunger in the place where he is, for there is no more bread in the city. 


text:
 Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, Take in your hand thirty men with you from here, and lift Jeremiah the prophet up out of the pit before he dies. 


text:
 So Ebed-melech took the men in his hand and went into the house of the king under the treasury, and took worn out clothes and worn out rags from there, and let them down by ropes into the pit to Jeremiah. 


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 And Ebed-melech, the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, Now put the worn out clothes and rags under your armpits, under the ropes. And Jeremiah did so. 


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 So they drew up Jeremiah with ropes and took him up out of the pit. And Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison. 


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 And Zedekiah the king sent and took Jeremiah the prophet to him, into the third gate in the house of Jehovah. And the king said to Jeremiah, I will ask you a thing. Do not hide anything from me. 


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 Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, If I declare it to you, will you not surely put me to death? And if I give you advice, you will not listen to me. 


text:
 Zedekiah the king swore secretly to Jeremiah, saying, As Jehovah lives, who made us this soul, I will not put you to death, nor will I give you into the hand of these men who seek your life. 


text:
 Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, So says Jehovah, the God of Hosts, the God of Israel: If you will surely go forth to the king of Babylon's rulers, then your soul shall live, and this city shall not be burned with fire. And you shall live, and your house. 


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 But if you will not go forth to the king of Babylon's rulers, then this city shall be given into the hands of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire, and you shall not escape out of their hand. 


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 And Zedekiah the king said to Jeremiah, I am afraid of the Jews who have fallen to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand, and lest they hurt me. 


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 But Jeremiah said, They shall not deliver you. I beg you, obey the voice of Jehovah which I speak to you; so it shall be well to you, and your soul shall live. 


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 And, behold, all the women who are left in the king of Judah's house shall be brought out to the king of Babylon's rulers, and they shall say, Your friends have urged you on, and have prevailed against you. Your feet have sunk in the mire, and they have turned away. 


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 So they shall bring out all your wives and your sons to the Chaldeans. And you shall not escape out of their hand, but shall be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon. And you shall cause this city to be burned with fire. 


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 But if the rulers hear that I have talked with you, and they come to you and say to you, Declare to us now what you have said to the king; do not hide it from us, and we will not put you to death; also what the king said to you; 


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 then you shall say to them, I presented my cry before the king, that he would not cause me to return to Jonathan's house, to die there. 


text:
 Then all the rulers came to Jeremiah and asked him. And he told them according to all these words that the king had commanded. So they quit speaking with him; for the matter was not known. 


text:
 So Jeremiah stayed in the court of the prison until the day that Jerusalem was captured. And he was there when Jerusalem was captured. 


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 In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and all his army, came against Jerusalem. And they besieged it. 


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 In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the ninth of the month, the city was broken up. 


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 And all the rulers of the king of Babylon came in and sat in the middle gate: Nergal-sharezer, Samgar-nebo, Sarsechim, chief of the eunuchs, Nergal-sharezer, chief soothsayer, and all the rest of the rulers of the king of Babylon. 


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 And it happened when Zedekiah, the king of Judah and all the men of war saw them, then they fled, and went out from the city by night, by the way of the king's garden, by the gate between the two walls. And he went out the way of the plain. 


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 But the Chaldean army pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. And they took him, and made him go up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, to Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he gave judgment on him. 


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 Then the king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes in Riblah. Also the king of Babylon killed all the rulers of Judah. 


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 And the Chaldeans burned the king's house and the houses of the people, with fire, and broke down the walls of Jerusalem. 


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 Then Nebuzaradan the chief of the executioners exiled to Babylon the rest of the people who remained in the city, and those who fell away, who fell to him with the rest of the people that remained. 


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 But Nebuzaradan, the chief of the executioners, left some of the poor people, who had nothing, in the land of Judah, and gave them vineyards and fields on that day. 


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 And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon gave command concerning Jeremiah to Nebuzaradan the chief of the executioners, saying, 


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 Take him, and set your eyes on him, and do him no evil. But do with him even as he shall say to you. 


text:
 So Nebuzaradan, the chief of the executioners, sent, and Nebu-shasban, chief of the eunuchs, and Nergal-sharezer, Rab-mag, and all the king of Babylon's rulers, 


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 even they sent and took Jeremiah out of the court of the prison, and entrusted him to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan, to take him to the house. So he lived among the people. 


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 And the Word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah, while he was shut up in the court of the prison, saying, 


text:
 Go and speak to Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, So says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring My Words on this city for evil and not for good. And they shall be done in that day before you. 


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 But I will deliver you in that day, says Jehovah. And you shall not be given into the hand of the men of whom you are afraid. 


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 For I will surely deliver you, and you shall not fall by the sword, but your life shall be as a prize to you, because you have put your trust in Me, says Jehovah. 


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 This is the Word that came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, after Nebuzaradan the chief of the executioners had let him go from Ramah, when he had taken him, being bound in chains, among all the captives of Jerusalem and Judah, who were being exiled to Babylon. 


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 And the chief of the executioners took Jeremiah and said to him, Jehovah your God has spoken this evil against this place. 


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 And Jehovah has brought it, and has done according as He has said, Because you have sinned against Jehovah and have not obeyed His voice, therefore this thing has come on you. 


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 And now, behold, I set you free today from the chains on your hand. If it seems good to you to come with me into Babylon, come. And I will keep my eye on you. But if it seems evil to you to come with me into Babylon, stay. Behold, all the land is before you. Wherever it seems good and pleasing for you to go, go there. 


text:
 And while he had not yet gone back, he said, Go back also to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has made governor over the cities of Judah, and live with him among the people. Or go wherever it seems right to you to go. So the chief of the executioners gave him food and a reward, and let him go. 


text:
 Then Jeremiah went to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam at Mizpah. And he lived with him among the people who were left in the land. 


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 And when all the commanders of the forces who were in the fields, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam governor in the land, and had entrusted to him men, and women, and children, and many of the poor of the land, of those who were not exiled to Babylon; 


text:
 then they came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth, and the sons of Ephai of Netopha, and Jezaniah the son of a Maachathite, they and their men. 


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 And Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan swore to them and to their men, saying, Do not fear to serve the Chaldeans. Live in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you. 


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 As for me, behold, I will live at Mizpah to serve the Chaldeans, who have come to us. But you go gather wine, and summer fruits, and oil, and put them in your vessels, and live in your cities that you have taken. 


text:
 Also when all the Jews in Moab, and among the Ammonites, and in Edom, and in all the countries, heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant of Judah, and that he had set over them Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan; 


text:
 even all the Jews returned out of all places where they were driven, and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah, to Mizpah, and gathered wine and summer fruits in abundance. 


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 And Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the commanders of the forces that were in the fields, came to Gedaliah to Mizpah. 


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 And they said to him, You certainly know that Baalis the king of the Ammonites has sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to kill you. But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam did not believe them. 


text:
 Then Johanan the son of Kareah spoke to Gedaliah in Mizpah secretly, saying, Please let me go. And I will kill Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and no man shall know. Why should he kill you so that all the Jews who are gathered to you should be scattered, and the remnant in Judah perish? 


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 But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam said to Johanan the son of Kareah, You shall not do this thing. For you speak falsely of Ishmael. 


text:
 And it happened in the seventh month, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and the son of Elishama, of the royal seed, and the rulers of the king, and ten men with him, came to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah. And there they ate bread together in Mizpah. 


text:
 Then Ishmael the son of Nethaniah arose, and the ten men who were with him, and struck Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan with the sword, and killed him whom the king of Babylon had made governor over the land. 


text:
 Ishmael also killed all the Jews who were with him, with Gedaliah, at Mizpah, and the Chaldeans who were found there, the men of war. 


text:
 some men from Shechem came from Shiloh, and from Samaria, even eighty men, with their beards shaved, and their clothes torn, and having cut themselves, with offerings and incense in their hand, to bring them to the house of Jehovah. 


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 And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah went out from Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he walked. And it happened as he met them, he said to them, Come to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. 


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 And it happened when they came into the middle of the city, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah killed them, he and the men with him, and they threw them into the middle of the pit. 


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 But ten men were found among them who said to Ishmael, Do not kill us, for we have treasures in the field, of wheat, and of barley, and of oil, and of honey. So he held back and did not kill them among their brothers. 


text:
 And the pit in which Ishmael had thrown all the dead bodies of the men, whom he had killed because of Gedaliah, was the one which Asa the king had made for fear of Baasha king of Israel. And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with the slain. 


text:
 Then Ishmael took captive all the rest of the people who were in Mizpah, even the king's daughters and all the people who remained in Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan the chief of the executioners had entrusted to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah took captive and left to go over to the Ammonites. 


text:
 But when Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the commanders of the forces with him, heard of all the evil that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had done, 


text:
 then they took all the men and went to fight with Ishmael the son of Nethaniah. And they found him by the great waters that are in Gibeon. 


text:
 And it happened when all the people with Ishmael saw Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the commanders of the forces with him, then they were glad. 


text:
 So all the people that Ishmael had taken captive from Mizpah turned around and came back, and went to Johanan the son of Kareah. 


text:
 Then Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces with him took all the remnant of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, from Mizpah, after he had killed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. They took mighty men of war, and the women, and the children, and the eunuchs, whom he had brought again from Gibeon. 


text:
 And they departed and lived in the inn of Chimham, which is by Bethlehem, to go to enter into Egypt, 


text:
 because of the Chaldeans. For they were afraid of them, because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had slain Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon made governor in the land. 


text:
 Then came near all the commanders of the forces, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least even to the greatest, came near. 


text:
 And they said to Jeremiah the prophet, Please let our cry be pleasing to you, and pray for us to Jehovah your God, even for all this remnant, (for we are left but a few of many, as your eyes behold us), 


text:
 And Jeremiah the prophet said to them, I have heard. Behold, I will pray to Jehovah your God according to your words; and it shall be, all the word Jehovah shall answer, I will declare it to you. I will keep nothing back from you. 


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 And they said to Jeremiah, Let Jehovah be a true and faithful witness between us if we do not do even according to all things for which Jehovah your God shall send you to us. 


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 Whether it is good, or whether it is evil, we will obey the voice of Jehovah our God, to whom we send you; so that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of Jehovah our God. 


text:
 And he called Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the commanders of the forces with him, and all the people from the least even to the greatest. 


text:
 And he said to them, So says Jehovah, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your cry before Him: 


text:
 If you will still remain in this land, then I will build you and will not pull you down. And I will plant you and will not pluck you up. For I repent of the evil that I have done to you. 


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 Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom you are afraid. Do not be afraid of him, says Jehovah. For I am with you to save you and to deliver you from his hand. 


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 And I will show mercies to you, so that he may have mercy on you and cause you to return to your own land. 


text:
 saying, No, but we will go into the land of Egypt, where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor have hunger for bread; and there we will dwell; 


text:
 then now hear the Word of Jehovah, O remnant of Judah. So says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: If you surely set your faces to go into Egypt, and go to live there, 


text:
 then it will happen, the sword which you feared shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt. And the famine of which you were anxious about shall cling to you there in Egypt; and you shall die there. 


text:
 So it shall be to all the men who set their faces to go into Egypt to live there. They shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the plague. And none of them shall remain or escape from the evil that I will bring on them. 


text:
 For so says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: As My anger and My fury has been poured forth on the people of Jerusalem, so shall My fury be poured forth on you when you shall enter into Egypt. And you shall be a curse, and a wonder, and a shame, and a reproach; and you shall see this place no more. 


text:
 Jehovah has said concerning you, O remnant of Judah, Do not go into Egypt. Know certainly that I have warned you this day. 


text:
 For you used deceit against your souls when you sent me to Jehovah your God, saying, Pray for us to Jehovah our God; and according to all that Jehovah our God shall say, so declare to us, and we will do it. 


text:
 And I have declared it to you today; but you have not obeyed the voice of Jehovah your God, nor anything for which He has sent me to you. 


text:
 And therefore know certainly that you shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the plague, in the place where you desire to go to live. 


text:
 And it happened when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking to all the people all the Words of Jehovah their God, for which Jehovah their God had sent him to them, all these Words, 


text:
 Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the proud men, spoke then, saying to Jeremiah, You speak falsely! Jehovah our God has not sent you to say, Do not go to Egypt to live there. 


text:
 But Baruch the son of Neriah is inciting you against us, to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they might put us to death and to exile us to Babylon. 


text:
 So Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the commanders of the forces, and all the people, did not obey the voice of Jehovah to live in the land of Judah. 


text:
 But Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the commanders of the forces, took all the remnant of Judah who had returned from all the nations (where they had been driven) to dwell in the land of Judah; 


text:
 men, and women, and children, and the king's daughters, and every person that Nebuzaradan the chief of the executioners had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Jeremiah the prophet, and Baruch the son of Neriah. 


text:
 So they came into the land of Egypt, for they did not obey the voice of JehovahORD. So they came to Tahpanhes. 


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 Take great stones to your hand, and hide them in the clay in the brick-kiln which is at the entrance to Pharaoh's house in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah. 


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 And say to them, So says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and will set his throne on these stones that I have hidden. And he shall spread his royal pavilion over them. 


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 And when he comes, he shall strike the land of Egypt. And whoever is for death shall go to death; and whoever for captivity, into captivity; and whoever for the sword, to the sword. 


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 And I will kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt. And he shall burn them and exile them. And he shall adorn himself with the land of Egypt, like a shepherd puts on his robe; and he shall go out from there in peace. 


text:
 He shall also break the obelisks of The House of the Sun which is in the land of Egypt; and the houses of the gods of the Egyptians he shall burn with fire. 


text:
 The Word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews who live in the land of Migdol, and at Tahpanhes, and at Noph, and in the country of Pathros, saying, 


text:
 So says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: You have seen all the evil that I have brought on Jerusalem, and on all the cities of Judah. And, behold, today they are a ruin, and no one lives there 


text:
 because of their evil which they have committed to provoke Me to anger, in that they went to burn incense, to serve other gods whom they knew not, they, you, nor your fathers. 


text:
 But I sent to you all My servants the prophets, rising early and sending, saying, Oh, do not do this abominable thing which I hate! 


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 But they did not listen, nor bow down their ear to turn from their evil, to burn no incense to other gods. 


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 Therefore My fury and My anger was poured out, and was kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. And they are wasted, deserted as at this day. 


text:
 And now so says Jehovah, the God of Hosts, the God of Israel: Why do you commit this great evil against your souls, to cut off from you man and woman, child and babe, out of Judah, to leave you none to remain; 


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 in that you provoke Me to wrath with the works of your hands, burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have gone to live, that you might cut yourselves off and that you might be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth? 


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 Have you forgotten the evilness of your fathers, and the evilness of the kings of Judah, and the evilness of their wives, and your own evilness, and the evilness of your wives, which they have committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 


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 They are not humbled to this day, nor have they feared, nor walked in My Law, nor in My statutes which I have set before you and before your fathers. 


text:
 So Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, says this: Behold, I will set My face against you for evil, and to cut off all Judah. 


text:
 And I will take the remnant of Judah, who have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to live there; and they shall all be consumed, and fall in the land of Egypt. They shall be destroyed by the sword and by the famine. They shall die, from the least even to the greatest, by the sword and by the famine; and they shall be a curse, a wonder, and a shame, and a reproach. 


text:
 For I will punish those who dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by the famine, and by the plague, 


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 So that none of the remnant of Judah who has gone into the land of Egypt to live there shall escape or remain, that they should return into the land of Judah to which they have a desire to return to live there. For none shall return except those who escape. 


text:
 And all the men who knew that their wives had burned incense to other gods, and all the women who stood by, a great multitude, even all the people who lived in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah. And they said, 


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 But we will certainly do whatever thing goes forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our rulers, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food, and were well, and saw no evil. 


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 But since we stopped burning incense to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked all things, and have been devoured by the sword and by the famine. 


text:
 And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out drink offerings to her, did we make our cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings to her without our men? 


text:
 And Jeremiah said to all the people, to the men and to the women, and to all the people who had given him that answer: 


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 The incense that you burned in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, you, and your fathers, your kings, and your rulers, and the people of the land; did not Jehovah remember them? Yea, it came into His mind. 


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 Yea, so that Jehovah could no longer hold back because of the evil of your doings, because of the abominations which you have committed! So your land is a waste, and a wonder, and a curse, without anyone in it, as it is today. 


text:
 Because you have burned incense, and because you have sinned against Jehovah, and have not obeyed the voice of Jehovah, nor walked in His Law, nor in His statutes, nor did you walk in His testimonies, therefore this evil has happened to you, as at this day. 


text:
 And Jeremiah said to all the people, and to all the women, Hear the Word of Jehovah, all Judah that is in the land of Egypt. 


text:
 So says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, saying: You and your wives have both spoken with your mouths, and fulfilled with your hands, saying, We will surely fulfil our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings to her. You will surely fulfil your vows and surely carry out your vows. 


text:
 Therefore hear the Word of Jehovah, all Judah that lives in the land of Egypt. Behold, I have sworn by My great name, says Jehovah, that My name will no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, The Lord Jehovah lives. 


text:
 Behold, I will watch over them for evil, and not for good. And all the men of Judah in the land of Egypt shall be destroyed by the sword and by the famine, until there is an end of them. 


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 Yet the small number that escapes the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah; and all the remnant of Judah (who have gone into the land of Egypt to live there) shall know whose word shall stand, Mine or theirs. 


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 And this shall be a sign to you, says Jehovah, that I will punish you in this place so that you may know that My Words shall surely stand against you for evil. 


text:
 So says Jehovah, Behold, I am giving Pharaoh-hophra, king of Egypt, into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of those who seek his life, as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, his enemy that sought his life. 


text:
 The word that Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Baruch the son of Neriah, when he had written these words in a book at the mouth of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, saying, 


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 You said, Woe is me now, for Jehovah has added grief to my sorrow. I fainted in my sighing, and I find no rest. 


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 So you shall say to him, Jehovah says this: Behold, what I have built I will break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up, even all the land itself to Me. 


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 And do you seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them; for behold, I will bring evil on all flesh, says Jehovah. But I will give your life to you as a prize, in all places where you go. 


text:
 against Egypt, against the army of Pharaoh-necho, king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, struck in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah. 


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 Harness the horses, and horsemen get up. Yea, stand with helmets, polish the spears; put on body armor. 


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 Why have I seen that they are afraid, turned backward? And their mighty ones are beaten down and have fled for refuge, and they do not look back. Terror is all around, says Jehovah. 


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 Do not let the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape. They stumbled and fell toward the north, by the side of the river Euphrates. 


text:
 Egypt rises up like the Nile, and his waters surge about like the rivers. And he says, I will go up and will cover the earth; I will destroy the city and its people. 


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 Come up, horses; and rage chariots! And let the mighty men come forth; the Ethiopians and the Libyans who handle the shield, and the Lydians who handle and bend the bow. 


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 For this is the day of the Lord Jehovah of Hosts, a day of vengeance, that He may avenge Himself of His foes. And the sword shall devour, and it shall be filled and made drunk with their blood, for the Lord Jehovah of Hosts has a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates. 


text:
 Go up into Gilead and take balm, O virgin, the daughter of Egypt. In vain shall you use many medicines, for you shall not be cured. 


text:
 The nations have heard of your shame, and your cry has filled the land. For the mighty man has stumbled against the mighty, and they have both fallen together. 


text:
 The Word spoken by Jehovah to Jeremiah the prophet, of the coming of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, to strike the land of Egypt. 


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 Declare it in Egypt, and cry it in Migdol, and make it heard in Noph and in Tahpanhes. Say, Stand fast and get ready, the sword shall devour all around you. 


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 He made many fall; yea, one fell on another. And they said, Arise, and let us go again to our own people and to the land of our birth, away from the oppressing sword. 


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 As I live, says the King whose name is Jehovah of Hosts, Surely as Tabor is among the mountains, and as Carmel by the sea, so he shall come. 


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 O daughter dwelling in Egypt, get ready to go into captivity. For Noph shall be waste and a desert without inhabitant. 


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 Also her hired ones are in her midst like calves of the stall; for they also have turned back, fleeing together. They did not stand, because the day of their calamity had come on them, the time of their visitation. 


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 Its sound is like a serpent's going, for they shall go in force and come against her with axes like woodcutters. 


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 They shall cut down her forest, says Jehovah, though it cannot be searched; because they are more than the locusts and cannot be counted. 


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 The daughter of Egypt shall be ashamed. She shall be delivered into the hand of the people of the north. 


text:
 Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Behold, I will punish the multitude of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with their gods and their kings; even Pharaoh and all who trust in him; 


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 and I will deliver them into the hand of those who seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants. And afterward it will be inhabited, as in the days of old, says Jehovah. 


text:
 But you do not fear, O My servant Jacob, and be not afraid, O Israel. For, behold, I will save you from afar off, and your seed from the land of their captivity. And Jacob shall return and be in rest and at ease, and none shall make him afraid. 


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 Do not fear, O Jacob My servant, says Jehovah, for I am with you. For I will make a full end of all the nations where I have driven you. But I will not make a full end of you, but correct you in measure; yet I will not leave you wholly unpunished. 


text:
 The Word of Jehovah that came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Philistines, before Pharaoh struck Gaza. 


text:
 So says Jehovah: Behold, waters rise up out of the north, and shall be an overflowing flood, and shall overflow the land and all its fullness; the city and those who dwell in it. And the men shall cry, and all the people of the land shall howl. 


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 At the noise of the stamping of the hooves of his strong horses, at the rushing of his chariots, the rumbling of his wheels, the fathers shall not look back to their sons because of feebleness of hands; 


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 because of the day that comes to plunder all the Philistines and to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every survivor who helps. For Jehovah will plunder the Philistines, the rest of the country of Caphtor. 


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 Baldness has come on Gaza. Ashkelon is cut off with the rest of their valley. How long will you cut yourself? 


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 O sword of Jehovah, how long will it be before you are quiet? Put yourself into your sheath; rest and be still. 


text:
 How can it be quiet, since Jehovah has given it a command? He has set it there against Ashkelon, and against the seashore. 


text:
 So says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, against Moab: Woe to Nebo, for it is ravaged! Kiriathaim is shamed and captured. The Fortress is shamed and razed. 


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 There shall be no more praise of Moab. In Heshbon they have plotted evil against it, saying, Come and let us cut it off from being a nation. Also you shall be silenced, O madmen; the sword shall pursue you. 


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 For in the going up of Luhith continual weeping shall go up; for in the going down of Horonaim the enemies have heard a cry of ruin. 


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 For because you have trusted in your works and in your treasures, you shall also be captured. And Chemosh shall go into exile with his priests and his rulers. 


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 And the robber shall come on every city, and no city shall escape. Also the valley shall perish, and the plain shall be destroyed, as Jehovah has spoken. 


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 Give wings to Moab so that it may flee and get away; for its cities shall be a desert, without an inhabitant in them. 


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 Cursed is he who does the work of Jehovah deceitfully, and cursed is he who keeps back his sword from blood. 


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 Moab has been at ease from his youth, and he has settled on his lees and has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, nor has he gone into exile. Therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent is not changed. 


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 Therefore behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that I will send pourers to him, who shall pour him off, and his vessels shall empty, and shatter their jars. 


text:
 Moab is plundered and has come up out of her cities. And his chosen young men have gone down to the slaughter, says the King whose name is Jehovah of Hosts. 


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 All you who are around him, mourn him. And all you who know his name, say, How is the strong staff broken, and the beautiful rod! 


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 O dweller, daughter of Dibon, come down from your glory and sit in thirst. For the ravager of Moab shall come on you; he shall destroy your strongholds. 


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 O dweller of Aroer, stand by the way and watch. Ask him who flees and her who escapes; say, What is happening? 


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 Moab is put to shame, for it is broken down. Howl and cry! Tell it in Arnon that Moab is stripped. 


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 Make him drunk, for he magnified himself against Jehovah. Moab also shall wallow in his vomit, and he also shall be a mockery. 


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 For was not Israel a mockery to you? Was he found among thieves? For ever since you spoke of him, you skipped for joy. 


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 O you who dwell in Moab, leave the cities and live in the rock, and be like the dove making her nest in the sides of the mouth of the pit. 


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 We have heard the pride of Moab (he is exceedingly proud), his loftiness, and his pride, and his arrogance, and his elevated heart. 


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 So I will wail for Moab, and I will cry out for all Moab, and shall mourn for the men of Kirheres. 


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 O vine of Sibmah, I will weep for you with the weeping of Jazer. Your plants have gone over the sea; they reach to the sea of Jazer. A ravager has fallen on your summer fruits and on your grape crop. 


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 And joy and gladness is taken from the plentiful field, and from the land of Moab. And I have caused wine to fail from the winepresses; none shall tread the grapes with shouting; their shouting shall be no shouting. 


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 From the cry of Heshbon to Elealeh, and to Jahaz, they have uttered their voice, from Zoar to Horonaim, like a heifer three years old. For the waters of Nimrim also shall be deserted. 


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 And, I will cause him who offers in the high places to cease in Moab, says Jehovah, and him who burns incense to his gods. 


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 Therefore my heart shall sound for Moab like flutes, and my heart shall sound like flutes for the men of Kirheres, because the riches that he has gotten have perished. 


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 For every head shall be bald, and every beard clipped. On all the hands shall be cuttings, and on the loins sackcloth. 


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 On all the housetops of Moab, and in its streets, there is weeping for all. For I have broken Moab like a vessel in which is no pleasure, says Jehovah. 


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 They shall howl, saying, How is it broken down! How has Moab turned the back with shame! So Moab shall be a cause of scorn, and he shall be a terror to all those around him. 


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 Kerioth is taken, and the strongholds are seized; and the mighty men's hearts in Moab shall be at that day like the heart of a woman in her pangs. 


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 And Moab shall be destroyed from being a people, because he has magnified himself against Jehovah. 


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 He who flees from the terror shall fall into the pit; and he who goes up out of the pit shall be taken in the snare. For I will bring on it, even on Moab, the year of their judgment, says Jehovah. 


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 Those who fled stood powerless in the shadow of Heshbon, for a fire shall come out from Heshbon, and a flame out of the midst of Sihon, and shall devour the corner of Moab and the crown of the head of the sons of desolation. 


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 Woe to you, O Moab! The people of Chemosh perish; for your sons are taken away into exile, and your daughters into exile. 


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 But I will restore the prisoners of Moab in the latter days, says Jehovah. So far is the judgment of Moab. 


text:
 So says Jehovah to the sons of Ammon: Has Israel no sons? Or has he no heir? Why does their king inherit Gad, and his people dwell in his cities? 


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 So, behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that I will cause a shout of war to be heard in Rabbah of the sons of Ammon. And it shall be a heap of ruins, and her daughter-villages shall be burned with fire. Then Israel shall inherit his inheritance, says Jehovah. 


text:
 Wail, O Heshbon; Ai is spoiled! Cry, daughters of Rabbah; clothe yourselves with sackcloth, mourn, and run to and fro by the hedges! For their king shall go into exile; his priests and his rulers together. 


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 Why do you glory in your valley, your flowing valleys, O backsliding daughter? she trusted in her treasures, saying, Who shall come to me? 


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 Behold, I will bring a fear on you, says the Lord Jehovah of Hosts, from all those who are around you. And you shall be driven out, each man straight forward; and there shall be none to gather up the runaways. 


text:
 So says Jehovah of Hosts to Edom: Is wisdom no more in Teman? Has counsel perished from the prudent? Has their wisdom vanished? 


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 Flee, turn back, dwell deep, O people of Dedan. For I will bring the calamity of Esau on him in the time that I will visit him. 


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 If the gatherers of grapes come to you, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? If thieves come by night, they will destroy until they have enough. 


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 But I have made Esau bare; I have uncovered his secret places, and he shall not be able to hide himself. His seed is ravaged, and his brothers, and his neighbors, and he is gone. 


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 For so says Jehovah: Behold, those whose judgment was not to drink of the cup have surely drunk. And are you to be entirely acquitted? You shall not be acquitted, but you shall surely drink. 


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 For I have sworn by Myself, says Jehovah, that Bozrah shall become a ruin, a reproach, a waste, and a curse. And all its cities shall be wastes forever. 


text:
 I have heard a message from Jehovah, and a herald is sent to the nations, saying, Gather together and come against her, and rise up to the battle. 


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 Your dreadfulness has deceived you, and the pride of your heart, O you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, who hold the height of the hill. Though you should make your nest as high as the eagle, I will bring you down from there, says Jehovah. 


text:
 Also Edom shall be a ruin. Everyone who goes by it shall be amazed and shall hiss at all its plagues. 


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 As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and its neighbor, says Jehovah, no man shall remain there, nor shall a son of man live in it. 


text:
 Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan against the home of the strong. But I will suddenly make him run away from her. And who is a chosen one I may appoint over it? For who is like Me? And who will summon Me? And who is that shepherd who will stand before Me? 


text:
 So then hear the counsel of Jehovah which He has taken against Edom, and His purposes which He has purposed against the people of Teman: Surely the least of the flock shall drag them away. Surely He shall make their homes a ruin over them. 


text:
 The earth is shaken at the noise of their fall; when they cried, its noise was heard in the Red Sea. 


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 Behold, he shall come up and fly like the eagle, and spread his wings over Bozrah. And at that day the heart of the mighty men of Edom shall be like the heart of a woman in her pangs. 


text:
 Concerning Damascus: Hamath and Arpad are put to shame, for they have heard bad news. They are melted; anxiety is in the sea; it cannot be quiet. 


text:
 Damascus has become feeble; she has turned to flee, and trembling has seized her. Anguish and sorrows have taken her like a woman in labor. 


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 So her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be silenced in that day, says Jehovah of Hosts. 


text:
 So says Jehovah concerning Kedar, and concerning the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon shall strike: Arise, go up to Kedar, and strip the men of the east. 


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 They shall take away their tents and their flocks. They shall take their curtains, and all their vessels, and their camels to themselves. And they shall cry to them, Fear is on every side. 


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 Flee, go far away, go deep to dwell; O people of Hazor, says Jehovah; for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has taken counsel against you, and has plotted a plan against you. 


text:
 Arise, go up to the nation that is at ease, who dwells securely, says Jehovah, which has neither gates nor bars, which dwells alone. 


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 And their camels shall be a prize, and the multitude of their cattle a prey. And I will scatter them to all winds, those who cut the corners. And I will bring their calamity from all sides of it, says Jehovah. 


text:
 And Hazor shall be a dwelling for jackals and a ruin forever. No man shall live there, nor any son of man dwell in it. 


text:
 The Word of Jehovah that came to Jeremiah the prophet against Elam in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying, 


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 And I will bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven on Elam, and will scatter them toward all these winds. And there shall be no nation where the outcasts of Elam shall not come. 


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 For I will cause Elam to be afraid before their enemies and before those who seek their life. And I will bring evil on them, even My fierce anger, says Jehovah. And I will send the sword after them until I have destroyed them; 


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 and I will set My throne in Elam, and will destroy the king and the rulers from there, says Jehovah. 


text:
 The Word that Jehovah spoke against Babylon, against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet. 


text:
 Declare among the nations, and cause them to hear, and lift up a banner. Cause them to hear, do not hide it; say, Babylon is captured, Bel is ashamed, Merodach is broken in pieces; her images are shamed, her idols are broken in pieces. 


text:
 For out of the north a nation comes up against her, which shall make her land a desert, and none shall dwell in it. They shall flee, they shall depart, both man and beast. 


text:
 In those days, and at that time, says Jehovah, the sons of Israel shall come, they and the sons of Judah together, going and weeping. They shall go and seek Jehovah their God. 


text:
 They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces there, saying, Come and let us join ourselves to Jehovah in an everlasting covenant never to be forgotten. 


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 My people have been lost sheep; their shepherds have caused them to go astray; they have turned them away on the mountains. They have gone from mountain to hill; they have forgotten their resting place. 


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 All who have found them have devoured them. And their enemies said, We do not offend, because they have sinned against Jehovah, the habitation of righteousness, even Jehovah, the hope of their fathers. 


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 Flee from the midst of Babylon, and go out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the he-goats before the flocks. 


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 For, lo, I am stirring up and bringing up against Babylon a company of great nations from a northern land. And they shall array themselves against her. She shall be captured there. Their arrows shall be as those of a skillful, mighty man; none shall return in vain. 


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 Because you were glad, because you rejoiced, O destroyers of My inheritance; because you are fat like the heifer in grass, and bellow like bulls; 


text:
 your mother shall be deeply ashamed; she who bore you shall turn pale. Behold, the last of the nations shall be a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert. 


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 Because of the wrath of Jehovah it shall not be inhabited, but it shall be wholly a waste. Everyone who goes by Babylon shall be amazed and hiss at all her plagues. 


text:
 Put yourselves in order against Babylon all around; all you who bend the bow, shoot at her. Hold back no arrows, for she has sinned against Jehovah. 


text:
 Shout against her all around. She has given her hand; her foundations have fallen, her walls have been thrown down; for it is the vengeance of Jehovah. Take vengeance on her. As she has done, do to her. 


text:
 Cut off the sower from Babylon, and the one who handles the sickle in the time of harvest. For fear of the pressing sword they shall turn, each one to his people; and they shall flee, each one to his own land. 


text:
 Israel is a scattered sheep, driven away by lions. First the king of Assyria devoured him, and last this Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon crunched his bones. 


text:
 So Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, says this: Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria. 


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 And I will again bring Israel to his home, and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied on Mount Ephraim and Gilead. 


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 In those days, and at that time, says Jehovah, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and it shall not be found; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found; for I will pardon those whom I leave as a remnant. 


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 Go up against the land of Merathaim, even against it and against the people of Pekod. Waste and destroy after them, says Jehovah, and do according to all that I have commanded you. 


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 How the hammer of the whole earth is cut off and broken! How Babylon has become a ruin among the nations! 


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 I have laid a trap for you, and you are also captured, O Babylon, and you did not know. You were found and also caught, because you have fought against Jehovah. 


text:
 Jehovah has opened His armory, and has brought forth the weapons of His fury. For this is the work of the Lord Jehovah of Hosts in the land of the Chaldeans. 


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 Come against her from the border; open her storehouses; cast her up as heaps, and destroy her completely. Let nothing of her be left. 


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 Kill all her bulls; let them go down to the slaughter. Woe to them! For their day has come, the time of their punishment. 


text:
 The voice of those who flee and escape out of the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of Jehovah our God, the vengeance of His temple. 


text:
 Make the archers hear against Babylon. All you who tread a bow, camp against it all around; let none of them escape. Repay her according to her work; according to all that she has done, do to her. For she has been proud against Jehovah, against the Holy One of Israel. 


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 So her young men shall fall in the streets, and all her men of war shall be silenced in that day, says Jehovah. 


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 Behold, I am against you, O proud ones, says the Lord Jehovah of Hosts; for your day has come, the time that I will judge you. 


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 And the most proud shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise him up. And I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall burn up everything all around him. 


text:
 So says Jehovah of Hosts: The sons of Israel and the sons of Judah were oppressed together. And all who captured them held them fast; they refused to let them go. 


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 Their Redeemer is strong; Jehovah of Hosts, is His name. He shall thoroughly plead their cause, so that he may give rest to the land, and give trouble to the people of Babylon. 


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 A sword is on the Chaldeans, says Jehovah, and on the people of Babylon, and on her rulers, and on her wise men. 


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 A sword is on the liars, and they shall become fools. A sword is on her mighty men, and they shall be afraid. 


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 A sword is on their horses and their chariots, and on all the mixed people in her midst; and they shall become as women. A sword is to her treasuries, and they shall be robbed. 


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 A drought is on her waters; and they shall be dried up. For it is the land of idols, and they act madly with idols. 


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 So the beasts of the desert shall dwell there with jackals. And the daughters of the ostrich shall dwell in her again. And it shall not again have anyone in it forever; it shall not be lived in until generation and generation. 


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 As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors, says Jehovah, no man shall live there; nor shall any son of man live in it. 


text:
 Behold, a people shall come from the north, even a great nation; and many kings shall be stirred up from the farthest parts of the earth. 


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 They lay hold on a bow and spear; they are cruel and will not show mercy. Their voice shall roar like the sea, and they shall ride on horses arrayed like a man for the battle against you, O daughter of Babylon. 


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 The king of Babylon has heard the report of them, and his hands became feeble. Anguish took hold of him, and pangs like those of a woman in labor. 


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 Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan to the home of the strong. But I will make them suddenly run away from her. And who is a chosen one whom I will appoint over her? For who is like Me? And who will set Me the time? And who is that shepherd who will stand before Me? 


text:
 Therefore hear the counsel of Jehovah that He has taken against Babylon; and His purposes which He has purposed against the land of the Chaldeans. Surely the least of the flock shall drag them; surely He shall make their dwelling a desert with them. 


text:
 At the sound of the capture of Babylon the earth shall tremble, and a cry is heard among the nations. 


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 So says Jehovah: Behold, I will raise up a destroying wind against Babylon, and against those dwelling in the heart of My foes. 


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 And I will send aliens to Babylon who will sift her and will empty her land. For in the day of trouble they shall be against her all around. 


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 Do not let the treader fully tread his bow; nor lift himself up in his armor. And do not spare her young men; utterly destroy all her army. 


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 For neither Israel nor Judah has been forsaken by his God, by Jehovah of Hosts, though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel. 


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 Flee out of the middle of Babylon, and each man deliver his soul. Be not cut off in her iniquity, for this is the time of Jehovah's vengeance; He will give to her a just reward. 


text:
 Babylon has been a golden cup in Jehovah's hand, which made all the earth drunk. The nations have drunk of her wine; therefore the nations rage. 


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 Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed. Wail for her; take balm for her pain, if perhaps she may be healed. 


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 We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed. Forsake her and let us go, each one into his own country; for her judgment reaches to the heavens and is lifted up to the skies. 


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 Jehovah has brought forth our righteousness; come and let us declare in Zion the work of Jehovah our God. 


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 Sharpen the arrows; gather the shields; Jehovah has raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes. For His plan is against Babylon, to destroy it; because it is the vengeance of Jehovah, the vengeance of His temple. 


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 Set up the banner on the walls of Babylon; make the watch strong; set up the watchmen; prepare the ambushes. For Jehovah has both planned and done that which He spoke against the people of Babylon. 


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 O you who live on many waters, rich in treasures, your end has come, and the measure of your unjust gain. 


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 Jehovah of Hosts has sworn by Himself, saying, Surely I will fill you with men as with locusts; and they shall lift up a shout against you. 


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 He has made the earth by His power; He has established the world by His wisdom, and has stretched out the heavens by His understanding. 


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 When He utters His voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens; and He causes the mists to ascend from the ends of the earth. He makes lightnings with rain and brings forth the wind out of His treasures. 


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 Every man is brutish in knowledge; every refiner is put to shame by idols. For his molded image is a lie, and no breath is in them. 


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 The Portion of Jacob is not like them; for He is the Former of all things, and Israel is the rod of His inheritance. Jehovah of Hosts is His name. 


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 You are My war-club and weapons of war; for with you I will shatter nations; and with you I will destroy kingdoms. 


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 And with you I will shatter the horse and his rider; and with you I will shatter the chariot and his rider. 


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 Also with you I will shatter man and woman; and with you I will shatter old and young; and with you I will shatter the young man and the girl. 


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 I will also shatter the shepherd and his flock with you. And with you I will shatter the farmer and his team; and with you I will shatter heads and rulers. 


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 And I will give to Babylon, and to all the people of Chaldea, all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight, says Jehovah. 


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 Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain, says Jehovah, who destroys all the earth. And I will stretch out My hand on you and roll you down from the rocks, and will make you a burned mountain. 


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 And they shall not take a stone from you for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but you shall be a waste forever, says Jehovah. 


text:
 Set up a banner in the land; blow a trumpet among the nations; prepare the nations against her. Call the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz together against her; set a commander against her. Cause the horses to come up as the rough locusts. 


text:
 Consecrate nations against her, with the kings of the Medes, her governors and all her rulers, and all the land of his kingdom. 


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 And the land shall tremble and writhe. For every purpose of Jehovah shall be done against Babylon, to make the land of Babylon a desert without inhabitant. 


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 The mighty men of Babylon have stopped fighting; they have remained in strongholds; their might has failed. They became like women; they have burned her houses; her bars are broken. 


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 A runner shall run to meet a runner, and a herald to a herald, to announce to the king of Babylon that his city is captured from end to end; 


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 and that the fords are stopped. And they have burned the reeds with fire, and the men of war are frightened. 


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 For so says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor; it is time to thresh her. Yet a little while, and the time of her harvest shall come. 


text:
 Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me; he has crushed me; he has made me an empty vessel. He has swallowed me up like a jackal; he has filled his belly with good things; he has thrown me out; 


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 the violence done to me and to my flesh shall be on Babylon; the dweller in Zion shall say. And, My blood shall be on the people of Chaldea, Jerusalem shall say. 


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 So Jehovah says this: Behold, I will plead your cause and take vengeance for you; and I will dry up her sea and make her springs dry. 


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 And Babylon shall become heaps, a home for jackals, a horror and a hissing, without an inhabitant. 


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 In their heat I will make their feasts, and I will make them drunk so that they may rejoice and sleep a never-ending sleep, and never awaken, says Jehovah. 


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 How Sheshach is captured! And how the praise of the whole earth is seized! How Babylon has become a horror among the nations! 


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 Her cities are a desert, a dry land and a wilderness, a land in which no man dwells, nor does any son of man pass by it. 


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 And I will punish Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he has swallowed up. And the nations shall not flow together any more to him; yea, the wall of Babylon shall fall. 


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 My people, go out of her midst; and let each man deliver his soul from the fierce anger of Jehovah. 


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 And let not your heart faint, nor fear the rumor that shall be heard in the land. The report shall come in a year. And after that a report shall come in another year; and violence shall be in the land, ruler against ruler. 


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 So, behold, the days come that I will punish the idols of Babylon. And all her land shall be put to shame, and all her slain shall fall in her midst. 


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 And the heavens and the earth, and all that is in them, shall shout for Babylon; for the plunderers shall come to her from the north, says Jehovah. 


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 You who have escaped the sword, go away; do not stand still. Remember Jehovah afar off, and let Jerusalem come into your mind. 


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 We have turned pale because we have heard reproach; shame has covered our faces, for foreigners have come into the holy places of Jehovah's house. 


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 So, behold, the days are coming, says Jehovah, that I will punish her idols, and through all her land the wounded shall groan. 


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 Though Babylon should mount up to the heavens, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet plunderers shall come to her from Me, says Jehovah. 


text:
 because Jehovah is stripping Babylon, and the great voice will perish out of her. And her waves will roar like great waters; the noise of their voice is given, 


text:
 because the ravager has come on her, even on Babylon, and her mighty men are captured. Every one of their bows is broken, for Jehovah, the God of vengeance, shall surely repay. 


text:
 And I will make her rulers drunk, also her wise ones, her governors, and her rulers, and her mighty men. And they shall sleep a never-ending sleep and not awaken, says the King whose name is Jehovah of Hosts. 


text:
 So says Jehovah of Hosts: The broad walls of Babylon shall be completely broken, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and the people shall labor in vain, and the people shall be in the fire, and they shall be weary. 


text:
 The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah into Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. And Seraiah was a quiet prince. 


text:
 So Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come on Babylon, all these words that are written against Babylon. 


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 And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When you come to Babylon, and shall see and shall read all these words, 


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 then you shall say, O Jehovah, You have spoken against this place to cut it off, so that none shall remain in it, neither man nor beast, but that it shall be a ruin forever. 


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 And it shall be, when you have made an end of reading this book, you shall tie a stone to it and throw it into the middle of Euphrates. 


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 And you shall say, In this way shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring on her. And they shall be weary. So far are the words of Jeremiah. 


text:
 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 


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 For it was because of the anger of Jehovah in Jerusalem and Judah (until He had cast them out from His presence) that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. 


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 And it happened in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it and built forts against it all around. 


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 And in the fourth month, in the ninth of the month, the famine was very grievous in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land. 


text:
 And the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled and went forth out of the city by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king's garden. (And the Chaldeans lay around the city all around.) And they went by the way of the plain. 


text:
 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. And all his army was scattered from him. 


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 And they took the king and carried him up to the king of Babylon, to Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he gave judgments against him. 


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 And the king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. He also killed all the rulers of Judah in Riblah. 


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 And he blinded the eyes of Zedekiah. And the king of Babylon bound him in chains, and carried him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death. 


text:
 And in the fifth month, in the tenth of the month, which was the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, chief of the executioners, who served the king of Babylon, came into Jerusalem. 


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 And he burned the house of Jehovah, and the king's house. And he burned with fire all the houses of Jerusalem, and all the houses of the great ones. 


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 And all the army of the Chaldeans with the chief of the executioners broke down all Jerusalem's walls all around. 


text:
 And Nebuzaradan the chief of the executioners exiled some of the poor of the people, and the rest of the people who remained in the city, and those who fell away, who fell to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude. 


text:
 But Nebuzaradan the chief of the executioners left some of the poor of the land for vinedressers and for farmers. 


text:
 Also the Chaldeans broke the pillars of bronze that were in the house of Jehovah, and the bases, and the bronze sea in the house of Jehovah, and carried all the bronze of them to Babylon. 


text:
 They also took away the pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the bowls, and the spoons, and all the vessels of bronze with which they served. 


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 And the chief of the executioners took away the basins, and the firepans, and the bowls, and the pots, and the lampstands, and the spoons, and the cups; what was gold, in gold; and what was silver, in silver. 


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 the two pillars, one sea, and twelve bronze bulls that were under the bases, which King Solomon had made in the house of Jehovah; the bronze of all these vessels was without weight. 


text:
 And the pillars, the height of one pillar was eighteen cubits. And a line of twelve cubits went around it, and the thickness of it was four fingers. It was hollow. 


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 And a capital of bronze was on it. And the height of one capital was five cubits, with network and pomegranates on the capitals all around, all of bronze. The second pillar also, and the pomegranates, were like these. 


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 And there were ninety-six pomegranates on a side; all the pomegranates on the network were a hundred all around. 


text:
 He also took out of the city a eunuch who was in charge of the men of war; and seven men from those who were near the king's person, who were found in the city; and the chief scribe of the army, who mustered the people of the land; and sixty men of the people of the land, who were found in the middle of the city. 


text:
 And Nebuzaradan the chief of the executioners took them and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah. 


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 And the king of Babylon struck them and slaughtered them in Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was exiled out of his own land. 


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 This is the people whom Nebuchadnezzar exiled: in the seventh year, three thousand and twenty-three Jews; 


text:
 in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar he exiled from Jerusalem eight hundred and thirty-two persons; 


text:
 in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan the chief of the executioners exiled seven hundred and forty-five persons of the Jews. All the persons were four thousand and six hundred. 


text:
 And it happened in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, in the twenty-fifth of the month, Evil-merodach king of Babylon in the first year of his reign lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah, and brought him out from prison, 


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 and spoke kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon. 


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 And his allowance in continual allowance was given him from the king of Babylon, the matter of a day in its day, until the day of his death, all the days of his life. 


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 How alone sits the city that was full of people! She has become like a widow, once great among the nations, a noblewoman among the nations, but now has become a tribute-payer. 


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 She bitterly weeps in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks; among all her lovers, she has none to comfort her. All her friends have dealt deceitfully with her; they became her enemies. 


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 Judah went into captivity because of affliction, and from great slavery. She dwells among the nations; she finds no rest; all her pursuers have overtaken her between the narrows. 


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 The roads of Zion mourn without any going to the appointed feasts. All her gates are deserted; her priests sigh; her virgins are afflicted, and she is in bitterness. 


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 Her enemies have become as chief; her haters are at ease; for Jehovah has afflicted her for the multitude of her sins. Her children have gone, captive before the enemy. 


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 And from the daughter of Zion all her beauty has departed. Her rulers have become like bucks: they find no pasture, and they have gone without strength before the pursuer. 


text:
 In the days of her affliction and her wandering Jerusalem remembered all her desirable things from previous days; when her people fell into the hand of the foe; and there is no ally for her. The foes saw her; they laughed at her annihilation. 


text:
 Jerusalem has grievously sinned, therefore she has been removed. All knowing her despise her because they saw her nakedness; yea, she sighs and turns backward. 


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 Her uncleanness is in her skirts; she did not remember her end, and has gone down astoundingly. There is no comforter for her. O Jehovah, behold my affliction, for the enemy has magnified himself. 


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 The enemy has spread out his hand upon all her desirable things; for she has seen the nations enter her holy place, whom You commanded that they should not enter into Your congregation. 


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 All her people sigh; they seek bread. They have given their desirable things for food to relieve the soul. See, O Jehovah, and look on me, for I have become vile. 


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 Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Behold and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow which is done to me, with which Jehovah has afflicted me in the day of His fierce anger. 


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 From above He has sent fire into my bones and it has laid them low. He has spread a net for my feet; He has turned me back; He has made me amazed and faint all the day. 


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 The yoke of my transgressions is bound by His hand; they intertwine; they rise on my neck. He has made my strength to falter; Jehovah has delivered me into their hands. I am not able to rise up. 


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 Jehovah has trampled all my mighty ones in my midst; He has called a gathering against me to crush my young men. Jehovah has trod the virgin daughter of Judah, as in a winepress. 


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 For these I weep; my eye, my eye runs down with water, because the comforter who could refresh my soul is far from me. My sons are desolated because the enemy prevails. 


text:
 Zion spreads forth her hands; none is comforting to me; Jehovah has commanded concerning Jacob that his enemies should be all around him; Jerusalem has become as an impure thing among them. 


text:
 Jehovah is righteous, for I have rebelled against His command. I beseech you, all peoples, hear and behold my sorrow. My virgins and my young men went into exile. 


text:
 I called for my lovers, but they deceived me; my priests and my elders expired in the city while they sought food for them to bring back their life. 


text:
 Behold, O Jehovah, for I am in trouble; my inward parts ferment; my heart is turned within me, for I have grievously rebelled. On the outside the sword bereaves; in the house it is as death. 


text:
 They hear that I sigh; there is none to comfort me. All my enemies have heard my evil; they are glad that You have done it. You will bring the day that You have called, and they shall be like me. 


text:
 Let all their wickedness come before You; and do to them as You have done to me for all my transgressions. For my sighs are many, and my heart is faint. 


text:
 How the Lord has covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in His anger! He cast down the beauty of Israel from the heavens to the earth and remembered not His footstool in the day of His anger. 


text:
 The Lord swallowed up all the dwelling-places of Jacob and has not pitied. In His wrath He has thrown down the strongholds of the daughter of Judah; He has brought them down to the ground. He has defiled the kingdom and its rulers. 


text:
 He has cut off all the horn of Israel in His fierce anger; He has drawn back His right hand from before the enemy, and He burned against Jacob like flaming fire which devours all around. 


text:
 He has bent His bow like an enemy; He stood with His right hand like an adversary, and killed all who were desirable to the eye in the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion. He poured out His fury like fire. 


text:
 Jehovah was like an enemy; He swallowed up Israel; He has swallowed up all her palaces, and destroyed His strongholds. And He has increased mourning and weeping in the daughter of Judah. 


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 And He violated His booth like a garden, and destroyed His meeting places. Jehovah caused the meeting places and sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion, and He despised the king and the priest in the fury of His anger. 


text:
 Jehovah has cast off His altar; He rejected His sanctuary; He has given up the walls of her palaces into the hater's hand. They gave a noise in the house of Jehovah, as a day of meeting. 


text:
 Jehovah purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion; He has stretched out a line; He has not withdrawn His hand from swallowing, and He made rampart and wall lament; they languish together. 


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 Her gates have sunk in the ground; He has destroyed and broken her bars. Her kings and her rulers are among the nations. The Law is no more; also her prophets also find no vision from Jehovah. 


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 The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground and are silent; they send up dust on their heads; they gird on sackcloth. The virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground. 


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 My eyes fail with tears; my inward parts ferment; my liver is poured on the ground for the ruin of the daughter of my people, in that the children and the babies faint in the streets of the city. 


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 They say to their mothers, Where are grain and wine? In their fainting they are like the wounded in the streets of the city, in their pouring out their lives to their mothers' bosom. 


text:
 What can I testify for you? What thing shall I compare to you, O daughter of Jerusalem? What shall I equal to you, so that I may comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion? For your break is great like the sea! Who can heal you? 


text:
 Your prophets have seen false and foolish things for you, and they have not uncovered your iniquity, to turn away your captivity; but they have seen false oracles and seductions for you. 


text:
 All who pass by clap their hands at you; they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, Is this the city which they called the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth? 


text:
 All your enemies have opened their mouth against you; they hiss and gnash the teeth; they say, We have swallowed her up. Certainly this is the day that we looked for; we have found, we have seen. 


text:
 Jehovah has done what He has purposed; He has fulfilled His Word which He commanded from the days of old. He has thrown down and not pitied. And He caused your hater to rejoice over you; He has set up the horn of your foes. 


text:
 Their heart cried to Jehovah. O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a torrent day and night; give yourself no rest. Let not the daughter of your eye cease. 


text:
 Arise, cry out in the night. At the beginning of the watches, pour out your heart like water before the face of Jehovah. Lift up your hands toward Him for the life of your children who are faint for hunger in the head of every street. 


text:
 Behold, O Jehovah, and consider to whom You have done this. Shall the women eat their fruit, children of tender care? Shall the priest and the prophet be killed in the holy place of the Lord? 


text:
 Young and old lie on the ground in the streets; my virgins and my young men have fallen by the sword. You have killed them in the day of Your anger; You have killed and not pitied. 


text:
 You have called as in a solemn day my terrors all around, and there was not an escaped one or a survivor in the day of Jehovah's anger. Those whom I have nursed and multiplied, my enemy has consumed. 


text:
 How the gold has become dim; the fine gold has changed! The stones of the sanctuary are poured out at the head of every street. 


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 The precious sons of Zion are weighed against pure gold; how they are counted as earthen vessels, the work of a potter's hand! 


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 Even the jackals draw out the breast; they suckle their young ones. The daughter of my people is cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness. 


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 The suckling's tongue cleaves to his palate in thirst; the young children ask bread; there is no breaking to them. 


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 And the iniquity of the daughter of my people is heaped more than the sin of Sodom, overthrown as in a moment, and no hands spun on her. 


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 Her Nazarites were purer than snow, whiter than milk; they were redder of bone than corals; their cuttings as lapis lazuli, azure blue. 


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 Their appearance is blacker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets; their skin has shriveled on their bones; it is dried up; it has become like wood. 


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 Better are the ones slain by the sword than the ones slain by hunger; those who pine away, pierced because the fruits of my fields failed. 


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 The hands of the pitying women have boiled their own children; they became their food in the ruin of the daughter of my people. 


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 Jehovah has fulfilled His fury; He has poured out His fierce anger, and has kindled a fire in Zion, and it has devoured its foundations. 


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 The kings of the earth, and all the people of the world, would not have believed that the foe and the hater would go into Jerusalem's gates. 


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 For the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests, shedding the blood of the just in her midst, 


text:
 they reeled blind in the streets; they are defiled with blood, so that not any can touch their clothes. 


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 They cried to them, Depart! Unclean! Depart, depart! Touch not! Indeed they fled and reeled; they said among the nations, They will not continue to live there. 


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 The face of Jehovah has shared them out; He will no longer look on them; they did not respect the persons of the priests; they did not favor the elders. 


text:
 While we are, our eyes fail, for our help is vain; in our watching we have watched for a nation; it does not save. 


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 They hunted our steps from going in our streets; our end was near, our days were fulfilled, for our end has come. 


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 Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the heavens; they pursued us on the mountains, they lay in wait for us in the wilderness. 


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 The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of Jehovah, was taken in their pits; of whom we said, In His shadow we shall live among the nations. 


text:
 Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, who lives in the land of Uz. The cup also shall pass through unto you; you shall be drunken and stripped naked. 


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 The punishment of your iniquity is fulfilled, O daughter of Zion; He will exile you no more. He will visit your iniquity, O daughter of Edom; He will expose your sins. 


text:
 And it happened in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth of the month, as I was among the captives by the river Chebar, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. 


text:
 Coming the Word of Jehovah became known to Ezekiel, the son of Buzi, the priest in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar. And the hand of Jehovah was on him there. 


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 And I looked, and behold, a windstorm came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire flashing itself, and a brightness to it all around, and out of its midst, like the color of polished bronze out of the middle of the fire. 


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 Also out of its midst came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was how they looked; they had the likeness of a man. 


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 And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf's foot. And they sparkled like the color of burnished copper. 


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 And the hands of a man extended from under their wings on their four sides; and the four of them had their faces and their wings, 


text:
 joining each one to the other by their wings. They did not turn in their going; each one went toward the front of their face. 


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 And the likeness of their faces: the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side to the four of them; and the face of an ox on the left side to the four of them; and the face of an eagle to the four of them. 


text:
 So their faces were. And their wings were stretched upward; to each, the two wings of each one were joined; and two wings covered their bodies. 


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 And each went toward the front of their faces. To where the spirit was to go, there they went; they did not turn in their going. 


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 And the likeness of the living creatures: they looked like burning coals of fire; like the appearance of torches. It was continually circling among the living creatures. And the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning. 


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 And as I looked at the living creatures, behold, one wheel was on the earth by the living creatures, with its four faces. 


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 The appearance of the wheels and their workmanship was the color of beryl, and the four of them had one likeness. And their appearance and their workmanship was like a wheel in the middle of a wheel. 


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 And their rims: they were even high; they were even awesome. And their rims were full of eyes all around the four of them. 


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 And in the going of the living creatures, the wheels went beside them; and in the lifting up of the living creatures from the earth, the wheels were lifted up. 


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 Wherever the spirit was to go, there they went; there the spirit was to go, and the wheels were lifted up along with them. For the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels. 


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 In their going, these went; and in their standing still, these stood still. And in their lifting up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up along with them. For the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels. 


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 And there was a likeness over the heads of the living creature; an expanse, like the color of awesome crystal stretched out over their heads from above. 


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 And under the expanse their wings were straight, the one toward the other. Each one had two wings covering on this side, and to each two covering on that side of their bodies. 


text:
 And I heard the sound of their wings, like the sound of great waters, like the voice of the Almighty, in their going was the sound of tumult, like the sound of an army. In their standing still, they let down their wings. 


text:
 And there was a voice from the expanse which was over their heads, in their standing still, and they let down their wings. 


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 And from above the expanse that was over their heads was a likeness like a sapphire stone, the likeness of a throne. And on the likeness of the throne was a likeness looking like a man on it from above. 


text:
 And I saw Him looking like the color of polished bronze, looking like fire all around within it. From the likeness of His loins even upward, and from the likeness of His loins even downward, I saw Him, looking like fire, and it had brightness all around. 


text:
 As the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain looks, so the brightness all around looked. This was how the likeness of the glory of Jehovah looked. And I saw. And I fell on my face, and I heard a voice of One speaking. 


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 And the Spirit entered into me when He spoke to me, and set me on my feet, so that I heard Him who spoke to me. 


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 And He said to me, Son of man, I am sending you to the sons of Israel, to the nations, the rebelling ones who have rebelled against Me; they and their fathers have sinned against Me, to this day. 


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 And the sons are stiff of face, and hard of heart. I am sending you to them; and you shall say to them, So says the Lord Jehovah. 


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 And they, whether they will hear or whether they will forbear; for they are a rebellious house. Yea, they shall know that there has been a prophet among them. 


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 And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them, and of their words, though briers and thorns are with you, and you dwell among scorpions. Do not be afraid of their words, nor frightened by their faces, though they are a rebellious house. 


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 And you shall speak My Words to them, whether they will hear or whether they will forbear, for they are rebellious. 


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 But you, son of man, hear what I am saying to you. Do not be rebellious like that rebellious house. Open your mouth and eat what I am giving you. 


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 And He spread it before me; and it was written on the face and the back. And written on it were weepings, and mourning, and woe. 


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 And He said to me, Son of man, eat what you find. Eat this roll, and go speak to the house of Israel. 


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 And He said to me, Son of man, cause your belly to eat, and fill your belly with this roll that I give you. Then I ate it; and in my mouth it was like honey for sweetness. 


text:
 For you are not sent to a people of a deep lip and of a difficult language, but to the house of Israel; 


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 not to many people of a deep lip and of a difficult language, whose words you cannot hear. Surely, if I had sent you to them, they would have listened to you. 


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 But the house of Israel will not listen to you, for they will not listen to Me; for all the house of Israel are strong of forehead and hard of heart. 


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 Behold, I have made your face strong against their faces and your forehead strong against their foreheads. 


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 I have made your forehead as an adamant harder than flint. Do not be bowed down by their faces, though they are a rebellious house. 


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 And He said to me, Son of man, receive all My Words which I shall speak to you in your heart, and hear with your ears. 


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 And go! Go to those of the captivity, to the sons of your people, and speak to them, and tell them, So says the Lord Jehovah; whether they will hear or whether they will forbear. 


text:
 And the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me a sound of a great rushing, saying, Blessed be the glory of Jehovah from His place. 


text:
 I also heard the sound of the wings of the living creatures touching one another, and the sound of the wheels along with them, and a sound of a great rushing. 


text:
 So the Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; but the hand of Jehovah was strong on me. 


text:
 Then I came to the exiles at Tel-at-abib, who lived by the river Chebar. And I sat where they sat; and I also dwelt seven days, being stricken dumb among them. 


text:
 And it happened at the end of seven days, even it happened that the Word of Jehovah came to me, saying, 


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 Son of man, I have made you a watchman to the house of Israel. Therefore hear the Word of My mouth, and give them warning from Me. 


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 When I say to the wicked, You shall surely die; and you do not give him warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked one shall die in his iniquity; but I will require his blood at your hand. 


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 Yet if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul. 


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 And when the righteous turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and when I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die. Because you have not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require at your hand. 


text:
 But if you warn the righteous so that the righteous does not sin, and if he does not sin, he shall surely live because he is warned; also you have delivered your soul. 


text:
 And the hand of Jehovah was on me there. And He said to me, Arise, go out into the plain, and I will talk with you there. 


text:
 Then I arose and went out into the plain; and, behold, the glory of Jehovah stood there, like the glory which I saw by the river Chebar. And I fell on my face. 


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 And the Spirit entered into me and set me on my feet; and spoke with me, and said to me, Go, shut yourself inside your house! 


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 But you, O son of man, behold, they shall put bands on you and shall bind you with them, and you shall not go out among them. 


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 And I will make your tongue cling to the roof of your mouth, so that you shall be dumb and shall not be one who warns them. For they are a rebellious house. 


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 But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say to them, So says the Lord Jehovah: He who hears, let him hear; and he who stops his ears, let him stop; for they are a rebellious house. 


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 And you, son of man, take a tile to yourself, and lay it before you, and portray on it the city Jerusalem. 


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 And lay siege against it, and build a fort against it, and cast a mound against it. Also set the camp against it, and set battering rams against it all around. 


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 And take an iron griddle to yourself, and set it for a wall of iron between you and the city. And set your face against it, and it shall be under attack. And you shall set a battle against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel. 


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 Also lie on your left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel on it; according to the number of days that you shall lie on it, you shall bear their iniquity. 


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 For I have laid on you the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days. So you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. 


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 And when you have fulfilled them, lie again on your right side, and you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days; a day for a year; a day for a year, I have set for you. 


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 And you shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and your arm shall be uncovered, and you shall prophesy against it. 


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 And, behold, I will lay bands on you, and you shall not turn yourself from one side to another until you have ended the days of your siege. 


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 Take also to yourself wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and spelt, and put them in one vessel, and make bread of them for yourself. According to the number of the days that you shall lie on your side, three hundred and ninety days, you shall eat of it. 


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 And your food which you shall eat shall be by weight twenty shekels a day; from time to time you shall eat it. 


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 You shall also drink water by measure, the sixth part of a hin. From time to time you shall drink. 


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 And you shall eat it as barley cakes, and you shall bake it with dung of the excrement of man, in their sight. 


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 And Jehovah said, Even so shall the sons of Israel eat their defiled bread among the nations, where I will drive them. 


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 Then I said, Ah Lord Jehovah! Behold, my soul has not been defiled. For from my youth up, even till now, I have not eaten of that which dies of itself, or is torn in pieces; neither did there come any unclean flesh into my mouth. 


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 Then He said to me, Lo, I have given you cow's dung for man's dung, and you shall prepare your bread with it. 


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 And He said to me, Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem. And they shall eat bread by weight, and with care. And they shall drink water by measure, and in silence, 


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 so that they may lack bread and water, and be stricken dumb with one another, and waste away in their iniquity. 


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 And you, son of man, take a sharp sword to yourself, take a barber's razor also, and cause it to pass on your head and on your beard. Then take scales to weigh, and divide the hair. 


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 You shall burn a third part with fire in the middle of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled; and you shall take a third part and beat around it with a sword; and you shall scatter a third part in the wind, and I will draw out a sword after them. 


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 Then take of them again, and throw them into the middle of the fire, and burn them in the fire; for a fire shall come forth from them into all the house of Israel. 


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 So says the Lord Jehovah: This is Jerusalem. I have set it in the middle of the nations, and all around her are the lands. 


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 And she has changed My judgments into wickedness more than the nations, and defiled My Laws more than the countries that are all around her; for they have rejected My judgments and My Laws; they have not walked in them. 


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 Therefore so says the Lord Jehovah: Because you multiplied more than the nations that are all around you, and have not walked in My Laws, neither have kept My judgments, nor have done according to the judgments of the nations all around you; 


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 therefore so says the Lord Jehovah; Behold, I, even I, am against you, and will carry out judgments in your midst before the nations. 


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 And I will do in you that which I have not done, and the like of which I will never do again, because of all your abominations. 


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 So the fathers shall eat the sons in your midst, and the sons shall eat their fathers. And I will execute judgments in you, and I will scatter the whole remnant of you into all the winds. 


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 Therefore, as I live, says the Lord Jehovah, surely, because you have defiled My sanctuary with all your detestable things, and with all your abominations, therefore I will also withdraw; nor shall My eye spare you, nor will I have any pity. 


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 A third part of you shall die with the plague, and shall be consumed with the famine in your midst. And a third part shall fall by the sword all around you; and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them. 


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 So My anger shall be fulfilled, and I will cause My fury to rest on them, and I will be comforted. And they shall know that I Jehovah have spoken it in My zeal, when I have fulfilled My fury in them. 


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 And I will make you a waste and a curse among the nations that are all around you, in the sight of all who pass by. 


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 So it shall be a reproach and a taunt, a chastening and a horror to the nations which are all around you, when I shall execute judgments against you in anger and in fury and in rebukes among them. I Jehovah have spoken it. 


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 When I shall send on them the evil arrows of famine, which shall be for their ruin, which I will send to destroy you; even I will increase the famine on you, and break your staff of bread; 


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 yea, I will send on you famine and evil beasts, and you will be bereaved. And pestilence and blood shall pass among you; and I shall bring a sword on you. I Jehovah have spoken. 


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 And say, Mountains of Israel, hear the Word of the Lord. So says the Lord Jehovah to the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers and to the valleys: Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword on you, and I will destroy your high places. 


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 And your altars shall be wasted, and your pillars shall be broken. And I will make fall your slain before your idols. 


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 And I will put the dead bodies of the sons of Israel before their idols; and I will scatter your bones around your altars. 


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 In all the places where you live, cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be deserted; so that your altars may be laid waste and become guilty, and your idols may be broken and cease, and your pillars may be cut down, and your works wiped out. 


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 Yet I will leave a remainder that may be left to you some who escape the sword among the nations, when you are scattered through the lands. 


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 And those of you who escape shall remember Me among the nations where they shall be exiled, because I was broken by their whoring heart which has departed from Me, and with their whoring eyes which go after their idols. And they shall despise themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations. 


text:
 So says the Lord Jehovah: Strike with your hand and stamp with your foot, and say, Alas, for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel! For they shall fall by the sword, and by the famine, and by the plague. 


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 He who is afar off shall die of the plague; and he who is near shall fall by the sword; and he who remains and is under siege shall die by the famine. So I will fulfill My fury on them. 


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 Then you shall know that I am Jehovah, when their dead shall be among their idols all around their altars, on every high hill, in all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every leafy oak, the place where they offered sweet aroma to all their idols. 


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 And I will stretch out My hand on them and make the land a waste, even more desolate than the wilderness toward Diblath, in all the places where they live; and they shall know that I am Jehovah. 


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 And you, son of man, so says the Lord Jehovah to the land of Israel: An end! The end has come on the four corners of the land. 


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 Now the end is on you, and I will send My anger on you and will judge you according to your ways, and will lay on you all your abominations. 


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 And My eye shall not spare you, neither will I have pity. But I will repay your ways on you, and your abominations shall be in your midst; and you shall know that I am Jehovah. 


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 The encirclement has come to you, O dwellers of the land. The time has come, the day of tumult is near, and not a shout of the mountains. 


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 And I will soon pour out My fury on you, and fulfill My anger on you. And I will judge you according to your ways, and will repay you for all your abominations. 


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 And My eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity; I will repay you according to your ways and your abominations that are in your midst. And you shall know that I am Jehovah who strikes. 


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 Behold the day! Behold, it has come; the encirclement has gone out; the rod has blossomed; pride has budded. 


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 Violence has risen up for a rod of wickedness. None of them shall remain, nor of their multitude, nor of any of their riches; nor shall there be wailing for them. 


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 The time has come; the day has arrived. Let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn; for wrath is on all her multitude. 


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 For the seller shall not return to that which is sold, although they are still alive; for the vision to all her multitude shall not return, and a man shall not hold his life strong in iniquity. 


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 They have blown the trumpet, even to make all ready; but none goes to the battle, for My wrath is on all her multitude. 


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 The sword is outside, and the plague and the famine inside. He who is in the field shall die with the sword; and he in the city shall be devoured by famine and plague. 


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 But if their fugitives shall escape, then they shall be like doves of the valleys on the mountains, all of them mourning, each one for his iniquity. 


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 They shall also gird on sackcloth, and trembling shall cover them; and shame shall be on all faces, and baldness on all heads. 


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 They shall throw their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be an impure thing. Their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of Jehovah. They shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels; because their iniquity has become a stumbling-block for them. 


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 And the beauty of His ornament, He set it in majesty. But they made the images of their abominations and of their hateful things in it; therefore I have put it to them as an impure thing. 


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 And I will give it into the hands of the strangers for a prize, and to the wicked of the earth for a spoil; and they shall defile it. 


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 I will also turn My face from them, and they shall defile My secret place; and violent ones shall enter into it and defile it. 


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 And I will bring the most evil of the nations, and they shall possess their houses. I will also make the pomp of the strong to cease; and their holy places shall be defiled. 


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 Disaster on disaster shall come, and rumor to rumor shall be. And they shall seek a vision from the prophet; but the law shall perish from the priest, and wisdom from the elders. 


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 The king shall mourn, and the prince shall be clothed with despair, and the hands of the people of the land shall be troubled. I will do to them according to their way, and according to their judgments I will judge them; and they shall know that I am Jehovah. 


text:
 And it was in the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth of the month, I was sitting in my house, and the elders of Judah were sitting before me. And the hand of the Lord Jehovah fell on me there. 


text:
 And I looked, and behold! A likeness as the appearance of fire; from the appearance of His loins and downward, like fire. And from His loins and upward as the appearance of brightness, like the color of polished bronze. 


text:
 And He put out the form of a hand, and took me by a lock of my head. And the Spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heavens, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the opening of the inner gate facing north, where there was a seat of the image of jealousy, which provokes to jealousy. 


text:
 And, behold! The glory of the God of Israel was there, according to the vision that I saw in the plain. 


text:
 And He said to me, Son of man, lift up your eyes now to the way of the north. So I lifted up my eyes the way toward the north, and behold, northward at the gate of the altar the image of jealousy was at the entrance. 


text:
 And He said to me, Son of man, do you see what they do; even the great abominations which the house of Israel is doing here, that I should go far off from My sanctuary? But turn again, and you shall see greater abominations. 


text:
 And He said to me, Son of man, dig in the wall now. And I dug in the wall, and, behold, an opening. 


text:
 And I went in and saw. And behold, every kind of creeping thing, and hateful beast, and all the idols of the house of Israel, were carved on the wall all around. 


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 And seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, and Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, standing among them, these were before them, and each man with his censor in his hand. And the odor of the cloud of incense was rising. 


text:
 And He said to me, Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, each man in his image room? For they are saying, Jehovah does not see us; Jehovah has forsaken the earth. 


text:
 And He brought me to the opening of the gate of Jehovah's house, toward the north. And behold, women were sitting there, weeping for Tammuz. 


text:
 And He said to me, Have you seen, O son of man? Turn yet again, and you shall see greater evils than these. 


text:
 And He brought me into the inner court of Jehovah's house, and behold, at the opening of the temple of Jehovah, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men with their backs toward the temple of Jehovah and their faces toward the east; and they bowed themselves eastward to the sun. 


text:
 And He said to me, Have you seen, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they do the hateful things which they do here? For they have filled the land with violence and have turned to provoke Me to anger. And lo, they put the branch to their nose. 


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 And I will also deal with fury; My eye shall not spare, nor will I have pity. And though they cry in My ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them. 


text:
 And He cried in my ears with a loud voice, saying, Let the overseers of the city draw near, even each with his destroying weapon in his hand. 


text:
 And behold, six men came from the way of the Upper Gate which faces north, and each had his shattering weapon in his hand. And one man among them was clothed with linen, and a writer's inkhorn by his side. And they went in and stood beside the bronze altar. 


text:
 And the glory of the God of Israel had gone on from the cherub, where it was on it, to the threshold of the house. And He called to the man clothed in linen, with the writer's inkhorn by his side. 


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 And Jehovah said to him, Go through in the midst of the city, in the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark on the foreheads of the men who are groaning and are mourning because of all the abominations that are done in her midst. 


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 And He said to those in my hearing, Go over in the city after him, and strike. Let not your eye spare, nor have pity. 


text:
 Fully destroy old men, young men and virgins, and little children and women. But do not come near any man on whom is the mark. And begin at My sanctuary. And they began at the old men who were before the house. 


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 And He said to them, Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain. Go out! And they went out and killed in the city. 


text:
 And it happened as they were slaying them, and I remained, then I fell on my face and cried, and said, Ah Lord Jehovah! Will You destroy all the remnant of Israel in Your pouring out of Your fury on Jerusalem? 


text:
 And He said to me, The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is great, and the land is full of blood, and the city is full of perversity. For they say, Jehovah has forsaken the land; and, Jehovah does not see. 


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 And behold, the man clothed with linen, with the inkhorn by his side, reported the matter, saying, I have done as You have commanded me. 


text:
 And I looked, and behold! In the expanse over the head of the cherubs was seen the appearance of the form of a throne, like a sapphire stone, above them. 


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 And He spoke to the man clothed with linen, and said, Go in among the wheels, under the cherub, and fill your hands with coals of fire from between the cherubs, and scatter them on the city. And he went in before me. 


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 And the cherubs were standing on the right side of the house when the man went in; and the cloud filled the inner court. 


text:
 And the glory of Jehovah rose from the cherub, over the threshold of the house. And the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of Jehovah's glory. 


text:
 And the sound of the cherubs' wings was heard over the outer court, as the voice of the Almighty God when He speaks. 


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 And it happened when He had commanded the man clothed with linen, saying, Take fire from between the wheels, from between the cherubs; he went in then and stood beside the wheels. 


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 And a cherub stretched out his hand from between the cherubs to the fire between the cherubs, and he lifted it and put it into the hands of the one clothed with linen. And he took it and went out. 


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 And I looked, and behold, the four wheels were beside the cherubs, one wheel was by one cherub, and another wheel by one cherub; and the wheels looked like the color of a stone of Tarshish. 


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 And their appearance was as one, the four of them, as if the wheel were in the midst of the wheel. 


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 When they went, they went on their four sides. They did not turn as they went, for to the place where the head faces, after it they went. They did not turn as they went. 


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 And their whole body, and their backs, and their hands, and their wings, and the wheels were full of eyes all around, even their wheels that the four of them had. 


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 And four faces were to each one. The first face was the face of a cherub, and the second face was the face of a man, and the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle. 


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 And when the cherubs went, the wheels went beside them; and when the cherubs lifted their wings to soar from the earth, the wheels did not turn from beside them, even they. 


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 When they stood still, these stood still, and when they rose up, these lifted up. For the spirit of the living creature was in them. 


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 And the cherubs lifted up their wings and rose up from the earth in my sight. When they went out, the wheels also were beside them. And he stood at the door of the eastern gate of Jehovah's house. And the glory of the God of Israel was over them from above. 


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 This is the living creature that I saw under the God of Israel by the river Chebar, and I knew that they were cherubs. 


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 Four, even four faces are to each; and four wings to each. And the form of a man's hands was under their wings. 


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 And the form of their faces, they are the faces that I saw by the river Chebar, their appearances even theirs. They each went straight forward. 


text:
 And the Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the eastern gate of Jehovah's house, which faces eastward. And behold, twenty-five men were at the opening of the gate; among whom I saw Jaazaniah the son of Azur, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, rulers of the people. 


text:
 And He said to me, Son of man, these are the men who plot evil and give wicked advice in this city; 


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 And the Spirit of Jehovah fell on me, and said to me, Speak: So says Jehovah: So you have said, O house of Israel, for I Myself know the elevations of your spirit. 


text:
 Therefore so says the Lord Jehovah: Your slain whom you have laid in her midst, they are the flesh, and this city is the pot. But I will bring you out of her midst. 


text:
 And I will bring you out of her midst, and deliver you into the hands of strangers, and will execute judgments on you. 


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 You shall fall by the sword. I will judge you in the border of Israel, and you shall know that I am Jehovah. 


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 This city shall not be your pot, nor shall you be the flesh in her midst. But I will judge you in the border of Israel, 


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 and you shall know that I am Jehovah. For you have not walked in My statutes, nor have you done My judgments, but have done after the customs of the nations all around you. 


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 And it happened when I prophesied, Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died. And I fell on my face and cried with a loud voice, and said, Ah Lord Jehovah! Will You make a full end of the remnant of Israel? 


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 Son of man, your brothers, even your brothers, the men of your kindred, and all the house of Israel, all that have heard the inhabitants of Jerusalem saying to all of them, Go far away from Jehovah; this land is given to us for a possession. 


text:
 Therefore say, So says the Lord Jehovah: Though I have sent them far off among the nations, and though I scattered them among the lands, yet I will be to them as a little sanctuary in the lands where they had gone. 


text:
 Therefore say, So says the Lord Jehovah: I will even gather you from the people and assemble you out of the lands, in those where you were scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel. 


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 And they shall come there, and they shall take away all its hateful things and all its abominations from it. 


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 And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. And I will remove the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh, 


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 so that they may walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances, and do them. And they shall be My people, and I will be their God. 


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 And as to those whose heart is going after their hateful things, and also their heart is after their disgusting idols, I will give their way on their own heads, says the Lord Jehovah. 


text:
 And the cherubs lifted up their wings, and the wheels beside them. And the glory of the God of Israel was over them above. 


text:
 And the glory of Jehovah went up from the midst of the city and stood on the mountain which is on the east side of the city. 


text:
 And the Spirit lifted me up and brought me in a vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to the exiles. And the vision that I had seen went up from me. 


text:
 Son of man, you dwell in the midst of a rebellious house, who have eyes to see and see not. They have ears to hear and hear not, for they are a rebellious house. 


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 Therefore, son of man, prepare for yourself vessels for exile, and go into exile by day before their eyes. And you shall be exiled from your place to another place before their eyes. It may be they will consider, though they are a rebellious house. 


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 And you shall bring out your vessels, as vessels for exile, by day before their eyes. And you shall go out at evening before their eyes, as those going into exile. 


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 Before their eyes you shall carry it on your shoulders, carry it out in the dark. You shall cover your face so that you do not see the ground, for I have set you as a sign to the house of Israel. 


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 And I did as I was commanded. By day I brought out my vessel as a vessel for exile. And in the evening I dug by hand through the wall. I brought it out in the dark, and I carried it on my shoulder before their eyes. 


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 Say to them, So says the Lord Jehovah: This burden concerns the king in Jerusalem and all the house of Israel among them. 


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 Say, I am your sign: As I have done, so it shall be done to them. They shall go into exile, into captivity. 


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 And the king who is among them shall carry burdens on his shoulder in the dark, and shall go out. They shall dig through the wall to carry out by it. He shall hide his face so that he does not see the ground with his eye. 


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 I will also spread My net on him, and He shall be taken in My snare. And I will bring him to Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans. Yet he shall not see it, though he shall die there. 


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 And I will scatter to every wind all who are around him to help him, and all his bands; and I will draw out the sword after them. 


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 And they shall know that I am Jehovah, when I shall scatter them among the nations and scatter them in the countries. 


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 But I will leave a few men of them from the sword, from the famine, and from the plague, so that they may declare all their abominations among the nations where they come. And they shall know that I am Jehovah. 


text:
 And say to the people of the land: So says the Lord Jehovah of the people of Jerusalem and of the land of Israel: They shall eat their bread with anxiety and drink their water with horror, so that her land may be desolated of her fullness, because of the violence of all those who dwell in it. 


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 And the cities that have people shall be laid waste, and the land shall be desolate. And you shall know that I am Jehovah. 


text:
 Son of man, what is this proverb that you have in the land of Israel, saying, The days will go on and every vision shall fail? 


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 Therefore tell them, So says the Lord Jehovah: I will make this proverb to cease, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel. But say to them, The days are at hand, and the fulfillment of every vision. 


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 For there shall never again be any vain vision nor slippery divination within the house of Israel. 


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 For I, Jehovah, will speak, and the Word that I shall speak shall be done. It shall no more be delayed; for in your days, O rebellious house, I will say the Word and will do it, says the Lord Jehovah. 


text:
 Son of man, behold, the house of Israel says, The vision that he sees is for many days to come, and he prophesies of the times that are far off. 


text:
 Therefore say to them, So says the Lord Jehovah: There shall none of My Words be delayed any more, but the Word which I have spoken shall be done, says the Lord Jehovah. 


text:
 Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who prophesy. And say to those who prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear the Word of Jehovah: 


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 So says the Lord Jehovah, Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing! 


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 You have not gone up into the breaks, nor built the wall for the house of Israel, that it might stand in the battle in the day of Jehovah. 


text:
 They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, Jehovah says. And Jehovah has not sent them; but they hoped to confirm their word. 


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 Did you not see a vain vision, and speak a lying divination? Yet you say, Jehovah says; although I have not spoken? 


text:
 Therefore so says the Lord Jehovah: Because you have spoken vanity and seen a lie, therefore, behold, I am against you, says the Lord Jehovah. 


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 And My hand shall be against the prophets who see vanity and who divine a lie. They shall not be in the council of My people, nor shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, nor shall they enter into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord Jehovah. 


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 Because, even because they made My people go astray, saying, Peace; and there was no peace; and he builds a wall, and lo, others daubed it with lime. 


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 Say to those who daub with lime, yes, it shall fall; there will be a flooding rain; and you, O hailstones, shall fall, and a stormy wind will break. 


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 And, behold, when the wall has fallen, shall it not be said to you, Where is the daubing with which you have daubed? 


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 Therefore so says the Lord Jehovah: I will even break it with a stormy wind in My fury. And there shall be a flooding rain in My anger, and hailstones in fury to destroy it. 


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 And I will break down the wall that you have daubed with lime, and touch it to the ground; yea, I will bare its base. And it shall fall, and you shall be destroyed in her midst; and you shall know that I am Jehovah. 


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 And I will fulfill My wrath on the wall and on those who daubed it with lime. And I will say to you, The wall is no more; and, Those who daubed are no more; 


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 the prophets of Israel who prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and who see visions of peace for her, and there is no peace, says Jehovah. 


text:
 And you, son of man, set your face against the daughters of your people, who prophesy out of their own heart. And prophesy against them, 


text:
 and say, So says the Lord Jehovah: Woe to those sewing bands to all joints of my hands, and make long veils for the head of every man of stature, to hunt souls! Will you hunt the souls of My people, and will you save alive the souls for yourselves? 


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 And will you profane Me among My people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to kill the souls that should not die; and to save alive the souls that should not live, by your lying to My people who listen to lies. 


text:
 Therefore so says the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I am against your bands with which you are hunting the souls there, to make them fly. And I will tear them from your arms, and will let the souls go, the souls which you are hunting, to make them fly. 


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 Also I will tear your long veils and deliver My people out of your hand, and they shall no more be in your hand to be hunted. And you shall know that I am Jehovah. 


text:
 Because with lies you have saddened the heart of the righteous, whom I have not made sad; and have made the hands of the wicked strong, so that he should not turn from his wicked way, by promising him life; 


text:
 therefore you shall not see vanity, and you shall not divine any divination. And I will deliver My people out of your hands; and you shall know that I am Jehovah. 


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 Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts, and put the stumbling-block of their iniquity before their face. Should I at all be inquired of by them? 


text:
 Therefore speak to them, and say to them, So says the Lord Jehovah: Every man of the house of Israel who sets up his idols in his heart, and puts the stumbling-block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet; I Jehovah will answer him in it by the host of his idols; 


text:
 so that I may capture the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are estranged from Me by their idols, all of them. 


text:
 Therefore say to the house of Israel, So says the Lord Jehovah: Repent and turn from your idols, and turn away your faces from all your abominations. 


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 For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger who lives in Israel, who separates himself from Me and sets up his idols in his heart, and puts the stumbling-block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to a prophet to ask of him concerning Me; I Jehovah will answer him Myself. 


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 And I will set My face against that man, and I will make him desolate for a sign and for proverbs. And I will cut him off from the midst of My people; and you shall know that I am Jehovah. 


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 And the prophet, if he is deceived, and he speaks a word, I Jehovah have deceived that prophet. And I will stretch out My hand on him and will destroy him in the midst of My people Israel. 


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 And they shall bear their iniquity. As the iniquity of the inquirer, so the iniquity of the prophet shall be. 


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 So that the house of Israel may never again go astray from Me, nor be defiled again with all their transgressions, but they are to Me My people, and I will be to them for God, says the Lord Jehovah. 


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 Son of man, when a land sins against Me by traitorous betraying, then I will stretch out My hand on it, and will break the staff of its bread, and will send famine on it, and will cut off man and beast from it. 


text:
 And though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver only their own souls by their righteousness, says the Lord Jehovah. 


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 If I cause destroying beasts to come through the land, and they spoil it so that it is deserted, so that no one may pass through because of the beasts, 


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 though these three men were in its midst, as I live, says the Lord Jehovah, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters. They only shall be delivered, but the land shall be deserted. 


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 Or if I bring a sword on that land, and say, Sword, go through the land; so that I cut off man and beast from it; 


text:
 though these three men were in it, as I live, says the Lord Jehovah, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only shall be delivered themselves. 


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 Or if I send a plague into that land, and pour out My fury on it in blood, to cut off man and beast from it; 


text:
 though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live, says the Lord Jehovah, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter. They shall only deliver their own souls by their righteousness. 


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 For so says the Lord Jehovah: How much more when I send My four evil judgments on Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the destroying beast, and the plague, to cut off man and beast from it. 


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 Yet, behold, there shall be left a remnant in it that shall be brought out, sons and daughters. Behold, they shall come out to you, and you shall see their way and their doings. And you shall be comforted concerning the evil that I brought on Jerusalem, for all that I have brought on it. 


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 And they shall comfort you when you see their way and their doings. And you shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, says the Lord Jehovah. 


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 Son of man, how is the vine tree more than any other tree, or than a branch which is among the trees of the forest? 


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 Shall wood be taken from it to do work? Or will men take from it for a peg to hang any vessel on it? 


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 Behold, it is cast into the fire for fuel. The fire devours both its ends, and its middle is charred. Is it fit for any work? 


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 Behold, when it was whole, it was not made for work. How much less when the fire has devoured it, and it is charred? Shall it yet be made to work? 


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 Therefore so says the Lord Jehovah, As the vine tree among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so I will give the people of Jerusalem. 


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 And I will set My face against them; they shall go out from the fire, and the fire shall devour them. And you shall know that I am Jehovah when I set My face against them. 


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 And I will make the land to be desolate, because they have committed a treacherous act, says the Lord Jehovah. 


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 And say, So says the Lord Jehovah to Jerusalem, Your origin and your birth is of the land of Canaan. Your father was an Amorite, and your mother a Hittite. 


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 And as for your birth, in the day you were born your navel was not cut, nor were you washed with water to cleanse you. And you were not salted, nor swaddled at all. 


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 No eye pitied you, to do any of these to you, to have compassion on you. But you were thrown out into the open field, because your life was despised in the day that you were born. 


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 And when I passed by you and saw you squirming in your blood, I said to you in your blood, Live! Yes, I said to you in your blood, Live! 


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 I have caused you to multiply like the bud of the field, and you are grown, and you are great; and you come in the finest ornaments. Your breasts are formed, and hair is grown, yet you were naked and bare. 


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 And I passed by you and looked on you, and, behold, your time was the time of love. And I spread my skirt over you and covered your nakedness. And I swore to you and entered into a covenant with you, says the Lord Jehovah. And you became Mine. 


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 I also clothed you with embroidered work, and I shod you with dugong sandals. And I wrapped you in fine linen, and I covered you with silk. 


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 And you were adorned with gold and silver; and your clothing was of fine linen and silk and embroidered work. You ate fine flour and honey and oil; and you were exceedingly beautiful. And you advanced to regal estate. 


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 And your name went out among the nations, because of your beauty; for it was perfect in My beauty, which I had put on you, says the Lord Jehovah. 


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 But you trusted in your beauty, and played the harlot because of your name, and poured out your fornications on all who passed by; it was his. 


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 And you took from your clothes and adorned your high places with different colors, and fornicated on them, such as had not come, nor shall be. 


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 And you have taken beautiful things of My gold and of My silver, which I had given you, and made images of males, and fornicated with them. 


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 And you took your embroidered dresses and covered them, and you have given to their face My oil and My incense. 


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 Also My food which I gave you, fine flour and oil and honey with which I fed you, you have given it to their face for a soothing aroma. And it happened, says the Lord Jehovah. 


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 And you have taken your sons and your daughters, whom you have borne to Me, and you gave these to them for food. Are your fornications small? 


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 And in all your hateful deeds and your fornications you have not remembered the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, and squirming in your blood. 


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 that you have also built yourself a mound, and you have made yourself a high place in every street. 


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 You have built your high place at the head of every way, and have made your beauty to be despised, and have opened your feet to everyone who passed by, and have multiplied your fornications. 


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 You have also whored with the Egyptians, your neighbors great of flesh, and have multiplied your fornications to provoke Me to anger. 


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 And, behold, therefore I have stretched out My hand over you, and drew back your portion. And I gave you to the will of those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who are ashamed of your wicked way. 


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 You have whored with the Assyrians, without your being satisfied; yea, you whored and yet you were not satisfied. 


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 And your whoredom is idolatry in the land of Canaan, to the Chaldean, and yet you were not satisfied with this. 


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 How weak is your heart, says the Lord Jehovah, since you do all these, the work of a woman, an overbearing harlot; 


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 in that you build your mound at the head of every way, and make your high place in every street. Yet you have not been as a harlot, scorning wages. 


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 They give a gift to all harlots, but you give your gifts to all your lovers, and bribe them to come to you from all around, for your fornication. 


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 And in you was the opposite from those women in your fornications, since no one whores after you, and in your giving wages, and hire is not given to you. In this you are opposite. 


text:
 So says the Lord Jehovah: Because your lewdness was poured out and your nakedness was bared in your fornications with your lovers, and with all the idols of your abominations, and by the blood of your sons whom you gave to them; 


text:
 behold, therefore I will gather all your lovers, with whom you have been pleased, even all whom you loved, with all whom you have hated; I will even gather them against you from all around, and will uncover your nakedness to them, and they will see all your nakedness. 


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 And I will judge you with judgments of adulteresses, and with shedders of blood. And I will give you blood and fury and jealousy. 


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 And I will also give you into their hand, and they will tear down your mound, and will demolish your high places. They shall also strip you of your clothes, and shall take your beautiful things, and leave you naked and bare. 


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 They shall also raise a company against you, and they shall stone you with stones, and cut you with their swords. 


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 And they shall burn your houses with fire, and execute judgments on you in the sight of many women. And I will make you stop whoring; and also, you shall not give hire again. 


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 And I will make My fury to rest against you, and My jealousy shall depart from you, and I will be quiet and will be angry no more. 


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 Because you have not remembered the days of your youth, but have troubled Me in all these things; so, behold, I will also repay your way on your head, says the Lord Jehovah. And you shall not commit this wickedness above all your abominations. 


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 Behold, all who use proverbs shall use this proverb against you, saying, As the mother, so is her daughter. 


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 You are your mother's daughter, who despises her husband and her sons. And you are the sister of your sisters, who despise their husbands and their sons. Your mother was a Hittite, and your father an Amorite. 


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 And your older sister is Samaria, she and her daughters who dwell at your left hand. And your younger sister, who dwells at your right hand, is Sodom and her daughters. 


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 Yet you have not walked according to their ways, nor done according to their hateful deeds; but, as if it were a very little thing, you were corrupted more than they were in all your ways. 


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 As I live, says the Lord Jehovah, Sodom your sister, she nor her daughters, has not done as you have done, you and your daughters. 


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 Behold, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom; pride. Fullness of bread and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters. Nor did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. 


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 Nor has Samaria sinned as much as half your sins; but you have multiplied your abominations more than they, and have justified your sisters in all your abominations which you have done. 


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 You also, who have judged your sisters, bear your own shame for your sins which you have committed more abominable than they. They are more righteous than you! Yes, blush and bear your shame, since you have justified your sisters. 


text:
 When I shall return their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, then also the captivity of your captivity in their midst; 


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 that you may bear your shame, and blush in all that you have done, since you are a comfort to them. 


text:
 When your sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former state, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former state, then you and your daughters shall return to your former state. 


text:
 before your wickedness was uncovered, as at the time of your reproach of the daughters of Syria, and of all her neighbors, the daughters of the Philistines who hated you from all around. 


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 For so says the Lord Jehovah: I will even deal with you as you have done, who have despised the oath in breaking the covenant. 


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 But I will remember My covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish to you an everlasting covenant. 


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 And you shall remember your ways and be ashamed, when you shall receive your sisters, your older and your younger. And I will give them to you for daughters, but not by your covenant. 


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 so that you may remember and be ashamed; and it will not be possible to open your mouth any more because of your shame; in that I am propitiated for all that you have done, says the Lord Jehovah. 


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 And say, So says the Lord Jehovah: A great eagle with great wings, long of pinion, full of feathers, who had different colors, came to Lebanon and took the highest branch of the cedar. 


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 He plucked off the top of its young twigs and carried it into a land of traders. He set it in a city of merchants. 


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 He also took of the seed of the land and planted it in a fruitful field. He placed it by great waters and set it as a willow tree. 


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 And it grew and became a spreading low vine, whose branches turned toward him. And its roots were under him. So it became a vine and brought out branches and shot out boughs. 


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 There was also another great eagle with great wings and many feathers. And behold, this vine bent its roots toward him and shot out its branches toward him, that he might water it, away from the beds of its planting. 


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 It was planted in a good soil by great waters, that it might bring out branches, and that it might bear fruit, to be a splendid vine. 


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 Say, So says the Lord Jehovah: Shall it prosper? Shall he not pull up its roots and cut off its fruit, and wither it? All the leaves of its sprouting shall wither, and not with great arm, nor by many people shall any raise it by its roots. 


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 And behold, being planted, shall it prosper? Shall it not utterly wither when the east wind touches it? It shall wither in the beds where it sprouted. 


text:
 Say now to the rebellious house: Do you not know what these things mean? Tell them, Behold, the king of Babylon has come to Jerusalem and has taken its king and its rulers, and brings them to himself to Babylon. 


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 And he has taken of the king's seed and has made a covenant with him, and has taken an oath from him. He has also taken the mighty of the land, 


text:
 so that the kingdom might be low, that it might not lift itself up, but that by keeping his covenant it might stand. 


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 But he rebelled against him in sending his ambassadors into Egypt, to give him horses and many people. Shall he be blessed? Shall he who does such things escape? Or shall he break the covenant and be delivered? 


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 As I live, says the Lord Jehovah, surely in the place of the king who made him king, whose oath he despised and whose covenant he broke, even with him in the midst of Babylon he shall die. 


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 Nor shall Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company work for him in the war, by pouring out siege mounds and building forts, to cut off many persons. 


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 And he has despised the oath by breaking the covenant. And, behold, he had given his hand, and has done all these, he shall not escape. 


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 Therefore so says the Lord Jehovah: As I live, surely My oath that he has despised, and My covenant that he has broken, I will even repay it on his own head. 


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 And I will spread My net on him, and he shall be taken in My snare, and I will bring him to Babylon, and I will judge him there with his sin which he has sinned against Me. 


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 And all his fugitives with all his bands shall fall by the sword, and those who remain shall be scattered toward all winds. And you shall know that I Jehovah have spoken. 


text:
 So says the Lord Jehovah: I, even I, will also take of the top of the highest cedar and will set it; I will crop off from the first of its young twigs a tender one, and will plant it on a high and lofty mountain. 


text:
 In a mountain, in a high place of Israel, I will plant it. And it shall bear boughs, and bear fruit, and be a majestic cedar. And under it shall dwell every bird of every wing; in the shadow of its branches they shall dwell. 


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 And all the trees of the field shall know that I Jehovah have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish. I Jehovah have spoken and acted. 


text:
 What is it to you that you use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the teeth of the sons are dull? 


text:
 As I live, says the Lord Jehovah, to you there is no longer any occasion to use this proverb in Israel. 


text:
 Behold, all souls are Mine. As the soul of the father, also the soul of the son, they are Mine. The soul that sins, it shall die. 


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 and has not eaten on the mountains, nor has lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, nor has defiled his neighbor's wife, nor has come near a menstruating woman, 


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 and has not ill-treated any man, but has given the debtor's pledge back to him, has robbed none by violence, has given his bread to the hungry and has covered the naked with a garment; 


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 he has not given out on usury, nor has taken any increase, he has withdrawn his hand from iniquity, has done judgment between man and man, 


text:
 has walked in My statutes, and has kept My judgments to deal truly, he is righteous, he shall surely live, says the Lord Jehovah. 


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 even if he does do not any of these himself, but his son has, but has even eaten on the mountains, and has defiled his neighbor's wife; 


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 has ill-treated the poor and needy; thieving, he stole; has not given back the pledge; and has lifted up his eyes to the idols; has committed abomination; 


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 has loaned on usury; and has taken increase; shall he then live? He shall not live! He has done all these abominations; he shall surely die; his blood shall be on him. 


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 And, lo, if he fathers a son who sees all his father's sins which he has done, and fears, and does not do like him; 


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 who has not eaten on the mountains; nor has lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel; has not defiled his neighbor's wife; 


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 nor has ill-treated any man; has not withheld the pledge; nor has robbed by violence; but has given his bread to the hungry; and has covered the naked with clothes; 


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 has withdrawn his hand from the poor; has not received usury nor increase; has done My judgments; has walked in My statutes; he shall not die for the iniquity of his father; he shall surely live. 


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 His father, because he extorted, robbed his brother by robbery, and did what is not good among his people; lo, even he shall die in his iniquity. 


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 Yet you say, Why? Does not the son bear the iniquity of the father? When the son has done justice and right, has kept all My statutes, and has done them, he shall surely live. 


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 The soul that sins, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, nor shall the father bear the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be on him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be on him. 


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 But if the wicked will turn from all his sins which he has committed, and keep all My statutes, and do justice and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. 


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 All his transgressions that he has done, they shall not be mentioned to him; in his righteousness that he has done he shall live. 


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 Do I actually delight in the death of the wicked? says the Lord Jehovah. Is it not that he should turn from his ways and live? 


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 But when the righteous turns from his righteousness and does injustice, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked do, shall he live? All his righteousness that he has done shall not be remembered; in his trespass that he has trespassed, and in his sin that he has sinned, in them he shall die. 


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 Yet you say, The way of Jehovah is not fair. Hear now, O house of Israel: Is not My way fair? Are your ways not unfair? 


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 When a righteous one turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity and dies in them; for his iniquity that he has done, he shall die. 


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 Again, when the wicked turns away from his wickedness that he has committed and does that which is lawful and righteous, he shall save his soul alive. 


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 Because he looks carefully, and turns away from all his sins that he has committed, he shall surely live; he shall not die. 


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 Yet says the house of Israel: The way of Jehovah is not fair. O house of Israel, are not My ways fair? Are not your ways unfair? 


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 So I will judge you, O house of Israel, each one of you according to his ways, says the Lord Jehovah. Turn and be made to turn from all your sins; and iniquity shall not be your stumbling-block. 


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 Cast away from you all your sins by which you have sinned; and make you a new heart and a new spirit; for why will you die, O house of Israel? 


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 For I have no delight in the death of him who dies, says the Lord Jehovah. Therefore turn and live. 


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 and say: What is your mother? A lioness. She lay down among lions; she multiplied her cubs among young lions. 


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 And she brought up one of her cubs; it became a strong lion and learned to tear the prey. It ate men. 


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 The nations also heard of him. He was taken in their pit, and they brought him with chains to the land of Egypt. 


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 And when she saw that she had waited and that her hope was lost, she took another of her cubs and made him a strong lion. 


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 And he went up and down among the lions; he became a young lion and learned to tear the prey, and ate men. 


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 And he knew his widows, and he laid their cities waste, and the land and its fullness was desolated, from the sound of his roaring. 


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 And the nations set against him on every side from the provinces, and spread their net over him. He was taken in their pit. 


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 And they put him in a cage in chains, and brought him to the king of Babylon. They brought him into hunting nets, so that his voice should never again be heard on the mountains of Israel. 


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 Your mother is like a vine in your blood, planted by the waters; she was fruitful and full of branches because of many waters. 


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 And she had strong rods for the scepters of those who bore rule, and her stature was exalted among the thick branches; and it was seen in her height, with the multitude of her branches. 


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 But she was plucked up in fury; she was thrown down to the ground, and the east wind dried up her fruit. Her strong rods were broken and withered; the fire burned them up. 


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 And fire has gone out from a rod of her branches, which has licked up her fruit so that there is no strong rod in her to be a scepter to rule. This is a mourning and shall be for a mourning. 


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 And it happened in the seventh year, in the fifth month, the tenth of the month, some of the elders of Israel came to ask of Jehovah, and sat before me. 


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 Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel and say to them, So says the Lord Jehovah: Have you come to ask of Me? As I live, says the Lord Jehovah, I will not be inquired of by you. 


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 Will you judge them, son of man, will you judge them? Cause them to know the abominations of their fathers. 


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 And say to them, So says the Lord Jehovah: In the day that I chose Israel, and lifted up My hand to the seed of the house of Jacob, and made Myself known to them in the land of Egypt; when I lifted up My hand to them, saying, I am Jehovah your God; 


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 in the day that I lifted up My hand to them, to bring them out from the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched out for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands; 


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 then I said to them, Let each man throw away the abominations of his eyes, and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt. I am Jehovah your God. 


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 But they rebelled against Me and would not listen to Me. They did not each man throw away the abominations of their eyes, nor did they forsake the idols of Egypt. And I said, I will pour out My fury against them to fulfill My anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt. 


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 But I worked for My name's sake, that it should not be profaned before the nations among whom they were, for I made Myself known to them in their eyes, by bringing them out of the land of Egypt. 


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 And I gave them My statutes and showed them My judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them. 


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 And also I gave them My sabbaths to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am Jehovah who sets them apart. 


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 But the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness; they did not walk in My statutes, and they despised My judgments, which if a man does, he shall even live in them. And they greatly profaned My sabbaths. And I said, I will pour out My fury on them in the wilderness to destroy them. 


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 But I worked for My name's sake, so that it should not be profaned before the nations in whose sight I brought them out. 


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 And also I lifted up My hand to them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey; it is the glory of all lands; 


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 because they despised My judgments and walked not in My sabbaths; and they profaned My sabbaths; for their heart went after their idols. 


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 But I said to their sons in the wilderness, Do not walk in the statutes of your fathers, nor observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols. 


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 and keep My sabbaths holy; and they shall be a sign between Me and you, that you may know that I am Jehovah your God. 


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 But the sons rebelled against Me. They did not walk in My statutes, nor kept My judgments to do them; the judgments which, if a man do, he shall even live in them; they profaned My sabbaths and I said I would pour out My fury on them, to fulfill My anger against them in the wilderness. 


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 But I withdrew My hand and worked for My name's sake, that it should not be profaned in the eyes of the nations, from whom I brought them out in their eyes. 


text:
 I also lifted up My hand to them in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the nations and scatter them through the lands, 


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 because they had not done My judgments, but had despised My sabbaths and had profaned My sabbaths, and their eyes were after their fathers' idols. 


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 And I defiled them in their own gifts, in that they caused all that open the womb to pass through the fire, that I might waste them, to the end that they might know that I am Jehovah. 


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 Therefore, son of man, speak to the house of Israel and say to them, So says the Lord Jehovah: Yet in this your fathers have blasphemed Me, in that they have committed a sin against Me. 


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 When I had brought them into the land for which I lifted up My hand to give it to them, then they saw every high hill, and all the thick trees, and they offered their sacrifices there. And there they offered their provoking gifts. There also they made their sweet aroma, and poured out their drink offerings there. 


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 And I said to them, What is the high place to which you go? And the name of it is called High Place to this day. 


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 Therefore say to the house of Israel, So says the Lord Jehovah: Are you defiled in the same way as your fathers? And do you go whoring after their abominations? 


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 For when you offer your gifts, when you make your sons to pass through the fire, you defile yourselves with all your idols, even to this day. And shall I be inquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I Live, says the Lord Jehovah, I will not be inquired of by you. 


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 And what comes up on your spirit shall not happen at all, that you say, We will be like the nations, like the families of the countries, to serve wood and stone. 


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 As I live, says the Lord Jehovah, surely with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out, I will reign over you. 


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 And I will bring you out from the people, and I will gather you out of the lands in which you are scattered among them, with a mighty hand and with a stretched out arm and with fury poured out. 


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 And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there I will enter into judgment with you face to face. 


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 Just as I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will enter into judgment with you, says the Lord Jehovah. 


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 And I will purge out from among you the rebels and those who sin against Me. I will bring them out from the land where they reside, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am Jehovah. 


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 And you, O house of Israel, so says the Lord Jehovah: Every man go and serve his idols, and do so from now on if you will not listen to Me. But never again defile My holy name with your gifts and with your idols. 


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 For in My holy mountain, in the mountain height of Israel, says the Lord Jehovah, there all the house of Israel, all of those in the land, shall serve Me. There will I receive them, and there will I ask for your offerings and the firstfruits of your offerings, with all your holy things. 


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 I will receive you with your sweet aroma when I bring you out from the people and gather you out of the lands into which you have been scattered among them. And I will be sanctified in you in the eyes of the nations. 


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 And you shall know that I am Jehovah, when I shall bring you into the land of Israel, into the land for which I lifted up My hand, to give it to your fathers. 


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 And there you shall remember your ways and all your doings in which you have been defiled. And you shall despise yourselves in your own sight for all your evils which you have committed. 


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 And you shall know that I am Jehovah when I have worked with you for My name's sake, not according to your wicked ways nor according to your corrupt doings, O house of Israel, says the Lord Jehovah. 


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 Son of man, set your face toward the south, and drop a word toward the south, and prophesy against the forest of the south field. 


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 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the Word of Jehovah. So says the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I will kindle a fire in you, and it shall burn up every green tree in you, and every dry tree among you. The flaming flame shall not be put out, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned in it. 


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 Son of man, set your face toward Jerusalem, and drop a word toward the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel. 


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 And say to the land of Israel, So says Jehovah: Behold, I am against you, and will draw out My sword out of its sheath and will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked. 


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 Since then I will cut off the righteous and the wicked from you, therefore My sword shall be drawn from its sheath against all flesh from the south to the north, 


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 so that all flesh may know that I Jehovah have drawn out My sword from its sheath. It shall not return any more. 


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 And you, son of man, groan with the breaking of your loins; and groan with bitterness before their eyes. 


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 And it will be when they say to you, Why do you groan? You shall answer, Because of the news that it is coming; and every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be feeble, and every spirit shall faint, and all knees shall be weak as water. Behold, it comes, and it shall be, says the Lord Jehovah. 


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 Son of man, prophesy and say, So says Jehovah. Say, A sword, a sword is sharpened and also polished. 


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 It is sharpened in order to slaughter; it is polished so that there may be a flash to it. Or shall we rejoice? You are despising the rod of My son, as if it were every tree. 


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 And He has given it to be polished, to be taken by the hand. The sword, it is sharpened, and it it polished, to give it into the hand of the slayer. 


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 Cry and howl, son of man; for it shall be on My people; it shall be on all the rulers of Israel. They are thrown to the sword with My people; Therefore slap your thigh. 


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 And you, son of man, prophesy and strike your hands together; and let the sword be doubled the third time, the sword of the slain. It is the sword of the slain, the great one that surrounds them; 


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 so that their heart may melt, and many stumble at all their gates. I have given the threatening sword. Ah! It is made like lightning; it is wrapped for a slaughter. 


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 And also I, I will also strike My hands together, and I will cause My fury to rest. I Jehovah have spoken. 


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 And you, son of man, set for yourself two ways, that the sword of the king of Babylon may come. Both of them shall come out of one land. And create a hand at the head of the way to the city; create it. 


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 You shall set a way that the sword may enter into Rabbah of the Ammonites, and into Judah, into fortified Jerusalem. 


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 For the king of Babylon shall stand at the parting of the way, at the head of the two highways, to practice divination. He shall shake arrows; he shall ask household idols; he shall look at the liver. 


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 At his right shall be the divining for Jerusalem, to set battering rams, to open the mouth in the slaughter, to lift up the voice with shouting, to set battering-rams against the gates, to pour out and to build a siege wall. 


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 And it shall be to them an empty divining before their eyes, those who have sworn oaths to them. But He will remember iniquity, that they may be taken. 


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 So the Lord Jehovah says this: Because you have made your iniquity to be remembered, in that your transgressions are discovered, in that your sins are revealed in all your deeds; because you have been remembered, you shall be taken with the hand. 


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 And you, O slain, wicked king of Israel, of whom has come his day in the time of iniquity of the end. 


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 So says the Lord Jehovah: Remove the diadem, and take off the crown. This shall not be as it was. Lift up the low one, and put down the high one. 


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 Ruin, ruin, ruin, I will appoint it. Also this shall not be until the coming of Him whose is the right. And I will give it to Him. 


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 And you, son of man, prophesy and say, So says the Lord Jehovah concerning the Ammonites, and concerning their shame. Even say: The sword, the sword is drawn, polished for slaughter to make an end, that it may be like lightning; 


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 while they see false visions for you, while they divine a lie to you, to put you on the necks of the slain of the wicked whose day has come in the day of iniquity; it shall have an end. 


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 Return it to its sheath. In the place where you were created, in the land of your origin, I will judge you. 


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 And I will pour out My disgust on you; with the fire of My wrath I will blow against you, and give you into the hand of burning men, able to destroy. 


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 You shall be for food to the fire. Your blood shall be in the midst of the land. You shall be remembered no more; for I Jehovah have spoken. 


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 And you, son of man, will you judge, will you judge the bloody city? And you shall make her know all her abominations. 


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 And you shall say, So says the Lord Jehovah: The city sheds blood in her midst that her time may come, and makes idols against herself to defile herself. 


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 You are guilty in your blood that you have shed; and you have defiled yourself in your idols you have made. And your days are brought near, and have come to your years. Therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations, and a mocking to all lands. 


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 Those who are near and those far from you shall mock against you, O defiled of name, abounding in tumult. 


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 In you they have despised father and mother. In your midst they have dealt with the stranger by oppression. In you they oppressed the orphan and the widow. 


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 In you are men of slander to shed blood; and in you they eat on the mountains; in your midst they do unchaste acts. 


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 In you they have uncovered their fathers' nakedness; in you they have humbled her defiled by impurity. 


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 And a man has done abomination with his neighbor's wife; and a man has defiled his daughter-in-law in unchaste acts; and a man has humbled within you his sister, his father's daughter. 


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 In you they have taken bribes to shed blood. You have taken usury and increase, and you gained by extortion of your neighbors, and you have forgotten Me, says the Lord Jehovah. 


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 And behold, I have struck My palm against your unjust gain which you have made, and at your blood which has been in your midst. 


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 Can your heart stand, or can your hands be strong, in the day that I shall deal with you? I Jehovah have spoken, and I will act. 


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 And I will scatter you among the nations and disperse you in the lands, and will destroy your uncleanness out of you. 


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 And you will be profaned in you before the eyes of the nations, and you shall know that I am Jehovah. 


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 Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to Me. All of them are bronze, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the middle of the furnace; they are even the dross of silver. 


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 Therefore so says the Lord Jehovah: Because you have all become dross, behold, therefore I will gather you into the middle of Jerusalem. 


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 As they gather silver, and bronze, and iron, and lead, and tin, into the middle of the furnace, to blow the fire on it to melt it, so I will gather you in My anger and in My fury, and I will leave you there and melt you. 


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 And I will gather you and blow on you in the fire of My wrath, and you shall be melted in the middle of it. 


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 As silver is melted in the middle of the furnace, so you shall be melted in the middle of it; and you shall know that I Jehovah have poured out My fury on you. 


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 A plot by her prophets is in her midst, like a roaring lion tearing the prey. They have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they multiplied her many widows in her midst. 


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 Her priests have broken My Law and have defiled My holy things. They have put no difference between the holy and the common, and have not taught between the unclean and the clean, and have hidden their eyes from My sabbaths, and I am defiled among them. 


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 Her rulers in her midst are like wolves tearing the prey, to shed blood and to destroy souls, to get unjust gain. 


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 And her prophets have daubed themselves with lime, seeing vanity and divining lies to them, saying, So says the Lord Jehovah; when Jehovah has not spoken. 


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 The people of the land have used oppression and practiced robbery, and they have troubled the poor and needy. Yea, they have oppressed the stranger without right. 


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 And I sought for a man among them who should wall up a wall for the land, and stand in the break before me, that I should not destroy it. But I did not find one. 


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 Therefore I have poured out My fury on them. I have burned them up with the fire of My wrath. I have given their way on their heads, says the Lord Jehovah. 


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 And they fornicated in Egypt; they whored in their youth, their breasts were handled, and there their virgin nipples were worked. 


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 And their names were Oholah, the oldest, and Oholibah, her sister. And they were Mine, and they bore sons and daughters. And their names: Samaria is Oholah, and Jerusalem is Oholibah. 


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 clothed with purple, governors and rulers, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding horses. 


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 So she bestowed her harlotries on them, the choice sons of Assyria; with all of them, and with all whom she lusted after; she defiled herself with all their idols. 


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 Nor did she leave her fornications from Egypt. For in her youth they lay with her, and they worked her virgin nipples, and poured their fornications on her. 


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 Therefore I have given her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians on whom she lusted. 


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 They uncovered her nakedness. They took her sons and her daughters and killed her with the sword. And she became notorious among women, and they executed judgment on her. 


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 And her sister Oholibah saw, she was more corrupt in her lustfulness than she, and her fornications were greater than her sister's whoredom. 


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 She lusted to the sons of Assyria, governors and rulers nearby, clothed most perfectly; horsemen riding horses, all of them desirable young men. 


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 And she added to her fornications. And she saw men carved on the wall; images of the Chaldeans engraved with vermilion, 


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 girded with girdles on their loins, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looking like rulers, like the sons of Babylon in Chaldea, the land of their birth; 


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 And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with fornications. And she was defiled with them, and her mind was alienated from them. 


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 So she uncovered her fornications and uncovered her nakedness. And My soul was alienated from her just as My soul was alienated from her sister. 


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 Yet she multiplied her fornications to recall the days of her youth, in which she had played the harlot in the land of Egypt. 


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 And she lusted on her lovers, whose flesh is like the flesh of asses and whose issue is like the issue of horses. 


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 So you longed for the wickedness of your youth, when the Egyptians worked your nipples, for the sake of the breasts of your youth. 


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 So, O Oholibah, the Lord Jehovah says this: Behold, I will raise up against you your lovers, from whom your soul is alienated; and I will bring them against you from all around; 


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 the Babylonians, and all the Chaldeans, Pekod, and Shoa, and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them; all of them desirable young men, governors and rulers, all of them, third heads and called ones; all of them riding on horses. 


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 And they shall come against you with weapons, chariots, and wheels, and with an assembly of peoples; buckler and shield and helmet shall set against you all around. And I will set judgment before them, and they shall judge you by their judgments. 


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 And I will set My jealousy against you, and they shall deal with you in fury. They shall take away your nose and your ears, and the rest of you shall fall by the sword. They shall take away your sons and your daughters, and the rest of you shall be devoured by the fire. 


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 So I will make your wickedness to cease from you, and your fornication from the land of Egypt. And you shall not lift up your eyes to them, nor shall you remember Egypt any more. 


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 For so says the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I will give you into the hand of those whom you hate, into the hand of whom your soul was alienated from them. 


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 And they shall deal with you in hatred, and shall take away all your labor, and shall leave you naked and bare. And the nakedness of your fornications shall be uncovered, both your wickedness and your fornications. 


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 These things will be done to you because you have whored after the nations, and because you are defiled with their idols. 


text:
 So says the Lord Jehovah: You shall drink of your sister's cup deep and large; you shall be laughed to scorn and mocked; for it holds much. 


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 with drunkenness and sorrow you are filled, the cup of horror and ruin, the cup of your sister Samaria. 


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 You shall even drink it and empty it. And you shall break its pieces, and tear off your own breasts. For I have spoken, says the Lord Jehovah. 


text:
 So the Lord Jehovah says this: Because you have forgotten Me and cast Me behind your back, therefore bear also your wickedness and your adulteries. 


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 And Jehovah said to me: Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah, and declare to them their abominations, 


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 that they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands? And they have committed adultery with their idols and have also caused their sons whom they bore to Me to pass through the fire to them, to devour them. 


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 And yet they have done this to Me: They have defiled My sanctuary in that day, and have profaned My sabbaths. 


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 And when they had slain their sons to their idols, then they came into My sanctuary in that day to profane it. And lo, this they have done in the midst of My house. 


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 And they have even sent for men to come from far, to whom a messenger was sent. And lo, they came. You washed yourself for them, painted your eyes, and adorned yourself with ornaments, 


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 And the sound of a crowd was at ease with her; and drunkards from the wilderness were brought with the men of the host of mankind; and they put bracelets on their hands, and crowns of beauty on their heads. 


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 And they went in to her, as they go in to a woman of harlotry; so they went in to Oholah and to Oholibah, the wicked women. 


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 And as righteous men, they shall judge them with the judgment of adulteresses, and the judgment of women who shed blood; because they are adulteresses, and blood is in their hands. 


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 For so says the Lord Jehovah: I will bring up a company on them, and will give them to be removed and stripped. 


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 And the company shall stone them with stones, and cut them down with their swords. They shall kill their sons and their daughters, and burn up their houses with fire. 


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 So I will cause wickedness to cease out of the land, that all women may be taught, even not to go after your wickedness. 


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 And they shall put your wickedness on you, and you shall bear the sins of your idols. And you shall know that I am the Lord Jehovah. 


text:
 Again in the ninth year, in the tenth month, in the tenth of the month, the Word of Jehovah came to me, saying, 


text:
 Son of man, write for yourself the name of the day, even of this same day. The king of Babylon has leaned toward Jerusalem this same day. 


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 And speak a parable to the rebellious house, and say to them, So says the Lord Jehovah: Set on a pot; set it on, and also pour water into it. 


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 Gather its pieces into it, even every good piece, the thigh, and the shoulder. Fill it with the choice bones. 


text:
 Take the choice of the flock, and also burn the bones under it; make it boil high, and let them boil its bones in it. 


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 So the Lord Jehovah says this: Woe to the bloody city, to the pot whose scum is in it, and whose scum has not gone out of it! Bring it out piece by piece; let no lot fall on it. 


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 For her blood is in her midst; she set it on the top of a rock. She did not pour it on the ground, to cover it with dust, 


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 that it might cause fury to come up to take vengeance. I have set her blood on a shining rock, that it should not be covered. 


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 And heap on the wood, kindle the fire, consume the flesh, and mix in the spice, and let the bones be burned. 


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 And set it empty on its coals, so that its bronze may be hot and may glow, and that its uncleanness may be melted in it, that the scum of it may be burned away. 


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 She has wearied herself with lies, and her great scum did not go out from her. Her scum shall be in the fire. 


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 In your defilement is wickedness. Because I have purged you and you were not purged, you shall not be purged from your defilement any more, until I have caused My fury to cease on you. 


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 I Jehovah have spoken. It shall come, and I will do it. I will not let go, nor will I spare, nor will I repent. According to your ways, and according to your doings, they shall judge you, says the Lord Jehovah. 


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 Son of man, behold, I take away from you the desire of your eyes with a stroke. Yet neither shall you mourn nor weep, nor shall your tears run down. 


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 Groan but be silent; make no mourning for the dead; tie your turban on you, and put your sandals on your feet, and do not cover your lips, and do not eat the bread of men. 


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 So I spoke to the people in the morning. And in the evening my wife died, and I did in the morning as I was commanded. 


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 Speak to the house of Israel. So says the Lord Jehovah: behold, I will defile My sanctuary, the glory of your strength, the desire of your eyes, and that which your soul pities. And your sons and your daughters whom you have left shall fall by the sword. 


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 And your turbans shall be on your heads, and your sandals on your feet. You shall not mourn nor weep; but you shall pine away for your iniquities and mourn to one another. 


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 So Ezekiel is a sign to you. According to all that he has done, you shall do. And when this comes, you shall know that I am the Lord Jehovah. 


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 Also, son of man, will it not be in the day when I take from them their strength, the joy of their glory, the desire of their eyes, and that on which they set their minds, their sons and their daughters, 


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 In that day your mouth shall be open to him who has escaped, and you shall speak and be no more dumb. And you shall be a sign to them, and they shall know that I am Jehovah. 


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 And say to the Ammonites, Hear the Word of the Lord Jehovah. So says the Lord Jehovah: Because you said, Aha, against My sanctuary when it was defiled, and against the land of Israel when it was ruined, and against the house of Judah when they went into captivity; 


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 therefore, behold, I will give you to the sons of the east for a possession. And they shall set their camp sites among you, and put among you their dwellings. They shall eat your fruit, and they shall drink your milk. 


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 And I will make Rabbah a pasture for camels, and the Ammonites a crouching-place for flocks. And you shall know that I am Jehovah. 


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 For so says the Lord Jehovah: Because you have clapped your hands and stamped the foot, and rejoiced in heart with all your spite against the land of Israel; 


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 behold, therefore I will stretch out My hand on you, and will give you as a prize to the nations. And I will cut you off from the peoples, and I will cause you to perish out of the lands. I will destroy you, and you shall know that I am Jehovah. 


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 So says the Lord Jehovah: Because Moab and Seir say, Behold, the house of Judah is like all the nations; 


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 therefore, behold, I will open the side of Moab from the cities, from his cities, from his borders, the glory of the land, even Beth-jeshimoth, Baal-meon, and Kiriathaim, 


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 to the men of the east with the Ammonites. And I will give them in possession so that the Ammonites may not be remembered among the nations. 


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 So says the Lord Jehovah: Because Edom has dealt against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and has greatly offended and revenged himself on them; 


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 therefore so says the Lord Jehovah: I will also stretch out My hand on Edom, and will cut man and beast off from it; and I will make it a waste from Teman, even to Dedan they shall fall by the sword. 


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 And I will lay My vengeance on Edom by the hand of My people Israel. And they shall do in Edom according to My anger and according to My fury. And they shall know My vengeance, says the Lord Jehovah. 


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 So says the Lord Jehovah: Because the Philistines have taken vengeance; yes, have taken vengeance with spite in their soul, to destroy with never-ending enmity, 


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 So the Lord Jehovah says this: Behold, I will stretch out My hand on the Philistines, and I will cut off the Cherethites, and will destroy the rest of the sea coast. 


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 And I will execute great vengeance on them with rebukes; and they shall know that I am Jehovah, when I shall lay My vengeance on them. 


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 And it happened in the eleventh year, in the first of the month, the Word of Jehovah came to me, saying, 


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 Son of man, because Tyre has said against Jerusalem, Aha! She is shattered, the doors of the peoples, she has turned to me; I shall be filled; she is laid waste. 


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 So the Lord Jehovah says this: Behold, I am against you, O Tyre, and will cause many nations to come up against you, as the sea causes its waves to come up. 


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 And they shall destroy the walls of Tyre and break down her towers. I will also scrape her dust from her and make her like a shining rock. 


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 It shall be a spreading place of nets in the middle of the sea. For I have spoken, says the Lord Jehovah. And it shall become a spoil to the nations. 


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 And her daughters who are in the field shall be killed by the sword; and they shall know that I am Jehovah. 


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 For so says the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I will bring Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon on Tyre, a king of kings from the north, with horses and with chariots and with a company of horsemen, and many people. 


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 He shall kill your daughters with the sword in the field. And he shall make siege walls against you, and pour out a siege mound against you, and lift up the shield against you. 


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 And he shall set engines of war against your walls, and with his axes he shall break down your towers. 


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 Because of his many horses, their dust shall cover you. Your walls shall shake at the sound of the horsemen, and of the wheels, and of the chariots, when he shall enter into your gates, as men enter a city that is breached. 


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 With the hoofs of his horses he shall trample all your streets. He shall kill your people by the sword, and the pillars of your strength shall go down to the ground. 


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 And they shall plunder your riches, and make a prey of your merchandise. And they shall break down your walls and destroy your desirable houses. And they shall lay your stones and your timber and your dust in the midst of the water. 


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 And I will cause the noise of your songs to cease; and the sound of your harps shall be heard no more. 


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 And I will make you like a shining rock. You shall be a place to spread nets on; you shall be built no more; for I Jehovah have spoken, says the Lord Jehovah. 


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 So says the Lord Jehovah to Tyre: Shall not the coastlands shake at the sound of your fall, when the slain groan, when the slaughter is made in your midst? 


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 And all the rulers of the sea shall come down from their thrones, and lay away their robes, and put off their embroidered garments. They shall clothe themselves with trembling; they shall sit on the ground and tremble at every moment, and be amazed at you. 


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 And they shall take up a mourning for you, and say to you, How you who lived by the sea are destroyed, the famous city which was strong in the sea, she and her people who caused their terror to be on all who lived in it! 


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 And the coastlands shall tremble in the day of your fall; yea, the coastlands by the sea shall be troubled at your going. 


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 For so says the Lord Jehovah: When I shall make you a ruined city, like the cities that have no inhabitants; when I shall bring up the deep on you, and great waters shall cover you; 


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 when I shall bring you down with those who go down into the Pit, with the people of old time, and shall set you in the low parts of the earth, in places ruined in days of old, with those who go down to the Pit, so that you have no inhabitants (but I gave glory in the land of the living) 


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 I will give you terrors, and you will not be. Though you are sought, yet you shall never be found forever says the Lord Jehovah. 


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 And say to Tyre, O you who are placed at the entrance of the sea, a merchant of the peoples for many coastlands, so says the Lord Jehovah: O Tyre, you have said, I am of perfect beauty. 


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 They have made all your ship boards of fir trees of Senir; they have taken cedars from Lebanon to make masts for you. 


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 They have made the oaks of Bashan your oars; the daughter of Assyria has made your deck of ivory from the coasts of Kittim. 


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 Your sail was of fine linen with embroidered work from Egypt, an ensign for you; violet and purple from the coasts of Elishah was your covering. 


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 The residents of Sidon and Arvad were your seamen. Your wise ones, O Tyre, were in you, they were your sailors. 


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 The elders of Gebal and her wise men were with you, reinforcing your seams. All the ships of the sea with their seamen were with you, to exchange your merchandise. 


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 Persia and Lud and Lydia were in your army, your men of war. They hung the shield and helmet in you; they set your splendor. 


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 The sons of Arvad and your army were on your walls all around, and warriors were in your towers. They hung their shields on your walls all around; they have made your beauty perfect. 


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 Tarshish was your merchant because of the multitude of your wealth; with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they gave for your wares. 


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 Javan, Tubal, and Meshech were your merchants. They traded the souls of men and vessels of bronze for your goods. 


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 The sons of Dedan were your merchants; many coastlands were the traffic of your hand. They brought as your gift tusks of ivory and ebony. 


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 Syria was your merchant because of the multitude of your works; with emeralds, purple, and embroidered work, and fine linen, and coral, and rubies they gave for your wares. 


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 Judah and the land of Israel were your merchants with wheat from Minnith and Pannag, and honey, and oil, and balm, they gave for your goods. 


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 Damascus was your merchant in the multitude of your works, from the multitude of all riches, in the wine of Helbon, and white wool. 


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 Dan and Javan also, going about, gave for your wares; smooth iron, cassia, and cane were among your goods. 


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 Arabia, and all the rulers of Kedar were traders of your hand, in lambs, and rams, and goats; in them was your trade. 


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 The merchants of Sheba and Raamah were your merchants, with the chief of all the spices, and with every precious stone, and gold they gave for your wares. 


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 They were your merchants in perfect things, in violet cloth, and embroidered work, and in carpets of many colors, with tightly bound cords, and cedars among your merchandise. 


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 The ships of Tarshish were the travelers of your goods. And you were filled and made very glorious in the heart of the seas. 


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 Your rowers have made you come into great waters; the east wind has broken you in the heart of the seas. 


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 Your riches, and your wares, your goods, your seamen, and your sailors reinforcing your seams, and the traders of your goods, and all your men of war, who are in you, and all your company which is in your midst, shall fall into the heart of the seas in the day of your ruin. 


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 And all who handle the oar, the mariners, all the sailors of the sea, shall come down from their ships. They shall stand on the land, 


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 and shall cause their voice to be heard against you, and shall cry bitterly, and shall throw dust on their heads. They shall wallow themselves in the ashes. 


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 And they will be bald for you, and gird with sackcloth. And they shall weep for you with bitterness of soul, a bitter wailing. 


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 And in their wailing they shall lift up a lamentation and lament over you, saying, Who is like Tyre; as she who is quiet in the midst of the sea? 


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 When your goods went out from the seas, you filled many people. With the plenty of your riches and your goods you enriched the kings of the earth. 


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 At this time you are broken by the seas, in the depths of the waters, your goods and all your company in your midst have fallen. 


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 All the residents of the coastlands are appalled at you, and their kings are horribly terrified; their faces tremble. 


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 The merchants among the peoples hiss at you; you have become terrors. And you shall not be forever. 


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 Son of man, say to the ruler of Tyre. So says the Lord Jehovah: Because your heart is lifted up, and you have said, I am a god, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet you are a man and not God, though you set your heart as the heart of gods; 


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 With your wisdom and with your understanding you have made riches for yourselves, and have worked gold and silver into your treasuries. 


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 By your great wisdom and by your trade you have multiplied your riches, and your heart is lifted up because of your riches. 


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 behold, therefore I will bring awesome strangers of the nations. And they shall draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom, and they shall defile your brightness. 


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 They shall bring you down to the Pit, and you shall die the deaths of those slain in the heart of the seas. 


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 Will you yet say before him who kills you, I am of the gods? But you are a man, and not God, in the hand of him who kills you. 


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 You shall die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers. For I have spoken, says the Lord Jehovah. 


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 Son of man, lift up a lament over the king of Tyre, and say to him, So says the Lord Jehovah: You seal the measure, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. 


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 You have been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering, the ruby, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the turquoise, and the emerald, and gold. The workmanship of your tambourines and of your flutes was prepared in you in the day that you were created. 


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 You were the anointed cherub that covers, and I had put you in the holy height of God where you were; you have walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. 


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 You were perfect in your ways from the day that you were created, until iniquity was found in you. 


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 By the multitude of your goods they have filled your midst with violence, and you have sinned. So I cast you profaned from the height of God, and I destroy you, O covering cherub, from among the stones of fire. 


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 Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you have spoiled your wisdom because of your brightness. I will cast you to the ground; I will put you before kings, that they may behold you. 


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 By the host of your iniquities, by the iniquity of your trade, you have profaned your holy places; so I brought a fire from your midst; it shall devour you, and I will give you for ashes on the earth, before the eyes of all who see you. 


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 All who know you among the peoples shall be astonished at you; you shall be terrors, and you will not be forever. 


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 And say, So says the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I am against you, O Sidon, and I will be glorified in your midst. And they shall know that I am Jehovah, when I have executed judgments in her and have revealed My holiness in her. 


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 For I will send a plague into her, and blood into her streets. And the wounded shall fall in her midst by the sword on her on every side. And they shall know that I am Jehovah. 


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 And there will not be a pricking brier, or a painful thorn to the house of Israel any more, from all who surround them, those who hate them. And they shall know that I am the Lord Jehovah. 


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 So says the Lord Jehovah: When I have gathered the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they are scattered, and have been sanctified in them in the sight of the nations, then they shall dwell in their land that I have given to My servant Jacob. 


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 And they shall dwell safely in it, and shall build houses and plant vineyards. Yea, they shall dwell safely when I have executed judgments on all those who despise them all around them; and they shall know that I am Jehovah their God. 


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 In the tenth year, in the tenth month, in the twelfth of the month, the Word of Jehovah came to me, saying, 


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 Son of man, set your face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him and against all Egypt. 


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 Speak and say, So says the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I, even I, am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon who lies in the midst of his rivers, who has said, My river is mine, and I have made it. 


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 But I will put hooks in your jaws, and I will cause the fish of your rivers to stick to your scales, and I will bring you up out of the midst of your rivers, and all the fish of your rivers shall stick to your scales. 


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 And I will leave you to the wilderness, you and all the fish of your rivers. You shall fall on the open fields; you shall not be removed nor gathered. I have given you for food to the beasts of the field and to the birds of the heavens. 


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 And all the people of Egypt shall know that I am Jehovah, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel. 


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 When they took you by your hand, you broke and tore off all their shoulder. And when they leaned on you, you shattered and made all their loins stand. 


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 So the Lord Jehovah says this: Behold, I will bring a sword on you, and cut off man and beast from you. 


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 And the land of Egypt shall be a desert and waste; and they shall know that I am Jehovah, because he has said, The river is mine, and I have made it. 


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 Behold, and therefore I am against you and against your rivers, and I will make the land of Egypt a complete waste, a ruin, from Migdol to Syene, even to the border of Ethiopia. 


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 No foot of man shall pass through it, nor foot of beast shall pass through it, and you shall not live in it forty years. 


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 And I will make the land of Egypt a ruin in the midst of the ruined lands; and her cities shall be deserted forty years among the cities that are laid waste. And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will scatter them through the lands. 


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 Yet so says the Lord Jehovah: At the end of forty years I will gather the Egyptians from the peoples where they were scattered. 


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 And I will bring again the captivity of Egypt, and will cause them to return to the land of Pathros, into their homeland. And they shall be a low kingdom there. 


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 It shall be the lowest of the kingdoms, and shall no more exalt itself above the nations. For I will make them so few, that they shall no more rule over the nations. 


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 And it shall never again be the hope of the house of Israel, recalling the iniquity of their turning after them. And they shall know that I am the Lord Jehovah. 


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 And it happened in the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, in the first of the month, the Word of Jehovah came to me, saying, 


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 Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon caused his army to serve a great service against Tyre. Every head was made bald, and every shoulder was peeled. Yet neither he nor his army had any pay for Tyre, for the service that he had served against it. 


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 So the Lord Jehovah says this: Behold, I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. And he shall take her host, and take her spoil, and seize her plunder. And it shall be the wages for his army. 


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 I have given him the land of Egypt for his labor with which he served against it, because they worked for Me, says the Lord Jehovah. 


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 In that day I will make a horn spring up to the house of Israel, and I will give you the opening of the mouth in their midst. And they shall know that I am Jehovah. 


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 For the day is near, even the day of Jehovah is near, a cloudy day. It shall be the time of the nations. 


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 And the sword shall come on Egypt, and great pain shall be in Ethiopia, when the slain shall fall in Egypt, and they shall take away her multitude, and her foundations shall be broken down. 


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 Ethiopia, and Libya, and Lydia, and all the mixed people; and Chub, and the men of the land who are in covenant with them shall fall by the sword. 


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 So says Jehovah: Those who uphold Egypt shall also fall, and the pride of her power shall come down. From Migdol to Syene they shall fall in it by the sword, says the Lord Jehovah. 


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 And they shall be ruined in the midst of the wasted lands, and her cities shall be in the midst of the wasted cities. 


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 And they shall know that I am Jehovah, when I have set a fire in Egypt and all her helpers shall be destroyed. 


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 In that day messengers shall go out from Me in ships to terrify the confident Ethiopians, and anguish shall be on them, as in the day of Egypt; for lo, it is coming. 


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 So says the Lord Jehovah: I will also make the multitude of Egypt to cease by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. 


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 He and his people with them, the fearful of the nations, shall be brought to destroy the land. And they shall draw their swords against Egypt, and fill the land with the slain. 


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 And I will make the rivers dry, and sell the land into the hand of the wicked. And I will waste the land, and her fullness, by the hand of strangers. I Jehovah have spoken. 


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 So says the Lord Jehovah: I will also destroy the idols, and I will cause their images to cease out of Noph. And there shall no more be a ruler of the land in Egypt; and I will put a fear in the land of Egypt. 


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 And I will set fire in Egypt; Sin shall greatly anguish, and No shall be torn in pieces, and Noph shall have daily woes. 


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 The young men of Aven and of Pibeseth shall fall by the sword; and these cities shall go into exile. 


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 And at Tahpanhes also the day shall be held back, when I shatter the yokes of Egypt there. And the pride of her strength shall cease in her; as for her, a cloud shall cover her, and her daughters shall go into exile. 


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 And it happened in the eleventh year, in the first month, in the seventh of the month, the Word of Jehovah came to me, saying, 


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 Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt. And lo, it shall not lie bound up to give healing, to put a bandage to bind it, to make it strong to hold the sword. 


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 So the Lord Jehovah says this: Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and will break his arms, the strong one and the broken one. And I will cause the sword to fall out of his hand. 


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 And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and put My sword in his hand. But I will break Pharaoh's arms, and he shall groan before him with the groanings of one who is stabbed. 


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 But I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and the arms of Pharaoh shall fall. And they shall know that I am Jehovah, when I shall put My sword into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall stretch it on the land of Egypt. 


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 And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and scatter them among the lands. And they shall know that I am Jehovah. 


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 And it happened in the eleventh year, in the third month, in the first of the month, the Word of Jehovah came to me, saying, 


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 Son of man, speak to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his multitude: To whom are you like in your greatness? 


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 Behold, Assyria was like a cedar in Lebanon, with fair branches and forest shade, and of great height. And his top was among the thick boughs. 


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 The waters made him great; the deep set him up on high with her rivers running all around his plants, and sent out her little channels to all the trees of the field. 


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 So his height was lifted up above all the trees of the field, and his boughs were multiplied, and his branches became long because of the many waters, when he sent out. 


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 All the birds of the heavens nested in his boughs, and under his branches all the beasts of the field bore their young, and under his shadow dwelt all great nations. 


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 So he was beautiful in his greatness, in the length of his branches. For his root was by great waters. 


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 The cedars in the garden of God could not hide him; the fir trees were not like his boughs, and the chestnut trees were not like his branches. Nor was any tree in the garden of God like him in his beauty. 


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 I have made him beautiful by his many branches, so that all the trees of Eden in the garden of God envied him. 


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 So the Lord Jehovah says this: Because you have lifted yourself up in height, and he set his top among the thick boughs, and his heart is lifted up in his height; 


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 so I have given him into the hand of the mighty one of the nations. He shall surely deal with him; I have expelled him for his evil. 


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 And strangers have cut him off, the fearful of the nations, and have left him. On the mountains and in all the valleys his branches have fallen, and his boughs have been broken by all the rivers of the land. And all the people of the earth have gone from his shadow, and have left him. 


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 On his ruin shall all the birds of the heavens remain, and all the beasts of the field shall be on his branches, 


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 to the end that none of all the trees by the waters shall be exalted in their height, nor give their top among the thick boughs, nor should their trees stand up in their height, all that drink water. For all of them are given to death, to the lower parts of the earth, in the midst of the sons of men, with those who go down into the Pit. 


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 So says the Lord Jehovah: In the day when he went down to the grave, I caused a mourning. I covered the deep for him, and I held back its floods, and the great waters were held back. And I caused Lebanon to mourn for him, and all the trees of the field fainted because of him. 


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 I made the nations shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to hell with those who go down in the Pit. And all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, shall be comforted in the lower parts of the earth. 


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 They also went down into hell with him to those who are slain with the sword, even his arm, who lived under his shadow in the midst of the nations. 


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 To whom are you like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? Yet you shall be brought down with the trees of Eden to the lower parts of the earth. You shall lie in the midst of the uncircumcised with those slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, says the Lord Jehovah. 


text:
 And it happened in the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, on the first of the month, the Word of Jehovah came to me, saying, 


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 Son of man, take up a lament for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say to him, You were like a young lion of the nations, but you were like a sea-monster. And you came out with your rivers, and troubled the waters with your feet, and fouled their rivers. 


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 So says the Lord Jehovah: I will therefore spread out My net over you with an assembly of many peoples; and they shall lift you up in My net. 


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 And I will leave you on the land; I will cast you on the face of the field, and cause all the birds of the heavens to remain on you, and I will fill the beasts of all the earth with you. 


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 I will also water with your blood the land in which you swim, even to the mountains; and the rivers shall be full of you. 


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 And when I put you out, I will cover the heaven and make its stars dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light. 


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 I will make all the bright lights of the heavens dark over you, and will set darkness on your land, says the Lord Jehovah. 


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 I will also vex the hearts of many peoples, when I bring your breaking among the nations, into the lands which you have not known. 


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 Yea, I will make many people amazed at you, and their kings shall be horribly afraid for you, when I shall brandish My sword before them; and they shall tremble at every moment, each man for his own life, in the day of your fall. 


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 By the swords of the mighty, I will cause your host to fall, the fearful of the nations, all of them. And they shall spoil the pride of Egypt, and all its host shall be destroyed. 


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 I will also destroy all its beasts from beside the great waters. Nor shall the foot of man stir them any more, nor shall the hoofs of beasts stir them. 


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 When I shall make the land of Egypt a ruin, and the land shall be stripped of its fullness; when I shall strike all those who dwell in it; then they shall know that I am Jehovah. 


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 This is the mourning with which they shall mourn her. The daughters of the nations shall mourn her; they shall mourn for her, for Egypt and for all her multitude, says the Lord Jehovah. 


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 It was also in the twelfth year, in the fifteenth of the month, that the Word of Jehovah came to me, saying, 


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 Son of man, wail for the multitude of Egypt, and bring it down, her and the daughters of the majestic nations, to the lower parts of the earth, with those who go down into the Pit. 


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 They shall fall in the midst of those slain by the sword; she is delivered to the sword; they draw her and all her multitudes. 


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 The strong among the mighty shall speak to him out of the midst of hell with those who help him. They have gone down, they lie uncircumcised, slain by the sword. 


text:
 Assyria is there and all her company. His graves are around him; all of them are slain, fallen by the sword; 


text:
 their graves are set in the sides of the Pit, and her company is all around her grave. All of them are slain, fallen by the sword, those who caused terror in the land of the living. 


text:
 There is Elam and her multitude all around her grave. All of them are slain, fallen by the sword, who have gone down uncircumcised into the lower parts of the earth, who caused their terror in the land of the living. Yet they have borne their shame with those who go down to the Pit. 


text:
 They have set her a bed in the midst of the slain with all her multitude. Her graves are all around him; all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword; though their terror was given in the land of the living, yet they have borne their shame with those who go down to the Pit. He is put among the slain. 


text:
 There is Meshech, Tubal, and all her multitude. Her graves are all around him. All of them are uncircumcised, slain by the sword, though they gave their terror in the land of the living. 


text:
 And they shall not lie with the mighty that are fallen of the uncircumcised, who have gone down to hell with their weapons of war. And they have put their swords under their heads, but their sins shall be on their bones, though they were the terror of the mighty in the land of the living. 


text:
 Yea, you shall be broken in the midst of the uncircumcised, and shall lie with those slain with the sword. 


text:
 There is Edom, her kings, and all her rulers, who with their might are laid by those slain by the sword. They shall be with the uncircumcised and with those who go down to the Pit. 


text:
 There are the rulers of the north, all of them, and all the Sidonians, who have gone down with the slain in their terror. They are ashamed of their might; and they lie uncircumcised with those who are slain by the sword, and bear their shame with those who go down to the Pit. 


text:
 Pharaoh shall see them and shall be comforted over all his multitude, even Pharaoh and all his army killed by the sword, says the Lord Jehovah. 


text:
 For I had put his terror in the land of the living. And he shall be laid in the midst of the uncircumcised with those slain with the sword, even Pharaoh and all his multitude, says the Lord Jehovah. 


text:
 Son of man, speak to the sons of your people, and say to them: When I bring the sword on it, on a land, and take one man from the people of the land, of their borders, and set him for their watchman; 


text:
 then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, if the sword does come and take him away, his blood shall be on his own head. 


text:
 He heard the sound of the trumpet and did not take warning. His blood shall be on himself. But he who takes warning shall deliver his soul. 


text:
 But if the watchman sees the sword coming, and does not blow the trumpet and the people are not warned; if the sword comes and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity. But I will require his blood at the watchman's hand. 


text:
 And you, son of man, I have set you a watchman to the house of Israel. Therefore you shall hear the Word from My mouth, and warn them from Me. 


text:
 When I say to the wicked, O wicked one, you shall surely die; if you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked one shall die in his iniquity; but I will require his blood at your hand. 


text:
 But, if you warn the wicked of his way, to turn from it; if he does not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your soul. 


text:
 And you, son of man, speak to the house of Israel. So you have spoken, saying, When our transgressions and our sins are on us, and we are wasting away in them, How then shall we live? 


text:
 Say to them: As I live, says the Lord Jehovah, I have no delight in the death of the wicked, except in the turning of the wicked from his way, and so to live. Turn, turn from your evil ways; for why will you die, O house of Israel? 


text:
 Therefore, son of man, say to the sons of your people: The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression. As for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall by it in the day he turns from his wickedness. Nor shall the righteous be able to live for his righteousness in the day that he sins. 


text:
 When I shall say to the righteous that he shall surely live; if he trusts in his own righteousness and commits iniquity, all his righteousnesses shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he has committed, he shall die for it. 


text:
 Again, when I say to the wicked, You shall surely die; if he turns from his sin and does justice and right; 


text:
 if the wicked gives back the pledge, gives again what he had robbed, walks in the statutes of life without committing iniquity, then he shall surely live; he shall not die. 


text:
 None of his sins that he has committed shall be called to his memory. He has done justice and right; he shall surely live. 


text:
 Yet the sons of your people say, The way of the Lord is not fair. But as for them, their way is not fair. 


text:
 Yet you say, The way of the Lord is not fair. O house of Israel, I will judge you, each one according to his ways. 


text:
 And it was in the twelfth year of our exile, in the tenth month, on the fifth of the month, one who escaped out of Jerusalem came to me, saying, The city is stricken. 


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 And Jehovah's hand was on me in the evening, before he who had escaped came. And He had opened my mouth until he came to me in the morning; and my mouth was opened, and I was dumb no more. 


text:
 Son of man, those who live in those wastes of the land of Israel are speaking, saying, Abraham was one, and he inherited the land. But we are many; the land is given to us for inheritance. 


text:
 So say to them, So says the Lord Jehovah: You eat with the blood, and lift up your eyes to your idols, and shed blood; and shall you possess the land? 


text:
 You stand on your sword, you work abomination, each defiling his neighbor's wife. And shall you possess the land? 


text:
 Speak to them in this way, So says the Lord Jehovah: As I live, surely those who are in the ruins shall fall by the sword, and I will give him who is in the open field to the beasts to be eaten up, and those in the forts and in the caves shall die of the plague. 


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 For I have made the land a ruin, and the pride of her strength has ceased. And the mountains of Israel shall be a waste, so that none shall pass through. 


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 And they shall know that I am Jehovah, when I have made the land a ruin because of all their abominations which they have committed. 


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 And you, son of man, the sons of your people are still talking about you by the walls, and in the doors of the houses, and speaking to one another, each man to his brother, saying, I pray you, come and hear what is the Word which comes from Jehovah. 


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 And they come to you as the people come, and they sit before you as My people, and they hear your words. But they will not do them. For with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goes after their unjust gain. 


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 And lo, you are to them as a singer of love songs with a beautiful voice, and able to play well on an instrument; for they hear your words, but they do not do them. 


text:
 Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and say to them, So says the Lord Jehovah to the shepherds: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks? 


text:
 You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool; you kill the fat ones, but you do not feed the flock. 


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 You have not made the weak strong, nor have you healed the sick, nor have you bound up the broken. You have not brought again those driven away, nor have you sought that which was lost; but you have ruled them with force and with cruelty. 


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 And they were scattered for lack of a shepherd. And they became food to all the beasts of the field when they were scattered. 


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 My sheep wandered through all the mountains and on every high hill. Yea, My flock was scattered on all the face of the earth, and none searched nor sought for them. 


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 As I live, says the Lord Jehovah, surely because My flock became a prey, and My flock became food to every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, nor did My shepherds search for My flock, but the shepherds fed themselves and did not feed My flock, 


text:
 So says the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require My flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock. Nor shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; for I will deliver My flock from their mouth, and they will not be food to devour. 


text:
 As a shepherd seeks out his flock in the day that he is among his scattered sheep, so I will seek out My sheep and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. 


text:
 And I will bring them out from the peoples, and gather them from the lands, and will bring them to their own land and feed them on the mountain of Israel by the rivers, and in all the places of the land where people live. 


text:
 I will feed them in a good pasture, and their fold shall be on the high mountains of Israel. There they shall lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. 


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 I will seek the lost, and bring again those driven away, and will bind up the broken, and will strengthen the sick. But I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judgment. 


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 And you, My flock, says the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I judge between lamb and lamb, between rams and he-goats. 


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 Is it a small thing to you to have eaten up the good pasture, but you must trample the rest of your pastures with your feet? And to have drunk of the clear waters, but you must foul the rest with your feet? 


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 So the Lord Jehovah says this to them: Behold I Myself will even judge between the fat lamb and the lean lamb. 


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 Because you have thrust with side and with shoulder, and have pushed all the weak with your horns until you have scattered them to the outside, 


text:
 therefore I will save My flock, and they shall no more be a prey. And I will judge between lamb and lamb. 


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 And I will set up one Shepherd over them, and He shall feed them, My servant David. He shall feed them, and He shall be their Shepherd. 


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 And I will make a covenant of peace with them, and will send the evil beasts out of the land. And they shall dwell safely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. 


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 And I will make them, and the places around My hill, a blessing; and I will bring down the shower in its season. There shall be showers of blessing. 


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 And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase. And they shall be safe in their land, and they shall know that I am Jehovah, when I have broken the bands of their yoke, and have delivered them out of the hands of those who enslaved them. 


text:
 And no more shall they be a prey to the nations, nor shall the beast of the land eat them. But they shall dwell safely, and none shall terrify them. 


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 And I will raise up for them a noted planting place, and they shall never again be of those gathered by famine in the land, nor shall they bear the shame of the nations any more. 


text:
 And they shall know that I, Jehovah their God, am with them, and they, the house of Israel, are My people, says the Lord Jehovah. 


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 And say to it, So says the Lord Jehovah: Behold, O Mount Seir, I am against you, and I will stretch out My hand against you, and I will make you a ruin and a waste. 


text:
 Because you have had a never-ending hatred, and have shed the blood of the sons of Israel by the force of the sword in the time of their calamity, in the time that iniquity had an end, 


text:
 therefore, as I live, says the Lord Jehovah, I will yield you up to blood, and blood shall pursue you. Since you have not hated blood, even blood shall pursue you. 


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 So I will make Mount Seir a ruin, and cut off from it the one passing through, and the one returning. 


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 And I will fill his mountains with his dead. In your hills, and your valleys, and all your rivers, those slain with the sword shall fall in them. 


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 I will make you ruins forever, and your cities shall not be inhabited. And you shall know that I am Jehovah. 


text:
 Because you have said, These two nations and these two lands shall be mine, and we shall possess it; yet Jehovah was there; 


text:
 therefore, as I live, says the Lord Jehovah, I will act by your anger and by your envy which you have shown out of your hatred against them. And I will make Myself known among them when I have judged you. 


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 And you shall know that I am Jehovah. I have heard all your blasphemies which you have spoken against the mountains of Israel, saying, Desolation! They are given to us for food. 


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 So with your mouth you have boasted against Me, and have multiplied your words against Me. I have heard them. 


text:
 As you rejoiced at the inheritance of the house of Israel because of desolation, so I will do to you. You shall be a desolation, O Mount Seir and all Idumea, even all of it. And they shall know that I am Jehovah. 


text:
 Also, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel, and say, Mountains of Israel, hear the Word of Jehovah. 


text:
 So says the Lord Jehovah: Because the enemy has said against you, Aha! Even the old high places have become a possession to us. 


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 Therefore prophesy and say, So says the Lord Jehovah: Because of the wasting and crushing of you from all around, that you might be a possession to the rest of the nations, and you were lifted up on the tip of the tongue, and the talking of the people; 


text:
 so, mountains of Israel, hear the Word of the Lord Jehovah. So says the Lord Jehovah to the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys, to the deserted wastes, and to the cities that are forsaken, which became a prey and a mockery to the rest of the nations all around. 


text:
 So the Lord Jehovah says this: Surely in the fire of My jealousy I have spoken against the rest of the nations, and against all Idumea, who have given My land to themselves for a possession with all joy of heart, with scorning of soul, to make it open land for a prey. 


text:
 So prophesy concerning the land of Israel, and say to the mountains and to the hills, to the rivers and to the valleys, So says the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I have spoken in My jealousy and in My fury, because you have borne the shame of the nations. 


text:
 Therefore so says the Lord Jehovah: I have lifted up My hand; surely the nations around you shall bear their shame. 


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 But you, O mountains of Israel, you shall put out your branches and yield your fruit to My people Israel; for they have drawn near to come. 


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 And I will multiply men on you, all the house of Israel, all of it. And the cities shall have people, and the wastes shall be built. 


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 And I will multiply men and beast on you, and they shall increase and be fruitful. And I will make you dwell as before, and I will do better to you than at your beginnings. And you shall know that I am Jehovah. 


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 Yea, I will cause men to walk on you, even My people Israel. And they shall possess you, and you shall be their inheritance, and not any more will increase their bereavement. 


text:
 So says the Lord Jehovah: Because they say to you, You are a devourer of men, and you have bereaved your nations; 


text:
 so you shall devour men no more, nor shall you bereave your nations any more, says the Lord Jehovah. 


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 Nor will I allow you to hear the shame of the nations any more, nor shall you bear the shame of the peoples any more, nor shall you cause your nations to fall any more, says the Lord Jehovah. 


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 Son of man, when the house of Israel lived in their own land, they defiled it by their own way and by their doings, even as the defilement of woman's impurity, their way was before Me. 


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 So I poured My fury on them, because of the blood that they had shed on the land, and for their idols by which they defiled it. 


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 And I scattered them among the nations, and they were scattered through the lands. I judged them according to their way and according to their doings. 


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 And when they entered the nations where they went, they even profaned My holy name by saying to them, These are the people of the Jehovah, and they are gone out of His land. 


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 But I had pity for My holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations where they went. 


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 Therefore say to the house of Israel, So says the Lord Jehovah: I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for My holy name's sake, which you have profaned among the nations where you went. 


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 And I will sanctify My great name, which was profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. And the nations shall know that I am Jehovah, says the Lord Jehovah, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. 


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 For I will take you from among the nations and gather you out of all lands, and will gather you into your own land. 


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 And I will sprinkle clean waters on you, and you shall be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from your idols. 


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 And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. 


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 And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall keep My judgments and do them. 


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 And you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers. And you shall be My people, and I will be your God. 


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 I will also save you from all your defilements, and I will call for the grain, and will increase it, and will lay no famine on you. 


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 And I will multiply the fruits of the tree and the increase of the field, so that you shall never again receive the curse of famine among the nations. 


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 And you shall remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall despise yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations. 


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 I do not do this for your sake, says the Lord Jehovah, be it known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel. 


text:
 So says the Lord Jehovah: In the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will also cause you to dwell in the cities, and the wastes shall be built. 


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 And they shall say, This land that was wasted has become like the garden of Eden. And the wasted, deserted and ruined cities now are fortified and inhabited. 


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 And the nations that are left all around you shall know that I Jehovah build the ruined places and plant that which was wasted. I Jehovah have spoken it, and I will do it. 


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 So says the Lord Jehovah: yet this, I will be sought by the house of Israel to act for them. I will increase them with men like a flock. 


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 As a holy flock, as the flock of Jerusalem in her appointed feasts, so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men. And they shall know that I am Jehovah. 


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 The hand of Jehovah was on me, and brought me by the Spirit of Jehovah, and made me rest in the midst of a valley, and it was full of bones. 


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 And He made me pass among them all around. And behold, very many were on the face of the valley. And lo, they were very dry. 


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 Again He said to me, Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the Word of Jehovah. 


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 So says the Lord Jehovah to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live. 


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 And I will lay sinews on you, and will bring up flesh on you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live. And you shall know that I am Jehovah. 


text:
 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a noise. And behold, a shaking! And the bones came near, a bone to its bone. 


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 And I watched. And behold! The sinews and the flesh came up on them, and the skin covered them above. But there was no breath in them. 


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 And He said to me, Prophesy to the Spirit, prophesy, son of man, and say to the Spirit, So says the Lord Jehovah: Come from the four winds, O Spirit, and breathe on these dead ones so that they may live. 


text:
 So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the Spirit came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army. 


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 And He said to me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, Our bones are dried and our hope is lost; we are cut off by ourselves. 


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 Therefore prophesy and say to them, So says the Lord Jehovah: Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, and will bring you into the land of Israel. 


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 And you shall know that I am Jehovah when I have opened your graves, O My people, and have brought you up out of your graves. 


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 And I shall put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. And you shall know that I Jehovah have spoken and have done it, says Jehovah. 


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 And you, son of man, take a stick and write on it, For Judah and for his companions, the sons of Israel. And take another stick and write on it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and all the house of Israel, his companions. 


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 And when the sons of your people shall speak to you, saying, Will you not declare to us what these mean to you? 


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 Say to them, So says the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his companions, and I will put them with him, with the stick of Judah, and will make them one stick, and they shall be one in My hand. 


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 And say to them, So says the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I will take the sons of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and will gather them on every side, and will bring them into their own land. 


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 And I will make them one nation in the land on the mountains of Israel, and one King shall be king to them all. And they shall not still be two nations, nor shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all. 


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 Nor shall they be defiled with their idols, even with their filthy idols, nor with all of their transgressions. But I will save them out of all their dwelling places, in them where they sinned, and will cleanse them. And they shall be to Me for a people, and I will be to them for God. 


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 And David My servant shall be King over them. And there shall be one Shepherd to all of them. And they shall walk in My judgments, and obey My Laws, and do them. 


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 And they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob My servant, the land in which your fathers have lived. And they shall dwell in it, even they and their sons, and the sons of their sons for ever. And My servant David shall be their ruler forever. 


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 And I will cut a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will place them, and multiply them, and will set My sanctuary in their midst forever. 


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 And the nations shall know that I Jehovah sanctify Israel, when My sanctuary shall be in their midst forever. 


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 Son of man, set your face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief ruler of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him. 


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 And say, So says the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the chief ruler of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal. 


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 And I will turn you back, and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed most perfectly, a great assembly with buckler and shield, all of them swordsmen; 


text:
 Gomer and all his bands; the house of Togarmah from the recesses of the north, and all his bands; and many peoples with you. 


text:
 Be prepared; yea, prepare for yourself, you and all your assembly that are assembled to you, and be a guard to them. 


text:
 After many days you will be visited. In the latter years you shall come into the land turned back from the sword, gathered out of many peoples, on the mountains of Israel, which have always been waste. (But he has been brought out of the peoples, and they shall dwell securely, all of them.) 


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 And you shall go up, coming like a storm. You shall be like a cloud to cover the land, you and all your bands, and many peoples with you. 


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 So says the Lord Jehovah: And it shall be in that day that things shall come into your heart, and you shall devise an evil plan. 


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 And you shall say, I will go up to the land of open spaces. I will go to those at ease, who dwell securely, all of them dwelling without walls, and there are no bars nor gates to them, 


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 in order to take a spoil, and to steal a prize; to turn your hand on the inhabited waste places, and on the people gathered out of the nations, who have gotten cattle and goods, who dwell in the midst of the land. 


text:
 Sheba and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all their young lions, shall say to you, Have you come to take a spoil? Have you gathered your company to steal a prize, to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil? 


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 So, son of man, prophesy and say to Gog, So says the Lord Jehovah: In that day when My people of Israel dwells securely, shall you not know it? 


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 And you shall come from your place out of the recesses of the north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great company and a mighty army. 


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 And you shall come up on My people Israel like a cloud, to cover the land. It shall be in the last days, and I will bring you against My land, so that the nations may know Me when I shall be sanctified in you, O Gog, before their eyes. 


text:
 So says the Lord Jehovah: Are you he of whom I have spoken in former days, by the hand of My servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in those days and years that I would bring you against them? 


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 And it shall be on that day, when Gog comes against the land of Israel, says the Lord Jehovah, My fury shall come up in My face. 


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 For in My jealousy and in the fire of My wrath I have spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great quaking in the land of Israel, 


text:
 so that the fish of the sea, and the birds of the heavens, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep on the earth, and all the men on the face of the earth, shall quake at My presence. And the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground. 


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 And I will call for a sword against him on all My mountains, says the Lord Jehovah. Each man's sword shall be against his brother. 


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 And I will judge him with a plague and with blood. And I will rain on him, and on his bands, and on the many peoples with him, an overflowing shower, and great hailstones, fire and brimstone. 


text:
 So I will magnify Myself and sanctify Myself. And I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am Jehovah. 


text:
 Therefore, son of man, prophesy against Gog and say, So says the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the chief ruler of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal. 


text:
 And I will turn you back, and lead you on. And I will bring you up from the recesses of the north, and I will bring you on the mountains of Israel. 


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 And I will strike your bow out of your left hand, and will cause your arrows to fall out of your right hand. 


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 You shall fall on the mountains of Israel, you and all your bands, and the people with you. I will give you for food to the birds of prey of every kind, and to the beasts of the field. 


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 And I will send a fire on Magog, and on the secure inhabitants of the coasts. And they shall know that I am Jehovah. 


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 And I will make My holy name known in the midst of My people Israel. And I will not let them profane My holy name any more. And the nations shall know that I am Jehovah, the Holy One in Israel. 


text:
 Behold, it is coming, and it will be done, says the Lord Jehovah. This is the day of which I have spoken. 


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 And the inhabitants of the cities of Israel shall go out and shall set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the javelins, and the spears. And they shall burn them with fire seven years, 


text:
 so that they shall take no wood out of the field, nor cut down any out of the forests for they shall burn the weapons for fire. And they shall plunder those who plundered them, and rob those who robbed them, says the Lord Jehovah. 


text:
 And it will be in that day I will give to Gog a place there, a grave in Israel, the valley of those who pass by, east of the sea. And it shall stop the noses of those who pass by. And there they shall bury Gog and all his multitude. And they shall call it, The Valley of the Multitude of Gog. 


text:
 And all the people of the land shall bury. And it shall be a name to them, the day when I am glorified, says the Lord Jehovah. 


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 And men shall separate those who continually pass through the land, burying those who passed through, who remain on the face of the earth, to cleanse it. At the end of seven months they shall search. 


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 And as they pass, those who pass through the land, and any man sees a bone, then he shall build a post beside it, until the buriers have buried it in The Valley of the Multitude of Gog. 


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 And you, son of man, So says the Lord Jehovah. Speak to the bird of every wing, and to every beast of the field: Gather yourselves and come; gather yourselves from all around to My sacrifice that I sacrifice for you, a great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel, so that you may eat flesh and drink blood. 


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 You shall eat the flesh of the mighty and drink the blood of the rulers of the earth, of rams, lambs, goats, and bulls, all of them fatlings of Bashan. 


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 And you shall eat fat until you are full, and drink blood until you are drunk, of My sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you. 


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 And you shall be filled at My table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, all the men of war, says the Lord Jehovah. 


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 And I will set My glory among the nations, and all the nations shall see My judgments which I have done, and My hand that I have laid on them. 


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 And the nations shall know that the house of Israel was exiled for their iniquity. Because they sinned against Me, therefore I hid My face from them and gave them into the hand of their enemies. So they all fell by the sword. 


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 According to their uncleanness and according to their sins I have done to them, and have hidden My face from them. 


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 Therefore so says the Lord Jehovah: And I will return the captivity of Jacob, and will have mercy on the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for My holy name; 


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 after they have borne their shame and all their sins by which they have sinned against Me, when they dwell securely in their land and no one terrifies; 


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 when I have brought them again from the peoples, and gathered them out of their enemies' lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations; 


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 then they shall know that I am Jehovah their God who exiled them among the nations. But I have gathered them to their own land, and have not left any of them there. 


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 Nor will I hide My face from them any more, for I have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel, says the Lord Jehovah. 


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 In the twenty-fifth year of our captivity, in the beginning of the year, in the tenth of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was stricken, in the same day the hand of Jehovah was on me, and brought me there. 


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 In the visions of God He brought me into the land of Israel, and made me rest on a very high mountain. And it went up, as the structure of the city on the south. 


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 And He brought me there, and behold, a man whose appearance was like the appearance of bronze, and a line of flax in his hand, and a measuring reed. And he stood in the gate. 


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 And the man said to me, Son of man, behold with your eyes and hear with your ears, and set your heart on all that I shall show you. For you are brought here so that I might show them to you. Declare all that you see to the house of Israel. 


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 And behold, a wall on the outside of the house all around, and in the man's hand was a measuring reed, six cubits long, with a cubit and a span. And he measured the building's breadth, one reed; and the height, one reed. 


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 And he came to the gate which faced eastward, and went up its steps, and measured the threshold of the gate, one reed wide, even the one threshold, one reed wide. 


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 And a room was one reed long and one reed wide. And between the rooms were five cubits. And the threshold of the gate by the porch of the gate from the house, one reed. 


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 And he measured the porch of the gate, eight cubits; and its pillars, two cubits; also the porch of the gate from the house. 


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 And the gate rooms eastward were three from here, and three from there; one measure to the three of them; and one measure was to the pillars from here and from there. 


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 And he measured the breadth of the gate-opening, ten cubits. The length of the gate was thirteen cubits. 


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 And the border in front of the rooms was one cubit from here, and the space was one cubit from there. And the room was six cubits from here and six cubits from there. 


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 And he measured the gate of the room from the roof to roof, twenty-five cubits wide, door to door. 


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 and latticed windows were to the rooms and to their pillars inside the gate all around. And so for the porches; and windows were all around inside; and to each pillar were palm trees. 


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 And he brought me into the outer court, and lo, chambers, and a pavement made for the court all around. Thirty rooms were on the pavement. 


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 And the pavement by the side of the gates to equal the length of the gates was the lower pavement. 


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 And he measured the breadth from the front of the lower gate to the front of the inner court on the outside, a hundred cubits eastward and northward. 


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 And the gate which faces the way of the north of the outer court, he measured its length and its breadth. 


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 And its rooms were three from here and three from there. And its pillars and its porches were according to the first measure. Its length was fifty cubits, and its breadth, twenty-five cubits. 


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 And their windows, and their porches, and their palm trees, were according to the measure of the gate facing the east. And they went up to it by seven steps; and its porches were before them. 


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 And the gate of the inner court was across from the gate toward the north and toward the east. And he measured from gate to gate, a hundred cubits. 


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 And he led me southward, and behold a gate southward. And he measured its pillars and its porches according to these measures. 


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 And there were windows in it and in its porches all around, like those windows. The length was fifty cubits, and the breadth, twenty-five cubits. 


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 And seven steps were going up to it, and its porches were before them. And it had palm trees, one from here and another from there, on its pillars. 


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 And there was a gate in the inner court southward. And he measured from gate to gate southward, a hundred cubits. 


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 And he brought me to the inner court by the south gate. And he measured the south gate according to these measures, 


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 and its rooms and its pillars and its porches according to these measures. And there were windows in it and in its porches all around. It was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide. 


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 And its porches were toward the outer court; and palm trees on its pillars. And its stairway had eight steps. 


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 And he brought me into the inner court eastward. And he measured the gate according to these measures. 


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 And its rooms, and its pillars, and its porches, were measured according to these measures. And there were windows in it and in its porches all around. It was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide. 


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 And its porches were toward the outer court. And palm trees were on its pillars, from here, and from there. And its stairway had eight steps. 


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 its rooms, its pillars, and its porches, and its windows all around. The length was fifty cubits, and the breadth twenty-five cubits. 


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 And its pillars were toward the outer court. And palm trees were on its pillars, from here and from there. And its stairway had eight steps. 


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 And the chamber and its door was by the pillars of the gates; they washed the burnt offering there. 


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 And in the porch of the gate were two tables from here and two tables from there, for the slaughtering of the burnt offering and the sin offering and the trespass offering. 


