# BIBLE

BIBLETEXT:
The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's crib, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand."


BIBLETEXT:
Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the LORD, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are utterly estranged.


BIBLETEXT:
Why will you still be struck down? Why will you continue to rebel? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.


BIBLETEXT:
From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but bruises and sores and raw wounds; they are not pressed out or bound up or softened with oil.


BIBLETEXT:
Your country lies desolate; your cities are burned with fire; in your very presence foreigners devour your land; it is desolate, as overthrown by foreigners.


BIBLETEXT:
And the daughter of Zion is left like a booth in a vineyard, like a lodge in a cucumber field, like a besieged city.


BIBLETEXT:
If the LORD of hosts had not left us a few survivors, we should have been like Sodom, and become like Gomorrah.


BIBLETEXT:
Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom! Give ear to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah!


BIBLETEXT:
"What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the LORD; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats.


BIBLETEXT:
"When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts?


BIBLETEXT:
Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations-- I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.


BIBLETEXT:
Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.


BIBLETEXT:
When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.


BIBLETEXT:
Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil,


BIBLETEXT:
learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause.


BIBLETEXT:
"Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.


BIBLETEXT:
If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land;


BIBLETEXT:
but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be eaten by the sword; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."


BIBLETEXT:
How the faithful city has become a whore, she who was full of justice! Righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers.


BIBLETEXT:
Your silver has become dross, your best wine mixed with water.


BIBLETEXT:
Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves. Everyone loves a bribe and runs after gifts. They do not bring justice to the fatherless, and the widow's cause does not come to them.


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore the Lord declares, the LORD of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel: "Ah, I will get relief from my enemies and avenge myself on my foes.


BIBLETEXT:
I will turn my hand against you and will smelt away your dross as with lye and remove all your alloy.


BIBLETEXT:
And I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city."


BIBLETEXT:
Zion shall be redeemed by justice, and those in her who repent, by righteousness.


BIBLETEXT:
But rebels and sinners shall be broken together, and those who forsake the LORD shall be consumed.


BIBLETEXT:
For they shall be ashamed of the oaks that you desired; and you shall blush for the gardens that you have chosen.


BIBLETEXT:
For you shall be like an oak whose leaf withers, and like a garden without water.


BIBLETEXT:
And the strong shall become tinder, and his work a spark, and both of them shall burn together, with none to quench them.


BIBLETEXT:
The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.


BIBLETEXT:
It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it,


BIBLETEXT:
and many peoples shall come, and say: "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths." For out of Zion shall go the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.


BIBLETEXT:
He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.


BIBLETEXT:
O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
For you have rejected your people, the house of Jacob, because they are full of things from the east and of fortune-tellers like the Philistines, and they strike hands with the children of foreigners.


BIBLETEXT:
Their land is filled with silver and gold, and there is no end to their treasures; their land is filled with horses, and there is no end to their chariots.


BIBLETEXT:
Their land is filled with idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their own fingers have made.


BIBLETEXT:
So man is humbled, and each one is brought low-- do not forgive them!


BIBLETEXT:
Enter into the rock and hide in the dust from before the terror of the LORD, and from the splendor of his majesty.


BIBLETEXT:
The haughty looks of man shall be brought low, and the lofty pride of men shall be humbled, and the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.


BIBLETEXT:
For the LORD of hosts has a day against all that is proud and lofty, against all that is lifted up--and it shall be brought low;


BIBLETEXT:
against all the cedars of Lebanon, lofty and lifted up; and against all the oaks of Bashan;


BIBLETEXT:
against all the lofty mountains, and against all the uplifted hills;


BIBLETEXT:
against every high tower, and against every fortified wall;


BIBLETEXT:
against all the ships of Tarshish, and against all the beautiful craft.


BIBLETEXT:
And the haughtiness of man shall be humbled, and the lofty pride of men shall be brought low, and the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.


BIBLETEXT:
And people shall enter the caves of the rocks and the holes of the ground, from before the terror of the LORD, and from the splendor of his majesty, when he rises to terrify the earth.


BIBLETEXT:
In that day mankind will cast away their idols of silver and their idols of gold, which they made for themselves to worship, to the moles and to the bats,


BIBLETEXT:
to enter the caverns of the rocks and the clefts of the cliffs, from before the terror of the LORD, and from the splendor of his majesty, when he rises to terrify the earth.


BIBLETEXT:
Stop regarding man in whose nostrils is breath, for of what account is he?


BIBLETEXT:
For behold, the Lord GOD of hosts is taking away from Jerusalem and from Judah support and supply, all support of bread, and all support of water;


BIBLETEXT:
the mighty man and the soldier, the judge and the prophet, the diviner and the elder,


BIBLETEXT:
the captain of fifty and the man of rank, the counselor and the skillful magician and the expert in charms.


BIBLETEXT:
And I will make boys their princes, and infants shall rule over them.


BIBLETEXT:
And the people will oppress one another, every one his fellow and every one his neighbor; the youth will be insolent to the elder, and the despised to the honorable.


BIBLETEXT:
For a man will take hold of his brother in the house of his father, saying: "You have a cloak; you shall be our leader, and this heap of ruins shall be under your rule";


BIBLETEXT:
in that day he will speak out, saying: "I will not be a healer; in my house there is neither bread nor cloak; you shall not make me leader of the people."


BIBLETEXT:
For Jerusalem has stumbled, and Judah has fallen, because their speech and their deeds are against the LORD, defying his glorious presence.


BIBLETEXT:
For the look on their faces bears witness against them; they proclaim their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it. Woe to them! For they have brought evil on themselves.


BIBLETEXT:
Tell the righteous that it shall be well with them, for they shall eat the fruit of their deeds.


BIBLETEXT:
Woe to the wicked! It shall be ill with him, for what his hands have dealt out shall be done to him.


BIBLETEXT:
My people--infants are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, your guides mislead you and they have swallowed up the course of your paths.


BIBLETEXT:
The LORD has taken his place to contend; he stands to judge peoples.


BIBLETEXT:
The LORD will enter into judgment with the elders and princes of his people: "It is you who have devoured the vineyard, the spoil of the poor is in your houses.


BIBLETEXT:
What do you mean by crushing my people, by grinding the face of the poor?" declares the Lord GOD of hosts.


BIBLETEXT:
The LORD said: Because the daughters of Zion are haughty and walk with outstretched necks, glancing wantonly with their eyes, mincing along as they go, tinkling with their feet,


BIBLETEXT:
therefore the Lord will strike with a scab the heads of the daughters of Zion, and the LORD will lay bare their secret parts.


BIBLETEXT:
In that day the Lord will take away the finery of the anklets, the headbands, and the crescents;


BIBLETEXT:
the pendants, the bracelets, and the scarves;


BIBLETEXT:
the headdresses, the armlets, the sashes, the perfume boxes, and the amulets;


BIBLETEXT:
the festal robes, the mantles, the cloaks, and the handbags;


BIBLETEXT:
the mirrors, the linen garments, the turbans, and the veils.


BIBLETEXT:
Instead of perfume there will be rottenness; and instead of a belt, a rope; and instead of well-set hair, baldness; and instead of a rich robe, a skirt of sackcloth; and branding instead of beauty.


BIBLETEXT:
Your men shall fall by the sword and your mighty men in battle.


BIBLETEXT:
And her gates shall lament and mourn; empty, she shall sit on the ground.


BIBLETEXT:
And seven women shall take hold of one man in that day, saying, "We will eat our own bread and wear our own clothes, only let us be called by your name; take away our reproach."


BIBLETEXT:
In that day the branch of the LORD shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be the pride and honor of the survivors of Israel.


BIBLETEXT:
And he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem,


BIBLETEXT:
when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning.


BIBLETEXT:
Then the LORD will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory there will be a canopy.


BIBLETEXT:
There will be a booth for shade by day from the heat, and for a refuge and a shelter from the storm and rain.


BIBLETEXT:
Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.


BIBLETEXT:
He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; and he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes.


BIBLETEXT:
And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard.


BIBLETEXT:
What more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it? When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?


BIBLETEXT:
And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down.


BIBLETEXT:
I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and briers and thorns shall grow up; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.


BIBLETEXT:
For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting; and he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, an outcry!


BIBLETEXT:
Woe to those who join house to house, who add field to field, until there is no more room, and you are made to dwell alone in the midst of the land.


BIBLETEXT:
The LORD of hosts has sworn in my hearing: "Surely many houses shall be desolate, large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant.


BIBLETEXT:
For ten acres of vineyard shall yield but one bath, and a homer of seed shall yield but an ephah."


BIBLETEXT:
Woe to those who rise early in the morning, that they may run after strong drink, who tarry late into the evening as wine inflames them!


BIBLETEXT:
They have lyre and harp, tambourine and flute and wine at their feasts, but they do not regard the deeds of the LORD, or see the work of his hands.


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore my people go into exile for lack of knowledge; their honored men go hungry, and their multitude is parched with thirst.


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore Sheol has enlarged its appetite and opened its mouth beyond measure, and the nobility of Jerusalem and her multitude will go down, her revelers and he who exults in her.


BIBLETEXT:
Man is humbled, and each one is brought low, and the eyes of the haughty are brought low.


BIBLETEXT:
But the LORD of hosts is exalted in justice, and the Holy God shows himself holy in righteousness.


BIBLETEXT:
Then shall the lambs graze as in their pasture, and nomads shall eat among the ruins of the rich.


BIBLETEXT:
Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, who draw sin as with cart ropes,


BIBLETEXT:
who say: "Let him be quick, let him speed his work that we may see it; let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near, and let it come, that we may know it!"


BIBLETEXT:
Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!


BIBLETEXT:
Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight!


BIBLETEXT:
Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine, and valiant men in mixing strong drink,


BIBLETEXT:
who acquit the guilty for a bribe, and deprive the innocent of his right!


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore, as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and as dry grass sinks down in the flame, so their root will be as rottenness, and their blossom go up like dust; for they have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts, and have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore the anger of the LORD was kindled against his people, and he stretched out his hand against them and struck them, and the mountains quaked; and their corpses were as refuse in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger has not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still.


BIBLETEXT:
He will raise a signal for nations far away, and whistle for them from the ends of the earth; and behold, quickly, speedily they come!


BIBLETEXT:
None is weary, none stumbles, none slumbers or sleeps, not a waistband is loose, not a sandal strap broken;


BIBLETEXT:
their arrows are sharp, all their bows bent, their horses' hoofs seem like flint, and their wheels like the whirlwind.


BIBLETEXT:
Their roaring is like a lion, like young lions they roar; they growl and seize their prey; they carry it off, and none can rescue.


BIBLETEXT:
They will growl over it on that day, like the growling of the sea. And if one looks to the land, behold, darkness and distress; and the light is darkened by its clouds.


BIBLETEXT:
In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple.


BIBLETEXT:
Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.


BIBLETEXT:
And one called to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!"


BIBLETEXT:
And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.


BIBLETEXT:
And I said: "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!"


BIBLETEXT:
Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar.


BIBLETEXT:
And he touched my mouth and said: "Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for."


BIBLETEXT:
And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" Then I said, "Here am I! Send me."


BIBLETEXT:
And he said, "Go, and say to this people: "'Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.'


BIBLETEXT:
Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed."


BIBLETEXT:
Then I said, "How long, O Lord?" And he said: "Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is a desolate waste,


BIBLETEXT:
and the LORD removes people far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.


BIBLETEXT:
And though a tenth remain in it, it will be burned again, like a terebinth or an oak, whose stump remains when it is felled." The holy seed is its stump.


BIBLETEXT:
In the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah the king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could not yet mount an attack against it.


BIBLETEXT:
When the house of David was told, "Syria is in league with Ephraim," the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.


BIBLETEXT:
And the LORD said to Isaiah, "Go out to meet Ahaz, you and Shear-jashub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer's Field.


BIBLETEXT:
And say to him, 'Be careful, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stumps of firebrands, at the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria and the son of Remaliah.


BIBLETEXT:
Because Syria, with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has devised evil against you, saying,


BIBLETEXT:
"Let us go up against Judah and terrify it, and let us conquer it for ourselves, and set up the son of Tabeel as king in the midst of it,"


BIBLETEXT:
thus says the Lord GOD: "'It shall not stand, and it shall not come to pass.


BIBLETEXT:
For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin. And within sixty-five years Ephraim will be shattered from being a people.


BIBLETEXT:
And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all.'"


BIBLETEXT:
"Ask a sign of the LORD your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven."


BIBLETEXT:
But Ahaz said, "I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test."


BIBLETEXT:
And he said, "Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also?


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.


BIBLETEXT:
He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good.


BIBLETEXT:
For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted.


BIBLETEXT:
The LORD will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father's house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah--the king of Assyria."


BIBLETEXT:
In that day the LORD will whistle for the fly that is at the end of the streams of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.


BIBLETEXT:
And they will all come and settle in the steep ravines, and in the clefts of the rocks, and on all the thornbushes, and on all the pastures.


BIBLETEXT:
In that day the Lord will shave with a razor that is hired beyond the River--with the king of Assyria--the head and the hair of the feet, and it will sweep away the beard also.


BIBLETEXT:
In that day a man will keep alive a young cow and two sheep,


BIBLETEXT:
and because of the abundance of milk that they give, he will eat curds, for everyone who is left in the land will eat curds and honey.


BIBLETEXT:
In that day every place where there used to be a thousand vines, worth a thousand shekels of silver, will become briers and thorns.


BIBLETEXT:
With bow and arrows a man will come there, for all the land will be briers and thorns.


BIBLETEXT:
And as for all the hills that used to be hoed with a hoe, you will not come there for fear of briers and thorns, but they will become a place where cattle are let loose and where sheep tread.


BIBLETEXT:
Then the LORD said to me, "Take a large tablet and write on it in common characters, 'Belonging to Maher-shalal-hash-baz.'


BIBLETEXT:
And I will get reliable witnesses, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah, to attest for me."


BIBLETEXT:
And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the LORD said to me, "Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz;


BIBLETEXT:
for before the boy knows how to cry 'My father' or 'My mother,' the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria."


BIBLETEXT:
"Because this people has refused the waters of Shiloah that flow gently, and rejoice over Rezin and the son of Remaliah,


BIBLETEXT:
therefore, behold, the Lord is bringing up against them the waters of the River, mighty and many, the king of Assyria and all his glory. And it will rise over all its channels and go over all its banks,


BIBLETEXT:
and it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass on, reaching even to the neck, and its outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel."


BIBLETEXT:
Be broken, you peoples, and be shattered; give ear, all you far countries; strap on your armor and be shattered; strap on your armor and be shattered.


BIBLETEXT:
Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing; speak a word, but it will not stand, for God is with us.


BIBLETEXT:
For the LORD spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying:


BIBLETEXT:
"Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread.


BIBLETEXT:
But the LORD of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.


BIBLETEXT:
And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.


BIBLETEXT:
And many shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken."


BIBLETEXT:
Bind up the testimony; seal the teaching among my disciples.


BIBLETEXT:
I will wait for the LORD, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him.


BIBLETEXT:
Behold, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the LORD of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.


BIBLETEXT:
And when they say to you, "Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter," should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living?


BIBLETEXT:
To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn.


BIBLETEXT:
They will pass through the land, greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against their king and their God, and turn their faces upward.


BIBLETEXT:
And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into thick darkness.


BIBLETEXT:
But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.


BIBLETEXT:
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined.


BIBLETEXT:
You have multiplied the nation; you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil.


BIBLETEXT:
For the yoke of his burden, and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian.


BIBLETEXT:
For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire.


BIBLETEXT:
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.


BIBLETEXT:
Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.


BIBLETEXT:
The Lord has sent a word against Jacob, and it will fall on Israel;


BIBLETEXT:
and all the people will know, Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria, who say in pride and in arrogance of heart:


BIBLETEXT:
"The bricks have fallen, but we will build with dressed stones; the sycamores have been cut down, but we will put cedars in their place."


BIBLETEXT:
But the LORD raises the adversaries of Rezin against him, and stirs up his enemies.


BIBLETEXT:
The Syrians on the east and the Philistines on the west devour Israel with open mouth. For all this his anger has not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still.


BIBLETEXT:
The people did not turn to him who struck them, nor inquire of the LORD of hosts.


BIBLETEXT:
So the LORD cut off from Israel head and tail, palm branch and reed in one day--


BIBLETEXT:
the elder and honored man is the head, and the prophet who teaches lies is the tail;


BIBLETEXT:
for those who guide this people have been leading them astray, and those who are guided by them are swallowed up.


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore the Lord does not rejoice over their young men, and has no compassion on their fatherless and widows; for everyone is godless and an evildoer, and every mouth speaks folly. For all this his anger has not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still.


BIBLETEXT:
For wickedness burns like a fire; it consumes briers and thorns; it kindles the thickets of the forest, and they roll upward in a column of smoke.


BIBLETEXT:
Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts the land is scorched, and the people are like fuel for the fire; no one spares another.


BIBLETEXT:
They slice meat on the right, but are still hungry, and they devour on the left, but are not satisfied; each devours the flesh of his own arm,


BIBLETEXT:
Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim devours Manasseh; together they are against Judah. For all this his anger has not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still.


BIBLETEXT:
Woe to those who decree iniquitous decrees, and the writers who keep writing oppression,


BIBLETEXT:
to turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be their spoil, and that they may make the fatherless their prey!


BIBLETEXT:
What will you do on the day of punishment, in the ruin that will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help, and where will you leave your wealth?


BIBLETEXT:
Nothing remains but to crouch among the prisoners or fall among the slain. For all this his anger has not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still.


BIBLETEXT:
Ah, Assyria, the rod of my anger; the staff in their hands is my fury!


BIBLETEXT:
Against a godless nation I send him, and against the people of my wrath I command him, to take spoil and seize plunder, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.


BIBLETEXT:
But he does not so intend, and his heart does not so think; but it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off nations not a few;


BIBLETEXT:
for he says: "Are not my commanders all kings?


BIBLETEXT:
Is not Calno like Carchemish? Is not Hamath like Arpad? Is not Samaria like Damascus?


BIBLETEXT:
As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols, whose carved images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,


BIBLETEXT:
shall I not do to Jerusalem and her idols as I have done to Samaria and her images?"


BIBLETEXT:
When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, he will punish the speech of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes.


BIBLETEXT:
For he says: "By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I have understanding; I remove the boundaries of peoples, and plunder their treasures; like a bull I bring down those who sit on thrones.


BIBLETEXT:
My hand has found like a nest the wealth of the peoples; and as one gathers eggs that have been forsaken, so I have gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved a wing or opened the mouth or chirped."


BIBLETEXT:
Shall the axe boast over him who hews with it, or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it? As if a rod should wield him who lifts it, or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood!


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore the Lord GOD of hosts will send wasting sickness among his stout warriors, and under his glory a burning will be kindled, like the burning of fire.


BIBLETEXT:
The light of Israel will become a fire, and his Holy One a flame, and it will burn and devour his thorns and briers in one day.


BIBLETEXT:
The glory of his forest and of his fruitful land the LORD will destroy, both soul and body, and it will be as when a sick man wastes away.


BIBLETEXT:
The remnant of the trees of his forest will be so few that a child can write them down.


BIBLETEXT:
In that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean on him who struck them, but will lean on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.


BIBLETEXT:
A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.


BIBLETEXT:
For though your people Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. Destruction is decreed, overflowing with righteousness.


BIBLETEXT:
For the Lord GOD of hosts will make a full end, as decreed, in the midst of all the earth.


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore thus says the Lord GOD of hosts: "O my people, who dwell in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrians when they strike with the rod and lift up their staff against you as the Egyptians did.


BIBLETEXT:
For in a very little while my fury will come to an end, and my anger will be directed to their destruction.


BIBLETEXT:
And the LORD of hosts will wield against them a whip, as when he struck Midian at the rock of Oreb. And his staff will be over the sea, and he will lift it as he did in Egypt.


BIBLETEXT:
And in that day his burden will depart from your shoulder, and his yoke from your neck; and the yoke will be broken because of the fat."


BIBLETEXT:
He has come to Aiath; he has passed through Migron; at Michmash he stores his baggage;


BIBLETEXT:
they have crossed over the pass; at Geba they lodge for the night; Ramah trembles; Gibeah of Saul has fled.


BIBLETEXT:
Cry aloud, O daughter of Gallim! Give attention, O Laishah! O poor Anathoth!


BIBLETEXT:
Madmenah is in flight; the inhabitants of Gebim flee for safety.


BIBLETEXT:
This very day he will halt at Nob; he will shake his fist at the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.


BIBLETEXT:
Behold, the Lord GOD of hosts will lop the boughs with terrifying power; the great in height will be hewn down, and the lofty will be brought low.


BIBLETEXT:
He will cut down the thickets of the forest with an axe, and Lebanon will fall by the Majestic One.


BIBLETEXT:
There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.


BIBLETEXT:
And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear,


BIBLETEXT:
but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.


BIBLETEXT:
Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins.


BIBLETEXT:
The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them.


BIBLETEXT:
The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.


BIBLETEXT:
The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den.


BIBLETEXT:
They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.


BIBLETEXT:
In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples--of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.


BIBLETEXT:
In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that remains of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea.


BIBLETEXT:
He will raise a signal for the nations and will assemble the banished of Israel, and gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.


BIBLETEXT:
The jealousy of Ephraim shall depart, and those who harass Judah shall be cut off; Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah, and Judah shall not harass Ephraim.


BIBLETEXT:
But they shall swoop down on the shoulder of the Philistines in the west, and together they shall plunder the people of the east. They shall put out their hand against Edom and Moab, and the Ammonites shall obey them.


BIBLETEXT:
And the LORD will utterly destroy the tongue of the Sea of Egypt, and will wave his hand over the River with his scorching breath, and strike it into seven channels, and he will lead people across in sandals.


BIBLETEXT:
And there will be a highway from Assyria for the remnant that remains of his people, as there was for Israel when they came up from the land of Egypt.


BIBLETEXT:
You will say in that day: "I will give thanks to you, O LORD, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, that you might comfort me.


BIBLETEXT:
"Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation."


BIBLETEXT:
With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.


BIBLETEXT:
And you will say in that day: "Give thanks to the LORD, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted.


BIBLETEXT:
"Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth.


BIBLETEXT:
Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel."


BIBLETEXT:
The oracle concerning Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw.


BIBLETEXT:
On a bare hill raise a signal; cry aloud to them; wave the hand for them to enter the gates of the nobles.


BIBLETEXT:
I myself have commanded my consecrated ones, and have summoned my mighty men to execute my anger, my proudly exulting ones.


BIBLETEXT:
The sound of a tumult is on the mountains as of a great multitude! The sound of an uproar of kingdoms, of nations gathering together! The LORD of hosts is mustering a host for battle.


BIBLETEXT:
They come from a distant land, from the end of the heavens, the LORD and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land.


BIBLETEXT:
Wail, for the day of the LORD is near; as destruction from the Almighty it will come!


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore all hands will be feeble, and every human heart will melt.


BIBLETEXT:
They will be dismayed: pangs and agony will seize them; they will be in anguish like a woman in labor. They will look aghast at one another; their faces will be aflame.


BIBLETEXT:
Behold, the day of the LORD comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the land a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it.


BIBLETEXT:
For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be dark at its rising, and the moon will not shed its light.


BIBLETEXT:
I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will put an end to the pomp of the arrogant, and lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless.


BIBLETEXT:
I will make people more rare than fine gold, and mankind than the gold of Ophir.


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place, at the wrath of the LORD of hosts in the day of his fierce anger.


BIBLETEXT:
And like a hunted gazelle, or like sheep with none to gather them, each will turn to his own people, and each will flee to his own land.


BIBLETEXT:
Whoever is found will be thrust through, and whoever is caught will fall by the sword.


BIBLETEXT:
Their infants will be dashed in pieces before their eyes; their houses will be plundered and their wives ravished.


BIBLETEXT:
Behold, I am stirring up the Medes against them, who have no regard for silver and do not delight in gold.


BIBLETEXT:
Their bows will slaughter the young men; they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb; their eyes will not pity children.


BIBLETEXT:
And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the splendor and pomp of the Chaldeans, will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when God overthrew them.


BIBLETEXT:
It will never be inhabited or lived in for all generations; no Arab will pitch his tent there; no shepherds will make their flocks lie down there.


BIBLETEXT:
But wild animals will lie down there, and their houses will be full of howling creatures; there ostriches will dwell, and there wild goats will dance.


BIBLETEXT:
Hyenas will cry in its towers, and jackals in the pleasant palaces; its time is close at hand and its days will not be prolonged.


BIBLETEXT:
For the LORD will have compassion on Jacob and will again choose Israel, and will set them in their own land, and sojourners will join them and will attach themselves to the house of Jacob.


BIBLETEXT:
And the peoples will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them in the LORD's land as male and female slaves. They will take captive those who were their captors, and rule over those who oppressed them.


BIBLETEXT:
When the LORD has given you rest from your pain and turmoil and the hard service with which you were made to serve,


BIBLETEXT:
you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon: "How the oppressor has ceased, the insolent fury ceased!


BIBLETEXT:
The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of rulers,


BIBLETEXT:
that struck the peoples in wrath with unceasing blows, that ruled the nations in anger with unrelenting persecution.


BIBLETEXT:
The whole earth is at rest and quiet; they break forth into singing.


BIBLETEXT:
The cypresses rejoice at you, the cedars of Lebanon, saying, 'Since you were laid low, no woodcutter comes up against us.'


BIBLETEXT:
Sheol beneath is stirred up to meet you when you come; it rouses the shades to greet you, all who were leaders of the earth; it raises from their thrones all who were kings of the nations.


BIBLETEXT:
All of them will answer and say to you: 'You too have become as weak as we! You have become like us!'


BIBLETEXT:
Your pomp is brought down to Sheol, the sound of your harps; maggots are laid as a bed beneath you, and worms are your covers.


BIBLETEXT:
"How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low!


BIBLETEXT:
You said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north;


BIBLETEXT:
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.'


BIBLETEXT:
But you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit.


BIBLETEXT:
Those who see you will stare at you and ponder over you: 'Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms,


BIBLETEXT:
who made the world like a desert and overthrew its cities, who did not let his prisoners go home?'


BIBLETEXT:
All the kings of the nations lie in glory, each in his own tomb;


BIBLETEXT:
And when they give the book to one who cannot read, saying, "Read this," he says, "I cannot read."


BIBLETEXT:
And the Lord said: "Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,


BIBLETEXT:
therefore, behold, I will again do wonderful things with this people, with wonder upon wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden."


BIBLETEXT:
Ah, you who hide deep from the LORD your counsel, whose deeds are in the dark, and who say, "Who sees us? Who knows us?"


BIBLETEXT:
You turn things upside down! Shall the potter be regarded as the clay, that the thing made should say of its maker, "He did not make me"; or the thing formed say of him who formed it, "He has no understanding"?


BIBLETEXT:
Is it not yet a very little while until Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be regarded as a forest?


BIBLETEXT:
In that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see.


BIBLETEXT:
The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the LORD, and the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.


BIBLETEXT:
For the ruthless shall come to nothing and the scoffer cease, and all who watch to do evil shall be cut off,


BIBLETEXT:
who by a word make a man out to be an offender, and lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate, and with an empty plea turn aside him who is in the right.


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore thus says the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob: "Jacob shall no more be ashamed, no more shall his face grow pale.


BIBLETEXT:
For when he sees his children, the work of my hands, in his midst, they will sanctify my name; they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.


BIBLETEXT:
And those who go astray in spirit will come to understanding, and those who murmur will accept instruction."


BIBLETEXT:
"Ah, stubborn children," declares the LORD, "who carry out a plan, but not mine, and who make an alliance, but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin;


BIBLETEXT:
who set out to go down to Egypt, without asking for my direction, to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt!


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore shall the protection of Pharaoh turn to your shame, and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt to your humiliation.


BIBLETEXT:
For though his officials are at Zoan and his envoys reach Hanes,


BIBLETEXT:
everyone comes to shame through a people that cannot profit them, that brings neither help nor profit, but shame and disgrace."


BIBLETEXT:
An oracle on the beasts of the Negeb. Through a land of trouble and anguish, from where come the lioness and the lion, the adder and the flying fiery serpent, they carry their riches on the backs of donkeys, and their treasures on the humps of camels, to a people that cannot profit them.


BIBLETEXT:
Egypt's help is worthless and empty; therefore I have called her "Rahab who sits still."


BIBLETEXT:
And now, go, write it before them on a tablet and inscribe it in a book, that it may be for the time to come as a witness forever.


BIBLETEXT:
For they are a rebellious people, lying children, children unwilling to hear the instruction of the LORD;


BIBLETEXT:
who say to the seers, "Do not see," and to the prophets, "Do not prophesy to us what is right; speak to us smooth things, prophesy illusions,


BIBLETEXT:
leave the way, turn aside from the path, let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel."


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, "Because you despise this word and trust in oppression and perverseness and rely on them,


BIBLETEXT:
therefore this iniquity shall be to you like a breach in a high wall, bulging out, and about to collapse, whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant;


BIBLETEXT:
and its breaking is like that of a potter's vessel that is smashed so ruthlessly that among its fragments not a shard is found with which to take fire from the hearth, or to dip up water out of the cistern."


BIBLETEXT:
For thus said the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, "In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength." But you were unwilling,


BIBLETEXT:
and you said, "No! We will flee upon horses"; therefore you shall flee away; and, "We will ride upon swift steeds"; therefore your pursuers shall be swift.


BIBLETEXT:
A thousand shall flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you shall flee, till you are left like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain, like a signal on a hill.


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore the LORD waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the LORD is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.


BIBLETEXT:
For a people shall dwell in Zion, in Jerusalem; you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. As soon as he hears it, he answers you.


BIBLETEXT:
And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher.


BIBLETEXT:
And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, "This is the way, walk in it," when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.


BIBLETEXT:
Then you will defile your carved idols overlaid with silver and your gold-plated metal images. You will scatter them as unclean things. You will say to them, "Be gone!"


BIBLETEXT:
And he will give rain for the seed with which you sow the ground, and bread, the produce of the ground, which will be rich and plenteous. In that day your livestock will graze in large pastures,


BIBLETEXT:
and the oxen and the donkeys that work the ground will eat seasoned fodder, which has been winnowed with shovel and fork.


BIBLETEXT:
And on every lofty mountain and every high hill there will be brooks running with water, in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.


BIBLETEXT:
Moreover, the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day when the LORD binds up the brokenness of his people, and heals the wounds inflicted by his blow.


BIBLETEXT:
Behold, the name of the LORD comes from afar, burning with his anger, and in thick rising smoke; his lips are full of fury, and his tongue is like a devouring fire;


BIBLETEXT:
his breath is like an overflowing stream that reaches up to the neck; to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction, and to place on the jaws of the peoples a bridle that leads astray.


BIBLETEXT:
You shall have a song as in the night when a holy feast is kept, and gladness of heart, as when one sets out to the sound of the flute to go to the mountain of the LORD, to the Rock of Israel.


BIBLETEXT:
And the LORD will cause his majestic voice to be heard and the descending blow of his arm to be seen, in furious anger and a flame of devouring fire, with a cloudburst and storm and hailstones.


BIBLETEXT:
The Assyrians will be terror-stricken at the voice of the LORD, when he strikes with his rod.


BIBLETEXT:
And every stroke of the appointed staff that the LORD lays on them will be to the sound of tambourines and lyres. Battling with brandished arm, he will fight with them.


BIBLETEXT:
For a burning place has long been prepared; indeed, for the king it is made ready, its pyre made deep and wide, with fire and wood in abundance; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of sulfur, kindles it.


BIBLETEXT:
Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses, who trust in chariots because they are many and in horsemen because they are very strong, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel or consult the LORD!


BIBLETEXT:
And yet he is wise and brings disaster; he does not call back his words, but will arise against the house of the evildoers and against the helpers of those who work iniquity.


BIBLETEXT:
The Egyptians are man, and not God, and their horses are flesh, and not spirit. When the LORD stretches out his hand, the helper will stumble, and he who is helped will fall, and they will all perish together.


BIBLETEXT:
For thus the LORD said to me, "As a lion or a young lion growls over his prey, and when a band of shepherds is called out against him he is not terrified by their shouting or daunted at their noise, so the LORD of hosts will come down to fight on Mount Zion and on its hill.


BIBLETEXT:
Like birds hovering, so the LORD of hosts will protect Jerusalem; he will protect and deliver it; he will spare and rescue it."


BIBLETEXT:
Turn to him from whom people have deeply revolted, O children of Israel.


BIBLETEXT:
For in that day everyone shall cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which your hands have sinfully made for you.


BIBLETEXT:
"And the Assyrian shall fall by a sword, not of man; and a sword, not of man, shall devour him; and he shall flee from the sword, and his young men shall be put to forced labor.


BIBLETEXT:
His rock shall pass away in terror, and his officers desert the standard in panic," declares the LORD, whose fire is in Zion, and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.


BIBLETEXT:
Behold, a king will reign in righteousness, and princes will rule in justice.


BIBLETEXT:
Each will be like a hiding place from the wind, a shelter from the storm, like streams of water in a dry place, like the shade of a great rock in a weary land.


BIBLETEXT:
Then the eyes of those who see will not be closed, and the ears of those who hear will give attention.


BIBLETEXT:
The heart of the hasty will understand and know, and the tongue of the stammerers will hasten to speak distinctly.


BIBLETEXT:
The fool will no more be called noble, nor the scoundrel said to be honorable.


BIBLETEXT:
For the fool speaks folly, and his heart is busy with iniquity, to practice ungodliness, to utter error concerning the LORD, to leave the craving of the hungry unsatisfied, and to deprive the thirsty of drink.


BIBLETEXT:
As for the scoundrel--his devices are evil; he plans wicked schemes to ruin the poor with lying words, even when the plea of the needy is right.


BIBLETEXT:
But he who is noble plans noble things, and on noble things he stands.


BIBLETEXT:
Rise up, you women who are at ease, hear my voice; you complacent daughters, give ear to my speech.


BIBLETEXT:
In little more than a year you will shudder, you complacent women; for the grape harvest fails, the fruit harvest will not come.


BIBLETEXT:
Tremble, you women who are at ease, shudder, you complacent ones; strip, and make yourselves bare, and tie sackcloth around your waist.


BIBLETEXT:
Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine,


BIBLETEXT:
for the soil of my people growing up in thorns and briers, yes, for all the joyous houses in the exultant city.


BIBLETEXT:
For the palace is forsaken, the populous city deserted; the hill and the watchtower will become dens forever, a joy of wild donkeys, a pasture of flocks;


BIBLETEXT:
until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is deemed a forest.


BIBLETEXT:
Then justice will dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness abide in the fruitful field.


BIBLETEXT:
And the effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever.


BIBLETEXT:
My people will abide in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.


BIBLETEXT:
And it will hail when the forest falls down, and the city will be utterly laid low.


BIBLETEXT:
Happy are you who sow beside all waters, who let the feet of the ox and the donkey range free.


BIBLETEXT:
Ah, you destroyer, who yourself have not been destroyed, you traitor, whom none has betrayed! When you have ceased to destroy, you will be destroyed; and when you have finished betraying, they will betray you.


BIBLETEXT:
O LORD, be gracious to us; we wait for you. Be our arm every morning, our salvation in the time of trouble.


BIBLETEXT:
At the tumultuous noise peoples flee; when you lift yourself up, nations are scattered,


BIBLETEXT:
and your spoil is gathered as the caterpillar gathers; as locusts leap, it is leapt upon.


BIBLETEXT:
The LORD is exalted, for he dwells on high; he will fill Zion with justice and righteousness,


BIBLETEXT:
and he will be the stability of your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge; the fear of the LORD is Zion's treasure.


BIBLETEXT:
Behold, their heroes cry in the streets; the envoys of peace weep bitterly.


BIBLETEXT:
The highways lie waste; the traveler ceases. Covenants are broken; cities are despised; there is no regard for man.


BIBLETEXT:
The land mourns and languishes; Lebanon is confounded and withers away; Sharon is like a desert, and Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves.


BIBLETEXT:
"Now I will arise," says the LORD, "now I will lift myself up; now I will be exalted.


BIBLETEXT:
You conceive chaff; you give birth to stubble; your breath is a fire that will consume you.


BIBLETEXT:
but you are cast out, away from your grave, like a loathed branch, clothed with the slain, those pierced by the sword, who go down to the stones of the pit, like a dead body trampled underfoot.


BIBLETEXT:
You will not be joined with them in burial, because you have destroyed your land, you have slain your people. "May the offspring of evildoers nevermore be named!


BIBLETEXT:
Prepare slaughter for his sons because of the guilt of their fathers, lest they rise and possess the earth, and fill the face of the world with cities."


BIBLETEXT:
"I will rise up against them," declares the LORD of hosts, "and will cut off from Babylon name and remnant, descendants and posterity," declares the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
"And I will make it a possession of the hedgehog, and pools of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction," declares the LORD of hosts.


BIBLETEXT:
The LORD of hosts has sworn: "As I have planned, so shall it be, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand,


BIBLETEXT:
that I will break the Assyrian in my land, and on my mountains trample him underfoot; and his yoke shall depart from them, and his burden from their shoulder."


BIBLETEXT:
This is the purpose that is purposed concerning the whole earth, and this is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations.


BIBLETEXT:
For the LORD of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?


BIBLETEXT:
In the year that King Ahaz died came this oracle:


BIBLETEXT:
Rejoice not, O Philistia, all of you, that the rod that struck you is broken, for from the serpent's root will come forth an adder, and its fruit will be a flying fiery serpent.


BIBLETEXT:
And the firstborn of the poor will graze, and the needy lie down in safety; but I will kill your root with famine, and your remnant it will slay.


BIBLETEXT:
Wail, O gate; cry out, O city; melt in fear, O Philistia, all of you! For smoke comes out of the north, and there is no straggler in his ranks.


BIBLETEXT:
What will one answer the messengers of the nation? "The LORD has founded Zion, and in her the afflicted of his people find refuge."


BIBLETEXT:
An oracle concerning Moab. Because Ar of Moab is laid waste in a night, Moab is undone; because Kir of Moab is laid waste in a night, Moab is undone.


BIBLETEXT:
He has gone up to the temple, and to Dibon, to the high places to weep; over Nebo and over Medeba Moab wails. On every head is baldness; every beard is shorn;


BIBLETEXT:
in the streets they wear sackcloth; on the housetops and in the squares everyone wails and melts in tears.


BIBLETEXT:
Heshbon and Elealeh cry out; their voice is heard as far as Jahaz; therefore the armed men of Moab cry aloud; his soul trembles.


BIBLETEXT:
My heart cries out for Moab; her fugitives flee to Zoar, to Eglath-shelishiyah. For at the ascent of Luhith they go up weeping; on the road to Horonaim they raise a cry of destruction;


BIBLETEXT:
the waters of Nimrim are a desolation; the grass is withered, the vegetation fails, the greenery is no more.


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore the abundance they have gained and what they have laid up they carry away over the Brook of the Willows.


BIBLETEXT:
For a cry has gone around the land of Moab; her wailing reaches to Eglaim; her wailing reaches to Beer-elim.


BIBLETEXT:
For the waters of Dibon are full of blood; for I will bring upon Dibon even more, a lion for those of Moab who escape, for the remnant of the land.


BIBLETEXT:
Send the lamb to the ruler of the land, from Sela, by way of the desert, to the mount of the daughter of Zion.


BIBLETEXT:
Like fleeing birds, like a scattered nest, so are the daughters of Moab at the fords of the Arnon.


BIBLETEXT:
"Give counsel; grant justice; make your shade like night at the height of noon; shelter the outcasts; do not reveal the fugitive;


BIBLETEXT:
let the outcasts of Moab sojourn among you; be a shelter to them from the destroyer. When the oppressor is no more, and destruction has ceased, and he who tramples underfoot has vanished from the land,


BIBLETEXT:
then a throne will be established in steadfast love, and on it will sit in faithfulness in the tent of David one who judges and seeks justice and is swift to do righteousness."


BIBLETEXT:
We have heard of the pride of Moab-- how proud he is!-- of his arrogance, his pride, and his insolence; in his idle boasting he is not right.


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore let Moab wail for Moab, let everyone wail. Mourn, utterly stricken, for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth.


BIBLETEXT:
For the fields of Heshbon languish, and the vine of Sibmah; the lords of the nations have struck down its branches, which reached to Jazer and strayed to the desert; its shoots spread abroad and passed over the sea.


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore I weep with the weeping of Jazer for the vine of Sibmah; I drench you with my tears, O Heshbon and Elealeh; for over your summer fruit and your harvest the shout has ceased.


BIBLETEXT:
And joy and gladness are taken away from the fruitful field, and in the vineyards no songs are sung, no cheers are raised; no treader treads out wine in the presses; I have put an end to the shouting.


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore my inner parts moan like a lyre for Moab, and my inmost self for Kir-hareseth.


BIBLETEXT:
And when Moab presents himself, when he wearies himself on the high place, when he comes to his sanctuary to pray, he will not prevail.


BIBLETEXT:
This is the word that the LORD spoke concerning Moab in the past.


BIBLETEXT:
But now the LORD has spoken, saying, "In three years, like the years of a hired worker, the glory of Moab will be brought into contempt, in spite of all his great multitude, and those who remain will be very few and feeble."


BIBLETEXT:
An oracle concerning Damascus. Behold, Damascus will cease to be a city and will become a heap of ruins.


BIBLETEXT:
The cities of Aroer are deserted; they will be for flocks, which will lie down, and none will make them afraid.


BIBLETEXT:
The fortress will disappear from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus; and the remnant of Syria will be like the glory of the children of Israel, declares the LORD of hosts.


BIBLETEXT:
And in that day the glory of Jacob will be brought low, and the fat of his flesh will grow lean.


BIBLETEXT:
And it shall be as when the reaper gathers standing grain and his arm harvests the ears, and as when one gleans the ears of grain in the Valley of Rephaim.


BIBLETEXT:
Gleanings will be left in it, as when an olive tree is beaten-- two or three berries in the top of the highest bough, four or five on the branches of a fruit tree, declares the LORD God of Israel.


BIBLETEXT:
In that day man will look to his Maker, and his eyes will look on the Holy One of Israel.


BIBLETEXT:
He will not look to the altars, the work of his hands, and he will not look on what his own fingers have made, either the Asherim or the altars of incense.


BIBLETEXT:
In that day their strong cities will be like the deserted places of the wooded heights and the hilltops, which they deserted because of the children of Israel, and there will be desolation.


BIBLETEXT:
For you have forgotten the God of your salvation and have not remembered the Rock of your refuge; therefore, though you plant pleasant plants and sow the vine-branch of a stranger,


BIBLETEXT:
though you make them grow on the day that you plant them, and make them blossom in the morning that you sow, yet the harvest will flee away in a day of grief and incurable pain.


BIBLETEXT:
Ah, the thunder of many peoples; they thunder like the thundering of the sea! Ah, the roar of nations; they roar like the roaring of mighty waters!


BIBLETEXT:
The nations roar like the roaring of many waters, but he will rebuke them, and they will flee far away, chased like chaff on the mountains before the wind and whirling dust before the storm.


BIBLETEXT:
At evening time, behold, terror! Before morning, they are no more! This is the portion of those who loot us, and the lot of those who plunder us.


BIBLETEXT:
Ah, land of whirring wings that is beyond the rivers of Cush,


BIBLETEXT:
which sends ambassadors by the sea, in vessels of papyrus on the waters! Go, you swift messengers, to a nation, tall and smooth, to a people feared near and far, a nation mighty and conquering, whose land the rivers divide.


BIBLETEXT:
All you inhabitants of the world, you who dwell on the earth, when a signal is raised on the mountains, look! When a trumpet is blown, hear!


BIBLETEXT:
For thus the LORD said to me: "I will quietly look from my dwelling like clear heat in sunshine, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest."


BIBLETEXT:
For before the harvest, when the blossom is over, and the flower becomes a ripening grape, he cuts off the shoots with pruning hooks, and the spreading branches he lops off and clears away.


BIBLETEXT:
They shall all of them be left to the birds of prey of the mountains and to the beasts of the earth. And the birds of prey will summer on them, and all the beasts of the earth will winter on them.


BIBLETEXT:
At that time tribute will be brought to the LORD of hosts from a people tall and smooth, from a people feared near and far, a nation mighty and conquering, whose land the rivers divide, to Mount Zion, the place of the name of the LORD of hosts.


BIBLETEXT:
An oracle concerning Egypt. Behold, the LORD is riding on a swift cloud and comes to Egypt; and the idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence, and the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them.


BIBLETEXT:
And I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians, and they will fight, each against another and each against his neighbor, city against city, kingdom against kingdom;


BIBLETEXT:
and the spirit of the Egyptians within them will be emptied out, and I will confound their counsel; and they will inquire of the idols and the sorcerers, and the mediums and the necromancers;


BIBLETEXT:
and I will give over the Egyptians into the hand of a hard master, and a fierce king will rule over them, declares the Lord GOD of hosts.


BIBLETEXT:
And the waters of the sea will be dried up, and the river will be dry and parched,


BIBLETEXT:
and its canals will become foul, and the branches of Egypt's Nile will diminish and dry up, reeds and rushes will rot away.


BIBLETEXT:
There will be bare places by the Nile, on the brink of the Nile, and all that is sown by the Nile will be parched, will be driven away, and will be no more.


BIBLETEXT:
The fishermen will mourn and lament, all who cast a hook in the Nile; and they will languish who spread nets on the water.


BIBLETEXT:
The workers in combed flax will be in despair, and the weavers of white cotton.


BIBLETEXT:
Those who are the pillars of the land will be crushed, and all who work for pay will be grieved.


BIBLETEXT:
The princes of Zoan are utterly foolish; the wisest counselors of Pharaoh give stupid counsel. How can you say to Pharaoh, "I am a son of the wise, a son of ancient kings"?


BIBLETEXT:
Where then are your wise men? Let them tell you that they might know what the LORD of hosts has purposed against Egypt.


BIBLETEXT:
The princes of Zoan have become fools, and the princes of Memphis are deluded; those who are the cornerstones of her tribes have made Egypt stagger.


BIBLETEXT:
The LORD has mingled within her a spirit of confusion, and they will make Egypt stagger in all its deeds, as a drunken man staggers in his vomit.


BIBLETEXT:
And there will be nothing for Egypt that head or tail, palm branch or reed, may do.


BIBLETEXT:
In that day the Egyptians will be like women, and tremble with fear before the hand that the LORD of hosts shakes over them.


BIBLETEXT:
And the land of Judah will become a terror to the Egyptians. Everyone to whom it is mentioned will fear because of the purpose that the LORD of hosts has purposed against them.


BIBLETEXT:
In that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt that speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the LORD of hosts. One of these will be called the City of Destruction.


BIBLETEXT:
In that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the LORD at its border.


BIBLETEXT:
It will be a sign and a witness to the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt. When they cry to the LORD because of oppressors, he will send them a savior and defender, and deliver them.


BIBLETEXT:
And the LORD will make himself known to the Egyptians, and the Egyptians will know the LORD in that day and worship with sacrifice and offering, and they will make vows to the LORD and perform them.


BIBLETEXT:
And the LORD will strike Egypt, striking and healing, and they will return to the LORD, and he will listen to their pleas for mercy and heal them.


BIBLETEXT:
In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and Assyria will come into Egypt, and Egypt into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians.


BIBLETEXT:
In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth,


BIBLETEXT:
whom the LORD of hosts has blessed, saying, "Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance."


BIBLETEXT:
In the year that the commander in chief, who was sent by Sargon the king of Assyria, came to Ashdod and fought against it and captured it--


BIBLETEXT:
at that time the LORD spoke by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, "Go, and loose the sackcloth from your waist and take off your sandals from your feet," and he did so, walking naked and barefoot.


BIBLETEXT:
Then the LORD said, "As my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and a portent against Egypt and Cush,


BIBLETEXT:
so shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptian captives and the Cushite exiles, both the young and the old, naked and barefoot, with buttocks uncovered, the nakedness of Egypt.


BIBLETEXT:
Then they shall be dismayed and ashamed because of Cush their hope and of Egypt their boast.


BIBLETEXT:
And the inhabitants of this coastland will say in that day, 'Behold, this is what has happened to those in whom we hoped and to whom we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria! And we, how shall we escape?'"


BIBLETEXT:
The oracle concerning the wilderness of the sea. As whirlwinds in the Negeb sweep on, it comes from the wilderness, from a terrible land.


BIBLETEXT:
A stern vision is told to me; the traitor betrays, and the destroyer destroys. Go up, O Elam; lay siege, O Media; all the sighing she has caused I bring to an end.


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore my loins are filled with anguish; pangs have seized me, like the pangs of a woman in labor; I am bowed down so that I cannot hear; I am dismayed so that I cannot see.


BIBLETEXT:
My heart staggers; horror has appalled me; the twilight I longed for has been turned for me into trembling.


BIBLETEXT:
They prepare the table, they spread the rugs, they eat, they drink. Arise, O princes; oil the shield!


BIBLETEXT:
For thus the Lord said to me: "Go, set a watchman; let him announce what he sees.


BIBLETEXT:
When he sees riders, horsemen in pairs, riders on donkeys, riders on camels, let him listen diligently, very diligently."


BIBLETEXT:
Then he who saw cried out: "Upon a watchtower I stand, O Lord, continually by day, and at my post I am stationed whole nights.


BIBLETEXT:
And behold, here come riders, horsemen in pairs!" And he answered, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon; and all the carved images of her gods he has shattered to the ground."


BIBLETEXT:
O my threshed and winnowed one, what I have heard from the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, I announce to you.


BIBLETEXT:
The oracle concerning Dumah. One is calling to me from Seir, "Watchman, what time of the night? Watchman, what time of the night?"


BIBLETEXT:
The watchman says: "Morning comes, and also the night. If you will inquire, inquire; come back again."


BIBLETEXT:
The oracle concerning Arabia. In the thickets in Arabia you will lodge, O caravans of Dedanites.


BIBLETEXT:
To the thirsty bring water; meet the fugitive with bread, O inhabitants of the land of Tema.


BIBLETEXT:
For they have fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, from the bent bow, and from the press of battle.


BIBLETEXT:
For thus the Lord said to me, "Within a year, according to the years of a hired worker, all the glory of Kedar will come to an end.


BIBLETEXT:
And the remainder of the archers of the mighty men of the sons of Kedar will be few, for the LORD, the God of Israel, has spoken."


BIBLETEXT:
The oracle concerning the valley of vision. What do you mean that you have gone up, all of you, to the housetops,


BIBLETEXT:
you who are full of shoutings, tumultuous city, exultant town? Your slain are not slain with the sword or dead in battle.


BIBLETEXT:
All your leaders have fled together; without the bow they were captured. All of you who were found were captured, though they had fled far away.


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore I said: "Look away from me; let me weep bitter tears; do not labor to comfort me concerning the destruction of the daughter of my people."


BIBLETEXT:
For the Lord GOD of hosts has a day of tumult and trampling and confusion in the valley of vision, a battering down of walls and a shouting to the mountains.


BIBLETEXT:
And Elam bore the quiver with chariots and horsemen, and Kir uncovered the shield.


BIBLETEXT:
Your choicest valleys were full of chariots, and the horsemen took their stand at the gates.


BIBLETEXT:
He has taken away the covering of Judah. In that day you looked to the weapons of the House of the Forest,


BIBLETEXT:
and you saw that the breaches of the city of David were many. You collected the waters of the lower pool,


BIBLETEXT:
and you counted the houses of Jerusalem, and you broke down the houses to fortify the wall.


BIBLETEXT:
You made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool. But you did not look to him who did it, or see him who planned it long ago.


BIBLETEXT:
In that day the Lord GOD of hosts called for weeping and mourning, for baldness and wearing sackcloth;


BIBLETEXT:
and behold, joy and gladness, killing oxen and slaughtering sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine. "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die."


BIBLETEXT:
The LORD of hosts has revealed himself in my ears: "Surely this iniquity will not be atoned for you until you die," says the Lord GOD of hosts.


BIBLETEXT:
Thus says the Lord GOD of hosts, "Come, go to this steward, to Shebna, who is over the household, and say to him:


BIBLETEXT:
What have you to do here, and whom have you here, that you have cut out here a tomb for yourself, you who cut out a tomb on the height and carve a dwelling for yourself in the rock?


BIBLETEXT:
Behold, the LORD will hurl you away violently, O you strong man. He will seize firm hold on you


BIBLETEXT:
and whirl you around and around, and throw you like a ball into a wide land. There you shall die, and there shall be your glorious chariots, you shame of your master's house.


BIBLETEXT:
I will thrust you from your office, and you will be pulled down from your station.


BIBLETEXT:
In that day I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah,


BIBLETEXT:
and I will clothe him with your robe, and will bind your sash on him, and will commit your authority to his hand. And he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.


BIBLETEXT:
And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David. He shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.


BIBLETEXT:
And I will fasten him like a peg in a secure place, and he will become a throne of honor to his father's house.


BIBLETEXT:
And they will hang on him the whole honor of his father's house, the offspring and issue, every small vessel, from the cups to all the flagons.


BIBLETEXT:
In that day, declares the LORD of hosts, the peg that was fastened in a secure place will give way, and it will be cut down and fall, and the load that was on it will be cut off, for the LORD has spoken."


BIBLETEXT:
The oracle concerning Tyre. Wail, O ships of Tarshish, for Tyre is laid waste, without house or harbor! From the land of Cyprus it is revealed to them.


BIBLETEXT:
Be still, O inhabitants of the coast; the merchants of Sidon, who cross the sea, have filled you.


BIBLETEXT:
And on many waters your revenue was the grain of Shihor, the harvest of the Nile; you were the merchant of the nations.


BIBLETEXT:
Be ashamed, O Sidon, for the sea has spoken, the stronghold of the sea, saying: "I have neither labored nor given birth, I have neither reared young men nor brought up young women."


BIBLETEXT:
When the report comes to Egypt, they will be in anguish over the report about Tyre.


BIBLETEXT:
Cross over to Tarshish; wail, O inhabitants of the coast!


BIBLETEXT:
Is this your exultant city whose origin is from days of old, whose feet carried her to settle far away?


BIBLETEXT:
Who has purposed this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, whose merchants were princes, whose traders were the honored of the earth?


BIBLETEXT:
The LORD of hosts has purposed it, to defile the pompous pride of all glory, to dishonor all the honored of the earth.


BIBLETEXT:
Cross over your land like the Nile, O daughter of Tarshish; there is no restraint anymore.


BIBLETEXT:
He has stretched out his hand over the sea; he has shaken the kingdoms; the LORD has given command concerning Canaan to destroy its strongholds.


BIBLETEXT:
And he said: "You will no more exult, O oppressed virgin daughter of Sidon; arise, cross over to Cyprus, even there you will have no rest."


BIBLETEXT:
Behold the land of the Chaldeans! This is the people that was not; Assyria destined it for wild beasts. They erected their siege towers, they stripped her palaces bare, they made her a ruin.


BIBLETEXT:
Wail, O ships of Tarshish, for your stronghold is laid waste.


BIBLETEXT:
In that day Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, like the days of one king. At the end of seventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the prostitute:


BIBLETEXT:
"Take a harp; go about the city, O forgotten prostitute! Make sweet melody; sing many songs, that you may be remembered."


BIBLETEXT:
At the end of seventy years, the LORD will visit Tyre, and she will return to her wages and will prostitute herself with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth.


BIBLETEXT:
Her merchandise and her wages will be holy to the LORD. It will not be stored or hoarded, but her merchandise will supply abundant food and fine clothing for those who dwell before the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
Behold, the LORD will empty the earth and make it desolate, and he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants.


BIBLETEXT:
And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the slave, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the creditor, so with the debtor.


BIBLETEXT:
The earth shall be utterly empty and utterly plundered; for the LORD has spoken this word.


BIBLETEXT:
The earth mourns and withers; the world languishes and withers; the highest people of the earth languish.


BIBLETEXT:
The earth lies defiled under its inhabitants; for they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant.


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore a curse devours the earth, and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt; therefore the inhabitants of the earth are scorched, and few men are left.


BIBLETEXT:
The wine mourns, the vine languishes, all the merry-hearted sigh.


BIBLETEXT:
The mirth of the tambourines is stilled, the noise of the jubilant has ceased, the mirth of the lyre is stilled.


BIBLETEXT:
No more do they drink wine with singing; strong drink is bitter to those who drink it.


BIBLETEXT:
The wasted city is broken down; every house is shut up so that none can enter.


BIBLETEXT:
There is an outcry in the streets for lack of wine; all joy has grown dark; the gladness of the earth is banished.


BIBLETEXT:
Desolation is left in the city; the gates are battered into ruins.


BIBLETEXT:
For thus it shall be in the midst of the earth among the nations, as when an olive tree is beaten, as at the gleaning when the grape harvest is done.


BIBLETEXT:
They lift up their voices, they sing for joy; over the majesty of the LORD they shout from the west.


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore in the east give glory to the LORD; in the coastlands of the sea, give glory to the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.


BIBLETEXT:
From the ends of the earth we hear songs of praise, of glory to the Righteous One. But I say, "I waste away, I waste away. Woe is me! For the traitors have betrayed, with betrayal the traitors have betrayed."


BIBLETEXT:
Terror and the pit and the snare are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth!


BIBLETEXT:
He who flees at the sound of the terror shall fall into the pit, and he who climbs out of the pit shall be caught in the snare. For the windows of heaven are opened, and the foundations of the earth tremble.


BIBLETEXT:
The earth is utterly broken, the earth is split apart, the earth is violently shaken.


BIBLETEXT:
The earth staggers like a drunken man; it sways like a hut; its transgression lies heavy upon it, and it falls, and will not rise again.


BIBLETEXT:
On that day the LORD will punish the host of heaven, in heaven, and the kings of the earth, on the earth.


BIBLETEXT:
They will be gathered together as prisoners in a pit; they will be shut up in a prison, and after many days they will be punished.


BIBLETEXT:
Then the moon will be confounded and the sun ashamed, for the LORD of hosts reigns on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and his glory will be before his elders.


BIBLETEXT:
O LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you; I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure.


BIBLETEXT:
For you have made the city a heap, the fortified city a ruin; the foreigners' palace is a city no more; it will never be rebuilt.


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore strong peoples will glorify you; cities of ruthless nations will fear you.


BIBLETEXT:
For you have been a stronghold to the poor, a stronghold to the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat; for the breath of the ruthless is like a storm against a wall,


BIBLETEXT:
like heat in a dry place. You subdue the noise of the foreigners; as heat by the shade of a cloud, so the song of the ruthless is put down.


BIBLETEXT:
On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.


BIBLETEXT:
And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations.


BIBLETEXT:
He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken.


BIBLETEXT:
It will be said on that day, "Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation."


BIBLETEXT:
For the hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain, and Moab shall be trampled down in his place, as straw is trampled down in a dunghill.


BIBLETEXT:
And he will spread out his hands in the midst of it as a swimmer spreads his hands out to swim, but the LORD will lay low his pompous pride together with the skill of his hands.


BIBLETEXT:
And the high fortifications of his walls he will bring down, lay low, and cast to the ground, to the dust.


BIBLETEXT:
In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: "We have a strong city; he sets up salvation as walls and bulwarks.


BIBLETEXT:
Open the gates, that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in.


BIBLETEXT:
You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.


BIBLETEXT:
Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock.


BIBLETEXT:
For he has humbled the inhabitants of the height, the lofty city. He lays it low, lays it low to the ground, casts it to the dust.


BIBLETEXT:
The foot tramples it, the feet of the poor, the steps of the needy."


BIBLETEXT:
The path of the righteous is level; you make level the way of the righteous.


BIBLETEXT:
In the path of your judgments, O LORD, we wait for you; your name and remembrance are the desire of our soul.


BIBLETEXT:
My soul yearns for you in the night; my spirit within me earnestly seeks you. For when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.


BIBLETEXT:
If favor is shown to the wicked, he does not learn righteousness; in the land of uprightness he deals corruptly and does not see the majesty of the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
O LORD, your hand is lifted up, but they do not see it. Let them see your zeal for your people, and be ashamed. Let the fire for your adversaries consume them.


BIBLETEXT:
O LORD, you will ordain peace for us, for you have indeed done for us all our works.


BIBLETEXT:
O LORD our God, other lords besides you have ruled over us, but your name alone we bring to remembrance.


BIBLETEXT:
They are dead, they will not live; they are shades, they will not arise; to that end you have visited them with destruction and wiped out all remembrance of them.


BIBLETEXT:
But you have increased the nation, O LORD, you have increased the nation; you are glorified; you have enlarged all the borders of the land.


BIBLETEXT:
O LORD, in distress they sought you; they poured out a whispered prayer when your discipline was upon them.


BIBLETEXT:
Like a pregnant woman who writhes and cries out in her pangs when she is near to giving birth, so were we because of you, O LORD;


BIBLETEXT:
we were pregnant, we writhed, but we have given birth to wind. We have accomplished no deliverance in the earth, and the inhabitants of the world have not fallen.


BIBLETEXT:
Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a dew of light, and the earth will give birth to the dead.


BIBLETEXT:
Come, my people, enter your chambers, and shut your doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until the fury has passed by.


BIBLETEXT:
For behold, the LORD is coming out from his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity, and the earth will disclose the blood shed on it, and will no more cover its slain.


BIBLETEXT:
In that day the LORD with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will slay the dragon that is in the sea.


BIBLETEXT:
In that day, "A pleasant vineyard, sing of it!


BIBLETEXT:
I, the LORD, am its keeper; every moment I water it. Lest anyone punish it, I keep it night and day;


BIBLETEXT:
I have no wrath. Would that I had thorns and briers to battle! I would march against them, I would burn them up together.


BIBLETEXT:
Or let them lay hold of my protection, let them make peace with me, let them make peace with me."


BIBLETEXT:
In days to come Jacob shall take root, Israel shall blossom and put forth shoots and fill the whole world with fruit.


BIBLETEXT:
Has he struck them as he struck those who struck them? Or have they been slain as their slayers were slain?


BIBLETEXT:
Measure by measure, by exile you contended with them; he removed them with his fierce breath in the day of the east wind.


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore by this the guilt of Jacob will be atoned for, and this will be the full fruit of the removal of his sin: when he makes all the stones of the altars like chalkstones crushed to pieces, no Asherim or incense altars will remain standing.


BIBLETEXT:
For the fortified city is solitary, a habitation deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness; there the calf grazes; there it lies down and strips its branches.


BIBLETEXT:
When its boughs are dry, they are broken; women come and make a fire of them. For this is a people without discernment; therefore he who made them will not have compassion on them; he who formed them will show them no favor.


BIBLETEXT:
In that day from the river Euphrates to the Brook of Egypt the LORD will thresh out the grain, and you will be gleaned one by one, O people of Israel.


BIBLETEXT:
And in that day a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were lost in the land of Assyria and those who were driven out to the land of Egypt will come and worship the LORD on the holy mountain at Jerusalem.


BIBLETEXT:
Ah, the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim, and the fading flower of its glorious beauty, which is on the head of the rich valley of those overcome with wine!


BIBLETEXT:
Behold, the Lord has one who is mighty and strong; like a storm of hail, a destroying tempest, like a storm of mighty, overflowing waters, he casts down to the earth with his hand.


BIBLETEXT:
The proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim will be trodden underfoot;


BIBLETEXT:
and the fading flower of its glorious beauty, which is on the head of the rich valley, will be like a first-ripe fig before the summer: when someone sees it, he swallows it as soon as it is in his hand.


BIBLETEXT:
In that day the LORD of hosts will be a crown of glory, and a diadem of beauty, to the remnant of his people,


BIBLETEXT:
and a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment, and strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.


BIBLETEXT:
These also reel with wine and stagger with strong drink; the priest and the prophet reel with strong drink, they are swallowed by wine, they stagger with strong drink, they reel in vision, they stumble in giving judgment.


BIBLETEXT:
For all tables are full of filthy vomit, with no space left.


BIBLETEXT:
"To whom will he teach knowledge, and to whom will he explain the message? Those who are weaned from the milk, those taken from the breast?


BIBLETEXT:
For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little."


BIBLETEXT:
For by people of strange lips and with a foreign tongue the LORD will speak to this people,


BIBLETEXT:
to whom he has said, "This is rest; give rest to the weary; and this is repose"; yet they would not hear.


BIBLETEXT:
And the word of the LORD will be to them precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little, that they may go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore hear the word of the LORD, you scoffers, who rule this people in Jerusalem!


BIBLETEXT:
Because you have said, "We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol we have an agreement, when the overwhelming whip passes through it will not come to us, for we have made lies our refuge, and in falsehood we have taken shelter";


BIBLETEXT:
therefore thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion, a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation: 'Whoever believes will not be in haste.'


BIBLETEXT:
And I will make justice the line, and righteousness the plumb line; and hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and waters will overwhelm the shelter."


BIBLETEXT:
Then your covenant with death will be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol will not stand; when the overwhelming scourge passes through, you will be beaten down by it.


BIBLETEXT:
As often as it passes through it will take you; for morning by morning it will pass through, by day and by night; and it will be sheer terror to understand the message.


BIBLETEXT:
For the bed is too short to stretch oneself on, and the covering too narrow to wrap oneself in.


BIBLETEXT:
For the LORD will rise up as on Mount Perazim; as in the Valley of Gibeon he will be roused; to do his deed--strange is his deed! and to work his work--alien is his work!


BIBLETEXT:
Now therefore do not scoff, lest your bonds be made strong; for I have heard a decree of destruction from the Lord GOD of hosts against the whole land.


BIBLETEXT:
Give ear, and hear my voice; give attention, and hear my speech.


BIBLETEXT:
Does he who plows for sowing plow continually? Does he continually open and harrow his ground?


BIBLETEXT:
When he has leveled its surface, does he not scatter dill, sow cumin, and put in wheat in rows and barley in its proper place, and emmer as the border?


BIBLETEXT:
For he is rightly instructed; his God teaches him.


BIBLETEXT:
Dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge, nor is a cart wheel rolled over cumin, but dill is beaten out with a stick, and cumin with a rod.


BIBLETEXT:
Does one crush grain for bread? No, he does not thresh it forever; when he drives his cart wheel over it with his horses, he does not crush it.


BIBLETEXT:
This also comes from the LORD of hosts; he is wonderful in counsel and excellent in wisdom.


BIBLETEXT:
Ah, Ariel, Ariel, the city where David encamped! Add year to year; let the feasts run their round.


BIBLETEXT:
Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be moaning and lamentation, and she shall be to me like an Ariel.


BIBLETEXT:
And I will encamp against you all around, and will besiege you with towers and I will raise siegeworks against you.


BIBLETEXT:
And you will be brought low; from the earth you shall speak, and from the dust your speech will be bowed down; your voice shall come from the ground like the voice of a ghost, and from the dust your speech shall whisper.


BIBLETEXT:
But the multitude of your foreign foes shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the ruthless like passing chaff. And in an instant, suddenly,


BIBLETEXT:
you will be visited by the LORD of hosts with thunder and with earthquake and great noise, with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of a devouring fire.


BIBLETEXT:
And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, all that fight against her and her stronghold and distress her, shall be like a dream, a vision of the night.


BIBLETEXT:
As when a hungry man dreams he is eating and awakes with his hunger not satisfied, or as when a thirsty man dreams he is drinking and awakes faint, with his thirst not quenched, so shall the multitude of all the nations be that fight against Mount Zion.


BIBLETEXT:
Astonish yourselves and be astonished; blind yourselves and be blind! Be drunk, but not with wine; stagger, but not with strong drink!


BIBLETEXT:
For the LORD has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes (the prophets), and covered your heads (the seers).


BIBLETEXT:
And the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed. When men give it to one who can read, saying, "Read this," he says, "I cannot, for it is sealed."


BIBLETEXT:
And the peoples will be as if burned to lime, like thorns cut down, that are burned in the fire."


BIBLETEXT:
Hear, you who are far off, what I have done; and you who are near, acknowledge my might.


BIBLETEXT:
The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling has seized the godless: "Who among us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?"


BIBLETEXT:
He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly, who despises the gain of oppressions, who shakes his hands, lest they hold a bribe, who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed and shuts his eyes from looking on evil,


BIBLETEXT:
he will dwell on the heights; his place of defense will be the fortresses of rocks; his bread will be given him; his water will be sure.


BIBLETEXT:
Your eyes will behold the king in his beauty; they will see a land that stretches afar.


BIBLETEXT:
Your heart will muse on the terror: "Where is he who counted, where is he who weighed the tribute? Where is he who counted the towers?"


BIBLETEXT:
You will see no more the insolent people, the people of an obscure speech that you cannot comprehend, stammering in a tongue that you cannot understand.


BIBLETEXT:
Behold Zion, the city of our appointed feasts! Your eyes will see Jerusalem, an untroubled habitation, an immovable tent, whose stakes will never be plucked up, nor will any of its cords be broken.


BIBLETEXT:
But there the LORD in majesty will be for us a place of broad rivers and streams, where no galley with oars can go, nor majestic ship can pass.


BIBLETEXT:
For the LORD is our judge; the LORD is our lawgiver; the LORD is our king; he will save us.


BIBLETEXT:
Your cords hang loose; they cannot hold the mast firm in its place or keep the sail spread out. Then prey and spoil in abundance will be divided; even the lame will take the prey.


BIBLETEXT:
And no inhabitant will say, "I am sick"; the people who dwell there will be forgiven their iniquity.


BIBLETEXT:
Draw near, O nations, to hear, and give attention, O peoples! Let the earth hear, and all that fills it; the world, and all that comes from it.


BIBLETEXT:
For the LORD is enraged against all the nations, and furious against all their host; he has devoted them to destruction, has given them over for slaughter.


BIBLETEXT:
Their slain shall be cast out, and the stench of their corpses shall rise; the mountains shall flow with their blood.


BIBLETEXT:
All the host of heaven shall rot away, and the skies roll up like a scroll. All their host shall fall, as leaves fall from the vine, like leaves falling from the fig tree.


BIBLETEXT:
For my sword has drunk its fill in the heavens; behold, it descends for judgment upon Edom, upon the people I have devoted to destruction.


BIBLETEXT:
The LORD has a sword; it is sated with blood; it is gorged with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams. For the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah, a great slaughter in the land of Edom.


BIBLETEXT:
Wild oxen shall fall with them, and young steers with the mighty bulls. Their land shall drink its fill of blood, and their soil shall be gorged with fat.


BIBLETEXT:
For the LORD has a day of vengeance, a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.


BIBLETEXT:
And the streams of Edom shall be turned into pitch, and her soil into sulfur; her land shall become burning pitch.


BIBLETEXT:
Night and day it shall not be quenched; its smoke shall go up forever. From generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it forever and ever.


BIBLETEXT:
But the hawk and the porcupine shall possess it, the owl and the raven shall dwell in it. He shall stretch the line of confusion over it, and the plumb line of emptiness.


BIBLETEXT:
Its nobles--there is no one there to call it a kingdom, and all its princes shall be nothing.


BIBLETEXT:
Thorns shall grow over its strongholds, nettles and thistles in its fortresses. It shall be the haunt of jackals, an abode for ostriches.


BIBLETEXT:
And wild animals shall meet with hyenas; the wild goat shall cry to his fellow; indeed, there the night bird settles and finds for herself a resting place.


BIBLETEXT:
There the owl nests and lays and hatches and gathers her young in her shadow; indeed, there the hawks are gathered, each one with her mate.


BIBLETEXT:
Seek and read from the book of the LORD: Not one of these shall be missing; none shall be without her mate. For the mouth of the LORD has commanded, and his Spirit has gathered them.


BIBLETEXT:
He has cast the lot for them; his hand has portioned it out to them with the line; they shall possess it forever; from generation to generation they shall dwell in it.


BIBLETEXT:
The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus;


BIBLETEXT:
it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the LORD, the majesty of our God.


BIBLETEXT:
Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees.


BIBLETEXT:
Say to those who have an anxious heart, "Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you."


BIBLETEXT:
Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped;


BIBLETEXT:
then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert;


BIBLETEXT:
the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; in the haunt of jackals, where they lie down, the grass shall become reeds and rushes.


BIBLETEXT:
And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Way of Holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it. It shall belong to those who walk on the way; even if they are fools, they shall not go astray.


BIBLETEXT:
No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it; they shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there.


BIBLETEXT:
And the ransomed of the LORD shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.


BIBLETEXT:
And the king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem, with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer's Field.


BIBLETEXT:
And there came out to him Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder.


BIBLETEXT:
Behold, you are trusting in Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him.


BIBLETEXT:
But if you say to me, "We trust in the LORD our God," is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, "You shall worship before this altar"?


BIBLETEXT:
Moreover, is it without the LORD that I have come up against this land to destroy it? The LORD said to me, Go up against this land and destroy it.'"


BIBLETEXT:
Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, "Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it. Do not speak to us in the language of Judah within the hearing of the people who are on the wall."


BIBLETEXT:
But the Rabshakeh said, "Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are doomed with you to eat their own dung and drink their own urine?"


BIBLETEXT:
Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah: "Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria!


BIBLETEXT:
Thus says the king: 'Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you.


BIBLETEXT:
Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD by saying, "The LORD will surely deliver us. This city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria."


BIBLETEXT:
Do not listen to Hezekiah. For thus says the king of Assyria: Make your peace with me and come out to me. Then each one of you will eat of his own vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink the water of his own cistern,


BIBLETEXT:
until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards.


BIBLETEXT:
Beware lest Hezekiah mislead you by saying, "The LORD will deliver us." Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?


BIBLETEXT:
Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?


BIBLETEXT:
Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their lands out of my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?'"


BIBLETEXT:
But they were silent and answered him not a word, for the king's command was, "Do not answer him."


BIBLETEXT:
Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of the Rabshakeh.


BIBLETEXT:
They said to him, "Thus says Hezekiah, 'This day is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth.


BIBLETEXT:
It may be that the LORD your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the LORD your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.'"


BIBLETEXT:
Isaiah said to them, "Say to your master, 'Thus says the LORD: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the young men of the king of Assyria have reviled me.


BIBLETEXT:
The Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he had heard that the king had left Lachish.


BIBLETEXT:
Now the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, "He has set out to fight against you." And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,


BIBLETEXT:
Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
"O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth.


BIBLETEXT:
Incline your ear, O LORD, and hear; open your eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God.


BIBLETEXT:
Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands,


BIBLETEXT:
and have cast their gods into the fire. For they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed.


BIBLETEXT:
So now, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the LORD."


BIBLETEXT:
Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria,


BIBLETEXT:
this is the word that the LORD has spoken concerning him: "'She despises you, she scorns you-- the virgin daughter of Zion; she wags her head behind you-- the daughter of Jerusalem.


BIBLETEXT:
"'Whom have you mocked and reviled? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes to the heights? Against the Holy One of Israel!


BIBLETEXT:
By your servants you have mocked the Lord, and you have said, With my many chariots I have gone up the heights of the mountains, to the far recesses of Lebanon, to cut down its tallest cedars, its choicest cypresses, to come to its remotest height, its most fruitful forest.


BIBLETEXT:
I dug wells and drank waters, to dry up with the sole of my foot all the streams of Egypt.


BIBLETEXT:
"'Have you not heard that I determined it long ago? I planned from days of old what now I bring to pass, that you should make fortified cities crash into heaps of ruins,


BIBLETEXT:
"'I know your sitting down and your going out and coming in, and your raging against me.


BIBLETEXT:
Because you have raged against me and your complacency has come to my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I will turn you back on the way by which you came.'


BIBLETEXT:
"And this shall be the sign for you: this year you shall eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs from that. Then in the third year sow and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit.


BIBLETEXT:
For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.


BIBLETEXT:
"Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there or come before it with a shield or cast up a siege mound against it.


BIBLETEXT:
And the angel of the LORD went out and struck down a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.


BIBLETEXT:
Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and returned home and lived at Nineveh.


BIBLETEXT:
And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword. And after they escaped into the land of Ararat, Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.


BIBLETEXT:
In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, "Thus says the LORD: Set your house in order, for you shall die, you shall not recover."


BIBLETEXT:
Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD,


BIBLETEXT:
and said, "Please, O LORD, remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight." And Hezekiah wept bitterly.


BIBLETEXT:
Then the word of the LORD came to Isaiah:


BIBLETEXT:
"Go and say to Hezekiah, Thus says the LORD, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add fifteen years to your life.


BIBLETEXT:
I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and will defend this city.


BIBLETEXT:
"This shall be the sign to you from the LORD, that the LORD will do this thing that he has promised:


BIBLETEXT:
Behold, I will make the shadow cast by the declining sun on the dial of Ahaz turn back ten steps." So the sun turned back on the dial the ten steps by which it had declined.


BIBLETEXT:
A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, after he had been sick and had recovered from his sickness:


BIBLETEXT:
I said, In the middle of my days I must depart; I am consigned to the gates of Sheol for the rest of my years.


BIBLETEXT:
I said, I shall not see the LORD, the LORD in the land of the living; I shall look on man no more among the inhabitants of the world.


BIBLETEXT:
My dwelling is plucked up and removed from me like a shepherd's tent; like a weaver I have rolled up my life; he cuts me off from the loom; from day to night you bring me to an end;


BIBLETEXT:
I calmed myself until morning; like a lion he breaks all my bones; from day to night you bring me to an end.


BIBLETEXT:
Like a swallow or a crane I chirp; I moan like a dove. My eyes are weary with looking upward. O Lord, I am oppressed; be my pledge of safety!


BIBLETEXT:
What shall I say? For he has spoken to me, and he himself has done it. I walk slowly all my years because of the bitterness of my soul.


BIBLETEXT:
O Lord, by these things men live, and in all these is the life of my spirit. Oh restore me to health and make me live!


BIBLETEXT:
Behold, it was for my welfare that I had great bitterness; but in love you have delivered my life from the pit of destruction, for you have cast all my sins behind your back.


BIBLETEXT:
For Sheol does not thank you; death does not praise you; those who go down to the pit do not hope for your faithfulness.


BIBLETEXT:
The living, the living, he thanks you, as I do this day; the father makes known to the children your faithfulness.


BIBLETEXT:
The LORD will save me, and we will play my music on stringed instruments all the days of our lives, at the house of the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
Now Isaiah had said, "Let them take a cake of figs and apply it to the boil, that he may recover."


BIBLETEXT:
Hezekiah also had said, "What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the LORD?"


BIBLETEXT:
At that time Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent envoys with letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that he had been sick and had recovered.


BIBLETEXT:
And Hezekiah welcomed them gladly. And he showed them his treasure house, the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his whole armory, all that was found in his storehouses. There was nothing in his house or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them.


BIBLETEXT:
Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah, and said to him, "What did these men say? And from where did they come to you?" Hezekiah said, "They have come to me from a far country, from Babylon."


BIBLETEXT:
He said, "What have they seen in your house?" Hezekiah answered, "They have seen all that is in my house. There is nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them."


BIBLETEXT:
Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Hear the word of the LORD of hosts:


BIBLETEXT:
And some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon."


BIBLETEXT:
Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, "The word of the LORD that you have spoken is good." For he thought, "There will be peace and security in my days."


BIBLETEXT:
Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.


BIBLETEXT:
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the LORD's hand double for all her sins.


BIBLETEXT:
A voice cries: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.


BIBLETEXT:
Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.


BIBLETEXT:
And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."


BIBLETEXT:
A voice says, "Cry!" And I said, "What shall I cry?" All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.


BIBLETEXT:
The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the LORD blows on it; surely the people are grass.


BIBLETEXT:
The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.


BIBLETEXT:
Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, "Behold your God!"


BIBLETEXT:
Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.


BIBLETEXT:
He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.


BIBLETEXT:
Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance?


BIBLETEXT:
Who has measured the Spirit of the LORD, or what man shows him his counsel?


BIBLETEXT:
Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?


BIBLETEXT:
Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales; behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust.


BIBLETEXT:
Lebanon would not suffice for fuel, nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering.


BIBLETEXT:
All the nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.


BIBLETEXT:
To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him?


BIBLETEXT:
An idol! A craftsman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts for it silver chains.


BIBLETEXT:
He who is too impoverished for an offering chooses wood that will not rot; he seeks out a skillful craftsman to set up an idol that will not move.


BIBLETEXT:
Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?


BIBLETEXT:
It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;


BIBLETEXT:
who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.


BIBLETEXT:
Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows on them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble.


BIBLETEXT:
To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One.


BIBLETEXT:
Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name, by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power not one is missing.


BIBLETEXT:
Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, "My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God"?


BIBLETEXT:
Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.


BIBLETEXT:
He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.


BIBLETEXT:
Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted;


BIBLETEXT:
but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.


BIBLETEXT:
Listen to me in silence, O coastlands; let the peoples renew their strength; let them approach, then let them speak; let us together draw near for judgment.


BIBLETEXT:
Who stirred up one from the east whom victory meets at every step? He gives up nations before him, so that he tramples kings underfoot; he makes them like dust with his sword, like driven stubble with his bow.


BIBLETEXT:
He pursues them and passes on safely, by paths his feet have not trod.


BIBLETEXT:
Who has performed and done this, calling the generations from the beginning? I, the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he.


BIBLETEXT:
The coastlands have seen and are afraid; the ends of the earth tremble; they have drawn near and come.


BIBLETEXT:
Everyone helps his neighbor and says to his brother, "Be strong!"


BIBLETEXT:
The craftsman strengthens the goldsmith, and he who smooths with the hammer him who strikes the anvil, saying of the soldering, "It is good"; and they strengthen it with nails so that it cannot be moved.


BIBLETEXT:
But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham, my friend;


BIBLETEXT:
you whom I took from the ends of the earth, and called from its farthest corners, saying to you, "You are my servant, I have chosen you and not cast you off";


BIBLETEXT:
fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.


BIBLETEXT:
Behold, all who are incensed against you shall be put to shame and confounded; those who strive against you shall be as nothing and shall perish.


BIBLETEXT:
You shall seek those who contend with you, but you shall not find them; those who war against you shall be as nothing at all.


BIBLETEXT:
For I, the LORD your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, "Fear not, I am the one who helps you."


BIBLETEXT:
Fear not, you worm Jacob, you men of Israel! I am the one who helps you, declares the LORD; your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.


BIBLETEXT:
Behold, I make of you a threshing sledge, new, sharp, and having teeth; you shall thresh the mountains and crush them, and you shall make the hills like chaff;


BIBLETEXT:
you shall winnow them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the tempest shall scatter them. And you shall rejoice in the LORD; in the Holy One of Israel you shall glory.


BIBLETEXT:
When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue is parched with thirst, I the LORD will answer them; I the God of Israel will not forsake them.


BIBLETEXT:
I will open rivers on the bare heights, and fountains in the midst of the valleys. I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.


BIBLETEXT:
I will put in the wilderness the cedar, the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive. I will set in the desert the cypress, the plane and the pine together,


BIBLETEXT:
that they may see and know, may consider and understand together, that the hand of the LORD has done this, the Holy One of Israel has created it.


BIBLETEXT:
Set forth your case, says the LORD; bring your proofs, says the King of Jacob.


BIBLETEXT:
Let them bring them, and tell us what is to happen. Tell us the former things, what they are, that we may consider them, that we may know their outcome; or declare to us the things to come.


BIBLETEXT:
Tell us what is to come hereafter, that we may know that you are gods; do good, or do harm, that we may be dismayed and terrified.


BIBLETEXT:
Behold, you are nothing, and your work is less than nothing; an abomination is he who chooses you.


BIBLETEXT:
I stirred up one from the north, and he has come, from the rising of the sun, and he shall call upon my name; he shall trample on rulers as on mortar, as the potter treads clay.


BIBLETEXT:
Who declared it from the beginning, that we might know, and beforehand, that we might say, "He is right"? There was none who declared it, none who proclaimed, none who heard your words.


BIBLETEXT:
I was the first to say to Zion, "Behold, here they are!" and I give to Jerusalem a herald of good news.


BIBLETEXT:
But when I look, there is no one; among these there is no counselor who, when I ask, gives an answer.


BIBLETEXT:
Behold, they are all a delusion; their works are nothing; their metal images are empty wind.


BIBLETEXT:
Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.


BIBLETEXT:
He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street;


BIBLETEXT:
a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice.


BIBLETEXT:
He will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his law.


BIBLETEXT:
Thus says God, the LORD, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it:


BIBLETEXT:
"I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations,


BIBLETEXT:
to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.


BIBLETEXT:
I am the LORD; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.


BIBLETEXT:
Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them."


BIBLETEXT:
Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise from the end of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that fills it, the coastlands and their inhabitants.


BIBLETEXT:
Let the desert and its cities lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar inhabits; let the habitants of Sela sing for joy, let them shout from the top of the mountains.


BIBLETEXT:
Let them give glory to the LORD, and declare his praise in the coastlands.


BIBLETEXT:
The LORD goes out like a mighty man, like a man of war he stirs up his zeal; he cries out, he shouts aloud, he shows himself mighty against his foes.


BIBLETEXT:
For a long time I have held my peace; I have kept still and restrained myself; now I will cry out like a woman in labor; I will gasp and pant.


BIBLETEXT:
I will lay waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their vegetation; I will turn the rivers into islands, and dry up the pools.


BIBLETEXT:
And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them.


BIBLETEXT:
They are turned back and utterly put to shame, who trust in carved idols, who say to metal images, "You are our gods."


BIBLETEXT:
Hear, you deaf, and look, you blind, that you may see!


BIBLETEXT:
Who is blind but my servant, or deaf as my messenger whom I send? Who is blind as my dedicated one, or blind as the servant of the LORD?


BIBLETEXT:
He sees many things, but does not observe them; his ears are open, but he does not hear.


BIBLETEXT:
The LORD was pleased, for his righteousness' sake, to magnify his law and make it glorious.


BIBLETEXT:
But this is a people plundered and looted; they are all of them trapped in holes and hidden in prisons; they have become plunder with none to rescue, spoil with none to say, "Restore!"


BIBLETEXT:
Who among you will give ear to this, will attend and listen for the time to come?


BIBLETEXT:
Who gave up Jacob to the looter, and Israel to the plunderers? Was it not the LORD, against whom we have sinned, in whose ways they would not walk, and whose law they would not obey?


BIBLETEXT:
So he poured on him the heat of his anger and the might of battle; it set him on fire all around, but he did not understand; it burned him up, but he did not take it to heart.


BIBLETEXT:
But now thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.


BIBLETEXT:
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.


BIBLETEXT:
For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you.


BIBLETEXT:
Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life.


BIBLETEXT:
Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you.


BIBLETEXT:
I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth,


BIBLETEXT:
everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made."


BIBLETEXT:
Bring out the people who are blind, yet have eyes, who are deaf, yet have ears!


BIBLETEXT:
All the nations gather together, and the peoples assemble. Who among them can declare this, and show us the former things? Let them bring their witnesses to prove them right, and let them hear and say, It is true.


BIBLETEXT:
"You are my witnesses," declares the LORD, "and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me.


BIBLETEXT:
I, I am the LORD, and besides me there is no savior.


BIBLETEXT:
I declared and saved and proclaimed, when there was no strange god among you; and you are my witnesses," declares the LORD, "and I am God.


BIBLETEXT:
Also henceforth I am he; there is none who can deliver from my hand; I work, and who can turn it back?"


BIBLETEXT:
Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: "For your sake I send to Babylon and bring them all down as fugitives, even the Chaldeans, in the ships in which they rejoice.


BIBLETEXT:
I am the LORD, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King."


BIBLETEXT:
Thus says the LORD, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters,


BIBLETEXT:
who brings forth chariot and horse, army and warrior; they lie down, they cannot rise, they are extinguished, quenched like a wick:


BIBLETEXT:
"Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old.


BIBLETEXT:
Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.


BIBLETEXT:
The wild beasts will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches, for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people,


BIBLETEXT:
the people whom I formed for myself that they might declare my praise.


BIBLETEXT:
"Yet you did not call upon me, O Jacob; but you have been weary of me, O Israel!


BIBLETEXT:
You have not brought me your sheep for burnt offerings, or honored me with your sacrifices. I have not burdened you with offerings, or wearied you with frankincense.


BIBLETEXT:
You have not bought me sweet cane with money, or satisfied me with the fat of your sacrifices. But you have burdened me with your sins; you have wearied me with your iniquities.


BIBLETEXT:
"I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.


BIBLETEXT:
Put me in remembrance; let us argue together; set forth your case, that you may be proved right.


BIBLETEXT:
Your first father sinned, and your mediators transgressed against me.


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore I will profane the princes of the sanctuary, and deliver Jacob to utter destruction and Israel to reviling.


BIBLETEXT:
"But now hear, O Jacob my servant, Israel whom I have chosen!


BIBLETEXT:
Thus says the LORD who made you, who formed you from the womb and will help you: Fear not, O Jacob my servant, Jeshurun whom I have chosen.


BIBLETEXT:
For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.


BIBLETEXT:
They shall spring up among the grass like willows by flowing streams.


BIBLETEXT:
This one will say, 'I am the LORD's,' another will call on the name of Jacob, and another will write on his hand, 'The LORD's,' and name himself by the name of Israel."


BIBLETEXT:
Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: "I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god.


BIBLETEXT:
Who is like me? Let him proclaim it. Let him declare and set it before me, since I appointed an ancient people. Let them declare what is to come, and what will happen.


BIBLETEXT:
Fear not, nor be afraid; have I not told you from of old and declared it? And you are my witnesses! Is there a God besides me? There is no Rock; I know not any."


BIBLETEXT:
All who fashion idols are nothing, and the things they delight in do not profit. Their witnesses neither see nor know, that they may be put to shame.


BIBLETEXT:
Who fashions a god or casts an idol that is profitable for nothing?


BIBLETEXT:
Behold, all his companions shall be put to shame, and the craftsmen are only human. Let them all assemble, let them stand forth. They shall be terrified; they shall be put to shame together.


BIBLETEXT:
The ironsmith takes a cutting tool and works it over the coals. He fashions it with hammers and works it with his strong arm. He becomes hungry, and his strength fails; he drinks no water and is faint.


BIBLETEXT:
The carpenter stretches a line; he marks it out with a pencil. He shapes it with planes and marks it with a compass. He shapes it into the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, to dwell in a house.


BIBLETEXT:
He cuts down cedars, or he chooses a cypress tree or an oak and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a cedar and the rain nourishes it.


BIBLETEXT:
Then it becomes fuel for a man. He takes a part of it and warms himself; he kindles a fire and bakes bread. Also he makes a god and worships it; he makes it an idol and falls down before it.


BIBLETEXT:
Half of it he burns in the fire. Over the half he eats meat; he roasts it and is satisfied. Also he warms himself and says, "Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire!"


BIBLETEXT:
And the rest of it he makes into a god, his idol, and falls down to it and worships it. He prays to it and says, "Deliver me, for you are my god!"


BIBLETEXT:
They know not, nor do they discern, for he has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, and their hearts, so that they cannot understand.


BIBLETEXT:
No one considers, nor is there knowledge or discernment to say, "Half of it I burned in the fire; I also baked bread on its coals; I roasted meat and have eaten. And shall I make the rest of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?"


BIBLETEXT:
He feeds on ashes; a deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, "Is there not a lie in my right hand?"


BIBLETEXT:
Remember these things, O Jacob, and Israel, for you are my servant; I formed you; you are my servant; O Israel, you will not be forgotten by me.


BIBLETEXT:
I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you.


BIBLETEXT:
Sing, O heavens, for the LORD has done it; shout, O depths of the earth; break forth into singing, O mountains, O forest, and every tree in it! For the LORD has redeemed Jacob, and will be glorified in Israel.


BIBLETEXT:
Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, who formed you from the womb: "I am the LORD, who made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself,


BIBLETEXT:
who frustrates the signs of liars and makes fools of diviners, who turns wise men back and makes their knowledge foolish,


BIBLETEXT:
who confirms the word of his servant and fulfills the counsel of his messengers, who says of Jerusalem, 'She shall be inhabited,' and of the cities of Judah, 'They shall be built, and I will raise up their ruins';


BIBLETEXT:
who says to the deep, 'Be dry; I will dry up your rivers';


BIBLETEXT:
who says of Cyrus, 'He is my shepherd, and he shall fulfill all my purpose'; saying of Jerusalem, 'She shall be built,' and of the temple, 'Your foundation shall be laid.'"


BIBLETEXT:
Thus says the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped, to subdue nations before him and to loose the belts of kings, to open doors before him that gates may not be closed:


BIBLETEXT:
"I will go before you and level the exalted places, I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron,


BIBLETEXT:
I will give you the treasures of darkness and the hoards in secret places, that you may know that it is I, the LORD, the God of Israel, who call you by your name.


BIBLETEXT:
For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name, I name you, though you do not know me.


BIBLETEXT:
I am the LORD, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me,


BIBLETEXT:
that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the LORD, and there is no other.


BIBLETEXT:
I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the LORD, who does all these things.


BIBLETEXT:
"Shower, O heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain down righteousness; let the earth open, that salvation and righteousness may bear fruit; let the earth cause them both to sprout; I the LORD have created it.


BIBLETEXT:
"Woe to him who strives with him who formed him, a pot among earthen pots! Does the clay say to him who forms it, 'What are you making?' or 'Your work has no handles'?


BIBLETEXT:
Woe to him who says to a father, 'What are you begetting?' or to a woman, 'With what are you in labor?'"


BIBLETEXT:
Thus says the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and the one who formed him: "Ask me of things to come; will you command me concerning my children and the work of my hands?


BIBLETEXT:
I made the earth and created man on it; it was my hands that stretched out the heavens, and I commanded all their host.


BIBLETEXT:
I have stirred him up in righteousness, and I will make all his ways level; he shall build my city and set my exiles free, not for price or reward," says the LORD of hosts.


BIBLETEXT:
Thus says the LORD: "The wealth of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush, and the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over to you and be yours; they shall follow you; they shall come over in chains and bow down to you. They will plead with you, saying: 'Surely God is in you, and there is no other, no god besides him.'"


BIBLETEXT:
Truly, you are a God who hides himself, O God of Israel, the Savior.


BIBLETEXT:
All of them are put to shame and confounded; the makers of idols go in confusion together.


BIBLETEXT:
But Israel is saved by the LORD with everlasting salvation; you shall not be put to shame or confounded to all eternity.


BIBLETEXT:
For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens (he is God!), who formed the earth and made it (he established it; he did not create it empty, he formed it to be inhabited!): "I am the LORD, and there is no other.


BIBLETEXT:
I did not speak in secret, in a land of darkness; I did not say to the offspring of Jacob, 'Seek me in vain.' I the LORD speak the truth; I declare what is right.


BIBLETEXT:
"Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, you survivors of the nations! They have no knowledge who carry about their wooden idols, and keep on praying to a god that cannot save.


BIBLETEXT:
Declare and present your case; let them take counsel together! Who told this long ago? Who declared it of old? Was it not I, the LORD? And there is no other god besides me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none besides me.


BIBLETEXT:
"Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.


BIBLETEXT:
By myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return: 'To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance.'


BIBLETEXT:
"Only in the LORD, it shall be said of me, are righteousness and strength; to him shall come and be ashamed all who were incensed against him.


BIBLETEXT:
In the LORD all the offspring of Israel shall be justified and shall glory."


BIBLETEXT:
Bel bows down; Nebo stoops; their idols are on beasts and livestock; these things you carry are borne as burdens on weary beasts.


BIBLETEXT:
They stoop; they bow down together; they cannot save the burden, but themselves go into captivity.


BIBLETEXT:
"Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been borne by me from before your birth, carried from the womb;


BIBLETEXT:
even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save.


BIBLETEXT:
"To whom will you liken me and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be alike?


BIBLETEXT:
Those who lavish gold from the purse, and weigh out silver in the scales, hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god; then they fall down and worship!


BIBLETEXT:
They lift it to their shoulders, they carry it, they set it in its place, and it stands there; it cannot move from its place. If one cries to it, it does not answer or save him from his trouble.


BIBLETEXT:
"Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors,


BIBLETEXT:
remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me,


BIBLETEXT:
declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,'


BIBLETEXT:
calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it.


BIBLETEXT:
"Listen to me, you stubborn of heart, you who are far from righteousness:


BIBLETEXT:
I bring near my righteousness; it is not far off, and my salvation will not delay; I will put salvation in Zion, for Israel my glory."


BIBLETEXT:
Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon; sit on the ground without a throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans! For you shall no more be called tender and delicate.


BIBLETEXT:
Take the millstones and grind flour, put off your veil, strip off your robe, uncover your legs, pass through the rivers.


BIBLETEXT:
Your nakedness shall be uncovered, and your disgrace shall be seen. I will take vengeance, and I will spare no one.


BIBLETEXT:
Our Redeemer--the LORD of hosts is his name-- is the Holy One of Israel.


BIBLETEXT:
Sit in silence, and go into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans; for you shall no more be called the mistress of kingdoms.


BIBLETEXT:
I was angry with my people; I profaned my heritage; I gave them into your hand; you showed them no mercy; on the aged you made your yoke exceedingly heavy.


BIBLETEXT:
You said, "I shall be mistress forever," so that you did not lay these things to heart or remember their end.


BIBLETEXT:
Now therefore hear this, you lover of pleasures, who sit securely, who say in your heart, "I am, and there is no one besides me; I shall not sit as a widow or know the loss of children":


BIBLETEXT:
These two things shall come to you in a moment, in one day; the loss of children and widowhood shall come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and the great power of your enchantments.


BIBLETEXT:
You felt secure in your wickedness, you said, "No one sees me"; your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray, and you said in your heart, "I am, and there is no one besides me."


BIBLETEXT:
But evil shall come upon you, which you will not know how to charm away; disaster shall fall upon you, for which you will not be able to atone; and ruin shall come upon you suddenly, of which you know nothing.


BIBLETEXT:
Stand fast in your enchantments and your many sorceries, with which you have labored from your youth; perhaps you may be able to succeed; perhaps you may inspire terror.


BIBLETEXT:
You are wearied with your many counsels; let them stand forth and save you, those who divide the heavens, who gaze at the stars, who at the new moons make known what shall come upon you.


BIBLETEXT:
Behold, they are like stubble; the fire consumes them; they cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame. No coal for warming oneself is this, no fire to sit before!


BIBLETEXT:
Such to you are those with whom you have labored, who have done business with you from your youth; they wander about, each in his own direction; there is no one to save you.


BIBLETEXT:
Hear this, O house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel, and who came from the waters of Judah, who swear by the name of the LORD and confess the God of Israel, but not in truth or right.


BIBLETEXT:
For they call themselves after the holy city, and stay themselves on the God of Israel; the LORD of hosts is his name.


BIBLETEXT:
"The former things I declared of old; they went out from my mouth, and I announced them; then suddenly I did them, and they came to pass.


BIBLETEXT:
Because I know that you are obstinate, and your neck is an iron sinew and your forehead brass,


BIBLETEXT:
I declared them to you from of old, before they came to pass I announced them to you, lest you should say, 'My idol did them, my carved image and my metal image commanded them.'


BIBLETEXT:
"You have heard; now see all this; and will you not declare it? From this time forth I announce to you new things, hidden things that you have not known.


BIBLETEXT:
They are created now, not long ago; before today you have never heard of them, lest you should say, 'Behold, I knew them.'


BIBLETEXT:
You have never heard, you have never known, from of old your ear has not been opened. For I knew that you would surely deal treacherously, and that from before birth you were called a rebel.


BIBLETEXT:
"For my name's sake I defer my anger, for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off.


BIBLETEXT:
Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.


BIBLETEXT:
For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.


BIBLETEXT:
"Listen to me, O Jacob, and Israel, whom I called! I am he; I am the first, and I am the last.


BIBLETEXT:
My hand laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand spread out the heavens; when I call to them, they stand forth together.


BIBLETEXT:
"Assemble, all of you, and listen! Who among them has declared these things? The LORD loves him; he shall perform his purpose on Babylon, and his arm shall be against the Chaldeans.


BIBLETEXT:
I, even I, have spoken and called him; I have brought him, and he will prosper in his way.


BIBLETEXT:
Draw near to me, hear this: from the beginning I have not spoken in secret, from the time it came to be I have been there." And now the Lord GOD has sent me, and his Spirit.


BIBLETEXT:
Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: "I am the LORD your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you in the way you should go.


BIBLETEXT:
Oh that you had paid attention to my commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea;


BIBLETEXT:
your offspring would have been like the sand, and your descendants like its grains; their name would never be cut off or destroyed from before me."


BIBLETEXT:
Go out from Babylon, flee from Chaldea, declare this with a shout of joy, proclaim it, send it out to the end of the earth; say, "The LORD has redeemed his servant Jacob!"


BIBLETEXT:
They did not thirst when he led them through the deserts; he made water flow for them from the rock; he split the rock and the water gushed out.


BIBLETEXT:
"There is no peace," says the LORD, "for the wicked."


BIBLETEXT:
Listen to me, O coastlands, and give attention, you peoples from afar. The LORD called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name.


BIBLETEXT:
He made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me a polished arrow; in his quiver he hid me away.


BIBLETEXT:
And he said to me, "You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified."


BIBLETEXT:
But I said, "I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely my right is with the LORD, and my recompense with my God."


BIBLETEXT:
And now the LORD says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him; and that Israel might be gathered to him-- for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD, and my God has become my strength--


BIBLETEXT:
he says: "It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth."


BIBLETEXT:
Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation, the servant of rulers: "Kings shall see and arise; princes, and they shall prostrate themselves; because of the LORD, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you."


BIBLETEXT:
Thus says the LORD: "In a time of favor I have answered you; in a day of salvation I have helped you; I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people, to establish the land, to apportion the desolate heritages,


BIBLETEXT:
saying to the prisoners, 'Come out,' to those who are in darkness, 'Appear.' They shall feed along the ways; on all bare heights shall be their pasture;


BIBLETEXT:
they shall not hunger or thirst, neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them, for he who has pity on them will lead them, and by springs of water will guide them.


BIBLETEXT:
And I will make all my mountains a road, and my highways shall be raised up.


BIBLETEXT:
Behold, these shall come from afar, and behold, these from the north and from the west, and these from the land of Syene."


BIBLETEXT:
Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing! For the LORD has comforted his people and will have compassion on his afflicted.


BIBLETEXT:
But Zion said, "The LORD has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me."


BIBLETEXT:
"Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.


BIBLETEXT:
Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me.


BIBLETEXT:
Your builders make haste; your destroyers and those who laid you waste go out from you.


BIBLETEXT:
Lift up your eyes around and see; they all gather, they come to you. As I live, declares the LORD, you shall put them all on as an ornament; you shall bind them on as a bride does.


BIBLETEXT:
"Surely your waste and your desolate places and your devastated land-- surely now you will be too narrow for your inhabitants, and those who swallowed you up will be far away.


BIBLETEXT:
The children of your bereavement will yet say in your ears: 'The place is too narrow for me; make room for me to dwell in.'


BIBLETEXT:
Then you will say in your heart: 'Who has borne me these? I was bereaved and barren, exiled and put away, but who has brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; from where have these come?'"


BIBLETEXT:
Thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations, and raise my signal to the peoples; and they shall bring your sons in their bosom, and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.


BIBLETEXT:
Kings shall be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. With their faces to the ground they shall bow down to you, and lick the dust of your feet. Then you will know that I am the LORD; those who wait for me shall not be put to shame."


BIBLETEXT:
Can the prey be taken from the mighty, or the captives of a tyrant be rescued?


BIBLETEXT:
For thus says the LORD: "Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken, and the prey of the tyrant be rescued, for I will contend with those who contend with you, and I will save your children.


BIBLETEXT:
I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh, and they shall be drunk with their own blood as with wine. Then all flesh shall know that I am the LORD your Savior, and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob."


BIBLETEXT:
Thus says the LORD: "Where is your mother's certificate of divorce, with which I sent her away? Or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities you were sold, and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.


BIBLETEXT:
Why, when I came, was there no man; why, when I called, was there no one to answer? Is my hand shortened, that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? Behold, by my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a desert; their fish stink for lack of water and die of thirst.


BIBLETEXT:
I clothe the heavens with blackness and make sackcloth their covering."


BIBLETEXT:
The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary. Morning by morning he awakens; he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught.


BIBLETEXT:
The Lord GOD has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious; I turned not backward.


BIBLETEXT:
I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting.


BIBLETEXT:
But the Lord GOD helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame.


BIBLETEXT:
He who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who is my adversary? Let him come near to me.


BIBLETEXT:
Behold, the Lord GOD helps me; who will declare me guilty? Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment; the moth will eat them up.


BIBLETEXT:
Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the voice of his servant? Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God.


BIBLETEXT:
Behold, all you who kindle a fire, who equip yourselves with burning torches! Walk by the light of your fire, and by the torches that you have kindled! This you have from my hand: you shall lie down in torment.


BIBLETEXT:
"Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the LORD: look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug.


BIBLETEXT:
Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you; for he was but one when I called him, that I might bless him and multiply him.


BIBLETEXT:
For the LORD comforts Zion; he comforts all her waste places and makes her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song.


BIBLETEXT:
"Give attention to me, my people, and give ear to me, my nation; for a law will go out from me, and I will set my justice for a light to the peoples.


BIBLETEXT:
My righteousness draws near, my salvation has gone out, and my arms will judge the peoples; the coastlands hope for me, and for my arm they wait.


BIBLETEXT:
Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath; for the heavens vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and they who dwell in it will die in like manner; but my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will never be dismayed.


BIBLETEXT:
"Listen to me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear not the reproach of man, nor be dismayed at their revilings.


BIBLETEXT:
For the moth will eat them up like a garment, and the worm will eat them like wool; but my righteousness will be forever, and my salvation to all generations."


BIBLETEXT:
Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in days of old, the generations of long ago. Was it not you who cut Rahab in pieces, who pierced the dragon?


BIBLETEXT:
Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over?


BIBLETEXT:
"I, I am he who comforts you; who are you that you are afraid of man who dies, of the son of man who is made like grass,


BIBLETEXT:
and have forgotten the LORD, your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth, and you fear continually all the day because of the wrath of the oppressor, when he sets himself to destroy? And where is the wrath of the oppressor?


BIBLETEXT:
He who is bowed down shall speedily be released; he shall not die and go down to the pit, neither shall his bread be lacking.


BIBLETEXT:
I am the LORD your God, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar-- the LORD of hosts is his name.


BIBLETEXT:
And I have put my words in your mouth and covered you in the shadow of my hand, establishing the heavens and laying the foundations of the earth, and saying to Zion, 'You are my people.'"


BIBLETEXT:
Wake yourself, wake yourself, stand up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the LORD the cup of his wrath, who have drunk to the dregs the bowl, the cup of staggering.


BIBLETEXT:
There is none to guide her among all the sons she has borne; there is none to take her by the hand among all the sons she has brought up.


BIBLETEXT:
These two things have happened to you-- who will console you?-- devastation and destruction, famine and sword; who will comfort you?


BIBLETEXT:
Your sons have fainted; they lie at the head of every street like an antelope in a net; they are full of the wrath of the LORD, the rebuke of your God.


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore hear this, you who are afflicted, who are drunk, but not with wine:


BIBLETEXT:
Thus says your Lord, the LORD, your God who pleads the cause of his people: "Behold, I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering; the bowl of my wrath you shall drink no more;


BIBLETEXT:
and I will put it into the hand of your tormentors, who have said to you, 'Bow down, that we may pass over'; and you have made your back like the ground and like the street for them to pass over."


BIBLETEXT:
Awake, awake, put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city; for there shall no more come into you the uncircumcised and the unclean.


BIBLETEXT:
Shake yourself from the dust and arise; be seated, O Jerusalem; loose the bonds from your neck, O captive daughter of Zion.


BIBLETEXT:
For thus says the LORD: "You were sold for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money."


BIBLETEXT:
For thus says the Lord GOD: "My people went down at the first into Egypt to sojourn there, and the Assyrian oppressed them for nothing.


BIBLETEXT:
Now therefore what have I here," declares the LORD, "seeing that my people are taken away for nothing? Their rulers wail," declares the LORD, "and continually all the day my name is despised.


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore my people shall know my name. Therefore in that day they shall know that it is I who speak; here am I."


BIBLETEXT:
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, "Your God reigns."


BIBLETEXT:
The voice of your watchmen--they lift up their voice; together they sing for joy; for eye to eye they see the return of the LORD to Zion.


BIBLETEXT:
Break forth together into singing, you waste places of Jerusalem, for the LORD has comforted his people; he has redeemed Jerusalem.


BIBLETEXT:
The LORD has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.


BIBLETEXT:
Depart, depart, go out from there; touch no unclean thing; go out from the midst of her; purify yourselves, you who bear the vessels of the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
For you shall not go out in haste, and you shall not go in flight, for the LORD will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.


BIBLETEXT:
Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted.


BIBLETEXT:
As many were astonished at you-- his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind--


BIBLETEXT:
so shall he sprinkle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths because of him; for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand.


BIBLETEXT:
Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?


BIBLETEXT:
For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.


BIBLETEXT:
He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.


BIBLETEXT:
Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.


BIBLETEXT:
But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.


BIBLETEXT:
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned--every one--to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.


BIBLETEXT:
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.


BIBLETEXT:
By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?


BIBLETEXT:
And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.


BIBLETEXT:
"Is Israel a slave? Is he a homeborn servant? Why then has he become a prey?


BIBLETEXT:
The lions have roared against him; they have roared loudly. They have made his land a waste; his cities are in ruins, without inhabitant.


BIBLETEXT:
Moreover, the men of Memphis and Tahpanhes have shaved the crown of your head.


BIBLETEXT:
Have you not brought this upon yourself by forsaking the LORD your God, when he led you in the way?


BIBLETEXT:
And now what do you gain by going to Egypt to drink the waters of the Nile? Or what do you gain by going to Assyria to drink the waters of the Euphrates?


BIBLETEXT:
Your evil will chastise you, and your apostasy will reprove you. Know and see that it is evil and bitter for you to forsake the LORD your God; the fear of me is not in you, declares the Lord GOD of hosts.


BIBLETEXT:
"For long ago I broke your yoke and burst your bonds; but you said, 'I will not serve.' Yes, on every high hill and under every green tree you bowed down like a whore.


BIBLETEXT:
Yet I planted you a choice vine, wholly of pure seed. How then have you turned degenerate and become a wild vine?


BIBLETEXT:
Though you wash yourself with lye and use much soap, the stain of your guilt is still before me, declares the Lord GOD.


BIBLETEXT:
How can you say, 'I am not unclean, I have not gone after the Baals'? Look at your way in the valley; know what you have done-- a restless young camel running here and there,


BIBLETEXT:
a wild donkey used to the wilderness, in her heat sniffing the wind! Who can restrain her lust? None who seek her need weary themselves; in her month they will find her.


BIBLETEXT:
Keep your feet from going unshod and your throat from thirst. But you said, 'It is hopeless, for I have loved foreigners, and after them I will go.'


BIBLETEXT:
"As a thief is shamed when caught, so the house of Israel shall be shamed: they, their kings, their officials, their priests, and their prophets,


BIBLETEXT:
who say 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 say, 'Arise and save us!'


BIBLETEXT:
But where are your gods that you made for yourself? Let them arise, if they can save you, in your time of trouble; for as many as your cities are your gods, O Judah.


BIBLETEXT:
"Why do you contend with me? You have all transgressed against me, declares the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
In vain have I struck your children; they took no correction; your own sword devoured your prophets like a ravening lion.


BIBLETEXT:
And you, O generation, behold the word of the LORD. Have I been a wilderness to Israel, or a land of thick darkness? Why then do my people say, 'We are free, we will come no more to you'?


BIBLETEXT:
Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet my people have forgotten me days without number.


BIBLETEXT:
"How well you direct your course to seek love! So that even to wicked women you have taught your ways.


BIBLETEXT:
Also on your skirts is found the lifeblood of the guiltless poor; you did not find them breaking in. Yet in spite of all these things


BIBLETEXT:
you say, 'I am innocent; surely his anger has turned from me.' Behold, I will bring you to judgment for saying, 'I have not sinned.'


BIBLETEXT:
How much you go about, changing your way! You shall be put to shame by Egypt as you were put to shame by Assyria.


BIBLETEXT:
From it too you will come away with your hands on your head, for the LORD has rejected those in whom you trust, and you will not prosper by them.


BIBLETEXT:
"If a man divorces his wife and she goes from him and becomes another man's wife, will he return to her? Would not that land be greatly polluted? You have played the whore with many lovers; and would you return to me? declares the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
Lift up your eyes to the bare heights, and see! Where have you not been ravished? By the waysides you have sat awaiting lovers like an Arab in the wilderness. You have polluted the land with your vile whoredom.


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore the showers have been withheld, and the spring rain has not come; yet you have the forehead of a whore; you refuse to be ashamed.


BIBLETEXT:
Have you not just now called to me, 'My father, you are the friend of my youth--


BIBLETEXT:
will he be angry forever, will he be indignant to the end?' Behold, you have spoken, but you have done all the evil that you could."


BIBLETEXT:
The LORD said to me in the days of King Josiah: "Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel, how she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there played the whore?


BIBLETEXT:
And I thought, 'After she has done all this she will return to me,' but she did not return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it.


BIBLETEXT:
She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, I had sent her away with a decree of divorce. Yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she too went and played the whore.


BIBLETEXT:
Because she took her whoredom lightly, she polluted the land, committing adultery with stone and tree.


BIBLETEXT:
Yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me with her whole heart, but in pretense, declares the LORD."


BIBLETEXT:
And the LORD said to me, "Faithless Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.


BIBLETEXT:
Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, "'Return, faithless Israel, declares the LORD. I will not look on you in anger, for I am merciful, declares the LORD; I will not be angry forever.


BIBLETEXT:
Only acknowledge your guilt, that you rebelled against the LORD your God and scattered your favors among foreigners under every green tree, and that you have not obeyed my voice, declares the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
Return, O faithless children, declares the LORD; for I am your master; I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion.


BIBLETEXT:
"'And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.


BIBLETEXT:
And when you have multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, declares the LORD, they shall no more say, "The ark of the covenant of the LORD." It shall not come to mind or be remembered or missed; it shall not be made again.


BIBLETEXT:
At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the LORD, and all nations shall gather to it, to the presence of the LORD in Jerusalem, and they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil heart.


BIBLETEXT:
In those days the house of Judah shall join the house of Israel, and together they shall come from the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers for a heritage.


BIBLETEXT:
"'I said, How I would set you among my sons, and give you a pleasant land, a heritage most beautiful of all nations. And I thought you would call me, My Father, and would not turn from following me.


BIBLETEXT:
Surely, as a treacherous wife leaves her husband, so have you been treacherous to me, O house of Israel, declares the LORD.'"


BIBLETEXT:
A voice on the bare heights is heard, the weeping and pleading of Israel's sons because they have perverted their way; they have forgotten the LORD their God.


BIBLETEXT:
"Return, O faithless sons; I will heal your faithlessness." "Behold, we come to you, for you are the LORD our God.


BIBLETEXT:
Truly the hills are a delusion, the orgies on the mountains. Truly in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel.


BIBLETEXT:
"But from our youth the shameful thing has devoured all for which our fathers labored, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.


BIBLETEXT:
Let us lie down in our shame, and let our dishonor cover us. For we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day, and we have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God."


BIBLETEXT:
"If you return, O Israel, declares the LORD, to me you should return. If you remove your detestable things from my presence, and do not waver,


BIBLETEXT:
and if you swear, 'As the LORD lives,' in truth, in justice, and in righteousness, then nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory."


BIBLETEXT:
For thus says the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem: "Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.


BIBLETEXT:
Circumcise yourselves to the LORD; remove the foreskin of your hearts, O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it, because of the evil of your deeds."


BIBLETEXT:
Declare in Judah, and proclaim in Jerusalem, and say, "Blow the trumpet through the land; cry aloud and say, 'Assemble, and let us go into the fortified cities!'


BIBLETEXT:
Raise a standard toward Zion, flee for safety, stay not, for I bring disaster from the north, and great destruction.


BIBLETEXT:
A lion has gone up from his thicket, a destroyer of nations has set out; he has gone out from his place to make your land a waste; your cities will be ruins without inhabitant.


BIBLETEXT:
For this put on sackcloth, lament and wail, for the fierce anger of the LORD has not turned back from us."


BIBLETEXT:
"In that day, declares the LORD, courage shall fail both king and officials. The priests shall be appalled and the prophets astounded."


BIBLETEXT:
Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD, surely you have utterly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, 'It shall be well with you,' whereas the sword has reached their very life."


BIBLETEXT:
At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, "A hot wind from the bare heights in the desert toward the daughter of my people, not to winnow or cleanse,


BIBLETEXT:
a wind too full for this comes for me. Now it is I who speak in judgment upon them."


BIBLETEXT:
Behold, he comes up like clouds; his chariots like the whirlwind; his horses are swifter than eagles-- woe to us, for we are ruined!


BIBLETEXT:
O Jerusalem, wash your heart from evil, that you may be saved. How long shall your wicked thoughts lodge within you?


BIBLETEXT:
For a voice declares from Dan and proclaims trouble from Mount Ephraim.


BIBLETEXT:
Warn the nations that he is coming; announce to Jerusalem, "Besiegers come from a distant land; they shout against the cities of Judah.


BIBLETEXT:
Like keepers of a field are they against her all around, because she has rebelled against me, declares the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
Your ways and your deeds have brought this upon you. This is your doom, and it is bitter; it has reached your very heart."


BIBLETEXT:
My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! Oh the walls of my heart! My heart is beating wildly; I cannot keep silent, for I hear the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.


BIBLETEXT:
Crash follows hard on crash; the whole land is laid waste. Suddenly my tents are laid waste, my curtains in a moment.


BIBLETEXT:
How long must I see the standard and hear the sound of the trumpet?


BIBLETEXT:
"For my people are foolish; they know me not; they are stupid children; they have no understanding. They are 'wise'--in doing evil! But how to do good they know not."


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


BIBLETEXT:
I looked on the mountains, and behold, they were quaking, and all the hills moved to and fro.


BIBLETEXT:
I looked, and behold, there was no man, and all the birds of the air had fled.


BIBLETEXT:
I looked, and behold, the fruitful land was a desert, and all its cities were laid in ruins before the LORD, before his fierce anger.


BIBLETEXT:
For thus says the LORD, "The whole land shall be a desolation; yet I will not make a full end.


BIBLETEXT:
"For this the earth shall mourn, and the heavens above be dark; for I have spoken; I have purposed; I have not relented, nor will I turn back."


BIBLETEXT:
At the noise of horseman and archer every city takes to flight; they enter thickets; they climb among rocks; all the cities are forsaken, and no man dwells in them.


BIBLETEXT:
And you, O desolate one, what do you mean that you dress in scarlet, that you adorn yourself with ornaments of gold, that you enlarge your eyes with paint? In vain you beautify yourself. Your lovers despise you; they seek your life.


BIBLETEXT:
For I heard a cry as of a woman in labor, anguish as of one giving birth to her first child, the cry of the daughter of Zion gasping for breath, stretching out her hands, "Woe is me! I am fainting before murderers."


BIBLETEXT:
Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, look and take note! Search her squares to see if you can find a man, one who does justice and seeks truth, that I may pardon her.


BIBLETEXT:
Though they say, "As the LORD lives," yet they swear falsely.


BIBLETEXT:
O LORD, do not your eyes look for truth? You have struck them down, but they felt no anguish; you have consumed them, but they refused to take correction. They have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused to repent.


BIBLETEXT:
Then I said, "These are only the poor; they have no sense; for they do not know the way of the LORD, the justice of their God.


BIBLETEXT:
I will go to the great and will speak to them, for they know the way of the LORD, the justice of their God." But they all alike had broken the yoke; they had burst the bonds.


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore a lion from the forest shall strike them down; a wolf from the desert shall devastate them. A leopard is watching their cities; everyone who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces, because their transgressions are many, their apostasies are great.


BIBLETEXT:
Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.


BIBLETEXT:
Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.


BIBLETEXT:
"Sing, O barren one, who did not bear; break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who have not been in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than the children of her who is married," says the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
"Enlarge the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out; do not hold back; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes.


BIBLETEXT:
For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left, and your offspring will possess the nations and will people the desolate cities.


BIBLETEXT:
"Fear not, for you will not be ashamed; be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced; for you will forget the shame of your youth, and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more.


BIBLETEXT:
For your Maker is your husband, the LORD of hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called.


BIBLETEXT:
For the LORD has called you like a wife deserted and grieved in spirit, like a wife of youth when she is cast off, says your God.


BIBLETEXT:
For a brief moment I deserted you, but with great compassion I will gather you.


BIBLETEXT:
In overflowing anger for a moment I hid my face from you, but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you," says the LORD, your Redeemer.


BIBLETEXT:
"This is like the days of Noah to me: as I swore that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you, and will not rebuke you.


BIBLETEXT:
For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed," says the LORD, who has compassion on you.


BIBLETEXT:
"O afflicted one, storm-tossed and not comforted, behold, I will set your stones in antimony, and lay your foundations with sapphires.


BIBLETEXT:
I will make your pinnacles of agate, your gates of carbuncles, and all your wall of precious stones.


BIBLETEXT:
All your children shall be taught by the LORD, and great shall be the peace of your children.


BIBLETEXT:
In righteousness you shall be established; you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near you.


BIBLETEXT:
If anyone stirs up strife, it is not from me; whoever stirs up strife with you shall fall because of you.


BIBLETEXT:
Behold, I have created the smith who blows the fire of coals and produces a weapon for its purpose. I have also created the ravager to destroy;


BIBLETEXT:
no weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall confute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD and their vindication from me, declares the LORD."


BIBLETEXT:
"Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.


BIBLETEXT:
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.


BIBLETEXT:
Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.


BIBLETEXT:
Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples.


BIBLETEXT:
Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know, and a nation that did not know you shall run to you, because of the LORD your God, and of the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you.


BIBLETEXT:
"Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near;


BIBLETEXT:
let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.


BIBLETEXT:
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.


BIBLETEXT:
"For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,


BIBLETEXT:
so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.


BIBLETEXT:
"For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.


BIBLETEXT:
Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall make a name for the LORD, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off."


BIBLETEXT:
Thus says the LORD: "Keep justice, and do righteousness, for soon my salvation will come, and my deliverance be revealed.


BIBLETEXT:
Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil."


BIBLETEXT:
Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the LORD say, "The LORD will surely separate me from his people"; and let not the eunuch say, "Behold, I am a dry tree."


BIBLETEXT:
For thus says the LORD: "To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant,


BIBLETEXT:
I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.


BIBLETEXT:
"And the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, to minister to him, to love the name of the LORD, and to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant--


BIBLETEXT:
these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples."


BIBLETEXT:
The Lord GOD, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares, "I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered."


BIBLETEXT:
All you beasts of the field, come to devour-- all you beasts in the forest.


BIBLETEXT:
His watchmen are blind; they are all without knowledge; they are all silent dogs; they cannot bark, dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber.


BIBLETEXT:
The dogs have a mighty appetite; they never have enough. But they are shepherds who have no understanding; they have all turned to their own way, each to his own gain, one and all.


BIBLETEXT:
"Come," they say, "let me get wine; let us fill ourselves with strong drink; and tomorrow will be like this day, great beyond measure."


BIBLETEXT:
The righteous man perishes, and no one lays it to heart; devout men are taken away, while no one understands. For the righteous man is taken away from calamity;


BIBLETEXT:
he enters into peace; they rest in their beds who walk in their uprightness.


BIBLETEXT:
But you, draw near, sons of the sorceress, offspring of the adulterer and the loose woman.


BIBLETEXT:
Whom are you mocking? Against whom do you open your mouth wide and stick out your tongue? Are you not children of transgression, the offspring of deceit,


BIBLETEXT:
you who burn with lust among the oaks, under every green tree, who slaughter your children in the valleys, under the clefts of the rocks?


BIBLETEXT:
Among the smooth stones of the valley is your portion; they, they, are your lot; to them you have poured out a drink offering, you have brought a grain offering. Shall I relent for these things?


BIBLETEXT:
On a high and lofty mountain you have set your bed, and there you went up to offer sacrifice.


BIBLETEXT:
Behind the door and the doorpost you have set up your memorial; for, deserting me, you have uncovered your bed, you have gone up to it, you have made it wide; and you have made a covenant for yourself with them, you have loved their bed, you have looked on nakedness.


BIBLETEXT:
You journeyed to the king with oil and multiplied your perfumes; you sent your envoys far off, and sent down even to Sheol.


BIBLETEXT:
You were wearied with the length of your way, but you did not say, "It is hopeless"; you found new life for your strength, and so you were not faint.


BIBLETEXT:
Whom did you dread and fear, so that you lied, and did not remember me, did not lay it to heart? Have I not held my peace, even for a long time, and you do not fear me?


BIBLETEXT:
I will declare your righteousness and your deeds, but they will not profit you.


BIBLETEXT:
When you cry out, let your collection of idols deliver you! The wind will carry them off, a breath will take them away. But he who takes refuge in me shall possess the land and shall inherit my holy mountain.


BIBLETEXT:
And it shall be said, "Build up, build up, prepare the way, remove every obstruction from my people's way."


BIBLETEXT:
For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: "I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.


BIBLETEXT:
For I will not contend forever, nor will I always be angry; for the spirit would grow faint before me, and the breath of life that I made.


BIBLETEXT:
Because of the iniquity of his unjust gain I was angry, I struck him; I hid my face and was angry, but he went on backsliding in the way of his own heart.


BIBLETEXT:
I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will lead him and restore comfort to him and his mourners,


BIBLETEXT:
creating the fruit of the lips. Peace, peace, to the far and to the near," says the LORD, "and I will heal him.


BIBLETEXT:
But the wicked are like the tossing sea; for it cannot be quiet, and its waters toss up mire and dirt.


BIBLETEXT:
There is no peace," says my God, "for the wicked."


BIBLETEXT:
"Cry aloud; do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins.


BIBLETEXT:
Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God.


BIBLETEXT:
'Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?' Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers.


BIBLETEXT:
Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high.


BIBLETEXT:
Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the LORD?


BIBLETEXT:
"Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?


BIBLETEXT:
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?


BIBLETEXT:
Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.


BIBLETEXT:
Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, 'Here I am.' If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,


BIBLETEXT:
if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.


BIBLETEXT:
And the LORD will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.


BIBLETEXT:
And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in.


BIBLETEXT:
"If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the LORD honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly;


BIBLETEXT:
then you shall take delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."


BIBLETEXT:
Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;


BIBLETEXT:
but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.


BIBLETEXT:
For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies; your tongue mutters wickedness.


BIBLETEXT:
No one enters suit justly; no one goes to law honestly; they rely on empty pleas, they speak lies, they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity.


BIBLETEXT:
They hatch adders' eggs; they weave the spider's web; he who eats their eggs dies, and from one that is crushed a viper is hatched.


BIBLETEXT:
Their webs will not serve as clothing; men will not cover themselves with what they make. Their works are works of iniquity, and deeds of violence are in their hands.


BIBLETEXT:
Their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; desolation and destruction are in their highways.


BIBLETEXT:
The way of peace they do not know, and there is no justice in their paths; they have made their roads crooked; no one who treads on them knows peace.


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore justice is far from us, and righteousness does not overtake us; we hope for light, and behold, darkness, and for brightness, but we walk in gloom.


BIBLETEXT:
We grope for the wall like the blind; we grope like those who have no eyes; we stumble at noon as in the twilight, among those in full vigor we are like dead men.


BIBLETEXT:
We all growl like bears; we moan and moan like doves; we hope for justice, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far from us.


BIBLETEXT:
For our transgressions are multiplied before you, and our sins testify against us; for our transgressions are with us, and we know our iniquities:


BIBLETEXT:
transgressing, and denying the LORD, and turning back from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart lying words.


BIBLETEXT:
Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far away; for truth has stumbled in the public squares, and uprightness cannot enter.


BIBLETEXT:
Truth is lacking, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. The LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice.


BIBLETEXT:
He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no one to intercede; then his own arm brought him salvation, and his righteousness upheld him.


BIBLETEXT:
He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head; he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak.


BIBLETEXT:
According to their deeds, so will he repay, wrath to his adversaries, repayment to his enemies; to the coastlands he will render repayment.


BIBLETEXT:
So they shall fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun; for he will come like a rushing stream, which the wind of the LORD drives.


BIBLETEXT:
"And a Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression," declares the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
"And as for me, this is my covenant with them," says the LORD: "My Spirit that is upon you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouth of your offspring, or out of the mouth of your children's offspring," says the LORD, "from this time forth and forevermore."


BIBLETEXT:
Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.


BIBLETEXT:
For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you.


BIBLETEXT:
And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.


BIBLETEXT:
Lift up your eyes all around, and see; they all gather together, they come to you; your sons shall come from afar, and your daughters shall be carried on the hip.


BIBLETEXT:
Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and exult, because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, the wealth of the nations shall come to you.


BIBLETEXT:
A multitude of camels shall cover you, the young camels of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall bring good news, the praises of the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered to you; the rams of Nebaioth shall minister to you; they shall come up with acceptance on my altar, and I will beautify my beautiful house.


BIBLETEXT:
Who are these that fly like a cloud, and like doves to their windows?


BIBLETEXT:
For the coastlands shall hope for me, the ships of Tarshish first, to bring your children from afar, their silver and gold with them, for the name of the LORD your God, and for the Holy One of Israel, because he has made you beautiful.


BIBLETEXT:
Foreigners shall build up your walls, and their kings shall minister to you; for in my wrath I struck you, but in my favor I have had mercy on you.


BIBLETEXT:
Your gates shall be open continually; day and night they shall not be shut, that people may bring to you the wealth of the nations, with their kings led in procession.


BIBLETEXT:
For the nation and kingdom that will not serve you shall perish; those nations shall be utterly laid waste.


BIBLETEXT:
The glory of Lebanon shall come to you, the cypress, the plane, and the pine, to beautify the place of my sanctuary, and I will make the place of my feet glorious.


BIBLETEXT:
The sons of those who afflicted you shall come bending low to you, and all who despised you shall bow down at your feet; they shall call you the City of the LORD, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel.


BIBLETEXT:
Whereas you have been forsaken and hated, with no one passing through, I will make you majestic forever, a joy from age to age.


BIBLETEXT:
You shall suck the milk of nations; you shall nurse at the breast of kings; and you shall know that I, the LORD, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.


BIBLETEXT:
Instead of bronze I will bring gold, and instead of iron I will bring silver; instead of wood, bronze, instead of stones, iron. I will make your overseers peace and your taskmasters righteousness.


BIBLETEXT:
Violence shall no more be heard in your land, devastation or destruction within your borders; you shall call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise.


BIBLETEXT:
The sun shall be no more your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give you light; but the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory.


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


BIBLETEXT:
Your people shall all be righteous; they shall possess the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I might be glorified.


BIBLETEXT:
The least one shall become a clan, and the smallest one a mighty nation; I am the LORD; in its time I will hasten it.


BIBLETEXT:
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;


BIBLETEXT:
to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn;


BIBLETEXT:
to grant to those who mourn in Zion-- to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified.


BIBLETEXT:
They shall build up the ancient ruins; they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations.


BIBLETEXT:
Strangers shall stand and tend your flocks; foreigners shall be your plowmen and vinedressers;


BIBLETEXT:
but you shall be called the priests of the LORD; they shall speak of you as the ministers of our God; you shall eat the wealth of the nations, and in their glory you shall boast.


BIBLETEXT:
Instead of your shame there shall be a double portion; instead of dishonor they shall rejoice in their lot; therefore in their land they shall possess a double portion; they shall have everlasting joy.


BIBLETEXT:
For I the LORD love justice; I hate robbery and wrong; I will faithfully give them their recompense, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.


BIBLETEXT:
Their offspring shall be known among the nations, and their descendants in the midst of the peoples; all who see them shall acknowledge them, that they are an offspring the LORD has blessed.


BIBLETEXT:
I will greatly rejoice in the LORD; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.


BIBLETEXT:
For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up, so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up before all the nations.


BIBLETEXT:
For Zion's sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not be quiet, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a burning torch.


BIBLETEXT:
The nations shall see your righteousness, and all the kings your glory, and you shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the LORD will give.


BIBLETEXT:
You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.


BIBLETEXT:
You shall no more be termed Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate, but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her, and your land Married; for the LORD delights in you, and your land shall be married.


BIBLETEXT:
For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.


BIBLETEXT:
On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have set watchmen; all the day and all the night they shall never be silent. You who put the LORD in remembrance, take no rest,


BIBLETEXT:
and give him no rest until he establishes Jerusalem and makes it a praise in the earth.


BIBLETEXT:
The LORD has sworn by his right hand and by his mighty arm: "I will not again give your grain to be food for your enemies, and foreigners shall not drink your wine for which you have labored;


BIBLETEXT:
but those who garner it shall eat it and praise the LORD, and those who gather it shall drink it in the courts of my sanctuary."


BIBLETEXT:
Go through, go through the gates; prepare the way for the people; build up, build up the highway; clear it of stones; lift up a signal over the peoples.


BIBLETEXT:
Behold, the LORD has proclaimed to the end of the earth: Say to the daughter of Zion, "Behold, your salvation comes; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him."


BIBLETEXT:
And they shall be called The Holy People, The Redeemed of the LORD; and you shall be called Sought Out, A City Not Forsaken.


BIBLETEXT:
Who is this who comes from Edom, in crimsoned garments from Bozrah, he who is splendid in his apparel, marching in the greatness of his strength? "It is I, speaking in righteousness, mighty to save."


BIBLETEXT:
Why is your apparel red, and your garments like his who treads in the winepress?


BIBLETEXT:
"I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with me; I trod them in my anger and trampled them in my wrath; their lifeblood spattered on my garments, and stained all my apparel.


BIBLETEXT:
For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and my year of redemption had come.


BIBLETEXT:
I looked, but there was no one to help; I was appalled, but there was no one to uphold; so my own arm brought me salvation, and my wrath upheld me.


BIBLETEXT:
I trampled down the peoples in my anger; I made them drunk in my wrath, and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth."


BIBLETEXT:
I will recount the steadfast love of the LORD, the praises of the LORD, according to all that the LORD has granted us, and the great goodness to the house of Israel that he has granted them according to his compassion, according to the abundance of his steadfast love.


BIBLETEXT:
For he said, "Surely they are my people, children who will not deal falsely." And he became their Savior.


BIBLETEXT:
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; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.


BIBLETEXT:
But they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit; therefore he turned to be their enemy, and himself fought against them.


BIBLETEXT:
Then he remembered the days of old, of Moses and his people. Where is he who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of his flock? Where is he who put in the midst of them his Holy Spirit,


BIBLETEXT:
who caused his glorious arm to go at the right hand of Moses, who divided the waters before them to make for himself an everlasting name,


BIBLETEXT:
who led them through the depths? Like a horse in the desert, they did not stumble.


BIBLETEXT:
Like livestock that go down into the valley, the Spirit of the LORD gave them rest. So you led your people, to make for yourself a glorious name.


BIBLETEXT:
Look down from heaven and see, from your holy and beautiful habitation. Where are your zeal and your might? The stirring of your inner parts and your compassion are held back from me.


BIBLETEXT:
For you are our Father, though Abraham does not know us, and Israel does not acknowledge us; you, O LORD, are our Father, our Redeemer from of old is your name.


BIBLETEXT:
O LORD, why do you make us wander from your ways and harden our heart, so that we fear you not? Return for the sake of your servants, the tribes of your heritage.


BIBLETEXT:
Your holy people held possession for a little while; our adversaries have trampled down your sanctuary.


BIBLETEXT:
We have become like those over whom you have never ruled, like those who are not called by your name.


BIBLETEXT:
Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence--


BIBLETEXT:
as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil-- to make your name known to your adversaries, and that the nations might tremble at your presence!


BIBLETEXT:
When you did awesome things that we did not look for, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.


BIBLETEXT:
From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him.


BIBLETEXT:
You meet him who joyfully works righteousness, those who remember you in your ways. Behold, you were angry, and we sinned; in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?


BIBLETEXT:
We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.


BIBLETEXT:
There is no one who calls upon your name, who rouses himself to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have made us melt in the hand of our iniquities.


BIBLETEXT:
But now, O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.


BIBLETEXT:
Be not so terribly angry, O LORD, and remember not iniquity forever. Behold, please look, we are all your people.


BIBLETEXT:
Your holy cities have become a wilderness; Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.


BIBLETEXT:
Our holy and beautiful house, where our fathers praised you, has been burned by fire, and all our pleasant places have become ruins.


BIBLETEXT:
Will you restrain yourself at these things, O LORD? Will you keep silent, and afflict us so terribly?


BIBLETEXT:
I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, "Here am I, here am I," to a nation that was not called by my name.


BIBLETEXT:
I spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, following their own devices;


BIBLETEXT:
a people who provoke me to my face continually, sacrificing in gardens and making offerings on bricks;


BIBLETEXT:
who sit in tombs, and spend the night in secret places; who eat pig's flesh, and broth of tainted meat is in their vessels;


BIBLETEXT:
who say, "Keep to yourself, do not come near me, for I am too holy for you." These are a smoke in my nostrils, a fire that burns all the day.


BIBLETEXT:
Behold, it is written before me: "I will not keep silent, but I will repay; I will indeed repay into their bosom


BIBLETEXT:
both your iniquities and your fathers' iniquities together, says the LORD; because they made offerings on the mountains and insulted me on the hills, I will measure into their bosom payment for their former deeds."


BIBLETEXT:
Thus says the LORD: "As the new wine is found in the cluster, and they say, 'Do not destroy it, for there is a blessing in it,' so I will do for my servants' sake, and not destroy them all.


BIBLETEXT:
I will bring forth offspring from Jacob, and from Judah possessors of my mountains; my chosen shall possess it, and my servants shall dwell there.


BIBLETEXT:
Sharon shall become a pasture for flocks, and the Valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down, for my people who have sought me.


BIBLETEXT:
But you who forsake the LORD, who forget my holy mountain, who set a table for Fortune and fill cups of mixed wine for Destiny,


BIBLETEXT:
I will destine you to the sword, and all of you shall bow down to the slaughter, because, when I called, you did not answer; when I spoke, you did not listen, but you did what was evil in my eyes and chose what I did not delight in."


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, my servants shall eat, but you shall be hungry; behold, my servants shall drink, but you shall be thirsty; behold, my servants shall rejoice, but you shall be put to shame;


BIBLETEXT:
behold, my servants shall sing for gladness of heart, but you shall cry out for pain of heart and shall wail for breaking of spirit.


BIBLETEXT:
You shall leave your name to my chosen for a curse, and the Lord GOD will put you to death, but his servants he will call by another name.


BIBLETEXT:
So that he who blesses himself in the land shall bless himself by the God of truth, and he who takes an oath in the land shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten and are hidden from my eyes.


BIBLETEXT:
"For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind.


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


BIBLETEXT:
I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people; no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress.


BIBLETEXT:
No more shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days, for the young man shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed.


BIBLETEXT:
They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.


BIBLETEXT:
They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.


BIBLETEXT:
They shall not labor in vain or bear children for calamity, for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the LORD, and their descendants with them.


BIBLETEXT:
Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear.


BIBLETEXT:
The wolf and the lamb shall graze together; the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain," says the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
Thus says the LORD: "Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest?


BIBLETEXT:
All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the LORD. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.


BIBLETEXT:
"He who slaughters an ox is like one who kills a man; he who sacrifices a lamb, like one who breaks a dog's neck; he who presents a grain offering, like one who offers pig's blood; he who makes a memorial offering of frankincense, like one who blesses an idol. These have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations;


BIBLETEXT:
I also will choose harsh treatment for them and bring their fears upon them, because when I called, no one answered, when I spoke, they did not listen; but they did what was evil in my eyes and chose that in which I did not delight."


BIBLETEXT:
Hear the word of the LORD, you who tremble at his word: "Your brothers who hate you and cast you out for my name's sake have said, 'Let the LORD be glorified, that we may see your joy'; but it is they who shall be put to shame.


BIBLETEXT:
"The sound of an uproar from the city! A sound from the temple! The sound of the LORD, rendering recompense to his enemies!


BIBLETEXT:
"Before she was in labor she gave birth; before her pain came upon her she delivered a son.


BIBLETEXT:
Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall a land be born in one day? Shall a nation be brought forth in one moment? For as soon as Zion was in labor she brought forth her children.


BIBLETEXT:
Shall I bring to the point of birth and not cause to bring forth?" says the LORD; "shall I, who cause to bring forth, shut the womb?" says your God.


BIBLETEXT:
"Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all you who love her; rejoice with her in joy, all you who mourn over her;


BIBLETEXT:
that you may nurse and be satisfied from her consoling breast; that you may drink deeply with delight from her glorious abundance."


BIBLETEXT:
For thus says the LORD: "Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream; and you shall nurse, you shall be carried upon her hip, and bounced upon her knees.


BIBLETEXT:
As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.


BIBLETEXT:
You shall see, and your heart shall rejoice; your bones shall flourish like the grass; and the hand of the LORD shall be known to his servants, and he shall show his indignation against his enemies.


BIBLETEXT:
"For behold, the LORD will come in fire, and his chariots like the whirlwind, to render his anger in fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.


BIBLETEXT:
For by fire will the LORD enter into judgment, and by his sword, with all flesh; and those slain by the LORD shall be many.


BIBLETEXT:
"Those who sanctify and purify themselves to go into the gardens, following one in the midst, eating pig's flesh and the abomination and mice, shall come to an end together, declares the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
"For I know their works and their thoughts, and the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and shall see my glory,


BIBLETEXT:
and I will set a sign among them. And from them I will send survivors to the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the coastlands far away, that have not heard my fame or seen my glory. And they shall declare my glory among the nations.


BIBLETEXT:
And they shall bring all your brothers from all the nations as an offering to the LORD, on horses and in chariots and in litters and on mules and on dromedaries, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the LORD, just as the Israelites bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
And some of them also I will take for priests and for Levites, says the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
"For as the new heavens and the new earth that I make shall remain before me, says the LORD, so shall your offspring and your name remain.


BIBLETEXT:
From new moon to new moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me, declares the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
"And they shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against me. For their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh."


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


BIBLETEXT:
to whom the word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.


BIBLETEXT:
It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, and until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the captivity of Jerusalem in the fifth month.


BIBLETEXT:
Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying,


BIBLETEXT:
"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations."


BIBLETEXT:
Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth."


BIBLETEXT:
But the LORD said to me, "Do not say, 'I am only a youth'; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak.


BIBLETEXT:
Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, declares the LORD."


BIBLETEXT:
Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the LORD said to me, "Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.


BIBLETEXT:
See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant."


BIBLETEXT:
And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, "Jeremiah, what do you see?" And I said, "I see an almond branch."


BIBLETEXT:
Then the LORD said to me, "You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it."


BIBLETEXT:
The word of the LORD came to me a second time, saying, "What do you see?" And I said, "I see a boiling pot, facing away from the north."


BIBLETEXT:
Then the LORD said to me, "Out of the north disaster shall be let loose upon all the inhabitants of the land.


BIBLETEXT:
For behold, I am calling all the tribes of the kingdoms of the north, declares the LORD, and they shall come, and every one shall set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, against all its walls all around and against all the cities of Judah.


BIBLETEXT:
And I will declare my judgments against them, for all their evil in forsaking me. They have made offerings to other gods and worshiped the works of their own hands.


BIBLETEXT:
But you, dress yourself for work; arise, and say to them everything that I command you. Do not be dismayed by them, lest I dismay you before them.


BIBLETEXT:
And I, behold, I make you this day a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the people of the land.


BIBLETEXT:
They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, declares the LORD, to deliver you."


BIBLETEXT:
The word of the LORD came to me, saying,


BIBLETEXT:
"Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the LORD, "I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown.


BIBLETEXT:
Israel was holy to the LORD, the firstfruits of his harvest. All who ate of it incurred guilt; disaster came upon them, declares the LORD."


BIBLETEXT:
Hear the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, and all the clans of the house of Israel.


BIBLETEXT:
Thus says the LORD: "What wrong did your fathers find in me that they went far from me, and went after worthlessness, and became worthless?


BIBLETEXT:
They did not say, 'Where is the LORD who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us in the wilderness, in a land of deserts and pits, in a land of drought and deep darkness, in a land that none passes through, where no man dwells?'


BIBLETEXT:
And I brought you into a plentiful land to enjoy its fruits and its good things. But when you came in, you defiled my land and made my heritage an abomination.


BIBLETEXT:
The priests did not say, 'Where is the LORD?' Those who handle the law did not know me; the shepherds transgressed against me; the prophets prophesied by Baal and went after things that do not profit.


BIBLETEXT:
"Therefore I still contend with you, declares the LORD, and with your children's children I will contend.


BIBLETEXT:
For cross to the coasts of Cyprus and see, or send to Kedar and examine with care; see if there has been such a thing.


BIBLETEXT:
Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit.


BIBLETEXT:
Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the LORD,


BIBLETEXT:
for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.


BIBLETEXT:
"How can I pardon you? Your children have forsaken me and have sworn by those who are no gods. When I fed them to the full, they committed adultery and trooped to the houses of whores.


BIBLETEXT:
They were well-fed, lusty stallions, each neighing for his neighbor's wife.


BIBLETEXT:
Shall I not punish them for these things? declares the LORD; and shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this?


BIBLETEXT:
"Go up through her vine rows and destroy, but make not a full end; strip away her branches, for they are not the LORD's.


BIBLETEXT:
For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have been utterly treacherous to me, declares the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
They have spoken falsely of the LORD and have said, 'He will do nothing; no disaster will come upon us, nor shall we see sword or famine.


BIBLETEXT:
The prophets will become wind; the word is not in them. Thus shall it be done to them!'"


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of hosts: "Because you have spoken this word, behold, I am making my words in your mouth a fire, and this people wood, and the fire shall consume them.


BIBLETEXT:
Behold, I am bringing against you a nation from afar, O house of Israel, declares the LORD. It is an enduring nation; it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know, nor can you understand what they say.


BIBLETEXT:
Their quiver is like an open tomb; they are all mighty warriors.


BIBLETEXT:
They shall eat up your harvest and your food; they shall eat up your sons and your daughters; they shall eat up your flocks and your herds; they shall eat up your vines and your fig trees; your fortified cities in which you trust they shall beat down with the sword."


BIBLETEXT:
"But even in those days, declares the LORD, I will not make a full end of you.


BIBLETEXT:
And when your people say, 'Why has the LORD our God done all these things to us?' you shall say to them, 'As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve foreigners in a land that is not yours.'"


BIBLETEXT:
Declare this in the house of Jacob; proclaim it in Judah:


BIBLETEXT:
"Hear this, O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes, but see not, who have ears, but hear not.


BIBLETEXT:
Do you not fear me? declares the LORD. Do you not tremble before me? I placed the sand as the boundary for the sea, a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass; though the waves toss, they cannot prevail; though they roar, they cannot pass over it.


BIBLETEXT:
But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart; they have turned aside and gone away.


BIBLETEXT:
They do not say in their hearts, 'Let us fear the LORD our God, who gives the rain in its season, the autumn rain and the spring rain, and keeps for us the weeks appointed for the harvest.'


BIBLETEXT:
Your iniquities have turned these away, and your sins have kept good from you.


BIBLETEXT:
For wicked men are found among my people; they lurk like fowlers lying in wait. They set a trap; they catch men.


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


BIBLETEXT:
they have grown fat and sleek. They know no bounds in deeds of evil; they judge not with justice the cause of the fatherless, to make it prosper, and they do not defend the rights of the needy.


BIBLETEXT:
Shall I not punish them for these things? declares the LORD, and shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this?"


BIBLETEXT:
An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land:


BIBLETEXT:
the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule at their direction; my people love to have it so, but what will you do when the end comes?


BIBLETEXT:
Flee for safety, O people of Benjamin, from the midst of Jerusalem! Blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and raise a signal on Beth-haccherem, for disaster looms out of the north, and great destruction.


BIBLETEXT:
The lovely and delicately bred I will destroy, the daughter of Zion.


BIBLETEXT:
Shepherds with their flocks shall come against her; they shall pitch their tents around her; they shall pasture, each in his place.


BIBLETEXT:
"Prepare war against her; arise, and let us attack at noon! Woe to us, for the day declines, for the shadows of evening lengthen!


BIBLETEXT:
Arise, and let us attack by night and destroy her palaces!"


BIBLETEXT:
For thus says the LORD of hosts: "Cut down her trees; cast up a siege mound against Jerusalem. This is the city that must be punished; there is nothing but oppression within her.


BIBLETEXT:
As a well keeps its water fresh, so she keeps fresh her evil; violence and destruction are heard within her; sickness and wounds are ever before me.


BIBLETEXT:
Be warned, O Jerusalem, lest I turn from you in disgust, lest I make you a desolation, an uninhabited land."


BIBLETEXT:
Thus says the LORD of hosts: "They shall glean thoroughly as a vine the remnant of Israel; like a grape-gatherer pass your hand again over its branches."


BIBLETEXT:
To whom shall I speak and give warning, that they may hear? Behold, their ears are uncircumcised, they cannot listen; behold, the word of the LORD is to them an object of scorn; they take no pleasure in it.


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore I am full of the wrath of the LORD; I am weary of holding it in. "Pour it out upon the children in the street, and upon the gatherings of young men, also; both husband and wife shall be taken, the elderly and the very aged.


BIBLETEXT:
Their houses shall be turned over to others, their fields and wives together, for I will stretch out my hand against the inhabitants of the land," declares the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
"For from the least to the greatest of them, everyone is greedy for unjust gain; and from prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely.


BIBLETEXT:
They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, 'Peace, peace,' when there is no peace.


BIBLETEXT:
Were they ashamed when they committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed; they did not know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown," says the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
Thus says the LORD: "Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls. But they said, 'We will not walk in it.'


BIBLETEXT:
I set watchmen over you, saying, 'Pay attention to the sound of the trumpet!' But they said, 'We will not pay attention.'


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore hear, O nations, and know, O congregation, what will happen to them.


BIBLETEXT:
Hear, O earth; behold, I am bringing disaster upon this people, the fruit of their devices, because they have not paid attention to my words; and as for my law, they have rejected it.


BIBLETEXT:
What use to me is frankincense that comes from Sheba, or sweet cane from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices pleasing to me.


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore thus says the LORD: 'Behold, I will lay before this people stumbling blocks against which they shall stumble; fathers and sons together, neighbor and friend shall perish.'"


BIBLETEXT:
Thus says the LORD: "Behold, a people is coming from the north country, a great nation is stirring from the farthest parts of the earth.


BIBLETEXT:
They lay hold on bow and javelin; they are cruel and have no mercy; the sound of them is like the roaring sea; they ride on horses, set in array as a man for battle, against you, O daughter of Zion!"


BIBLETEXT:
We have heard the report of it; our hands fall helpless; anguish has taken hold of us, pain as of a woman in labor.


BIBLETEXT:
Go not out into the field, nor walk on the road, for the enemy has a sword; terror is on every side.


BIBLETEXT:
O daughter of my people, put on sackcloth, and roll in ashes; make mourning as for an only son, most bitter lamentation, for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us.


BIBLETEXT:
"I have made you a tester of metals among my people, that you may know and test their ways.


BIBLETEXT:
They are all stubbornly rebellious, going about with slanders; they are bronze and iron; all of them act corruptly.


BIBLETEXT:
The bellows blow fiercely; the lead is consumed by the fire; in vain the refining goes on, for the wicked are not removed.


BIBLETEXT:
Rejected silver they are called, for the LORD has rejected them."


BIBLETEXT:
The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD:


BIBLETEXT:
"Stand in the gate of the LORD's house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the LORD, all you men of Judah who enter these gates to worship the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place.


BIBLETEXT:
Do not trust in these deceptive words: 'This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD.'


BIBLETEXT:
"For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly execute justice one with another,


BIBLETEXT:
if you do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own harm,


BIBLETEXT:
then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your fathers forever.


BIBLETEXT:
"Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail.


BIBLETEXT:
Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known,


BIBLETEXT:
and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, 'We are delivered!'--only to go on doing all these abominations?


BIBLETEXT:
Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it, declares the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
Go now to my place that was in Shiloh, where I made my name dwell at first, and see what I did to it because of the evil of my people Israel.


BIBLETEXT:
And now, because you have done all these things, declares the LORD, and when I spoke to you persistently you did not listen, and when I called you, you did not answer,


BIBLETEXT:
therefore I will do to the house that is called by my name, and in which you trust, and to the place that I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shiloh.


BIBLETEXT:
And I will cast you out of my sight, as I cast out all your kinsmen, all the offspring of Ephraim.


BIBLETEXT:
"As for you, do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with me, for I will not hear you.


BIBLETEXT:
Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?


BIBLETEXT:
The children gather wood, the fathers kindle fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven. And they pour out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke me to anger.


BIBLETEXT:
Is it I whom they provoke? declares the LORD. Is it not themselves, to their own shame?


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: behold, my anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place, upon man and beast, upon the trees of the field and the fruit of the ground; it will burn and not be quenched."


BIBLETEXT:
Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat the flesh.


BIBLETEXT:
For in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to your fathers or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices.


BIBLETEXT:
But this command I gave them: 'Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people. And walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.'


BIBLETEXT:
But they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and the stubbornness of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward.


BIBLETEXT:
From the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have persistently sent all my servants the prophets to them, day after day.


BIBLETEXT:
Yet they did not listen to me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers.


BIBLETEXT:
"So you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you. You shall call to them, but they will not answer you.


BIBLETEXT:
And you shall say to them, 'This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the LORD their God, and did not accept discipline; truth has perished; it is cut off from their lips.


BIBLETEXT:
"'Cut off your hair and cast it away; raise a lamentation on the bare heights, for the LORD has rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.'


BIBLETEXT:
"For the sons of Judah have done evil in my sight, declares the LORD. They have set their detestable things in the house that is called by my name, to defile it.


BIBLETEXT:
And they have built the high places of Topheth, 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, nor did it come into my mind.


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when it will no more be called Topheth, or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter; for they will bury in Topheth, because there is no room elsewhere.


BIBLETEXT:
And the dead bodies of this people will be food for the birds of the air, and for the beasts of the earth, and none will frighten them away.


BIBLETEXT:
And I will silence in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, for the land shall become a waste.


BIBLETEXT:
"At that time, declares the LORD, the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of its officials, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be brought out of their tombs.


BIBLETEXT:
And they shall be spread before the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven, which they have loved and served, which they have gone after, and which they have sought and worshiped. And they shall not be gathered or buried. They shall be as dung on the surface of the ground.


BIBLETEXT:
Death shall be preferred to life by all the remnant that remains of this evil family in all the places where I have driven them, declares the LORD of hosts.


BIBLETEXT:
"You shall say to them, Thus says the LORD: When men fall, do they not rise again? If one turns away, does he not return?


BIBLETEXT:
Why then has this people turned away in perpetual backsliding? They hold fast to deceit; they refuse to return.


BIBLETEXT:
I have paid attention and listened, but they have not spoken rightly; no man relents of his evil, saying, 'What have I done?' Everyone turns to his own course, like a horse plunging headlong into battle.


BIBLETEXT:
Even the stork in the heavens knows her times, and the turtledove, swallow, and crane keep the time of their coming, but my people know not the rules of the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
"How can you say, 'We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us'? But behold, the lying pen of the scribes has made it into a lie.


BIBLETEXT:
The wise men shall be put to shame; they shall be dismayed and taken; behold, they have rejected the word of the LORD, so what wisdom is in them?


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore I will give their wives to others and their fields to conquerors, because from the least to the greatest everyone is greedy for unjust gain; from prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely.


BIBLETEXT:
Were they ashamed when they committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed; they did not know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among the fallen; when I punish them, they shall be overthrown, says the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
When I would gather them, declares the LORD, there are no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree; even the leaves are withered, and what I gave them has passed away from them."


BIBLETEXT:
Why do we sit still? Gather together; let us go into the fortified cities and perish there, for the LORD our God has doomed us to perish and has given us poisoned water to drink, because we have sinned against the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
We looked for peace, but no good came; for a time of healing, but behold, terror.


BIBLETEXT:
"The snorting of their horses is heard from Dan; at the sound of the neighing of their stallions the whole land quakes. They come and devour the land and all that fills it, the city and those who dwell in it.


BIBLETEXT:
For behold, I am sending among you serpents, adders that cannot be charmed, and they shall bite you," declares the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
My joy is gone; grief is upon me; my heart is sick within me.


BIBLETEXT:
Behold, the cry of the daughter of my people from the length and breadth of the land: "Is the LORD not in Zion? Is her King not in her?" "Why have they provoked me to anger with their carved images and with their foreign idols?"


BIBLETEXT:
"The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved."


BIBLETEXT:
For the wound of the daughter of my people is my heart wounded; I mourn, and dismay has taken hold on me.


BIBLETEXT:
Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has the health of the daughter of my people not been restored?


BIBLETEXT:
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!


BIBLETEXT:
Oh that I had in the desert a travelers' lodging place, that I might leave my people and go away from them! For they are all adulterers, a company of treacherous men.


BIBLETEXT:
They bend their tongue like a bow; falsehood and not truth has grown strong in the land; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know me, declares the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
Let everyone beware of his neighbor, and put no trust in any brother, for every brother is a deceiver, and every neighbor goes about as a slanderer.


BIBLETEXT:
Everyone deceives his neighbor, and no one speaks the truth; they have taught their tongue to speak lies; they weary themselves committing iniquity.


BIBLETEXT:
Heaping oppression upon oppression, and deceit upon deceit, they refuse to know me, declares the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: "Behold, I will refine them and test them, for what else can I do, because of my people?


BIBLETEXT:
Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceitfully; with his mouth each speaks peace to his neighbor, but in his heart he plans an ambush for him.


BIBLETEXT:
Shall I not punish them for these things? declares the LORD, and shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this?


BIBLETEXT:
"I will take up weeping and wailing for the mountains, and a lamentation for the pastures of the wilderness, because they are laid waste so that no one passes through, and the lowing of cattle is not heard; both the birds of the air and the beasts have fled and are gone.


BIBLETEXT:
I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a lair of jackals, and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant."


BIBLETEXT:
Who is the man so wise that he can understand this? To whom has the mouth of the LORD spoken, that he may declare it? Why is the land ruined and laid waste like a wilderness, so that no one passes through?


BIBLETEXT:
And the LORD says: "Because they have forsaken my law that I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice or walked in accord with it,


BIBLETEXT:
but have stubbornly followed their own hearts and have gone after the Baals, as their fathers taught them.


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will feed this people with bitter food, and give them poisonous water to drink.


BIBLETEXT:
I will scatter them among the nations whom neither they nor their fathers have known, and I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them."


BIBLETEXT:
Thus says the LORD of hosts: "Consider, and call for the mourning women to come; send for the skillful women to come;


BIBLETEXT:
let them make haste and raise a wailing over us, that our eyes may run down with tears and our eyelids flow with water.


BIBLETEXT:
For a sound of wailing is heard from Zion: 'How we are ruined! We are utterly shamed, because we have left the land, because they have cast down our dwellings.'"


BIBLETEXT:
Hear, O women, the word of the LORD, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth; teach to your daughters a lament, and each to her neighbor a dirge.


BIBLETEXT:
For death has come up into our windows; it has entered our palaces, cutting off the children from the streets and the young men from the squares.


BIBLETEXT:
Speak, "Thus declares the LORD: 'The dead bodies of men shall fall like dung upon the open field, like sheaves after the reaper, and none shall gather them.'"


BIBLETEXT:
Thus says the LORD: "Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches,


BIBLETEXT:
but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD."


BIBLETEXT:
"Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will punish all those who are circumcised merely in the flesh--


BIBLETEXT:
Egypt, Judah, Edom, the sons of Ammon, Moab, and all who dwell in the desert who cut the corners of their hair, for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart."


BIBLETEXT:
Hear the word that the LORD speaks to you, O house of Israel.


BIBLETEXT:
Thus says the LORD: "Learn not the way of the nations, nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens because the nations are dismayed at them,


BIBLETEXT:
for the customs of the peoples are vanity. A tree from the forest is cut down and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman.


BIBLETEXT:
They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move.


BIBLETEXT:
Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field, and they cannot speak; they have to be carried, for they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good."


BIBLETEXT:
There is none like you, O LORD; you are great, and your name is great in might.


BIBLETEXT:
Who would not fear you, O King of the nations? For this is your due; for among all the wise ones of the nations and in all their kingdoms there is none like you.


BIBLETEXT:
They are both stupid and foolish; the instruction of idols is but wood!


BIBLETEXT:
Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz. They are the work of the craftsman and of the hands of the goldsmith; their clothing is violet and purple; they are all the work of skilled men.


BIBLETEXT:
But the LORD is the true God; he is the living God and the everlasting King. At his wrath the earth quakes, and the nations cannot endure his indignation.


BIBLETEXT:
Thus shall you say to them: "The gods who did not make the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under the heavens."


BIBLETEXT:
It is he who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the heavens.


BIBLETEXT:
When he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain, and he brings forth the wind from his storehouses.


BIBLETEXT:
Every man is stupid and without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols, for his images are false, and there is no breath in them.


BIBLETEXT:
They are worthless, a work of delusion; at the time of their punishment they shall perish.


BIBLETEXT:
Not like these is he who is the portion of Jacob, for he is the one who formed all things, and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance; the LORD of hosts is his name.


BIBLETEXT:
Gather up your bundle from the ground, O you who dwell under siege!


BIBLETEXT:
For thus says the LORD: "Behold, I am slinging out the inhabitants of the land at this time, and I will bring distress on them, that they may feel it."


BIBLETEXT:
Woe is me because of my hurt! My wound is grievous. But I said, "Truly this is an affliction, and I must bear it."


BIBLETEXT:
My tent is destroyed, and all my cords are broken; my children have gone from me, and they are not; there is no one to spread my tent again and to set up my curtains.


BIBLETEXT:
For the shepherds are stupid and do not inquire of the LORD; therefore they have not prospered, and all their flock is scattered.


BIBLETEXT:
A voice, a rumor! Behold, it comes!-- a great commotion out of the north country to make the cities of Judah a desolation, a lair of jackals.


BIBLETEXT:
I know, O LORD, that the way of man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.


BIBLETEXT:
Correct me, O LORD, but in justice; not in your anger, lest you bring me to nothing.


BIBLETEXT:
Pour out your wrath on the nations that know you not, and on the peoples that call not on your name, for they have devoured Jacob; they have devoured him and consumed him, and have laid waste his habitation.


BIBLETEXT:
"Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.


BIBLETEXT:
You shall say to them, Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Cursed be the man who does not hear the words of this covenant


BIBLETEXT:
that I commanded your fathers when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, Listen to my voice, and do all that I command you. So shall you be my people, and I will be your God,


BIBLETEXT:
that I may confirm the oath that I swore to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as at this day." Then I answered, "So be it, LORD."


BIBLETEXT:
And the LORD said to me, "Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: Hear the words of this covenant and do them.


BIBLETEXT:
For I solemnly warned your fathers when I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, warning them persistently, even to this day, saying, Obey my voice.


BIBLETEXT:
Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but everyone walked in the stubbornness of his evil heart. Therefore I brought upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did not."


BIBLETEXT:
Again the LORD said to me, "A conspiracy exists among the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.


BIBLETEXT:
They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to hear my words. They have gone after other gods to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant that I made with their fathers.


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore, thus says the LORD, Behold, I am bringing disaster upon them that they cannot escape. Though they cry to me, I will not listen to them.


BIBLETEXT:
Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry to the gods to whom they make offerings, but they cannot save them in the time of their trouble.


BIBLETEXT:
For your gods have become as many as your cities, O Judah, and as many as the streets of Jerusalem are the altars you have set up to shame, altars to make offerings to Baal.


BIBLETEXT:
"Therefore do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer on their behalf, for I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their trouble.


BIBLETEXT:
What right has my beloved in my house, when she has done many vile deeds? Can even sacrificial flesh avert your doom? Can you then exult?


BIBLETEXT:
The LORD once called you 'a green olive tree, beautiful with good fruit.' But with the roar of a great tempest he will set fire to it, and its branches will be consumed.


BIBLETEXT:
The LORD of hosts, who planted you, has decreed disaster against you, because of the evil that the house of Israel and the house of Judah have done, provoking me to anger by making offerings to Baal."


BIBLETEXT:
The LORD made it known to me and I knew; then you showed me their deeds.


BIBLETEXT:
But I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter. I did not know it was against me they devised schemes, saying, "Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name be remembered no more."


BIBLETEXT:
But, O LORD of hosts, who judges righteously, who tests the heart and the mind, let me see your vengeance upon them, for to you have I committed my cause.


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the men of Anathoth, who seek your life, and say, "Do not prophesy in the name of the LORD, or you will die by our hand"--


BIBLETEXT:
therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: "Behold, I will punish them. The young men shall die by the sword, their sons and their daughters shall die by famine,


BIBLETEXT:
and none of them shall be left. For I will bring disaster upon the men of Anathoth, the year of their punishment."


BIBLETEXT:
Righteous are you, O LORD, when I complain to you; yet I would plead my case before you. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all who are treacherous thrive?


BIBLETEXT:
You plant them, and they take root; they grow and produce fruit; you are near in their mouth and far from their heart.


BIBLETEXT:
But you, O LORD, know me; you see me, and test my heart toward you. Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and set them apart for the day of slaughter.


BIBLETEXT:
How long will the land mourn and the grass of every field wither? For the evil of those who dwell in it the beasts and the birds are swept away, because they said, "He will not see our latter end."


BIBLETEXT:
"If you have raced with men on foot, and they have wearied you, how will you compete with horses? And if in a safe land you are so trusting, what will you do in the thicket of the Jordan?


BIBLETEXT:
For even your brothers and the house of your father, even they have dealt treacherously with you; they are in full cry after you; do not believe them, though they speak friendly words to you."


BIBLETEXT:
"I have forsaken my house; I have abandoned my heritage; I have given the beloved of my soul into the hands of her enemies.


BIBLETEXT:
My heritage has become to me like a lion in the forest; she has lifted up her voice against me; therefore I hate her.


BIBLETEXT:
Is my heritage to me like a hyena's lair? Are the birds of prey against her all around? Go, assemble all the wild beasts; bring them to devour.


BIBLETEXT:
Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard; they have trampled down my portion; they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.


BIBLETEXT:
They have made it a desolation; desolate, it mourns to me. The whole land is made desolate, but no man lays it to heart.


BIBLETEXT:
Upon all the bare heights in the desert destroyers have come, for the sword of the LORD devours from one end of the land to the other; no flesh has peace.


BIBLETEXT:
They have sown wheat and have reaped thorns; they have tired themselves out but profit nothing. They shall be ashamed of their harvests because of the fierce anger of the LORD."


BIBLETEXT:
Thus says the LORD concerning all my evil neighbors who touch the heritage that I have given my people Israel to inherit: "Behold, I will pluck them up from their land, and I will pluck up the house of Judah from among them.


BIBLETEXT:
And after I have plucked them up, I will again have compassion on them, and I will bring them again each to his heritage and each to his land.


BIBLETEXT:
And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, 'As the LORD lives,' even as they taught my people to swear by Baal, then they shall be built up in the midst of my people.


BIBLETEXT:
But if any nation will not listen, then I will utterly pluck it up and destroy it, declares the LORD."


BIBLETEXT:
Thus says the LORD to me, "Go and buy a linen loincloth and put it around your waist, and do not dip it in water."


BIBLETEXT:
So I bought a loincloth according to the word of the LORD, and put it around my waist.


BIBLETEXT:
And the word of the LORD came to me a second time,


BIBLETEXT:
"Take the loincloth that you have bought, which is around your waist, and arise, go to the Euphrates and hide it there in a cleft of the rock."


BIBLETEXT:
So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the LORD commanded me.


BIBLETEXT:
And after many days the LORD said to me, "Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take from there the loincloth that I commanded you to hide there."


BIBLETEXT:
Then I went to the Euphrates, and dug, and I took the loincloth from the place where I had hidden it. And behold, the loincloth was spoiled; it was good for nothing.


BIBLETEXT:
"Thus says the LORD: Even so will I spoil the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem.


BIBLETEXT:
This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who stubbornly follow their own heart and have gone after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be like this loincloth, which is good for nothing.


BIBLETEXT:
For as the loincloth clings to the waist of a man, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, declares the LORD, that they might be for me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory, but they would not listen.


BIBLETEXT:
"You shall speak to them this word: 'Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, "Every jar shall be filled with wine."' And they will say to you, 'Do we not indeed know that every jar will be filled with wine?'


BIBLETEXT:
Then you shall say to them, 'Thus says the LORD: Behold, I will fill with drunkenness all the inhabitants of this land: the kings who sit on David's throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem.


BIBLETEXT:
And I will dash them one against another, fathers and sons together, declares the LORD. I will not pity or spare or have compassion, that I should not destroy them.'"


BIBLETEXT:
Hear and give ear; be not proud, for the LORD has spoken.


BIBLETEXT:
Give glory to the LORD your God before he brings darkness, before your feet stumble on the twilight mountains, and while you look for light he turns it into gloom and makes it deep darkness.


BIBLETEXT:
But if you will not listen, my soul will weep in secret for your pride; my eyes will weep bitterly and run down with tears, because the LORD's flock has been taken captive.


BIBLETEXT:
Say to the king and the queen mother: "Take a lowly seat, for your beautiful crown has come down from your head."


BIBLETEXT:
The cities of the Negeb are shut up, with none to open them; all Judah is taken into exile, wholly taken into exile.


BIBLETEXT:
"Lift up your eyes and see those who come from the north. Where is the flock that was given you, your beautiful flock?


BIBLETEXT:
What will you say when they set as head over you those whom you yourself have taught to be friends to you? Will not pangs take hold of you like those of a woman in labor?


BIBLETEXT:
And if you say in your heart, 'Why have these things come upon me?' it is for the greatness of your iniquity that your skirts are lifted up and you suffer violence.


BIBLETEXT:
Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil.


BIBLETEXT:
I will scatter you like chaff driven by the wind from the desert.


BIBLETEXT:
This is your lot, the portion I have measured out to you, declares the LORD, because you have forgotten me and trusted in lies.


BIBLETEXT:
I myself will lift up your skirts over your face, and your shame will be seen.


BIBLETEXT:
I have seen your abominations, your adulteries and neighings, your lewd whorings, on the hills in the field. Woe to you, O Jerusalem! How long will it be before you are made clean?"


BIBLETEXT:
The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought:


BIBLETEXT:
"Judah mourns, and her gates languish; her people lament on the ground, and the cry of Jerusalem goes up.


BIBLETEXT:
Her nobles send their servants for water; they come to the cisterns; they find no water; they return with their vessels empty; they are ashamed and confounded and cover their heads.


BIBLETEXT:
Because of the ground that is dismayed, since there is no rain on the land, the farmers are ashamed; they cover their heads.


BIBLETEXT:
Even the doe in the field forsakes her newborn fawn because there is no grass.


BIBLETEXT:
The wild donkeys stand on the bare heights; they pant for air like jackals; their eyes fail because there is no vegetation.


BIBLETEXT:
"Though our iniquities testify against us, act, O LORD, for your name's sake; for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against you.


BIBLETEXT:
O you hope of Israel, its savior in time of trouble, why should you be like a stranger in the land, like a traveler who turns aside to tarry for a night?


BIBLETEXT:
Why should you be like a man confused, like a mighty warrior who cannot save? Yet you, O LORD, are in the midst of us, and we are called by your name; do not leave us."


BIBLETEXT:
Thus says the LORD concerning this people: "They have loved to wander thus; they have not restrained their feet; therefore the LORD does not accept them; now he will remember their iniquity and punish their sins."


BIBLETEXT:
The LORD said to me: "Do not pray for the welfare of this people.


BIBLETEXT:
Though they fast, I will not hear their cry, and though they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I will not accept them. But I will consume them by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence."


BIBLETEXT:
Then I said: "Ah, Lord GOD, behold, the prophets say to them, 'You shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine, but I will give you assured peace in this place.'"


BIBLETEXT:
And the LORD said to me: "The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a lying vision, worthless divination, and the deceit of their own minds.


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name although I did not send them, and who say, 'Sword and famine shall not come upon this land': By sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed.


BIBLETEXT:
And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem, victims of famine and sword, with none to bury them--them, their wives, their sons, and their daughters. For I will pour out their evil upon them.


BIBLETEXT:
"You shall say to them this word: 'Let my eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease, for the virgin daughter of my people is shattered with a great wound, with a very grievous blow.


BIBLETEXT:
If I go out into the field, behold, those pierced by the sword! And if I enter the city, behold, the diseases of famine! For both prophet and priest ply their trade through the land and have no knowledge.'"


BIBLETEXT:
Have you utterly rejected Judah? Does your soul loathe Zion? Why have you struck us down so that there is no healing for us? We looked for peace, but no good came; for a time of healing, but behold, terror.


BIBLETEXT:
We acknowledge our wickedness, O LORD, and the iniquity of our fathers, for we have sinned against you.


BIBLETEXT:
Do not spurn us, for your name's sake; do not dishonor your glorious throne; remember and do not break your covenant with us.


BIBLETEXT:
Are there any among the false gods of the nations that can bring rain? Or can the heavens give showers? Are you not he, O LORD our God? We set our hope on you, for you do all these things.


BIBLETEXT:
Then the LORD said to me, "Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my heart would not turn toward this people. Send them out of my sight, and let them go!


BIBLETEXT:
And when they ask you, 'Where shall we go?' you shall say to them, 'Thus says the LORD: "'Those who are for pestilence, to pestilence, and those who are for the sword, to the sword; those who are for famine, to famine, and those who are for captivity, to captivity.'


BIBLETEXT:
I will appoint over them four kinds of destroyers, declares the LORD: the sword to kill, the dogs to tear, and the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy.


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


BIBLETEXT:
"Who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem, or who will grieve for you? Who will turn aside to ask about your welfare?


BIBLETEXT:
You have rejected me, declares the LORD; you keep going backward, so I have stretched out my hand against you and destroyed you-- I am weary of relenting.


BIBLETEXT:
I have winnowed them with a winnowing fork in the gates of the land; I have bereaved them; I have destroyed my people; they did not turn from their ways.


BIBLETEXT:
I have made their widows more in number than the sand of the seas; I have brought against the mothers of young men a destroyer at noonday; I have made anguish and terror fall upon them suddenly.


BIBLETEXT:
She who bore seven has grown feeble; she has fainted away; her sun went down while it was yet day; she has been shamed and disgraced. And the rest of them I will give to the sword before their enemies, declares the LORD."


BIBLETEXT:
Woe is me, my mother, that you bore me, a man of strife and contention to the whole land! I have not lent, nor have I borrowed, yet all of them curse me.


BIBLETEXT:
The LORD said, "Have I not set you free for their good? Have I not pleaded for you before the enemy in the time of trouble and in the time of distress?


BIBLETEXT:
Can one break iron, iron from the north, and bronze?


BIBLETEXT:
"Your wealth and your treasures I will give as spoil, without price, for all your sins, throughout all your territory.


BIBLETEXT:
I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you do not know, for in my anger a fire is kindled that shall burn forever."


BIBLETEXT:
O LORD, you know; remember me and visit me, and take vengeance for me on my persecutors. In your forbearance take me not away; know that for your sake I bear reproach.


BIBLETEXT:
Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O LORD, God of hosts.


BIBLETEXT:
I did not sit in the company of revelers, nor did I rejoice; I sat alone, because your hand was upon me, for you had filled me with indignation.


BIBLETEXT:
Why is my pain unceasing, my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Will you be to me like a deceitful brook, like waters that fail?


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore thus says the LORD: "If you return, I will restore you, and you shall stand before me. If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless, you shall be as my mouth. They shall turn to you, but you shall not turn to them.


BIBLETEXT:
And I will make you to this people a fortified wall of bronze; they will fight against you, but they shall not prevail over you, for I am with you to save you and deliver you, declares the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked, and redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless."


BIBLETEXT:
"You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place.


BIBLETEXT:
For thus says the LORD concerning the sons and daughters who are born in this place, and concerning the mothers who bore them and the fathers who fathered them in this land:


BIBLETEXT:
They shall die of deadly diseases. They shall not be lamented, nor shall they be buried. They shall be as dung on the surface of the ground. They shall perish by the sword and by famine, and their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth.


BIBLETEXT:
"For thus says the LORD: Do not enter the house of mourning, or go to lament or grieve for them, for I have taken away my peace from this people, my steadfast love and mercy, declares the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
Both great and small shall die in this land. They shall not be buried, and no one shall lament for them or cut himself or make himself bald for them.


BIBLETEXT:
No one shall break bread for the mourner, to comfort him for the dead, nor shall anyone give him the cup of consolation to drink for his father or his mother.


BIBLETEXT:
You shall not go into the house of feasting to sit with them, to eat and drink.


BIBLETEXT:
For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will silence in this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.


BIBLETEXT:
"And when you tell this people all these words, and they say to you, 'Why has the LORD pronounced all this great evil against us? What is our iniquity? What is the sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?'


BIBLETEXT:
then you shall say to them: 'Because your fathers have forsaken me, declares the LORD, and have gone after other gods and have served and worshiped them, and have forsaken me and have not kept my law,


BIBLETEXT:
and because you have done worse than your fathers, for behold, every one of you follows his stubborn, evil will, refusing to listen to me.


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore I will hurl you out of this land into a land that neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor.'


BIBLETEXT:
"Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when it shall no longer be said, 'As the LORD lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,'


BIBLETEXT:
but 'As the LORD lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.' For I will bring them back to their own land that I gave to their fathers.


BIBLETEXT:
"Behold, I am sending for many fishers, declares the LORD, and they shall catch them. And afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the clefts of the rocks.


BIBLETEXT:
For my eyes are on all their ways. They are not hidden from me, nor is their iniquity concealed from my eyes.


BIBLETEXT:
But first I will doubly repay their iniquity and their sin, because they have polluted my land with the carcasses of their detestable idols, and have filled my inheritance with their abominations."


BIBLETEXT:
O LORD, my strength and my stronghold, my refuge in the day of trouble, to you shall the nations come from the ends of the earth and say: "Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies, worthless things in which there is no profit.


BIBLETEXT:
Can man make for himself gods? Such are not gods!"


BIBLETEXT:
"Therefore, behold, I will make them know, this once I will make them know my power and my might, and they shall know that my name is the LORD."


BIBLETEXT:
"The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron; with a point of diamond it is engraved on the tablet of their heart, and on the horns of their altars,


BIBLETEXT:
while their children remember their altars and their Asherim, beside every green tree and on the high hills,


BIBLETEXT:
on the mountains in the open country. Your wealth and all your treasures I will give for spoil as the price of your high places for sin throughout all your territory.


BIBLETEXT:
You shall loosen your hand from your heritage that I gave to you, and I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you do not know, for in my anger a fire is kindled that shall burn forever."


BIBLETEXT:
Thus says the LORD: "Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land.


BIBLETEXT:
"Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit."


BIBLETEXT:
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?


BIBLETEXT:
"I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds."


BIBLETEXT:
Like the partridge that gathers a brood that she did not hatch, so is he who gets riches but not by justice; in the midst of his days they will leave him, and at his end he will be a fool.


BIBLETEXT:
A glorious throne set on high from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary.


BIBLETEXT:
O LORD, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you shall be put to shame; those who turn away from you shall be written in the earth, for they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living water.


BIBLETEXT:
Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved, for you are my praise.


BIBLETEXT:
Behold, they say to me, "Where is the word of the LORD? Let it come!"


BIBLETEXT:
I have not run away from being your shepherd, nor have I desired the day of sickness. You know what came out of my lips; it was before your face.


BIBLETEXT:
Be not a terror to me; you are my refuge in the day of disaster.


BIBLETEXT:
Let those be put to shame who persecute me, but let me not be put to shame; let them be dismayed, but let me not be dismayed; bring upon them the day of disaster; destroy them with double destruction!


BIBLETEXT:
Thus said the LORD to me: "Go and stand in the People's Gate, by which the kings of Judah enter and by which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem,


BIBLETEXT:
and say: 'Hear the word of the LORD, you kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who enter by these gates.


BIBLETEXT:
Thus says the LORD: Take care for the sake of your lives, and do not bear a burden on the Sabbath day or bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem.


BIBLETEXT:
And do not carry a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath or do any work, but keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your fathers.


BIBLETEXT:
Yet they did not listen or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck, that they might not hear and receive instruction.


BIBLETEXT:
"'But if you listen to me, declares the LORD, and bring in no burden by the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but keep the Sabbath day holy and do no work on it,


BIBLETEXT:
then there shall enter by the gates of this city kings and princes who sit on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their officials, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And this city shall be inhabited forever.


BIBLETEXT:
And people shall come from the cities of Judah and the places around Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin, from the Shephelah, from the hill country, and from the Negeb, bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings and frankincense, and bringing thank offerings to the house of the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
But if you do not listen to me, to keep the Sabbath day holy, and not to bear a burden and enter by the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in its gates, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem and shall not be quenched.'"


BIBLETEXT:
"Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will let you hear my words."


BIBLETEXT:
So I went down to the potter's house, and there he was working at his wheel.


BIBLETEXT:
And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.


BIBLETEXT:
"O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the LORD. Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.


BIBLETEXT:
If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it,


BIBLETEXT:
and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it.


BIBLETEXT:
And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it,


BIBLETEXT:
and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it.


BIBLETEXT:
Now, therefore, say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: 'Thus says the LORD, Behold, I am shaping disaster against you and devising a plan against you. Return, every one from his evil way, and amend your ways and your deeds.'


BIBLETEXT:
"But they say, 'That is in vain! We will follow our own plans, and will every one act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.'


BIBLETEXT:
"Therefore thus says the LORD: Ask among the nations, Who has heard the like of this? The virgin Israel has done a very horrible thing.


BIBLETEXT:
Does the snow of Lebanon leave the crags of Sirion? Do the mountain waters run dry, the cold flowing streams?


BIBLETEXT:
But my people have forgotten me; they make offerings to false gods; they made them stumble in their ways, in the ancient roads, and to walk into side roads, not the highway,


BIBLETEXT:
making their land a horror, a thing to be hissed at forever. Everyone who passes by it is horrified and shakes his head.


BIBLETEXT:
Like the east wind I will scatter them before the enemy. I will show them my back, not my face, in the day of their calamity."


BIBLETEXT:
Then they said, "Come, let us make plots against Jeremiah, for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not pay attention to any of his words."


BIBLETEXT:
Hear me, O LORD, and listen to the voice of my adversaries.


BIBLETEXT:
Should good be repaid with evil? Yet they have dug a pit for my life. Remember how I stood before you to speak good for them, to turn away your wrath from them.


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore deliver up their children to famine; give them over to the power of the sword; let their wives become childless and widowed. May their men meet death by pestilence, their youths be struck down by the sword in battle.


BIBLETEXT:
May a cry be heard from their houses, when you bring the plunderer suddenly upon them! For they have dug a pit to take me and laid snares for my feet.


BIBLETEXT:
Yet you, O LORD, know all their plotting to kill me. Forgive not their iniquity, nor blot out their sin from your sight. Let them be overthrown before you; deal with them in the time of your anger.


BIBLETEXT:
Thus says the LORD, "Go, buy a potter's earthenware flask, and take some of the elders of the people and some of the elders of the priests,


BIBLETEXT:
and go out to the Valley of the Son of Hinnom at the entry of the Potsherd Gate, and proclaim there the words that I tell you.


BIBLETEXT:
You shall say, 'Hear the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing such disaster upon this place that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle.


BIBLETEXT:
Because the people have forsaken me and have profaned this place by making offerings in it to other gods whom neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah have known; and because they have filled this place with the blood of innocents,


BIBLETEXT:
and have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command or decree, nor did it come into my mind--


BIBLETEXT:
therefore, behold, days are coming, declares the LORD, when this place shall no more be called Topheth, or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.


BIBLETEXT:
And in this place I will make void the plans of Judah and Jerusalem, and will cause their people to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of those who seek their life. I will give their dead bodies for food to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the earth.


BIBLETEXT:
And I will make this city a horror, a thing to be hissed at. Everyone who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss because of all its wounds.


BIBLETEXT:
And I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and their daughters, and everyone shall eat the flesh of his neighbor in the siege and in the distress, with which their enemies and those who seek their life afflict them.'


BIBLETEXT:
"Then you shall break the flask in the sight of the men who go with you,


BIBLETEXT:
and shall say to them, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts: So will I break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter's vessel, so that it can never be mended. Men shall bury in Topheth because there will be no place else to bury.


BIBLETEXT:
Thus will I do to this place, declares the LORD, and to its inhabitants, making this city like Topheth.


BIBLETEXT:
The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah--all the houses on whose roofs offerings have been offered to all the host of heaven, and drink offerings have been poured out to other gods--shall be defiled like the place of Topheth.'"


BIBLETEXT:
Then Jeremiah came from Topheth, where the LORD had sent him to prophesy, and he stood in the court of the LORD's house and said to all the people:


BIBLETEXT:
"Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, behold, I am bringing upon this city and upon all its towns all the disaster that I have pronounced against it, because they have stiffened their neck, refusing to hear my words."


BIBLETEXT:
Now Pashhur the priest, the son of Immer, who was chief officer in the house of the LORD, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things.


BIBLETEXT:
Then Pashhur beat Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the upper Benjamin Gate of the house of the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
The next day, when Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, "The LORD does not call your name Pashhur, but Terror On Every Side.


BIBLETEXT:
For thus says the LORD: Behold, I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends. They shall fall by the sword of their enemies while you look on. And I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon. He shall carry them captive to Babylon, and shall strike them down with the sword.


BIBLETEXT:
Moreover, I will give all the wealth of the city, all its gains, all its prized belongings, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah into the hand of their enemies, who shall plunder them and seize them and carry them to Babylon.


BIBLETEXT:
And you, Pashhur, and all who dwell in your house, shall go into captivity. To Babylon you shall go, and there you shall die, and there you shall be buried, you and all your friends, to whom you have prophesied falsely."


BIBLETEXT:
O LORD, you have deceived me, and I was deceived; you are stronger than I, and you have prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all the day; everyone mocks me.


BIBLETEXT:
For whenever I speak, I cry out, I shout, "Violence and destruction!" For the word of the LORD has become for me a reproach and derision all day long.


BIBLETEXT:
If I say, "I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name," there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.


BIBLETEXT:
For I hear many whispering. Terror is on every side! "Denounce him! Let us denounce him!" say all my close friends, watching for my fall. "Perhaps he will be deceived; then we can overcome him and take our revenge on him."


BIBLETEXT:
But the LORD is with me as a dread warrior; therefore my persecutors will stumble; they will not overcome me. They will be greatly shamed, for they will not succeed. Their eternal dishonor will never be forgotten.


BIBLETEXT:
O LORD of hosts, who tests the righteous, who sees the heart and the mind, let me see your vengeance upon them, for to you have I committed my cause.


BIBLETEXT:
Sing to the LORD; praise the LORD! For he has delivered the life of the needy from the hand of evildoers.


BIBLETEXT:
Cursed be the day on which I was born! The day when my mother bore me, let it not be blessed!


BIBLETEXT:
Cursed be the man who brought the news to my father, "A son is born to you," making him very glad.


BIBLETEXT:
Let that man be like the cities that the LORD overthrew without pity; let him hear a cry in the morning and an alarm at noon,


BIBLETEXT:
because he did not kill me in the womb; so my mother would have been my grave, and her womb forever great.


BIBLETEXT:
Why did I come out from the womb to see toil and sorrow, and spend my days in shame?


BIBLETEXT:
This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, when King Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur the son of Malchiah and Zephaniah the priest, the son of Maaseiah, saying,


BIBLETEXT:
"Inquire of the LORD for us, for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is making war against us. Perhaps the LORD will deal with us according to all his wonderful deeds and will make him withdraw from us."


BIBLETEXT:
"Thus you shall say to Zedekiah, 'Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands and with which you are fighting against the king of Babylon and against the Chaldeans who are besieging you outside the walls. And I will bring them together into the midst of this city.


BIBLETEXT:
I myself will fight against you with outstretched hand and strong arm, in anger and in fury and in great wrath.


BIBLETEXT:
And I will strike down the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast. They shall die of a great pestilence.


BIBLETEXT:
Afterward, declares the LORD, I will give Zedekiah king of Judah and his servants and the people in this city who survive the pestilence, sword, and famine into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of their enemies, into the hand of those who seek their lives. He shall strike them down with the edge of the sword. He shall not pity them or spare them or have compassion.'


BIBLETEXT:
"And to this people you shall say: 'Thus says the LORD: Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death.


BIBLETEXT:
He who stays in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, but he who goes out and surrenders to the Chaldeans who are besieging you shall live and shall have his life as a prize of war.


BIBLETEXT:
For I have set my face against this city for harm and not for good, declares the LORD: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.'


BIBLETEXT:
"And to the house of the king of Judah say, 'Hear the word of the LORD,


BIBLETEXT:
O house of David! Thus says the LORD: "'Execute justice in the morning, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed, lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it, because of your evil deeds.'"


BIBLETEXT:
"Behold, I am against you, O inhabitant of the valley, O rock of the plain, declares the LORD; you who say, 'Who shall come down against us, or who shall enter our habitations?'


BIBLETEXT:
I will punish you according to the fruit of your deeds, declares the LORD; I will kindle a fire in her forest, and it shall devour all that is around her."


BIBLETEXT:
Thus says the LORD: "Go down to the house of the king of Judah and speak there this word,


BIBLETEXT:
and say, 'Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, who sits on the throne of David, you, and your servants, and your people who enter these gates.


BIBLETEXT:
Thus says the LORD: Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place.


BIBLETEXT:
For if you will indeed obey this word, then there shall enter the gates of this house kings who sit on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their servants and their people.


BIBLETEXT:
But if you will not obey these words, I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that this house shall become a desolation.


BIBLETEXT:
For thus says the LORD concerning the house of the king of Judah: "'You are like Gilead to me, like the summit of Lebanon, yet surely I will make you a desert, an uninhabited city.


BIBLETEXT:
I will prepare destroyers against you, each with his weapons, and they shall cut down your choicest cedars and cast them into the fire.


BIBLETEXT:
"'And many nations will pass by this city, and every man will say to his neighbor, "Why has the LORD dealt thus with this great city?"


BIBLETEXT:
And they will answer, "Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God and worshiped other gods and served them."'"


BIBLETEXT:
Weep not for him who is dead, nor grieve for him, but weep bitterly for him who goes away, for he shall return no more to see his native land.


BIBLETEXT:
For thus says the LORD concerning Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, and who went away from this place: "He shall return here no more,


BIBLETEXT:
but in the place where they have carried him captive, there shall he die, and he shall never see this land again."


BIBLETEXT:
"Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his upper rooms by injustice, who makes his neighbor serve him for nothing and does not give him his wages,


BIBLETEXT:
who says, 'I will build myself a great house with spacious upper rooms,' who cuts out windows for it, paneling it with cedar and painting it with vermilion.


BIBLETEXT:
Do you think you are a king because you compete in cedar? Did not your father eat and drink and do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him.


BIBLETEXT:
He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. Is not this to know me? declares the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
But you have eyes and heart only for your dishonest gain, for shedding innocent blood, and for practicing oppression and violence."


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore thus says the LORD concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: "They shall not lament for him, saying, 'Ah, my brother!' or 'Ah, sister!' They shall not lament for him, saying, 'Ah, lord!' or 'Ah, his majesty!'


BIBLETEXT:
With the burial of a donkey he shall be buried, dragged and dumped beyond the gates of Jerusalem."


BIBLETEXT:
"Go up to Lebanon, and cry out, and lift up your voice in Bashan; cry out from Abarim, for all your lovers are destroyed.


BIBLETEXT:
I spoke to you in your prosperity, but you said, 'I will not listen.' This has been your way from your youth, that you have not obeyed my voice.


BIBLETEXT:
The wind shall shepherd all your shepherds, and your lovers shall go into captivity; then you will be ashamed and confounded because of all your evil.


BIBLETEXT:
O inhabitant of Lebanon, nested among the cedars, how you will be pitied when pangs come upon you, pain as of a woman in labor!"


BIBLETEXT:
"As I live, declares the LORD, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were the signet ring on my right hand, yet I would tear you off


BIBLETEXT:
and give you into the hand of those who seek your life, into the hand of those of whom you are afraid, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of the Chaldeans.


BIBLETEXT:
I will hurl you and the mother who bore you into another country, where you were not born, and there you shall die.


BIBLETEXT:
But to the land to which they will long to return, there they shall not return."


BIBLETEXT:
Is this man Coniah a despised, broken pot, a vessel no one cares for? Why are he and his children hurled and cast into a land that they do not know?


BIBLETEXT:
O land, land, land, hear the word of the LORD!


BIBLETEXT:
Thus says the LORD: "Write this man down as childless, a man who shall not succeed in his days, for none of his offspring shall succeed in sitting on the throne of David and ruling again in Judah."


BIBLETEXT:
"Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!" declares the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who care for my people: "You have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for your evil deeds, declares the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply.


BIBLETEXT:
I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, declares the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
"Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.


BIBLETEXT:
In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: 'The LORD is our righteousness.'


BIBLETEXT:
"Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when they shall no longer say, 'As the LORD lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,'


BIBLETEXT:
but 'As the LORD lives who brought up and led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.' Then they shall dwell in their own land."


BIBLETEXT:
Concerning the prophets: My heart is broken within me; all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, like a man overcome by wine, because of the LORD and because of his holy words.


BIBLETEXT:
For the land is full of adulterers; because of the curse the land mourns, and the pastures of the wilderness are dried up. Their course is evil, and their might is not right.


BIBLETEXT:
"Both prophet and priest are ungodly; even in my house I have found their evil, declares the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore their way shall be to them like slippery paths in the darkness, into which they shall be driven and fall, for I will bring disaster upon them in the year of their punishment, declares the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
In the prophets of Samaria I saw an unsavory thing: they prophesied by Baal and led my people Israel astray.


BIBLETEXT:
But in the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: they commit adultery and walk in lies; they strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns from his evil; all of them have become like Sodom to me, and its inhabitants like Gomorrah."


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets: "Behold, I will feed them with bitter food and give them poisoned water to drink, for from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has gone out into all the land."


BIBLETEXT:
Thus says the LORD of hosts: "Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
They say continually to those who despise the word of the LORD, 'It shall be well with you'; and to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, 'No disaster shall come upon you.'"


BIBLETEXT:
For who among them has stood in the council of the LORD to see and to hear his word, or who has paid attention to his word and listened?


BIBLETEXT:
Behold, the storm of the LORD! Wrath has gone forth, a whirling tempest; it will burst upon the head of the wicked.


BIBLETEXT:
The anger of the LORD will not turn back until he has executed and accomplished the intents of his heart. In the latter days you will understand it clearly.


BIBLETEXT:
"I did not send the prophets, yet they ran; I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied.


BIBLETEXT:
But if they had stood in my council, then they would have proclaimed my words to my people, and they would have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their deeds.


BIBLETEXT:
"Am I a God at hand, declares the LORD, and not a God far away?


BIBLETEXT:
Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the LORD. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in my name, saying, 'I have dreamed, I have dreamed!'


BIBLETEXT:
How long shall there be lies in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart,


BIBLETEXT:
who think to make my people forget my name by their dreams that they tell one another, even as their fathers forgot my name for Baal?


BIBLETEXT:
Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let him who has my word speak my word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat? declares the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
Is not my word like fire, declares the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, declares the LORD, who steal my words from one another.


BIBLETEXT:
Behold, I am against the prophets, declares the LORD, who use their tongues and declare, 'declares the LORD.'


BIBLETEXT:
Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, declares the LORD, and who tell them and lead my people astray by their lies and their recklessness, when I did not send them or charge them. So they do not profit this people at all, declares the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
"When one of this people, or a prophet or a priest asks you, 'What is the burden of the LORD?' you shall say to them, 'You are the burden, and I will cast you off, declares the LORD.'


BIBLETEXT:
And as for the prophet, priest, or one of the people who says, 'The burden of the LORD,' I will punish that man and his household.


BIBLETEXT:
Thus shall you say, every one to his neighbor and every one to his brother, 'What has the LORD answered?' or 'What has the LORD spoken?'


BIBLETEXT:
But 'the burden of the LORD' you shall mention no more, for the burden is every man's own word, and you pervert the words of the living God, the LORD of hosts, our God.


BIBLETEXT:
Thus you shall say to the prophet, 'What has the LORD answered you?' or 'What has the LORD spoken?'


BIBLETEXT:
But if you say, 'The burden of the LORD,' thus says the LORD, 'Because you have said these words, "The burden of the LORD," when I sent to you, saying, "You shall not say, 'The burden of the LORD,'"


BIBLETEXT:
therefore, behold, I will surely lift you up and cast you away from my presence, you and the city that I gave to you and your fathers.


BIBLETEXT:
And I will bring upon you everlasting reproach and perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.'"


BIBLETEXT:
After Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken into exile from Jerusalem Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, together with the officials of Judah, the craftsmen, and the metal workers, and had brought them to Babylon, the LORD showed me this vision: behold, two baskets of figs placed before the temple of the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
One basket had very good figs, like first-ripe figs, but the other basket had very bad figs, so bad that they could not be eaten.


BIBLETEXT:
And the LORD said to me, "What do you see, Jeremiah?" I said, "Figs, the good figs very good, and the bad figs very bad, so bad that they cannot be eaten."


BIBLETEXT:
"Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Like these good figs, so I will regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I have sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans.


BIBLETEXT:
I will set my eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up, and not tear them down; I will plant them, and not uproot them.


BIBLETEXT:
I will give them a heart to know that I am the LORD, and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart.


BIBLETEXT:
"But thus says the LORD: Like the bad figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten, so will I treat Zedekiah the king of Judah, his officials, the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and those who dwell in the land of Egypt.


BIBLETEXT:
I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a reproach, a byword, a taunt, and a curse in all the places where I shall drive them.


BIBLETEXT:
And I will send sword, famine, and pestilence upon them, until they shall be utterly destroyed from the land that I gave to them and their fathers."


BIBLETEXT:
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 (that was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon),


BIBLETEXT:
which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem:


BIBLETEXT:
"For twenty-three years, from the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, to this day, the word of the LORD has come to me, and I have spoken persistently to you, but you have not listened.


BIBLETEXT:
You have neither listened nor inclined your ears to hear, although the LORD persistently sent to you all his servants the prophets,


BIBLETEXT:
saying, 'Turn now, every one of you, from his evil way and evil deeds, and dwell upon the land that the LORD has given to you and your fathers from of old and forever.


BIBLETEXT:
Do not go after other gods to serve and worship them, or provoke me to anger with the work of your hands. Then I will do you no harm.'


BIBLETEXT:
Yet you have not listened to me, declares the LORD, that you might provoke me to anger with the work of your hands to your own harm.


BIBLETEXT:
"Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: Because you have not obeyed my words,


BIBLETEXT:
behold, I will send for all the tribes of the north, declares the LORD, and for Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants, and against all these surrounding nations. I will devote them to destruction, and make them a horror, a hissing, and an everlasting desolation.


BIBLETEXT:
Moreover, I will banish from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the grinding of the millstones and the light of the lamp.


BIBLETEXT:
This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.


BIBLETEXT:
Then after seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, declares the LORD, making the land an everlasting waste.


BIBLETEXT:
I will bring upon that land all the words that I have uttered against it, everything written in this book, which Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations.


BIBLETEXT:
For many nations and great kings shall make slaves even of them, and I will recompense them according to their deeds and the work of their hands."


BIBLETEXT:
Thus the LORD, the God of Israel, said to me: "Take from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it.


BIBLETEXT:
They shall drink and stagger and be crazed because of the sword that I am sending among them."


BIBLETEXT:
So I took the cup from the LORD's hand, and made all the nations to whom the LORD sent me drink it:


BIBLETEXT:
Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and officials, to make them a desolation and a waste, a hissing and a curse, as at this day;


BIBLETEXT:
Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his officials, all his people,


BIBLETEXT:
and all the mixed tribes among them; all the kings of the land of Uz and all the kings of the land of the Philistines (Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod);


BIBLETEXT:
all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the coastland across the sea;


BIBLETEXT:
Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who cut the corners of their hair;


BIBLETEXT:
all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the mixed tribes who dwell in the desert;


BIBLETEXT:
all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of Media;


BIBLETEXT:
all the kings of the north, far and near, one after another, and all the kingdoms of the world that are on the face of the earth. And after them the king of Babylon shall drink.


BIBLETEXT:
"Then you shall say to them, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Drink, be drunk and vomit, fall and rise no more, because of the sword that I am sending among you.'


BIBLETEXT:
"And if they refuse to accept the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts: You must drink!


BIBLETEXT:
For behold, I begin to work disaster at the city that is called by my name, and shall you go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth, declares the LORD of hosts.'


BIBLETEXT:
"You, therefore, shall prophesy against them all these words, and say to them: "'The LORD will roar from on high, and from his holy habitation utter his voice; he will roar mightily against his fold, and shout, like those who tread grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth.


BIBLETEXT:
The clamor will resound to the ends of the earth, for the LORD has an indictment against the nations; he is entering into judgment with all flesh, and the wicked he will put to the sword, declares the LORD.'


BIBLETEXT:
"Thus says the LORD of hosts: Behold, disaster is going forth from nation to nation, and a great tempest is stirring from the farthest parts of the earth!


BIBLETEXT:
"And those pierced by the LORD on that day shall extend from one end of the earth to the other. They shall not be lamented, or gathered, or buried; they shall be dung on the surface of the ground.


BIBLETEXT:
"Wail, you shepherds, and cry out, and roll in ashes, you lords of the flock, for the days of your slaughter and dispersion have come, and you shall fall like a choice vessel.


BIBLETEXT:
No refuge will remain for the shepherds, nor escape for the lords of the flock.


BIBLETEXT:
A voice--the cry of the shepherds, and the wail of the lords of the flock! For the LORD is laying waste their pasture,


BIBLETEXT:
and the peaceful folds are devastated because of the fierce anger of the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
Like a lion he has left his lair, for their land has become a waste because of the sword of the oppressor, and because of his fierce anger."


BIBLETEXT:
In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came from the LORD:


BIBLETEXT:
"Thus says the LORD: Stand in the court of the LORD's house, and speak to all the cities of Judah that come to worship in the house of the LORD all the words that I command you to speak to them; do not hold back a word.


BIBLETEXT:
It may be they will listen, and every one turn from his evil way, that I may relent of the disaster that I intend to do to them because of their evil deeds.


BIBLETEXT:
You shall say to them, 'Thus says the LORD: If you will not listen to me, to walk in my law that I have set before you,


BIBLETEXT:
and to listen to the words of my servants the prophets whom I send to you urgently, though you have not listened,


BIBLETEXT:
then I will make this house like Shiloh, and I will make this city a curse for all the nations of the earth.'"


BIBLETEXT:
The priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
And when Jeremiah had finished speaking all that the LORD had commanded him to speak to all the people, then the priests and the prophets and all the people laid hold of him, saying, "You shall die!


BIBLETEXT:
Why have you prophesied in the name of the LORD, saying, 'This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate, without inhabitant'?" And all the people gathered around Jeremiah in the house of the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
When the officials of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king's house to the house of the LORD and took their seat in the entry of the New Gate of the house of the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
Then the priests and the prophets said to the officials and to all the people, "This man deserves the sentence of death, because he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your own ears."


BIBLETEXT:
Then Jeremiah spoke to all the officials and all the people, saying, "The LORD sent me to prophesy against this house and this city all the words you have heard.


BIBLETEXT:
Now therefore mend your ways and your deeds, and obey the voice of the LORD your God, and the LORD will relent of the disaster that he has pronounced against you.


BIBLETEXT:
But as for me, behold, I am in your hands. Do with me as seems good and right to you.


BIBLETEXT:
Only know for certain that if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood upon yourselves and upon this city and its inhabitants, for in truth the LORD sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears."


BIBLETEXT:
Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and the prophets, "This man does not deserve the sentence of death, for he has spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God."


BIBLETEXT:
And certain of the elders of the land arose and spoke to all the assembled people, saying,


BIBLETEXT:
"Micah of Moresheth prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and said to all the people of Judah: 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, "'Zion shall be plowed as a field; Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins, and the mountain of the house a wooded height.'


BIBLETEXT:
Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him to death? Did he not fear the LORD and entreat the favor of the LORD, and did not the LORD relent of the disaster that he had pronounced against them? But we are about to bring great disaster upon ourselves."


BIBLETEXT:
There was another man who prophesied in the name of the LORD, Uriah the son of Shemaiah from Kiriath-jearim. He prophesied against this city and against this land in words like those of Jeremiah.


BIBLETEXT:
And when King Jehoiakim, with all his warriors and all the officials, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death. But when Uriah heard of it, he was afraid and fled and escaped to Egypt.


BIBLETEXT:
Then King Jehoiakim sent to Egypt certain men, Elnathan the son of Achbor and others with him,


BIBLETEXT:
and they took Uriah from Egypt and brought him to King Jehoiakim, who struck him down with the sword and dumped his dead body into the burial place of the common people.


BIBLETEXT:
But the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah so that he was not given over to the people to be put to death.


BIBLETEXT:
In the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
Thus the LORD said to me: "Make yourself straps and yoke-bars, and put them on your neck.


BIBLETEXT:
Send word to the king of Edom, the king of Moab, the king of the sons of Ammon, the king of Tyre, and the king of Sidon by the hand of the envoys who have come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah.


BIBLETEXT:
Give them this charge for their masters: 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: This is what you shall say to your masters:


BIBLETEXT:
"It is I who by my great power and my outstretched arm have made the earth, with the men and animals that are on the earth, and I give it to whomever it seems right to me.


BIBLETEXT:
Now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant, and I have given him also the beasts of the field to serve him.


BIBLETEXT:
All the nations shall serve him and his son and his grandson, until the time of his own land comes. Then many nations and great kings shall make him their slave.


BIBLETEXT:
"'"But if any nation or kingdom will not serve this Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish that nation with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence, declares the LORD, until I have consumed it by his hand.


BIBLETEXT:
So do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your fortune-tellers, or your sorcerers, who are saying to you, 'You shall not serve the king of Babylon.'


BIBLETEXT:
For it is a lie that they are prophesying to you, with the result that you will be removed far from your land, and I will drive you out, and you will perish.


BIBLETEXT:
But any nation that will bring its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will leave on its own land, to work it and dwell there, declares the LORD."'"


BIBLETEXT:
To Zedekiah king of Judah I spoke in like manner: "Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people and live.


BIBLETEXT:
Why will you and your people die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, as the LORD has spoken concerning any nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?


BIBLETEXT:
Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are saying to you, 'You shall not serve the king of Babylon,' for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you.


BIBLETEXT:
I have not sent them, declares the LORD, but they are prophesying falsely in my name, with the result that I will drive you out and you will perish, you and the prophets who are prophesying to you."


BIBLETEXT:
Then I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying, "Thus says the LORD: Do not listen to the words of your prophets who are prophesying to you, saying, 'Behold, the vessels of the LORD's house will now shortly be brought back from Babylon,' for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you.


BIBLETEXT:
Do not listen to them; serve the king of Babylon and live. Why should this city become a desolation?


BIBLETEXT:
If they are prophets, and if the word of the LORD is with them, then let them intercede with the LORD of hosts, that the vessels that are left in the house of the LORD, in the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem may not go to Babylon.


BIBLETEXT:
For thus says the LORD of hosts concerning the pillars, the sea, the stands, and the rest of the vessels that are left in this city,


BIBLETEXT:
which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take away, when he took into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem--


BIBLETEXT:
thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that are left in the house of the LORD, in the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem:


BIBLETEXT:
They shall be carried to Babylon and remain there until the day when I visit them, declares the LORD. Then I will bring them back and restore them to this place."


BIBLETEXT:
In that same year, at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fifth month of the fourth year, Hananiah the son of Azzur, the prophet from Gibeon, spoke to me in the house of the LORD, in the presence of the priests and all the people, saying,


BIBLETEXT:
"Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.


BIBLETEXT:
Within two years I will bring back to this place all the vessels of the LORD's house, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place and carried to Babylon.


BIBLETEXT:
I will also bring back to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the exiles from Judah who went to Babylon, declares the LORD, for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon."


BIBLETEXT:
Then the prophet Jeremiah spoke to Hananiah the prophet in the presence of the priests and all the people who were standing in the house of the LORD,


BIBLETEXT:
and the prophet Jeremiah said, "Amen! May the LORD do so; may the LORD make the words that you have prophesied come true, and bring back to this place from Babylon the vessels of the house of the LORD, and all the exiles.


BIBLETEXT:
Yet hear now this word that I speak in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people.


BIBLETEXT:
The prophets who preceded you and me from ancient times prophesied war, famine, and pestilence against many countries and great kingdoms.


BIBLETEXT:
As for the prophet who prophesies peace, when the word of that prophet comes to pass, then it will be known that the LORD has truly sent the prophet."


BIBLETEXT:
Then the prophet Hananiah took the yoke-bars from the neck of Jeremiah the prophet and broke them.


BIBLETEXT:
And Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people, saying, "Thus says the LORD: Even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all the nations within two years." But Jeremiah the prophet went his way.


BIBLETEXT:
Sometime after the prophet Hananiah had broken the yoke-bars from off the neck of Jeremiah the prophet, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah:


BIBLETEXT:
"Go, tell Hananiah, 'Thus says the LORD: You have broken wooden bars, but you have made in their place bars of iron.


BIBLETEXT:
For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: I have put upon the neck of all these nations an iron yoke to serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and they shall serve him, for I have given to him even the beasts of the field.'"


BIBLETEXT:
And Jeremiah the prophet said to the prophet Hananiah, "Listen, Hananiah, the LORD has not sent you, and you have made this people trust in a lie.


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore thus says the LORD: 'Behold, I will remove you from the face of the earth. This year you shall die, because you have uttered rebellion against the LORD.'"


BIBLETEXT:
In that same year, in the seventh month, the prophet Hananiah died.


BIBLETEXT:
These are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders of the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.


BIBLETEXT:
This was after King Jeconiah and the queen mother, the eunuchs, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metal workers had departed from Jerusalem.


BIBLETEXT:
The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. It said:


BIBLETEXT:
"Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:


BIBLETEXT:
Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce.


BIBLETEXT:
Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease.


BIBLETEXT:
But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.


BIBLETEXT:
For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream,


BIBLETEXT:
for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, declares the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
"For thus says the LORD: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place.


BIBLETEXT:
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.


BIBLETEXT:
Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you.


BIBLETEXT:
You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.


BIBLETEXT:
I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.


BIBLETEXT:
"Because you have said, 'The LORD has raised up prophets for us in Babylon,'


BIBLETEXT:
thus says the LORD concerning the king who sits on the throne of David, and concerning all the people who dwell in this city, your kinsmen who did not go out with you into exile:


BIBLETEXT:
'Thus says the LORD of hosts, behold, I am sending on them sword, famine, and pestilence, and I will make them like vile figs that are so rotten they cannot be eaten.


BIBLETEXT:
I will pursue them with sword, famine, and pestilence, and will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, a terror, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them,


BIBLETEXT:
because they did not pay attention to my words, declares the LORD, that I persistently sent to you by my servants the prophets, but you would not listen, declares the LORD.'


BIBLETEXT:
Hear the word of the LORD, all you exiles whom I sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon:


BIBLETEXT:
'Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying a lie to you in my name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall strike them down before your eyes.


BIBLETEXT:
Because of them this curse shall be used by all the exiles from Judah in Babylon: "The LORD make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire,"


BIBLETEXT:
because they have done an outrageous thing in Israel, they have committed adultery with their neighbors' wives, and they have spoken in my name lying words that I did not command them. I am the one who knows, and I am witness, declares the LORD.'"


BIBLETEXT:
"Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: You have sent letters in your name to all the people who are in Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, and to all the priests, saying,


BIBLETEXT:
'The LORD has made you priest instead of Jehoiada the priest, to have charge in the house of the LORD over every madman who prophesies, to put him in the stocks and neck irons.


BIBLETEXT:
Now why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth who is prophesying to you?


BIBLETEXT:
For he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, "Your exile will be long; build houses and live in them, and plant gardens and eat their produce."'"


BIBLETEXT:
Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the hearing of Jeremiah the prophet.


BIBLETEXT:
Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah:


BIBLETEXT:
"Send to all the exiles, saying, 'Thus says the LORD concerning Shemaiah of Nehelam: Because Shemaiah had prophesied to you when I did not send him, and has made you trust in a lie,


BIBLETEXT:
therefore thus says the LORD: Behold, I will punish Shemaiah of Nehelam and his descendants. He shall not have anyone living among this people, and he shall not see the good that I will do to my people, declares the LORD, for he has spoken rebellion against the LORD.'"


BIBLETEXT:
"Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Write in a book all the words that I have spoken to you.


BIBLETEXT:
For behold, days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will restore the fortunes of my people, Israel and Judah, says the LORD, and I will bring them back to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall take possession of it."


BIBLETEXT:
These are the words that the LORD spoke concerning Israel and Judah:


BIBLETEXT:
"Thus says the LORD: We have heard a cry of panic, of terror, and no peace.


BIBLETEXT:
Ask now, and see, can a man bear a child? Why then do I see every man with his hands on his stomach like a woman in labor? Why has every face turned pale?


BIBLETEXT:
Alas! That day is so great there is none like it; it is a time of distress for Jacob; yet he shall be saved out of it.


BIBLETEXT:
"And it shall come to pass in that day, declares the LORD of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off your neck, and I will burst your bonds, and foreigners shall no more make a servant of him.


BIBLETEXT:
But they shall serve the LORD their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.


BIBLETEXT:
"Then fear not, O Jacob my servant, declares the LORD, nor be dismayed, O Israel; for behold, I will save you from far away, and your offspring from the land of their captivity. Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease, and none shall make him afraid.


BIBLETEXT:
For I am with you to save you, declares the LORD; I will make a full end of all the nations among whom I scattered you, but of you I will not make a full end. I will discipline you in just measure, and I will by no means leave you unpunished.


BIBLETEXT:
"For thus says the LORD: Your hurt is incurable, and your wound is grievous.


BIBLETEXT:
There is none to uphold your cause, no medicine for your wound, no healing for you.


BIBLETEXT:
All your lovers have forgotten you; they care nothing for you; for I have dealt you the blow of an enemy, the punishment of a merciless foe, because your guilt is great, because your sins are flagrant.


BIBLETEXT:
Why do you cry out over your hurt? Your pain is incurable. Because your guilt is great, because your sins are flagrant, I have done these things to you.


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore all who devour you shall be devoured, and all your foes, every one of them, shall go into captivity; those who plunder you shall be plundered, and all who prey on you I will make a prey.


BIBLETEXT:
For I will restore health to you, and your wounds I will heal, declares the LORD, because they have called you an outcast: 'It is Zion, for whom no one cares!'


BIBLETEXT:
"Thus says the LORD: Behold, I will restore the fortunes of the tents of Jacob and have compassion on his dwellings; the city shall be rebuilt on its mound, and the palace shall stand where it used to be.


BIBLETEXT:
Out of them shall come songs of thanksgiving, and the voices of those who celebrate. I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will make them honored, and they shall not be small.


BIBLETEXT:
Their children shall be as they were of old, and their congregation shall be established before me, and I will punish all who oppress them.


BIBLETEXT:
Their prince shall be one of themselves; their ruler shall come out from their midst; I will make him draw near, and he shall approach me, for who would dare of himself to approach me? declares the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
And you shall be my people, and I will be your God."


BIBLETEXT:
Behold the storm of the LORD! Wrath has gone forth, a whirling tempest; it will burst upon the head of the wicked.


BIBLETEXT:
The fierce anger of the LORD will not turn back until he has executed and accomplished the intentions of his mind. In the latter days you will understand this.


BIBLETEXT:
"At that time, declares the LORD, I will be the God of all the clans of Israel, and they shall be my people."


BIBLETEXT:
Thus says the LORD: "The people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness; when Israel sought for rest,


BIBLETEXT:
the LORD appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.


BIBLETEXT:
Again I will build you, and you shall be built, O virgin Israel! Again you shall adorn yourself with tambourines and shall go forth in the dance of the merrymakers.


BIBLETEXT:
Again you shall plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria; the planters shall plant and shall enjoy the fruit.


BIBLETEXT:
For there shall be a day when watchmen will call in the hill country of Ephraim: 'Arise, and let us go up to Zion, to the LORD our God.'"


BIBLETEXT:
For thus says the LORD: "Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob, and raise shouts for the chief of the nations; proclaim, give praise, and say, 'O LORD, save your people, the remnant of Israel.'


BIBLETEXT:
Behold, I will bring them from the north country and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth, among them the blind and the lame, the pregnant woman and she who is in labor, together; a great company, they shall return here.


BIBLETEXT:
With weeping they shall come, and with pleas for mercy I will lead them back, I will make them walk by brooks of water, in a straight path in which they shall not stumble, for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.


BIBLETEXT:
"Hear the word of the LORD, O nations, and declare it in the coastlands far away; say, 'He who scattered Israel will gather him, and will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.'


BIBLETEXT:
For the LORD has ransomed Jacob and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him.


BIBLETEXT:
They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion, and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the LORD, over the grain, the wine, and the oil, and over the young of the flock and the herd; their life shall be like a watered garden, and they shall languish no more.


BIBLETEXT:
Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old shall be merry. I will turn their mourning into joy; I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.


BIBLETEXT:
I will feast the soul of the priests with abundance, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, declares the LORD."


BIBLETEXT:
Thus says the LORD: "A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more."


BIBLETEXT:
Thus says the LORD: "Keep your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears, for there is a reward for your work, declares the LORD, and they shall come back from the land of the enemy.


BIBLETEXT:
There is hope for your future, declares the LORD, and your children shall come back to their own country.


BIBLETEXT:
I have heard Ephraim grieving, 'You have disciplined me, and I was disciplined, like an untrained calf; bring me back that I may be restored, for you are the LORD my God.


BIBLETEXT:
For after I had turned away, I relented, and after I was instructed, I struck my thigh; I was ashamed, and I was confounded, because I bore the disgrace of my youth.'


BIBLETEXT:
Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he my darling child? For as often as I speak against him, I do remember him still. Therefore my heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him, declares the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
"Set up road markers for yourself; make yourself guideposts; consider well the highway, the road by which you went. Return, O virgin Israel, return to these your cities.


BIBLETEXT:
How long will you waver, O faithless daughter? For the LORD has created a new thing on the earth: a woman encircles a man."


BIBLETEXT:
Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "Once more they shall use these words in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I restore their fortunes: "'The LORD bless you, O habitation of righteousness, O holy hill!'


BIBLETEXT:
And Judah and all its cities shall dwell there together, and the farmers and those who wander with their flocks.


BIBLETEXT:
For I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish."


BIBLETEXT:
At this I awoke and looked, and my sleep was pleasant to me.


BIBLETEXT:
"Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast.


BIBLETEXT:
And it shall come to pass that as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring harm, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, declares the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
In those days they shall no longer say: "'The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge.'


BIBLETEXT:
But everyone shall die for his own sin. Each man who eats sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.


BIBLETEXT:
"Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah,


BIBLETEXT:
not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.


BIBLETEXT:
And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."


BIBLETEXT:
Thus says the LORD, who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar-- the LORD of hosts is his name:


BIBLETEXT:
"If this fixed order departs from before me, declares the LORD, then shall the offspring of Israel cease from being a nation before me forever."


BIBLETEXT:
Thus says the LORD: "If the heavens above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth below can be explored, then I will cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done, declares the LORD."


BIBLETEXT:
"Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when the city shall be rebuilt for the LORD from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate.


BIBLETEXT:
And the measuring line shall go out farther, straight to the hill Gareb, and shall then turn to Goah.


BIBLETEXT:
The whole valley of the dead bodies and the ashes, and all the fields as far as the brook Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, shall be sacred to the LORD. It shall not be uprooted or overthrown anymore forever."


BIBLETEXT:
The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar.


BIBLETEXT:
At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the guard that was in the palace of the king of Judah.


BIBLETEXT:
For Zedekiah king of Judah had imprisoned him, saying, "Why do you prophesy and say, 'Thus says the LORD: Behold, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall capture it;


BIBLETEXT:
Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans, but shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him face to face and see him eye to eye.


BIBLETEXT:
And he shall take Zedekiah to Babylon, and there he shall remain until I visit him, declares the LORD. Though you fight against the Chaldeans, you shall not succeed'?"


BIBLETEXT:
Jeremiah said, "The word of the LORD came to me:


BIBLETEXT:
Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle will come to you and say, 'Buy my field that is at Anathoth, for the right of redemption by purchase is yours.'


BIBLETEXT:
Then Hanamel my cousin came to me in the court of the guard, in accordance with the word of the LORD, and said to me, 'Buy my field that is at Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, for the right of possession and redemption is yours; buy it for yourself.' Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
"And I bought the field at Anathoth from Hanamel my cousin, and weighed out the money to him, seventeen shekels of silver.


BIBLETEXT:
I signed the deed, sealed it, got witnesses, and weighed the money on scales.


BIBLETEXT:
Then I took the sealed deed of purchase, containing the terms and conditions and the open copy.


BIBLETEXT:
And I gave the deed of purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah son of Mahseiah, in the presence of Hanamel my cousin, in the presence of the witnesses who signed the deed of purchase, and in the presence of all the Judeans who were sitting in the court of the guard.


BIBLETEXT:
I charged Baruch in their presence, saying,


BIBLETEXT:
'Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Take these deeds, both this sealed deed of purchase and this open deed, and put them in an earthenware vessel, that they may last for a long time.


BIBLETEXT:
For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.'


BIBLETEXT:
"After I had given the deed of purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to the LORD, saying:


BIBLETEXT:
'Ah, Lord GOD! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.


BIBLETEXT:
You show steadfast love to thousands, but you repay the guilt of fathers to their children after them, O great and mighty God, whose name is the LORD of hosts,


BIBLETEXT:
great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open to all the ways of the children of man, rewarding each one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds.


BIBLETEXT:
You have shown signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, and to this day in Israel and among all mankind, and have made a name for yourself, as at this day.


BIBLETEXT:
You brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and outstretched arm, and with great terror.


BIBLETEXT:
And you gave them this land, which you swore to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey.


BIBLETEXT:
And they entered and took possession of it. But they did not obey your voice or walk in your law. They did nothing of all you commanded them to do. Therefore you have made all this disaster come upon them.


BIBLETEXT:
Behold, the siege mounds have come up to the city to take it, and because of sword and famine and pestilence the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans who are fighting against it. What you spoke has come to pass, and behold, you see it.


BIBLETEXT:
Yet you, O Lord GOD, have said to me, "Buy the field for money and get witnesses"--though the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans.'"


BIBLETEXT:
"Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore, thus says the LORD: Behold, I am giving this city into the hands of the Chaldeans and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall capture it.


BIBLETEXT:
The Chaldeans who are fighting against this city shall come and set this city on fire and burn it, with the houses on whose roofs offerings have been made to Baal and drink offerings have been poured out to other gods, to provoke me to anger.


BIBLETEXT:
For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have done nothing but evil in my sight from their youth. The children of Israel have done nothing but provoke me to anger by the work of their hands, declares the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
This city has aroused my anger and wrath, from the day it was built to this day, so that I will remove it from my sight


BIBLETEXT:
because of all the evil of the children of Israel and the children of Judah that they did to provoke me to anger--their kings and their officials, their priests and their prophets, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.


BIBLETEXT:
They have turned to me their back and not their face. And though I have taught them persistently, they have not listened to receive instruction.


BIBLETEXT:
They set up their abominations in the house that is called by my name, to defile it.


BIBLETEXT:
They built the high places of Baal in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to offer up their sons and daughters to Molech, though I did not command them, nor did it enter into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.


BIBLETEXT:
"Now therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning this city of which you say, 'It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by sword, by famine, and by pestilence':


BIBLETEXT:
Behold, I will gather them from all the countries to which I drove them in my anger and my wrath and in great indignation. I will bring them back to this place, and I will make them dwell in safety.


BIBLETEXT:
And they shall be my people, and I will be their God.


BIBLETEXT:
I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them.


BIBLETEXT:
I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me.


BIBLETEXT:
I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul.


BIBLETEXT:
"For thus says the LORD: Just as I have brought all this great disaster upon this people, so I will bring upon them all the good that I promise them.


BIBLETEXT:
Fields shall be bought in this land of which you are saying, 'It is a desolation, without man or beast; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.'


BIBLETEXT:
Fields shall be bought for money, and deeds shall be signed and sealed and witnessed, in the land of Benjamin, in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the Shephelah, and in the cities of the Negeb; for I will restore their fortunes, declares the LORD."


BIBLETEXT:
The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah a second time, while he was still shut up in the court of the guard:


BIBLETEXT:
"Thus says the LORD who made the earth, the LORD who formed it to establish it--the LORD is his name:


BIBLETEXT:
Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.


BIBLETEXT:
For thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city and the houses of the kings of Judah that were torn down to make a defense against the siege mounds and against the sword:


BIBLETEXT:
They are coming in to fight against the Chaldeans and to fill them with the dead bodies of men whom I shall strike down in my anger and my wrath, for I have hidden my face from this city because of all their evil.


BIBLETEXT:
Behold, I will bring to it health and healing, and I will heal them and reveal to them abundance of prosperity and security.


BIBLETEXT:
I will restore the fortunes of Judah and the fortunes of Israel, and rebuild them as they were at first.


BIBLETEXT:
I will cleanse them from all the guilt of their sin against me, and I will forgive all the guilt of their sin and rebellion against me.


BIBLETEXT:
And this city shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and a glory before all the nations of the earth who shall hear of all the good that I do for them. They shall fear and tremble because of all the good and all the prosperity I provide for it.


BIBLETEXT:
"Thus says the LORD: In this place of which you say, 'It is a waste without man or beast,' in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, without man or inhabitant or beast, there shall be heard again


BIBLETEXT:
the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voices of those who sing, as they bring thank offerings to the house of the LORD: "'Give thanks to the LORD of hosts, for the LORD is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!' For I will restore the fortunes of the land as at first, says the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
"Thus says the LORD of hosts: In this place that is waste, without man or beast, and in all of its cities, there shall again be habitations of shepherds resting their flocks.


BIBLETEXT:
In the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the Shephelah, and in the cities of the Negeb, in the land of Benjamin, the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, flocks shall again pass under the hands of the one who counts them, says the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
"Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah.


BIBLETEXT:
In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.


BIBLETEXT:
In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called: 'The LORD is our righteousness.'


BIBLETEXT:
"For thus says the LORD: David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel,


BIBLETEXT:
and the Levitical priests shall never lack a man in my presence to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings, and to make sacrifices forever."


BIBLETEXT:
"Thus says the LORD: If you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that day and night will not come at their appointed time,


BIBLETEXT:
then also my covenant with David my servant may be broken, so that he shall not have a son to reign on his throne, and my covenant with the Levitical priests my ministers.


BIBLETEXT:
As the host of heaven cannot be numbered and the sands of the sea cannot be measured, so I will multiply the offspring of David my servant, and the Levitical priests who minister to me."


BIBLETEXT:
"Have you not observed that these people are saying, 'The LORD has rejected the two clans that he chose'? Thus they have despised my people so that they are no longer a nation in their sight.


BIBLETEXT:
Thus says the LORD: If I have not established my covenant with day and night and the fixed order of heaven and earth,


BIBLETEXT:
then I will reject the offspring of Jacob and David my servant and will not choose one of his offspring to rule over the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will restore their fortunes and will have mercy on them."


BIBLETEXT:
The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army and all the kingdoms of the earth under his dominion and all the peoples were fighting against Jerusalem and all of its cities:


BIBLETEXT:
"Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah and say to him, 'Thus says the LORD: Behold, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.


BIBLETEXT:
You shall not escape from his hand but shall surely be captured and delivered into his hand. You shall see the king of Babylon eye to eye and speak with him face to face. And you shall go to Babylon.'


BIBLETEXT:
Yet hear the word of the LORD, O Zedekiah king of Judah! Thus says the LORD concerning you: 'You shall not die by the sword.


BIBLETEXT:
You shall die in peace. And as spices were burned for your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so people shall burn spices for you and lament for you, saying, "Alas, lord!"' For I have spoken the word, declares the LORD."


BIBLETEXT:
Then Jeremiah the prophet spoke all these words to Zedekiah king of Judah, in Jerusalem,


BIBLETEXT:
when the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and against all the cities of Judah that were left, Lachish and Azekah, for these were the only fortified cities of Judah that remained.


BIBLETEXT:
The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem to make a proclamation of liberty to them,


BIBLETEXT:
that everyone should set free his Hebrew slaves, male and female, so that no one should enslave a Jew, his brother.


BIBLETEXT:
And they obeyed, all the officials and all the people who had entered into the covenant that everyone would set free his slave, male or female, so that they would not be enslaved again. They obeyed and set them free.


BIBLETEXT:
But afterward they turned around and took back the male and female slaves they had set free, and brought them into subjection as slaves.


BIBLETEXT:
The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD:


BIBLETEXT:
"Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: I myself made a covenant with your fathers when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, saying,


BIBLETEXT:
'At the end of seven years each of you must set free the fellow Hebrew who has been sold to you and has served you six years; you must set him free from your service.' But your fathers did not listen to me or incline their ears to me.


BIBLETEXT:
You recently repented and did what was right in my eyes by proclaiming liberty, each to his neighbor, and you made a covenant before me in the house that is called by my name,


BIBLETEXT:
but then you turned around and profaned my name when each of you took back his male and female slaves, whom you had set free according to their desire, and you brought them into subjection to be your slaves.


BIBLETEXT:
"Therefore, thus says the LORD: You have not obeyed me by proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother and to his neighbor; behold, I proclaim to you liberty to the sword, to pestilence, and to famine, declares the LORD. I will make you a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.


BIBLETEXT:
And the men who transgressed my covenant and did not keep the terms of the covenant that they made before me, I will make them like the calf that they cut in two and passed between its parts--


BIBLETEXT:
the officials of Judah, the officials of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf.


BIBLETEXT:
And I will give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their lives. Their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth.


BIBLETEXT:
And Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials I will give into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their lives, into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon which has withdrawn from you.


BIBLETEXT:
Behold, I will command, declares the LORD, and will bring them back to this city. And they will fight against it and take it and burn it with fire. I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without inhabitant."


BIBLETEXT:
The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:


BIBLETEXT:
"Go to the house of the Rechabites and speak with them and bring them to the house of the LORD, into one of the chambers; then offer them wine to drink."


BIBLETEXT:
So I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, son of Habazziniah and his brothers and all his sons and the whole house of the Rechabites.


BIBLETEXT:
I brought them to the house of the LORD into the chamber of the sons of Hanan the son of Igdaliah, the man of God, which was near the chamber of the officials, above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, keeper of the threshold.


BIBLETEXT:
Then I set before the Rechabites pitchers full of wine, and cups, and I said to them, "Drink wine."


BIBLETEXT:
But they answered, "We will drink no wine, for Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, 'You shall not drink wine, neither you nor your sons forever.


BIBLETEXT:
You shall not build a house; you shall not sow seed; you shall not plant or have a vineyard; but you shall live in tents all your days, that you may live many days in the land where you sojourn.'


BIBLETEXT:
We have obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he commanded us, to drink no wine all our days, ourselves, our wives, our sons, or our daughters,


BIBLETEXT:
and not to build houses to dwell in. We have no vineyard or field or seed,


BIBLETEXT:
but we have lived in tents and have obeyed and done all that Jonadab our father commanded us.


BIBLETEXT:
But when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against the land, we said, 'Come, and let us go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chaldeans and the army of the Syrians.' So we are living in Jerusalem."


BIBLETEXT:
"Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Go and say to the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Will you not receive instruction and listen to my words? declares the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
The command that Jonadab the son of Rechab gave to his sons, to drink no wine, has been kept, and they drink none to this day, for they have obeyed their father's command. I have spoken to you persistently, but you have not listened to me.


BIBLETEXT:
I have sent to you all my servants the prophets, sending them persistently, saying, 'Turn now every one of you from his evil way, and amend your deeds, and do not go after other gods to serve them, and then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to you and your fathers.' But you did not incline your ear or listen to me.


BIBLETEXT:
The sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have kept the command that their father gave them, but this people has not obeyed me.


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore, thus says the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing upon Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the disaster that I have pronounced against them, because I have spoken to them and they have not listened, I have called to them and they have not answered."


BIBLETEXT:
But to the house of the Rechabites Jeremiah said, "Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Because you have obeyed the command of Jonadab your father and kept all his precepts and done all that he commanded you,


BIBLETEXT:
therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Jonadab the son of Rechab shall never lack a man to stand before me."


BIBLETEXT:
In the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD:


BIBLETEXT:
"Take a scroll and write on it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel and Judah and all the nations, from the day I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah until today.


BIBLETEXT:
It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the disaster that I intend to do to them, so that every one may turn from his evil way, and that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin."


BIBLETEXT:
Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah, and Baruch wrote on a scroll at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of the LORD that he had spoken to him.


BIBLETEXT:
And Jeremiah ordered Baruch, saying, "I am banned from going to the house of the LORD,


BIBLETEXT:
so you are to go, and on a day of fasting in the hearing of all the people in the LORD's house you shall read the words of the LORD from the scroll that you have written at my dictation. You shall read them also in the hearing of all the men of Judah who come out of their cities.


BIBLETEXT:
It may be that their plea for mercy will come before the LORD, and that every one will turn from his evil way, for great is the anger and wrath that the LORD has pronounced against this people."


BIBLETEXT:
And Baruch the son of Neriah did all that Jeremiah the prophet ordered him about reading from the scroll the words of the LORD in the LORD's house.


BIBLETEXT:
In the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, all the people in Jerusalem and all the people who came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem proclaimed a fast before the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
Then, in the hearing of all the people, Baruch read the words of Jeremiah from the scroll, in the house of the LORD, in the chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the secretary, which was in the upper court, at the entry of the New Gate of the LORD's house.


BIBLETEXT:
When Micaiah the son of Gemariah, son of Shaphan, heard all the words of the LORD from the scroll,


BIBLETEXT:
he went down to the king's house, into the secretary's chamber, and all the officials were sitting there: Elishama the secretary, Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, Elnathan the son of Achbor, Gemariah the son of Shaphan, Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the officials.


BIBLETEXT:
And Micaiah told them all the words that he had heard, when Baruch read the scroll in the hearing of the people.


BIBLETEXT:
Then all the officials sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, son of Shelemiah, son of Cushi, to say to Baruch, "Take in your hand the scroll that you read in the hearing of the people, and come." So Baruch the son of Neriah took the scroll in his hand and came to them.


BIBLETEXT:
And they said to him, "Sit down and read it." So Baruch read it to them.


BIBLETEXT:
When they heard all the words, they turned one to another in fear. And they said to Baruch, "We must report all these words to the king."


BIBLETEXT:
Then they asked Baruch, "Tell us, please, how did you write all these words? Was it at his dictation?"


BIBLETEXT:
Baruch answered them, "He dictated all these words to me, while I wrote them with ink on the scroll."


BIBLETEXT:
Then the officials said to Baruch, "Go and hide, you and Jeremiah, and let no one know where you are."


BIBLETEXT:
So they went into the court to the king, having put the scroll in the chamber of Elishama the secretary, and they reported all the words to the king.


BIBLETEXT:
Then the king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and he took it from the chamber of Elishama the secretary. And Jehudi read it to the king and all the officials who stood beside the king.


BIBLETEXT:
It was the ninth month, and the king was sitting in the winter house, and there was a fire burning in the fire pot before him.


BIBLETEXT:
As Jehudi read three or four columns, the king would cut them off with a knife and throw them into the fire in the fire pot, until the entire scroll was consumed in the fire that was in the fire pot.


BIBLETEXT:
Yet neither the king nor any of his servants who heard all these words was afraid, nor did they tear their garments.


BIBLETEXT:
Even when Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah urged the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them.


BIBLETEXT:
And the king commanded Jerahmeel the king's son and Seraiah the son of Azriel and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel to seize Baruch the secretary and Jeremiah the prophet, but the LORD hid them.


BIBLETEXT:
Now after the king had burned the scroll with the words that Baruch wrote at Jeremiah's dictation, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah:


BIBLETEXT:
"Take another scroll and write on it all the former words that were in the first scroll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah has burned.


BIBLETEXT:
And concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah you shall say, 'Thus says the LORD, You have burned this scroll, saying, "Why have you written in it that the king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land, and will cut off from it man and beast?"


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore thus says the LORD concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: He shall have none to sit on the throne of David, and his dead body shall be cast out to the heat by day and the frost by night.


BIBLETEXT:
And I will punish him and his offspring and his servants for their iniquity. I will bring upon them and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem and upon the people of Judah all the disaster that I have pronounced against them, but they would not hear.'"


BIBLETEXT:
Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah, who wrote on it at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And many similar words were added to them.


BIBLETEXT:
Zedekiah the son of Josiah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah, reigned instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim.


BIBLETEXT:
But neither he nor his servants nor the people of the land listened to the words of the LORD that he spoke through Jeremiah the prophet.


BIBLETEXT:
King Zedekiah sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah the priest, the son of Maaseiah, to Jeremiah the prophet, saying, "Please pray for us to the LORD our God."


BIBLETEXT:
Now Jeremiah was still going in and out among the people, for he had not yet been put in prison.


BIBLETEXT:
The army of Pharaoh had come out of Egypt. And when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard news about them, they withdrew from Jerusalem.


BIBLETEXT:
Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet:


BIBLETEXT:
"Thus says the LORD, God of Israel: Thus shall you say to the king of Judah who sent you to me to inquire of me, 'Behold, Pharaoh's army that came to help you is about to return to Egypt, to its own land.


BIBLETEXT:
And the Chaldeans shall come back and fight against this city. They shall capture it and burn it with fire.


BIBLETEXT:
Thus says the LORD, Do not deceive yourselves, saying, "The Chaldeans will surely go away from us," for they will not go away.


BIBLETEXT:
For even if you should defeat the whole army of Chaldeans who are fighting against you, and there remained of them only wounded men, every man in his tent, they would rise up and burn this city with fire.'"


BIBLETEXT:
Now when the Chaldean army had withdrawn from Jerusalem at the approach of Pharaoh's army,


BIBLETEXT:
Jeremiah set out from Jerusalem to go to the land of Benjamin to receive his portion there among the people.


BIBLETEXT:
When he was at the Benjamin Gate, a sentry there named Irijah the son of Shelemiah, son of Hananiah, seized Jeremiah the prophet, saying, "You are deserting to the Chaldeans."


BIBLETEXT:
And Jeremiah said, "It is a lie; I am not deserting to the Chaldeans." But Irijah would not listen to him, and seized Jeremiah and brought him to the officials.


BIBLETEXT:
And the officials were enraged at Jeremiah, and they beat him and imprisoned him in the house of Jonathan the secretary, for it had been made a prison.


BIBLETEXT:
When Jeremiah had come to the dungeon cells and remained there many days,


BIBLETEXT:
King Zedekiah sent for him and received him. The king questioned him secretly in his house and said, "Is there any word from the LORD?" Jeremiah said, "There is." Then he said, "You shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon."


BIBLETEXT:
Jeremiah also said to King Zedekiah, "What wrong have I done to you or your servants or this people, that you have put me in prison?


BIBLETEXT:
Where are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, 'The king of Babylon will not come against you and against this land'?


BIBLETEXT:
Now hear, please, O my lord the king: let my humble plea come before you and do not send me back to the house of Jonathan the secretary, lest I die there."


BIBLETEXT:
So King Zedekiah gave orders, and they committed Jeremiah to the court of the guard. And a loaf of bread was given him daily from the bakers' street, until all the bread of the city was gone. So Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.


BIBLETEXT:
Now Shephatiah the son of Mattan, Gedaliah the son of Pashhur, Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur the son of Malchiah heard the words that Jeremiah was saying to all the people,


BIBLETEXT:
"Thus says the LORD: He who stays in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, but he who goes out to the Chaldeans shall live. He shall have his life as a prize of war, and live.


BIBLETEXT:
Thus says the LORD: This city shall surely be given into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon and be taken."


BIBLETEXT:
Then the officials said to the king, "Let this man be put to death, for he is weakening the hands of the soldiers who are left in this city, and the hands of all the people, by speaking such words to them. For this man is not seeking the welfare of this people, but their harm."


BIBLETEXT:
King Zedekiah said, "Behold, he is in your hands, for the king can do nothing against you."


BIBLETEXT:
So they took Jeremiah and cast him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king's son, which was in the court of the guard, letting Jeremiah down by ropes. And there was no water in the cistern, but only mud, and Jeremiah sank in the mud.


BIBLETEXT:
When Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, a eunuch who was in the king's house, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern--the king was sitting in the Benjamin Gate--


BIBLETEXT:
Ebed-melech went from the king's house and said to the king,


BIBLETEXT:
"My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they did to Jeremiah the prophet by casting him into the cistern, and he will die there of hunger, for there is no bread left in the city."


BIBLETEXT:
Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, "Take thirty men with you from here, and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies."


BIBLETEXT:
So Ebed-melech took the men with him and went to the house of the king, to a wardrobe in the storehouse, and took from there old rags and worn-out clothes, which he let down to Jeremiah in the cistern by ropes.


BIBLETEXT:
Then Ebed-melech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, "Put the rags and clothes between your armpits and the ropes." Jeremiah did so.


BIBLETEXT:
Then they drew Jeremiah up with ropes and lifted him out of the cistern. And Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.


BIBLETEXT:
King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah the prophet and received him at the third entrance of the temple of the LORD. The king said to Jeremiah, "I will ask you a question; hide nothing from me."


BIBLETEXT:
Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, "If I tell you, will you not surely put me to death? And if I give you counsel, you will not listen to me."


BIBLETEXT:
Then King Zedekiah swore secretly to Jeremiah, "As the LORD lives, who made our souls, I will not put you to death or deliver you into the hand of these men who seek your life."


BIBLETEXT:
Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, "Thus says the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: If you will surrender to the officials of the king of Babylon, then your life shall be spared, and this city shall not be burned with fire, and you and your house shall live.


BIBLETEXT:
But if you do not surrender to the officials of the king of Babylon, then this city shall be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire, and you shall not escape from their hand."


BIBLETEXT:
King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, "I am afraid of the Judeans who have deserted to the Chaldeans, lest I be handed over to them and they deal cruelly with me."


BIBLETEXT:
Jeremiah said, "You shall not be given to them. Obey now the voice of the LORD in what I say to you, and it shall be well with you, and your life shall be spared.


BIBLETEXT:
But if you refuse to surrender, this is the vision which the LORD has shown to me:


BIBLETEXT:
Behold, all the women left in the house of the king of Judah were being led out to the officials of the king of Babylon and were saying, "'Your trusted friends have deceived you and prevailed against you; now that your feet are sunk in the mud, they turn away from you.'


BIBLETEXT:
All your wives and your sons shall be led out to the Chaldeans, and you yourself shall not escape from their hand, but shall be seized by the king of Babylon, and this city shall be burned with fire."


BIBLETEXT:
Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, "Let no one know of these words, and you shall not die.


BIBLETEXT:
If the officials hear that I have spoken with you and come to you and say to you, 'Tell us what you said to the king and what the king said to you; hide nothing from us and we will not put you to death,'


BIBLETEXT:
then you shall say to them, 'I made a humble plea to the king that he would not send me back to the house of Jonathan to die there.'"


BIBLETEXT:
Then all the officials came to Jeremiah and asked him, and he answered them as the king had instructed him. So they stopped speaking with him, for the conversation had not been overheard.


BIBLETEXT:
And Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard until the day that Jerusalem was taken.


BIBLETEXT:
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 besieged it.


BIBLETEXT:
In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, a breach was made in the city.


BIBLETEXT:
Then all the officials of the king of Babylon came and sat in the middle gate: Nergal-sar-ezer, Samgar-nebu, Sar-sekim the Rab-saris, Nergal-sar-ezer the Rab-mag, with all the rest of the officers of the king of Babylon.


BIBLETEXT:
When Zedekiah king of Judah and all the soldiers saw them, they fled, going out of the city at night by way of the king's garden through the gate between the two walls; and they went toward the Arabah.


BIBLETEXT:
But the army of the Chaldeans pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. And when they had taken him, they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, at Riblah, in the land of Hamath; and he passed sentence on him.


BIBLETEXT:
The king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah at Riblah before his eyes, and the king of Babylon slaughtered all the nobles of Judah.


BIBLETEXT:
He put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him in chains to take him to Babylon.


BIBLETEXT:
The Chaldeans burned the king's house and the house of the people, and broke down the walls of Jerusalem.


BIBLETEXT:
Then Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, carried into exile to Babylon the rest of the people who were left in the city, those who had deserted to him, and the people who remained.


BIBLETEXT:
Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, left in the land of Judah some of the poor people who owned nothing, and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time.


BIBLETEXT:
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon gave command concerning Jeremiah through Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, saying,


BIBLETEXT:
"Take him, look after him well, and do him no harm, but deal with him as he tells you."


BIBLETEXT:
So Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, Nebushazban the Rab-saris, Nergal-sar-ezer the Rab-mag, and all the chief officers of the king of Babylon


BIBLETEXT:
sent and took Jeremiah from the court of the guard. They entrusted him to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, that he should take him home. So he lived among the people.


BIBLETEXT:
The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah while he was shut up in the court of the guard:


BIBLETEXT:
"Go, and say to Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will fulfill my words against this city for harm and not for good, and they shall be accomplished before you on that day.


BIBLETEXT:
But I will deliver you on that day, declares the LORD, and you shall not be given into the hand of the men of whom you are afraid.


BIBLETEXT:
For I will surely save you, and you shall not fall by the sword, but you shall have your life as a prize of war, because you have put your trust in me, declares the LORD.'"


BIBLETEXT:
The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD after Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had let him go from Ramah, when he took him bound in chains along with all the captives of Jerusalem and Judah who were being exiled to Babylon.


BIBLETEXT:
The captain of the guard took Jeremiah and said to him, "The LORD your God pronounced this disaster against this place.


BIBLETEXT:
The LORD has brought it about, and has done as he said. Because you sinned against the LORD and did not obey his voice, this thing has come upon you.


BIBLETEXT:
Now, behold, I release you today from the chains on your hands. If it seems good to you to come with me to Babylon, come, and I will look after you well, but if it seems wrong to you to come with me to Babylon, do not come. See, the whole land is before you; go wherever you think it good and right to go.


BIBLETEXT:
If you remain, then return to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon appointed governor of the cities of Judah, and dwell with him among the people. Or go wherever you think it right to go." So the captain of the guard gave him an allowance of food and a present, and let him go.


BIBLETEXT:
Then Jeremiah went to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, at Mizpah, and lived with him among the people who were left in the land.


BIBLETEXT:
When all the captains of the forces in the open country and their men heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam governor in the land and had committed to him men, women, and children, those of the poorest of the land who had not been taken into exile to Babylon,


BIBLETEXT:
they went to Gedaliah at Mizpah--Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, Johanan the son of Kareah, Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth, the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, Jezaniah the son of the Maacathite, they and their men.


BIBLETEXT:
Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, swore to them and their men, saying, "Do not be afraid to serve the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.


BIBLETEXT:
As for me, I will dwell at Mizpah, to represent you before the Chaldeans who will come to us. But as for you, gather wine and summer fruits and oil, and store them in your vessels, and dwell in your cities that you have taken."


BIBLETEXT:
Likewise, when all the Judeans who were in Moab and among the Ammonites and in Edom and in other lands heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant in Judah and had appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, as governor over them,


BIBLETEXT:
then all the Judeans returned from all the places to which they had been driven and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah. And they gathered wine and summer fruits in great abundance.


BIBLETEXT:
Now Johanan the son of Kareah and all the leaders of the forces in the open country came to Gedaliah at Mizpah


BIBLETEXT:
and said to him, "Do you know that Baalis the king of the Ammonites has sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to take your life?" But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam would not believe them.


BIBLETEXT:
Then Johanan the son of Kareah spoke secretly to Gedaliah at Mizpah, "Please let me go and strike down Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and no one will know it. Why should he take your life, so that all the Judeans who are gathered about you would be scattered, and the remnant of Judah would perish?"


BIBLETEXT:
But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam said to Johanan the son of Kareah, "You shall not do this thing, for you are speaking falsely of Ishmael."


BIBLETEXT:
In the seventh month, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, of the royal family, one of the chief officers of the king, came with ten men to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, at Mizpah. As they ate bread together there at Mizpah,


BIBLETEXT:
Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and the ten men with him rose up and struck down Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, with the sword, and killed him, whom the king of Babylon had appointed governor in the land.


BIBLETEXT:
Ishmael also struck down all the Judeans who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah, and the Chaldean soldiers who happened to be there.


BIBLETEXT:
On the day after the murder of Gedaliah, before anyone knew of it,


BIBLETEXT:
eighty men arrived from Shechem and Shiloh and Samaria, with their beards shaved and their clothes torn, and their bodies gashed, bringing grain offerings and incense to present at the temple of the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah came out from Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he came. As he met them, he said to them, "Come in to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam."


BIBLETEXT:
When they came into the city, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and the men with him slaughtered them and cast them into a cistern.


BIBLETEXT:
But there were ten men among them who said to Ishmael, "Do not put us to death, for we have stores of wheat, barley, oil, and honey hidden in the fields." So he refrained and did not put them to death with their companions.


BIBLETEXT:
Now the cistern into which Ishmael had thrown all the bodies of the men whom he had struck down along with Gedaliah was the large cistern that King Asa had made for defense against Baasha king of Israel; Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with the slain.


BIBLETEXT:
Then Ishmael took captive all the rest of the people who were in Mizpah, the king's daughters and all the people who were left at Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, had committed to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. Ishmael the son of Nethaniah took them captive and set out to cross over to the Ammonites.


BIBLETEXT:
But when Johanan the son of Kareah and all the leaders of the forces with him heard of all the evil that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had done,


BIBLETEXT:
they took all their men and went to fight against Ishmael the son of Nethaniah. They came upon him at the great pool that is in Gibeon.


BIBLETEXT:
And when all the people who were with Ishmael saw Johanan the son of Kareah and all the leaders of the forces with him, they rejoiced.


BIBLETEXT:
So all the people whom Ishmael had carried away captive from Mizpah turned around and came back, and went to Johanan the son of Kareah.


BIBLETEXT:
But Ishmael the son of Nethaniah escaped from Johanan with eight men, and went to the Ammonites.


BIBLETEXT:
Then Johanan the son of Kareah and all the leaders of the forces with him took from Mizpah all the rest of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, after he had struck down Gedaliah the son of Ahikam--soldiers, women, children, and eunuchs, whom Johanan brought back from Gibeon.


BIBLETEXT:
And they went and stayed at Geruth Chimham near Bethlehem, intending to go to Egypt


BIBLETEXT:
because of the Chaldeans. For they were afraid of them, because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had struck down Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had made governor over the land.


BIBLETEXT:
Then 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 to the greatest, came near


BIBLETEXT:
and said to Jeremiah the prophet, "Let our plea for mercy come before you, and pray to the LORD your God for us, for all this remnant--because we are left with but a few, as your eyes see us--


BIBLETEXT:
that the LORD your God may show us the way we should go, and the thing that we should do."


BIBLETEXT:
Jeremiah the prophet said to them, "I have heard you. Behold, I will pray to the LORD your God according to your request, and whatever the LORD answers you I will tell you. I will keep nothing back from you."


BIBLETEXT:
Then they said to Jeremiah, "May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act according to all the word with which the LORD your God sends you to us.


BIBLETEXT:
Whether it is good or bad, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God to whom we are sending you, that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the LORD our God."


BIBLETEXT:
At the end of ten days the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah.


BIBLETEXT:
Then he summoned Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces who were with him, and all the people from the least to the greatest,


BIBLETEXT:
and said to them, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your plea for mercy before him:


BIBLETEXT:
If you will remain in this land, then I will build you up and not pull you down; I will plant you, and not pluck you up; for I relent of the disaster that I did to you.


BIBLETEXT:
Do not fear the king of Babylon, of whom you are afraid. Do not fear him, declares the LORD, for I am with you, to save you and to deliver you from his hand.


BIBLETEXT:
I will grant you mercy, that he may have mercy on you and let you remain in your own land.


BIBLETEXT:
But if you say, 'We will not remain in this land,' disobeying the voice of the LORD your God


BIBLETEXT:
and saying, 'No, we will go to the land of Egypt, where we shall not see war or hear the sound of the trumpet or be hungry for bread, and we will dwell there,'


BIBLETEXT:
then hear the word of the LORD, O remnant of Judah. Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: If you set your faces to enter Egypt and go to live there,


BIBLETEXT:
then the sword that you fear shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine of which you are afraid shall follow close after you to Egypt, and there you shall die.


BIBLETEXT:
All the men who set their faces to go to Egypt to live there shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence. They shall have no remnant or survivor from the disaster that I will bring upon them.


BIBLETEXT:
"For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: As my anger and my wrath were poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so my wrath will be poured out on you when you go to Egypt. You shall become an execration, a horror, a curse, and a taunt. You shall see this place no more.


BIBLETEXT:
The LORD has said to you, O remnant of Judah, 'Do not go to Egypt.' Know for a certainty that I have warned you this day


BIBLETEXT:
that you have gone astray at the cost of your lives. For you sent me to the LORD your God, saying, 'Pray for us to the LORD our God, and whatever the LORD our God says declare to us and we will do it.'


BIBLETEXT:
And I have this day declared it to you, but you have not obeyed the voice of the LORD your God in anything that he sent me to tell you.


BIBLETEXT:
Now therefore know for a certainty that you shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence in the place where you desire to go to live."


BIBLETEXT:
When Jeremiah finished speaking to all the people all these words of the LORD their God, with which the LORD their God had sent him to them,


BIBLETEXT:
Azariah the son of Hoshaiah and Johanan the son of Kareah and all the insolent men said to Jeremiah, "You are telling a lie. The LORD our God did not send you to say, 'Do not go to Egypt to live there,'


BIBLETEXT:
but Baruch the son of Neriah has set you against us, to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they may kill us or take us into exile in Babylon."


BIBLETEXT:
So Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces and all the people did not obey the voice of the LORD, to remain in the land of Judah.


BIBLETEXT:
But Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces took all the remnant of Judah who had returned to live in the land of Judah from all the nations to which they had been driven--


BIBLETEXT:
the men, the women, the children, the princesses, and every person whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan; also Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch the son of Neriah.


BIBLETEXT:
And they came into the land of Egypt, for they did not obey the voice of the LORD. And they arrived at Tahpanhes.


BIBLETEXT:
Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes:


BIBLETEXT:
"Take in your hands large stones and hide them in the mortar in the pavement that is at the entrance to Pharaoh's palace in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah,


BIBLETEXT:
and say to them, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will set his throne above these stones that I have hidden, and he will spread his royal canopy over them.


BIBLETEXT:
He shall come and strike the land of Egypt, giving over to the pestilence those who are doomed to the pestilence, to captivity those who are doomed to captivity, and to the sword those who are doomed to the sword.


BIBLETEXT:
I shall kindle a fire in the temples of the gods of Egypt, and he shall burn them and carry them away captive. And he shall clean the land of Egypt as a shepherd cleans his cloak of vermin, and he shall go away from there in peace.


BIBLETEXT:
He shall break the obelisks of Heliopolis, which is in the land of Egypt, and the temples of the gods of Egypt he shall burn with fire.'"


BIBLETEXT:
The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Judeans who lived in the land of Egypt, at Migdol, at Tahpanhes, at Memphis, and in the land of Pathros,


BIBLETEXT:
"Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: You have seen all the disaster that I brought upon Jerusalem and upon all the cities of Judah. Behold, this day they are a desolation, and no one dwells in them,


BIBLETEXT:
because of the evil that they committed, provoking me to anger, in that they went to make offerings and serve other gods that they knew not, neither they, nor you, nor your fathers.


BIBLETEXT:
Yet I persistently sent to you all my servants the prophets, saying, 'Oh, do not do this abomination that I hate!'


BIBLETEXT:
But they did not listen or incline their ear, to turn from their evil and make no offerings to other gods.


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore my wrath and my anger were poured out and kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, and they became a waste and a desolation, as at this day.


BIBLETEXT:
And now thus says the LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel: Why do you commit this great evil against yourselves, to cut off from you man and woman, infant and child, from the midst of Judah, leaving you no remnant?


BIBLETEXT:
Why do you provoke me to anger with the works of your hands, making offerings to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have come to live, so that you may be cut off and become a curse and a taunt among all the nations of the earth?


BIBLETEXT:
Have you forgotten the evil of your fathers, the evil of the kings of Judah, the evil of their wives, your own evil, and the evil of your wives, which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?


BIBLETEXT:
They have not humbled themselves even to this day, nor have they feared, nor walked in my law and my statutes that I set before you and before your fathers.


BIBLETEXT:
"Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will set my face against you for harm, to cut off all Judah.


BIBLETEXT:
I will take the remnant of Judah who have set their faces to come to the land of Egypt to live, and they shall all be consumed. In the land of Egypt they shall fall; by the sword and by famine they shall be consumed. From the least to the greatest, they shall die by the sword and by famine, and they shall become an oath, a horror, a curse, and a taunt.


BIBLETEXT:
I will punish those who dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence,


BIBLETEXT:
so that none of the remnant of Judah who have come to live in the land of Egypt shall escape or survive or return to the land of Judah, to which they desire to return to dwell there. For they shall not return, except some fugitives."


BIBLETEXT:
Then all the men who knew that their wives had made offerings to other gods, and all the women who stood by, a great assembly, all the people who lived in Pathros in the land of Egypt, answered Jeremiah:


BIBLETEXT:
"As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD, we will not listen to you.


BIBLETEXT:
But we will do everything that we have vowed, make offerings to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, as we did, both we and our fathers, our kings and our officials, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food, and prospered, and saw no disaster.


BIBLETEXT:
But since we left off making offerings to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything and have been consumed by the sword and by famine."


BIBLETEXT:
And the women said, "When we made offerings to the queen of heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, was it without our husbands' approval that we made cakes for her bearing her image and poured out drink offerings to her?"


BIBLETEXT:
Then Jeremiah said to all the people, men and women, all the people who had given him this answer:


BIBLETEXT:
"As for the offerings that you offered in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your fathers, your kings and your officials, and the people of the land, did not the LORD remember them? Did it not come into his mind?


BIBLETEXT:
The LORD could no longer bear your evil deeds and the abominations that you committed. Therefore your land has become a desolation and a waste and a curse, without inhabitant, as it is this day.


BIBLETEXT:
It is because you made offerings and because you sinned against the LORD and did not obey the voice of the LORD or walk in his law and in his statutes and in his testimonies that this disaster has happened to you, as at this day."


BIBLETEXT:
Jeremiah said to all the people and all the women, "Hear the word of the LORD, all you of Judah who are in the land of Egypt.


BIBLETEXT:
Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: You and your wives have declared with your mouths, and have fulfilled it with your hands, saying, 'We will surely perform our vows that we have made, to make offerings to the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings to her.' Then confirm your vows and perform your vows!


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore hear the word of the LORD, all you of Judah who dwell in the land of Egypt: Behold, I have sworn by my great name, says the LORD, that my name shall no more be invoked by the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, 'As the Lord GOD lives.'


BIBLETEXT:
Behold, I am watching over them for disaster and not for good. All the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by famine, until there is an end of them.


BIBLETEXT:
And those who escape the sword shall return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah, few in number; and all the remnant of Judah, who came to the land of Egypt to live, shall know whose word will stand, mine or theirs.


BIBLETEXT:
This shall be the sign to you, declares the LORD, that I will punish you in this place, in order that you may know that my words will surely stand against you for harm:


BIBLETEXT:
Thus says the LORD, Behold, I will give 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, who was his enemy and sought his life."


BIBLETEXT:
The word that Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Baruch the son of Neriah, when he wrote these words in a book at the dictation of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:


BIBLETEXT:
"Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, to you, O Baruch:


BIBLETEXT:
You said, 'Woe is me! For the LORD has added sorrow to my pain. I am weary with my groaning, and I find no rest.'


BIBLETEXT:
Thus shall you say to him, Thus says the LORD: Behold, what I have built I am breaking down, and what I have planted I am plucking up--that is, the whole land.


BIBLETEXT:
And do you seek great things for yourself? Seek them not, for behold, I am bringing disaster upon all flesh, declares the LORD. But I will give you your life as a prize of war in all places to which you may go."


BIBLETEXT:
The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations.


BIBLETEXT:
About Egypt. Concerning the army of Pharaoh Neco, king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates at Carchemish and which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:


BIBLETEXT:
"Prepare buckler and shield, and advance for battle!


BIBLETEXT:
Harness the horses; mount, O horsemen! Take your stations with your helmets, polish your spears, put on your armor!


BIBLETEXT:
Why have I seen it? They are dismayed and have turned backward. Their warriors are beaten down and have fled in haste; they look not back-- terror on every side! declares the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
"The swift cannot flee away, nor the warrior escape; in the north by the river Euphrates they have stumbled and fallen.


BIBLETEXT:
"Who is this, rising like the Nile, like rivers whose waters surge?


BIBLETEXT:
Egypt rises like the Nile, like rivers whose waters surge. He said, 'I will rise, I will cover the earth, I will destroy cities and their inhabitants.'


BIBLETEXT:
Advance, O horses, and rage, O chariots! Let the warriors go out: men of Cush and Put who handle the shield, men of Lud, skilled in handling the bow.


BIBLETEXT:
That day is the day of the Lord GOD of hosts, a day of vengeance, to avenge himself on his foes. The sword shall devour and be sated and drink its fill of their blood. For the Lord GOD of hosts holds a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.


BIBLETEXT:
Go up to Gilead, and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt! In vain you have used many medicines; there is no healing for you.


BIBLETEXT:
The nations have heard of your shame, and the earth is full of your cry; for warrior has stumbled against warrior; they have both fallen together."


BIBLETEXT:
The word that the LORD spoke to Jeremiah the prophet about the coming of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to strike the land of Egypt:


BIBLETEXT:
"Declare in Egypt, and proclaim in Migdol; proclaim in Memphis and Tahpanhes; say, 'Stand ready and be prepared, for the sword shall devour around you.'


BIBLETEXT:
Why are your mighty ones face down? They do not stand because the LORD thrust them down.


BIBLETEXT:
He made many stumble, and they fell, and they said one to another, 'Arise, and let us go back to our own people and to the land of our birth, because of the sword of the oppressor.'


BIBLETEXT:
Call the name of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, 'Noisy one who lets the hour go by.'


BIBLETEXT:
"As I live, declares the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts, like Tabor among the mountains and like Carmel by the sea, shall one come.


BIBLETEXT:
Prepare yourselves baggage for exile, O inhabitants of Egypt! For Memphis shall become a waste, a ruin, without inhabitant.


BIBLETEXT:
"A beautiful heifer is Egypt, but a biting fly from the north has come upon her.


BIBLETEXT:
Even her hired soldiers in her midst are like fattened calves; yes, they have turned and fled together; they did not stand, for the day of their calamity has come upon them, the time of their punishment.


BIBLETEXT:
"She makes a sound like a serpent gliding away; for her enemies march in force and come against her with axes like those who fell trees.


BIBLETEXT:
They shall cut down her forest, declares the LORD, though it is impenetrable, because they are more numerous than locusts; they are without number.


BIBLETEXT:
The daughter of Egypt shall be put to shame; she shall be delivered into the hand of a people from the north."


BIBLETEXT:
The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, said: "Behold, I am bringing punishment upon Amon of Thebes, and Pharaoh and Egypt and her gods and her kings, upon Pharaoh and those who trust in him.


BIBLETEXT:
I will deliver them into the hand of those who seek their life, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and his officers. Afterward Egypt shall be inhabited as in the days of old, declares the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
"But fear not, O Jacob my servant, nor be dismayed, O Israel, for behold, I will save you from far away, and your offspring from the land of their captivity. Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease, and none shall make him afraid.


BIBLETEXT:
Fear not, O Jacob my servant, declares the LORD, for I am with you. I will make a full end of all the nations to which I have driven you, but of you I will not make a full end. I will discipline you in just measure, and I will by no means leave you unpunished."


BIBLETEXT:
The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the Philistines, before Pharaoh struck down Gaza.


BIBLETEXT:
"Thus says the LORD: Behold, waters are rising out of the north, and shall become an overflowing torrent; they shall overflow the land and all that fills it, the city and those who dwell in it. Men shall cry out, and every inhabitant of the land shall wail.


BIBLETEXT:
At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his stallions, at the rushing of his chariots, at the rumbling of their wheels, the fathers look not back to their children, so feeble are their hands,


BIBLETEXT:
because of the day that is coming to destroy all the Philistines, to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every helper that remains. For the LORD is destroying the Philistines, the remnant of the coastland of Caphtor.


BIBLETEXT:
Baldness has come upon Gaza; Ashkelon has perished. O remnant of their valley, how long will you gash yourselves?


BIBLETEXT:
Ah, sword of the LORD! How long till you are quiet? Put yourself into your scabbard; rest and be still!


BIBLETEXT:
How can it be quiet when the LORD has given it a charge? Against Ashkelon and against the seashore he has appointed it."


BIBLETEXT:
Concerning Moab. Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "Woe to Nebo, for it is laid waste! Kiriathaim is put to shame, it is taken; the fortress is put to shame and broken down;


BIBLETEXT:
the renown of Moab is no more. In Heshbon they planned disaster against her: 'Come, let us cut her off from being a nation!' You also, O Madmen, shall be brought to silence; the sword shall pursue you.


BIBLETEXT:
"A voice! A cry from Horonaim, 'Desolation and great destruction!'


BIBLETEXT:
Moab is destroyed; her little ones have made a cry.


BIBLETEXT:
For at the ascent of Luhith they go up weeping; for at the descent of Horonaim they have heard the distressed cry of destruction.


BIBLETEXT:
Flee! Save yourselves! You will be like a juniper in the desert!


BIBLETEXT:
For, because you trusted in your works and your treasures, you also shall be taken; and Chemosh shall go into exile with his priests and his officials.


BIBLETEXT:
The destroyer shall come upon every city, and no city shall escape; the valley shall perish, and the plain shall be destroyed, as the LORD has spoken.


BIBLETEXT:
"Give wings to Moab, for she would fly away; her cities shall become a desolation, with no inhabitant in them.


BIBLETEXT:
"Cursed is he who does the work of the LORD with slackness, and cursed is he who keeps back his sword from bloodshed.


BIBLETEXT:
"Moab has been at ease from his youth and has settled on his dregs; he has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, nor has he gone into exile; so his taste remains in him, and his scent is not changed.


BIBLETEXT:
"Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I shall send to him pourers who will pour him, and empty his vessels and break his jars in pieces.


BIBLETEXT:
Then Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, their confidence.


BIBLETEXT:
"How do you say, 'We are heroes and mighty men of war'?


BIBLETEXT:
The destroyer of Moab and his cities has come up, and the choicest of his young men have gone down to slaughter, declares the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts.


BIBLETEXT:
The calamity of Moab is near at hand, and his affliction hastens swiftly.


BIBLETEXT:
Grieve for him, all you who are around him, and all who know his name; say, 'How the mighty scepter is broken, the glorious staff.'


BIBLETEXT:
"Come down from your glory, and sit on the parched ground, O inhabitant of Dibon! For the destroyer of Moab has come up against you; he has destroyed your strongholds.


BIBLETEXT:
Stand by the way and watch, O inhabitant of Aroer! Ask him who flees and her who escapes; say, 'What has happened?'


BIBLETEXT:
Moab is put to shame, for it is broken; wail and cry! Tell it beside the Arnon, that Moab is laid waste.


BIBLETEXT:
"Judgment has come upon the tableland, upon Holon, and Jahzah, and Mephaath,


BIBLETEXT:
and Dibon, and Nebo, and Beth-diblathaim,


BIBLETEXT:
and Kiriathaim, and Beth-gamul, and Beth-meon,


BIBLETEXT:
and Kerioth, and Bozrah, and all the cities of the land of Moab, far and near.


BIBLETEXT:
The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken, declares the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
"Make him drunk, because he magnified himself against the LORD, so that Moab shall wallow in his vomit, and he too shall be held in derision.


BIBLETEXT:
Was not Israel a derision to you? Was he found among thieves, that whenever you spoke of him you wagged your head?


BIBLETEXT:
"Leave the cities, and dwell in the rock, O inhabitants of Moab! Be like the dove that nests in the sides of the mouth of a gorge.


BIBLETEXT:
We have heard of the pride of Moab-- he is very proud-- of his loftiness, his pride, and his arrogance, and the haughtiness of his heart.


BIBLETEXT:
I know his insolence, declares the LORD; his boasts are false, his deeds are false.


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore I wail for Moab; I cry out for all Moab; for the men of Kir-hareseth I mourn.


BIBLETEXT:
More than for Jazer I weep for you, O vine of Sibmah! Your branches passed over the sea, reached to the Sea of Jazer; on your summer fruits and your grapes the destroyer has fallen.


BIBLETEXT:
Gladness and joy have been taken away from the fruitful land of Moab; I have made the wine cease from the winepresses; no one treads them with shouts of joy; the shouting is not the shout of joy.


BIBLETEXT:
"From the outcry at Heshbon even to Elealeh, as far as Jahaz they utter their voice, from Zoar to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah. For the waters of Nimrim also have become desolate.


BIBLETEXT:
And I will bring to an end in Moab, declares the LORD, him who offers sacrifice in the high place and makes offerings to his god.


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore my heart moans for Moab like a flute, and my heart moans like a flute for the men of Kir-hareseth. Therefore the riches they gained have perished.


BIBLETEXT:
"For every head is shaved and every beard cut off. On all the hands are gashes, and around the waist is sackcloth.


BIBLETEXT:
On all the housetops of Moab and in the squares there is nothing but lamentation, for I have broken Moab like a vessel for which no one cares, declares the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
How it is broken! How they wail! How Moab has turned his back in shame! So Moab has become a derision and a horror to all that are around him."


BIBLETEXT:
For thus says the LORD: "Behold, one shall fly swiftly like an eagle and spread his wings against Moab;


BIBLETEXT:
the cities shall be taken and the strongholds seized. The heart of the warriors of Moab shall be in that day like the heart of a woman in her birth pains;


BIBLETEXT:
Moab shall be destroyed and be no longer a people, because he magnified himself against the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
Terror, pit, and snare are before you, O inhabitant of Moab! declares the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
He who flees from the terror shall fall into the pit, and he who climbs out of the pit shall be caught in the snare. For I will bring these things upon Moab, the year of their punishment, declares the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
"In the shadow of Heshbon fugitives stop without strength, for fire came out from Heshbon, flame from the house of Sihon; it has destroyed the forehead of Moab, the crown of the sons of tumult.


BIBLETEXT:
Woe to you, O Moab! The people of Chemosh are undone, for your sons have been taken captive, and your daughters into captivity.


BIBLETEXT:
Yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab in the latter days, declares the LORD." Thus far is the judgment on Moab.


BIBLETEXT:
Concerning the Ammonites. Thus says the LORD: "Has Israel no sons? Has he no heir? Why then has Milcom dispossessed Gad, and his people settled in its cities?


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will cause the battle cry to be heard against Rabbah of the Ammonites; it shall become a desolate mound, and its villages shall be burned with fire; then Israel shall dispossess those who dispossessed him, says the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
"Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai is laid waste! Cry out, O daughters of Rabbah! Put on sackcloth, lament, and run to and fro among the hedges! For Milcom shall go into exile, with his priests and his officials.


BIBLETEXT:
Why do you boast of your valleys, O faithless daughter, who trusted in her treasures, saying, 'Who will come against me?'


BIBLETEXT:
Behold, I will bring terror upon you, declares the Lord GOD of hosts, from all who are around you, and you shall be driven out, every man straight before him, with none to gather the fugitives.


BIBLETEXT:
"But afterward I will restore the fortunes of the Ammonites, declares the LORD."


BIBLETEXT:
Concerning Edom. Thus says the LORD of hosts: "Is wisdom no more in Teman? Has counsel perished from the prudent? Has their wisdom vanished?


BIBLETEXT:
Flee, turn back, dwell in the depths, O inhabitants of Dedan! For I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him, the time when I punish him.


BIBLETEXT:
If grape-gatherers came to you, would they not leave gleanings? If thieves came by night, would they not destroy only enough for themselves?


BIBLETEXT:
But I have stripped Esau bare; I have uncovered his hiding places, and he is not able to conceal himself. His children are destroyed, and his brothers, and his neighbors; and he is no more.


BIBLETEXT:
Leave your fatherless children; I will keep them alive; and let your widows trust in me."


BIBLETEXT:
For thus says the LORD: "If those who did not deserve to drink the cup must drink it, will you go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, but you must drink.


BIBLETEXT:
For I have sworn by myself, declares the LORD, that Bozrah shall become a horror, a taunt, a waste, and a curse, and all her cities shall be perpetual wastes."


BIBLETEXT:
I have heard a message from the LORD, and an envoy has been sent among the nations: "Gather yourselves together and come against her, and rise up for battle!


BIBLETEXT:
For behold, I will make you small among the nations, despised among mankind.


BIBLETEXT:
The horror you inspire has deceived you, and the pride of your heart, you who live in the clefts of the rock, who hold the height of the hill. Though you make your nest as high as the eagle's, I will bring you down from there, declares the LORD.


BIBLETEXT:
"Edom shall become a horror. Everyone who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss because of all its disasters.


BIBLETEXT:
As when Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring cities were overthrown, says the LORD, no man shall dwell there, no man shall sojourn in her.


BIBLETEXT:
Behold, like a lion coming up from the jungle of the Jordan against a perennial pasture, I will suddenly make him run away from her. And I will appoint over her whomever I choose. For who is like me? Who will summon me? What shepherd can stand before me?


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore hear the plan that the LORD has made against Edom and the purposes that he has formed against the inhabitants of Teman: Even the little ones of the flock shall be dragged away. Surely their fold shall be appalled at their fate.


BIBLETEXT:
At the sound of their fall the earth shall tremble; the sound of their cry shall be heard at the Red Sea.


BIBLETEXT:
Behold, one shall mount up and fly swiftly like an eagle and spread his wings against Bozrah, and the heart of the warriors of Edom shall be in that day like the heart of a woman in her birth pains."


BIBLETEXT:
Concerning Damascus: "Hamath and Arpad are confounded, for they have heard bad news; they melt in fear, they are troubled like the sea that cannot be quiet.


BIBLETEXT:
Damascus has become feeble, she turned to flee, and panic seized her; anguish and sorrows have taken hold of her, as of a woman in labor.


BIBLETEXT:
How is the famous city not forsaken, the city of my joy?


BIBLETEXT:
Therefore her young men shall fall in her squares, and all her soldiers shall be destroyed in that day, declares the LORD of hosts.


BIBLETEXT:
And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall devour the strongholds of Ben-hadad."


BIBLETEXT:
Concerning Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon struck down. Thus says the LORD: "Rise up, advance against Kedar! Destroy the people of the east!


BIBLETEXT:
Their tents and their flocks shall be taken, their curtains and all their goods; their camels shall be led away from them, and men shall cry to them: 'Terror on every side!'


BIBLETEXT:
Flee, wander far away, dwell in the depths, O inhabitants of Hazor! declares the LORD. For Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has made a plan against you and formed a purpose against you.


BIBLETEXT:
"Rise up, advance against a nation at ease, that dwells securely, declares the LORD, that has no gates or bars, that dwells alone.


