Jeremiah Speaks God’s Words
An EasyEnglish Bible Version with Notes (1200 word vocabulary) on the Book of Jeremiah
Cynthia Green
The translated Bible text has yet to go through Advanced Checking.
Words in boxes are comments on the text.
A word list at the end explains words with a *star by them.
Jeremiah was a *priest. He was born in Anathoth, a town in Israel in about 650 *BC. The *Lord spoke to him. ‘You must be a *prophet’, he said. He told Jeremiah what he must say to the people in Judah. Jeremiah was afraid, but the *Lord promised to make him strong. He went. And he told the people what the *Lord had told him to say. He did this for 40 (forty) years, but it was very difficult. The people got angry, because the *Lord told them how bad they were. Jeremiah was very brave and he continued to speak the *Lord’s words. He was sad, too, because he wanted people to stop doing bad things. The *Lord would not *punish them if they were sorry. Jeremiah knew that. But the people did not listen, so God had to *punish them. They were not kind to Jeremiah. But he was only telling them what God had told him to say. Jeremiah knew that the *Lord wanted people to *worship him, and only him. Their fathers had promised to do this. If they obeyed the *Lord, he would give them many good things. But now they were *worshipping many *false gods. Jeremiah had to tell them that God would *punish them for this.
The *Lord sent other *prophets to Israel at nearly the same time as Jeremiah. Zephaniah came before Jeremiah. Habakkuk and perhaps Obadiah were at the same time. Ezekiel came later. God spoke by his *prophets. Most of the people did not listen to their words. But they listened to *false *prophets. They spoke things that the people wanted to hear.
People would not listen to God’s message. But Jeremiah still obeyed God. So God showed Jeremiah how God himself would, one day, bring people to know him. He told him about the gift of the *Holy Spirit. He sent the *Lord Jesus Christ to give this gift. But that was many years after Jeremiah had died.
v1 Jeremiah, son of Hilkiah, spoke to the people of Israel. He was a *priest. He lived at Anathoth, a town in the country that God gave to the family of Benjamin. v2 God spoke to him when Josiah, son of Amon, had been king of Judah for 13 (thirteen) years. v3 God continued to speak to him all the time that Josiah’s son, Jehoiakim, was king. And he went on speaking to Jeremiah for the 11 (eleven) years and 5 (five) months, that Zedekiah was king. Zedekiah was a son of King Josiah. After this, enemies took the people from Jerusalem away to a far country.
v4 God spoke to me. v5 ‘I knew you even before your father planted his seed in your mother. I chose you before you were born. I decided to make you a *prophet to all the countries in the world’, he said.
v6 ‘Great and powerful *Lord’, I said. ‘I do not know how to speak. I am only a child.’
v7 ‘Do not say, “I am only a child” ’, the *Lord said to me. ‘You must go to everyone that I send you to. You must say whatever I tell you to say. v8 You need not be afraid of them, because I am with you. I will save you’, he said.
v9 Then the *Lord touched my mouth with his hand. ‘Now I have put my words into your mouth’, he said. v10 ‘Look, I give you authority over countries and *kingdoms. You can pull them down or break them up to destroy them. You can build them up and make them safe.’
v11 The *Lord spoke to me. ‘What do you see, Jeremiah?’ he said.
‘I see the branch of an *almond tree’, I replied.
v12 ‘Yes, that is correct’, he said. ‘I am watching to see that my words will happen.’
The words for ‘*almond’ and ‘watching’ sound nearly the same (in the language of Israel). The *almond tree is the first tree to have flowers, in the spring. God was telling Jeremiah what would happen. All the things that he had said would soon happen.
v13 The *Lord spoke to me again. ‘What do you see?’ ‘I see a boiling pot. It is in the north and it is pouring this way’, I answered. v14 ‘People from the north will pour out and destroy all who live in this country’, the *Lord said. v15 ‘I am going to bring all the *nations who live in the north’, he said. ‘Their kings will come and sit in the gates of Jerusalem. They will rule there. They will be round its walls. They will be round all the towns of Judah. v16 I will *judge my people, because they have turned away from me. They have done very wrong things. They have given gifts to *false gods. They have *worshipped things that they have made with their own hands. v17 You must get ready! Stand up and say whatever I tell you to say. Do not be afraid of them or I will make you afraid in front of them! v18 Today I have made you as strong as a city with great walls. You will be like a tree made out of iron. You will be like a metal wall to stand against the whole *nation. You will stand against the kings of Judah and their officers. You will stand against the *priests and the people of the country. v19 They will fight against you. But they will not win, because I am with you. I will save you’, says the *Lord.
v1 God spoke to me again. v2 ‘Speak to the people in Jerusalem’, he said.
‘I remember how you used to love me, when I first made you my people.
You loved me as a young wife loves her husband.
You followed me through a wild place,
where no one grew any food.
v3 Israel belonged to me. It was special.
It was like the first food that grew on my land.
Anyone else who ate this food was doing something bad.
And I caused bad things to happen to them.’
The *Lord said this.
v4 ‘Listen to what the *Lord says, you sons of Jacob,
and all the family of Israel.’
v5 This is the *Lord’s message.
‘Your fathers were angry with me.
But I did nothing that was wrong. But they went a long way from me.
They went to gods of wood and stone, who could do nothing for them.
And they could do nothing for themselves.
v6 They did not ask the *Lord for help.
He brought them out of Egypt.
He led them through the place where nothing grows,
an empty place with many valleys.
It was a dry and dark place,
a place where nobody goes or lives.
v7 I, the *Lord, brought you to a good country,
where you could eat very good food.
But you came and destroyed my country.
You made it too bad for me to look at.
v8 The *priests did not ask “Where is the *Lord?”
Men who *judged the people did not know me.
Your leaders did not obey me.
The *prophets asked *Baal what to say to you.
They looked to gods of wood and stone for help.
Those gods cannot help anyone.’
v9 ‘So I must *judge you’, says the *Lord.
‘And I will *judge your children and their children.
v10 Go to the people who live in the east and the west.
Ask them if anyone has ever done this before.
v11 I have never known a people who changed their gods
(even if they are not really gods at all).
But my people have changed him who is greater than any god.
They have changed him for things of wood and stone that cannot help them.
v12 The skies cannot understand this.
They *shake and are afraid’, says the *Lord.
v13 ‘My people have *sinned twice.
They have left me. I am like a river of living water.
And they have dug holes in the earth for themselves.
These holes cannot hold water. They let water run away.
v14 Israel’s people are not slaves, born to be servants.
But they have become slaves to their enemies.
v15 The enemies attacked them like *lions.
They have destroyed their country.
They have burnt their towns and no one lives in them.
v16 The men from Memphis and Tahpanhes have made you ashamed.
v17 You have caused this to happen.
It is because you stopped following the *Lord, your God.
He was leading you in the way that you should go.
v18 The water of the river Shihor in Egypt is no better than yours.
Neither is the water from the river of Assyria any better!
v19 God will *punish you for the bad things that you have done.
You will be sorry that you stopped following him.
You must think how much God will hurt you.
He will cause you pain because you went away from him.
He will cause you pain because you do not show him *honour.’
This is what the great, powerful *Lord says.
v20 ‘You stopped working for me a long time ago.
You cut through any thing that tied us together.
You said, “I will not work for you!”
So you sold yourselves to any people that would take you.
You were like a woman that sells sex.
v21 But I had planted you like a young *vine.
You were strong and had good strong fathers.
I cannot understand how you became weak, *dirty and really bad.
v22 You will always look *dirty to me.
Even if you wash yourself with clean water,
and use a lot of soap’, says the most powerful *Lord.
v23 ‘You say that you are not *dirty.
And you say that you do not run after *false gods.
But remember what you did in the valley.
Think carefully what you have done.
You are like a fast female animal.
You run all over the country.
v24 You are like a wild horse
that lifts its nose in the air.
It is looking for a husband.
No one can keep you from what you want.
Any males who follow you will catch you easily.
v25 You do not run until you are tired or until your feet hurt.
“I cannot change”, you say.
“I love foreign gods. I must obey them!”
v26 A man may take things that are not his.
He is ashamed when people catch him.
So the people of Israel are ashamed.
They, their kings, officers, and their *prophets all do what is wrong.
v27 They say to a piece of wood, “You are my father.”
They call a stone their mother.
They have turned away from me.
They do not show me their faces.
But then troubles happen to them.
“Come and save us!” they ask me.
v28 I tell them to ask the gods that they made for themselves.
Ask them to come and save you.
Ask for their help when you have troubles.
Judah, you have many towns.
And you have as many gods.’
v29 ‘You must not *judge me.
You have all turned against me’, says the *Lord.
v30 ‘I *punished your people,
But they would not turn back to me.
You have killed your *prophets.
You are like hungry animals.’
v31 Think about the *Lord’s message, you people who are alive today.
‘I have not been like a place where nothing grows.
I have not been like a dark place where no one lives.’
But my people say, ‘We can go where we like.
We do not want to visit you any more.’
v32 ‘A young woman does not forget her pretty things.
A wife does not forget her valuable gifts.
But my people have forgotten me for many years.
v33 You are so clever. You can always find love!
Very bad women, even, can learn from you.
v34 Your clothes have blood on them.
That blood gave life to people who never hurt you.
It was the blood of people who never took your things.
v35 But still you say, “I have not done anything that is wrong.
God is not angry with me!”
But I will *judge you.
You say that you have not done anything that is wrong.
So I will *judge you.
v36 You look at *nations who live near to you.
You want to change.
You will find that Egypt cannot help you.
Just as Assyria could not help you.
v37 You will become their slaves.
The *Lord has not chosen the people that you have chosen.
They will not help you.’
v1 ‘A man may *divorce his wife.
Then she may leave him and marry another man.
If her first husband returned to her, he would not be *clean.
He would make the whole country bad.
But you have lived with many lovers.
And you want to return to me’, says the *Lord.
v2 ‘Look at the tops of the hills.
You have loved other gods on all of them.
You sat by the side of the road, waiting for lovers.
You waited to catch men.
You have made the country bad.
It is dirty with all the wrong things that you have done.
You have loved other gods when you should have loved me.
v3 This is why I have sent you no rain.
And the spring rains have not come.
But you seem to be quite happy.
You are not ashamed.
v4 But you say to me, “You have been my friend, who has loved me all my life.
v5 Surely you cannot be angry with me!
You cannot always be angry.”
These are the things that you say.
But you do as many wrong things as you can.’
v6 The *Lord spoke to me while Josiah was king. ‘Have you seen what Israel’s people have done?’ he asked. ‘They have not been *faithful to me. They have *worshipped *false gods under every great tree and on every high hill. They have been like a wife who is not *faithful to her husband. v7 I thought that they would come back to me. But they did not return when it was over. Israel’s sister, Judah, saw what Israel did. v8 I sent Israel away, like a wife who is *divorced. I sent her away because she had loved so many other gods. But Judah, who had not been *faithful, was not afraid. Judah also went out and found other lovers. v9 Israel’s people were not sorry that they had not been *faithful to me. So they *worshipped gods made from wood and stone. They made the country *dirty by doing bad things. v10 Judah saw this, but Judah was not *faithful. Judah’s people did not really return to me. They only made it look as if they had returned to me’, says the *Lord.
v11 ‘Israel is not *faithful to me. But Israel is not so bad as Judah. Judah’s people think that their *faith has no value. v12 Go, turn to the north, and say,
“You people of Israel who have no *faith, return to me”, says the *Lord.
“I will not always be angry with you,
because I am full of *mercy.
v13 But you must believe that you have done many wrong things.
You must agree with me that you turned against me.
You loved many foreign gods.
You *worshipped them under great trees.
You have not obeyed me” ’, says the *Lord.
v14 ‘Return to me, you people with no *faith’, says the *Lord. ‘I am your husband. I will bring some of you to Zion. I will choose one from a town and two from a family.
v15 Then I will give you *shepherds that I can *trust. They will lead you and teach you good things. v16 After some time, the number of your people will grow. Then you will think in a new way’, says the *Lord. ‘You will not talk or even think about the *ark of the *Lord. You will forget all about it, and you will not make another one. v17 Then they will call Jerusalem the *throne of the *Lord. At that time, people from all countries will come to Jerusalem. They will all give *honour to the name of the *Lord. They will not do the wrong things that they want any more. v18 Then the people from Israel and from Judah will join together in Jerusalem. They will come from a country in the north. They will come to this country that I gave to your fathers. I gave it to you and to your families to keep.’
v19 I myself said,
‘I want very much to make you my sons.
I want to give you a good country,
a country more beautiful than any other people enjoy.
I thought that you would call me ‘Father’.
I thought that you would continue to do the things that I like.
v20 But you have been like a woman who is not *faithful to her husband.
You, children of Israel, have not been *faithful to me’, says the *Lord.
v21 I can hear a noise on the high places.
The people of Israel are crying and asking for help.
They are crying because they have left the good ways.
They have forgotten the *Lord, their God.
v22 ‘Return to me, you people with no *faith.
I will bring you back from your bad ways.’
‘Yes, we will come to you
because you are the *Lord our God.
v23 This noisy *worship of *false gods on the hills and mountains
*worships nothing that is good.
We are sure that the *Lord our God will save Israel.
v24 Since we were young,
we have lost all our good things.
*False gods have used them up.
They ate the things that our fathers worked for.
They took their sheep and cows.
They took their sons and daughters.
v25 We are ashamed.
We want to lie down and hide ourselves.
From early times until now,
we and our fathers have not obeyed you.’
v1 ‘If you want to return, then return to me’, the *Lord says.
‘Throw away your gods that I *hate.
You must not go away from me again.
v2 And if you make a true, good and fair promise to me,
then you can say, “It is sure that the *Lord is alive.”
He will *bless all the *nations in the world.
And they will be very happy to give him *honour and *praise.’
v3 This is what the *Lord says to the people in Judah, and to Jerusalem.
‘Break up your hard ground.
Do not put seed among weeds.
v4 Give all of yourself to the *Lord.
Cut off everything that does not belong to him.
Men in Judah and people in Jerusalem,
You must do this. If you do not,
I will be angry. My *anger will burn you like a fire.
I will hurt you because of the bad things that you have done.
No one will save you.’
v5 ‘Shout to the people in Judah. Tell this to the people in Jerusalem.
“Blow the *trumpets in all the country!”
Shout to them and say,
“Come together!
We must all run to the cities with strong walls!”
v6 Tell everyone to go to Zion!
Do not wait to run to a safe place
because I will bring trouble from the north.
I am going to destroy your country.
v7 A big strong wild animal was hiding in the hills.
It has come out to destroy the *nations.
It has left its home to destroy your country.
It will break down your towns.
They will be empty.
v8 So put on special clothes to show that you are sad.
Cry and be very sad.
Cry because the *Lord is still angry with us.
He has not forgotten his *anger.’
v9 ‘The king and his officers will not be happy on that day’,
says the *Lord.
The *priests will be very sad,
and the *prophets will be very, very sad.’
v10 ‘Oh, great and powerful *Lord’, I said. ‘You have not spoken what is true to this people and to Jerusalem. You said, “You will have *peace.” But now our enemies will attack us!’
v11 ‘A hot wind from the empty mountains will blow towards my people’, the *Lord will tell them at that time. ‘But it will not make them clean. It will not blow away the wrong things that they have done.’ The *Lord will tell them this. v12 ‘I will send a wind that is too strong for that. Now I will tell you how I will *judge them.’
v13 Look! He is coming like the clouds.
He is like a strong, fast wind.
He flies faster than a great bird.
We are really in trouble. We will lose everything!
v14 Jerusalem, wash away your bad thoughts.
Then the *Lord will save you.
You must not hold on to your bad thoughts.
v15 A voice is calling out from Dan.
It says that trouble is coming from the hills of Ephraim.
v16 ‘Tell this to all the *nations,
shout it to Jerusalem.
“An army is coming from a far country.
It will attack Jerusalem.
v17 Their soldiers are round its walls.
This is because Jerusalem’s people have not obeyed me” ’,
says the *Lord.
v18 ‘I have done this to you
because of the wrong things that you have done.
You have caused this trouble.
I am *punishing you.
Yes, it is painful.
The pain goes all through you.’
v19 I am in such great pain!
All my body hurts. I have to go on moving.
My thoughts are full of pain.
My heart keeps hitting hard inside me.
I feel that I have to shout.
I have heard the noise of the *trumpet.
I have heard the enemy when they were shouting.
v20 It is bad, but it is getting worse!
Our enemies have destroyed everything in the country.
They have are quickly broken down my *tents.
They did not wait to destroy my home.
v21 I do not know how long the *battle will last.
I can still hear the sound of people who are fighting.
v22 ‘My people are fools.
They do not know me.
They are like children who know nothing.
They understand nothing.
They know how to do bad things.
But they have no idea how to do good things.’
v23 I looked at the earth,
and it had no shape.
I looked at the sky,
and its light was gone.
v24 I looked at the mountains,
and they kept moving about.
All the hills were moving.
v25 I looked, and I saw no people.
The birds had all flown away.
v26 I looked at the good country, but no plants grew there.
Our enemies had knocked down all its towns.
The *Lord was very angry. He caused them to do all this.
v27 ‘I will cause bad things to happen in the whole country’,
the *Lord says.
‘But I will not completely destroy it.
v28 So the whole earth will be sad.
The sky will become dark.
This will happen as I have said.
And I will not change my plan.
I have spoken and I will not turn back.’
v29 The people in every town will run away
when they hear the sound of soldiers and horses.
Some of them hide in bushes.
Some of them climb up among the rocks.
All the towns are empty.
No one lives in them.
v30 You are like a woman who wears bright red clothes.
You are like a woman who wears things made out of gold.
You paint your eyes,
but this does not help you.
The men that you loved do not give you *honour.
They want to kill you.
v31 I can hear that people are shouting. It is like the noise that a woman makes as she has a baby.
It is like the noise of a woman who is having her first child.
It is the people in Jerusalem, who shout for help.
They call out and say,
‘I am very weak, and getting weaker.
I am afraid that they will kill me.’
v1 Go along the streets of Jerusalem, and come back again.
Look all round you, carefully.
Look in all parts of the city.
Try to find one person who is honest. Try to find a person who wants to know the *truth.
If you find one, I will *forgive all the people in the city.
v2 They may say, ‘As the *Lord lives’.
They want people to think that they are honest.
But what they are saying is *false.
v3 *Lord, you want us to speak words that are true.
But the people that you have hurt do not feel any pain.
You hit them, but they would not change.
They would not do the things that you wanted.
They held on to the bad things that they were doing.
And they refused to turn away from them.
v4 ‘These are poor people, and they are fools’, I thought.
‘They do not know what the *Lord asks them to do.
They have no idea what he wants.
v5 So I will go to speak to the leaders.
They will certainly know what the *Lord wants.
They will know what they must do to please him.’
But every one of them turned away from him.
They said that they were not his slaves.
v6 A big wild animal from the forest will attack them for this.
Another animal will tear them into pieces.
Other animals will wait near their towns to hurt anyone who leaves.
This is because they have turned so far from the *Lord.
It is because they have done so many bad things.
v7 ‘I cannot *forgive you.
Your children have gone away from me.
They have *trusted gods that are not gods.
I gave them everything that they needed.
But they left me and went to the houses of *false gods.
They are like men who have sex with other men’s wives.
v8 They are like wild horses.
Wild horses run after any female that they want.
v9 I must *punish them for this’, the *Lord says.
‘They have hurt me so much.
They are such bad people that I must *punish them.’
v10 ‘Go through their *vineyards and destroy their fruits.
But do not completely destroy them.
Tear the branches from the trees
because these people do not belong to the *Lord.
v11 All the families in Judah and in Israel
have gone far from me’, says the *Lord.
v12 They spoke about the *Lord. They said what is not true.
‘He will do nothing’, they said.
‘He will never hurt us.
We shall have enough to eat. Soldiers will not kill us.
v13 The *prophets speak empty words.
They do not know what the *Lord says.
So they may say that something bad will happen.
If that is true, let it happen to them.’
v14 ‘So the people have said this’,
says the strong and powerful *Lord.
‘I will make the words in your mouth like a fire.
And the people will burn like wood in that fire.’
v15 ‘People of Israel’, the *Lord says,
‘I will send soldiers to attack you.
They will come from a country far away.
They have lived there for a long time.
You do not know their language.
You cannot understand what they say.
v16 They want to kill and destroy you.
They are all powerful soldiers.
v17 They will eat all the food in your fields
and the food that you have stored.
They will take your sons and daughters.
They will eat your sheep and cows.
They will take the fruit from your trees.
They will fight and break down the strong cities.
You thought that these cities would keep you safe.’
v18 ‘But even at that time’, says the *Lord, ‘I will not destroy you completely. v19 And when the people ask, “Why has the *Lord, our God, done this to us?” you will speak to them. Say, “You have left me, and you *serve foreign gods in your own country. So now you will *serve foreign people in a country that is not your own”.’
v20 ‘Tell this to the families of Jacob. Shout it in the country called Judah.
v21 Hear this, you people who are fools with no understanding.
You have eyes, but you do not see.
You have ears, but you do not hear.
v22 You should be afraid of me’, says the *Lord.
‘Your knees should knock together when you are near to me.
I made the sand to be an edge to the sea.
It is like a wall that the sea cannot cross.
The water of the sea may attack it, but it cannot win.
It can make a loud noise, but it cannot cross the sand.
v23 This people will not do as I demand.
They have turned and gone away from me.
v24 They do not say to themselves,
“We must *honour and obey the *Lord our God.
He gives the autumn and spring rains to us.
Each year he makes sure that we have food.”
v25 But you have done many wrong things.
So he has not sent you rain or food.
He has taken away good things because you have *sinned.
v26 Many bad men belong to my people.
They hide like men who catch birds.
They are like people who try to catch men.
v27 Their houses are full of valuable things
that they have taken with *false words.
They are rich and powerful.
v28 Now they are fat and look good.
They will never stop doing bad things.
They do not try to help children who have no fathers.
They do not help poor people to get what is theirs.
v29 You must see that I should *punish them for this’,
says the *Lord.
‘I must show them how angry I am.
The people are very, very bad.’
v30 A really bad thing has happened in this country.
v31 The *prophets tell people things that are not true.
The *priests make their own rules.
And my people like what they do.
I will stop all this. Then they will not know what to do.
v1 ‘You people of Benjamin, you must run away to be safe!
Run away from Jerusalem!
Blow the *trumpet in Tekoa!
Shout over to Beth Hakkerem!
Big trouble is coming from the north.
v2 I will send enemies to destroy Jerusalem and its people.
It is such a lovely city.
v3 Men will come with the sheep that they keep.
They will put their *tents all round it.
Each man will have a small part of the land.’
v4 ‘Get ready to fight against it!
Let us get up and attack at noon!
But the day is getting dark.
It is already evening.
v5 Rise up. Let us attack in the night.
Let us destroy their strong cities!’
v6 The strong and powerful *Lord spoke.
‘Cut down the trees’, he said.
‘Build high hills up to the walls of the city.
I must *punish Jerusalem.
It is full of men who hurt other people.
v7 It contains so many people who do bad things.
Bad things pour out from it, like water from a well.
It is full of fighting and of men who destroy.
All the time I can see how sick and weak it is.’
v8 ‘Listen to my words’, says the *Lord, to the people in Jerusalem.
‘If you do not listen, I will turn away from you.
I will destroy your country.
Then no one can live in it.’
v9 The strong, powerful *Lord spoke again.
‘I will let the enemy take everything from Israel.
They will take things like a farmer who is picking his fruit’, he said.
v10 I want to speak to people and tell them what may happen.
But no one will listen to me.
They close their ears so that they cannot hear.
They hate the *Lord’s message.
It gives them no pleasure.
v11 But the *Lord is full of *anger.
He is so angry that he cannot contain it.
‘His *anger will be like water that pours out on the children in the street.
It will pour out on the groups of young men.
It will cover both husbands and wives.
It will pour over the very old people.
v12 I will give their houses to other people.
Other people will take their fields and their wives.
This will happen when I decide to *punish the people in this country’,
says the *Lord.
v13 ‘All the people, important and not important, want to get more and more things.
*Priests and *prophets are all the same.
They all say things that are not true.
v14 They tell my people that there is no great trouble.
They say that there is nothing to be afraid of.
“*Peace, *peace”, they say.
But they have no *peace to give.
v15 They are not ashamed of the wrong things that they do.
They are not even slightly ashamed.
They have forgotten how to be sorry.
So they will fall when other people fall.
I will bring them down when I decide to *punish them’,
says the *Lord.
v16 The *Lord spoke to the people.
‘Stand at the place where the roads cross. And look’, he said.
‘Ask where the old ways lead.
Find the good way, and walk along that way.
Then I will give you proper *peace.
But you said, “We will not walk that way.”
v17 I gave you men to help you and to lead you. I said,
“Listen for the noise of the *trumpet!”
But you said, “We will not listen.”
v18 So listen to me, all you countries.
Look. And you will see
what I will do to them.
v19 Hear me, people on the earth.
I am causing great trouble for these people.
They will have trouble because they have done many wrong things.
And they have not listened to my words.
They have not obeyed my *law.
v20 I do not want nice smells from Sheba.
I do not want oils from countries far away.
The food and drink that you give to me
do not give me pleasure.’
v21 So this is the message from the *Lord.
‘I will make it difficult for this people to give me pleasure.
Both sons and their fathers will have difficulties.
Friends and those who are close will die.’
v22 The *Lord spoke again.
‘Look, an army is coming from the country in the north.
I am calling up a great people from the ends of the earth.
v23 They carry arms, bows and spears (throwing knives on long sticks).
They are never kind and they never *forgive.
As they ride on their horses,
they sound like the noise of the sea.
They are ready to fight,
and they are coming to attack you, Jerusalem.’
v24 We have heard about them,
and we are afraid.
Pain is all over our bodies.
It is like the pain of a woman who is having a baby.
v25 Do not go out into the fields.
Do not walk along the roads.
Our enemies have long, sharp knives.
We are afraid that they are all round us.
v26 My people must become very sorry.
They wear special clothes when someone dies.
They must wear clothes like those.
They cry with loud voices.
They cry like a man whose only son has died.
They do this because the enemy will quickly come to destroy us.
v27 ‘My people are like metals.
And you must *test them to see if they are good.
I want you to watch them.
Then you can see what they do.’
v28 They never obeyed God.
They enjoy telling stories that are not true.
Their minds are as hard as iron.
They all do very bad things.
v29 A very hot fire makes metals clean.
I send *punishment like a fire.
But it does not cause bad men to do what is good.
v30 God will throw them out like dirty metal.
The *Lord will not receive them.
v1 The *Lord spoke to Jeremiah. v2 ‘Stand at the gate of the *Lord’s house and speak to the people there. Say, “Hear the *Lord’s message, all you people of Judah. You come through this gate to *worship the *Lord.” ’ v3 The great, powerful God of Israel says, ‘Change the things that you do. Do the things that I say that you should do. Then I will let you live in this place. v4 People may say, “We are safe. This is the *temple of the *Lord, the *temple of the *Lord!” But words are not enough. v5 You must really change. You must be fair to each other. v6 You must not be cruel to *foreigners, *orphans or widows. You must not kill people. You must not *worship other gods. If you do these things, I will destroy you. v7 If you obey me, then I will let you live in this country. This is the country that I gave to your fathers. I gave it to them to live in for all time. v8 But you believe in words that are not true.
v9 You take things that are not yours. And you kill people. You tell *judges things that are not true. You have sex with wives or husbands of other people. You offer gifts to the *false god, Baal. You *worship other gods. v10 And then you come to this, my house! You stand in front of this house that is mine. You say, “We are safe!” v11 My *temple is not a place for people who hurt, kill, or say things that are not true! I have seen what you are doing’, says the *Lord.
v12 ‘Go to Shiloh. It was the first place that I chose as a house for my name. See what I did to it. I destroyed it because you had done so many bad things. v13 I spoke to you while you were doing these bad things’, the *Lord said. ‘I spoke to you again and again, but you would not listen. I called you, but you did not answer. v14 I gave this *temple to you and your fathers. But I will do to it what I did to the house at Shiloh. You think that the house for my name will save you. v15 But I will push you away from me, just as I pushed away your brothers, Ephraim’s family.’
v16 ‘Jeremiah, you must not pray for this people. You must not ask me to help them. If you ask me, I will not listen to you. v17 You can see what they are doing in the towns in Judah. You see what they are doing in the streets in Jerusalem. v18 The children fetch wood and their fathers light a fire. The women prepare and cook cakes of bread. Then they offer them to the ‘Queen of *Heaven’ (a *false female god). And they offer gifts of drink to other *false gods. This makes me very angry. v19 I am angry. But they are the people who will hurt themselves’, says the *Lord. ‘They will be ashamed.’
v20 ‘So I will send out my *anger’, says the strong, powerful *Lord. ‘I will send it, like fire, on this place. I will send it on men, animals, trees and fruits. It will burn them up, and nothing will stop it.’
v21 ‘Continue to give your *offerings to me. Give burnt *offerings of meat and other things, and eat the meat yourselves! v22 I brought your fathers out of Egypt. Then I did not only tell them how to give burnt *offerings. v23 I also told them to obey me, and to keep all my *laws. Then I would be their God, and they would be my people. I said that they would have good lives if they obeyed me. v24 But they did not listen. They did not think that my words had any value. Instead, they did the bad things that they liked to do. They went away from me, and did not want to come to me. v25 I sent my servants, the *prophets to you again and again. I did this from the day that you left Egypt until today. v26 But they did not listen to me. They did not try to do as I asked them. They went on doing the same bad things, and did even worse things than their fathers.’
v27 ‘Jeremiah, you will tell them all that I have said. But when you tell them, they will not listen to you. When you call them, they will not answer. v28 So you will have to speak to them. “The people in this country have not obeyed the *Lord, their God. They have not turned away from the wrong things that they were doing”, you must say. “No one now says anything that is true. v29 Cut off your hair. Sing sad songs on the empty hills. The *Lord has turned away from the people who are still alive. He has left them because he is so angry.” ’
v30 ‘The people in Judah have done wrong things. I told them that those things were wrong’, says the *Lord. ‘They have put *false gods in my house. I *hate this, they have made it *dirty. v31 They have made big fires in Topheth. There, in Ben Hinnom Valley, they burn their sons and daughters. I did not tell them to do this. I never thought to ask them to do such a thing. v32 So you must be careful. The day will come when it will not be called Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom. No, it will be called Death Valley. They will put dead persons in the earth there, until it is full up. v33 Birds and animals will eat the dead persons, and no one will make them afraid. They will not go away. v34 I will make the place quiet. No people will sing or be happy there. No one in the towns in Judah or in Jerusalem will have marriage parties. No people will live in the country any more.’
v1 ‘Enemies will remove the bones of the kings of Judah and their officers. And they will remove the bones of the *priests and *prophets and the people from Jerusalem. They will take them out of the earth at that time. v2 The sun will shine on them, and the moon, too. My people worked for and loved the sun and moon. They *worshipped them. No one will take the bones and put them back in the ground. They will be like dirt. v3 All the people in this bad country will want to die, and not to live’, says the great, powerful *Lord.
v4 Speak to the people, and tell them,
‘When men fall down, they get up again.
When a man goes away, he comes back.
v5 I ask why these people have turned away.
The people of Jerusalem always turn away.
They choose to believe things that are not true.
They refuse to return to me.
v6 I have listened carefully.
But they do not say what is right.
No one is sorry for the bad things that they have done.
They think that nobody knows what they have done.
Each person does the things that he wants.
He is like a horse that is running to the fight.
v7 Even a big bird in the sky knows when it should go away.
Small birds know when it is time for them to fly away.
But my people do not know
what I want them to do.’
v8 ‘You must not say, “We know what is right.
We know it because we have the *law of the *Lord.”
Your writers have written what is not true!
v9 Some people think that they are clever.
Those people will be ashamed. Enemies will catch them like animals in a field.
They have refused to hear the *Lord’s message.
They are not very clever.
v10 So I will give their wives to other men.
Other men will have their fields.
All people, rich and poor, want to have more and more.
Both *priests and *prophets
tell people things that are not true.
v11 They can see that my people are hurt.
But they say that it is not important.
They say, “*Peace, *peace”, when there is no *peace.
v12 They are not ashamed of the wrong things that they do.
They are not sorry.
Their faces do not get red.
So they will fall when other men fall.
I will bring them down when they are *punished’,
says the *Lord.
v13 ‘I will take away the fruit and seed from their fields’,
says the *Lord.
‘No *figs or *grapes will grow on their trees.
The leaves of the trees will dry up and die.
I will take away all that I have given them.’
v14 We ask ourselves why we are waiting.
We must come together.
Let us run to the cities with strong walls.
We will die there!
The *Lord our God has said that we must die.
He has given us poisoned water to drink
because we have not obeyed him.
v15 We wanted *peace, but it has not happened.
We wanted God to make us well, but he made us afraid.
v16 The people can hear the noise of the enemy’s horses.
They can hear them, even from Dan.
All the country *shakes when they hear their noise.
They have come to destroy the country and everything in it.
They will take the city and all the people who live there.
v17 ‘I will send you snakes with poison in their mouths.
Nobody can cause them to sleep.
They will bite you’, says the *Lord.
v18 *Lord, you made me happy when I was sad.
I feel weak and afraid.
v19 Listen to your people who are crying from a country far away.
They ask if the *Lord is still in Jerusalem.
They think that their king has gone away.
‘They have made me angry with their *false gods.
Their foreign gods have no value.’
v20 ‘We have taken in all the food from the fields.
The summer is finished.
And you have not saved us.’
v21 I am very sad because my people are so sad.
I feel sad as if they were dead. And I am afraid for them.
v22 God has hurt his people so that no doctor can help them.
He will not make them better.
v1 My head should be like a river of water,
and my eyes like a pool of tears.
Then I would cry all day and night
for my people who have died.
v2 I would like to have a place to stay in the *desert.
Then I could leave my people.
I could go away from them.
They have all gone away from God.
Not one person has *faith in him.
v3 ‘Their *tongues are like bows.
They shoot words that are not true.
These people win their fights when they say *false things.
They *sin and sin and sin again.
They do not give me *honour’,
says the *Lord.
v4 ‘Watch your friends.
Every brother says words that are not true.
So do not put *faith in your brothers.
And every friend speaks words that can hurt you.
v5 One friend will say words that are not true to another friend.
No one speaks true words.
They have taught their *tongues to say things that are *false.
They have *sinned so much that they are tired.
v6 *False words are all round you.
People say so many things that are not true.
And they give me no *honour’,
says the *Lord.
v7 So this is what the great, strong *Lord says,
‘I will see how *clean they are.
I want to make them more *clean.
I must do this because my people have *sinned.
v8 Their *tongue is like poison.
It does not say things that are true.
A man may speak kind words to his friend,
but he is really trying to hurt him.
v9 I must *punish men for this’,
says the *Lord.
‘I must be angry
because the people in this country do not give *honour to me.
v10 I will cry and be sad
because there are no people on the mountains.
No animals live on the hills where they fed.
The hills and mountains are empty.
Nobody can hear the sound of cows and sheep.
No birds fly in the air,
and the animals are gone.
v11 I will make Jerusalem a hill of broken stones.
Wild animals will live there.
I will destroy the towns in Judah
so that no one can live there.’
v12 No one can understand this. The *Lord has told no one how it happened. No man can say why the *Lord has made the country into a *desert. Now nobody can walk across it.
v13 ‘It is because they have not obeyed my *law’, the *Lord said. ‘They have not obeyed the *law that I gave to them. They have gone away from it and they have chosen to do bad things. v14 They have left me and have gone to *worship the Baals (*false male gods). They are doing as their fathers taught them.’ v15 So this is what the great strong *Lord, the God of Israel says, ‘I will cause this people to eat food that is bad. I will put poison in the water that they drink. v16 I will send them to many foreign countries. Neither they nor their fathers knew these countries. I will send enemies after them to kill and destroy them.’
v17 ‘Call the women who cry for people in trouble. Call them now!’
the great powerful *Lord says.
‘Send for those who cry the loudest.
v18 Tell them to come quickly to make their sad noise.
Then our eyes will make water.
And it will be like rivers that fall from them.
v19 We can hear the sound of people who are crying in Zion (Jerusalem).
“We are destroyed! We are very ashamed!
We have to leave our country
because all our houses are broken down.” ’
v20 Now hear the *Lord’s message, you women.
Listen to the words of his mouth.
Teach your daughters how to cry for their troubles.
Teach each other sad songs.
v21 We are all dying. Dead bodies fill our strong cities.
No children play in the streets.
The open places of the city are empty.
The young men have all gone.
v22 ‘Men’s dead bodies will lie on the open fields.
No one will take them away’, says the *Lord.
‘They will lie like plants that people have cut for food.
But no one will pick them up.’
v23 ‘The *wise man cannot say that he is *wise.
And the strong man cannot say that he is strong’,
says the *Lord.
v24 ‘But they can say that they know me and understand me.
Then they could say that they were clever.
They would know that I am the *Lord.
They would know that I am kind.
And I do only good things.
I am fair when I *judge the earth.
They would know that too.
These are the things that give me pleasure’, says the *Lord.
v25 ‘The time is coming’, says the *Lord, ‘when I will *punish the people in other countries. I will *punish the people in those countries who do not obey my *law.’ ‘People in many countries have *circumcised bodies. But they do not do the things that please me. v26 They are the people in Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab and the people who live in the *desert. They are like people who are not *circumcised. And the whole people of Israel do not live like *circumcised people, either.’
v1 People of Israel, listen to what the *Lord says to you.
v2 ‘Do not do the things that people in other countries do’, he says.
‘You should not be afraid of things that happen in the sky.
You must not be like people in other countries.
v3 The things that those people do have no value.
They take a tree from the forest,
and a worker gives it shape with a knife.
v4 They make it pretty with *silver and gold.
They fix it to the floor so that it will not fall.
v5 We put things like them in the fields.
Our things save the fruit from the birds.
And they cannot speak.
Men carry *idols, because they cannot walk.
Do not be afraid of them.
They cannot hurt you
and they cannot help you.’
v6 There is no one like you, *Lord.
You are great and your name is powerful.
v7 Everyone should *honour you,
King of the countries.
This is their duty.
There is no one like you in all the countries.
No men are as *wise as you are.
There is no king like you.
v8 All men are fools, and they learn from fools.
Things made out of wood can teach them nothing.
v9 They cover the wood with *silver from Spain.
They make it pretty with gold from Uphaz.
Then they take expensive clothes that men have made with their hands.
They put them on this *idol that other men have made.
v10 But the *Lord is the true God.
He is the God who is alive. He is the King who will always be alive.
When he is angry, the earth moves like a leaf in the wind.
When he is angry, the people in a country cannot stand.
v11 Speak to them. Say, ‘Your gods did not make the earth or the sky. The *Lord will destroy them. He will push them out of the earth and from all places under the sky.’
v12 But God made the earth by his power.
Only he could do this.
He was the person who put the sky over the earth.
v13 He shouts, and the waters in the sky make a loud noise (thunder).
He causes clouds to rise from the ends of the earth.
He sends the bright lines of light with the rain (lightning).
And he brings the winds from the place where he hides them.
v14 Nobody knows God or understands him.
Men who work to make things from metal are ashamed.
*Idols that they make have no life in them.
v15 They are silly because they have no value.
God will destroy them when he *judges them.
v16 The God of Jacob is not like these *idols.
He made everything.
He made Israel to be the people that he chose.
He is the great and powerful *Lord.
v17 Get all your things together, ready to leave the country.
Your enemies are all round you.
v18 This is what the *Lord says,
‘I will now throw out those people who live in this country.
I will make their lives difficult,
then their enemies will take them as their *prisoners.’
v19 I am hurt and in great pain.
No one can make me well.
I said to myself, ‘This is my hurt, and I must live with it!’
v20 They have destroyed my *tent.
They have broken all its *ropes.
My sons have gone away, and they are dead.
This means that the people in Judah, like Jeremiah, had no children.
Now no one will put up my *tent.
v21 The *shepherds are fools.
They do not ask the *Lord to help them,
so their work does not make them rich.
And all their sheep have run away.
v22 Listen to the noise!
People are coming from the country in the north (Babylon).
They will take the people out from the towns in Judah.
Only wild animals will live there.
Jeremiah is saying that Judah is like a broken *tent. Its leaders (*shepherds) are fools because they will not listen to God. So enemies will come and take them all away.
v23 I know, *Lord, that you give life to each man.
Only you can say where he should walk.
v24 Please lead me back to the right path, *Lord, but be fair to me.
Do not be angry with me.
If you are, you might completely destroy me.
v25 Be angry, *Lord, with the people in the countries that do not *honour you.
Be angry with the *nations who do not ask you to lead them.
The people in these countries have completely destroyed your people,
the sons of Jacob.
They have destroyed the country that you gave to them.
v1 God spoke to Jeremiah, the *prophet. v2 ‘Listen to the rules of this *covenant’, he said. ‘Tell them to the people in Judah and the people who live in Jerusalem. v3 Tell them that this is what the *Lord, the God of Israel says. “I will send *curses to the man who does not obey the rules of this *covenant. v4 I gave the rules to your fathers when I brought them out of Egypt. Enemies caught your fathers like wood in a fire, but I took them out. I said, ‘Obey me and do everything that I say that you should do. Then you will be my people and I will be your God.’ v5 Then I will keep the promise that I gave to your fathers. I promised to give them a country that would give them plenty of milk and sweet food. This is the country that you now live in.” ’
I answered, ‘*Amen (I want that to happen), *Lord.’
v6 ‘Speak out all these words in the towns in Judah and the streets in Jerusalem’, the *Lord said to me. ‘Say, “Listen to these rules of the *covenant, and obey them. v7 I have said this all the time since I brought your fathers out of Egypt. Again and again, until now, I have said this, ‘You must obey me.’ v8 But they did not listen. They did not think that my rules were important. Instead, they did all the bad things that they wanted to do. All their thoughts were *evil. So I had to *punish them. I sent them all the *curses that I promised. I promised those *curses if they did not obey me. I *punished them because they did not obey the rules of the *covenant.” ’
v9 ‘The people in Judah and those who live in Jerusalem have decided to choose a wrong path. v10 They have returned to the *sins of their fathers. Their fathers refused to listen to my words. They left me and now they work for other gods. I made a *covenant with their fathers. None of the people from Judah or Israel has obeyed the rules of this *covenant.’ v11 Because of this, the *Lord says, ‘I will bring great trouble to you. You will not get away from it. Even if you call out to me, I will not listen to you. v12 The people in the towns in Judah and in Jerusalem will shout to the gods that they *worship. But those gods will not help them when trouble happens to them. v13 Judah, you have different gods in every town. You have made *altars to burn oils to make nice smells for them. You have built as many *altars as there are streets in Jerusalem.’
v14 ‘Jeremiah, do not pray for this people or ask me to do anything for them. I will not listen to them when they ask me for help.
v15 The people that I love are doing *evil things in my *temple.
They cannot stop me from *punishing them.
If you give me gifts of meat, I will still *punish you.
You enjoy doing these wrong things.’
v16 The *Lord said that you were like an *olive tree.
It was beautiful and it gave much fruit.
But now he will burn the tree with a loud noise,
and he will break all its branches.
v17 The *Lord, who has all power, planted you like a tree. Now he will cause great trouble to Israel and to Judah. This is because you have burnt oils with nice smells to *worship the god Baal. You have caused the *Lord to be very angry.
v18 I knew what the people wanted to do. The *Lord had showed me what they were doing. v19 I was like a young animal that is waiting for men to kill it. I had no idea what they had been saying.
‘We must destroy the tree and its fruit’, they said. ‘He must not go on living. Men will forget all about him.’
v20 ‘But *Lord of all power, you *judge in a fair way. You can see into the thoughts and minds of men. I believe that I have done nothing that is wrong. So I ask you to *punish them.
v21 The men in Anathoth wanted to kill me. ‘Do not go on telling us what the *Lord says’, they said. ‘If you do continue to give us his messages, we will kill you.’ v22 So the *Lord of all power spoke to me. ‘I will *punish them. Their young men will die as they fight. And their children will not have enough food and they will die.’ v23 He said, ‘I will destroy all the men in Anathoth when I *punish them. I will not leave one man alive there at that time.’
v1 You always *judge me in a good and fair way *Lord,
when I tell you about my problems.
But I must ask you some questions.
Why do bad people have such an easy life?
Why does everything seem to happen in the way that pleases them?
Why do you give the people who do not obey you such comfortable lives?
v2 They are like plants that you have planted. And they are growing.
They grow and make fruit.
They talk about you a lot.
But they do not listen to you.
v3 But you know me, *Lord.
You watch me. And you *judge the thoughts that I have about you.
Take those bad men away like animals to kill them!
Put them in a special place, ready to die.
v4 The country has been dry for a long time.
The grass in every field is brown and bent.
The people who live in this country are bad.
So all the animals and birds have died.
It is even worse than that. People are saying,
‘He will not see what happens to us.’
v5 ‘You get very tired when you try to run faster than other men.
So you could never run faster than horses.
You can fall over on flat fields.
So you will certainly fall near the river Jordan,
when you are among many trees and bushes.
v6 Even your brothers and your own family
are against you.
They join in the attacks against you.
Do not believe them,
even when they speak kind words about you.’
God is telling Jeremiah about the troubles that will come to him. This will happen because he is speaking God’s words to the people.
v7 ‘I will go away and leave my house.
I will leave the country of my people empty.
I will let their enemies take the people that I loved.
v8 The people that belong to me
are like a *lion.
They are like a *lion that is hiding in the trees.
They shout, ready to jump on me.
This is why I *hate them.
v9 The people that I chose are like a small bird.
Their enemies are like big birds. They will attack and kill them.
Call to the wild animals
to come and eat them!
v10 My people are like a garden where soft plants grow.
But the men who keep the garden are walking all over it.
They are making my garden into a *desert.
v11 It will become dry and empty
and nothing will grow there.
The whole country will become empty
because no one *cares for it.
v12 Enemies will come over the empty country.
They will come to destroy my people.
No one will be safe in any part of the country.
v13 They will plant good seed, but bad plants will grow.
My people will work very hard, but they will get nothing.
Because I am very angry, they will have no food.’
v14 ‘I will remove all the enemies who took this country. They took the country that I gave to my people, Israel. I will take them out of their countries. I will separate the people of Judah from them’, says the *Lord. v15 ‘But after I have taken away the family of Judah, I will be kind to them. I will bring them back, each to the country of his fathers. I will bring them back to their own country. v16 Then they must learn to obey the rules of my people. They must give me *honour. They must not continue to believe in the name of Baal. They must learn to say, “As the *Lord lives”. Then they will become part of my people. v17 But if the people in any country will not obey these rules, I will destroy it completely’, says the *Lord.
v1 ‘Go and buy a belt made from cloth and put it round your body’, the *Lord said to me. ‘But you must not let it get wet.’ v2 So I bought a belt, as the *Lord had said. I tied it on.
v3 The *Lord spoke to me again. v4 ‘Take the belt that you bought. You are now wearing it. Take it to Perath and hide it in a hole in the rocks.’ v5 So I went and hid it at Perath as the *Lord had told me.
Perath may be the river Euphrates.
v6 It was many days later that I heard from the *Lord. ‘Now go to Perath. Get the belt that I told you to hide there’, he said to me. v7 So I went to Perath, to the place where I had hidden the belt. I dug it up. But it was dirty and I could not use it.
v8 Then the *Lord spoke to me.
v9 ‘This is how I will destroy all that has value in Judah and in Jerusalem. v10 These people are very bad. They refuse to listen to my words. They do what they want. They work for other gods and they *worship them’, he said. ‘They will be of no use at all, just like this belt. v11 I was like a belt. I tied the whole families of Israel and of Judah to myself. They should have been my people and they should have brought me *honour and *praise. But they have not listened to me.’
v12 ‘You must speak to them. Say, “People should fill with *wine every skin of a goat that is for keeping *wine, says the *Lord.” They may answer, “We know that.” v13 Then tell them that I will make all of them like people who have drunk very much *wine. Everyone in the country will become *drunk. All the kings, *prophets, *priests and people who live in Jerusalem will be *drunk. v14 I will hit them against each other like jars, whether they are old or young. I will not be sorry for them or be kind to them. I will destroy them, and nothing can stop me.’
v15 Listen to me.
Listen very carefully.
Do not think that you do not need to listen!
The *Lord has spoken.
v16 Give *honour to the *Lord your God,
before he makes it dark.
Then your feet will not find the path,
as the hills grow dark.
You hope that it will get light.
But God will make it very dark.
v17 If you do not listen
I will weep in secret.
You think that you do not need the *Lord.
That is why I will cry.
Water will fall from my eyes
like a great river.
This will happen because the *Lord will make his people *prisoners.
v18 Speak to the king and to the queen, his mother.
Say, ‘Come down from your *thrones.
The gold *crowns will fall from your heads.’
This means that they will not rule the people any more.
v19 The cities in the Negev will be shut,
and there will be no one to open them.
Enemies will take all the people in Judah to a foreign country.
They will take them away completely.
v20 Look up. See people who are coming from the north.
The people that made you important are gone.
You are like *shepherds who have lost their sheep.
v21 The *Lord will give your authority to other people.
People from the country that was your special friend will rule over you.
You will have pain,
pain like the pain of a woman who is having a baby.
v22 You may ask, ‘Why is this happening to me?’
It is because of the many wrong things that you have done.
That is why people have torn off your clothes.
And they have hurt you.
v23 A black man cannot make himself white,
and an animal cannot change its colour.
In the same way, you cannot do good things
if you have always done *evil things.
v24 ‘I will blow you away
as the *desert wind blows a leaf.
v25 This is what I have decided to do to you’, says the *Lord.
‘I will do it because you have forgotten me.
And you have listened to *false gods.
v26 I will pull off your clothes.
You will be ashamed.
v27 Everyone will see that you have had sex
with women who are not your wives.
They will know that men have paid women
to have sex with them.
I have seen the bad things that you do
on the hills and in the fields.
People in Jerusalem, you will never be happy.
You should not always do wrong things.’
Here Jeremiah is telling the people in Jerusalem that they will be *punished. God sees all the wrong things that they are doing. He knows that they do not *honour him. He knows that they *worship *false gods. God says that his people are not *faithful to him. They are like a wife who has sex with a man. And the man is not her husband.
v1 This is what the *Lord told Jeremiah. He said that he would stop sending rain.
v2 ‘Judah’s people are very sad. The people in their cities are tired.
They are sitting on the ground and crying.
Jerusalem’s people are weeping.
v3 Rich men send their servants for water.
But they find no water
in the big holes where they keep it.
They return with empty water jars.
Their trouble is great and they are sad.
They cover their heads.
v4 The ground has long holes in it
because God has sent no rain.
The farmers have great trouble.
They cover their heads.
Men covered their heads to show that they were sad. They did it when a person died.
v5 Mother animals leave their new babies in the fields
because the grass is dead.
v6 Wild horses stand on the empty hills and pant.
They cannot see well because they have no food.’
‘Pant’ means that they have to take air in and out of their mouths very quickly.
v7 We know that we have done many bad things.
But please help us, *Lord.
People will give you *honour if you will help us.
We have done very many bad things.
We have gone away from you.
We have not obeyed your *laws.
v8 You are our hope. You are Israel’s hope.
You saved us from our troubles.
But now you are like a *foreigner.
You are like a visitor who stays for only one night.
v9 You are like a man who is surprised.
He is surprised when enemies make him a *prisoner.
Yes, you are like a soldier who cannot save anyone.
You are among us, *Lord.
People call us by your name.
Do not leave us alone!
v10 ‘This people love to go away from me.
They let their feet go anywhere that they like.
So they cannot please the *Lord.
Now he will remember the bad things that they have done.
And he will *punish them for their *sins.’
That is what the *Lord says.
v11 The *Lord spoke to me again. ‘Do not pray that I will do good things for this people. v12 Even if they stop eating food, I will not listen to them. If they burn meat and seeds to offer to me, I will not accept their gifts. Instead, I will destroy them. They will have no food. Or they will become ill and die. I will send men to kill some of them’, the *Lord said to me.
v13 ‘*Lord, ruler of all, the *prophets say other things’, I said. ‘They say that soldiers will not kill the people. They do not believe that they will have no food. The *prophets say that they will have no troubles. They say that their *peace will continue.’
v14 ‘The *prophets are saying what is not true’, the *Lord said to me. ‘And they said that I had said it. I did not send them or give them my authority. I did not speak to them. Their words are *false. They are giving you *prophesies and pictures that their own minds have made. They *worship *false gods. v15 So this is what the *Lord says about these *prophets. “I did not send them. But they are saying that I have spoken to them.” They say, “Enemies will not kill anyone in this country. No one will die because they have no food.” But I say, “Those same *prophets will have no food and die. Or soldiers will kill them. v16 And men will throw the people that listened to them into the streets of Jerusalem. They will die because they have no food. Or they may die because soldiers will kill them. No one will bury the dead people. They and their dead wives, sons and daughters will lie in the street. They will be *punished because they did not obey me.” ’
v17 Say this to them.
‘Water runs from my eyes
all day and all night without stopping.
I am crying because my own people are hurt very badly.
Their life is finished.
v18 I see dead people
when I go into the country.
Soldiers have killed them.
In the city, I see dead people.
They died because they had no food.
Both *prophets and *priests
have gone to a place that they never knew.’
v19 Surely you have not completely turned away from Judah.
You cannot hate Zion (Jerusalem).
You have hurt us so much
that no one can make us well again.
We had the hope that you would save us from trouble.
But you have not done anything good for us.
We had the hope that you would make us well.
But we are only very afraid.
v20 *Lord, we agree that we have done many bad things.
We remember, too, the bad things that our fathers did.
We have not obeyed you, and we have hurt you.
v21 People may think that you are bad because we are bad.
We do not want this.
We want people to give *honour to you.
Remember that you made a promise to us.
Please keep your promise.
v22 Gods made from wood and stone belong to other countries.
They cannot bring rain.
The sky itself does not make rain.
No, you our *Lord, our God,
you bring rain.
So you are our hope.
Only you can do all this.
v1 ‘Even if Moses and Samuel asked me not to *punish my people, I would not listen to them’, the *Lord said to me. ‘Send them away from me. Let them go! v2 They may ask you, “Where shall we go?” Then tell them this is what the *Lord says.
“Those who should die will die.
Other soldiers will kill those who are soldiers.
Those that should have no food will have no food.
Those who should be *prisoners will become *prisoners.” ’
v3 ‘I will send 4 (four) kinds of *punishments to destroy them’, the *Lord says. ‘I will send soldiers to kill them and *dogs to carry them away. And I will send birds from the air and wild animals to eat and destroy them. v4 I will cause all the *nations on the earth to hate them. I will do this because of the *evil things that Manasseh, Hezekiah’s son, did in Jerusalem.’
v5 ‘No one will be sorry for you, people in Jerusalem.
No one will weep for you.
No one will stop to ask how you are.
v6 You have turned away from me’, says the *Lord.
‘You go on doing things that are wrong.
So I will attack and destroy you.
I cannot be kind to you.
v7 I will *judge you at the gates of the country.
Many of you will see your sons die.
And I will destroy many people
because they have not returned to me.
v8 I will kill many husbands.
More men will die than you can count.
I will send an enemy at midday
against mothers and young children.
They will become afraid quickly.
v9 A mother who has 7 (seven) children
will fall and die.
Her life will end before she is old.
She will be ashamed and without *honour.
I will send soldiers to kill
those people who are not already dead’,
says the *Lord.
v10 I am sorry, mother, that I was ever born.
Everyone in the country is against me.
I have not lent money or taken it,
Jeremiah is saying that he has not done anything wrong.
But everyone says bad things about me.
v11 ‘I will save you so that I can do good things.
I will cause your enemies to ask you for help.
They will come to you when they have great trouble’, the *Lord said to me.
v12 ‘A man cannot break iron or other metals.
He cannot break the iron from the north.’
This iron belongs to the armies of Babylon.
v13 ‘I will give all your valuable things and all your money
to enemies who will attack you.
They will not pay for them
because you have done so many wrong things.
You have done bad things all over the country.
v14 Your enemies will make you slaves.
They will take you to a country that you do not know.
I am so angry that I am like a fire that burns you.’
v15 You understand my problems, *Lord.
Remember me and *care for me.
Please *punish those who give me so much trouble.
You are patient but do not let them kill me. Remember me.
They have made my life difficult because I work for you.
v16 Your words were like sweet food to me.
They made me very happy.
I belong to you, *Lord, powerful God.
v17 I never sat with happy people at a party.
I sat alone, because you had touched me.
You had made me very angry.
v18 My pain has no end.
My hurts do not get better.
I feel that you are not always there.
You are not always there when I need your help.
v19 So the *Lord spoke to me.
‘If you will turn to me, I will take you back.
Then you can be my servant.
If you will speak good words and not bad words,
you can speak for me.
This people will return to you,
but you must not become like them.
v20 I will make you like a wall to this people.
You will be like a wall of strong metal.
They will fight against you,
but they will not win the fight.
They will not win because I am with you.
I will save you’, says the *Lord.
v21 ‘I will save you from bad men who attack you.
I will save you from people who want to hurt you.’
v1-2 ‘You must not marry or have sons or daughters here’, the *Lord said to me. v3 He told me that sons and daughters who were born in this country would die from bad illnesses. Their mothers and fathers would die, too. v4 Their bodies would lie on the ground. And no one would be sad, or bury them. No one would give them any *honour. Soldiers would kill them. Or they would die because they had no food. Birds and wild animals would feed on the dead people.
v5 ‘Do not go into a house where they are eating a meal to remember a dead person. You may be sorry that the person is dead. But do not show them that you are sorry. Do this because I have taken my love and my *blessing away from them’, says the *Lord. v6 ‘No one will bury dead persons. No one will bury them, whether they are rich or poor. No one will be sad. No one will show other people how sad they are. They will not cut themselves, or remove the hair from their heads. v7 No one will give food to families when someone has died. They will not even give them food if their mother or father has died. And no one will give them a drink to try to make them happy.’ This is what the *Lord says.
v8 ‘And do not go into a house where they are having a party. Do not sit down with them to eat and drink’, v9 the *Lord of power, the God of Israel, said to me. ‘This is because I will stop their happy songs and marriage parties in this place’, he said.
v10 ‘You will tell the people all that I have said. Then they will ask questions. “Why has the *Lord said that he will do all these bad things to us? What wrong things have we done? What *sin have we done against the *Lord, our God?” v11 Then you must speak to them. “It is because your fathers went away from me”, says the *Lord. “They *worshipped other gods and they became their servants. They turned away from me and they did not obey my *law. v12 But you have done worse things than your fathers. Each of you does what he wants. You know that. You do it even when it is wrong. You do not obey me. v13 So I will throw you out of this country into a country that you and your fathers have not known. There you will be servants to other gods, day and night, because I will not help you.” ’
v14 ‘But a better time will come’, says the *Lord. ‘Men will not talk about the time when I, the living God, took them out of Egypt. v15 No, they will say that they are sure that I am alive. They will say that I saved the people of Israel from the countries in the north. They will remember how I saved them from all the countries where I had sent them. I had sent them away to *punish them. I will give them back the country that I gave to their fathers.’
v16 ‘But now I will make them like fish. I will send for many men to fish for them’, says the *Lord. ‘And these men will catch them. Then I will send hunters to run after them like wild animals. The hunters will find them in the mountains and hills and in holes in the rocks. v17 I am watching them all the time. They cannot hide from me. And they cannot hide the wrong things that they do. v18 I will *punish them twice as much for their *sin and for the bad things that they have done. This is because they have made my country like aplace full of dirt. They have filled it with their *idols that have no life. They have made the country that I gave to you full of their *dirty *idols.’
v19 *Lord, you are the person who makes me strong.
You are like a city with strong walls in which I can hide.
I can hide in you when troubles happen to me.
People will come to you from countries all over the earth.
They will say, ‘Our fathers had only *false gods.
They had no power and they did not help us.
v20 Men make ‘gods’, but they are not really gods.’
v21 ‘So I will teach them.
This time I will teach them
how strong and powerful I am.
Then they will know that the *Lord is my name.’
v1 ‘All the people in Judah are full of *sin.
It is deep in every part of their bodies.
And they use their *altars to *sin against me.
v2 Even their children
use their *altars and sticks that they call gods.
They put these tall sticks on high hills (places where the people *worshipped *idols)
and under big trees.
v3 Enemies will take my mountain that is in your country (Mount Zion).
I will give away all your valuable things,
the things that make you rich.
I will do this because of the *sin of the people in all my country.
v4 You will lose the country that I gave to your fathers.
You will lose it because of your own *sin.
Your enemies will make you their slaves.
You will live in a country that you do not know.
You have made me very angry,
and you cannot stop me from being angry.’
v5 The *Lord spoke again.
‘Some people think that human people know what is best.
I will *punish everyone who thinks like that.
They think that they can save themselves.
They think that they are strong.
They do not ask the *Lord for help.
v6 These people will be like a bush in a wild place.
They will not become rich when other people become rich.
They will stay in dry salty places where no one lives.
v7 The person who lets the *Lord lead him is not like that.
The *Lord will *bless the man who follows him.
v8 He will be like a tree near water
that drinks from the river.
He will not be afraid of the sun’s heat.
He will be like a tree that is always green.
This tree gives much fruit and always has enough water.’
v9 ‘One part of a man decides what he will do or feel.
This can lead him into trouble.
It is bad and sick and no one can make it better.
No one can understand it.’
v10 ‘I, the *Lord, can look inside a man.
I can see what he feels and thinks.
I will give him good gifts if he does good things.
And I will *punish him if he does bad things.’
v11 ‘A man may get rich by not being fair to other people.
He is like a bird that sits on eggs. But the eggs are not its own.
He will lose his riches before he is old.
At the end of his life people will see that he is a fool.’
v12 Our God’s throne was from the beginning.
It is high up in the *holy place (the *temple on Mount Zion).
v13 *Lord, you are the hope of your people, Israel.
All who go away from you will be ashamed.
Those who turn away from you will die.
They will die because they have gone away from the *Lord.
He is the living water that gives them life.
v14 *Lord, make me well, and I will be well.
Save me and I will be saved.
Save me because I *praise you.
v15 People keep asking me questions.
‘Where are the words of the *Lord?
When will they come true?’
v16 *Lord, I have not stopped giving help to your sheep (people).
You know that I did not want bad things to happen to them.
You know that I have spoken your words.
v17 Please do not make me afraid!
When bad things happen, I run to you to hide me.
v18 I want you to make the people ashamed who hurt me.
Please make them very afraid.
But help me not to be afraid.
Cause them to have a lot of trouble.
Destroy them again and again.
v19 ‘Go and stand in the gate of the city’, the *Lord said to me. ‘Stand in the gate that the kings of Judah use to go in and out of the city. And stand at the other city gates, too. v20 Speak to the people. Say, “Listen, you kings of Judah, people of Judah, and everyone who lives in Jerusalem. Hear the message from the *Lord. v21 This is what the *Lord says. ‘Do not carry anything on the *Sabbath day. Do not carry anything through the gates of Jerusalem. v22 Do not carry anything out of your houses or do any work on the *Sabbath day. You must keep the *Sabbath day *holy as I told your fathers. v23 But they did not listen to me. They did not do the things that I said that they must do. They thought that my words had no value. They would not listen when I corrected them. v24 But you must be careful to listen to me and to obey me. Then you will neither carry things through these gates nor work on the *Sabbath. You will keep the *Sabbath day *holy’, says the *Lord. v25 ‘Then kings who sit on David’s *throne will come to the city. They will come through the gates with their officers. Some will ride on horses. Some will ride in beautiful *chariots that horses are pulling. The men of Judah and those who live in Jerusalem will come with them. Then people will always live in this city. v26 People will come from the towns and villages in Judah. They will come from the country that belongs to Benjamin. They will come from the hills and the little hills in the west. They will come from the Negev. They will bring animals, *grain and oils with nice smells. They will offer these to the *Lord in his house (*temple). They will offer these to the *Lord to thank him. They will thank him for all the good things that he has done. v27 If you do not obey me then I will *punish you. You must not carry things on the *Sabbath day. You must not even take them through the gates. If you do not obey me, I will send fire to the gates of Jerusalem. You will not be able to put it out. Your strong city will burn down.’ ” ’
v1 The *Lord spoke to Jeremiah. v2 ‘Go down to the *potter’s house, and there I will tell you my message’, he said. v3 So I went down to the *potter’s house. There I saw him as he was working at his *wheel. v4 He was working with *clay to make a pot with his hands. But, as he worked, it became the wrong shape. So he made it into a pot of another shape, as he chose.
v5 Then the *Lord spoke to me. ‘You know that I can change the *Jewish people. I can change them just as the *potter changes the shape of the *clay’, he said. v6 ‘You *Jewish people are in my hands. I hold you as the *potter holds the *clay in his hands. v7 I may say at any time that I will break down a country and destroy it. v8 But the people in that country might hear my words. And they might stop doing the things that made me angry. Then I would change my mind. I would not cause the trouble that I had promised. v9 Or I might say that I will build up a country and make it strong. v10 But the people in that country might do wrong things, and not obey my rules. Then I would think again about the good things that I had said. I might not do them.’
v11 ‘So now you must speak to the people who live in Judah and Jerusalem. Tell them that this is what the *Lord says. “Look! I will cause you great trouble. I have decided to come against you. So each person must stop doing bad things and start to do good things. You must live in the way that gives me pleasure.” v12 But they will say to you, “We do not want to. We will continue to do just as we want. We will do every bad thing that we choose to do.” ’
v13 So this is what the *Lord said to Jeremiah.
‘The people in other countries have never heard about anything like this.
My people, Israel, have done a very wrong thing.
v14 The snow stays on the rocky sides of Mount Lebanon.
Cold water never stops falling from its high rocks.
v15 But my people have forgotten me.
They burn oils with a nice smell
to please gods that have no value.
Those gods cause them to get lost.
They go away from the right paths.
They walk along side paths and poor roads.
v16 I will send their enemies to take their country.
They will destroy everything in it.
My people will be ashamed.
Men who pass the country will be very surprised.
They will show how sad they are.
v17 I will come to my people like the east wind.
I will blow them like sand before their enemies.
I will not show them my face.
I will turn my back to them when this day comes.’
v18 The people said, ‘Let us attack Jeremiah. We do not need him. The *priests will still teach the *law, and *wise men will still lead us. We will still have the words of the *prophets. So we will speak against Jeremiah with our *tongues. We will not listen to anything that he says.’
v19 Listen to me, *Lord.
Hear what people are saying against me.
v20 I have tried to teach them well,
but they will do bad things to me.
Remember that I stood in front of you. And I spoke to you.
I asked you not to be angry with them.
v21 So now cause them to have no food.
Let their enemies kill them with sharp knives.
I want their wives to lose their husbands and their children.
Let their enemies kill the men.
And let the young men die as they fight.
v22 They will shout from their houses
when you bring enemies to surprise them.
They are trying to catch me in a hole
or tie me like an animal.
v23 But you, *Lord, know
the bad things that they want to do to me.
Please do not *forgive them.
And do not forget the bad things that they have done.
Watch as their enemies win the fight against them.
*Punish them while you are angry.
v1 This is what the *Lord said to me. ‘Go and buy a pot made out of *clay from a *potter. Take some of the leaders of the people and some *priests with you. v2 Go out into Ben Hinnom Valley, near to the Potsherd gate. There you must speak the words that I will give to you. v3 Say, “Hear the *Lord’s message, you kings of Judah and people in Jerusalem. This is what the great and powerful *Lord says. ‘Listen! I will bring very great trouble to this place. It will be very bad. It will hurt the ears of everyone who hears about it. v4 I will do this because you have brought foreign gods to this place. People have burnt animals here to offer to these gods. Neither their fathers nor the kings of Judah knew those gods. People have killed those who had done no wrong thing. v5 They burned their sons in fires on the high hills. They offered them to the *false god, Baal. This is something that I never asked you to do. I would never have thought to ask it. v6 This is why the name of this valley will be changed’, says the *Lord. ‘At a future time, it will not be called Topheth or Ben Hinnom Valley. No, it will be called ‘Death Valley’.
v7 Judah and Jerusalem will not grow in the way that they want. In this place, I will cause their enemies to destroy them. They will kill those who live here. I will give their dead bodies to the birds and to the wild animals for food. v8 I will completely destroy this city so that people will be ashamed. Anyone who walks past it will see how bad it is. They will think that it had no value. That is because you have destroyed it. v9 Enemies who want to kill its people will be all round the city. And its people will have no food. They will be so hungry that they will eat the dead bodies of their children and of each other.’ ”
v10 Then break the pot that you bought. Break it in front of all those who are watching you. v11 Say to them, “This is what the great and powerful *Lord says. ‘I will break this country. I will break this city as someone breaks a pot. No one will be able to mend it. Topheth will not be able to hold all the dead bodies. v12 I will make this city like Topheth. That is what I will do to this city. And I will do it to those who live here. v13 I will make the houses in Jerusalem and those of the kings of Judah full of dead bones like Topheth. I will do this to all the places where they burned nice oils and poured drinks. This is because they offered them to the stars in the sky and to other gods.’ ” ’
v14 Jeremiah returned from Topheth where he had given the *Lord’s message to the rulers. Then he went and stood in the outside part of the *Lord’s *temple. He spoke to the people. v15 ‘This is what the great and powerful *Lord is saying to you. “Listen! I will do all the really bad things that I promised to do. I will destroy this city and the villages near to it. I will do it because they did not listen to me. I will do it because they would not obey my words.” ’
Topheth was a high place on a hill. There people burnt animals or children to offer them to *false gods. The *Lord had said that the *Jews must not burn their children as gifts to the gods. (See Leviticus 18:21.) Ben Hinnom Valley was a place outside the city. People put things there that they did not want. People put food that was bad there too. The *Lord is telling the rulers of Judah that their dead bodies would join these bad things in that place.
v1 Pashhur, son of Immer, was the leader of the *priests in the *Lord’s *temple. He heard what Jeremiah was *prophesying. v2 So he caused his men to hit Jeremiah, and to tie him up. They tied him on a seat by the highest gate. That is the gate of Benjamin at the *Lord’s *temple. v3 The next day, Pashhur let Jeremiah go. ‘The *Lord’s name for you is not Pashhur, but Magor-Missabib’, Jeremiah said.
The name Magor-Missabib means ‘things all round you will make you afraid’.
v4 ‘This is what the *Lord says, “I will make you afraid of yourself and your friends will be afraid of you too. With your own eyes, you will see their enemies kill them all. I will give all of the people in Judah to the king of Babylon, who will take them away. He will take them to Babylon or cause his soldiers to kill them. v5 I will give all the rich things in the city to their enemies. I will give them all your valuable things, the things that you have made. They will take all the valuable things of the kings of Judah. They will take them away to Babylon because they have won their fight against you. v6 And they will take you, Pashhur, and all who live in your house, to Babylon. You will die there and so will all your friends. You gave them *false *prophecies. They will bury you there.” ’
v7 *Lord, you did not tell me how bad they would be to your *prophet.
You caused me to believe something that was not true.
You are stronger than I am. And you won.
No one believes the words that I speak. They think all the time that I am a fool.
v8 Every time that I speak, I have to tell them bad things.
I shout out that their enemies are all round them.
And I shout that the enemy will fight and destroy them.
These words of yours make them angry with me.
So they say bad things about me all the time.
v9 I want to keep quiet and not talk about you.
I tried to do this. I said that I would not speak on your behalf.
But then your words burned like a fire inside me. They gave me no rest.
I am too tired to hold them in. I cannot do it.
v10 I hear voices that say, ‘Everything round me makes me afraid!
Let us tell the officers what he is saying.’
All my friends are waiting for me to make a mistake. They say,
‘Perhaps we can cause him to believe something that is not true.
Then we can *punish him for the bad things that he has said.’
v11 But the *Lord is with me like a strong soldier.
So those who are against me will fail. And they will not win.
They will fail completely. People will think that they are worth nothing.
People will always remember that they have no value.
v12 Great and powerful *Lord, you look at all the people.
You know what they think. They think that they are right.
Let me see you *punish them. Do this because I am obeying you.
v13 Sing to the *Lord!
Give *praise to the *Lord!
He saves the lives of poor people from the things that bad men do.
v14 I will put a *curse on the day that I was born.
I do not want the day that I was born ever to be happy.
v15 I will put a *curse on the man who told the news to my father.
He made my father very happy. He said,
‘You have a son!’
v16 I want the *Lord to destroy that man.
The *Lord was not sorry to destroy our towns.
Destroy him like that.
I want him to hear people who are crying in the morning.
I want him to hear the shouts of men who fight at noon.
v17 The *Lord did not kill me before I was born. I am angry about that.
I was not a dead body buried inside my mother.
That body would have kept her big for all her life.
v18 I do not know why I came out from my mother.
All that I get are troubles and things that make me sad.
People will only say bad things about me when I die.
v1 King Zedekiah sent Pashhur, son of Malkijah, and the *priest Zephaniah, son of Maaseiah, to Jeremiah. v2 ‘Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, is attacking us’, they said. ‘Ask the *Lord for us if he will do something great for us. He did many good things for us before now. Perhaps he will cause Nebuchadnezzar to go away.’
v3 ‘Tell Zedekiah what the *Lord says’, Jeremiah answered them. v4 ‘You have arms in your hands to fight the king of Babylon and his soldiers. But I will turn your arms against you. The enemy are all round your city’s walls. And I will bring them together inside this city. v5 I will fight against you myself with my own hand. I am very strong and very angry. v6 I will attack all who live in this city. I will kill them with a great illness, both people and animals. v7 After that’, the *Lord says, ‘I will take Zedekiah, king of Judah. With him, I will take any of his officers or people that are alive. I will take any that the soldiers have not killed. And I will take any who have not died from illness. I will give them to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. I will give them to the enemies who want to kill them. He will kill them. He will not be sorry, or be kind to them.’
v8 ‘And tell the people more’, the *Lord said. ‘Say, “ ‘I am showing you two different paths’, says the *Lord. ‘One path is the way to life and the other path is the way to death. v9 Anyone who stays in the city will die from *hunger or illness. Or soldiers will kill them. But anyone can go out and give himself to the soldiers from Babylon. If he goes outside the city, he will save his life. v10 I have decided to hurt this city and not to help it’, says the *Lord. ‘I will give it to the king of Babylon, and he will destroy it with fire.’ ”
v11 ‘Now hear what the *Lord says, you kings of Judah. v12 “Family of David, this is what the *Lord says.
‘You must *judge people fairly every day.
Perhaps men have taken things from another man.
Then save that man from those who have taken his things.
If you do not, I will be very, very angry.
I will be angry because of the bad thing that you have done.
I will be so angry that my *anger will burn like a fire.
No one can put out that fire.
v13 I am your enemy, people in Jerusalem.
You live over this valley on a rocky hill’,
the *Lord says.
‘You say, “No one can attack us.
Nobody can get into our strong city.”
v14 But I will *punish you for all the bad things that you have done’,
says the *Lord.
‘I will light a fire in your trees.
Then that will destroy everything that is round you.’ ” ’
v1 ‘Go down to the house of the king of Judah’, the *Lord said to me. ‘This is what you must say to them there. v2 “Hear the *Lord’s message, king of Judah, who sits on the *throne of David. This word is for you. And it is for your officers and all the people who come here. v3 This is what the *Lord says. ‘You must do what is right and fair. If someone has taken away a person’s things, you should save that person. Save him from the man who took them. Do not hurt foreign people or children whose parents are dead. Do not hurt women whose husbands have died. Do not kill anyone who has done no wrong thing. v4 If you are careful to obey all these rules, your kings will stay here. The sons of David will ride in on horses, and on *chariots. Their officers and people will come with them. v5 But you will have trouble if you do not obey my rules’, the *Lord says. ‘I, myself, promise that your enemies will break down your house.’ ” ’
v6 This is what the *Lord says. He speaks about the *palace of the king of Judah.
‘I will make you like a *desert.
You may be like Gilead or like the mountains of Lebanon.
But I will make you like towns where no one lives.
v7 I will send enemies against you with their arms.
They will cut down your strong walls of wood
and throw them into the fire.
v8 People from many countries will pass by. They will ask, “Why has the *Lord done this to such a great city?” v9 Other people will answer, “It is because they have not kept their promise to the *Lord, their God. They have *worshipped other gods, and become their servants.” ’
v10 Do not cry because the king is dead. Do not be sad that he is gone.
But cry much for the people that enemies have taken to a foreign country.
Cry because they will never come back.
They will never see their own country again.
v11 This is what the *Lord says about Shallum (Jehoahaz), son of Josiah. ‘He became king after his father, but he has gone away. He will never return to this place. v12 He will die in the place where they have taken him. They have put him in prison there. He will not see this country again.’
v13 ‘A man might use the bad things that he does to build his *palace.
But he will never be happy.
The person who is not fair to his workers will also never be happy.
He causes people in his own country to work for nothing.
He does not give them the money for their work.
v14 He says, “I will build myself a great *palace.
I will build rooms on the ground and big rooms over them.
I will make big windows and cover the walls with nice smelling wood.
I will make it beautiful with red paint.”
v15 But red wood does not make you a greater king.
Your father had enough food and drink.
And he did what was right and fair. So his life was good.
v16 He helped people who were poor. And he helped those who needed his help.
So everything was good (went well).
That happens when people know me’,
the *Lord says.
v17 ‘But you only want to get rich in ways that are not fair.
People do no wrong thing, but you kill them.
And you cause people to give money to you that is not yours.’
v18 So the *Lord says this about Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, king of Judah.
‘They will not be sad when he dies.
They will not say, “My brother, how sad, my sister.”
They will not say, “My poor master, how great he was.”
v19 They will bury him like a dead animal.
They will pull his dead body to the gate and throw it outside Jerusalem.’
v20 ‘Go up to Lebanon and shout.
Shout loudly in Bashan.
Shout out from Abarim.
Shout because all your friends are gone.
v21 I did tell you what would happen.
But you thought that you were safe.
And you said, “I will not listen!”
You have been like this since you were young.
You have not obeyed me.
v22 Your rulers will leave you, as if the wind had blown them away.