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Jeremiah 9
Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the killed of the daughter of my people! 2 Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging-place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! For they are all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men. 3 And they bend their tongue, as it were their bow, for falsehood; and they have grown strong in the land, but not for truth: for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, says Yahweh. 4 Take heed every one of his neighbor, and trust you not in any brother; for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbor will go about with slanders. 5 And they will deceive every one his neighbor, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies; they weary themselves to commit iniquity. 6 Your habitation is in the middle of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, says Yahweh.
7 Therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts, Behold, I will melt them, and try them; for how else should I do, because of the daughter of my people? 8 Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceit: one speaks peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth, but in his heart he lays wait for him. 9 Shall I not visit them for these things? says Yahweh; shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
10 For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the pastures of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up, so that no one passes through; neither can men hear the voice of the cattle; both the birds of the heavens and the beasts have fled, they have gone. 11 And I will make Jerusalem heaps, a dwelling-place of jackals; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.
12 Who is the wise man, that may understand this? And who is he to whom the mouth of Yahweh has spoken, that he may declare it? Why has the land perished and burned up like a wilderness, so that no one passes through? 13 And Yahweh says, Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked in it, 14 but have walked after the stubbornness of their own heart, and after the Baalim, which their fathers taught them; 15 therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts, the Elohim of Israel, Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink. 16 I will scatter them also among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them.
17 In this manner says Yahweh of hosts, Consider, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for the skilful women, that they may come: 18 and let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters. 19 For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we ruined! We are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because they have cast down our dwellings. 20 Yet hear the word of Yahweh, O you women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth; and teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbor lamentation. 21 For death has come up into our windows, it has entered into our palaces; to cut off the children from outside, and the young men from the streets. 22 Speak, In this manner says Yahweh, The dead bodies of men shall fall as dung upon the open field, and as the handful after the harvestman; and none shall gather them.
23 In this manner says Yahweh, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches; 24 but let him who glories glory in this, that he has understanding, and knows me, that I am Yahweh who exercises lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, says Yahweh.
25 Behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will punish all them that are circumcised in their uncircumcision: 26 Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all that have the corners of their hair cut off, that dwell in the wilderness; for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart.
Jeremiah 10
Hear the word which Yahweh speaks to you, O house of Israel: 2 Thus says Yahweh, Learn not the way of the nations, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the nations are dismayed at them. 3 For the customs of the peoples are vanity; for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the axe. 4 They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it moves not. 5 They are like a palm tree, of turned work, and speak not: they must necessarily be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good.
6 There is no one like you, O Yahweh; you are great, and your name is great in might. 7 Who should not fear you, O King of the nations? For to you does it pertain; since among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their royal estate, there is no one like you. 8 But they are together brutish and foolish: the instruction of idols! It is but a stock. 9 There is silver beaten into plates, which is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the artificer and of the hands of the goldsmith; blue and purple for their clothing; they are all the work of skilful men. 10 But Yahweh is the true Elohim; he is the living Elohim, and an everlasting King: at his wrath the earth trembles, and the nations are not able to endure his indignation.
11 In this manner shall you say to them, The elohim that have not made the heavens and the earth, these shall perish from the earth, and from under the heavens.
12 He has made the earth by his power, he has established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding has he stretched out the heavens: 13 when he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; he makes lightnings for the rain, and brings forth the wind out of his treasuries. 14 Every man has become brutish and is without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his carved image; for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. 15 They are vanity, a work of delusion; in the time of their visitation they shall perish. 16 The portion of Jacob is not like these; for he is the former of all things; and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance: Yahweh of hosts is his name.
17 Gather up your wares out of the land, O you that remains in the siege. 18 For thus says Yahweh, Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land at this time, and will distress them, that they may feel it.
19 Woe is me because of my hurt! My wound is grievous: but I said, Truly this is my grief, and I must bear it. 20 My tent is destroyed, and all my cords are broken: my children have gone forth from me, and they are not: there is no one to spread my tent any more, and to set up my curtains. 21 For the shepherds have become brutish, and have not inquired of Yahweh: therefore they have not prospered, and all their flocks are scattered. 22 The voice of tidings, behold, it comes, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah a desolation, a dwelling-place of jackals.
23 O Yahweh, I know that the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man that walks to direct his steps. 24 O Yahweh, correct me, but in measure; not in your anger, test you bring me to nothing. 25 Pour out your wrath upon the nations that know you not, and upon the families that call not on your name; for they have devoured Jacob, yes, they have devoured him and consumed him, and have laid waste his dwelling.
Jeremiah 11
The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying, 2 Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem; 3 and say to them, In this manner says Yahweh, the Elohim of Israel: Cursed is the man that hears not the words of this covenant, 4 which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the iron furnace, saying, Obey my voice, and do them, according to all which I command you: so shall you be my people, and I will be your Elohim; 5 that I may establish the oath which I swore to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as at this day. Then answered I, and said, Amen, O Yahweh.
6 And Yahweh said to me, Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, Hear the words of this covenant, and do them. 7 For I earnestly protested to your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even to this day, rising early and protesting, saying, Obey my voice. 8 Yet they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear, but walked every one in the stubbornness of their evil heart: therefore I brought upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did them not.
9 And Yahweh said to me, A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 10 They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to hear my words; and they have gone after other elohim to serve them: the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant which I made with their fathers. 11 Therefore thus says Yahweh, Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and they shall cry to me, but I will not listen to them. 12 Then shall the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem go and cry to the elohim to which they offer incense: but they will not save them at all in the time of their trouble. 13 For according to the number of your cities are your elohim, O Judah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem have you set up altars to the shameful thing, even altars to burn incense to Baal.
14 Therefore do not pray for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them; for I will not hear them in the time that they cry to me because of their trouble. 15 What has my beloved to do in my house, seeing she has worked lewdness with many, and the holy flesh is passed from you? When you do evil, then you rejoice. 16 Yahweh called your name, A green olive tree, fair with good fruit: with the noise of a great tumult he has kindled fire upon it, and the branches of it are broken. 17 For Yahweh of hosts, who planted you, has pronounced evil against you, because of the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have worked for themselves in provoking me to anger by offering incense to Baal.
18 And Yahweh gave me knowledge of it, and I knew it: then you showed me their doings. 19 But I was like a gentle lamb that is led to the slaughter; and I knew not that they had devised devices against me, saying, Let us destroy the tree with the fruit of it, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered. 20 But, O Yahweh of hosts, who judges righteously, who tries the heart and the mind, I shall see your vengeance on them; for to you have I revealed my cause. 21 Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning the men of Anathoth, that seek your life, saying, You shall not prophesy in the name of Yahweh, that you die not by our hand. 22 Therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts, Behold, I will punish them: the young men shall die by the sword; their sons and their daughters shall die by famine; 23 and there shall be no remnant to them: for I will bring evil upon the men of Anathoth, even the year of their visitation.
Jeremiah 12
Righteous are you, O Yahweh, when I contend with you; yet would I reason the cause with you: why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are all they at ease that deal very treacherously? 2 You have planted them, yes, they have taken root; they grow, yes, they bring forth fruit: you are near in their mouth, and far from their heart. 3 But you, O Yahweh, know me; you see me, and try my heart toward you: pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter. 4 How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of the whole country wither? For the wickedness of them that dwell in it, the beasts are consumed, and the birds; because they said, He shall not see our latter end.
5 If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses? And though in a land of peace you are secure, yet how will you do in the pride of the Jordan? 6 For even your brethren, and the house of your father, even they have dealt treacherously with you; even they have cried aloud after you: believe them not, though they speak fair words to you.
7 I have forsaken my house, I have cast off my heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies. 8 My heritage has become to me as a lion in the forest: she has uttered her voice against me; therefore I have hated her. 9 Is my heritage to me as a speckled bird of prey? Are the birds of prey against her all around? Go, assemble all the beasts of the field, bring them to devour. 10 Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness. 11 They have made it a desolation; it mourns to me, being desolate; the whole land is made desolate, because no man lays it to heart. 12 Destroyers have come upon all the bare heights in the wilderness; for the sword of Yahweh devours from the one end of the land even to the other end of the land: no flesh has peace. 13 They have sown wheat, and have reaped thorns; they have put themselves to pain, and profit nothing: and you shall be ashamed of your fruits, because of the fierce anger of Yahweh.
14 In this manner says Yahweh against all my evil neighbors, that touch the inheritance which I have caused my people Israel to inherit: Behold, I will pluck them up from off their land, and will pluck up the house of Judah from among them. 5 And it shall come to pass, after that I have plucked them up, I will return and have compassion on them; and I will bring them again, every man to his heritage, and every man to his land. 16 And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, As Yahweh lives; even as they taught my people to swear by Baal; then shall they be built up in the middle of my people. 17 But if they will not hear, then win I pluck up that nation, plucking up and destroying it, says Yahweh.
