Jeremiah 14 Cross References - WEB

¹ This is Yahweh’s word that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought. ² “Judah mourns, and its gates languish. They sit in black on the ground. The cry of Jerusalem goes up. ³ Their nobles send their little ones to the waters. They come to the cisterns, and find no water. They return with their vessels empty. They are disappointed and confounded, and cover their heads. ⁴ Because of the ground which is cracked, because no rain has been in the land, the plowmen are disappointed. They cover their heads. ⁵ Yes, the doe in the field also calves and forsakes her young, because there is no grass. ⁶ The wild donkeys stand on the bare heights. They pant for air like jackals. Their eyes fail, because there is no vegetation. ⁷ Though our iniquities testify against us, work for your name’s sake, Yahweh; for our rebellions are many. We have sinned against you. ⁸ You hope of Israel, its Savior in the time of trouble, why should you be as a foreigner in the land, and as a wayfaring man who turns aside to stay for a night? ⁹ Why should you be like a scared man, as a mighty man who can’t save? Yet you, Yahweh, are in the middle of us, and we are called by your name. Don’t leave us. ¹⁰ Yahweh says to this people, “Even so they have loved to wander. They have not restrained their feet. Therefore Yahweh does not accept them. Now he will remember their iniquity, and punish them for their sins.” ¹¹ Yahweh said to me, “Don’t pray for this people for their good. ¹² When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and meal offering, I will not accept them; but I will consume them by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence.” ¹³ Then I said, “Ah, Lord Yahweh! Behold, the prophets tell them, ‘You will not see the sword, neither will you have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place.’” ¹⁴ Then Yahweh said to me, “The prophets prophesy lies in my name. I didn’t send them. I didn’t command them. I didn’t speak to them. They prophesy to you a lying vision, divination, and a thing of nothing, and the deceit of their own heart. ¹⁵ Therefore Yahweh says concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name, but I didn’t send them, yet they say, ‘Sword and famine will not be in this land.’ Those prophets will be consumed by sword and famine. ¹⁶ The people to whom they prophesy will be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword. They will have no one to bury them—them, their wives, their sons, or their daughters, for I will pour their wickedness on them. ¹⁷ “You shall say this word to them: “‘Let my eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease; for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach, with a very grievous wound. ¹⁸ If I go out into the field, then, behold, the slain with the sword! If I enter into the city, then, behold, those who are sick with famine! For both the prophet and the priest go about in the land, and have no knowledge.’” ¹⁹ Have you utterly rejected Judah? Has your soul loathed Zion? Why have you struck us, and there is no healing for us? We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of healing, and behold, dismay! ²⁰ We acknowledge, Yahweh, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers; for we have sinned against you. ²¹ Do not abhor us, for your name’s sake. Do not disgrace the throne of your glory. Remember, and don’t break your covenant with us. ²² Are there any among the vanities of the nations that can cause rain? Or can the sky give showers? Aren’t you he, Yahweh our God? Therefore we will wait for you; for you have made all these things.

⁸ For he will be as a tree planted by the waters, who spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes, but its leaf will be green, and will not be concerned in the year of drought. It won’t cease from yielding fruit.

²⁴ God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.

¹² The men who didn’t die were struck with the tumors; and the cry of the city went up to heaven.

¹⁶ “Tomorrow about this time I will send you a man out of the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him to be prince over my people Israel. He will save my people out of the hand of the Philistines; for I have looked upon my people, because their cry has come to me.”

²⁸ so that they caused the cry of the poor to come to him. He heard the cry of the afflicted.

²⁶ Her gates shall lament and mourn. She shall be desolate and sit on the ground.

⁷ For the vineyard of Yahweh of Armies is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for justice, but, behold, oppression; for righteousness, but, behold, a cry of distress.

⁵ My heart cries out for Moab! Her nobles flee to Zoar, to Eglath Shelishiyah; for they go up by the ascent of Luhith with weeping; for on the way to Horonaim, they raise up a cry of destruction.

⁴ The earth mourns and fades away. The world languishes and fades away. The lofty people of the earth languish.

⁷ The new wine mourns. The vine languishes. All the merry-hearted sigh.

⁹ The land mourns and languishes. Lebanon is confounded and withers away. Sharon is like a desert, and Bashan and Carmel are stripped bare.

²⁸ For this the earth will mourn, and the heavens above be black, because I have spoken it. I have planned it, and I have not repented, neither will I turn back from it.”

²¹ For the hurt of the daughter of my people, I am hurt. I mourn. Dismay has taken hold of me.

¹¹ Therefore Yahweh says, ‘Behold, I will bring evil on them, which they will not be able to escape; and they will cry to me, but I will not listen to them.

⁴ How long will the land mourn, and the herbs of the whole country wither? Because of the wickedness of those who dwell therein, the animals and birds are consumed; because they said, “He won’t see our latter end.”

²² Let a cry be heard from their houses when you bring a troop suddenly on them; for they have dug a pit to take me and hidden snares for my feet.

⁹ Her gates have sunk into the ground. He has destroyed and broken her bars. Her king and her princes are among the nations where the law is not. Yes, her prophets find no vision from Yahweh.

⁸ Their appearance is blacker than a coal. They are not known in the streets. Their skin clings to their bones. It is withered. It has become like a stick. ⁹ Those who are killed with the sword are better than those who are killed with hunger; For these pine away, stricken through, for lack of the fruits of the field.

¹⁰ Our skin is black like an oven, because of the burning heat of famine.

³ Therefore the land will mourn, and everyone who dwells in it will waste away, with all living things in her, even the animals of the field and the birds of the sky, yes, the fish of the sea also die.

¹⁰ The field is laid waste. The land mourns, for the grain is destroyed, The new wine has dried up, and the oil languishes.

⁶ At their presence the peoples are in anguish. All faces have grown pale.

¹³ It has come to pass that, as he called, and they refused to listen, so they will call, and I will not listen,” said Yahweh of Armies;

³⁰ David went up by the ascent of the Mount of Olives, and wept as he went up; and he had his head covered, and went barefoot. All the people who were with him each covered his head, and they went up, weeping as they went up.

⁴ The king covered his face, and the king cried with a loud voice, “My son Absalom, Absalom, my son, my son!”

⁷ After a while, the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.

⁵ Ahab said to Obadiah, “Go through the land, to all the springs of water, and to all the brooks. Perhaps we may find grass and save the horses and mules alive, that we not lose all the animals.” ⁶ So they divided the land between them to pass throughout it. Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself.

³¹ Don’t listen to Hezekiah.’ For the king of Assyria says, ‘Make your peace with me, and come out to me; and everyone of you eat from his own vine, and everyone from his own fig tree, and everyone drink water from his own cistern;

¹² Mordecai came back to the king’s gate, but Haman hurried to his house, mourning and having his head covered.

²⁰ They were distressed because they were confident. They came there, and were confounded.

¹⁴ Let them be disappointed and confounded together who seek after my soul to destroy it. Let them be turned backward and brought to dishonor who delight in my hurt.

²⁹ Let my adversaries be clothed with dishonor. Let them cover themselves with their own shame as with a robe.

¹⁶ They will be disappointed, yes, confounded, all of them. Those who are makers of idols will go into confusion together. ¹⁷ Israel will be saved by Yahweh with an everlasting salvation. You will not be disappointed nor confounded to ages everlasting.

¹³ “For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the spring of living waters, and cut out cisterns for themselves: broken cisterns that can’t hold water.

²⁶ As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so the house of Israel is ashamed: they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets, ²⁷ who tell wood, ‘You are my father,’ and a stone, ‘You have given birth to me,’ for they have turned their back to me, and not their face; but in the time of their trouble they will say, ‘Arise, and save us!’

⁴ Because of the ground which is cracked, because no rain has been in the land, the plowmen are disappointed. They cover their heads.

¹¹ But Yahweh is with me as an awesome mighty one. Therefore my persecutors will stumble, and they won’t prevail. They will be utterly disappointed, because they have not dealt wisely, even with an everlasting dishonor which will never be forgotten.

²⁰ Yes, the animals of the field pant to you, for the water brooks have dried up, And the fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.

⁸ So two or three cities staggered to one city to drink water, and were not satisfied: yet you haven’t returned to me,” says Yahweh.

¹⁹ I will break the pride of your power, and I will make your sky like iron, and your soil like bronze. ²⁰ Your strength will be spent in vain; for your land won’t yield its increase, neither will the trees of the land yield their fruit.

²³ Your sky that is over your head will be bronze, and the earth that is under you will be iron. ²⁴ Yahweh will make the rain of your land powder and dust. It will come down on you from the sky, until you are destroyed.

²³ that all of its land is sulfur, salt, and burning, that it is not sown, doesn’t produce, nor does any grass grow in it, like the overthrow of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, which Yahweh overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath.

³ Therefore the showers have been withheld and there has been no latter rain; yet you have had a prostitute’s forehead and you refused to be ashamed.

¹¹ Be confounded, you farmers! Wail, you vineyard keepers; for the wheat and for the barley; for the harvest of the field has perished.

¹⁷ The seeds rot under their clods. The granaries are laid desolate. The barns are broken down, for the grain has withered.

¹⁹ Yahweh, I cry to you, For the fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame has burned all the trees of the field. ²⁰ Yes, the animals of the field pant to you, for the water brooks have dried up, And the fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.

¹ “Do you know the time when the mountain goats give birth? Do you watch when the doe bears fawns? ² Can you count the months that they fulfill? Or do you know the time when they give birth? ³ They bow themselves. They bear their young. They end their labor pains. ⁴ Their young ones become strong. They grow up in the open field. They go out, and don’t return again.

⁹ Yahweh’s voice makes the deer calve, and strips the forests bare. In his temple everything says, “Glory!”

⁶ For the waters of Nimrim will be desolate; for the grass has withered away, the tender grass fails, there is no green thing.

²⁹ Then Jonathan said, “My father has troubled the land. Please look how my eyes have brightened, because I tasted a little of this honey.

⁵ “Who has set the wild donkey free? Or who has loosened the bonds of the swift donkey, ⁶ whose home I have made the wilderness, and the salt land his dwelling place?

²⁴ a wild donkey used to the wilderness, that sniffs the wind in her craving. When she is in heat, who can turn her away? All those who seek her will not weary themselves. In her month, they will find her.

¹⁷ Our eyes still fail, looking in vain for our help. In our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save.

¹⁷ For this our heart is faint. For these things our eyes are dim.

¹⁸ How the animals groan! The herds of livestock are perplexed, because they have no pasture. Yes, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.

²⁷ were it not that I feared the provocation of the enemy, lest their adversaries should judge wrongly, lest they should say, ‘Our hand is exalted, Yahweh has not done all this.’”

⁹ For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it, and will surround us, and cut off our name from the earth. What will you do for your great name?”

⁶ and I said, “My God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to you, my God; for our iniquities have increased over our head, and our guiltiness has grown up to the heavens. ⁷ Since the days of our fathers we have been exceedingly guilty to this day; and for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests, have been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plunder, and to confusion of face, as it is this day.

¹⁵ Yahweh, the God of Israel, you are righteous; for we are left a remnant that has escaped, as it is today. Behold, we are before you in our guiltiness; for no one can stand before you because of this.”

³³ However you are just in all that has come on us; for you have dealt truly, but we have done wickedly. ³⁴ Also our kings, our princes, our priests, and our fathers have not kept your law, nor listened to your commandments and your testimonies with which you testified against them.

¹¹ For your name’s sake, Yahweh, pardon my iniquity, for it is great.

¹ Not to us, Yahweh, not to us, but to your name give glory, for your loving kindness, and for your truth’s sake.

¹² For our transgressions are multiplied before you, and our sins testify against us; for our transgressions are with us, and as for our iniquities, we know them:

¹⁹ “Your own wickedness will correct you, and your backsliding will rebuke you. Know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing, that you have forsaken Yahweh your God, and that my fear is not in you,” says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies.

⁶ Moreover, Yahweh said to me in the days of Josiah the king, “Have you seen that which backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and has played the prostitute there.

⁶ Therefore a lion out of the forest will kill them. A wolf of the evenings will destroy them. A leopard will watch against their cities. Everyone who goes out there will be torn in pieces, because their transgressions are many and their backsliding has increased.

¹⁴ “Why do we sit still? Assemble yourselves! Let’s enter into the fortified cities, and let’s be silent there; for Yahweh our God has put us to silence, and given us poisoned water to drink, because we have sinned against Yahweh.

²⁰ We acknowledge, Yahweh, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers; for we have sinned against you. ²¹ Do not abhor us, for your name’s sake. Do not disgrace the throne of your glory. Remember, and don’t break your covenant with us.

⁹ But I worked for my name’s sake, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, among which they were, in whose sight I made myself known to them, in bringing them out of the land of Egypt.

¹⁴ But I worked for my name’s sake, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, in whose sight I brought them out.

²² Nevertheless I withdrew my hand, and worked for my name’s sake, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, in whose sight I brought them out.

⁵ we have sinned, and have dealt perversely, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even turning aside from your precepts and from your ordinances. ⁶ We haven’t listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. ⁷ “Lord, righteousness belongs to you, but to us confusion of face, as it is today; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, who are near, and who are far off, through all the countries where you have driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against you. ⁸ Lord, to us belongs confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you. ⁹ To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness; for we have rebelled against him. ¹⁰ We haven’t obeyed Yahweh our God’s voice, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. ¹¹ Yes, all Israel have transgressed your law, turning aside, that they should not obey your voice. “Therefore the curse and the oath written in the law of Moses the servant of God has been poured out on us; for we have sinned against him. ¹² He has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us, and against our judges who judged us, by bringing on us a great evil; for under the whole sky, such has not been done as has been done to Jerusalem. ¹³ As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil has come on us. Yet we have not entreated the favor of Yahweh our God, that we should turn from our iniquities and have discernment in your truth. ¹⁴ Therefore Yahweh has watched over the evil, and brought it on us; for Yahweh our God is righteous in all his works which he does, and we have not obeyed his voice. ¹⁵ “Now, Lord our God, who has brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and have gotten yourself renown, as it is today; we have sinned. We have done wickedly. ¹⁶ Lord, according to all your righteousness, let your anger and please let your wrath be turned away from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a reproach to all who are around us.

¹⁸ My God, turn your ear, and hear. Open your eyes, and see our desolations, and the city which is called by your name; for we do not present our petitions before you for our righteousness, but for your great mercies’ sake. ¹⁹ Lord, hear. Lord, forgive. Lord, listen and do. Don’t defer, for your own sake, my God, because your city and your people are called by your name.”

⁵ The pride of Israel testifies to his face. Therefore Israel and Ephraim will stumble in their iniquity. Judah also will stumble with them.

¹⁰ The pride of Israel testifies to his face; yet they haven’t returned to Yahweh their God, nor sought him, for all this.

⁶ to the praise of the glory of his grace, by which he freely gave us favor in the Beloved,

¹² to the end that we should be to the praise of his glory, we who had before hoped in Christ.

¹⁷ He lifted up his eyes, and saw the wayfaring man in the street of the city; and the old man said, “Where are you going? Where did you come from?”

⁹ Yahweh will also be a high tower for the oppressed; a high tower in times of trouble.

¹ Why do you stand far off, Yahweh? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

³⁹ But the salvation of the righteous is from Yahweh. He is their stronghold in the time of trouble. ⁴⁰ Yahweh helps them and rescues them. He rescues them from the wicked and saves them, because they have taken refuge in him.

¹ For the Chief Musician. By the sons of Korah. According to Alamoth. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

¹⁵ Call on me in the day of trouble. I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”

¹⁵ He will call on me, and I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him, and honor him.

⁷ Though I walk in the middle of trouble, you will revive me. You will stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies. Your right hand will save me.

³ For I am Yahweh your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I have given Egypt as your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in your place.

¹¹ I myself am Yahweh. Besides me, there is no savior.

¹⁵ Most certainly you are a God who has hidden yourself, God of Israel, the Savior.’”

²¹ Declare and present it. Yes, let them take counsel together. Who has shown this from ancient time? Who has declared it of old? Haven’t I, Yahweh? There is no other God besides me, a just God and a Savior. There is no one besides me.

¹³ Yahweh, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you will be disappointed. Those who depart from me will be written in the earth, because they have forsaken Yahweh, the spring of living waters.

⁷ All who found them have devoured them. Their adversaries said, ‘We are not guilty, because they have sinned against Yahweh, the habitation of righteousness, even Yahweh, the hope of their fathers.’

¹⁶ Yahweh will roar from Zion, and thunder from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth will shake; but Yahweh will be a refuge to his people, and a stronghold to the children of Israel.

²⁰ For this cause therefore I asked to see you and to speak with you. For because of the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain.”

⁴ who comforts us in all our affliction, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, through the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. ⁵ For as the sufferings of Christ abound to us, even so our comfort also abounds through Christ.

¹ Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ according to the commandment of God our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ our hope;

⁴⁵ I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God. ⁴⁶ They shall know that I am Yahweh their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, that I might dwell among them: I am Yahweh their God.

¹¹ I will set my tent among you, and my soul won’t abhor you. ¹² I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you will be my people.

²³ Yahweh said to Moses, “Has Yahweh’s hand grown short? Now you will see whether my word will happen to you or not.”

¹⁵ Now if you killed this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of you will speak, saying, ¹⁶ ‘Because Yahweh was not able to bring this people into the land which he swore to them, therefore he has slain them in the wilderness.’

¹⁴ for Yahweh your God walks in the middle of your camp, to deliver you, and to give up your enemies before you. Therefore your camp shall be holy, that he may not see an unclean thing in you, and turn away from you.

²² For Yahweh will not forsake his people for his great name’s sake, because it has pleased Yahweh to make you a people for himself.

⁹ Don’t hide your face from me. Don’t put your servant away in anger. You have been my help. Don’t abandon me, neither forsake me, God of my salvation.

²³ Wake up! Why do you sleep, Lord? Arise! Don’t reject us forever. ²⁴ Why do you hide your face, and forget our affliction and our oppression? ²⁵ For our soul is bowed down to the dust. Our body clings to the earth. ²⁶ Rise up to help us. Redeem us for your loving kindness’ sake.

⁵ God is within her. She shall not be moved. God will help her at dawn.

⁶ Cry aloud and shout, you inhabitant of Zion; for the Holy One of Israel is great among you!”

¹ Yahweh says, “Where is the bill of your mother’s divorce, with which I have put her away? Or to which of my creditors have I sold you? Behold, you were sold for your iniquities, and your mother was put away for your transgressions. ² Why, when I came, was there no one? When I called, why was there no one to answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that it can’t redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? Behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea. I make the rivers a wilderness. Their fish stink because there is no water, and die of thirst.

⁹ Awake, awake, put on strength, arm of Yahweh! Awake, as in the days of old, the generations of ancient times. Isn’t it you who cut Rahab in pieces, who pierced the monster?

¹ Behold, Yahweh’s hand is not shortened, that it can’t save; nor his ear dull, that it can’t hear.

¹⁹ We have become like those over whom you never ruled, like those who were not called by your name.

¹⁹ Behold, the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people from a land that is very far off: “Isn’t Yahweh in Zion? Isn’t her King in her?” “Why have they provoked me to anger with their engraved images, and with foreign idols?”

¹⁶ Your words were found, and I ate them. Your words were to me a joy and the rejoicing of my heart, for I am called by your name, Yahweh, God of Armies.

⁵ For I,’ says Yahweh, ‘will be to her a wall of fire around it, and I will be the glory in the middle of her.

¹⁶ What agreement does a temple of God have with idols? For you are a temple of the living God. Even as God said, “I will dwell in them and walk in them. I will be their God and they will be my people.”

⁵ Be free from the love of money, content with such things as you have, for he has said, “I will in no way leave you, neither will I in any way forsake you.”

³ I heard a loud voice out of heaven saying, “Behold, God’s dwelling is with people, and he will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.

² Yahweh of Armies says, ‘I remember what Amalek did to Israel, how he set himself against him on the way, when he came up out of Egypt.

¹⁸ She said to Elijah, “What have I to do with you, you man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to memory, and to kill my son!”

¹⁴ Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered by Yahweh. Don’t let the sin of his mother be blotted out. ¹⁵ Let them be before Yahweh continually, that he may cut off their memory from the earth;

¹⁰¹ I have kept my feet from every evil way, that I might observe your word.

²³ “How can you say, ‘I am not defiled. I have not gone after the Baals’? See your way in the valley. Know what you have done. You are a swift dromedary traversing her ways, ²⁴ a wild donkey used to the wilderness, that sniffs the wind in her craving. When she is in heat, who can turn her away? All those who seek her will not weary themselves. In her month, they will find her. ²⁵ “Keep your feet from being bare, and your throat from thirst. But you said, ‘It is in vain. No, for I have loved strangers, and I will go after them.’

³⁶ Why do you go about so much to change your ways? You will be ashamed of Egypt also, as you were ashamed of Assyria.

¹ “They say, ‘If a man puts away his wife, and she goes from him, and becomes another man’s, should he return to her again?’ Wouldn’t that land be greatly polluted? But you have played the prostitute with many lovers; yet return again to me,” says Yahweh. ² “Lift up your eyes to the bare heights, and see! Where have you not been lain with? You have sat waiting for them by the road, as an Arabian in the wilderness. You have polluted the land with your prostitution and with your wickedness.

²⁰ To what purpose does frankincense from Sheba come to me, and the sweet cane from a far country? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, and your sacrifices are not pleasing to me.”

⁵ Why then have the people of Jerusalem fallen back by a perpetual backsliding? They cling to deceit. They refuse to return.

³⁴ They will no longer each teach his neighbor, and every man teach his brother, saying, ‘Know Yahweh;’ for they will all know me, from their least to their greatest,” says Yahweh: “for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

²¹ “The incense that you burned in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your fathers, your kings and your princes, and the people of the land, didn’t Yahweh remember them, and didn’t it come into his mind? ²² Thus Yahweh could no longer bear it, because of the evil of your doings, and because of the abominations which you have committed. Therefore your land has become a desolation, and an astonishment, and a curse, without inhabitant, as it is today. ²³ Because you have burned incense, and because you have sinned against Yahweh, and have not obeyed Yahweh’s voice, nor walked in his law, nor in his statutes, nor in his testimonies; therefore this evil has happened to you, as it is today.”

¹³ As for the sacrifices of my offerings, they sacrifice meat and eat it; But Yahweh doesn’t accept them. Now he will remember their iniquity, and punish their sins. They will return to Egypt.

⁹ They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah. He will remember their iniquity. He will punish them for their sins.

⁷ My people are determined to turn from me. Though they call to the Most High, he certainly won’t exalt them.

⁹ I will not execute the fierceness of my anger. I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One among you; and I will not come in wrath.

²² Yes, though you offer me your burnt offerings and meal offerings, I will not accept them; neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat animals.

⁸ When you offer the blind for sacrifice, isn’t that evil? And when you offer the lame and sick, isn’t that evil? Present it now to your governor! Will he be pleased with you? Or will he accept your person?” says Yahweh of Armies. ⁹ “Now, please entreat the favor of God, that he may be gracious to us. With this, will he accept any of you?” says Yahweh of Armies. ¹⁰ “Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you,” says Yahweh of Armies, “neither will I accept an offering at your hand. ¹¹ For from the rising of the sun even to its going down, my name is great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering: for my name is great among the nations,” says Yahweh of Armies. ¹² “But you profane it, in that you say, ‘Yahweh’s table is polluted, and its fruit, even its food, is contemptible.’ ¹³ You say also, ‘Behold, what a weariness it is!’ and you have sniffed at it”, says Yahweh of Armies; “and you have brought that which was taken by violence, the lame, and the sick; thus you bring the offering. Should I accept this at your hand?” says Yahweh.

¹² For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness. I will remember their sins and lawless deeds no more.”

¹⁰ Now therefore leave me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them, and that I may consume them; and I will make of you a great nation.”

³² Yet now, if you will, forgive their sin—and if not, please blot me out of your book which you have written.” ³³ Yahweh said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot him out of my book. ³⁴ Now go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you. Behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I punish, I will punish them for their sin.”

¹⁶ “Therefore don’t pray for this people. Don’t lift up a cry or prayer for them or make intercession to me; for I will not hear you.

¹⁴ “Therefore don’t pray for this people. Don’t lift up cry or prayer for them; for I will not hear them in the time that they cry to me because of their trouble.

¹ Then Yahweh said to me, “Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind would not turn toward this people. Cast them out of my sight, and let them go out!

²⁸ Then they will call on me, but I will not answer. They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me;

⁸ The sacrifice made by the wicked is an abomination to Yahweh, but the prayer of the upright is his delight.

²⁷ The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination— how much more, when he brings it with a wicked mind!

⁹ He who turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination.

¹¹ “What are the multitude of your sacrifices to me?”, says Yahweh. “I have had enough of the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed animals. I don’t delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of male goats. ¹² When you come to appear before me, who has required this at your hand, to trample my courts? ¹³ Bring no more vain offerings. Incense is an abomination to me. New moons, Sabbaths, and convocations: I can’t stand evil assemblies. ¹⁴ My soul hates your New Moons and your appointed feasts. They are a burden to me. I am weary of bearing them. ¹⁵ When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. Yes, when you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood.

³ ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and you don’t see? Why have we afflicted our soul, and you don’t notice?’ “Behold, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, and oppress all your laborers.

²¹ Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel says: “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat meat. ²² For I didn’t speak to your fathers or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices;

¹⁶ I will scatter them also among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known. I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them.”

² It will happen, when they ask you, ‘Where shall we go out?’ then you shall tell them, ‘Yahweh says: “Such as are for death, to death; such as are for the sword, to the sword; such as are for the famine, to the famine; and such as are for captivity, to captivity.”’ ³ “I will appoint over them four kinds,” says Yahweh: “the sword to kill, the dogs to tear, the birds of the sky, and the animals of the earth, to devour and to destroy.

⁴ “They will die grievous deaths. They will not be lamented, neither will they be buried. They will be as dung on the surface of the ground. They will be consumed by the sword and by famine. Their dead bodies will be food for the birds of the sky and for the animals of the earth.”

⁷ Afterward,” says Yahweh, “I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, his servants, and the people, even those who are left in this city from the pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life. He will strike them with the edge of the sword. He will not spare them, have pity, or have mercy.”’ ⁸ “You shall say to this people, ‘Yahweh says: “Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death. ⁹ He who remains in this city will die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence; but he who goes out and passes over to the Chaldeans who besiege you, he will live, and he will escape with his life.

¹⁰ I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, until they are consumed from off the land that I gave to them and to their fathers.’”

¹⁷ Yahweh of Armies says: “Behold, I will send on them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like rotten figs that can’t be eaten, they are so bad. ¹⁸ I will pursue after them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will deliver them to be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth, to be an object of horror, an astonishment, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them,

¹² A third part of you will die with the pestilence, and they will be consumed with famine within you. A third part will fall by the sword around you. A third part I will scatter to all the winds, and will draw out a sword after them. ¹³ “‘Thus my anger will be accomplished, and I will cause my wrath toward them to rest, and I will be comforted. They will know that I, Yahweh, have spoken in my zeal, when I have accomplished my wrath on them. ¹⁴ “‘Moreover I will make you a desolation and a reproach among the nations that are around you, in the sight of all that pass by. ¹⁵ So it will be a reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an astonishment, to the nations that are around you, when I execute judgments on you in anger and in wrath, and in wrathful rebukes—I, Yahweh, have spoken it— ¹⁶ when I send on them the evil arrows of famine that are for destruction, which I will send to destroy you. I will increase the famine on you, and will break your staff of bread. ¹⁷ I will send on you famine and evil animals, and they will bereave you. Pestilence and blood will pass through you. I will bring the sword on you. I, Yahweh, have spoken it.’”

¹⁸ Therefore I will also deal in wrath. My eye won’t spare, neither will I have pity. Though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, yet I will not hear them.”

²¹ For the Lord Yahweh says: “How much more when I send my four severe judgments on Jerusalem, the sword, the famine, the evil animals, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and animal!

⁴ Then they will cry to Yahweh, but he will not answer them. Yes, he will hide his face from them at that time, because they made their deeds evil.”

⁶ Then I said, “Ah, Lord Yahweh! Behold, I don’t know how to speak; for I am a child.”

¹⁰ Then I said, “Ah, Lord Yahweh! Surely you have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘You will have peace;’ whereas the sword reaches to the heart.”

¹² They have denied Yahweh, and said, “It is not he. Evil will won’t come on us. We won’t see sword or famine.

³¹ The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority; and my people love to have it so. What will you do in the end of it?

¹⁴ They have healed also the hurt of my people superficially, saying, ‘Peace, peace!’ when there is no peace.

¹¹ They have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, “Peace, peace,” when there is no peace.

¹⁷ They say continually to those who despise me, ‘Yahweh has said, “You will have peace;”’ and to everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart they say, ‘No evil will come on you.’

² “Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says, ‘I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. ³ Within two full years I will bring again into this place all the vessels of Yahweh’s house, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place, and carried to Babylon. ⁴ I will bring again to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, with all the captives of Judah, who went to Babylon,’ says Yahweh; ‘for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.’” ⁵ Then the prophet Jeremiah said to the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests, and in the presence of all the people who stood in Yahweh’s house,

¹⁰ “‘Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, “Peace;” and there is no peace. When one builds up a wall, behold, they plaster it with whitewash. ¹¹ Tell those who plaster it with whitewash that it will fall. There will be an overflowing shower; and you, great hailstones, will fall. A stormy wind will tear it. ¹² Behold, when the wall has fallen, won’t it be said to you, “Where is the plaster with which you have plastered it?” ¹³ “‘Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: “I will even tear it with a stormy wind in my wrath. There will be an overflowing shower in my anger, and great hailstones in wrath to consume it. ¹⁴ So I will break down the wall that you have plastered with whitewash, and bring it down to the ground, so that its foundation will be uncovered. It will fall, and you will be consumed in the middle of it. Then you will know that I am Yahweh. ¹⁵ Thus I will accomplish my wrath on the wall, and on those who have plastered it with whitewash. I will tell you, ‘The wall is no more, neither those who plastered it; ¹⁶ to wit, the prophets of Israel who prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and who see visions of peace for her, and there is no peace,’” says the Lord Yahweh.’”

²² Because with lies you have grieved the heart of the righteous, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, and be saved alive.

¹¹ Her leaders judge for bribes, and her priests teach for a price, and her prophets of it tell fortunes for money: yet they lean on Yahweh, and say, “Isn’t Yahweh among us? No disaster will come on us.”

¹ But false prophets also arose among the people, as false teachers will also be among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, denying even the Master who bought them, bringing on themselves swift destruction.

¹⁵ The elder and the honorable man is the head, and the prophet who teaches lies is the tail.

¹⁰ who tell the seers, “Don’t see!” and the prophets, “Don’t prophesy to us right things. Tell us pleasant things. Prophesy deceits. ¹¹ Get out of the way. Turn away from the path. Cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.”

¹⁴ In the prophets of Jerusalem I have also seen a horrible thing: they commit adultery and walk in lies. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one returns from his wickedness. They have all become to me as Sodom, and its inhabitants as Gomorrah.” ¹⁵ Therefore Yahweh of Armies says concerning the prophets: “Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink poisoned water; for from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has gone out into all the land.” ¹⁶ Yahweh of Armies says, “Don’t listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They teach you vanity. They speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of Yahweh.

²¹ I didn’t send these prophets, yet they ran. I didn’t speak to them, yet they prophesied. ²² But if they had stood in my council, then they would have caused my people to hear my words, and would have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings. ²³ “Am I a God at hand,” says Yahweh, “and not a God afar off? ²⁴ Can anyone hide himself in secret places so that I can’t see him?” says Yahweh. “Don’t I fill heaven and earth?” says Yahweh. ²⁵ “I have heard what the prophets have said, who prophesy lies in my name, saying, ‘I had a dream! I had a dream!’ ²⁶ How long will this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies, even the prophets of the deceit of their own heart? ²⁷ They intend to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they each tell his neighbor, as their fathers forgot my name because of Baal. ²⁸ The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream; and he who has my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the straw to the wheat?” says Yahweh. ²⁹ “Isn’t my word like fire?” says Yahweh; “and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? ³⁰ “Therefore behold, I am against the prophets,” says Yahweh, “who each steal my words from his neighbor. ³¹ Behold, I am against the prophets,” says Yahweh, “who use their tongues, and say, ‘He says.’ ³² Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams,” says Yahweh, “who tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their vain boasting; yet I didn’t send them or command them. They don’t profit this people at all,” says Yahweh.

⁹ But as for you, don’t listen to your prophets, to your diviners, to your dreams, to your soothsayers, or to your sorcerers, who speak to you, saying, “You shall not serve the king of Babylon;” ¹⁰ for they prophesy a lie to you, to remove you far from your land, so that I would drive you out, and you would perish.

¹⁴ Don’t listen to the words of the prophets who speak to you, saying, ‘You shall not serve the king of Babylon;’ for they prophesy a lie to you. ¹⁵ For I have not sent them,” says Yahweh, “but they prophesy falsely in my name; that I may drive you out, and that you may perish, you, and the prophets who prophesy to you.”

¹³ “Go, and tell Hananiah, saying, ‘Yahweh says, “You have broken the bars of wood, but you have made in their place bars of iron.”

¹⁵ Then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah the prophet, “Listen, Hananiah! Yahweh has not sent you, but you make this people trust in a lie.

⁸ For Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel says: “Don’t let your prophets who are among you and your diviners deceive you. Don’t listen to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed. ⁹ For they prophesy falsely to you in my name. I have not sent them,” says Yahweh.

²¹ Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and concerning Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who prophesy a lie to you in my name: “Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and he will kill them before your eyes.

³¹ “Send to all of the captives, saying, ‘Yahweh says concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: “Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, and I didn’t send him, and he has caused you to trust in a lie;”

¹⁹ Now where are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, ‘The king of Babylon will not come against you, nor against this land?’

¹⁴ Your prophets have seen false and foolish visions for you. They have not uncovered your iniquity, to reverse your captivity, but have seen for you false revelations and causes of banishment.

²⁴ For there will be no more any false vision nor flattering divination within the house of Israel.

⁶ They have seen falsehood and lying divination, who say, ‘Yahweh says;’ but Yahweh has not sent them. They have made men to hope that the word would be confirmed. ⁷ Haven’t you seen a false vision, and haven’t you spoken a lying divination, in that you say, ‘Yahweh says;’ but I have not spoken?”

²³ Therefore you shall no more see false visions, nor practice divination. I will deliver my people out of your hand. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.’”

²⁹ while they see for you false visions, while they divine lies to you, to lay you on the necks of the wicked who are deadly wounded, whose day has come in the time of the iniquity of the end.

² For the teraphim have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie; and they have told false dreams. They comfort in vain. Therefore they go their way like sheep. They are oppressed, because there is no shepherd.

³ It will happen that, when anyone still prophesies, then his father and his mother who bore him will tell him, ‘You must die, because you speak lies in Yahweh’s name;’ and his father and his mother who bore him will stab him when he prophesies.

⁹ even he whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, ¹⁰ and with all deception of wickedness for those who are being lost, because they didn’t receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. ¹¹ Because of this, God sends them a working of error, that they should believe a lie;

² through the hypocrisy of men who speak lies, branded in their own conscience as with a hot iron,

²⁵ Micaiah said, “Behold, you will see on that day, when you go into an inner room to hide yourself.”

¹² They have denied Yahweh, and said, “It is not he. Evil will won’t come on us. We won’t see sword or famine. ¹³ The prophets will become wind, and the word is not in them. Thus it will be done to them.”

¹⁵ Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush. Therefore they will fall among those who fall. When I visit them, they will be cast down,” says Yahweh.

¹² Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed. They couldn’t blush. Therefore they will fall among those who fall. In the time of their visitation they will be cast down, says Yahweh.

⁶ You, Pashhur, and all who dwell in your house will go into captivity. You will come to Babylon, and there you will die, and there you will be buried, you, and all your friends, to whom you have prophesied falsely.’”

¹⁴ In the prophets of Jerusalem I have also seen a horrible thing: they commit adultery and walk in lies. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one returns from his wickedness. They have all become to me as Sodom, and its inhabitants as Gomorrah.” ¹⁵ Therefore Yahweh of Armies says concerning the prophets: “Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink poisoned water; for from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has gone out into all the land.”

¹⁵ Then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah the prophet, “Listen, Hananiah! Yahweh has not sent you, but you make this people trust in a lie. ¹⁶ Therefore Yahweh says, ‘Behold, I will send you away from off the surface of the earth. This year you will die, because you have spoken rebellion against Yahweh.’” ¹⁷ So Hananiah the prophet died the same year in the seventh month.

²⁰ Hear therefore Yahweh’s word, all you captives, whom I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon. ²¹ Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and concerning Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who prophesy a lie to you in my name: “Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and he will kill them before your eyes.

³¹ “Send to all of the captives, saying, ‘Yahweh says concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: “Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, and I didn’t send him, and he has caused you to trust in a lie;” ³² therefore Yahweh says, “Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his offspring. He will not have a man to dwell among this people. He won’t see the good that I will do to my people,” says Yahweh, “because he has spoken rebellion against Yahweh.”’”

¹⁰ They will bear their iniquity. The iniquity of the prophet will be even as the iniquity of him who seeks him;

¹⁷ Therefore Yahweh says: ‘Your wife shall be a prostitute in the city, and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword, and your land shall be divided by line; and you yourself shall die in a land that is unclean, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of his land.’”

¹ But false prophets also arose among the people, as false teachers will also be among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, denying even the Master who bought them, bringing on themselves swift destruction. ² Many will follow their immoral ways, and as a result, the way of the truth will be maligned. ³ In covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words: whose sentence now from of old doesn’t linger, and their destruction will not slumber.

¹⁴ having eyes full of adultery, and who can’t cease from sin; enticing unsettled souls; having a heart trained in greed; children of cursing; ¹⁵ forsaking the right way, they went astray, having followed the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of wrongdoing; ¹⁶ but he was rebuked for his own disobedience. A mute donkey spoke with a man’s voice and stopped the madness of the prophet. ¹⁷ These are wells without water, clouds driven by a storm; for whom the blackness of darkness has been reserved forever.

²⁰ The beast was taken, and with him the false prophet who worked the signs in his sight, with which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.

² They have given the dead bodies of your servants to be food for the birds of the sky, the flesh of your saints to the animals of the earth. ³ They have shed their blood like water around Jerusalem. There was no one to bury them.

³¹ Therefore they will eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own schemes.

¹⁶ For those who lead this people lead them astray; and those who are led by them are destroyed.

¹⁷ “Haven’t you brought this on yourself, in that you have forsaken Yahweh your God, when he led you by the way? ¹⁸ Now what do you gain by going to Egypt, to drink the waters of the Shihor? Or why do you to go on the way to Assyria, to drink the waters of the River? ¹⁹ “Your own wickedness will correct you, and your backsliding will rebuke you. Know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing, that you have forsaken Yahweh your God, and that my fear is not in you,” says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies.

¹⁸ “Your way and your doings have brought these things to you. This is your wickedness; for it is bitter, for it reaches to your heart.”

³³ The dead bodies of this people will be food for the birds of the sky, and for the animals of the earth. No one will frighten them away.

²² Speak, “Yahweh says, “‘The dead bodies of men will fall as dung on the open field, and as the handful after the harvester. No one will gather them.’”

²² If you say in your heart, “Why have these things come on me?” Your skirts are uncovered because of the greatness of your iniquity, and your heels suffer violence. ²³ Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Then may you also do good, who are accustomed to do evil. ²⁴ “Therefore I will scatter them, as the stubble that passes away, by the wind of the wilderness. ²⁵ This is your lot, the portion measured to you from me,” says Yahweh, “because you have forgotten me, and trusted in falsehood.”

²¹ Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and give them over to the power of the sword. Let their wives become childless and widows. Let their men be killed and their young men struck by the sword in battle.

⁶ Therefore, behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that this place will no more be called ‘Topheth’, nor ‘The Valley of the son of Hinnom’, but ‘The valley of Slaughter’. ⁷ “‘“I will make the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem void in this place. I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of those who seek their life. I will give their dead bodies to be food for the birds of the sky and for the animals of the earth.

¹⁴ Leave them alone. They are blind guides of the blind. If the blind guide the blind, both will fall into a pit.”

¹ I heard a loud voice out of the temple, saying to the seven angels, “Go and pour out the seven bowls of the wrath of God on the earth!”

¹⁰ Remove your scourge away from me. I am overcome by the blow of your hand.

⁴ Yahweh God of Armies, how long will you be angry against the prayer of your people? ⁵ You have fed them with the bread of tears, and given them tears to drink in large measure.

¹³⁶ Streams of tears run down my eyes, because they don’t observe your law.

²² this is the word which Yahweh has spoken concerning him. The virgin daughter of Zion has despised you and ridiculed you. The daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at you.

¹⁸ Oh that I could comfort myself against sorrow! My heart is faint within me.

¹ Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a spring of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!

¹⁹ Woe is me because of my injury! My wound is serious; but I said, “Truly this is my grief, and I must bear it.”

¹⁷ But if you will not hear it, my soul will weep in secret for your pride. My eye will weep bitterly, and run down with tears, because Yahweh’s flock has been taken captive.

¹⁴ All your lovers have forgotten you. They don’t seek you. For I have wounded you with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the greatness of your iniquity, because your sins were increased. ¹⁵ Why do you cry over your injury? Your pain is incurable. For the greatness of your iniquity, because your sins have increased, I have done these things to you.

¹⁵ “The Lord has set at nothing all my mighty men within me. He has called a solemn assembly against me to crush my young men. The Lord has trodden the virgin daughter of Judah as in a wine press. ¹⁶ “For these things I weep. My eye, my eye runs down with water, because the comforter who should refresh my soul is far from me. My children are desolate, because the enemy has prevailed.”

¹³ What shall I testify to you? What shall I liken to you, daughter of Jerusalem? What shall I compare to you, that I may comfort you, virgin daughter of Zion? For your breach is as big as the sea. Who can heal you?

¹⁸ Their heart cried to the Lord. O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night. Give yourself no relief. Don’t let the your eyes rest.

⁴⁸ My eye runs down with streams of water, for the destruction of the daughter of my people. ⁴⁹ My eye pours down and doesn’t cease, without any intermission,

² “The virgin of Israel has fallen; She shall rise no more. She is cast down on her land; there is no one to raise her up.”

¹³ Therefore I also have struck you with a grievous wound. I have made you desolate because of your sins.

³⁶ Yahweh will bring you, and your king whom you will set over yourselves, to a nation that you have not known, you nor your fathers. There you will serve other gods of wood and stone.

⁶⁴ Yahweh will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth. There you will serve other gods which you have not known, you nor your fathers, even wood and stone.

⁷ They also reel with wine, and stagger with strong drink. The priest and the prophet reel with strong drink. They are swallowed up by wine. They stagger with strong drink. They err in vision. They stumble in judgment.

⁸ The priests didn’t say, ‘Where is Yahweh?’ and those who handle the law didn’t know me. The rulers also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal and followed things that do not profit.

¹³ “For from their least even to their greatest, everyone is given to covetousness. From the prophet even to the priest, everyone deals falsely.

¹⁰ Therefore I will give their wives to others and their fields to those who will possess them. For everyone from the least even to the greatest is given to covetousness; from the prophet even to the priest everyone deals falsely.

²¹ I didn’t send these prophets, yet they ran. I didn’t speak to them, yet they prophesied.

⁶ In the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the famine was severe in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land. ⁷ Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled, and went out of the city by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king’s garden. Now the Chaldeans were against the city all around. The men of war went toward the Arabah,

²⁰ “Look, Yahweh; for I am in distress. My heart is troubled. My heart turns over within me, for I have grievously rebelled. Abroad, the sword bereaves. At home, it is like death.

⁹ Those who are killed with the sword are better than those who are killed with hunger; For these pine away, stricken through, for lack of the fruits of the field.

¹³ It is because of the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests, That have shed the blood of the just in the middle of her. ¹⁴ They wander as blind men in the streets. They are polluted with blood, So that men can’t touch their garments. ¹⁵ “Go away!” they cried to them. “Unclean! Go away! Go away! Don’t touch! When they fled away and wandered, men said among the nations, “They can’t live here any more.” ¹⁶ Yahweh’s anger has scattered them. He will not pay attention to them any more. They didn’t respect the persons of the priests. They didn’t favor the elders.

¹⁵ “‘The sword is outside, and the pestilence and the famine within. He who is in the field will die by the sword. He who is in the city will be devoured by famine and pestilence.

³ In covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words: whose sentence now from of old doesn’t linger, and their destruction will not slumber.

¹⁹ Also Judah didn’t keep the commandments of Yahweh their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made. ²⁰ Yahweh rejected all the offspring of Israel, afflicted them, and delivered them into the hands of raiders, until he had cast them out of his sight.

¹⁶ but they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets, until Yahweh’s wrath arose against his people, until there was no remedy.

²⁶ When I looked for good, then evil came. When I waited for light, darkness came.

⁵⁹ When God heard this, he was angry, and greatly abhorred Israel,

¹² Why have you broken down its walls, so that all those who pass by the way pluck it? ¹³ The boar out of the wood ravages it. The wild animals of the field feed on it.

³⁸ But you have rejected and spurned. You have been angry with your anointed.

³⁰ Men will call them rejected silver, because Yahweh has rejected them.”

²⁹ Cut off your hair, and throw it away, and take up a lamentation on the bare heights; for Yahweh has rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.

¹⁵ We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of healing, and behold, dismay!

²² Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then isn’t the health of the daughter of my people recovered?

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.

¹⁸ Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuses to be healed? Will you indeed be to me as a deceitful brook, like waters that fail?

¹³ There is no one to plead your cause, that you may be bound up. You have no healing medicines.

²² But you have utterly rejected us. You are very angry against us.

⁸ I cut off the three shepherds in one month; for my soul was weary of them, and their soul also loathed me. ⁹ Then I said, “I will not feed you. That which dies, let it die; and that which is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let those who are left eat each other’s flesh.”

¹ I ask then, did God reject his people? May it never be! For I also am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. ² God didn’t reject his people, which he foreknew. Or don’t you know what the Scripture says about Elijah? How he pleads with God against Israel: ³ “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have broken down your altars. I am left alone, and they seek my life.” ⁴ But how does God answer him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” ⁵ Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. ⁶ And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work.

³ For when they are saying, “Peace and safety,” then sudden destruction will come on them, like birth pains on a pregnant woman. Then they will in no way escape.

⁴⁰ “‘If they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers, in their trespass which they trespassed against me; and also that because they walked contrary to me, ⁴¹ I also walked contrary to them, and brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled, and they then accept the punishment of their iniquity, ⁴² then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham; and I will remember the land.

¹³ David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against Yahweh.” Nathan said to David, “Yahweh also has put away your sin. You will not die.

¹⁰ David’s heart struck him after he had counted the people. David said to Yahweh, “I have sinned greatly in that which I have done. But now, Yahweh, put away, I beg you, the iniquity of your servant; for I have done very foolishly.”

² The offspring of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.

²⁷ He sings before men, and says, ‘I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it didn’t profit me.

⁵ I acknowledged my sin to you. I didn’t hide my iniquity. I said, I will confess my transgressions to Yahweh, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah.

³ For I know my transgressions. My sin is constantly before me. ⁴ Against you, and you only, I have sinned, and done that which is evil in your sight, so you may be proved right when you speak, and justified when you judge.

⁶ We have sinned with our fathers. We have committed iniquity. We have done wickedly. ⁷ Our fathers didn’t understand your wonders in Egypt. They didn’t remember the multitude of your loving kindnesses, but were rebellious at the sea, even at the Red Sea. ⁸ Nevertheless he saved them for his name’s sake, that he might make his mighty power known. ⁹ He rebuked the Red Sea also, and it was dried up; so he led them through the depths, as through a desert. ¹⁰ He saved them from the hand of him who hated them, and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy. ¹¹ The waters covered their adversaries. There was not one of them left. ¹² Then they believed his words. They sang his praise. ¹³ They soon forgot his works. They didn’t wait for his counsel, ¹⁴ but gave in to craving in the desert, and tested God in the wasteland. ¹⁵ He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul. ¹⁶ They envied Moses also in the camp, and Aaron, Yahweh’s saint. ¹⁷ The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan, and covered the company of Abiram. ¹⁸ A fire was kindled in their company. The flame burned up the wicked. ¹⁹ They made a calf in Horeb, and worshiped a molten image. ²⁰ Thus they exchanged their glory for an image of a bull that eats grass. ²¹ They forgot God, their Savior, who had done great things in Egypt, ²² wondrous works in the land of Ham, and awesome things by the Red Sea. ²³ Therefore he said that he would destroy them, had Moses, his chosen, not stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath, so that he wouldn’t destroy them. ²⁴ Yes, they despised the pleasant land. They didn’t believe his word, ²⁵ but murmured in their tents, and didn’t listen to Yahweh’s voice. ²⁶ Therefore he swore to them that he would overthrow them in the wilderness, ²⁷ that he would overthrow their offspring among the nations, and scatter them in the lands. ²⁸ They joined themselves also to Baal Peor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead. ²⁹ Thus they provoked him to anger with their deeds. The plague broke in on them. ³⁰ Then Phinehas stood up and executed judgment, so the plague was stopped. ³¹ That was credited to him for righteousness, for all generations to come. ³² They angered him also at the waters of Meribah, so that Moses was troubled for their sakes; ³³ because they were rebellious against his spirit, he spoke rashly with his lips. ³⁴ They didn’t destroy the peoples, as Yahweh commanded them, ³⁵ but mixed themselves with the nations, and learned their works. ³⁶ They served their idols, which became a snare to them. ³⁷ Yes, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons. ³⁸ They shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan. The land was polluted with blood. ³⁹ Thus they were defiled with their works, and prostituted themselves in their deeds. ⁴⁰ Therefore Yahweh burned with anger against his people. He abhorred his inheritance. ⁴¹ He gave them into the hand of the nations. Those who hated them ruled over them. ⁴² Their enemies also oppressed them. They were brought into subjection under their hand. ⁴³ He rescued them many times, but they were rebellious in their counsel, and were brought low in their iniquity. ⁴⁴ Nevertheless he regarded their distress, when he heard their cry. ⁴⁵ He remembered for them his covenant, and repented according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses. ⁴⁶ He made them also to be pitied by all those who carried them captive. ⁴⁷ Save us, Yahweh, our God, gather us from among the nations, to give thanks to your holy name, to triumph in your praise! ⁴⁸ Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, from everlasting even to everlasting! Let all the people say, “Amen.” Praise Yah!

¹³ Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against Yahweh your God, and have scattered your ways to the strangers under every green tree, and you have not obeyed my voice,’ says Yahweh.”

²⁵ Let us lie down in our shame, and let our confusion cover us; for we have sinned against Yahweh our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day. We have not obeyed Yahweh our God’s voice.”

⁵ we have sinned, and have dealt perversely, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even turning aside from your precepts and from your ordinances. ⁶ We haven’t listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. ⁷ “Lord, righteousness belongs to you, but to us confusion of face, as it is today; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, who are near, and who are far off, through all the countries where you have driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against you. ⁸ Lord, to us belongs confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you.

¹⁸ I will get up and go to my father, and will tell him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight. ¹⁹ I am no more worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired servants.”’ ²⁰ “He arose, and came to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. ²¹ The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

⁷ But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. ⁸ If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

¹³ Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of the sky, and all this land that I have spoken of I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’”

¹¹ I will set my tent among you, and my soul won’t abhor you.

⁴² then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham; and I will remember the land. ⁴³ The land also will be left by them, and will enjoy its Sabbaths while it lies desolate without them; and they will accept the punishment of their iniquity because they rejected my ordinances, and their soul abhorred my statutes. ⁴⁴ Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly and to break my covenant with them; for I am Yahweh their God. ⁴⁵ But I will for their sake remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God. I am Yahweh.’”

¹⁹ Yahweh saw and abhorred, because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters.

¹¹ Don’t throw me from your presence, and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me.

² Remember your congregation, which you purchased of old, which you have redeemed to be the tribe of your inheritance: Mount Zion, in which you have lived. ³ Lift up your feet to the perpetual ruins, all the evil that the enemy has done in the sanctuary. ⁴ Your adversaries have roared in the middle of your assembly. They have set up their standards as signs. ⁵ They behaved like men wielding axes, cutting through a thicket of trees. ⁶ Now they break all its carved work down with hatchet and hammers. ⁷ They have burned your sanctuary to the ground. They have profaned the dwelling place of your Name.

¹⁸ Remember this, that the enemy has mocked you, Yahweh. Foolish people have blasphemed your name. ¹⁹ Don’t deliver the soul of your dove to wild beasts. Don’t forget the life of your poor forever. ²⁰ Honor your covenant, for haunts of violence fill the dark places of the earth.

⁹ Help us, God of our salvation, for the glory of your name. Deliver us, and forgive our sins, for your name’s sake. ¹⁰ Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” Let it be known among the nations, before our eyes, that vengeance for your servants’ blood is being poured out.

³⁹ You have renounced the covenant of your servant. You have defiled his crown in the dust. ⁴⁰ You have broken down all his hedges. You have brought his strongholds to ruin.

⁴⁰ Therefore Yahweh burned with anger against his people. He abhorred his inheritance.

⁴⁵ He remembered for them his covenant, and repented according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses.

⁹ Don’t be furious, Yahweh. Don’t remember iniquity forever. Look and see, we beg you, we are all your people. ¹⁰ Your holy cities have become a wilderness. Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. ¹¹ Our holy and our beautiful house where our fathers praised you is burned with fire. All our pleasant places are laid waste. ¹² Will you hold yourself back for these things, Yahweh? Will you keep silent and punish us very severely?

¹⁷ At that time they will call Jerusalem ‘Yahweh’s Throne;’ and all the nations will be gathered to it, to Yahweh’s name, to Jerusalem. They will no longer walk after the stubbornness of their evil heart.

⁷ Though our iniquities testify against us, work for your name’s sake, Yahweh; for our rebellions are many. We have sinned against you.

¹⁹ Have you utterly rejected Judah? Has your soul loathed Zion? Why have you struck us, and there is no healing for us? We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of healing, and behold, dismay!

¹² A glorious throne, set on high from the beginning, is the place of our sanctuary.

¹⁰ The adversary has spread out his hand on all her pleasant things; for she has seen that the nations have entered into her sanctuary, concerning whom you commanded that they should not enter into your assembly.

⁶ He has violently taken away his tabernacle, as if it were a garden. He has destroyed his place of assembly. Yahweh has caused solemn assembly and Sabbath to be forgotten in Zion. In the indignation of his anger, he has despised the king and the priest. ⁷ The Lord has cast off his altar. He has abhorred his sanctuary. He has given the walls of her palaces into the hand of the enemy. They have made a noise in Yahweh’s house, as in the day of a solemn assembly.

²⁰ “Look, Yahweh, and see to whom you have done thus! Should the women eat their offspring, the children that they held and bounced on their knees? Should the priest and the prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord?

²⁰ As for the beauty of his ornament, he set it in majesty; but they made the images of their abominations and their detestable things therein. Therefore I have made it to them as an unclean thing. ²¹ I will give it into the hands of the strangers for a prey, and to the wicked of the earth for a plunder; and they will profane it. ²² I will also turn my face from them, and they will profane my secret place. Robbers will enter into it, and profane it.

²¹ ‘Speak to the house of Israel, “The Lord Yahweh says: ‘Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the pride of your power, the desire of your eyes, and that which your soul pities; and your sons and your daughters whom you have left behind will fall by the sword.

²² “Therefore tell the house of Israel, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “I don’t do this for your sake, house of Israel, but for my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went. ²³ I will sanctify my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am Yahweh,” says the Lord Yahweh, “when I am proven holy in you before their eyes.

²⁵ “Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: ‘Now I will reverse the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy on the whole house of Israel. I will be jealous for my holy name.

⁷ He said to me, “Son of man, this is the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell among the children of Israel forever. The house of Israel will no more defile my holy name, neither they, nor their kings, by their prostitution, and by the dead bodies of their kings in their high places;

¹¹ Yes, it magnified itself, even to the prince of the army; and it took away from him the continual burnt offering, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down. ¹² The army was given over to it together with the continual burnt offering through disobedience. It cast down truth to the ground, and it did its pleasure and prospered. ¹³ Then I heard a holy one speaking; and another holy one said to that certain one who spoke, “How long will the vision about the continual burnt offering, and the disobedience that makes desolate, to give both the sanctuary and the army to be trodden under foot be?”

⁷ “Lord, righteousness belongs to you, but to us confusion of face, as it is today; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, who are near, and who are far off, through all the countries where you have driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against you.

¹⁵ “Now, Lord our God, who has brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and have gotten yourself renown, as it is today; we have sinned. We have done wickedly. ¹⁶ Lord, according to all your righteousness, let your anger and please let your wrath be turned away from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a reproach to all who are around us. ¹⁷ “Now therefore, our God, listen to the prayer of your servant, and to his petitions, and cause your face to shine on your sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord’s sake.

⁸ “The Lord Yahweh has sworn by himself,” says Yahweh, the God of Armies: “I abhor the pride of Jacob, and detest his fortresses. Therefore I will deliver up the city with all that is in it.

¹⁰ I took my staff Favor, and cut it apart, that I might break my covenant that I had made with all the peoples. ¹¹ It was broken in that day; and thus the poor of the flock that listened to me knew that it was Yahweh’s word.

⁷² to show mercy toward our fathers, to remember his holy covenant,

²⁴ They will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled down by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

⁷ that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus;

⁶ But now he has obtained a more excellent ministry, by so much as he is also the mediator of a better covenant, which on better promises has been given as law. ⁷ For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. ⁸ For finding fault with them, he said, “Behold, the days come”, says the Lord, “that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; ⁹ not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; for they didn’t continue in my covenant, and I disregarded them,” says the Lord. ¹⁰ “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days,” says the Lord; “I will put my laws into their mind, I will also write them on their heart. I will be their God, and they will be my people. ¹¹ They will not teach every man his fellow citizen, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all will know me, from their least to their greatest. ¹² For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness. I will remember their sins and lawless deeds no more.” ¹³ In that he says, “A new covenant”, he has made the first old. But that which is becoming old and grows aged is near to vanishing away.

² Leave out the court which is outside of the temple, and don’t measure it, for it has been given to the nations. They will tread the holy city under foot for forty-two months.

¹² Yahweh will open to you his good treasure in the sky, to give the rain of your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You will lend to many nations, and you will not borrow.

²¹ They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God. They have provoked me to anger with their vanities. I will move them to jealousy with those who are not a people. I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.

³⁶ then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of your servants, and of your people Israel, when you teach them the good way in which they should walk; and send rain on your land, which you have given to your people for an inheritance.

¹ Elijah the Tishbite, who was one of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As Yahweh, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.”

¹⁴ For Yahweh, the God of Israel says, ‘The jar of meal will not run out, and the jar of oil will not fail, until the day that Yahweh sends rain on the earth.’”

¹ After many days, Yahweh’s word came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, “Go, show yourself to Ahab; and I will send rain on the earth.”

³⁹ When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces. They said, “Yahweh, he is God! Yahweh, he is God!” ⁴⁰ Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal! Don’t let one of them escape!” They seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and killed them there. ⁴¹ Elijah said to Ahab, “Get up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of abundance of rain.” ⁴² So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he bowed himself down on the earth, and put his face between his knees. ⁴³ He said to his servant, “Go up now, and look toward the sea.” He went up, and looked, and said, “There is nothing.” He said, “Go again” seven times. ⁴⁴ On the seventh time, he said, “Behold, a small cloud, like a man’s hand, is rising out of the sea.” He said, “Go up, tell Ahab, ‘Get ready and go down, so that the rain doesn’t stop you.’” ⁴⁵ In a little while, the sky grew black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel.

¹⁰ who gives rain on the earth, and sends waters on the fields;

²⁶ to cause it to rain on a land where there is no man, on the wilderness, in which there is no man, ²⁷ to satisfy the waste and desolate ground, to cause the tender grass to grow? ²⁸ Does the rain have a father? Or who fathers the drops of dew?

³ Yes, no one who waits for you will be shamed. They will be shamed who deal treacherously without cause.

²¹ Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for you.

¹⁴ Wait for Yahweh. Be strong, and let your heart take courage. Yes, wait for Yahweh.

¹ A contemplation by Asaph. God, why have you rejected us forever? Why does your anger smolder against the sheep of your pasture? ² Remember your congregation, which you purchased of old, which you have redeemed to be the tribe of your inheritance: Mount Zion, in which you have lived.

⁵ I wait for Yahweh. My soul waits. I hope in his word.

⁷ He causes the clouds to rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightnings with the rain. He brings the wind out of his treasuries.

⁸ who covers the sky with clouds, who prepares rain for the earth, who makes grass grow on the mountains.

¹⁸ Therefore Yahweh will wait, that he may be gracious to you; and therefore he will be exalted, that he may have mercy on you, for Yahweh is a God of justice. Blessed are all those who wait for him.

²³ He will give the rain for your seed, with which you will sow the ground; and bread of the increase of the ground will be rich and plentiful. In that day, your livestock will feed in large pastures.

²⁹ Behold, all of their deeds are vanity and nothing. Their molten images are wind and confusion.

¹² The blacksmith takes an ax, works in the coals, fashions it with hammers, and works it with his strong arm. He is hungry, and his strength fails; he drinks no water, and is faint. ¹³ The carpenter stretches out a line. He marks it out with a pencil. He shapes it with planes. He marks it out with compasses, and shapes it like the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, to reside in a house. ¹⁴ He cuts down cedars for himself, and takes the cypress and the oak, and strengthens for himself one among the trees of the forest. He plants a cypress tree, and the rain nourishes it. ¹⁵ Then it will be for a man to burn; and he takes some of it, and warms himself. Yes, he burns it, and bakes bread. Yes, he makes a god, and worships it; he makes it a carved image, and falls down to it. ¹⁶ He burns part of it in the fire. With part of it, he eats meat. He roasts a roast, and is satisfied. Yes, he warms himself, and says, “Aha! I am warm. I have seen the fire.” ¹⁷ The rest of it he makes into a god, even his engraved image. He bows down to it and worships, and prays to it, and says, “Deliver me; for you are my god!” ¹⁸ They don’t know, neither do they consider: for he has shut their eyes, that they can’t see; and their hearts, that they can’t understand. ¹⁹ No one thinks, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, “I have burned part of it in the fire. Yes, I have also baked bread on its coals. I have roasted meat and eaten it. Shall I make the rest of it into an abomination? Shall I bow down to a tree trunk?” ²⁰ He feeds on ashes. A deceived heart has turned him aside; and he can’t deliver his soul, nor say, “Isn’t there a lie in my right hand?”

²⁴ They don’t say in their heart, ‘Let’s now fear Yahweh our God, who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season, who preserves to us the appointed weeks of the harvest.’

¹³ When he utters his voice, the waters in the heavens roar, and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. He makes lightnings for the rain, and brings the wind out of his treasuries.

¹⁵ They are vanity, a work of delusion. In the time of their visitation they will perish.

¹⁹ Yahweh, my strength, and my stronghold, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the nations will come to you from the ends of the earth, and will say, “Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies, vanity and things in which there is no profit.

¹⁶ When he utters his voice, there is a roar of waters in the heavens, and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain, and brings the wind out of his treasuries.

²⁵ Yahweh is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. ²⁶ It is good that a man should hope and quietly wait for the salvation of Yahweh.

²³ “Be glad then, you children of Zion, and rejoice in Yahweh, your God; for he gives you the early rain in just measure, and he causes the rain to come down for you, the early rain and the latter rain, as before.

⁷ “I also have withheld the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest; and I caused it to rain on one city, and caused it not to rain on another city. One field was rained on, and the field where it didn’t rain withered.

⁷ But as for me, I will look to Yahweh. I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me.

¹⁷ For though the fig tree doesn’t flourish, nor fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive fails, the fields yield no food; the flocks are cut off from the fold, and there is no herd in the stalls: ¹⁸ yet I will rejoice in Yahweh. I will be joyful in the God of my salvation! ¹⁹ Yahweh, the Lord, is my strength. He makes my feet like deer’s feet, and enables me to go in high places. For the music director, on my stringed instruments.

¹ Ask of Yahweh rain in the spring time, Yahweh who makes storm clouds, and he gives rain showers to everyone for the plants in the field. ² For the teraphim have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie; and they have told false dreams. They comfort in vain. Therefore they go their way like sheep. They are oppressed, because there is no shepherd.

⁴⁵ that you may be children of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.

¹⁵ “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to the living God, who made the sky, the earth, the sea, and all that is in them; ¹⁶ who in the generations gone by allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways. ¹⁷ Yet he didn’t leave himself without witness, in that he did good and gave you rains from the sky and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.”