The prayer of the prophet. JEREMIAH. and forsook it, because there was no grass. into the city, then behold, them that are was no grass. 7 TO LORD, though our iniquities tes- hath thy soul loathed Zion? Why hast tify against us, do thou it for thy name's thou smitten us, and there is no healing for sake: for our backslidings are many; we us? we looked for peace, and there is no have sinned against thee. 8 O the Hope of Israel, the Saviour hold trouble! good; and for the time of healing, and bethereof in time of trouble, why shouldest thou be as a stranger in the land, and as a wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers: wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for we have sinned against thee. for a night? 9 Why shouldest thou be as a man astonished, as a mighty man that cannot save? yet thou, O LORD, art in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name; leave us not. 20 We acknowledge, O LORD, our do not disgrace the throne of thy glory: 21 Do not abhor us, for thy name's sake, remember, break not thy covenant with us. the Gentiles that can cause rain? or can 22 Are there any among the vanities of 10 Thus saith the LORD unto this C LORD our God? therefore we will wait the heavens give showers? Art not thou he, people, Thus have they loved to wander, upon thee: for thou hast made all these they have not refrained their feet, there-things. fore the LORD doth not accept them; he CHAP. XV. will now remember their iniquity, and THEN said the LORD unto me, Though visit their sins. Moses and Samuel stood before me, 11 Then said the LORD unto me, Pray yet my mind could not be toward this not for this people for their good. 12 When they fast, I will not hear their let them people: cast them out of my sight, and cry; and when they offer burnt-offering go forth. and an oblation, I will not accept them; unto thee, Whither shall we go forth? then 2 And it shall come to pass, if they say but I will consume them by the sword, thou shalt tell them, Thus saith the LORD; and by the famine, and by the pestilence. Such as are for death, to death; and such 13 ¶ Then said I, Ah Lord GoD! be- as are for the sword, to the sword; and hold, the prophets say unto them, Ye shall such as are for the famine, to the famine; not see the sword, neither shall ye have and such as are for the captivity, to the famine; but I will give you assured peace captivity. in this place. 3 And I will appoint over them four 14 Then the LORD said unto me, The kinds, saith the LORD: the sword to slay, prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent and the dogs to tear, and the fowls of the them not, neither have I commanded heaven, and the beasts of the earth, to them, neither spake unto them: they pro-devour and destroy. phesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of naught, and the deceit into all kingdoms of the earth, because of 4 And I will cause them to be removed of their heart. 15 Therefore thus saith the LORD con- dah, for that which he did in Jerusalem. Manasseh the son of Hezekiah king of Jucerning the prophets that prophesy in my name, and I sent them not, yet they say, Jerusalem? or who shall bemoan thee? or 5 For who shall have pity upon thee, O Sword and famine shall not be in this who shall go aside to ask how thou doest? land; By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed. 6 Thou hast forsaken me, saith the 16 And the people to whom they pro- will I stretch out my hand against thee, and LORD, thou art gone backward: therefore phesy shall be cast out, in the streets of destroy thee; I am weary with repenting. Jerusalem, because of the famine, and the sword; and they shall have none to bury gates of the land; I will bereave them of 7 And I will fan them with a fan in the them, them, their wives, nor their sons, children, I will destroy my people, since . nor their daughters: for I will pour their they return not from their ways. wickedness upon them. 8 Their widows are increased to me 17 T Therefore thou shalt say this word above the sand of the seas: I have brought unto them; Let mine eyes run down with upon them against the mother of the young tears night and day, and let them not men a spoiler at noon-day: I have caused cease: for the virgin daughter of my peo-him to fall upon it suddenly, and terrors ple is broken with a great breach, with a upon the city. very grievous blow. 18 If I go forth into the field, then be-she hath given up the ghost; her sun is 9 She that hath born seven languisheth: hold the slain with the sword! and if I enter gone down while it was yet day: she hath 574 The complaint of Jeremiah. CHAP. XVI. The utter ruin of the Jews. been ashamed and confounded: and the they shall not be lamented; neither shall residue of them will I deliver to the sword they be buried; but they shall be as dung before their enemies, saith the LORD. upon the face of the earth: and they shall 10 Wo is me, my mother, that thou be consumed by the sword, and by famine; hast borne me a man of strife and a man of and their carcasses shall be meat for the contention to the whole earth! I have fowls of heaven, and for the beasts of the neither lent on usury, nor men have lent to earth. me on usury; yet every one of them doth curse me. 5 For thus saith the LORD, Enter not into the house of mourning, neither go to 11 The LORD said, Verily it shall be lament nor bemoan them: for I have taken well with thy remnant; verily I will away my peace from this people, saith the cause the enemy to entreat thee well in the LORD, even loving-kindness and mercies. time of evil and in the time of affliction. 6 Both the great and the small shall die 12 Shall iron break the northern iron in this land: they shall not be buried, neiand the steel? ther shall men lament for them, nor cut 13 Thy substance and thy treasures themselves, nor make themselves bald for will I give to the spoil without price, and them: that for all thy sins, even in all thy borders. 7 Neither shall men tear themselves for 14 And I will make thee to pass with them in mourning, to comfort them for the thine enemies into a land which thou know-dead; neither shall men give them the cup est not: for a fire is kindled in mine anger, of consolation to drink for their father or which shall burn upon you. for their mother. 15 TO LORD, thou knowest: remem- 8. Thou shalt not also go into the house ber me, and visit me, and revenge me of of feasting, to sit with them to eat and to my persecutors; take me not away in thy drink. long-suffering: know that for thy sake I 9 For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the have suffered rebuke. God of Israel; Behold, I will cause to 16 Thy words were found, and I did cease out of this place in your eyes, and in eat them; and thy word was unto me the your days, the voice of mirth, and the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am voice of gladness, the voice of the bridecalled by thy name, O LORD God of hosts.groom, and the voice of the bride. 17 I sat not in the assembly of the mock- 10 And it shall come to pass, when ers, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of thy thou shalt shew this people all these words, hand: for thou hast filled me with indigna- and they shall say unto thee, Wherefore tion. hath the LORD pronounced all this great 18 Why is my pain perpetual, and my evil against us? or what is our iniquity? wound incurable, which refuseth to be or what is our sin that we have committed healed? wilt thou be altogether unto me against the LORD our God? as a liar, and as waters that fail? 11 Then shalt thou say unto them, Be 19 Therefore thus saith the LORD, If cause your fathers have forsaken me, saith thou return, then will I bring thee again, the LORD, and have walked after other and thou shalt stand before me: and if thou gods, and have served them, and have take forth the precious from the vile, thou worshipped them, and have forsaken me, shalt be as my mouth : let them return unto and have not kept my law; thee; but return not thou unto them. 12 And ye have done worse than your 20 And I will make thee unto this peo-fathers; for, behold, ye walk every one ple a fenced brazen wall: and they shall after the imagination of his evil heart, that fight against thee, but they shall not prevail they may not hearken unto me : against thee: for I am with thee to save 13 Therefore will I cast you out of this thee and to deliver thee, saith the LORD. land into a land that ye know not, neither 21 And I will deliver thee out of the ye nor your fathers; and there shall ye hand of the wicked, and I will redeem serve other gods day and night; where I thee out of the hand of the terrible. will not shew your favour. CHAP. XVI. 14 T Therefore behold, the days come, THE word of the LORD came also unto saith the LORD, that it shall no more be said, me, saying, The LORD liveth, that brought up the chil2 Thou shalt not take thee a wife, nei-dren of Israel out of the land of Egypt; ther shalt thou have sons nor daughters in 15 But, The LORD liveth, that brought this place. up the children of Israel from the land of 3 For thus saith the LORD concerning the north, and from all the lands whither the sons and concerning the daughters that he had driven them and I will bring them are born in this place, and concerning their again into their land that I gave unto their mothers that bare them, and concerning fathers. their fathers that begat them in this land: 16 ¶ Behold, I will send for many fish4 They shall die of grievous deaths;ers, saith the LORD, and they shall fish them; The captivity of Judah. JEREMIAH. In God alone is sure salvation. and after will I send for many hunters, and his ways, and according to the fruit of his they shall hunt them from every mountain, doings. and from every hill, and out of the holes 11 As the partridge sitteth on eggs, and of the rocks. hatcheth them not; so he thatgetteth riches, 17 For mine eyes are upon all their and not by right, shall leave them in the ways they are not hid from my face,nei- midst of his days, and at his end shall be a ther is their iniquity hid from mine eyes. fool. 18, And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double; because they have defiled my land, they have filled mine inheritance with the carcasses of their detestable and abominable things. 12 A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary. 13 O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the 19 O. LORD, my strength and my for-earth, because they have forsaken the tress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, LORD, the fountain of living waters. the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the 14 Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and thou art my praise. things wherein there is no profit. 15 Behold, they say unto me, Where 20. Shall a man make gods unto himself, is the word of the LORD? let it come now. and they are no gods? 21 Therefore behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know mine hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is The LORD. CHAP. XVII. 16 As for me, I have not hastened from being a pastor to follow thee: neither have I desired the woful day; thou knowest: that which came out of my lips was right before thee. 17 Be not a terror unto me: thou art THE sin of Judah is written with a pen my hope in the day of evil. of iron, and with the point of a dia- 18 Let them be confounded that persemond: it is graven upon the table of their cute me, but let not me be confounded: heart, and upon the horns of your altars; let them be dismayed, but let not me be 2 Whilst their children remember their dismayed: bring upon them the day of evil, altars and their groves by the green trees and destroy them with double destruction. upon the high hills. 19 Thus said the LORD unto me; Go 3 Omy mountain in the field, I will give and stand in the gate of the children of thy substance and all thy treasures to the the people, whereby the kings of Judah spoil, and thy high places for sin, through- come in, and by the which they go out, out all thy borders. and in all the gates of Jerusalem; 4 And thou, even thyself, shalt discon- 20 And say unto them, Hear ye the word tinue from thine heritage that I gave thee; of the LORD, ye kings of Judah, and all and I will cause thee to serve thine ene- Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusamies in the land which thou knowest not: lem, that enter in by these gates: for ye have kindled a fire in mine anger, 21 Thus saith the LORD; Take heed which shall burn for ever. to yourselves, and bear no burden on the 5 ¶ Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of the man that trusteth in man, and maketh Jerusalem; flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth 22 Neither carry forth a burden out of from the LORD. your houses on the sabbath day, neither do 6 For he shall be like the heath in the ye any work, but hallow ye the sabbath desert, and shall not see when good day, as I commanded your fathers. cometh; but shall inhabit the parched 23 But they obeyed not, neither inclined places in the wilderness, in a salt land and their ear, but made their neck stiff, that not inhabited. they might not hear, nor receive instruction. 24 And it shall come to pass, if ye diligently hearken unto me, saith the LORD. 8 For he shall be as a tree planted by to bring in no burden through the gates of the waters, and that spreadeth out her this city on the sabbath day, but hallow the roots by the river, and shall not see when sabbath day, to do no work therein; heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; 25 Then shall there enter into the gates and shall not be careful in the year of of this city kings and princes sitting upon drought, neither shall cease from yielding the throne of David, riding in chariots and fruit. on horses, they and their princes, the men 9 The heart is deceitful above all of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusa things, and desperately wicked: who can lem: and this city shall remain for ever. know it? 26 And they shall come from the cities 10 I the LORD search the heart, I try the of Judah, and from the places about Jereins, even to give every man according to rusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, 7 Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. The type of the potter. CHAP. XVIII, XIX. Judgments threatened. and from the plain, and from the moun- and they have caused them to stumble in tains, and from the south, bringing burnt- their ways from the ancient paths, to walk offerings, and sacrifices, and meat-offer- in paths, in a way not cast up; ings, and incense, and bringing sacrifices 16 To make their land desolate, and a of praise, unto the house of the LORD. perpetual hissing; every one that passeth 27 But if ye will not hearken unto me to thereby shall be astonished, and wag his hallow the sabbath day, and not to bear head. a burden, even entering in at the gates of 17 I will scatter them as with an east Jerusalem on the sabbath day; then will I wind before the enemy; I will shew them kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it the back, and not the face, in the day of shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and their calamity. it shall not be quenched. CHAP. XVIII. 18 Then said they, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the HE word which came to Jeremiah law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from Tfrom the LORD, saying, 2 Arise, and go down to the potter's the prophet. Come, and let us smite him house, and there I will cause thee to hear with the tongue, and let us not give heed my words. to any of his words. 3 Then I went down to the potter's house, and behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. 19 Give heed to me, O LORD, and hearken to the voice of them that contend with me. 20 Shall evil be recompensed for good? 4 And the vessel that he made of clay for they have digged a pit for my soul. was marred in the hand of the potter: so Remember that I stood before thee to he made it again another vessel, as seemed speak good for them, and to turn away thy good to the potter to make it. wrath from them. 5 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 21 Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and pour out their blood by 6 O house of Israel, cannot I do with you the force of the sword; and let their wives as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as be bereaved of their children, and be the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye widows; and let their men be put to death; in mine hand, O house of Israel. let their young men be slain by the sword 7 At what instant I shall speak concern-in battle. ing a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it: 22 Let a cry be heard from their houses, when thou shalt bring a troop suddenly upon them: for they have digged a pit to take me, and hid snares for my feet. 8 If that nation against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will re- 23 Yet, LORD, thou knowest all their pent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. counsel against me to slay me forgive not 9 And at what instant I shall speak con- their iniquity, neither blot out their sin cerning a nation, and concerning a king- from thy sight, but let them be overthrown dom, to build and to plant it; before thee; deal thus with them in the 10 If it do evil in my sight, that it obey time of thine anger. not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them.HUS saith the LORD, Go and get a 11 ¶ Now therefore go to, speak to the potter's earthen bottle, and take of men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Je- the ancients of the people, and of the anrusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; cients of the priests; CHAP. XIX. Behold, I frame evil against you, and de- 2 And go forth unto the valley of the vise a device against you: return ye now son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of every one from his evil way, and make the east gate, and proclaim there the words your ways and your doings good. that I shall tell thee. 12 And they said, There is no hope: but 3 Andsay, Hear ye the word of the LORD, we will walk after our own devices, and O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jeru we will every one do the imagination of his salem; Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the evil heart. God of Israel; Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, the which whosoever heareth, his ears shall tingle. 13 Therefore thus saith the LORD; Ask ye now among the heathen, who hath heard such things: the virgin of Israel hath done 4 Because they have forsaken me, and a very horrible thing. have estranged this place, and have burned 14 Will a man leave the snow of Leba- incense in it unto other gods, whom neither non which cometh from the rock of the field? they nor their fathers have known, nor the or shall the cold flowing waters that come kings of Judah, and have filled this place from another place be forsaken? with the blood of innocents; 15 Because my people hath forgotten 5 They have built also the high places me, they have burned incense to vanity, of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for The Jezos' desolation foretold. JEREMIAH. The complaint of Jeremiah. burnt-offerings unto Baal, which I com-The LORD hath not called thy name Pamanded not, nor spake it, neither came it shur, but Magor-missabib. into my mind: 4 For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I 6 Therefore behold, the days come, will make thee a terror to thyself, and to saith the LORD, that this place shall no all thy friends: and they shall fall by the more be called Tophet, nor The valley of sword of their enemies, and thine eyes the son of Hinnom, but The valley of shall behold it: and I will give all Judah Slaughter. into the hand of the king of Babylon, and 7 And I will make void the counsel of he shall carry them captive into Babylon, Judah and Jerusalem in this place; and I and shall slay them with the sword. will cause them to fall by the sword before 5 Moreover I will deliver all the strength their enemies, and by the hands of them of this city, and all the labours thereof, that seek their lives: and their carcasses and all the precious things thereof, and will I give to be meat for the fowls of the all the treasures of the kings of Judah will heaven, and for the beasts of the earth. I give into the hand of their enemies, 8 And I will make this city desolate, which shall spoil them, and take them, and a hissing: every one that passeth and carry them to Babylon. thereby shall be astonished and hiss be- 6 And thou, Pashur, and all that dwell cause of all the plagues thereof. in thine house shall go into captivity: and 9 And I will cause them to eat the flesh thou shalt come to Babylon, and there of their sons and the flesh of their daugh- thou shalt die, and shalt be buried there, ters, and they shall eat every one the flesh thou, and all thy friends, to whom thou of his friend in the siege and straitness bast prophesied lies. wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their lives, shall straiten them. 10 Then shalt thou break the bottle in the sight of the men that go with thee, 7O LORD, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived: thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am in derision daily, every one mocketh me. 11 And shalt say unto them, Thus saith 8 For since I spake, I cried out, I cried the LORD of hosts; Even so will I break violence and spoil; because the word of this people and this city, as one breaketh the LORD was made a reproach unto me, potter's vessel, that cannot be made and a derision, daily. whole again: and they shall bury them in 9 Then I said, I will not make mention Tophet, till there be no place to bury. 12 Thus will I do unto this place, saith the LORD, and to the inhabitants thereof, and even make this city as Tophet: of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay. 13 And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, shall be 10 ¶ For I heard the defaming of many, defiled as the place of Tophet, because of fear on every side. Report, say they, and all the houses upon whose roofs they have we will report it. All my familiars watchburned incense unto all the host of heaven, ed for my halting, saying, Peradventure and have poured out drink-offerings unto he will be enticed, and we shall prevail other gods. against him, and we shall take our revenge 14 Then came Jeremiah from Tophet, on him. whither the LORD had sent him to pro- 11 But the LORD is with me as a mighty phesy; and he stood in the court of the terrible one: therefore my persecutors LORD's house; and said to all the people, shall stumble, and they shall not prevail; 15 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the they shall be greatly ashamed; for they God of Israel; Behold, I will bring upon shall not prosper: their everlasting conthis city and upon all her towns all the fusion shall never be forgotten. evil that I have pronounced against it, because they have hardened their necks, that they might not hear my words. CHAP. XX. NOW 12 But, O LORD of hosts, that triest the righteous, and seest the reins and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them: for unto thee have l'opened my cause. TOW Pashur the son of Immer the priest, who was also chief governor in the house of the LORD, heard that Je- the poor from the hand of evil-doers. remiah prophesied these things. 13 Sing unto the LORD, praise ye the LORD: for he hath delivered the soul of 14 Cursed be the day wherein I was 2 Then Pashur smote Jeremiah the born: let not the day wherein my mother prophet, and put him in the stocks that bare me be blessed. were in the high gate of Benjamin, which 15 Cursed be the man who brought tiwas by the house of the LORD. dings to my father, saying, A man child is 3 And it came to pass on the morrow, born unto thee; making him very glad. that Pashur brought forth Jeremiah out of 16 And let that man be as the cities which the stocks. Then said Jeremiah unto him, the LORD overthrew, and repented notz |