they have forsaken My law which I set before them,And have not hearkened to My voice, neither walked therein;13 But have walked after the stubbornness of their own heart,And after the Baalim, which their fathers taught them.14Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel:Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood,And give them water of gall to drink.15I will scatter them also among the nations,Whom neither they nor their fathers have known;And I will send the sword after them,Till I have consumed them. 16Thus saith the Lord of hosts:Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come;And send for the wise women, that they may come;17let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us,That our eyes may run down with tears,And our eyelids gush out with waters.18For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion:'How are we undone!We are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land,Because our dwellings have cast us out.'19Yea, hear the word of the Lord, O ye women,And let your ear receive the word of His mouth,And teach your daughters wailing,And every one her neighbour lamentation:20'For death is come up into our windows,It is entered into our palaces,To cut off the children from the street,And the young men from the broad places.—21Speak: Thus saith the Lord—And the carcasses of men fallAs dung upon the open field,And as the handful after the harvestman,Which none gathereth.' 22Thus saith the Lord:Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,Neither let the mighty man glory in his might,Let not the rich man glory in his riches;23But let him that glorieth glory in this,That he understandeth, and knoweth Me,That I am the Lord who exercise mercy,Justice, and righteousness, in the earth;For in these things I delight,Saith the Lord.
24Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will punish all them that are circumcised in their uncircumcision: 25Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all that have the corners of their hair polled, that dwell in the wilderness;
For all the nations are uncircumcised,But all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart.
10Hear ye the word which the Lord speaketh unto you, O house of Israel; 2thus saith the Lord:
Learn not the way of the nations,And be not dismayed at the signs of heaven;For the nations are dismayed at them.3For the customs of the peoples are vanity;For it is but a tree which one cutteth out of the forest,The work of the hands of the workman with the axe.4They deck it with silver and with gold,They fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.5They are like a pillar in a garden of cucumbers, and speak not;They must needs be borne, because they cannot go.Be not afraid of them, for they cannot do evil,Neither is it in them to do good. 6There is none like unto Thee, O Lord;Thou art great, and Thy name is great in might.7Who would not fear Thee, O king of the nations?For it befitteth Thee;Forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their royalty,There is none like unto Thee.8But they are altogether brutish and foolish:The vanities by which they are instructed are but a stock;9Silver beaten into plates which is brought from Tarshish,And gold from Uphaz,The work of the craftsman and of the hands of the goldsmith;Blue and purple is their clothing;They are all the work of skilful men.10But the Lord God is the true God,He is the living God, and the everlasting King;At His wrath the earth trembleth,And the nations are not able to abide His indignation.
11Thus shall ye say unto them: 'The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, these shall perish from the earth, and from under the heavens.'
12He that hath made the earth by His power,That hath established the world by His wisdom,And hath stretched out the heavens by His understanding;13At the sound of His giving a multitude of waters in the heavens,When He causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth;When He maketh lightnings with the rain,And bringeth forth the wind out of His treasuries;14Every man is proved to be brutish, without knowledge,Every goldsmith is put to shame by the graven image,His molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.15They are vanity, a work of delusion;In the time of their visitation they shall perish.16Not like these is the portion of Jacob;For He is the former of all things,And Israel is the tribe of His inheritance;The Lord of hosts is His name. 17Gather up thy wares from the ground,O thou that abidest in the siege.
18For thus saith the Lord: Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land at this time, and will distress them, that they may feel it.
19Woe is me for my hurt!My wound is grievous;But I said: 'This is but a sickness,And I must bear it.'20My tent is spoiled,And all my cords are broken;My children are gone forth of me, and they are not;There is none to stretch forth my tent any more,And to set up my curtains.21For the shepherds are become brutish,And have not inquired of the Lord;Therefore they have not prospered,And all their flocks are scattered.22Hark! a report, behold, it cometh,And a great commotion out of the north country,To make the cities of Judah desolate,A dwelling-place of jackals.23O Lord, I know that man's way is not his own;It is not in man to direct his steps as he walketh.24O Lord, correct me, but in measure;Not in Thine anger, lest Thou diminish me.25Pour out Thy wrath upon the nations that know Thee not,And upon the families that call not on Thy name;For they have devoured Jacob,Yea, they have devoured him and consumed him,And have laid waste his habitation.
11The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: 2'Hear ye the words of this covenant, and speak unto the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem; 3and say thou unto them: Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel: Cursed be the man that heareth not the words of this covenant, 4which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the iron furnace, saying: Hearken to My voice, and do them, according to all which I command you; so shall ye be My people, and I will be your God; 5that I may establish the oath which I swore unto your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as at this day.' Then answered I, and said: 'Amen, O Lord.'
6And the Lord said unto me: 'Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying: Hear ye the words of this covenant, and do them. 7For I earnestly forewarned your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even unto this day, forewarning betimes and often, saying: Hearken to My voice. 8Yet they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked every one in the stubbornness of their evil heart; therefore I brought upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did them not.'
9And the Lord said unto me: 'A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 10They are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to hear My words; and they are gone after other gods to serve them; the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken My covenant which I made with their fathers. 11Therefore thus saith the Lord: Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry unto Me, I will not hearken unto them. 12Then shall the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem go and cry unto the gods unto whom they offer; but they shall not save them at all in the time of their trouble. 13For according to the number of thy cities are thy gods, O Judah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem have ye set up altars to the shameful thing, even altars to offer unto Baal. 14Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them; for I will not hear them in the time that they cry unto Me for their trouble.'
15What hath My beloved to do in My house,Seeing she hath wrought lewdness with many,And the hallowed flesh is passed from thee?When thou doest evil, then thou rejoicest.16The Lord called thy nameA leafy olive-tree, fair with goodly fruit;With the noise of a great tumultHe hath kindled fire upon it,And the branches of it are broken.
17For the Lord of hosts, that planted thee, hath pronounced evil against thee, because of the evil of the house
