The sins JEREMIAH. of Judah. day a defenced cny, and an iron pillar, have changed their glory or that and brasen walls, against the whole which doth not profit. land, against the kings of Judah, 12 Be astonished, O ye heavens, at guinst the princes thereof, against this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very the priests thereof, and against the desolate, saith the Lord. people of the land. 19 And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the LORD, to deliver thee. 13 For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns,broken cisterns,that can hold no water. 141 Is Israel a servant? is he a homeborn slave why is he spoiled ? 15 The young lion roared upon him, and yelled, and they made his land waste: his cities are burned without inhabitant. 16 Also the children of Noph and Tahapanes have broken the crown of thy head. 17 Hast thou not procured this unto thyself, in that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, when he led thee by the way ? 3 Israel was holiness unto the LonD, and the first-fruits of his increase: all that devour him shall offend: evil shall come upon them, saith the LORD. 18 And now what hast thou to do in 4 Hear ye the word of the LORD, O the way of Egypt,to drink the waters house of Jacob,and all the families of ¦of Sihor? or wljat hast thou to do in the house of Israel: the way of Assyria, to drink the wa 5 T Thus saith the Lonn, What in-ters of the river ? quity have your fathers found in me, 19 Thine own wickedness shall cor that they are gone far from me, and rect thee, and thy backslidings shall nave walked after vanity, and are be-reprove thee: know therefore and see come vain ? 6 Neither said they, Where is the LORD that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, that led us through the wilderness, througli a land of deserts and of pite, through a laid of drought, and of the shadow of death, through a land that no man passed through, and where no man dwelt ? that it is an evil thing and bitter, that 20 ¶ For of old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bands; and thou saidst, I will not transgress; when upon every high bill and under every green tree thou wandercst,play 7 And I brought you into a plentifuling the harlot. country, to eat the fruit thereof, and the goodness thereof; but when ye entered, ye defiled my land, and made iny heritage an abomination. 8 The priests said not, Where is the Lond and they that bandle the law knew me not: the pastors also transgressed against ine, and the prophets prophesied Baal, and walked after things that do not profit. 9¶ Wherefore I will yet plead with Jou, saith the LORD, and with your children's children will I plead. 21 Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right eeed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me? 22 For though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me saith the Lord God. 23 How canst thou say, I am not polluted, I have not gone after Baalim? see thy way in the valley, know what thou hast done thou art a swift dromedary traversing her ways; 24 A wild use used to the wilderness, that snuffeth up the wind at her pleas 10 For pass over the isles of Chittim, and see; and send unto Kedar, and consider diligently, and see if there beure ; in ber occasion who can turn her such a thing. away all they that seek her will not P 11 Hath a nation changed their gods, weary themselves; in ber month they which are yet no gods? but my people shall find her. God expostulateth CHAP. 111. with the Jews, 25 Withhold thy foot from being un-[become another man's, shall he retma shod, and thy throat from thirst: but unto her again? shall not that land be thou saidst, There is no hope: no; for greatly polluted? but thou hast played I have loved strangers, and after them the harlot with many lovers; yet rewill I go. turn again to me, saith the LORD. 26 As the thief is ashamed when be 2 Lift up thine eyes unto the bigh is found, so is the house of Israel places, and see where thou hast not ashamed; they, their kings, their been lain with. In the ways hast thou princes, and their priests, and their sat for them, as the Arabian in the prophets, wilderness; and thou bast polluted 27 Saying to a stock, Thou art my the land with thy whoredoms and father; and to a stone, Thou hast with thy wickedness. brought me forth; for they have turn- 3 Therefore the showers have been ed their back unto me, and not their withholden, and there hath been no face: but in the time of their trouble latter rain; and thou hadst a whore's they will say, Arise, and save us. forehead, thou refusedst to be asla 28 But where are thy gods that thou med. hast made thee? let them arise, if they | 4 Wilt thou not from this time cry can save thee in the time of thy troub-junto me, My father, thou art the ble: for according to the number of guide of my youth? thy cities are thy gods, O Judah. 5 Will he reserve his anger for ever? 29 Wherefore will ye plead with me? will he keep it to the end? Bebold, ye all have transgressed against me, thou hast spoken and done evil things saith the LORD. as thou couldest. 6 ¶ The LORD said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? ehe is gone up upon every 30 In vain have I smitten your chil| dren; they received no correction: your own sword bath devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion. 31 ¶ O generation, see ye the word of high mountain and under every green, the Lord. Have I been a wilderness unto Israel? a land of darkness? wherefore say my people, We are lords; we will come uo more unto thee? tree, and there hath played the harlot. 7 And 1 said after she had done all these things, Turn thou unto me. But she returned not. And her treacher 32 Can a maid forget her oraaments, ous sister Judah saw it. or a bride her attire ? yet my people] 8 And I saw, when for all the causes have forgotten me days without uum-[whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and giv ber. 33 Why trimmest thou thy way to len her a bill of divorce; yet her treachseek love? therefore hast tho also crous sister Judah feared not, but went taught the wicked ones thy ways. and played the harlot also. 34 Also in thy skirts is found the 9 And it came to pass through thự blood of the souls of the poor inno-lightness of her whoredom, that slic cents: I bave not found it by secret defiled the land, and committed adul search, but upon all these. tery with stones and with stocks. 35 Yet thou sayest, Because I am in- 10 And yet for all this her treacher nocent, surely his anger shall turnous sister Judah hath not turned unta from me. Behold, I will plead with me with her whole heart, but feign thee, because thou sayest, I have not edly, saith the Lord. sinned. 36 Why gaddest thou about so much to change thy way? thou also shalt be ashamed of Egypt, as thou wast Ashamed of Assyria. 37 Yea, thou shalt go forth from him, and thy hands upon thy head: for the LORD bath rejected thy confidences, and thou shalt not prosper in them. CHAP. HII. HEY say, If a man put away his II And the LORD said unto me, The backsliding Israel hath justified ber self more than treacherous Judah. 12 T Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the Loav; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upou you: for 1 am merciful, saith the Lond, and I will not keep anger for ever. 13 Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the JEREMIAH. Judah calortza to repentance. Lond thy God, and hast scattered thy jbour of our fathers from our youth; ways to the strangers under every their flocks and their herds, their sons green tree, and ye have not obeyed and their daughters. my voice, saith the Lond. 25 We lie down in our shame, and 14 Turn, O backsliding children, four confusion covereth us: for we saith the Lond; for I am married unto have sinued against the LORD our you; and I will take you one of a city, | God, we and our fathers, from our and two of a family, and i will bring youth even unto this day, and have you to Zion: not obeyed the voice of the Lond our CHAP. IV. 15 And 1 will give you pastors ac- God. cording to my heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understard-TF thou wilt return, O Israel, saith' ing. I the Lono, return unto me; and if thou wilt put away thine abomina tions out of my sight, then shalt thou not remove. 16 And it shall come to pass, when ye be multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, saith the LORD, they shall say no more, The ark of 2 And thou shalt swear, The Lond the covenant of the Lonn: neither liveth, in truth, in judgment, and in sball it come to mind: neither shall righteousness; and the nations shall they remember it; neither shall they bless themselves in him, and in him visit it; neither shall that be done shall they glory. any more. 3T For thus saith the LORD to the 17 At that time they shall call Jeru-men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break salem the throne of the LonD; and up your fallow ground, and sow not all the nations shall be gathered unto among thorns. it, to the name of the Loso, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart. 18 In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers. 19 But I said, How shall I put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant laud, a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations? And I said, Thou shalt call me, My father; and shalt not turn away from me. 20 π Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the LORD. 4 Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem ; lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings. 5 Declare ye in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem; and say, Blow ye the trumpet in the land: cry, gather to gether, and say, Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the defenced cities. 6 Set up the standard toward Zion: retire, stay not; for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction. 7 The lion is come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way; he is gone forth from his place to make thy land desolate; and thy cities shall be laid waste, without an inhabitant. 21 A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel: for they have 8 For this gird you with sackcloth, perverted the way, and they navejiament and howl; for the fierce auforgotten the LORD their God. ger of the LORD is not turned back from us. 21 Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. 9 And it shall come to pass at that Behold, we come unto thee; for thou day, saith the LORD, that the beart of art the Lord our God. the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes; and the priests shall he astonished, and the prophets shal! wonder. 23 Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountaus: truly in the Lond our God is the salvation of Is- 10 Then said I, Ah, Lonn God! rael. surely thou hast greatly deceived this 21 For shame hath devoured the la people and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall have peace; whereas the a word reacheth unto the soul. 11 At that time shall it be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A dry wind of the high places in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not to fan, nor to cleanse, 12 Even a full wind from those places shall come unto me: now also will 1 give sentence against them. for Judah. 26 I behield, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by his fierce anger. 27 For thus hath the LORD said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end. 28 For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black: be13 Behold,he shall come up as clouds, cause I have epoken it, I have purand his chariots shall be as a whirlposed it, and will not repent, neither wind: his horses are swifter than will I turn back from it. eagles. Wo unto us! for we are spoiled. 14 O Jerusalem, wash thy heart from wickedness,that thou mayest be saved: how long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee? 29 The whole city shall flee for the noise of the horsemen and bowmen ; they shall go into thickets, and climb up upon the rocks: every city shall be forsaken,and not a man dwell therein. 15 For a voice declareth from Dau, 30 And when thou art spoiled, what and publisheth affliction from mount wilt thou do? Though thou clothest Ephraim. 16 Make ye mention to the nations: behold,publish against Jerusalem, that watchers come from a far country, and give out their voice against the cities of Judah. 17 As keepers of a field, are they against her round about: because she hath been rebellious against me, saith the Lond. thyself with crimson, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, though thou rendest thy face with painting, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair; thy lovers will despise thee, they will seek thy life. 31 For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, and the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child the voice of the daughter of Zion,that 18 Thy way and thy doings have pro-bewaileth herself, that spreadeth her cured these things unto thee: this is hands, saying, Wo is me now for thy wickedness, because it is bitter, my soul is wearied because of murbecause it reacheth unto thy heart. derers. 19 ¶ My bowels, my bowels! I am CHAP. V. pained at my very heart; my heart Retreets of Jerusalem, and see now, heart! RUN ye to and fro through the 20 Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is spoiled: suddenly are my tents spoiled, and my maketh a noise in me: I cannot holdi my peace, because thou hast heard, O aud know, and seek in the broad places if there my soul, the sound of the trumpet,the thereof, if ye can find a man, alarm of war. be any that executetb judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it. 2 And though they say, The Lond lireth; surely they swear falsely. 3 O LORD, are not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them, but they bave not grieved; thou hast consumed them,but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return. curtains in a moment. 21 How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet? 22 For my people is foolish, they have not known me; they are sottish children, and they have none under standing: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge. 4 Therefore I said, Surely these are 23 I beheld the earth and, lo, it was poor; they are foolish: for they know without form and void, and the heav-not the way of the Lond, nor the ens, and they had no light. judgment of their God. 24 I beheld the mountains, and, lo, 5 I will get me unto the great men, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. 25 behield, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fed and will speak unto them; for they have known the way of the LORD, and the judgment of their God: but these have altogether broken the yoke and burst the bonds. God's judgments JEREMIAH. on the Jews. 6 Wherefore a lion out of the forest] 19 ¶ And it shall come to pass, when shall slay them, and a wolf of the ye shall say, Wherefore doeth the evenings shall spoil them, a leopard LORD our God all these things unto shall watch over their cities; every us? then shalt thou answer them, one that goeth out thence shall be torn Like as ye nave forsaken me, and in pieces; because their transgressions served strange gods in your land, so are many, and their baskelidings are shall ye serve strangers in a land that increased. is not yours. 7 ¶ How shall I pardon thee for this?| 20 Declare this in the house of Jacob, thy children have forsaken me, and and publish it in Judah, saying, eworn by them that are no gods: 21 Hear now this, O foolish people, when I had fed them to the full, they and without understanding; which then committed adultery, and assem-have eyes, and see not; which have bled themselves by troops in the har-ears, and hear not; lot's houses. 22 Fear ye not me? saith the LORD 8 They were as fed horses in the will ye not tremble at my presenc morning: every one neighed after his neighbour's wife. 9 Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LoRD: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this ? 10 T Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end: take away her battlements; for they are not the Lord's. which have placed the sand for the 24 Neither say they in their heart, 11 For the house of Israel and the Let us now fear the LORD our God, bouse of Judah bave dealt verytreach-that giveth rain, both the former and erously against me, saith the Lond. the latter, in his season: he reserveth 12 They have belied the LoRD, and unto us the appointed weeks of the said, It is not he; neither shall evil harvest. come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor famine: 13 And the prophet shall become wind, and the world is not in them: thus shall it be done unto them. 14 Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, because ye speak this word, Behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them. 25 ¶ Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good things from you. 26 For among my people are found wicked men; they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men. 27 As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit; therefore they are become great, and waxen rich. 15 Lo, 1 will bring a nation vɔon you from far, O house of Israel, su.th the 28 They are waxen fat, they shine Lond: it is a mighty nation, it is an yea, they overpass the deeds of the aucient nation, a nation whose lan-wicked: they judge not the cause, the guage thou knowest not, neither un-cause of the fatherless, yet they prosderstandest what they say. per; and the right of the needy do they not judge. 16 Their quiver is as an open sepulchre, they are all mighty men. 17 And they shall eat up thy harvest, and thy bread, which thy song and thy daughters should eat: they shall eat up thy flocks and thy herds: they shall eat up thy vines and thy fig-trees; they shall impoverish thy fenced cities, wherein thou trustedst, with the sword. 18 Nevertheless in those days, saith 29 Shall I not visit for these things ? saith the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? 30 T A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land. 31 The prophets prophecy falsely,and and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof? CHAP. VI. YE children of Benjamin, gather the LORD I will not make a full end yourselves to flee out of the midst with you. |