The LORD Answers Again

¹I will stand at my guard postand station myself on the ramparts.I will watch to see what He will say to me,and how I should answer when corrected.

²Then the LORD answered me:“Write down this visionand clearly inscribe it on tablets,so that a herald may run with it.

³For the vision awaits an appointed time;it testifies of the end and does not lie.Though it lingers, wait for it,since it will surely come and will not delay.

⁴Look at the proud one; his soul is not upright—but the righteous will live by faith—

⁵and wealthindeed betrays him.He is an arrogant man never at rest.He enlarges his appetite like Sheol,and like Death, he is never satisfied.He gathers all the nations to himselfand collects all the peoples as his own.

Woe to the Chaldeans

⁶Will not all of these take up a taunt against him,speaking with mockery and derision:‘Woe to him who amasses what is not hisand makes himself rich with many loans!How long will this go on?’

⁷Will not your creditors suddenly ariseand those who disturb you awaken?Then you will become their prey.

⁸Because you have plundered many nations,the remnant of the people will plunder you—because of your bloodshed against manand your violence against the land, the city,and all their dwellers.

⁹Woe to him who builds his houseby unjust gain,to place his nest on highand escape the hand of disaster!

¹⁰You have plotted shame for your houseby cutting off many peoplesand forfeiting your life.

¹¹For the stones will cry out from the wall,and the rafters will echo it from the woodwork.

¹²Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshedand establishes a town by iniquity!

¹³Is it not indeed from the LORD of Hoststhat the labor of the people only feeds the fire,and the nations weary themselves in vain?

¹⁴For the earth will be filledwith the knowledge of the glory of the LORDas the waters cover the sea.

¹⁵Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbors,pouring it from the wineskin until they are drunk,in order to gaze at their nakedness!

¹⁶You will be filled with shame instead of glory.You too must drinkand expose your uncircumcision!The cup in the LORD’s right handwill come around to you,and utter disgrace will cover your glory.

¹⁷For your violence against Lebanon will overwhelm you,and the destruction of animals will terrify you,because of your bloodshed against menand your violence against the land, the city,and all their dwellers.

¹⁸What use is an idol,that a craftsman should carve it—or an image,a teacher of lies?For its maker trusts in his own creation;he makes idols that cannot speak.

¹⁹Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Awake!’or to silent stone, ‘Arise!’Can it give guidance?Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver,yet there is no breath in it at all.”

²⁰But the LORD is in His holy temple;let all the earth be silent before Him.

God’s Anger against Israel

¹When Ephraimspoke, there was trembling;he was exalted in Israel.But he incurred guilt through Baal,and he died.

²Now they sin more and moreand make for themselves cast images,idols skillfully made from their silver,all of them the work of craftsmen.People say of them,“They offer human sacrificeand kiss the calves!”

³Therefore they will be like the morning mist,like the early dew that vanishes,like chaff blown from a threshing floor,like smoke through an open window.

⁴Yet I am the LORD your Godever since the land of Egypt;you know no God but Me,for there is no Savior besides Me.

⁵I knew you in the wilderness,in the land of drought.

⁶When they had pasture,they became satisfied;when they were satisfied,their hearts became proud,and as a result they forgot Me.

⁷So like a lion I will pounce on them;like a leopard I will lurk by the path.

⁸Like a bear robbed of her cubs I will attack them,and I will tear open their chests.There I will devour them like a lion,like a wild beast tearing them apart.

Death and Resurrection

⁹You are destroyed, O Israel,because you are against Me—against your helper.

¹⁰Where is your king nowto save you in all your cities,and the rulers to whom you said,“Give me a king and princes”?

¹¹So in My anger I gave you a king,and in My wrath I took him away.

¹²The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up;his sin is stored up.

¹³Labor pains come upon him,but he is an unwise son.When the time arrives,he fails to present himself at the opening of the womb.

¹⁴I will ransom them from the power of Sheol;I will redeem them from Death.Where, O Death, are your plagues?Where, O Sheol, is your sting?Compassion is hidden from My eyes.

Judgment on Samaria

¹⁵Although he flourishes among his brothers,an east wind will come—a wind from the LORDrising up from the desert.His fountain will fail,and his spring will run dry.The wind will plunder his treasuryof every precious article.

¹⁶Samaria will bear her guiltbecause she has rebelled against her God.They will fall by the sword;their little ones will be dashed to pieces,and their pregnant women ripped open.

A Warning to the Cities of Judah

¹At the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came from the LORD:

²“This is what the LORD says: Stand in the courtyard of the house of the LORD and speak all the words I have commanded you to speak to all the cities of Judah who come to worship there. Do not omit a word.

³Perhaps they will listen and turn—each from his evil way of life—so that I may relent of the disaster I am planning to bring upon them because of the evil of their deeds.

⁴And you are to tell them that this is what the LORD says: ‘If you do not listen to Me and walk in My law, which I have set before you,

⁵and if you do not listen to the words of My servants the prophets, whom I have sent you again and againeven though you did not listen,

⁶then I will make this house like Shiloh, and I will make this city an object of cursing among all the nations of the earth.’”

Jeremiah Threatened with Death

⁷Now the priests and prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the LORD,

⁸and as soon as he had finished telling all the people everything the LORD had commanded him to say, the priests and prophets and all the people seized him, shouting, “You must surely die!

⁹How dare you prophesy in the name of the LORD that this house will become like Shiloh and this city will be desolate and deserted!”And all the people assembled against Jeremiah in the house of the LORD.

¹⁰When the officials of Judah heard these things, they went up from the king’s palace to the house of the LORD and sat there at the entrance of the New Gate.

¹¹Then the priests and prophets said to the officials and all the people, “This man is worthy of death, for he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your own ears!”

¹²But Jeremiah said to all the officials and all the people, “The LORD sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that you have heard.

¹³So now, correct your ways and deeds, and obey the voice of the LORD your God, so that He might relent of the disaster He has pronounced against you.

¹⁴As for me, here I am in your hands; do to me what you think is good and right.

¹⁵But know for certain that if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood upon yourselves, upon this city, and upon its residents; for truly the LORD has sent me to speak all these words in your hearing.”

Jeremiah Spared from Death

¹⁶Then the officials and all the people told the priests and prophets, “This man is not worthy of death, for he has spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God!”

¹⁷Some of the elders of the land stood up and said to the whole assembly of the people,

¹⁸“Micah the Moreshite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah and told all the people of Judah that this is what the LORD of Hosts says:‘Zion will be plowed like a field,Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble,and the temple mount a wooded ridge.’

¹⁹Did Hezekiah king of Judah or anyone else in Judah put him to death? Did Hezekiah not fear the LORD and seek His favor, and did not the LORD relent of the disaster He had pronounced against them? But we are about to bring great harm on ourselves!”

The Prophet Uriah

²⁰Now there was another man prophesying in the name of the LORD, Uriah son of Shemaiah from Kiriath-jearim. He prophesied against this city and against this land the same things that Jeremiah did.

²¹King Jehoiakim and all his mighty men and officials heard his words, and the king sought to put him to death. But when Uriah found out about it, he fled in fear and went to Egypt.

²²Then King Jehoiakim sent men to Egypt: Elnathan son of Achbor along with some other men.

²³They brought Uriah out of Egypt and took him to King Jehoiakim, who had him put to the sword and his body thrown into the burial place of the common people.

²⁴Nevertheless, Ahikam son of Shaphan supported Jeremiah, so he was not handed over to the people to be put to death.

The Cords of the Wicked

¹Many a time they have persecuted me from my youth—let Israel now declare—

²many a time they have persecuted me from my youth,but they have not prevailed against me.

³The plowmen plowed over my back;they made their furrows long.

⁴The LORD is righteous;He has cut me from the cords of the wicked.

⁵May all who hate Zionbe turned back in shame.

⁶May they be like grass on the rooftops,which withers before it can grow,

⁷unable to fill the hands of the reaper,or the arms of the binder of sheaves.

⁸May none who pass by say to them,“The blessing of the LORD be on you;we bless you in the name of the LORD.”