He forsook his booth as the young lion: for their land was for a desolation from the face of the burning of him oppressing, and from the face of the burning of his anger.

In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, was this word from Jehovah, saying,

then I will make this house [the temple] like Shiloh, and I will make this city [subject to] the curse of all nations of the earth [because it will be so vile in their sight].”’”

However, some of the officials of Judah heard about what was happening and they rushed up to the Lord's temple from the royal palace. They set up court at the entrance of the New Gate of the Lord's temple.

"Micah the Morashtite was prophesying in the days of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, and he said to all the people of Judah, {saying}: 'Thus says Yahweh of hosts, "Zion will be plowed, and Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins, and the mountain of the {temple} as high places of wood." '

[Did] Hezekiah, the king of Judah, and all Judah actually put him to death? [Was he] not in fear of Yahweh? And he entreated the face of Yahweh, and Yahweh relented of the disaster that he had spoken against them. But we [are] about to do great disaster to ourselves."

And there was also a man that prophesied in the name of the LORD, Urijah the son of Shemaiah of Kirjathjearim, who prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah:

And when Jehoiakim the king, with all his mighty men, and all the princes, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death: but when Urijah heard it, he was afraid, and fled, and went into Egypt;

Nevertheless the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, that they should not give him into the hand of the people to put him to death.

In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah was this word to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying,

I, made The earth - The man and the beast that are on the face of the earth - By my great power, And by mine outstretched arm, - And gave it to whomsoever was right in mine own eyes.

And it was the nation and kingdom which shall not serve him, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babel, and which shall not give his neck in the yoke of the king of Babel, with the sword and with famine and with death I will review upon that nation, says Jehovah, even to my finishing them by his hand.

And it came to pass the same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year, and in the fifth month, that Hananiah the son of Azur the prophet, which was of Gibeon, spake unto me in the house of the LORD, in the presence of the priests and of all the people, saying,

the prophet who prophesied of peace when the word of the prophet was fulfilled, then was known the prophet, whom Yahweh had sent in truth.

Then Hananiah the prophet took the yoke from the neck of the prophet Jeremiah and it was broken by his hands.

The prophet Jeremiah sent a letter to the exiles Nebuchadnezzar had carried off from Jerusalem to Babylon. It was addressed to the elders who were left among the exiles, to the priests, to the prophets, and to all the other people who were exiled in Babylon.

(This was after King Jeconiah and the queen mother, the eunuchs, the princes (court officials) of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen and the smiths had departed from Jerusalem.)

The letter was hand-carried by Elasah the son of Shaphan and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, saying,

And I was found to you, says Jehovah: and I turned back your captivity, and I gathered you from all the nations, and from all the places where I thrust you away there says Jehovah; and I turned you back to the place where I caused you to be carried away captive from thence.

And a curse was taken from them to all the captivity of Judah which are in Babylon, saying, Jehovah will set thee as Zedekiah, and as Ahab, whom the king of Babel roasted them in fire;

And Zephaniah the priest made clear to Jeremiah the prophet what was said in the letter, reading it to him.

The word which was to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying,

And it was in that day, says Jehovah of armies, I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and I will tear away thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve upon him.

And thou my servant Jacob shall not fear, says Jehovah, and thou Israel shalt not be dismayed: for behold me saving thee from far off, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob turned back and rested, and was quiet, and none making afraid.

Why are you crying for help because of your wound? for your pain may never be taken away: because your evil-doing was so great and because your sins were increased, I have done these things to you.

Thus said Jehovah, Behold me turning back the captivity of Jacob's tents, and I will compassionate his habitations; and the city was built upon her hill, and the palace sat upon its judgment

And his mighty one was from himself, and his ruler shall go forth from his midst.; and I caused him to draw near, and he came near to me: for who this pledging his heart to approach to me? says Jehovah.

This is what the LORD says: "The people who survived the sword, found favor in the desert while Israel was seeking rest.

Jehovah was seen to me from afar off; and I loved thee an eternal love: for this I drew thee in kindness.

In weeping will they come, and I will lead them in mercies; I will cause them to go to the streams of waters in a straight way; they shall not stumble in it: for I was to Israel for a father, and Ephraim he is my first-born.

For the LORD hath redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he.

And they came and shouted in the height of Zion, and they flowed together to the goodness of Jehovah, for the grain and for the new wine, and for the oil, and for the sons of the flock and the herd: and their soul was as a watered garden, and they shall not add to pine away any more.

Thus saith the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not.

I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus; Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the LORD my God.

Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth.

Was Ephraim, a very precious son to me? Was he a most delightful child? For as often as I have spoken against him, I have, remembered, him again! For this cause, have my affections been deeply moved for him, I must have, compassion, upon him, Declareth Yahweh.

Upon this I awaked, and beheld; and my sleep was sweet unto me.

And it was as I watched over them to pluck up and to break down, and to destroy and to cut off, and to break in pieces; so will I watch over them to build and to plant, says Jehovah.

Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:

For this the covenant that I will cut out with the house of Israel: After those days, says Jehovah; I gave my law in the midst of them, and upon their heart will I write it; and I was to them for God, and they shall be to me for a people.

Behold the days, says Jehovah, and the city was built to Jehovah, from the tower of Hananeel, even to the gate of the corner.

The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar.

For then the king of Babylon's army besieged Jerusalem: and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the prison, which was in the king of Judah's house.

And Jeremiah will say, The word of Jehovah was to me, saying,

So Hanameel mine uncle's son came to me in the court of the prison according to the word of the LORD, and said unto me, Buy my field, I pray thee, that is in Anathoth, which is in the country of Benjamin: for the right of inheritance is thine, and the redemption is thine; buy it for thyself. Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD.

And I bought the field of Hanameel my uncle's son, that was in Anathoth, and weighed him the money, even seventeen shekels of silver.

So I took the evidence of the purchase, both that which was sealed according to the law and custom, and that which was open:

Behold the mounds, they came to the city to take it; and the city was given into the hand of the Chaldees warring against it from the face of the sword, and the famine, and the death; and it was what thou spakest; and behold thee seeing.

And thou saidst to me, O Lord Jehovah, Buy to thee the field for silver, and affirm witnesses; and the city was given into the hand of the Chaldeans.

The Chaldeans who are fighting against this city will come, set this city on fire, and burn it along with the houses on whose roofs incense was burned to Baal and liquid offerings were poured out to other gods in order to provoke me.

For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have done only that which was evil in my sight from their youth; for the children of Israel have only provoked me to anger with the work of their hands, saith Jehovah.

“From the day that they built it [during the reign of Solomon], even to this day, this city has been such a provocation of My anger and My wrath, that I must remove it from My sight,

And they have been turning their backs and not their faces to me: and though I was their teacher, getting up early and teaching them, their ears were not open to teaching.

And they will set their abominations in the house which my name was called upon it, to defile it

They built places of worship for the god Baal in the Valley of Ben Hinnom so that they could sacrifice their sons and daughters to the god Molech. Such a disgusting practice was not something I commanded them to do! It never even entered my mind to command them to do such a thing! So Judah is certainly liable for punishment.'

And now for this, thus said Jehovah, God of Israel, to this city of which ye are saying, It was given into the hand of the king of Babel by sword and by famine, and by death.

And the field was purchased in in this land which ye are saying, It is a desolation without man and cattle; it was given into the hand of the Chaldeans.

Moreover the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah the second time, while he was yet shut up in the court of the prison, saying,

And it was to me for a name of joy, for a praise and for an honor to all the nations of the earth who shall hear all the good which I did them: and they trembled and were moved for all the good and for all the peace which I did to it

Thus said Jehovah: Yet shall be heard in this place which ye were saying it was laid waste without man and without cattle, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, being desolate without man and without inhabitant, and without cattle,

the [sound of the] voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the [song-filled] voice of those who say,

“Give praise and thanks to the Lord of hosts,
For the Lord is good;
For His [steadfast] lovingkindness (mercy) endures forever”;

and of those who bring a thank offering into the house of the Lord. For I will restore the fortunes of the land as they were at first,’ says the Lord.

Thus said Jehovah, If ye shall break my covenant of the day and my covenant of the night, and there was not day and night in their season;

The Lord spoke to Jeremiah while King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon was attacking Jerusalem and the towns around it with a large army. This army consisted of troops from his own army and from the kingdoms and peoples of the lands under his dominion.

In peace you will die, and as [there was] burning for your ancestors, the former kings who were {before you}, so they will burn for you, and they will lament for you, "Alas, lord!" For [the] word I have spoken,' {declares} Yahweh." '"

when the king of Babylon's army was fighting against Jerusalem, and against all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish and against Azekah; for these alone remained of the cities of Judah as fortified cities.

These are the words that the LORD spake unto Jeremiah the prophet, when Zedekiah was agreed with all the people at Jerusalem, that there should be proclaimed a liberty:

That every man was to let his Hebrew man-servant and his Hebrew servant-girl go free; so that no one might make use of a Jew, his countryman, as a servant:

And this was done by all the rulers and the people who had taken part in the agreement, and every one let his man-servant and his servant-girl go free, not to be used as servants any longer; they did so, and let them go.

That was when the Lord spoke to Jeremiah,

So then you recently turned and repented, doing what was right in My sight, each man proclaiming release [from servitude] to his countryman [who was his bond servant]; and you had made a covenant before Me in the house which is called by My Name.

And I will give the men who have gone against my agreement and have not given effect to the words of the agreement which they made before me, when the ox was cut in two and they went between the parts of it,

The Lord spoke to Jeremiah when Jehoiakim son of Josiah was ruling over Judah.

And I brought them into the house of the LORD, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan, the son of Igdaliah, a man of God, which was by the chamber of the princes, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the keeper of the door:

The Lord spoke to Jeremiah in the fourth year that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was ruling over Judah.

Now in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, a fast was proclaimed before the Lord for all the people in Jerusalem and all the people who came to Jerusalem from the cities of Judah.

At that time Baruch went into the temple of the Lord. He stood in the entrance of the room of Gemariah the son of Shaphan who had been the royal secretary. That room was in the upper court near the entrance of the New Gate. There, where all the people could hear him, he read from the scroll what Jeremiah had said.

Micaiah, who was the son of Gemariah and the grandson of Shaphan, heard Baruch read from the scroll everything the Lord had said.

Then Micaiah gave them an account of all the words which had come to his ears when Baruch was reading the book to the people.

Then all the officials sent Nethaniah's son Jehudi, (who was also the grandson of Shelemiah and Cushi's great-grandson), to Baruch, who said, "Take the scroll that you read to the people and come." Neriah's son Baruch took the scroll with him and went to them.

And they asked Baruch, saying, “Tell us, please, how did you write all these words? Was it at his dictation?”

And Baruch said to them, "From his mouth. He dictated to me all these words and I [was] writing on the scroll with the ink."

Now the king sat in the winterhouse in the ninth month: and there was a fire on the hearth burning before him.

And it came to pass, that when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, he cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until all the roll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth.

Yet no man was abashed thereof, or rent his clothes: neither the king himself, nor his servants, though they heard all these words.

He also ordered Jerahmeel, who was one of the royal princes, Seraiah son of Azriel, and Shelemiah son of Abdeel to arrest the scribe Baruch and the prophet Jeremiah. However, the Lord hid them.

"Get another scroll and write on it everything that was written on the original scroll that King Jehoiakim of Judah burned.

Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Baruch the son of Neriah, the secretary, and he wrote on it from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, had burned in the fire, and furthermore was added to them many words like these.

Zedekiah son of Josiah succeeded Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim as king. He was elevated to the throne of the land of Judah by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.

Now Jeremiah was coming and going among the people, for they had not [yet] put him in prison.

Then Pharaoh's army was come forth out of Egypt: and when the Chaldeans that besieged Jerusalem heard tidings of them, they departed from Jerusalem.

"The Lord God of Israel says, 'Give a message to the king of Judah who sent you to ask me to help him. Tell him, "The army of Pharaoh that was on its way to help you will go back home to Egypt.

And it came to pass, that when the army of the Chaldeans was broken up from Jerusalem for fear of Pharaoh's army,

Jeremiah started to leave Jerusalem to go to the territory of Benjamin. He wanted to make sure he got his share of the property that was being divided up among his family there.

And when he was in the gate of Benjamin, a captain of the ward was there, whose name was Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah; and he took Jeremiah the prophet, saying, Thou fallest away to the Chaldeans.

Wherefore the princes were angry with Jeremiah, causing him to be beaten, and to be laid in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe. For he was the ruler of the prison.

When Jeremiah was entered into the dungeon, and into the cabins, and Jeremiah had remained there many days;

Then Zedekiah the king commanded, and they committed Jeremiah into the court of the guard; and they gave him daily a loaf of bread out of the bakers'street, until all the bread in the city was spent. Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.

Now Shephatiah the son of Mattan, and Gedaliah the son of Pashhur, and Jehucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur the son of Malchiah heard the words that Jeremiah [was] saying to all the people, {saying},

Thus said Jehovah, He dwelling in this city shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by death; and he going forth to the Chaldeans shall live; and his soul was to him for booty, and he lived.

Then Zedekiah the king said, See, he is in your hands: for the king was not able to do anything against them.