This is what the Lord says: "What fault could your ancestors have possibly found in me that they strayed so far from me? They paid allegiance to worthless idols, and so became worthless to me.

I brought you into a fertile land so you could enjoy its fruits and its rich bounty. But when you entered my land, you defiled it; you made the land I call my own loathsome to me.

The priests, said not Where is Yahweh? And, they who handled the law, did not acknowledge me, And the shepherds transgressed against me, - And the prophets, prophesied by Baal, And so after things that could not profit, did they walk.

Hath a nation, changed gods, although they were No-gods? Yet my people have changed my glory for that which could not profit!

I planted you, a choice vine
from the very best seed.
How then could you turn into
a degenerate, foreign vine?

"My, how good you have become at chasing after your lovers! Why, you could even teach prostitutes a thing or two!

‘Will He be angry forever?
Will He be indignant to the end?’
Behold, you have spoken,
And you have done all the evil things [you could],
And you have had your way and have carried out your wickedness.”

Then the Lord said to me, "Under the circumstances, wayward Israel could even be considered less guilty than unfaithful Judah.

Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, saith the LORD.

Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore shall they fall among them that fall: in the time of their visitation they shall be cast down, saith the LORD.

Oh that I could comfort myself against sorrow! my heart is faint within me.

I wish that my head were a well full of water and my eyes were a fountain full of tears! If they were, I could cry day and night for those of my dear people who have been killed.

Oh, that I had a lodging place for travelers in the desert, so that I could leave my people and go away from them. For all of them are adulterers, a band of traitors.

Therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Behold, I will melt them, and try them; for how else could I do for the daughter of my people?

And the people to whom they are prophesying will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem, victims of famine and sword; and they will have no one to bury them—neither them, nor their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters. For I will pour out their [own] wickedness on them [and not only on the imposters posing as prophets, for the people could not have been deceived without their own consent].

Then said the LORD unto me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could not be toward this people: cast them out of my sight, and let them go forth.

Then I said, "Lord, you give me strength and protect me. You are the one I can run to for safety when I am in trouble. Nations from all over the earth will come to you and say, 'Our ancestors had nothing but false gods -- worthless idols that could not help them at all.

They have built places here for worship of the god Baal so that they could sacrifice their children as burnt offerings to him in the fire. Such sacrifices are something I never commanded them to make! They are something I never told them to do! Indeed, such a thing never even entered my mind!

Then I said, I will not make mention 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.

But the LORD stood by me, like a mighty giant: therefore my persecutors fell, and could do nothing. They shall be sore confounded, for they have done unwisely, they shall have an everlasting shame.

Yet which of them has ever stood in the Lord's inner circle so they could see and hear what he has to say? Which of them have ever paid attention or listened to what he has said?

Behold me! against such as prophesy the dreams of falsehood, Declareth Yahweh, who have related them and led astray my people, with their falsehoods and with their recklessness, - whereas, I, had not sent them nor commanded them, so that they could be of no, profit, to this people, Declareth Yahweh.

One basket had very good figs, even like the figs that are first ripe: and the other basket had very naughty figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad.

For I am already bringing disaster on the city that bears My name, so how could you possibly go unpunished? You will not go unpunished, for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth”—this is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts.

The Lord affirms, "The descendants of Israel will not cease forever to be a nation in my sight. That could only happen if the fixed ordering of the heavenly lights were to cease to operate before me."

This is what the LORD says: "If the heavens could be measured above, or the foundations of the earth be searched out below, then I also would reject all the descendants of Israel because of everything they have done," declares the LORD.

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.'

"Thus says Yahweh: 'If you could break my covenant [with] the day, and my covenant [with] the night, so that day and night [would] not come at their time,

then my covenant could be broken with David my servant, from {having} a son who could rule on his throne, and with the Levites, the priests, my ministers.

Hast thou not observed what, this people, have spoken saying, The two families which Yahweh did choose, he hath even east them off? And so, my people, they despise, as though they could not again become a nation in their sight!

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.

And ere yet he could make reply - Go thou back then unto Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon hath set in charge over the cities of Judah, and dwell thou with him in the midst of the people, or whithersoever it may be right in thine eyes to go, go! So the chief of the royal executioners gave him an allowance and a present and let him go.

because of the Chaldeans; for they were afraid of them because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had killed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had appointed [governor] over the land [and whose death the king might avenge].

So that the LORD could no longer bear, because of the evil of your doings, and because of the abominations which ye have committed; therefore is your land a desolation, and an astonishment, and a curse, without an inhabitant, as at this day.

Because of the day that is coming to destroy all [the] Philistines, to cut off from Tyre and from Sidon every survivor [who could] help, for Yahweh [is] destroying [the] Philistines, the remnant of the coastland of Caphtor.

We tried to heal Babylon,
but she could not be healed.
Abandon her!
Let each of us go to his own land,
for her judgment extends to the sky
and reaches as far as the clouds.