12

1You are righteous, Yahweh,

when I contend with you;

yet I would like to plead a case with you.

Why does the way of the wicked prosper?

Why are they all at ease who deal very treacherously?

2You have planted them. Yes, they have taken root.

They grow. Yes, they produce fruit.

You are near in their mouth,

and far from their heart.

3But you, Yahweh, know me.

You see me, and test my heart toward you.

Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter,

and prepare them for the day of slaughter.

4How long will the land mourn,

and the herbs of the whole country wither?

Because of the wickedness of those who dwell therein,

the animals and birds are consumed;

because they said,

“He won’t see our latter end.”

5“If you have run with the footmen,

and they have wearied you,

then how can you contend with horses?

Though in a land of peace you are secure,

yet how will you do in the pride of the Jordan?

6For even your brothers, and the house of your father,

even they have dealt treacherously with you!

Even they have cried aloud after you!

Don’t believe them,

though they speak beautiful words to you.

7“I have forsaken my house.

I have cast off my heritage.

I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies.

8My heritage has become to me as a lion in the forest.

She has uttered her voice against me.

Therefore I have hated her.

9Is my heritage to me as a speckled bird of prey?

Are the birds of prey against her all around?

Go, assemble all the animals of the field.

Bring them to devour.

10Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard.

They have trodden my portion under foot.

They have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.

11They have made it a desolation.

It mourns to me, being desolate.

The whole land is made desolate,

because no one cares.

12Destroyers have come on all the bare heights in the wilderness;

for the sword of Yahweh devours from the one end of the land even to the other end of the land.

No flesh has peace.

13They have sown wheat,

and have reaped thorns.

They have exhausted themselves,

and profit nothing.

You will be ashamed of your fruits,

because of Yahweh’s fierce anger.”

14Yahweh says, “Concerning all my evil neighbors, who touch the inheritance which I have caused my people Israel to inherit: Behold, I will pluck them up from off their land, and will pluck up the house of Judah from among them. 15It will happen that after I have plucked them up, I will return and have compassion on them. I will bring them again, every man to his heritage, and every man to his land. 16It will happen, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, ‘As Yahweh lives;’ even as they taught my people to swear by Baal, then they will be built up in the middle of my people. 17But if they will not hear, then I will pluck up that nation, plucking up and destroying it,” says Yahweh.

13

1Yahweh said to me, “Go, and buy yourself a linen belt, and put it on your waist, and don’t put it in water.”

2So I bought a belt according to Yahweh’s word, and put it on my waist.

3Yahweh’s word came to me the second time, saying, 4“Take the belt that you have bought, which is on your waist, and arise, go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a cleft of the rock.”

5So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as Yahweh commanded me.

6After many days, Yahweh said to me, “Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take the belt from there, which I commanded you to hide there.”

7Then I went to the Euphrates, and dug, and took the belt from the place where I had hidden it; and behold, the belt was ruined. It was profitable for nothing.

8Then Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 9“Yahweh says, ‘In this way I will ruin the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem. 10This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who walk in the stubbornness of their heart, and have gone after other gods to serve them and to worship them, will even be as this belt, which is profitable for nothing. 11For as the belt clings to the waist of a man, so I have caused the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to cling to me,’ says Yahweh; ‘that they may be to me for a people, for a name, for praise, and for glory; but they would not hear.’

12“Therefore you shall speak to them this word: ‘Yahweh, the God of Israel says, “Every container should be filled with wine.”’ They will tell you, ‘Do we not certainly know that every container should be filled with wine?’ 13Then tell them, ‘Yahweh says, “Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land, even the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with drunkenness. 14I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together,” says Yahweh: “I will not pity, spare, or have compassion, that I should not destroy them.”’”

15Hear, and give ear.

Don’t be proud,

for Yahweh has spoken.

16Give glory to Yahweh your God,

before he causes darkness,

and before your feet stumble on the dark mountains,

and while you look for light,

he turns it into the shadow of death,

and makes it deep darkness.

17But if you will not hear it,

my soul will weep in secret for your pride.

My eye will weep bitterly,

and run down with tears,

because Yahweh’s flock has been taken captive.

18Say to the king and to the queen mother,

“Humble yourselves.

Sit down, for your crowns have come down,

even the crown of your glory.

19The cities of the South are shut up,

and there is no one to open them.

Judah is carried away captive: all of them.

They are wholly carried away captive.

20Lift up your eyes,

and see those who come from the north.

Where is the flock that was given to you,

your beautiful flock?

21What will you say when he sets over you as head those whom you have yourself taught to be friends to you?

Won’t sorrows take hold of you, as of a woman in travail?

22If you say in your heart,

“Why have these things come on me?”

Your skirts are uncovered because of the greatness of your iniquity,

and your heels suffer violence.

23Can the Ethiopian change his skin,

or the leopard his spots?

Then may you also do good,

who are accustomed to do evil.

24“Therefore I will scatter them

as the stubble that passes away

by the wind of the wilderness.

25This is your lot,

the portion measured to you from me,” says Yahweh,

“because you have forgotten me,

and trusted in falsehood.”

26Therefore I will also uncover your skirts on your face,

and your shame will appear.

27I have seen your abominations, even your adulteries

and your neighing, the lewdness of your prostitution,

on the hills in the field.

Woe to you, Jerusalem!

You will not be made clean.

How long will it yet be?”

14

1This is Yahweh’s word that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought:

2“Judah mourns,

and its gates languish.

They sit in black on the ground.

The cry of Jerusalem goes up.

3Their nobles send their little ones to the waters.

They come to the cisterns,

and find no water.

They return with their vessels empty.

They are disappointed and confounded,

and cover their heads.

4Because of the ground which is cracked,

because no rain has been in the land,

the plowmen are disappointed.

They cover their heads.

5Yes, the doe in the field also calves and forsakes her young,

because there is no grass.

6The wild donkeys stand on the bare heights.

They pant for air like jackals.

Their eyes fail,

because there is no vegetation.

7Though our iniquities testify against us,

work for your name’s sake, Yahweh;

for our rebellions are many.

We have sinned against you.

8You hope of Israel,

its Savior in the time of trouble,

why should you be as a foreigner in the land,

and as a wayfaring man who turns aside to stay for a night?

9Why should you be like a scared man,

as a mighty man who can’t save?

Yet you, Yahweh, are in the middle of us,

and we are called by your name.

Don’t leave us.

10Yahweh says to this people:

“Even so they have loved to wander.

They have not restrained their feet.

Therefore Yahweh does not accept them.

Now he will remember their iniquity,

and punish them for their sins.”

11Yahweh said to me, “Don’t pray for this people for their good. 12When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and meal offering, I will not accept them; but I will consume them by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence.”

13Then I said, “Ah, Lord Yahweh! Behold, the prophets tell them, ‘You will not see the sword, neither will you have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place.’”

14Then Yahweh said to me, “The prophets prophesy lies in my name. I didn’t send them. I didn’t command them. I didn’t speak to them. They prophesy to you a lying vision, divination, and a thing of nothing, and the deceit of their own heart. 15Therefore Yahweh says concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name, but I didn’t send them, yet they say, ‘Sword and famine will not be in this land.’ Those prophets will be consumed by sword and famine. 16The people to whom they prophesy will be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword. They will have no one to bury them—them, their wives, their sons, or their daughters, for I will pour their wickedness on them.

17“You shall say this word to them:

“‘Let my eyes run down with tears night and day,

and let them not cease;

for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach,

with a very grievous wound.

18If I go out into the field,

then behold, the slain with the sword!

If I enter into the city,

then behold, those who are sick with famine!

For both the prophet and the priest go about in the land,

and have no knowledge.’”

19Have you utterly rejected Judah?

Has your soul loathed Zion?

Why have you struck us, and there is no healing for us?

We looked for peace, but no good came;

and for a time of healing, and behold, dismay!

20We acknowledge, Yahweh, our wickedness,

and the iniquity of our fathers;

for we have sinned against you.

21Do not abhor us, for your name’s sake.

Do not disgrace the throne of your glory.

Remember, and don’t break your covenant with us.

22Are there any among the vanities of the nations that can cause rain?

Or can the sky give showers?

Aren’t you he, Yahweh our God?

Therefore we will wait for you;

for you have made all these things.