Good News Translation (GNT)

1 “At that time the bones of the kings and of the officials of Judah, as well as the bones of the priests, of the prophets, and of the other people who lived in Jerusalem, will be taken out of their graves.

2 Instead of being gathered and buried, their bones will be like manure lying on the ground. They will be spread out before the sun, the moon, and the stars, which these people have loved and served, and which they have consulted and worshiped.

3 And the people of this evil nation who survive, who live in the places where I have scattered them, will prefer to die rather than to go on living. I, the Lord Almighty, have spoken.”

Sin and Punishment

4 The Lord told me to say to his people, “When someone falls down, doesn’t he get back up? If someone misses the road, doesn’t he turn back?

5 Why then, my people, do you turn away from me without ever turning back? You cling to your idols and refuse to return to me.

6 I listened carefully, but you did not speak the truth. Not one of you has been sorry for your wickedness; not one of you has asked, ‘What have I done wrong?’ Each of you keep on going your own way, like a horse rushing into battle.

7 Even storks know when it is time to return; doves, swallows, and thrushes know when it is time to migrate. But, my people, you do not know the laws by which I rule you.

8 How can you say that you are wise and that you know my laws? Look, the laws have been changed by dishonest scribes.

9 Your wise men are put to shame; they are confused and trapped. They have rejected my words; what wisdom do they have now?

10 So I will give their fields to new owners and their wives to other men. Everyone, great and small, tries to make money dishonestly. Even prophets and priests cheat the people.

11 They act as if my people’s wounds were only scratches. ‘All is well,’ they say, when all is not well.

12 My people, were you ashamed because you did these disgusting things? No, you were not ashamed at all; you don’t even know how to blush! And so you will fall as others have fallen; when I punish you, that will be the end of you. I, the Lord, have spoken.

13 “I wanted to gather my people, as a farmer gathers a harvest; but they are like a vine with no grapes, like a fig tree with no figs; even the leaves have withered. Therefore, I have allowed outsiders to take over the land.”

14 “Why are we sitting still?” God’s people ask. “Come on, we will run to the fortified cities and die there. The Lord our God has condemned us to die; he has given us poison to drink, because we have sinned against him.

15 We hoped for peace and a time of healing, but it was no use; terror came instead.

16 Our enemies are already in the city of Dan; we hear the snorting of their horses. The whole land trembles when their horses neigh. Our enemies have come to destroy our land and everything in it, our city and all its people.”

17 “Watch out!” the Lord says, “I am sending snakes among you, poisonous snakes that cannot be charmed, and they will bite you.”

Jeremiah’s Sorrow for His People

18 My sorrow cannot be healed;

I am sick at heart.

19 Listen! Throughout the land

I hear my people crying out,

“Is the Lord no longer in Zion?

Is Zion’s king no longer there?”

The Lord, their king, replies,

“Why have you made me angry by worshiping your idols

and by bowing down to your useless foreign gods?”

20 The people cry out,

“The summer is gone, the harvest is over,

but we have not been saved.”

21 My heart has been crushed

because my people are crushed;

I mourn; I am completely dismayed.

22 Is there no medicine in Gilead?

Are there no doctors there?

Why, then, have my people not been healed?

—https://cdn-youversionapi.global.ssl.fastly.net/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/JER/8-315726ffbdd213c0aec416c1084c26d7.mp3?version_id=68—

1 I wish my head were a well of water,

and my eyes a fountain of tears,

so that I could cry day and night

for my people who have been killed.

2 I wish I had a place to stay in the desert

where I could get away from my people.

They are all unfaithful,

a mob of traitors.

3 They are always ready to tell lies;

dishonesty instead of truth rules the land.

The Lord says,

“My people do one evil thing after another

and do not acknowledge me as their God.”

4 Everyone must be on guard against their friends,

and no one can trust their relatives;

for all relatives are as deceitful as Jacob,

and everyone slanders their friends.

5-6 They all mislead their friends,

and no one tells the truth;

they have taught their tongues to lie

and will not give up their sinning.

They do one violent thing after another,

and one deceitful act follows another.

The Lord says that his people reject him.

7 Because of this the Lord Almighty says,

“I will refine my people like metal

and put them to the test.

My people have done evil—

what else can I do with them?

8 Their tongues are like deadly arrows;

they always tell lies.

Everyone speaks friendly words to their neighbors,

but they are really setting a trap for them.

9 Will I not punish them for these things?

Will I not take revenge on a nation like this?

I, the Lord, have spoken.”

10 I said, “I will mourn for the mountains

and weep for the pastures,

because they have dried up,

and no one travels through them.

The sound of livestock is no longer heard;

birds and wild animals have fled and gone.”

11 The Lord says, “I will make Jerusalem a pile of ruins,

a place where jackals live;

the cities of Judah will become a desert,

a place where no one lives.”

12 I asked, “Lord, why is the land devastated and dry as a desert, so that no one travels through it? Who is wise enough to understand this? To whom have you explained it so that they can tell others?”

13 The Lord answered, “This has happened because my people have abandoned the teaching that I gave them. They have not obeyed me or done what I told them.

14 Instead, they have been stubborn and have worshiped the idols of Baal as their ancestors taught them to do.

15 So then, listen to what I, the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, will do: I will give my people bitter plants to eat and poison to drink.

16 I will scatter them among nations that neither they nor their ancestors have heard about, and I will send armies against them until I have completely destroyed them.”

The People of Jerusalem Cry Out for Help

17 The Lord Almighty said,

“Think about what is happening!

Call for the mourners to come,

for the women who sing funeral songs.”

18 The people said,

“Tell them to hurry and sing a funeral song for us,

until our eyes fill with tears,

and our eyelids are wet from crying.”

19 Listen to the sound of crying in Zion:

“We are ruined!

We are completely disgraced!

We must leave our land;

our homes have been torn down.”

20 I said,

“Listen to the Lord, you women,

and pay attention to his words.

Teach your daughters how to mourn,

and your friends how to sing a funeral song.

21 Death has come in through our windows

and entered our palaces;

it has cut down the children in the streets

and the young men in the marketplaces.

22 Dead bodies are scattered everywhere,

like piles of manure on the fields,

like grain cut and left behind by the reapers,

grain that no one gathers.

This is what the Lord has told me to say.”

23 The Lord says,

“The wise should not boast of their wisdom,

nor the strong of their strength,

nor the rich of their wealth.

24 If any want to boast,

they should boast that they know and understand me,

because my love is constant,

and I do what is just and right.

These are the things that please me.

I, the Lord, have spoken.”

25-26 The Lord says, “The time is coming when I will punish the people of Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab, and the desert people, who have their hair cut short.All these people are circumcised, but have not kept the covenant it symbolizes. None of these people and none of the people of Israel have kept my covenant.”

—https://cdn-youversionapi.global.ssl.fastly.net/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/JER/9-ea7828d2f749321c804ca0cfd95d0094.mp3?version_id=68—

Idolatry and True Worship

1 People of Israel, listen to the message that the Lord has for you.

2 He says,

“Do not follow the ways of other nations;

do not be disturbed by unusual sights in the sky,

even though other nations are terrified.

3 The religion of these people is worthless.

A tree is cut down in the forest;

it is carved by the tools of the woodworker

4 and decorated with silver and gold.

It is fastened down with nails

to keep it from falling over.

5 Such idols are like scarecrows in a field of melons;

they cannot speak;

they have to be carried

because they cannot walk.

Do not be afraid of them:

they can cause you no harm,

and they can do you no good.”

6 Lord, there is no one like you;

you are mighty,

and your name is great and powerful.

7 Who would not honor you, the king of all nations?

You deserve to be honored.

There is no one like you

among all the wise men of the nations

or among any of their kings.

8 All of them are stupid and foolish.

What can they learn from wooden idols?

9 Their idols are covered with silver from Spain

and with gold from Uphaz,

all the work of artists;

they are dressed in violet and purple cloth

woven by skilled weavers.

10 But you, Lord, are the true God,

you are the living God

and the eternal king.

When you are angry, the world trembles;

the nations cannot endure your anger.

(

11 You people must tell them that the gods who did not make the earth and the sky will be destroyed. They will no longer exist anywhere on earth.)

A Hymn of Praise to God

12 The Lord made the earth by his power;

by his wisdom he created the world

and stretched out the heavens.

13 At his command the waters above the skyroar;

he brings clouds from the ends of the earth.

He makes lightning flash in the rain

and sends the wind from his storeroom.

14 At the sight of this, people feel stupid and senseless;

those who make idols are disillusioned,

because the gods they make are false and lifeless.

15 They are worthless and should be despised;

they will be destroyed when the Lord comes to deal with them.

16 The God of Jacob is not like them;

he is the one who made everything,

and he has chosen Israel to be his very own people.

The Lord Almighty is his name.

The Coming Exile

17 People of Jerusalem, you are under siege! Gather up your belongings.

18 The Lord is going to throw you out of this land; he is going to crush you until not one of you is left. The Lord has spoken.

19 The people of Jerusalem cried out,

“How badly we are hurt!

Our wounds will not heal.

And we thought this was something we could endure!

20 Our tents are ruined;

the ropes that held them have broken.

Our children have all gone away;

there is no one left to put up our tents again;

there is no one to hang their curtains.”

21 I answered, “Our leaders are stupid;

they do not ask the Lord for guidance.

This is why they have failed,

and our people have been scattered.

22 Listen! News has come!

There is a great commotion in a nation to the north;

its army will turn the cities of Judah into a desert,

a place where jackals live.”

23 Lord, I know that none of us are in charge of our own destiny;

none of us have control over our own life.

24 Correct your people, Lord,

but do not be too hard on us

or punish us when you are angry;

that would be the end of us.

25 Turn your anger on the nations that do not worship you

and on the people who reject you.

They have killed your people;

they have destroyed us completely

and left our country in ruins.

—https://cdn-youversionapi.global.ssl.fastly.net/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/JER/10-f4c01b6547c8e0d8de820b7cc7cba22a.mp3?version_id=68—

Jeremiah and the Covenant

1 The Lord said to me,

2 “Listen to the terms of the covenant. Tell the people of Judah and of Jerusalem

3 that I, the Lord God of Israel, have placed a curse on everyone who does not obey the terms of this covenant.

4 It is the covenant I made with their ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt, the land that was like a blazing furnace to them. I told them to obey me and to do everything that I had commanded. I told them that if they obeyed, they would be my people and I would be their God.

5 Then I would keep the promise I made to their ancestors that I would give them the rich and fertile land which they now have.”

I said, “Yes, Lord.”

6 Then the Lord said to me, “Go to the cities of Judah and to the streets of Jerusalem. Proclaim my message there and tell the people to listen to the terms of the covenant and to obey them.

7 When I brought their ancestors out of Egypt, I solemnly warned them to obey me, and I have kept on warning the people until this day.

8 But they did not listen or obey. Instead, everyone continued to be as stubborn and evil as ever. I had commanded them to keep the covenant, but they refused. So I brought on them all the punishments described in it.”

9 Then the Lord said to me, “The people of Judah and of Jerusalem are plotting against me.

10 They have gone back to the sins of their ancestors, who refused to do what I said; they have worshiped other gods. Both Israel and Judah have broken the covenant that I made with their ancestors.

11 So now I, the Lord, warn them that I am going to bring destruction on them, and they will not escape. And when they cry out to me for help, I will not listen to them.

12 Then the people of Judah and of Jerusalem will go to the gods to whom they offer sacrifices and will cry out to them for help. But those gods will not be able to save them when this destruction comes.

13 The people of Judah have as many gods as they have cities, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem have set up as many altars for sacrifices to that disgusting god Baal as there are streets in the city.

14 Jeremiah, don’t pray to me or plead with me on behalf of these people. When they are in trouble and call to me for help, I will not listen to them.”

15 The Lord says, “The people I love are doing evil things. What right do they have to be in my Temple? Do they think they can prevent disaster by making promisesand by offering animal sacrifices? Will they then rejoice?

16 I once called them a leafy olive tree, full of beautiful fruit; but now, with a roar like thunder I will set its leaves on fire and break its branches.

17 “I, the Lord Almighty, planted Israel and Judah; but now I threaten them with disaster. They have brought this on themselves because they have done wrong; they have made me angry by offering sacrifices to Baal.”

A Plot against Jeremiah’s Life

18 The Lord informed me of the plots that my enemies were making against me.

19 I was like a trusting lamb taken out to be killed, and I did not know that it was against me that they were planning evil things. They were saying, “Let’s chop down the tree while it is still healthy;let’s kill him so that no one will remember him any more.”

20 Then I prayed, “Almighty Lord, you are a just judge; you test people’s thoughts and feelings. I have placed my cause in your hands; so let me watch you take revenge on these people.”

21 The people of Anathoth wanted me killed, and they told me that they would kill me if I kept on proclaiming the Lord’s message.

22 So the Lord Almighty said, “I will punish them! Their young men will be killed in war; their children will die of starvation.

23 I have set a time for bringing disaster on the people of Anathoth, and when that time comes, none of them will survive.”

—https://cdn-youversionapi.global.ssl.fastly.net/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/JER/11-cab152e3e827f8e6124da53301a2c1bf.mp3?version_id=68—

Jeremiah Questions the Lord

1 “Lord, if I argued my case with you,

you would prove to be right.

Yet I must question you about matters of justice.

Why are the wicked so prosperous?

Why do dishonest people succeed?

2 You plant them, and they take root;

they grow and bear fruit.

They always speak well of you,

yet they do not really care about you.

3 But, Lord, you know me;

you see what I do

and how I love you.

Drag these evil people away like sheep to be butchered;

guard them until it is time for them to be slaughtered.

4 How long will our land be dry,

and the grass in every field be withered?

Animals and birds are dying

because of the wickedness of our people,

people who say, ‘God doesn’t see what we are doing.’”

5 The Lord said,

“Jeremiah, if you get tired racing against people,

how can you race against horses?

If you can’t even stand up in open country,

how will you manage in the jungle by the Jordan?

6 Even your relatives, members of your own family, have betrayed you;

they join in the attacks against you.

Do not trust them, even though they speak friendly words.”

The Lord’s Sorrow because of His People

7 The Lord says,

“I have abandoned Israel;

I have rejected my chosen nation.

I have given the people I love

into the power of their enemies.

8 My chosen people have turned against me;

like a lion in the forest

they have roared at me,

and so I hate them.

9 My chosen people are like a bird

attacked from all sides by hawks.

Call the wild animals

to come and join in the feast!

10 Many foreign rulers have destroyed my vineyard;

they have trampled down my fields;

they have turned my lovely land into a desert.

11 They have made it a wasteland;

it lies desolate before me.

The whole land has become a desert,

and no one cares.

12 Across all the desert highlands

people have come to plunder.

I have sent war to destroy the entire land;

no one can live in peace.

13 My people planted wheat, but gathered weeds;

they have worked hard, but got nothing for it.

Because of my fierce anger

their crops have failed.”

The Lord’s Promise to Israel’s Neighbors

14 The Lord says, “I have something to say about Israel’s neighbors who have ruined the land I gave to my people Israel. I will take those wicked people away from their countries like an uprooted plant, and I will rescue Judah from them.

15 But after I have taken them away, I will have mercy on them; I will bring each nation back to its own land and to its own country.

16 If with all their hearts they will accept the religion of my people and will swear, ‘As the Lord lives’—as they once taught my people to swear by Baal—then they will also be a part of my people and will prosper.

17 But if any nation will not obey, then I will completely uproot it and destroy it. I, the Lord, have spoken.”

—https://cdn-youversionapi.global.ssl.fastly.net/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/JER/12-5eaf42962ef1d59d6b304f72dfee4d4b.mp3?version_id=68—

The Linen Shorts

1 The Lord told me to go and buy myself some linen shorts and to put them on; but he told me not to put them in water.

2 So I bought them and put them on.

3 Then the Lord spoke to me again and said,

4 “Go to the Euphrates River and hide the shorts in a hole in the rocks.”

5 So I went and hid them near the Euphrates.

6 Some time later the Lord told me to go back to the Euphrates and get the shorts.

7 So I went back, and when I found the place where I had hidden them, I saw that they were ruined and were no longer any good.

8 Then the Lord spoke to me again. He said,

9 “This is how I will destroy the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem.

10 These evil people have refused to obey me. They have been as stubborn and wicked as ever, and have worshiped and served other gods. So then, they will become like these shorts that are no longer any good.

11 Just as shorts fit tightly around the waist, so I intended all the people of Israel and Judah to hold tightly to me. I did this so that they would be my people and would bring praise and honor to my name; but they would not obey me.”

The Wine Jar

12 The Lord God said to me, “Jeremiah, tell the people of Israel that every wine jar should be filled with wine. They will answer that they know every wine jar should be filled with wine.

13 Then tell them that I, the Lord, am going to fill the people in this land with wine until they are drunk: the kings, who are David’s descendants, the priests, the prophets, and all the people of Jerusalem.

14 Then I will smash them like jars against one another, old and young alike. No pity, compassion, or mercy will stop me from killing them.”

Jeremiah Warns against Pride

15 People of Israel, the Lord has spoken!

Be humble and listen to him.

16 Honor the Lord, your God,

before he brings darkness,

and you stumble on the mountains;

before he turns into deep darkness

the light you hoped for.

17 If you will not listen,

I will cry in secret because of your pride;

I will cry bitterly, and my tears will flow

because the Lord’s people have been taken away as captives.

18 The Lord said to me, “Tell the king and his mother to come down from their thrones, because their beautiful crowns have fallen from their heads.

19 The towns of southern Judah are under siege; no one can get through to them. All the people of Judah have been taken away into exile.”

20 Jerusalem, look! Your enemies are coming down from the north! Where are the people entrusted to your care, your people you were so proud of

21 What will you say when people you thought were your friends conquer you and rule over you?You will be in pain like a woman giving birth.

22 If you ask why all this has happened to you—why your clothes have been torn off and you have been raped—it is because your sin is so terrible.

23 Can people change the color of their skin, or a leopard remove its spots? If they could, then you that do nothing but evil could learn to do what is right.

24 The Lord will scatter you like straw that is blown away by the desert wind.

25 He has said that this will be your fate. This is what he has decided to do with you, because you have forgotten him and have trusted in false gods.

26 The Lord himself will strip off your clothes and expose you to shame.

27 He has seen you do the things he hates. He has seen you go after pagan gods on the hills and in the fields, like a man lusting after his neighbor’s wife or like a stallion after a mare. People of Jerusalem, you are doomed! When will you ever be pure?

—https://cdn-youversionapi.global.ssl.fastly.net/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/JER/13-e3cfde71036241f44e126b9005d83504.mp3?version_id=68—

The Terrible Drought

1 The Lord said to me concerning the drought,

2 “Judah is in mourning;

its cities are dying,

its people lie on the ground in sorrow,

and Jerusalem cries out for help.

3 The rich people send their servants for water;

they go to the cisterns,

but find no water;

they come back with their jars empty.

Discouraged and confused,

they hide their faces.

4 Because there is no rain

and the ground is dried up,

the farmers are sick at heart;

they hide their faces.

5 In the field the mother deer

abandons her newborn fawn

because there is no grass.

6 The wild donkeys stand on the hilltops

and pant for breath like jackals;

their eyesight fails them

because they have no food.

7 My people cry out to me,

‘Even though our sins accuse us,

help us, Lord, as you have promised.

We have turned away from you many times;

we have sinned against you.

8 You are Israel’s only hope;

you are the one who saves us from disaster.

Why are you like a stranger in our land,

like a traveler who stays for only one night?

9 Why are you like someone taken by surprise,

like a soldier powerless to help?

Surely, Lord, you are with us!

We are your people;

do not abandon us.’”

10 The Lord says about these people, “They love to run away from me, and they will not control themselves. So I am not pleased with them. I will remember the wrongs they have done and punish them because of their sins.”

11 The Lord said to me, “Do not ask me to help these people.

12 Even if they fast, I will not listen to their cry for help; and even if they offer me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not be pleased with them. Instead, I will kill them in war and by starvation and disease.”

13 Then I said, “Sovereign Lord, you know that the prophets are telling the people that there will be no war or starvation, because you have promised, they say, that there will be only peace in our land.”

14 But the Lord replied, “The prophets are telling lies in my name; I did not send them, nor did I give them any orders or speak one word to them. The visions they talk about have not come from me; their predictions are worthless things that they have imagined.

15 I, the Lord, tell you what I am going to do to those prophets whom I did not send but who speak in my name and say war and starvation will not strike this land—I will kill them in war and by starvation.

16 The people to whom they have said these things will be killed in the same way. Their bodies will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem, and there will be no one to bury them. This will happen to all of them—including their wives, their sons, and their daughters. I will make them pay for their wickedness.”

17 The Lord commanded me to tell the people about my sorrow and to say:

“May my eyes flow with tears day and night,

may I never stop weeping,

for my people are deeply wounded

and are badly hurt.

18 When I go out in the fields,

I see the bodies of men killed in war;

when I go into the towns,

I see people starving to death.

Prophets and priests carry on their work,

but they don’t know what they are doing.”

The People Plead with the Lord

19 Lord, have you completely rejected Judah?

Do you hate the people of Zion?

Why have you hurt us so badly

that we cannot be healed?

We looked for peace, but nothing good happened;

we hoped for healing, but terror came instead.

20 We have sinned against you, Lord;

we confess our own sins

and the sins of our ancestors.

21 Remember your promises and do not despise us;

do not bring disgrace on Jerusalem,

the place of your glorious throne.

Do not break the covenant you made with us.

22 None of the idols of the nations can send rain;

the sky by itself cannot make showers fall.

We have put our hope in you, O Lord our God,

because you are the one who does these things.

—https://cdn-youversionapi.global.ssl.fastly.net/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/JER/14-ad9e01e5da6f19176d9ed7fa5903864b.mp3?version_id=68—

Doom for the People of Judah

1 Then the Lord said to me, “Even if Moses and Samuel were standing here pleading with me, I would not show these people any mercy. Make them go away; make them get out of my sight.

2 When they ask you where they should go, tell them that I have said:

Some are doomed to die by disease—

that’s where they will go!

Others are doomed to die in war—

that’s where they will go!

Some are doomed to die of starvation—

that’s where they will go!

Others are doomed to be taken away as prisoners—

that’s where they will go!

3 I, the Lord, have decided that four terrible things will happen to them: they will be killed in war; their bodies will be dragged off by dogs; birds will eat them, and wild animals will devour what is left over.

4 I will make all the people of the world horrified at them because of what Hezekiah’s son Manasseh did in Jerusalem when he was king of Judah.”

5 The Lord says,

“Who will pity you, people of Jerusalem,

and who will grieve over you?

Who will stop long enough

to ask how you are?

6 You people have rejected me;

you have turned your backs on me.

So I reached out and crushed you

because I was tired of controlling my anger.

7 In every town in the land

I threw you to the wind like straw.

I destroyed you, my people,

I killed your children

because you did not stop your evil ways.

8 There are more widows in your land

than grains of sand by the sea.

I killed your young men in their prime

and made their mothers suffer.

I suddenly struck them

with anguish and terror.

9 The mother who lost her seven children has fainted,

gasping for breath.

Her daylight has turned to darkness;

she is disgraced and sick at heart.

I will let your enemies kill

those of you who are still alive.

I, the Lord, have spoken.”

Jeremiah Complains to the Lord

10 What an unhappy man I am! Why did my mother bring me into the world? I have to quarrel and argue with everyone in the land. I have not lent any money or borrowed any; yet everyone curses me.

11 Lord, may all their curses come true if I have not servedyou well, if I have not pleaded with you on behalf of my enemies when they were in trouble and distress. (

12 No one can break iron, especially the iron from the north that is mixed with bronze.)

13 The Lord said to me, “I will send enemies to carry away the wealth and treasures of my people, in order to punish them for the sins they have committed throughout the land.

14 I will make them serve their enemies in a land they know nothing about, because my anger is like fire, and it will burn forever.”

15 Then I said, “Lord, you understand. Remember me and help me. Let me have revenge on those who persecute me. Do not be so patient with them that they succeed in killing me. Remember that it is for your sake that I am insulted.

16 You spoke to me, and I listened to every word. I belong to you, Lord God Almighty, and so your words filled my heart with joy and happiness.

17 I did not spend my time with other people, laughing and having a good time. In obedience to your orders I stayed by myself and was filled with anger.

18 Why do I keep on suffering? Why are my wounds incurable? Why won’t they heal? Do you intend to disappoint me like a stream that goes dry in the summer?”

19 To this the Lord replied, “If you return, I will take you back, and you will be my servant again. If instead of talking nonsense you proclaim a worthwhile message, you will be my prophet again. The people will come back to you, and you will not need to go to them.

20 I will make you like a solid bronze wall as far as they are concerned. They will fight against you, but they will not defeat you. I will be with you to protect you and keep you safe.

21 I will rescue you from the power of wicked and violent people. I, the Lord, have spoken.”

—https://cdn-youversionapi.global.ssl.fastly.net/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/JER/15-812291eb48fbf67a4f1fed349b1cdc5b.mp3?version_id=68—

The Lord’s Will for Jeremiah’s Life

1 Again the Lord spoke to me and said,

2 “Do not marry or have children in a place like this.

3 I will tell you what is going to happen to the children who are born here and to their parents.

4 They will die of terrible diseases, and no one will mourn for them or bury them. Their bodies will lie like piles of manure on the ground. They will be killed in war or die of starvation, and their bodies will be food for the birds and the wild animals.

5 “You must not enter a house where there is mourning. Do not grieve for anyone. I will no longer bless my people with peace or show them love and mercy.

6 The rich and the poor will die in this land, but no one will bury them or mourn for them. Not one of you will gash yourself or shave your head to show your grief.

7 No one will eat or drink with anyone to offer comfort when a loved one dies. No one will show sympathy, not even for someone who has lost a father or mother.

8 “Do not enter a house where people are feasting. Do not sit down with them to eat and drink.

9 Listen to what I, the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, have to say. I will silence the sounds of joy and gladness and the happy sounds of wedding feasts. The people here will live to see this happen.

10 “When you tell them all this, they will ask you why I have decided to punish them so harshly. They will ask what crime they are guilty of and what sin they have committed against the Lord their God.

11 Then tell them that the Lord has said, ‘Your ancestors turned away from me and worshiped and served other gods. They abandoned me and did not obey my teachings.

12 But you have done even worse than your ancestors. All of you are stubborn and evil, and you do not obey me.

13 So then, I will throw you out of this land into a land that neither you nor your ancestors have ever known. And there you will serve other gods day and night, and I will show you no mercy.’”

The Return from Exile

14 The Lord says, “The time is coming when people will no longer swear by me as the living God who brought the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt.

15 Instead, they will swear by me as the living God who brought the people of Israel out of a northern land and out of all the other countries where I had scattered them. I will bring them back to their own country, to the land that I gave their ancestors. I, the Lord, have spoken.”

The Coming Punishment

16 The Lord says, “I am sending for many fishermen to come and catch these people. Then I will send for many hunters to hunt them down on every mountain and hill and in the caves among the rocks.

17 I see everything they do. Nothing is hidden from me; their sins do not escape my sight.

18 I will make them pay double for their sin and wickedness, because they have defiled my land with idols that are as lifeless as corpses, and have filled it with their false gods.”

Jeremiah’s Prayer of Confidence in the Lord

19 Lord, you are the one who protects me and gives me strength; you help me in times of trouble. Nations will come to you from the ends of the earth and say, “Our ancestors had nothing but false gods, nothing but useless idols.

20 Can people make their own gods? No, if they did, those would not really be gods.”

21 “So then,” says the Lord, “once and for all I will make the nations know my power and my might; they will know that I am the Lord.”

—https://cdn-youversionapi.global.ssl.fastly.net/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/JER/16-8d67f109fa2d46c2b03d1d5dd40c1880.mp3?version_id=68—

The Sin and Punishment of Judah

1 The Lord says, “People of Judah, your sin is written with an iron pen; it is engraved on your hearts with a diamond point and carved on the corners of your altars.

2 Your people worship at the altars and the symbols that have been set up for the goddess Asherah by every green tree and on the hilltops

3 and on the mountains in the open country. I will have your enemies take away your wealth and your treasures because of all the sins you have committedthroughout your land.

4 You will have to give upthe land I gave you, and I will make you serve your enemies in a land you know nothing about, because my anger is like a fire, and it will burn forever.”

Various Sayings

5 The Lord says,

“I will condemn those

who turn away from me

and put their trust in human beings,

in the strength of mortals.

6 He is like a bush in the desert,

which grows in the dry wasteland,

on salty ground where nothing else grows.

Nothing good ever happens to him.

7 “But I will bless the person

who puts his trust in me.

8 He is like a tree growing near a stream

and sending out roots to the water.

It is not afraid when hot weather comes,

because its leaves stay green;

it has no worries when there is no rain;

it keeps on bearing fruit.

9 “Who can understand the human heart?

There is nothing else so deceitful;

it is too sick to be healed.

10 I, the Lord, search the minds

and test the hearts of people.

I treat each of them according to the way they live,

according to what they do.”

11 The person who gets money dishonestly

is like a bird that hatches eggs it didn’t lay.

In the prime of life he will lose his riches,

and in the end he is nothing but a fool.

12 Our Temple is like a glorious throne,

standing on a high mountain from the beginning.

13 Lord, you are Israel’s hope;

all who abandon you will be put to shame.

They will disappear like names written in the dust,

because they have abandoned you, the Lord,

the spring of fresh water.

Jeremiah Asks the Lord for Help

14 Lord, heal me and I will be completely well; rescue me and I will be perfectly safe. You are the one I praise!

15 The people say to me, “Where are those threats the Lord made against us? Let him carry them out now!”

16 But, Lord, I never urged you to bring disaster on them;I did not wish a time of trouble for them. Lord, you know this; you know what I have said.

17 Do not be a terror to me; you are my place of safety when trouble comes.

18 Bring disgrace on those who persecute me, but spare me, Lord. Fill them with terror, but do not terrify me. Bring disaster on them and break them to pieces.

On Observing the Sabbath

19 The Lord said to me, “Jeremiah, go and announce my message at the People’s Gate, through which the kings of Judah enter and leave the city; then go to all the other gates of Jerusalem.

20 Tell the kings and all the people of Judah and everyone who lives in Jerusalem and enters these gates, to listen to what I say.

21 Tell them that if they love their lives, they must not carry any load on the Sabbath; they must not carry anything in through the gates of Jerusalem

22 or carry anything out of their houses on the Sabbath. They must not work on the Sabbath; they must observe it as a sacred day, as I commanded their ancestors.

23 Their ancestors did not listen to me or pay any attention. Instead, they became stubborn; they would not obey me or learn from me.

24 “Tell these people that they must obey all my commands. They must not carry any load in through the gates of this city on the Sabbath. They must observe the Sabbath as a sacred day and must not do any work at all.

25 Then their kings and princes will enter the gates of Jerusalem and have the same royal power that David had. Together with the people of Judah and of Jerusalem, they will ride in chariots and on horses, and the city of Jerusalem will always be filled with people.

26 People will come from the towns of Judah and from the villages around Jerusalem; they will come from the territory of Benjamin, from the foothills, from the mountains, and from southern Judah. They will bring to my Temple burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings and incense, as well as thank offerings.

27 But they must obey me and observe the Sabbath as a sacred day. They must not carry any load through the gates of Jerusalem on that day, for if they do, I will set the gates of Jerusalem on fire. Fire will burn down the palaces of Jerusalem, and no one will be able to put it out.”

—https://cdn-youversionapi.global.ssl.fastly.net/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/JER/17-f96b8abec26ec11f0fc81e9497d937a1.mp3?version_id=68—