24:018:006 O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith
the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are
ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.
24:018:007 At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and
concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to
destroy it;
24:018:008 If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from
their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do
unto them.
24:018:009 And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and
concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it;
24:018:010 If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I
will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit
them.
24:018:011 Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Behold,
I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you:
return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways
and your doings good.
24:018:012 And they said, There is no hope: but we will walk after our
own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his
evil heart.
24:018:013 Therefore thus saith the LORD; Ask ye now among the heathen,
who hath heard such things: the virgin of Israel hath done a
very horrible thing.
24:018:014 Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon which cometh from the
rock of the field? or shall the cold flowing waters that come
from another place be forsaken?
24:018:015 Because my people hath forgotten me, they have burned incense
to vanity, and they have caused them to stumble in their ways
from the ancient paths, to walk in paths, in a way not cast
up;
24:018:016 To make their land desolate, and a perpetual hissing; every
one that passeth thereby shall be astonished, and wag his
head.
24:018:017 I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I
will shew them the back, and not the face, in the day of their
calamity.
24:018:018 Then said they, Come and let us devise devices against
Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor
counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come,
and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed
to any of his words.
24:018:019 Give heed to me, O LORD, and hearken to the voice of them that
contend with me.
24:018:020 Shall evil be recompensed for good? for they have digged a pit
for my soul. Remember that I stood before thee to speak good
for them, and to turn away thy wrath from them.
24:018:021 Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and pour
out their blood by the force of the sword; and let their wives
be bereaved of their children, and be widows; and let their
men be put to death; let their young men be slain by the sword
in battle.
24:018:022 Let a cry be heard from their houses, when thou shalt bring a
troop suddenly upon them: for they have digged a pit to take
me, and hid snares for my feet.
24:018:023 Yet, LORD, thou knowest all their counsel against me to slay
me: forgive not their iniquity, neither blot out their sin
from thy sight, but let them be overthrown before thee; deal
thus with them in the time of thine anger.
24:019:001 Thus saith the LORD, Go and get a potter's earthen bottle, and
take of the ancients of the people, and of the ancients of the
priests;
24:019:002 And go forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by
the entry of the east gate, and proclaim there the words that
I shall tell thee,
24:019:003 And say, Hear ye the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah, and
inhabitants of Jerusalem; Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the
God of Israel; Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, the
which whosoever heareth, his ears shall tingle.
24:019:004 Because they have forsaken me, and have estranged this place,
and have burned incense in it unto other gods, whom neither
they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Judah, and
have filled this place with the blood of innocents;
24:019:005 They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their
sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I
commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my mind:
24:019:006 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that this
place shall no more be called Tophet, nor The valley of the
son of Hinnom, but The valley of slaughter.
24:019:007 And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in
this place; and I will cause them to fall by the sword before
their enemies, and by the hands of them that seek their lives:
and their carcases will I give to be meat for the fowls of the
heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.
24:019:008 And I will make this city desolate, and an hissing; every one
that passeth thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of
all the plagues thereof.
24:019:009 And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the
flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat every one the
flesh of his friend in the siege and straitness, wherewith
their enemies, and they that seek their lives, shall straiten
them.
24:019:010 Then shalt thou break the bottle in the sight of the men that
go with thee,
24:019:011 And shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Even so
will I break this people and this city, as one breaketh a
potter's vessel, that cannot be made whole again: and they
shall bury them in Tophet, till there be no place to bury.
24:019:012 Thus will I do unto this place, saith the LORD, and to the
inhabitants thereof, and even make this city as Tophet:
24:019:013 And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of
Judah, shall be defiled as the place of Tophet, because of all
the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense unto all
the host of heaven, and have poured out drink offerings unto
other gods.
24:019:014 Then came Jeremiah from Tophet, whither the LORD had sent him
to prophesy; and he stood in the court of the LORD's house;
and said to all the people,
24:019:015 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I
will bring upon this city and upon all her towns all the evil
that I have pronounced against it, because they have hardened
their necks, that they might not hear my words.
24:020:001 Now Pashur the son of Immer the priest, who was also chief
governor in the house of the LORD, heard that Jeremiah
prophesied these things.
24:020:002 Then Pashur smote Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the
stocks that were in the high gate of Benjamin, which was by
the house of the LORD.
24:020:003 And it came to pass on the morrow, that Pashur brought forth
Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then said Jeremiah unto him, The
LORD hath not called thy name Pashur, but Magormissabib.
24:020:004 For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will make thee a terror to
thyself, and to all thy friends: and they shall fall by the
sword of their enemies, and thine eyes shall behold it: and I
will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and
he shall carry them captive into Babylon, and shall slay them
with the sword.
24:020:005 Moreover I will deliver all the strength of this city, and all
the labours thereof, and all the precious things thereof, and
all the treasures of the kings of Judah will I give into the
hand of their enemies, which shall spoil them, and take them,
and carry them to Babylon.
24:020:006 And thou, Pashur, and all that dwell in thine house shall go
into captivity: and thou shalt come to Babylon, and there thou
shalt die, and shalt be buried there, thou, and all thy
friends, to whom thou hast prophesied lies.
24:020:007 O LORD, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived; thou art
stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am in derision daily,
every one mocketh me.
24:020:008 For since I spake, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil;
because the word of the LORD was made a reproach unto me, and
a derision, daily.
24:020:009 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.
24:020:010 For I heard the defaming of many, fear on every side. Report,
say they, and we will report it. All my familiars watched for
my halting, saying, Peradventure he will be enticed, and we
shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on
him.
24:020:011 But the LORD is with me as a mighty terrible one: therefore my
persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail: they
shall be greatly ashamed; for they shall not prosper: their
everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten.
24:020:012 But, O LORD of hosts, that triest the righteous, and seest the
reins and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them: for
unto thee have I opened my cause.
24:020:013 Sing unto the LORD, praise ye the LORD: for he hath delivered
the soul of the poor from the hand of evildoers.
24:020:014 Cursed be the day wherein I was born: let not the day wherein
my mother bare me be blessed.
24:020:015 Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father, saying, A
man child is born unto thee; making him very glad.
24:020:016 And let that man be as the cities which the LORD overthrew,
and repented not: and let him hear the cry in the morning, and
the shouting at noontide;
24:020:017 Because he slew me not from the womb; or that my mother might
have been my grave, and her womb to be always great with me.
24:020:018 Wherefore came I forth out of the womb to see labour and
sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?
24:021:001 The word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, when king
Zedekiah sent unto him Pashur the son of Melchiah, and
Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, saying,
24:021:002 Enquire, I pray thee, of the LORD for us; for Nebuchadrezzar
king of Babylon maketh war against us; if so be that the LORD
will deal with us according to all his wondrous works, that he
may go up from us.
24:021:003 Then said Jeremiah unto them, Thus shall ye say to Zedekiah:
24:021:004 Thus saith the LORD God of Israel; Behold, I will turn back
the weapons of war that are in your hands, wherewith ye fight
against the king of Babylon, and against the Chaldeans, which
besiege you without the walls, and I will assemble them into
the midst of this city.
24:021:005 And I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand
and with a strong arm, even in anger, and in fury, and in
great wrath.
24:021:006 And I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and
beast: they shall die of a great pestilence.
24:021:007 And afterward, saith the LORD, I will deliver Zedekiah king of
Judah, and his servants, and the people, and such as are left
in this city from the pestilence, from the sword, and from the
famine, into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and
into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those
that seek their life: and he shall smite them with the edge of
the sword; he shall not spare them, neither have pity, nor
have mercy.
24:021:008 And unto this people thou shalt say, Thus saith the LORD;
Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of
death.
24:021:009 He that abideth in this city shall die by the sword, and by
the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goeth out, and
falleth to the Chaldeans that besiege you, he shall live, and
his life shall be unto him for a prey.
24:021:010 For I have set my face against this city for evil, and not for
good, saith the LORD: it shall be given into the hand of the
king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.
24:021:011 And touching the house of the king of Judah, say, Hear ye the
word of the LORD;
24:021:012 O house of David, thus saith the LORD; Execute judgment in the
morning, and deliver him that is spoiled out of the hand of
the oppressor, lest my fury go out like fire, and burn that
none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
24:021:013 Behold, I am against thee, O inhabitant of the valley, and
rock of the plain, saith the LORD; which say, Who shall come
down against us? or who shall enter into our habitations?
24:021:014 But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings,
saith the LORD: and I will kindle a fire in the forest
thereof, and it shall devour all things round about it.
24:022:001 Thus saith the LORD; Go down to the house of the king of
Judah, and speak there this word,
24:022:002 And say, Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, that
sittest upon the throne of David, thou, and thy servants, and
thy people that enter in by these gates:
24:022:003 Thus saith the LORD; Execute ye judgment and righteousness,
and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and
do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless,
nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place.
24:022:004 For if ye do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by
the gates of this house kings sitting upon the throne of
David, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants,
and his people.
24:022:005 But if ye will not hear these words, I swear by myself, saith
the LORD, that this house shall become a desolation.
24:022:006 For thus saith the LORD unto the king's house of Judah; Thou
art Gilead unto me, and the head of Lebanon: yet surely I will
make thee a wilderness, and cities which are not inhabited.
24:022:007 And I will prepare destroyers against thee, every one with his
weapons: and they shall cut down thy choice cedars, and cast
them into the fire.
24:022:008 And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say
every man to his neighbour, Wherefore hath the LORD done thus
unto this great city?
24:022:009 Then they shall answer, Because they have forsaken the
covenant of the LORD their God, and worshipped other gods, and
served them.
24:022:010 Weep ye not for the dead, neither bemoan him: but weep sore
for him that goeth away: for he shall return no more, nor see
his native country.
24:022:011 For thus saith the LORD touching Shallum the son of Josiah
king of Judah, which reigned instead of Josiah his father,
which went forth out of this place; He shall not return
thither any more:
24:022:012 But he shall die in the place whither they have led him
captive, and shall see this land no more.
24:022:013 Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and
his chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbour's service
without wages, and giveth him not for his work;
24:022:014 That saith, I will build me a wide house and large chambers,
and cutteth him out windows; and it is cieled with cedar, and
painted with vermilion.
24:022:015 Shalt thou reign, because thou closest thyself in cedar? did
not thy father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice, and
then it was well with him?
24:022:016 He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well
with him: was not this to know me? saith the LORD.
24:022:017 But thine eyes and thine heart are not but for thy
covetousness, and for to shed innocent blood, and for
oppression, and for violence, to do it.
24:022:018 Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning Jehoiakim the son of
Josiah king of Judah; They shall not lament for him, saying,
Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! they shall not lament for him,
saying, Ah lord! or, Ah his glory!
24:022:019 He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast
forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.
24:022:020 Go up to Lebanon, and cry; and lift up thy voice in Bashan,
and cry from the passages: for all thy lovers are destroyed.
24:022:021 I spake unto thee in thy prosperity; but thou saidst, I will
not hear. This hath been thy manner from thy youth, that thou
obeyedst not my voice.
24:022:022 The wind shall eat up all thy pastors, and thy lovers shall go
into captivity: surely then shalt thou be ashamed and
confounded for all thy wickedness.
24:022:023 O inhabitant of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the cedars,
how gracious shalt thou be when pangs come upon thee, the pain
as of a woman in travail!
24:022:024 As I live, saith the LORD, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim
king of Judah were the signet upon my right hand, yet would I
pluck thee thence;
24:022:025 And I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life,
and into the hand of them whose face thou fearest, even into
the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand
of the Chaldeans.
24:022:026 And I will cast thee out, and thy mother that bare thee, into
another country, where ye were not born; and there shall ye
die.
24:022:027 But to the land whereunto they desire to return, thither shall
they not return.
24:022:028 Is this man Coniah a despised broken idol? is he a vessel
wherein is no pleasure? wherefore are they cast out, he and
his seed, and are cast into a land which they know not?
24:022:029 O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD.
24:022:030 Thus saith the LORD, Write ye this man childless, a man that
shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall
prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more
in Judah.
24:023:001 Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of
my pasture! saith the LORD.
24:023:002 Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel against the
pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and
driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will
visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD.
24:023:003 And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries
whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their
folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase.
24:023:004 And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them:
and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall
they be lacking, saith the LORD.
24:023:005 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto
David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper,
and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.
24:023:006 In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell
safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE
LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
24:023:007 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that they
shall no more say, The LORD liveth, which brought up the
children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;
24:023:008 But, The LORD liveth, which brought up and which led the seed
of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all
countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in
their own land.
24:023:009 Mine heart within me is broken because of the prophets; all my
bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine
hath overcome, because of the LORD, and because of the words
of his holiness.
24:023:010 For the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing
the land mourneth; the pleasant places of the wilderness are
dried up, and their course is evil, and their force is not
right.
24:023:011 For both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house have
I found their wickedness, saith the LORD.
24:023:012 Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery ways in the
darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall therein: for I
will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation,
saith the LORD.
24:023:013 And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they
prophesied in Baal, and caused my people Israel to err.
24:023:014 I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible
thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen
also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his
wickedness; they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the
inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.
24:023:015 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts concerning the
prophets; Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make
them drink the water of gall: for from the prophets of
Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land.
24:023:016 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of
the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they
speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of
the LORD.
24:023:017 They say still unto them that despise me, The LORD hath said,
Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh
after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come
upon you.
24:023:018 For who hath stood in the counsel of the LORD, and hath
perceived and heard his word? who hath marked his word, and
heard it?
24:023:019 Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD is gone forth in fury, even a
grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon the head of
the wicked.
24:023:020 The anger of the LORD shall not return, until he have
executed, and till he have performed the thoughts of his
heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly.
24:023:021 I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not
spoken to them, yet they prophesied.
24:023:022 But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people
to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their
evil way, and from the evil of their doings.
24:023:023 Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off?
24:023:024 Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see
him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the
LORD.
24:023:025 I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my
name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed.
24:023:026 How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that
prophesy lies? yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their
own heart;
24:023:027 Which think to cause my people to forget my name by their
dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, as their
fathers have forgotten my name for Baal.
24:023:028 The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he
that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is
the chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD.
24:023:029 Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a
hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?
24:023:030 Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD,
that steal my words every one from his neighbour.
24:023:031 Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that use
their tongues, and say, He saith.
24:023:032 Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith
the LORD, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by
their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor
commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at
all, saith the LORD.
24:023:033 And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask
thee, saying, What is the burden of the LORD? thou shalt then
say unto them, What burden? I will even forsake you, saith the
LORD.
24:023:034 And as for the prophet, and the priest, and the people, that
shall say, The burden of the LORD, I will even punish that man
and his house.
24:023:035 Thus shall ye say every one to his neighbour, and every one to
his brother, What hath the LORD answered? and, What hath the
LORD spoken?
24:023:036 And the burden of the LORD shall ye mention no more: for every
man's word shall be his burden; for ye have perverted the
words of the living God, of the LORD of hosts our God.
24:023:037 Thus shalt thou say to the prophet, What hath the LORD
answered thee? and, What hath the LORD spoken?
24:023:038 But since ye say, The burden of the LORD; therefore thus saith
the LORD; Because ye say this word, The burden of the LORD,
and I have sent unto you, saying, Ye shall not say, The burden
of the LORD;
24:023:039 Therefore, behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you, and I
will forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your
fathers, and cast you out of my presence:
24:023:040 And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a
perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.
24:024:001 The LORD shewed me, and, behold, two baskets of figs were set
before the temple of the LORD, after that Nebuchadrezzar king
of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of
Jehoiakim king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the
carpenters and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to
Babylon.
24:024:002 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.
24:024:003 Then said the LORD unto me, What seest thou, Jeremiah? And I
said, Figs; the good figs, very good; and the evil, very evil,
that cannot be eaten, they are so evil.
24:024:004 Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
24:024:005 Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Like these good figs,
so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of
Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the
Chaldeans for their good.