Study Desk

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord :

"Stand in the gate of the house of the Lord ^(a) and there call out this word: Hear the word of the Lord , all you people of Judah who enter through these gates to worship the Lord .

"This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Correct your ways and your deeds,^(b) and I will allow you to live in this place.

Do not trust deceitful words, chanting: This is the temple of the Lord , the temple of the Lord , the temple of the Lord .

Instead, if you really change your ways and your actions, if you act justly toward one another,^[a](c)

if you no longer oppress the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow^(d) and no longer shed innocent blood in this place or follow other gods, bringing harm on yourselves,

I will allow you to live in this place, the land I gave to your ancestors^(e) long ago and forever.

But look, you keep trusting in deceitful words that cannot help.

"Do you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and follow other gods that you have not known?^(f)

Then do you come and stand before Me in this house^(g) called by My name and say, ‘We are delivered, so we can continue doing all these detestable acts'?

Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers^(h) in your view? Yes, I too have seen it."⁽ⁱ⁾ This is the Lord 's declaration.

"But return to My place that was at Shiloh, where I made My name dwell at first.^(j) See what I did to it because of the evil of My people Israel.

Now, because you have done all these things"—this is the Lord 's declaration—"and because I have spoken to you time and time again^[b] but you wouldn't listen,^(k) and I have called to you, but you wouldn't answer,^(l)

what I did to Shiloh I will do to the house that is called by My name^(m)—the house in which you trust—the place that I gave you and your ancestors.

I will drive you from My presence, just as I drove out all of your brothers, all the descendants of Ephraim.⁽ⁿ⁾

"As for you, do not pray for these people.^(o) Do not offer a cry or a prayer on their behalf, and do not beg Me,^(p) for I will not listen to you.^(q)

Don't you see how they behave in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

The sons gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven,^[c](r) and they pour out drink offerings to other gods so that they provoke Me to anger.

But are they really provoking Me?"^(s) This is the Lord 's declaration. "Isn't it they themselves being provoked to disgrace?"

Therefore, this is what the Lord God says: "Look, My anger—My burning wrath—is about to be poured out on this place,^(t) on man and beast, on the tree of the field, and on the produce of the land. My wrath will burn and not be quenched."^(u)

This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: "Add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices, and eat the meat yourselves,^(v)

for when I brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak with them^(w) or command them concerning burnt offering and sacrifice.

However, I did give them this command: Obey Me, and then I will be your God, and you will be My people. You must follow every way I command you so that it may go well with you.^(x)

Yet they didn't listen or pay attention^(y) but followed their own advice and according to their own stubborn, evil heart. They went backward and not forward.^(z)

Since the day your ancestors came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have sent all My servants the prophets^(aa) to you time and time again.^[d](ab)

However, they wouldn't listen to Me or pay attention but became obstinate;^[e](ac) they did more evil than their ancestors.^(ad)

"When you speak all these things to them, they will not listen to you. When you call to them, they will not answer you.

You must therefore declare to them: This is the nation that would not listen to the voice of the Lord their God and would not accept discipline. Truth^[f] has perished—it has disappeared from their mouths.

Cut off the hair of your sacred vow^[g](ae) and throw it away. Raise up a dirge on the barren heights,^(af) for the Lord has rejected and abandoned the generation under His wrath.^(ag)

"For the Judeans have done what is evil in My sight." This is the Lord 's declaration. "They have set up their detestable things^(ah) in the house that is called by My name and defiled it.^(ai)

They have built the high places of Topheth^[h](aj) in the Valley of Hinnom^[i](ak) in order to burn their sons and daughters in the fire,^(al) a thing I did not command; I never entertained the thought.^[j]

"Therefore, take note! Days are coming"^(am)—the Lord 's declaration—"when this place will no longer be called Topheth and the Valley of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.^(an) Topheth will become a cemetery,^[k] because there will be no other burial place.

The corpses of these people will become food for the birds of the sky and for the wild animals of the land, with no one to scare them away.^(ao)

I will remove from the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem the sound of joy and gladness and the voices of the groom and the bride,^(ap) for the land will become a desolate waste.^(aq)

"At that time"—this is the Lord 's declaration—"the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of her officials, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the residents of Jerusalem will be brought out of their graves.

They will be exposed^(a) to the sun, the moon, and the whole heavenly host,^(b) which they have loved, served, followed, consulted, and worshiped. Their bones will not be collected and buried but will become like manure on the surface of the soil.^(c)

Death will be chosen over life^(d) by all the survivors of this evil family, those who remain wherever I have banished them." This is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts.

"You are to say to them: This is what the Lord says: Do people fall and not get up again?^(e) If they turn away, do they not return?

Why have these people turned away? Why is Jerusalem always turning away? They take hold of deceit;^(f) they refuse to return.^(g)

I have paid careful attention. They do not speak what is right. No one regrets his evil, asking, ‘What have I done?' Everyone has stayed his course like a horse rushing into battle.^(h)

Even the stork in the sky knows her seasons. The turtledove, swallow, and crane^[a] are aware of their migration, but My people do not know the requirements of the Lord .⁽ⁱ⁾

"How can you claim, ‘We are wise; the law of the Lord is with us'? In fact, the lying pen of scribes^(j) has produced falsehood.

The wise will be put to shame; they will be dismayed and snared. They have rejected the word of the Lord , so what wisdom do they really have?

Therefore, I will give^(k) their wives to other men, their fields to new occupants, for from the least to the greatest, everyone is making profit dishonestly. From prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely.

They have treated superficially the brokenness of My dear^[b] people, claiming, ‘Peace, peace,' when there is no peace.

Were they ashamed when they acted so abhorrently? They weren't at all ashamed. They can no longer feel humiliation. Therefore, they will fall among the fallen. When I punish them, they will collapse,"^(l) says the Lord .

I will gather them and bring them to an end.^[c](m) This is the Lord 's declaration. There will be no grapes on the vine, no figs on the fig tree, and even the leaf will wither. Whatever I have given them will be lost to them.

Why are we just sitting here? Gather together; let us enter the fortified cities and perish there,^[d] for the Lord our God has destroyed^[e] us. He has given us poisoned water to drink,⁽ⁿ⁾ because we have sinned against the Lord .

We hoped for peace, but there was nothing good; for a time of healing, but there was only terror.^(o)

From Dan the snorting of horses is heard. At the sound of the neighing of mighty steeds,^(p) the whole land quakes. They come to devour the land and everything in it, the city and all its residents.

Indeed, I am about to send snakes among you, poisonous vipers^(q) that cannot be charmed.^(r) They will bite you. This is the Lord 's declaration.

My joy has flown away; grief has settled on me. My heart is sick.^(s)

Listen—the cry of my dear^[f] people from a far away land, "Is the Lord no longer in Zion,^(t) her King not within her?" Why have they provoked me to anger with their carved images, with their worthless foreign idols?^(u)

Harvest has passed, summer has ended, but we have not been saved.

I am broken by the brokenness of my dear^[g] people.^(v) I mourn; horror has taken hold of me.

Is there no balm in Gilead?^(w) Is there no physician there? So why has the healing of my dear^[h] people not come about?

^[a]If my head were a spring of water, my eyes a fountain of tears, I would weep day and night^(a) over the slain of my dear^[b] people.

^[c]If only I had a traveler's lodging place in the wilderness, I would abandon my people and depart from them, for they are all adulterers,^(b) a solemn assembly of treacherous people.^(c)

They bent their tongues like their bows; lies and not faithfulness prevail in the land, for they proceed from one evil to another, and they do not take Me into account.^(d) This is the Lord 's declaration.

Everyone has to be on guard against his friend. Don't trust any brother, for every brother will certainly deceive, and every friend spread slander.^(e)

Each one betrays his friend; no one tells the truth. They have taught their tongues to speak lies; they wear themselves out doing wrong.

You live in a world of deception.^[d] In their deception they refuse to know Me.^(f) This is the Lord 's declaration.

Therefore, this is what the Lord of Hosts says: I am about to refine them and test them,^(g) for what else can I do because of My dear^[e] people?^[f]

Their tongues are deadly arrows— they speak deception.^(h) With his mouth a man speaks peaceably with his friend, but inwardly he sets up an ambush.

Should I not punish them for these things? This is the Lord 's declaration. Should I not avenge Myself⁽ⁱ⁾ on such a nation as this?

I will raise weeping and a lament over the mountains, a dirge over the wilderness grazing land, for they have been so scorched that no one passes through. The sound of cattle is no longer heard. From the birds of the sky to the animals,^(j) everything has fled—they have gone away.

I will make Jerusalem a heap of rubble,^(k) a jackals' den.^(l) I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, an uninhabited place.

Who is the man wise enough to understand this?^(m) Who has the Lord spoken to, that he may explain it? Why is the land destroyed and scorched like a wilderness, so no one can pass through?

The Lord said, "It is because they abandoned My instruction⁽ⁿ⁾ that I set in front of them and did not obey My voice or walk according to it.

Instead, they followed the stubbornness of their hearts^(o) and followed after the Baals as their fathers taught them."^(p)

Therefore, this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: "I am about to feed this people wormwood^(q) and give them poisonous water to drink.^(r)

I will scatter them among the nations^(s) that they and their fathers have not known. I will send a sword after them until I have finished them off."

This is what the Lord of Hosts says: Consider, and summon the women who mourn;^(t) send for the skillful women.

Let them come quickly to raise a lament over us so that our eyes may overflow with tears, our eyelids soaked with weeping.

For a sound of lamentation is heard from Zion: How devastated we are. We are greatly ashamed,^(u) for we have abandoned the land; our dwellings have been torn down.

Now hear the word of the Lord , you women. Pay attention to^[g] the word of His mouth. Teach your daughters a lament and one another a dirge,

for Death^(v) has climbed through our windows; it has entered our fortresses, cutting off children from the streets, young men from the squares.

Speak as follows: This is what the Lord says: Human corpses will fall like manure on the surface of the field, like newly cut grain^(w) after the reaper with no one to gather it.

This is what the Lord says: The wise man must not boast in his wisdom; the strong man must not boast in his strength; the wealthy man must not boast in his wealth.

But the one who boasts should boast in this, that he understands and knows Me^(x)— that I am Yahweh, showing faithful love, justice, and righteousness on the earth, for I delight in these things. This is the Lord 's declaration.

"The days are coming"—the Lord 's declaration—"when I will punish all the circumcised yet uncircumcised:^(y)

Egypt, Judah, Edom, the Ammonites, Moab, and all the inhabitants of the desert who clip the hair on their temples.^[h] All these nations are uncircumcised, and the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart."^(z)

Hear the word that the Lord has spoken to^[a] you, house of Israel.

This is what the Lord says: Do not learn the way of the nations^(a) or be terrified by signs in the heavens, although the nations are terrified by them,

for the customs of the peoples are worthless. Someone cuts down a tree from the forest; it is worked by the hands of a craftsman with a chisel.

He decorates it with silver and gold.^(b) It is fastened with hammer and nails,^(c) so it won't totter.

Like scarecrows in a cucumber patch, their idols cannot speak.^(d) They must be carried^(e) because they cannot walk. Do not fear them for they can do no harm^(f)— and they cannot do any good.^(g)

Yahweh, there is no one like You.^(h) You are great; Your name is great in power.⁽ⁱ⁾

Who should not fear You, King of the nations?^(j) It is what You deserve. For among all the wise people of the nations and among all their kingdoms, there is no one like You.

They are both stupid and foolish, instructed by worthless idols made of wood!

Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish,^(k) and gold from Uphaz^[b](l) from the hands of a goldsmith, the work of a craftsman. Their clothing is blue and purple, all the work of skilled artisans.

But Yahweh is the true God;^(m) He is the living God⁽ⁿ⁾ and eternal King.^(o) The earth quakes at His wrath,^(p) and the nations cannot endure His rage.

You are to say this to them, "The gods that did not make the heavens^(q) and the earth will perish from the earth^(r) and from under these heavens."^[c]

He made the earth by His power, established the world^(s) by His wisdom,^(t) and spread out the heavens by His understanding.^(u)

When He thunders,^[d] the waters in the heavens are in turmoil,^(v) and He causes the clouds to rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain and brings the wind from His storehouses.^(w)

Everyone is stupid and ignorant. Every goldsmith is put to shame by his carved image,^(x) for his cast images are a lie;^(y) there is no breath in them.^(z)

They are worthless, a work to be mocked. At the time of their punishment they will be destroyed.^(aa)

Jacob's Portion^[e] is not like these because He is the One who formed all things.^(ab) Israel is the tribe of His inheritance;^(ac) Yahweh of Hosts is His name.^(ad)

Gather up your belongings^[f] from the ground,^(ae) you who live under siege.

For this is what the Lord says: Look, I am slinging out^(af) the land's residents at this time and bringing them such distress that they will feel it.

Woe to me because of my brokenness— I am severely wounded!^(ag) I exclaimed, "This is my intense suffering, but I must bear it."

My tent is destroyed;^(ah) all my tent cords are snapped. My sons have departed from me and are no more. I have no one to pitch my tent again or to hang up my curtains.

For the shepherds are stupid: they don't seek the Lord .^(ai) Therefore they have not prospered, and their whole flock is scattered.

Listen! A noise—it is coming— a great commotion^(aj) from the land to the north. The cities of Judah will be made desolate, a jackals' den.^(ak)

I know, Lord , that a man's way of life is not his own; no one who walks determines his own steps.^(al)

Discipline me, Lord , but with justice— not in Your anger,^(am) or You will reduce me to nothing.

Pour out Your wrath on the nations that don't recognize You and on the families that don't call on Your name, for they have consumed Jacob; they have consumed him and finished him off and made his homeland desolate.^(an)

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord :

"Listen to the words of this covenant^(a) and tell them to the men of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem.

You must tell them: This is what the Lord , the God of Israel, says: ‘Let a curse be on the man who does not obey the words of this covenant,^(b)

which I commanded your ancestors when I brought them out of the land of Egypt,^(c) out of the iron furnace.'^(d) I declared: ‘Obey Me, and do everything that I command you, and you will be My people, and I will be your God,'^(e)

in order to establish the oath I swore to your ancestors,^(f) to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is today." I answered, "Amen, Lord ."^(g)

The Lord said to me, "Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: Obey the words of this covenant and carry them out.

For I strongly warned your ancestors when I brought them out of the land of Egypt until today, warning them time and time again,^[a](h) ‘Obey My voice.'

Yet they would not obey or pay attention; each one followed the stubbornness of his evil heart.⁽ⁱ⁾ So I brought on them all the curses of this covenant, because they had not done what I commanded them to do."

The Lord said to me, "A conspiracy has been discovered among the men of Judah^(j) and the residents of Jerusalem.

They have returned to the sins of their ancestors^(k) who refused to obey My words and have followed other gods to worship them.^(l) The house of Israel and the house of Judah broke My covenant I made with their ancestors.

"Therefore, this is what the Lord says: I am about to bring on them disaster that they cannot escape.^(m) They will cry out to Me, but I will not hear them.

Then the cities of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods they have been burning incense to, but they certainly will not save them in their time of disaster.⁽ⁿ⁾

Your gods are indeed as numerous as your cities, Judah,^(o) and the altars you have set up to Shame^[b](p)—altars to burn incense to Baal—as numerous as the streets of Jerusalem.

"As for you, do not pray for these people. Do not raise up a cry or a prayer on their behalf,^(q) for I will not be listening when they call out to Me at the time of their disaster.

What right does My beloved have to be in My house,^(r) having carried out so many evil schemes? Can holy meat^[c](s) prevent your disaster^[d] so you can rejoice?

The Lord named you a flourishing olive tree,^(t) beautiful with well-formed fruit. He has set fire to it, and its branches are consumed^[e](u) with a great roaring sound.^(v)

"The Lord of Hosts who planted you^(w) has decreed disaster against you, because of the harm the house of Israel and the house of Judah brought on themselves, provoking Me to anger by burning incense to Baal."

The Lord informed me, so I knew. Then You helped me to see their deeds,

for I was like a docile^[f] lamb led to slaughter.^(x) I didn't know that they had devised plots against me: "Let's destroy the tree with its fruit;^[g] let's cut him off from the land of the living^(y) so that his name will no longer be remembered."

But, Lord of Hosts, who judges righteously, who tests^(z) heart^[h] and mind,^(aa) let me see Your vengeance on them, for I have presented my case to You.^(ab)

Therefore, here is what the Lord says concerning the people of Anathoth^(ac) who want to take your life. They warn, "You must not prophesy in the name of Yahweh, or you will certainly die at our hand."

Therefore, this is what the Lord of Hosts says: "I am about to punish them. The young men will die by the sword; their sons and daughters will die by famine.^(ad)

They will have no remnant, for I will bring disaster on the people of Anathoth^(ae) in the year of their punishment."