Jeremiah 1

1 The words of Jeremiah, son of Hilkiah, of a priestly family in Anathoth, in the land of Benjamin.
2 The word of the LORD first came to him in the days of Josiah, son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign,
3 and continued through the reign of Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, king of Judah, and until the downfall and exile of Jerusalem in the fifth month of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, son of Josiah, king of Judah.
4 The word of the LORD came to me thus:
5 Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you.
6 Ah, Lord GOD! I said, I know not how to speak; I am too young.
7 But the LORD answered me, Say not, I am too young. To whomever I send you, you shall go; whatever I command you, you shall speak.
8 Have no fear before them, because I am with you to deliver you, says the LORD.
9 Then the LORD extended his hand and touched my mouth, saying, See, I place my words in your mouth!
10 This day I set you over nations and over kingdoms, To root up and to tear down, to destroy and to demolish, to build and to plant.
11 The word of the LORD came to me with the question: What do you see, Jeremiah? I see a branch of the watching-tree, I replied.
12 Then the LORD said to me: Well have you seen, for I am watching to fulfill my word.
13 A second time the word of the LORD came to me with the question: What do you see? I see a boiling cauldron, I replied, that appears from the north.
14 And from the north, said the LORD to me, evil will boil over upon all who dwell in the land.
15 Lo, I am summoning all the kingdoms of the north, says the LORD; Each king shall come and set up his throne at the gateways of Jerusalem, Opposite her walls all around and opposite all the cities of Judah.
16 I will pronounce my sentence against them for all their wickedness in forsaking me, And in burning incense to strange gods and adoring their own handiwork.
17 But do you gird your loins; stand up and tell them all that I command you. Be not crushed on their account, as though I would leave you crushed before them;
18 For it is I this day who have made you a fortified city, A pillar of iron, a wall of brass, against the whole land: Against Judah's kings and princes, against its priests and people.
19 They will fight against you, but not prevail over you, for I am with you to deliver you, says the LORD.

Jeremiah 2

1 This word of the LORD came to me:
2 Go, cry out this message for Jerusalem to hear! I remember the devotion of your youth, how you loved me as a bride, Following me in the desert, in a land unsown.
3 Sacred to the LORD was Israel, the first fruits of his harvest; Should anyone presume to partake of them, evil would befall him, says the LORD.
4 Listen to the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob! All you clans of the house of Israel,
5 thus says the LORD: What fault did your fathers find in me that they withdrew from me, Went after empty idols, and became empty themselves?
6 They did not ask, Where is the LORD who brought us up from the land of Egypt, Who led us through the desert, through a land of wastes and gullies, Through a land of drought and darkness, through a land which no one crosses, where no man dwells?
7 When I brought you into the garden land to eat its goodly fruits, You entered and defiled my land, you made my heritage loathsome.
8 The priests asked not, Where is the LORD? Those who dealt with the law knew me not: the shepherds rebelled against me. The prophets prophesied by Baal, and went after useless idols.
9 Therefore will I yet accuse you, says the LORD, and even your children's children I will accuse.
10 Pass over to the coast of the Kittim and see, send to Kedar and carefully inquire: Where has the like of this been done?
11 Does any other nation change its gods?--yet they are not gods at all! But my people have changed their glory for useless things.
12 Be amazed at this, O heavens, and shudder with sheer horror, says the LORD.
13 Two evils have my people done: they have forsaken me, the source of living waters; They have dug themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that hold no water.
14 Is Israel a slave, a bondman by birth? Why then has he become booty?
15 Against him lions roar full-throated cries. They have made his land a waste; his cities are charred ruins, without inhabitant.
16 Yes, the people of Memphis and Tahpanhes shave the crown of your head.
17 Has not the forsaking of the LORD, your God, done this to you?
18 And now, why go to Egypt, to drink the waters of the Nile? Why go to Assyria, to drink the waters of the Euphrates?
19 Your own wickedness chastises you, your own infidelities punish you. Know then, and see, how evil and bitter is your forsaking the LORD, your God, And showing no fear of me, says the Lord, the GOD of hosts.
20 Long ago you broke your yoke, you tore off your bonds. I will not serve, you said. On every high hill, under every green tree, you gave yourself to harlotry.
21 I had planted you, a choice vine of fully tested stock; How could you turn out obnoxious to me, a spurious vine?
22 Though you scour it with soap, and use much lye, The stain of your guilt is still before me, says the Lord GOD.
23 How can you say, I am not defiled, I have not gone after the Baals? Consider your conduct in the Valley, recall what you have done: A frenzied she-camel, coursing near and far,
24 breaking away toward the desert, Snuffing the wind in her ardor--who can restrain her lust? No beasts need tire themselves seeking her; in her month they will meet her.
25 Stop wearing out your shoes and parching your throat! But you say, No use! no! I love these strangers, and after them I must go.
26 As the thief is shamed when caught, so shall the house of Israel be shamed: They, their kings and their princes, their priests and their prophets;
27 They who say to a piece of wood, You are my father, and to a stone, You gave me birth. They turn to me their backs, not their faces; yet, in their time of trouble they cry out, Rise up and save us!
28 Where are the gods you made for yourselves? Let them rise up! Will they save you in your time of trouble? For as numerous as your cities are your gods, O Judah! And as many as the streets of Jerusalem are the altars you have set up for Baal.
29 How dare you still plead with me? You have all rebelled against me, says the LORD.
30 In vain I struck your children; the correction they did not take. Your sword devoured your prophets like a ravening lion.
31 You, of this generation, take note of the word of the Lord: Have I been a desert to Israel, a land of darkness? Why do my people say, We have moved on, we will come to you no more?
32 Does a virgin forget her jewelry, a bride her sash? Yet my people have forgotten me days without number.
33 How well you pick your way when seeking love! You who, in your wickedness, have gone by ways unclean!
34 You, on whose clothing there is the life-blood of the innocent, whom you found committing no burglary;
35 Yet withal you say, I am innocent; at least, his anger is turned away from me. Behold, I will judge you on that word of yours, I have not sinned.
36 How very base you have become in changing your course! By Egypt will you be shamed, as you were shamed by Assyria.
37 From there also shall you go away with hands upon your head; For the LORD has rejected those in whom you trust, with them you will have no success.

Jeremiah 3

1 If a man sends away his wife and, after leaving him, she marries another man, Does the first husband come back to her? Would not the land be wholly defiled? But you have sinned with many lovers, and yet you would return to me! says the LORD.
2 Lift your eyes to the heights, and see, where have men not lain with you? By the waysides you waited for them like an Arab in the desert. You defiled the land by your wicked harlotry.
3 Therefore the showers were withheld, the spring rain failed. But because you have a harlot's brow, you refused to blush.
4 Even now do you not call me, My father, you who are the bridegroom of my youth?
5 Will he keep his wrath forever, will he hold his grudge to the end? This is what you say; yet you do all the evil you can.
6 The LORD said to me in the days of King Josiah: See now what rebellious Israel has done! She has gone up every high mountain, and under every green tree she has played the harlot.
7 And I thought, after she has done all this she will return to me. But she did not return. Then, even though her traitor sister Judah saw
8 that for all the adulteries rebellious Israel had committed, I put her away and gave her a bill of divorce, nevertheless her traitor sister Judah was not frightened; she too went off and played the harlot.
9 Eager to sin, she polluted the land, committing adultery with stone and wood.
10 With all this, the traitor sister Judah did not return to me wholeheartedly, but insincerely, says the LORD.
11 Then the LORD said to me: Rebel Israel is inwardly more just than traitorous Judah.
12 Go, proclaim these words toward the north, and say: Return, rebel Israel, says the LORD, I will not remain angry with you; For I am merciful, says the LORD, I will not continue my wrath forever.
13 Only know your guilt: how you rebelled against the LORD, your God, How you ran hither and yon to strangers (under every green tree) and would not listen to my voice, says the LORD.
14 Return, rebellious children, says the LORD, for I am your Master; I will take you, one from a city, two from a clan, and bring you to Zion.
15 I will appoint over you shepherds after my own heart, who will shepherd you wisely and prudently.
16 When you multiply and become fruitful in the land, says the LORD, They will in those days no longer say, The ark of the covenant of the LORD! They will no longer think of it, or remember it, or miss it, or make another.
17 At that time they will call Jerusalem the LORD'S throne; there all nations will be gathered together to honor the name of the LORD at Jerusalem, and they will walk no longer in their hardhearted wickedness.
18 In those days the house of Judah will join the house of Israel; together they will come from the land of the north to the land which I gave to your fathers as a heritage.
19 I had thought: How I should like to treat you as sons, And give you a pleasant land, a heritage most beautiful among the nations! You would call me, My Father, I thought, and never cease following me.
20 But like a woman faithless to her lover, even so have you been faithless to me, O house of Israel, says the LORD.
21 A cry is heard on the heights! the plaintive weeping of Israel's children, Because they have perverted their ways and forgotten the LORD, their God.
22 Return, rebellious children, and I will cure you of your rebelling. Here we are, we now come to you because you are the LORD, our God.
23 Deceptive indeed are the hills, the thronging mountains; In the LORD, our God, alone is the salvation of Israel.
24 The shame-god has devoured our fathers' toil from our youth, Their sheep and their cattle, their sons and their daughters.
25 Let us lie down in our shame, let our disgrace cover us, for we have sinned against the LORD, our God, From our youth to this day, we and our fathers also; we listened not to the voice of the LORD, our God.