Jeremiah, starting at chapter 10
{10:1} Hear the word which Yahweh speaks to you, house of Israel!
{10:2} Thus says Yahweh, "Don't learn the way of the nations, and
don't be dismayed at the signs of the sky; for the nations are
dismayed at them. {10:3} For the customs of the peoples are vanity;
for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the
workman with the axe. {10:4} They deck it with silver and with gold;
they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it not move. {10:5}
They are like a palm tree, of turned work, and don't speak: they must
be carried, because they can't go. Don't be afraid of them; for they
can't do evil, neither is it in them to do good." {10:6} There is none
like you, Yahweh; you are great, and your name is great in might.
{10:7} Who should not fear you, King of the nations? for to you does
it appertain; because among all the wise men of the nations, and in
all their royal estate, there is none like you. {10:8} But they are
together brutish and foolish: the instruction of idols! it is but a
stock. {10:9} There is silver beaten into plates, which is brought
from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the artificer and of
the hands of the goldsmith; blue and purple for their clothing; they
are all the work of skillful men. {10:10} But Yahweh is the true God;
he is the living God, and an everlasting King: at his wrath the earth
trembles, and the nations are not able to abide his indignation.
{10:11} You shall say this to them: The gods that have not made the
heavens and the earth, these shall perish from the earth, and from
under the heavens. {10:12} He has made the earth by his power, he has
established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding has he
stretched out the heavens: {10:13} when he utters his voice, there is
a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he causes the vapors to ascend
from the ends of the earth; he makes lightnings for the rain, and
brings forth the wind out of his treasuries. {10:14} Every man is
become brutish [and is] without knowledge; every goldsmith is
disappointed by his engraved image; for his molten image is falsehood,
and there is no breath in them. {10:15} They are vanity, a work of
delusion: in the time of their visitation they shall perish. {10:16}
The portion of Jacob is not like these; for he is the former of all
things; and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance: Yahweh of Armies
is his name. {10:17} Gather up your wares out of the land, you who
abide in the siege. {10:18} For thus says Yahweh, Behold, I will sling
out the inhabitants of the land at this time, and will distress them,
that they may feel [it]. {10:19} Woe is me because of my hurt! my
wound is grievous: but I said, Truly this is [my] grief, and I must
bear it. {10:20} My tent is destroyed, and all my cords are broken: my
children are gone forth from me, and they are no more: there is none
to spread my tent any more, and to set up my curtains. {10:21} For the
shepherds are become brutish, and have not inquired of Yahweh:
therefore they have not prospered, and all their flocks are scattered.
{10:22} The voice of news, behold, it comes, and a great commotion out
of the north country, to make the cities of Judah a desolation, a
dwelling place of jackals. {10:23} Yahweh, I know that the way of man
is not in himself: it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.
{10:24} Yahweh, correct me, but in measure: not in your anger, lest
you bring me to nothing. {10:25} Pour out your wrath on the nations
that don't know you, and on the families that don't call on your name:
for they have devoured Jacob, yes, they have devoured him and consumed
him, and have laid waste his habitation.
{11:1} The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying, {11:2}
Hear you the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah,
and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem; {11:3} and say you to them, Thus
says Yahweh, the God of Israel: Cursed be the man who doesn't hear the
words of this covenant, {11:4} which I commanded your fathers in the
day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the
iron furnace, saying, Obey my voice, and do them, according to all
which I command you: so you shall be my people, and I will be your
God; {11:5} that I may establish the oath which I swore to your
fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as at this
day. Then answered I, and said, Amen, Yahweh. {11:6} Yahweh said to
me, Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah, and in the
streets of Jerusalem, saying, Hear you the words of this covenant, and
do them. {11:7} For I earnestly protested to your fathers in the day
that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even to this day,
rising early and protesting, saying, Obey my voice. {11:8} Yet they
didn't obey, nor turn their ear, but walked everyone in the
stubbornness of their evil heart: therefore I brought on them all the
words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they didn't
do them. {11:9} Yahweh said to me, A conspiracy is found among the men
of Judah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. {11:10} They are
turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to
hear my words; and they are gone after other gods to serve them: the
house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant which I
made with their fathers. {11:11} Therefore thus says Yahweh, Behold, I
will bring evil on them, which they shall not be able to escape; and
they shall cry to me, but I will not listen to them. {11:12} Then
shall the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem go and cry
to the gods to which they offer incense: but they will not save them
at all in the time of their trouble. {11:13} For according to the
number of your cities are your gods, Judah; and according to the
number of the streets of Jerusalem have you set up altars to the
shameful thing, even altars to burn incense to Baal. {11:14} Therefore
don't you pray for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for
them; for I will not hear them in the time that they cry to me because
of their trouble. {11:15} What has my beloved to do in my house,
seeing she has worked lewdness [with] many, and the holy flesh is
passed from you? when you do evil, then you rejoice. {11:16} Yahweh
called your name, A green olive tree, beautiful with goodly fruit:
with the noise of a great tumult he has kindled fire on it, and its
branches are broken. {11:17} For Yahweh of Armies, who planted you,
has pronounced evil against you, because of the evil of the house of
Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have worked for
themselves in provoking me to anger by offering incense to Baal.
{11:18} Yahweh gave me knowledge of it, and I knew it: then you showed
me their doings. {11:19} But I was like a gentle lamb that is led to
the slaughter; and I didn't know that they had devised devices against
me, [saying], Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, and let us cut
him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more
remembered. {11:20} But, Yahweh of Armies, who judges righteously, who
tests the heart and the mind, I shall see your vengeance on them; for
to you have I revealed my cause. {11:21} Therefore thus says Yahweh
concerning the men of Anathoth, who seek your life, saying, You shall
not prophesy in the name of Yahweh, that you not die by our hand;
{11:22} therefore thus says Yahweh of Armies, Behold, I will punish
them: the young men shall die by the sword; their sons and their
daughters shall die by famine; {11:23} and there shall be no remnant
to them: for I will bring evil on the men of Anathoth, even the year
of their visitation.
{12:1} Righteous are you, Yahweh, when I contend with you; yet would
I reason the cause with you: why does the way of the wicked prosper?
why are all they at ease who deal very treacherously? {12:2} You have
planted them, yes, they have taken root; they grow, yes, they bring
forth fruit: you are near in their mouth, and far from their heart.
{12:3} But you, Yahweh, know me; you see me, and try my heart toward
you: pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for
the day of slaughter. {12:4} How long shall the land mourn, and the
herbs of the whole country wither? for the wickedness of those who
dwell therein, the animals are consumed, and the birds; because they
said, He shall not see our latter end. {12:5} If you have run with the
footmen, and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with
horses? and though in a land of peace you are secure, yet how will you
do in the pride of the Jordan? {12:6} For even your brothers, and the
house of your father, even they have dealt treacherously with you;
even they have cried aloud after you: don't believe them, though they
speak beautiful words to you. {12:7} I have forsaken my house, I have
cast off my heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into
the hand of her enemies. {12:8} My heritage is become to me as a lion
in the forest: she has uttered her voice against me; therefore I have
hated her. {12:9} Is my heritage to me as a speckled bird of prey? are
the birds of prey against her all around? go you, assemble all the
animals of the field, bring them to devour. {12:10} Many shepherds
have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot,
they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness. {12:11} They
have made it a desolation; it mourns to me, being desolate; the whole
land is made desolate, because no man lays it to heart. {12:12}
Destroyers are come on all the bare heights in the wilderness; for the
sword of Yahweh devours from the one end of the land even to the other
end of the land: no flesh has peace. {12:13} They have sown wheat, and
have reaped thorns; they have put themselves to pain, and profit
nothing: and you shall be ashamed of your fruits, because of the
fierce anger of Yahweh. {12:14} Thus says Yahweh against all my evil
neighbors, who touch the inheritance which I have caused my people
Israel to inherit: behold, I will pluck them up from off their land,
and will pluck up the house of Judah from among them. {12:15} It shall
happen, after that I have plucked them up, I will return and have
compassion on them; and I will bring them again, every man to his
heritage, and every man to his land. {12:16} It shall happen, if they
will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, As
Yahweh lives; even as they taught my people to swear by Baal; then
shall they be built up in the midst of my people. {12:17} But if they
will not hear, then will I pluck up that nation, plucking up and
destroying it, says Yahweh.
___
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