LESSON 42 I Will Write It In Their Hearts Jeremiah 16, 23, 29, 31 OVERVIEW:
Scattering and gathering of Israel. Gospel to be restored for the last time. Jews to be in captivity for 70 years. Ephraim has the birthright and will make a covenant with the Lord in the last days. The overall theme of Jeremiah is covenant.
SCRIPTURES: Utter ruin of the Jews foreseen Israel rejected and scattered for serving false gods Fishers and hunters shall gather them again, and they shall serve the Lord Gospel to be restored for last time.
1 THE word of the LORD came also unto me, saying, 2 Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have sons or (nor) daughters in this place. (The destruction was to be so soon that his children would be killed if he had any.) 3 For thus saith the LORD concerning the sons and concerning the daughters that are born in this place, and concerning their mothers that bare them, and concerning their fathers that begat them in this land; 4 They shall die of grievous deaths; they shall not be alamented; neither shall they be buried; but they shall be as dung upon the face of the earth: and they shall be bconsumed by the sword, and by famine; and their ccarcases shall be meat for the fowls of heaven, and for the beasts of the earth. 5 For thus saith the LORD, Enter not into the house of amourning, neither go to lament nor bemoan them: for I have taken away my peace from this people, saith the LORD, even lovingkindness and mercies. (They brought their punishment upon themselves.) 6 Both the great and the small shall die in this land: they shall not be buried, neither shall men lament for them, anor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them: 7 Neither shall men atear (Heb break bread) themselves for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead; neither shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother. 8 Thou shalt not also go into the house of feasting, to sit with them to eat and to drink. 9 For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will cause to cease out of this place in your eyes, and in your days, the voice of amirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride. 10 ¶ And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt shew this people all these words, and they shall say unto thee, aWherefore hath the LORD pronounced all this great evil against us? or what is our iniquity? or what is our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God? 11 Then shalt thou say unto them, Because your fathers have forsaken me, saith the LORD, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshipped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law; 12 And ye have done aworse than your bfathers; for, behold, ye walk every one after the cimagination (or stubbornness) of his evil heart, that they may not hearken unto me: 13 Therefore will I acast you out of this bland into a land that ye know not, neither ye nor your fathers; and there shall ye serve other cgods day and night; where I will not dshew you favour. (Heb grant you amnesty, or clemency) 14 ¶ Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more be said, The aLORD liveth,
that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; 15 But, The LORD liveth, that abrought up the children of Israel from the land of the bnorth, and from all the clands whither he had driven them: and I will dbring them again into their eland that I gave unto their fathers. (Is Israel being gathered today? When President David O. McKay was president of the Church, there was 1 Mormon for every 100,000 people on the earth. Today there is one Mormon for every 600 people.) 16 ¶ Behold, I will send for many afishers, saith the LORD, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks. (Missionaries) 17 For mine eyes are upon all their ways: they are not hid from my face, neither is their ainiquity hid from mine eyes. 18 And first I will arecompense their iniquity and their sin bdouble; because they have cdefiled my land, they have filled mine inheritance with the carcases of their detestable and abominable things. 19 O LORD, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the aGentiles (or nations) shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have binherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit. 20 Shall a man make agods unto himself, and they are no bgods? 21 Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know mine hand and my might; and they shall aknow that my bname is The LORD. (Non-Israelites will be gathered and entered into the covenant.)
The remnants of Israel shall be gathered in the last days King Messiah (the Branch) shall reign in righteousness False prophets who teach lies shall be cursed.
1 WOE be unto the apastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD. 2 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 avisited them (been mindful of): behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD. (He is denouncing the political and spiritual leaders of Judah who should have done a better job taking care of the people.) 3 And I will agather the bremnant 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. (Missionary work will gather Israel in the latter days.) 4 And I will set up ashepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the LORD. (The Lord will set up leaders in the latter-days to lead Israel.) 5 ¶ Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto aDavid a righteous bBranch, and a cKing (Christ) shall dreign and prosper, and shall execute ejudgment and fjustice in the earth. (At the Second Coming.) 6 In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell asafely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR bRIGHTEOUSNESS. 7 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; 8 But, The LORD liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the anorth country, and from all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land.
(The rest of the chapter is a continuation of the denunciation of the leaders of Israel who have not led them properly unto the Lord. The D&C has a similar phrase: They seek not the Lord to establish his
righteousness, but every man walketh in his own way, and after the image of his own god, whose image is in the likeness of the world, and whose substance is that of an idol, which waxeth old and shall perish in Babylon, even Babylon the great, which shall fall D&C 1:16) 9 ¶ Mine aheart 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. 10 For the land is full of aadulterers; for because of bswearing (or cursing) the land mourneth; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil, and their force is not right. 11 For both aprophet and bpriest are cprofane; (or irreligious) yea, in my dhouse have I found their wickedness, saith the LORD. 12 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 avisitation, (or punishment) saith the LORD. 13 And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied in Baal, and caused my people Israel to err. 14 I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing(;): they commit aadultery, and walk in lies(;): they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his bwickedness(;): they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah. 15 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 aprofaneness (or ungodliness) gone forth into all the land. 16 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that aprophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a bvision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD. 17 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. 18 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? 19 Behold, a awhirlwind of the LORD is gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked. 20 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. 21 I have not asent these bprophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. 22 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. 23 Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off? 24 Can any ahide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I bfill heaven and earth? saith the LORD. 25 I have heard what the prophets said, that aprophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed. 26 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; 27 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. 28 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. 29 Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? 30 Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that steal my words every one from his neighbour. 31 Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that use their tongues, and say, He saith.
32 Behold, I am against them that prophesy false adreams, 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. 33 ¶ And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask thee, saying, What is the aburden (or prophecy) of the LORD? thou shalt then say unto them, What burden? I will even forsake you, saith the LORD. 34 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. 35 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? 36 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 awords of the living God, of the LORD of hosts our God. 37 Thus shalt thou say to the prophet, What hath the LORD answered thee? and, What hath the LORD spoken? 38 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; 39 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: 40 And I will bring an everlasting areproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.
Jeremiah tells Jews in Babylon to prepare for seventy years of captivity Those remaining in Jerusalem shall yet be scattered Shemaiah prophesies falsely and is cursed.
1 NOW these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem unto the residue of the elders which were carried away captives, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon; 2 (After that aJeconiah the king, and the queen, and the beunuchs, (or officers, or courtiers) the cprinces (or ministers, or officials) of Judah and Jerusalem, and the carpenters, and the smiths, were departed from Jerusalem;) 3 By the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, (whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent unto Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon) saying, 4 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon; 5 Build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant agardens, and eat the fruit of them; 6 Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; that ye may be increased there, and not diminished. 7 And seek the apeace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace. 8 ¶ For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Let not your prophets and your adiviners, that be in the midst of you, deceive you, neither hearken to your bdreams which ye cause to be dreamed. 9 For they aprophesy falsely unto you in my name: I have not sent them, saith the LORD. 10 ¶ For thus saith the LORD, That after aseventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and bperform my good word toward you, in causing you to creturn to this place. (After 70 years of captivity, many of the Jews returned to Jerusalem) 11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected aend.
12 Then shall ye acall upon (unto) me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will bhearken (Heb hear you) unto you. 13 And ye shall aseek me, and find me, when ye shall bsearch for me with all your cheart. 14 And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will agather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive. 15 ¶ Because ye have said, The LORD hath raised us up prophets in Babylon; 16 Know that thus saith the LORD of the king that sitteth upon the throne of David, and of all the people that dwelleth in this city, and of your brethren that are not gone forth with you into captivity; 17 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will send upon them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that cannot be eaten, they are so aevil. (or bad) 18 And I will apersecute (Heb pursue after) them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will deliver them to be bremoved to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, and an astonishment, and an hissing, and a reproach, among all the nations whither I have driven them: 19 Because they have not hearkened to my words, saith the LORD, which I sent unto them by my servants the prophets, rising up (commanding them to rise) early and sending them; but ye would not hear, saith the LORD. 20 ¶ Hear ye therefore the word of the LORD, all ye of the captivity, whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon: 21 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, of Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and of Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, which prophesy a lie unto you in my name; Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; and he shall slay them before your eyes; 22 And of them shall be taken up a curse by all the captivity of Judah which are in Babylon, saying, The LORD make thee like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire; 23 Because they have committed avillany (vile deeds) in Israel, and have committed badultery with their neighbours wives, and have spoken lying words in my name, which I have not commanded them; even I know, and am a witness, saith the LORD. 24 ¶ Thus shalt thou also speak to Shemaiah the Nehelamite, saying, 25 Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, Because thou hast sent letters in thy name unto all the people that are at Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, and to all the priests, saying, 26 The LORD hath made thee priest in the stead of Jehoiada the priest, that ye should be officers in the house of the LORD, for every man that is mad, and maketh himself a prophet, that thou shouldest put him in prison, and in the stocks. 27 Now therefore why hast thou not reproved Jeremiah of aAnathoth, which maketh himself a prophet to you? 28 For therefore he sent unto us in Babylon, saying, This captivity is long: build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them. 29 And Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the ears of Jeremiah the prophet. 30 ¶ Then came the word of the LORD unto Jeremiah, saying, 31 Send to all them of the captivity, saying, Thus saith the LORD concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite; Because that Shemaiah hath prophesied unto you, and I sent him not, and he caused you to trust in a alie: 32 Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite, and his seed: he shall not have a man to dwell among this people; neither shall he behold the good that I will do for my people, saith the LORD; because he hath taught rebellion against the LORD.
In the last days, Israel shall be gathered Ephraim has the birthright as the firstborn The Lord will make a new covenant with them, to be inscribed in the heart Then shall they all know the Lord.
1 AT the same time, saith the LORD, will I be the God of all the afamilies of Israel, and they shall be my people. 2 Thus saith the LORD, The people which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest. 3 The LORD hath appeared aof old (Heb from afar) unto me, saying, Yea, I have bloved thee with an everlasting clove: therefore with lovingkindness have I ddrawn thee. (to me) 4 Again I will build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel: thou shalt again be adorned with thy tabrets, and shalt go forth in the dances of them that make merry. 5 Thou shalt yet plant vines upon the mountains of Samaria: the planters shall plant, and shall eat them as common things. 6 For there shall be a day, that the awatchmen (latter day prophets)upon the mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise ye, and let us go up to bZion unto the LORD our God. 7 For thus saith the LORD; Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations: publish ye, praise ye, and say, O LORD, asave thy people, the remnant of Israel. 8 Behold, I will bring them from the anorth country, and gather them from the bcoasts (Heb ends) of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her that travaileth with child together: a great company shall return thither. (Note the word thither. They would be gathered to other lands, not Israel or Jerusalem, which would have been hither. 9 They shall come with aweeping, (They will weep because they knew they rejected Christ) and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am a bfather to Israel, and cEphraim is my dfirstborn. 10 ¶ Hear the word of the LORD, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will agather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock. (According to Oliver Cowdery, several of the verses of this chapter were quoted by Moroni to Joseph Smith.) 11 For the LORD hath redeemed Jacob, and aransomed (Heb delivered or freed) him from the hand of him that was stronger than he. 12 Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, (Tabernacle Choir) and shall flow together to the goodness of the LORD, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the herd: and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not asorrow any more at all. 13 Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men and old together (stake youth dances): for I will turn their amourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow. 14 And I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with my agoodness, saith the LORD. (Even though Judah is about to suffer captivity and death, there is hope of a brighter day in the latter days. Even though church members are not paid for their services, they will be satisfied for the blessings of the Lord.) 15 ¶ Thus saith the LORD; A voice was heard in aRamah, (most lofty situated border town of the two kingdoms) lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not. (Rachel is weeping for her children which are killed.) 16 Thus saith the LORD; Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for thy work shall be arewarded, saith the LORD; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy. 17 And there is hope ain thine bend, (for thy future) saith the LORD, that thy children shall come again to their own border. 18 ¶ I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus; Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: aturn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the LORD my
God. 19 Surely aafter that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth. 20 Is Ephraim my dear son? is he aa pleasant child? (or a child in whom I delight) for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my bowels are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the LORD. 21 Set thee up waymarks, make thee ahigh heaps (Heb signposts): set thine heart toward the highway, even the way which thou wentest: turn again, O virgin of Israel, turn again to these thy cities. 22 ¶ How long wilt thou go about, O thou abacksliding (unruly or apostate) daughter? for the LORD hath created a new thing in the earth, A woman shall compass a man. (To encompass with love and care. The woman is the church, who will lovingly embrace the Savior.) 23 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; As yet they shall use this speech in the land of Judah and in the cities thereof, when I shall bring again their captivity; The LORD bless thee, O habitation of justice, and mountain of holiness. 24 And there shall dwell in Judah itself, and in all the cities thereof together, husbandmen, and they that go forth with flocks. 25 For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul. 26 Upon this I awaked, and beheld; and my sleep was sweet unto me. 27 ¶ Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man, and with the seed of beast. 28 And it shall come to pass, that like as I have awatched over them, to bpluck up, and to cbreak down, and to throw down, and to destroy, and to afflict; so will I dwatch over them, to build, and to plant, saith the LORD. 29 In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour agrape, and the children s teeth are set on edge. 30 But every one shall adie for his own biniquity: every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge. (The sins of the parents are no longer a stigma upon the children.) 31 ¶ Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a anew bcovenant with the house of cIsrael, and with the house of Judah: 32 Not according to the acovenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD(;):33 But this shall be the acovenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my blaw in their inward parts, and write it in their chearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all aknow me, (Joseph Fielding Smith taught: The Lord has promised that the time shall come when every man shall be his own teacher, that is, he will know because of righteous living what to do. He will be so filled with the Spirit of the Lord that he will be guided and directed in doing right without the necessity of someone coming into his home to set it in order. Now is a good time for us to begin. Doctrines of Salvation, 1:319) from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD; for I will forgive their biniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. (The Prophet Joseph Smith said: The time has at last arrived when the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has set his hand again the second time to recover the remnants of his people
of the Gentiles, and establish that covenant with them, which was promised when their sins should be taken away. This covenant has never (before) been established with the house of Israel, nor with the house of Judah. Christ, in the days of his flesh, proposed to make a covenant with them, but they rejected Him and His proposals, and in consequence thereof, they were broken off, and no covenant was made with them at that time. But their unbelief has not rendered the promise of God of none effect: no,
for there was another day limited in David, which was the day of His power; and then His people, Israel, should be a willing people and He would write His law in their hearts, and print it in their thoughts; their sins and their iniquities He would remember no more. TPJS, p. 14 He also said: The day must come when no man need say to his neighbor, Know ye the Lord. For all shall know him (who remain), from the least to the greatest. How is this to be done? It is to be done by this sealing power and the Other Comforter spoken of, which will be manifested by revelation. Discourse of 27 June 1839, recorded in Willard Richard s Pocket Companion , p. 4) 35 ¶ Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the asun for a light by bday, and the cordinances (or established courses) of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is his name: 36 If those aordinances depart from before me, saith the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever. (If the saving ordinances are done away, so will Israel be done away.) 37 Thus saith the LORD; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the LORD. 38 ¶ Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that the city shall be abuilt to the LORD from the tower of Hananeel unto the gate of the corner. 39 And the measuring aline shall yet go forth over against it upon the hill Gareb, and shall compass about to Goath. 40 And the whole valley of the dead bodies, and of the ashes, and all the fields unto the brook of Kidron, unto the corner of the horse gate toward the east, shall be aholy unto the LORD; it shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down any more for ever.
Additional Reading: Israel and Judah defiled and polluted the land through wickedness In the last days, the Lord will gather Israel, one of a city and two of a family, and bring them to Zion.
1 THEY say, If a man aput away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man s, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly bpolluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the LORD. (Israel had broken the covenant, but the Lord still wanted them back.) 2 Lift up thine eyes unto the high places, and see where thou hast not been lien (lain) with. In the ways hast thou sat for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with thy awhoredoms and with thy wickedness. 3 Therefore the (thy) ashowers have been withholden, and there hath been no blatter crain; (spring rain) and thou hadst a whore s forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed. 4 Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My father, thou art the guide of my youth? 5 Will he reserve his aanger for ever? will he keep it to the end? Behold, thou hast spoken and done evil things as thou couldest. 6 ¶ The LORD said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot. 7 And I said after she had done all these things, Turn thou unto me. But she returned not. And her treacherous asister Judah saw it. 8 And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed aadultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of bdivorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the
harlot also. 9 And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and acommitted adultery with bstones and with cstocks. 10 And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but afeignedly, saith the LORD. 11 And the LORD said unto me, The backsliding Israel hath ajustified herself more than treacherous Judah. 12 ¶ Go and aproclaim these words toward the bnorth, and say, cReturn, thou backsliding Israel, saith the LORD; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the LORD, and I will not keep anger for ever. 13 Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not aobeyed my voice, saith the LORD. 14 Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am amarried unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bbring you to cZion: (Missionary work will gather the elect.) 15 And I will give you apastors (sheperds) according to mine heart, which shall feed you with bknowledge and understanding. (Church leaders will teach truth.) 16 And it shall come to pass, when ye be multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, saith the LORD, they shall say no more, The aark of the covenant of the LORD: neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit it; neither shall that be done any more. (The old covenant is done, the new one will come.) 17 At that time they shall call aJerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all the bnations shall be cgathered unto it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the dimagination (or stubbornness) of their evil heart. 18 In those days the ahouse of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the bland of the cnorth to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers. 19 But I said, How shall I put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations? and I said, Thou shalt call me, My father; and shalt not turn away from me. 20 ¶ Surely as a wife treacherously adeparteth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the LORD. 21 A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel: for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten the LORD their God. 22 Return, ye backsliding children, and I will aheal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the LORD our God. 23 Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains: truly in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel. 24 For shame hath devoured the labour of our fathers from our youth; their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. 25 We lie down in our ashame, and our confusion covereth us: for we have bsinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.
Israel and Judah called to repentance Jeremiah laments for the miseries of Judah.
1 IF thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the LORD, return unto me: and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight, then shalt thou not remove. 2 And thou shalt swear, The aLORD liveth, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; and the nations
shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory. 3 ¶ For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, aBreak up your fallow ground, and sow not among bthorns. 4 aCircumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings. (The covenant happens in our heart.) 5 Declare ye in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem; and say, Blow ye the trumpet in the land: cry, gather together, and say, Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the defenced cities. 6 Set up the astandard toward bZion: retire, stay not: for I will bring evil from the cnorth, and a great destruction. 7 The alion (Babylon) is come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way; he is gone forth from his place to make thy bland desolate; and thy cities shall be laid waste, without an inhabitant. 8 For this agird you with sackcloth, lament and howl: for the fierce banger of the LORD is not turned back from us. 9 And it shall come to pass at that day, saith the LORD, that the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes; and the priests shall be astonished, and the prophets shall wonder. 10 Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! surely thou hast greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall have peace; whereas the sword reacheth unto the soul. 11 At that time shall it be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A dry awind (a difficult, hard wind, that sucked away the moisture of the ground.) of the high places in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not to fan, nor to cleanse, 12 Even a full wind from those places shall come unto me: now also will I give sentence against them. 13 Behold, he shall come up as aclouds, and his chariots shall be as a whirlwind: his horses are bswifter than eagles. Woe unto us! for we are spoiled. (The effect of Babylon s attack would be like a tornado.) 14 O Jerusalem, awash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee? 15 For a voice declareth from Dan, and publisheth affliction from mount Ephraim. 16 Make ye mention to the nations; behold, publish against Jerusalem, that watchers come from a far country, and give out their voice against the cities of Judah. 17 As keepers of a field, are they against her round about; because she hath been rebellious against me, saith the LORD. 18 Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee; this is thy wickedness, because it is bitter, because it reacheth unto thine heart. 19 ¶ My abowels, my bowels! I am bpained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. 20 aDestruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is spoiled: suddenly are my btents spoiled, and my curtains in a moment. 21 How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet? 22 For my people is afoolish, they have not bknown me; they are sottish children, and they have none understanding: they are wise to do cevil, but to do good they have no knowledge. 23 I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was awithout form, and bvoid; (or empty and desolate) and the heavens, and they had no light. (So great would be the destruction that it would be as if the creation had been undone.) 24 I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. 25 I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. 26 I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by his fierce anger. 27 For thus hath the LORD said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full aend.
28 For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black: because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not arepent, (Heb relent) neither will I turn back from it. 29 The whole city shall flee for the noise of the horsemen and bowmen; they shall go into thickets, and climb up upon the rocks: every city shall be aforsaken, and not a man dwell therein. 30 And when thou art spoiled, what wilt thou do? Though thou clothest thyself with crimson, though thou deckest thee with aornaments of gold, though thou brentest (or enlargest thine eyes) thy face with painting, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair; thy clovers (Heb sensuous lovers) will despise thee, they will seek thy life. 31 For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, and the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of aZion, that bewaileth herself, that spreadeth her hands, saying, Woe is me now! for my soul is wearied because of murderers.
Judgments shall be poured out upon the Jews because of their sins Their iniquities cause blessings to be withheld from them.
1 RUN ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that aexecuteth judgment (or does justly), that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it. (If there is anyone in the city, I will spare it. Similar to the promise to Abraham regarding Sodom and Gomorrah.) 2 And though they say, The LORD liveth; surely they aswear falsely. 3 O LORD, are not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to areturn. (or repent) 4 Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish: for they aknow not the way of the LORD, nor the judgment of their God. 5 I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they have known the way of the LORD, and the judgment of their God: but these have altogether broken the ayoke, (ie of the law and the covenants) and burst the bonds. 6 Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a awolf of the bevenings (or plains, wilderness) shall spoil them, a leopard shall watch over their cities: every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces: because their ctransgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased. 7 ¶ How shall I pardon thee for this? thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods: when I had fed them to the afull, they then committed badultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots houses. 8 They were as afed horses (Heb lusty stallions) in the morning: every one neighed after his neighbour s wife. 9 Shall I not avisit (or punish) for these things? saith the LORD: and shall not my soul be bavenged on such a nation as this? 10 ¶ Go ye up upon her walls, and adestroy; but make not a full bend: take away her battlements; for they are not the LORD s. 11 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, saith the LORD. 12 They have belied the LORD, and said, It is not he; neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see asword nor famine: 13 And the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them: thus shall it be done unto them. 14 Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy amouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.
15 Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, saith the LORD: it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose alanguage thou knowest not, neither understandest what they say. 16 Their quiver is as an open sepulchre, they are all mighty men. 17 And they shall aeat up thine harvest, and thy bread, which thy sons and thy daughters should eat: they shall eat up thy flocks and thine herds: they shall eat up thy vines and thy fig trees: they shall impoverish thy fenced cities, wherein thou trustedst, with the sword. 18 Nevertheless in those days, saith the LORD, I will not make a full end with you. 19 ¶ And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Wherefore doeth the LORD our God all these things unto us? then shalt thou answer them, Like as ye have aforsaken me, and served strange bgods in your land, so shall ye cserve dstrangers in a (the) land that is not yours. 20 Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying, 21 Hear now this, O afoolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and bsee not; which have ears, and chear not: 22 Fear ye not me? saith the LORD: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it? 23 But this people hath a revolting and a arebellious heart; they are revolted and gone. 24 Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God, that giveth rain, both athe former (winter and spring) and the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest. 25 ¶ Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good things from you. 26 For among my people are found awicked men: they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they bcatch men. 27 As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become agreat, and waxen rich. 28 They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they ajudge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge. 29 Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? 30 ¶ A wonderful and ahorrible thing is committed in the land; 31 The aprophets prophesy bfalsely, and the cpriests bear rule by their means; and my people dlove to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof? (This was the last straw. It was one thing for the prophets to be false, but when all the people were, too, it was enough for their destruction.)
Jerusalem shall be destroyed because of her iniquity She shall be overrun by a great and cruel nation.
1 O YE children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a sign of fire in Beth-haccerem: for evil appeareth out of the anorth, and great destruction. 2 I have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate woman. 3 The shepherds with their flocks shall come unto her; they shall pitch their tents against her round about; they shall feed every one in his place. 4 Prepare ye war against her; arise, and let us go up at noon. Woe unto us! for the day goeth away, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out. 5 Arise, and let us go by night, and let us destroy her palaces. 6 ¶ For thus hath the LORD of hosts said, Hew ye down trees, and cast a amount against Jerusalem: this is the city to be bvisited; (or punished) she is wholly oppression in the midst of her.
7 As a fountain casteth out her waters, so she casteth out her awickedness: bviolence and spoil is heard in her; before me continually is grief and wounds. 8 Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from thee; lest I make thee desolate, a land not inhabited. 9 ¶ Thus saith the LORD of hosts, They shall athroughly (or thoroughly) glean the remnant of Israel as a vine: turn back thine hand as a grapegatherer binto the baskets. (or unto the new branches) 10 To whom shall I speak, and give awarning, that they may hear? behold, their ear is buncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of the LORD is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it. 11 Therefore I am full of the fury of the LORD; I am weary with holding in: I will pour it out upon the children abroad, and upon the assembly of young men together: for even the husband with the wife shall be taken, the aged with him that is full of days. 12 And their houses shall be turned unto others, with their fields and wives together: for I will stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants of the land, saith the LORD. 13 For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to acovetousness; and from the prophet even unto the bpriest every one dealeth falsely. 14 They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, aPeace, peace; when there is no peace. 15 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time that I avisit (or punish) them they shall be cast down, saith the LORD. 16 Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old apaths, where is the good way, and bwalk therein, and ye shall find crest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein. 17 Also I set awatchmen over you, saying, bHearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken. 18 ¶ Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them. 19 Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring aevil (or calamity) upon this people, even the bfruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it. 20 To what purpose cometh there to me incense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country? your burnt offerings are not aacceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet unto me. 21 Therefore thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will lay astumblingblocks before this people, and the fathers and the sons together shall fall upon them; the neighbour and his friend shall perish. 22 Thus saith the LORD, Behold, a people cometh from the anorth country, and a great nation shall be raised from the sides of the earth. 23 They shall lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel, and have no mercy; their voice roareth like the sea; and they ride upon horses, set in array as men for war against thee, O daughter of Zion. 24 We have heard the fame thereof: our hands wax feeble: anguish hath taken hold of us, and pain, as of a woman in travail. 25 Go not forth into the field, nor walk by the way; for the sword of the enemy and fear is on every side. 26 ¶ O daughter of my people, gird thee with asackcloth, and wallow thyself in ashes: make thee mourning, as for an bonly son, most bitter lamentation: for the spoiler shall suddenly come upon us. 27 I have set thee for a tower and a fortress among my people, that thou mayest know and try their way. 28 They are all grievous revolters, walking with aslanders: they are brass and iron; they are all corrupters. 29 The bellows aare burned, (or blew the fire) the lead is consumed of the fire; bthe founder melteth in vain (or the smelting is in vain): for the wicked are not plucked away. 30 Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the LORD hath rejected them.
If Jerusalem repent she shall be preserved The temple has become a den of robbers The Lord rejects that generation of Jews for their idolatries They offer their children in sacrifices. (The Temple Sermon)
1 THE word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, 2 Stand in the gate of the LORD s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the LORD, all ye of Judah, that enter in at these gates to worship the LORD. 3 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, aAmend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. 4 Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, are these. 5 For if ye athroughly (or thoroughly) amend your ways and your doings; if ye throughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbour; 6 If ye oppress not the astranger, the bfatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt: 7 Then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever. 8 ¶ Behold, ye atrust in blying words, that cannot profit. 9 Will ye steal, amurder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and bwalk after other gods whom ye know not; 10 And come and astand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations? 11 Is this ahouse, which is called by my name, become a bden of crobbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the LORD. (The temple would not save them.) 12 But go ye now unto my place which was in aShiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel. (The ark of the covenant had been kept in Shiloh. This tells that the ark would be taken away.) 13 And now, because ye have done all these works, saith the LORD, and I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called you, but ye aanswered not; 14 Therefore will I do unto this ahouse, which is called by my name, wherein ye trust, and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh. 15 And I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim. 16 Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not ahear thee. 17 ¶ Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18 The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to athe queen of heaven (ie the fertility goddess, such as the Babylonian Ishtar), and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger. 19 Do they provoke me to anger? saith the LORD: do they not provoke themselves ato the confusion of their own faces? (Heb to their shame or disgrace) 20 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, mine aanger and my fury shall be poured out upon this place, upon man, and upon beast, and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched. 21 ¶ Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Put your burnt offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat flesh. 22 For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices:
23 But this thing commanded I them, saying, aObey my bvoice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you. 24 But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the aimagination of their evil heart, and went bbackward, and not forward. 25 Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day I have even asent unto you all my servants the bprophets, daily rising up early and sending them: 26 Yet they hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear, but ahardened their neck: they did bworse than their fathers. 27 Therefore thou shalt speak all these words unto them; but they will not hearken to thee: thou shalt also call unto them; but they will not answer thee. 28 But thou shalt say unto them, This is a nation that aobeyeth not the voice of the LORD their God, nor receiveth correction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth. 29 ¶ Cut off thine hair, O Jerusalem, and cast it away, (a symbol of grief) and take up a alamentation on high places; for the LORD hath rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath. 30 For the children of Judah have done evil in my sight, saith the LORD: they have set their aabominations in the house which is called by my name, to bpollute it. 31 And they have built the high places of aTophet, which is in the valley of the son of bHinnom, to cburn their sons and their daughters in the dfire; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart. 32 ¶ Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter: for they shall bury in Tophet, till there be no place. 33 And the acarcases of this people shall be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth; and none shall fray them away. 34 Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of amirth, and the bvoice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride: for the land shall be cdesolate.
Calamities shall befall the inhabitants of Jerusalem For them the harvest is past, the summer is ended, and they are not saved.
1 AT that time, saith the LORD, they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves: 2 And they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the host of heaven, whom they have loved, and whom they have served, and after whom they have walked, and whom they have sought, and whom they have aworshipped: they shall not be gathered, nor be bburied; they shall be for dung upon the face of the earth. 3 And adeath shall be bchosen rather than life by all the residue of them that remain of this evil family, which remain in all the places whither I have driven them, saith the LORD of hosts. (Dragging out the bones of leaders was the utmost contempt upon the land.) 4 ¶ Moreover thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD; Shall they fall, and not arise? shall he turn away, and not return? 5 Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual abacksliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return. 6 I hearkened and heard, but they spake not aright: no man repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? every one turned to his course, as the horse rusheth into the battle. 7 Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the aturtle (Heb turtle-dove) and the
crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people bknow not the judgment of the LORD. 8 How do ye say, We are awise, and the law of the LORD is with us? Lo, certainly in vain made he it; the pen of the scribes is in vain. 9 The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken: lo, they have arejected the word of the LORD; and what wisdom is in them? 10 Therefore will I give their wives unto others, and their fields to them that shall inherit them: for every one from the least even unto the greatest is given to covetousness, from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely. 11 For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace. 12 Were they aashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore shall they fall among them that fall: in the time of their visitation they shall be bcast down, saith the LORD. 13 ¶ I will surely aconsume them, saith the LORD: there shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; and the things that I have given them shall pass away from them. 14 Why do we sit still? assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the adefenced (or fortified) cities, and let us be silent there: for the LORD our God hath put us to silence, and given us water of gall to drink, because we have sinned against the LORD. 15 We looked for apeace, but no good came; and for a time of health, and behold trouble! 16 The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan: the whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of his astrong ones; for they are come, and have devoured the land, and all that is in it; the city, and those that dwell therein. 17 For, behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you, saith the LORD. 18 ¶ When I would comfort myself against sorrow, my heart is faint in me. 19 Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people because of them that dwell in a far country: Is not the LORD in Zion? is not her king in her? Why have they provoked me to aanger with their graven images, and with bstrange vanities? (or foreign idols) 20 The aharvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved. 21 For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt; I am ablack; (Heb idiom meaning gloomy) astonishment hath taken hold on me. 22 Is there no abalm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered? (Salvation was only in the Savior, whom they rejected.)
Jeremiah bewails the sins of the people They will be scattered among the heathen and punished.
1 OH that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of atears, that I might bweep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! 2 Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! for they be all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men. 3 And they bend their tongues like their bow for alies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they bknow not me, saith the LORD. 4 Take ye heed every one of his neighbour, and atrust ye not in any brother: for every brother will butterly supplant (or consistently deceive), and every neighbour will walk with cslanders. 5 And they will deceive every one his neighbour, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak alies, and bweary (or are impatient) themselves to commit iniquity.
6 Thine habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, saith the LORD. 7 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, I will amelt them, and btry them; for how shall I do for the daughter of my people? 8 Their tongue is as an arrow shot out; it speaketh deceit: one speaketh peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth, but in aheart he layeth his wait. 9 ¶ Shall I not avisit them for these things? saith the LORD: shall not my soul be bavenged on such a nation as this? 10 For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the habitations of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up, so that none can pass through them; neither can men hear the voice of the cattle; both the fowl of the heavens and the beast are fled; they are gone. 11 And I will make Jerusalem heaps, and a den of adragons; (Heb jackals) and I will make the cities of Judah bdesolate, without an inhabitant. 12 ¶ Who is the wise man, that may understand this? and who is he to whom the mouth of the LORD hath spoken, that he may declare it, for what the land perisheth and is burned up like a wilderness, that none passeth through? 13 And the LORD saith, Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not aobeyed my voice, neither walked therein; 14 But have walked after the aimagination of their own heart, and after bBaalim, which their fathers taught them: 15 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink. 16 I will ascatter them also among the bheathen, whom neither they nor their fathers have known: and I will send a sword after them, till I have consumed them. (To be consumed meant to the utterly disorganized and disbanded so the nation s power and influence was gone.) 17 ¶ Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning awomen, that they may come; and send for cunning women, that they may come: 18 And let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters. 19 For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we spoiled! we are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because our dwellings have cast us out. 20 Yet hear the word of the LORD, O ye women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth, and teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbour lamentation. 21 For death is come up into our windows, and is entered into our palaces, to cut off the children from without, and the young men from the streets. 22 Speak, Thus saith the LORD, Even the acarcases of men shall fall as dung upon the open field, and as the handful after the harvestman, and none shall gather them. 23 ¶ Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his ariches: 24 But let him that glorieth aglory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I bdelight, saith the LORD. 25 ¶ Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will punish all them which are acircumcised with the uncircumcised; 26 Egypt, and Judah, and aEdom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all that are in the utmost corners, that dwell in the wilderness: for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart.
Israel and Judah shall be as a rotted and decayed girdle Repentance enjoined Judah shall be taken captive and scattered as stubble.
1 THUS saith the LORD unto me, Go and get thee a linen girdle, and put it upon thy loins, and put it not in water. 2 So I got a girdle according to the word of the LORD, and put it on my loins. 3 And the word of the LORD came unto me the second time, saying, 4 Take the girdle that thou hast got, which is upon thy loins, and arise, go to Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole of the rock. (A distance of from 300-400miles) 5 So I went, and hid it by Euphrates, as the LORD commanded me. 6 And it came to pass after many days, that the LORD said unto me, Arise, go to Euphrates, and take the girdle from thence, which I commanded thee to hide there. 7 Then I went to Euphrates, and digged, and took the girdle from the place where I had hid it: and, behold, the girdle was marred, it was profitable for nothing. 8 Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 9 Thus saith the LORD, After this manner will I mar the apride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem. 10 This evil people, which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the aimagination (Heb stubbornness) of their heart, and bwalk after other gods, to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this girdle, which is good for nothing. 11 For as the girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man, so have I caused to cleave unto me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, saith the LORD; that they might be unto me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory: but they would not ahear. 12 ¶ Therefore thou shalt speak unto them this word; Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Every bottle shall be filled with wine: and they shall say unto thee, Do we not certainly know that every bottle shall be filled with wine? 13 Then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land, even the kings that sit upon David s throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with adrunkenness. 14 And I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together, saith the LORD: I will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, but adestroy them. 15 ¶ Hear ye, and give ear; be not aproud: for the LORD hath spoken. 16 Give glory to the LORD your God, before he cause adarkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and, while ye look for light, he turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness. 17 But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride; and mine eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears, because the LORD s aflock is carried away captive. 18 Say unto the king and to the queen, Humble yourselves, sit down: for your principalities shall come down, even the crown of your glory. 19 The cities of the south shall be shut up, and none shall open them: Judah shall be acarried away captive all of it, it shall be wholly carried away captive. 20 Lift up your eyes, and behold them that come from the north: where is the flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock? 21 What wilt thou say when he shall punish thee? for thou hast taught them to be captains, and as chief over thee: shall not sorrows take thee, as a woman in travail? 22 ¶ And if thou say in thine heart, Wherefore come these things upon me? For the greatness of thine iniquity are thy askirts bdiscovered, (Heb stripped off) and thy heels made bare.
23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do agood, that are accustomed to do evil. 24 Therefore will I ascatter them as the stubble that passeth away by the wind of the wilderness. 25 This is thy lot, the portion of thy measures from me, saith the LORD; because thou hast forgotten me, and trusted in falsehood. 26 Therefore will I discover thy skirts upon thy face, that thy shame may appear. 27 I have seen thine adulteries, and thy neighings, the lewdness of thy whoredom, and thine aabominations on the hills in the fields. Woe unto thee, O Jerusalem! wilt thou not be made bclean? when shall it once be?In the last days, Judah and Israel shall be gathered to their own lands David their king (Christ) shall reign over them.
1 THE word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, 2 Thus speaketh the LORD God of Israel, saying, Write thee all the words that I have spoken unto thee in a book. 3 For, lo, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will bring again the captivity of my people aIsrael and Judah, saith the LORD: and I will cause them to breturn to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it. 4 ¶ And these are the words that the LORD spake concerning Israel and concerning Judah. 5 For thus saith the LORD; We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace. 6 Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness? 7 Alas! for that aday is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it. 8 For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, that I will break his ayoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more bserve (or enslave, or exploit him) themselves of him: 9 But they shall serve the LORD their God, and aDavid their king, whom I will raise up unto them. 10 ¶ Therefore fear thou not, O my servant Jacob, saith the LORD; neither be dismayed, O Israel: for, lo, I will asave thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid. 11 For I am with thee, saith the LORD, to save thee: though I make a full aend of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished. 12 For thus saith the LORD, aThy bruise is incurable, and thy wound is (although thy wounds are) grievous. 13 There Is (there) none to plead thy cause, that thou mayest be bound up(?): thou Hast (thou) no healing medicines(?). 14 (Have) all thy alovers have forgotten thee(,); (do) they (not) seek thee not(?); For I have bwounded thee (or caused thee to be wounded) with the cwound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a dcruel one, for the multitude of thine einiquity (iniquities); because thy sins were (are) increased. 15 Why criest thou for thine affliction? (Is) athy bsorrow is incurable(?) (It was) for the multitude of thine iniquity (iniquities,): (and) because thy csins were (are) increased, I have done these things unto thee. 16 Therefore (But) all they that devour thee shall be devoured; and all thine adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity; and they that spoil thee shall be a spoil, and all that prey upon thee will I
give for a prey. 17 For I will restore ahealth unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the LORD; because they called thee an Outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after. 18 ¶ Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will bring again the captivity of Jacob s tents, and have amercy on his dwellingplaces; and the city shall be builded upon her own heap, and bthe palace shall remain after the manner thereof. 19 And out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of them that make merry: and I will amultiply them, and they shall not be few; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be bsmall. 20 Their children also shall be as aforetime, and their congregation shall be established before me, and I will punish all that oppress them. 21 And their nobles shall be of athemselves, and their governor shall proceed from the midst of them; and I will cause him to bdraw near, and he shall approach unto me: for who is this that engaged his heart to approach unto me? saith the LORD. 22 And ye shall be my apeople, and I will be your God. 23 Behold, the awhirlwind of the LORD goeth forth with fury, a continuing whirlwind: it shall fall with bpain upon the head of the wicked. 24 The fierce anger of the LORD shall not return, until he have done it, and until he have performed the intents of his heart: in the alatter days ye shall bconsider it. (In the last days, these prophecies will be fully understood.)
Jeremiah is imprisoned by Zedekiah The prophet purchases land to symbolize the return of Israel to their land The Lord will gather Israel and make an everlasting covenant with them.
37 Behold, I will agather them out of all countries, whither I have driven them in mine anger, and in my fury, and in great wrath; and I will bbring them again unto this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely: 38 And they shall be my people, and I will be their God: 39 And I will give them one aheart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the bgood of them, and of their children after them: 40 And I will make an aeverlasting bcovenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me. 41 Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul. 42 For thus saith the LORD; Like as I have brought all this great evil upon this people, so will I bring upon them all the good that I have promised them.
Judah and Israel shall be gathered Christ the Branch of righteousness is promised The Seed of David shall reign forever.
1 MOREOVER the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah the second time, while he was yet shut up in the court of the prison, saying, 2 Thus saith the LORD the maker thereof, the LORD that formed it, to establish it; the LORD is his name; 3 Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and ashew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not. 4 For thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city, and concerning the
houses of the kings of Judah, which are thrown down by the mounts, and by the sword; 5 They come to fight with the Chaldeans, but it is to fill them with the dead bodies of men, whom I have slain in mine anger and in my fury, and for all whose wickedness I have hid my face from this city. 6 Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them, and will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth. 7 And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to areturn, and will build them, as at the first. 8 And I will acleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me; and I will pardon all their iniquities, whereby they have sinned, and whereby they have transgressed against me. 9 ¶ And it shall be to me a name of joy, a apraise and an honour before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good that I do unto them: and they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and for all the prosperity that I procure unto it. 10 Thus saith the LORD; Again there shall be heard in this place, which ye say shall be desolate without man and without beast, even in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, that are desolate, without man, and without inhabitant, and without beast, 11 The voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that shall say, Praise the LORD of hosts(;): for the LORD is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: and of (unto) them that shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the LORD. For I will cause to return the captivity of the land, as at the first, saith the LORD. 12 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Again in this place, which is desolate without man and without beast, and in all the cities thereof, shall be an habitation of shepherds causing their flocks to alie down. 13 In the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the vale, and in the cities of the south, and in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, shall the flocks pass again under the hands of him that atelleth them,(Heb counts) saith the LORD. 14 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will aperform that good thing which I have bpromised unto the house of Israel and to the house of Judah. 15 ¶ In those days, and at that time, will I cause the aBranch of righteousness to grow up unto bDavid; and he shall cexecute judgment (or do justice) and righteousness in the dland. (or earth) (Jesus Christ) 16 In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The LORD our righteousness. 17 ¶ For thus saith the LORD; David shall never awant (or lack) a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel; 18 Neither shall the priests the Levites want a man before me to offer burnt offerings, and to kindle meat offerings, and to do sacrifice continually. 19 ¶ And the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah, saying, 20 Thus saith the LORD; If ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and anight in their season; 21 Then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne; and with the Levites the priests, my ministers. 22 As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured: so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Levites that minister unto me. 23 Moreover the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying, 24 Considerest thou not what this people have spoken, saying, The two families which the LORD hath chosen, he hath even cast them off? thus they have despised my people, that they should be no more a nation before them. 25 Thus saith the LORD; If my covenant be not with day and night, andif I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth; 26 Then will I cast away the seed of Jacob, and David my servant, so that I will not take any of his seed
to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return, and have mercy on them.
The Rechabites are commended and blessed for their obedience They are given a new commandment.
1 THE word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, saying, 2 Go unto the house of the aRechabites, and speak unto them, and bring them into the house of the LORD, into one of the chambers, and give them wine to drink. 3 Then I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habaziniah, and his brethren, and all his sons, and the whole house of the Rechabites; 4 And I brought them into the house of the LORD, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan, the son of Igdaliah, a man of God, which was by the chamber of the princes, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the keeper of the door: 5 And I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites pots full of wine, and cups, and I said unto them, Drink ye wine. 6 But they said, We will drink no wine: for aJonadab the son of Rechab our father commanded us, saying, Ye shall drink no wine, neither ye, nor your sons for ever: 7 Neither shall ye build house, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyard, nor have any: but all your days ye shall dwell in tents; that ye may live many days in the land where ye be strangers. 8 Thus have we obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab our father in all that he hath charged us, to drink no wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, nor our daughters; 9 Nor to build houses for us to dwell in: neither have we vineyard, nor field, nor seed: 10 But we have dwelt in tents, and have obeyed, and done according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us. 11 But it came to pass, when Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came up into the land, that we said, Come, and let us go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chaldeans, and for fear of the army of the Syrians: so we dwell at Jerusalem. 12 ¶ Then came the word of the LORD unto Jeremiah, saying, 13 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Go and tell the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Will ye not receive instruction to hearken to my words? saith the LORD. 14 The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, that he commanded his sons not to drink wine, are performed; for unto this day they drink none, but obey their father s commandment(;): notwithstanding I have spoken unto you, rising (commanding you to rise) early(,) and speaking (to you,); but ye hearkened not unto me. 15 I have sent also unto you all my servants the aprophets, rising (commanding them to rise) up early and sending them, saying, bReturn ye now every man from his evil way, and amend your doings, and go not after other gods to serve them, and ye shall dwell in the land which I have given to you and to your fathers: but ye have not inclined your ear, nor hearkened unto me. 16 Because the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have performed the commandment of their father, which he commanded them; but this people hath not hearkened unto me: 17 Therefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring upon Judah and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the evil that I have pronounced against them: because I have spoken unto them, but they have not aheard; (or obeyed) and I have called unto them, but they have not answered. 18 ¶ And Jeremiah said unto the house of the Rechabites, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Because ye have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, and kept all his precepts, and
done according unto all that he hath commanded you: 19 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before me for ever.
ESTRUCTURA TRES ACTOS a. Una serie de eventos b. Eventos que tienen significado. c. Eventos que tienen importancia. 1. ¿Por qué es hoy el día mas importante de la vida de mi personaje? 2. ¿Por qué se debe contar esta historia ahora ? a. La estructura tres actos se usa en muchas actividades diarias. 1. Te cuestionan sobre tu día en la universidad. a. PRIMER ACTO : i. Empiezas