¹ The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin:

² to whom the word of Yahweh came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.

³ It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, to the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, to the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month.

⁴ Now the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,

⁵ "Before I formed you in the belly, I knew you. Before you came forth out of the womb, I sanctified you. I have appointed you a prophet to the nations."

⁶ Then I said, "Ah, Lord Yahweh! Behold, I don't know how to speak; for I am a child."

⁷ But Yahweh said to me, "Don't say, 'I am a child;' for to whoever I shall send you, you shall go, and whatever I shall command you, you shall speak.

⁸ Don't be afraid because of them; for I am with you to deliver you," says Yahweh.

⁹ Then Yahweh put forth his hand, and touched my mouth; and Yahweh said to me, "Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.

¹⁰ Behold, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant."

¹¹ Moreover the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, "Jeremiah, what do you see?" I said, "I see a branch of an almond tree."

¹² Then Yahweh said to me, "You have seen well; for I watch over my word to perform it."

¹³ The word of Yahweh came to me the second time, saying, "What do you see?" I said, "I see a boiling caldron; and it is tipping away from the north."

¹⁴ Then Yahweh said to me, "Out of the north evil will break out on all the inhabitants of the land.

¹⁵ For, behold, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north," says Yahweh; "and they shall come, and they shall each set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all its walls all around, and against all the cities of Judah.

¹⁶ I will utter my judgments against them touching all their wickedness, in that they have forsaken me, and have burned incense to other gods, and worshiped the works of their own hands.

¹⁷ "You therefore put your belt on your waist, arise, and speak to them all that I command you. Don't be dismayed at them, lest I dismay you before them.

¹⁸ For, behold, I have made you this day a fortified city, and an iron pillar, and bronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against its princes, against its priests, and against the people of the land.

¹⁹ They will fight against you; but they will not prevail against you; for I am with you," says Yahweh, "to deliver you."

¹ The word of Yahweh came to me, saying,

² "Go, and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, 'Thus says Yahweh, "I remember for you the kindness of your youth, the love of your weddings; how you went after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown.

³ Israel [was] holiness to Yahweh, the first fruits of his increase. All who devour him shall be held guilty. Evil shall come on them,"' says Yahweh."

⁴ Hear the word of Yahweh, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel!

⁵ Thus says Yahweh, "What unrighteousness have your fathers found in me, that they have gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain?

⁶ Neither did they say, 'Where is Yahweh who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought and of the shadow of death, through a land that none passed through, and Where no man lived?'

⁷ I brought you into a plentiful land, to eat its fruit and its goodness; but when you entered, you defiled my land, and made my heritage an abomination.

⁸ The priests didn't say, 'Where is Yahweh?' and those who handle the law didn't know me. The rulers also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit.

⁹ "Therefore I will yet contend with you," says Yahweh, "and I will contend with your children's children.

¹⁰ For pass over to the islands of Kittim, and see; and send to Kedar, and consider diligently; and see if there has been such a thing.

¹¹ Has a nation changed [its] gods, which really are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit.

¹² "Be astonished, you heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid. Be very desolate," says Yahweh.

¹³ "For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the spring of living waters, and cut them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.

¹⁴ Is Israel a servant? Is he a native-born [slave]? Why has he become a prey?

¹⁵ The young lions have roared at him, and yelled. They have made his land waste. His cities are burned up, without inhabitant.

¹⁶ The children also of Memphis and Tahpanhes have broken the crown of your head.

¹⁷ "Haven't you procured this to yourself, in that you have forsaken Yahweh your God, when he led you by the way?

¹⁸ Now what have you to do in the way to Egypt, to drink the waters of the Shihor? Or what have you to do in the way to Assyria, to drink the waters of the River?

¹⁹ "Your own wickedness shall correct you, and your backsliding shall reprove you. Know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and a bitter, that you have forsaken Yahweh your God, and that my fear is not in you," says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies.

²⁰ "For of old time I have broken your yoke, and burst your bonds; and you said, 'I will not serve;' for on every high hill and under every green tree you bowed yourself, playing the prostitute.

²¹ Yet I had planted you a noble vine, wholly a right seed. How then have you turned into the degenerate branches of a foreign vine to me?

²² For though you wash yourself with lye, and use much soap, yet your iniquity is marked before me," says the Lord Yahweh.

²³ "How can you say, 'I am not defiled. I have not gone after the Baals'? See your way in the valley. Know what you have done. [You are] a swift dromedary traversing her ways;

²⁴ a wild donkey used to the wilderness, that snuffs up the wind in her desire. When she is in heat, who can turn her away? All those who seek her will not weary themselves. In her month, they will find her.

²⁵ "Withhold your foot from being unshod, and your throat from thirst. But you said, 'It is in vain. No, for I have loved strangers, and I will go after them.'