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Douay-Rheims, Book 28: Jeremias

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Book 28        Jeremias

THE PROPHECY OF JEREMIAS

Jeremias was a priest, a native of Anathoth, a priestly city in the
tribe of Benjamin: and was sanctified from his mother's womb, to be a
prophet of God; which office he began to execute when he was yet a child
in age. He was in his whole life, according to the signification of his
name, Great before the Lord; and a special figure of Jesus Christ, in
the persecutions he underwent for discharging his duty; in his charity
for his persecutors; and in the violent death he suffered at their
hands: it being an ancient tradition of the Hebrews, that he was stoned
to death by the remnant of the Jews who had retired into Egypt.

Jeremias Chapter 1

The time, and the calling, of Jeremias: his prophetical visions. God
encourages him.

1:1. The words of Jeremias the son of Helcias, of the priests that were
in Anathoth, in the land of Benjamin.

1:2. The word of the Lord which came to him in the days of Josias the
son of Amon king of Juda, in the thirteenth year of his reign.

1:3. And which came to him in the days of Joakim the son of Josias king
of Juda, unto the end of the eleventh year of Sedecias the son of Josias
king of Juda, even unto the carrying away of Jerusalem captive, in the
fifth month.

1:4. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

1:5. Before I formed thee in the bowels of thy mother, I knew thee: and
before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee, and made
thee a prophet unto the nations.

1:6. And I said: Ah, ah, ah, Lord God: behold, I cannot speak, for I am
a child.

1:7. And the Lord said to me: Say not: I am a child: for thou shalt go
to all that I shall send thee: and whatsoever I shall command thee, thou
shalt speak.

1:8. Be not afraid at their presence: for I am with thee to deliver
thee, saith the Lord.

1:9. And the Lord put forth his hand, and touched my mouth: and the Lord
said to me: Behold I have given my words in thy mouth:

1:10. Lo, I have set thee this day over the nations, and over kingdoms,
to root up, and to pull down, and to waste, and to destroy, and to
build, and to plant.

1:11. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: What seest thou,
Jeremias? And I said: I see a rod watching.

1:12. And the Lord said to me: Thou hast seen well: for I will watch
over my word to perform it.

1:13. And the word of the Lord came to me a second time saying: What
seest thou? And I said: I see a boiling caldron, and the face thereof
from the face of the north.

1:14. And the Lord said to me: From the north shall an evil break forth
upon all the inhabitants of the land.

1:15. For behold I will call together all the families of the kingdoms
of the north, saith the Lord: and they shall come, and shall set every
one his throne in the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and upon all
the walls thereof round about, and upon all the cities of Juda.

1:16. And I will pronounce my judgments against them, touching all their
wickedness, who have forsaken me, and have sacrificed to strange gods,
and have adored the work of their own hands.

1:17. Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak to them all
that I command thee. Be not afraid at their presence: for I will make
thee not to fear their countenance.

1:18. For behold I have made thee this day a fortified city, and a
pillar of iron, and a wall of brass, over all the land, to the kings of
Juda, to the princes thereof, and to the priests, and to the people of
the land.

1:19. And they shall fight against them, and shall not prevail: for I am
with thee, saith the Lord, to deliver thee.

Jeremias Chapter 2

God expostulates with the Jews for their ingratitude and infidelity.

2:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

2:2. Go, and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying: Thus saith the Lord:
I have remembered thee, pitying thy youth, and the love of thy
espousals, when thou followedst me in the desert, in a land that is not
sown.

2:3. Israel is holy to the Lord, the firstfruits of his increase: all
they that devour him offend: evils shall come upon them, saith the Lord.

2:4. Hear ye the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all ye families
of the house of Israel:

2:5. Thus saith the Lord: What iniquity have your fathers found in me,
that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are
become vain?

2:6. And they have not said: Where is the Lord, that made us come up out
of the land of Egypt? that led us through the desert, through a land
uninhabited and unpassable, through a land of drought, and the image of
death, through a land wherein no man walked, nor any man dwelt?

2:7. And I brought you into the land of Carmel, to eat the fruit
thereof, and the best things thereof: and when ye entered in, you
defiled my land and made my inheritance an abomination.

Carmel... That is, a fruitful, plentiful land.

2:8. The priests did not say: Where is the Lord? and they that held the
law knew me not, and the pastors transgressed against me: and the
prophets prophesied in Baal, and followed idols.

2:9. Therefore will I yet contend in judgment with you, saith the Lord,
and I will plead with your children.

2:10. Pass over to the isles of Cethim, and see: and send into Cedar,
and consider diligently: and see if there hath been done any thing like
this.

2:11. If a nation hath changed their gods, and indeed they are not gods:
but my people have changed their glory into an idol.

2:12. Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and ye gates thereof, be
very desolate, saith the Lord.

2:13. For my people have done two evils. They have forsaken me, the
fountain of living water, and have digged to themselves cisterns, broken
cisterns, that can hold no water.

2:14. Is Israel a bondman, or a homeborn slave? why then is he become a
prey?

2:15. The lions have roared upon him, and have made a noise, they have
made his land a wilderness: his cities are burnt down, and there is none
to dwell in them.

2:16. The children also of Memphis, and of Taphnes have defloured thee,
even to the crown of the head.

2:17. Hath not this been done to thee, because thou hast forsaken the
Lord thy God at that time, when he led thee by the way?

2:18. And now what hast thou to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the
troubled water? And what hast thou to do with the way of the Assyrians,
to drink the water of the river?

2:19. Thy own wickedness shall reprove thee, and thy apostasy shall
rebuke thee. Know thou, and see that it is an evil and a bitter thing
for thee, to have left the Lord thy God, and that my fear is not with
thee, saith the Lord the God of hosts.

2:20. Of old time thou hast broken my yoke, thou hast burst my bands,
and thou saidst: I will not serve. For on every high hill, and under
every green tree thou didst prostitute thyself.

2:21. Yet, I planted thee a chosen vineyard, all true seed: how then art
thou turned unto me into that which is good for nothing, O strange
vineyard?

2:22. Though thou wash thyself with nitre, and multiply to thyself the
herb borith, thou art stained in thy iniquity before me, saith the Lord
God.

Borith... An herb used to clean clothes, and take out spots and dirt.

2:23. How canst thou say: I am not polluted, I have not walked after
Baalim? see thy ways in the valley, know what thou hast done: as a swift
runner pursuing his course.

2:24. A wild ass accustomed to the wilderness in the desire of his
heart, snuffed up the wind of his love: none shall turn her away: all
that seek her shall not fail: in her monthly filth they shall find her.

2:25. Keep thy foot from being bare, and thy throat from thirst.  But
thou saidst: I have lost all hope, I will not do it: for I have loved
strangers, and I will walk after them.

2:26. As the thief is confounded when he is taken, so is the house of
Israel confounded, they and their kings, their princes and their
priests, and their prophets.

2:27. Saying to a stock: Thou art my father: and to a stone: Thou hast
begotten me: they have turned their back to me, and not their face: and
in the time of their affliction they will say: Arise, and deliver us.

2:28. Where are the gods, whom thou hast made thee? let them arise and
deliver thee in the time of thy affliction: for according to the number
of thy cities were thy gods, O Juda.

2:29. Why will you contend with me in judgment? you have all forsaken
me, saith the Lord.

2:30. In vain have I struck your children, they have not received
correction: your sword hath devoured your prophets, your generation is
like a ravaging lion.

2:31. See ye the word of the Lord: Am I become a wilderness to Israel,
or a lateward springing land? why then have my people said: We are
revolted, we will come to thee no more?

2:32. Will a virgin forget her ornament, or a bride her stomacher?  but
my people hath forgotten me days without number.

2:33. Why dost thou endeavour to shew thy way good to seek my love, thou
who hast also taught thy malices to be thy ways,

2:34. And in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor and
innocent? not in ditches have I found them, but in all places, which I
mentioned before.

2:35. And thou hast said: I am without sin and am innocent: and
therefore let thy anger be turned away from me. Behold, I will contend
with thee in judgment, because thou hast said: I have not sinned.

2:36. How exceeding base art thou become, going the same ways over
again! and thou shalt be ashamed of Egypt, as thou wast ashamed of
Assyria.

2:37. For from thence thou shalt go, and thy hand shall be upon thy
head: for the Lord hath destroyed thy trust, and thou shalt have nothing
prosperous therein.

Jeremias Chapter 3

God invites the rebel Jews to return to him, with a promise to receive
them: he foretells the conversion of the Gentiles.

3:1. It is commonly said: If a man put away his wife, and she go from
him, and marry another man, shall he return to her any more? shall not
that woman be polluted, and defiled? but thou hast prostituted thyself
to many lovers: nevertheless return to me, saith the Lord, and I will
receive thee.

3:2. Lift up thy eyes on high: and see where thou hast not prostituted
thyself: thou didst sit in the ways, waiting for them as a robber in the
wilderness: and thou hast polluted the land with thy fornications, and
with thy wickedness.

3:3. Therefore the showers were withholden, and there was no lateward
rain: thou hadst a harlot's forehead, thou wouldst not blush.

3:4. Therefore at the least from this time call to me: Thou art my
father, the guide of my virginity:

3:5. Wilt thou be angry for ever, or wilt thou continue unto the end?
Behold, thou hast spoken, and hast done evil things, and hast been able.

3:6. And the Lord said to me in the days of king Josias: Hast thou seen
what rebellious Israel hath done? she hath gone of herself upon every
high mountain, and under every green tree, and hath played the harlot
there.

3:7. And when she had done all these things, I said: Return to me, and
she did not return. And her treacherous sister Juda saw,

3:8. That because the rebellious Israel had played the harlot, I had put
her away, and given her a bill of divorce: yet her treacherous sister
Juda was not afraid, but went and played the harlot also herself.

3:9. And by the facility of her fornication she defiled the land, and
played the harlot with stones and with stocks.

3:10. And after all this, her treacherous sister Juda hath not returned
to me with her whole heart, but with falsehood, saith the Lord.

3:11. And the Lord said to me: The rebellious Israel hath justified her
soul, in comparison of the treacherous Juda.

3:12. Go, and proclaim these words towards the north, and thou shalt
say: Return, O rebellious Israel, saith the Lord, and I will not turn
away my face from you: for I am holy, saith the Lord, and I will not be
angry for ever.

3:13. But yet acknowledge thy iniquity, that thou hast transgressed
against the Lord thy God: and thou hast scattered thy ways to strangers
under every green tree, and hast not heard my voice, saith the Lord.

3:14. Return, O ye revolting children, saith the Lord: for I am your I
husband: and I will take you, one of a city, and two of a kindred, and
will bring you into Sion.

3:15. And I will give you pastors according to my own heart, and they
shall feed you with knowledge and doctrine.

3:16. And when you shall be multiplied, and increase in the land in
those days, saith the Lord, they shall say no more: The ark of the
covenant of the Lord: neither shall it come upon the heart, neither
shall they remember it, neither shall it be visited, neither shall that
be done any more.

3:17. At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the Lord: and
all the nations shall be gathered together to it, in the name of the
Lord to Jerusalem, and they shall not walk after the perversity of their
most wicked heart.

3:18. In those days the house of Juda shall go to the house of Israel,
and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land
which I gave to your fathers.

3:19. But I said: How shall I put thee among the children, and give thee
a lovely land, the goodly inheritance of the armies of the Gentiles? And
I said: Thou shalt call me father and shalt not cease to walk after me.

3:20. But as a woman that despiseth her lover, so hath the house of
Israel despised me, saith the Lord.

3:21. A voice was heard in the highways, weeping and howling of the
children of Israel: because they have made their way wicked, they have
forgotten the Lord their God.

3:22. Return, you rebellious children, and I will heal your rebellions.
Behold we come to thee: for thou art the Lord our God.

3:23. In very deed the hills were liars, and the multitude of the
mountains: truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel.

3:24. Confusion hath devoured the labour of our fathers from our youth,
their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.

3:25. We shall sleep in our confusion, and our shame shall cover us,
because we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers from
our youth even to this day, and we have not hearkened to the voice of
the Lord our God.

Jeremias Chapter 4

And admonition to sincere repentance, and circumcision of the heart,
with threats of grievous punishment to those that persist in sin.

4:1. If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the Lord, return to me: if
thou wilt take away thy stumblingblocks out of my sight, thou shalt not
be moved.

4:2. And thou shalt swear: As the Lord liveth, in truth, and in
judgment, and in justice: and the Gentiles shall bless him, and shall
praise him.

4:3. For thus saith the Lord to the men of Juda and Jerusalem: Break up
anew your fallow ground, and sow not upon thorns:

4:4. Be circumcised to the Lord, and take away the foreskins of your
hearts, ye men of Juda, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my
indignation come forth like fire, and burn, and there be none that can
quench it because of the wickedness of your thoughts.

4:5. Declare ye in Juda, and make it heard in Jerusalem: speak, and
sound with the trumpet in the land: cry aloud, and say: Assemble
yourselves, and let us go into strong cities.

4:6. Set up the standard in Sion. Strengthen yourselves, stay not: for I
bring evil from the north, and great destruction.

4:7. The lion is come up out of his den, and the robber of nations hath
roused himself: he is come forth out of his place, to make thy land
desolate: thy cities shall be laid waste, remaining without an
inhabitant.

4:8. For this gird yourselves with haircloth, lament and howl: for the
fierce anger of the Lord is not turned away from us.

4:9. And it shall come to pass in 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 be amazed.

4:10. And I said: Alas, alas, alas, O Lord God, hast thou then deceived
this people and Jerusalem, saying: You shall have peace: and behold the
sword reacheth even to the soul?

4:11. At that time it shall be said to this people, and to Jerusalem: A
burning wind is in the ways that are in the desert of the way of the
daughter of my people, not to fan, nor to cleanse.

4:12. A full wind from these places shall come to me: and now I will
speak my judgments with them.

4:13. Behold he shall come up as a cloud, and his chariots as a tempest:
his horses are swifter than eagles: woe unto us, for we are laid waste.

4:14. Wash thy heart from wickedness, O Jerusalem, that thou mayst be
saved: how long shall hurtful thoughts abide in thee?

4:15. For a voice of one declaring from Dan, and giving notice of the
idol from mount Ephraim.

4:16. Say ye to the nations: Behold it is heard in Jerusalem, that
guards are coming from a far country, and give out their voice against
the cities of Juda.

4:17. They are set round about her, as keepers of fields: because she
hath provoked me to wrath, saith the Lord.

4:18. Thy ways, and thy devices have brought these things upon thee:
this is thy wickedness, because it is bitter, because it hath touched
thy heart.

4:19. My bowels, my bowels are in part, the senses of my heart are
troubled within me, I will not hold my peace, for my soul hath heard the
sound of the trumpet, the cry of battle.

4:20. Destruction upon destruction is called for, and all the earth is
laid waste: my tents are destroyed on a sudden, and my pavilions in a
moment.

4:21. How long shall I see men fleeing away, how long shall I hear the
sound of the trumpet?

4:22. For my foolish people have not known me: they are foolish and
senseless children: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have
no knowledge.

4:23. I beheld the earth, and lo it was void, and nothing: and the
heavens, and there was no light in them.

4:24. I looked upon the mountains, and behold they trembled: and all the
hills were troubled.

4:25. I beheld, and lo there was no man: and all the birds of the air
were gone.

4:26. I looked, and behold Carmel was a wilderness: and all its cities
were destroyed at the presence of the Lord, and at the presence of the
wrath of his indignation.

4:27. For thus saith the Lord: All the land shall be desolate, but yet I
will not utterly destroy.

4:28. The Earth shall mourn, and the heavens shall lament from above:
because I have spoken, I have purposed, and I have not repented, neither
am I turned away from it.

4:29. At the voice of the horsemen, and the archers, all the city is
fled away: they have entered into thickets and climbed up the rocks: all
the cities are forsaken, and there dwelleth not a man in them.

4:30. But when thou art spoiled what wilt thou do? though thou clothest
thyself with scarlet, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold,
and paintest thy eyes with stibic stone, thou shalt dress thyself out in
vain: thy lovers have despised thee, they will seek thy life.

4:31. For I have heard the voice as of a woman in travail, anguishes as
of a woman in labour of a child. The voice of the daughter of Sion,
dying away, spreading her hands: Woe is me, for my soul hath fainted
because of them that are slain.

Jeremias Chapter 5

The judgments of God shall fall upon the Jews for their manifold sins.

5:1. Go about through the streets of Jerusalem, and see, and consider,
and seek in the broad places thereof, if you can find a man that
executeth judgment, and seeketh faith: and I will be merciful unto it.

5:2. And though they say: The Lord liveth; this also they will swear
falsely.

5:3. O Lord, thy eyes are upon truth: thou hast struck them, and they
have not grieved: thou hast bruised them, and they have refused to
receive correction: they have made their faces harder than the rock, and
they have refused to return.

5:4. But I said: Perhaps these are poor and foolish, that know not the
way of the Lord, the judgment of their God.

5:5. I will go therefore to the great men, and will speak to them: for
they have known the way of the Lord, the judgment of their God: and
behold these have altogether broken the yoke more, and have burst the
bonds.

5:6. Wherefore a lion out of the wood hath slain them, a wolf in the
evening hath spoiled them, a leopard watcheth for their cities: every
one that shall go out thence shall be taken, because their
transgressions are multiplied, their rebellions are strengthened.

5:7. How can I be merciful to thee? thy children have forsaken me, and
swear by them that are not gods: I fed them to the full, and they
committed adultery, and rioted in the harlot's house.

5:8. They are become as amorous horses and stallions: every one neighed
after his neighbour's wife.

5:9. Shall I not visit for these things, saith the Lord? and shall not
my soul take revenge on such a nation?

5:10. Scale the walls thereof, and throw them down, but do not utterly
destroy: take away the branches thereof, because they are not the
Lord's.

5:11. For the house of Israel, and the house of Juda have greatly
transgressed against me, saith the Lord.

5:12. They have denied the Lord, and said, It is not he: and the evil
shall not come upon us: we shall not see the sword and famine.

5:13. The prophets have spoken in the wind, and there was no word of God
in them: these things therefore shall befall them.

5:14. Thus saith the Lord the God of hosts: because you have spoken this
word, behold I will make my words in thy mouth as fire, and this people
as wood, and it shall devour them.

5:15. Behold I will bring upon you a nation from afar, O house of
Israel, saith the Lord: a strong nation, an ancient nation, a nation
whose language thou shalt not know, nor understand what they say.

5:16. Their quiver is as an open sepulchre, they are all valiant.

5:17. And they shall eat up thy corn, and thy bread: they shall devour
thy sons, and thy daughters: they shall eat up thy flocks, and thy
herds: they shall eat thy vineyards, and thy figs: and with the sword
they shall destroy thy strong cities, wherein thou trustest.

5:18. Nevertheless in those days, saith the Lord, I will not bring you
to utter destruction.

5:19. And if you shall say: Why hath the Lord our God done all these
things to us? thou shalt say to them: As you have forsaken me, and
served a strange god in your own land, so shall you serve strangers in a
land that is not your own.

5:20. Declare ye this to the house of Jacob, and publish it in Juda,
saying:

5:21. Hear, O foolish people, and without understanding: who have eyes,
and see not: and ears, and hear not.

5:22. Will not you then fear me, saith the Lord: and will you not repent
at my presence? I have set the sand a bound for the sea, an everlasting
ordinance, which it shall not pass over: and the waves thereof shall
toss themselves, and shall not prevail: they shall swell, and shall not
pass over it.

5:23. But the heart of this people is become hard of belief and
provoking, they are revolted and gone away.

5:24. And they have not said in their heart: Let us fear the Lord our
God, who giveth us the early and the latter rain in due season: who
preserveth for us the fulness of the yearly harvest.

5:25. Your iniquities have turned these things away, and your sins have
withholden good things from you.

5:26. For among my people are found wicked men, that lie in wait as
fowlers, setting snares and traps to catch men.

5:27. As a net is full of birds, so their houses are full of deceit:
therefore are they become great and enriched.

5:28. They are grown gross and fat: and have most wickedly transgressed
my words. They have not judged the cause of the widow, they have not
managed the cause of the fatherless, and they have not judged the
judgment of the poor.

5:29. Shall I not visit for these things, saith the Lord? or shall not
my soul take revenge on such a nation?

5:30. Astonishing and wonderful things have been done in the land.

5:31. The prophets prophesied falsehood, and the priests clapped their
hands: and my people loved such things: what then shall be done in the
end thereof?

Jeremias Chapter 6

The evils that threaten Jerusalem. She is invited to return, and walk in
the good way, and not to rely on sacrifices without obedience.

6:1. Strengthen yourselves, ye sons of Benjamin, in the midst of
Jerusalem, and sound the trumpet in Thecua, and set up the standard over
Bethacarem: for evil is seen out of the north, and a great destruction.

6:2. I have likened the daughter of Sion to a beautiful and delicate
woman.

6:3. The shepherds shall come to her with their flocks: they have
pitched their tents against her round about: every one shall feed them
that are under his hand.

6:4. Prepare ye war against her: arise, and let us go up at midday: woe
unto us, for the day is declined, for the shadows of the evening are
grown longer.

6:5. Arise, and let us go up in the night, and destroy her houses.

6:6. For thus saith the Lord of hosts: Hew down her trees, cast up a
trench about Jerusalem: this is the city to be visited, all oppression
is in the midst of her.

6:7. As a cistern maketh its water cold, so hath she made her wickedness
cold: violence and spoil shall be heard in her, infirmity and stripes
are continually before me.

6:8. Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from thee,
lest I make thee desolate, a land uninhabited.

6:9. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: They shall gather the remains of
Israel, as in a vine, even to one cluster: turn back thy hand, as a
grapegatherer into the basket.

6:10. To whom shall I speak? and to whom shall I testify, that he may
hear? behold, their ears are uncircumcised, and they cannot hear: behold
the word of the Lord is become unto them a reproach: and they will not
receive it.

6:11. Therefore am I full of the fury of the Lord, I am weary with
holding in: pour it out upon the child abroad, and upon the council of
the young men together: for man and woman shall be taken, the ancient
and he that is full of days.

6:12. And their houses shall be turned over to others, with their lands
and their wives together: for I will stretch forth my hand upon the
inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord.

6:13. For from the least of them even to the greatest, all are given to
covetousness: and from the prophet even to the priest, all are guilty of
deceit.

6:14. And they healed the breach of the daughter of my people
disgracefully, saying: Peace, peace: and there was no peace.

6:15. They were confounded, because they committed abomination: yea,
rather they were not confounded with confusion, and they knew not how to
blush: wherefore they shall fall among them that fall: in the time of
their visitation they shall fall down, saith the Lord.

6:16. Thus saith the Lord: Stand ye on the ways, and see, and ask for
the old paths, which is the good way, and walk ye in it: and you shall
find refreshment for your souls. And they said: We will not walk.

6:17. And I appointed watchmen over you, saying: Hearken ye to the sound
of the trumpet. And they said: We will not hearken.

6:18. Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O congregation, what great
things I will do to them.

6:19. Hear, O earth: Behold I will bring evils upon this people, the
fruits of their own thoughts: because they have not heard my words, and
they have cast away my law.

6:20. To what purpose do you bring me frankincense from Saba, and the
sweet smelling cane from a far country? your holocausts are not
acceptable, nor are your sacrifices pleasing to me.

6:21. Therefore thus saith the Lord: Behold I will bring destruction
upon this people, by which fathers and sons together shall fall,
neighbour and kinsman shall perish.

6:22. Thus saith the Lord: Behold a people cometh from the land of the
north, and a great nation shall rise up from the ends of the earth.

6:23. They shall lay hold on arrow and shield: they are cruel, and will
have no mercy. Their voice shall roar like the sea: and they shall mount
upon horses, prepared as men for war, against thee, O daughter of Sion.

6:24. We have heard the fame thereof, our hands grow feeble: anguish
hath taken hold of us, as a woman in labour.

6:25. Go not out into the fields, nor walk in the highway: for the sword
of the enemy, and fear is on every side.

6:26. Gird thee with sackcloth, O daughter of my people, and sprinkle
thee with ashes: make thee mourning as for an only son, a bitter
lamentation, because the destroyer shall suddenly come upon us.

6:27. I have set thee for a strong trier among my people: and thou shalt
know, and prove their way.

6:28. All these princes go out of the way, they walk deceitfully, they
are brass and iron: they are all corrupted.

6:29. The bellows have failed, the lead is consumed in the fire, the
founder hath melted in vain: for their wicked deeds are not consumed.

6:30. Call them reprobate silver, for the Lord hath rejected them.

Jeremias Chapter 7

The temple of God shall not protect a sinful people, without a sincere
conversion. The Lord will not receive the prayers of the prophet for
them: because they are obstinate in their sins.

7:1. The word that came to Jeremias from the Lord, saying:

7:2. Stand in the gate of the house of the Lord, and proclaim there this
word, and say: Hear ye the word of the Lord, all ye men of Juda, that
enter in at these gates, to adore the Lord.

7:3. Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Make your ways and
your doings good: and I will dwell with you in this place.

7:4. Trust not in lying words, saying: The temple of the Lord, the
temple of the Lord, it is the temple of the Lord.

7:5. For if you will order well your ways, and your doings: if you will
execute judgment between a man and his neighbour,

7:6. If you oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and
shed not innocent blood in this place, and walk not after strange gods
to your own hurt,

7:7. I will dwell with you in this place: in the land, which I gave to
your fathers from the beginning and for evermore.

7:8. Behold you put your trust in lying words, which shall not profit
you:

7:9. To steal, to murder, to commit adultery, to swear falsely, to offer
to Baalim, and to go after strange gods, which you know not.

7:10. And you have come, and stood before me in this house, in which my
name is called upon, and have said: We are delivered, because we have
done all these abominations.

7:11. Is this house then, in which my name hath been called upon, in
your eyes become a den of robbers? I, I am he: I have seen it, saith the
Lord.

7:12. Go ye to my place in Silo, where my name dwelt from the beginning:
and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel:

7:13. And now, because you have done all these works, saith the Lord:
and I have spoken to you rising up early, and speaking, and you have not
heard: and I have called you, and you have not answered:

7:14. I will do to this house, in which my name is called upon, and in
which you trust, and to the place which I have given you and your
fathers, as I did to Silo.

7:15. And I will cast you away from before my face, as I have cast away
all your brethren, the whole seed of Ephraim.

7:16. Therefore do not thou pray for this people, nor take to thee
praise and supplication for them: and do not withstand me: for I will
not hear thee.

7:17. Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Juda, and in the
streets of Jerusalem?

7:18. The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the
women knead the dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to
offer libations to strange gods, and to provoke me to anger.

Queen of heaven... That is, the moon, which they worshipped under that
name.

7:19. Do they provoke me to anger, saith the Lord? is it not themselves,
to the confusion of their own countenance?

7:20. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold my wrath and my
indignation is enkindled against this place, upon men and upon beasts,
and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruits of the land, and it
shall burn, and shall not be quenched.

7:21. Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Add your burnt
offerings to your sacrifices, and eat ye the flesh.

7:22. For I spoke not to your fathers, and I commanded them not, in the
day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning the matter
of burnt offerings and sacrifices.

I commanded them not... Viz., such sacrifices as the Jews at this time
offered, without obedience; which was the thing principally commanded:
so that in comparison with it, the offering of the holocausts and
sacrifices was of small account.

7:23. But this thing I commanded them, saying: Hearken to my voice, and
I will be your God, and you shall be my people: and walk ye in all the
way that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.

7:24. But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear: but walked in
their own will, and in the perversity of their wicked heart: and went
backward and not forward,

7:25. From the day that their fathers came out of the land of Egypt,
even to this day. And I have sent to you all my servants the prophets,
from day to day, rising up early and sending.

7:26. And they have not hearkened to me: nor inclined their ear: but
have hardened their neck, and have done worse than their fathers.

7:27. And thou shalt speak to them all these words, but they will not
hearken to thee: and thou shalt call them, but they will not answer
thee.

7:28. And thou shalt say to them: This is a nation which hath not
hearkened to the voice of the Lord their God, nor received instruction:
faith is lost, and is taken away out of their mouth.

7:29. Cut off thy hair, and cast it away: and take up a lamentation on
high: for the Lord hath rejected, and forsaken the generation of his
wrath,

7:30. Because the children of Juda have done evil in my eyes, saith the
Lord. They have set their abominations in the house in which my name is
called upon, to pollute it;

7:31. And they have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the
valley of the son of Ennom, to burn their sons, and their daughters in
the fire: which I commanded not, nor thought on in my heart.

7:32. Therefore behold the days shall come, saith the Lord, and it shall
no more be called Topheth, nor the valley of the son of Ennom: but the
valley of slaughter: and they shall bury in Topheth, because there is no
place.

7:33. And the carcasses of this people shall be meat for the fowls of
the air, and for the beasts of the earth, and there shall be none to
drive them away.

7:34. And I will cause to cease out of the cities of Juda, and out of
the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of joy, and the voice of gladness,
the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride: for the land
shall be desolate.

Jeremias Chapter 8

Other evils that shall fall upon the Jews for their impenitence.

8:1. At that time, saith the Lord, they shall cast out the bones of the
kings of Juda, and the bones of the princes thereof, and the bones of
the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves.

8:2. And they shall spread them abroad to the sun, and the moon, and all
the host of heaven, whom they have loved, and whom they have served, and
after whom have walked, and whom they have sought, and adored: they
shall not be gathered, and they shall not be buried: they shall be as
dung upon the face of the earth.

8:3. And death shall be chosen rather than life by all that shall remain
of this wicked kindred in all places, which are left, to which I have
cast them out, saith the Lord of hosts.

8:4. And thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord: Shall not he that
falleth, rise again? and he that is turned away, shall he not turn
again?

8:5. Why then is this people in Jerusalem turned away with a stubborn
revolting? they have laid hold on lying, and have refused to return.

8:6. I attended, and hearkened; no man speaketh what is good, there is
none that doth penance for his sin, saying: What have I done? They are
all turned to their own course, as a horse rushing to the battle.

8:7. The kite in the air hath known her time: the turtle, and the
swallow, and the stork have observed the time of their coming: but my
people have not known the judgment of the Lord.

8:8. How do you say: We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us?
Indeed the lying pens of the scribes hath wrought falsehood.

8:9. The wise men are confounded, they are dismayed, and taken: for they
have cast away the word of the Lord, and there is no wisdom in them.

8:10. Therefore will I give their women to strangers, their fields to
others for an inheritance: because from the least even to the greatest
all follow covetousness: from the prophet even to the priest all deal
deceitfully.

8:11. And they healed the breach of the daughter of my people
disgracefully, saying: Peace, peace: when there was no peace.

8:12. They are confounded, because they have committed abomination: yea
rather they are not confounded with confusion, and they have not known
how to blush: therefore shall they fall among them that fall; in the
time of their visitation they shall fall, saith the Lord.

8:13. Gathering I will gather them together, saith the Lord, there is no
grape on the vines, and there are no figs on the fig tree, the leaf is
fallen: and I have given them the things that are passed away.

8:14. Why do we sit still? assemble yourselves, and let us enter into
the fenced city, and let us be silent there: for the Lord our God hath
put us to silence, and hath given us water of gall to drink: for we have
sinned against the Lord.

8:15. We looked for peace and no good came: for a time of healing, and
behold fear.

8:16. The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan, all the land was
moved at the sound of the neighing of his warriors: and they came and
devoured the land, and all that was in it: the city and its inhabitants.

8:17. For behold I will send among you serpents, basilisks, against
which there is no charm: and they shall bite you, saith the Lord.

8:18. My sorrow is above sorrow, my heart mourneth within me.

8:19. Behold the voice of the daughter of my people from a far country:
Is not the Lord in Sion, or is not her king in her? why then have they
provoked me to wrath with their idols, and strange vanities?

8:20. The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.

8:21. For the affliction of the daughter of my people I am afflicted,
and made sorrowful, astonishment hath taken hold on me.

8:22. Is there no balm in Galaad? or is there no physician there?  Why
then is not the wound of the daughter of my people closed?

Jeremias Chapter 9

The prophet laments the miseries of his people: and their sins, which
are the cause of them. He exhorts them to repentance.

9:1. Who will give water to my head, and a fountain of tears to my eyes?
and I will weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my
people.

9:2. Who will give me in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring
men, and I will leave my people, and depart from them? because they are
all adulterers, an assembly of transgressors.

9:3. And they have bent their tongue, as a bow, for lies, and not for
truth: they have strengthened themselves upon the earth, for they have
proceeded from evil to evil, and me they have not known, saith the Lord.

9:4. Let every man take heed of his neighbour, and let him not trust in
any brother of his: for every brother will utterly supplant, and every
friend will walk deceitfully.

9:5. And a man shall mock his brother, and they will not speak the
truth: for they have taught their tongue to speak lies: they have
laboured to commit iniquity.

9:6. Thy habitation is in the midst of deceit: through deceit they have
refused to know me, saith the Lord.

9:7. Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts: Behold I will melt, and try
them: for what else shall I do before the daughter of my people?

9:8. Their tongue is a piercing arrow, it hath spoken deceit: with his
mouth one speaketh peace with his friend, and secretly he lieth in wait
for him.

9:9. Shall I not visit them for these things, saith the Lord? or shall
not my soul be revenged on such a nation?

9:10. For the mountains I will take up weeping and lamentation, and for
the beautiful places of the desert, mourning: because they are burnt up,
for that there is not a man that passeth through them: and they have not
heard the voice of the owner: from the fowl of the air to the beasts
they are gone away and departed.

9:11. And I will make Jerusalem to be heaps of sand, and dens of
dragons: and I will make the cities of Juda desolate, for want of an
inhabitant.

9:12. Who is the wise man, that may understand this, and to whom the
word of the mouth of the Lord may come that he may declare this, why the
land hath perished, and is burnt up like a wilderness, which none
passeth through?

9:13. And the Lord said: Because they have forsaken my law, which I gave
them, and have not heard my voice, and have not walked in it.

9:14. But they have gone after the perverseness of their own heart, and
after Baalim, which their fathers taught them.

9:15. Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Behold I
will feed this people with wormwood, and give them water of gall to
drink.

9:16. And I will scatter them among the nations, which they and their
fathers have not known: and I will send the sword after them till they
be consumed.

9:17. Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Consider ye, and
call for the mourning women, and let them come: and send to them that
are wise women, and let them make haste:

9:18. Let them hasten and take up a lamentation for us: let our eyes
shed tears, and our eyelids run down with waters.

9:19. For a voice of wailing is heard out of Sion: How are we wasted and
greatly confounded? because we have left the land, because our dwellings
are cast down.

9:20. Hear therefore, ye women, the word of the Lord: and let your ears
receive the word of his mouth: and teach your daughters wailing: and
every one her neighbour mourning.

9:21. For death is come up through our windows, it is entered into our
houses to destroy the children from without, the young men from the
streets.

9:22. Speak: Thus saith the Lord: Even the carcass of man shall fall as
dung upon the face of the country, and as grass behind the back of the
mower, and there is none to gather it.

9:23. Thus saith the Lord: Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, and
let not the strong man glory in his strength, and let not the rich man
glory in his riches:

9:24. But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and
knoweth me, for I am the Lord that exercise mercy, and judgment, and
justice in the earth: for these things please me, saith the Lord.

9:25. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, and I will visit upon every
one that hath the foreskin circumcised.

9:26. Upon Egypt, and upon Juda, and upon Edom, and upon the children of
Ammon, and upon Moab, and upon all that have their hair polled round,
that dwell in the desert: for all the nations are uncircumcised in the
flesh, but all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart.

Jeremias Chapter 10

Neither stars nor idols are to be feared, but the great Creator of all
things. The chastisement of Jerusalem for her sins.

10:1. Hear ye the word which the Lord hath spoken concerning you, O
house of Israel.

10:2. Thus saith the Lord: Learn not according to the ways of the
Gentiles: and be not afraid of the signs of heaven, which the heathens
fear:

10:3. For the laws of the people are vain: for the works of the hand of
the workman hath cut a tree out of the forest with an axe.

10:4. He hath decked it with silver and gold: he hath put it together
with nails and hammers, that it may not fall asunder.

10:5. They are framed after the likeness of a palm tree, and shall not
speak: they must be carried to be removed, because they cannot go.
Therefore fear them not, for they can neither do evil nor good.

10:6. There is none like to thee, O Lord: thou art great, and great is
thy name in might.

10:7. Who shall not fear thee, O king of nations? for thine is the
glory: among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms
there is none like unto thee.

10:8. They shall be all proved together to be senseless and foolish: the
doctrine of their vanity is wood.

10:9. Silver spread into plates is brought from Tharsis, and gold from
Ophaz: the work of the artificer, and of the hand of the coppersmith:
violet and purple is their clothing: all these things are the work of
artificers.

10:10. But the Lord is the true God: he is the living God, and the
everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations
shall not be able to abide his threatening.

10:11. Thus then shall you say to them: The gods that have not made
heaven and earth, let them perish from the earth, and from among those
places that are under heaven.

10:12. He that maketh the earth by his power, that prepareth the world
by his wisdom, and stretcheth out the heavens by his knowledge.

10:13. At his voice he giveth a multitude of waters in the heaven, and
lifteth up the clouds from the ends of the earth: he maketh lightnings
for rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures.

10:14. Every man is become a fool for knowledge, every artist is
confounded in his graven idol: for what he hath cast is false, and there
is no spirit in them.

10:15. They are vain things, and a ridiculous work: in the time of their
visitation they shall perish.

10:16. The portion of Jacob is not like these: for it is he who formed
all things: and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: the Lord of hosts
is his name.

10:17. Gather up thy shame out of the land, thou that dwellest in a
siege.

10:18. For thus saith he Lord: Behold I will cast away far off the
inhabitants of the land at this time: and I will afflict them, so that
they may be found.

10:19. Woe is me for my destruction, my wound is very grievous.  But I
said: Truly this is my own evil, and I will bear it.

10:20. My tabernacle is laid waste, all my cords are broken: my children
are gone out from me, and they are not: there is none to stretch forth
my tent any more, and to set up my curtains.

10:21. Because the pastors have done foolishly, and have not sought the
Lord: therefore have they not understood, and all their flock is
scattered.

10:22. Behold the sound of a noise cometh, a great commotion out of the
land of the north: to make the cities of Juda a desert, and a dwelling
for dragons.

10:23. I know, O Lord, that the way of a man is not his: neither is it
in a man to walk, and to direct his steps.

The way of a man is not his... The meaning is, that notwithstanding
man's free will, yet he can do no good without God's help, nor evil
without his permission. So that, in the present case, all the evils
which Nabuchodonosor was about to bring upon Jerusalem, could not have
come but by the will of God.

10:24. Correct me, O Lord, but yet with judgment: and not in thy fury,
lest thou bring me to nothing.

10:25. Pour out thy indignation upon the nations that have not known
thee, and upon the provinces that have not called upon thy name: because
they have eaten up Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him, and have
destroyed his glory.

Jeremias Chapter 11

The prophet proclaims the covenant of God: and denounces evils to the
obstinate transgressors of it. The conspiracy of the Jews against him, a
figure of their conspiracy against Christ.

11:1. The word that came from the Lord to Jeremias, saying:

11:2. Hear ye the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Juda,
and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem,

11:3. And thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel:
Cursed is the man that shall not hearken to the words of this covenant,

11:4. Which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them out
of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying: Hear ye my voice,
and do all things that I command you: and you shall be my people, and I
will be your God:

11:5. That I may accomplish the oath which I swore to your fathers, to
give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day. And I
answered and said: Amen, O Lord.

11:6. And the Lord said to me: Proclaim aloud all these words in the
cities of Juda, and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying: Hear ye the
words of the covenant, and do them:

11:7. For protesting I conjured your fathers in the day that I brought
them out of the land of Egypt even to this day: rising early I conjured
them, and said: Hearken ye to my voice:

11:8. And they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear: but walked every one
in the perverseness of his own wicked heart: and I brought upon them all
the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did
them not.

11:9. And the Lord said to me: A conspiracy is found among the men of
Juda, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

11:10. They are returned to the former iniquities of their fathers, who
refused to hear my words: so these likewise have gone after strange
gods, to serve them: the house of Israel, and the house of Juda have
made void my covenant, which I made with their fathers.

11:11. Wherefore thus saith the Lord: Behold I will bring in evils upon
them, which they shall not be able to escape: and they shall cry to me,
and I will not hearken to them.

11:12. And the cities of Juda, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall
go, and cry to the gods to whom they offer sacrifice, and they shall not
save them in the time of their affliction.

11:13. For according to the number of thy cities were thy gods, O Juda:
and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem thou hast set up
altars of confusion, altars to offer sacrifice to Baalim.

11:14. Therefore do not thou pray for this people, and do not take up
praise and prayer for them: for I will not hear them in the time of
their cry to me, in the time of their affliction.

11:15. What is the meaning that my beloved hath wrought much wickedness
in my house? shall the holy flesh take away from thee thy crimes, in
which thou hast boasted?

11:16. The Lord called thy name, a plentiful olive tree, fair, fruitful,
and beautiful: at the noise of a word, a great fire was kindled in it,
and the branches thereof are burnt.

11:17. And the Lord of hosts that planted thee, hath pronounced evil
against thee: for the evils of the house of Israel, and of the house of
Juda, which they have done to themselves, to provoke me, offering
sacrifice to Baalim.

11:18. But thou, O Lord, hast shewn me, and I have known: then thou
shewedst me their doings.

11:19. And I was as a meek lamb, that is carried to be a victim: and I
knew not that they had devised counsels against me, saying: Let us put
wood on his bread, and cut him off from the land of the living, and let
his name be remembered no more.

11:20. But thou, O Lord of Sabaoth, who judgest justly, and triest the
reins and the hearts, let me see thy revenge on them: for to thee have I
revealed my cause.

Sabaoth... That is, of hosts or armies, a name frequently given to God
in the scriptures.-Ibid. Thy revenge... This was rather a prediction of
what was to happen, with an approbation of the divine justice, than an
imprecation.

11:21. Therefore thus saith the Lord to the men of Anathoth, who seek
thy life, and say: Thou shalt not prophesy in the name of the Lord, and
thou shalt not die in our hands.

11:22. Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts: Behold I will visit upon
them: their young men shall die by the sword, their sons and their
daughters shall die by famine.

11:23. And there shall be no remains of them: for I will bring in evil
upon the men of Anathoth, the year of their visitation.

Jeremias Chapter 12

The prosperity of the wicked shall be but for a short time. The
desolation of the Jews for their sins. Their return from their
captivity.

12:1. Thou indeed, O Lord, art just, if I plead with thee, but yet I
will speak what is just to thee: Why doth the way of the wicked prosper:
why is it well with all them that transgress, and do wickedly?

12:2. Thou hast planted them, and they have taken root: they prosper and
bring forth fruit: thou art near in their mouth, and far from their
reins.

12:3. And thou, O Lord, hast known me, thou hast seen me, and proved my
heart with thee: gather them together as for the day of slaughter.

12:4. How long shall the land mourn, and the herb of every field wither
for the wickedness of them that dwell therein? The beasts and the birds
are consumed: because they have said: He shall not see our last end.

12:5. If thou hast been wearied with running with footmen, how canst
thou contend with horses? and if thou hast been secure in a land of
peace, what wilt thou do in the swelling of the Jordan?

12:6. For even thy brethren, and the house of thy father, even they have
fought against thee, and have cried after thee with full voice: believe
them not when they speak good things to thee.

12:7. I have forsaken my house, I have left my inheritance: I have given
my dear soul into the hand of her enemies.

12:8. My inheritance is become to me as a lion in the wood: it hath
cried out against me, therefore have I hated it.

12:9. Is my inheritance to me as a speckled bird? is it as a bird dyed
throughout? come ye, assemble yourselves, all ye beasts of the earth,
make haste to devour.

12:10. Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my
portion under foot: they have changed my delightful portion into a
desolate wilderness.

12:11. They have laid it waste, and it hath mourned for me. With
desolation is all the land made desolate; because there is none that
considereth in the heart.

12:12. The spoilers are come upon all the ways of the wilderness, for
the sword of the Lord shall devour from one end of the land to the other
end thereof: there is no peace for all flesh.

12:13. They have sown wheat, and reaped thorns: they have received an
inheritance, and it shall not profit them: you shall be ashamed of your
fruits, because of the fierce wrath of the Lord.

12:14. Thus saith the Lord against all wicked neighbours, that touch the
inheritance that I have shared out to my people Israel: Behold I will
pluck them out of their land, and I will pluck the house of Juda out of
the midst of them.

12:15. And when I shall have plucked them out, I will return, and have
mercy on them: and will bring them back, every man to his inheritance,
and every man into his land.

12:16. And it shall come to pass, if they will be taught, and will learn
the ways of my people, to swear by my name: The Lord liveth, as they
have taught my people to swear by Baal: that they shall be built up in
the midst of my people.

12:17. But if they will not hear, I will utterly pluck out and destroy
that nation, saith the Lord.

Jeremias Chapter 13

Under the figure of a linen girdle is foretold the destruction of the
Jews. Their obstinacy in sin brings all miseries upon them.

13:1. Thus saith the Lord to me: Go, and get thee a linen girdle, and
thou shalt put it about thy loins, and shalt not put it into water.

13:2. And I got a girdle according to the word of the Lord, and put it
about my loins.

13:3. And the word of the Lord came to me the second time, saying:

13:4. Take the girdle which thou hast got, which is about thy loins, and
arise, go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole of the rock.

13:5. And I went, and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord had commanded
me.

13:6. And it came to pass after many days, that the Lord said to me:
Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take from thence the girdle, which I
commanded thee to hide there.

13:7. And I went to the Euphrates, and digged, and took the girdle out
of the place where I had hid it and behold the girdle was rotten, so
that it was fit for no use.

13:8. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

13:9. Thus saith the Lord: After this manner will I make the pride of
Juda, and the great pride of Jerusalem to rot.

13:10. This wicked people, that will not hear my words, and that walk in
the perverseness of their heart, and have gone after strange gods to
serve them, and to adore them: and they shall be as this girdle which
is fit for no use.

13:11. For as the girdle sticketh close to the loins of a man, so have I
brought close to me all the house of Israel, and all the house of Juda,
saith the Lord: that they might be my people, and for a name, and for a
praise, and for a glory: but they would not hear.

13:12. Thou shalt speak therefore to them this word: Thus saith the Lord
the God of Israel: Every bottle shall be filled with wine.  And they
shall say to thee: Do we not know that every bottle shall be filled with
wine?

13:13. And thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord: Behold I will
fill all the inhabitants of this land, and the kings of the race of
David that sit upon his throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and
all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with drunkenness.

13:14. And I will scatter them every man from his brother, and fathers
and sons in like manner, saith the Lord: I will not spare, and I will
not pardon: nor will I have mercy, but to destroy them.

13:15. Hear ye, and give ear: Be not proud, for the Lord hath spoken.

13:16. Give ye glory to the Lord your God, before it be dark, and before
your feet stumble upon the dark mountains: you shall look for light, and
he will turn it into the shadow of death, and into darkness.

13:17. But if you will not hear this, my soul shall weep in secret for
your pride: weeping it shall weep, and my eyes shall run down with
tears, because the flock of the Lord is carried away captive.

13:18. Say to the king, and to the queen: Humble yourselves, sit down:
for the crown of your glory is come down from your head.

13:19. The cities of the south are shut up, and there is none to open
them: all Juda is carried away captive with an entire captivity.

13:20. Lift up your eyes, and see, you that come from the north: where
is the flock that is given thee, thy beautiful cattle?

13:21. What wilt thou say when he shall visit thee? for thou hast taught
them against thee, and instructed them against thy own head: shall not
sorrows lay hold on thee, as a woman in labour?

13:22. And if thou shalt say in thy heart: Why are these things come
upon me? For the greatness of thy iniquity, thy nakedness is discovered,
the soles of thy feet are defiled.

13:23. If the Ethiopian can change his skin, or the leopard his spots:
you also may do well, when you have learned evil.

13:24. And I will scatter them as stubble, which is carried away by the
wind in the desert.

13:25. This is thy lot, and the portion of thy measure from me, saith
the Lord, because thou hast forgotten me, and hast trusted in falsehood.

13:26. Wherefore I have also bared thy thighs against thy face, and thy
shame hath appeared.

13:27. I have seen thy adulteries, and thy neighing, the wickedness of
thy fornication: and thy abominations, upon the hills in the field. Woe
to thee, Jerusalem, wilt thou not be made clean after me: how long yet?

Jeremias Chapter 14

A grievous famine: and the prophet's prayer on that occasion.  Evils
denounced to false prophets. The prophet mourns for his people.

14:1. The word of the Lord that came to Jeremias concerning the words of
the drought.

14:2. Judea hath mourned, and the gates thereof are fallen, and are
become obscure on the ground, and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up.

14:3. The great ones sent their inferiors to the water: they came to
draw, they found no water, they carried back their vessels empty: they
were confounded and afflicted, and covered their heads.

14:4. For the destruction of the land, because there came no rain upon
the earth, the husbandman were confounded, they covered their heads.

14:5. Yea, the hind also brought forth in the field, and left it,
because there was no grass.

14:6. And the wild asses stood upon the rocks, they snuffed up the wind
like dragons, their eyes failed, because there was no grass.

14:7. If our iniquities have testified against us, O Lord, do thou it
for thy name's sake, for our rebellions are many, we have sinned against
thee.

14:8. O expectation of Israel, the Saviour thereof in time of trouble:
why wilt thou be as a stranger in the land, and as a wayfaring man
turning in to lodge?

14:9. Why wilt thou be as a wandering man, as a mighty man that cannot
save? but thou, O Lord, art among us, and thy name is called upon by us,
forsake us not.

14:10. Thus saith the Lord to this people, that have loved to move their
feet, and have not rested, and have not pleased the Lord: He will now
remember their iniquities, and visit their sins.

14:11. And the Lord said to me: Pray not for this people for their good.

14:12. When they fast I will not hear their prayers: and if they offer
holocausts and victims, I will not receive them: for I will consume them
by the sword, and by famine, and by the pestilence.

14:13. And I said: Ah, ah, ah, O Lord God, the prophets say to them: You
shall not see the sword, and there shall be no famine among you, but he
will give you true peace in this place.

14:14. And the Lord said to me: The prophets prophesy falsely in my
name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, nor have I spoken
to them: they prophesy unto you a lying vision, and divination and
deceit, and the seduction of their own heart.

14:15. Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the prophets that
prophesy in my name, whom I did not send, that say: Sword and famine
shall not be in this land: By sword and famine shall those prophets be
consumed.

14:16. And the people to whom they prophesy, shall be cast out in the
streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword, and there
shall be none to bury them: they and their wives, their sons and their
daughters, and I will pour out their own wickedness upon them.

14:17. And thou shalt speak this word to them: Let my eyes shed down
tears night and day, and let them not cease, because the virgin daughter
of my people is afflicted with a great affliction, with an exceeding
grievous evil.

14:18. If I go forth into the fields, behold the slain with the sword:
and if I enter into the city, behold them that are consumed with famine.
The prophet also and the priest are gone into a land which they knew
not.

14:19. Hast thou utterly cast away Juda, or hath thy soul abhorred Sion?
why then hast thou struck us, so that there is no healing for us? we
have looked for peace, and there is no good: and for the time of
healing, and behold trouble.

14:20. We acknowledge, O Lord, our wickedness, the iniquities of our
fathers, because we have sinned against thee.

14:21. Give us not to be a reproach, for thy name's sake, and do not
disgrace in us the throne of thy glory: remember, break not thy covenant
with us.

14:22. Are there any among the graven things of the Gentiles that can
send rain? or can the heavens give showers? art not thou the Lord our
God, whom we have looked for? for thou hast made all these things.

Jeremias Chapter 15

God is determined to punish the Jews for their sins. The prophet's
complaint, and God's promise to him.

15:1. And the Lord said to me: If Moses and Samuel shall stand before
me, my soul is not towards this people: cast them out from my sight, and
let them go forth.

15:2. And if they shall say unto thee: Whither shall we go forth?  thou
shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord: Such as are for death, to death:
and such as are for the sword, to the sword: and such as are for famine,
to famine: and such as are for captivity, to captivity.

15:3. And I will visit them with four kinds, saith the Lord: The sword
to kill, and the dogs to tear, and the fowls of the air, and the beasts
of the earth, to devour and to destroy.

15:4. And I will give them up to the rage of all the kingdoms of the
earth: because of Manasses the son of Ezechias the king of Juda, for all
that he did in Jerusalem.

15:5. For who shall have pity on thee, O Jerusalem? or who shall bemoan
thee? or who shall go to pray for thy peace?

15:6. Thou hast forsaken me, saith the Lord, thou art gone backward: and
I will stretch out my hand against thee, and I will destroy thee: I am
weary of entreating thee.

15:7. And I will scatter them with a fan in the gates of the land: I
have killed and destroyed my people, and yet they are not returned from
their ways.

15:8. Their widows are multiplied unto me above the sand of the sea: I
have brought upon them against the mother of the young man a spoiler at
noonday: I have cast a terror on a sudden upon the cities.

15:9. She that hath borne seven is become weak, her soul hath fainted
away: her sun is gone down, while it was yet day: she is confounded, and
ashamed: and the residue of them I will give up to the sword in the
sight of their enemies, saith the Lord.

15:10. Woe is me, my mother: why hast thou borne me a man of strife, a
man of contention to all the earth? I have not lent on usury, neither
hath any man lent to me on usury: yet all curse me.

15:11. The Lord saith to me: Assuredly it shall be well with thy
remnant, assuredly I shall help thee in the time of affliction, and in
the time of tribulation against the enemy.

15:12. Shall iron be allied with the iron from the north, and the brass?

Shall iron be allied, etc... Shall the iron, that is, the strength of
Juda, stand against the stronger iron of the north, that is, of Babylon:
or enter into an alliance upon equal footing with it? No certainly: but
it must be broken by it.

15:13. Thy riches and thy treasures I will give unto spoil for nothing,
because of all thy sins, even in all thy borders.

15:14. And I will bring thy enemies out of a land, which thou knowest
not: for a fire is kindled in my rage, it shall burn upon you.

15:15. O Lord, thou knowest, remember me, and visit me, and defend me
from them that persecute me, do not defend me in thy patience: know that
for thy sake I have suffered reproach.

Do not defend me in thy patience... That is, let not thy patience and
longsuffering, which thou usest towards sinners, keep thee from making
haste to my assistance.

15:16. Thy words were found, and I did eat them, and thy word was to me
a joy and gladness of my heart: for thy name is called upon me, O Lord
God of hosts.

15:17. I sat not in the assembly of jesters, nor did I make a boast of
the presence of thy hand: I sat alone, because thou hast filled me with
threats.

15:18. Why is my sorrow become perpetual, and my wound desperate so as
to refuse to be healed? it is become to me as the falsehood of deceitful
waters that cannot be trusted.

15:19. Therefore thus saith the Lord: If thou wilt be converted, I will
convert thee, and thou shalt stand before my face; and thou wilt
separate the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth: they
shall be turned to thee, and thou shalt not be turned to them.

15:20. And I will make thee to this people as a strong wall of brass:
and they shall fight against thee, and shall not prevail: for I am with
thee to save thee, and to deliver thee, saith the Lord.

15:21. And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will
redeem thee out of the hand of the mighty.

Jeremias Chapter 16

The prophet is forbid to marry. The Jews shall be utterly ruined for
their idolatry: but shall at length be released from their captivity,
and the Gentiles shall be converted.

16:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

16:2. Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have sons and
daughters in this place.

16:3. For thus saith the Lord concerning the sons and daughters, that
are born in this place, and concerning their mothers that bore them: and
concerning their fathers, of whom they were born in this land:

16:4. They shall die by the death of grievous illnesses: they shall not
be lamented, and they shall not be buried, they shall be as dung upon
the face of the earth: and they shall be consumed with the sword, and
with famine: and their carcasses shall be meat for the fowls of the air,
and for the beasts of the earth.

16:5. For thus saith the Lord: Enter not into the house of feasting,
neither go thou to mourn, nor to comfort them: because I have taken away
my peace from this people, saith the Lord, my mercy and commiserations.

16:6. Both the great and the little shall die in this land: they shall
not be buried nor lamented, and men shall not cut themselves, nor make
themselves bald for them.

16:7. And they shall not break bread among them to him that mourneth, to
comfort him for the dead: neither shall they give them for their father
and mother.

16:8. And do not thou go into the house of feasting, to sit with them,
and to eat and drink:

16:9. For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold I will
take away out of this place in your sight, and in your days the voice of
mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the
voice of the bride.

16:10. And when thou shalt tell this people all these words, and they
shall say to thee: Wherefore hath the Lord pronounced against us all
this great evil? what is our iniquity? and what is our sin, that we have
sinned against the Lord our God?

16:11. Thou shalt say to them: Because your fathers forsook me, saith
the Lord: and went after strange gods, and served them, and adored them:
and they forsook me, and kept not my law.

16:12. And you also have done worse than your fathers: for behold every
one of you walketh after the perverseness of his evil heart, so as not
to hearken to me.

16:13. So I will cast you forth out of this land, into a land which you
know not, nor your fathers: and there you shall serve strange gods day
and night, which shall not give you any rest.

16:14. Therefore behold the days come, saith the Lord, when it shall be
said no more: The Lord liveth, that brought forth the children of Israel
out of the land of Egypt.

16:15. But, The Lord liveth, that brought the children of Israel out of
the land of the north, and out of all the lands to which I cast them
out: and I will bring them again into their land, which I gave to their
fathers.

16:16. Behold I will send many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall
fish them: and after this I will send them many hunters, and they shall
hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill and out of the holes
of the rocks.

16:17. For my eyes are upon all their ways: they are not hid from my
face, and their iniquity hath not been hid from my eyes.

16:18. And I will repay first their double iniquities, and their sins:
because they have defiled my land with the carcasses of their idols, and
they have filled my inheritance with their abominations.

16:19. O Lord, my might, and my strength, and my refuge in the day of
tribulation: to thee the Gentiles shall come from the ends of the earth,
and shall say: Surely our fathers have possessed lies, a vanity which
hath not profited them.

16:20. Shall a man make gods unto himself and they are no gods?

16:21. Therefore behold I will this once cause them to know, I will shew
them my hand and my power: and they shall know that my name is the Lord.

Jeremias Chapter 17

For their obstinacy in sin the Jews shall be led captive. He is cursed
that trusteth in flesh. God alone searcheth the heart, giving to every
one as he deserves. The prophet prayeth to be delivered from his
enemies, and preacheth up the observance of the sabbath.

17:1. The sin of Juda is written with a pen of iron, with the point of a
diamond, it is graven upon the table of their heart, upon the horns of
their altars.

17:2. When their children shall remember their altars, and their groves,
and their green trees upon the high mountains,

17:3. Sacrificing in the field: I will give thy strength, and all thy
treasures to the spoil, and thy high places for sin in all thy borders.

17:4. And thou shalt be left stripped of thy inheritance, which I gave
thee: and I will make thee serve thy enemies in a land which thou
knowest not: because thou hast kindled a fire in my wrath, it shall burn
for ever.

17:5. Thus saith the Lord: Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and
maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord.

17:6. For he shall be like tamaric in the desert, and he shall not see
when good shall come: but he shall dwell in dryness in the desert in a
salt land, and not inhabited.

Tamaric... A barren shrub that grows in the driest parts of the
wilderness.

17:7. Blessed be the man that trusteth in the Lord, and the Lord shall
be his confidence.

17:8. And he shall be as a tree that is planted by the waters, that
spreadeth out its roots towards moisture: and it shall not fear when the
heat cometh. And the leaf thereof shall be green, and in the time of
drought it shall not be solicitous, neither shall it cease at any time
to bring forth fruit.

17:9. The heart is perverse above all things, and unsearchable, who can
know it?

17:10. I am the Lord who search the heart, and prove the reins: who give
to every one according to his way, and according to the fruit of his
devices.

17:11. As the partridge hath hatched eggs which she did not lay: so is
he that hath gathered riches, and not by right: in the midst of his days
he shall leave them, and in his latter end he shall be a fool.

17:12. A high and glorious throne from the beginning is the place of our
sanctification.

17:13. O Lord, the hope of Israel: all that forsake thee shall be
confounded: they that depart from thee, shall be written in the earth:
because they have forsaken the Lord, the vein of living waters.

17:14. Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed: save me, and I shall be
saved: for thou art my praise.

17:15. Behold they say to me: Where is the word of the Lord? let it
come.

17:16. And I am not troubled, following thee for my pastor, and I have
not desired the day of man, thou knowest. That which went out of my
lips, hath been right in thy sight.

17:17. Be not thou a terror unto me, thou art my hope in the day of
affliction.

17:18. Let them be confounded that persecute me, and let not me be
confounded: let them be afraid, and let not me be afraid: bring upon
them the day of affliction, and with a double destruction, destroy them.

Let them be confounded, etc... Such expressions as these in the writings
of the prophets, are not to be understood as imprecations proceeding
from malice or desire of revenge: but as prophetic predictions of evils
that were about to fall upon impenitent sinners, and approbations of the
ways of divine justice.

17:19. Thus saith the Lord to me: Go, and stand in the gate of the
children of the people, by which the kings of Juda come in, and go out,
and in all the gates of Jerusalem:

17:20. And thou shalt say to them: Hear the word of the Lord, ye kings
of Juda, and al Juda, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that enter
in by these gates.

17:21. Thus saith the Lord: Take heed to your souls, and carry no
burdens on the sabbath day: and bring them not in by the gates of
Jerusalem.

17:22. And do not bring burdens out of your houses on the sabbath day,
neither do ye any work: sanctify the sabbath day, as I commanded your
fathers.

17:23. But they did not hear, nor incline their ear: but hardened their
neck, that they might not hear me, and might not receive instruction.

17:24. And it shall come to pass: if you will hearken to me, saith the
Lord, to bring in no burdens by the gates of this city on the sabbath
day: and if you will sanctify the sabbath day, to do no work therein:

17:25. Then shall there enter in by the gates of this city kings and
princes, sitting upon the throne of David, and riding in chariots and on
horses, they and their princes, the men of Juda, and the inhabitants of
Jerusalem: and this city shall be inhabited for ever.

17:26. And they shall come from the cities of Juda, and from the places
round about Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the
plains, and from the mountains, and from the south, bringing holocausts,
and victims, and sacrifices, and frankincense, and they shall bring in
an offering into the house of the Lord.

17:27. But if you will not hearken to me, to sanctify the sabbath day,
and not to carry burdens, and not to bring them in by the gates of
Jerusalem on the sabbath day: I will kindle a fire in the gates thereof,
and it shall devour the houses of Jerusalem, and it shall not be
quenched.

Jeremias Chapter 18

As the clay in the hand of the potter, so is Israel in God's hand.  He
pardoneth penitents, and punisheth the obstinate. They conspire against
Jeremias, for which he denounceth to them the miseries that hang over
them.

18:1. The word that came to Jeremias from the Lord, saying:

18:2. Arise, and go down into the potter's house, and there thou shalt
hear my words.

18:3. And I went down into the potter's house, and behold he was doing a
work on the wheel.

18:4. And the vessel was broken which he was making of clay with his
hands: and turning he made another vessel, as it seemed good in his eyes
to make it.

18:5. Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

18:6. Cannot I do with you, as this potter, O house of Israel, saith the
Lord? behold as clay is in the hand of the potter, so are you in my
hand, O house of Israel.

18:7. I will suddenly speak against a nation, and against a kingdom, to
root out, and to pull down, and to destroy it.

18:8. If that nation against which I have spoken, shall repent of their
evil, I also will repent of the evil that I have thought to do to them.

18:9. And I will suddenly speak of a nation and of a kingdom, to build
up and plant it.

18:10. If it shall do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice: I
will repent of the good that I have spoken to do unto it.

18:11. Now therefore tell the men of Juda, and the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, saying: Thus saith the Lord: Behold I frame evil against you,
and devise a device against you: let every man of you return from his
evil way, and make ye your ways and your doings good.

18:12. And they said; We have no hopes: for we will go after our own
thoughts, and we will do every one according to the perverseness of his
evil heart.

18:13. Therefore thus saith the Lord: Ask among the nations: Who hath
heard such horrible things, as the virgin of Israel hath done to excess?

18:14. Shall the snow of Libanus fail from the rock of the field? or can
the cold waters that gush out and run down, be taken away?

18:15. Because my people have forgotten me, sacrificing in vain, and
stumbling in their ways, in ancient paths, to walk by them in a way not
trodden:

18:16. That their land might be given up to desolation, and to a
perpetual hissing: every one that shall pass by it, shall be astonished,
and wag his head.

18:17. As a burning wind will I scatter them before the enemy: I will
shew them the back, and not the face, in the day of their destruction.

18:18. And they said: Come, and let us invent devices against Jeremias:
for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise,
nor the word from the prophet: come, and let us strike him with the
tongue, and let us give no heed to all his words.

18:19. Give heed to me, O Lord, and hear the voice of my adversaries.

18:20. Shall evil be rendered for good, because they have digged a pit
for my soul? Remember that I have stood in thy sight, to speak good for
them, and to turn away thy indignation from them.

Remember, etc... This is spoken in the person of Christ, persecuted by
the Jews, and prophetically denouncing the evils that should fall upon
them in punishment of their crimes.

18:21. Therefore deliver up their children to famine, and bring them
into the hands of the sword: let their wives be bereaved of children and
widows: and let their husbands be slain by death: let their young men be
stabbed with the sword in battle.

18:22. Let a cry be heard out of their houses: for thou shalt bring the
robber upon them suddenly: because they have digged a pit to take me,
and have hid snares for my feet.

18:23. But thou, O Lord, knowest all their counsel against me unto
death: not their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from thy
sight: let them be overthrown before thy eyes, in the time of thy wrath
do thou destroy them.

Jeremias Chapter 19

Under the type of breaking a potter's vessel, the prophet foresheweth
the desolation of the Jews for their sins.

19:1. Thus saith the Lord: Go, and take a potter's earthen bottle, and
take of the ancients of the people, and of the ancients of the priests:

19:2. And go forth into the valley of the son of Ennom, which is by the
entry of the earthen gate: and there thou shalt proclaim the words that
I shall tell thee.

19:3. And thou shalt say: Hear the word of the Lord, O ye kings of Juda,
and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem: Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God
of Israel: Behold I will bring an affliction upon this place: so that
whosoever shall hear it, his ears shall tingle:

19:4. Because they have forsaken me, and have profaned this place: and
have sacrificed therein to strange gods, whom neither they nor their
fathers knew, nor the kings of Juda: and they have filled this place
with the blood of innocents.

19:5. And they have built the high places of Baalim, to burn their
children with fire for a holocaust to Baalim: which I did not command,
nor speak of, neither did it once come into my mind.

19:6. Therefore behold the days come, saith the Lord, that this place
shall no more be called Topheth, nor the valley of the son of Ennom, but
the valley of slaughter.

19:7. And I will defeat the counsel of Juda and of Jerusalem in this
place: and I will destroy them with the sword in the sight of their
enemies, and by the hands of them that seek their lives: and I will give
their carcasses to be meat for the fowls of the air, and for the beasts
of the earth.

19:8. And I will make this city an astonishment, and a hissing: every
one that shall pass by it, shall be astonished, and shall hiss because
of all the plagues thereof.

19:9. And I will feed them with the flesh of their sons, and with the
flesh of their daughters: and they shall eat every one the flesh of his
friend in the siege, and in the distress wherewith their enemies, and
they that seek their lives, shall straiten them.

19:10. And thou shalt break the bottle in the sight of the men that
shall go with thee.

19:11. And thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Even so
will I break this people, and this city, as the potter's vessel is
broken, which cannot be made whole again: and they shall be buried in
Topheth, because there is no other place to bury in.

19:12. Thus will I do to this place, saith the Lord, and to the
inhabitants thereof: and I will make this city as Topheth.

19:13. And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Juda
shall be unclean as the place of Topheth: all the houses upon whose
roofs they have sacrificed to all the host of heaven, and have poured
out drink offerings to strange gods.

19:14. Then Jeremias came from Topheth, whither the Lord had sent him to
prophesy, and he stood in the court of the house of the Lord, and said
to all the people:

19:15. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold I will
bring in upon this city, and upon all the cities thereof all the evils
that I have spoken against it: because they have hardened their necks,
that they might not hear my words.

Jeremias Chapter 20

The prophet is persecuted: he denounces captivity to his persecutors,
and bemoans himself.

20:1. Now Phassur the son of Emmer, the priest, who was appointed chief
in the house of the Lord, heard Jeremias prophesying these words.

20:2. And Phassur struck Jeremias the prophet, and put him in the
stocks, that were in the upper gate of Benjamin, in the house of the
Lord.

20:3. And when it was light the next day, Phassur brought Jeremias out
of the stocks. And Jeremias said to him: The Lord hath not called thy
name Phassur, but fear on every side.

Phassur... This name signifies increase and principality: and therefore
is here changed to Magor-Missabib, or fear on every side: to denote the
evils that should come upon him in punishment of his opposing the word
of God.

20:4. For thus saith the Lord: Behold I will deliver thee up to fear,
thee and all thy friends: and they shall fall by the sword of their
enemies, and thy eyes shall see it, and I will give all Juda into the
hand of the king of Babylon: and he shall carry them away to Babylon,
and shall strike them with the sword.

20:5. And I will give all the substance of this city, and all its
labour, and every precious thing thereof, and all the treasures of the
kings of Juda will I give into the hands of their enemies: and they
shall pillage them, and take them away, and carry them to Babylon.

20:6. But thou Phassur, and all that dwell in thy house, shall go into
captivity, and thou shalt go to Babylon, and there thou shalt die, and
there thou shalt be buried, thou and all thy friends, to whom thou hast
prophesied a lie.

20:7. Thou hast deceived me, O Lord, and I am deceived: thou hast been
stronger than I, and thou hast prevailed. I am become a laughingstock
all the day, all scoff at me.

Thou hast deceived, etc... The meaning of the prophet, is not to charge
God with any untruth; but what he calls deceiving, was only the
concealing from him, when he accepted of the prophetical commission, the
greatness of the evils which the execution of that commission was to
bring upon him.

20:8. For I am speaking now this long time, crying out against iniquity,
and I often proclaim devastation: and the word of the Lord is made a
reproach to me, and a derision all the day.

20:9. Then I said: I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in
his name: and there came in my heart as a burning fire, shut up in my
bones, and I was wearied, not being able to bear it.

20:10. For I heard the reproaches of many, and terror on every side:
Persecute him, and let us persecute him: from all the men that were my
familiars, and continued at my side: if by any means he may be deceived,
and we may prevail against him, and be revenged on him.

20:11. But the Lord is with me as a strong warrior: therefore they that
persecute me shall fall, and shall be weak: they shall be greatly
confounded, because they have not understood the everlasting reproach,
which never shall be effaced.

20:12. And thou, O Lord of hosts, prover of the just, who seest the
reins and the heart: let me see, I beseech thee, thy vengeance on them:
for to thee I have laid open my cause.

Let me see, etc... This prayer proceeded not from hatred or ill will,
but zeal of justice.

20:13. Sing ye to the Lord, praise the Lord: because he hath delivered
the soul of the poor out of the hand of the wicked.

20:14. Cursed be the day wherein I was born: let not the day in which my
mother bore me, be blessed.

Cursed be the day, etc... In these, and the following words of the
prophet, there is a certain figure of speech to express with more energy
the greatness of the evils to which his birth had exposed him.

20:15. Cursed be the man that brought the tidings to my father, saying:
A man child is born to thee: and made him greatly rejoice.

20:16. Let that man be as the cities which the Lord hath overthrown, and
hath not repented: let him hear a cry in the morning, and howling at
noontide:

20:17. Who slew me not from the womb, that my mother might have been my
grave, and her womb an everlasting conception.

20:18. Why came I out of the womb, to see labour and sorrow, and that my
days should be spent in confusion?

Jeremias Chapter 21

The prophet's answer to the messengers of Sedecias, when Jerusalem was
besieged.

21:1. The word that came to Jeremias from the Lord, when king Sedecias
sent unto him Phassur, the son of Melchias, and Sophonias, the son of
Maasias the priest, saying:

21:2. Inquire of the Lord for us, for Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon
maketh war against us: if so be the Lord will deal with us according to
all his wonderful works, that he may depart from us.

21:3. And Jeremias said to them: Thus shall you say to Sedecias:

21:4. Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel: Behold I will turn back
the weapons of war that are in your hands, and with which you fight
against the king of Babylon, and the Chaldeans, that besiege you round
about the walls: and I will gather them together in the midst of this
city.

21:5. And I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand, and
with a strong arm, and in fury, and in indignation, and in great wrath.

21:6. And I will strike the inhabitants of this city, men and beasts
shall die of a great pestilence.

21:7. And after this, saith the Lord, I will give Sedecias the king of
Juda, and his servants, and his people, and such as are left in this
city from the pestilence, and the sword, and the famine, into the hand
of Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon, and into the hand of their
enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life, and he shall
strike them with the edge of the sword, and he shall not be moved to
pity, nor spare them, nor shew mercy to them.

21:8. And to this people thou shalt say: Thus saith the Lord: Behold I
set before you the way of life, and the way of death.

21:9. He that shall abide in this city, shall die by the sword, and by
the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that shall go out and flee
over to the Chaldeans, that besiege you, shall live, and his life shall
be to him as a spoil.

21:10. For I have set my face against this city for evil, and not for
good, saith the Lord: it shall be given into the hand of the king of
Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.

21:11. And to the house of the king of Juda: Hear ye the word of the
Lord,

21:12. O house of David, thus saith the Lord: Judge ye judgment in the
morning, and deliver him that is oppressed by violence out of the hand
of the oppressor: lest my indignation go forth like a fire, and be
kindled, and there be none to quench it, because of the evil of your
ways.

21:13. Behold I come to thee that dwellest in a valley upon a rock above
a plain, saith the Lord: and you say: Who shall strike us and who shall
enter into our houses?

To thee that dwellest, etc... He speaks to Jerusalem, confiding in the
strength of her situation upon rocks, surrounded with a deep valley.

21:14. But I will visit upon you according to the fruit of your doings,
saith the Lord: and I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof: and it
shall devour all things round about it.

Jeremias Chapter 22

An exhortation both to king and people to return of God. The sentence of
God upon Joachaz, Joakim, and Jechonias.

22:1. Thus saith the Lord: Go down to the house of the king of Juda, and
there thou shalt speak this word,

Go down, etc... The contents of this chapter are of a more ancient date
than those of the foregoing chapter: for the order of time is not always
observed in the writings of the prophets.

22:2. And thou shalt say: Hear the word of the Lord, king of Juda, that
sittest upon the throne of David: thou and thy servants, and thy people,
who enter in by these gates.

22:3. Thus saith the Lord: Execute judgment and justice, and deliver him
that is oppressed out of the hand of the oppressor: and afflict not the
stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, nor oppress them unjustly: and
shed not innocent blood in this place.

22:4. For if you will do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by
the gates of this house, kings of the race of David sitting upon his
throne, and riding in chariots and on horses, they and their servants,
and their people.

22:5. But if you will not hearken to these words: I swear by myself,
saith the Lord, that this house shall become a desolation.

22:6. For thus saith the Lord to the house of the king of Juda: Thou art
to me Galaad the head of Libanus: yet surely I will make thee a
wilderness, and cities not habitable.

Galaad the head of Libanus... By Galaad, a rich and fruitful country, is
here signified the royal palace of the kings of the house of David: by
Libanus, a high mountain abounding in cedar trees, the populous city of
Jerusalem.

22:7. And I will prepare against thee the destroyer and his weapons: and
they shall cut down thy chosen cedars, and shall cast them headlong into
the fire.

Prepare... Literally, sanctify.

22:8. And many nations shall pass by this city: and they shall say every
man to his neighbour: Why hath the Lord done so to this great city?

22:9. And they shall answer: Because they have forsaken the covenant of
the Lord their God, and have adored strange gods, and served them.

22:10. Weep not for him that is dead, nor bemoan him with your tears:
lament him that goeth away, for he shall return no more, nor see his
native country.

Weep not for him that is dead, etc... He means the good king Josias, who
by death was taken away, so as not to see the miseries of his country.
Ibid. Him that goeth away... Viz., sellum, alias Joachaz, who was
carried captive into Egypt.

22:11. For thus saith the Lord to Sellum the son of Josias the king of
Juda, who reigned instead of his father, who went forth out of this
place: He shall return hither no more:

22:12. But in the place, to which I have removed him, there shall he
die, and he shall not see this land any more.

22:13. Woe to him that buildeth up his house by injustice, and his
chambers not in judgment: that will oppress his friend without cause,
and will not pay him his wages.

22:14. Who saith: I will build me a wide house, and large chambers: who
openeth to himself windows, and maketh roofs of cedar, and painteth them
with vermilion.

22:15. Shalt thou reign, because thou comparest thyself to the cedar?
did not thy father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice, and it
was then well with him?

22:16. He judged the cause of the poor and needy for his own good: was
it not therefore because he knew me, saith the Lord?

22:17. But thy eyes and thy heart are set upon covetousness, and upon
shedding innocent blood, and upon oppression, and running after evil
works.

22:18. Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning Joakim the son of Josias
king of Juda: They shall not mourn for him, Alas, my brother, and, Alas,
sister: they shall not lament for him, Alas, my lord, or, Alas, the
noble one.

22:19. He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, rotten and cast
forth without the gates of Jerusalem.

22:20. Go up to Libanus, and cry: and lift up thy voice in Basan, and
cry to them that pass by, for all thy lovers are destroyed.

22:21. I spoke to thee in thy prosperity: and thou saidst: I will not
hear: this hath been thy way from thy youth, because thou hast not heard
my voice.

22:22. The wind shall feed all thy pastors, and thy lovers shall go into
captivity and then shalt thou be confounded, and ashamed of all thy
wickedness.

22:23. Thou that sittest in Libanus, and makest thy nest in the cedars,
how hast thou mourned when sorrows came upon thee, as the pains of a
woman in labour?

22:24. As I live, saith the Lord, if Jechonias the son of Joakim the
king of Juda were a ring on my right hand, I would pluck him thence.

22:25. And I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life,
and into the hand of them whose face thou fearest, and into the hand of
Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.

22:26. And I will send thee, and thy mother that bore thee, into a
strange country, in which you were not born, and there you shall die:

22:27. And they shall not return into the land, whereunto they lift up
their mind to return thither.

22:28. Is this man Jechonias an earthen and a broken vessel? is he a
vessel wherein is no pleasure? why are they cast out, he and his seed,
and are cast into a land which they know not?

22:29. O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord.

22:30. Thus saith the Lord: Write this man barren, a man that shall not
prosper in his days: for there shall not be a man of his seed that shall
sit upon the throne of David, and have power any more in Juda.

Write this man barren... That is, childless: not that he had no
children, but that his children should never sit on the throne of Juda.

Jeremias Chapter 23

God reproves evil governors; and promises to send good pastors; and
Christ himself the prince of the pastors. He inveighs against false
prophets preaching without being sent.

23:1. Woe to the pastors, that destroy and tear the sheep of my pasture,
saith the Lord.

23:2. Therefore thus saith the Lord the God of Israel to the pastors
that feed my people: You have scattered my flock, and driven them away,
and have not visited them: behold I will visit upon you for the evil of
your doings, saith the Lord.

23:3. And I will gather together the remnant of my flock, out of all the
lands into which I have cast them out: and I will make them return to
their own fields, and they shall increase and be multiplied.

23:4. And I will set up pastors over them, and they shall feed them:
they shall fear no more, and they shall not be dismayed: and none shall
be wanting of their number, saith the Lord.

23:5. Behold the days come, saith the Lord, and I will raise up to David
a just branch: and a king shall reign, and shall be wise: and shall
execute judgment and justice in the earth.

23:6. In those days shall Juda be saved, and Israel shall dwell
confidently: and this is the name that they shall call him: The Lord our
just one.

23:7. Therefore behold the days come, saith the Lord, and they shall say
no more: The Lord liveth, who brought up the children of Israel out of
the land of Egypt:

23:8. But, The Lord liveth, who hath brought out, and brought hither the
seed of the house of Israel from the land of the north, and out of all
the lands, to which I had cast them forth: and they shall dwell in their
own land.

23:9. To the prophets: My heart is broken within me, all my bones
tremble: I am become as a drunken man, and as a man full of wine, at the
presence of the Lord, and at the presence of his holy words.

23:10. Because the land is full of adulterers, because the land hath
mourned by reason of cursing, the fields of the desert are dried up: and
their course is become evil, and their strength unlike.

23:11. For the prophet and the priest are defiled: and in my house I
have found their wickedness, saith the Lord.

23:12. Therefore their way shall be as a slippery way in the dark: for
they shall be driven on, and fall therein: for I will bring evils upon
them, the year of their visitation, saith the Lord.

23:13. And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria: they prophesied
in Baal and deceived my people Israel.

23:14. And I have seen the likeness of adulterers, and the way of lying
in the prophets of Jerusalem: and they strengthened the hands of the
wicked, that no man should return from his evil doings, they are all
become unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrha.

23:15. Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts to the prophets: Behold I
will feed them with wormwood, and will give them gall to drink: for from
the prophets of Jerusalem corruption is gone forth into all the land.

23:16. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Hearken not to the words of the
prophets that prophesy to you, and deceive you: they speak a vision of
their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord.

23:17. They say to them that blaspheme me: The Lord hath said: You shall
have peace: and to every one that walketh in the perverseness of his own
heart, they have said: No evil shall come upon you.

23:18. For who hath stood in the counsel of the Lord, and hath seen and
heard his word? Who hath considered his word and heard it?

23:19. Behold the whirlwind of the Lord's indignation shall come forth,
and a tempest shall break out and come upon the head of the wicked.

23:20. The wrath of the Lord shall not return till he execute it, and
till he accomplish the thought of his heart: in the latter days you
shall understand his counsel.

23:21. I did not send prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them,
yet they prophesied.

23:22. If they had stood in my counsel, and had made my words known to
my people, I should have turned them from their evil way, and from their
wicked doings.

23:23. Am I, think ye, a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar
off?

23:24. Shall a man be hid in secret places, and I not see him, saith the
Lord? do not I fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord?

23:25. I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my
name, and say: I have dreamed, I have dreamed.

23:26. How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy
lies, and that prophesy the delusions of their own heart?

23:27. Who seek to make my people forget my name through their dreams,
which they tell every man to his neighbour: as their fathers forgot my
name for Baal.

23:28. The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream: and he that
hath my word, let him speak my word with truth: what hath the chaff to
do with the wheat, saith the Lord?

23:29. Are not my words as a fire, saith the Lord: and as a hammer that
breaketh the rock in pieces?

23:30. Therefore behold I am against the prophets, saith the Lord: who
steal my words every one from his neighbour.

23:31. Behold I am against the prophets, saith the Lord: who use their
tongues, and say: The Lord saith it.

23:32. Behold I am against the prophets that have lying dreams, saith
the Lord: and tell them, and cause my people to err by their lying, and
by their wonders: when I sent them not, nor commanded them, who have not
profited this people at all, saith the Lord.

23:33. If therefore this people, or the prophet, or the priest shall ask
thee, saying: What is the burden of the Lord? thou shalt say to them:
You are the burden: for I will cast you away, saith the Lord.

23:34. And as for the prophet, and the priest, and the people that shall
say: The burden of the Lord: I will visit upon that man, and upon his
house.

Burden of the Lord... This expression is here rejected and disallowed,
at least for those times: because it was then used in mockery and
contempt by the false prophets, and unbelieving people, who ridiculed
the repeated threats of Jeremias under the name of his burdens.

23:35. Thus shall you say every one to his neighbour, and to his
brother, What hath the Lord answered? and what hath the Lord spoken?

23:36. And the burden of the Lord shall be mentioned no more, for every
man's word shall be his burden: for you have perverted the words of the
living God, of the Lord of hosts our God.

23:37. Thus shalt thou say to the prophet: What hath the Lord answered
thee? and what hath the Lord spoken?

23:38. But if you shall say: The burden of the Lord: therefore thus
saith the Lord: Because you have said this word: The burden of the Lord:
and I have sent to you, saying: Say not, The burden of the Lord:

23:39. Therefore behold I will take you away carrying you, and will
forsake you, and the city which I gave to you, and to your fathers, out
of my presence.

Out of my presence... That is, the Lord declares that out of his
presence he will cast them, and bring them to captivity for their
transgressions.

23:40. And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a
perpetual shame which shall never be forgotten.

Jeremias Chapter 24

Under the type of good and bad figs, he foretells the restoration of the
Jews that had been carried away captive with Jechonias, and the
desolation of those that were left behind.

24:1. The Lord shewed me: and behold two baskets full of figs, set
before the temple of the Lord: after that Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon
had carried away Jechonias the son of Joakim the king of Juda, and his
chief men, and the craftsmen, and engravers of Jerusalem, and had
brought them to Babylon.

24:2. One basket had very good figs, like the figs of the first season:
and the other basket had very bad figs, which could not be eaten,
because they were bad.

24:3. And the Lord said to me: What seest thou, Jeremias? And I said:
Figs, the good figs, very good: and the bad figs, very bad, which cannot
be eaten because they are bad.

24:4. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

24:5. Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel: Like these good figs, so
will I regard the captives of Juda, whom I have sent forth out of this
place into the land of the Chaldeans, for their good.

24:6. And I will set my eyes upon them to be pacified, and I will bring
them again into this land: and I will build them up, and not pull them
down: and I will plant them, and not pluck them up.

24:7. And I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord: and
they shall be my people, and I will be their God: because they shall
return to me with their whole heart.

24:8. And as the very bad figs, that cannot be eaten, because they are
bad: thus saith the Lord: So will I give Sedecias the king of Juda, and
his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, that have remained in this
city, and that dwell in the land of Egypt.

24:9. And I will deliver them up to vexation, and affliction, to all the
kingdoms of the earth: to be a reproach, and a byword, and a proverb,
and to be a curse in all places, to which I have cast them out.

24:10. And I will send among them the sword, and the famine, and the
pestilence: till they be consumed out of the land which I gave to them,
and their fathers.

Jeremias Chapter 25

The prophet foretells the seventy years captivity; after that the
destruction of Babylon, and other nations.

25:1. The word that came to Jeremias concerning all the people of Juda,
in the fourth year of Joakim the son of Josias king of Juda, (the same
is the first year of Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon,)

25:2. Which Jeremias the prophet spoke to all the people of Juda, and to
all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying:

25:3. From the thirteenth year of Josias the son of Ammon king of Juda
until this day: this is the three and twentieth year, the word of the
Lord hath come to me, and I have spoken to you, rising before day, and
speaking, and you have not hearkened.

25:4. And the Lord hath sent to you all his servants the prophets,
rising early, and sending, and you have not hearkened, nor inclined your
ears to hear.

25:5. When he said: Return ye, every one from his evil way, and from
your wicked devices, and you shall dwell in the land which the Lord hath
given to you, and your fathers for ever and ever.

25:6. And go not after strange gods to serve them, and adore them: nor
provoke me to wrath by the works of your hands, and I will not afflict
you.

25:7. And you have not heard me, saith the Lord, that you might provoke
me to anger with the works of your hands, to your own hurt.

25:8. Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts: Because you have not heard
my words:

25:9. Behold I will send, and take all the kindreds of the north, saith
the Lord, and Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon my servant: and I will
bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and
against all the nations that are round about it: and I will destroy
them, and make them an astonishment and a hissing, and perpetual
desolations.

My servant... So this wicked king is here called; because God made him
his instrument in punishing the sins of his people.

25:10. And I will take away from them the voice of mirth, and the voice
of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride,
the sound of the mill and the light of the lamp.

25:11. And all this land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment: and
all these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

25:12. And when the seventy years shall be expired, I will punish the
king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the Lord, for their iniquity,
and the land of the Chaldeans: and I will make it perpetual desolations.

Punish... Literally, visit upon.

25:13. And I will bring upon that land all my words, that I have spoken
against it, all that is written in this book, all that Jeremias hath
prophesied against all nations:

25:14. For they have served them, whereas they were many nations, and
great kings: and I will repay them according to their deeds, and
according to the works of their hands.

25:15. For thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Take the cup
of wine of this fury at my hand: and thou shalt make all the nations to
drink thereof, into which I shall send thee.

25:16. And they shall drink, and be troubled, and be mad because of the
sword, which I shall send among them.

25:17. And I took the cup at the hand of the Lord, and I presented it to
all the nations to drink of it, to which the Lord sent me:

25:18. To wit, Jerusalem, and the cities of Juda, and the kings thereof,
and the princes thereof: to make them a desolation, and an astonishment,
and a hissing, and a curse, as it is at this day.

25:19. Pharao the king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and
all his people,

25:20. And all in general: all the kings of the land of Ausitis, and all
the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Ascalon, and Gaza, and
Accaron, and the remnant of Azotus.

25:21. And Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon.

25:22. And all the kings of Tyre, and all the kings of Sidon: and the
kings of the land of the islands that are beyond the sea.

25:23. And Dedan, and Thema, and Buz, and all that have their hair cut
round.

25:24. And all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the west, that
dwell in the desert.

25:25. And all the kings of Zambri, and all the kings of Elam, and all
the kings of the Medes:

25:26. And all the kings of the north far and near, every one against
his brother: and all the kingdoms of the earth, which are upon the face
thereof: and the king of Sesac shall drink after them.

Sesac... That is, Babel, or Babylon; which after bringing all these
people under her yoke, should quickly fall and be destroyed herself.

25:27. And thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God
of Israel: Drink ye, and be drunken, and vomit: and fall, and rise no
more, because of the sword, which I shall send among you.

25:28. And if they refuse to take the cup at thy hand to drink, thou
shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Drinking you shall
drink:

25:29. For behold I begin to bring evil on the city wherein my name is
called upon: and shall you be as innocent and escape free?  you shall
not escape free: for I will call for the sword upon all the inhabitants
of the earth, saith the Lord of hosts.

25:30. And thou shalt prophesy unto them all these words, and thou shalt
say to them: I The Lord shall roar from on high, and shall utter his
voice from his holy habitation: roaring he shall roar upon the place of
his beauty: the shout as it were of them that tread grapes shall be
given out against all the inhabitants of the earth.

25:31. The noise is come even to the ends of the earth: for the Lord
entereth into judgment with the nations: he entereth into judgment with
all flesh; the wicked I have delivered up to the sword, saith the Lord.

25:32. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Behold evil shall go forth from
nation to nation: and a great whirlwind shall go forth from the ends of
the earth.

25:33. And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of
the earth even to the other end thereof: they shall not be lamented, and
they shall not be gathered up, nor buried: they shall lie as dung upon
the face of the earth.

25:34. Howl, ye shepherds, and cry: and sprinkle yourselves with ashes,
ye leaders of the flock: for the days of your slaughter and your
dispersion are accomplished, and you shall fall like precious vessels.

25:35. And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the leaders of
the flock to save themselves.

25:36. A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and a howling of the
principal of the flock: because the Lord hath wasted their pastures.

25:37. And the fields of peace have been silent because of the fierce
anger of the Lord.

25:38. He hath forsaken his covert as the lion, for the land is laid
waste because of the wrath of the dove, and because of the fierce anger
of the Lord.

The dove... This is commonly understood of Nabuchodonosor, whose
military standard, it is said, was a dove. But the Hebrew word Jonah,
which is here rendered a dove, may also signify a waster or oppressor,
which name better agrees to that unmerciful prince; or by comparison, as
a dove's flight is the swiftest, so would their destruction come upon
them.

Jeremias Chapter 26

The prophet is apprehended and accused by the priests: but discharged by
the princes.

26:1. In the beginning of the reign of Joakim the son of Josias king of
Juda, came this word from the Lord, saying:

26:2. Thus saith the Lord: stand in the court of the house of the Lord,
and speak to all the cities of Juda, out of which they come, to adore in
the house of the Lord, all the words which I have commanded thee to
speak unto them: leave not out one word.

26:3. If so be they will hearken and be converted every one from his
evil way; that I may repent me of the evil that I think to do unto them
for the wickedness of their doings.

26:4. And thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord: If you will not
hearken to me to walk in my law, which I have given you:

26:5. To give ear to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I sent
to you rising up early: and sending, and you have not hearkened:

26:6. I will make this house like Silo: and I will make this city a
curse to all the nations of the earth.

26:7. And the priests, and the prophets, and all the people heard
Jeremias speaking these words in the house of the Lord.

26:8. And when Jeremias had made an end of speaking all that the Lord
had commanded him to speak to all the people, the priests, and the
prophets, and all the people laid hold on him, saying: Let him be put to
death.

26:9. Why hath he prophesied in the name of the Lord, saying: This house
shall be like Silo; and this city shall be made desolate, without an
inhabitant? And all the people were gathered together against Jeremias
in the house of the Lord.

26:10. And the princes of Juda heard these words: and they went up from
the king's house into the house of the Lord, and sat in the entry of the
new gate of the house of the Lord.

26:11. And the priests and the prophets spoke to the princes, and to all
the people, saying: The judgment of death is for this man: because he
hath prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your ears.

26:12. Then Jeremias spoke to all the princes, and to all the people,
saying: The Lord sent me to prophesy concerning this house, and
concerning this city all the words that you have heard.

26:13. Now therefore amend your ways, and your doings, and hearken to
the voice of the Lord your God: and the Lord will repent him of the evil
that he hath spoken against you.

26:14. But as for me, behold I am in your hands: do with me what is good
and right in your eyes:

26:15. But know ye, and understand, that if you put me to death, you
will shed innocent blood against your own selves, and against this city,
and the inhabitants thereof. For in truth the Lord sent me to you, to
speak all these words in your hearing.

26:16. Then the princes, and all the people said to the priests, and to
the prophets: There is no judgment of death for this man: for he hath
spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God.

26:17. And some of the ancients of the land rose up: and they spoke to
all the assembly of the people, saying:

26:18. Micheas of Morasthi was a prophet in the days of Ezechias king of
Juda, and he spoke to all the people of Juda, saying: Thus saith the
Lord of hosts: Sion shall be ploughed like a field, and Jerusalem shall
be a heap of stones: and the mountain of the house the high places of
woods.

26:19. Did Ezechias king of Juda, and all Juda, condemn him to death?
did they not fear the Lord, and beseech the face of the Lord: and the
Lord repented of the evil that he had spoken against them? therefore we
are doing a great evil against our souls.

26:20. There was also a man that prophesied in the name of the Lord,
Urias the son of Semei of Cariathiarim: and he prophesied against this
city, and against this land, according to all the words of Jeremias.

26:21. And Joakim, and all his men in power, and his princes heard these
words: and the king sought to put him to death. And Urias heard it, and
was afraid, and fled and went into Egypt.

26:22. And king Joakim sent men into Egypt, Elnathan the son of Achobor,
and men with him into Egypt.

26:23. And they brought Urias out of Egypt: and brought him to king
Joakim, and he slew him with the sword: and he cast his dead body into
the graves of the common people.

26:24. So the hand of Ahicam the son of Saphan was with Jeremias, that
he should not be delivered into the hands of the people, to put him to
death.

Jeremias Chapter 27

The prophet sends chains to divers kings, signifying that they must bend
their necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon.  The vessels of the
temple shall not be brought back till all the rest are carried away.

27:1. In the beginning of the reign of Joakim the son of Josias king of
Juda, this word came to Jeremias from the Lord, saying:

Joakim... This revelation was made to the prophet in the beginning of
the reign of Joakim: but the bands were not sent to the princes here
named before the reign of Sedecias, ver. 3.

27:2. Thus saith the Lord to me: Make thee bands, and chains: and thou
shalt put them on thy neck.

27:3. And thou shalt send them to the king of Edom, and to the king of
Moab, and to the king of the children of Ammon, and to the king of Tyre,
and to the king of Sidon: by the hand of the messengers that are come to
Jerusalem to Sedecias the king of Juda.

27:4. And thou shalt command them to speak to their masters: Thus saith
the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Thus shall you say to your masters:

27:5. I made the earth, and the men and the beasts that are upon the
face of the earth, by my great power, and by my stretched out arm: and I
have given it to whom it seemed good in my eyes.

27:6. And now I have given all these lands into the hand of
Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon my servant: moreover also the beasts of
the field I have given him to serve him.

27:7. And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son's son:
till the time come for his land and himself: and many nations and great
kings shall serve him.

His son... Viz., Evilmerodach; and his son's son, Nabonydus, or
Nabonadius, the Baltassar of Daniel, chap. 5., and the last of the
Chaldean kings.

27:8. But the nation and kingdom that will not serve Nabuchodonosor king
of Babylon, and whosoever will not bend his neck under the yoke of the
king of Babylon: I will visit upon that nation with the sword, and with
famine, and with pestilence, saith the Lord: till I consume them by his
hand.

27:9. Therefore hearken not to your prophets, and diviners, and
dreamers, and soothsayers, and sorcerers, that say to you: You shall not
serve the king of Babylon.

27:10. For they prophesy lies to you: to remove you far from your
country, and cast you out, and to make you perish.

27:11. But the nation that shall bend down their neck under the yoke of
the king of Babylon, and shall serve him: I will let them remain in
their own land, saith the Lord: and they shall till it, and dwell in it.

27:12. And I spoke to Sedecias the king of Juda according to all these
words, saying: Bend down your necks under the yoke of the king of
Babylon, and serve him, and his people, and you shall live.

27:13. Why will you die, thou and thy people by the sword, and by
famine, and by the pestilence, as the Lord hath spoken against the
nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?

27:14. Hearken not to the words of the prophets that say to you: You
shall not serve the king of Babylon: for they tell you a lie.

27:15. For I have not sent them, saith the Lord: and they prophesy in my
name falsely: to drive you out, and that you may perish, both you, and
the prophets that prophesy to you.

27:16. I spoke also to the priests, and to this people, saying: Thus
saith the Lord: Hearken not to the words of your prophets, that prophesy
to you, saying: Behold the vessels of the Lord shall now in a short time
be brought again from Babylon: for they prophesy a lie unto you.

27:17. Therefore hearken not to them, but serve the king of Babylon,
that you may live. Why should this city be given up to desolation?

27:18. But if they be prophets, and the word of the Lord be in them: let
them interpose themselves before the Lord of hosts, that the vessels
which were left in the house of the Lord, and in the house of the king
of Juda, and in Jerusalem, may not go to Babylon.

27:19. For thus saith the Lord of hosts to the pillars, and to the sea,
and to the bases, and to the rest of the vessels that remain in this
city:

27:20. Which Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon did not take, when he
carried away Jechonias the son of Joakim the king of Juda, from
Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the great men of Juda and Jerusalem.

27:21. For thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel, to the
vessels that are left in the house of the Lord, and in the house of the
king of Juda and Jerusalem:

27:22. They shall be carried to Babylon, and there they shall be until
the day of their visitation, saith the Lord: and I will cause them to be
brought, and to be restored in this place.

Jeremias Chapter 28

The false prophecy of Hananias: he dies that same year, as Jeremias
foretold.

28:1. And it came to pass in that year, in the beginning of the reign of
Sedecias king of Juda, in the fourth year, in the fifth month, that
Hananias the son of Azur, a prophet of Gabaon spoke to me, in the house
of the Lord before the priests, and all the people, saying:

28:2. Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: I have broken the
yoke of the king of Babylon.

28:3. As yet two years of days, and I will cause all the vessels of the
house of the Lord to be brought back into this place, which
Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon took away from this place, and carried
them to Babylon.

28:4. And I will bring back to this place Jechonias the son of Joakim
king of Juda, and all the captives of Juda, that are gone to Babylon,
saith the Lord: for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.

28:5. And Jeremias the prophet said to Hananias the prophet in the
presence of the priests, and in the presence of all the people that
stood in the house of the Lord:

28:6. And Jeremias the prophet said: Amen, the Lord do so: the Lord
perform thy words, which thou hast prophesied: that the vessels may be
brought again into the house of the Lord, and all the captives may
return out of Babylon to this place.

28:7. Nevertheless hear this word that I speak in thy ears, and in the
ears of all the people:

28:8. The prophets that have been before me, and before thee from the
beginning, and have prophesied concerning many countries, and concerning
great kingdoms, of war, and of affliction, and of famine.

28:9. The prophet that prophesied peace: when his word shall come to
pass, the prophet shall be known, whom the hath sent in truth.

28:10. And Hananias the prophet took the chain from the neck of Jeremias
the prophet, and broke it.

28:11. And Hananias spoke in the presence of all the people, saying:
Thus saith the Lord: Even so will I break the yoke of Nabuchodonosor the
king of Babylon after two full years from off the neck of all the
nations.

28:12. And Jeremias the prophet went his way. And the word of the Lord
came to Jeremias, after that Hananias the prophet had broken the chain
from off the neck of Jeremias the prophet, saying:

28:13. Go, and tell Hananias: Thus saith the Lord: Thou hast broken
chains of wood, and thou shalt make for them chains of iron.

28:14. For thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: I have put a
yoke of iron upon the neck of all these nations, to serve Nabuchodonosor
king of Babylon, and they shall serve him: moreover also I have given
him the beasts of the earth.

28:15. And Jeremias the prophet said to Hananias the prophet: Hear now,
Hananias: the Lord hath not sent thee, and thou hast made this people to
trust in a lie.

28:16. Therefore thus saith the Lord: Behold I will send thee away from
off the face of the earth: this year shalt thou die: for thou hast
spoken against the Lord.

28:17. And Hananias the prophet died in that year, in the seventh month.

Jeremias Chapter 29

Jeremias writeth to the captives in Babylon, exhorting them to be easy
there, and not to hearken to false prophets. That they shall be
delivered after seventy years. But those that remain in Jerusalem shall
perish by the sword, famine, and pestilence.  And that Achab, Sedecias,
and Semeias, false prophets, shall die miserably.

29:1. Now these are the words of the letter which Jeremias the prophet
sent from Jerusalem to the residue of the ancients that were carried
into captivity, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the
people, whom Nabuchodonosor had carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon:

29:2. After that Jechonias the king, and the queen, and the eunuchs, and
the princes of Juda, and of Jerusalem, and the craftsmen, and the
engravers were departed out of Jerusalem:

29:3. By the hand of Elasa the son of Saphan, and Gamarias the son of
Helcias, whom Sedecias king of Juda sent to Babylon to Nabuchodonosor
king of Babylon, saying:

29:4. Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel, to all that are
carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from
Jerusalem to Babylon:

29:5. Build ye houses, and dwell in them: and plant orchards, and eat
the fruit of them.

29:6. Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters: and take wives for
your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, and let them bear sons
and daughters: and be ye multiplied there, and be not few in number.

29:7. And seek the peace of the city, to which I have caused you to be
carried away captives; and pray to the Lord for it: for in the peace
thereof shall be your peace.

29:8. For thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Let not your
prophets that are in the midst of you, and your diviners deceive you:
and give no heed to your dreams which you dream:

29:9. For they prophesy falsely to you in my name: and I have not sent
them, saith the Lord.

29:10. For thus saith the Lord: When the seventy years shall begin to be
accomplished in Babylon, I will visit you: and I will perform my good
word in your favour, to bring you again to this place.

29:11. For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, saith the Lord,
thoughts of peace, and not of affliction, to give you an end and
patience.

29:12. And you shall call upon me, and you shall go and you shall pray
to me, and I will hear you.

29:13. You shall seek me, and shall find me: when you shall seek me with
all your heart.

29:14. And I will be found by you, saith the Lord: and I will bring back
your captivity, and I will gather you out of all nations, and from all
the places to which I have driven you out, saith the Lord: and I will
bring you back from the place to which I caused you to be carried away
captive.

29:15. Because you have said: The Lord hath raised us up prophets in
Babylon:

29:16. For thus saith the Lord to the king that sitteth upon the throne
of David, and to all the people that dwell in this city, to your
brethren that are not gone forth with you into captivity.

29:17. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Behold I will send upon them the
sword, and the famine, and the pestilence: and I will make them like bad
figs that cannot be eaten, because they are very bad.

29:18. And I will persecute them with the sword, and with famine, and
with the pestilence: and I will give them up unto affliction to all the
kingdoms of the earth: to be a curse, and an astonishment, and a
hissing, and a reproach to all the nations to which I have driven them
out:

29:19. Because they have not hearkened to my words, saith the Lord:
which I sent to them by my servants the prophets, rising by night, and
sending: and you have not heard, saith the Lord.

29:20. Hear ye therefore the word of the Lord, all ye of the captivity,
whom I have sent out from Jerusalem to Babylon.

29:21. Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel, to Achab the son
of Colias, and to Sedecias the son of Maasias, who prophesy unto you in
my name falsely: Behold I will deliver them up into the hands of
Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon: and he shall kill them before your
eyes.

29:22. And of them shall be taken up a curse by all the captivity of
Juda, that are in Babylon, saying: The Lord make thee like Sedecias, and
like Achab, whom the king of Babylon fried in the fire:

29:23. Because they have acted folly in Israel, and have committed
adultery with the wives of their friends, and have spoken lying words in
my name, which I commanded them not: I am the judge and the witness,
saith the Lord.

29:24. And to Semeias the Nehelamite thou shalt say:

29:25. Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Because thou hast
sent letters in thy name to all the people that are in Jerusalem, and to
Sophonias the son of Maasias the priest, and to all the priests, saying:

29:26. The Lord hath made thee priest instead of Joiada the priest, that
thou shouldst be ruler in the house of the Lord, over every man that
raveth and prophesieth, to put him in the stocks, and into prison.

29:27. And now why hast thou not rebuked Jeremias the Anathothite, who
prophesieth to you?

29:28. For he hath also sent to us in Babylon, saying: It is a long
time: build ye houses, and dwell in them: and plant gardens, and eat the
fruits of them.

29:29. So Sophonias the priest read this letter, in the hearing of
Jeremias the prophet.

29:30. And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias, saying:

29:31. Send to all them of the captivity, saying: Thus saith the Lord to
Semeias the Nehelamite: Because Semeias hath prophesied to you, and I
sent him not: and hath caused you to trust in a lie:

29:32. Therefore thus saith the Lord: behold I will visit upon Semeias
the Nehelamite, and upon his seed: he shall not have a man to sit in the
midst of this people, and he shall not see the good that I will do to my
people, saith the Lord: because he hath spoken treason against the Lord.

Jeremias Chapter 30

God will deliver his people from their captivity: Christ shall be their
king: and his church shall be glorious for ever.

30:1. This is the word that came to Jeremias from the Lord, saying:

30:2. Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, saying: Write thee all the
words that I have spoken to thee, in a book.

30:3. For behold the days come, saith the Lord, and I will bring again
the captivity of my people Israel and Juda, saith the Lord: and I will
cause them to return to the land which I gave to their fathers, and they
shall possess it.

30:4. And these are the words that the Lord hath spoken to Israel and to
Juda:

30:5. For thus saith the Lord: We have heard a voice of terror: there is
fear and no peace.

30:6. Ask ye, and see if a man bear children? why then have I seen every
man with his hands on his loins, like a woman in labour, and all faces
are turned yellow?

30:7. Alas, for that day is great, neither is there the like to it; and
it is the time of tribulation to Jacob, but he shall be saved out of it.

30:8. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts,
that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst his bands:
and strangers shall no more rule over him:

30:9. But they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king,
whom I will raise up to them.

David... That is, Christ of the house of David.

30:10. Therefore fear thou not, my servant Jacob, saith the Lord,
neither be dismayed, O Israel: for behold, I will save thee from a
country afar off, and thy seed from the land of their captivity: and
Jacob shall return, and be at rest, and abound with all good things, and
there shall be none whom he may fear:

30:11. For I am with thee, saith the Lord, to save thee: for I will
utterly consume all the nations, among which I have scattered thee: but
I will not utterly consume thee: but I will chastise thee in judgment,
that thou mayst not seem to thyself innocent.

30:12. For thus saith the Lord: Thy bruise is incurable, thy wound is
very grievous.

30:13. There is none to judge thy judgment to bind it up: thou hast no
healing medicines.

30:14. All thy lovers have forgotten thee, and will not seek after thee:
for I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with cruel
chastisement: by reason of the multitude of thy iniquities, thy sins are
hardened.

30:15. Why criest thou for thy affliction? thy sorrow is incurable: for
the multitude of thy iniquity, and for thy hardened sins I have done
these things to thee.

30:16. Therefore all they that devour thee, shall be devoured: and all
thy enemies shall be carried into captivity: and they that waste thee
shall be wasted, and all that prey upon thee will I give for a prey.

30:17. For I will close up thy scar, and will heal thee of thy wounds,
saith the Lord. Because they have called thee, O Sion, an outcast: This
is she that hath none to seek after her.

30:18. Thus saith the Lord: Behold I will bring back the captivity of
the pavilions of Jacob, and will have pity on his houses, and the city
shall be built in her high place, and the temple shall be founded
according to the order thereof.

30:19. And out of them shall come forth praise, and the voice of them
that play: and I will multiply them, and they shall not be made few: and
I will glorify them, and they shall not be lessened.

30:20. And their children shall be as from the beginning, and their
assembly shall be permanent before me: and I will visit against all that
afflict them.

30:21. And their leader shall be of themselves: and their prince shall
come forth from the midst of them: and I will bring him near, and he
shall come to me: for who is this that setteth his heart to approach to
me, saith the Lord?

30:22. And you shall be my people: and I will be your God.

30:23. Behold the whirlwind of the Lord, his fury going forth, a violent
storm, it shall rest upon the head of the wicked.

30:24. The Lord will not turn away the wrath of his indignation, till he
have executed and performed the thought of his heart: in the latter days
you shall understand these things.

Jeremias Chapter 31

The restoration of Israel. Rachel shall cease from morning. The new
covenant. The church shall never fail.

31:1. At that time, saith the Lord, I will be the God of all the
families of Israel, and they shall be my people.

31:2. Thus saith the Lord: The people that were left and escaped from
the sword, found grace in the desert: Israel shall go to his rest.

31:3. The Lord hath appeared from afar to me. Yea I have loved thee with
an everlasting love, therefore have I drawn thee, taking pity on thee.

31:4. And I will build thee again, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of
Israel: thou shalt again be adorned with thy timbrels, and shalt go
forth in the dances of them that make merry.

31:5. Thou shalt yet plant vineyards in the mountains of Samaria: the
planters shall plant, and they shall not gather the vintage before the
time.

31:6. For there shall be a day, in which the watchmen on mount Ephraim,
shall cry: Arise, and let us go up to Sion to the Lord our God.

31:7. For thus saith the Lord: Rejoice ye in the joy of Jacob, and neigh
before the head of the Gentiles: shout ye, and sing, and say: Save, O
Lord, thy people, the remnant of Israel.

31:8. Behold I will bring them from the north country, and will gather
them from the ends of the earth and among them shall be the blind, and
the lame, the woman with child, and she that is bringing forth,
together, a great company of them returning hither.

31:9. They shall come with weeping: and I will bring them back in mercy:
and I will bring them through the torrents of waters in a right way, and
they shall not stumble in it: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim
is my firstborn.

31:10. Hear the word of the Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the
islands that are afar off, and say: He that scattered Israel will gather
him: and he will keep him as the shepherd doth his flock.

31:11. For the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and delivered him out of the
hand of one that was mightier than he.

31:12. And they shall come, and shall give praise in mount Sion: and
they shall flow together to the good things of the Lord, for the corn,
and wine, and oil, and the increase of cattle and herds, and their soul
shall be as a watered garden, and they shall be hungry no more.

31:13. Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, the young men and old
men together: and I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort
them, and make them joyful after their sorrow.

31:14. And I will fill the soul of the priests with fatness: and my
people shall be filled with my good things, saith the Lord.

31:15. Thus saith the Lord: A voice was heard on high of lamentation, of
mourning, and weeping, of Rachel weeping for her children and refusing
to be comforted for them, because they are not.

31:16. Thus saith the Lord: Let thy voice cease from weeping, and thy
eyes tears: for there is a reward for thy work, saith the Lord: and they
shall return out of the land of the enemy.

31:17. And there is hope for thy last end, saith the Lord: and the
children shall return to their own borders.

31:18. Hearing I heard Ephraim when he went into captivity: thou hast
chastised me, and I was instructed, as a young bullock unaccustomed to
the yoke. Convert me, and I shall be converted, for thou art the Lord my
God.

31:19. For after thou didst convert me, I did penance: and after thou
didst shew unto me, I struck my thigh: I am confounded and ashamed,
because I have borne the reproach of my youth.

31:20. Surely Ephraim is an honourable son to me, surely he is a tender
child: for since I spoke of him, I will still remember him.  Therefore
are my bowels troubled for him: pitying I will pity him, saith the Lord.

31:21. Set thee up a watchtower, make to thee bitterness: direct thy
heart into the right way, wherein thou hast walked: return, O virgin of
Israel, return to these thy cities.

31:22. How long wilt thou be dissolute in deliciousness, O wandering
daughter? for the Lord hath created a new thing upon the earth: A WOMAN
SHALL COMPASS A MAN.

31:23. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: As yet shall
they say this word in the land of Juda, and in the cities thereof, when
I shall bring back their captivity: The Lord bless thee, the beauty of
justice, the holy mountain.

31:24. And Juda and all his cities shall dwell therein together: the
husbandman and they that drive the flocks.

31:25. For I have inebriated the weary soul: and I have filled every
hungry soul.

31:26. Upon this I was as it were awaked out of a sleep, and I saw, and
my sleep was sweet to me.

31:27. Behold the days come, saith the Lord: and I will sow the house of
Israel and the house of Juda with the seed of men, and with the seed of
beasts.

31:28. And as I have watched over them, to pluck up, and to throw down,
and to scatter, and destroy, and afflict: so will I watch over them, to
build up, and to plant them, saith the Lord.

31:29. In those days they shall say no more: The fathers have eaten a
sour grape, and the teeth of the children are set on edge.

31:30. But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that
shall eat the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge.

31:31. Behold the days shall come, saith the Lord, and I will make a new
covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Juda:

31:32. Not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers, in
the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of
Egypt, the covenant which they made void, and I had dominion over them,
saith the Lord.

31:33. But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of
Israel, after those days, saith the Lord: I will give my law in their
bowels, and I will write it in their heart: and I will be their God, and
they shall be my people.

31:34. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every
man his brother, saying: Know the Lord: for all shall know me from the
least of them even to the greatest, saith the Lord: for I will forgive
their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

31:35. Thus saith the Lord, who giveth the sun for the light of the day,
the order of the moon and of the stars, for the light of the night: who
stirreth up the sea, and the waves thereof roar, the Lord of hosts is
his name.

31:36. If these ordinances shall fail before me, saith the Lord: then
also the seed of Israel shall fail, so as not to be a nation before me
for ever.

31:37. Thus saith the Lord: If the heavens above can be measured, and
the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I also will cast away
all the seed of Israel, for all that they have done, saith the Lord.

31:38. Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that the city shall be
built to the Lord from the tower of Hanameel even to the gate of the
corner.

31:39. And the measuring line shall go out farther in his sight upon the
hill Gareb: and it shall compass Goatha,

31:40. And the whole valley of dead bodies, and of ashes, and all the
country of death, even to the torrent Cedron, and to the corner of the
horse gate towards the east, the Holy of the Lord: it shall not be
plucked up, and it shall not be destroyed any more for ever.

Jeremias Chapter 32

Jeremias by God's commandment purchases a field of his kinsman: and
prophesies the return of the people out of captivity: and the
everlasting covenant God will make with his church.

32:1. The word that came to Jeremias from the Lord in the tenth year of
Sedecias king of Juda: the same is the eighteenth year of
Nabuchodonosor.

32:2. At that time the army of the king of Babylon besieged Jerusalem:
and Jeremias the prophet was shut up in the court of the prison, which
was in the house of the king of Juda.

32:3. For Sedecias king of Juda had shut him up, saying: Why dost thou
prophesy, saying: Thus saith the Lord: Behold I will give this city into
the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it?

32:4. And Sedecias king of Juda shall not escape out of the hand of the
Chaldeans: but he shall be delivered into the hands of the king of
Babylon: and he shall speak to him mouth to mouth, and his eyes shall
see his eyes.

32:5. And he shall lead Sedecias to Babylon: and he shall be there till
I visit him, saith the Lord. But if you will fight against the
Chaldeans, you shall have no success.

32:6. And Jeremias said: The word of the Lord came to me, saying:

32:7. Behold, Hanameel the son of Sellum thy cousin shall come to thee,
saying: Buy thee my field, which is in Anathoth, for it is thy right to
buy it, being next akin.

32:8. And Hanameel my uncle's son came to me, according to the word of
the Lord, to the entry of the prison, and said to me: Buy my field,
which is in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin: for the right of
inheritance is thine, and thou art next of kin to possess it. And I
understood that this was the word of the Lord.

32:9. And I bought the field of Hanameel my uncle's son, that is in
Anathoth: and I weighed him the money, seven staters, and ten pieces of
silver.

32:10. And I wrote it in a book and sealed it, and took witnesses: and I
weighed him the money in the balances.

32:11. And I took the deed of the purchase that was sealed, and the
stipulations, and the ratifications with the seals that were on the
outside.

32:12. And I gave the deed of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neri the
son of Maasias in the sight of Hanameel my uncle's son, in the presence
of the witnesses that subscribed the book of the purchase, and before
all the Jews that sat in the court of the prison.

32:13. And I charged Baruch before them, saying:

32:14. Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Take these
writings, this deed of the purchase that is sealed up, and this deed
that is open: and put them in an earthen vessel, that they may continue
many days.

32:15. For thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Houses, and
fields, and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land.

32:16. And after I had delivered the deed of purchase to Baruch the son
of Neri, I prayed to the Lord, saying:

32:17. Alas, alas, alas, O Lord God, behold thou hast made heaven and
earth by thy great power, and thy stretched out arm: no word shall be
hard to thee:

32:18. Thou shewest mercy unto thousands, and returnest the iniquity of
the fathers into the bosom of their children after them: O most mighty,
great, and powerful, the Lord of hosts is thy name.

32:19. Great in counsel, and incomprehensible in thought: whose eyes are
open upon all the ways of the children of Adam, to render unto every one
according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his devices.

32:20. Who hast set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt even until
this day, and in Israel, and amongst men, and hast made thee a name as
at this day.

32:21. And hast brought forth thy people Israel, out of the land of
Egypt with signs, and with wonders, and with a strong hand, and a
stretched out arm, and with great terror.

32:22. And hast given them this land which thou didst swear to their
fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey.

32:23. And they came in, and possessed it: but they obeyed not thy
voice, and they walked not in thy law: and they did not any of those
things that thou didst command them to do, and all these evils are come
upon them.

32:24. Behold works are built up against the city to take it: and the
city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans, who fight against it, by
the sword, and the famine, and the pestilence: and what thou hast
spoken, is all come to pass, as thou thyself seest.

32:25. And sayest thou to me, O Lord God: Buy a field for money, and
take witnesses, whereas the city is given into the hands of the
Chaldeans?

32:26. And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias, saying:

32:27. Behold I am the Lord the God of all flesh: shall any thing be
hard for me?

32:28. Therefore thus saith the Lord: Behold I will deliver this city
into the hands of the Chaldeans, and into the hands of the king of
Babylon, and they shall take it.

32:29. And the Chaldeans that fight against this city, shall come and
set it on fire, and burn it, with the houses upon whose roofs they
offered sacrifice to Baal, and poured out drink offerings to strange
gods, to provoke me to wrath.

32:30. For the children of Israel, and the children of Juda, have
continually done evil in my eyes from their youth: the children of
Israel who even till now provoke me with the work of their hands, saith
the Lord.

32:31. For this city hath been to me a provocation and indignation from
the day that they built it, until this day, in which it shall be taken
out of my sight.

32:32. Because of all the evil of the children of Israel, and of the
children of Juda, which they have done, provoking me to wrath, they and
their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets, the
men of Juda, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

32:33. And they have turned their backs to me, and not their faces: when
I taught them early in the morning, and instructed them, and they would
not hearken to receive instruction.

32:34. And they have set their idols in the house, in which my name is
called upon, to defile it.

32:35. And they have built the high places of Baal, which are in the
valley of the son of Ennom, to consecrate their sons and their daughters
to Moloch: which I commanded them not, neither entered it into my heart,
that they should do this abomination, and cause Juda to sin.

32:36. And now, therefore, thus saith the Lord the God of Israel to this
city, whereof you say that it shall be delivered into the hands of the
king of Babylon by the sword, and by famine, and by pestilence:

32:37. Behold I will gather them together out of all the lands to which
I have cast them out in my anger, and in my wrath, and in my great
indignation: and I will bring them again into this place, and will cause
them to dwell securely.

32:38. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

32:39. And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear
me all days: and that it may be well with them, and with their children
after them.

32:40. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, and will not
cease to do them good: and I will give my fear in their heart, that they
may not revolt from me.

32:41. And I will rejoice over them, when I shall do them good: and I
will plant them in this land in truth, with my whole heart, and with all
my soul.

32:42. For thus saith the Lord: As I have brought upon this people all
this great evil: so will I bring upon them all the good that I now speak
to them.

32:43. And fields shall be purchased in this land: whereof you say that
it is desolate, because there remaineth neither man nor beast, and it is
given into the hands of the Chaldeans.

32:44. Fields shall be bought for money, and deeds shall be written, and
sealed, and witnesses shall be taken, in the land of Benjamin, and round
about Jerusalem, in the cities of Juda, and in the cities on the
mountains, and in the cities of the plains, and in the cities that are
towards the south: for I will bring back their captivity, saith the
Lord.

Jeremias Chapter 33

God promises reduction from captivity, and other blessings: especially
the coming of Christ, whose reign in his church shall be glorious and
perpetual.

33:1. And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias the second time, while
he was yet shut up in the court of the prison, saying:

33:2. Thus saith the Lord, who will do, and will form it, and prepare
it, the Lord is his name.

33:3. Cry to me and I will hear thee: and I will shew thee great things,
and sure things which thou knowest not.

33:4. For thus saith the Lord the God of Israel to the houses of this
city, and to the houses of the king of Juda, which are destroyed, and to
the bulwarks, and to the sword.

33:5. Of them that come to fight with the Chaldeans, and to fill them
with the dead bodies of the men whom I have slain in my wrath, and in my
indignation, hiding my face from this city because of all their
wickedness.

33:6. Behold I will close their wounds and give them health, and I will
cure them: and I will reveal to them the prayer of peace and truth.

The prayer of peace... That is, the peace and welfare which they pray
for.

33:7. And I will bring back the captivity of Juda, and the captivity of
Jerusalem: and I will build them as from the beginning.

33:8. And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have
sinned against me: and I will forgive all their iniquities, whereby they
have sinned against me, and despised me.

33:9. And it shall be to me a name, and a joy, and a praise, and a
gladness before all the nations of the earth, that shall hear of all the
good things which I will do to them: and they shall fear and be troubled
for all the good things, and for all the peace that I will make for
them.

33:10. Thus saith the Lord: There shall be heard again in this place
(which you say is desolate, because there is neither man nor beast: in
the cities of Juda, and without Jerusalem, which are desolate without
man, and without inhabitant, and without beast)

33:11. 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:
Give ye glory to the Lord of hosts, for the Lord is good, for his mercy
endureth for ever: and of them that shall bring their vows into the
house of the Lord: for I will bring back the captivity of the land as at
the first, saith the Lord.

33:12. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: There shall be again in this place
that is desolate without man, and without beast, and in all the cities
thereof, an habitation of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down.

33:13. And in the cities on the mountains, and in the cities of the
plains, and in the cities that are towards the south: and in the land of
Benjamin, and round about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Juda shall the
flocks pass again under the hand of him that numbereth them, saith the
Lord.

33:14. Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will perform the
good word that I have spoken to the house of Israel, and to the house of
Juda.

33:15. In those days, and at that time, I will make the bud of justice
to spring forth unto David, and he shall do judgment and justice in the
earth.

33:16. In those days shall Juda be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell
securely: and this is the name that they shall call him, The Lord our
just one.

33:17. For thus saith the Lord: There shall not be cut off from David a
man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel.

There shall not be cut off from David, etc... This was verified in
Christ, who is of the house of David; and whose kingdom in his church
shall have no end.

33:18. Neither shall there be cut off from the priests and Levites a man
before my face to offer holocausts, and to burn sacrifices, and to kill
victims continually.

Neither shall there be cut off from the priests, etc... This promise
relates to the Christian priesthood; which shall also continue for ever:
the functions of which (more especially the great sacrifice of the
altar) are here expressed by the name of holocausts, and other offerings
of the law, which were so many figures of the Christian sacrifice.

33:19. And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias, saying:

33:20. Thus saith the Lord: if my covenant, with the day can be made
void, and my covenant with the night, that there should not be day and
night in their season:

33:21. Also my covenant with David my servant may be made void, that he
should not have a son to reign upon his throne, and with the Levites and
priests my ministers.

33:22. As the stars of heaven cannot be numbered, nor the sand of the
sea be measured: so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, and
the Levites my ministers.

33:23. And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias, saying:

33:24. Hast thou not seen what this people hath spoken, saying: The two
families which the Lord had chosen, are cast off: and they have despised
my people, so that it is no more a nation before them?

Two families, etc... Viz., the families of the kings and priests.

33:25. Thus saith the Lord. If I have not set my covenant between day
and night, and laws to heaven and earth:

33:26. Surely I will also cast off the seed of Jacob, and of David my
servant, so as not to take any of his seed to be rulers of the seed of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will bring back their captivity, and
will have mercy on them.

Jeremias Chapter 34

The prophet foretells that Sedecias shall fall into the hands of
Nabuchodonosor: God's sentence upon the princes and people that had
broken his covenant.

34:1. The word that came to Jeremias from the Lord, when Nabuchodonosor
king of Babylon, and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth,
that were under the power of his hand, and all the people fought against
Jerusalem and against all the cities thereof, saying:

34:2. Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel: Go, and speak to Sedecias
king of Juda, and say to him: Thus saith the Lord: Behold I will deliver
this city into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it
with fire.

34:3. And thou shalt not escape out of his hand: but thou shalt surely
be taken, and thou shalt be delivered into his hand: and thy eyes shall
see the eyes of the king of Babylon, and his mouth shall speak with thy
mouth, and thou shalt go to Babylon.

34:4. Yet hear the word of the Lord, O Sedecias king of Juda: Thus saith
the Lord to thee: Thou shalt not die by the sword.

34:5. But thou shalt die in peace, and according to the burnings of thy
fathers, the former kings that were before thee, so shall they burn
thee: and they shall mourn for thee, saying: Alas, Lord: for I have
spoken the word, saith the Lord.

Die in peace... That is, by a natural death.

34:6. And Jeremias the prophet spoke all these words to Sedecias the
king of Juda in Jerusalem.

34:7. And the army of the king of Babylon fought against Jerusalem, and
against all the cities of Juda that were left, against Lachis, and
against Azecha: for these remained of the cities of Juda, fenced cities.

34:8. The word that came to Jeremias from the Lord, after that king
Sedecias had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem making a
proclamation:

34:9. That every man should let his manservant, and every man his
maidservant, being Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, go free: and that they
should not lord it over them, to wit, over the Jews their brethren.

34:10. And all the princes, and all the people who entered into the
covenant, heard that every man should let his manservant, and every man
his maidservant go free, and should no more have dominion over them: and
they obeyed, and let them go free.

34:11. But afterwards they turned: and brought back again their servants
and their handmaids, whom they had let go free, and brought them into
subjection as menservants and maidservants.

34:12. And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias from the Lord, saying:

34:13. Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel: I made a covenant with
your fathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt,
out of the house of bondage, saying:

34:14. At the end of seven years, let ye go every man his brother being
a Hebrew, who hath been sold to thee, so he shall serve thee six years:
and thou shalt let him go free from thee: and your fathers did not
hearken to me, nor did they incline their ear.

34:15. And you turned to day, and did that which was right in my eyes,
in proclaiming liberty every one to his brother: and you made a covenant
in my sight, in the house upon which my name is invocated.

34:16. And you are fallen back, and have defiled my name: and you have
brought back again every man his manservant, and every man his
maidservant, whom you had let go free, and set at liberty: and you have
brought them into subjection to be your servants and handmaids.

34:17. Therefore thus saith the Lord: You have not hearkened to me, in
proclaiming liberty every man to his brother and every man to his
friend: behold I proclaim a liberty for you, saith the Lord, to the
sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine: and I will cause you to be
removed to all the kingdoms of the earth.

34:18. And I will give the men that have transgressed my covenant, and
have not performed the words of the covenant which they agreed to in my
presence, when they cut the calf in two and passed between the parts
thereof:

34:19. The princes of Juda, and the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs,
and the priests, and all the people of the land that passed between the
parts of the calf:

34:20. And I will give them into the hands of their enemies, and into
the hands of them that seek their life: and their dead bodies shall be
for meat to the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the earth.

34:21. And Sedecias the king of Juda, and his princes, I will give into
the hands of their enemies, and into the hands of them that seek their
lives, and into the hands of the armies of the king of Babylon, which
are gone from you.

34:22. Behold I will command, saith the Lord, and I will bring them
again to this city, and they shall fight against it, and take it, and
burn it with fire: and I will make the cities of Juda a desolation,
without an inhabitant.

Jeremias Chapter 35

The obedience of the Rechabites condemns the disobedience of the Jews.
The reward of the Rechabites.

35:1. The word that came to Jeremias from the Lord in the days of Joakim
the son of Josias king of Juda, saying:

35:2. Go to the house of the Rechabites: and speak to them, and bring
them into the house of the Lord, into one of the chambers of the
treasures, and thou shalt give them wine to drink.

Rechabites... These were of the race of Jethro, father in law to Moses.

35:3. And I took Jezonias the son of Jeremias the son of Habsanias, and
his brethren, and all his sons, and the whole house of the Rechabites.

35:4. And I brought them into the house of the Lord, to the treasure
house of the sons of Hanan, the son of Jegedelias the man of God, which
was by the treasure house of the princes, above the treasure of Maasias
the son of Sellum, who was keeper of the entry.

35:5. And I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites pots full
of wine, and cups: and I said to them: Drink ye wine.

35:6. And they answered: We will not drink wine: because Jonadab the
son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, saying: You shall drink no
wine, neither you, nor your children, for ever:

35:7. Neither shall ye build houses, nor sow reed, nor plant vineyards,
nor have any: but you shall dwell in tents all your days, that you may
live many days upon the face of the earth, in which you are strangers.

35:8. Therefore we have obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab,
our father, in all things that he commanded us: so as to drink no wine
all our days: neither we, nor our wives, nor our sons, nor our
daughters:

35:9. Nor to build houses to dwell in, nor to have vineyard, or field,
or seed:

35:10. But we have dwelt in tents, and have been obedient according to
all that Jonadab our father commanded us.

35:11. But when Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon came up to our land, we
said: Come, let us go into Jerusalem from the face of the army of the
Chaldeans, and from the face of the army of Syria: and we have remained
in Jerusalem.

35:12. And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias, saying:

35:13. Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Go, and say to
the men of Juda, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem: Will you not
receive instruction, to obey my words, saith the Lord?

35:14. The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, by which he commanded his
sons not to drink wine, have prevailed: and they have drunk none to this
day, because they have obeyed the commandment of their father: but I
have spoken to you, rising early and speaking, and you have not obeyed
me.

35:15. And I have sent to you all my servants the prophets, rising
early, and sending and saying: Return ye every man from his wicked way,
and make your ways good: and follow not strange gods, nor worship them,
and you shall dwell in the land, which I gave you and your fathers: and
you have not inclined your ear, nor hearkened to me.

35:16. So the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have constantly kept the
commandment of their father, which he commanded them: but this people
hath not obeyed me.

35:17. Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Behold
I will bring upon Juda, and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all
the evil that I have pronounced against them, because I have spoken to
them, and they have not heard: I have called to them, and they have not
answered me.

35:18. And Jeremias said to the house of the Rechabites: Thus saith the
Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Because you have obeyed the commandment
of Jonadab your father, and have kept all his precepts, and have done
all that he commanded you:

35:19. Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: There
shall not be wanting a man of the race of Jonadab the son of Rechab,
standing before me for ever.

Jeremias Chapter 36

Jeremias sends Baruch to read his prophecies in the temple; the book is
brought to king Joakim, who burns it. The prophet denounces his
judgment, and causes Baruch to write a new copy.

36:1. And it came to pass in the fourth year of Joakim the son of Josias
king of Juda, that this word came to Jeremias by the Lord, saying:

36:2. Take thee a roll of a book, and thou shalt write in it all the
words that I have spoken to thee against Israel and Juda, and against
all the nations from the day that I spoke to thee, from the days of
Josias even to this day.

36:3. If so be, when the house of Juda shall hear all the evils that I
purpose to do unto them, that they may return every man from his wicked
way: and I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin.

36:4. So Jeremias called Baruch the son of Nerias: and Baruch wrote from
the mouth of Jeremias all the words of the Lord, which he spoke to him,
upon the roll of a book.

36:5. And Jeremias commanded Baruch, saying: I am shut up, and cannot go
into the house of the Lord.

Shut up... Not that the prophet was now in prison; for the contrary
appears from ver. 19, but that he kept himself shut up, by reason of the
persecutions he had lately met with. See chap. 26.

36:6. Go thou in therefore, and read out of the volume, which thou hast
written from my mouth, the words of the Lord, in the hearing of all the
people in the house of the Lord on the fasting day: and also thou shalt
read them in the hearing of all Juda that come out of their cities:

36:7. If so be they may present their supplication before the Lord, and
may return every one from his wicked way: for great is the wrath and
indignation which the Lord hath pronounced against this people.

36:8. And Baruch the son of Nerias did according to all that Jeremias
the prophet had commanded him, reading out of the volume the words of
the Lord in the house of the Lord.

36:9. And it came to pass in the fifth year of Joakim the son of Josias
king of Juda, in the ninth month, that they proclaimed a fast before the
Lord to all the people in Jerusalem, and to all the people that were
come together out of the cities of Juda to Jerusalem.

36:10. And Baruch read out of the volume the words of Jeremias in the
house of the Lord, in the treasury of Gamarias the son of Saphan the
scribe, in the upper court, in the entry of the new gate of the house of
the Lord, in the hearing of all the people.

36:11. And when Micheas the son of Gamarias the son of Saphan had heard
out of the book all the words of the Lord,

36:12. He went down into the king's house to the secretary's chamber:
and behold all the princes sat there, Elisama the scribe, and Dalaias
the son of Semeias, and Elnathan the son of Achobor, and Gamarias the
son of Saphan, and Sedecias the son of Hananias, and all the princes.

36:13. And Micheas told them all the words that he had heard when Baruch
read out of the volume in the hearing of the people.

36:14. Therefore all the princes sent Judi the son of Nathanias, the son
of Selemias, the son of Chusi, to Baruch, saying: Take in thy hand the
volume in which thou hast read in the hearing of the people, and come.
So Baruch the son of Nerias took the volume in his hand, and came to
them.

36:15. And they said to him: Sit down and read these things in our
hearing. And Baruch read in their hearing.

36:16. And when they had heard all the words, they looked upon one
another with astonishment, and they said to Baruch: We must tell the
king all these words.

36:17. And they asked him, saying: Tell us how didst thou write all
these words from his mouth.

36:18. And Baruch said to them: With his mouth he pronounced all these
words as if he were reading to me: and I wrote in a volume with ink.

36:19. And the princes said to Baruch: Go, and hide thee, both thou and
Jeremias, and let no man know where you are.

36:20. And they went in to the king into the court: but they laid up the
volume in the chamber of Elisama the scribe: and they told all the words
in the hearing of the king.

36:21. And the king sent Judi that he should take the volume: who
bringing it out of the chamber of Elisama the scribe, read it in the
hearing of the king, and of all the princes that stood about the king.

36:22. Now the king sat in the winter house, in the ninth month: and
there was a hearth before him full of burning coals.

36:23. And when Judi had read three or four pages, he cut it with the
penknife, and he cast it into the fire, that was upon the hearth, till
all the volume was consumed with the fire that was on the hearth.

36:24. And the king and all his servants that heard all these words were
not afraid, nor did they rend their garments.

36:25. But yet Elnathan, and Dalaias, and Gamarias spoke to the king,
not to burn the book: and he heard them not.

36:26. And the king commanded Jeremiel the son of Amelech, and Saraias
the son of Ezriel, and Selemias the son of Abdeel, to take up Baruch the
scribe, and Jeremias the prophet: but the Lord hid them.

36:27. And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias the prophet, after that
the king had burnt the volume, and the words that Baruch had written
from the mouth of Jeremias, saying:

36:28. Take thee again another volume: and write in it all the former
words that were in the first volume which Joakim the king of Juda both
burnt.

36:29. And thou shalt say to Joakim the king of Juda: Thus saith the
Lord: Thou hast burnt that volume, saying: Why hast thou written
therein, and said: The king of Babylon shall come speedily, and shall
lay waste this land: and shall cause to cease from thence man and beast?

36:30. Therefore thus saith the Lord against Joakim the king of Juda: He
shall have none to sit upon the throne of David: and his dead body shall
be cast out to the heat by day, and to the frost by night.

He shall have none, etc... Because his son Joachin or Jechonias, within
three months after the death of his father, was carried away to Babylon,
so that his reign is not worthy of notice.

36:31. And I will punish him, and his seed and his servants, for their
iniquities, and I will bring upon them, and upon the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, and upon the men of Juda all the evil that I have pronounced
against them, but they have not heard.

36:32. And Jeremias took another volume, and gave it to Baruch the son
of Nerias the scribe: who wrote in it from the mouth of Jeremias all the
words of the book which Joakim the king of Juda had burnt with fire: and
there were added besides many more words than had been before.

Jeremias Chapter 37

Jeremias prophesies that the Chaldeans, who had departed from Jerusalem,
would return and burn the city. He is cast into prison.  His conference
with Sedecias.

37:1. Now king Sedecias the son of Josias reigned instead of Jechonias
the son of Joakim: whom Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon made king in the
land of Juda.

37:2. But neither he, nor his servants, nor the people of the land did
obey the words of the Lord, that he spoke in the hand of Jeremias the
prophet.

37:3. And king Sedecias sent Juchal the son of Selemias, and Sophonias
the son of Maasias the priest to Jeremias the prophet, saying: Pray to
the Lord our God for us.

37:4. Now Jeremias walked freely in the midst of the people: for they
had not as yet cast him into prison. And the army of Pharao was come out
of Egypt: and the Chaldeans that besieged Jerusalem, hearing these
tidings, departed from Jerusalem.

37:5. And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias the prophet, saying:

37:6. Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel: Thus shall you say to the
king of Juda, who sent you to inquire of me: Behold the army of Pharao,
which is come forth to help you, shall return into their own land, into
Egypt.

37:7. And the Chaldeans shall come again, and fight against this city,
and take it, and burn it with fire.

37:8. Thus saith the Lord: Deceive not your souls, saying: The Chaldeans
shall surely depart and go away from us: for they shall not go away.

37:9. But if you should even beat all the army of the Chaldeans that
fight against you, and there should be left of them some wounded men:
they shall rise up, every man from his heart, and burn this city with
fire.

37:10. Now when the army of the Chaldeans was gone away from Jerusalem,
because of Pharao's army,

37:11. Jeremias went forth out of Jerusalem to go into the land of
Benjamin: and to divide a possession there in the presence of the
citizens,

37:12. And when he was come to the gate of Benjamin, the captain of the
gate, who was there in his turn, was one named Jerias, the son of
Selemias, the son of Hananias: and he took hold of Jeremias the prophet,
saying: Thou art fleeing to the Chaldeans.

37:13. And Jeremias answered: It is not so, I am not fleeing to the
Chaldeans. But he hearkened not to him: so Jerias took Jeremias and
brought him to the princes.

37:14. Wherefore the princes were angry with Jeremias, and they beat
him, and cast him into the prison that was in the house of Jonathan the
scribe: for he was chief over the prison.

37:15. So Jeremias went into the house of the prison, and into the
dungeon: and Jeremias remained there many days.

37:16. Then Sedecias the king, sending, took him: and asked him secretly
in his house, and said: Is there, thinkest thou, any word from the Lord?
And Jeremias said. There is. And he said: Thou shalt be delivered into
the hands of the king of Babylon.

37:17. And Jeremias said to king Sedecias: In what have I offended
against thee, or thy servants, or thy people, that thou hast cast me
into prison?

37:18. Where are your prophets that prophesied to you, and said: The
king of Babylon shall not come against you, and against this land?

37:19. Now therefore hear, I beseech thee, my lord the king: let my
petition be accepted in thy sight: and send me not back into the house
of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there.

37:20. Then king Sedecias commanded that Jeremias should be committed
into the entry of the prison: and that they should give him daily a
piece of bread, beside broth, till all the bread in the city were spent:
and Jeremias remained in the entry of the prison.

Jeremias Chapter 38

The prophet at the instance of the great men is cast into a filthy
dungeon: he is drawn out by Abdemelech, and has another conference with
the king.

38:1. Now Saphatias the son of Mathan, and Gedelias the son of Phassur,
and Juchal the son of Selemias, and Phassur the son of Melchias heard
the words that Jeremias spoke to all the people, saying:

38:2. Thus saith the Lord: Whosoever shall remain in this city, shall
die by the sword, and by famine, and by pestilence: but he that shall go
forth to the Chaldeans, shall live, and his life shall be safe, and he
shall live.

38:3. Thus saith the Lord: This city shall surely be delivered into the
hand of the army of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it.

38:4. And the princes said to the king. We beseech thee that this man
may be put to death: for on purpose he weakeneth the hands of the men of
war, that remain in this city, and the hands of the people, speaking to
them according to these words: for this man seeketh not peace to this
people, but evil.

38:5. And king Sedecias said: Behold he is in your hands: for it is not
lawful for the king to deny you any thing.

38:6. Then they took Jeremias and cast him into the dungeon of Melchias
the son of Amelech, which was in the entry of the prison: and they let
down Jeremias by ropes into the dungeon, wherein there was no water, but
mire. And Jeremias sunk into the mire.

38:7. Now Abdemelech the Ethiopian, an eunuch that was in the king's
house, heard that they had put Jeremias in the dungeon: but the king was
sitting in the gate of Benjamin.

38:8. And Abdemelech went out of the king's house, and spoke to the
king, saying:

38:9. My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have
done against Jeremias the prophet, casting him into the dungeon to die
there with hunger, for there is no more bread in the city.

38:10. Then the king commanded Abdemelech the Ethiopian, saying: Take
from hence thirty men with thee, and draw up Jeremias the prophet out of
the dungeon, before he die.

38:11. So Abdemelech taking the men with him, went into the king's house
that was under the storehouse: and he took from thence old rags, and old
rotten things, and he let them down by cords to Jeremias into the
dungeon.

38:12. And Abdemelech the Ethiopian said to Jeremias: Put these old rags
and these rent and rotten things under thy arms, and upon the cords: and
Jeremias did so.

38:13. And they drew up Jeremias with the cords, and brought him forth
out of the dungeon. And Jeremias remained in the entry of the prison.

38:14. And king Sedecias sent, and took Jeremias the prophet to him to
the third gate, that was in the house of the Lord: and the king said to
Jeremias: I will ask thee a thing, hide nothing from me.

38:15. Then Jeremias said to Sedecias: If I shall declare it to thee,
wilt thou not put me to death? and if I give thee counsel, thou wilt not
hearken to me.

38:16. Then king Sedecias swore to Jeremias, in private, saying: As the
Lord liveth, that, made us this soul, I will not put thee to death, nor
will I deliver thee into the hands of these men that seek thy life.

38:17. And Jeremias said to Sedecias: Thus saith the Lord of hosts the
God of Israel: If thou wilt take a resolution and go out to the princes
of the king of Babylon, thy soul shall live, and this city shall not be
burnt with fire: and thou shalt be safe, and thy house.

38:18. But if thou wilt not go out to the princes of the king of
Babylon, this city shall be delivered into the hands of the Chaldeans,
and they shall burn it with fire: and thou shalt not escape out of their
hand.

38:19. And king Sedecias said to Jeremias: I am afraid because of the
Jews that are fled over to the Chaldeans: lest I should be delivered
into their hands, and they should abuse me.

38:20. But Jeremias answered: They shall not deliver thee: hearken, I
beseech thee, to the word of the Lord, which I speak to the, and it
shall be well with thee, and thy soul shall live.

38:21. But if thou wilt not go forth, this is the word which the Lord
hath shewn me:

38:22. Behold all the women that are left in the house of the king of
Juda, shall be brought out to the princes of the king of Babylon: and
they shall say: Thy men of peace have deceived thee, and have prevailed
against thee, they have plunged thy feet in the mire, and in a slippery
place and they have departed from thee.

Thy men of peace... Viri pacifici tui. That is thy false friends
promising thee peace and happiness, and by their evil counsels involving
thee in misery.

38:23. And all thy wives, and thy children shall be brought out to the
Chaldeans, and thou shalt not escape their hands, but thou shalt be
taken by the hand of the king of Babylon: and he shall burn this city
with fire.

38:24. Then Sedecias said to Jeremias: Let no man know these words, and
thou shalt not die.

38:25. But if the princes shall hear that I have spoken with thee, and
shall come to thee, and say to thee: Tell us what thou hast said to the
king, hide it not from us, and we will not kill thee: and also what the
king said to thee:

38:26. Thou shalt say to them: I presented my supplication before the
king, that he would not command me to be carried back into the house of
Jonathan, to die there.

38:27. So all the princes came to Jeremias, and asked him: and he spoke
to them according to all the words that the king had commanded him: and
they left him: for nothing had been heard.

38:28. But Jeremias remained in the entry of the prison, until the day
that Jerusalem was taken: and it came to pass that Jerusalem was taken.

Jeremias Chapter 39

After two years' siege Jerusalem is taken. Sedecias is carried before
Nabuchodonosor, who kills his sons in his sight, and then puts out his
eyes. Jeremias is set at liberty.

39:1. In the ninth year of Sedecias king of Juda, in the tenth month,
came Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, and all his army to Jerusalem, and
they besieged it.

39:2. And in the eleventh year of Sedecias, in the fourth month, the
fifth day of the month, the city was opened.

39:3. And all the princes of the king of Babylon came in, and sat in the
middle gate: Neregel, Sereser, Semegarnabu, Sarsachim, Rabsares,
Neregel, Serezer, Rebmag, and all the rest of the princes of the king of
Babylon.

39:4. And when Sedecias the king of Juda and all the men of war saw
them, they fled: and they went forth in the night out of the city by the
way of the king's garden, and by the gate that was between the two
walls, and they went out to the way of the desert.

39:5. But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after them: and they took
Sedecias in the plain of the desert of Jericho, and when they had taken
him, they brought him to Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon to Reblatha,
which is in the land of Emath: and he gave judgment upon him.

39:6. And the king of Babylon slew the sons of Sedecias, in Reblatha,
before his eyes: and the king of Babylon slew all the nobles of Juda.

39:7. He also put out the eyes of Sedecias: and bound him with fetters,
to be carried to Babylon.

39:8. And the Chaldeans burnt the king's house, and the houses of the
people with fire, and they threw down the wall of Jerusalem.

39:9. And Nabuzardan the general of the army carried away captive to
Babylon the remnant of the people that remained in the city, and the
fugitives that had gone over to him, and the rest of the people that
remained.

39:10. But Nabuzardan the general left some of the poor people that had
nothing at all, in the land of Juda, and he gave them vineyards, and
cisterns at that time.

39:11. Now Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon had given charge to Nabuzardan
the general concerning Jeremias, saying:

39:12. Take him, and set thy eyes upon him, and do him no harm: but as
he hath a mind, so do with him.

39:13. Therefore Nabuzardan the general sent, and Nabuzardan, and
Rabsares, and Neregel, and Sereser, and Rebmag, and all the nobles of
the king of Babylon,

39:14. Sent and took Jeremias out of the court of the prison, and
committed him to Godolias the son of Ahicam the son of Saphan, that he
might go home, and dwell among the people.

39:15. But the word of the Lord came to Jeremias, when he was yet shut
up in the court of the prison, saying: Go, and tell Abdemelech the
Ethiopian, saying:

39:16. Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Behold I will
bring my words upon this city unto evil, and not unto good: and they
shall be accomplished in thy sight in that day.

39:17. And I will deliver thee in that day, saith the Lord: and thou
shalt not be given into the hands of the men whom thou fearest:

39:18. But delivering, I will deliver thee, and thou shalt not fall by
the sword: but thy life shall be saved for thee, because thou hast put
thy trust in me, saith the Lord.

Jeremias Chapter 40

Jeremias remains with Godolias the governor; who receives all the Jews
that resort to him.

40:1. The word that came to Jeremias from the Lord, after that
Nabuzardan the general had let him go from Rama, when he had taken him,
being bound with chains, among all them that were carried away from
Jerusalem and Juda, and were carried to Babylon.

40:2. And the general of the army taking Jeremias, said to him: The Lord
thy God hath pronounced this evil upon this place,

40:3. And he hath brought it: and the Lord hath done as he hath said:
because you have sinned against the Lord, and have not hearkened to his
voice, and this word is come upon you.

40:4. Now then behold I have loosed thee this day from the chains which
were upon thy hands: if it please thee to come with me to Babylon, come:
and I will set my eyes upon thee: but if it do not please thee to come
with me to Babylon, stay here: behold all the land is before thee, as
thou shalt choose, and whither it shall please thee to go, thither go.

40:5. And come not with me: but dwell with Godolias the son of Ahicam
the son of Saphan, whom the king of Babylon hath made governor over the
cities of Juda: dwell therefore with him in the midst of the people: or
whithersoever it shall please thee to go, go. And the general of the
army gave him victuals and presents, and let him go.

40:6. And Jeremias went to Godolias the son of Ahicam to Masphath: and
dwelt with him in the midst of the people that were left in the land.

40:7. And when all the captains of the army that were scattered through
the countries, they and their companions, had heard that the king of
Babylon had made Godolias the son of Ahicam governor of the country, and
that he had committed unto him men and women, and children, and of the
poor of the land, them that had not been carried away captive to
Babylon:

40:8. They came to Godolias to Masphath: and Ismahel the son of
Nathanias, and Johanan, and Jonathan, the sons of Caree, and Sareas the
son of Thanehumeth, and the children of Ophi, that were of Netophathi,
and Jezonias the son of Maachati, they and their men.

40:9. And Godolias the son of Ahicam the son of Saphan swore to them and
to their companions, saying: Fear not to serve the Chaldeans: dwell in
the land, and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.

40:10. Behold I dwell in Masphath, that I may answer the commandment of
the Chaldeans that are sent to us: but as for you, gather ye the
vintage, and the harvest, and the oil, and lay it up in your vessels,
and abide in your cities which you hold.

40:11. Moreover all the Jews that were in Moab, and among the children
of Ammon, and in Edom, and in all the countries, when they heard that
the king of Babylon had left a remnant in Judea, and that he had made
Godolias the son of Ahicam the son of Saphan ruler over them:

40:12. All the Jews, I say, returned out of all the places to which they
had fled, and they came into the land of Juda to Godolias to Masphath:
and they gathered wine, and a very great harvest.

40:13. Then Johanan the son of Caree, and all the captains of the army,
that had been scattered about in the countries, came to Godolias to
Masphath.

40:14. And they said to him: Know that Baalis the king of the children
of Ammon hath sent Ismahel the son of Nathanias to kill thee. And
Godolias the son of Ahicam believed them not.

40:15. But Johanan the son of Caree, spoke to Godolias privately in
Masphath, saying: I will go, and I will kill Ismahel the son of
Nathanias, and no man shall know it, lest he kill thee, and all the Jews
be scattered, that are gathered unto thee, and the remnant of Juda
perish.

40:16. And Godolias the son of Ahicam said to Johanan the son of Caree:
Do not this thing: for what thou sayst of Ismahel is false.

Jeremias Chapter 41

Godolias is slain: the Jews that were with him are apprehensive of the
Chaldeans.

41:1. And it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ismahel the son of
Nathanias, the son of Elisama of the royal blood, and the nobles of the
king, and ten men with him, came to Godolias the son of Ahicam into
Masphath: and they ate bread there together in Masphath.

41:2. And Ismahel the son of Nathanias arose, and the ten men that were
with him, and they struck Godolias the son of Ahicam, the son of Saphan
with the sword, and slew him whom the king of Babylon had made governor
over the land.

41:3. Ismahel slew also all the Jews that were with Godolias in
Masphath, and the Chaldeans that were found there, and the soldiers.

41:4. And on the second day after he had killed Godolias, no man yet
knowing it,

41:5. There came some from Sichem, and from Silo, and from Samaria,
fourscore men, with their beards shaven, and their clothes rent, and
mourning: and they had offerings and incense in their hand, to offer in
the house of the Lord.

41:6. And Ismahel the son of Nathanias went forth from Masphath to meet
them, weeping all along as he went: and when he had met them, he said to
them: Come to Godolias, the son of Ahicam.

41:7. And when they were come to the midst of the city, Ismahel the son
of Nathanias, slew them, and cast them into the midst of the pit, he and
the men that were with him.

41:8. But ten men were found among them, that said to Ismahel: Kill us
not: for we have stores in the field, of wheat, and barley, and oil, and
honey. And he forbore, and slew them not with their brethren.

41:9. And the pit into which Ismahel cast all the dead bodies of the men
whom he slew because of Godolias, is the same that king Asa made, for
fear of Baasa the king of Israel: the same did Ismahel the son of
Nathanias fill with them that were slain.

41:10. Then Ismahel carried away captive all the remnant of the people
that were in Masphath: the king's daughters, and all the people that
remained in Masphath: whom Nabuzardan the general of the army had
committed to Godolias the son of Ahicam. And Ismahel the son of
Nathanias took them, and he departed, to go over to the children of
Ammon.

41:11. But Johanan the son of Caree, and all the captains of the
fighting men that were with him, heard of the evil that Ismahel the son
of Nathanias had done.

41:12. And taking all the men, they went out to fight against Ismahel
the son of Nathanias, and they found him by the great waters that are in
Gabaon.

41:13. And when all the people that were with Ismahel, had seen Johanan
the son of Caree, and all the captains of the fighting men that were
with him, they rejoiced.

41:14. And all the people whom Ismahel had taken, went back to Masphath:
and they returned and went to Johanan the son of Caree.

41:15. But Ismahel the son of Nathanias fled with eight men, from the
face of Johanan, and went to the children of Ammon.

41:16. Then Johanan the son of Caree, and all the captains of the
soldiers that were with him, took all the remnant of the people whom
they had recovered from Ismahel the son of Nathanias, from Masphath,
after that he had slain Godolias the son of Ahicam: valiant men for war,
and the women, and the children, and the eunuchs whom he had brought
back from Gabaon.

41:17. And they departed, and sat as sojourners in Chamaam, which is
near Bethlehem: in order to go forward, and enter into Egypt,

41:18. From the face of the Chaldeans: for they were afraid of them,
because Ismahel the son of Nathanias had slain Godolias the son of
Ahicam, whom the king of Babylon had made governor in the land of Juda.

Jeremias Chapter 42

Jeremias assures the remnant of the people, that if they will stay in
Juda, they shall be safe; but if they go down into Egypt, they shall
perish.

42:1. Then all the captains of the warriors, and Johanan the son of
Caree, and Jezonias, the son of Osaias, and the rest of the people from
the least to the greatest came near:

42:2. And they said to Jeremias the prophet: Let our supplication fall
before thee: and pray thou for us to the Lord thy God for all this
remnant, for we are left but a few of many, as thy eyes do behold us.

42:3. And let the Lord thy God shew us the way by which we may walk, and
the thing that we must do.

42:4. And Jeremias the prophet said to them: I have heard you: behold I
will pray to the Lord your God according to your words: and whatsoever
thing he shall answer me, I will declare it to you: and I will hide
nothing from you.

42:5. And they said to Jeremias: The Lord be witness between us of truth
and faithfulness, if we do not according to every thing for which the
Lord thy God shall send thee to us.

42:6. Whether it be good or evil, we will obey the voice of the Lord our
God, to whom we send thee: that it may be well with us when we shall
hearken to the voice of the Lord our God.

Good or evil... That is, agreeable or disagreeable.

42:7. Now after ten days, the word of the Lord came to Jeremias.

42:8. And he called Johanan the son of Caree, and all the captains of
the fighting men that were with him, and all the people from the least
to the greatest.

42:9. And he said to them: Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel, to
whom you sent me, to present your supplications before him:

42:10. If you will be quiet and remain in this land, I will build you
up, and not pull you down: I will plant you, and not pluck you up: for
now I am appeased for the evil that I have done to you.

I am appeased for the evil that I have done to you... That is, I am
appeased, as I have sufficiently punished you, and now I am reconciled
with you.

42:11. Fear not because of the king of Babylon, of whom you are greatly
afraid: fear him not, saith the Lord: for I am with you, to save you,
and to deliver you from his hand.

42:12. And I will shew mercies to you, and will take pity on you, and
will cause you to dwell in your own land.

42:13. But if you say: We will not dwell in this land, neither will we
hearken to the voice of the Lord our God,

42:14. Saying: No, but we will go into the land of Egypt: where we shall
see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor suffer hunger: and
there we will dwell.

42:15. For this now hear the word of the Lord, ye remnant of Juda: Thus
saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: If you set your faces to go
into Egypt, and enter in to dwell there:

42:16. The sword which you fear, shall overtake you there in the land of
Egypt: and the famine, whereof you are afraid, shall cleave to you in
Egypt, and there you shall die.

42:17. And all the men that set their faces to go into Egypt, to dwell
there, shall die by the sword, and by famine, and by pestilence: none of
them shall remain, nor escape from the face of the evil that I will
bring upon them.

42:18. For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: As my anger
and my indignation hath been kindled against the inhabitants of
Jerusalem: so shall my indignation be kindled against you, when you
shall enter into Egypt, and you shall be an execration, and an
astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach: and you shall see this place
no more.

42:19. This is the word of the Lord concerning you, O ye remnant of
Juda: Go ye not into Egypt: know certainly that I have adjured you this
day.

42:20. For you have deceived your own souls: for you sent me to the Lord
our God, saying: Pray for us to the Lord our God, and according to all
that the Lord our God shall say to thee, so declare unto us, and we will
do it.

42:21. And now I have declared it to you this day, and you have not
obeyed the voice of the Lord your God, with regard to all the things for
which he hath sent me to you.

42:22. Now therefore know certainly that you shall die by the sword, and
by famine, and by pestilence in the place to which you desire to go to
dwell there.

Jeremias Chapter 43

The Jews, contrary to the orders of God by the prophet, go into Egypt,
carrying Jeremias with them. He foretells the devastation of that land
by the king of Babylon.

43:1. And it came to pass, that when Jeremias had made an end of
speaking to the people all the words of the Lord their God, for which
the Lord their God had sent him to them, all these words:

43:2. Azarias the son of Osaias, and Johanan the son of Caree, and all
the proud men, made answer, saying to Jeremias: Thou tellest a lie: the
Lord our God hath not sent thee, saying: Go not into Egypt, to dwell
there.

43:3. But Baruch the son of Nerias setteth thee on against us, to
deliver us into the hands of the Chaldeans, to kill us, and to cause us
to be carried away captives to Babylon.

43:4. So Johanan the son of Caree, and all the captains of the soldiers,
and all the people, obeyed not the voice of the Lord, to remain in the
land of Juda.

43:5. But Johanan the son of Caree, and all the captains of the soldiers
took all the remnant of Juda, that were returned out of all nations, to
which they had before been scattered, to dwell in the land of Juda:

43:6. Men, and women, and children, and the king's daughters, and every
soul, which Nabuzardan the general had left with Godolias the son of
Ahicam the son of Saphan, and Jeremias the prophet, and Baruch the son
of Nerias.

43:7. And they went into the land of Egypt, for they obeyed not the
voice of the Lord: and they came as far as Taphnis.

43:8. And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias in Taphnis, saying:

43:9. Take great stones in thy hand, and thou shalt hide them in the
vault that is under the brick wall at the gate of Pharao's house in
Taphnis: in the sight of the men of Juda.

43:10. And thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God
of Israel: Behold I will send, and take Nabuchodonosor the king of
Babylon my servant: and I will set his throne over these stones which I
have hid, and he shall set his throne over them.

43:11. And he shall come and strike the land of Egypt: such as are for
death, to death: and such as are for captivity, to captivity: and such
as are for the sword, to the sword.

43:12. And he shall kindle a fire in the temples of the gods of Egypt,
and he shall burn them, and he shall carry them away captives: and he
shall array himself with the land of Egypt, as a shepherd putteth on his
garment: and he shall go forth from thence in peace.

43:13. And he shall break the statues of the house of the sun, that are
in the land of Egypt; and the temples of the gods of Egypt he shall burn
with fire.

Jeremias Chapter 44

The prophet's admonition to the Jews in Egypt against idolatry is not
regarded: he denounces to them their destruction.

44:1. The word that came to Jeremias, concerning all the Jews that dwelt
in the land of Egypt, dwelling in Magdal, and in Taphnis, and in
Memphis, and in the land of Phatures, saying:

44:2. Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: You have seen all
this evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, and upon all the cities of
Juda: and behold they are desolate this day, and there is not an
inhabitant in them:

44:3. Because of the wickedness which they have committed, to provoke me
to wrath, and to go and offer sacrifice, and worship other gods, which
neither they, nor you, nor your fathers knew.

44:4. And I sent to you all my servants the prophets, rising early, and
sending, and saying: Do not commit this abominable thing, which I hate.

44:5. But they heard not, nor inclined their ear to turn from their evil
ways, and not to sacrifice to strange gods.

44:6. Wherefore my indignation and my fury was poured forth, and was
kindled in the cities of Juda, and in the streets of Jerusalem: and they
are turned to desolation and waste, as at this day.

44:7. And now thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Why do you
commit this great evil against your own souls, that there should die of
you man and woman, child and suckling out of the midst of Juda, and no
remnant should be left you:

44:8. In that you provoke me to wrath with the works of your hands, by
sacrificing to other gods in the land of Egypt, into which you are come
to dwell there: and that you should perish, and be a curse, and a
reproach to all the nations of the earth?

44:9. Have you forgotten the evils of your fathers, and the evils of the
kings of Juda, and the evils of their wives, and your evils, and the
evils of your wives, that they have done in the land of Juda, and in the
streets of Jerusalem?

44:10. They are not cleansed even to this day: neither have they feared,
nor walked in the law of the Lord, nor in my commandments, which I set
before you and your fathers.

44:11. Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Behold
I will set my face upon you for evil: and I will destroy all Juda.

44:12. And I will take the remnant of Juda that have set their faces to
go into the land of Egypt, and to dwell there; and they shall be all
consumed in the land of Egypt: they shall fall by the sword, and by the
famine: and they shall be consumed from the least even to the greatest,
by the sword, and by the famine shall they die: and they shall be for an
execration, and for a wonder, and for a curse, and for a reproach.

44:13. And I will visit them that dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have
visited Jerusalem by the sword, and by famine and by pestilence.

44:14. And there shall be none that shall escape, and remain of the
remnant of the Jews that are gone to sojourn in the land of Egypt: and
that shall return into the land of Juda, to which they have a desire to
return to dwell there: there shall none return but they that shall flee.

44:15. Then all the men that knew that their wives sacrificed to other
gods: and all the women of whom there stood by a great multitude, and
all the people of them that dwelt in the land of Egypt in Phatures,
answered Jeremias, saying:

44:16. As for the word which thou hast spoken to us in the name of the
Lord, we will not hearken to thee:

44:17. But we will certainly do every word that shall proceed out of our
own mouth, to sacrifice to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink
offerings to her, as we and our fathers have done, our kings, and our
princes in the cities of Juda, and in the streets of Jerusalem: and we
were filled with bread, and it was well with us, and we saw no evil.

The queen of heaven... The moon, which they worshipped under this name.

44:18. But since we left off to offer sacrifice to the queen of heaven,
and to pour out frank offerings to her, we have wanted all things, and
have been consumed by the sword, and by famine.

44:19. And if we offer sacrifice to the queen of heaven, and pour out
drink offerings to her: did we make cakes to worship her, to pour out
drink offerings to her, without our husbands?

44:20. And Jeremias spoke to all the people, to the men, and to the
women, and to all the people which had given him that answer, saying:

44:21. Was it not the sacrifice that you offered in the cities of Juda,
and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your fathers, your kings, and
your princes, and the people of the land, which the Lord hath
remembered, and hath it not entered into his heart?

44:22. So that the Lord could no longer bear, because of the evil of
your doings, and because of the abominations which you have committed:
therefore your land is become a desolation, and an astonishment, and a
curse, without an inhabitant, as at this day.

44:23. Because you have sacrificed to idols, and have sinned against the
Lord: and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have not walked in
his law, and in his commandments, and in his testimonies: therefore are
these evils come upon you, as at this day.

44:24. And Jeremias said to all the people and to all the women: Hear ye
the word of the Lord, all Juda, you that dwell in the land of Egypt:

44:25. Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel, saying: You and
your wives have spoken with your mouth, and fulfilled with your hands,
saying: Let us perform our vows which we have made, to offer sacrifice
to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings to her: you have
fulfilled your vows, and have performed them indeed.

44:26. Therefore hear ye the word of the Lord, all Juda, you that dwell
in the land of Egypt: Behold I have sworn by my great name, saith the
Lord: that my name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of
Juda, in the land of Egypt, saying: The Lord God liveth.

44:27. Behold I will watch over them for evil, and not for good: and all
the men of Juda that are in the land of Egypt, shall be consumed, by the
sword, and by famine, till there be an end of them.

44:28. And a few men that shall flee from the sword, shall return out of
the land of Egypt into the land of Juda: and all the remnant of Juda
that are gone into the land of Egypt to dwell there, shall know whose
word shall stand, mine, or theirs.

44:29. And this shall be a sign to you, saith the Lord, that I will
punish you in this place: that you may know that my words shall be
accomplished indeed against you for evil.

44:30. Thus saith the Lord: Behold I will deliver Pharao Nechao king of
Egypt into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of them that seek
his life: as I delivered Sedecias king of Juda into the land of
Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon his enemy, and that sought his life.

Jeremias Chapter 45

The prophet comforts Baruch in his affliction.

45:1. The word that Jeremias the prophet spoke to Baruch the son of
Nerias, when he had written these words in a book, out of the mouth of
Jeremias, in the fourth year of Joakim the son of Josias king of Juda,
saying:

45:2. Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel to thee, Baruch:

45:3. Thou hast said: Woe is me, wretch that I am, for the Lord hath
added sorrow to my sorrow: I am wearied with my groans, and I find no
rest.

45:4. Thus saith the Lord: Thus shalt thou say to him: Behold, them whom
I have built, I do destroy: and them whom I have planted, I do pluck up,
and all this land.

45:5. And dost thou seek great things for thyself? Seek not: for behold
I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the Lord! but I will give thee
thy life, and save thee in all places whithersoever thou shalt go.

Jeremias Chapter 46

A prophecy against Egypt. The Jews shall return from captivity.

46:1. The word of the Lord that came to Jeremias the prophet against the
Gentiles,

46:2. Against Egypt, against the army of Pharao Nechao king of Egypt,
which was by the river Euphrates in Charcamis, whom Nabuchodonosor the
king of Babylon defeated, in the fourth year of Joakim the son of Josias
king of Juda.

46:3. Prepare ye the shield and buckler, and go forth to battle.

46:4. Harness the horses, and get up, ye horsemen: stand forth with
helmets, furbish the spears, put on coats of mail.

46:5. What then? I have seen them dismayed, and turning their backs,
their valiant ones slain: they fled apace, and they looked not back:
terror was round about, saith the Lord.

46:6. Let not the swift flee away, nor the strong think to escape: they
are overthrown, and fallen down, towards the north by the river
Euphrates.

46:7. Who is this that cometh up as a flood: and his streams swell like
those of rivers?

46:8. Egypt riseth up like a flood, and the waves thereof shall be moved
as rivers, and he shall say: I will go up and will cover the earth: I
will destroy the city, and its inhabitants.

46:9. Get ye up on horses, and glory in chariots, and let the valiant
men come forth, the Ethiopians, and the Libyans that hold the shield,
and the Lydians that take, and shoot arrows.

46:10. For this is the day of the Lord the God of hosts, a day of
vengeance, that he may revenge himself of his enemies: the sword shall
devour, and shall be filled, and shall be drunk with their blood: for
there is a sacrifice of the Lord God of hosts in the north country, by
the river Euphrates.

46:11. Go up into Galaad, and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt: in
vain dost thou multiply medicines, there shall be no cure for thee.

46:12. The nations have heard of thy disgrace, and thy howling hath
filled the land: for the strong hath stumbled against the strong, and
both are fallen together.

46:13. The word that the Lord spoke to Jeremias the prophet, how
Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon should come and strike the land of Egypt:

46:14. Declare ye to Egypt, and publish it in Magdal, and let it be
known in Memphis, and in Taphnis: say ye: Stand up, and prepare thyself:
for the sword shall devour all round about thee.

46:15. Why are thy valiant men come to nothing? they stood not: because
the Lord hath overthrown them.

46:16. He hath multiplied them that fall, and one hath fallen upon
another, and they shall say: Arise, and let us return to our own people,
and to the land of our nativity, from the sword of the dove.

The dove... See the annotation on chap. 25., ver. 38.

46:17. Call ye the name of Pharao king of Egypt, a tumult time hath
brought.

46:18. As I live, saith the King, (whose name is the Lord of hosts,) as
Thabor is among the mountains, and as Carmel by the sea, so shall he
come.

46:19. Furnish thyself to go into captivity, thou daughter inhabitant of
Egypt: for Memphis shall be made desolate, and shall be forsaken and
uninhabited.

46:20. Egypt is like a fair and beautiful heifer: there shall come from
the north one that shall goad her.

46:21. Her hirelings also that lived in the midst of her, like fatted
calves are turned back, and are fled away together, and they could not
stand, for the day of their slaughter is come upon them, the time of
their visitation.

46:22. Her voice shall sound like brass, for they shall hasten with an
army, and with axes they shall come against her, as hewers of wood.

46:23. They have cut down her forest, saith the Lord, which cannot be
counted: they are multiplied above locusts, and are without number.

46:24. The daughter of Egypt is confounded, and delivered into the hand
of the people of the north.

46:25. The Lord of hosts the God of Israel hath said: Behold I will
visit upon the tumult of Alexandria, and upon Pharao, and upon Egypt,
and upon her gods, and upon her kings, and upon Pharao, and upon them
that trust in him.

Visit upon... That is, punish.-Ibid. Alexandria...  In the Hebrew, No,
which was the ancient name of the city, to which Alexander gave
afterwards the name of Alexandria.

46:26. And I will deliver them into the hand of them that seek their
lives, and into the hand of Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, and into the
hand of his servants: and afterwards it shall be inhabited, as in the
days of old, saith the Lord.

46:27. And thou my servant Jacob, fear not and be not thou dismayed, O
Israel: for behold I will save thee from afar off, and thy seed out of
the land of thy captivity: and Jacob shall return and be at rest, and
prosper: and there shall be none to terrify him.

46:28. And thou, my servant Jacob, fear not, saith the Lord: because I
am with thee, for I will consume all the nations to which I have cast
thee out: but thee I will not consume, but I will correct thee in
judgment, neither will I spare thee as if thou wert innocent.

Jeremias Chapter 47

A prophecy of the desolation of the Philistines, of Tyre, Sidon, Gaza,
and Ascalon.

47:1. The word of the Lord that came to Jeremias the prophet against the
people of Palestine, before Pharao took Gaza.

47:2. Thus saith the Lord: Behold there come up waters out of the north,
and they shall be as an overflowing torrent, and they shall cover the
land, and all that is therein, the city and the inhabitants thereof:
then the men shall cry, and all the inhabitants of the land shall howl,

47:3. At the noise of the marching of arms, and of his soldiers, at the
rushing of his chariots, and the multitude of his wheels. The fathers
have not looked back to the children, for feebleness of hands,

47:4. Because of the coming of the day, in which all the Philistines
shall be laid waste, and Tyre and Sidon shall be destroyed, with all the
rest of their helpers. For the Lord hath wasted the Philistines, the
remnant of the isle of Cappadocia.

47:5. Baldness is come upon Gaza: Ascalon hath held her peace with the
remnant of their valley: how long shalt thou cut thyself?

47:6. O thou sword of the Lord, how long wilt thou not be quiet?  Go
into thy scabbard, rest, and be still.

47:7. How shall it be quiet, when the Lord hath given it a charge
against Ascalon, and against the countries thereof by the sea side, and
there hath made an appointment for it?

Jeremias Chapter 48

A prophecy of the desolation of Moab for their pride: but their
captivity shall at last be released.

48:1. Against Moab thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Woe
to Nabo, for it is laid waste, and confounded: Cariathaim is taken: the
strong city is confounded and hath trembled.

48:2. There is no more rejoicing in Moab over Hesebon: they have devised
evil. Come, and let us cut it off from being a nation.  Therefore shalt
thou in silence hold thy peace, and the sword shall follow thee.

48:3. A voice of crying from Oronaim: waste, and great destruction.

48:4. Moab is destroyed: proclaim a cry for her little ones.

48:5. For by the ascent of Luith shall the mourner go up with weeping:
for in the descent of Oronaim the enemies have heard a howling of
destruction.

48:6. Flee, save your lives: and be as heath in the wilderness.

48:7. For because thou hast trusted in thy bulwarks, and in thy
treasures, thou also shalt be taken: and Chamos shall go into captivity,
his priests, and his princes together.

Chamos... The idol of the Moabites.

48:8. And the spoiler shall come upon every city, and no city shall
escape: and the valleys shall perish, and the plains shall be destroyed,
for the Lord hath spoken:

48:9. Give a flower to Moab, for in its flower it shall go out: and the
cities thereof shall be desolate, and uninhabited.

48:10. Cursed be he that doth the work of the Lord deceitfully: and
cursed be he that withholdeth his sword from blood.

Deceitfully... In the Greek, negligently. The work of God here spoken
of, is the punishment of the Moabites.

48:11. Moab hath been fruitful from his youth, and hath rested upon his
lees: and hath not been poured out from vessel to vessel, nor hath gone
into captivity: therefore his taste hath remained in him, and his scent
is not changed.

Moab hath been fruitful... That is, rich and flourishing. And hath
rested upon his lees... That is, remained in its bad morals; as wine not
decanted has its lees mixed and remains muddy.

48:12. Therefore behold the days come, saith the Lord, and I will send
him men that shall order and overturn his bottles, and they shall cast
him down, and shall empty his vessels, and break their bottles one
against another.

48:13. And Moab shall be ashamed of Chamos, as the house of Israel was
ashamed of Bethel, in which they trusted.

Of Bethel... That is, of their golden calf which they worshipped in
Bethel.

48:14. How do you say: We are valiant and stout men in battle?

48:15. Moab is laid waste, and they have cast down her cities: and her
choice young men are gone down to the slaughter: saith the king, whose
name is the Lord of hosts.

48:16. The destruction of Moab is near to come: the calamity thereof
shall come on exceeding swiftly.

48:17. Comfort him, all you that are round about him, and all you that
know his name, say: How is the strong staff broken, the beautiful rod?

48:18. Come down from thy glory, and sit in thirst, O dwelling of the
daughter of Dibon: because the spoiler of Moab is come up to thee, he
hath destroyed thy bulwarks.

48:19. Stand in the way, and look out, O habitation of Aroer: inquire of
him that fleeth: and say to him that hath escaped: What is done?

48:20. Moab is confounded, because he is overthrown: howl ye, and cry,
tell ye it in Arnon, that Moab is wasted.

48:21. And judgment is come upon the plain country: upon Helon, and upon
Jasa, and upon Mephaath.

48:22. And upon Dibon, and upon Nabo, and upon the house of Deblathaim,

48:23. And upon Cariathaim, and upon Bethgamul, and upon Bethmaon,

48:24. And upon Carioth, and upon Bosra: and upon all the cities of the
land of Moab, far or near.

48:25. The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken, saith the
Lord.

The horn of Moab is cut off... That is, the strength of Moab is cut off.
A metaphor drawn from animals whose strength is in their horns.

48:26. Make him drunk, because he lifted up himself against the Lord:
and Moab shall dash his hand in his own vomit, and he also shall be in
derision.

48:27. For Israel hath been a derision unto them: as though thou hadst
found him amongst thieves: for thy words therefore, which thou hast
spoken against him, thou shalt be led away captive.

48:28. Leave the cities, and dwell in the rock, you that dwell in Moab:
and be ye like the dove that maketh her nest in the mouth of the hole in
the highest place.

48:29. We have heard the pride of Moab, he is exceeding proud: his
haughtiness, and his arrogancy, and his pride, and the loftiness of his
heart.

48:30. I know, saith the Lord, his boasting, and that the strength
thereof is not according to it, neither hath it endeavoured to do
according as it was able.

48:31. Therefore will I lament for Moab, and I will cry out to all Moab,
for the men of the brick wall that mourn.

48:32. O vineyard of Sabama, I will weep for thee, with the mourning of
Jazer: thy branches are gone over the sea, they are come even to the sea
of Jazer: the robber hath rushed in upon thy harvest and thy vintage.

48:33. Joy and gladness is taken away from Carmel, and from the land of
Moab, and I have taken away the wine out of the presses: the treader of
the grapes shall not sing the accustomed cheerful tune.

48:34. From the cry of Hesebon even to Eleale, and to Jasa, they have
uttered their voice: from Segor to Oronaim, as a heifer of three years
old: the waters also of Nemrim shall be very bad.

48:35. And I will take away from Moab, saith the Lord, him that offereth
in the high places, and that sacrificeth to his gods.

48:36. Therefore my heart shall sound for Moab like pipes and my heart
shall sound like pipes for the men of the brick wall: because he hath
done more than he could, therefore they have perished.

48:37. For every head shall be bald, and every beard shall be shaven:
all hands shall be tied together, and upon every back there shall be
haircloth.

48:38. Upon all the housetops of Moab, and in the streets thereof
general mourning: because I have broken Moab as an useless vessel, saith
the Lord.

48:39. How is it overthrown, and they have howled! How hath Moab bowed
down the neck, and is confounded! And Moab shall be a derision, and an
example to all round about him.

48:40. Thus saith the Lord: Behold he shall fly as an eagle, and shall
stretch forth his wings to Moab.

48:41. Carioth is taken, and the strongholds are won: and the heart of
the valiant men of Moab in that day shall be as the heart of a woman in
labour.

48:42. And Moab shall cease to be a people: because he hath gloried
against the Lord.

48:43. Fear, and the pit, and the snare come upon thee, O inhabitant of
Moab, saith the Lord.

Fear... That is, the sword of the enemy. The pit... That is, unforeseen
calamities. The snare... That is, the ambushes laid by the enemy.

48:44. He that shall flee from the fear, shall fall into the pit: and he
that shall get up out of the pit, shall be taken in the snare: for I
will bring upon Moab the year of their visitation, saith the Lord.

48:45. They that fled from the snare stood in the shadow of Hesebon: but
there came a fire out of Hesebon, and a flame out of the midst of Seon,
and it shall devour part of Moab, and the crown of the head of the
children of tumult.

48:46. Woe to thee, Moab, thou hast persisted, O people of Chamos: for
thy sons, and thy daughters are taken captives.

48:47. And I will bring back the captivity of Moab in the last days,
saith the Lord. Hitherto the judgments of Moab.

Jeremias Chapter 49

The like desolation of Ammon, of Idumea, of the Syrians, of the
Agarenes, and of the Elamites.

49:1. Against the children of Ammon. Thus saith the Lord: Hath Israel no
sons? or hath he no heir? Why then hath Melchom inherited Gad: and his
people dwelt in his cities?

Melchom... The idol of the Ammonites.

49:2. Therefore behold the days come, saith the Lord, and I will cause
the noise of war to be heard in Rabbath of the children of Ammon, and it
shall be destroyed into a heap, and her daughters shall be burnt with
fire, and Israel shall possess them that have possessed him, saith the
Lord.

49:3. Howl, O Hesebon, for Hai is wasted. Cry, ye daughters of Rabbath,
gird yourselves with haircloth: mourn and go about by the hedges: for
Melchom shall be carried into captivity, his priests, and his princes
together.

49:4. Why gloriest thou in the valleys? thy valley hath flowed away, O
delicate daughter, that hast trusted in thy treasures, and hast said:
Who shall come to me?

49:5. Behold I will bring a fear upon thee, saith the Lord God of hosts,
from all that are round about thee: and you shall be scattered every one
out of one another's sight, neither shall there be any to gather
together them that flee.

49:6. And afterwards I will cause the captives of the children of Ammon
to return, saith the Lord.

49:7. Against Edom. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Is wisdom no more in
Theman? counsel is perished from her children: their wisdom is become
unprofitable.

49:8. Flee and turn your backs, go down into the deep hole, ye
inhabitants of Dedan: for I have brought the destruction of Esau upon
him, the time of his visitation.

49:9. If grapegatherers had come to thee, would they not have left a
bunch? if thieves in the night, they would have taken what was enough
for them.

49:10. But I have made Esau bare, I have revealed his secrets, and he
cannot be hid: his seed is laid waste, and his brethren, and his
neighbours, and he shall not be.

49:11. Leave thy fatherless children: I will make them live: and thy
widows shall hope in me.

49:12. For thus saith the Lord: Behold they whose judgment was not to
drink of the cup, shall certainly drink: and shalt thou come off as
innocent? thou shalt not come off as innocent, but drinking thou shalt
drink.

49:13. For I have sworn by myself, saith the Lord, that Bosra shall
become a desolation, and a reproach, and a desert, and a curse: and all
her cities shall be everlasting wastes.

49:14. I have heard a rumour from the Lord, and an ambassador is sent to
the nations: Gather yourselves together, and come against her, and let
us rise up to battle.

49:15. For behold I have made thee a little one among the nations,
despicable among men.

49:16. Thy arrogancy hath deceived thee, and the pride of thy heart: O
thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, and endeavourest to lay
hold on the height of the hill: but though thou shouldst make thy nest
as high as an eagle, I will bring thee down from thence, saith the Lord.

49:17. And Edom shall be desolate: every one that shall pass by it,
shall be astonished, and shall hiss at all its plagues.

49:18. As Sodom was overthrown and Gomorrha, and the neighbours thereof,
saith the Lord: there shall not a man dwell there, and there shall no
son of man inhabit it.

49:19. Behold one shall come up as a lion from the swelling of the
Jordan, against the strong and beautiful: for I will make him run
suddenly upon her: and who shall be the chosen one whom I may appoint
over her? for who is like to me? and who shall abide me? and who is that
shepherd that can withstand my countenance?

49:20. Therefore hear ye the counsel of the Lord, which he hath taken
concerning Edom: and his thoughts which he hath thought concerning the
inhabitants of Theman: surely the little ones of the flock shall cast
them down, of a truth they shall destroy them with their habitation.

49:21. The earth is moved at the noise of their fall: the cry of their
voice is heard in the Red Sea.

49:22. Behold he shall come up as an eagle, and fly: and he shall spread
his wings over Bosra: and in that day the heart of the valiant ones of
Edom shall be as the heart of a woman in labour.

49:23. Against Damascus. Emath is confounded and Arphad: for they have
heard very bad tidings, they are troubled as in the sea: through care
they could not rest.

49:24. Damascus is undone, she is put to flight, trembling hath seized
on her: anguish and sorrows have taken her as a woman in labour.

49:25. How have they forsaken the city of renown, the city of joy!

49:26. Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets: and all the
men of war shall be silent in that day, saith the Lord of hosts.

49:27. And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall
devour the strong holds of Benadad.

49:28. Against Cedar and against the kingdoms of Asor, which
Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon destroyed. Thus saith the Lord: Arise,
and go ye up to Cedar, and waste the children of the east.

Cedar and Asor... Were parts of Arabia; which with Moab, Ammon, Edom,
etc., were all brought under the yoke of Nabuchodonosor.

49:29. They shall take their tents, and their flocks: and shall carry
off for themselves their curtains, and all their vessels, and their
camels: and they shall call fear upon them round about.

49:30. Flee ye, get away speedily, sit in deep holes, you that inhabit
Asor, saith the Lord: for Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon hath taken
counsel against you, and hath conceived designs against you.

49:31. Arise, and go up to a nation that is at ease, and that dwelleth
securely, saith the Lord: they have neither gates, nor bars: they dwell
alone.

49:32. And their camels shall be for a spoil and the multitude of their
cattle for a booty, and I will scatter into every wind them that have
their hair cut round, and I will bring destruction upon them from all
their confines, saith the Lord.

49:33. And Asor shall be a habitation for dragons, desolate for ever: no
man shall abide there, nor son of man inhabit it.

49:34. The word of the Lord that came to Jeremias the prophet against
Elam, in the beginning of the reign of Sedecias king of Juda, saying:

Elam... A part of Persia.

49:35. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Behold I will break the bow of
Elam, and their chief strength.

49:36. And I will bring upon Elam the four winds from the four quarters
of heaven: and I will scatter them into all these winds: and there shall
be no nation, to which the fugitives of Elam shall not come.

49:37. And I will cause Elam to be afraid before their enemies, and in
the sight of them that seek their life: and I will bring evil upon them,
my fierce wrath, saith the Lord: and I will send the sword after them,
till I consume them.

49:38. And I will set my throne in Elam, and destroy kings and princes
from thence, saith the Lord.

49:39. But in the latter days I will cause the captives of Elam, to
return, saith the Lord.

Jeremias Chapter 50

Babylon, which hath afflicted the Israelites, after their restoration,
shall be utterly destroyed.

50:1. The word that the Lord hath spoken against Babylon, and against
the land of the Chaldeans in the hand of Jeremias the prophet.

50:2. Declare ye among the nations, and publish it, lift up a standard:
proclaim, and conceal it not: say: Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded,
Merodach is overthrown, their graven things are confounded, their idols
are overthrown.

Bel, etc... Bel and Merodach were worshipped for gods by the men of
Babylon.

50:3. For a nation is come up against her out of the north, which shall
make her land desolate: and there shall be none to dwell therein, from
man even to beast: yea they are removed, and gone away.

A nation, etc... Viz., the Medes.

50:4. In those days, and at that time, saith the Lord, the children of
Israel shall come, they and the children of Juda together: going and
weeping they shall make haste, and shall seek the Lord their God.

50:5. They shall ask the way to Sion, their faces are hitherward.  They
shall come, and shall be joined to the Lord by an everlasting covenant,
which shall never be forgotten.

50:6. My people have been a lost flock, their shepherds have caused them
to go astray, and have made them wander in the mountains: they have gone
from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their resting place.

50:7. All that found them, have devoured them: and their enemies said:
We have not sinned in so doing: because they have sinned against the
Lord the beauty of justice, and against the Lord the hope of their
fathers.

50:8. Remove out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land
of the Chaldeans: and be ye as kids at the head of the flock.

50:9. For behold I raise up, and will bring against Babylon an assembly
of great nations from the land of the north: and they shall be prepared
against her, and from thence she shall be taken: their arrows, like
those of a mighty man, a destroyer, shall not return in vain.

50:10. And Chaldea shall be made a prey: all that waste her shall be
filled, saith the Lord.

50:11. Because you rejoice, and speak great things, pillaging my
inheritance: because you are spread abroad as calves upon the grass, and
have bellowed as bulls.

50:12. Your mother is confounded exceedingly, and she that bore you is
made even with the dust: behold she shall be the last among the nations,
a wilderness unpassable, and dry.

50:13. Because of the wrath of the Lord it shall not be inhabited, but
shall be wholly desolate: every one that shall pass by Babylon, shall be
astonished, and shall hiss at all her plagues.

50:14. Prepare yourselves against Babylon round about, all you that bend
the bow: fight against her, spare not arrows: because she hath sinned
against the Lord.

50:15. Shout against her, she hath every where given her hand, her
foundations are fallen, her walls are thrown down, for it is the
vengeance of the Lord. Take vengeance upon her: as she hath done, so do
to her.

50:16. Destroy the sower out of Babylon, and him that holdeth the sickle
in the time of harvest: for fear of the sword of the dove every man
shall return to his people, and every one shall flee to his own land.

The dove... Or the destroyer; for the Hebrew word signifies either the
one or the other.

50:17. Israel is a scattered flock, the lions have driven him away:
first the king of Assyria devoured him: and last this Nabuchodonosor
king of Babylon hath broken his bones.

50:18. Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Behold
I will visit the king of Babylon and his land, as I have visited the
king of Assyria.

50:19. And I will bring Israel again to his habitation: and he shall
feed on Carmel, and Bason, and his soul shall be satisfied in mount
Ephraim, and Galaad.

50:20. In those days, and at that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of
Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none: and the sin of
Juda, and there shall none be found: for I will be merciful to them,
whom I shall leave.

50:21. Go up against the land of the rulers, and punish the inhabitants
thereof, waste, and destroy all behind them, saith the Lord: and do
according to all that I have commanded thee.

50:22. A noise of war in the land, and a great destruction.

50:23. How is the hammer of the whole earth broken, and destroyed! how
is Babylon turned into a desert among the nations!

50:24. I have caused thee to fall into a snare, and thou art taken, O
Babylon, and thou wast not aware of it: thou art found and caught,
because thou hast provoked the Lord.

50:25. The Lord hath opened his armoury, and hath brought forth the
weapons of his wrath: for the Lord the God of hosts hath a work to be
done in the land of the Chaldeans.

50:26. Come ye against her from the uttermost borders: open that they
may go forth that shall tread her down: take the stones out of the way,
and make heaps, and destroy her: and let nothing of her be left.

50:27. Destroy all her valiant men, let them go down to the slaughter:
woe to them, for their day is come, the time of their visitation.

50:28. The voice of them that flee, and of them that have escaped out of
the land of Babylon: to declare in Sion the revenge of the Lord our God,
the revenge of his temple.

50:29. Declare to many against Babylon, to all that bend the bow: stand
together against her round about, and let none escape; pay her according
to her work: according to all that she hath done, do ye to her: for she
hath lifted up herself against the Lord, against the Holy One of Israel.

50:30. Therefore shall her young men fall in her streets: and all her
men of war shall hold their peace in that day, saith the Lord.

50:31. Behold I come against thee, O proud one, saith the Lord the God
of hosts: for thy day is come, the time of thy visitation.

50:32. And the proud one shall fall, he shall fall down, and there shall
be none to lift him up: and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it
shall devour all round about him.

50:33. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: The children of Israel, and the
children of Juda are oppressed together: all that have taken them
captives, hold them fast, they will not let them go.

50:34. Their redeemer is strong, the Lord of hosts is his name: he will
defend their cause in judgment, to terrify the land, and to disquiet the
inhabitants of Babylon.

50:35. A sword is upon the Chaldeans, saith the Lord, and upon the
inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her princes, and upon her wise men.

50:36. A sword upon her diviners, and they shall be foolish: a sword
upon her valiant ones, and they shall be dismayed.

50:37. A sword upon their horses, and upon their chariots, and upon all
the people that are in the midst of her: and they shall become as women:
a sword upon her treasures, and they shall be made a spoil.

50:38. A drought upon her waters, and they shall be dried up: because it
is a land of idols, and they glory in monstrous things.

50:39.  Therefore shall dragons dwell there with the fig fauns: and
ostriches shall dwell therein, and it shall be no more inhabited for
ever, neither shall it be built up from generation to generation.

Fig fauns... Monsters of the desert, or demons in monstrous shapes: such
as the ancients called fauns and satyrs; and as they imagined them to
live upon wild figs, they called them fauni ficarii or fig fauns.

50:40.  As the Lord overthrew Sodom and Gomorrha, and their neighbour
cities, saith the Lord: no man shall dwell there, neither shall the son
of man inhabit it.

50:41. Behold a people cometh from the north, and a great nation, and
many kings shall rise from the ends of the earth.

50:42. They shall take the bow and the shield: they are cruel and
unmerciful: their voice shall roar like the sea, and they shall ride
upon horses: like a man prepared for battle against thee, O daughter of
Babylon.

50:43. The king of Babylon hath heard the report of them, and his hands
are grown feeble: anguish hath taken hold of him, pangs as a woman in
labour.

50:44. Behold he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of the
Jordan to the strong and beautiful: for I will make him run suddenly
upon her: and who shall be the chosen one whom I may appoint over her?
for who is like to me? and who shall bear up against me? and who is that
shepherd that can withstand my countenance?

50:45. Therefore hear ye the counsel of the Lord, which he hath taken
against Babylon: and his thoughts which he hath thought against the land
of the Chaldeans: surely the little ones of the flocks shall pull them
down, of a truth their habitation shall be destroyed with them.

50:46. At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth is moved, and the
cry is heard amongst the nations.

Jeremias Chapter 51

The miseries that shall fall upon Babylon from the Medes: the
destruction of her idols.

51:1. Thus saith the Lord: Behold I will raise up as it were a
pestilential wind against Babylon and against the inhabitants thereof,
who have lifted up their heart against me.

51:2. And I will send to Babylon fanners, and they shall fan her, and
shall destroy her land: for they are come upon her on every side in the
day of her affliction.

51:3. Let not him that bendeth, bend his bow, and let not him go up that
is armed with a coat of mail: spare not her young men, destroy all her
army.

51:4. And the slain shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans, and the
wounded in the regions thereof.

51:5. For Israel and Juda have not been forsaken by their God the Lord
of hosts: but their land hath been filled with sin against the Holy One
of Israel.

51:6. Flee ye from the midst of Babylon, and let every one save his own
life: be not silent upon her iniquity: for it is the time of revenge
from the Lord, he will render unto her what she hath deserved.

51:7. Babylon hath been a golden cup in the hand of the Lord, that made
all the earth drunk: the nations have drunk of her wine, and therefore
they have staggered.

51:8. Babylon is suddenly fallen, and destroyed: howl for her, take balm
for her pain, if so she may be healed.

51:9. We would have cured Babylon, but she is not healed: let us forsake
her, and let us go every man to his own land: because her judgment hath
reached even to the heavens, and is lifted up to the clouds.

51:10. The Lord hath brought forth our justices: Come, and let us
declare in Sion the work of the Lord our God.

51:11. Sharpen the arrows, fill the quivers, the Lord hath raised up the
spirit of the kings of the Medes: and his mind is against Babylon to
destroy it, because it is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance of
his temple.

51:12. Upon the walls of Babylon set up the standard, strengthen the
watch: set up the watchmen, prepare the ambushes: for the Lord hath both
purposed, and done all that he spoke against the inhabitants of Babylon.

51:13. O thou that dwellest upon many waters, rich in treasures, thy end
is come for thy entire destruction.

51:14. The Lord of hosts hath sworn by himself, saying: I will fill thee
with men as with locusts, and they shall lift up a joyful shout against
thee.

51:15. He that made the earth by his power, that hath prepared the world
by his wisdom, and stretched out the heavens by his understanding.

51:16. When he uttereth his voice the waters are multiplied in heaven:
he lifteth up the clouds from the ends of the earth, he hath turned
lightning into rain: and hath brought forth the wind out of his
treasures.

51:17. Every man is become foolish by his knowledge: every founder is
confounded by his idol, for what he hath cast is a lie, and there is no
breath in them.

51:18.  They are vain works, and worthy to be laughed at, in the time of
their visitation they shall perish.

51:19. The portion of Jacob is not like them: for he that made all
things he it is, and Israel is the sceptre of his inheritance: the Lord
of hosts is his name.

51:20. Thou dashest together for me the weapons of war, and with thee I
will dash nations together, and with thee I will destroy kingdoms:

51:21. And with thee I will break in pieces the horse, and his rider,
and with thee I will break in pieces the chariot, and him that getteth
up into it:

51:22. And with thee I will break in pieces man and woman, and with thee
I will break in pieces the old man and the child, and with thee I will
break in pieces the young man and the virgin:

51:23. And with thee I will break in pieces the shepherd and his flock,
and with thee I will break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of
oxen, and with thee I will break in pieces captains and rulers.

51:24. And I will render to Babylon, and to all the inhabitants of
Chaldea all their evil, that they have done in Sion, before your eyes,
saith the Lord.

51:25. Behold I come against thee, thou destroying mountain, saith the
Lord, which corruptest the whole earth: and I will stretch out my hand
upon thee, and will roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a
burnt mountain.

51:26. And they shall not take of thee a stone for the corner, nor a
stone for foundations, but thou shalt be destroyed for ever, saith the
Lord.

51:27. Set ye up a standard in the land: sound with the trumpet among
the nations: prepare the nations against her: call together against her
the kings of Ararat, Menni, and Ascenez: number Taphsar against her,
bring the horse as the stinging locust.

51:28. Prepare the nations against her, the kings of Media, their
captains, and all their rulers, and all the land of their dominion.

51:29. And the land shall be in a commotion, and shall be troubled: for
the design of the Lord against Babylon shall awake, to make the land of
Babylon desert and uninhabitable.

51:30. The valiant men of Babylon have forborne to fight, they have
dwelt in holds: their strength hath failed, and they are become as
women: her dwelling places are burnt, her bars are broken.

51:31. One running post shall meet another, and messenger shall meet
messenger: to tell the king of Babylon that his city is taken from one
end to the other:

51:32. And that the fords are taken, and the marshes are burnt with
fire, and the men of war are affrighted.

51:33. For thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: The daughter
of Babylon is like a thrashingfloor, this is the time of her thrashing:
yet a little while, and the time of her harvest shall come.

51:34. Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon hath eaten me up, he hath devoured
me: he hath made me as an empty vessel: he hath swallowed me up like a
dragon, he hath filled his belly with my delicate meats, and he hath
cast me out.

51:35. The wrong done to me, and my flesh be upon Babylon, saith the
habitation of Sion: and my blood upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, saith
Jerusalem.

51:36. Therefore thus saith the Lord: Behold I will judge thy cause, and
will take vengeance for thee, and I will make her sea desolate, I and
will dry up her spring.

51:37. And Babylon shall be reduced to heaps, a dwelling place for
dragons, an astonishment and a hissing, because there is no inhabitant.

51:38. They shall roar together like lions, they shall shake their manes
like young lions.

51:39. In their heat I will set them drink: and I will make them drunk,
that they may slumber, and sleep an everlasting sleep, and awake no
more, saith the Lord.

51:40. I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, and like rams
with kids.

51:41. How is Sesach taken, and the renowned one of all the earth
surprised? How is Babylon become an astonishment among the nations?

51:42. The sea is come up over Babylon: she is covered with the
multitude of the waves thereof.

51:43. Her cities are become an astonishment, a land uninhabited and
desolate, a land wherein none can dwell, nor son of man pass through it.

51:44. And I will visit against Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth
out of his mouth that which he had swallowed down: and the nations shall
no more flow together to him, for the wall also of Babylon shall fall.

51:45. Go out of the midst of her, my people: that every man may save
his life from the fierce wrath of the Lord.

51:46. And lest your hearts faint, and ye fear for the rumour that shall
be heard in the land: and a rumour shall come in one year, and after
this year another rumour: and iniquity in the land, and ruler upon
ruler.

51:47. Therefore behold the days come, and I will visit the idols of
Babylon: and her whole land shall be confounded, and all her slain shall
fall in the midst of her.

51:48. And the heavens and the earth, and all things that are in them
shall give praise for Babylon: for spoilers shall come to her from the
north, saith the Lord.

51:49. And as Babylon caused that there should fall slain in Israel: so
of Babylon there shall fall slain in all the earth.

51:50. You that have escaped the sword, come away, stand not still:
remember the Lord afar off, and let Jerusalem come into your mind.

51:51. We are confounded, because we have heard reproach: shame hath
covered our faces: because strangers are come upon the sanctuaries of
the house of the Lord.

51:52. Therefore behold the days come, saith the Lord, and I will visit
her graven things, and in all her land the wounded shall groan:

51:53. If Babylon should mount up to heaven, and establish her strength
on high: from me there should come spoilers upon her, saith the Lord.

51:54. The noise of a cry from Babylon, and great destruction from the
land of the Chaldeans:

51:55. Because the Lord hath laid Babylon waste, and destroyed out of
her the great voice: and their wave shall roar like many waters: their
voice hath made a noise:

51:56. Because the spoiler is come upon her, that is, upon Babylon, and
her valiant men are taken, and their bow is weakened, because the Lord,
who is a strong revenger, will surely repay.

51:57. And I will make her princes drunk, and her wise men, and her
captains, and her rulers, and her valiant men: and they shall sleep an
everlasting sleep, and shall awake no more, saith the king whose name is
Lord of hosts.

51:58. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: That broad wall of Babylon shall be
utterly broken down, and her high gates shall be burnt with fire, and
the labours of the people shall come to nothing, and of the nations
shall go to the fire, and shall perish.

51:59. The word that Jeremias the prophet commanded Saraias the son of
Nerias, the son of Maasias, when he went with king Sedecias to Babylon,
in the fourth year of his reign: now Saraias was chief over the
prophecy.

51:60. And Jeremias wrote in one book all the evil that was to come upon
Babylon: all these words that are written against Babylon.

51:61. And Jeremias said to Saraias: When thou shalt come into Babylon,
and shalt see, and shalt read all these words,

51:62. Thou shalt say: O Lord, thou hast spoken against this place to
destroy it: so that there should be neither man nor beast to dwell
therein, and that it should be desolate for ever.

51:63. And when thou shalt have made an end of reading this book, thou
shalt tie a stone to it, and shalt throw it into the midst of the
Euphrates:

51:64. And thou shalt say: Thus shall Babylon sink, and she shall not
rise up from the affliction that I will bring upon her, and she shall be
utterly destroyed. Thus far are the words of Jeremias.

Jeremias Chapter 52

A recapitulation of the reign of Sedecias, and the destruction of
Jerusalem. The number of the captives.

52:1. Sedecias was one and twenty years old when he began to reign: and
he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and the name of his mother was
Amital, the daughter of Jeremias of Lobna.

52:2. And he did that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord, according
to all that Joakim had done.

52:3. For the wrath of the Lord was against Jerusalem, and against Juda,
till he cast them out from his presence: and Sedecias revolted from the
king of Babylon.

52:4. And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth
month, the tenth day of the month, that Nabuchodonosor the king of
Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and they besieged
it, and built forts against it round about.

52:5. And the city was besieged until the eleventh year of king
Sedecias.

52:6. And in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, a famine
overpowered the city: and there was no food for the people of the land.

52:7. And the city was broken up, and the men of war fled, and went out
of the city in the night by the way of the gate that is between the two
walls, and leadeth to the king's garden, (the Chaldeans besieging the
city round about,) and they went by the way that leadeth to the
wilderness.

52:8. But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king: and they
overtook Sedecias in the desert which is near Jericho: and all his
companions were scattered from him.

52:9. And when they had taken the king, they carried him to the king of
Babylon to Reblatha, which is in the land of Emath: and he gave judgment
upon him.

52:10. And the king of Babylon slew the sons of Sedecias before his
eyes: and he slew all the princes of Juda in Reblatha.

52:11. And he put out the eyes of Sedecias, and bound him with fetters,
and the king of Babylon brought him into Babylon, and he put him in
prison till the day of his death.

52:12. And in the fifth month, the tenth day of the month, the same is
the nineteenth year of Nabuchodonosor, king of Babylon, came Nabuzardan
the general of the army, who stood before the king of Babylon in
Jerusalem.

52:13. And he burnt the house of the Lord, and the king's house, and all
the houses of Jerusalem, and every great house he burnt with fire.

52:14. And all the army of the Chaldeans that were with the general
broke down all the wall of Jerusalem round about.

52:15. But Nabuzardan the general carried away captives some of the poor
people, and of the rest of the common sort who remained in the city, and
of the fugitives that were fled over to the king of Babylon, and the
rest of the multitude.

52:16. But of the poor of the land, Nabuzardan the general left some for
vinedressers, and for husbandmen.

52:17. The Chaldeans also broke in pieces the brazen pillars that were
in the house of the Lord, and the bases, and the sea of brass that was
in the house of the Lord: and they carried all the brass of them to
Babylon.

52:18. And they took the caldrons, and the fleshhooks, and the
psalteries, and the bowls, and the little mortars, and all the brazen
vessels that had been used in the ministry: and

52:19. The general took away the pitchers, and the censers, and the
pots, and the basins, and the candlesticks, and the mortars, and the
cups: as many as were of gold, in gold: and as many as were of silver,
in silver:

52:20. And the two pillars, and one sea, and twelve oxen of brass that
were under the bases, which king Solomon had made in the house of the
Lord: there was no weight of the brass of all these vessels.

52:21. And concerning the pillars, one pillar was eighteen cubits high:
and a cord of twelve cubits compassed it about: but the thickness
thereof was four fingers, and it was hollow within.

52:22. And chapiters of brass were upon both: and the height of one
chapiter was five cubits: and network, and pomegranates were upon the
chapiters round about, all of brass. The same of the second pillar, and
the pomegranates.

52:23. And there were ninety-six pomegranates hanging down: and the
pomegranates being a hundred in all, were compassed with network.

52:24. And the general took Saraias the chief priest, and Sophonias the
second priest, and the three keepers of the entry.

52:25. He also took out of the city one eunuch that was chief over the
men of war: and seven men of them that were near the king's person, that
were found in the city: and a scribe, an officer of the army who
exercised the young soldiers: and threescore men of the people of the
land, that were found in the midst of the city.

52:26. And Nabuzardan the general took them, and brought them to the
king of Babylon, to Reblatha.

52:27. And the king of Babylon struck them, and put them to death in
Reblatha, in the land of Emath: and Juda was carried away captive out of
his land.

52:28. This is the people whom Nabuchodonosor carried away captive: in
the seventh year, three thousand and twenty-three Jews.

52:29. In the eighteenth year of Nabuchodonosor, eight hundred and
thirty-two souls from Jerusalem.

52:30. In the three and twentieth year of Nabuchodonosor, Nabuzardan the
general carried away of the Jews seven hundred and forty five souls. So
all the souls were four thousand six hundred.

52:31. And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the
captivity of Joachin king of Juda, in the twelfth month, the five and
twentieth day of the month, that Evilmerodach king of Babylon, in the
first year of his reign, lifted up the head of Joachin king of Juda, and
brought him forth out of prison.

52:32. And he spoke kindly to him, and he set his throne above the
thrones of the kings that were with him in Babylon.

52:33. And he changed his prison garments, and he ate bread before him
always all the days of his life.

52:34. And for his diet a continual provision was allowed him by the
king of Babylon, every day a portion, until the day of his death, all
the days of his life.

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