Jeremiah 4 Cross References - NSB

¹ Jehovah says: »If you come back, Israel, if you come back to me, if you take your disgusting idols out of my sight and you do not stray from me, ² if you take the oath, as Jehovah lives in an honest, fair, and right way, then the nations will be blessed, and in him they will glory.« ³ Jehovah says to the people of Judah and to Jerusalem: »Break up your unplowed fields, and do not plant among thorns. ⁴ »Be circumcised by Jehovah, and get rid of the foreskins of your hearts (cleanse your hearts), people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. If you do not, my fury will blaze like a fire. It will burn, and no one will be able to put it out. This is because of the evil you do.« ⁵ Report this message in Judah. Make it heard in Jerusalem. Say: »Blow the ram's horn throughout the land. Shout loudly and say: ‘Assemble together! Let us go into the fortified cities.’ ⁶ »Raise the flag to signal people to go to Zion. Take cover! Do not just stand there! I am bringing disaster and widespread destruction from the north. ⁷ »A lion has come out of its lair. A destroyer of nations has set out. He has left his place and is on his way to destroy your land. Your cities will be ruined. No one will live in them. ⁸ »Dress in sackcloth, beat your breasts (mourn), and cry because Jehovah’s burning anger has not turned back from us. ⁹ »In that day,« declares Jehovah, »the king and the officials will lose their courage. The priests will be stunned. The prophets will be amazed and astonished.« ¹⁰ I said, »Lord Jehovah, you have greatly deceived these people and Jerusalem. You said that everything would go well for them, but a sword is held at their throats (threatens their lives).« ¹¹ Then it will be said to these people and to Jerusalem: »A hot wind from the heights will blow in the desert toward my people. It will not be a wind that winnows or cleanses. ¹² »It will be a stronger wind than that. It will come from me. Now, I will pass sentence on them. ¹³ »The enemy comes up like clouds. His chariots are like a raging wind. His horses are swifter than eagles. How horable it will be for us! We will be destroyed!« ¹⁴ »O Jerusalem, wash the evil from your heart so that you may be saved. How long will your wicked thoughts lodge within you? ¹⁵ »A message is heard from Dan. A report of disaster comes from the mountains of Ephraim. ¹⁶ »Warn the nations about this. Tell it to Jerusalem. Hostile troops are coming from a distant country. They shout battle cries against the cities of Judah.« ¹⁷ »They surround Judah like men guarding a field, because Judah has rebelled against me,« declares Jehovah. ¹⁸ »You brought this on yourself. This is your punishment. It is bitter. It breaks your heart.« ¹⁹ O my anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain. My heart pounds in side of me. My heart is pounding! I cannot keep quiet because I hear a ram's horn sounding the alarm for war. ²⁰ Destruction upon destruction is proclaimed. The whole land is ruined. My tents are suddenly destroyed. Their curtains are torn in an instant. ²¹ How long must I see the battle flag and hear the sound of rams' horns? ²² »My people are fools. They do not know me. They are stupid people. They do not understand. They are experts in doing wrong, and they do not know how to do good.« ²³ I see the earth. It is without form and empty. I see the sky. Its lights are gone. ²⁴ I see the mountains. They tremble and the hills sway. ²⁵ I see that there are no people, and every bird has flown away. ²⁶ I see that the fertile land has become a desert. Its cities are torn down because of Jehovah and his burning anger. ²⁷ Jehovah says: »The whole earth will be ruined, although I will not entirely destroy it. ²⁸ »The earth will mourn, and the sky will grow black. I have spoken, and I have determined it. I will not change my plans, and I will not turn back!« ²⁹ All the people in the city will flee at the sound of riders and archers. They will go off into the thickets and climb among the rocks. The entire city will be abandoned. No one will live in it. ³⁰ You are going to be destroyed! What are you going to do? Why do you dress in scarlet (crimson) and put on gold jewelry? Why do you wear eye shadow? You are making yourself beautiful for nothing. Your lovers despise you. They want to kill you. ³¹ I hear a woman in labor. I hear the woman cry with anguish as she gives birth to her first child. My people Zion gasp for breath. They stretch out their hands and say: »How horrible it is for us! My life is exhausted by the presence of murderers!«

² The earth was without form and empty. Darkness covered the deep water. The Spirit of God hovered over the waters.

¹⁸ »It will produce thorns and thistles for you. You will eat the plants of the field.

¹⁸ ‘»All the nations will ask me to bless them as I have blessed your descendants. This is because you obeyed my command.’«

⁴⁶ Rebekah said to Isaac: »I cannot stand Hittite women! I would rather die than see Jacob marry one of them.«

² Jacob said to his family and those who were with him: »Get rid of the foreign gods that you have. Wash yourselves until you are ritually clean. Change your clothes.

⁶ »I will not join in their secret talks. I will not take part in their meetings. They killed people in anger. They crippled bulls for sport.

¹⁴ »If you do not, he will send his worst plagues to strike you, your officials, and everyone else in your country. Then you will find out that no one can oppose Jehovah.

⁵ Jehovah said to Moses: »Tell the Israelites: You are impossible to deal with. If I were with you, I might destroy you at any time. Take off your jewelry and I will decide what to do with you.«

¹⁸ »‘If you still will not listen to me, I will discipline you seven times for your sins.

²¹ »‘If you act with hostility against me and are unwilling to obey me I will increase the plague on you seven times according to your sins.

²⁴ »‘I will resist you. I will punish you seven times for your sins.

²⁸ »‘I will resist you with great fury. I will discipline you seven times for your sins.

⁴⁴ »‘Even when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them or look at them with disgust. I will not reject or cancel my promise to them, because I am Jehovah their God.

⁹ »When there is war in your land and you defend yourselves against an enemy attack, sound the signal for battle on these trumpets. I, Jehovah your God, will help you and save you from your enemies.

²¹ »Move away from these men. I will destroy them instantly.«

⁴⁵ »Get away from these people, and let me destroy them in an instant! Immediately, they bowed with their faces touching the ground.«

¹⁹ »God is a not man that he should lie. He is not a son of man who changes his mind. Does he ever promise and not fulfill? Does he ever speak and not act?

⁴ Jehovah said to Moses: »Take all the leaders of the people and execute them in broad daylight before Jehovah so that the fierce anger of Jehovah may turn away from Israel.«

¹⁶ »Circumcise your heart, and do not stiffen your neck. (Circumcise: Cut short the foreskin.) (Remove hardness of the heart.)

²⁰ »Respect Jehovah your God and serve him. Hold fast to him and take your oaths in his name.

¹⁵ »‘Cursed is the man who makes an idol or a molten image. It is an abomination to Jehovah! It is the secret work of the hands of the craftsman. All the people will answer: Amen.

⁴⁹ »Jehovah will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, as the eagle swoops down, a nation whose language you will not understand,

⁴⁹ »Jehovah will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, as the eagle swoops down, a nation whose language you will not understand, ⁵⁰ a nation of fierce countenance who will have no respect for the old, nor show favor to the young. ⁵¹ »They will eat the offspring of your animals and the crops from your fields until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain, no new wine, no olive oil, no calves from your herds, and no lambs or kids from your flocks. They will continue to do this until you are completely desolate. ⁵² »They will blockade all your cities until the high, fortified walls you trust come down everywhere in your land. They will blockade all the cities everywhere in the land that Jehovah your God is giving you.

²³ »All its land is brimstone and salt. It is a burning waste, unsown and unproductive. No grass grows on it. Like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which Jehovah overthrew in his anger and in his wrath. ²⁴ »All the nations will say: Why has Jehovah done thus to this land? Why this great outburst of anger?' ²⁵ »Then men will say: ‘Because they forsook the covenant of Jehovah, the God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt. ²⁶ »‘They served other gods and worshiped them. These are gods whom they have not known and whom he had not allotted to them. ²⁷ »‘Jehovah became angry against this land and brought on it all the curses described in this book. ²⁸ »‘His fierce anger and fury caused Jehovah to uproot these people from their land and deported them to another country. This is where they still are today.’

⁶ »Jehovah your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, to LOVE JEHOVAH YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART AND WITH ALL YOUR BEING, that you may live.

⁶ »Is this how you repay Jehovah, you foolish and unwise people? Is he not your Father and creator, who made you and formed you?

²² My anger has started a fire that will burn into the depths of the grave. It will consume the earth and its crops and set the foundations of the mountains on fire.

²⁸ »My people have lost their good sense. They do not understand.

²⁰ When Joshua and the children of Israel finished slaying them those who escaped entered the fortified cities.

¹⁵ Joshua answered: »If you are a great people, then get to the wood country, and cut down for yourself there in the land of the Perizzites and of the giants, if mount Ephraim is too narrow for you.«

⁷ So, on the west side of the Jordan River they set aside Kedesh in Galilee, in the hill country of Naphtali, Shechem, in the hill country of Ephraim and Hebron, in the hill country of Judah.

¹⁴ »‘Honor Jehovah and serve him sincerely and in truth. Get rid of the gods that your ancestors used to worship in Mesopotamia and in Egypt, and serve only Jehovah.

⁴ »Jehovah, when you left the mountains of Seir, when you came out of Edom, the earth shook, and rain fell from the sky. Yes, water poured out of the clouds. ⁵ »The mountains shook before Jehovah of Sinai, before Jehovah, the God of Israel.

¹⁶ So they removed the foreign gods and worshiped Jehovah. He could bear the distress of Israel no longer.

²¹ »The River Kishon swept them away. That ancient flooding river swept them away. March on! March on and be strong.

²⁹ They changed its name from Laish to Dan, after their ancestor Dan, the son of Jacob.

¹ The people of Israel came from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south, as well as from the land of Gilead in the east. They were united in Jehovah’s presence at Mizpah.

³ Samuel told the entire nation of Israel: »If you return to Jehovah with all your hearts you must get rid of the foreign gods you have, including the statues of the goddess Astarte. You must dedicate your lives to Jehovah and serve him only. Then he will rescue you from the Philistines.«

⁶ The Israelite army realized that they were outnumbered and were going to lose the battle. Some of the Israelite men hid in caves, thickets and rocks. Others hid in tombs or in deep dry pits.

²⁹ »The Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind. He is not a mortal who changes his mind.«

³⁷ In the morning after the effects of the wine wore off his wife told him what had happened. Nabal had a stroke. He could not move. ³⁸ Ten days later Jehovah made him sicker and Nabal died.

³ Amnon had a friend named Jonadab. He was the son of David’s brother Shimeah. Jonadab usually knew how to get what he wanted.

²¹ Ahithophel answered: »Some of your father’s wives were left here to take care of the palace. You should have sex with them. Then everyone will find out that you have publicly disgraced your father. This will make you and your followers even more powerful.« ²² They pitched a tent for Absalom on the palace roof. There in the sight of everyone Absalom went in and had intercourse with his father’s concubines. ²³ Any advice that Ahithophel gave in those days was accepted as though it were the very word of God. David and Absalom followed it.

⁶ Solomon answered: »You always showed great love for my father David, your servant. He was good, loyal, and honest in his relation with you. You have continued to show him your great and constant love by giving him a son who today rules in his place.

¹¹ Then he said: »Go out and take your place on the mountain before Jehovah.« Jehovah passed by and the force of a great wind parted the mountains. Rocks were broken before Jehovah but Jehovah was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but Jehovah was not in the earthquake.

²⁰ Jehovah asked: »Who will deceive Ahab so that he will go and be killed at Ramoth? Some of the angels said one thing, and others said something else, ²¹ until a spirit stepped forward, approached Jehovah,« and said: »I will deceive him.« ²² »How will you deceive him?« Jehovah asked. The spirit replied: »I will make all of Ahab's prophets tell lies.« Jehovah said: »Go and deceive him. You will succeed.« ²³ Micaiah concluded: This is what has happened. Jehovah made these prophets of yours lie to you. He has decreed that you will meet with disaster!

³⁰ Jehu went to Jezreel. Jezebel had news of what happened. Painting her eyes and dressing her hair with ornaments, she put her head out of the window.

¹³ The king made the illegal places of worship east of Jerusalem unclean. They were on the southern part of the Hill of Destruction. King Solomon of Israel built them for Astarte the disgusting goddess of the Sidonians. Also made unclean were references to Chemosh the disgusting god of Moab, and Milcom the disgusting god of the Ammonites.

²⁴ Josiah removed all the spirit mediums, the foretellers, the images, and the false gods, and all the disgusting things seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem. That way he could establish the words of the agreement recorded in the book Hilkiah the priest discovered in the Temple of Jehovah.

¹ Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon invaded Judah. Jehoiakim king of Judah was forced to serve him for three years. Then he rebelled and fought against him.

¹ Now in the ninth year of his rule, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon attacked Jerusalem with all his army. He took his position and laid siege to it. They built earthworks all round the town.

¹ Now in the ninth year of his rule, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon attacked Jerusalem with all his army. He took his position and laid siege to it. They built earthworks all round the town. ² They surrounded the town and laid siege till the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. ³ On the ninth day of the fourth month, the store of food in the town was almost gone. There was no food for the people of the land. ⁴ An opening was made in the wall of the town. All the men of war went in flight by night through the doorway between the two walls by the king's garden. The Chaldaeans were stationed around the town: and the king went by the way toward the plain of Arabah.

⁴ An opening was made in the wall of the town. All the men of war went in flight by night through the doorway between the two walls by the king's garden. The Chaldaeans were stationed around the town: and the king went by the way toward the plain of Arabah.

⁴ An opening was made in the wall of the town. All the men of war went in flight by night through the doorway between the two walls by the king's garden. The Chaldaeans were stationed around the town: and the king went by the way toward the plain of Arabah. ⁵ But the Chaldaean army went after the king. They overtook him in the lowlands of Jericho. All his army went in flight from him in every direction. ⁶ They made the king a prisoner and took him to the king of Babylon at Riblah to be judged. ⁷ They put the sons of Zedekiah to death before his eyes. Then they put out his eyes, chained him with iron bands and took him to Babylon.

⁸ Asa heard the prophet Oded’s words of prophecy. He was encouraged and put away the detestable idols from all of Judah, Benjamin, and the cities he had captured in the mountains of Ephraim. He also repaired Jehovah’s altar in front of Jehovah’s entrance hall.

²⁵ Then Jeremiah chanted a lament for Josiah. All the male and female singers speak about Josiah in their lamentations (dirges) to this day. They made them an ordinance in Israel. They are also written in the Lamentations.

³ The king of Egypt removed him from office in Jerusalem and fined the country seven thousand five hundred pounds of silver and seventy-five pounds of gold.

⁶ Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon attacked Jehoiakim and put him in bronze shackles to take him to Babylon. ⁷ Nebuchadnezzar also brought some of the utensils of Jehovah’s Temple to Babylon. He put them in his palace (temple) in Babylon.

¹⁰ In the spring King Nebuchadnezzar sent for Jehoiakin and brought him to Babylon with the valuable utensils from Jehovah’s Temple. Nebuchadnezzar made Jehoiakin’s uncle Zedekiah king of Judah and Jerusalem.

¹⁷ So he had the Babylonian king attack them and execute their best young men in their holy temple. He did not spare the best men or the unmarried women, the old people or the sick people. God handed all of them over to him.

²¹ This fulfilled the word of Jehovah that was spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. All the days of its desolation it kept Sabbath until seventy years were complete.

⁸ »I will never again remove Israel from the land that I set aside for their ancestors if they will obey all the commandments, all the teachings, the ordinances, and the regulations I gave through Moses.«

¹¹ So Jehovah made the army commanders of the king of Assyria invade Judah. They took Manasseh captive, put a hook in his nose, put him in bronze shackles, and brought him to Babylon.

²⁶ »But they were hard-hearted, and went against your authority. They turned their backs on your law, and murdered your prophets. These prophets gave witness against them with the purpose of turning them back again to you. They did much to make you angry.

³⁰ »You put up with them for years. You admonished them by your Spirit through your prophets. Still they did not listen. So you gave them up into the hands of the peoples of the lands.

¹ »I loathe my very life. I will therefore give free rein to my complaint and speak out in my bitterness.

⁷ he will perish forever like his own dung. Those who have seen him will say: Where is he? ⁸ »He flies away like a dream banished like a vision of the night. He cannot be found! ⁹ »The eye that saw him will not see him again. His place (home) will look on him no more. ¹⁰ »His children must make amends to the poor. He must give back his wealth. ¹¹ »The youthful vigor that fills his bones will lie with him in the dust. ¹² »Though evil is sweet in his mouth and he hides it under his tongue, ¹³ though he cannot bear to let it go and keeps it in his mouth, ¹⁴ yet his food will turn sour in his stomach; it will become the venom of serpents within him. ¹⁵ »He will spit out the riches he swallowed. God will make his stomach vomit them up. ¹⁶ »He will suck the poison of serpents. The fangs of an adder (cobra) will kill him.

⁵ »The success of the wicked is brief and the joy of the godless lasts but a moment. ⁶ »Though his pride reaches to the heavens and his head touches the clouds,

¹ ([Psalm of David]) The fool says in his heart: »There is no God (Jehovah) (Psalm 10:4).« They are corrupt. They do disgusting things. No one does good things. ² Jehovah looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there is anyone who acts wisely, if there is anyone who seeks help from God. ³ Everyone has turned away. Together they have become rotten to the core. No one, not even one person, does good things. ⁴ Are all the workers of wickedness, those who devour my people as if they were devouring food, so ignorant that they do not call on Jehovah?

² I said to Jehovah: »You are Jehovah my God. Without you, I have nothing good.

⁷ Then the earth shook and quaked. Even the foundations of the mountains trembled. They shook violently because he was angry.

⁵ Why am I discouraged? Why am I so restless? I put my hope in God for I will still praise him. He is my salvation and my God. ⁶ I am very discouraged. That is why I will remember you in the land of Jordan, on the peaks of Hermon, on Mount Mizar. ⁷ One deep sea calls to another at the roar of your waterspouts. All the whitecaps on your waves have swept over me.

¹⁸ If I had thought about doing anything sinful, Jehovah would not have listened to me.

¹⁷ His name will endure forever. His name will continue as long as the sun shines. May all nations be blessed through him and call him blessed.

¹⁹ Blessed be to his glorious name forever. May the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and amen!

⁷ You, even you, are to be respected. Who may stand in your presence when once you are angry?

¹⁸ The voice of your thunder was in the whirlwind. The lightning lit up the world. The earth trembled and shook.

⁴⁹ He sent his fierce burning anger, his rage and fury against them. He sent an army of destroying angels.

⁴ His lightning lights up the world. The earth sees and trembles.

⁴ The strength of the King loves justice. You have established equity. You have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob.

⁴ My heart has been stricken like grass and has withered away. In fact I forget to eat my bread.

¹ ([Psalm of David]) Bless Jehovah with all my being. With all that I am I praise his holy name!

¹⁷ Fools suffered because of their disobedience and because of their crimes.

³⁴ and fertile ground into a layer of salt because of the wickedness of the people living there.

¹³⁶ My eyes shed streams of water, because they do not keep your law.

⁵ How horrible it is to live as a foreigner in Meshech or to stay in the tents of Kedar.

⁴ The mountains jumped like rams. The hills jumped like lambs. ⁵ Red Sea, why did you run away? Jordan River, what made you turn back? ⁶ Mountains, what made you jump like rams? Hills, what made you jump like lambs? ⁷ Earth, tremble and shake in the presence of Jehovah, in the presence of the God of Jacob.

⁷ I will be at peace again because Jehovah has been good to you.

⁵³ Righteous indignation controls me because of the wicked. They forsake your law!

¹¹³ I hate those who are double-minded, but I love your law.

¹ Praise Jehovah! Praise Jehovah with all my being!

²² »How long, you simple (stupid) (foolish) ones, will you love simplicity (foolishness) (stupidity)? The scoffers delight in scoffing. Fools hate knowledge!

³¹ »Now you will get what you deserve for what you have done. Your own advice will make you sick.

²² His own iniquities will catch the wicked. He will be held with the cords of his sins.

¹⁹ People will go into caves in the rocks and into holes in the ground because of Jehovah’s terrifying presence and the honor of his majesty when he rises to shake the earth. ²⁰ That day people will throw their silver and gold idols, that they made for themselves to worship, to the moles and the bats. ²¹ They will go into caves in the rocks and into cracks in the cliffs because of Jehovah’s terrifying presence and the honor of his majesty when he rises to shake the earth.

⁹ With my own ears I heard Jehovah of Hosts say: »Many houses will become empty. Large, beautiful houses will be without people to live in them.

⁹ With my own ears I heard Jehovah of Hosts say: »Many houses will become empty. Large, beautiful houses will be without people to live in them. ¹⁰ »A ten-acre vineyard will produce only six gallons of wine, and two quarts of seed will produce only four quarts of grain.«

²⁵ You are Jehovah’s people, but you made him terribly angry, and he struck you with his mighty arm. Mountains shook, and dead bodies covered the streets like garbage. Jehovah is still angry. He is ready to strike you again.

²⁸ Their arrows are sharpened. All their bows are strung and ready to shoot. Their horses' hoofs are as hard as flint. Their chariot wheels are as quick as the wind.

³⁰ In that day they will roar over their prey as the sea roars. If they look at the land, they will see only darkness and distress. Thick clouds will darken even the light.

⁵ »Woe to me!« I cried. »I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips (a sinner) and I live among a people of unclean (filthy) lips (speech) (language). My eyes have seen the King, Jehovah of Hosts.«

⁹ He said: »Go and tell this people: ‘Hear constantly but do not understand. See constantly but do not perceive.’ ¹⁰ »This people’s heart has become calloused. They hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.«(Septuagint) ¹¹ Then I said: »How long, O Jehovah? And He answered: »Until the cities are laid waste and without inhabitant, until the houses are deserted and the land is utterly desolate.

¹¹ Then I said: »How long, O Jehovah? And He answered: »Until the cities are laid waste and without inhabitant, until the houses are deserted and the land is utterly desolate. ¹² »Until Jehovah has removed men far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.

²⁰ »In that day Jehovah will hire the king of Assyria from beyond the Euphrates River to be a razor to shave the hair on your head, the hair on your legs, and even your beard. ²¹ »On that day a person will keep alive a young cow and two sheep. ²² »They will give so much milk that he will have all he needs. Yes, the few survivors left in the land will have milk and honey to eat. ²³ »When that time comes, the fine vineyards, each with a thousand vines and each worth a thousand pieces of silver, will be overgrown with thorn bushes and briers. ²⁴ »People will go hunting there with bows and arrows. Yes, the whole country will be full of briers and thorn bushes. ²⁵ »All the hills where crops were once planted will be so overgrown with thorns that no one will go there. It will be a place where cattle and sheep graze.«

⁵ »They come from a far country, from the extremities of the heavens (horizons). Jehovah and his instruments of indignation come to destroy the whole land. ⁶ »Shout (wail) (howl) for the Day of Jehovah is near! It will come as destruction from the Almighty.

⁸ »They will be terrified! Pains and anguish will possess them. They will writhe like a woman in labor. They will look at one another in amazement with their faces reddened with excitement (aflame).

¹⁰ »The stars of heaven and their constellations will not shine forth their light. The sun will be dark when it rises and the moon will not shine its light.

²⁴ Jehovah of Hosts has sworn an oath: »What I have intended (devised) will happen. What I have determined to do will be done. ²⁵ »In my land of Israel I will trample them on my mountains. I will free my people from the Assyrian yoke and from the burdens they have had to bear.« ²⁶ This is my purpose (plan) (advise) for the world, and my arm (extended power) is stretched out to punish the nations. ²⁷ Jehovah of Hosts is determined to do this. He has stretched out his arm to punish, and no one can stop him.

² They have gone up to the temple and to Dibon, to the high places to weep. Moab wails over Nebo and Medeba. Everyone's head is bald and every beard is cut off. ³ They have dress themselves with sackcloth in their streets. On their housetops and in their squares everyone is wailing, taken down with tears.

⁵ My heart cries out for Moab! The people have fled to the town of Zoar, and to Eglath Shelishiyah. Some climb the road to Luhith. They weep as they go. Some escape to Horonaim, grieving loudly.

¹¹ That is why my heart mourns for Moab like a harp. I mourn for Kir Hareseth.

¹ Jehovah rides on a swift cloud and is coming to Egypt. The idols of Egypt tremble before him. The hearts of the Egyptians melt (their courage fails) within them.

³ »The Egyptians will become discouraged. I will bring their plans to nothing. They will consult the idols and the spirits of the dead, the mediums and the spiritists.

¹¹ The officials of Zoan are nothing but fools. The wise counselors of Pharaoh give senseless advice. How can you say to Pharaoh: »I am one of the wise men, a disciple of the ancient kings?« ¹² Where are your wise men now? Let them show you and make known what Jehovah of Hosts has purposed (planned) (resolved) against Egypt.

¹⁶ A time is coming when the people of Egypt will be as timid as women. They will tremble in terror when they see that Jehovah of Hosts has stretched out his hand (extended His power) to punish them.

⁶ »That day the people who live on this coast will say: ‘See what has happened to those we relied on, those we fled to for help and deliverance from the king of Assyria! How then can we escape?«’

³ What I saw and heard in the vision has filled me with terror and pain. My hips are full of pain and convulsions like that of a woman in labor.

³ What I saw and heard in the vision has filled me with terror and pain. My hips are full of pain and convulsions like that of a woman in labor. ⁴ My innermost being reels, horror overwhelms me. The twilight I longed for has been turned for me into trembling.

³ All your leaders have fled together. They have been captured without using the bow. All you who were caught were taken prisoner together. You fled while the enemy was still far away. ⁴ I said: »Turn away from me. Let me weep bitterly. Do not try to console me over the destruction of my people.«

⁴ I said: »Turn away from me. Let me weep bitterly. Do not try to console me over the destruction of my people.« ⁵ The Lord Jehovah of Hosts has a day of tumult, trampling and terror in the Valley of Vision. It is a day of battering down walls and of crying out to the mountains.

¹² In that day Jehovah God of Hosts called to weeping and mourning, to baldness and putting on sackcloth.

⁸ By warfare and exile you contend with her. With his fierce blast he drives her out, as on a day the east wind blows.

¹¹ When its twigs are dry, they are broken off and women come and make fires with them. For they have no understanding (discernment). Their Maker has no compassion on them, and their Creator shows them no favor.

⁹ Stand still and wonder. Refuse to see and be blind. Get drunk and stagger, but not from wine. ¹⁰ Jehovah has made you drowsy. He shut your eyes in a deep sleep you prophets and visionaries. He overwhelmed your leaders.

¹⁰ Jehovah has made you drowsy. He shut your eyes in a deep sleep you prophets and visionaries. He overwhelmed your leaders. ¹¹ His message is like a sealed book to you. You say to someone read this out loud. And they respond, »We cannot read it, because it is sealed.« ¹² The illiterate say: »We cannot read it because we do not know how to read.«

⁹ These people are rebellious and deceitful children. They refuse to listen to Jehovah’s Law. ¹⁰ They say to the seers: »Do not see the future.« They say to those who have visions: ‘Do not have visions that tell us what is right. Tell us what we want to hear. Prophesy illusions.

¹⁷ One thousand people will flee when one person threatens them. You will flee when five threaten you. Then you will be left alone like a flagpole on top of a mountain, like a signpost on a hill.

²⁷ The name of Jehovah is going to come from far away. His anger is burning. His burden is heavy. His lips are filled with fury. His tongue is like a devouring flame. ²⁸ His breath is like an overflowing stream. It raises neck high and sifts the nations with a sieve of destruction. It places a bit in the mouths of the people to lead them astray.

⁶ Return you people of Israel, return to the one whom you have so violently rebelled against.

¹¹ Tremble you women who are at ease. Be troubled you complacent ones. Undress and put sackcloth on your waist,

⁸ The highways are deserted, no travelers are on the roads. The treaty is broken and its witnesses are despised. No one is respected. ⁹ The land dries up and wastes away. Lebanon is ashamed and withers. Sharon is like a desert plain. Bashan and Carmel drop their leaves.

³ »The bull knows its owner, and donkey knows where its master feeds it. But Israel does not know. My people do not understand!«

⁷ Your country is desolate. Your cities are burned with fire. Foreigners destroy your fields in your presence. Your fields are devastated and taken over by strangers. ⁸ My people, the daughter of Zion is left like an empty hut in a vineyard. It is like a shack in a cucumber field, like a city under attack.

¹⁵ »When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you. Even though you offer many prayers, I will not listen because your hands are full of blood. ¹⁶ »Wash yourselves! Become clean! Get your evil deeds out of my sight. Stop doing evil. ¹⁷ »Learn to do good (well) (right). Seek justice. Correct oppressors. Defend orphans. Plead the case of widows.« ¹⁸ »Come now, let us reason together (make things right) (correct matters) between us!« Says Jehovah. »Though your sins are like scarlet, they will become as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they will become as white as wool. ¹⁹ »If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land. ²⁰ »Refuse and rebel and swords will devour you. Jehovah has spoken.« ²¹ How the faithful town has become a prostitute! She was full of justice, and righteousness lived in her. But now murderers live there! ²² Your silver is not pure. Your beer is watered down. ²³ Your rulers are rebels, friends with thieves. They all love bribes and run after gifts. They never defend orphans. They do not listen to the widows' pleas.

¹² The Arameans from the east and the Philistines from the west have devoured Israel with open mouth. For all this his anger has not turned away. His hand (power) is still stretched out (extended).

¹⁷ That is why Jehovah did not rejoice in their young people, nor show compassion to their orphans and widows. Everyone was godless and an evildoer, and every mouth spoke wickedness (foolishness) (vileness). In all this his anger has not turned away. His hand is stretched out still (ready to apply his power).

²¹ Manasseh will feed on Ephraim, Ephraim will feed on Manasseh, and both will devour Judah. But even then Jehovah’s anger will not be satisfied. His hand is still poised to unleash his power.

³ What will you do on the day you are called to account for these things, when destruction comes from far away? Where will you run for help? Where will you leave your wealth? ⁴ There is nothing left but to crouch among prisoners and to fall with those who are killed. Even after all this, his anger will not disappear. His hand is stretched out (he is still ready to use his power).

¹ Jehovah lays the earth waste, annihilates it, disfigures its surface and scatters its inhabitants.

³ The earth will be completely uninhabitable and totally plundered. Jehovah has spoken this word. ⁴ The earth mourns and fades away, the world fades and withers, the exalted people of the earth mourn.

⁴ The earth mourns and fades away, the world fades and withers, the exalted people of the earth mourn. ⁵ The inhabitants of the earth pollute the earth. They transgress laws and violate statutes. They break the everlasting covenant. ⁶ A curse devours the earth, and those who live in it are found guilty. Therefore, those living on the earth are burned, and few men are left. ⁷ The new wine mourns, the vine decays and the merry-hearted sigh. ⁸ The joyful sound of tambourines ceases. The noise of revelers and the delight of the harp cease. ⁹ They no longer drink wine with a song. The beverage is bitter to its drinkers. ¹⁰ The ruined city lies desolate. The entrance to every house is barred and none may enter. ¹¹ In the streets they cry out for wine. Joy turns to gloom and rejoicing is banished from the earth. ¹² The city is left in ruins; its gate is battered to pieces. ¹³ So will it be on the earth and among the nations, as when an olive tree is beaten, or as when gleanings are left after the grape harvest.

¹⁹ The earth is broken and destroyed and it is split into pieces. The earth is shaken violently. ²⁰ The earth reels to and fro like a drunkard and it quakes like a shack in the wind. Its transgression is heavy upon it, and it will fall, never to rise again. ²¹ That day Jehovah will punish the host of heaven on high and the kings of the earth below. ²² They will be gathered like prisoners in the dungeon tower. They will be confined in prison and after many days they will be punished. ²³ Then the moon will be abashed and the sun ashamed, For Jehovah of Hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, And his glory will be before his elders.

¹⁴ The sinners in Zion are terrified. The godless tremble. Who of us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who of us can dwell with long lasting fire?

²⁰ Look upon Zion, the city of our festivals. Your eyes will see Jerusalem, a peaceful abode, a tent that will not be moved. Its stakes will never be pulled up, nor any of its ropes broken.

¹ Draw near, people of all nations! Gather around and listen. Let the whole earth and everyone living on it come here and pay attention.

⁴ All the stars in the sky will dissolve. The heavens will be rolled up like a scroll. The stars will fade away like leaves fall from a vine or fruit from a tree.

³⁵ »‘I will defend this city and save it, for my sake and for the sake of David my servant!’«

³ Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah and asked: »What did those men say, and where did they come from?« Hezekiah replied: »They came from the distant land of Babylon.«

¹⁴ »I kept silent for a long time. I did not answer my people. The time to act has come. I cry out like a woman in labor.

¹⁹ Is anyone more blind than my servant or more deaf than the messenger I send? ²⁰ Israel, you have seen so much, but what has it meant to you? You have ears to hear with, but what have you really heard?

¹ This is what Jehovah says: »Where are your mother's divorce papers? Did I give her any to get rid of her? To which of my creditors did I sell you? You were sold because of your sins. I got rid of your mother because of your rebellion.

³ »I clothe the heavens in darkness and cover them with sackcloth.«

¹⁷ Awake, awake! Rise up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of Jehovah the cup of his wrath, you who have drained to its dregs the goblet that makes men stagger.

² »Enlarge the place of your tent. Stretch your tent curtains wide and do not hold back. Lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes.

⁷ Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to Jehovah, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

¹⁶ »You will winnow them. The wind will pick them up and a gale will blow them away. But you will rejoice in Jehovah and glory in the Holy One of Israel.

²³ »I have bound myself with an oath. A word has gone out from my righteous mouth that will not be recalled. Every knee will bow to me and every tongue will swear allegiance.

²⁵ »‘All the descendants of Israel will be declared righteous, and they will praise Jehovah.’«

¹⁰ »I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.’ ¹¹ I summon a bird of prey from the east. I summon a man to fulfill my purpose from a far off land. What I have said I will bring about. What I have determined (purposed) I will do.

⁹ »Two things will come on you suddenly in one day: Loss of children and widowhood. They will come on you in full measure in spite of your abundance of sorceries, in spite of the great power of your spells.

¹ Listen to this, people of Israel, you that are descended from Judah. You swear by the name of Jehovah and claim to worship the God of Israel. However you do not mean a word you say. ² Yet you are proud to say that you are citizens of the holy city and that you depend on Israel's God, whose name is Jehovah of Hosts.

¹⁶ Whoever invokes a blessing in the land will do so by the God of (amen, so be it) truth; he who takes an oath in the land will swear by the God of truth. For the past troubles will be forgotten and hidden from my eyes.

¹⁵ Jehovah will come with fire and with his chariots like a thunderstorm. He will pay them back with his burning anger and punish them with flames of fire.

⁶ I, Jeremiah, said: »Lord Jehovah, I do not know how to speak. I am only a child!«

¹³ Again Jehovah asked: »What do you see?« I answered: »I see a boiling pot, and its top is tilted away from the north.« ¹⁴ Jehovah said to me: »Disaster will be poured out from the north on all those who live in the land. ¹⁵ »I am going to call every family and kingdom from the north, says Jehovah. They will come, and they will set up their thrones at the entrance of Jerusalem's gates. They will attack all the walls around the city and all the cities of Judah. ¹⁶ »I will pronounce judgment against my people because of all their wickedness. They abandoned me. They burned incense to other gods. They worshiped what their hands have made.

¹⁵ »Young lions have roared at them. Young lions have turned the land into waste. The cities have been destroyed, without inhabitant.

¹⁷ »You have done this to yourself by abandoning Jehovah your God when he led you on his way.

¹⁹ »Your own wickedness will correct you. Your apostasies (unfaithful ways) will punish you! You should know and see how evil and bitter it is for you when you abandon Jehovah your God! You do not respect (reverence) me,« says the Sovereign Lord Jehovah of Hosts.

¹ It is said: »If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him and marries another man, her first husband should not go back to her again.« The land would become completely polluted. »You have behaved like a prostitute who has many lovers. Now you want to come back to me!« Says Jehovah.

¹² »‘Go and proclaim this message to the north: ‘Come back, unfaithful Israel. It is Jehovah speaking. I will no longer frown on you because I am merciful,’ declares Jehovah. ‘I will no longer be angry with you.

¹⁴ ‘Return, you disobedient people, proclaims Jehovah. I am your husband. I will take you, one from every city and two from every family, and bring you to Zion.’

²² »Return you backsliding children, and I will forgive you for being unfaithful. See, we have come to you because you are Jehovah our God.

⁴ »Be circumcised by Jehovah, and get rid of the foreskins of your hearts (cleanse your hearts), people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. If you do not, my fury will blaze like a fire. It will burn, and no one will be able to put it out. This is because of the evil you do.« ⁵ Report this message in Judah. Make it heard in Jerusalem. Say: »Blow the ram's horn throughout the land. Shout loudly and say: ‘Assemble together! Let us go into the fortified cities.’

⁵ Report this message in Judah. Make it heard in Jerusalem. Say: »Blow the ram's horn throughout the land. Shout loudly and say: ‘Assemble together! Let us go into the fortified cities.’ ⁶ »Raise the flag to signal people to go to Zion. Take cover! Do not just stand there! I am bringing disaster and widespread destruction from the north.

⁶ »Raise the flag to signal people to go to Zion. Take cover! Do not just stand there! I am bringing disaster and widespread destruction from the north. ⁷ »A lion has come out of its lair. A destroyer of nations has set out. He has left his place and is on his way to destroy your land. Your cities will be ruined. No one will live in them.

¹⁷ »They surround Judah like men guarding a field, because Judah has rebelled against me,« declares Jehovah. ¹⁸ »You brought this on yourself. This is your punishment. It is bitter. It breaks your heart.« ¹⁹ O my anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain. My heart pounds in side of me. My heart is pounding! I cannot keep quiet because I hear a ram's horn sounding the alarm for war.

²¹ How long must I see the battle flag and hear the sound of rams' horns?

²³ I see the earth. It is without form and empty. I see the sky. Its lights are gone. ²⁴ I see the mountains. They tremble and the hills sway. ²⁵ I see that there are no people, and every bird has flown away. ²⁶ I see that the fertile land has become a desert. Its cities are torn down because of Jehovah and his burning anger.

³¹ I hear a woman in labor. I hear the woman cry with anguish as she gives birth to her first child. My people Zion gasp for breath. They stretch out their hands and say: »How horrible it is for us! My life is exhausted by the presence of murderers!«

² Even though you claim to worship Jehovah, you do not mean what you say.

⁴ I thought: »These are only the poor and ignorant. They are foolish. They do not know what their God requires, what Jehovah wants them to do.

⁶ That is why lions from the forest will kill them. Wolves from the desert will tear them to pieces, and leopards will prowl through their towns. If those people go out, they will be torn apart because their sins are numerous and time after time they have turned from God.

¹⁰ »Go up through her vineyards and destroy them. But do not execute a complete destruction. Strip away her branches, for they are not Jehovah’s.

¹² They lied about Jehovah. They said: »It is not he, bad things will not happen to us. We will not see sword or famine.«

¹⁵ »I am bringing a nation against you from afar, O house of Israel, declares Jehovah. It is an enduring nation. It is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know. You cannot understand (comprehend) (make sense of) what they say.

¹⁸ »Yet even in those days, says Jehovah, I will not make you a complete destruction. ¹⁹ »‘They will ask: ‘Why has Jehovah our God done all this to us?’ Answer them: »You have abandoned me and served foreign gods in your land. So you will serve foreigners in a land that is not yours.«’« ²⁰ »Declare this to the house of Jacob, and make this heard in Judah: ²¹ »‘Hear this, you stupid and senseless people! You have eyes, but you cannot see. You have ears, but you cannot hear.’«

²³ »These people are stubborn and rebellious. They have turned aside and departed from me.

³¹ ‘Prophets prophesy falsehoods. Priests rule under the prophets' directions, and my people love this. But what will you do when the end comes?’«

¹ Flee for safety people of Benjamin. Run from the midst of Jerusalem! Blow a ram’s horn in Tekoa and raise a signal over Beth-haccerem. Evil looks down from the north. There is great destruction. ² I will destroy the beautiful and luxurious one, the daughter of Zion.

² I will destroy the beautiful and luxurious one, the daughter of Zion. ³ Shepherds and their flocks will come to her. They will pitch their tents around her. They will pasture each in his place.

¹³ »From the least of them even to the greatest of them, everyone is greedy for gain! From the prophet even to the priest everyone deals falsely! ¹⁴ »‘Superficially they have healed the brokenness of my people. They declare: ‘Peace! Peace!’ »But there is no peace.’«

¹⁴ »‘Superficially they have healed the brokenness of my people. They declare: ‘Peace! Peace!’ »But there is no peace.’«

¹⁸ »Therefore hear, O nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them. ¹⁹ »Hear, O earth: behold, I am bringing disaster on this people as the fruit of their plans. This is because they have not listened to my words, and have rejected my law.

²² Jehovah says: »Behold, a people is coming from the northland! A great nation will be aroused from the remote parts of the earth. ²³ »They seize bow and spear. They are cruel and have no mercy. Their voice roars like the sea, and they ride on horses. They are arrayed as a man for the battle against you, O daughter of Zion!« ²⁴ We have heard the report! Our hands are limp. Anguish has seized us! We have pain like a woman in childbirth.

²⁶ O my people put on sackcloth and roll in ashes. Mourn as for an only son, a lamentation most bitter. For suddenly the destroyer will come upon us.

¹⁶ »As for you, do not pray for this people. Do not lift up cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with me for I do not hear you.

³⁴ »I will cause the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem. The land will become a ruin.«

⁷ »Even storks know when it is time to return. Mourning doves, swallows (swifts), and cranes know when it is time to migrate. But my people do not know that I, Jehovah, am urging them to return. ⁸ »How can you say you are wise and that you have Jehovah’s Laws? The scribes have used their pens to spread falsehoods. ⁹ »Wise people are put to shame, confused, and trapped. They have rejected the word of Jehovah. They do not really have any wisdom.

¹¹ »They heal the brokenness of the daughter of my people superficially. They say: ‘Peace! Peace!’ But there is no peace.

¹⁴ »Why are we sitting still? Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the fortified (mother) cities. Let us perish there, because Jehovah our God has doomed us. He has given us poisoned water to drink, for we have sinned against Jehovah.

¹⁶ From Dan is heard the snorting of his horses. At the sound of the neighing of his stallions the whole land quakes. For they come and devour the land and its fullness, the city and its inhabitants.

¹⁹ Behold, listen! The cry of the daughter of my people from a distant land: »Is Jehovah not in Zion? Is her King not within her?« »Why have they provoked me with their graven images, with foreign idols?«

¹ Oh that my head were waters and my eyes a fountain of tears. Then I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!

⁷ Thus says Jehovah of Hosts: »Behold, I will refine them and assay them. What else can I do, because of the daughter of my people?

¹⁰ I will cry and weep for the mountains. I will sing a funeral song for the pastures in the wilderness. They are destroyed so that no one can travel through them. No one can hear the sound of cattle. Birds and cattle have fled. They are gone. ¹¹ I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins. It will be a gathering place of jackals. I will make the cities of Judah desolation, without inhabitant. ¹² »Who is the wise man that may understand this? Who is he to whom the mouth of Jehovah has spoken? Let him declare it? Why is the land ruined, laid waste like a desert, so that no one passes through?«

²⁴ »If they want to brag, instead let them advocate (glory) (celebrate) that they understand and know me. They should advocate that I, Jehovah, act out of love, righteousness, and justice on the earth. This kind of celebration pleases me,« declares Jehovah.

²⁶ »I will punish Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, and Moab. I will punish all who shave the hair on their foreheads or live in the desert. Even though all these nations are uncircumcised, all Israel has uncircumcised hearts.«

⁸ They are very stupid and foolish. They teach vanity to a tree. Their idol is wood!

¹⁰ Jehovah is the true (faithful) (right) God! He is the living God and the everlasting king. The earth quakes at his wrath. The nations cannot endure his indignation.

¹⁹ Oh, I am wounded! My wound is serious. Then I thought that this is my punishment, and I will bear it.

¹⁹ Oh, I am wounded! My wound is serious. Then I thought that this is my punishment, and I will bear it. ²⁰ My tent is destroyed. All the ropes are broken. My children have left me and have disappeared. There is no one to set up my tent again or put up my tent curtains.

² »Listen to the terms of the covenant. Tell the people of Judah and of Jerusalem:

¹⁰ Pass through! Pass through the gates! Prepare a way for the people! Build up! Build up the highway! Clear away the stones! Raise a flag (standard) for the people!

¹⁷ O Jehovah, why do you let us wander from your ways and become so stubborn that we are unable to respect you? Return for the sake of your servants. They are the tribes that belong to you.

⁶ All of us have become unclean, and all our righteous acts are like permanently stained rags. All of us wither like leaves, and our sins carry us away like the wind.

⁴ How long will our land be dry and the grass in every field be withered? Animals and birds are dying because of the wickedness of our people. These people say: »God does not see what we are doing.«

¹¹ »They made it a wasteland. It lies desolate before me. The whole land has become a desert, and no one cares.

¹¹ »They made it a wasteland. It lies desolate before me. The whole land has become a desert, and no one cares. ¹² »Across the entire desert highlands people have come to plunder. Jehovah has sent war to destroy the entire land. No one can live in peace.

¹⁶ »If with all their hearts they will accept the religion of my people and will swear: As Jehovah lives, as they once taught my people to swear by Baal, then they will also be a part of my people and will prosper.

¹⁷ If you will not listen, I will cry secretly over your arrogance. I will cry bitterly, and my eyes will flow with tears because Jehovah’s flock will be taken captive.

²¹ »What will you say when God makes the people you thought were your friends your new masters? Will pain grip you like a woman in labor?

²³ »Can Ethiopians change the color of their skin or leopards change their spots? Can you do good when you are taught to do wrong?

²⁷ »I have seen you commit adultery and scream with delight. I have seen you act like a brazen prostitute on the hills and in the fields. How hideous it will be for you, Jerusalem! Will you ever be clean?«

² Judah mourns and its gates collapse. The people of Judah are filled with bereavement as they sit on the ground. Their cry goes up from Jerusalem.

² Judah mourns and its gates collapse. The people of Judah are filled with bereavement as they sit on the ground. Their cry goes up from Jerusalem. ³ Important people send their assistants out for water. They do not find any water at the cisterns. They return with their containers empty. They cover their heads, because they are ashamed and dishonored. ⁴ There is no rain in the land and the ground is cracked. The farmers are disappointed. They cover their heads. ⁵ Even deer in the fields give birth and abandon their young because there is no grass. ⁶ Wild donkeys stand on the bare hills. They sniff the wind like jackals. Their eyesight fails because they have no green plants.

¹¹ Jehovah said to me: »Do not pray for the good of these people. ¹² »Even if they go without food, I will not listen to their cries for help. Even if they sacrifice burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not be pleased with them. But I will destroy these people with wars, famines, and plagues.« ¹³ I said: »Alas, O Lord Jehovah, prophets are telling them: ‘You will not see wars or famines, for I will give you lasting peace in this place.« ¹⁴ Jehovah then told me: »These are the lies that the prophets are telling in my name: They claim that I sent them. They claim that I commanded them. They claim that I spoke to them. They even dreamed up visions to tell you. Their predictions are worthless! They are the products of their own imagination.

¹⁷ »Say this to them: ‘My eyes flow with tears day and night without stopping because my dear people will suffer massive destruction. It will be a very serious blow.

¹⁷ »Say this to them: ‘My eyes flow with tears day and night without stopping because my dear people will suffer massive destruction. It will be a very serious blow. ¹⁸ »‘If I go to the field, I see those killed because of war. If I go to the city, I see those sick because of famine. Prophets and priests wander through a land they have not heard of.’«

¹⁸ »‘If I go to the field, I see those killed because of war. If I go to the city, I see those sick because of famine. Prophets and priests wander through a land they have not heard of.’«

¹ Jehovah said to me: »I would not feel sorry for these people, even if Moses and Samuel were standing in front of me. Send them away from my presence, and let them go. ² »When they ask you where they should go, say to them: This is what Jehovah says: Those who are to die will die. Those who are to die in wars will die in wars. Those who are to die in famines will die in famines. Those who are to die in captivity will die in captivity. ³ »I will appoint over them four kinds of punishment, declares Jehovah. I will send swords to kill, dogs to drag away, and birds of the air and animals of the earth to devour and destroy. ⁴ »I will make these people a horrifying (shocking) sight to all the kingdoms on the earth. This will happen because of what Judah's King Manasseh, son of Hezekiah, did in Jerusalem.

⁴ »I will make these people a horrifying (shocking) sight to all the kingdoms on the earth. This will happen because of what Judah's King Manasseh, son of Hezekiah, did in Jerusalem. ⁵ »Who will take pity on you, Jerusalem? No one will mourn for you. No one will bother to ask how you are doing. ⁶ »You left me, declares Jehovah. You turned your back on me. So I will stretch out my hand against you (use my power against you) and destroy you. I am tired of showing compassion to you. ⁷ »I will separate them with a winnowing shovel at the city gates. I will make them childless. I will destroy my people because they will not change their ways. ⁸ »Their widows will be more numerous than the grains of sand on the seashore. At noontime I will send a destroyer against the mothers of young men. I will suddenly bring anguish and terror to them. ⁹ »A mother who gives birth to seven sons will grow faint and breathe her last. She will die, ashamed and humiliated, while it is still daylight. I will put survivors from these people to death in the presence of their enemies, says Jehovah.

¹⁸ »Why do I suffer constant pain? Why is my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Will you indeed be to me like a deceptive stream with water that is unreliable?«

⁶ »Both great and small men will die in this land. They will not be buried, they will not be lamented, nor will anyone gash himself or shave his head for them.

¹⁸ Let those who persecute me be put to shame. Do not let me be put to shame. Let them be dismayed, but let me not be dismayed. Bring on them a day of disaster. Crush them with twofold destruction!

¹⁶ »‘They make their land desolation. It becomes an object of perpetual hissing. Everyone who passes by it will be astonished and shake his head.

²¹ Therefore, give their children over to famine and deliver them up to the power of the sword. Let their wives become childless and widowed. Let their men also be smitten to death and their young men struck down by the sword in battle.

¹⁷ »They keep saying to those who despise me, Jehovah says: ‘Everything will go well for you.’ They tell all who live by their own stubborn ways: ‘Nothing bad will happen to you.’«

¹⁹ The storm of Jehovah vents his wrath. A whirling tempest will swirl down on the head of the wicked. ²⁰ The anger of Jehovah will not turn back until he has performed and carried out the purposes (intent) of his heart. In the last days you will clearly understand it.

⁹ »‘»I will make them a horrifying sight to all the kingdoms of the earth. They will be a disgrace and an example. They will become something ridiculed and cursed wherever I scatter them.

⁵ The prophets said: »Turn from your evil ways and the evil you have done, and live in the land that Jehovah permanently gave to you and your ancestors.

⁹ so I am going to send for all the families from the north. I will also send for my servant King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon,« says Jehovah. »I will bring the families from the north to attack this land, its people, and all these surrounding nations. I am going to destroy them and turn them into something terrible, something ridiculed, and something permanently ruined.

⁶ »Ask now and see: Can a man give birth to a child? Why, then, do I see every strong man holding his stomach in pain like a woman giving birth to a child? Why has every face turned pale?

¹¹ »I am with you. I will rescue you,« declares Jehovah. »I will completely destroy all the nations where I scattered you, but I will not completely destroy you. I will correct you with justice. I will not let you go entirely unpunished.«

²³ The storm of Jehovah will come with his anger. Like a driving wind, it will swirl down on the heads of the wicked. ²⁴ Jehovah’s burning rage will not turn back until he has done everything he intends to do. You will understand this clearly in the last days.

²⁴ Jehovah’s burning rage will not turn back until he has done everything he intends to do. You will understand this clearly in the last days.

¹⁰ Hear the word of Jehovah, O nations. Declare in the coastlands afar off. Say: »He who scattered Israel will gather him and keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.

¹⁷ ‘Ah Lord Jehovah! You have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for you.

¹⁰ »This is what Jehovah says: ‘You have said that this place is ruined and that no people or animals live in it. It is true! The cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem are deserted. No people or animals live there. But once again you will hear,

²² »‘I am going to give a command,’ declares Jehovah. ‘I will bring that army back to this city to attack it, capture it, and burn it down. I will destroy the cities of Judah so that no one will live there.’«

⁹ But if I say: »I will not remember him or speak anymore in his name,« then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in. I cannot endure it.

⁵ ‘»I will war against you with an outstretched hand and a mighty arm (with my great power). I will extend my anger, wrath and great indignation.

⁷ »‘»Afterwards,« declares Jehovah: »I will hand over Judah's King Zedekiah, his officials, the people, and everyone else in this city who survives the plague, war, and famine. They will be handed over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and to their enemies who want to kill them. Nebuchadnezzar will kill them with swords. He will not spare them, show them compassion, or care for them.«’

¹² »‘O house of David, Jehovah says: »Administer justice every morning. Deliver the person who has been robbed from the power of his oppressor. That way I may not have to offer my wrath like fire and burn with none to extinguish it, because of the evil of your deeds.«’

³ This is what Jehovah says: »Judge fairly, and do what is right. Rescue those who have been robbed from those who oppress them. Do not mistreat foreigners, orphans, or widows, and do not oppress them. Do not kill innocent people in this place. ⁴ »‘If you do what I say, then the kings who sit on David's throne will ride through the gates of this palace in chariots and on horses along with their officials and their people.«’ ⁵ »‘But if you do not do what I say, I will take an oath on myself,’ declares Jehovah, ‘this palace will become a pile of rubble.’

²⁰ »Go up to Lebanon and cry out! Lift up your voice in Bashan. Cry out also from Abarim, for all your lovers have been crushed. ²¹ I spoke to you in your prosperity. But you said: ‘I will not listen!’ This has been your practice from your youth, that you have not obeyed my voice. ²² »The wind will sweep away all your shepherds. Your lovers will go into captivity. Then you will surely be ashamed and humiliated because of all your wickedness. ²³ »You who dwell in Lebanon nested in the cedars. How you will groan when pangs come upon you, Pain like a woman in childbirth!«

⁹ My heart is broken within me. All my bones tremble! I have become like a drunken man, even like a man overcome with wine. This is because of Jehovah and because of his holy words. ¹⁰ The land is full of adulterers! The land mourns because of the curse. The pastures of the wilderness have dried up. Their course also is evil and their might is not right.

³⁸ »He has left his lair like a lion. Their land has been ruined because of the heat of the oppressor, because of the fury of his anger.«

⁹ »Why have you said in Jehovah’s name that this Temple will become like Shiloh and that this city will be destroyed and no one will live in it?’« Then the people crowded around me.

¹⁹ Then the leaders continued: »No one put Micah to death for saying that. Instead, King Hezekiah prayed to Jehovah with reverence and trembling and asked him to have mercy. Then Jehovah decided not to destroy Jerusalem, even though he had already said he would. People of Judah, if Jeremiah is killed we will bring a terrible disaster on ourselves.

⁸ »Suppose nations or kingdoms will not serve or surrender to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. I will punish those nations by wars, famines, and plagues, until I have put an end to them by Nebuchadnezzar's power,« says Jehovah.

¹¹ »But when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon invaded this land, we said: ‘Let's go to Jerusalem to escape the Babylonian and Aramean armies. That is why we are living in Jerusalem.’«

¹⁵ »I have sent all my servants the prophets to you again and again. They said: Turn from your evil ways, do what is right, and do not follow other gods in order to serve them. Then you will live in the land that I gave you and your ancestors. However, you refused to listen to me or obey me.

³ »Maybe the nation of Judah will hear about all the disasters that I devise to bring on them, and they will turn from their wicked ways. Then I will forgive their wickedness and their sins.«

⁷ »Maybe their prayers will come into Jehovah’s presence, and they will turn from their evil ways. Jehovah has threatened these people with his terrifying anger and fury.«

¹⁹ »Where are the prophets who told you that the king of Babylon would not attack you and this land?

¹ In the tenth month of the ninth year that Zedekiah was king of Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia came with his whole army and attacked Jerusalem.

⁴ When King Zedekiah and all his soldiers saw what was happening, they tried to escape from the city during the night. They left by way of the royal garden, went through the gateway connecting the two walls, and escaped in the direction of the Jordan Valley.

⁴ When King Zedekiah and all his soldiers saw what was happening, they tried to escape from the city during the night. They left by way of the royal garden, went through the gateway connecting the two walls, and escaped in the direction of the Jordan Valley. ⁵ But the Babylonian army pursued them and captured Zedekiah in the plains near Jericho. Then they took him to King Nebuchadnezzar, who was in the city of Riblah in the territory of Hamath, and there Nebuchadnezzar passed sentence on him.

⁵ But the Babylonian army pursued them and captured Zedekiah in the plains near Jericho. Then they took him to King Nebuchadnezzar, who was in the city of Riblah in the territory of Hamath, and there Nebuchadnezzar passed sentence on him. ⁶ At Riblah he put Zedekiah's sons to death while Zedekiah was looking on, and he also had the officials of Judah executed.

² »This is what Jehovah the God of Israel says to you, Baruch:

²⁸ »‘Do not be afraid, my servant Jacob,« declares Jehovah. »I am with you. I will completely destroy all the nations where I scattered you, but I will not completely destroy you. I will correct you with justice. I will not let you go entirely unpunished.’«

² »Declare and proclaim among the nations. Proclaim it and lift up a standard. Do not conceal it but say: ‘Babylon has been captured. Bel has been put to shame. Marduk has been shattered! Her images have been put to shame and her idols have been shattered.’

¹⁷ »The people of Israel are like scattered sheep that lions have chased. The first to devour them was the king of Assyria. The last to gnaw at their bones was King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.

²² »The noise of battle and great destruction fills the land.

⁴³ »The king of Babylon has heard reports about them, and he loses courage. Anguish will grip him as pain grips a woman in labor. ⁴⁴ »I will suddenly chase them from their places like a lion coming out of the jungle along the Jordan River into pastureland. I will appoint over Babylon whomever I choose. Who is like me? Who can challenge me? Is there any leader who can stand up to me?«

¹ Jehovah says: »I am bringing a destructive wind against Babylon and its people. ² »I will send foreigners to destroy Babylon like a wind that blows straw away. When that day of destruction comes, they will attack from every side and leave the land bare.

¹² »Give the signal to attack Babylon's walls. Strengthen the guard! Post the sentries! Place troops in ambush! Jehovah has done what he said he would do to the people of Babylon.«

²⁷ Raise your battle flag throughout the world. Blow the ram's horn among the nations. Prepare nations to attack Babylon. Tell the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz to attack it. Appoint a commander to lead the attack. Bring up horses like a swarm of locusts.

⁵⁴ Cries of agony are heard from Babylon. Sounds of terrible destruction are heard from the land of the Babylonians.

⁷ The enemy broke through the city walls, and all Judah's soldiers fled. They left the city at night through the gate between the two walls beside the king's garden. While the Babylonians were attacking the city from all sides, they took the road to the plain of Jericho.

⁴⁷ Fear and deep waters have come on us with devastation and destruction. ⁴⁸ Rivers of water run down from my eyes because pf the destruction of the daughter of my people.

⁴⁸ Rivers of water run down from my eyes because pf the destruction of the daughter of my people. ⁴⁹ My eyes stream without stopping. They have no rest. ⁵⁰ Jehovah looks down and sees from heaven. ⁵¹ My eyes bring me pain because of all the daughters of my town.

³ Even the jackals of the wasteland have full breasts and give milk to their young ones. The daughter of my people has become cruel like the ostriches in the wasteland.

⁶ The punishment of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of Sodom, which was overturned suddenly without a hand lifted to help her.

¹⁰ The hands of compassionate women have boiled their own children. They were their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people. ¹¹ Jehovah has given full vent to his rage. He has poured out his burning anger. He set a fire in Zion causing the destruction of its foundation.

²⁰ »Moab has fallen, they will answer; weep for it because it is disgraced. Announce along the Arnon River that Moab is destroyed!

³¹ »‘I cry with sadness for Moab, yes for everyone in Moab. I moan for the people from the town of Kir-Hareseth. ³² »‘I weep with the people of the town of Jazer. And what of the grapevines of the town of Sibmah? In the past your vines spread all the way to the sea, as far as the sea of Jazer. But the destroyer has taken over your fruit and grapes.

⁴¹ »The towns of Moab will be captured. The strong walled cities will be defeated. Then Moab’s warriors will be frightened like a woman who is giving birth.’«

¹⁹ »Like a lion coming out of the thick woods along the Jordan River up to the green pastureland, I will come and make the Edomites run away suddenly from their country. Then the leader I choose will rule the nation. Who can be compared to me? Who would dare challenge me? What ruler could oppose me?«

²² The enemy will attack Bozrah like an eagle swooping down with outspread wings. On that day Edom's soldiers will be as frightened as a woman in labor.

²⁴ »The people of Damascus are weak and have fled in terror. They are in pain and misery like a woman in labor.

² She weeps bitterly in the night. Her cheeks are wet from crying. Her lovers offer no comfort. Her friends have been false to her. They have become her enemies.

⁸ Great is the sin of Jerusalem! For this cause she has become an unclean thing. Those who gave her honor are looking down on her. They see her shame. Now truly, sighing out grief, she turns back.

¹⁶ »For these things I weep. My eye streams with water because the comforter who might give me new life is far from me. My children are desolate because the enemy is strong.« ¹⁷ Zion’s hands are outstretched. She has no comforter. Jehovah gave orders to the attackers of Jacob round about him: Jerusalem is an unclean (abhorrent) thing among them. ¹⁸ »Jehovah is upright. I have rebelled against him. Listen all you people and see my pain. My virgins and my young men are taken away as prisoners. ¹⁹ »I sent for my lovers, but they were false to me. My priests and my responsible men are dying. They look for food to give them new life. ²⁰ »See, O Jehovah, I am in trouble. The inmost parts of my body are deeply moved. My heart is turned in me for I have been rebellious. Outside the children are put to the sword, and in the house there is death.

⁶ He violently takes away his tent, as from a garden. And he lays waste his meeting-place. Jehovah has taken away the memory of feast and Sabbath in Zion. In the passion of his wrath he is against king and priest. ⁷ Jehovah rejected his altar and disowned his holy place. He gave up into the hands of the attacker the walls of her great houses. Their voices have been loud in the house of Jehovah as in the day of a holy meeting. ⁸ It is Jehovah’s purpose to turn the wall of the daughter of Zion into waste. His line has been stretched out. He has not kept back his hand from destruction. He has sent sorrow on tower and wall. They have become feeble together. ⁹ Her gates have gone down into the earth. He destroyed her locks and bars. Her king and her princes are among the nations where there is no law. Her prophets have had no vision from Jehovah.

¹¹ My eyes fail from weeping. I am in torment. My heart is pulled out of me to the ground because my people are destroyed. Because of the young children and babies at the breast who are falling without strength in the open squares of the town.

²¹ Both young and old lie dead in the streets. Enemy swords kill young men and women. You slaughtered them without mercy on the day of your anger.

¹⁷ Our eyes are still wasting away in looking for our false help. We watch for a nation unable to give salvation.

¹⁹ Those who went after us were quicker than the eagles of the heaven. They drive us before them on the mountains. They wait secretly for us in the wasteland.

³ He said: »Son of man, I am sending you to the people of Israel. They are people from a nation that has rebelled against me. They and their ancestors have transgressed against me to this day. ⁴ »I am sending you to these defiant and stubborn children.« Tell them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah says: ⁵ ‘Whether these rebellious people listen or not, they will realize that a prophet has been among them. ⁶ »Son of man, do not be afraid of them or the things they say. Do not be afraid, even though thorns and thistles are around you and you live among scorpions. Do not let the things they say frighten you. Do not be terrified in their presence even though they are rebellious people. ⁷ »Speak my words to them whether they listen or not, because they are rebellious.

⁸ »Therefore, the Lord Jehovah says: ‘Behold, I, even I, am against you! I will execute judgments against you in the sight of the nations.

¹³ ‘»I will unleash my anger. I will use my fury against you, and I will get revenge. When my fury is unleashed against you, you will know that I, Jehovah, spoke to you with all my zeal. ¹⁴ ‘»I will turn you into a wasteland and an object of ridicule among the nations around you and in the presence of everyone who passes by you. ¹⁵ ‘»The nations that are around you will ridicule you and laugh at you. When I punish you because of my anger, fury, and fierce revenge, you will become something ridiculed and something horrible. I, Jehovah, have spoken.

¹¹ »The Lord Jehovah says: ‘Clap your hands, stomp your feet, and say, ‘How sad!’ The people of Israel have done evil and disgusting things. So they will die in wars, famines, and plagues. ¹² ‘»Plagues will kill those who are far away. Those who are near will die in wars. Anyone who is left and has escaped will die of famine. This is how I will unleash my rage.

¹² ‘»Plagues will kill those who are far away. Those who are near will die in wars. Anyone who is left and has escaped will die of famine. This is how I will unleash my rage. ¹³ »Then you will know that I am Jehovah. Those who are killed will lie beside the idols around their altars. They will lie on every high hill, on all the mountaintops, and under every large tree and every leafy oak. These are the places where they made offerings to their disgusting idols. ¹⁴ ‘»I will stretch out my hand (use my power) against them and destroy the land from the desert to Diblah. THEN THEY WILL KNOW THAT I AM JEHOVAH!’«

⁸ ‘»I am about to pour out my wrath on you and spend my anger against you. I will judge you according to your conduct and repay you for all your detestable practices. ⁹ ‘»I will not look on you with pity or spare you (my eye will not feel sorry for you). I will repay you in accordance with your conduct and the detestable practices among you. Then you will know that it is I, Jehovah, who strikes the blow.

²⁵ ‘»When terror comes they will seek peace, but there will be none. ²⁶ ‘»Calamity upon calamity will come, and rumor upon rumor. They will try to get a vision from the prophet. The teaching of the law by the priest will be lost, as will the counsel of the elders.

¹⁸ »They will feel all the force of my anger. I will not spare them or show them any mercy (my eye will not feel sorry). They will shout prayers to me as loud as they can. But I will not listen to them«

⁵ I heard God say to the other men: »Follow him through the city and kill. Spare no one! Have mercy on no one. ⁶ »Kill the old men, young men, young women, mothers, and children. But do not touch anyone who has the mark on his forehead. Start here at my Temple.« So they began with the elders who were standing there at the Temple.

⁹ ‘»My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and utter lying divinations. They will have no place in the council of my people. They will not be written down in the register of the house of Israel. And they will not enter the land of Israel, that you may know that I am the Lord Jehovah. ¹⁰ ‘»It is definitely because they have misled my people by saying, »Peace!« When there is no peace. And when anyone builds a wall they plaster it over with whitewash.’ ¹¹ »So tell those who plaster it over with whitewash, that it will fall. A flooding rain will come, and you, O hailstones, will fall; and a violent wind will break out. ¹² »When the wall has fallen, will you not be asked: Where is the plaster with which you plastered it?’ ¹³ »This is what the Lord Jehovah says: ‘In my fury I will cause a storm to break out. In my anger rain will pour down, and hailstones will destroy the wall. ¹⁴ ‘»I will tear down the wall that the prophets covered up with whitewash. I will level it and expose its foundation. When the wall falls, they will be destroyed by it. Then you will know that I am Jehovah.’ ¹⁵ ‘»I will unleash my rage on the wall and on those who covered it up with paint. Then I will say to you: The wall is gone, and so are those who painted it. ¹⁶ ‘»The prophets of Israel who prophesied to Jerusalem are gone. Those who said that everything was all right, when it was not all right, are gone, declares the Lord Jehovah.

⁹ »‘If a prophet is tricked into giving a prophecy, it is I, Jehovah, who tricked the prophet. I will use my power against you and destroy you from among my people Israel. ¹⁰ ‘»Both of you will suffer for your sins. The prophet will be as guilty as you are when you ask for his help.

²¹ ‘»This is what the Lord Jehovah says: ‘I will surely send four terrible punishments against Jerusalem. I will send wars, famines, wild animals, and plagues. They will destroy people and animals.

³⁶ »You chased after lovers, then took off your clothes and had sex. You even worshiped disgusting idols and sacrificed your own children as offerings to them. ³⁷ »So I, the Lord Jehovah, will gather every one of your lovers, those you liked and those you hated. They will stand around you, and I will rip off your clothes and let all of those lovers stare at your nakedness. ³⁸ »I will judge you like women who commit adultery or shed blood are judged. I will bring on you the blood of wrath and jealousy.

³⁸ »I will judge you like women who commit adultery or shed blood are judged. I will bring on you the blood of wrath and jealousy. ³⁹ »I will also give you into the hands of your lovers. They will tear down your shrines, demolish your high places, strip you of your clothing, take away your jewels, and will leave you naked and bare. ⁴⁰ »They will incite a crowd against you and they will stone you and cut you to pieces with their swords. ⁴¹ »They will burn your houses with fire and execute judgments on you in the sight of many women. Then I will stop you from playing the harlot. You will also no longer pay your lovers.

¹⁰ »‘»Though it is transplanted, will it thrive? Will it not completely wither as soon as the east wind strikes it, wither on the beds where it grew?«’«

¹³ »It happened while I prophesied, that Pelatiah son of Benaiah died. Then I fell on my face and cried out with a loud voice and said: Alas, O Lord Jehovah! Will you bring the remnant of Israel to a complete end?«

¹⁸ ‘»When they come there, they will remove all its detestable things and all its abominations from it.

¹³ ‘»He lends money for interest and makes excessive profits. Will this person live? He will not live. He has done all these disgusting things. So he must die, and he will be responsible for his own death.

³¹ ‘»Give up all the evil you have been doing. Get yourselves new minds and hearts. Why do you Israelites want to die?

¹² ‘»It was uprooted in fury and thrown to the ground. The east wind made it shrivel. It was stripped of its fruit. Its strong branches withered and fire consumed them.

⁷ »I told them to throw away the disgusting idols they loved and not to make themselves unclean with the false gods of Egypt. I am Jehovah their God. ⁸ ‘»»They defied me and refused to listen. They did not throw away their disgusting idols or give up the Egyptian gods. I was ready to let them feel the full force of my anger there in Egypt.

³³ ‘»As I am alive,’ declares the Lord Jehovah, ‘I will rule you with a mighty hand and a powerful arm. I will pour out my fury.

⁴⁷ »Tell the forest in the Negev: ‘Listen to the word of Jehovah. This is what the Lord Jehovah says: »I am about to set fire to you to destroy all your green trees and all your dry trees. The blazing fire will not be put out. It will burn the whole land from the south to the north. ⁴⁸ »Then everyone will know that I, Jehovah, started the fire. It will never be put out.«’«

¹² ‘»Cry out and wail, son of man, for it is against my people; it is against all the officials of Israel. They are delivered over to the sword with my people. Therefore strike your thigh.

¹⁷ »Clap your hands and I will bring my anger to rest. Jehovah has spoken.«

¹⁹ »Son of man, mark two roads that the king of Babylon and his sword can take. Both of these roads should start from the same country. Make a signpost and put it at the fork of the roads that go toward the cities. ²⁰ »Mark the road that the king and his sword can take to the Ammonite city of Rabbah. Then mark the road that leads to Judah and the fortified city of Jerusalem. ²¹ »The king of Babylon will stand where the roads branch off, at the fork in the road. Then he will look for omens. The king will stand at the branch of the roads where he will use divination. He will shake the arrows and ask the teraphim and look into the liver. ²² »The divination (omens) will indicate that he should go to the right, to Jerusalem. So he will set up his battering rams there, and give the order to kill. He will raise a battle cry and aim the battering rams against the city gates. He will put up ramps and set up blockades (siege walls).

⁹ »Therefore, I gave her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians, after whom she lusted. ¹⁰ »They uncovered her nakedness. They took her sons and her daughters, but they killed her with the sword. Thus she became a byword among women, and they executed judgments on her.

²² »Therefore, O Oholibah, the Lord Jehovah says: ‘Behold I will arouse your lovers against you, from whom you were alienated. I will bring them against you from every side: ²³ the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, desirable young men, governors and officials all of them, officers and men of renown, all of them riding on horses. ²⁴ ‘»They will come against you with weapons, chariots and wagons, and with a company of peoples. They will set themselves against you on every side with buckler and shield and helmet. I will commit the judgment to them, and they will judge you according to their customs.

²⁸ »The Lord Jehovah says: ‘Behold, I will give you into the hand of those whom you hate, into the hand of those from whom you were alienated. ²⁹ »They will deal with you in hatred, take all your property, and leave you naked and bare. And the nakedness of your fornications will be uncovered, both your lewdness and your acts of prostitution.

⁴⁰ »Furthermore, they have even sent for men who come from afar, to whom a messenger was sent. They came and you bathed, painted your eyes and decorated yourselves with ornaments for them. ⁴¹ »You sat on a splendid couch with a table arranged before it on which you had set my incense and my oil.

⁴⁶ »The Lord Jehovah says: ‘Bring up a company against them and give them over to terror and plunder. ⁴⁷ ‘»The company will stone them with stones and cut them down with their swords. They will slay their sons and their daughters and burn their houses with fire.

⁸ ‘»That it may cause wrath to come up to take vengeance, I have put her blood on the bare rock, that it may not be covered.’

¹³ ‘»In your filthiness is lewdness. Because I would have cleansed you, yet you are not clean. You will not be cleansed from your filthiness again until I have spent my anger on you. ¹⁴ ‘»I, Jehovah, have spoken. It is coming and I will act. I will not relent, and I will not pity and I will not be sorry! I will judge you according to your ways and according to your deeds.’ This is a declaration of the Lord Jehovah.«

² »Son of man, prophesy. Say, ‘The Lord Jehovah says: »Cry for that day!

¹⁰ »This is what the Lord Jehovah says: I will use King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon to bring an end to Egypt. ¹¹ »He and his troops, the most ruthless troops among the nations, will be brought to destroy the land. They will draw their swords to attack Egypt and fill the land with dead bodies.

²⁸ »I will turn the land into a barren wasteland. People will no longer brag about its power. The mountains of Israel will become so ruined that no one will travel through them.

⁷ »The Lord Jehovah says: ‘I will bring upon Tyre from the north Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. He is king of kings. He has many horses, chariots, cavalry and a great army. ⁸ ‘»He will slay your daughters on the mainland with the sword. He will make siege walls against you, cast up a ramp against you and raise up a large shield against you. ⁹ »‘He will direct the blow of his battering rams against your walls. He will break down your towers with his axes. ¹⁰ »‘Dust raised by the vast number of his horses will cover you. The noise of cavalry, wagons and chariots will shake your walls. He will enter your gates as men enter a city that is breached.

⁹ ‘»You will no longer say that you are a god when you face those who kill you. You will be a human, not a god, in the hands of those who kill you.«’

¹³ »‘»You were in Eden, God's garden. You were covered with every kind of precious stone: red quartz, topaz, crystal, beryl, jade, onyx, gray quartz, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald. Your settings and your sockets were made of gold when you were created.

⁷ »‘When I extinguish you, I will cover the heavens and darken their stars. I will cover the sun with a cloud and the moon will not give its light. ⁸ »‘All the shining lights in the heavens I will darken over you. And I will set darkness on your land,’ proclaims the Lord Jehovah.

² »Son of man, speak to your people. Tell them: ‘Suppose I bring war on this country and the people of this country choose one of their men and make him their watchman. ³ »‘If he sees the enemy coming to attack the country he will blow his horn to warn the people. ⁴ »‘If the people hear the horn and ignore the warning and the enemy comes and takes them, they will be responsible for their own deaths. ⁵ »‘They heard the sound of the horn but ignored its warning. In that case they are responsible for their own deaths. If they had taken the warning they would have saved themselves. ⁶ »‘But if the watchman sees the enemy coming and does not blow his horn to warn the people and the enemy comes and kills someone, that watchman must die because of his sin. I will hold him responsible for their deaths.’

²⁰ »‘The fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the beasts of the field, all the creeping things that creep on the earth, and all the people who are on the face of the earth will shake at my presence! The mountains will be thrown down! The steep pathways will collapse and every wall will fall to the ground.’

⁹ »They must stop acting like prostitutes and take the dead bodies of their kings far away from me. Then I will live among them for a very long time.

¹⁹ »Because of the greatness he gave him, all the peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him. Whom he chose he killed and whom he chose he kept alive. Whom he chose he raised up, and whom he chose he put down.

⁴ »The first was like a LION. It had eagle's wings. I watched till the wings were pulled off. It was lifted up from the earth and made to stand upon two feet like a man. A man's heart and mind was given to it.

¹⁵ »I, Daniel, was grieved to the center of my being, and the visions in my head troubled me.

²⁸ »This is the end of the matter. As for me, Daniel, my thoughts were very troubled. My appearance was changed. I kept the matter in my heart.«

² »Plead with your mother (your nation), for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband. Let her put away her acts of adultery from her face, and her adulteries from between her breasts!

¹⁹ »I will engage you to me for a very long time! Yes I will engage you to me in righteousness, and in justice, and in loving kindness, and in mercies.

¹ Hear the word of Jehovah, you children of Israel! For Jehovah has a legal case against the inhabitants of the land. There is no truth! There is no goodness. There is no knowledge of God in the land.

³ Therefore the land will mourn. All the inhabitants are weak. The beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea will also perish.

⁶ My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you! You will not be a priest to me since you have forgotten the Law of your God. Therefore, I will forget your children.

⁴ »They will not consecrate their deeds to their God because the spirit of fornication is in them. They do not know Jehovah.

¹⁶ »They do not turn upward [to God]. They are like a loose bow. Their princes will fall by the sword because of the insolence of their tongue. This will be their derision in the land of Egypt.«

¹ »Sound the alarm on the trumpet. The enemy swoops down on Jehovah’s Temple like an eagle. The people of Israel have rejected my covenant promise and rebelled against my Law.

¹² »I said: Plow new ground for yourselves, plant righteousness, and reap the blessings that your devotion to me will produce. It is time for you to turn to me, Jehovah, and I will come and pour out righteousness on you.

¹⁰ »The earth quakes before them. The heavens tremble! The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars cease to shine.

¹² »Even now,« said Jehovah, »turn to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning!

¹² »Even now,« said Jehovah, »turn to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning! ¹³ »Rip apart your heart, and not your garments. Turn to Jehovah your God! He is gracious and merciful. He is slow to anger and abundant in loving-kindness. He will turn back from doing harm.

³⁰ »I will show wonders in the sky and on the earth: blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. ³¹ »The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible (awesome) Day of Jehovah comes!

¹⁵ »The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars diminish their shining. ¹⁶ »Jehovah will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem. The heavens and the earth will shake: but Jehovah will be a refuge to his people, and a stronghold to the children of Israel.

⁶ »Will the trumpet be blown in a city and the people not be afraid? Will disaster happen to a city and Jehovah not cause it?

⁸ »The lion has roared. Who will not fear? The Lord Jehovah has spoken! Who will not prophesy?«

⁶ »Seek Jehovah, and you will live. Lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it will devour, and there will be none to quench it in Bethel.

⁹ »It will happen in that day,« said the Lord Jehovah, »that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day. ¹⁰ »I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation (dirges). I will bring sackcloth on all loins and baldness on every head. I will make it as the mourning for an only son like the end of a bitter day.

¹ I saw Jehovah standing beside the altar. He said: »Strike the capitals that the thresholds may shake! Break them in pieces on the head of all of them and I will slay the last of them with the sword. Not one of them will get away. Not one of them will escape!

⁸ »Behold, the eyes of the Lord Jehovah are upon the sinful kingdom! Yet, I will destroy it from off the face of the earth! I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,« said Jehovah. ⁹ I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all the nations! Like grain is sifted in a sieve, yet the least kernel will not fall on the earth.

²⁷ I, Daniel, fainted from exhaustion, and was sick for days. Then I rose up, and did the king's business. I wondered about the vision, but none understood it.

⁷ »O Jehovah, righteousness belongs to you! Shame belongs to us this day! To the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries you have driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against you. ⁸ »O Jehovah, to us belongs shame, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you. ⁹ »To Jehovah our God belong mercies and forgiveness. We have rebelled against him. ¹⁰ »We have not obeyed the voice of Jehovah our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. ¹¹ »Yes, all Israel have transgressed your law and turned aside, that they should not obey your voice. Therefore the curse has been poured out upon us. It is the oath that is written in the Law of Moses the servant of God. We have sinned against you. ¹² »He confirmed his words, which he spoke against us, and against our judges who ruled us. He brought a great evil on us. Nothing under heaven has been done like what was done to Jerusalem. ¹³ »As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this evil has come upon us. Yet we have not earnestly requested the favor of Jehovah our God. We should turn from our iniquities, and have discernment in your truth. ¹⁴ »Therefore Jehovah watched over the evil and brought it upon us. Jehovah our God is righteous in all his works. We have not obeyed his voice. ¹⁵ »And now, O Jehovah our God, you brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and made a name for yourself that day. We have sinned! We have done wickedly. ¹⁶ »O Jehovah, according to all your righteousness, let your anger, I pray you, be turned away from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain. Because of our sins, and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a reproach to all those who are round about us. ¹⁷ »Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant, and to his supplications, and cause your face to shine upon your sanctuary that is desolate, for Jehovah’s sake. ¹⁸ »O my God, incline your ear, and hear! Open your eyes, and behold our desolations and the city that is called by your name. We do not present our supplications before you because of our righteous merits, but according to your many mercies. ¹⁹ »O Jehovah, hear; O Jehovah, forgive; O Jehovah, pay attention and act! Do not delay for your own sake, O my God! Because your city and your people are called by your name.«

³ »That is why they will be like fog in the morning and like morning dew that disappears quickly. They will be like straw blown away from threshing floors. They will be like smoke rising from chimneys.

¹³ »They have the opportunity to live again, but they are not smart enough to take it. They are like a baby who is about to be born but will not come out of its mother's womb. ¹⁴ »I will ransom them from the power of the grave. I will redeem them from death! O death, where are your stings (plagues)? O grave, where is your destruction (devastation)? Compassion will be concealed from my eyes. (1 Co 15:54-57) ¹⁵ »The people of Ephraim have become important among their relatives. However, Jehovah’s scorching wind will come from the east. It will blow out of the desert. Then their springs will run dry, and their wells will dry up. The wind will destroy every precious thing in their storehouses.

¹ »Return, O Israel, to Jehovah your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.

¹⁰ »The field is laid waste, the land mourns. The grain is destroyed, the new wine dried up, the oil fails.

¹⁵ »Alas for the day! For the day of Jehovah is near! Destruction will come from the Almighty!

⁴ »The mountains melt under him. The valleys split like wax before the fire! Like waters poured down a steep place.

¹ »Woe to those who devise iniquity and work evil upon their beds! When the morning comes they do it because they are able to (it is in the power of their hands).

¹² It is your fault that Zion will be plowed like a field. Jerusalem will become heaps of ruin, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.

¹ Too bad for me! For I am like the gathered summer fruit, as the grape gleanings of the vintage. There is no cluster to eat. I desire the first ripe fig.

³ Jehovah is slow to anger, and great in power! He will by no means reprieve the guilty (leave them unpunished). Jehovah has his way in the whirlwind and in the storm. The clouds are the dust of his feet.

⁵ The mountains quake because of him, and the hills melt. The earth trembles (shakes) (heaves) at his presence, yes, the world, and all that dwells in it. ⁶ Who can stand before his indignation (displeasure)? Who can resist (withstand) (endure) the heat of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken to pieces by him.

³ The shield of his mighty men is made red, the valiant men are dressed in scarlet: the chariots flash with steel in the day of his preparation, and the cypress tree [spears] are brandished. ⁴ The chariots wildly race through the streets. They rush to and fro in the broad ways. They look like torches and they run like lightning.

⁸ »Their horses are swifter than leopards. They are fiercer than the evening wolves. Their horsemen proudly press on. Yes, their horsemen come from afar. They fly like an eagle in a hurry to eat.

⁶ He stood and measured the earth. He looked and agitated the nations. The everlasting mountains were shattered! The ancient hills collapsed. His ways are eternal! ⁷ I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction. The tent cloths of the land of Midian trembled.

¹⁰ The mountains saw you and were afraid. The tempest of waters passed by. The deep [water] uttered its voice, and lifted up its hands (power) on high.

¹⁶ I heard and my body trembled! My lips quivered at the voice. Rottenness entered into my bones and I tremble. I must wait quietly for the day of trouble, for the people who invade us.

² »I will destroy (take away) (remove) (consume) everything on the face of the earth!« declared Jehovah. (Zephaniah 2:3) ³ »I will terminate both man and beast. I will put an end to the birds of the sky and the fish of the sea. I will eliminate the sins that make people fall, together with the sinners. I will remove people from the face of the earth,« declared Jehovah.

¹⁰ »On that day,« said Jehovah, »you will hear the sound of crying at the Fish Gate in Jerusalem. You will hear wailing in the newer part of the city and a loud crash from the hills.

¹⁵ »That day will be a day of wrath, a day of distress and anguish. That day will be a day of trouble, devastation and desolation! It will be a day of darkness and gloom. Indeed that day will be a day of clouds and overcast skies. ¹⁶ »That day will be a day of alarm signals and battle cries against the fortified cities and against the high corner towers.

² Before the decree takes effect. Before the day passes like the chaff. Before the fierce anger of Jehovah comes upon you. Yes, before the Day of Jehovah's anger comes upon you.

⁸ »I will bring them and they will live in Jerusalem. They will be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness!«

²⁸ »Do not fear those who kill the body. They are not able to take away your [everlasting] life. Instead, fear him who is able to destroy both life and body in the ever-burning fires. (Greek: Gehenna: continuously burning trash fires in the valley of Hinnom.)

³³ »Either make the tree good, and its fruit good, or make the tree corrupt, and its fruit corrupt. The fruit a tree produces provides its reputation.

⁷ »Others fell upon the thorns. The thorns grew up and choked them.

²² »He that was sown among thorns hears the word. The cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.

¹² »His winnowing shovel is in his hand. He will clean his threshing floor and gather his wheat into a barn. He will then burn the husks in a fire that cannot be put out.«

¹⁶ »Woe to you, you blind guides! You say, ‘When you swear by the temple, it is nothing.’ Then you say, ‘When you swear by the gold of the temple, you are obligated.’ ¹⁷ »You fools! You blind men! Which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctified the gold? ¹⁸ »‘When you swear by an altar, you owe nothing. When you swear by the gift left on the altar, you are obligated. ¹⁹ »You blind men! What is more important, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift? ²⁰ »He who swears by the altar, swears by it and everything on it. ²¹ »He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by him that dwells within it. ²² »Thus, he who swears by heaven also swears by the throne of God and him who sits on it. ²³ »Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy and faith. You should do both and leave nothing undone. ²⁴ »You blind guides! You strain out the gnat and swallow the camel! ²⁵ »Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You cleanse the outside of the cup and of the platter, yet the inside is full of extortion and excess. ²⁶ »You are blind. Clean the inside of the cup and platter first. Then clean the outside.

²⁶ »You are blind. Clean the inside of the cup and platter first. Then clean the outside. ²⁷ »Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs that appear beautiful on the outside. They are full of dead men’s bones and uncleanness on the inside.

²⁹ »Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened. The moon will not give light. The stars will fall from heaven. The powers of the heavens will be shaken. ³⁰ »The sign of the Son of man will appear in heaven, and all the tribes of earth will mourn. They will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

³⁵ »Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

⁴⁵ Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour.

¹⁹ »Evil thoughts come from the heart! Thoughts about murder, adultery, fornication, theft, lying, and slander come from the heart! ²⁰ »These things make a man unclean. Eating food with unwashed hands does not make a man unclean.«

⁵ »Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘See, your King comes to you, humble, and seated on a donkey, a colt, the offspring of a beast of burden.’«

⁷ »Some seed fell among the thorns. The thorns grew up and choked it so it could yield no fruit.

¹⁸ »There is the word sown among the thorns. These have heard the word, ¹⁹ but the cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts for other things enter in and choke the word. So it becomes unfruitful.

⁴³ »If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It would be better to enter into life maimed then, having two hands to be destroyed in the ever-burning trash fires in the Valley of Hinnom. (Greek: Gehenna) ⁴⁴ (spurious, but included in King James Version, »Where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.«) ⁴⁵ »If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is good for you to enter into life with only one foot, rather than having two feet to be cast into the ever-burning fires of Hinnom. (Greek: Gehenna: symbolic of total destruction) ⁴⁶ (The same wording as verse 44, spurious: Tischendorf’s Spurious Passages) ⁴⁷ »If your eye causes you to stumble, cast it out. It is good for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be destroyed in the ever-burning trash fires in the valley of Hinnom. ⁴⁸ (»For the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.« Questionable passage.) ⁴⁹ »For every one will be salted with fire. ⁵⁰ »Salt is good. If it loses its saltiness how can you make it salty again? Have the salt or seasoning of friendship among yourselves, and live in peace with one another.«

²⁴ »In those days after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give her light. ²⁵ »The stars will fall from heaven and the powers that are in the heavens will be shaken.

³³ It was the sixth hour and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.

¹⁷ »His winnowing fork is in his hand ready to thoroughly cleanse his threshing-floor. He will gather the wheat into his barn. He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.«

⁷ »Still other seed fell among the thorns. The thorns grew with it, and choked it.

³⁹ The Lord said: »You Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the platter. Yet your inward part is full of extortion and wickedness.

⁸ »The master of the dishonest manager praised him for doing a shrewd thing. People of this world are more astute at handling their affairs than people who belong to the light.

¹⁴ »The seeds that fell among the thorns are people who hear the word and go their own way. They are choked with the cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and do not produce fruit.

⁴¹ When he came close to the city he wept over it. ⁴² He said: »If you only knew today the things needed to bring peace! But they are hidden from your eyes. ⁴³ »The time is coming when your enemies will surround you and blockade you with a rampart (wall) on all sides. They will close in on you. ⁴⁴ »They will knock you and your children down to the ground. They will not leave one stone upon another. What’s more you do not know when this visit will take place.«

²⁰ »When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies you will know that desolation is near. ²¹ »Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let those who are in the midst of her leave. And let no one from the country enter. ²² »These are days of vengeance! All things written will be fulfilled. ²³ »Woe to those who are pregnant and those who nurse a child in those days! There will be great distress upon the land, and wrath to this people. ²⁴ »They will be killed by the edge of the sword. Some will be led captive into all the nations. The people of the nations will tread down Jerusalem until the time of the Nations is fulfilled. ²⁵ »There will be signs in sun and moon and stars. The earth will experience distress of nations in disarray for the roaring of the sea and the waves. ²⁶ »Men will faint out of fear for expectation of the things coming on the world. The powers of the heavens shall be shaken.

³⁰ »Then they will say to the mountains fall on us and to the hills cover us.

⁴⁴ It was about the sixth hour. Darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour.

³ »But they do these things because they do not know the Father or me.

¹⁹ »I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath: blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke. ²⁰ »The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable (awesome) Day of Jehovah arrives. (Joel 2:31)

²² »Repent of this wickedness, and pray to God, that the thought in your heart may be forgiven you.

⁴¹ »Look among the nations, watch, and be amazed. Though you are told you will not believe the work I do today.« (Habakkuk 1:5)

²¹ for when they knew God, they did not glorify him as God. They did not thank him and were vain in their reasoning, for their foolish hearts were darkened. ²² Claiming to be wise, they became fools.

²⁴ God gave them up to uncleanness because of the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves.

²⁶ For this cause God gave them up to vile affections for even their women changed the natural use into that which is against nature.

²⁸ They did not like to retain God in their knowledge, so God gave them over to a reprobate (depraved) mind, to do things that are not fitting.

²⁸ He is not a Jew who is one on the outside. Neither is circumcision that which is on the outside in the flesh. ²⁹ But he is a Jew who is so on the inside with circumcision of the heart, in spirit, not in letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

¹¹ »There is no one who has insight. No one seeks God!

² I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. ³ I could wish that I were accursed (separated) (banned) (excommunicated) from Christ for the good of (in behalf of) my countrymen and brothers (the Jews).

²⁷ Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: »Should the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, the remnant shall be saved. ²⁸ »He is bringing the matter to an end, and cutting it short in righteousness. Jehovah will make an accounting on the earth.« (Isaiah 10:22) ²⁹ Just as Isaiah said earlier: »Unless Jehovah of Hosts had left a seed to us, we should have become like Sodom, and Gomorrah.« (Isaiah 1:9)

¹ Brothers, my hearts desire and my prayer to God for Israel is for their salvation.

¹ I ask has God rejected his people? Certainly not! I also am an Israelite, a descendant of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. ² God has not rejected his people whom he first knew. Do you remember what the Scripture says about Elijah? How he made intercession to God against Israel? ³ »Jehovah, they have killed your prophets, and torn down your altars. I am left alone, and they seek my life.« (1 Kings 19:14, 18) ⁴ What does God say in answer to him? »I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.« ⁵ Even so at this present time there is a remnant chosen according to God’s grace. ⁶ If it is by grace then it is no longer on the basis of works. Otherwise grace is not grace (undeserved kindness). But if it is of works then it is not by grace. Otherwise works are no longer works. ⁷ What then? Israel has not obtained that which he seeks. The chosen ones have obtained it, and the rest were blinded (rendered stupid) (hardened) (made insensitive).

¹⁹ Your obedience has come to our attention abroad. I am glad therefore on your behalf. Yet I would have you wise to that which is good and simple concerning evil.

²⁰ Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? ²¹ This is the wisdom of God that the world through its wisdom did not come to know God. God was well pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.

³¹ Let it be as it is written, »He that boasts, let him boast in Jehovah!« (Jeremiah 9:24)

²⁰ And again: »Jehovah knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain (useless) (empty).« (Psalm 94:11)

²⁰ Brothers, do not be like children in understanding. When it comes to evil be innocent children but in your thinking be mature adults.

¹⁶ Though I preach the good news I do not brag about it. Preaching the good news is my duty (obligation) and I must do it! It would be terrible if I did not preach the good news!

¹⁷ But he who boasts let him boast in Jehovah! (Jeremiah 9:24)

⁸ The Scripture revealed ahead of time, that God justified the people of the nations by faith. He preached the good news beforehand to Abraham. He said: »In you will all the nations be blessed.«

¹⁹ My little children, of whom I am again in labor pains until Christ is formed in you

⁷ Do not be deceived. God is not mocked! A man will harvest what he sows. ⁸ He that sows to his own flesh will harvest corruption of the flesh. But he that sows to the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit.

⁹ He made known to us the secret of his will, according to his good pleasure and purpose.

¹¹ We were assigned as heirs predetermined according to his purpose. He works all things according to his direction and will.

²² You put away your former way (course) (behavior) (conversation) of life, the old self that was corrupt with the lusts of deceit. ²³ You are renewed in the spirit (vital principles) (attitude) of your mind (understanding). ²⁴ Put on the new man, that in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. ²⁵ Put away falsehood. Speak truth each one of you with his neighbor: for we are members (belonging to) (together with) of one another. ²⁶ Be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down upon your anger (rage). ²⁷ Do not give the devil an opportunity. ²⁸ He that steals must steal no more. Let him labor, working with his hands the thing that is good, that he may have something to give to someone in need. ²⁹ Let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth. Speak what is good for understanding as the need may be, that it may give grace (divine favor) to those who hear. ³⁰ Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in which (Greek: en hos) (in which) (Greek: hos, he ho) (whereby) (which) you were sealed to the day of release by ransom. ³¹ Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and screaming, and abusive speech, be put away (removed) (expiated) from you, along with all malice.

³ We are those with true circumcision who worship by the Spirit of God. We glory in Christ Jesus, and put no confidence in the flesh.

¹¹ You were also circumcised in him with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ.

³ When they say, »Peace and security!« then sudden destruction will come upon them, as labor pains come to a pregnant woman. They will not escape.

⁹ They will suffer punishment, even eternal destruction from the Lord and from the glory of his might.

⁹ The evil (lawless) one will come with the power of Satan and perform all kinds of false signs and wonders. ¹⁰ He will use every kind of wicked deceit on those who will perish. They will perish because they did not welcome and love the truth so as to be saved. ¹¹ So God dispatches the power of deceit (error) to work in them so that they are allowed to believe what is false. ¹² Then everyone who did not believe the truth, but was delighted with wickedness, will be condemned.

³ How shall we escape, if we neglect such a great salvation? It was first presented by the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard him.

²¹ He became a priest with an oath when God said to him: »Jehovah has sworn and he will feel no regret, you are a priest forever.« (Psalm 110:4)

⁸ Draw close to God, and he will draw close to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded (uncertain) (doubter) (skeptic).

⁷ Behold, he comes with the clouds. Every eye will see him, and those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn over him. So it will be, Amen.

¹² When he opened the sixth seal I saw a great earthquake. The sun became black as sackcloth of hair and the moon became like blood.

¹⁵ The kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the military commanders, and the mighty men, and every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains. ¹⁶ They said to the mountains and rocks: »Fall on us, and hide us from the presence of him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: ¹⁷ »For the great day of his wrath has come; and who will be able to stand?«

² »with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.«

⁴ The woman was clothed in purple and scarlet. She was adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls. She had a golden cup in her hand. It was full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication.

¹³ »They are united in one purpose (single-minded), and they will give their power and authority to the beast.

¹⁶ »The ten horns that you saw on the beast will hate the harlot, and will make her desolate and naked. They will eat her flesh and burn her with fire. ¹⁷ »For God put in their hearts the desire to carry out his purpose, and to agree, and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. ¹⁸ »The woman you saw is that great city that reigns over the kings of the earth.«

¹¹ I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it. From before him the earth and heaven fled away. There was found no place for them.