The Doom of Jerusalem and Judah

61 Go in flight out of Jerusalem, so that you may be safe, you children of Benjamin, and let the horn be sounded in Tekoa, and the flag be lifted up on Beth-haccherem: for evil is looking out from the north, and a great destruction. 2 The fair and delicate one, the daughter of Zion, will be cut off by my hand. 3 Keepers of sheep with their flocks will come to her; they will put up their tents round her; everyone will get food in his place. 4 Make war ready against her; up! let us go up when the sun is high. Sorrow is ours! for the day is turned and the shades of evening are stretched out. 5 Up! let us go up by night, and send destruction on her great houses. 6 For this is what the Lord of armies has said: Let trees be cut down and an earthwork be placed against Jerusalem: sorrow on the false town! inside her there is nothing but cruel ways. 7 As the spring keeps its waters cold, so she keeps her evil in her: the sound of cruel and violent behaviour is in her; before me at all times are disease and wounds. 8 Undergo teaching, O Jerusalem, or my soul will be turned away from you, and I will make you a waste, an unpeopled land.

9 This is what the Lord of armies has said: Everything will be taken from the rest of Israel as the last grapes are taken from the vine; let your hand be turned to the small branches, like one pulling off grapes. 10 To whom am I to give word, witnessing so that they may take note? see, their ears are stopped, and they are not able to give attention: see, the word of the Lord has been a cause of shame to them, they have no delight in it. 11 For this reason I am full of the wrath of the Lord, I am tired of keeping it in: may it be let loose on the children in the street, and on the band of the young men together: for even the husband with his wife will be taken, the old man with him who is full of days. 12 And their houses will be handed over to others, their fields and their wives together: for my hand will be stretched out against the people of the land, says the Lord. 13 For from the least of them even to the greatest, everyone is given up to getting money; from the prophet even to the priest, everyone is working deceit. 14 And they have made little of the wounds of my people, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace. 15 Let them be put to shame because they have done disgusting things. They had no shame, they were not able to become red with shame: so they will come down with those who are falling: when my punishment comes on them, they will be made low, says the Lord. 16 This is what the Lord has said: Take your place looking out on the ways; make search for the old roads, saying, Where is the good way? and go in it that you may have rest for your souls. But they said, We will not go in it. 17 And I put watchmen over you, saying, Give attention to the sound of the horn; but they said, We will not give attention.

18 So then, give ear, you nations, and ... 19 Give ear, O earth: see, I will make evil come on this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not given attention to my words, and they would have nothing to do with my law. 20 To what purpose does sweet perfume come to me from Sheba, and spices from a far country? your burned offerings give me no pleasure, your offerings of beasts are not pleasing to me. 21 For this reason the Lord has said, See, I will put stones in the way of this people: and the fathers and the sons together will go falling over them; the neighbour and his friend will come to destruction. 22 The Lord has said, See, a people is coming from the north country, a great nation will be put in motion from the inmost parts of the earth. 23 Bows and spears are in their hands; they are cruel and have no mercy; their voice is like the thunder of the sea, and they go on horses; everyone in his place like men going to the fight, against you, O daughter of Zion. 24 The news of it has come to our ears; our hands have become feeble: trouble has come on us and pain, like the pain of a woman in childbirth. 25 Go not out into the field or by the way; for there is the sword of the attacker, and fear on every side. 26 O daughter of my people, put on haircloth, rolling yourself in the dust: give yourself to sorrow, as for an only son, with most bitter cries of grief; for he who makes waste will come on us suddenly. 27 I have made you a tester among my people, so that you may have knowledge of their way and put it to the test. 28 All of them are turned away, going about with false stories; they are brass and iron: they are all workers of deceit. 29 The blower is blowing strongly, the lead is burned away in the fire: they go on heating the metal to no purpose, for the evil-doers are not taken away. 30 They will be named waste silver, because the Lord has given them up.

Amend Your Ways and Your Doings

71 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, 2 Take your place in the doorway of the Lord's house, and give out this word there, and say, Give ear to the word of the Lord, all you of Judah who come inside these doors to give worship to the Lord. 3 The Lord of armies, the God of Israel, says, Let your ways and your doings be changed for the better and I will let you go on living in this place. 4 Put no faith in false words, saying, The Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, are these. 5 For if your ways and your doings are truly changed for the better; if you truly give right decisions between a man and his neighbour; 6 If you are not cruel to the man from a strange country, and to the child without a father, and to the widow, and do not put the upright to death in this place, or go after other gods, causing damage to yourselves: 7 Then I will let you go on living in this place, in the land which I gave to your fathers in the past and for ever. 8 See, you put your faith in false words which are of no profit. 9 Will you take the goods of others, put men to death, and be untrue to your wives, and take false oaths, and have perfumes burned to the Baal, and go after other gods which are strange to you; 10 And come and take your place before me in this house, which is named by my name, and say, We have been made safe; so that you may do all these disgusting things? 11 Has this house, which is named by my name, become a hole of thieves to you? Truly I, even I, have seen it, says the Lord. 12 But go now to my place which was in Shiloh, where I put my name at first, and see what I did to it because of the evil-doing of my people Israel. 13 And now, because you have done all these works, says the Lord, and I sent my word to you, getting up early and sending, but you did not give ear; and my voice came to you, but you gave no answer: 14 For this reason I will do to the house which is named by my name, and in which you have put your faith, and to the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh. 15 And I will send you away from before my face, as I have sent away all your brothers, even all the seed of Ephraim.

16 And as for you (Jeremiah), make no prayers for this people, send up no cry or prayer for them, make no request for them to me: for I will not give ear. 17 Do you not see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18 The children go for wood, the fathers get the fire burning, the women are working the paste to make cakes for the queen of heaven, and drink offerings are drained out to other gods, moving me to wrath. 19 Are they moving me to wrath? says the Lord; are they not moving themselves to their shame? 20 So this is what the Lord God has said: See, my wrath and my passion will be let loose on this place, on man and beast, and on the trees of the field, and on the produce of the earth; it will be burning and will not be put out.

The Punishment for Judah's Rebellion

21 These are the words of the Lord of armies, the God of Israel: Put your burned offerings with your offerings of beasts, and take flesh for your food. 22 For I said nothing to your fathers, and gave them no orders, on the day when I took them out of Egypt, about burned offerings or offerings of beasts: 23 But this was the order I gave them, saying, Give ear to my voice, and I will be your God, and you will be my people: go in all the way ordered by me, so that all may be well for you. 24 But they took no note and did not give ear, but were guided by the thoughts and the pride of their evil hearts, going back and not forward. 25 From the day when your fathers came out of Egypt till this day, I have sent my servants the prophets to you, getting up early every day and sending them: 26 But still they took no note and would not give ear, but they made their necks stiff, doing worse than their fathers. 27 And you are to say all these words to them, but they will not give ear to you: you will send out your voice to them, but they will give no answer. 28 And you are to say to them, This is the nation which has not given ear to the voice of their God, or taken his teaching to heart: good faith is dead and is cut off from their mouths.

29 Let your hair be cut off, O Jerusalem, and let it go, and let a song of grief go up on the open hilltops; for the Lord is turned away from the generation of his wrath and has given them up. 30 For the children of Judah have done what is evil in my eyes, says the Lord: they have put their disgusting images in the house which is named by my name, making it unclean. 31 And they have put up the high place of Topheth in the valley of the son of Hinnom, burning their sons and their daughters there in the fire; a thing which was not ordered by me and never came into my mind. 32 For this cause, the days are coming, says the Lord, when it will no longer be named Topheth, or, The valley of the son of Hinnom, but, The valley of Death: for they will put the dead into the earth in Topheth till there is no more room. 33 And the bodies of this people will be food for the birds of heaven and for the beasts of the earth; and there will be no one to send them away. 34 And in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, I will put an end to the laughing voices, the voice of joy and the voice of the newly-married man and the voice of the bride: for the land will become a waste.

81 At that time, says the Lord, they will take the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his rulers, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the people of Jerusalem out of their resting-places: 2 And they will put them out before the sun and the moon and all the stars of heaven, whose lovers and servants they have been, after whom they have gone, to whom they have made prayers, and to whom they have given worship: they will not be put together or placed in the earth; they will be waste on the face of the earth. 3 And death will be desired more than life by the rest of this evil family who are still living in all the places where I have sent them away, says the Lord of armies.

4 Further, you are to say to them, This is what the Lord has said: Will those who are falling not be lifted up again? will he who has gone away not come back? 5 Why do these people of Jerusalem go back, for ever turning away? they will not give up their deceit, they will not come back. 6 I took note and gave ear, but no one said what is right: no man had regret for his evil-doing, saying, What have I done? everyone goes off on his way like a horse rushing to the fight. 7 Truly, the stork in the heavens is conscious of her fixed times; the dove and the swallow and the crane keep to the times of their coming; but my people have no knowledge of the law of the Lord. 8 How is it that you say, We are wise and the law of the Lord is with us? But see, the false pen of the scribes has made it false. 9 The wise men are shamed, they are overcome with fear and taken: see, they have given up the word of the Lord; and what use is their wisdom to them? 10 So I will give their wives to others, and their fields to those who will take them for themselves: for everyone, from the least to the greatest, is given up to getting money; from the priest even to the prophet, everyone is false. 11 And they have made little of the wounds of the daughter of Zion, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace. 12 Let them be put to shame because they have done disgusting things. They had no shame, they were not able to become red with shame: so they will come down with those who are falling: in the time of their punishment they will be made low, says the Lord.

13 I will put an end to them completely, says the Lord: there are no grapes on the vine and no figs on the fig-tree, and the leaf is dry. 14 Why are we seated doing nothing? come together, and let us go to the walled towns, and let destruction overtake us there, for the Lord our God has sent destruction on us, and given us bitter water for our drink, because we have done evil against the Lord. 15 We were looking for peace, but no good came; and for a time of well-being, but there is only a great fear. 16 The loud breathing of the horses comes to our ears from Dan: at the sound of the outcry of his war-horses, all the land is shaking with fear; for they have come, and have made a meal of the land and everything in it; the town and the people living in it. 17 See, I will send snakes and poison-snakes among you, against which the wonder-worker has no power; and they will give you wounds which may not be made well, says the Lord.

A Lament for Judah and Jerusalem

18 Sorrow has come on me! my heart in me is feeble. 19 The voice of the cry of the daughter of my people comes from a far land: Is the Lord not in Zion? is not her King in her? Why have they made me angry with their images and their strange gods which are no gods? 20 The grain-cutting is past, the summer is ended, and no salvation has come to us. 21 For the destruction of the daughter of my people I am broken: I am dressed in the clothing of grief; fear has taken me in its grip. 22 Is there no life-giving oil in Gilead? is there no expert in medical arts? why then have my people not been made well?

Responsibilities toward Others

51 Do not say sharp words to one who has authority in the church, but let your talk be as to a father, and to the younger men as to brothers: 2 To the older women as to mothers, to the younger as to sisters, with a clean heart.

3 Give honour to widows who are truly widows. 4 But if any widow has children or children's children, let these see that it is right to take care of their family and their fathers and mothers: for this is pleasing in the eyes of God. 5 Now she who is truly a widow and without family puts her hope in God, giving herself to prayer day and night. 6 But she who gives herself to pleasure is dead while she is living. 7 Give orders to this effect, so that no evil may be said of anyone. 8 If anyone has no care for his family and those in his house, he is false to the faith, and is worse than one who has no faith. 9 Let no woman be numbered among the widows who is under sixty years old, and only if she has been the wife of one man, 10 And if witness is given of her good works; if she has had the care of children, if she has been kind to travellers, washing the feet of the saints, helping those who are in trouble, giving herself to good works. 11 But to the younger widows say No: for when their love is turned away from Christ, they have a desire to be married; 12 And they are judged because they have been false to their first faith; 13 And they get into the way of doing no work, going about from house to house; and not only doing no work, but talking foolishly, being over-interested in the business of others, saying things which they have no right to say. 14 So it is my desire that the younger widows may be married and have children, controlling their families, and giving the Evil One no chance to say anything against them, 15 For even now some are turned away to Satan. 16 If any woman of the faith has relations who are widows, let her give them help, so that the care of them does not come on the church, and so it may give help to those who are truly widowed.

17 Let rulers whose rule is good be honoured twice over, specially those whose work is preaching and teaching. 18 For the Writings say, It is not right to keep the ox from taking the grain when he is crushing it. And, The worker has a right to his reward. 19 Do not take as true any statement made against one in authority, but only if two or three give witness to it. 20 Say sharp words to sinners when all are present, so that the rest may be in fear. 21 I give you orders before God and Christ Jesus and the angels of God's selection, to keep these orders without giving thought to one side more than another. 22 Do not put hands on any man without thought, and have no part in other men's sins: keep yourself clean. 23 Do not take only water as your drink, but take a little wine for the good of your stomach, and because you are frequently ill. 24 The sins of some men are clearly seen, going before them to be judged; but with others, their sins go after them. 25 In the same way, there are good works which are clearly seen; and those which are not so, may not be kept secret.