The Return of the Remnant

231 Wo to shepherds destroying, And scattering the flock of My pasture, An affirmation of Jehovah. 2 Therefore, thus said Jehovah, God of Israel, Against the shepherds who feed My people, Ye have scattered My flock, and drive them away, And have not inspected them, Lo, I am charging on you the evil of your doings, An affirmation of Jehovah. 3 And I do gather the remnant of My flock Out of all the lands whither I drove them, And have brought them back unto their fold, And they have been fruitful, and multiplied. 4 And I have raised for them shepherds, And they have fed them, And they fear no more, nor are affrighted, Nor are they lacking—an affirmation of Jehovah. 5 Lo, days are coming—an affirmation of Jehovah, And I have raised to David a righteous shoot, And a king hath reigned and acted wisely, And done judgment and righteousness in the earth. 6 In his days is Judah saved, and Israel dwelleth confidently, And this his name that Jehovah proclaimeth him, 'Our Righteousness.' 7 Therefore, lo, days are coming, An affirmation of Jehovah, And they do not say any more, Jehovah liveth who brought up The sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt, 8 But—Jehovah liveth, who brought up, And who brought in, the seed of the house of Israel, From the land of the north, And from all the lands whither I drove them, And they have dwelt on their own ground!

Denunciation of the Lying Prophets

9 In reference to the prophets: Broken hath been my heart in my midst, Fluttered have all my bones, I have been as a man—a drunkard, And as a man—wine hath passed over him, Because of Jehovah, and of His holy words. 10 For of adulterers hath the land been full, For because of these hath the land mourned, Dried up hath been the pleasant places of the wilderness, And their course is evil, and their might—not right. 11 For both prophet and priest have been profane, Yea, in My house I found their wickedness, An affirmation of Jehovah. 12 Therefore is their way to them as slippery places, Into thick darkness they are driven, And they have fallen in it, For I bring in against them evil, The year of their inspection, An affirmation of Jehovah. 13 And in prophets of Samaria I have seen folly, They have prophesied by Baal, And cause my people—Israel—to err. 14 And in prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing, Committing adultery, and walking falsely, Yea, they strengthened the hands of evil doers, So that they have not turned back Each from his wickedness, They have been to me—all of them—as Sodom, And its inhabitants as Gomorrah. 15 Therefore, thus said Jehovah of Hosts, concerning the prophets: Lo, I am causing them to eat wormwood, And have caused them to drink water of gall, For, from prophets of Jerusalem Hath profanity gone forth to all the land. 16 Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: Ye do not hearken unto the words Of the prophets who are prophesying to you, They are making you vain things, A vision of their own heart they speak, Not from the mouth of Jehovah. 17 Saying diligently to those despising The word of Jehovah: Peace is for you, And 'to' every one walking in the stubbornness of his heart they have said: Evil doth not come in unto you. 18 For who hath stood in the counsel of Jehovah, And seeth and heareth His word? Who hath regarded My word, and hearkeneth? 19 Lo, a whirlwind of Jehovah—Fury hath gone out, even a piercing whirlwind, On the head of the wicked it stayeth. 20 The anger of Jehovah doth not turn back Till His doing, and till His establishing, The thoughts of His heart, In the latter end of the days ye attend to it With understanding. 21 I have not sent the prophets, and they have run, I have not spoken unto them, and they have prophesied. 22 But—if they stood in My counsel, Then they cause My people to hear My words, And they turn them back from their evil way, And from the evil of their doings. 23 A God near 'am' I—an affirmation of Jehovah, And not a God afar off? 24 Is any one hidden in secret places, And I see him not? an affirmation of Jehovah, Do not I fill the heavens and the earth? An affirmation of Jehovah. 25 I have heard that which the prophets said, Who prophesy in My name falsehood, saying, 'I have dreamed, I have dreamed.' 26 Till when is it in the heart of the prophets? The prophets of falsehood, Yea, prophets of the deceit of their heart, 27 Who are devising to cause My people To forget My name by their dreams, That they recount each to his neighbour, As their fathers forgot my name for Baal. 28 The prophet with whom 'is' a dream, Let him recount the dream, And he with whom 'is' My word, Let him truly speak My word. What—to the straw with the corn? An affirmation of Jehovah. 29 Is it not thus? My word 'is' as a fire, An affirmation of Jehovah. And as a hammer—it breaketh in pieces a rock. 30 Therefore, lo, I 'am' against the prophets, An affirmation of Jehovah, Stealing My words each from his neighbour. 31 Lo, I 'am' against the prophets, An affirmation of Jehovah, Who are making smooth their tongue, And they affirm—an affirmation. 32 Lo, I 'am' against the prophets of false dreams, An affirmation of Jehovah, And they recount them, and cause my people to err, By their falsehoods, and by their instability, And I—I have not sent them, Nor have I commanded them, And they are not at all profitable to this people, An affirmation of Jehovah.

33 And when this people, or the prophet, Or a priest, doth ask thee, saying, What 'is' the burden of Jehovah? Then thou hast said unto them: Ye 'are' the burden, and I have left you, An affirmation of Jehovah. 34 And the prophet, and the priest, and the people, That saith, The burden of Jehovah, I have seen after that man, and after his house. 35 Thus do ye say each unto his neighbour, And each unto his brother: What hath Jehovah answered? And what hath Jehovah spoken? 36 And the burden of Jehovah ye do not mention any more, For the burden to each is—His word, And ye have overturned the words of the living God, Jehovah of Hosts, our God. 37 Thus dost thou say unto the prophet What hath Jehovah answered thee? And what hath Jehovah spoken? 38 And if the burden of Jehovah ye say, Therefore thus said Jehovah: Because of your saying this word, The burden of Jehovah, And I do send unto you, saying, Ye do not say, The burden of Jehovah. 39 Therefore, lo, I—I have taken you utterly away, And I have sent you out, And the city that I gave to you, And to your fathers, from before My face, 40 And I have put on you reproach age-during, And shame age-during that is not forgotten!

The Lesson from the Good and Bad Figs

241 Jehovah hath shewed me, and lo, two baskets of figs, appointed before the temple of Jehovah,—after the removing by Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, of Jeconiah, son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, and the heads of Judah, and the artizan, and the smith, from Jerusalem, when he bringeth them into Babylon— 2 In the one basket 'are' figs very good, like the first-ripe figs, and in the other basket 'are' figs very bad, that are not eaten for badness. 3 And Jehovah saith unto me, 'What art thou seeing, Jeremiah?' and I say, 'Figs, the good figs 'are' very good, and the bad 'are' very bad, that are not eaten for badness.' 4 And there is a word of Jehovah unto me, saying: 5 Thus said Jehovah, God of Israel, Like these good figs so do I acknowledge The removed of Judah—that I sent from this place, 'To' the land of the Chaldeans—for good. 6 And I have set Mine eyes on them for good, And have brought them back to this land, And built them up, and I throw not down, And have planted them, and pluck not up. 7 And have given to them a heart to know Me, For I 'am' Jehovah, And they have been to Me for a people, And I am to them for God, For they turned back unto Me with all their heart. 8 And like the bad figs, that are not eaten for badness, Surely thus said Jehovah: So do I make Zedekiah king of Judah, And his heads, and the remnant of Jerusalem, Who are left in this land, And who are dwelling in the land of Egypt, 9 And I have given them for a trembling, For evil—to all kingdoms of the earth, For a reproach, and for a simile, For a byword, and for a reviling, In all the places whither I drive them. 10 And I have sent against them the sword, The famine and the pestilence, Till their consumption from off the ground, That I gave to them and to their fathers!

Seventy Years of Desolation

251 The word that hath been unto Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah,—it 'is' the first year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon,— 2 Which Jeremiah the prophet hath spoken concerning all the people of Judah, even unto all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying: 3 'From the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah, and unto this day—this three and twentieth year—hath the word of Jehovah been unto me, and I speak unto you, rising early and speaking, and ye have not hearkened; 4 And Jehovah hath sent unto you all His servants, the prophets, rising early and sending, and ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear, saying: 5 'Turn back, I pray you, each from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell on the ground that Jehovah hath given to you and to your fathers from age unto age, 6 And ye do not go after other gods to serve them, and to bow yourselves to them, nor do ye provoke Me to anger with the work of your hands, and I do no evil to you; 7 And ye have not hearkened unto Me—an affirmation of Jehovah—so as to provoke Me to anger with the work of your hands for evil to you.

8 'Therefore thus said Jehovah of Hosts, Because that ye have not obeyed My words, 9 Lo, I am sending, and have taken all the families of the north—an affirmation of Jehovah—even unto Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, My servant, and have brought them in against this land, and against its inhabitants, and against all these nations round about, and have devoted them, and appointed them for an astonishment, and for a hissing, and for wastes age-during. 10 And I have destroyed from them the voice of rejoicing, and the voice of joy, voice of bridegroom and voice of bride, noise of millstones, and the light of lamps. 11 And all this land hath been for a waste, for an astonishment, and these nations have served the king of Babylon seventy years. 12 'And it hath come to pass, at the fulness of seventy years, I charge against the king of Babylon, and against that nation—an affirmation of Jehovah—their iniquity, and against the land of the Chaldeans, and have appointed it for desolations age-during. 13 And I have brought in on that land all My words that I have spoken against it, all that is written in this book, that Jeremiah hath prophesied concerning all the nations. 14 For laid service on them—also them—have many nations and great kings, and I have given recompence to them according to their doing, and according to the work of their hands.

The Cup of Wrath for the Nations

15 'For thus said Jehovah God of Israel unto me, Take the wine cup of this fury out of My hand, and thou hast caused all the nations to drink it unto whom I am sending thee; 16 And they have drunk, and shaken themselves and shewn themselves foolish, because of the sword that I am sending among them. 17 'And I take the cup out of the hand of Jehovah, and cause all the nations to drink unto whom Jehovah sent me: 18 Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, And its kings, its heads, To give them to waste, to astonishment, To hissing, and to reviling, as 'at' this day. 19 Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, And his heads, and all his people, 20 And all the mixed people, And all the kings of the land of Uz, And all the kings of the land of the Philistines, And Ashkelon, and Gazzah, and Ekron, And the remnant of Ashdod, 21 Edom, and Moab, and the sons of Ammon, 22 And all the kings of Tyre, And all the kings of Zidon, And the kings of the isle that 'is' beyond the sea, 23 Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, And all cutting the corners 'of the beard', 24 And all the kings of Arabia, And all the kings of the mixed people, Who are dwelling in the wilderness, 25 And all the kings of Zimri, And all the kings of Elam, And all the kings of Media, 26 And all the kings of the north, The near and the far off, one unto another, And all the kingdoms of the earth, That 'are' on the face of the ground, And king Sheshach drinketh after them. 27 And thou hast said unto them: Thus said Jehovah of Hosts God of Israel, Drink ye, yea drink abundantly, And vomit, and fall, and rise not, Because of the sword that I am sending among you. 28 And it hath come to pass, When they refuse to receive the cup out of thy hand to drink, That thou hast said unto them: Thus said Jehovah of Hosts, Ye do certainly drink. 29 For lo, in the city over which My name is called, I am beginning to do evil, And ye—ye are entirely acquitted! Ye are not acquitted, for a sword I am proclaiming, For all inhabitants of the land, An affirmation of Jehovah of Hosts.

30 And thou, thou dost prophesy unto them all these words, and hast said unto them: Jehovah from the high place doth roar, And from His holy habitation giveth forth His voice, He surely roareth for His habitation, A shout as of treaders down, God answereth all the inhabitants of the land, 31 Wasting hath come unto the end of the earth, For a controversy hath Jehovah with nations, He hath executed judgment for all flesh, The wicked! He hath given them to the sword, An affirmation of Jehovah. 32 Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: Lo, evil is going out from nation to nation, And a great whirlwind is stirred up from the sides of the earth. 33 And the pierced of Jehovah have been in that day, From the end of the earth even unto the end of the earth, They are not lamented, nor gathered, nor buried, For dung on the face of the ground they are. 34 Howl, ye shepherds, and cry, And roll yourselves, ye honourable of the flock, For full have been your days, For slaughtering, and 'for' your scatterings, And ye have fallen as a desirable vessel. 35 And perished hath refuge from the shepherds, And escape from the honourable of the flock. 36 A voice 'is' of the cry of the shepherds, And a howling of the honourable of the flock, For Jehovah is spoiling their pasture. 37 And the peaceable habitations have been cut down, Because of the fierceness of the anger of Jehovah. 38 He hath forsaken, as a young lion, His covert, Surely their land hath become a desolation, Because of the oppressing fierceness, And because of the fierceness of His anger!